I am not lonely [Mystrade]

CHAPTER 114 : Sister

Mycroft ran a fond finger over the cheek of the baby in the cradle, a small grin lightening his face. Carefully  he seized him in his large hands and brought her against his chest  before taking a seat in the nearby couch, not to close of the fireplace  to prevent the fragile skin of Grace from being burnt by the hot  temperature. He had been sitting for less than a minute when he felt  someone climbing on the couch and sitting beside him.
"Can I touch her ?" Alden asked carefully.
"Yes,  but be gentle. She is very small and very fragile." the auburn nodded,  shifting his body a little so it would be easier for the little boy.
"It's funny, her skin is so soft." the child giggled, carefully running one of his hand against the little girl's neck.
"That's because she is still a baby." the official explained. "You were exactly like that too when you were a baby."
"I've been so little ?" the boy wondered, astonished, checking himself up.
"Of course you've been." the elder Holmes chuckled.
"Wow ... So that means she is going to grow up too ?" The kid deducted, impressed.
"Yes. She will become as big and as strong as you." Mycroft confirmed. "Would you like to see pictures of you as a baby ?"
"Yes ! Please Daddy !" Alden nodded enthusiastically, jumping from the couch to the ground.
The  auburn carefully stepped up, securing the sleeping little girl against  his chest, and directed his son toward his nearby office. He went around  the desk to the little closet right behind it and, holding the girl  with one hand, manage to grab a leather-back red photo album and put it  down on the desk. He pulled his chair and sat on it, one of his long and  thin hand securing the infant, the other helping his son to climb on  his lap.
He then opened  the album and started showing the child who he when he first arrived  into the Holmes Mansion, having only very few pictures of him before  that time. He would have loved to show him pictures of him at the same age that Grace was, but  he sadly had none, the oldest picture he had dating from the day Alden  had entered the orphanage when he was a little over ten months old. Even  then, the picture was only the copy of a small and blurry identity  picture that had been taken to complete the little boy's files. What had  happened to the child before he had been sheltered in the orphanage was  a mystery to everyone.
From the informations Mycroft had been able to gathered, the boy had been found forlorned  in his pram in Bristol's main train station. Nothing had been left with  him, not even a note with his name, except for a couple of bottle of  infant milk and a spare change of clothes. He had been found by the  station master and handed to the police after no one had picked him up  in more than an hour. The forces had tried to trace out who his parents  were but hadn't been able to found them out and had sent him to the  orphanage on the same evening. There he was given a new name and raised  up in the hope to be adopted as soon as possible.
Due to that story,  Mycroft was feeling quite anxious at the prospect that one day, sooner  or later, his son would want to know who his birth parents were and why  they had left him and that he or Greg would be absolutely unable to answer to his questions.
The auburn didn't knew what he would have said his son if he had known the answers to his questions but  he would have at least had the choice to tell him everything if he felt  that that was the right thing to do. This question had become more and  more of a concern to him as the boy was growing up and starting to ask  annoying question to his fathers.
"Daddy ? Have you heard what I said ?" Alden wondered, suddenly breaking his father's thoughts.
"Uhu ? Oh, no, sorry sweetheart ... What were you saying ?" the official apologized.
"Can I have one like her for myself ?" the child repeated, nodding toward Grace, a huge smile plastered on his face.
"Oh ... You want a sister ?" the elder Holmes retorted, genuinely surprised by his son's requested.
"Yes." the boy nodded enthusiastically.
"But what do you think Papa would say ? Uh ?" Mycroft answered, not seeing how to have himself out of this situation.
"He would say yes." Alden affirmed. "So, can I have one ?"
"It's not as easy as that honey. You can't just ask for a sister and have her like that ..." the auburn answered, knowing how weak his answer was.
"Why ? I've been a good boy all year ..." the child started to complain.
"I know. But a child is not a present honey, you can't just go to a shop and buy one ..." the official scolded him gently.
"That's not fair ..." Alden pouted. "Can we still ask Papa ?"
"Hmm ... Alright, we will ask him. But if he say no you don't make a tantrum alright ?" the elder Holmes accepted, offering one of his hand to sell the deal.
The boy shook it before jumping on the floor and exiting the office. His father heard him running upstairs to go and do whatever he felt like doing and he himself stepped up, replacing the photo album where  it was and making his way to the kitchen, taking a seat while Michael  was preparing a bottle for the little girl that was on the verge of  waking up.

