Author's Note: I have to say, I have been overwhelmed by the response I have received on this story. Thank you so much to everyone who has been reading it and commenting on it. It has been such a joy for me to know that people are reading and appreciating the way I write the future for Sherlock and Molly, even as I continue to develop the other characters in their world. When I see all these wonderful responses, it motivates me even more to keep writing, to continue their story. Thank you also for the guest reviews (nuttyprincess) to which I cannot respond personally.

As the Christmas meal commenced, Molly mashed various vegetables with which to feed Victoria, even as she ate her own meal. Victoria was adjusting quite well to eating solid mashed food, and even learning to hold a cup of water with a lid. She didn't eat a great deal, because she had just been fed, but she managed a few spoonfuls of the food.

Molly looked over at Sherlock and was pleased to see that he had returned to his normal self, completely at his ease. The agitation she had seen within him earlier had disappeared. In fact, he wasn't aware of it, but she had heard the conversation he had had with Mark through the baby monitor when they had gone upstairs to fetch Victoria. She was proud of her husband.

She recalled the conversation they had had on their honeymoon, when Sherlock had told her his former therapist had suggested he had Asperger's syndrome. Of course, he had been seeing the therapist after Mary's death, and the events at Sherrinford had not yet happened, so the woman did not have all the facts about Sherlock's past. It was true that Sherlock did exhibit some of those traits, but Molly felt quite certain, especially in light of the way Sherlock had changed over the past eighteen months, that he did not have the condition.

She had quietly done some research into it, and had discovered there was a spectrum to which Sherlock might potentially fit into with his characteristics, although even that would probably never be possible to determine due to his childhood trauma affecting his subsequent behaviour. The BAP, or Broad Autism Phenotype was used to identify people with certain traits of autism, but for whom those traits were not severe enough to be considered autistic.

Actually, Molly and Kayla had had several discussions about autism. As a nursery school teacher, Kayla had experience in dealing with children who had special needs, so Molly felt that she was now prepared to recognise any symptoms that might occur that could indicate Victoria or any subsequent children she were to have with Sherlock might have autism or BAP. For now though, Molly was not worried about the future, and Victoria certainly showed no signs of any developmental difficulties at this point. If anything, she seemed ahead of the general curve with her motor skills and awareness of things around her.

Following the dinner, Violet Holmes announced that they would wait until later for the Christmas pudding to be brought out, and Molly stood up to help take things out to the kitchen, asking Sherlock to take care of Victoria, so she could help her mother-in-law. Kayla and Elizabeth also stood and began to help clearing away the dirty dishes and remaining food.

As Molly headed into the kitchen, she heard William Holmes suggest that they bring out the Monopoly board for a game. Molly was not disappointed that she would not be participating. She still remembered the last time she had played the game, on her honeymoon. For some reason, she had felt ridiculously competitive and upset when Sherlock had won both of their games. It was embarrassing to think about, even now, the way she had cried about it like a child.

As the women worked together, Violet Holmes asked Molly quietly, "What was that all about earlier, with Sherlock? He appears to be fine now, but he seemed a little put out when you arrived this morning, and then of course he was obviously rather stunned, as we all were, by Mycroft's news."

Molly looked up from where she was bending down and stacking plates into the dishwasher, as her mother-in-law rinsed and handed them to her. She noted that Elizabeth and Kayla were quietly conversing as they transferred leftovers into containers for the fridge. "I'm afraid your son has been feeling a little neglected by his mother," she said with a quirk to her lips, then added hastily, "Believe me, I understand that having babies around can be very distracting, but my husband feels a bit like he has been supplanted in your affections by our daughter. I think the addition of another grandchild didn't help matters either."

Violet Holmes drew her brows together in a disconcerted manner. "Oh my, I had no idea he was feeling that way. Thank you for telling me, dear. I will try to remedy that situation when we return to the sitting room. My poor, dear boy!"

Molly could see that her mother-in-law was truly distressed, and she stood to offer the elderly woman a hug. "I already explained to him that it's a mother thing, to gravitate towards babies, and I think he understands a little better now anyway. But I know he will be happy to get a little attention from you."

Mrs. Holmes returned the hug, then stood back. "I must admit, I still feel somewhat responsible for the way Sherlock used to be, and the continuing difficulties he has had throughout his life. I know now it was a mistake to let him forget about his sister. I thank God for the steadying influence you have had on my son. I hope you know how much I appreciate you, and love you like a daughter."

