A.N. Hello there! So my first installment in the BBC Sherlock fandom - in the form of fanfiction - was a prompt from Tumblr. It was actually originally posted on Tumblr near the end of June and it's taken me his long to post it here. The prompt was for a 2,000 word or less Mollcroft story that incorporated all of the following:
1) An apple
2) An interesting use for a tea cosy
3) The phrase: "That briefcase is not a chew toy!"
4) Someone crying (not Molly)
5) A description of Molly without using "mouse" or "mousey", or anything rodent-like.
6) Mycroft losing a shoe.
7) A telegram.
For some reason Sherlock wanted to actually be in this prompt more than Mycroft (what a drama queen). I had tons of fun writing this, so if you have fun reading it (and maybe even if you don't) please review. Enjoy!
The first thing Molly noticed when she entered the flat was the pillow fort in the main area.
The second was the crying.
Smiling for reasons she didn't quite understand Molly slipped her shoes and coat off, and put her bag away. Waking down the hall she winced slightly as the cries got louder the closer she got to the nursery, stopping in the doorway Molly felt a slow grin spread across her face as she took in the scene.
When she'd been called into a work emergency that morning the only person available to look after her daughter had been none other than Sherlock Holmes. John and Mary both had shifts at the clinic and Mycroft had left for Germany the night before. She would have called Mrs. Hudson but Molly wasn't overly comfortable with exposing her three month-old infant to Mrs. Hudson's 'herbal soothers'.
It hadn't been easy to convince the detective to babysit his niece, but without a case he hadn't had an argument that was good enough to get himself off the hook. However, as Molly stood watching Sherlock rock and bounce the crying infant until the cries turned into whimpers which turned into blissful silence Molly was sure that Lillian Evelyn Alice Holmes had Sherlock wrapped around her little finger just as surely as she did her parents.
"You're quite good at that, Sherlock." Molly said after a moment prompting Sherlock to turn away from the window to face her.
"Oh good, you're back. Your offspring has done nothing more than cry, eat, and defecate all day."
Molly covered a grin with her hand, "She's only three months Sherlock give her a chance to grow a little! Wait a minute…what's that she's got on her head?"
"A hat."
"That is not a hat. Is that a tea cosy?"
"Is it? It certainly looks like a hat."
Molly shook her head, not sure whether to laugh or not. "Sherlock, what kind of hat has ear holes?"
"Well it's a baby! People are always coming up with new clothing inventions for infants, and seeing as babies are so prone to ear infections it made sense."
"Most children get ear infections from something they inhale."
Sherlock rolled his eyes, "Whatever. I'll take it off if you like."
Molly shook her head vigorously and grabbed her phone out of her pocket, "Not yet. Let me take a picture on my mobile to send to Mycroft."
"You'll do no such thing," Sherlock protested as he plucked the tea cosy from Lilly's head and put her back in the bassinet.
"Just did! Thanks again Sherlock. It really was an emergency and I had no one else to call to watch Lilly."
"Interesting case?" Sherlock asked hopefully.
Molly shook her head, "Not this time. The pathologist they had working came down with a horrible case of food poisoning so they called me in. Sorry Sherlock."
Molly offered a small smile as Sherlock's shoulder visibly slumped at her words. Ushering him into the kitchen he took a seat as she put the kettle on before sitting across the table from him.
"I hope she wasn't too bad for you today. She's been a bit colicky for the last month, Mycroft says it shouldn't last too long. I hope he comes home soon, it doesn't help that she misses her daddy…"
"She cried a lot."
"Well yeah, that's the colic at work."
"She seems to be comforted by rocking motion. That swing you've got in the nursery works quite well."
Molly nodded as she got up to pour the tea, settling back down after a moment and sliding Sherlock's cup across the table to him.
They drank their tea in relative silence. The atmosphere between them had changed since Molly had begun her relationship with Mycroft, Sherlock was no longer able to manipulate Molly as easily as he could before which was a blessing for Molly even if it was at time tedious for Sherlock.
"John and Mary should be home now," Molly remarked as she glanced over the clock, the hands reading half seven.
"Been barred," he murmured.
Molly almost choked on her tea, "What?"
"I've been barred," he said more forcefully. "Until the end of the week."
"Can't say I blame them. They both work part-time at the clinic, and little Aubrey has got to be excited when they come home in the evening. You have to admit Sherlock, they have their hands full."
"The child turned three in April."
"So?" Molly questioned. "She's a bouncing ball of excited energy. I bet she talks their ear off every night…"
Molly quirked an eyebrow when she looked up from her cup of tea to see Sherlock staring at her.
"You look tired."
Molly laughed exasperatedly, "Ta, Sherlock. I'd like to see you take care of a three month-old and do all the house work and still look ready for a night out."
"It's not a bad tired," he defended. "In fact it suit you. You look…motherly."
Molly giggled at the way Sherlock said the word 'motherly'. He definitely didn't make it sound like a term of endearment.
"Do you have any apples?" Sherlock asked suddenly and even though Molly sent him a questioning look she went to get him one nonetheless.
"You can buy apples from the market you know." She said lightly as she placed it on the table for him to take at his leisure.
"Mrs. Hudson buys Gala apples," he said as if it was a perfect explanation.
