Sir Herbert had retired to bed, his headaches weren't getting better, and although the Doctor had told him they were just stress related he'd had trouble believing her. Who wouldn't be a little stressed and tired in a house that had for the last 3 weeks contained his fiancée, his daughter, his Grandsons, his son in law and his son in laws lover. All of whom seemed to think Christmas was a time for family arguments .He had of course insisted on the Baker Street Family coming for Christmas, after all they had spent last year with the horrendous Holmes family. It wasn't like he didn't enjoy having a house full, he just wanted some time on his own, in his room.
Lucy had been quite relieved when her Father had gone to bed; it had given her an opportunity to retire herself. She didn't return to her bedroom however, but instead walked to the old nursery at the far side of the house, to Nelly's old rooms and threw up violently in the old Victorian bathroom. She had fought the rising urge to vomit for about 5 hours, but it was New Year's Eve and they had guests. However as her Father was about to miss the ringing of the changes, she was sure it was acceptable if she did. Sitting on the cold tiled floor, with her head resting on the wooden toilet see, she sniffed miserably, it had to be that melon she had this morning.
At midnight, as the bells clanged, John and Sherlock shared a luxurious kiss. Sir Herbert's guests were much more open minded than Lady Holmes', in fact John had been pleasantly surprised when Sir Herbert had clapped him on the back and introduced him as Sherlock and Lucy's lover to his guests, and his guests had accepted their ménage a trois as perfectly normal. In fact Sir Herbert had explained that John would find the Blengindale much more liberal than the Holmes Manor, a fact which went somewhere to explain Lucy's personality. John looked round for Lucy, only to receive a snort of derision from Sherlock, and the information that she had left.
Sherlock had noticed Lucy slinking off, but then he had noticed she'd been feeling ill all evening. He assumed it was something she'd eaten at first, she'd been pale and quiet since the afternoon, but running through the day in his mind, he couldn't think of anything that would have made her sick. His mind had drawn a blank however, and he'd paid it little further attention. Sherlock concentrated instead on John as he made his way around the room. John was happier in the more liberal setting, wearing his trademark jumper; he mingled happily with the assembled guests. Sherlock just kept staring at his partner; he still couldn't believe the depth of his feeling. John had started talking to the head teacher of Blingindale Primary when Lucy suddenly came back to the forefront of his mind, the woman had started asking after Simon when something clicked in Sherlock's mind…Oh.