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John walked into the kitchen as he was looking over a note Hamish handed him before he ran up the stairs into his room to change and begin on his schoolwork. Reading it over he stopped, “Sherlock, our son is having trouble in school.” He explained as he finished reading the note from Hamish’s teacher Ms. Wallace.
“What kind of problem?” Sherlock asked as he made a note about something he was looking at. He was only half listening John could tell.
“He can’t see the board.” John told him as Sherlock stared into his microscope. He waited as it began to register with him. Holding the note John waited for his long fingers to take it from his own.
Sherlock finally looked up from the microscope and turned to John. “Who said this?” Sherlock grabbed the note from John’s hand and began to read it.
Sitting down next to his husband at the kitchen table John went to answer his question, “His teacher she said that he has stopped answering questions and when she asked him why, he said it’s because the board is blurry to him.” John went on to tell Sherlock. He knew how much Hamish education meant to Sherlock.
“I’m sure it’s not that bad.” Sherlock said setting the note down and looking at his husband. Sherlock knew that teachers liked to make things sound more serious than they actually were in real life. At least that is what his teachers did with his parents.
John rolled his eyes. “Being in denial will not do Hal any good.” He told him as he got up to put the kettle on. “If he needs glasses, then he needs glasses.”
Sherlock put his hands on the table, pushing his chair out the four legs sliding across the tile floor. Standing up he pulled down his suit jacket. “I will see if this is true,” he told John turning as he headed out of the kitchen and up the steps to their son’s room.
John rolled his eyes; Sherlock was going to conduct an experiment on Hamish to see if he actually needs glasses. John had long ago given up fighting the, ‘our child is not a toy you can’t use to experiment on’ lecture for Sherlock seemed to smile and nodded as his words went in one ear and right out the other.
Once his cup of tea was done and ready John took the mug and headed over to his chair. Setting the cup on the side table, he grabbed the morning paper he was unable to read it this morning, and took a seat. Waiting. After a few moments John heard Sherlock’s feet descending on the steps. Saying nothing he waited till Sherlock stood right in front of him and said. “Our son needs has poor eyesight. It’s not even close to 20/40.”
John looked up from the paper and at him. “So in English you are telling me that he needs glasses.”
“It would appear so,” Sherlock told him as he turned and headed into the kitchen to finish working on his experiment.
Standing up from his chair, John set the paper next to his un-drunk tea and walked into the kitchen. “I’ll call tomorrow for an appointment.” Looking down as Sherlock seemed to be pouting. “It’s not the end of the world Hamish needing glasses.
“Still,” Sherlock said as he looked up at John. “What six years old wants glasses?” he asked John. John walked over to the fridge and looked inside; he opted for getting the usual takeaway for dinner. He called up and got them some Chinese and then went up to see Hal. He knocked on his door and walked on in. “Dinner will be here soon.” He told him.
Hamish looked up from the fort he had built out of his bed sheets. “What did your Papa do?” John asked as he sat down on the floor and looked at Hamish. Hamish pulled Author up to his face. John tilted his head at him.
“I don’t need glasses I can look harder at the board in school.” Hamish said as he looked up behind Arthur. “Please Dad don’t make me get them.”
John looked at his son; “It’s nothing bad, you’re Papa and I will be with you the entire-” John stopped and looked at his son. “Hal, you don’t think that the eye doctor is going to hypnotize you are you?”
Hamish just looked at his dad. “How do you know that they won’t?” he asked his Dad.
John smiled as he put a hand on his son’s knee and looked at him as he set his head down and looked at his Dad. “Because she is a very nice lady, and not Count Olaf.” John said smiling warmly at his son. Hamish emerged from his sheet fort and sat on the edge of his bed; he slid off his bed and took his Dad’s hand as they headed down to the kitchen.
“But Dad remember that Count Olaf was the receptionist, the eye doctor was just working for him,” Hamish reminded him as he watched his bare feet walk down the faded white steps.
