Author's note: I wasn't planning to do another story so closely following Molly's miscarriage, but when Prince Philip died, I couldn't omit such an important event in my timeline. I wanted to pay proper homage to his passing. I'm not sure how quickly I'll be publishing this, it's a WIP with more chapters than usual, covering several important dates in the lives of my characters.

Credit for my cover image goes to Elizabeth Robello. This scene will be shown in a later chapter.

I am dedicating this chapter to a precious young man who is like a son to me. I thank God for bringing him into my life.

5-11th April 2021

The week following Easter was a difficult one for both Molly and Sherlock.

On Monday, every time Molly went to the loo, she was reminded of the baby they had just lost, and more often than not, that fact would bring tears to her eyes. Fortunately, those cramping twinges disappeared as the day wore on, as the doctor had said at the hospital. She felt as if she was just experiencing a heavier than normal period.

It was especially hard to keep a cheerful demeanour in front of Victoria and Christina, though. Thankfully, Sherlock was very attentive to Molly's mood, and he took control of the situation any time he sensed Molly was close to tears.

Later in the day, Molly called her mother. Yes, Sherlock had given her the news the day before, but Molly just felt the need to share her grief with her mother and receive comfort from her. She knew her mother would understand too. She had experienced two miscarriages before becoming pregnant with Molly, and there had been complications during Molly's birth. Her mother had needed a hysterectomy afterwards, as she was haemorrhaging. As a child, Molly had often wondered why she had no siblings, and it had only been when she was an older teenager, that her mother had confided the truth, that it wasn't out of a wish for only one child, but because it had not been in God's plan.

"If it is any comfort at all, darling, just think that the precious life you lost is now up in heaven with your father and the babies I lost," she told her daughter, sounding a little wistful, and Molly tried to think of that.

On Monday night, she lay in bed with Sherlock, and they fell asleep holding one another, tears on their faces again. Not surprisingly, this led to Molly feeling headachy the next morning. She was quite certain Sherlock too was feeling under the weather due to the stress, although he insisted he was fine. The crease between his brows that formed at times said otherwise.

Molly found out that Sherlock had let John know the news, because on Tuesday morning, Kayla texted with words of sympathy and the promise to pray for their comfort. To both Sherlock and Molly's surprise, John paid a surprise visit late that afternoon with Rosie, and he brought Kayla's special chicken casserole for them.

"Kayla thought you might like a day off of cooking right now," John explained when Sherlock opened the door, holding Christina, who he had just finished changing. He had just beaten Molly to the front door. Victoria and Rosie, of course, were delighted to see one another, and for the first time since Sunday afternoon, Molly allowed herself a smile as she watched her older daughter pull Rosie into the front room to help her assemble a puzzle.

She took the casserole from John. "Thank you, John, and thank Kayla for me as well. How long should I put this in the oven?"

"Let me think on that a sec," replied John. A few moments later, he said, "Forty minutes at 180°." And then he added, "I'm so sorry about your loss, Molly. If you need us to take the girls any time to give you and Sherlock some time to yourselves, just let us know."

"Thank you, John," said Molly. "Difficult as it is, I think it would be even harder if we didn't have Victoria and Christina here with us." She looked at Sherlock for confirmation. He was standing quietly beside her, swaying gently with Christina.

"Molly's right. Martha made the same offer to us, but it is the girls who help to distract us," he looked down at Christina and raised a hand to brush his finger against her cheek, "at least most of the time."

"I understand," said John. "I did the wrong thing after Mary died. I chose to let others take care of Rosie most of the time, instead of keeping her close and taking time off from work to grieve properly."

Molly well remembered that time. She had babysat Rosie on most of her days off for weeks, to help John until he had found more permanent arrangements. Stella and Ted had looked after Rosie for some time. But now Kayla had quit her job as a nursery school teacher to be a full-time mother to both Rosie and Adam.

Molly went to the kitchen with the casserole and put it in the oven immediately. By the time it was done, it would be time to eat, anyway.

When she returned to the front room, John was saying to Sherlock, "We won't stay long. Kayla made two casseroles, and I know she will be expecting us home to eat."

Rosie turned around. "I wanna stay here with Towia," she said, pouting.

John placed a hand on her head. "We will stay for a little longer, but not too long today."

"We will arrange a day for you to come over and play soon," added Sherlock, when it appeared Rosie was getting ready to argue.

"Okay, Unca Sherlock," she said.

Sherlock had set Christina down, and Molly saw she was handing various pieces of the puzzle to Victoria, most of which Victoria took and promptly discarded, because she was looking for specific pieces.

