Special Note: This story contains spoilers about the finale of The Big Bang Theory. If you are a fan of the series and have not yet seen it, be forewarned.
Cover image by dear reader Elizabeth Robello.
"Look at me, Victoria," ordered Sherlock as he picked up a yellow block and placed it on the blue one for the fourth time.
Victoria was sitting on her play mat, watching him as he was on his knees before her.
He reached for a red block and placed it on top of the yellow. "See, Victoria? You are supposed to put the blocks on top of each other and make a tower."
Victoria giggled delightedly and reached forward, smacking at the blocks with her hand, so that, for the fourth time, they toppled over.
Sherlock groaned at his daughter, who then decided to pick up one of the blocks and gnaw on it. "They are called building blocks, sweet pea, not chew toys," he said firmly, taking the block away from her, much to her dismay, judging by the crease that formed between her brows as she frowned.
Molly's voice drifted to him from where she sat on the sofa. "She's only just turned one, honey. She's not ready to stack blocks yet."
Sherlock ignored his wife. "Let's try this once more," he said, hastily assembling the yellow block onto the blue one, then handing Victoria the red.
Victoria raised the block partway to her mouth, but stopped when she saw her father's frown. She reached over with the block towards the two in front of her and Sherlock held his breath. Was she finally going to master the art of building a tower?
Just as it seemed she was about to set the red block on top of the yellow one, she used it instead to knock the other two aside.
Sherlock sat back on his haunches. "I give up," he announced. "This reminds me too much of when Rosie threw her rattle at me."
"Dada," said Victoria, reaching her chubby little arms towards him and he scooped her up.
"Of course," he remarked, placing her on his hip, "you are definitely more affectionate than she ever has been to me." He swept the hair from her forehead and kissed it fondly. He noted that Molly would need to trim Victoria's fringe again, it was practically down to her eyes. It was amazing how quickly her hair grew for one so young, much quicker than Rosie's had done, at least from what he'd seen.
"Sherlock," called Molly from the sofa and he turned towards her, "the finale is about to start. Bring Victoria and sit next to me."
Sherlock complied with an indulgent smile. He knew Molly had been looking forward to the finale of The Big Bang Theory, having watched the show faithfully since it began airing. He was not a huge fan of the show, but he watched it every now and then with her. He still recalled Molly making comparisons between Sheldon and himself during their engagement. Of course, the similarities between the men were few these days. From what he had seen, Sheldon had evolved a lot from the way he had been in the beginning, but he was still rather repressed and not very demonstrative with Amy, his wife. It also seemed as if Sheldon did not enjoy a lot of physical intimacy with Amy, which was the complete opposite of Sherlock's relationship with Molly. With baby number two on the way, that was rather obvious. Sherlock smiled slightly at the thought.
"What are you smiling at?" asked Molly, peering at him suspiciously, even as she reached for Victoria, who shook her head and refused to go to her mother, Sherlock noted with a hint of satisfaction.
"Oh, just thinking about how different I am from Sheldon these days. He may have progressed a lot from the person he was at the beginning, but I have surpassed him by leaps and bounds."
Molly leaned her head against his shoulder, "I completely agree." Then she said, "You know, I'm getting a little jealous of the way Victoria has become so attached to you ever since I stopped breast-feeding. Apparently, you are the favourite now that she doesn't have her mummy's milk anymore."
Sherlock smirked. "Don't worry, Molly. In a few months, you will have another baby who will be solely dependent on you for some time, and I will feel neglected once again. Please allow me the small victory of being the favourite, at least for a short time."
Molly laughed at that. "Everything is a competition with you, isn't it?"
"Of course," he answered promptly. "Now hush, your show is beginning."
And so it was. They watched together for a short time, as Sherlock tried to amuse Victoria by bouncing her on his knees. Of course, that didn't last long and soon she wanted to be set down.
He kept part of his attention on the television, and the other on Victoria as she half walked, half crawled back over to her play mat, whereupon she immediately picked up two blocks and banged them together enthusiastically.
Molly was absorbed in the show, completely oblivious to the noise her daughter was making. Sherlock didn't mind keeping an eye on Victoria though, seeing as he was not as invested in the show as Molly was.
Sherlock was still focussing more on Victoria, who had moved to play with a block puzzle, than the show, when Molly suddenly squeezed his knee. "Sheldon and Amy just won a Nobel Prize for their paper on super asymmetry!" she told him excitedly, still looking at the screen so she would not miss anything.
Sherlock rolled his eyes. "There's no such thing as super asymmetry, Molly. Super symmetry, yes."
Molly turned her head and glared at him. "Sherlock, this is a fictional show, it doesn't have to be completely accurate. You have to suspend disbelief sometimes. I've watched medical shows on the telly that aren't accurate either but it doesn't take away from my enjoyment of them."
Sherlock kissed his wife's cheek. "You're right, love, I really should learn to keep my comments to myself. Perhaps I am not as far removed from Sheldon as I thought," he remarked with a twist to his lips.
