Prompt: Mrs. Hudson spends a Christmas Day with Holmes, from W.Y. Traveller
There were many things about having the world's only consulting detective as a lodger that made life interesting (some would say difficult, others impossible). One of these was the arrival of the post, which if Mr. Holmes received first, meant that all but the most private correspondence would be opened before anyone else saw it. Not that he needed to open it to know who was sending the other occupants of 221 Baker Street letters, and Mrs. Hudson had often returned home to find Mr. Holmes informing her that her sister was due for a visit, or her friend's husband had just been offered a posting in Australia before she even knew she had a letter.
Mrs. Hudson now tried to get to the post first, and she had the advantage in that Mr. Holmes was either usually very busy or very lazy. This Christmas season, she was expecting a letter from her sister, who she usually visited for the holiday, and was looking forward to spending some time with her nephews. She quite enjoyed the rest from the general aura of chaos that surrounded Mr. Holmes, particularly now that Dr. Watson had married and left 221b. He was still a frequent guest, as, more surprisingly, was Mr. Holmes at the Watsons' and Mrs. Hudson fully expected that the doctor would invite his friend for Christmas. But before she went for the post, she did have to bring Mr. Holmes his tea.
"You've received a letter from your sister," Mr. Holmes said as Mrs. Hudson brought him the tea tray. He handed her the letter. "A trifle late, this year."
"No doubt she is busy," Mrs. Hudson said. She would have to begin rising fully an hour before dawn to reach the post before Mr. Holmes, it looked like. He had been most bored since Dr. Watson had left, which perhaps accounted for the increase in small explosions from his rooms and the fact that he had made a concerted effort to reach the post before her for two weeks straight. Mrs. Hudson opened her letter and sighed. "Well, that explains that," she said, disappointed. It appeared as if she would be alone on Christmas this year, and she sighed, before Mr. Holmes noticed she was upset.
Though, of course, that was something of a lost cause. "Your sister has not invited you for Christmas this year?" Mr. Holmes asked, without looking up.
"How did you guess?" Mrs. Hudson asked.
"I never guess," Mr. Holmes answered. "Your tone is most informative, Mrs. Hudson."
"Well, you are right," Mrs. Hudson said. "Her husband's mother has asked that they spend the holiday with them, in Cornwall. They shall be gone for two weeks." She thought of the gifts she had wrapped for her nephews, which she would now have to send through the post. She had so been looking forward to seeing them.
"Watson is going away as well," Mr. Holmes said. "He and his wife have decided to spend their first Christmas together in Scotland, though I cannot say why."
"I hear that Edinburgh is lovely in the Christmas season," Mrs. Hudson said. "Though I'm sure you were hoping for an invitation."
Mr. Holmes gave her a derisive look. "I do not know why everyone is expected to set aside all their work once a year simply to eat a larger meal and present each other with trinkets. I shall be quite happy engaged in my chemical experiments that day. Pray go to no trouble for me."
Mrs. Hudson, of course, did not believe this for a moment. She had seen Mr. Holmes last year, enjoying the goose she had prepared and taking a bit more cognac than usual. He had been most pleased with Dr. Watson's gift of a set of new glass beakers and spent the evening regaling them all with Christmas carols on his violin. But he had been moping around his rooms since the Doctor left, and Mrs. Hudson was sure he was simply saddened that he would not be spending the day with the Watsons.
Christmas Day dawned cold but bright, though it felt hardly different than any other day. Having given the maid and the page the day off, Mrs. Hudson rose early to stoke the fire so that she could bring Mr. Holmes his breakfast. Already engaged at his chemistry equipment, he thanked her as she set it down, though she wasn't entirely sure he realized it was his breakfast at all. Sure enough, when she went back two hours later to collect it, he had not touched it, save for the tea, which was sitting perilously close to his chemicals. "Is that safe?" Mrs. Hudson ventured to ask. She knew little of chemistry, but given the noxious odors and smoke that routinely emanated from Mr. Holmes's chemistry experiments, she did not think it wise to keep one's tea where it could easily be mistaken for something poisonous.
"Quite safe," he said. "I have been most busy this morning and am sure that I am nearly at a breakthrough. If the liquid in this vial turns green, it will mean I can simply test a man's clothes to determine where he has been, rather than investigating it in person. Most useful in criminal investigations."
Mrs. Hudson knew better than to ask him about his experiment; she had no desire to spend the afternoon listening to long-winded explanations about the various types of clay one could get on one's clothes. Dr. Watson had undoubtedly listened to many such discourses while somehow restraining himself from shoving his fellow-lodger out the window, but she was not as patient as he was. In his absence, Mr. Holmes had become prone to discoursing to Mrs. Hudson about whatever he happened to be studying at the moment, which only proved to her that he was missing his friend more than he was prepared to let on. Which was perhaps why she had not yet been driven to shoving him out the window. "You haven't had your breakfast," she said instead.