Molly watched as the girls finished the puzzle together and the most challenging 80 piece Peppa Pig puzzle emerged.

When it was finished, Victoria said proudly, "Done!"

"Done!" echoed Rosie, looking at her father.

Christina, who had finally lost interest in the puzzle, was pulling the string of her rotary phone toy.

Molly smiled again as both fathers picked up their daughters for a congratulatory kiss.

"Alright, Rosie, we need to get home to Mummy," said John. "Dinner will probably be ready, and you love chicken casserole."

"Alwight," said Rosie, struggling to get down. "Gotta say bye to Towia and Chwisty and Unca Sherlock and Auntie Molly."

'"Of course." John set Rosie back down as Sherlock did the same with Victoria.

A couple minutes later, John and Rosie were outside, as Rosie kept turning around to wave goodbye at an also-waving Victoria. Christina, being held by Molly, was also opening and closing her hand and saying "Bye!"

For a short time, life had felt normal again, as in pre-COVID, not just before the miscarriage.

The appetising smell of the casserole emanated from the oven when Molly prepared to remove it a little while later. She had eaten this before, when Kayla had made it for various church fellowship functions. She really needed to get the recipe, because it was a hit with both Victoria and Christina. Victoria was able to manage quite well with a fork, although Molly had to cut the pasta and chicken a little smaller and feed it to Christina. Sherlock had two helpings of the casserole, so he was obviously a fan as well.

"Molly, you need to get the recipe for this," commented Sherlock, echoing Molly's thoughts.

"Definitely," she agreed.

When Molly put the leftovers in the fridge, she knew there would be enough to take care of dinner the next night.

She sent off a text to Kayla, thanking her, and asking for the recipe, which her friend sent to her. It really wasn't a difficult recipe either. Cooked cubes of chicken, pasta (penne or fusilli recommended), a can each of cream of chicken and cream of mushroom soup, and a cup of soured cream. Salt and pepper to taste. Kayla had said you could even add frozen vegetables if you liked. The topping consisted of Ritz crackers drizzled with melted butter.

For the rest of the evening, Sherlock and Molly lavished their attention on their daughters. It wasn't as if they didn't usually pay attention to them, but sometimes they would allow the girls to play autonomously in the playpen or watch a film or cartoon. But right now, Molly felt the need to be close to her daughters, and she knew Sherlock felt the same. He hadn't even gone upstairs to check his laptop for emails and seek opportunities for consultations.

Even as Molly dealt with her own sadness, she was glad that Sherlock allowed his self-control to drop once they were alone at night. She would have been more concerned if he returned to the way he had been years earlier, when he repressed his emotions as much as possible.

On Wednesday morning while the family was eating breakfast, Molly received a text from her best friend, Kaitlyn. Kaitlyn had left the hospital on maternity leave early in January, and they had not seen one another since that time.

At the end of January, Kaitlyn and her husband David had welcomed their first child, a little boy named Simon, and Molly had seen regular pictures of him, but they had not texted one another since the previous week.

Molly picked up her phone and looked at the text while the girls were occupied in eating their toast with butter and jam. As usual, Kaitlyn's text was a cheerful one, with a new picture of baby Simon attached.

Hi, Molly! How was your Easter with your in-laws? We had a quiet day, but we FaceTimed my parents and David's. You should have seen the way they gushed over Simon . I am so ready for Covid to be over and done with so we can visit our parents whenever we want.

Molly felt sorry for Simon's grandparents. They hadn't even had the opportunity to meet him in person yet.

She contemplated whether to tell Kaitlyn about the miscarriage and decided she would do so. This was her best friend, after all, and she knew Kaitlyn would be sympathetic. She had told Kaitlyn that Sherlock insisted that his parents come for Easter because they had both been vaccinated, although she had not stated his reasoning behind his insistence, being that Molly was pregnant.

Easter started out great. We went to church and picked up Martha. Sherlock's parents arrived around 11 in the morning. There's something I was planning to tell you about soon, which is the reason why Sherlock insisted that his parents come. You know how disappointed I was when arrangements had to be altered over Christmas because the rules were changed, and Sherlock's parents weren't able to come up after all? Well, we were going to share some news with them and Martha on Sunday, that I was pregnant again. I was eight weeks along. On Sunday morning I'd been having some cramping twinges, though. When I went to the loo after I had been working on getting things ready for our dinner, I found out that I was spotting.

