Epilogue

"Mummy?"

Joan hummed in acknowledgement, not looking away from her task – combing Adriana's wildly-curling hair into a ponytail.

Sherlock's prediction had been far more accurate than Joan would ever have thought. Aside from the dark, curly hair and the hazel eyes that were closer to Sherlock's blue-green-grey than Joan's brownish-green, Adriana looked almost exactly the way Joan had at her age. Though Joan did suspect her daughter would eventually be taller than her, in spite of the fact Adriana had inherited Joan's stocky body rather her father's more slender build.

"Why's the sky blue? I asked Daddy but he said he'd deleted it."

Joan was pretty sure she knew this. "Light refracts, Addy, and-"

"What does 'refrects' mean?"

"It's 'refracts', and that means it bends-"

"How?"

Like most six year olds, Adriana was endlessly curious, and it was only exacerbated by the fact that she saw Sherlock constantly performing experiments about the flat. Most questions posed to her father, from 'what does chalk taste like?' to 'do snakes blink?' were answered with 'let's find out', and on the rare occasion when Adriana was curious about a subject Sherlock had deemed unimportant, his staple response was 'I've deleted it – ask your mother'.

"Tell you what," Joan began, striking a compromise. "After school, I'll hunt up Daddy's prism and show you how light refracts, how's that?"

Adriana stuck out her lip in a pout. "Why not now?"

"Because now you have to go to school," Sherlock broke in, coming in from the kitchen with a packed bag. "And you will, as soon as Joan's finished."

Joan used a bright blue elastic band to secure Adriana's hair, tugging gently to ensure it settled without pain.

"There we are!" she declared, brushing a quick kiss over her daughter's temple. "Now off you go."

"Thanks, Mummy, bye, Mummy!" Adriana half-yelled as she grabbed hold of Sherlock's hand and pulled him out the door.

Joan took Adriana to school on Thursdays and Tuesdays – those days when she wasn't scheduled at the clinic – while Sherlock took her on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, so Joan had the rest of the morning to get ready for work.

Of course, she and Sherlock still went careening down the streets of London now and then, with Sarah or Mrs. Hudson or even Mycroft serving as a babysitter, but in general it was all very frighteningly domestic. Joan had never pictured anything like this when she went into medical school, and now...this was her life.

And god help her, but she wouldn't trade it for the world.

xx

AN: Thanks so much to ginbitch, who beta-d this monster for me!