A Living Mystery

The Empty Bed

A/N Happy 10th chapter! Enjoy!
Btw, pretend the girl in the drawing is Eris, not Rosie😅^^^^^^^

3rd Person POV

John wiped his forehead of sweat as he got up from kneeling on the floor and dropped the tools in his hands. He looked over at Sherlock who had rolled up his shirt sleeves to help build the bed for Eris's room, John felt himself begin to stare and shook his head to clear it. "I finished my part, how about you?"

"Done." Sherlock responded simply and got up as well. They had decided to give Eris John's old bedroom after consulting Mrs.Hudson who instantly fell in love with the little girl. Right now the child sat in the living room, playing with building blocks they'd bought earlier that day. She appeared to have made a rough replica of Buckingham Palace by the time they finished their task and was pretending her old stuffed dog, that she still treasured over the new toys, was the queen.

"Eris, come look at your new room." John called. Eris looked up and joined her parents.

The walls had been painted sea green like the dress they'd found her in, a pink flower-shaped nightlight hung from the wall and a tree shaped bookshelf was nailed to a corner of the room. Various toys had been arranged here and there including multiple mystery puzzles, a doll house, a train set, and several boxes of LEGOS. Her bed was made of honey-colored wood and was set up with colorful floral bed sheets and stuffed animals of every variety. A fabric chandelier lit up the room from the center.

Eris gasped and ran all over the place curiously. John laughed and leaned against Sherlock in exhaustion, his shoulder hurt from all the manual work and it was around four in the morning.

On her second time around Sherlock scooped up Eris and placed her on the bed, handing her the new polka-dot pajamas they had picked out. "You change and go to bed, alright Eris? It's late." He explained and the little girl nodded.

She waved for them to come closer, so they leaned down and she kissed them both on the cheek "Goonight Papa. Goonight Doda."

"Goodnight." Sherlock responded, ruffling her curly hair and John kissed her on the forehead.

"Goodnight, sweetheart."

Then the two left, turning off the light but leaving the door open in case Eris was afraid of the dark. She smiled at them then walked behind the Chinese screen to change.

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In their bedroom Sherlock and John changed into their pajamas and collapsed, exhausted onto their bed. "Children take up so much energy." John groaned and snuggled close to Sherlock, who wrapped an arm around him but didn't respond.

John looked up and saw Sherlock lost in thought, his eyes flicking this way and that. The doctor watched him, looking at the focus in his expression, the set of his mouth, the light highlighting the curve of his cheekbones. There was no denying Sherlock's obvious visual appeal, he was beautiful.

But to John, the thing that had drawn him to Sherlock was the promise of an interesting time, someone he could listen to for hours, it was the thrill of something dangerous that worked like a magnet.

"-John?" He shook out of his trance and saw Sherlock looking at him oddly. "What wrong?"

John shook his head and reached up to play with Sherlock's mop of hair "It's nothing, what were you thinking about? The missing family?" He asked, dismissing Sherlock's concern.

The detective didn't press, instead he leaned into John's touch and closed his eyes. "There isn't much to go on in this case. It's very vague, even The Hounds of Baskerville had more of a trail to follow."