I am not lonely [Mystrade]

CHAPTER 143 : Santa's list

"Jingle bell, jingle bell, jingle bell rock / Jingle bells swing and jingle bells ring / Snowing and blowing up bushels of fun / Now the jingle hop has begun / Jingle bell, jingle bell, jingle bell rock / Jingle bells chime in jingle bell time / Dancing and prancing in Jingle Bell Square / In the frosty air. / What a bright time, it's the right time / To rock the night away / Jingle bell time is a swell time / To go gliding in a one-horse sleigh / Giddy-up jingle horse, pick up your feet / Jingle around the clock"
Gregory was humming to himself as he was decorating the Christmas tree with his children. The two youngster were occupied with hanging little balls to the bottom branches of the tree while he was trying his best to find a way to have the lights to actually work without setting fire to the tree or to the house. Despite the awful weather outside and the electrical issues, the policeman was in a really cheerful mood and the well behaving of the kids he was looking after could just make it even better.
Alden was, as always, taking his part of big brother very seriously and was trying to explain to his sister, who was coming from a mainly Buddhist country, what Christmas was, and more importantly, who Santa Klaus was and what to do to have loads of present. Despite not believing in Santa himself, the little boy was very committed to make Aelane believe in it and allow her to have a magical first Christmas and was explaining in great details, he had got only God knew where as nor Greg nor Mycroft had ever talked about it with him, where and how Santa lives and how he was coming to deliver the presents.
As he was listening distractly to his son's tale, the detective thought that, for his age, the little boy had not only a great imagination, but also a great way of telling story and it wouldn't have surprised him if he was to become a great writer or story teller later in his years.
"Papa, what are the names of Santa's deer ?" the youngster suddenly ask his father.
"Well erm ... Of course there is Rudolf, the one with the bright red nose ... Then there must be Baltazar and Johnny ? And erm ... Tipsy and Gipsy, Stevy and Reecy and erm ... I think we have them all don't we ?" the Yarder replied, faking to be thinking as if he tried to recall as he was just inventing them as going along.
"No, that's only seven ! There can't be seven, it's not a pair number ! "Alden denied. " You are missing Edward."
"Oh yes, sorry ..." frowned Gregory with a little grin. "Could you make sure Marcus don't eat a ball once again ? He still haven't fully recovered from last year's one ..."
As much as he adored his dog, the yarder had to admit that he could sometime be a pain in the ass, especially because he was so keen about eating whatever he could have a hold one, from a steak to Greg's favourite leather shoes to a stack of unopened envelope and, not to mention, Mycroft's infamous umbrella. After the operation he had been forced to overtake because of the Christmas ball he had eaten, both the policeman and his partner had been even more vigilant about what the dog was to chew, trying to get him more interested in the numerous toys he had all around the house but the dog's new passion looked more like chewing the chairs and sofas' feet, awfully ruining them, but at least not being able to swallow them completely.
"Tadaa !" the detective exclaim half an hour later as the lights finally consented to work properly. He took a step back to admire his work, nearly tumbling over the said dog who was now resting right in the middle of the room, and grinned, proud of the result the tree of them had achieved in these last hours.
The rain had stopped outside and if it wasn't for the wind still hammering in the trees, they could nearly had heard flies flying as the three of them looked pleased at their master piece. Even though it was still more than two weeks before Christmas, having established the tree suddenly made it more present to their mind and as they finished storing away the empty Christmas decoration boxes, the children insisted it was more than time to write their letter to Santa Klaus.
Not able to resist such a demand, Gregory sat down with them around the living room's coffee table and gave them some paper and pens as well as a couple of catalogues of toy stores for them to make a choice from. Not able to write yet, Aelane started circling with a pen what she was wishing Santa would bring them in the catalogues while her brother was trying his best to copy the names of the toys he was asking for, even though his writing was still weak, an unalarming situation as he would't have been supposed to start writing before over a year, but as always, he couldn't resist being over his years.
Both children's list were growing rapidly and after lass than half an hour they already have selected more than fifty toys each, a number even Mycroft would never agree on, and god only knew how much he loved to spoiled them. Stopping them in their shopping list, the detective requested they double-checked what they were asking for in order to keep no more than 25 each and not twice the same type of items if possible.
