Gift

A/N- Thank you guest reviewer who has corrected a bunch of my American ways. I'll try to remember them in the future. ^_^;


Day 18: Doing Something Together

Sherlock was nervous.

He was never nervous.

But yet, here he was, fidgeting when John wasn't looking, perspiring slightly (but luckily got to blame it on the unnatural heat wave), and his heart was beating quicker than normal (110 beats per minute as opposed to his normal 75-80).

He tried to focus on the dead corpse he was examining- but his mind continued wondering to later this evening. To the fact that he had been with John for seven months and nine days now. That it had passed by so quickly, yet he felt like he could be with John forever.

And that led back to his nervousness.

"You alright, Sherlock?" Molly inquired. She knew of the detective's plan. In fact, everyone did except for John, really- as far as he knew, Sherlock had forgotten about his birthday. Sherlock nodded without looking at her. "Of course I am." He backed away from the body. "John, look over him while I leave with Molly for a moment. We both need some coffee." John nodded and pushed off the wall he was observing from, heading over to the corpse. He glanced at his boyfriend, and Sherlock stared back at him, looking away when he noticed his worry and confusion. "I'm fine, John."

"I know you are." he replied, taking a closer look at the body without any further statements. Sherlock followed Molly out of the lab, and when John was out of earshot, Molly squealed. Sherlock groaned and rolled his eyes. "Molly, please refrain from squealing again. I enjoy being able to hear." She grinned widely. "I'm sorry, but I'm just so excited!" Sherlock returned a small smile. "I suppose I am a bit too. But I can't calm myself down. I have tried since I came up with my plan and bought the-"

"Can I see it?!" Molly interrupted. Sherlock couldn't even feel annoyed with her this time- he pulled out the gift and showed her. "Do you think he'll like it?"

Molly gasped and took it carefully to admire it closer. "It's amazing! John is one for simplicity. He'll accept, trust me." she gushed excitingly. Sherlock took a deep breath. "Though there is a rather high chance of him doing so, there still is another chance of everything going wrong."

Molly squeezed his shoulder shyly. "Well it's low, so calm down. Let's go get some coffee. And get some for your boyfriend so he doesn't feel under appreciated. I mean, for God's sakes, he thinks you forgot his birthday."


Sherlock kept staring at the text he had fired off eight minutes and 28 seconds ago and the one he had received almost immediately after.

Meet me at Angelo's. -SH

Oh, you remembered?

He didn't want to reply. He wanted John to be completely surprised when he arrived to see not only his boyfriend, but also Greg, Molly, Mrs. Hudson, and even Mycroft and Anthea (Lestrade had invited the elder Holmes, though he had already planned on attending anyway).

"Oh, Sherlock! This is so exciting!" Mrs. Hudson exclaimed, and gave his hand a squeeze. "Don't worry, Dear. John will love it." Sherlock nodded once, flashing her a small, grateful smile. Then his phone buzzed.

Almost there. You didn't have to do anything for my birthday- you know I don't care.

Yes, but I do. -SH


John knew that the detective had forgotten about his birthday.

And honestly, he wasn't disappointed. He was simply another year older- why should anyone celebrate that? It was just a normal day.

Well. Until they got a case.

That was easily solved, though (the brother killed him because he killed their father). John had finished his part of the case when Sherlock texted him about meeting at Angelo's.

Now he was confused.

Sherlock had suddenly remembered and wanted to celebrate? This was out of character, even for him. Molly must have helped him plan it when they went for coffee. Yes, that was it.

He wouldn't complain about a nice dinner, though. He entered the building, shocked to find their friends- and Mycroft and Anthea- sitting with the detective, who was wearing that purple shirt of his that John loved to see him wear and black trousers. Normal attire, but under the golden glow of the lights, he looked extravagant.

A chorus of "Happy birthday!" made John grin like an idiot as he approached his boyfriend standing before him. "Thank you all." He smirked at Sherlock. "Did they help you out?"

"Well I told Mrs. Hudson what your gift was and my plan to pretend I forgot all about your birthday and she said I had to be more romantic about it- she called up Molly and they gossiped like girls until they planned out coming here to treat you. Then Molly told Greg and he and Mycroft, who knew before anyone because he's an annoying prick, created the case to keep you distracted while I prepared the rest." John looked awed as he thanked them again. Then he snapped out of it and grinned up at Sherlock, wrapping his arms around his neck and pulling him into a deep yet brief kiss. "Thank you. Really. You didn't have to." Sherlock smiled back. "But I wanted to."

They all got situated and ordered their food, and Angelo of course congratulated John and almost ruined everything. But the blond remained confused and said, "It's just my birthday." Mycroft nonchalantly ordered more wine immediately (to get Angelo away) and Greg questioned if they had some beer (because God knows he needed it).

Sherlock suddenly stood and pushed his chair back to where he was standing beside John. John looked up, startled. So did everyone else, but they knew what was coming. "Well considering Angelo almost ruined everything, I might as well do it sooner than originally planned." John's eyebrows furrowed together. "Do what?"

Sherlock took a deep breath. "I wasn't one for sentiment or love or anything and you know that, John. But then I came back after the fall-" He paused to press a kiss into John's hair as he winced, "-everything had changed. Between us, especially. Though we'll never be the same after what's happened, I find myself glad. We're together now..." He paused once again and dropped to one knee, pulling out a black velvet box with a simple silver ring in it. Engraved on it were the words I owe you so much, because they saved each other from their impending demise. "And I wish to stay that way for the rest of our lives. Will you marry me?"


A/N- Sherlock had been kind of set up to say all that OOC stuff- it'll be addressed in the next chapter so please refrain from saying how OOC he was. *Is a fail at Sherlock*