Childhood Memories

Chapter 34

Lily felt fireworks go off in her stomach when Sherlock leaned down and placed a sweet kiss on her cheek. This is what she had waited for, but it wasn't what she thought it would be.

The love she had for him as a child had shifted. She had been held in Sherrinford, she had been by Eurus faithfully, and she had come here to bring him back to the rock. Though, she couldn't find it in herself to care about that anymore.

Her mind had been set free, she had landed safely on earth, and her love for Sherlock grew into something not obsessive but real. This wasn't love she had held onto for years, this was love she had now, in his arms.

She kissed him back, and he tugged her closer tipping her head back and then pulling away with a light breath.

"I couldn't stop myself," He whispered.

"I wouldn't have stopped you anyway."

Lily looked around and realized they were no longer dancing. But her eyes strayed to the lights shining on a violin, "Aren't you supposed to play?"

Sherlock groaned and pulled her closer, "Don't ruin the moment, love."

She laughed lightly and let herself stay in his arms for a few more seconds before she forced him to go up and play his song for the night. And it was beautiful. His eyes had found hers in the crowd, and the room seemed to dim. Even though the music was meant for John and Mary, she found herself taking the music for herself.

"Ladies and gentlemen, just, er, one last thing before the evening begins properly. Apologies for earlier. A crisis arose and was dealt with. More importantly, however, today we saw two people make vows. I've never made a vow in my life, and after tonight I swear - no, I won't say another one for a while. So here in front of you all, my first vow. Mary and John: I swear I will always be there, always, for all three of you."

Lily looked at him confused, when he caught her eyes he quickly spoke to rephrase, "Er, I'm sorry, I mean, I mean two of you. All two of you. Both of you, in fact. I've just miscounted."

Lily didn't hear the rest of his speech as she quickly ran over to Mary and John, "Mary!"

Sherlock joined them soon after, "Sorry, that was one more deduction than I was expecting."

Mary looked at him, "Deduction?"

Lily looked at her before it all clicked, "Pregnant..."

Mary turned to her with wide eyes, "What?"

"You're pregnant, Mary."

John looked between the three of them, "How did he notice before me? I'm a bloody doctor."

"It's your day off," Sherlock responded.

"It's your day off," John argued.

Lily looked between them, "Stop panicking."

"I'm not panicking, Lily." John snapped.

Mary looked at all of them though, "I'm pregnant - I'm panicking!"

"Well you don't need much help, won't need us anymore," Lily said, but her eyes were downcast and the thoughts were clear around her to the three of them: You don't need me now that you have your own child.

"Lily-" Mary said, "You will always be our daughter,"

Lily knew that, she knew Mary knew that Lily knew that. The old memories crawled out at the rejecting families when they learned they were going to have a kid on their own. The memories of her mother leaving, of her father leaving.  

Memories of never being the one someone loved - the memories of Sherlock forgetting.

She turned and stalked off through the crowd. It wasn't long before she was standing in the middle of the road under the moon and heard footsteps catch up to her.

"I know now," Sherlock whispered.

Lily turned back to him, "What do you mean?"

"An orphan. One who grew up always wanting to be something to others because she was never someone to the two people who should have loved you from the beginning."

Lily just stared at him.

"You are still their daughter. And even if you might be an older child, you mean something to me." Sherlock said.

Lily watched him walk toward her and let his hand drift over he cheek, "Would you like to leave."

I love you. She begged to scream it, but she couldn't go there yet. So she smiled at him and placed a hand over his, "I'd like to leave very much."