A Sherlock Christmas

Part 7: All I Want for Christmas is You

"Why isn't Sherlock here?" Molly asked looking around the Christmas infested flat.

"It's- it's complicated. Always is with Sherlock." A smirk flashed across John's face for a brief second. "He won't be joining us."

They'd just finished playing Secret Santa. And some of the highlights were Mrs. Hudson's beautiful Christmas sweaters to Molly and Mycroft buying out Lestrade's favourite donut shop chain for him. Literally the entire donut company. But now it was dinner time and everyone was starving.

"Dear, let me help you carve the turkey." Mrs. Hudson followed John into the kitchen

Suddenly there was a knock on the door and John froze. Sherlock. He didn't think Sherlock would show up. He wasn't prepared.

"Is anyone going to get that?" Anderson asked pointing to the door.

Everyone turned to John.

"I just-" John stood there looking at everyone's face, as if it would determine his choice.

Mrs. Hudson shifted uncomfortably in her chair. "Dear... Are you going to answer your door?"

John took a deep breath. This whole time, all he wanted was a lovely Christmas with Rosie. Perhaps he would open the door for Sherlock and act as if nothing happened. Maybe he would even hug him or serve him some dinner.

Or maybe he wouldn't even answer at all.

But John got up and walked over to the door. He reached his hand over the door knob, stopping before opening it. John's hand dangled in the air as he decided.

"Oh bloody hell, it's Christmas! Nobody should be alone on Christmas," John exclaimed.

So John opened the door and his heart started pounding.

"John." Sherlock looked up off the ground as if he didn't even expect the door to open. "I..."

"Just-" John decided it wasn't the time and stopped himself. "Please, Sherlock, come in. It's freezing out there."

The two of them walked into the kitchen and Sherlock noticed the tinsel had been taken down. Although the Christmas lights were still up. He liked it. It brought a warm feeling to his chest and he realized how hard John must have worked because they were everywhere.

"I love the decorations, John." Sherlock said as he waited for John to make him a plate of food.

John paused. "Thank you, Sherlock. I appreciate it."

Everyone sat in awkward silence as John finished scooping mashed potatoes and turkey onto a paper plate.

John walked over to Sherlock and handed him his dinner. "Here." The room slowly started filling with voices again.

Everyone was lined up to try Mrs. Hudson's new cranberry sauce. It had a dash of cinnamon, a pinch of orange zest, and a heap of fresh cranberries. John went into Rosie's room and brought her into the kitchen to entertain everyone as they waited. Anderson was first in line because he didn't bother to wait and see if Sherlock was at the door or not. And he was taking what felt like hours just scooping up some stuffing and cranberry sauce.

Sherlock walked up to the back of the line and asked, "John?"

"Yes, Sherlock?"

"Merry Christmas." Sherlock gave John a half smile. "I'm your secret Santa." Sherlock held out a gift bag. It was green and covered in Christmas tree designs. The wrapping paper was white and it had dashes of glitter attached to it.

"Oh." John stepped out of the line and over near the corner of the room with more privacy. He grabbed the card which was resting on top of the gift wrap and started to read:

John,

Christmas isn't about the things, it's about the people.

I lost sight of that. I never told you this but I lost my father around this time last year. I didn't want to admit he was gone, so I tried to forget about it.

I'm sorry that I hurt you and Rosie. I never intended for that to happen. I'm sorry for being a bad friend, John. But above all, I'm sorry that I never told you the truth.

So I will now:

John Watson, I love you. Merry Christmas.

- SH

John finished and looked up at Sherlock. His eyes welling up with tears. He grabbed Sherlock and hugged him tight. Just before he let go, John whispered in his ear, "I love you too, Sherlock."

After that John pulled away the wrapping paper to reveal a mistletoe sitting at the bottom of the bag. It was beautiful. The plastic leaves were gleaming, the little fake berries were painted bright red, and each of them were dusted with a few white sparkles of fake snow. John reached up to hang the mistletoe but he was too short. Sherlock carefully took the mistletoe and hung it himself. When he was finished, he smiled and looked down at John. Suddenly they both noticed that they were standing right underneath it.

And so Sherlock and John kissed under the mistletoe.