A/N: Happy Holidays, kittens! I find myself between writing projects right now and I'm in the Christmas spirit, so how about some new adventures from the Gabriel-verse?! I'll also be updating some other stories, so be on the lookout for updates! KISSES to all!
Scarlett was lying on the floor, resting her head on the dog when she saw the commercial. The first Christmas commercial of the year! As soon as she saw the cheery bells Scarlett sat up and knelt close to the television so that she could hear better. The spotlight of the holiday commercial was a doll she'd seen several times in the store. It was a ballerina that came with several outfits and a stage that would make her dance like the girls in The Nutcracker. She watched as the little girl in the commercial dressed the doll up and danced with her in a magical forest scene with snow falling all around them.
She squealed and grabbed Cat, squeezing the poor animal around the neck in her delight. "That's what I'm getting for Christmas, Cat!" The dog didn't argue and instead licked her cheeks and nose. "Sugarplum the Dancing Fairy Princess!"
"All right, Scarlett," Molly sighed, dragging into the lounge with a load of laundry under her arm. "Your daddy will be home any minute so let's get in the bath now while dinner is cooking."
"Okay, Mummy," Scarlett replied as she stumbled to her feet and followed her mother to the bathroom. Ordinarily she would have protested. A few pleas to be allowed to wait until Daddy was home. Or perhaps a little deflection by insisting that she left her favorite bathtime toy on the floor in Gabriel's room. But this time she was very agreeable and didn't even protest when her mother nudged her head back to wash her hair. After all, the most perfect Christmas present ever was riding on it. Gabriel had told Scarlett all about Father Christmas and how you had to be extra good and do exactly as your mum and dad said if you wanted to get what was on your list.
Molly was scrubbing the unruly red curls vigorously when Scarlett finally spoke. "I already know what I want for Christmas, Mummy!"
"Oh?"
"Yep! Sugarplum the Dancing Fairy Princess. She dances on a stage and comes with all these different outfits and a crown that I can wear!"
"Well you'll have to put it on your list then, love."
Scarlett nodded and let her mother finish rinsing her hair. She continued jabbering about how wonderful the toy was and all the interesting things it could do while Molly finished drying her off and helping her into her pajamas. Her excitement was infectious and Molly couldn't help smiling at Scarlett's enthusiasm. "Even Will and Finn would like it, Mummy! They could watch me dance with her!"
"They'd like that very much," Molly giggled. Scarlett had deduced that her parents were more willing to give her what she wanted if the twins were appeased as well. Just as Molly began combing her wet hair gently they could hear Sherlock on the front stairs. Scarlett immediately started wiggling, wanting to get down from her perch on the counter and run to meet her father. "Scarlett… you're going to fall down!"
"I go see my Daddy!" she said, finally sliding to the floor. To her disappointment, by the time she got to Sherlock he was already holding Finn and Gabriel was babbling in his ear about a school trip. While she loved her brothers, she sometimes wished they would just go away. She almost never got to sit in her father's lap anymore. Sometimes it felt like he gave all of his kisses away to Finn and Will before she got there. He was also quicker to annoy than he used to be. They were only a few months old but sometimes she was already sick of them.
"Daddy!" she exclaimed, jumping up and down and reaching to be picked up. She smiled as he handed off Finn to Gabriel and let her wrap her arms around his neck.
"Hello…" Before he could get the words out she was hugging his neck tightly and kissing his cheek. "Scarlett…" he choked out, casting a cold sideways glare at John Watson.
"I miss you today," she said.
"Why don't you tell Dad about the worms, Scar?" Her face whipped around to glare at Gabriel who just laughed and set Finn back on the floor with his twin.
"The worms?"
"Shush, Bre! You not sposa tell that."
"Well now I have to know," Sherlock said, sitting down with Scarlett in his lap. He took the hearing aid offered from Molly and began fitting it into the little girl's ear. "What about the worms?"
Scarlett sighed. She couldn't believe that she'd been betrayed by her own big brother! Especially now at Christmas when it was so important. She shrugged and laid her head on his shoulder. "I not know."
"I don't think that's true," Sherlock said.
Gabriel was already laughing. "She almost made her teacher throw up!"
"Scarlett!"
Scarlett mumbled into Sherlock's shoulder. "I not know why she so mad. It was just little worms."
"Dad, she was playing outside with the other primary babies and they dug up all these worms. She wanted to keep them! Can you believe that?" Gabriel thought this was wildly funny. Evidently Will and Finn thought that Gabriel's laughter was wildly funny and they began to giggle and shriek with him.
"They was cold, Daddy. So I put them in my pocket to get warm." She was absolutely serious. Still, after all the commotion she didn't see a thing wrong with a little girl carrying worms in her pocket.
"Oh Scarlett…" he groaned, pinching the bridge of his nose.
When Gabriel managed to catch his breath, he finished the story. "I walked over to her school at the end of the day and her teacher was waiting for me. Apparently Scarlett's friends were all talking about it and Miss Preston asked what was in her pocket- so Scarlett handed over a fistful of worms!" He burst into laughter again imagining the look on that poor woman's face.