“Either way, we are free from Count Olaf,” he laughed as they walked into the kitchen. Hamish headed into the bathroom to wash his hands as John grabbed his wallet to get money for their dinner.
~~~
The appointment was a week later. Hamish nervously held on to his dad’s hand as John lead him to the eye doctor. Sherlock following close behind. The receptionist smiled as John walked up to the desk. “Good morning.”
“Morning,” John told her as Sherlock stood next to him and glanced down at Hamish. “We have an appointment for Hamish Watson-Holmes.” He told her.
The receptionist looked and saw, “Yes 10:30 with Doctor Tuminello.” She looked down and smiled at Hamish. “How are you doing today buddy?”
Hamish hid behind his Dad’s legs and squeaked out, “good.” Sherlock looked around the waiting room more kids and some adults were there sitting waiting to be seen by the doctor. Sherlock took Hamish and headed to get a seat as John grabbed the clipboard with the paperwork on it he needed to fill out for his son.
“It smells funny,” Hamish said to his Papa as Sherlock picked him up and sat him on his lap.
“Your fine Hal,” John said kissing the top of the boys’ messy dark brown hair. John began to fill out the papers. Sherlock looked as John filled out the papers with proper penmanship not his normal doctor scribble.
“Papa,” Hamish said as Sherlock took his eyes off of John’s hand and looked at his son’s deep blue eyes. “Can we play the deduction game?” A smile spread across Sherlock’s face. He did enjoy this game. “Them.” Hamish said as he pointed to a woman with her teenage son.
“Okay Hamish. I know he’s in his final years of high school. How do I know?” Sherlock leaned down and whispered to his son.
“He’s tall, but not awkwardly so telling us that he’s gotten used to his height, so not just a tall 14 year old,” Hamish whispered back to his Papa.
“How do I know he a high school student?”
“Easy,” Hamish said rolling his eyes at his Papa with a smile. “He’s a boy and here with his mum.”
“Very good,” Sherlock said ready to move onto the mother when Hamish stopped him and continued to talk.
“He is also gay or bi and his mum doesn’t know.”
Sherlock looked surprisingly at his son. That was the first time Hamish had made his own deduction. “How?” Sherlock managed to say as he felt he might get emotional over how brilliant his son was becoming.
“He keeps looking at the other boy in the room for long periods of time, but then he looks back to his mum to check if she saw,” Hamish explained to him as he looked up at his Papa.
Sherlock smiled and kissed his son on the top of his head. “Excellent,” he whispered to him. “And now the mother she is single. Recently divorced she has another child but they are back at home but it’s there first time being at home alone.”
Hamish looked and he couldn’t tell how his dad knew that one. He was getting more complex with that deduction. “How?”
“There is a faint indent where a ring used to be,” Sherlock told Hamish as he stuck his head next to his sons and they looked at the women. “It’s still there meaning she was married for a while but that she hasn’t been wearing the ring in the recent months. She also keeps looking at her mobile. Then if you look at her purse she has a keychain with two boys’ pictures on it.” He whispered to him.
“Are we done playing?” John whispered as he leaned over and looked at his husband and at his son. “I don’t need a row happening in the lobby,” he laughed.
“You heard?” Hamish asked as he turned his body and looked at his Dad.
“Your father isn’t a very good whispered when he is excited,” laughed John as he stood up to turn the paperwork in. “Behave,” he said pointing at them as he walked a few feet away.
Sherlock and Hamish played a few more rounds before John came back. They waited, Hamish seemed calmer and John didn’t stop them from playing. Anything to get their sons mind off where he was John wasn’t going to stop.
“Hamish?” the assistant called out as she turned her head out the door. Hamish’s body grew tense as he turned his body in toward his Papa’s. Wrapping his arms around his neck he hid his face in Sherlock’s coat. Sherlock stood up, carrying Hamish as he followed John back where the examination rooms were.