There were tears in the older woman's eyes as she spoke the words, and Molly felt tears forming in her own eyes. Her mother-in-law had always been kind towards her, but this was the first time she had openly expressed affection for Molly, and it was wonderful to know that her mother-in-law cared so much for her as well.

"Thank you, Mummy," she responded, feeling it easier now to use the same term as Sherlock for his mother. "I love you, too."

Kayla and Elizabeth had still been talking quietly, and suddenly, a loud exclamation was heard from the dining room, even as Mycroft was heard to state in an exasperated tone, "How is it that you manage to always get Park Lane and Mayfair, Sherlock?"

The women looked at each other and laughed. "That's one of the reasons we haven't played Monopoly for the last ten years or so," confided Mrs. Holmes. "Sherlock always seemed to win, which drove Mycroft crazy."

Molly couldn't help smirking. "I found that out to my detriment during our honeymoon, when he won both of the games we played."

Elizabeth raised an eyebrow at her. "You played Monopoly on your honeymoon?"

Molly blushed a little. "We even managed to play a few games of chess, when we weren't sight-seeing or doing...other things."

"As evidenced by that beautiful little granddaughter in the other room," said Violet homes with a broad wink at Molly, which made her blush again.

Kayla spoke up then, rubbing her abdomen. "Well I, for one, and looking forward to getting to know this little one in three months' time."

Violet Holmes looked at Kayla. "My goodness, I do apologise. You should not have been doing all this work in the kitchen in your condition."

Kayla grinned. "It was no trouble, and I have been enjoying getting to know Elizabeth better as well."

"Well, everything is done now, so let's go back into the sitting room and see how that Monopoly game is going," suggested the Holmes matriarch, and the four women left the kitchen.

Molly walked immediately over to Sherlock, placing her hands on his shoulders and resting her chin on his head. Victoria was on his lap, and she noticed their daughter was holding one of the unused Monopoly tokens, the thimble that Molly herself favoured.

"Sherlock," she chided, moving to stand beside him end extract the token from her daughter's chubby fingers. "If Victoria puts that in her mouth she might choke. I will go and get her teething ring."

Sherlock looked up at her, chagrined. "I'm sorry, Molly. I wasn't even thinking. She didn't try to put it in her mouth, I swear."

Molly just shook her head at him and rolled her eyes. She went to the changing bag and pulled out the teething ring, then a nappy and baby wipes. It was time for Victoria to be changed anyway; she had noticed an odour coming from her daughter. Sherlock had either not noticed it, or was pretending not to have realised his child had a dirty nappy, and she suspected it was the latter. To this day, Sherlock still avoided that chore as much as possible.

As the other women gathered around their respective spouses, save for Mrs. Holmes, who had undoubtedly remembered Molly's words about Sherlock feeling neglected, and was giving him a hug from behind, followed by an affectionate peck on the cheek, Molly went to the other room to change Victoria's nappy, so that she would not subject the family to the increasingly pervasive odour coming from her daughter.

She was just finishing up, when Kayla also entered the smaller sitting room, holding Rosie, who apparently also required changing.

Molly waited for her friend to change Rosie's significantly larger nappy. "Did Sherlock tell you that John has sold his share of his doctor's practice?" asked Kayla, glancing up at Molly, who was perched on a chair with Victoria on her lap.

"He sold his practice?" Molly raised her eyebrows in surprise. "When did this happen?"

"The sale only went through a couple weeks ago. Your brother-in-law discovered that Mary had a sizable amount of financial assets under her former name, and he has been working for many months to make sure that they would go to John," related her friend.

Molly's mouth dropped open in surprise. Here was another indication of her brother-in-law's generosity. "That's wonderful, but why did John decide to sell his part of the practice?"

Kayla didn't answer for a moment, completing the process of putting Rosie's dirty nappy into a plastic bag. Then she turned to look at Molly and smiled. "He wants to be available for Sherlock for any cases that might come up."

Molly stood and rested her daughter on her hip, even as Rosie stood and reached up towards the baby. "Baby Towia," she pronounced, beaming at the infant. She tickled Victoria's foot, and the baby giggled delightedly. Molly watched the interaction fondly, even is she realised what Kayla had said. John had sold his practice so that he could spend more time with Sherlock. She was very pleased, because she knew Sherlock had missed having his companion along on his cases in a consistent manner over the past couple of years.

