Chapter 21

-December 31, 1901-

221B Baker Street

Barok arrived at 221B Baker Street at half past six in the evening, as Iris had let him know by telegram that dinner would be ready by seven. Mrs. Huston appeared to be on the verge of departing for the night when she let him in, as she was already wearing a coat and a bonnet, as well as some jewelry items she did not sport on ordinary days.

"I'll be spending some time with my daughter and son-in-law – they were out of town to visit with his family Christmas Day," she explained when she noticed him studying her.

Then eyeing the boxes he was carrying curiously in return, she inquired, "I take it my lodgers have you participating in their unorthodox end-of-year traditions now?"

Barok merely shrugged. "When in Rome…"

"I suppose so. Well… have a pleasant evening, my Lord." After a quick curtsey, she turned to walk back into her own rooms, while Barok made to ascend the stairs to the first floor suite.

He was not certain what exactly would await him at chez Sholmes Wilson and Harebrayne tonight, but supposed that there were some advantages to their celebration taking place on the final day of the year, rather than December 25. For the last ten years, he had always been caught between telling himself that it was just a day like any other, and imbibing rather excessive amounts of wine to numb the memories of Christmases past reminding him of all the people he had lost since. Then again, if the specific date had had something to do with the unpleasantness he had battled over the previous years, he should not have felt differently on said day this year, and as a matter of fact, it had been as different as day and night.

Last Wednesday, he had not spent the entire day and evening sequestered in the study, but had gone for a stroll along the empty streets after breakfast and seen to further exercise after lunch, all the while thinking about suitable presents for the Baker Street lodgers – after all, it would be the height of boorishness to show up to a Christmas party without gifts.

Thankfully, the days following the 25th had been rather slow at work, allowing him to make good headway on the preparations for the forensics symposium as well as to inquire about one specific item he had been seeking to purchase. Now, said item rested safely in the smallest of the three gift-wrapped boxes he was currently carrying up the stairs, and he hoped it would meet with its recipient's approval.

Shortly after he had knocked on the door by the upstairs landing, Sholmes opened it for him.

"Ah, good evening, Lord van Zieks. Please, come in."

With a nod, Barok followed the invitation and approached the sofa, where Albert was seated. His friend promptly glanced up at him with a smile. "Goodness, what's all that you're carrying there?"

"You'll see soon enough where most of these items are concerned," Barok replied while placing the boxes on the floor. While straightening once more, he reached into the bag that had been dangling from his right forearm, and placed a bottle of red wine on the table. "As for this… I decided that I should contribute something to our impending feast."

The bottle he had selected from his private stores was from 1887 – not just an excellent vintage in terms of grape quality, but also the year in which he had first met Albert.

"Wine from your personal collection? Today is a special day, indeed," Sholmes remarked when he seated himself in the armchair on the other side of the chest and began to stuff his pipe's bowl with a fresh pinch of tobacco.

"Considering the amount of time I've spent here this past year, as well as everything that has occurred, I decided to make an exception when it comes to sharing," Barok replied with a slight shrug.

"Much appreciated, my dear fellow." Sholmes took a drag from his pipe, blowing out the smoke before continuing, "As for exchanging gifts, I propose doing so after dinner. After all, we wouldn't want to let Iris's efforts go to waste."

"I assumed that was the intention to begin with, considering that she happens to be in the kitchen at the moment." Barok raised an eyebrow at him.

"Quite right, quite right." The detective nodded as though that had been exactly the same statement he had just made.

Aware that the man was unlikely to amend his previous utterance, Barok turned toward Albert instead. "Are you expecting any other guests to join us tonight?"

"No, it'll be just the four of us – Iris asked Miss Lestrade if she wanted to come, but apparently, she and Mr. Asogi already had different plans," his friend stated, looking a little puzzled when Barok sighed and lifted his left hand to massage his temple.

"Of course they did."

Naturally, Sholmes did not miss this opportunity to join the conversation once more, telling Albert, "Ask our honored guest about the particulars which caused his reaction just now after a few glasses of wine – he does not seem inclined to favor you with elaborations just yet."

"… Whereas you seem awfully chatty tonight, I must say," Barok commented with a sideways glance at the detective.

"Just making conversation, Lord van Zieks. Would you prefer it if I provided some music to pass the time until dinner is served, instead?"

