Friday, January 25, 2013

contents under pressure

Lestrade's off work today, Mycroft's coming home...and Sherlock still had to go to school. He felt, obviously, that this was monstrously unfair. He flung himself on the floor and refused to get dressed, relented only when told that if he was going to be that way he wouldn't be allowed to go along to fetch Mycroft, and got dressed as slowly as was humanly possible. I wouldn't actually have believed it was humanly possible for Sherlock until I saw it. He was like a film played at half speed. With zombie noises dubbed over the dialogue.

He made zombie noises at his toast as well. And all the way to school. I walked with him, and Lestrade stayed home to do nothing around the flat, because he ought to have a chance to do that once in a while. On the walk he gradually sped up until the zombie noises became more akin to growls and I was suddenly walking a small, bouncy wolverine to school.

School, by the way, is a wonderful invention, and all teachers deserve medals for bravery. And a pay rise.

I explained to Mrs N what she might be dealing with, apologised, and left her to herd everyone into the art room. Hopefully that'll calm him down a bit. It usually does. Maybe he'll draw something for Mycroft.

And now L and I have until afternoon to do absolutely anything we like. 

74 comments:

Thirdbird said...

I am with you on schools and teachers. Teachers especially!

Enjoy your day, my friends.

Greg Lestrade said...

think we're going for a run, then a relaxing coffee, then....well, anything else we like.

Anon Without A Name said...

Enjoy your... anything, gents :-)

Greg Lestrade said...

Think John needs a massage to get rid of the stresses of the morning...

pandabob said...

That sounds like a good idea Greg ;-)

Have a lovely day to yourselves.

Greg Lestrade said...

At the moment John is shouting at the telly. Oh, I mean, shouting at Federer and Murray - via the telly. Who knew our TV was connected to Australia? Sorry for the noise, any Aussies reading.

John H. D. Watson said...

Well... that was not the outcome I was hoping for. But better Murray than Djokovic.

Greg Lestrade said...

At least I'm here, to dry your tears...

John H. D. Watson said...

Shall we do something? You were very patient about the tennis.

Greg Lestrade said...

Yeah, let's...any idea what? Hunt down a sheep to haggis-ify?

John H. D. Watson said...

Are you serious about haggis? You backed down on the kilt...

I just had to type that three times to get it to say serious instead of stupid. My phone has strong feelings about haggis.

Greg Lestrade said...

it's up to you. And the boys. I won't be making one...but we can buy one if you wanted. Or not.

I prefer eating to looking at you in a skirt.

John H. D. Watson said...

I think, honestly, I would prefer not, unless the boys really want to. We could make something nice though? I promise to help. Or not to help if that would be better...

Greg Lestrade said...

Helping is good! We could leave some meat in a marinade while we fetch the boys?

John H. D. Watson said...

Can we have it with parsnips?

I might make that chocolate coffee gingerbread cake I made for your birthday last year. I think it was last year. I feel like reaching the end of this week requires some celebration

Greg Lestrade said...

sounds good.

As does the cake!

Because of anything special, or because this week seems to have been unnaturally trying?

John H. D. Watson said...

Unnaturally trying. Definitely.

And also because of Mycroft's visit, of course, which is always special.

Greg Lestrade said...

Yeah, he'll love it.

If this is the effect snow has on the boy then maybe we shouldn't ever go skiing...

John H. D. Watson said...

Snow, ski lifts, skis, speed...he'd exhaust himself the first day and sleep for the rest of the trip.

Greg Lestrade said...

...I'd forgotten about ski lifts. If anyone could fall out of one, it would be him. As for being exhausted....it doesn't happen often. I think speed would just fuel him up.

Found this for you, instead of a haggis, for Burns night:

How fair art thou, my bonnie lad, So deep in love am I; And I will love thee still, my dear, Till all the seas gang dry.

(had to change it a little....)

John H. D. Watson said...

Much nicer than the Address to a Haggis. :)

Greg Lestrade said...

Yeah, you're not terribly haggis like. Well, apart from being a collection of internal organs. But your wrapping is so, so much more attractive than a sheep's stomach...

(yeah, okay, Burns made for a more romantic line...)

John H. D. Watson said...

Ha! You're romantic enough for me. ;)

And if anyone is great chieftan of the pudding race around here, it's Sherlock...

Greg Lestrade said...

true.

Do we really have to pick him up from school? I mean...they could just keep him for a bit longer?

Although then they might never ever want him back... and he'd have learnt everything I have to teach him within 3 days...

John H. D. Watson said...

He'll be better after school, I'm sure. Or at least he'll be happier, if not less volatile. If he's not, you can can go and get Mycroft on your own and I'll run Sherlock around the park for a bit.

John H. D. Watson said...

Thirdbird - are you ever tempted to leave yours with the teachers? I feel like Mrs N is definitely more qualified than I am...

REReader said...

I confess that I find Sherlock's full-out immersion in whatever he's doing rather admirable--but then, I'm way over here! :)

Greg Lestrade said...

think his...immersion is only admirable when he knows when to stop. Which he doesn't, yet, or at least, not always.

And his immersion this morning was just in being a brat, mainly. Although I'm sure he'll be better now he's been at school and has a whole weekend with Mycroft.

REReader said...

Heh. :) Well, it's harder to teach that enthusiasm than reining it in--which you all are definitely doing a great job with, because he already seems a lot better at holding himself together than he was a couple of years ago. (And age can help with that, too, I think.)

Are you all going straight from his school to pick up Mycroft, or coming home first?

Kestrel337 said...

