"Why exactly am I here?" Gregory Lestrade demanded, glaring at the consulting detective as they stood in the kitchen of 221B Baker Street with their niece.
"Because John and Mary refuse to allow me to conduct experiments with Ellen without a quote, 'responsible adult' present," Sherlock replied, disdain evident in his voice.
"I don't know why," Ellen frowned. "It's not like we're doing anything bad."
"What is it, exactly, that you're planning to do?" Greg frowned.
"Silence Grayson," Sherlock ordered before turning to his protégé.
"Today Ellen, we shall be mixing common household ingredients and observing reactions. Your Aunt Molly suggested that this would be an appropriate experiment to introduce you to the world of chemistry," Sherlock explained as he waved to the bottle of grape Poweraid, altoids, Sweet'n'Low, and club soda.
"Do I need my safety goggles Uncle 'Lock?" Ellen inquired.
"No."
"Yes," Lestrade interrupted, shooting the consulting detective a look.
"There's nothing harmful in any of these ingredients," Sherlock protested. "There is no need for the goggles!"
"If you're doing chemistry with a eight-year-old, yes, there is a need for safety glasses. Besides Sherlock, knowing you you'd find a way to make this stuff explode just to prove you could," Greg pointed out. Sherlock opened his mouth to continue the argument then closed it, starting to ponder just how he could cause these materials to explode.
"Don't even think about it mate, we've got a kid here," Lestrade interrupted Sherlock's train of thought. The consulting detective looked ready to lash out at the DI, but Ellen interrupted the two adults with a stomp of her feet.
"I've got my goggles on Uncle 'Lock. Can we please start the experiment now?" Ellen begged.
Shooting one last glare at Lestrade, Sherlock turned to his young niece with a smile.
"Of course Ellen. Now the first step is to read through the directions carefully to be sure that you understand exactly what is required. Shall I read them to you?"
"No Uncle 'Lock, let me try!" Ellen begged eagerly. Sherlock and Greg smiled proudly as the eight-year-old read aloud to them with perfect pronunciation.
After going over the instructions, Ellen set to work under the careful eyes of her uncles. She poured the Powerade into a fresh beaker, measuring the amount out carefully before adding the Sweet'n'Low to the original drink. Ellen grinned with delight as she screwed the cap back on and began to shake the sports drink with all of her might. There was a small problem with getting the lid off of the club soda that made Lestrade's order for safety goggles a good one.
"Excellent pouring," Sherlock complimented the budding chemist. Ellen beamed at her uncle's praise and started to reach for the cinnamon flavored altoids.
"And now we wait," Sherlock reached out to stop his niece from adding the next ingredient to the still settling liquid.
"We what?" Ellen demanded with surprise.
"Yes Ellen, you heard me right. We wait. The instructions suggest that we wait for ten minutes, in fact. Might I suggest you preoccupy yourself during that time with observing the infinitesimal reactions of the liquid?" Sherlock encouraged.
"Okay!" the eight-year-old replied eagerly. She stuck her head close to the bottle, her eyes watching the liquid with a dedication that would do any scientist proud. And then she became bored after one minute because nothing was happening!
"I'm bored," Ellen announced to her uncles.
"The reaction has only just started! You haven't even begun to write down your observations," Sherlock chastised his impatient goddaughter.
"But this is boring Uncle 'Lock," Ellen complained.
"It's science, Ellen," Sherlock corrected.
"Science is fun, this isn't fun it's boring," Ellen insisted with a scowl.
"Science is not meant to be fun, it is meant to provide information about the world around us. And if you would just wait patiently you would see exactly what I mean," Sherlock replied stubbornly.
"Waiting is boring," Ellen insisted.
Greg wished he had his camera as he witnessed Sherlock pull at his curly locks in frustration. It was the perfect sense of déja vu, watching Sherlock deal with a tiny bored version of himself.
"For this experiment to succeed patience is of the utmost necessity," Sherlock continued to lecture his pupil.
"But Uncle 'Lock you never wait for anything! Why do I have to?" Ellen demanded.
"I am the soul of patience and perseverance," Sherlock insisted, affronted. Lestrade did have to laugh aloud at that one.
"Do you have something to add to this conversation Graham," Sherlock hissed angrily at the DI.
"Out of the mouths of babes, the truth will come," Greg retorted.
"When have I ever been impatient?" Sherlock demanded.
"Do you want the short list or the long?" Greg chuckled.
"As though you could come up with more than three instances," Sherlock glared.
"Off the top of my head? The murder case with the cabbie when I didn't let you get involved right away, the numerous times that you've yelled at Molly because the machines were taking too long with your precious lab results, and then there's the time that you gave John a hard time for being gone too long on his honeymoon," Lestrade listed them off without missing a beat.
"That hardly –"
"And it's not just the impatience," Greg interrupted, really on a roll now. "I've heard Mrs. Hudson's complaints about what you do when you're bored. Shooting the walls with bullets, launching blow darts at John, chopping Mary's kitchen table with a sword, the pranks you used to pull on Donovan and Anderson when hanging around the Yard –"
"Uncle 'Lock, Uncle 'Strade, I think ten minutes have passed," Ellen piped up. The two adults glanced down at the child then turned to the clock. Sure enough, ten minutes had passed and it was time for the next step in the process.
"See? I was perfectly patient during that time," Sherlock declared petulantly. Lestrade chose to bite his tongue, instead watching as his niece finished the experiment and shook the bottle with the altoid.
"It changed colors!" Ellen gasped, her eyes widening in delight.
"Shake it again," Sherlock suggested.
Ellen did as her godfather advised and squealed with glee as the mixture returned to its original color.
"This was fun!" she declared, turning happy eyes to her uncles.
"There, you see Ellen? Patience is rewarded," Sherlock said triumphantly.
"I need to have a recording of this for the next time you're bored," Greg muttered to himself.
"Silence Gavin."
A/N: Not dead! Just had the "fun" these last few months of finishing undergrad and moving to a different state for graduate work. Also, I can't believe that this is my 30th chapter! I don't know why, but that just makes me really excited and happy! But anyways, credit for the experiment goes to Steve Spangler Science: The Color-Changing Powerade. There are tons of other science experiments that they have to suggest!