Sophia Holmes and the Sign of Three (Sherlock's Daughter Fanfic) *Completed*

Chapter Ten - The Sign of Three Part II

A few days later, on the morning of John and Mary's wedding, I'm woken with a start. I sit up and look at the time. 6.32. Yet there seems to be an awful lot of sirens nearby. Quickly pulling on my dressing gown, I head out to the living room, just in time to see Lestrade racing up the stairs into the flat.

"What's going on?" Lestrade asks breathlessly as I stand by the French doors to the kitchen.

Dad is sitting at the dining table looking at his laptop, his fingers pressed to his temples. "This is hard."

"What?" I ask, worried that we've been given thirty seconds to defuse a remote bomb by the way he's looking.

"Really hard. Hardest thing I've ever had to do." He lowers his hands and shows us a book. I look at him in complete disbelief as I read the title, 'How to write an unforgettable best man speech'. "Have you any funny stories about John?"

The sirens on the cars nearby screech to a halt outside, and I realise dad must have put out a pretty worrying message.

Lestrade's expression is one of complete disbelief. "What?!"

Putting the book down, dad looks up at him. "I need anecdotes," he says, then double-takes when he notices his expression. "Didn't go to any trouble, did you?"

Lestrade stares at him, still breathing heavily and possibly also seething. Outside, an ambulance has just arrived, and a helicopter sounds pretty low overhead. Whatever it was dad sent him, Lestrade seemed to think it was worth maximum back-up, so I'm pretty sure he's not going to be too happy right now.

Dad's eyes shift sideways as he becomes aware of the noise outside, and the curtains in the open window behind him billow inwards as the helicopter hovers lower. As dad looks around, the curtains knock  some sheet music off its stand.

Lestrade closes his eyes in exasperation. "Anecdotes? Was that all this was about?"

"Yes..." dad answers slowly, frowning. "What did you think this was about?"

Footsteps sound on the stairs behind and soon after, armed officers appear behind him. "Sherlock, I was seconds away from closing down the biggest organised crime gang in a century!"

"The Waters gang?" I ask. "You caught them?"

Lestrade grits his teeth. "Not personally." He turns to dad. "Look, if you want funny stories, just tell them about the Stag. That should keep 'em laughing." Lestrade turns away and confronts the team behind him. "Sorry fellas. False alarm."

As the police retreat, I go over to join dad at the table. "So what did you send him?"

"All I did was ask for help," dad grumbles.