Hamish skipped along happily downstairs to wait for his fathers, he had somehow convinced them to go to the zoo. “DAAAADS! Hurry up!” Hamish called upstairs then said goodbye to Mrs. Hudson. John came down first and scooped up Hamish in his arms, then Sherlock came down with a bag around his side in it was their lunch(John and Hamish's, actually, Sherlock was in charge of the lunch packing so he got nothing for himself.) and a few pounds to pay for things in the gift shop.

“Are you ready to go?” John said with a smile and booped Hamish’s nose.

“Yeah yeah yeah! I wanna see the otters!”

John laughed and looked at Sherlock who was plainly not amused. “Then let’s hurry up, shall we?” John asked and walked outside. Sherlock crossed his arms and followed closely behind, he hailed a cab and all three went inside.

“Are you excited?” John asked Hamish as he buckled in his seat.

“Yeah!”

“Good because the zoo is dull.” Sherlock said and turned to look out the window, placing a hand on his chin and staring outside. “We're not going again.”

“So is your attitude, DADLOCK.” Hamish said with full emphasis on the ‘dadlock’. He called Sherlock dadlock and John dad because sometimes when calling ‘DAAAAAD’ they’d just stare at each other then look at him and ask, ‘Which one?’

“Oh, don’t be sassy with me, young man!” Sherlock turned towards Hamish and narrowed his eyes on him.

“Oh, don’t be sassy with me, detective man!” Hamish shot back, Sherlock waved him off in a dismissing manner and stared back out the window. Hamish leaned on John and stayed quiet for the rest of the ride, as did everyone else.

When they arrived at the zoo, Hamish jumped out and started to run into it. Sherlock had to run to keep up with him and eventually he scooped him up and put him on his shoulders. Hamish pointed in. “Onwards! Onwards!”

John chuckled and walked to them. He made sure Hamish wouldn’t fall off. “To the otters, right?”

“I wanna see the penguins!” Hamish whined and laid his hand on Sherlock’s fluffy head.

“Then to the penguins--”

“No! I want to see the giraffes!”

“Let’s just go from order to order, alright?” John smiled and looked up at Hamish.

“Okay, dad.”

The first exhibit was the foxes. Hamish jumped excitedly on Sherlock’s shoulders, so John picked him up and put him down.

“Hehehe!!!” Hamish giggled and looked at the foxes. There were all kinds of foxes. “I like that one daddy.”

John smiled and looked at the fennec fox, “Yes, it sure is beautiful.”

“It’s short and stubborn like John.” John shot a look at Sherlock, who only took his hand lovingly and kissed his cheek. “I’m fascinated by it’s small eyes and large ears. Now that my mind has officially blown, can we move to another exhibit?”

“Sure!” Hamish said with a smile. The next one had raccoons, Hamish looked at the fat raccoon sitting in the corner. Sherlock squatted down to Hamish’s side and pointed at it.

“It looks like uncle Mycroft.” He whispered to his son. Hamish giggled and nodded, then he ran to the line of bird exhibits.

Sherlock crossed his arms and pursed his lips, staring eye to eye with a certain bird. “It looks familiar….” He trailed off and made a circle motion with his hands. “I can’t put the face to it…”

John chuckled, but didn’t mention Moriarty’s name. “Well, it sure has me stumped-- Hey! Hamish wait up!” John chased after Hamish and Sherlock turned to them and raised a brow. He walked away from the owl's habitat and went up to an exhausted John and an excited Hamish.

“WOLVES! WOLVES!”

“Wolves are dull creatures--” Hamish took Sherlock’s hand and pulled. He couldn’t budge Sherlock but John helped by pushing Sherlock’s back, and soon he was in the cabin designed lodge where you looked through a window to the wolves.

He looked out into the cage, the wolves were quite close but they were separated by a glass and inside the glass, right next to it, laid a long pond of water. “I wanna go in!”

“No, Hamish. They are bad.” Hamish frowned.

“But they’re big cuddly dogs.”

“No, they’re big DANGEROUS dogs.” John said and lifted up Hamish so he could see them better.

He pointed at the black one and smaller one lying next to it with a reddish tint. “Dey look like you and dadlock.”

John smiled, “I guess you’re right…”

“Can we go to the big cats?!” Hamish asked and looked at Sherlock.

“Yes, why not? My mind is stunned by the wolves, let’s go to the cats now.”

“YAY!” Hamish was let down again from being carried and happily waddled his way towards the big cat exhibit. “Bobcats! Bobcats!”

“Oh my gosh,” Sherlock said while reading the sign next to the bobcat exhibits. “It says here something about ‘I DON’T CARE’ wow, I can’t believe it!”

Hamish and John frowned at Sherlock, “You surely break the party, dear.” John said with a sigh, shaking his head. “Let’s see the lynxes.”

“Okay!” Hamish walked to the lynx habitat and looked at the cat. “It’s so FLUFFY! It’s like your hair, dadlock!”

Sherlock put a hand on his head, “Ehh…”

John pet Sherlock happily, ruffling his hair. “I think you're soft...” He said with a small, cute smile. Sherlock raised a brow and stared at his husband.

John stopped petting Sherlock and took Hamish’s hand, leading him to the otters.

“SQUEEE!” Hamish yelled, going up to the edge of the small pond in the ground. “IT’S A MINI DADLOCK!”

Sherlock folded his arms, scowled at the boy then looked over the fence at the otters. “They look nothing like me… Hey, where'd John go? John?” He looked side to side then took Hamish's hand. “John!” He called, and after another minute John walks up to them.

“John, where have you been!?” Sherlock asked in a worried tone, he enveloped his husband in his arms. John squirmed around.

“I got something for you.” Sherlock backed up and stared at John, Hamish giggled.

“He got you an otter.” Hamish said quietly, with a small smile etched on his face.

“I know that.”

“What's your deduction, father?”

“Well, he might be holding it behind his back, but by the obvious indication he is holding a very light object and the assumption that John also compares me to an otter, due to the look he gave me at the flat, the angle he is standing in, plus how you said it was a mini-me I can deduct that my dear John Watson has bought me a beautiful plush otter that I will put away and never look at again.”

“I couldn't have said it any better.” Said Hamish. “But you forgot to mention the look on his eyes and where his feet are placed on the ground, and how he's holding it behind his back. It's a quite small toy-- maybe a keychain because he is grasping his other hand as he twirls it around.”

John stared at the two, completely dumbstruck. He took in a deep breath and gave Sherlock the keychain otter. “Here.”

“You forgot to fit in there his--” Sherlock stopped short, nodded, then smiled. “Thank you, John. Good deductions by the way, Hamie.” He put the small otter in his pocket.

Hamish smiled. “Thank you dadlock.”

John picked up Hamish and they went around the rest of the exhibits, Sherlock and Hamish both competing with each other and their deductions. Sherlock ultimately won because well-- Hamish is four years old. But John at least enjoyed it, right? At least someone got something out of the trip...