No one was surprised more than John when Sherlock walked into the hospital on Christmas morning with a mountain of balloons in one hand and various gift bags in the other, with a cake box balanced on his right arm while a huge brown teddy bear was tucked under the other. It was probably larger than Grace herself.
While her husband gawked at the man, Mary was the opposite, she just looked pleased and all-knowing. She rocked baby Adam back and forth as the man approached the couple.
"John. Mary. Merry Christmas," he greeted, "John close your mouth. I trust you know where Grace is?"
Seeing as her beloved was too surprised for words, Mary took it upon herself to answer, "In her room. We got her some new books that she already began to ready. She'll be glad to see you."
"John, grab the cake. Careful, I don't want it ruined," Sherlock instructed. John snapped out of his idiocy and followed his friend to his daughter's room with the cake box in hand.
"When did you get all of this?"
"I've been collecting presents all day yesterday. Last night I got the cake after Grace had gone to sleep. I picked up the balloons this morning. Difficult to fit into a cab but I managed," he answered lamely.
"Who made you a cake and blew up balloons for you on Christmas?" That was when he and Mary had left and he didn't look ready to leave then.
"Cashed in some favours," he said again, "Now shut up. I need the best way of executing this."
"It's a little girl's birthday party, Sherlock. Just walk in and surprise her," Mary said as they briskly walked to Grace's room.
"Hold on, little brother," A voice behind them called. Of course, Mycroft had appeared out of nowhere, carrying his umbrella and looking smug. Sherlock just rolled his eyes but waited to hear what he had to say.
"Take everything to the waiting room. I had Anthea decorate it some time ago and I believe that it is adequate for a party," Mycroft smiled before turning around.
"Where do you think you're going?" Mary demanded. Mycroft turned in surprise while Sherlock looked like he was going to protest, "You need to be there! You're her uncle and it would mean a lot if her whole family was there."
Mycroft frowned but followed the trio nonetheless without argument. They arrived in a colourful room filled with brightly coloured streamers and decorations everywhere. There were snacks laid out on the table and some pop music playing in the background. But the best part was that everyone was there.
Grace's grandparents, Mrs. Hudson, Anthea, Lestrade, Molly, Sally and even Anderson who was sure to get booted out by Sherlock at any moment. There were more gifts piled in the corner of the room.
Sherlock arranged the cake, gifts in the room, allowing Lestrade to light the candles and begrudgingly not kicking Anderson out while he went on search for his daughter, balloons following.
He encountered her just as Mary said, in her room reading a book about some mythical creatures from a huge pile of books. When he entered, Grace's eyes landed directly on the gigantic cluster of balloons before finding their way to his gaze.
"What's all this for?" she asked in awe, her voice still cracking from the recovering flu.
Sherlock rolled his eyes in mock annoyance, "For Anderson. Because he's my best friend and I love him," he waited to see a smile sneak onto her face before continuing, "they're for you. Happy Birthday."
She hopped out of bed to accept the balloons with radiance and a shy thank you.
"Come on. My brother also came, believe it or not, to wish you so let's go," and with that, he turned to lead her to the surprise while assuring that she was following.
And she was. With a huge smile on her face with the simple gesture and someone wishing her a happy birthday.
They had only just entered the room when they all erupted in a huge surprise. Grace's eyes widened in shock as they skimmed over the room and saw the most wonderful party she had ever seen.
"Happy Birthday Sweetheart!" Molly cried as she bent to hug the girl cautiously. But there was only a brief hesitation before she hugged back. Next, her grandparents and Mrs. Hudson scooped her up and coddled her with kisses and words of endearment. Anderson grumbled a happy birthday and Sally patted her head and replied also.
"Well, let's let the birthday girl cut her cake before we continue," Lestrade announced as he presented the huge cake covered in light blue frosting and silver snowflakes. The centre had Happy Birthday Grace Everest Holmes written in a swirly font. Nine candles neatly lined up the rim of the cake and Sherlock guided her to it when he realised she was too awed to even move.
After a brief, off tune reciting of "Happy Birthday", she blew out her candles. The whole room cheered but no one looked happier than Grace.
"Who set all of this up?" She asked euphorically.
"Well all those gifts came from us but the majority were all your father's. And Mycroft has had us decorating the room for the past hour," Anthea stated as she took the balloons from Grace to tie to a nearby chair. Grace stood and leapt onto her uncle, who awkwardly lifted her into his arms and patted her unfamiliarly on the head.
"Thank you, Uncle Mycroft," she murmured happily into his neck. The man in question was turning red like a tomato ad he tried to keep a level of professionalism while in the awkward (only to him, really) hold.
