AN: Ooh yay, another Kidlock about Redbeard! I'm trying to make this align with the canon as much as I can, but we don't really know what happened in Sherlock's childhood too much, so I can't really say what's close and what's not. I'll give it my best shot.

EDIT: Having just watched S4 E3, I now know that this is not close to canon at all. Please ignore that, and just think of it as an AU. Thank you!

"Mum. Can I get a puppy?" William Sherlock Scott Holmes was four years old, and knew four hundred digits of Pi. One might expect him to want a graphing calculator, or a textbook for Christmas, but as much as William loved those sorts of things, they weren't what he really wanted for Christmas. The only thing he wanted was a puppy. (Well, two things. A puppy and a pirate ship. But he knew the pirate ship was unrealistic.) William and his mum were doing Christmas shopping. Christmas was only a few days away, and she had to get one more present for Mycroft. William loved walking down the sidewalk with his mum, he could look into all of the windows, and look at the advertisements to try to find a puppy. William wanted a big, soft, playful puppy, and he just saw one advertised by the local shelter in the window of daddy's favorite bowtie store. "Mummy! It's the perfect puppy! I just saw him in the shop! Please, oh pleeaaaaase can we get him? I've been ever so good!"

William's mum walked back to the window with him back to look at the puppy. The picture was adorable. Long, silky, red fur; enormous brown eyes; and he was only a few weeks old. "We'll see William," said William's mum, "Be a good boy until Christmas, and we'll see."

"I'll be a VERY good boy!" agreed William.

William's mum didn't really want a dog, but he had been a very good boy, and the child did need a friend. She decided to surprise him with the dog on Christmas, just to see her adorable child smile.

"Myc. Myyyyyc. It's Christmas. Get up. Myyyyyyyyyyyyyc!" William couldn't wait any longer. It was six in the morning. He had originally gotten up at four to open presents, then realized no one else was awake.

Mycroft never liked getting up early. The sun wasn't up, so why should he be up?

"Go back to sleep William. You're tired. You got up at exactly four-o-two, and then ran laps around your room. Afterwords you proceeded to make yet another wooden sword. I can see the splinters on your hands. Don't bother me until mum and dad tell you to." Mycroft turned over and fell back asleep.

"But I hear noises. From downstairs. Can we see if Santa Clause is down there?" Little William was adorable. His black, unruly hair was going every which way, and his eyes were the size of oranges. Mycroft had specially trained himself to become immune to his cuteness. "William, how many times have I told you, Santa Clause is not real. He's just a story parents made up to get free cookies."

"Fine. If you don't want to have du with me, I'll go down myself." William trudged down the stairs to the sitting room, where the Christmas tree was erected. Presents sat by the foot of the tree, waiting to be opened. William noticed one of the boxes had holes in it. The holes were large, about the size of golf balls, and William could just barely see a patch of red, sitting inside the box. He crawled over to the box, and stared intently at it. He figured there were five possible outcomes to the situation:

Mother and Father come downstairs and see that he is ready to open presents. They happily open presents with him. Mother and Father come downstairs and scold William for being out of bed so early. They open presents happily afterward. William opens the box and sees what's inside. His parents come down and happily open presents with him and don't care that he opened one without them. William opens the box and sees what's inside. His parents come down and scold him for opening presents without them. They happily open presents with him afterward. Mycroft comes down and sends William back to bed.

William was hoping that Option One was going to be reality. He knew he shouldn't open presents without mum and dad. So he waited. And waited.

"William Sherlock Scott Holmes! What are you doing?" William's mum shouted playfully, "What time we're you up this morning?"

"I don't know mummy," said William sleepily, jolting awake from his position under the tree, "Mycroft says I got up at four-o-two, but that can't be right. I think I got up much before that." Poor William had bags under his eyes, and could barely keep them open. "Can we open presents now?"

"Of course sweetie, as soon as Mycroft wakes up."

Mycroft came down a few minutes later. Since he wanted to earn some parent points, he let William open the first present. William immediately chose the big box with the holes. He examined the box carefully, to try to guess what was inside before he opened it. In the background, Mycroft was smirking. He already knew what was in the box, and it was quite obvious to him. William slowly lifted up the box lid for dramatic effect. Inside, there sat the adorable Irish Setter puppy advertised in the shop window.

"A puppy!" William shouted in excitement, "He's going to be called Pirate Redbeard, and we're going to be best friends forever!" William picked up his new best friend and held him on his lap. Then he walked upstairs to his room, forgetting about the rest of the presents.

"William?" his mother called, "Aren't you going to come do the rest of Christmas?"

"No Mum!" came the reply, "Redbeard and I have work to do! We're going to sail the seven seas!"

Thanks for reading! I hope you've enjoyed my first Kidlock. Please review!

-Bunny