athena ➢ sherlock's daughter

Chapter 18

Feelings, Feelings, and More Feelings

Riley O'Conner sat on the kitchen counter beside his mom while she stirred some vegetable soup idly. She and him had always been close, even when he went through a weird punk phase when he was fourteen (he was sixteen now).

"I just don't understand why she has feelings for that... prick. We've known each other since we were in primary school, and I always thought we had something..." He sighed and took a chopped carrot off the cutting board to his left. "Is that strange?"

His mum frowned. "I don't know, Riley. She's just now getting feelings for anyone, ya know? Maybe things will look different in the future."

He nodded, nibbling on his carrot slice. "And another thing, I don't trust him. When we got him out of that warehouse, he looked perfectly fine, mind a couple bruises."

His mum turned to face him. "1) you know how I feel about your adventures, and 2) maybe it was an internal issue. Don't be so quick to jump to conclusions."

Riley nodded, hopping off the counter and frowning. He had a very serious suspicion about Joseph, and he wouldn't rest until it was either approved or disproved. "Sorry, Mum..." he mumbled. "I just really love her, I don't want anyone to hurt her anymore."

"I know, honey, I know."

∞

Athena was upset. So upset, in fact, that she was throwing pillows at her door and glaring angrily at everything that so much as glanced in her direction. So when Sherlock walked into the room, he was first hit by a dark red pillow then given an intense death glare. Standing there, blank-faced but internally puzzled, he racked his brain quickly for what he could've possibly done and also when his daughter got so aggressive. Coming up with nothing for either one, he frowned. "What's wrong?"

"I have feelings," she screeched, "for a boy!"

Sherlock blinked. He knew this would happen, but so soon? It was Riley, wasn't it? When he got his hands on that boy he'd-- Control yourself, Sherlock: this is normal. "Okay... Why are you angry?"

She groaned. "Because this ruins everything! I had no plans of going through my life with anyone non-platonic in my life because relationships GO WRONG. I'd get a nice job in London after going to Oxford- of course they'd take me, Sherlock, let's be realistic for a moment- and maybe, once my journey was declining, I'd settle down in a nice estate just outside the city with a cat or something."

Sherlock stared at her for a decent amount of time before walking towards her and placing a hand on her shoulder. "Athena," he said slowly, "you're allowed to feel whatever you feel: it's perfectly normal to have emotions."

She grumbled under her breath and rolled her eyes. "Not when it interferes with my life goals."

He frowned at her. "Things aren't going to go exactly as planned, you know."

She smiled a little bit. "I know. Maybe I'll go to Cambridge to spice it up."

He smiled and ruffled her hair, causing the mass of curls to fly in all different directions. "You'll see for yourself soon enough." Then, he cleared his throat and straightened his back. "Who is this boy you're talking about?"

Athena but her lip and looked to the ground, a blush spreading across her cheeks. "Joseph."

"I get that you've been friends for quite a long time, and I knew it was bound to- Wait, Joseph?"

She furrowed her eyebrows and looked up at him. "Yeah. Who'd you think it was?" She knew the answer. He thought it was Riley, but she just didn't feel anything for Riley other than friendship. Sure, he was always there, and they've kissed once (for a case!), and they've danced together a few times... But that's what friends did right?

"No one. Anyways, I don't like him- but I'm not going to stop you from doing what you want to do. However, if he so much as tries to touch you, he'll come up missing in the Thames." A look of anger flashed across his face as he thought about that kid's dirty hands running along the body of his only daughter.

She smiled at her father, an amused expression stretched across her features. "You know very well that he won't do that."

All Sherlock had to do was raise an eyebrow for her to explain further. "Because I won't let him and also because we are not going to date because I'm never going to date."

He shook his head in exasperation, but decided to drop the subject for the sake of his own patience. (And blood pressure- talking about boys with his daughter just made his blood boil in a way that he hadn't felt since John was endangered on one of their most recent cases). "We'll discuss this another time. And stop throwing pillows."

Athena sighed. "Fine."

"And Mycroft told me to tell you that when you go to his house for tea to dress as nicely as possible. Apparently, you're meeting the Prime Minister."

"Joy."