"If you would…" Barok had barely finished speaking when the detective rose from his armchair to walk over to his side of the sitting room to retrieve his violin. He immediately began playing upon having seated himself once more, the melody somehow familiar, but still difficult to place – it was probably not a piece that was explicitly meant for a solo instrumental performance.

While continuing to listen to the notes and attempting to come up with just where he had heard it before, Barok's gaze fell on the small Christmas tree standing in Iris's part of the room, lovingly decorated with strands of silver tinsel, blue glass ornaments, and tufts of white cotton to mimic snow lying on the branches. Underneath it, Waggy was dozing, apparently utterly content – and quite a bit larger than he remembered the cat being the last time he had laid eyes on it.

Albert, who had noticed his raised eyebrow at the sight, stated quietly, "We're not sure why he's gained so much weight recently – he hasn't been eating any more than he usually does, but he doesn't seem to be uncomfortable, at least."

"I see." While Barok was not particularly fond of the animal for obvious reasons, he hoped that whatever had caused Waggy to grow sideways would not end in his death in short order – Iris would likely be devastated at losing her pet, whether she had acquired him second-hand or not.

When he glanced over toward the kitchen door, wondering whether his niece would permit any of them to aid her in her preparations, he noticed out of the corner of his eye that a sprig of mistletoe had been fastened to the wall just above the nearby hallway entrance.

This shouldn't become a problem. He did not think that any of those present would have much reason to step into, or out of, the hallway at the same time – perhaps it had merely been hung as yet another decorative element, without counting on any opportunities to invoke the associated custom.

He abandoned this line of thought when Iris stepped out of the kitchen, the serving trolley she was pushing ahead of her laden with food.

"Good evening, Uncle Barry! Sorry for not saying hello earlier, as you can see, I had my hands full… would the three of you help me put everything on the chest?"

"Of course." Barok and Albert rose to do as requested right away, while Sholmes went to put his violin away before assisting in the task at hand.

Before long, they were all seated around the chest in their usual configuration, with Barok being flanked by Albert on the right and Iris on the left, while Sholmes occupied the armchair.

The detective seemed particularly enamored by the fact that Iris had prepared a game bird alongside a few other meat selections. "Ah, how nice – this evening will not pass in an unpheasant manner!"

"Nor sober, if you insist on assaulting us with puns," Barok quipped as he made to open the wine bottle.

For quite some time thereafter, everyone was fully occupied with giving the food the attention it deserved, with the girl once again looking overjoyed that the three men visibly enjoyed her offerings. Once they had all eaten their fill, no one had to be asked to help in placing the sparse leftovers and dirty dishes back on the trolley, and Albert accompanied Iris into the kitchen to aid her in stowing everything.

Meanwhile, Sholmes excused himself for a moment as he wanted to retrieve something from his bedroom, and entered the nearby hallway. He was still gone by the time Barok's niece and his friend rejoined him in the sitting room.

"There we are. We decided to leave the dishes for tomorrow morning for once, after all, we're celebrating Christmas and New Year's Eve tonight – that's no time to bother with wasting time on cleaning," Iris stated. "Hurley went to get his gifts for everyone, didn't he? Maybe I should get mine, as well!"

She was about to enter the hallway just when the detective stepped out of it, and both of them glanced up at the same time to look at the sprig of mistletoe.

"Well, you know the rules, Hurley," Iris singsonged, motioning for him to get down to one knee so she could kiss his cheek.

"That reminds me, I've left my presents up in the attic, as well – I meant to put them under the tree before dinner, but I completely forgot about it…" Albert blushed slightly as he scratched the back of his head in embarrassment, the sight captivating enough that Barok, who had just raised his wine glass to his lips, completely forgot to take a sip. His friend noticed that his movements had stalled a moment later and likewise froze, his gaze fixed on Barok's face and the hint of red along his cheekbones becoming more prominent.

Time only seemed to start again when Iris returned with the items she had gone to retrieve. "Here I am – do we have everything?"

"O-oh… excuse me, I'll be right back!" Albert veritably jumped up from the sofa and hurriedly approached the hallway entrance.

His hasty footsteps on the narrow stairs up to the attic had only just ceased resounding in the air when Barok realized that nature's call was asserting itself after taking tea at home and a few glasses of wine here.

"If I might avail myself of your facilities…?"

"Of course, my dear fellow. It's at the end of the hallway," Sholmes replied while once again busying himself with his pipe.

"Thank you."

