Disclaimer: I don't own the rights to BBC's Sherlock or Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes or anything like that.
When Christmas Eve arrived the Holmes' house was as quiet as a church mouse. The family did exchange gifts as a rule, but for the most part the morning was much like every other morning in that household. The Holmes' family Christmas party had already taken place the week before, and that was the only tradition Mrs. Holmes still insisted on.
The Hooper family, in contrast, had music playing well into the night and if you were to open the door you would be greeted by the scent of baking ginger snaps and the sound of laughter.
Sherlock had been invited, not by Molly, but by Mrs. Hooper, which came as a surprise to both Molly and Sherlock. He had accepted after he had contemplated the option of otherwise spending the night quietly sitting in his bedroom or sipping tea with his mother. He also had been given no choice by the Hooper matron.
The home was full of color and life all afternoon. Molly's parents insisted on a gingerbread house decorating contest and the two couples were each assigned a small store bought assembly pack.
Sherlock understood just enough about architecture to put together the house, but when it came to design he was lost. After about five minutes of debating the finer points of the architecture of a cookie house with Molly he regressed to his childlike pout and began simply eating some of the candies just to spite her.
"Sherlock!" Molly scolded him, but she was laughing so he stole another candy off of the tray and popped it into his mouth, a peppermint this time.
"Sherlock Holmes, stop eating the candy! It is supposed to go on the gingerbread house." Molly lightly slapped at Sherlock's hand but he had been too quick.
In response Sherlock smiled mischievously and simply continued to sit there sucking on the solid piece of sugar in his mouth. Both Mr. and Mrs. Hooper noticed the younger couple's little spat and were whispering to each other.
"Oh, I recognize that look," said Mrs. Hooper. "That is the look you used to give me when you would steal my cookies off the baking sheet before I even got them in the oven."
"I still do that." Mr. Hooper laughed. "They seem to be good for each other."
"I can hear you." Molly said cutting into her parents' conversation. She was blushing and continued to feel her cheeks heat up as she concentrated on attaching small spherical candies to the trim on her gingerbread roof.
The other three in the room simply laughed and Molly was taken by surprise to hear Sherlock's quiet chuckle. She found herself smiling because of it.
Within the hour everyone agreed that Molly's gingerbread house was the best. She teasingly refused to share credit with Sherlock because he had been so completely baffled by the house design.
After that the two couples moved to the family's sitting room so that they could exchange gifts and sit to talk for a while. They boys had wandered in first and Molly wasn't able to tell what they were talking about but they had their heads together and were talking quietly, almost conspiratorially.
The girls walked in a while after and stood in the doorway talking. Mrs. Hooper was laughing with Molly about the newest antics of the neighborhood cats. The two women had always been particularly fond of cats and Molly was thinking about adopting a kitten herself once she was moved to London.
Both Molly and Sherlock were surprised then when the conversations were cut short by Mr. Hooper approaching Mrs. Hooper and giving her a quick but sound kiss. Molly figured out what was going on almost immediately and sighed before glancing upwards and sure enough found a green plant with little white berries on it.
Mistletoe, of course. Molly sighed again and tried not to look at Sherlock. He probably didn't know what was going on, in fact Molly wasn't even sure he would understand what mistletoe meant.
Through her embarrassment Molly could hear her father's voice as her parents moved away to the couch. "You might as well kiss her, son."
Sherlock smiled as he walked close to Molly. She was surprised; they had kissed before obviously, but never in front of her parents. The thought alone made her blush.
"You don't have to." Molly whispered once Sherlock was close with his arms reaching out to draw her close.
"Yes I do." Sherlock answered in the same tone with a sly smile forming on his face. "Can't break tradition now can we?"
There was no further discussion on the matter as Sherlock leaned down towards Molly and captured her mouth with his. He had meant to keep it as quick and soft a kiss as the on Mr. and Mrs. Hooper had shared moments before, but as Molly's hands came up to rest against his chest Sherlock found himself struggling to keep his mind on what else was happening around him.
Molly had been dead to the world around her the second Sherlock was leaning towards her. Something was different bout this particular kiss that made her want more. Seemingly of their own accord he hands rested on Sherlock's chest and then moved further up around his neck to pull him closer.
In the end it was Sherlock who pulled away and ended the kiss, with no small amount of self-control, and smiling wider than he had all night, if it was possible. Molly blushed so hard that her face felt warm for the next hour when she remembered that her parents were watching. It didn't matter that she wasn't a teenager any more.
There was a fair bit of teasing from both parents but not in a way that truly embarrassed the young couple and the night was full of good cheer. This lead almost perfectly into the rest of the evening.
The Hooper's living room had a festively lit tree in one corner and the metallic reds and golds of the wrapped packages contrasted perfectly and reflected the lights.
Molly was so happy with the way the evening was progressing that she hardly noticed the white wrapped present hidden next to the largest present under the three.
The older couple exchanged gifts first with a new smoothie maker for Mrs. Hooper and a fishing rod for Mr. Hooper. The couple had also picked out a new book for their daughter full of information on different tumors.
Molly went next giving a new recipe book to her mother and a box of candied nuts to her father. Only after she had taken care of her parents did she pull Sherlock to the side for a little bit of privacy and hand him his gift.
Sherlock deduced as much as he could from the package in the blink of an eye. The wrapping was a bright gold so Molly had wrapped several of the presents at the same time as his, but she had taken greater care with this one than the others.
So she viewed him as an important part of her life, near family even, but still worth impressing.
It was vaguely heavy and rectangular leading Sherlock to assume it was a book of some kind, but instead of trying to figure exactly what Molly had gotten him Sherlock simply opened the wrapping. He pulled out a leather bound notebook with an intricate design tooled into the front.
"This is wonderful Molly." He smiled down at her.
"I thought maybe it would help you to organize everything, to write down your thoughts, sketch things out. . ." Molly trailed off at the end of her explanation and watched Sherlock examine the notebook.
"Thank you Molly. Your gift is under the tree. Just a moment." Sherlock indicated to Molly with a gesture that told her to wait where she was as he moved to the tree.
All eyes were on him as he pulled out the small white package. She didn't rip the paper, but pulled at the tape and laughed at Sherlock's irritated expression.
The laugh became a sharp intake of breath when Molly found the jewelry box in the wrapping and opened it to find a wonderfully intricate charm bracelet.
"Sherlock. . . thank you." Molly smiled up at him.
Molly noticed that throughout the rest of the evening Sherlock had been somewhat withdrawn after their kiss and she worried about what that might mean. He had been outwardly social, but Molly could see something different in his facial expressions.
Sherlock had been thinking very hard throughout the night. He had been thankful to talk to Mr. Hooper earlier so he wouldn't draw attention to himself sometime during the evening.
Before he left he planted a light kiss on Molly's cheek and walked his way home. He smiled as he confirmed to himself that everything would go according to the plan he had so carefully thought out and he thought about the carefully wrapped box tucked into his sock drawer at home.
