The End
The warm air, the bright sun shining in the cloudless sky with the sound of the little birds chirping in the background is all too serene for a graveyard some would say but others would disagree. Some portray these places as haunted and full of ghosts who traipse this world only at night. But. If you think about it logically, a graveyard is a place of rest for the dead and where would you rather rest, in a serene setting like this or some disturbing setting that can only be found in your deepest nightmares?
Juliet Holmes looks at her uncle's tombstone with a mixture of feelings in her stomach; it has been a month since the terrible ordeal and after weeks of grieving, avoiding any responsibility she has made a life changing decision. She smirks as she read the message engraved on the tombstone: He will never be forgotten. It was her idea, Sherlock agreed mainly so he didn't have to think of anything better while Mycroft just snarled and said something along the lines of "well that's for sure" before he got back to his paperwork of all the loose ends Sherrinford conveniently hadn't tied up.
"You know this is the best thing to do...right Sherlock?" John looks up to the high functioning sociopath who hums in response as he continues to watch his daughter from afar. Sherlock didn't know exactly how he felt when Juliet burst into the living room that day with her acceptance letter from one of the most prestigious boarding schools in the country. Surprise. Happiness. Betrayal. He knew nothing of her application yet he was still pleased for her. She is using the money Sherrinford had left her in his will to pay, she had it all planned out. "Yes, this is what's best for both you and Juliet."
"I am sure you're right John." He states and the blogger almost has to have that statement repeated, it is rare that Sherlock agrees with him which shows that something is wrong.
"This way she can get the best education and can do whatever she wants with her life." He pauses, "And you can get back to be the world's only consulting detective again. Without any distractions." Sherlock hums again and watches his daughter place the flowers on his brother's grave. "Besides, you aren't exactly father material."
"Which one of us is the quickest to work out what your child wants when she cries?" Sherlock sarcastically asks.
"Not the point." He replies as the baby Watson stars to stir and cry in the pushchair.
"She needs feeding."
"I know." John grumbles as he leans down to retrieve the bottle of milk out of the baby bag.
"No you didn't." Sherlock scrunches up his nose, "You were about to check if she needed changing. I saw you preparing to take a sniff." He continues to taunt but the blogger ignores him and begins to bottle feed his child just a Juliet starts to walk towards them. "You ready?" Sherlock asks and she nods although she looks unsure.
"I will leave you two to it." John speaks up before he pushes the pram away leaving the father and daughter to talk.
There are few moments of silence until Sherlock takes a deep breath with a quick sigh and says just four words. "I will miss you." Juliet looks up at her father with her deep blue eyes and smiles as a tear starts to fall down her cheek. "I know at first I wasn't doing so well at the being a father thing but I hope now you see that I care a lot about you. You are my daughter and I will always do what I can do protect you." He places his hand delicately on her arm. "I missed sixteen years of your life, I don't want to miss anymore." She sniffles. "So when you come home for the holidays I want to hear about everything, every little detail of your time at school. The good and the bad. The exams and the socialising. What friends you make, and I know that there will be many... boyfriends or girlfriends... depending on which way you... go? Oh and of course the enemies." He chuckles briefly.
"What?" She questions suspiciously.
"When I first met John he told me that there weren't enemies in real life, then he met James Moriarty." He smirks slightly but then frowns when he sees the worried look on his daughter's face. "What is it?" He speaks softly.
"I am scared." Her eyes continue to water as more and more tears cascade down her face, "What if he finds me?"
"He will find you." He says thoughtfully, "But he wouldn't dare lay a finger on you, not when I'm around." She throws her arms around him tight and grips on like this is the last time they would ever speak. She has come so far. Escaping Mycroft's lair, finding her father, living with a psychopath, witnessing brutal murder... three times and now she is going off to school. It is a strange order of events.
"I will miss you too." She mumbles into his belstaff coat; he kisses the top of her head with a smile. John grins to himself as he watches the scene unfold in front of him, maybe high functioning sociopaths do have a heart? Although he knows, underneath everything, Sherlock Holmes is not a sociopath. He was just someone who needed love.
"So after you receive top grades-" Sherlock pulls back, "You can then do whatever you want with your life."
"I want to be a detective." She speaks honestly making Sherlock smile proudly.
"Of course you do." He holds out his arm for Juliet to take and she does so gracefully. "But I am graduate chemist, maybe you should have something to fall back on? Anyway chemistry is actually quite useful."
"Something to fall back on?" She questions as they approach the sleek, black Jaguar which will be taking her to the school. She unlinks her arm from his, "Are you saying that I wouldn't make a good detective William Sherlock Scott Holmes?" She taunts. Sherlock mutters something under her breath about killing Mycroft later on due to him divulging his full name when he realises something.
"Wait." She pauses for a moment with the door open behind her ready for her to enter the vehicle. "I can't believe I don't know this...but what is your middle name?" He furrows his brow as she grins at him.
"Sherlock of course." He stops, completely shocked as she sits herself into the car and the door is shut behind her. She opens the window and continues to beam at her father who still seems dumbfounded by this revelation.
"Really?" He gasps after what seems like an eternity (especially for Mycroft's driver who is sitting in the front of the car).
"Yes really." She giggles, "We all know that Sherlock is actually a girl's name." John chuckles making his presence apparent to Sherlock who clears his throat due to embarrassment. "I'd better go, don't want to be late for enrolment. Bye dad."
"Goodbye Juliet, call me when you arrive." She nods as the car drives arrive with the waving Juliet Holmes in the back seat.
When the car is a good distance away from the graveyard, away from Sherlock and John, Juliet shuts the window and sits back in her seat. When the silence of the journey becomes too much she reaches for a rucksack for her iPod because it is times like this that a little Fall Out Boy would ease her nerves. She rummages around in her bag when she finds a small black box tied with gold ribbon with a small label attached. She picks it up with a confused expression on her face but she smiles when she reads the label:
To Juliet,
With love,
Dad x
P.S. Thought this would come in handy
She pulls at the ribbons and wriggles the box out of the strands before removing the lid. She gasps as her free hand covers her mouth in wonder. A magnifier. Just like the one her father owns apart from this one has her initials engraved in the glass.
He knew she wanted to be like him. A detective. Of course he knew.
Sherlock Holmes knows everything.
A/n this is the end of this book!!!
Thank you so much everyone to all your support :) I have really enjoyed writing this book and have been overwhelmed at the response. Some of you guys in particular are fantastic and you know who you are :)
It has taken me so long to put up this chapter because I didn't want this adventure to end. I have fell in love with this character I have created more than I have for any of my other books actually... and there are a lot of them!
So thank you once again for your outstanding support and maybe one day there will be a sequel but definitely not yet. I am going to focus on my other fanfictions, get some of them finished before I start any more! (I also have an original book which I would be very pleased if you would go and check out).
My plan of action for writing as a whole is to pace myself, I have just started my A Levels and I have mocks coming up and all that jazz so that is my priority but I love my writing and wouldn't stop it for the world.
Please comment your thoughts not only on this chapter but on this book as a whole as it would mean a lot!!!
Thank you :) <3
~Mae
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