Although Barok's business in the bathroom did not take all that long, he expected that, by the time he re-emerged, Albert would have already made it back to the sitting room. However, he was proved wrong when, as he approached the hallway exit, his friend was in the process of descending the stairs, now carrying two small wrapped items in his left hand, and one larger one underneath his arm.

"Oh, Barok… please, go right ahead." As soon as he had reached the bottom of the stairs, Albert gestured for him to re-enter the sitting room first.

"Thank you for offering, but since you have your hands full, feel free to go first," Barok returned – while he was obviously not opposed to the thought of sharing a kiss, given his recent considerations, doing so for the first time due to being compelled by a piece of plant matter dangling above their heads was far too trite for his taste.

Unfortunately, Sholmes had caught on to their attempts to avoid this scenario, as he turned toward Iris and asked, "It appears our two friends are attempting to obey the letter of the law but not the spirit, wouldn't you say?"

"Yes, yes I would!" The girl rose from the sofa and approached the hallway, taking position a mere few steps away from where she had kissed her guardian's cheek a few minutes ago.

"Come now, Bertie, Uncle Barry, don't be spoilsports – I'm sure a quick peck won't hurt either one of you!"

Although she valiantly attempted to keep her expression neutral, Barok could tell that there was a mischievous spark in her eyes.

He exchanged a glance with Albert, who looked about ready to flee back upstairs.

What would be the best way to see this through without causing his heart to give out?

Thankfully, he happened upon an idea almost immediately.

"Very well then, if we must…" He stepped forward until he stood under the sprig of mistletoe, glancing back at his friend.

Albert was slower to approach him, his nervousness visibly increasing with each step. Once he, too, was in the right position, he glanced up at Barok – only for his gaze to wander down in bafflement when he felt a gloved hand taking hold of the fingers not currently occupied with holding anything to raise them.

As soon as Barok had lifted his friend's hand far enough, he bowed down to let his lips brush against the knuckles for a moment. Straightening again, he found that Albert was once more frozen in place, his eyes wide and his face flushed.

Utterly charming. If it were not for the fact that they currently had an audience, he might not even care about the triteness of the mistletoe ploy, but as it was…

"Shall we sit back down now?" he suggested, and immediately received an emphatic nod in response – apparently, Albert did not trust himself to speak up again just yet.

Once they had seated themselves on the sofa, his friend reached for the open wine bottle to refill his glass, quaffing down half of it in one go right thereafter.

Meanwhile, Iris had taken her gifts in hand, and had now taken it upon herself to place the lovingly wrapped items in front of Barok, Albert, and Sholmes.

"Here you are – feel free to open them!"

"I suppose we've made her wait long enough now," the detective remarked as he reached for his gift from the girl, undoing the bow and removing the wrapping paper, uncovering two jars of a light brown substance.

"I tried turning your favorite caramel into a topping for scones," Iris explained with a wide smile.

"I look forward to sampling it, thank you." Sholmes seemed to almost regret that he would have to wait until teatime tomorrow, as he was glancing at the jars with a covetousness that would not have been amiss on Gina Lestrade's features.

The child set her sights on Barok and Albert next, who obligingly made to unwrap their presents, uncovering two felted rabbit dolls, one wearing a dark blue uniform jacket, the other a white lab coat.

"Since we all keep sending each other letters and telegrams, I decided to make these for you – if you ever need to reach Hurley, or me, or each other, you can use them instead of having to go to the nearest telegraph office!"

"I'll make sure to keep it on my person whenever possible," Barok assured her with a smile, while Albert placed his doll into the breast pocket of his lab coat right away, leaving only the head with its small wire spectacles and the tufts of yellow cotton around the long ears visible.

After the two men had thanked Iris, Sholmes claimed his turn to dole out presents. Barok received a new cello bow from him – apparently, the detective had noticed that, while the instrument itself had still been in good shape when they had played together at the beach house, the bow hair had started to look somewhat brittle due to years of neglect.

"Do feel free to bring your instrument along when you visit, my dear fellow," he told Barok with a wink. "I have it on good authority that, should we choose to cooperate in musicianship again, we'll always have an appreciative audience here."

"Perhaps I will one of these days," Barok stated in return, though his gaze was trained on Albert and Iris. "You have my thanks."

His friend's gift from Sholmes turned out to be a bottle of aftershave. "I merely saw that you were about to run out, and thought that you'd enjoy something practical," the man stated with a shrug when Albert thanked him for the thoughtful present.