“I tried,” Sherlock offered John. He smiled and put his hand on Hamish’s back as they walked into the third examination room.
Doctor Tuminello was in the room within a few moments. She greeted John warmly as well as Sherlock. She was a tall woman, petite with long blonde hair. Hamish still clung to his Papa not looking up at the doctor. She took her seat and looked at Hamish. “Hello Hamish,” she said her voice warm and soft. “How are you today?”
Hamish buried himself a little farther into his Papa’s coat and didn’t say anything to her. “Sorry,” John apologized to Doctor Tuminello. “We just finished reading the fourth installment in the Series of Unfortunate Events novels.” He explained to her.
Doctor Tuminello nodded and smiled, “The one where the eye doctor is the hypnotist?” she asked him. John was about to say something when she saw Hamish nodded his head. “Well I promise I’ll let you know everything that is going on when we look at your eyes. Plus your dads can stay. Do you think I would be able to get away with doing something like that with Sherlock Holmes and Doctor John Watson here?”
“No,” Hamish’s muffled voice spoke. “My Dad and Papa would have Uncle Lestrade arrest you.” John felt his face get a little red as he shook his head as Hamish turned and looked at Doctor Tuminello.
She smiled, “now if you could sit in the chair for me we can start and then you can get home on this Saturday.” Hamish looked at his Papa as he Sherlock looked back. Hamish unwrapped his arms, slid off his Papa’s lap and walked over to the chair. John grabbed the chair and sat next to the examination chair as Hamish climbed up and sat down. John took hold of his sons hand as he sat there on edge.
Doctor Tuminello turned off the light and set up the projection screen. “Hamish can you read to me the third line down?” she asked him.
Hamish squinted his eyes. “Um…. Not really,” he admitted as he turned and looked at her.
She nodded and then asked him, “Okay how about the second line?”
“G… k… ummm, l… m… o…d?” he asked her as he looked at the wall to read the letters. Doctor. Tuminello made a note and then she asked him to read the first line. “E!” Hamish cried out for that one he could see.
“Very good,” Doctor. Tuminello said as she made a few notes on her file on Hamish. “Now I’m going to wheel this mask over and we are going to put it over your face okay?” she asked him as she stood up and grabbed the mask.
“Okay…” Hamish told her as she wheeled the bulky object over and placed the eye wholes over Hamish’s eyes.
“Now, I’m going to use this device and block the right eyes line of sight so you are only seeing with your left.”
Hamish nodded his head. She did as she told Hamish and then began flipping some dials. Suddenly Hamish could see a lot better out of his left eye. “Now, can you read to me the smallest line you can see?” she asked Hamish.
Without squinting his eyes he looked and read, “S…j…r…i…m…n…q.” he said.
“Excellent, now we are going to do the same to the right eye.” Doctor. Tuminello told him as she covered up his left eye.
Sherlock watched as his son relaxed as the eye doctor checked his other eye. The only issue came when Doctor Tuminello said she needed to dilate his eyes. Sherlock looked up and waited to see his son run out of the room.
“What is that?” Hamish asked her confused.
“I put a few eye drops in each eye so I can get a better look at them,” Doctor Tuminello explained as she grabbed a few bottles. “Your vision will get a bit blurry for a few hours and you will have to wear some pretty cool sunglasses, but after that everything will be okay.”
Hamish shook his head. “No.”
“Hal,” John said as he looked at his son.
“But they fixed it,” he said. “With the last machine they fixed my eyes why do we need to do more?” he asked as his voice began to quiver in fear.
“Hamish I promise that this is just what I need to do. It won’t hurt at all,” Doctor Tuminello assured him with a small smile.
The boy shook his head. He could be just as stubborn as his Papa. Sherlock looked up at him and walked over by John. “Hamish, you will be fine,” he said trying to calm him down before he broke into tears. “I promise you.”
