I am not lonely [Mystrade]

CHAPTER 198 :Baths and chores

The Holmes-Lestrade Mansion was mostly a men's only club in some  aspect, forcing the boys to do their own cleaning and dusting from a  really young age, not being able to constantly let those task to the  women in the house which was, in Mycroft and Greg's eyes, a very good  thing, even if accidental, in bringing up responsible and considerate  boys to be the best men they could be. Lucas and Jack were usually those  in charge with setting up the table and cleaning after the dinner  whenever they were at home when Alden was in charge of checking the  laundry basket and telling his fathers when they were full, a little  task but a first step in making him do more in the future.

The  only task none of the boys would accept and that would usually fall on  Sarah's shoulder if his dad and step-dad weren't around was the bathing  of Aelane. The teenager wasn't especially bothered about the task she  had been assigned, not only because it meant not having to put the bin  out and clean the plates when Michael wasn't in the house, but also  because she literally adored the little girl, and she found the bath  time quite pleasant and relaxing.

The  toddler, who had just started attending school always had many stories  to tell her elder and Sarah liked being reminded of what it meant being  three years old and having nothing else to care for than what you were  going to have for dinner and did Jamil was still your best friend after  you had accidentally broken her favourite red pen.

The  night was already dark but none of the house grown up had been able to  finish work early and as the elders were coming back from school,  joining their half-brother and sister snow was starting to fall outside.  Alden, who was to enter primary school next fall was already starting  to read and had begged Michael to help him to follow the recipe of a  chocolate brownie he intended to bake for the dinner. Aelane was sat at the kitchen table in order to be under constant supervision, drawing with a set of sentenced pen which were fragrancing the kitchen in fruit sentences.

Leaving  her schoolwork for after the dinner as she knew she would most probably  need the help of her father or Mycroft to understand her arithmetic,  Sarah put down her school bag in the entrance and caught the little girl  up of her chair. She brought her upstairs, started filling the bathtub  and let her undress alone as she was going looking for some pyjamas.

The  bathroom was a relatively large room and allowed the teenager to have a  chair installed not far from the tub, so she could supervise her sister  without being on her knee for during the entire process but Sarah just  preferred sitting on the edge of the tub or on the floor, so she was  able to play with the little girl even if that meant ending up damped  most of the time.

"How was school today ?" the teenager asked her sister as she had settled in the water.

"We did painting and some sport !" the youngest replied, apparently very happy about it.

"Oh, what sport ?" Sarah questioned as she was putting shampoo in the toddler's hair.

"We could do running or football but I chose football." Aelane answered putting her hands on her eyes so no shampoo would come in.

"You are right, football is a champion's sport !" the teenager chuckled, enjoying the moment.

On  the ground floor the boys had settled themselves on the kitchen's table  to do their homework whilst being fed with a couple of peanut butter's  toast and a considerable amount of well-sugared tea. The ten and seven  years old were still in primary school and had just a handful of  exercises to do every day and, unlike their sister who would usually do  it at night, they wanted to get rid of it as quickly as possible.

That's  were Greg found them when he came back home a dozen of minutes later,  his already grey hair covered in snow. He kissed each of them on the  forehead and dipped his finger in the brownie's dough, making Alden  scream of anger. The detective, not unlike his sons, had always been  quite gluttonous, and he just couldn't resist anything chocolate. He was  to ask the boys how their day had been going when he heard some cries  coming from upstairs.