Iris's eyes widened when she unwrapped a microscope. "Oh Hurley…! I know we talked about buying this for the longest time, but I had no idea you were going to give it to me!"

She skipped over to her guardian's side and hugged him. "If you ever want to borrow it, just let me know!"

After they had witnessed the familial display together, Albert turned toward Barok. "Would you mind terribly if I went next…?"

"I don't mind," he responded right away, gesturing toward the three wrapped items lying on the chest in front of his friend.

Curiously, his answer caused Albert to apparently become more nervous, rather than less, for a moment. Then, it had passed, and his friend rose, reaching for the largest and the medium-sized packages to hand them to Sholmes and Iris, respectively.

The detective found himself the new owner of a pair of laboratory rubber gloves in short order. "Ah, you seek to protect me from further encounters with untamed electricity, my dear fellow? The thought is much appreciated, though I fear that I might well forget putting them on the next time you engage with a high-voltage invention…"

"I thought of that, as well, Mr. Sholmes," Albert responded with a smile. "The second part of my gift to you is that I've put down rubber matting on much of the floor by the stairs, where we usually experiment with electricity, earlier today – you should have a choice whether you want to participate in any such experimentation, anything else would be unethical."

"Much obliged." The man did seem to appreciate that his co-lodger wanted to ensure he did not come to harm in the future.

Iris, meanwhile, uncovered six bags apparently filled with different dried herbs. "Goodness, thank you, Bertie! How'd you know I was running low on these, and more importantly, where did you get them this time of year?"

"I snuck a peek at your herb jars after you went to bed one night about a month ago, and had a trading company order them from abroad," Albert explained, only to suddenly be confronted with an armful of grateful girl moving in to kiss his cheek.

"Thank you again – I'll be able to make some great new tea blends with these!"

"You're very welcome, Iris." After his response, Albert glanced over at Barok, and the hint of nervousness once again appeared on his features.

He reached for the smallest wrapped parcel left on the table to hold it out to his friend. "Erm… this is for you…"

"Thank you." Barok took the gift and made to free it from the wrapping paper, revealing a velvet-covered box as was usually used by jewelers for their wares. When he opened it, he found an elegant cravat pin inside, fashioned from gold and crowned with a facet-cut oval-shaped amethyst, its deep purple color complementing the metal's shine.

What an exquisite piece. Barok glanced over at his friend with a smile, finding to his relief that Albert's nervousness appeared to dissolve in response.

"This is beautiful."

"I'm glad you like it!" His friend scratched the back of his head. "I've read that medieval soldiers would wear amethyst amulets to keep them focused in battle, and, well, irises are purple too…"

"I'll cherish it always. Thank you very much." Barok removed the pin from the box and replaced the fleur-de-lis currently adorning his cravat with Albert's gift, earning himself yet another stunning smile from the man.

It took him a moment to realize that it was now his turn to hand presents to everyone. Tearing his gaze away from his friend, he picked up his medium-sized present first to place it on the opposite side of the chest.

"Mr. Sholmes…"

"Thank you, my dear fellow." The detective quickly peeled a plain cardboard box out of the wrapping paper, opened the top flap, and pulled out a large bottle labeled with Cyrillic characters.

"Ah, vodka – I see you decided to replace the exact spirit of which we partook at the end of April…?"

"That's correct." Barok shrugged wryly. "After all, it was my fault that you've had to give a lot of it up to disinfect a wound."

"It was a good use for it, in my opinion – things would be a lot more boring around here without you," Sholmes returned. "Nevertheless, I appreciate it – let's hope we'll get to enjoy this bottle for less medicinal purposes."

"Indeed."

When it was time to hand Iris her present, Barok had an inkling of just how Albert must have felt just a little while ago. He placed the largest box he had brought with him in front of the girl, looking on as she unwrapped and opened it while awaiting her reaction.

"Oh, what a lovely tea set! The designs are so intricate… is this antique?"

Barok nodded. "One of our ancestors personally purchased it in Delft multiple generations ago, and it has been in the van Zieks family ever since. It was always meant to be yours, I think. I'm sure your parents as well as my mother would agree."

"That's…!" The girl did not seem to know how to continue; when she looked over at him, her eyes shone with overwhelmed emotion. "Thank you very much, Uncle Barry… I'll take good care of it, for everyone who had it before us."