She smiled at him. "Honey, you're nothing like him anymore. Besides, you're a Christian, he isn't. You have opened your eyes to see beyond science, to the creator of it."
Sherlock placed his arm around Molly's shoulders as they continued to watch the show, with Sherlock casting frequent glances in Victoria's direction. As the adverts came on, Sherlock made a comment to Molly. "I must say, Amy scrubs up rather nicely, doesn't she?"
Molly turned her head from where it was resting against his shoulder. "Yes, she does. What would you think if I were to get a haircut, maybe some highlights?"
He looked at her in surprise. "I was not aware you were not happy with your appearance. I think you look beautiful just as you are." He reached his hand to twist a finger around her lovely, long brown hair.
"It isn't that I'm not happy with the way I look, it's just that sometimes I feel like I'd like a change as well. I'm not talking about getting anything drastic done, just a little trim and a few highlights to lighten it."
He looked at her appraisingly and tried to imagine how she would look as a blonde. "Well, if that is something you feel you would like to do, I won't stand in your way. Are you sure there's no risk to the baby if you have chemicals applied to your hair?"
Sherlock realised that Molly had obviously been thinking about this for awhile when she responded with a rather shy smile. "Actually, I've researched it, and it is generally considered safe to colour your hair during pregnancy. One resource I found suggested waiting until after the first trimester, so I will at least do that."
"Sweetheart, I will find you beautiful no matter what, although of course you know my one standing request is that you not get your hair cut short."
Molly giggled. "Don't worry, Sherlock, I know that if I cut my hair short you would get rid of your beautiful curls in retaliation, so I wont ever do that." She reached up to tweak one of them.
He grabbed her hand and pressed a kiss to the back of it, then her palm, feeling her quiver slightly. "Good. Just let me know when you plan on making this appearance change so that I don't come home and find that my wife has turned into someone else. I don't want to have the same reaction as Sheldon."
"Deal." They remained with hands linked as the show resumed and Sherlock glanced at his daughter who had now decided her toes were the most fascinating thing in the world and she was playing with them.
Halfway through the finale, which was two episodes put together, judging by the "to be continued" at the bottom of the screen, Sherlock walked over to Victoria, whose head had begun to droop.
He picked her up and then Molly was beside him. "There will be a few more adverts before the second half, I'll change her and get her ready for bed," she said.
Sherlock nodded. While Molly took care of Victoria, he made them cups of tea, then headed for the bedroom where Molly was about to settle their daughter into her cot.
"Let me just kiss her goodnight," he told Molly, and she lifted Victoria up so he could kiss her soft cheek. Victoria's eyes, which had been closed, flickered open briefly, then closed again, and Molly placed her down gently.
They tip-toed out of the bedroom, pulling the door almost to, and returned to the sitting room where the second half of the show had just started. Molly turned on the video baby monitor which was on the coffee table, and Sherlock could see their daughter was fast asleep.
"Oh," remarked Molly, only a minute or so into the second half, "did you hear that? The tailor had to let Penny's dress out. I'll bet she is pregnant."
"I thought she didn't want kids," pointed out Sherlock.
Molly shrugged. "You didn't want kids either, Sherlock. You didn't even want to be in a relationship, remember? People change."
Sherlock tilted his head slightly in acknowledgment. "True enough."
It wasn't long before Molly's guess turned out to be correct. He and Molly laughed out loud when the characters piled their luggage into the lift, the one that had been broken for the entire duration of the series and had been finally fixed. He was rather surprised that the weight of all those suitcases didn't cause the lift to break down again.
Molly stood suddenly and made a dash for the loo. He was used to that by this time. Her nausea often hit without warning. Usually he would go to the kitchen to get her some crackers and water or lemonade, but he decided to continue watching the television. Molly would undoubtedly want to know what she had missed.
A couple minutes later she returned and asked him, as he had expected, "What did I miss?"
"Just Sheldon finding out that Penny is pregnant because she kept running to the bathroom in the plane, much as you just did," he responded, with a quirk to his lips. "He was a bit of an arse about it as well, more pleased that she wasn't contagious, then the fact that she is pregnant." He looked directly at Molly. "Do you want me to get you something to eat?"
"It can wait until the next adverts are on," replied Molly, taking a sip of her tea and resuming her position next to him, with her feet tucked beneath her. He placed his arm around her shoulders once again.
During the next break, Sherlock brought in crackers for Molly while she went to the bathroom and brushed her teeth, saying she needed to get rid of the aftertaste from expelling her stomach's contents. He decided not to bother with a drink, she still had tea anyway.
A sound came from the baby monitor and Sherlock looked at it. Victoria had just shifted position in her sleep to go onto her side. Molly always put her into the cot on her back, as was recommended to help prevent SIDS, but now that Victoria could turn herself, she often rolled onto her side during sleep, and she seemed to sleep better that way as well.
In the early months, Victoria had woken several times a night, grizzling, and Molly would have to feed her to get her back to sleep. Now, she slept through the night more often than not. Sherlock enjoyed the uninterrupted sleep immensely. Of course, that would change in December, when the new baby arrived and the cycle of interrupted sleep would start all over again. But he knew it would be worth it.