"Um yes. You're welcome. Today was a day off and I decided to make good use of it-"
"I thought the British government didn't get any days off?" She inquired innocently and it brought a smirk to every person's face.
While Mycroft attempted to formulate a response, she then reached her arms out to Sherlock who also accepted her awkwardly into his arms. He allowed her to wrap her arms around his neck is an almost chokehold as he himself tightened his arms around her.
This was the first time he had ever hugged her. Or even let her get so close.
"Thanks, daddy," she mumbled again. Sherlock didn't say anything but his actions practically screamed his answer for him. He would never let her feel like she was missing something ever again. He placed her down and she proceeded to hug everyone in the room, even Anderson who only patted her on the head while turning a light pink.
But Sherlock didn't comment on it. He simply tucked it away into his mind palace for when he needed to use it against him.
Three hours later, a majority had left, leaving just Sherlock, Molly, Mrs. Hudson, Mycroft, John and Mary while Grace sat in John's embrace and Adam played with her hair from his mother's lap.
"Well, Sherlock I think that I'm going to get back to the flat. I could take the presents and things if you'd like," she offered. But Grace shook her head as she went for another slice of cake. Her fourth slice to be exact but Sherlock didn't stop her, she probably hadn't had cake in months.
She turned to Sherlock, "Can I open them?" To which he affirmed. Mrs. Hudson gave Grace one last kiss before heading out.
She leapt up from John's lap and bounded towards the presents piled in the corner of the room while exclaiming something about how she had never seen such a big pile of presents, even in pictures.
After an hour of rifling through books, clothes, jewelry, money, a deerstalker cap (definitely Sally, he'll burn it when he gets back to the flat) and stuffed animals, most of which was bought by the consulting detective, she reached the final gift in the pile. It was a box covered in shiny, yellow wrapping paper, contrasting highly from the majority of the gifts.
"That's mine! I hope you like it!" Molly chimed as she moved closer to see her reaction. Grace slowly opened her eyes nearly bulged from their sockets as inside laid a professional, scientific microscope with slides and different lenses and everything. Almost exactly like the ones in the hospital laboratory or the one that her father had.
She gently pulled it out of the box and found her name on an inscription plate on the side of the wonderful contraption.
"Molly! This is amazing thank you so much. Maybe now dad and I could do experiments together... that is if you want to daddy," in offered shyly as the whole room turned to look at the tall, insightful man.
He glanced in her general direction for a moment before he looked up straight ahead and they all assumed that he had drifted into his mind palace but Mycroft smirked as he saw him catch her eye only moments later.
With a straight face he stated, "I will need an assistant for my upcoming experiments and I do believe that you will be an excellent addition to my research," it was a very businesslike tone but they all knew that he meant it in an absolute way meaning that he had never even considered saying no in the first place.
Grace nodded and tried to keep a straight, professional face but she blushed happily as she tried to contain the happiness.
"Well, I believe that we should all get going," Mary exclaimed with a smile. It's almost time for Adam's nap. We'll be back in a couple of hours," and with that, she pulled John out of the room and headed out. Mycroft got a text from another VIP and slipped out a while later after giving Grace another hug as per her request and ensuring that someone would clean up later on and take the gifts home. Soon after Molly insisted that she get back to the morgue and that left two.
"Thank you for all of this. But I didn't need it all. I would have been happy-"
"You wouldn't have been as euphoric as you were now. It would just be satisfaction. Considering this was your first proper party, I wanted to make it the memorable."
Grace didn't argue and opted to just nod in agreement. Sherlock glanced at the clock before casually suggesting, "It's only the afternoon. You and I should go for lunch. They will discharge you for a couple of hours so long as I have you back before your next session."
Grace nodded enthusiastically leapt up from her chair to go change. She grabbed some of her new clothes and rushed to her room to change while Sherlock went to the front and signed her out while she rushed down ready to go.
She was wearing a brand new, navy knit turtleneck sweater and a pair of equally new light blue jeans. She also had on a brand new pair of waterproof, black boots and a wonderful winter coat that had no holes or tears. She was pulling on a hat over her curly hair and mittens over her tiny hands when she approached the man who was ensuring that she was properly covered for going outside.
He noticed one thing missing. He pulled off the midnight blue scarf around his own neck and wrapped it around his young daughter's neck several times. Her twinkling eyes met his and he couldn't help but feel pride as he looked at her.
He had made so many mistakes with her because he was a pompous arse but he practically sealed it to his mind palace. He would never do anything so horrible to her ever again. He would never again make her feel like she shouldn't be there with him because she deserved so much more and he would give her everything he could because she was more than a responsibility.
They both turned towards the door and headed out into London knowing that things were going to change for the both of them and it was going to be a good change.