Molly stopped writing and gave a little sniff, then blinked back the tears that were blurring her vision.

Sherlock looked up from where he was watching over Christina's progress and gave her a concerned look. "Who's texting you? You okay?"

Molly nodded. "It's Kaitlyn. She was asking us about Easter. I just wanted to share with her what happened."

She didn't elaborate further, in case Victoria was listening, and Sherlock gave an understanding nod, then resumed supervising Christina, as she carefully picked up another piece of crustless toast and put it in her mouth.

Molly began another paragraph to her text, without sending the first.

Anyway, Sherlock insisted on taking me to A&E. They did an ultrasound and confirmed that I was having a miscarriage. I'm glad that Sherlocks parents and Martha were there to look after the girls while we were at the hospital, but the past few days have been rather difficult.

She paused, then added another paragraph, feeling it was important to add, But we are getting through it. Our faith will pull us through, and our baby is with God now.

She sent the text and continued to blink back tears.

While she waited for a response, she put her own finished breakfast plate in the dishwasher. She had just done so when her text alert sounded again and she read Kaitlyn's response.

Oh, God. I'm so sorry, Molly. Here I was, happily prattling on about Simon, and you've just suffered a loss. If there's anything I can do, let me know.

It's okay, Kaitlyn, you didn't know. We are managing okay, and we have my mother and Martha offering to babysit if needed, but honestly, all we want right now is to spend time with the girls.

Then she changed the subject.

I love your latest photo of Simon. He almost looks as if he's smiling!

Kaitlyn's text came back quickly.

I thought so too, but David insists he was probably just happy because he'd dirtied his nappy! I'll let you go, but I'm here if you need to talk. Tell Sherlock how sorry I am too.

Thanks, Kaitlyn. I appreciate the support. I'll talk with you later. Bye for now.

Kaitlyn sent a blowing kiss emoji, and Molly put her phone down on the counter so she could clear the rest of the dishes and wipe the sticky mess off of Victoria's fingers. Sherlock was already doing the same with Christina.

After breakfast, they went to the front room as usual.

"Mummy," Victoria pointed to the television screen, "watch Little Mermaid?"

Christina, meanwhile, had her hands resting on the top of the playpen, obviously wishing to access some toys within.

"I'll put on the film," said Sherlock, reaching for the remote while Molly lifted Christina and put her inside the playpen.

A few minutes later, with both girls content in their activity, Sherlock and Molly sat on the sofa together.

Sherlock kneaded Molly's shoulders gently. "You told Kaitlyn, then?" he enquired quietly.

Molly closed her eyes as he continued to massage her shoulders, even as she answered.

"I did, but it was hard. I think if we get pregnant again, I want people to know immediately."

She heard the surprise in his voice as he asked, "Is that prudent? What if you experience another miscarriage?"

She turned her head to look at him. "That's just it. I'd rather people know and be praying for us, and if the worst happens, they can be there for us. That would be easier to deal with than letting people know after the fact that I've had a miscarriage in a pregnancy they didn't even know about."

He bent forward, fingers continuing to massage, and kissed her cheek. "I get your point. It was difficult to let John know what had happened when he wasn't even aware you were pregnant in the first place. That's why I didn't let him know until the next day." He paused and asked. "Did Martha ever mention before to you that she'd had a miscarriage?"

"No. Isn't it strange to learn something new about someone when they confide a shared experience? I'd be interested to know the circumstances. How much do you know about her past? I remember you telling me she contacted you to ensure her husband was convicted and sentenced to death for all his crimes."

Sherlock nodded, pausing in his massaging. When Molly made a mewl of protest, he resumed. "That case is what got me established as a consulting detective. He'd already been in jail for twenty years in Florida, convicted for second degree murder, or what they call first degree felony, and he was finally up for parole. She was scared he'd come after her to London." He gave a little smile. "She did, after all, cleverly retain all his ill-gotten gains and return to England before any of it could be confiscated. That's what she used to buy the flats that make up 221 Baker Street."

Molly listened in astonishment. She had learned a little of Martha's past, and knew she had money, but hadn't really thought much about where the money had come from. The Aston Martin she owned was also a clear indicator that she had money.

"So, what happened with his parole?" Molly prodded, when Sherlock stopped speaking to glance over at Victoria, who was fortunately completely focussed on the film.

He blinked, and his thumbs pressed a little harder on the tense places of Molly's shoulders. "I researched all the evidence in the original case, submitted my findings which indicated he was responsible for several murders. He was a bit like Moriarty, someone who pulled the strings but didn't do the dirty work himself. To make a long, convoluted story short, a new trial with new evidence and charges for first degree murder was ordered, and he received the death penalty."

