Title: Absolutely Monstrous

Rating: T

Spoilers: Post S3E3

Disclaimer: Last time I checked, my last name was neither Gatiss or Moffat, so read at your own risk. You have been warned!

"Now, now – I must insist John," Alexandrine Holmes shooed the man in question, along with her husband out the door of Mary's private maternity room, "You look ready to drop. Siger will get you something in the cafeteria."

John scrubbed his left hand vigorously up and down his face while yawning. "No really, Alexandrine – I'm fine – I'll just nip down to the vending machine and get some crisps."

"I thought I told you to call me Lexi or Mummy." Alexandrine arched a perfect eyebrow at him sharply, so much like Sherlock. "Go! Get some real food in you or you'll be no use to your new baby while your wife is...resting."

John slowly blinked his eyes a few times and peeked around Alexandrine to where Mary was soundly dozing in her hospital bed, after a long and arduous labor. His new beautiful daughter also was sleeping in her bassinet. He was still reluctant to leave, but his stomach gurgled loudly and he swayed on his feet.

Siger put his hand on John's arm to steady him, and finally lead him away from his new little family down the long corridor. "Come along son, we won't be gone long, and Lexi will take care of everything."

John tiredly grinned up at the older man as they got on the elevator. "I am lucky that you came by at the right time to visit. Maybe we can find where Sherlock scarpered off to."

Siger chuckled, "Don't let my Lexi hear you say that, it will upset her. She always says that you make your own luck!"

Mary blinked to a groggy awareness at the sound of Alexandrine cooing and talking to he baby. It sounded as though she was underwater. "That's alright little one, Mummy is here to watch out for you, as I have for my own boys."

Mary groaned as she tried and failed to sit up. She had no coordination and could not get her limbs to work properly. She couldn't even seem to form coherent speech. "Wh-wha!"

Alexandrine turned away from the bassinet when she heard Mary begin to stir. "There, there dear – don't fight it." She came over to the bedside and brushed the fringe off of Mary's face tenderly. "Just let yourself drift off. It's a mercy really."

Alexandrine moved over to the IV stand and began to fiddle with the drip line. "I was in labor for over 18 hours with my Sherlock. It was such a difficult birth – I very nearly lost him." Her eyes grew watery at the memories of so long ago, and for a time much more recent. "I swore I would do everything in my power to protect him, and I nearly lost him again, and that was your doing." As she moved back towards the bassinet, Alexandrine looked at Mary thoughtfully. "Did you think I wouldn't do anything and everything to find out what happened, or that I wasn't capable of doing so? My darling boys, did you think they just sprang up from the ground? Who do you think raised them?"

Mary had a hard time tracking Alexandrine as she moved about the room, but finally focused on her as she bent over the bassinet, leaning her latex gloved hands on its side. Panic flooded through Mary. She flopped her hand to try and grab the nurses call button. "N-No!"

Alexandrine sighed, thinking 'as if I would harm the child' as she came back towards the bed, deftly moving the call button out of Mary's reach. "Now, we'll have none of that nonsense, calm yourself girl. You will be dead in just a few moments...funny thing about potassium, it breaks down so quickly in the body. It hardly leaves a trace – nothing that wouldn't occur naturally."

Smirking down at Mary's prone form, Alexandrine spoke not without a slight trace of humor in her voice. "And who would ever think I did anything? My boys think me a fool, and I let them – Sherlock couldn't conceive of me having the brains to do such a thing, and if he ever did, he would dismiss it since it would drive John away from him. And, Mycroft? Pfft – even if he had an inkling, he would do everything in his power to cover it up. My boys – so sentimental."

Mary, her eyes wide open in terror, gasped her last breaths.