"She rested her hand on Rosie's head, stroking the soft blonde curls, as she looked at Kayla. "I'm so happy to hear that. I'm sure Sherlock is excited about that. When did John tell him?"

"Just today," her friend responded, "when we arrived, and you and I were in the kitchen with your mother-in-law."

"In that case, I know why he didn't have the chance to tell me. With all the stuff that went on afterwards, it probably slipped his mind. When he went outside and I followed him, we weren't discussing that at all."

Kayla looked at her sympathetically. "I suppose it would've been a shock for him to discover Mycroft has a child of his own."

Molly flashed her a small smile. "It was, but he got over it, and he's making an effort to get to know his nephew. I'm really quite proud of him."

"As you should be," responded her friend, adding, as a smile played about her lips, "I heard what happened over the baby monitor too. He's a great guy, almost as great as my own."

At that moment Rosie turned to Kayla and tugged on her hand. "Come on Mama, wanna see Daddy."

"Okay, darling." Kayla gave her stepdaughter an affectionate smile and picked her up, leaving the room, as Molly followed with Victoria.

Molly was glad that Rosie looked at Kayla as if she were her mother. After all, Kayla was the only mother she knew. One day Rosie would have to be told about her real mother and the events which had led to her death. That was undoubtedly going to be a difficult time, and it would also affect the little girls relationship with her Uncle Sherlock, but with the help of two loving parents, Sherlock and herself, she was certain they would be able to explain things in a way that Rosie would not harbour resentment. That was at least several years in the future anyway.

Molly returned to stand beside Sherlock, who was just placing some houses on his Park Lane and Mayfair properties. She noticed he was using his favourite top hat token as well, as he rolled the dice and managed to land on the community chest space between Mycroft's house-laden properties of Bow Street and Marlborough Street.

She watched as one by one, tokens landed on Sherlock's properties and he accumulated more properties as players went bankrupt. Mycroft was the last to fall, and he finally conceded defeat, standing up abruptly and muttering, "I don't know how you do it, but I'm sure you are cheating, brother mine."

Molly had to hide her smile. It was nice to see she was not the only one who could be a sore loser.

The Monopoly board was put away as the Christmas pudding was brought out, and Sherlock set the brandy on fire as he had done the previous year. This time it was Molly's turn to assure a pregnant Kayla that the alcohol content would not affect the baby, because it had been burned off.

As the evening progressed, the adults chatted, and the two little girls were passed from person to person. It was a lovely evening, but by the end of it, Molly was quite tired as she headed up to bed with Sherlock and Victoria.

Victoria was in her sleepsuit, ready for one last feeding before sleep, and Molly settled herself on the bed with a pillow under her arm and put the baby to her breast. As she fed Victoria, she and Sherlock spoke about the day and its events, Mark in particular, and also the new situation with John.

Victoria was getting sleepy when Molly transferred her to her other breast, and within a few minutes had fallen asleep. As usual, Sherlock had been watching in fascination. Even after all these months, Molly knew he enjoyed watching her feed the baby. He gently extracted Victoria from Molly's arms, put her up to his shoulder and extracted a sleepy little burp, after which he took her over to the cot, placing her gently into it. The baby made a slight noise but did not wake. Quite often, she did have a tendency to wake immediately upon being put in her cot, but on this occasion, as it had been a long day, she was obviously ready for sleep herself.

Sherlock turned down the covers of the bed and slipped off his boxers, giving Molly an expectant look.

Molly grinned at her husband, and removed all her clothes save for her bra, then settled into the bed beside him. Sherlock always complained about her wearing it to bed, but she knew if she didn't, one cry from Victoria would have her leaking.

Tonight though, he frowned at her. "Bra off," he demanded, reaching to unclasp the bra. "I'd like to have your breasts to myself for one night."

Molly pursed her lips at him. "If I leak, you're going to have to clean up the mess," she told him.

Sherlock shrugged. "I've done it before," he responded easily, and indeed, he had done so more than once.

Having successfully unfastened the bra, Sherlock tossed it to the side of the bed, then gathered Molly into his arms. "It's so much better being skin to skin like this," he murmured, before his mouth descended on hers.