"Scarlett!" Molly exclaimed. "That was very naughty of you."
"I sorry, Mummy," she said with a yawn. "She screamed real loud. I don't know why. I like worms. Don't you like worms, Daddy?"
John, who was standing at the kettle, let out a choked chuckle and continued making his cuppa.
"Worms, like frogs, insects…"
"Severed heads," John mumbled from the kitchen.
"… and other things," Sherlock said, completely ignoring John's snark, "…belong outside."
"Okay, Daddy," she said. She made herself comfortable in his lap again, confident in the fact that she wasn't going to be in any real trouble.
"I think she should have to apologize to Miss Preston," Molly sighed.
"She did," Gabriel remarked.
"See," Scarlett grumbled. "I said sorry. I think she should say sorry for hurting my ears when she screamed so loud."
She sat there in Sherlock's lap, listening to her parents and John talk about their days and plans for the evening. She refused to get up even when Finn crawled over and tugged at the cuff of his trousers. It wasn't often she made it to him first and she was going to take advantage for as long as possible. She liked the way his hair smelled and the rough line of his jaw when she brushed her nose against it.
"I think we should get a real tree," Gabriel piped up from his place at the table where he was still struggling with maths problems. "They smell much nicer than those plastic things."
Molly nodded. "I agree, but a real tree with the twins might not be such a good idea."
"I don't understand why we have to bring outside things inside," Sherlock said. "You're already going to make a huge mess at Ambergris with an enormous fire hazard. Why not just skip tree-trimming for the flat?"
"You're such a Grinch, Dad," Gabriel scolded.
"I agree," Molly chimed. "Besides, it isn't as if he has to worry about it. Mary and I will take the girls and the babies and go down next week to take care of Ambergris. That horrible woman has already called me to ask if we're opening our house for-"
"No," Sherlock replied.
"It's just a party, love," Molly sighed.
"No, it's strangers traipsing through the house all night drinking all the wine and eating all our food. Most of them are just weirdos who read John's blog."
Soon all of them were arguing about trees, decorations, and parties. Scarlett wasn't paying much attention. She was too busy imagining herself dancing with that beautiful ballerina, twirling round and round to the Dance of the Sugarplum Fairy. Eventually the conversation died down and soon Scarlett and her father were alone with only the cooing of Will and Finn to break the silence.
"Daddy?" Scarlett said, nudging the open case file from his hands.
"Hmm?"
"Where's Mummy?"
"She went down to Mrs. Hudson's to borrow something."
"Oh." She picked up one of his papers and pretended to read it, imitating her father's mannerisms.
The corner of Sherlock's mouth turned up as he watched her from the corner of his eye. He was often amused by Scarlett's dramatic tendencies and wondered where she got it from. "See anything interesting?"
"The man did it," she said, pointing at one of the photographs.
"Ah. I see. Well thank you for your insight, Miss Holmes."
"You're welcome, Daddy," she said. He chuckled lightly and kissed her curly crown affectionately. She paused for a moment and then, "Daddy?"
"Hmm?" he hummed, trying to remember his patience.
"How long is it until Christmas?"
"Three weeks."
"That's a very long time."
"Not so long."
She sighed and leaned back, sliding her socked feet over the leather arm of the chair and considering how long three weeks could be. To a four year-old it seemed like an eternity. Especially to an impatient one like Scarlett. Like her father, she was not interested in the anticipation of anything. That dancing doll would simply not wait on Father Christmas. What if he didn't get her letter in time and all the dolls were sold out? What if it fell out of the sleigh on the way to her house? What if he sat on it and broke it into pieces? After all, he was a rather large man and the doll was very small and delicate.
"Daddy?"
"What, Scarlett?"
"I don't think I can wait."
"Wait for what, love?"
"For Father Christmas. I want my ballerina doll now, please."
"Your what?" He had obviously decided that reading this file was not going to happen and let it drop to the floor beside the chair to pay attention to his child.
"Sugarplum the Dancing Fairy Princess! She's a doll that can dance on her own stage. And she's got lots of clothes and a crown for me to wear so I can dance too."
"Sounds very exciting," Sherlock replied with slight disdain for Scarlett's increasingly prissy tastes in toys. "But wouldn't you rather have something more interesting? Like a microscope or a chemistry set?"
"No," she replied simply. "Can I have her?"
"Well, put her on your list to Father Christmas."
"I don't think I can wait, Daddy," Scarlett sighed. "Christmas is too far away."
"Oh not so far," he said. "And you have many other toys to distract you until then."
"They're all baby toys," she huffed.
"You didn't seem to think so a few months ago when you asked for them for your birthday."
She had no reply for his logic.
It was late and Gabriel was lying in bed watching Netflix. It was a Friday night and he was allowed to stay up as late as he liked. One of the privileges of being eleven. He'd heard his parents go to bed an hour ago. Will and Finn cried once, but they were evidently sleeping now because the house was dead quiet.