Molly returned and they resumed watching the sit-com. Sherlock was not at all surprised when Molly made a comment after seeing Penny sitting in the bathroom, after having been apparently sick. "Well, I can certainly relate to that."
He kissed her forehead. "You women certainly do have it rough when it comes to carrying a baby."
"Not everyone," remarked Molly. "Just the other day you said that Mary was very 'robust' during pregnancy, if I recall your words correctly."
"True," conceded Sherlock. "But I am more concerned about my own wife and her health. I just hope your morning sickness clears up after the first trimester as it did with Victoria."
"Me too."
They continued to watch the finale until it was finished. Sherlock squeezed Molly's shoulder comfortingly when she cried as Sheldon recognised his friends during his acceptance speech for the Nobel Prize. He had a feeling that Molly would have cried even if she had not been pregnant, she was so soft-hearted.
"Well, my love," he asked, once the show had finished. "Do you think it was a fitting send-off for a show you have watched for so many years?"
Molly sniffled. "I think so. The only thing that would have made it better was if Amy was pregnant as well."
Sherlock smirked. "From what I heard in that episode, Sheldon and Amy are not intimate often enough for that to be likely."
Molly giggled. "I must admit, I am very glad you are certainly not repressed in that way."
Sherlock's hand lifted to turn her face towards him. "You are a very alluring woman, my love." Then he kissed her, feeling the wash of sensation that always accompanied their kisses.
When their lips parted, Molly said, "Thanks for watching the show tonight with me. I know I could have watched it another time on my All 4 app, but I figured someone at work would end up spoiling what happens." She pursed her lips. "That already happened with Endgame, seeing as we haven't had a chance to go see it yet."
"I'm sorry love," responded Sherlock, "We'll go and see that this weekend if you are up to it. To be fair, we were planning to see it earlier, but then you had one of your days where you couldn't stop getting sick."
Molly sighed and rubbed her belly. "Let's hope this little one cooperates next time."
"Let's aim for Sunday, then," suggested Sherlock. "We can have lunch at Angelo's and then go to a matinee."
"We'll have to see if Mrs. Hudson or my mother is available to watch Victoria first," Molly reminded him.
Sherlock gave her an embarrassed smile. "I'm a truly awful father. For a moment there, I forgot we have a child to consider. We can't just pick up and leave to do whatever we want, when we want."
Molly rose just so she could reposition herself on Sherlock's lap and wound her arms around his neck. "I think we manage to find a good amount of alone time, even as parents." She pressed her lips to his once again and Sherlock slid his arms around her, rubbing her back.
This time, when their lips parted, Sherlock said, "Well, you have work at seven tomorrow, how about a shower and an early night after we do our Bible reading and devotion for the evening?"
Molly gave him a teasing glance. "Can you control yourself in the shower so we can have one together?"
Sherlock chuckled. "Mrs. Holmes, I'm making no promises."
"Separate showers then," proclaimed Molly, and he rolled his eyes.
Molly dimpled back at him. She stood and reached under the coffee table for the Bible and their Our Daily Bread devotional, then returned to sitting beside Sherlock.
Together they did their evening readings before returning the Bible and devotional to beneath the coffee table. Then together, hand-in-hand, they walked towards the bedroom to get ready for showers followed by some alone time, well as alone as they could be with a baby sleeping in the same room.
Not too far in the future, Sherlock reflected, Victoria would have a room of her own when they moved into their new home. They had received word earlier that day that the offer they had made on a house had been accepted. Sherlock had a feeling that the next few months would be very busy ones, filled with packing to go to a new home and preparing for the arrival of the next Holmes baby, as well as continuing his detective work. His life was so much fuller, richer these days. One of Molly's favourite verses from Jeremiah came to him then, Jeremiah 29:11.
"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."
Sherlock had seen the evidence of that in the two years since the events of Sherrinford had changed his life, and he had no doubt his life and that of his family was in God's hands. He smiled the smile of a man who is secure in his life's direction and Molly, noticing, gave him an answering one.
"I love you," she whispered so that Victoria wouldn't be disturbed as they collected their things for the shower.
"Love you too, sweetheart."
Author's note: Every now and then I am inspired to write something as soon as I think of it, when it is something that fits into a certain timeline. My family and I watched our recording of the finale of The Big Bang Theory on Wednesday night and I decided I needed to write a story about Molly watching it with Sherlock. If you know my post Sherrinford world, you'll understand that my Molly is a Big Bang Theory fan so I figured she would definitely be wanting to see the finale. The UK airing was a week after the American one, May 23rd, so I wanted to write and publish this as close to that time as possible.
I hope you enjoyed a further glimpse into Sherlock, Molly and Victoria's life two years beyond Sherrinford. This story takes place three days after my story, I love you - Two Years Later.
If you too are a fan of The Big Bang Theory, feel free to tell me what you thought of that finale as well as this story in general.
If you wish to show your support for my post TFP universe for the characters, don't forget the importance of favouriting, following and leaving feedback.