The sister... [Recently edited]

Chapter 15 - And Sleep [EDITED]

Sherlock POV

I was warm.

Comfortable.

Safe.

It took me a moment to realise why.

My head was resting on someone's lap.

Gentle fingers were running through my curls.

Mykala.

She'd stayed.

Somehow, despite everything I'd done, she'd stayed long enough to make sure I'd slept.

I hadn't slept like that in years.

No nightmares.

No racing thoughts.

No endless deductions.

Just...

Peace.

I slowly opened my eyes.

The blanket was tucked neatly around me.

A mug of coffee sat on the table, now cold.

The flat was tidy.

Too tidy.

She'd been here.

I sat up, rubbing the sleep from my eyes.

Then my mind drifted back to the restaurant.

The children.

The little boy with the dark curls.

The little girl with those piercing blue eyes.

The way they'd clung to Mykala.

The way she'd stepped between them and me.

Had she moved on?

Were they someone else's?

Why couldn't I stop thinking about them?

Voices drifted through the flat.

John.

Mykala.

...Mother?

I frowned.

Why was Mother here?

Curiosity won.

Quietly, I padded towards the kitchen, stopping just outside the doorway.

"...he deserves to know."

Mother.

"I know."

Mykala.

"He has a right to know."

"I know."

"So tell him."

A long silence.

"I can't."

Mother sighed.

"Mykala..."

There was that tone.

The one that had silenced Mycroft and me since childhood.

"If you leave this house today without telling my son the truth, I shall tell him myself."

Silence.

My pulse quickened.

The truth?

"What truth?" I asked as I stepped into the kitchen.

Every head turned.

John looked as though he'd been caught stealing.

Mother simply folded her arms.