Title: The Stupids in the Basement

Author: Writes By Night

Summary: Sherlock Holmes has one real brother. And he has seven not real brothers and sisters living in the basement. Based off a prompt at the BBC Sherlock kinkmeme.

Rating: R

Warnings: Severe child abuse and neglect

Disclaimer: I do not own, am not associated with, make no money from BBC Sherlock.

1.

"Very good, Susan. And now it's Sherlock's turn. What can you tell us about your family, Sherlock?" And the teacher gave him a big, beaming smile of encouragement. The stare she got back was not so much beaming as piercing. He didn't say anything in return, but the teacher was used to that. Many of the other children in the circle hadn't answered at first either.

"Do you have any brothers or sisters?" she asked him, still brimming with encouragement and interest and not the slightest bit put off by his intense eyes. Most children had intense eyes at that age anyway. No one could concentrate so completely on a single task or person as a small child could.

"Yes," the boy answered. She beamed even more intensely at this slight response.

"Can you tell us about them?"

The boy hesitated a moment, still staring intently into her. "I have three big brothers and four big sisters. And I have Shrinnia. She is the same size as me."

"Oh," said the teacher, not sure what to say to that, "Do you have a twin sister? And seven big brothers and sisters?"

"Yes," he said, giving her an impatient look that didn't quite fit his face, "Most of them are stupid. So Mummy says they must stay in the basement."

The teacher frowns at this.

"Sherlock," she says reproachfully, "It isn't nice to call people 'stupid'. And are you sure you are telling the truth?"

The little boy looks confused at this, his nose wrinkling up. "People are stupid. That is the truth."

"Well...thank you for telling us about your brothers and sisters. Rory, what can you tell us about your family?"

If her expression was slightly less beaming than before while she made a note by Sherlock's name, well, she still listened raptly while Rory told about his baby brother and his dog.

It was the picture that cemented the need for a parent-teacher conference. They were continuing their theme at picture time and everyone was drawing their family. Most were about what could be expected. Sticks and blobs were dutifully labeled Mum or Dad. The teacher still looked over each drawing as though she were the proud leader of a class of art prodigies.

"Very nice dog, Rory. 'Mummy' is spelled with two m's there, Susan. And what is this?"

This was very decently labeled, at the very least, even for a student accepted to the 'gifted' class of the preschool. Sherlock had written 'The Holmes Family' at the top. The letters might have been a bit crooked but it was spelled perfectly. The expected 'Mummy' and 'Daddy' were the most prominent images. The big blob next to them was called 'Mycroft'. Sherlock himself was a smaller stick figure called 'me'. All very normal so far. It was the others in the picture that looked odd.

'Me' was holding hands with someone almost completely scribbled over with bars inside a box. And at the very bottom of the page, six other stick figures were all drawn with a line over their heads, some too big, some so tiny they could have been dolls. All of them were frowning. The line was labeled 'The Stupids in the basement'. Perfectly spelled, but still quite disturbing. They each had their own names too. The figure behind bars holding Sherlock's hand was called 'Shrinnia'. The six under the label 'Stupids' were called Mycrane, Anthera, Breeder, Girl, Tom and Apple.

"What's this?" the teacher asked, pointing to the poor sad stick figures at the bottom. Sherlock gave her a look that screamed 'can't your read?', but he dutifully pointed to his label and read it out loud.

"We don't call people 'stupids'," she repeated to him again, and again he only looked confused. She gave up on that for the moment. "Sherlock...are these your brothers and sisters?"

"Yes," he said.

"...And they live in the basement?"

"They are too stupid to be Holmeses. The genes didn't work. They are good for...for reading, I think. I named Tom and Apple."

"...I see. And who is this?" She pointed at the girl behind the bars.

"Shrinnia." He was giving her that look again as he carefully pointed to the written label.

"Why is she...is she locked up?" the teacher asked, guessing at what the art was trying to show.

"No one knew she was a stupid," Sherlock explained, "Not until the test. Then she was a stupid and lives in the basement."

"Are you sure this isn't a make believe story?" the teacher asked.

"Like a fairy tale?" Sherlock asked. He didn't look like he was making up stories. He looked confused.

So she called a meeting with his mother. Because there had to be an explanation for this. The child couldn't really have a whole hoard of siblings being kept in a basement. And of course he didn't. Mrs. Holmes explained everything.