Molly gave him an interested look. "I've heard people can be on death row for a long time, but I also recall you telling me he was executed. When did that happen?"

"He was executed by lethal injection in 2009. Martha and I had kept in touch over the years, and she informed me when the sentence was finally carried out. She was so grateful everything was over that she mentioned she was looking for a tenant for 221B, and the rest, as they say, is history."

He stopped massaging her to wrap his arms about her from behind, and Molly didn't complain. She loved the way he cherished her, and her shoulders felt much better too. The massage had even taken her mind off the niggling headache. Learning new things was always interesting, and this story filled in a few more of the blanks of Sherlock's life before they met. She hadn't been aware that his association with Martha was such a long-standing one.

"Thank you for telling me," she said, leaning contentedly against Sherlock as she turned her attention to the film.

The rest of the day and Thursday followed a similar pattern of spending time together as a family. Going to bed was the hardest, when there was no more distraction, and Molly thought once again about the baby they had lost, but she and Sherlock had resumed their Bible reading and devotion, which helped remind them that everything that happened was under God's control, that He had a plan.

On friday, Molly was just releasing Victoria from her buckled seat after lunch while Sherlock was getting Christina out of the high chair, when her phone rang.

Molly saw it was from Martha. She was probably calling to see how they were doing, Molly thought, picking up the phone and answering it.

"Hello."

Martha's voice sounded slightly agitated as she asked, "Molly, have you had the telly on at all? Did you see the news? It's on every channel."

"No, I haven't had the telly on today. What's on every channel?"

Sherlock looked over at Molly. "I expect a member of the royal family has died, probably Prince Philip," he commented, even as Martha responded.

"The BBC broke the news first. There was a formal announcement from the palace that Prince Philip has died. And now every channel has picked up on it."

Molly looked over at Sherlock, who had just set Christina down and was following her from the room. "Turn on the telly, Sherlock. Clever deduction, as usual," she called to him.

"How did he know?" enquired Martha.

Molly's lips curved upward as she watched Victoria, bored at waiting for her mother's attention, wandered off to join her father and sister. "I'm guessing the fact that I asked what was on every channel. If I'd thought about it for a second, I probably would have come to the same conclusion. It's the most logical conclusion." She paused, then quipped, "Unless World War three just started."

"Oh, God, that would be even more dreadful!" exclaimed Martha. Then she added in a teasing tone of her own, "But only just."

"That is sad, though," commented Molly. "I know he was in hospital recently, but I was hoping he'd see his hundredth birthday."

"Oh, I was hoping he would still be here next year for the queen's platinum jubilee in January."

"That would have been lovely too," agreed Molly.

"Molly," Martha's voice was suddenly hesitant, "I was wondering, when the funeral is on, would you watch it with me? I'd like to see it, but I'd rather not watch it all by myself." Then she added quickly, "I understand if it wouldn't be comfortable for you right now with what you're going through."

Molly answered without hesitation. "Oh, Martha, I'd be glad to watch it with you. I quite enjoy all the pomp and circumstance of the royal family, and it will be interesting to see how they deal with the funeral in light of the Covid situation. I'm sure it will be a pared down affair."

"Unless they decide the rules don't apply to the royal family."

Molly pursed her lips. "Well, that would set a poor precedent for the country, so I hope they wouldn't do that."

"Me too. I wonder if Harry and Meghan will come? With all that recent controversy on their interview with that American Oprah woman, I have to wonder."

Molly had heard about that, and she thought it was a shame that the young royals had made pointed allegations of poor treatment from the rest of the royal family. Personally, she didn't believe the accusations, but that was just her opinion. "I guess we'll find out about that soon," she said. "Would you prefer to watch the funeral here or at your place?" she asked.

"Your place, if you don't mind. It will give me an excuse to spend time with your daughters. I've missed seeing them every day since I returned to Baker Street."

"They've missed you too."

"Well, I'm going to go back and keep watching the news now. Are you and Sherlock doing okay?"

"We're handling things one day at a time," said Molly, feeling the need to refer to her faith as she had done with Kaitlyn, adding, "Our faith will get us through. We know God has a plan."

"That's nice to hear. I'm glad your faith sustains you that way. I envy it," said Martha, sounding a little wistful. Molly wondered if she was thinking about her own miscarriage. Perhaps she would have a chance to talk about it sometime with Martha. The elderly woman's voice adopted a brighter tone. "Well, bye for now. I'll talk with you soon."