His parents would probably kill him if they knew he was watching this slasher movie. He wasn't supposed to use his parents' Netflix queue, but they had the best movies. Not the kid stuff on his and Scarlett's queue. The aforementioned slasher was stalking a college girl in her underwear down the darkened hallway. She was hiding in a closet and he was just about to strike when… a small knock on Gabriel's door startled him so badly he cried out.
"Bre! You 'wake?" Scarlett's face popped around the edge of his door and he clutched his chest.
"Jeez, Scarface… you scared me," he panted. "What do you want?"
"Can I come in, Bre?" Her speech was garbled. Obviously she wasn't wearing her hearing aids and he waved her in. He muted the television as she scrambled up his footboard and crawled toward him. She had something in her hand and it made it difficult to crawl, but she finally managed to dive under the covers beside him and make herself comfortable.
"Why are you out of bed? Mum and Dad will kill you if they find you up at this hour."
She shoved one of their dad's notebooks and a fat, pink pencil at him. "I need to write a letter to Father Christmas," she said, signing now that her hands were free. "And I not good at writing, so you have to help."
Gabriel sighed. "Scar, can't this wait until morning?" he signed back.
"Please, Bre!" She stared up at him with her big hazel eyes and he couldn't resist. Gabriel loved his baby sister to distraction and would do almost anything she asked. Even if it was writing a list to Father Christmas at one in the morning.
He heaved a heavy sigh, knowing he was defeated, and picked up the childish pencil. "All right. What do you want to say?"
"Remember, you hav'a write it just like I say."
"Yes, Scarlett. Go ahead. I'll write it just like you say."
She nodded and cleared her throat.
"Dear Father Christmas,
My name is Scarlett."
"Scarlett. Father Christmas knows who you are. You don't have to tell him your name"
"Just write my letter how I say, Bre!"
"Fine. Just get on with it so you can go back to bed."
"My name is Scarlett and I live at Baker Street in Westminster with my mummy and daddy and my Bre and my brothers, Finn and Will. How are you doing? I been very good this year except for when I push Annemarie down. But she was picking on me and Bre said she had it coming. I don't know what that means. I said I was sorry."
"Scarlett, you don't have to tell him your whole life story."
She ignored him and continued,
"Mummy says we shouldn't be greedy. The thing I want the most is the Sugarplum Fairy Princess dancing doll. She is beautiful! She comes with a stage that she can dance on and four outfits and a pretty crown that I can wear. She is perfect for me since I want to be a ballerina when I grow up. Besides that, I would like some chocolate, a game thing like Bre's (because he never lets me play with it)
"That's because you're always messing it up!"
I would also like to be able to hear better. I hate wearing this stupid robot ear! Thank you for reading my letter.
Scarlett Holmes
Also, would you please get my Bre the stuff on his list? He is a really good big brother. And I guess Finn and Will are good too, so please bring them some baby toys.
"Okay, Bre. That's all." Gabriel handed over the letter and she looked through it with the keen eye of an inspector. "Oh!" she exclaimed, grabbing the pencil from him. "I gotta write my name." He handed over the pencil, watching with amusement as she concentrated on printing "SCARLETT" in large, blocky letters.
"There. Now you can go to bed," Gabriel sighed, laying back against his pillows. He was starting to get sleepy himself now.
Scarlett opened the notebook up again and pulled another sheet of paper out and shoved it at Gabriel with the pencil. "Now you have'a write yours."
"God, Scarlett," Gabriel exclaimed. "I'll write it tomorrow."
"Nope. You gotta write it now." She pushed the pencil into his clenched fist. "And Mummy says you not s'posa say God like that. It's a swear. And read it to me while you write, please."
"Fine," he said through clenched teeth.
Dear Father Christmas,
I would like some new games for the Xbox—
"Bre! You can't just start the letter asking for stuff! You gotta be polite."
"It's my letter!"
"Don't be rude!"
Gabriel was now clutching his pencil in his fist angrily as he scribbled,
"I hope you are doing well this year. I would like some new games for the Xbox, some chocolate, and a guitar. Thank you.
Sincerely,
Gabriel Holmes
"There. Are you happy now?" But she was already tearing off another sheet of paper.
"Now for Will and Finn."
"Scarlett, they're babies. They don't want anything."
"How do you know? Did you ask them?"
He was quickly losing his patience. A glimpse of his face in the mirror revealed a perfect imitation of his father. "I don't have to ask them. They can't talk!"
"Please, Bre?" He rolled his eyes and began writing. "Out loud, please."
Dear Father Christmas,
I hope you are well. Please bring us some teething rings, a box of nappies, and puffy snacks. Thank you.
William and Phineas Holmes
Gabriel handed over Will and Finn's letter to Father Christmas, fully expecting that she would hand him more paper to write letters for his parents, Katie Adams and the dog. "Is that it?" he asked, disbelieving.
"Yep," she said as she gathered her pencil and placed the letters inside the notebook.
"What about Cat?"
Scarlett stared at him strangely and shook her head as she giggled. "Silly. Cat can write her own."