Author's note : I'm in a good mood, so here's chapter 7 :) I'm fast forwarding the story to Christmas time. And there's a Harry Potter reference in here, very subtle but kudos to whoever spots it! I hope you like it. Thanks to everyone who reviewed the previous chapter :)

Disclaimer : Nothing's mine.

A week had passed since she had met Mary and she was extremely glad to have her as a friend. They got along so well, it was hard to believe that it had just been a week since they first met. Mary was going to stay in Dublin for another week before returning to London.

Through her, Molly had managed to find out a lot of things about John. If Mary was to be believed, John was trying his best to move on. True, he was a mere shadow of his former self and his life had been virtually empty after Sherlock had left, but at least he wasn't alone anymore. He had come to the lab looking for Molly and had found Mary instead, and had returned almost everyday for a week before finally asking her out.

Mary had shown her a picture and Molly had reeled back in shock. This just wasn't the John Watson she had known, the one with the cute jumpers, the broad shoulders, the cheerful face. This John looked...different. There was no other word for it. His eyes had dark circles under them, he had lost a lot of weight but for some reason, despite all of this, he still looked happy. He had his arm around Mary in the picture and both of them were smiling at the camera. She heaved a sigh of relief. John wasn't alone. Mary would take care of him.

A wave of guilt coursed through her as she imagined his condition. Sherlock had been his best friend and really, she had no right to pity herself when there were people like John and Mrs. Hudson, who didn't even know that he was alive.

The next week passed just as quickly and it was time for Mary to go back to London.

'Please take care of him' thought Molly as her friend embraced her and walked towards the departure gate.


A few more months passed uneventfully and before she knew it, it was Christmas time. She sighed as she stretched herself after waking up. This was the first Christmas she would spend without her friends or family. Mary was in London, Sherlock was away and her brother knew nothing of her whereabouts save that she was out of the country. So she expected no presents. And after the horrible Christmas a year ago at Baker street, she really didn't look forward to Christmas anymore. Which was why she was pleasantly surprised when she opened her door to find a small pile of presents lying at her doorstep. She brought them in and put them on her desk.

The first one was from her brother. It hadn't been delivered by post so she supposed it was one of Mycroft's men who had done the job. She smiled as she held the black clutch purse in her hands. She had wanted something like this for a long time.

The next one was from Mary, a green silk scarf and she grinned as she wove it around her neck. Her present had reached Mary yesterday itself and she had squealed on the phone for a full fifteen minutes on how much she loved the knitted shrug Molly had gifted her.

The next one was from Dr. Drew. She was surprised but happy when she saw that it was a gift voucher for a bookstore and an invitation to the Christmas dinner at the hospital. He knew how much she loved books and she was only too glad for the invitation. It would be nice to dress up and have a nice evening after so long.

The last one however was curiously light and had no card on it. She tore away the brown wrapping paper and opened the box, only to choke up in tears once again. It was the hat, his hat, the deerstalker that fell into her lap. She wiped away her tears, to look for a note. It was pinned to the inside of the hat and it simply read

Merry Christmas Molly Hooper.

She clutched the hat to herself and smiled after what seemed like ages. This was his way of telling her that he was alive. He was safe. It was the best gift she could've asked for.


Later that afternoon, she went to Jim's room only to find him seated on his bed, staring at the presents lying on the armchair. She was startled, she hadn't thought he would receive any presents.

'Merry Christmas Richard' she smiled at him as she entered.

'Oh, Ella. Merry Christmas' he replied, without smiling.

'What's the matter? Don't you want to unwrap your presents?' she asked gently.

'I didn't want to do it alone' he admitted 'But you're here now, we can unwrap them together!' he said excitedly and jumped up to gather them from her armchair and dumped them on the bed.

'Let's open this one first, shall we?' she pointed to a small package lying on the top of the pile.

To her immense surprise, it was a pair of gloves from Dr. Drew. She felt a surge of gratitude towards the man. How thoughtful of him, to give presents to his patients as well, especially the ones he knew wouldn't be getting a lot of gifts!

The next one was from her, a full sleeved white shirt and Jim hugged her on unwrapping it, which just served as another reminder to how much they had accomplished together. His mood swings had become very rare and he was always on his best behaviour nowadays.

The next one was a rather large lumpy package and the name on the card took her breath away.

Dearest Jim,

Merry Christmas

From Mummy and Daddy.

From the package, tumbled a hand knitted jumper and Molly was too shocked for words. She had been Jim's doctor for a full five months now and she had never known about his parents. She had never seen them and he had never spoken of them and she was pretty sure they had never come to visit him. He looked just as confused, turning the jumper over and over in his hands. Finally, he shrugged and put it on.

She decided to leave the questions for Dr. Drew and wondered who the last gift was from. It was a small box but very heavy. He tore open the paper, opened the box and what was inside made her blood freeze inside her veins.

Inside was a small loaded revolver with a note that said

Merry Christmas Jimmy

From S Moran.

A/n : So how was it? Like it? Hate it?

Please let me know in a review!

I wrote this chapter just because I love getting presents on Christmas. It's one of the best feelings in the world :)

Lots of love

Aditi xoxoxo