"You sound like Watson," Mr. Holmes said. "I am much too busy to stop to eat and not hungry besides. It is most annoying to have to interrupt one's day thrice to eat."
"It's most annoying to faint from hunger in the middle of whatever you're doing as well," Mrs. Hudson said to herself as she closed the door. Dr. Watson had been good at getting him to eat, perhaps because of the one time Mr. Holmes had, in fact, fainted at the conclusion of a case due to lack of food and had scared the good doctor half to death in the early days. Mrs. Hudson did not know if Mr. Holmes simply did not care about whether she worried about him, or took it granted that she would not get so scared, merely annoyed that he wasn't taking care of himself. In the Doctor's absence, however, she would have to try harder, for when he did return for a visit he would be most upset if he saw his friend had returned to his unhealthy habits.
Despite Mr. Holmes's instructions not to go to any trouble, Mrs. Hudson had purchased a small Christmas goose and intended to dress it up as if she was cooking for a large party instead of one recalcitrant consulting detective. Perhaps it worked, for when she appeared at the top of the stairs with the tray, Mr. Holmes was trying very hard to look annoyed and not impressed. "I told you to go to no trouble for me," he said.
"I didn't go through the trouble for you," Mrs. Hudson responded. "It is Christmas Day for me too, Mr. Holmes, and I enjoy a well-dressed goose as much as anyone."
"Oh," Mr. Holmes said. "Do forgive me. I have not been in the Christmas spirits as of late." He paused, then said, "Perhaps you would like to join me?"
There was little that Mr. Holmes did that surprised his enterprising landlady any longer, yet Mrs. Hudson confessed herself surprised by this. Perhaps he had been missing Dr. Watson more than even she had realized. "Thank you," she said, taking the Doctor's usual spot in front of the window.
They ate in silence for a few moments, before Mr. Holmes said, "This is most excellent, Mrs. Hudson. A triumph."
Mr. Holmes could indeed be a gentleman when he so chose, and she had been with him long enough to know when he was merely acting as such to achieve some desired outcome and when he truly meant it. This, she was sure, was the latter. "Thank you," she said. "I'm very glad you're enjoying it." She paused and then asked, "Have you heard from Dr. and Mrs. Watson, since they left for Edinburgh?"
"I received a Christmas card," Mr. Holmes answered. "I suppose I shall have to send them on in return. I hope they do not mind that it will be late. He always took care of our Christmas correspondence and in his absence I was too busy to get to it."
"I doubt he will," Mrs. Hudson said. "Since I included your name on my Christmas card to him." She greatly enjoyed the look of surprise on Mr. Holmes's face. It was rare indeed that anyone could take him off his guard, and Dr. Watson had only done so on a few occasions. This was the first time Mrs. Hudson had ever done so, and it was extremely gratifying.
"Thank you, Mrs. Hudson," Mr. Holmes said. "Next year I shall endeavor to do better."
"Perhaps next year you should invite Dr. Watson and his wife here for Christmas," Mrs. Hudson said. "It would be very nice to have you all here together. I shall invite my sister as well. She is most anxious to meet you and my nephews were in awe when they read the Doctor's story and realized who you were."
"Perhaps we should," Mr. Holmes said. "Though you know how I detest that story."
"I cannot imagine why. It was very good. I quite enjoyed it," Mrs. Hudson said. She had often wondered what it was they had got up to while she wasn't bringing them their tea, and found the glimpse into what Mr. Holmes was like to live with fascinating. She got up and began clearing away the empty plates. "Thank you, Mr. Holmes. That was very nice."
"It was my pleasure," he answered. "Incidentally, do take this with you." He handed her a wrapped package, which she confessed took her by surprise. "I may have avoided buying Christmas cards but Watson would have been most upset with me if I did not give you your annual Christmas gift," he said.
Mrs. Hudson opened it to reveal a small set of garden tools. "Mr. Holmes, however did you know I needed new garden tools?" she asked.
Mr. Holmes laughed aloud. "Why, Mrs. Hudson, you are out in your garden every day during the spring and summer and I have never seen you purchase new tools since I took rooms here. Undoubtedly yours are worn and ready for replacement."
"You are quite right, I shall enjoy these very much," Mrs. Hudson said. She should not have been surprised that he noticed such a thing, for he noticed everything, but she was. She had not thought he had been paying attention (though she didn't rule out that he had more than once used her garden tools for some purpose of his own, in which case it was long past time she replaced them). "Thank you very much!"
Mr. Holmes granted her a rare smile, which she took to mean he did actually appreciate what she did for him every day despite the fact that he filled her house with smoke and chemicals and frequently shot up her walls. Surprisingly, these odd habits of his no longer bothered her. They were merely part of having the world's only consulting detective as her lodger, and she, like nearly everyone else, could not imagine anyone else living in 221b Baker Street.