Hamish still shook his head as he pressed his lips together in a straight line and looked at his dad’s. John could tell Sherlock was getting a little embarrassed but John saw kids like this when they came into the surgery and they needed want to get looked at for a checkup or when they didn’t want to get a shot. John leaned over and looked at his son in his blue eyes. “Hal, it won’t hurt. Your Papa and I get this done when we get our eyes checked. Just think once this is done we can pick out a pair of glasses. Maybe they have ones that look like the 10th Doctor?”
“Promise.” Hamish said looking at his Dad and then his Papa.
“Promise,” both John and Sherlock told him.
Hamish turned back and looked at Doctor Tuminello, “okay I guess we can do that.” Sherlock let out a sigh as he took a seat back again. John looked up at him smiled a little as Sherlock shot him a smile back.
She tipped Hamish’s head back and told him to keep his eyes open as long and as wide as possible. Hamish did so, flinching a little as the drop reached his eyes. His dad squeezed his hand and the doctor moved to the other eye. When the drops went in Hamish agreed that they didn’t hurt but they did feel a little bit weird.
“While we wait for the drops to begin to work you guys can step out and take a look at the glasses,” Doctor Tuminello said as she turned the lights back on. Hamish took his Dad’s hand as they walked out to look at the glasses. John directed Hamish toward the kid’s glasses. He walked up and looked up pointing to the ones he wanted. Plane black frames that was rectangular. Just like David Tennant in Doctor Who. Sherlock grabbed them, he then handed them to Hamish as he slid them onto his face.
“Just like the Doctor,” John smiled as he kissed Hamish on the top of his head.
“There are some fun ones over there,” one of the nurses said as Hamish took off the glasses and handed them to his Papa.
“Nope, I want those ones please,” Hamish informed her as he began to squint his eyes.
“He won’t be changing his mind,” Sherlock said as he handed her the glasses and she made a note as Hamish pulled on John’s hand.
“Dad my eyes are all fuzzy.”
“That means the drops are working,” John said picking up his son. “Let’s head back to the room. You know you are getting too tall to carry.” He joked with Hamish as they walked back into the examination room.
“Or you are just shrinking,” Sherlock said walking behind John as he made a face at Hamish and he made one back at him.
Doctor Tuminello checked both eyes and declared them to be healthy otherwise. She took them back to the receptionist and began the ordering process for Hamish’s new glasses. Sherlock and John decided to get two pairs to have a backup one at the flat for after all Hamish was after all their son and someone they would end up broken or used in some sort of experiment. “Those are very cool Doctor Who glasses,” she told him.
Hamish blushed as he held onto John’s jeans. He wasn’t as scared but he didn’t like that he couldn’t see all that well as he was wearing funny looking sunglasses. “I like them a lot.”
“That’s good. I will see you a year from now to check to see how your eyes are doing okay?” she asked as she knelt down and shook Hamish’s hand. He nodded and smiled at her. Doctor Tuminello said her goodbye to John and Sherlock and told John she would call when the glasses came in.
~~~
After a week John picked up Hamish’s glasses on his way home from the Surgery. He was climbing the steps as Hamish came running down to greet him. He was in his normal Doctor Who shirt, but he had food on his forehead realizing that Sherlock must have been in the middle of an experiment and didn’t realize there son had food on them. “Are my Doctor glasses here?!” he asked as John knelt down and pulled out a case from his bag.
“Now, you need to be careful with these, you don’t sleep with them on okay. And the biggest thing you don’t let you Papa get a hold of them to use them for an experiment,” John told Hamish handing him over the blue case the glasses came in.
“I heard that,” Sherlock said as he stuck his head out from the door that lead into the kitchen. He walked out and looked down at his son. “Now let’s see Hamish and his dashing new glasses.”
Hamish slipped on his new glasses on his face and smiled. He adjusted them on his face and looked at his Dad and then his Papa. John began to hum the theme song to Doctor Who as Sherlock picked up Hamish and ran into the living room making the sound of the TARDIS. Hamish laughing as all three of them collapsed on the couch, as laughter filled 221b.