Growth Spurt

"For once, would you two behave like grown-ups?" – Mycroft Holmes, A Scandal in Belgradia

"...I wouldn't hold out too much hope." – John Watson, A Scandal in Belgradia

Mycroft Holmes had just grown up too fast.

Forced by responsibility to take up the care of both himself and his younger brother from a young age, due to parents who rather neglected the task, Mycroft had never really had a childhood. Somewhere in that highly controlled mind of his lingered a few careless days, the type most children have in spades; but they were few and far between. They also inevitably included Sherlock.

His brother Sherlock, on the other hand, hit the other extreme. Sherlock simply refused to meet the world's expectation of society, keeping his child-like inquisitiveness shielded by a sharp voice and brusque manner. In a way, it seemed as if the younger Holmes had simply decided to never grow up at all.

John Watson was a different matter. He had a mother, a father, a sister – then his mother died, his father turned to drink, and his sister followed the father's path. John set himself on a path no one in his family had considered: the army. There, he learned how to use the responsibility he had been forced to develop as the less-rebellious child.

Mycroft was the oldest; Sherlock and John were youngest. In a way, this had little effect on their actions; Sherlock was the 'older' brother who ran off John's girlfriends, John was the responsible one, Mycroft tried to keep the both of them from running themselves into an early grave.

All in all, it was an ordinary life for three very out-of-the-ordinary individuals.

**Author's note: This is it - the last chapter. I hope you enjoyed it - I know I have. Thank you to all of you who read, reviewed, favorited and followed my story. I appreciate the support.