If he himself as a child had requested for 25 presents from his parents for Christmas, Greg was quite sure he would never had got more than three of it but from the past Christmas with Alden alone, he had remarked that his partner was absolutely unable to buy him less than that and, when thinking about it, he couldn't help but compare it to Dudley's birthday presents in the first Harry Potter, only that the little boy never really complained of having one less present than the year before, always really happy with what he was presented with. Actually he would probably have been happy with only five or six of it but there was no way the auburn was to accept giving so few.
"Papa, if we both want the same present, does it count like one for me and one for Aelane or is it fifty presents in total, and we have to split it up like we want ?" the little boy wondered after a few minutes of studying his list and of helping his sister with hers.
"Erm ... Let's say it's fifty in total." the policeman retorted. "Because what is it you both want ?"
"You remember this electric car circuit we saw last time with Banpa and Banma ?" the youngster explained.
"The black and blue one ? Well yes, that would be a good present." Gregory nodded. "What you could do is ask for the cars and circuit and for a circuit extension. That would make two present, one for each of you, and you would have a super big circuit you could install upstairs going from one room to another, what do you think about this ?"
"I think it's a superb idea." Mycroft suddenly intervene, leaned against the door frame, having creaped in silently.
"Daddy ! Look the tree !" an over excited Aelane exclaimed before running to her father.
"Is it you alone who have decorated it ?" the politician faked to wonder, lifting her in his arms.
"No, Alden and Papa help." the toddler denied happily.
"Oh, they helped you ... And now you are writing to Santa. That's a good afternoon, isn't it ?" grinned the elder Holmes.
"Daddy, do you think Aelane can order an Action man even if it's in the boys' pages of the catalogue ?" the little boy wondered a few minutes later after his sister had whispered something to his ear.
"What do you think ? Could you order for yourself erm ... lets say a doll ?" Mycroft asked gently.
"Well, I have a doll." the youngster retorted, not really seeing his father's point.
"You have indeed. What if I was to tell you that doll are usually sale in the girls pages of the catalogues ?" the auburn explained.
"That's wrong. Dolls aren'T for girl. I like my dolls." Alden outbursted. "Why would it be only for girls ? That's unfair !"
"Well you see, so if dolls aren't just for girls, why would action man be only for boys ?" the politician concluded
"Oh ... So she can ? You see Aelane, you can circle this one too." the boy smiled before handling his sister another pen.
Internally, Mycroft was both revolted by the fact his son had to ask the question to say to his sister she had all the right to order that seemingly boy's doll and proud he understood his point and found it unfair that toys were to be gendered. The politician wasn't a huge militant of the anti-gendering moment but he was still determined not to let those prejudices get to his children. After all, he was quite persuaded that the world was evolving in the right direction and that in a few years, those prejudices wouldn't be accepted anymore exactly because some people like his children would say that it wasn't OK.
After all, he himself had been educated in a very masculine environment, his father taking great pride in the fact that his children were "proper men" and still, Mycroft had the feeling that all that had been a complete failure. He had hated his childhood, partially for that, and when looking back on it from now, he had to admit that he probably wasn't a "proper man", as his father would describe it, at all, neither does Sherlock was. So if being raised up in the old gender stereotyped way wasn't working as it has been the case for him, the auburn was more than sceptical at the idea of forcing his own children to undertake the same path and so far, he had the feeling it had been working admirably well. Alden wasn't less of a man because he had been playing with dolls and liked dancing in an old tutu he had found at his grandparents home and he was certainly happier than Mycroft had ever been during his own childhood
Maybe, after all, he wasn't as bad as a parent has he had thought he would be.

•••••••        •••••••        ••••••

Hello everyone !
Guess what ? Today is officially the first birthday of this fic !
What a journey it has been ... when I first started writing this , I wasn't even sure to go over chapter 3 and now look at this ! 143 chapters have been published ! That's like one every 2/3 days !
I feel like my writing have evolved so much this last year and I'm very proud of what have been achieved.
I'm not one to usually autocongratulate but when I remember the moment I've started writing this fic I can only be a tiny bit impressed.
Of course that would have been impossible without you, all my faithful readers who've followed, liked and commented this story with great devotion. I'm always so moved to read your comment and to see that people like what I do .
It haven't always been easy to keep up with writing, especially since last September but I'm very proud to have been able to keep updating even when I had to give up writing for more than a month and I hope you are as pleased with these updates.
Overall it has been a fantastic experience and I'm very happy to have taken my chance on this.
Thank you for everything.
With all my love
Daniel A. Lazarus