Alex sat on the couch near the window, eyeing his mom as she got her things together to head out. She was calling to him from the kitchen, listing the chores he needed to do before she got back from dinner with her sister. Alex was making the occasional noise to acknowledge he heard her, but he wasn't really listening. In his mind he was making preparations and counting down the seconds until his mom left.
From across the room, Alex stared at where his Uncle Sherlock was sitting at his desk, looking at him intently until Sherlock finally looked up and met Alex's eyes. Alex smiled at him broadly, but Sherlock grinned and shook his head. Not yet. Alex tried not to sigh audibly.
Joan came back into the room and Sherlock turned back to the computer in front of him. Alex pretended to be staring off into space. "Alex?" Joan asked, "are you listening to me?"
"Yes mom," Alex replied, trying to hide his smile. He put his hand up and started ticking off the chores she had listed on his fingers. "Make my bed, clean my room, feed Clyde," he intoned, smiling at her sweetly. "I got it."
Joan smiled back. "Alright." She reached down and ruffled his hair, "Well, I'm heading out." Raising her voice a bit to be sure Sherlock heard her too, she added, "You two be good while I'm gone!"
From his spot at the computer, Sherlock said "no promises."
Joan laughed and Alex said, "tell Aunt Lin I said hi!"
Joan promised to convey his message before turning to head out the door. Alex waived as she left, then turned to look out the window. He watched her walk out to the cab, get in, and drive away.
As soon as she was out of sight, he jumped up and ran over to Sherlock's desk, eagerly leaning on the side of the desk. "Come on Uncle Sherlock, come on!" he urged him, "we have so much to do and who knows how soon she'll be back!"
Sherlock laughed at the boy's enthusiasm. "Alright, alright," he said as he got up from his chair and stretched. "Let me call a cab and we'll get going."
When the cab pulled up in front of the store, Alex was basically pulling Sherlock out of the car in his haste to get in. "Come on!" he called as he ran into the store, leaving Sherlock to trail behind him. "We have to get one of everything!" Alex exclaimed. Sherlock sighed and grabbed a cart, following him in.
Once inside the store, Sherlock was dismayed to find that it was one of those ridiculous stores where everything is sorted by color. Sherlock found these stores to be incredibly corny, but Alex loved it, so Sherlock sighed and followed him around.
Alex insisted on going down every aisle. He picked out banners and ribbons, wrapping paper, novelty paper plates and napkins, and even some of those little paper horns. Sherlock personally abhorred those things, but Alex was so excited when he found them that Sherlock didn't have the heart to make him put them back. He reluctantly added them to the growing pile of items in their cart.
When their cart was nearing capacity, Sherlock checked his watch. "Alex, we better finish up here soon," he warned. "We still have one more stop and a lot to do at home before your mother returns."
"I know, I know!" Alex cried. "But don't worry, I called Aunt Lin earlier this morning and asked her to keep mom at lunch for as long as she could." He grinned in self-satisfaction. "She asked why, but I told her it was a secret." Sherlock grinned and shook his head. The kid sure was resourceful. They'd taught him well.
While they stood in line, Alex got distracted by the jars of candy that formed the line markers, and Sherlock caught the lady in line behind them eyeing their full cart. Sherlock squinted at her and she finally realized he had caught her staring. "You're buying a lot there," she said, nodding at their cart. Sherlock hated making small talk with strangers, so he just nodded and tried to turn away, but the lady was faster than him. "Looks like it'll be quite the party," she said, "your son is a lucky kid."
Sherlock opened his mouth to reply and stuttered, about to explain that Alex wasn't his son, but the cashier called "Next!" and Alex grabbed Sherlock's arm.
"Come on Uncle Sherlock!" he said, pulling on Sherlock's arm in haste. Sherlock gave the woman an awkward half-smile and turned away, following Alex to check out.
Their next stop was the bakery. Sherlock had called ahead the night before and placed their order, so all they had to do was run in and pick up the cake. He asked the cabbie to wait for them and followed Alex inside.
When Sherlock went up to the desk to pick up their order, Alex inspected the array of brightly-colored candles. He found a box that said the candles sparkled, so he grabbed those and put them on the counter. Sherlock looked at him questioningly, so he said, "What? We can't have cake without candles!" Sherlock mock-frowned at him but got the candles anyway. Alex grinned.
