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Sherrinford Holmes is not as brilliant as his brothers. He never was and he never will be.
Sherrinford Holmes likes to read the same books as they do, he is doing well at school, he can remember things quite good but he does not have a mind palace.
Sherrinford Holmes likes to spend time with his parents, he adores their Christmas celebrations, the fireplace, the decorations, the food and his brothers bickering over the table, the smell of cigarettes smoked in secret in their breath and the absolute loathing of holidays and human family matters in their voice and eyes.
Sherrinford Holmes likes his family, he loves his brothers even though they are so much unlike him. And how he wanted to be one of them he can never be, he is too much unlike them. But still, he keeps an eye on Sherlock when he is recovering, when Mycroft practically drags him into rehab and lies to their parents about Sherlock's whereabouts even though all of them know that Mummy can see through everyone in seconds and that her sons can't have secrets. Mothers know.
Sherrinford Holmes is excited when Mycroft asks his help in a "small gouvernment matter". He is not one of the well known, almost infamous Holmes brothers. He does not lead the gouvernment, fly helicopters on the weekend or fight crooks near the river Themse. Nobody will even notice him. And he is a Holmes, he might not be as brilliant as his brothers, but he knows his way around the Gouvernment and around those who would like to sink a blade into his back when he's not looking.
Sherrinford Holmes is not stupid. Mycroft, however, at least in Sherlock's eyes, is.
Sherrinford Holmes is shot on the 7th of September 1999 by a man who has found out about his connections to Mycroft Holmes, exactly half an hour before the time Sherlock has calculated and he falls, wondering if his brothers will be there in time.
Sherrinford Holmes is mourned by his family, leaving a fiancée, his parents and two brothers behind to wonder what has gone wrong, why anyone would try to harm the Holmes family and what they will do now.
Sherrinford Holmes awakes on the 9th of September in an unlisted hospital to his two brothers sitting in the room, talking - no - fighting quietly with a number on his patient file instead of a name and a whole new past and future to remember.
Sherrinford Holmes knows he will never be able to see his parents again, he knows, Mummy will cry and Father will try to soothe her in his choked voice and there won't be any Holmes Christmases anymore with fireplaces and food and his brothers bickering and the smell of cigarettes in their breath.
Sherrinford Holmes moves to another part of London. He gets a new family, Gouvernment agents, Mycroft's finest. He does not have two brothers here, he has a brother and a sister and although his older brother is in fact, working for the Gouvernment, he couldn't be further away from being big brother Mycroft. His "new mother" is kind. She is the epitome of a good mother. She makes tea and chats about the children of the neighbourhood who have long stopped being children. She is looking after her little loves, a widow who only wants the best for her kids.
Sherrinford Holmes loves her for being who she is. She might not be his mother, but she makes things better when he is missing his family too much.
Sherrinford Holmes gets a small job that doesn't pay and even though a company that doesn't exist pays every bill in his book every week, he gets a side job to "get by", because he might not be his brother's, but he is a Holmes. He is not stupid.
Sherrinford Holmes meets his coworkers, such a colourful and strange group of people he KNOWS that they can't work for Mycroft. He loves them instantly.
And so...
Martin Crieff, former - no, never - Sherrinford Holmes steps out of his little attic in a Student's shared home, gets into a cab and sits silently while he drives to Fitton Airfield. As he enters the "office", he hears Carolyn and Douglas bicker about something probably not very important. Arthur greets him cheerily and hands him an absolutely afwul coffee and chats away about things nobody is really interested in. Douglas makes a remark about "Sir's" absolutely atrocious hat and Martin retorts that a proper airline captain should be seen in uniform at all times while he is on duty, because it is the right and professional thing to do. Douglas laughs and Arthur says something completely unrelated, so nonsensical that every Holmes in his presence would have been insulted to have to listen to such stupidity.
But Sherrinford Holmes, now Martin Crieff just laughs, scoffs and tells Arthur that no, messenger pidgeons do not TELL the people the message they are carrying because no matter how brilliant messenger pidgeons are, they are not capable of the human language.
Sherrinford Holmes has lost his family. He has an ugly scar of being shot right under his left shoulder blade. He can never talk to his brothers without an incredibly complicated and safe set up and he will probably never see Mummy and Father again.
But he closes his eyes, hears Arthur's laugh and the bickering coming from his Boss and his First Officer and he hears other voices bickering, two Holmes brothers, too smart for their own good insulting each other in incredibly well veiled friendly conversation, he hears Mummy scoff and tell them that it is Christmas and they should behave, just once a year. He feels the warmth of the fireplace, sees red and green decorations and smells the cigarette smoke in his brothers' breaths Mummy is never allowed to know about and he smiles.
Sherrinford Holmes is home.