Redbeard's Last Hurrah

Sherlock watched his young sister stroking the cat on the doorstep to 221B, sitting on the curb as she let the cat jump up on her shoulder.
She'd have loved Redbeard if she'd have known him, but she was too young to remember the time when he existed...

~~~Flashback~~~

"Sherlock, watch Eversley for me, just for a minute...please?!" Mycroft was close to whining as he reaffirmed his grip on the young child he sat on his hip.
Eversley Ormond Holmes was two-and-a-half years old and overly curious for her own good, and in truth, Mycroft wanted a break from following her around to stop her hurting herself.
"I can't watch her." Sherlock muttered from the corner of the living room, stroking the soft red fur covering the head of his beloved pet dog, Redbeard.
"And why not?" Mycroft dragged Eve over to Sherlock, eyes flicking between the dog and his brother.
"Redbeard's ill." Sherlock sobbed. He didn't care what Mycroft thought of him. "Redbeard's ill and you know what they do to ill animals."
"Sherlock, you're overreacting. He's probably just eaten one of Eve's yoghurts again-"
"No, Mycroft. He's really ill and he's in pain-"
"Play pirates with Eve. I'll talk to mother." Mycroft tried, offering Eve forwards.
"Mum will just take Redbeard to the vets and they'll put him down!" Sherlock started to cry harder, wrapping himself around Redbeard as the dog let out a small whine. "He's hurt and I can't make him better." He murmured, eyes cloudy from all the tears that ran down Redbeard's luscious coat.
Eve's hands reached out to touch Redbeard, and something akin to a hiss escaped Sherlock's lips.
"Don't touch him!" He protected the dog fiercely.
"Sherlock!" Mycroft pulled Eve back by her arm a little too sharply, and she began to cry. "Now look what you've done!"
"It was you who made her cry!" Sherlock's face reddened angrily and he hugged Redbeard's face close to his side. "Go away!"
"Myc-oft." Eve crawled up his side like a spider, clinging onto him tightly.
"I'll go and get mother." Mycroft sighed, ignoring the snivelling sobs from the toddler getting tears on his shoulder.

~~~

It was rare that children understood the mechanics of death to such an extent that Sherlock did, so when Sherlock was told by his mother that he had to say goodbye to Redbeard, he took a deep breath and nodded.

Mycroft sat at the side of the waiting room with Eve on his knee, occasionally giving her a Haribo sweet to stop her fidgeting.
Their father had gone in the consultation room with their mother, insisting that Eve was too young to see things like this and that they needed to be there to support Sherlock.
Mycroft had volunteered to watch Eve anyway; he often did, and he wanted to raise her to have a better judgement than Sherlock. He'd teach her not to cling on to emotional attachments from an early age. It was better for her that way.
Mycroft had liked that dog though...

"Redbeard..." Sherlock gasped, sitting on the stool next to the table which his dog lay upon.
The dog whined lightly, his tail twitching when he heard Sherlock's voice. He was too weak to lift his head for Sherlock to stroke him properly.
The vet stood at the side of the room, waiting silently for the right time to intervene. But watching Sherlock cry and cry over the ill dog was hard to watch, even for an outsider.
"Redbeard, I'm sorry." Sherlock whispered, trying to stifle his tears and smile for the sake of his pet. "I'm sorry I can't help you. I'm sorry I can't take the pain away. I just want you to stop hurting and be okay..." He chocked back another sob, feeling his mother's hand on his shoulder, slowly running a comforting thumb below his neck.
Sitting back, Sherlock took hold of Redbeard's paw as the vet began to administer the lethal dose of anaesthetic that would send Redbeard into an infinite sleep.
"I'm so sorry Redbeard." The youngest Holmes son had trouble holding back a flood of tears as they poured down his face.
Resbeard's tail twitched again when he heard Sherlock's voice, wagging hopefully that he might be able to get up in a minute to play pirates with Sherlock.
"Redbeard..." His tail began to slow, his eyes drifting and drifting shut as the anaesthetic slowly took effect.
"Goodbye Musketeer." He felt Redbeard's paw go limp in his hands and he let go in partial shock.

His best friend was gone.

~~~Flashforward~~~

"Sherlock...are you crying?" Eversley poked her head in front of Sherlock's as she rested her head against the window glass behind her.
"Uhm..." He wiped his eyes before John came home and saw he'd been crying too. "An experiment. It's an experiment."
"What, did you make eye drops out of onions?" Eve tried to make him laugh, extracting a small smile from him.
She let her smile fall a little, wrapping her arms around Sherlock before he could push her away.
"Hey, it's okay." She squeezed him, whispering a little quieter. "I remember Redbeard too."
"What?!" He stood back, pulling himself from Eve's grip. "Where-"
She spoke softly, eyes arched. "You were whispering his name as you looked out the window. I...never knew him like you did. I remember though." She paused, pulling a Haribo sweet out of her pocket with a smile. "Mycroft never let me play with him."
"Hmm." Sherlock stepped past Eve as he gazed out of the window again, thinking deeply.
"I'm sure Redbeard was a lovely pirate." She tried, unable to get any sort of response from Sherlock.

"He was a wonderful dog." Sherlock uttered quietly after Eve had gone.
He made a pretty bad pirate though. The most he'd ever plundered was a yoghurt from Eversley or a cake from Mycroft.

And a heart from the seemingly heartless.