"I know you will." Barok let her place a kiss on his cheek.

Finally, the time had come to give his last present to its intended recipient – and now, he realized that, if he had hoped that his niece would appreciate what he had given her fervently enough to feel nervous, wondering whether Albert would enjoy his gift had the potential to evoke outright anxiety.

Turning toward his friend, he handed over the smallest box he had brought along, not certain what to say and ultimately just smiling at the man sitting next to him.

"Thank you, Barok. Goodness, this is quite heavy for its size, isn't it? Let's see what it is…" Albert made short work of the wrapping paper and lifted the box cover.

"A new pocket watch…? Oh, and you've had my name engraved on the back, how elegant!"

"Open it," Barok encouraged him, feeling gratified when his friend's eyes widened after revealing the clock face – it was designed to showcase the inner workings of the watch, small cogs rhythmically click-click-clicking ever onward as they moved the hands.

"This is the most beautiful pocket watch I've ever laid eyes on, thank you very much!" Yet again, Albert's smile mesmerized him for a single, dazzling moment. Then, his friend added more slowly, "… It's still surprising how much it weighs, silver isn't usually this heavy…"

"That would be because I'd assume Lord van Zieks opted for platinum, instead," Sholmes remarked from across the chest.

"Platinum?!" Albert stared at him.

"Mr. Sholmes is correct." Barok shrugged. "I wanted to ensure that it could withstand any potential chemical spills it might come in contact with, and was advised that platinum was the ideal option for such a purpose."

Besides, it's not as ostentatious as gold at first glance, and yet highly prized for its immutability. In both aspects, the metal reminded him of all that Albert meant to him.

"… This is a gift worthy of a member of the royal family. I… I'd say I can't take this, but… well, you've had them engrave my name on it! You probably knew I might say that, didn't you? I can't thank you enough. Thank you very, very much, Barok." After he had unburdened himself of this flood of words, his friend appeared as though he might be moved to tears for a few long seconds, apparently unable to cease looking at Barok's face.

"You're most welcome, Albert. I'm glad you like it."

They seemed to become suspended in the moment yet again while they were glancing at each other, until Sholmes cleared his throat.

"Well, I suppose this concludes our belated Christmas festivities. Shall we move on to the transitional activities before the time to celebrate the arrival of the New Year has come?"

"Such as…?" Barok raised an eyebrow at him.

"Why, party games, of course!" Iris took it upon herself to answer. "Charades, 20 Questions… it's good fun, especially now that we'll have four people playing instead of just two!"

"You see," the detective chimed in again, "tonight is the only night of the year during which Iris stays up past midnight, so it will be upon us to keep her fatigue at bay for a few hours."

"Ah." It had been a good 12 years since Barok had participated in activities of this sort, but he supposed that, given the other people present, he could allow himself a certain measure of silliness tonight. "Very well then, what would you have us do first?"

The girl settled on Charades first, deciding to make matters more interesting by giving each of them a sheet of paper to make slips on which they would write the object, person, or activity to be mimed. Once that had been accomplished, the paper slips were folded once and placed in Sholmes's deerstalker, which was in turn put upside-down on top of the chest. Thereafter, Iris began the game by drawing the first miming assignment from the hat.

They would stick to Charades for a good two hours, during which it turned out that, whereas Sholmes was a natural at getting his audience to understand the most ridiculous goals written on the slips he drew without words in very little time, Barok had no such aptitude – or maybe he had just been unlucky with his draws. After all, the detective had caused Albert and Iris to yell out Barok's name within a mere two seconds by pretending to carelessly fling a bottle over his shoulder, whereas Barok had found himself wondering just how he should play-act Queen Victoria without being able to utilize one of her commonly used phrases, to name just one example.

When they ran out of the paper slips they had prepared together, Iris proclaimed that it was time to switch to 20 Questions, which was thankfully somewhat more in line with Barok's skillset – for one, he was at liberty to select his own secret answer which the others would have to try and find by asking as few yes-or-no questions as possible, and for another, the game did not involve pretending to be someone he was decidedly not. Here, both he and Sholmes turned out to be the most skilled at keeping the guessers at bay, while Albert was the most predictable answerer, as he generally picked an object rather than a person or an animal.

The hours passed surprisingly quickly in that manner; before long, they dimly heard a church bell ringing 11 o'clock, and agreed to cease playing by the time only half an hour remained until 1902 would officially begin.