I used to be a preschool teacher, and the thing I noticed was that the kids had a VERY different relationship to me than to their families. You could watch it happen; in the classroom they were tying their own shoes but once past that door they regressed about 2 years and needed someone else to find the coat sleeve. Now I see it happen in reverse when I pick up my own children. Some days...yeah, I liked it better the other way.

pandabob said...

I hope you're having fun all together now :-)

Greg Lestrade said...

Thanks - we have boys! We have a weekend! We have cake and food!

Shaping up to be a good time.

Kestrel - Sherlock goes through phases of being incredibly determined to do everything himself, and then wanting to do absolutely nothing, claiming he 'can't'... I imagine Mrs N has to put up with similar!

REReader said...

Yay! Have a lovely weekend!

pandabob said...

What more could you need :-)

I hope you have a great time at home mycroft.

Sherlock said...

There's cake and Lestrade says John made it all by himself.

Anon Without A Name said...

Sounds like you all have a wonderful evening and weekend ahead of you :-)

(Well done with the cake, John)

John H. D. Watson said...

Thank you. I'm unreasonably proud of myself.

REReader said...

Excellent! Both that you have cake, and that you made it yourself, John! (I'm unreasonably proud of myself when I bake a cake, so I understand perfectly. ;))

Greg Lestrade said...

Not unreasonably.

Nameless - he is so talented at giving something a beating, getting it to rise, batter everywhere... very tasty ;)

Sally said...

Just caught up with your comment, John. Promise I'd only arrest you, the Boss would kill me if I did anything else! Everything by the book, right Sir?

Oh, and I'll be after some of that cake next time we're around for tea.

Greg Lestrade said...

Glad I managed to teach you something over the years ;)

Anon Without A Name said...

It's handy that you have complementary skills, what with your stuffing prowess :-)

Kestrel337 said...

Report card day for my girls. There will be cake here, too.

Have an amazing time home, Mycroft, and a great weekend to the whole clan.

Greg Lestrade said...

I think our boys might have parent's evening coming up sometime.

Nameless - yeah, it is good. He does like to spice things up more than me, though...

pandabob said...

It always seems to be parents evening, they come around so quickly I find!

Have you all been relaxing for the evening or has Sherlock had crazy plans from the word go?

I'm glad your cake was good John :-)

John H. D. Watson said...

Sally - you're too kind...

Anonybob - they do come around awfully quickly, and yeah, we do have one coming up quite soon. Sherlock had crazy plans, but Mycroft wanted relaxing, and by the end of the day Sherlock had worn himself out enough to calm down...a bit.

pandabob said...

It's lovely that Sherlock is so excited to have his brother home but it can't be easy for you and Greg to deal with especially when you're excited as well :-)

Every time parents evening comes round it reminds me just how quick Shorty is growing up, I don't like it!!

Greg Lestrade said...

I think ,sadly, Sherlock is going to have to accept Mycroft has exams to study for and can't get up to their usual amount of insanity.

pandabob said...

Exams are the worst bit of education, all that pressure on one day. Good luck with combining hard work and fun Mycroft :-)

Greg Lestrade said...

He seems quite calm...I'm hoping because he's got everything entirely under control and is confident he knows everything he needs to.

And not the reason I was calm before exams....

John H. D. Watson said...

Which was?

Greg Lestrade said...

...not doing any revision or trying at all, so I never got my hopes up of passing...

Anonymous said...

Was that because you'd abandoned all hope or because you had no intention of showing up?

Greg Lestrade said...

I did almost always show up for them... and any grade I got was a pleasant surprise, because I never really expected anything.

John H. D. Watson said...

Yeah, I was wondering if you'd decided not to go as well.

Think I was nervous about them all the way through school.

Greg Lestrade said...

Happily you didn't need any qualifications to join the force.

Although when I took my Sergeants exam I was a complete mess - first exam I'd ever been desperate to pass!

John H. D. Watson said...

You did well I assume?

Greg Lestrade said...

Passed it, yeah :)

John H. D. Watson said...

What, no little gold star?

Greg Lestrade said...

Passing was good enough! And then the long wait for there to actually be a post to be promoted into....that's when I joined D&G.

Sadly, at the moment, there are a lot of people who've passed their next rank exam, but with little movement in the force right now...they're still stuck in their old rank. I was lucky I got my stripes within 6 months.

John H. D. Watson said...

I'm very glad you did. Someone else might've been sent to Devon instead if the timing were off...

Greg Lestrade said...

Lucky they weren't essay questions, or I might never have got above constable!

Took longer to get my job as a DI, not like they come up every day.

As for Devon...we'll never know. Although I do wonder how Mrs H picked on me for it.

John H. D. Watson said...

She works in mysterious ways her wonders to perform.

Greg Lestrade said...

Mmm. Although I still suspect part of your interview involved you staring whistfully out of the window and telling her you longed to nearly be arrested by a greying old DI with tonnes of baggage and a penchant for acting like a teenager... it did, right? ;)

John H. D. Watson said...

Ha. Not quite... Though I do remember thinking it was incredibly unlikely I'd ever get a date again living out there. Maybe that was close enough...

Greg Lestrade said...

well, yeah, she can read minds.

John H. D. Watson said...

Clearly.

Greg Lestrade said...

can you read mine?

John H. D. Watson said...

Hm...are you thinking it's time for bed?

Greg Lestrade said...

I'm thinking, listening to the wind against our windows, that I'd like to be cuddled up in bed with you, yeah.

You make me feel very...safe, you know.

John H. D. Watson said...

I'm glad. You do that for me, too. Even when you're not actually here...although it's nicer in bed.

Greg Lestrade said...

When I'm not here?

John H. D. Watson said...

Yeah, just...your existence. Knowing you'll come home. That I'm not alone.

Greg Lestrade said...

need to hug you right now. c'mon.

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