221B Recs

Title: Baker Street Papas
Author: sanguinity
Pairing: Sherlock Holmes/John Watson
Length: 17,566 words
Rating: Teen and Up
Warnings: None
Verse: Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson (1980)
Author's summary: Holmes stood; the infant steadied itself with a fistful of his waistcoat. “Watson, I am given to understand that this is—”

“Violet Victoria Mary Smith-Watson,” I said, hearing the death knell of my easy, bachelor life with Holmes.

Reccer's comments: In recent months I have had the pleasure of being introduced to many new Sherlock Holmes ‘verses. This is one of the more unknown ones. Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson was a 1979-80 series, starring Geoffrey Whitehead as Holmes and Donald Pickering as Watson. Going by this fic, and also by the one episode I’ve seen, this is a charming version of Holmes and Watson—devoted to each other, with a nice line in banter.

The story is shown from Watson’s POV as he is abruptly given the responsibility of caring for the orphaned baby of a distant cousin. We follow him as he moves from thinking of himself merely as Violet’s guardian to accepting he’s now her parent. And also accepting that he was never, to use a contemporary term, a single father after all...

The fic is sweet, though never sentimental, and the tone is essentially humorous and lighthearted. But that is tempered with an acknowledgement of the realities of life in the Victorian era—especially how vulnerable children could be—and the realities of Holmes and Watson’s adventurous life.

The author links to a relevant Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson episode in her notes for your convenience, but you don’t need to have seen that or any of the series to thoroughly enjoy this heartwarming story.