A/N: Here is the first entry for my Flufftober 2021 collection, from the prompt "Winning a teddy bear for the other." I took a few liberties, but I hope you still enjoy this K rated fluff-fest!
"Oh dear, Sherlock's pouting. What's wrong, Poodle?"
The consulting detective in question glowered over at Mary, whose expression was just as cloyingly sympathetic (mock sympathy, almost as bad as the real thing!) as her cooed question. "I asked you not to call me that," he grumbled as he threw himself onto the Watson's sofa, arms folded and face set in a frown.
"Sorry, I'm afraid it's my fault." Mary looked over at Molly as she hovered uncertainly in the doorway. "But I told him the games were rigged, which he said he already knew, and then he had to try to prove he was clever enough to compensate for the rigged air gun, but of course he overcompensated, and well…" Her left hand, which had been held behind her back, came into view. Holding an enormous pink-furred teddy bear.
Wearing a deerstalker.
Mary - and John, who had just come downstairs with a sleepy-eyed Rosie - burst into laughter.
"Wait, if he overcompensated, then how did he win the teddy bear?" Mary asked, although she suspected she already knew the answer.
Molly shrugged and looked down modestly. "I, um, might have spent a few summers helping my cousin out with his carnival booth before I started at uni."
"She cheated." Sherlock turned his petulant glower towards his erstwhile help-meet, the woman who was supposed to stand by and support him in every way, the woman he'd bestowed his name upon only a month ago. So much for those emotionally traded wedding vows, for promising to not only love and cherish but to honor him; so much for…
"Oomph!" Sherlock exclaimed as a very sturdy young Miss Watson was plopped onto his mid-section. He turned his glare on John, who was still grinning at him, then changed the glare to a soft smile as he looked up at Rosie. Who smiled happily down at him.
"Unca Lock!" she crowed, awake and alert enough to finally recognize the newcomers. "Aunt Mowwy! Oooh, bear!" She clapped her hands and reached up for the ridiculous pink thing, happily accepting both it and a kiss from her honorary Auntie. She hugged the bear tightly, then thrust it into Sherlock's face. "Wook, bear!"
"Fmfph," Sherlock said, or something very like, around a mouthful of pink fur. "Yes, Rosie, it's a bear," he said as he gently pushed the pink monstrosity away from his face and back into her arms. "We won it just for you." A loud cough from Watson the Younger's mother caused him to add, "That is, Aunt Molly won it just for you."
"And Uncle Sherlock will tell you all about the silly people he deduced today," Molly added dropping a kiss to his forehead. "Especially the one who I saw being taken away in handcuffs as we were leaving! He's just that clever, sweetie, never forget it!"
Sherlock reached up and grasped Molly's wrist as she started to walk away, smiling up at her. "Nope, not today," he declared, all signs of a strop vanished as he once again realized just how fortunate he was in having won this remarkable woman for his own. He tugged Molly closer, until she knelt by his side, her fingers gently stroking his dark curls. "Today it's all about how clever Aunt Molly deduced exactly the right angle to use to shoot all the tin cans off their perches and win this fantastic prize for our favorite god-daughter."
He leaned up and offered his wife an apologetic kiss, which she gladly accepted, while John and Mary beamed at them from across the room - and Rosie, choosing her moment with impeccable timing, waited for the kiss to end before once again smushing the bear into Sherlock's face.
("I wanted to win it for you, you know," Sherlock grumbled as they left the Watsons a few hours later. "Yes, I know," Molly said soothingly, her hand linked in his. "But I think Rosie is very happy with her prize." She looked up at him with a soft, loving smile. "I know I'm happy with mine." "As am I," he agreed, leaning down for a lingering kiss.)
End note: I take no credit for Mary calling Sherlock "Poodle" but will absolutely give full credit if anyone can point me in the direction of the relevant fic!