11. Christmas crackers
Suddenly they heard an erotic moaning sound "OOOHHHH!" and everyone but Mary stared at Sherlock.
"It can't be..."Molly began.
"No. It's not Irene. It's Kate. She has Irene's old number."
Sherlock read the text, and then stood up and went to the door opening it to find a small box lying on the ground there.
"Haven't you changed that text alert sound yet? " John said, "Wait. Don't you have a new phone?"
"I transferred all the settings when I got it." Sherlock said.
"Well then, open it" Mrs Hudson said as they all stared at Sherlock. Sherlock opened the shiny red box to reveal a set of handcuffs.
"What's that for?" Molly asked.
"Oh there are lots of good uses for a pair of handcuffs," Mrs Hudson said, "Well in my day..."
Mary leaned over and said to John, "I feel that I'm missing something here."
"It's a bit of a long story." John said glad that she was talking to him again, "I'll tell you later."
Lestrade took a professional look at the handcuffs before handing them to Sherlock who hung them up on the tree.
Next to arrive were a group of Mary's work friends. She grabbed on to John's arm showing him off like a show pony. Sherlock stood next to the tree staring disdainfully at them.
When he could get away, John went over to Sherlock who whispered in his ear, "If I kiss you now, in front of everyone, then they'll know that we are a couple. I want to announce it John. I want the world to know that I love you."
"Sherlock!" John whispered back harshly, "Not in front of Mary's friends. Not when she's trying to show them her new happily married life. That would be unforgivable."
John walked off across the room his lips in an angry line. He took a deep breath and looked around to see that he was next to Molly. Molly was standing under the mistletoe with a forlorn expression on her face. Every so often she glanced across the room at Sherlock.
"Hello Molly." John said, "enjoying the party?"
"Um huh." Molly muttered, "But now I remember, I had something to tell you. On the bulletin board at Barts theres an advertisement. They're opening a new clinic there for veterans back from the wars. They want to hire a doctor to run it. I thought that you'd be perfect for it being that you're a veteran yourself."
"That sounds interesting." John said, "Where is that?"
"At Barts like I said. It's new. It's only part-time but I thought that you might be interested."
"Yes, I am interested. Thank you. I'll look into it." John said. He noticed that Molly's mood had picked up and she stood a little straighter. When he turned he saw that Sherlock had come across the room to talk to him.
He leaned over to John and whispered. "What do you say, John. We have quite an audience now."
Sherlock leaned toward John as if to kiss him. John panicked. He turned grabbing the closest person, who happened to be Molly, and gave her a kiss. When he looked up again, he saw eyes all around the room staring at him open-mouthed.