"Okay," said Molly. "Bye now."

With the phone call finished, Molly headed to the front room.

Sherlock had turned on the telly, as she requested, and he was sitting on the sofa, watching.

An image of the prince appeared on the screen as commentary about him continued.

"Who's that?" Victoria asked, turning her head to look at Sherlock.

"That is Prince Philip, our queen's husband," responded Sherlock, who was holding Christina on his lap.

Victoria looked perplexed for a moment, then declared in triumph, "Chwistmas lady!"

Molly was impressed. Victoria was obviously referring to when they had watched the Queen's Christmas address a few months earlier.

She walked over to Victoria and bent down to give her a cuddle. "That's right, Victoria."

She released Victoria to sit beside Sherlock.

Victoria remained standing, watching the television, where the announcer was talking about some of Prince Philip's accomplishments in his long life. But, not surprisingly, she soon lost interest.

"This is borwing," she said, walking over to Christina. "Play with me, Chwisty."

Sherlock obligingly rose with Christina and put her into the playpen, then lifted Victoria into it as well. Molly knew they would happily play together, either making a block tower or Victoria helping Christina with her shapes.

When Sherlock resumed his seat, he slipped his arm around her. "I'm assuming that was Martha calling with the news? She always has her telly on."

Molly giggled. "That's true. I'm sure it keeps her company when she's alone." She snuggled against Sherlock as she continued to look at the television, ignoring the commentary for now. "She asked if we could watch the funeral together, and I said yes. She'll come here for it, whenever it happens to be."

"One of the commentators said that Prince Philip planned the details of his own funeral, including the music,"commented Sherlock. "It will be quite fascinating to see how they deal with the Covid restrictions."

"I mentioned that too. I certainly hope the Queen survives for a few more years. It would be so sad for the nation to be unable to give her a fitting send-off after being our reigning monarch for so long."

"She appears to still be in excellent health for a woman in her nineties, both mentally and physically," observed Sherlock.

They watched the coverage for a while longer, until the information became repetitive. Then they went about the rest of their day as usual.

Saturday too followed the same pattern. Sherlock still seemed disinclined to check his emails for potential cases, which was very unusual, but she didn't comment about it. It wasn't as if he had to do any work if he didn't feel like it.

On Saturday evening, he asked as they were eating dinner, "Do you want to take next week off, Molly? If so, you should probably let Mike know."

Molly shook her head. "I think it will be good for me to return to work. I'm not used to being home all day."

Sherlock chuckled. "Now you know what it was like for me last year during lockdown, when you were working and I was unable to do any detective work. It can be a little tedious, even with two children to look after."

"That's true. But Kaitlyn's coming back from maternity leave as well next week, and I'm looking forward to catching up with her properly again. Texting isn't the same thing."

Sherlock nodded. "What about church tomorrow? Do you wish to attend?"

Molly chewed on her lower lip thoughtfully. People at church didn't know she'd even been pregnant, so nobody would be casting sympathetic glances their way, and she knew Kayla and John wouldn't say anything. At the same time, Molly knew she'd end up wanting to tell people what had happened. But she didn't feel quite up to it yet. "I think perhaps we should stay home this week. Next week we can let our friends know what happened, but I'm not ready to talk about it yet."

"I agree."

And that's what they did. Sherlock called John to let the Watsons know they wouldn't be in church the next day.

Instead, they watched an online church service and read from a book of children's Bible stories to Victoria and Christina. Not surprisingly, Christina had no interest, but Victoria enjoyed hearing the story of Noah and how he built the ark. Victoria also coloured a picture of the ark in her Bible stories colouring book, while Sherlock helped Christina to make a rainbow on a piece of paper. Molly felt as if they spent the day appropriately, even without attending church. They'd been doing this during Covid while their church was closed anyway.

Also, the announcement for Prince Philip's funeral was made. It would be held on Saturday at 3 PM, although coverage would begin an hour earlier.

Molly called Martha, who said she would drive herself and arrive by two o'clock.

And when Molly and Sherlock went to bed that night, she realised a week had passed since they had lost their baby. Life was moving on, and tomorrow she would return to work. They were getting through it.

Author's Note: I hope you liked the introductory chapter to this story. Did you enjoy the unexpected visit of zJohn with Rosie? I enjoy showing Rosie/Victoria interaction.

What did you think about the backstory I provided for Mrs. Hudson? I don't know how many other people have tried to do that. Did you find it plausible?