"Cold." Mycroft moaned as his partner rubbed his foot against his leg.
"Good evening to you too." Greg chuckled, pulling the duvet over his shoulders.
"Caught me a murderer ?" Wondered the official, wrapping his arm around his husband's waist.
"No. We thought so but it wasn't him ..." the policeman grumbled. "Everything seemed to concord tho ..."
"Oh ... come here ..." the auburn softly whispered, bringing himself closer from the detective.
"And you ? How was your goddaughter ?" The latter asked, placing a little kiss on his lover's nose.
"Marvellous. Such a nice little girl." The elder Holmes smiled. "I've  brought her to the park to feed the ducks with Alden. It seems like she  liked it, although she is too small to vocalise it of course."
"There are still ducks ? I thought they had removed them from the pond ..." the inspector remarked.
"Yes, we had to go to Saint James park to find some." Mycroft nodded. "We've seen squirrels too."
"Oh. Although it's quite sad we have to go that far just to see ducks ..." Greg retorted, placing another kiss on the auburn's nose.
"You'll never guess what Alden asked me earlier." The elder Holmes suddenly giggled.
"Hmm ?" Wondered the DCI, looking at his partner.
"He wants a little sister." The official chuckled.
"A sister ? Where does that come from ?"  Gregory smiled. That his son sometime had silly ideas was no surprise  to him but that he ever wanted a little brother or sister was completely  new to him.
"Dunno. He saw me with Grace and ask if I could give him a little sister 'because he has behaved well all year' ." Mycroft responded, amused.
"Do you think he feels lonely ?" the detective questioned, starring absentmindly at the ceiling.
"Hmm ... Maybe, who knows." the auburn retorted. "Tho, he never asked for anything like this before."
"It can't just come out of nowhere, can it ?" the yarder remarked. "I don't know about a little sister, but I think it would maybe be good for him to meet with more people of his age."
"He already goes to school." retorted the official, not really understanding his husband's point.
"Yes,  but don't you think he would need to spend more time playing with kids  of his age instead of playing alone in his room ?" Greg explained,  amused by his lover's reaction. Of course for a Holmes, the prospect of  going out to play or meet with other children could only seemed silly  but the policeman strongly believed that it could only do his son some  good to let down the puzzles and books for a little and meet up with  people of his age.
"Hmm ... I suppose you can't be wrong." simply answered Mycroft, not seeming entirely convinced by the suggestion.
"You  know, join a sport club or something like that. Just so he can meet  other children than at school and muck around." the inspector continued,  not paying too much attention to his husband's lack of enthusiasm.
"We could think about it, yes ..." reluctantly admit the auburn. "But maybe we should ask him his opinion before."
"I  know he is highly intelligent and you don't want to impose him  anything, but he is four. At that age kids don't usually choose, they  are supposed to obey to their parents." the detective tutted the other man gently.
"Can we at least ask him what sport or activity he wants to do ?" the elder Holmes tried shyly.
"I  suppose it would be fair, yes." Greg smiled before placing a soft peck  on his partner's cheek. "Although, what would you say about a little  sister ?"
"Are you serious ?" Mycroft retorted quickly, rolling on his side to face the other man.
"I don't know. It's just an idea." the yarder shrugged.
"Well,  as a pure theory, I suppose it could be nice, as a reality including us  and our everyday life, I would be much more doubtful." the official  pondered, his eyes still hooked on his husband's face.
"We've managed it with Alden." the policeman remarked.
"It was more than two years ago and he was already quite old." the elder Holmes observed, seriously doubting that the idea was only a theoretical one in his lover's brain.
"Hmm ... I suppose you are right." Greg finally agreed after a few seconds of pause.
Mycroft  placed a little kiss on the pouting lips of the older man and dragged  him closer in a tight embrace. Of course, he too could see the appeal in  another little human calling him Daddy but, as the cold and pragmatic  person he was, he was able to understand that it would be probably too  much to ask for.

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As for now, a chapter will be published every 4 days instead of 3 in order to keep updating the fic regularly.
Sorry for not being able to keep updating as much as I used to do but yeah, I don't have enough time to write at the moment.
Danny