"I see," Molly responded knowing it was the quickest way to get Sherlock to explain himself.
He sighed loudly, "Gala apples are too sweet. You buy Braeburn apples which are both sweet and tart and therefore much more to my liking – and Mycroft's I assume."
"You could go out and buy your own groceries you know."
"Boring."
Molly rolled her eyes. "Of course," she murmured under her breath.
No sooner had he finished the apple did his mobile ring and Sherlock was off like a shot, all talk of apples forgotten in the excitement of a new murder. Molly laughed as she watched him go and set to get the dishes done before Lilly woke up for her next feed.
"Molly?"
"Hmm?"
"Have you seen my left shoe?"
Molly rolled her eyes, "Which one?"
"The brown Cheaney's."
Molly found it endearing that Mycroft believed that she knew what that meant. The man had more shoes than she did and quite frankly it bordered on the ridiculous.
"No sorry, I don't think I have."
Molly stifled a giggle as she heard Mycroft's long suffering sigh from where she was in the nursery. Turning her attention back to her six month-old daughter who was trying her hardest to wiggle her way off the change table while he mother struggled to dress her.
"Lilly honey please relax," Molly pleaded. "Mummy's got to get you dressed so she can help daddy find his shoes so he can go save Britain."
That earned a giggle from the infant and just enough compliance for Molly to get the infant into her clothes before depositing Lilly on the play mat in the living room and going back to help Mycroft look.
"Did you find it?" She asked as she popped her head in the door.
"Unfortunately no. Although it's not hard to deduce why, given the state of our home."
Molly smiled sheepishly, "I know, I'm sorry. I'll have a clean during Lilly's nap or something and I swear to you Mycroft Holmes it will be immaculate by the time you return."
Buttoning up his suit jacket Mycroft pulled down on the hem to straighten it out before going over to Molly in the doorway. Using his index finger and thumb he tilted her chin up and lowered his head to catch her lips in a quick kiss.
"Thank you, don't feel obliged to do the washing up. It'll give me something to do when I get home."
Careful so as not to wrinkle his suit jacket Molly pulled him down for another kiss, one that lingered longer and mad her loathe to let him go. When they did pull back Mycroft pressed a soft kiss to her temple before taking her hand and leading her back to the living room.
Shortly before Lilly's birth Mycroft had insisted on having the house child-proofed. There wasn't much in the home that could be of any danger to Lilly which made Molly more than comfortable leaving the child alone in the living room.
Which was what made the scene in front of her so funny.
"Lillian that briefcase is not a chew toy." Mycroft reprimanded gently as he walked over and lifted their daughter away from the briefcase full of documents containing subject matter that Molly could only imagine about.
"Well," Molly said as she walked over and took Lilly from Mycroft. "She is teething. I'm sure leather is a great soother."
Mycroft's eyebrow quirked but he seemed to let the subject go, kissing Lilly and then Molly on their foreheads he murmured a quick farewell before he was gone again.
It was mid-afternoon when Sherlock burst through the door and tossed something over to Molly who'd been catching up on some trashy telly that she only watched when Mycroft wasn't around.
"Sherlock is this…was this Mycroft's shoe?"
Sherlock shrugged, "I needed the leather."
Molly couldn't stop the laughter at Sherlock's 'completely rational' response to why she now currently held what used to be a brown leather shoe.
"These are expensive, Sherlock."
"He can afford it…where's the offspring?"
Molly shook her head, "That's not the point. And she's in the nursery – napping.So don't wake her."
Sherlock dropped down onto the chair by the window that Mycroft used to read the newspaper when he had a few spare minutes. Although the two brothers didn't look very alike they had similar mannerisms and the way Sherlock crossed his legs and draped his arms on the armrests reminded Molly highly of Mycroft.
"I got your telegram this morning," Sherlock stated as he toyed with the cover on the right armrest.
Molly smiled, "Yeah? It was Mycroft's idea to have telegrams for wedding invitations. I wasn't really all that keen but I quite like it now."
"Of course it was Mycroft's idea. No one else would think of something so archaic and dilapidated."
"Old-fashioned I like to think."
Sherlock made a noise of affirmation. "Much like the groom."
Molly sighed, she and Mycroft had been engaged since before Lilly had been born and she'd assumed Sherlock would have become more accustomed to the idea in all that time.
"Don't sulk Sherlock. You were brilliant as John's best man and I'm sure you'll be just as good being Mycroft's – easier even because I don't imagine we'll have much of a reception."
The incredulous look Sherlock gave her made Molly laugh.
"Don't look at me like that. Of course you're going to be Mycroft's best man, you're his brother Sherlock. He hasn't mentioned anything of course but who else could he ask?"
A cry from the nursery cut off whatever Sherlock was going to say and Molly waved him off when he went to stand. Lilly hadn't been asleep that long so Molly was hoping that the infant would settle quickly and sleep for another hour at the very least.
When Molly emerged from the nursery and walked back into the main room a few moments later she was surprised to find it empty. It wasn't unlike Sherlock to leave without saying a word but she hadn't even heard the door close. Rolling her eyes Molly collapsed back down onto the couch in time for another episode of EastEndersto start and waited for her fiancé to come home.