•January 10th, 2019•

"Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday dear Cassy! Happy birthday to you!"

Cassandra, with the secret help from John, blew out her four candles. Her parents led the cheering as Mary took the cake to start cutting it.

"Daddy," Cassandra said, turning to her father. "where's Uncle Sherlly?"

"I don't know, sweetheart."

John was a little pissed off at Sherlock. Sherlock was well aware that Cassandra's fourth birthday party was that day and he even promised the little girl that he would be there. But now here they were, the party close to ending, and Sherlock was no where in sight. Not even a call or a text to say he'd be there soon or to say he wouldn't be coming.

John almost expected nothing less of Sherlock. Ever since Moriarty's taunt four years ago, it seemed as if all of Sherlock's attention was on trying to find out what Moriarty was up to. It even got to the point where Mary and John had to hire a babysitter because Sherlock seemed more focused on Moriarty than on Cassandra.

Mary brought Cassandra a piece of cake and the little girl's attention was soon on shoving the icing into her face. After Mary finished passing out the rest of the cake, she took John aside.

"Is Sherlock coming?" she asked.

"I have no idea. I haven't heard from him all day," John replied.

"You know how disappointed Cassy is gonna be if he doesn't show up," Mary said, sending a look to her daughter, who was putting cake icing all over her friend's face. "I don't understand why she likes Sherlock so much. I thought he didn't like children."

"Cassy seems to be changing his mind. He loves her. I think she's the only thing that can distract him from his work, even for a little bit."

Suddenly, there was a knock on the door. Before either John or Mary could move, Cassandra had proclaimed, "I GOT IT" and raced to the door.

Mary was collecting Cassandra's abandoned, beaten cake when they heard a squeal come from the front door. Both John and Mary's parent instinct, as well as their trouble instinct, kicked in as they both moved to the front door to see what was wrong.

"Mummy! Daddy!" Cassandra called. "Look who's here!"

In, with Cassandra in his arms, walked Sherlock. Mary and John let out a sigh of relief.

"Sorry I'm late, very busy," Sherlock told John before passing him something. "But not too busy for my favorite girl."

"Uncle Sherlly, you're just in time. Mummy just cut the cake," Cassandra said in excitement. Mary took the little girl from Sherlock's arms and wiped the icing from her little face.

"I'm afraid I'm not one for cake, and I can't stay long. I have to some work to get back to," Sherlock said. He leaned towards John to mutter, "I have a lead on the case. You don't need to come help but it would be greatly appreciated if you dropped by 221b when you're finished here."

"Sherlock!" John hissed. "It's your goddaughter's birthday. Can't you take some time away from the case to celebrate? She's been asking for you for an hour."

Sherlock sighed. He knew Cassandra would be disappointed if he left so soon. The year before, on her third birthday, Sherlock had missed the day all together, which resulted in a crying Cassandra. Sherlock had promised John he wouldn't let that happen again.

As the time passed, Cassandra opened her presents, which mainly contained many toys she seemed barely interested in, and finally, the guests began to leave. Cassandra sat on the floor of the living room, playing around with one of her gifts while Mary and John cleaned up.

"Uncle Sherlly," Cassandra said. "You didn't bring me a present."

"Of course I did, love," Sherlock said. "I gave it to your father."

John looked at Sherlock. "No you didn't. All you gave me was that book."

"That's her gift."

John looked over his shoulder and the leather covered book Sherlock had given him. He picked it up and flipped through the pages to see that it was a notebook.

"It's a notebook, Sherlock."

"I know."

"She's four. She can barley write."

"She has to learn some how."

As the two bantered, Cassandra had climbed to her feet and walked over to John. She took the notebook from John and reached for a pen that had been discarded on the coffee table and sat on the floor again. While the men bickered, Mary watched the little girl doodle on the page.

"What are you writing, sweetheart?" Mary asked. Sherlock and John stopped their fighting long enough to look down at Cassandra.

After finishing her doodling, Cassandra held up the notebook to show John and Mary. In the middle of the page, it read "Kasy" with a backwards "K".

"It's my name!" she proclaimed.

"No, Cassandra," Sherlock said, taking the notebook and pen from Cassandra. He marked down Cassandra's name and passed the notebook back to the girl. "That's how you spell it."

Cassandra stood and wrapped her arms around Sherlock. "Thank you Uncle Sherlly."

Sherlock hugged her back. "You're welcome, Cassy."

*****

THIS SUUUUUUUUCKED