The Game is On

Two Dads Two Girls

"So you can pick them up tomorrow?"

"Yes, not a problem."

Gina and Amanda were almost bubbling over with excitement.

"Good," the receptionist took the filled-out sheet of paper from them, "They'll be ready and waiting out here tomorrow, at 12:30 PM."

"Good."

"Sherlock, will we have the room ready by then?"

"Of course. I already contacted Mycroft. Not surprisingly the 5k is already in my bank account. I also requested help from Lestrade, Mrs. Hudson, Donovan and Anderson. You, Donovan and Anderson will get the furniture while me, Lestrade and Mrs. Hudson work out the room and 221C."

"Okay."

John got dropped off near a furniture outlet where Donovan and Anderson were already reluctantly waiting. Sherlock then continued home and met Mrs. Hudson and Lestrade outside 221B.

"So how much for the downstairs flat?"

"I'll give you an extra discount Sherlock."

"Great! I'll rent that and although it won't be fixed up by tomorrow we'll get working on that. In the meantime, let's move my stuff out of my room. Greg, help me with that. Mrs. Hudson, get the flat itself looking presentable enough for their arrival."

With that, Sherlock whisked inside, followed closely by Lestrade.

"Okay, what do you want moved?"

"Papers, files, work things of importance in this corner, clothes in this corner, and bedsheets and pillows here. The bed frame and cabinets we can sell. That should get us a good 1,000 euros."

Lestrade began stripping the sheets and blankets off Sherlock's former bed, kicking dust up into the air. He folded and piled everything where Sherlock instructed, topping it with the two white pillows.

"What about the mattress?"

Sherlock, who'd been sorting through papers, threw a book over his shoulder and replied, "Keep it. Could be useful."

Lestrade left the mattress for the moment and moved on to fold and pile Sherlock's clothes.

"Done!" Sherlock declared. He'd stacked his books in one spot, his papers in one, and his folders in another.

For once, things looked relatively clean.

Just then, a moving truck pulled up. John, Anderson and Donovan filed out and opened the back, taking out boxes, beds, bags, and a small chair, desk, couch...

"Sherlock!" John called from downstairs. His partner came down the stairs to meet him.

"I need to put my old furniture away to sell. You guys do that."

John led Donovan and Anderson up to Sherlock's room, attempting to bring old furniture to the truck.

Lestrade picked up the pile of bedsheets, blankets and pillows and brought them to the stairwell. Sherlock brought his clothing upstairs to John's room.

"Where exactly are we supposed to keep all this?" John noted as he saw all the papers, books and folders.

"Just store everything in a big room we won't need down at 221C. New storage space."

John began helping Sherlock move things down to a large room, could be used as a bedroom, in 221C.

"Two bedrooms here. We can use one for storage, the other as a...Computer room?"

"Good idea."

"There's also another kitchen down there. I suppose I can move my experiments there, and it can be more of a science lab."

"Finally, we can keep food in our kitchen."

"We'll have to fix up the floors, walls, doors, bathroom, plumbing..."

"Okay. Now, the girls' room need sweeping. Let's go."

After many long hours of fixing up, the room was, at last, ready. A fluffy magenta carpet was in the centre of the room, and the beds were on either side, one purple and one pink.

They moved in a desk, and a brand-new desktop computer.

Sherlock moved his experiments to the 221C kitchen, and they both cleared some of the clutter and for the first time realized how much space they really had in their flat.

It wasn't until 11:53 PM that they finally finished all necessary preparations.

After getting into pajamas and climbing into bed, John finally asked:

"Sherlock, how did you get them all to help us?"

"Mrs. Hudson and Lestrade will do just about anything I ask of them, and Lestrade can make Donovan and Anderson do anything he asks. Easy."

John gave Sherlock a quick kiss, "Goodnight."

"Goodnight, John."

In the morning, they got dressed as they normally would, ate the little breakfast they had, drank tea, and checked that everything was ready.

By 12:14 PM, they hailed a cab and left for the orphanage.

They arrived at 12:27 PM.

The girls wore little orphanage uniforms, holding their suitcases, huge smiles on their faces.

"Over time, we'll have to buy them more clothes and enroll them in school."

"School, yes."

"Because we certainly can't teach them ourselves."

"Why not?"

"Sherlock, you don't even know the Earth goes around the sun. They need a school."

Amanda ran up and hugged John, "Hi daddy John!"

John's eyes widened, and his mouth stayed partially open, but soundless. Sherlock suppressed a laugh, until Gina hugged him, too.

"Hi, girls," they both said.

"Just fill out this final sheet and you're free to go."

The pair signed the sheet and thanked the lady.

"Ready to go to Baker Street?"

"Are you kidding??" Gina squealed, "I've waited my whole life for that!"

"Let's go, then!"

Sherlock smiled deviously, knowing the surprise him and John had planned.

Lestrade had a police car parked outside.

Once they neared it, the pair grabbed handcuffs and bound the girls' hands.

"You're under arrest for being too cute. Get in the car!"

The girls giggled as Sherlock helped them in the car and got in the front seat. John took their bags and piled them in the back, joining them in the back seat.

Lestrade, smiling, drove off to the girls' new home.