Molly wound her arms around his neck and returned the embrace, kissing him ardently. Their second Christmas as husband and wife had certainly been different than the previous one, but no less special, in its own way. Molly knew that every Christmas would always contain that same wonder, because she was now loved by Sherlock as passionately as she loved him.

Sherlock's hands and mouth moved confidently along the curves and contours of her body, eliciting those gasps of pleasure she couldn't prevent herself from uttering, although she tried to keep them to a minimum, aware of the fact that their daughter was sleeping close by. But he loved her so well, and so fully, that, as often happened, tears sprang to her eyes after they reached the heights of ecstasy and lay entwined together afterwards.

As the grandfather clock downstairs chimed the twelve deep gongs that pronounced it to be midnight, Molly and Sherlock joined their baby in peaceful slumber.

And as they slept, little did they know how different again the following Christmas would be, when they would welcome their next blessing from God, in the form of a new addition to their family, and three would become four.

Author's Note 2: As always, because of the way in which I write, I tend to reference earlier stories. In this chapter there are references to events which happened during Christmas in Sussex, and A Honeymoon Journey. For the full experience of my Sherlolly world, I encourage you to read those as well if you have not already done so. New reviews on completed stories are still welcomed! You can find a chronological order of my stories on my profile.

Thanks, to a dear reader for bringing my attention to BAP and the possibilities that Sherlock might be a candidate for it.

I do hope you enjoyed the conclusion to this story. I hope also that you liked the little teaser I put in right at the end. As this year progresses, you will get to see more about Sherlock and Molly's future. I am currently writing a story to coincide with the second anniversary of the final episode, which was on January 17, 2017. It will be set as a sequel to the one I wrote last year, I Love You - One Year Later, this time two years after Sherrinford, and you will see another future glimpse of Sherlock and Molly which will be, by my internal timeline, set in May 2019, although it will be published in January to coincide with the anniversary (and yes, you guessed it, the title will be I Love You - 2 Years later. I also have a New Year's Eve story to follow this one and I hope to see you all move on to that one as well.

And now, it is time to move onto my acknowledgments. For those of you not listed, do not think I don't appreciate you for your reviews. Every review is appreciated, but I specifically want to acknowledge those who have consistently reviewed the chapters, using as my criteria those who have reviewed at least three of them. So, starting from the people who have reviewed each chapter so far, followed by those who have reviewed three, here is the list.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

KathyG - Another dear friend I have been blessed to connect with. Your support also means the world to me as does your friendship. I would like to direct others to read a story that you are co-writing for Lord of the Rings, if they are fans of middle earth. ( Co-authored by KGandDF - An Unexpected Adventure).

Ninewood - Although a relative newcomer to my stories, I appreciate so much that you have begun the journey and been so kind to review this as well. I look forward to hearing more from you, and hope you will find time to start at the beginning and read your way through my collection!

TheonewithwheelsASH - Dear friend, thank you for always faithfully reviewing. So glad to be beta'ing your creative story. Check out The Great Girl for a unique Season 1 canon divergence story.

Bekah1218 - Oh, my friend, you are so dear to me. I invite people to read your works, because we share a similar world view of Sherlock and Molly. Readers, please check out Fearfully and Wonderfully Made.

ForeverInTheClouds - Ah, my friend, it is either feast or famine with you! So delightful to hear from you again after a long hiatus. I am very happy you are enjoying this story and hope you find time to continue reading and reviewing more of them as I continue to publish. Look forward to getting to know you more also in 2019.

WanderingSoprano - Another new reader, yay! It is such a delight hearing from you and getting to know you as a fellow singer. How fortuitous you put the word "soprano" in your username! Thank you for your support, and I would like to direct my readers to give your story a go as well. I am thoroughly enjoying it. Do check out a very unique take on an AU that starts with TFP, in Turning on its Axis.

Comp1mom - My sister friend In Christ, as always, your thoughtful reviews mean so much as does your support and friendship. Thank you for also being one of those people who gives me ideas to add to my stories!

EllemichelleP - Another dear sister friend in Christ. The encouragement you have provided me since day one of my entrance into this fandom is invaluable. I am so blessed to have your support and know you, and I look forward to our future collaboration this year on a story for Greg Lestrade and Lori that will further their story line.

SammyKatz - You know how much I value your support, and I have been very happy to use a couple of your ideas in stories as well. I look forward to continuing our friendship this year!

I hope to add to this acknowledgments list as more people read and review this story.

May this new year bring great joy to my readers.