Sherlock: Relations

Prologue

        Sherlock was sitting in his chair. His hands were together and close to his face. Clearly, poor Sherlock Holmes was bored. 

The sound of a knock on the door pulled him out of his mind.

Sherlock, reluctantly, stood up from his chair and went to the door. The sound of knocking rang through the flat again. "Hold on!" Sherlock opened the door. Waiting was an old spark: Vanessa Lovecraft. She does not have her hair anymore. She has a baby girl. The baby has green eyes and black hair. It is undeniably mine.

"Sherlock," Vanessa started. "I believe you've already figured out why I'm here."

"You want me to take the baby, because you believe you won't live much longer." Vanessa laughed sourly.

"Right on point, just like always. Will you please take her? When I die, she will have to go to my mother. You know how she can be." Sherlock looked at the baby girl. 

"What is her name?" He asked. Vanessa smiled.

"Harper. Her name is Harper Holmes."

"You gave her my surname?"

"You are her father, after all." Silence.  Sherlock thought. Well, if I take the baby, then my boredom will be cured. 

"I'll take her." Vanessa looked at the man in shock and happiness. 

"Really?" Sherlock nodded. Vanessa, clearly, did not expect him to say yes. "Well, when should I bring her supplies."

"Now. I'm not doing anything particularly interesting." Vanessa passed Harper into Sherlock's arms. This is the moment Vanessa realized Sherlock did not know how to care for a baby. He was holding her in a position that she was laying on her sides. 

Harper giggled, thinking all this was a game. Vanessa gave out a small laugh and tried to conceal it with her hand. 

"What?" Sherlock asked.

"I think you need a little more help than just a baby bottle and a crib.

****

With Sherlock's help, Vanessa brought over the supplies that were necessary to care for Harper and moved them into one of the empty rooms in Sherlock's flat. Harper was laying in her baby bouncer with her favorite stuffed fox.

"Now, what do you now about caring for a baby? Harper is only sixteen months, so she will need you to do a lot." Vanessa asked.

"Feed her and keep her clean." Sherlock said in an obvious tone. Vanessa rolled her eyes.

"It is more complicated than that, Sherloc-" Vanessa was cut off by the sound of Harper farting. "Well, looks like Harper is ready to teach you."

"What on earth can a baby teach me?"

"How to change a diaper." Vanessa picked Harper up and the smell of infant waste was evident. Vanessa placed Harper, gently, on the baby-changing mat. 

"No human being can make that much of a mess!" Sherlock said in disgust. Harper had pooped In her diaper, but it got on her and her clothes. Vanessa sighed at Harper's happy face. 

"Take her clothes off and clean her up. I'm going to get her bath bucket." Sherlock looked at the baby with a blank face. Harper started to cry.

Vanessa came back into the room with a green baby bath.

"Sherlock!" She scolded. "Why didn't you take her clothes off?"

"She is perfectly capable of doing it herself."

"Sherlock, she's not even two!" Vanessa stripped Harper of her one-piece outfit and wiped her down with a couple baby wipes. She hissed at the red tint on her skin. "Harper has a rash. Hand me the rash cream." Sherlock hands Vanessa a tube. "This is hemeroid cream. I am slightly concerned. Are you feeling okay, Sherlock?"

"Why do you have hemeroid cream?" Sherlock asked, clearly avoided Vanessa's quesitoning of his intelligence. 

"I was pregnant." Vanessa reached for the tube of rash cream and applied it to Harper's behind. "You have to change her diaper in a certain amount of time, or she will get rashes."

"I knew that."

"No, you didn't." The mother placed the baby in the tub and Harper calmed down. Vanessa takes the baby wash and gently rubs it onto Harper, washing any invisible bacteria. "You have to be gentle. Babies are a lot more fragile, because they are still developing."

"Okay, that I already knew." 

***

Vanessa put one scoop of baby formula into the baby bottle of hot water. She shook the bottle, mixing the mixture, and walked to Sherlock.

Sherlock, on the other hand, was holding Harper. Harper reached for something: his other hand. Sherlock, confused, gives her his free hand. To his surprise, she brought his hand to her chast and wrapped her tiny arms around it. 

"Looks like she has grown onto you." Vanessa said, putting the bottle in Harper's mouth. Sherlock was able to remove his hand from under Harper's and hold the bottle up. "Maybe just because you're her father."

"That is physically im-"

"Impossible, I know. Just let my primitive brain be."

They sat in silence while the baby drank her milk. 

Harper finished and pulled the bottle out of her mouth.

"I burp her now, right?" Sherlock asked.

"You are learning fast." Vanessa praised. 

"No, I just hated getting burped as a baby." Vanessa rolled her eyes and decided not to ask about Sherlock's memory.

Three minutes go by until the sound of a small burp was heard. Sherlock got up from his chair and into Harper's room. He placed her half-asleep body into the crip. He went to leave, but was stopped by Harper's hand wrapping around his finger. For the first time that day, he smiled. Maybe, having a child will not be that bad.