I am not lonely [Mystrade]

CHAPTER 161 :What a good evening are we going to have

Sarah was comfortably installed in one of the living room's sofa,  vaguely gazing at the show on the telly. Her mind was preoccupied by her  father's attitude at the moment. From the outside, all seemed exactly  is it always was.  He was still a caring and loving man with high moral values and strong  opinions. But when you looked at him in the eyes, in was just like they  were a little blur, like if the sparkle of joy that you would usually  see there was gone. That state of gloominess seemed to amplify whenever  Mycroft was around.

Of course, you could argue that it wasn't her  role to preoccupied about what was going on between her father and the  official, but she couldn't help but worry about it. After all, she had  never seen her dad happier than since he had started dating his husband,  and she herself had a lot of consideration for the older Holmes,  willingly defending him whenever someone around her would make remarks  about him or his relationship to her father.

Alas, she was only  fourteen, and she had no idea what to do to sort out the situation.  Never would have she dared asking her father about what was going wrong,  both of them being way too bashful to have that kind of conversation.  It was also completely out of order to ask her step-father about it, no  one in his right mind would have asked Mycroft Holmes to talk about his  feeling and resentment if they weren't in a death or life situation.

Fed  up with herself for not having any idea and satiated with the noise the  telly was making, the girl resolved to retire for the night. She kissed  her dad good night and made her way to her bedroom upstairs. She was in  the middle of the stairs when she suddenly had an illumination.  Quietly, not to attract anyone's attention, she moved down the stairs  and joined the kitchen.

As expected, Michael was sat at the table, peeling some apples for tomorrow's breakfast's applesauce.  He looked up as he heard Sarah entering the room, a smile like a  question mark displayed on his face. It wasn't rare that one of the  children would pay him a visit before going to bed ans ask one for a  glass of milk and the other for a little cookie or treat. Although, this  time, the young girl grabbed herself a chair and took a deep breath  before popping her question.

"Michael, I know it's not strictly your duty, but may I ask you a favour ?" she asked, a bit unease.

"Of course, go on, it can't be that terrible." the man smiled, never stopping peeling his apple.

"Are you aware of a fight of any kind between my dad and Mycroft those last days or week ?" she quickly demanded, as if the words were burning her tongue.

"I  wouldn't interfere in your father and Mr Holmes' business if I were you  miss ... I know it can be hard, but they are grown up and I'm sure  whatever you think is between them will go away as quickly as it came." the cook upbraided gently.

""I  know, but it would just make me feel better if I knew that they had had  an argument than not knowing what make my dad look sad ..." Sarah pleaded, her head slightly unbalanced and pulling out her puppy eye.

"Promise me you won't try to do anything and won't mention it to anyone, not even to your dairy ?" Michael retorted, thorn between comforting the teenager and letting his boss and his partner deal with their business.

"Cross my heart, hope to die if I do tell a lie." she swore, showing up all of her fingers.

"They did have a fight a couple of weeks ago and your father had to leave the house for a night." the young man sighed, not believing what he was doing. "Now, don't ask me anything more and beware if I learn you've told anyone. Come on, hush, hush !"

Sarah  smiled thankfully and hurried upstairs, both satisfied and worried  about what she had just learnt. She had no idea that it wasn't the first  time that her dad had to leave the house after an argument, nor did she  knew about the circumstances of the fight, but she knew that it must  have been pretty serious and it was, in her eyes, a good enough reason  to her father's state.