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John tucks Rosie into her bed, the one upstairs that used to be his, and gives her a kiss on the forehead. “Goodnight, sweetheart.”
He clicks off the light, but Rosie startles, “Story!”
“Oh, did I forget your story?”
It’ll take forever for her to go to sleep, now. She’ll stay in her room for a reasonably long while, enough time for both John and Sherlock to fall asleep in their own bed downstairs, then they’ll hear her soft footsteps down the hall, then in their bedroom, and she’ll climb into the bed between them and neither of them will stop her.
John moves across the room to remove his published version of Sherlock’s cases from the bookshelf, pulls up a chair, turns on the lamp, sits, and opens the book.
He doesn’t actually read the book to her, the content much too inappropriate for a 4 year old. But he changes up the story each time, and he’s convinced her that the words on the pages are actually different each time.
“Oh, let’s see…,” John begins. “Once upon a time, there was a warrior prince, and he was very sad.
‘I need a friend,’ he said to his kingdom.
‘I know someone!’ a man yelled from the crowd.
So the warrior prince followed him to the stables, where he met a knight in shining armour. The two quickly became the best of friends. They did everything together, like to eat, and play, and ride the horses.
The warrior prince soon found himself falling in love with the knight. He told him so, and the knight told the warrior prince he loved him back.
But there was a man, an evil man,” and here John leans forward and makes a face at Rosie, who pulls the covers up to her face and half hides, but John can hear her giggling. “Who was jealous of the warrior prince. The evil man wanted the knight all for himself. So he had the knight killed.”
“No!” Rosie bolts up. “You’re telling it wrong!”
“Oh?”
“He has to marry the prince! He can’t die!”
“Oh, well, I’ll just stop reading then if you don’t like the story—”
“No, keep going!” Rosie’s voice is high and pleading.
John smiles and continues. “The warrior prince was very sad. He locked himself in his room and didn’t eat or sleep.
‘I will never love again,’ he said to himself.
Two years later, the warrior prince met a lady, and they got engaged to be married. But he didn’t love her. He still loved the knight.
‘He’ll come back to me,’ he said.
But what the warrior prince didn’t know was that the lady had been sent by the evil man, and that she was planning to kill the warrior prince on their wedding night.”
Rosie gives a small gasp.
“So on their wedding day, the warrior prince repeated to himself: ‘My knight will come back to me. My knight will come back to me.’
Late that evening, when the warrior prince and the lady were about to be wed, the door burst open and in came the knight!”
“See!” Rosie injects.
John smiles but keeps going. “‘Stop!’ said the knight. ‘You do not love the warrior prince as I do, and you plan to murder him this very evening!’
The knight and the lady fought valiantly. But, in the end, the knight won and the lady was taken away.
‘My knight!’ said the warrior prince. ‘You have saved me! I love you so!’
‘My love!’ replied the knight. ‘I have vanquished the evil man who wished us ill. We can live together in peace, wherever you so choose.’
‘I choose wherever you are, my knight.’
And they kissed, and it was the most pure kiss in the whole of history.”
John closes the book. “The end.”
“That’s it ?” Rosie demands.
“Yup.”
“Can’t be!”
“I’ve read you your story, now it’s time for bed.” John replaces the chair and the book while Rosie pouts. “I love you, sweetheart.” And he presses another firm kiss to her forehead. “Goodnight.”
“Love you, too.”
John turns off the lamp and smiles into the dark, clicking her door closed.
“A warrior prince and a knight? Really, John?” Sherlock says from the shadows.
“Jesus Christ, announce yourself!” John sighs. “Don’t make fun.”
Sherlock moves into John’s space and wraps him in his arms. “No, never. I think it’s quite charming.”
“Shut up,” but it’s muffled into Sherlock’s shoulder.
“Come on, my warrior prince. Let’s go to bed.”
John giggles. “Of course, my knight.”
And they go.