When they got back to the brownstone, Sherlock carried the cake and a few bags while Alex grabbed as many bags as he could loop on his arms and followed him inside. They set the cake and candles on the kitchen table and got to work decorating the brownstone.
They hung up a banner in the hallway where Joan would see it when she got home. They put one over the fireplace too, and then they strung up ribbons in the kitchen. Sherlock showed Alex how to twist the ribbons to make them swirl, and Alex was delighted. They put out three plates and three napkins on the table around the cake, and Alex added a little paper horn to each place setting. Sherlock tried not to roll his eyes as Alex kept an extra horn for himself and handed one to Sherlock too. He took it reluctantly. When they'd finished with everything else, Alex put the candles on the cake and Sherlock lit them.
When they were done, the brownstone was bursting with color. "Well," Sherlock sighed, "what do you say Alex? Have we "decked it out'"?" he asked, using the phrase Alex had previously used when explaining the plan to him a few days prior.
Alex grinned. "Oh yeah," he said happily, "it'll be great." Sherlock smiled at him ang gave him a fist bump. Their plan was working perfectly.
Suddenly, the phone rang. Sherlock went to pick it up. "Hello?" he said, glancing back at Alex's questioning face. "Ahh, okay. I see. Thank you." He hung up and turned to Alex. "That was your Aunt Lin," he explained. "She said your mother left the restaurant a few minutes ago and should be home any time now."
"Perfect!" Alex exclaimed. "Let's get ready."
They turned off all the lights in the brownstone and sat next to each other on the steps, staring at the front door, paper horns in hand. Sherlock has his free hand on the light switch. The only lights in the whole place were the flickering, sparkling candles on the cake.
When Joan returned home, it had gotten dark outside. Lin had been very talkative at dinner, and since they hadn't caught up in a while, Joan had lost track of time during their conversation. She hadn't realized how late it was until she got home and the street outside the brownstone was dark.
Squinting up at the house, she realized all the lights were turned off, even though it had gotten dark outside. That's weird, she thought, wondering if the boys had gone out. Surely Sherlock would have at least sent her a text before going anywhere this late? She checked her phone, but there was nothing. Shrugging, she made her way to the door.
On the other side of the door, Alex waited in anticipation. He'd heard the cab pull up and the door close as she got out. He grinned up at Sherlock who returned his smile, hidden though it was in the darkness.
Finally, the door opened.
When Joan stepped inside, Sherlock flipped the switch to turn on the lights as Alex yelled "SURPRISE!" and blew on his horn. Joan looked momentarily stunned before realizing what they'd done. She smiled brightly as Alex ran over to hug her and said, "happy birthday Mom!"
Joan laughed at him and hugged him back. "Thanks sweetie," she said, looking up from him to meet Sherlock's eyes where he still stood by the stairs, a matching grin on his face. "What is all this?" She asked them both.
Alex grabbed her hand and tugged her into the living room. "Come see!" he exclaimed excitedly, "we decked out the whole place!" He pulled her along, showing her all the banners and ribbons they'd put out, and Sherlock followed along behind them, content to let Alex bask in the glory of his surprise plan.
When they made it to the kitchen, Joan gasped. "You even got a cake?" She asked in surprise.
"Yep!" Alex said triumphantly. "You can't have a birthday without a birthday cake!"
As Joan laughed again and gave Alex another hug, Sherlock got out a knife and held the handle out to Joan. "Would you like to do the honors?" he offered.
She shook her head with a grin. "Go ahead," she said.
Sherlock nodded and cut the cake, placing a piece on each one of the three plates they had set out around the table. Alex sat down eagerly to eat his, and Sherlock went to the sink to rinse off the knife. Joan followed him, leaning her back against the counter so she was facing him as he ran the water in the sink. When he looked up at her, she smiled. "Did you do all this?" she asked him, quietly so Alex couldn't hear.
Sherlock inclined his head toward the table where Alex sat. "It was his idea," he promised her, adding demurely, "I merely helped."
Joan smiled brightly at him as he dried his hands on a towel and turned around, leaning his back against the counter next to her. Joan leaned over and rested her head against his shoulder. "Thank you, Sherlock," she whispered.
Sherlock smiled and put his arm around her shoulders. He kissed the top of her head gently, whispering back, "Happy birthday, Watson."