Exploring Sexuality

A/N: More apologies. The last chapter was basically the end of the story, but it didn't feel very end-y, so I wrote this short little blurb of a summary for you guys. This will be my last update for this story. Thank you all for sticking by it, and me, and for your kind reviews and enthusiastic encouragement. I hope you all had a great montage of holidays since my previous update, and that your new year is fantastic.

Ch. 28

Sherlock solved the case. Erik wasn't the man's real name. Considering the pinhead was actually a she, with multiple people sent out to work for her as Erik. Eriqa was now in prison for illegal possession and sale of class A drugs. That put a big dent in the business for now, but they all knew it would only be temporary, a matter of time. Someone else would rise up, take over. That's how those things always worked.

They took less cases for a while, and John took more hours at the clinic so that they could stay at the flat with Liz. Homeschooling went well, and she learned quickly between the two of them. Sherlock's mood slowly improved until he was back to normal and the urge to use again wasn't so bad. Liz put some weight back on and let her hair grow back out a bit. She grew comfortable around Sherlock and John, and Greg and Molly and Mrs. Hudson. She didn't see a therapist, but she kept a daily journal, and when she had nightmares or a panic attack, one of them was always around to help her.

Sherlock and John had both made an agreement to not bring up the adoption again unless they passed the two months mark. It wasn't necessary. Exactly forty three days after the question was originally proposed, Liz, Sherlock, and John had all signed the papers. They got to watch her become even more comfortable with herself and with others. Sherlock gave them both mini cooking lessons so that he wouldn't have to do it all the time. And, slowly, they settled into a routine. The more adjusted Liz got, the more cases Sherlock felt okay about taking again.

Eventually, the three of them together became their own little family. It was in no way perfect, or conventional. Liz used their first names and probably got a lot more leeway than normal kids in terms of independence. When they both started working more again, she agreed to getting a cell phone. Then going to a public school. She graduated in the top 50 of her class, and Sherlock and John couldn't be happier. John would very proudly tell anyone that asked now that he was demiromantic, bisexual, and very much in love with the world's only consulting detective.