Sherlock fandom.
When Words Aren’t Enough
“There are no such things as stupid questions, only stupid answers,” Sherlock tells Rosie.
“Since when?” John wants to know. “That’s not what you usually say.”
“Well, I obviously meant from our daughter, John. Do keep up!”
The great detective winks at nine-year-old Rosie Watson-Holmes, who’s seated by the kitchen table at Sherlock’s parents.
“Ok. Names and flowers,” the little girl starts. “I have a flower name, just like Granny and my teacher, Lily. I know that boys also can have them, but that’s not common, right? Why?”
She looks expectantly at her Papa, who ponders the questions. Sherlock takes everything Rosie says seriously, and John is still astonished by how patient he is with her.
“That is correct, bumble. It probably has to do with something absurd, like that a flower related name isn’t masculine enough. And most of such names are more related to plants, herbs, and trees than actual flowers. The infamous Narcissus is the only one with a flower name that springs to mind at the moment.”
“I have another question related to flowers too,” Rosie says, having evidently binned the thought of male and female names for now.
“Let’s hear it,” Sherlock coaxes when his parents enter the kitchen from different directions.
Sherlock’s mother comes through the door from the living room, while Sherlock’s father enters from the garden. The latter is cradling a bouquet of violets in his hand, which he hands over to his wife. Violet Holmes looks at her husband with starry eyes and kisses him briefly on the lips.
“Thank you, my love,” she whispers and turns to find a vase to arrange the flowers.
Walter just turns and walks towards the garden door again, and is gone the next second. Before Violet places the vase on the table, she buries her nose in the flowers and inhales deeply.
“He still does that,” Sherlock murmurs, sounding a bit bewildered.
Violet hums in agreement.
“You know he’s not as good with words as you and me, Sherlock. So, when words aren’t enough, or fail him, this is his way of communicating his feelings. It’s quite wonderful,” she says dreamily and starts to make tea.
“That was what I wanted to ask about,” Rosie whispers.
She seems a bit taken aback by the loving encounter. Not that she’s unused to affection between adults. It’s been years since Sherlock and John were embarrassed to kiss in front of Rosie, but her grandparents doing the same thing, seems to have put her off kilter.
“What was?” John prompts when Rosie isn’t forthcoming with her question.
“Oh…um…flowers. I mean, there’s something called the language of flowers, yes?”
“Indeed!” Sherlock beams. “Let’s investigate that. It might come in handy in my work as well.
John shakes his head when the two curly heads lean over John’s laptop to read about roses, violets, daisies, tulips, gardenias, carnations, and zinnias.
***
Some weeks later, John comes home from work and finds an absurdly grand bouquet of flowers on the kitchen table. Rosie and Sherlock are in the park, so John has the flat to himself for a while. He looks for a card and finds one stuck between two green carnations.
My dearest, John
Words can’t describe what I feel for you, so I have turned to nature for guidance. A thousand kisses if you can decipher the meaning behind every flower.
Yours forever. Sherlock
The card quivers minutely in John’s hand and his eyes fill with tears. He indulges in the sentimentality that fills his body for a few minutes before he hastily retrieves his laptop from the coffee table. There’s no way of knowing how long it’ll be before Sherlock and Rosie return, and John is rather keen on getting the promised number of kisses from his husband.
It doesn’t take as long as he thought to gather the evidence and what John finds make his heart ache with longing and love for the remarkable man that has chosen him as a life companion.
He doesn’t even have to check what the green carnations mean. They are a symbol of homosexuality, closely associated with Oscar Wilde.
Then there are:
Honeysuckle – Bonds of love
Yellow lily – Happy
Myrtle – Love in a marriage
Sunflower(dwarf) – Adoration
Red tulip – Passion
Daisy – Loyal love
White camelia – You’re adorable
Red rose – I love you
Blue salvia – I think of you
Violet – Faithfulness
To John’s glee, Rosie stops at Mrs Hudson when they come home, and John gets to enjoy his prize, willingly delivered by his soppy romantic of a husband.
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This is also my entry to this month's Sherlock Challenge and the prompt language.
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