John could smell the freshly baked snickerdoodles perched on top of the oven as he attached the end of the Christmas lights to the mantle. It was all coming along perfectly. Rosie's first Christmas will be magnificent! Suddenly John heard the door squeak open and ran over to the entrance. Then, Sherlock walked in and it was as if he had seen the ghost of Christmas past...
"John." Sherlock paused, trying to process his surroundings. "Why do we have all these... decorations spread across the room?"
"It's December the first, Sherlock!" John threw his arms in the air and smiled at him, his eyes glistening with joy.
Sherlock deadpanned, "and yesterday was November 30th, John. I don't see any significance."
"Sherlock, the Christmas countdown has begun. Rosie will soon be celebrating her very first Christmas!" John quickly ran over to the kitchen counter and grabbed Santa hats he bought for Sherlock and himself. "Merry December First!"
Sherlock ignored John's Santa hats and stared at the kitchen counter, horrified. Where his plate of rat corpses once rested, there was now tinsel and multicoloured lights. "John.... John... Where is my experiment?" Sherlock spat out. "It was right here, John. In the perfect laboratory conditions, exactly a meter from the restroom, exactly 21 degrees celsius with the slight chill of the fridge coming from the west, tilted on the perfect angle for optimal blood flow... John, what happened?" Sherlock demanded.
"Sherlock, calm down. The rat corpses are sitting on trays right on top of your bed. I would have put them on your desk but... you set it aflame last week." John frowned. "I just thought I should leave some room for the decorations and the rotting corpses were horrid. Wouldn't want to ruin the sugary goodness of my December-First snickerdoodles."
"No, John." Sherlock sighed. "There's too much festivity and not enough murder."
John rolled his eyes. "What?"
"Christmas season!" Sherlock shouted. "Murder!"
"Oh my god..." John didn't even know where to begin. "Why don't you go upstairs and get Rosie while I pack up my cookies and clean up?"
"And let me guess. Her crib has- has- mistletoe patterns and twinkly lights and it smells like cinnamon!" Sherlock's face started turning red. "JOHN! This is driving me mad!"
John had expected an outburst like this and calmly sat down in his chair and waited for Sherlock to tire out. He pulled up a little plastic Christmas tree and began placing ornaments onto it. When John glanced up from the silver snowflake ornament in his hand, he saw Sherlock was waving his gun around.
"I WON'T HAVE IT!" Sherlock shot once at the wall. "I NEED A CLIENT AND THERE'S BLOODY TINSEL EVERYWHERE!" He shot twice in the same spot. "I CAN'T TAKE IT!." A fourth shot.
"ALRIGHT SHERLOCK, THAT'S ENOUGH." John slowly approached him and took the gun out of his shaking hands. "We'll take down the tinsel... but what has gotten into you. You're-"
Suddenly Sherlock fell to the floor. He began seizing and John quickly took a pillow, then placed it under Sherlock's head. After a while Sherlock's convulsions ceased and John reached into Sherlock's pockets. He stopped and closed his eyes, trying to remember a time when Sherlock was better than this. Then John continued. He took out a metal spoon, a needle, and a tiny plastic bag with traces of white powder in the creases.
"Sherlock..." John held up the needle.
"John. I just-"
"No Sherlock... I don't want to hear it." John turned his back to Sherlock. "No more lies." He started walking away to the kitchen.
Sherlock stood up, feeling extremely lightheaded and grabbed John's arm to spin him back around. "Just let me ex-"
"NO SHERLOCK! You came into our home... Rosie's home. And you were high. YOU ARE HIGH, FOR CRYING OUT LOUD!" John threw the needle in the trash. "Just... just get out, Sherlock."
"What?"
"I said get out, Sherlock !" John shouted. "I don't need you here hurting Rosie too."
Sherlock slinked away towards the door and grabbed his coat off the hook.
"I- I'm sorry, John. I didn't-" Sherlock didn't even know what to say. He stumbled out of his flat out unsure of where to go or what to do.
YOU ARE READING
A Sherlock Christmas
FanfictionDecember has finally arrived. But this only drives a wedge between John and Sherlock. As Rosie celebrates her very first Christmas, John couldn't be more excited. But Sherlock has issues of his own that he must confront before it's too late. Merry...
