Chapter Text
John ran one hand back through his hair for the third time, bouncing Eli up and down on his knee as he tries to figure out why she was crying still.
“Come on Eli, can you stop… What do you need?” He murmured as he looked at her.
'She isn’t hurt as far as I can see. What is it?’ he thought with a small frown. Her crying was relentless, and there were a few people glaring at him.
He groaned as he kept bouncing Eli, hoping she would stop but after a few moments he gave up on that idea. John’s head fell back slowly to the grey seats of the bus, bouncing Eli still.
He stared up at the bus ceiling, then closed his eyes, sighing . ‘Oh, Mary… I wish you were still here… I need help…’
It had been roughly several months since the car crash that had claimed Mary, his wife and Eli’s mum.
A week after the incident, Eli had asked him, “when is mommy coming back?”. He didn’t know what to say, so he didn’t say anything and kept making dinner for Eli.
Later, though, as he was tucking her into bed, he answered her. "Mommy isn't going to come back, Eli." He sat on the edge of her bed and explained how she was in a cab to get something from the store when a man hit the car.
"She got hurt very badly... too badly. " He heard her sniff sadly and turned to her. "Its okay, Elizabeth. Mommy is in a better place, where she is happy. Don't be sad, Eli. She wouldn't want you to be sad, okay?"
He wiped the tear from her small cheek as she looked up at him.
"She has your eyes, nose, and ears, but she has got my beauty, John.", Mary had said one day when they were up late a night once.
As he looked at her, those words came back to him and he smiled sadly. "Mommy was right. You do have my nose. Luckily, you have her good looks, instead of my... looks."
He had put her into daycare since he still had to work at the clinic and Mary wasn’t at home to watch her.
She seemed to like it and would tell him about it as he made, or ordered, dinner.
Right now, he’d just came off from a shift and picked her up from “Suzy’s Play Pen”, before getting on their usual bus home. But, halfway there she began to wail.
She wasn’t hungry or in pain. He asked her softly about that and she shook her head before crying more.
She had been crying for twenty minutes when suddenly... she stopped. Then a loud hic , followed by Eli giggling.
John opened his eyes and blinked a few times before looking at Eli who was staring at this pale man with black curls who was smiling at her.
Before John could ask how he did it, the man hiccuped loudly and Eli started giggling, The man smiled back at her when looked up at John.
“Sorry abo- hic -t the loudness of these- hic - whatever these are.” the man said, his face turning serious to John.
“Have, um, you never had hiccups before?” John asked , his head tilting sideways.
“I may have in the past and then deleted the memory, so may-hic-be.” He replied before looking back down at Eli and smiling sweetly.
She giggled a bit and said “You look funny.”.
“Eli, don’t be rude to…” John looked up at the man.
“Sherlock. Sherlock-hic- Holmes. And Elizabeth is fine, I’ve -”
“I wathn’t being funny, Dadda. He lookth a good kind of funny. Like mommy’th hair in the mornln wath.”
Eli turned to Sherlock here and said, “Mommy is gone, but thath okay cuth Mommy ith in a better plath. thorry if i wath rude thounding and for talking like thith.”
He stared at her with a look of amusement and bafflement. Then, his expression changed to a small smile. Sherlock moved from his seat across the aisle from them to kneel infront of her.
“Its okay, Elizabeth. I’ve heard worse comments." he said, shrugging. "And the way you speak is alright. I had a lipse when I was a little boy.”
Her eyes widened and she asked in a stunned voice, “Really?” He nodded, his curls bouncing a little bit. He looked up at John and smiled bashfully. “Sorry for distracting Elizabeth. But you have quite a sweet daughter, Mr-”
“Doctah! He ith a doctah, Therlock!” Eli interrupted before flailing arms a fair bit in exclamation.
“Doctor John H. Watson, and this is Elizabeth M. Watson. Nice to meet you, Sherlock.” John said, holding his hand out for Sherlock, who took it in his own, rather larger, hand, and shook it with a small smile.
"Hey, your hiccupth are gone!" Eli said happily. Sherlock froze and blinked for a few seconds before turning to John.
"Do those just do that? Randomly go away?" John smiled and nodded. "Hm. That's strange. How does that work?"
The rest of the ride went smoothly as the group, well, mostly Sherlock and John with Eli's few outbursts here and there, chatted until the bus driver called out the stop.
Sherlock then stood up and grabbed his bags.
"Here's my stop. Lovely to meet you, Watsons. Good day."
And with a smile, he was gone. John watched him go with a small smile.
'Nice guy', he thought to himself. 'and not bad on the eyes either. Should of asked for...'
“Dada, look!” Eli said she pointed at a small piece of paper on John’s bag next to him. On it read a phone number with a note that said, ‘Sherlock Holmes, if you’re free Friday?” John smiled.
“are you in love with him, dada?” Eli asked sweetly, a tinge of excitement in her voice.
“No, Eli. We only just met, and I don't know anything about him.”
. Eli shook her head and said "So?" He just rolled his eyes and looked at the slip of paper.
"Eli, would you be okay if Friday you stay a bit longer at daycare?"