Special note: After months of revision, I have just uploaded the updated previous chapters, and here is the final one.December 20th, 2018

After they were comfortably settled in the limo and the Holmes family home had been left behind, Sherlock turned to Molly and asked, "What did you think of your first family Christmas, my love?"

"It was wonderful," she enthused. "I love spending time with your parents. They are such, what's the word?" She paused, searching for the right term. "That's it, they are such genuine people. So down-to-earth. I can only hope our marriage is as happy after almost fifty years as theirs is."

"Of that I have no doubt, my angel," he responded, nudging his knee against hers affectionately.

Molly sighed happily and reached for his hand, squeezing it lightly. After a short silence, Molly remarked, "When we get home, we might have to break out our Christmas crisps, "I'm already feeling peckish."

Sherlock grinned at his wife's comment. Even with all the leftovers, she was interested in eating more? "As long as this time you don't try stealing mine as well as your own, as happened on our honeymoon."

Molly's hip nudged against his. "Don't act as if you didn't like what happened as a result."

Sherlock smirked and released her hand to stroke her cheek gently. That had indeed been rather memorable, when the chase and retrieval of those smoky bacon crisps had led to a rather passionate encounter against a tree trunk. "I won't disagree with you there, but I must insist that you allow me to eat these crisps without provocation, seeing as you did place them in my Christmas stocking for me." Then he added, with a smouldering look at her. "I suspect you were trying to bring up those memories, weren't you?"

Molly giggled and rested her head against his shoulder. "Maybe. Weren't you doing the same thing, considering you put the exact same crisps in my own stocking?"

Sherlock couldn't help the grin that spread across his face. "Molly, my darling, we are always on the same page, just another reason why I adore you. Mark my words, love, we are going to repeat that particular exercise, the tree one, not the crisps, if we ever get back to Stratford-Upon-Avon."

He saw the way Molly drew in her breath at his words and was smugly satisfied with her reaction. His grin widened further at her response. "Not if, Sherlock, when." Of course, those words made a surge of desire run through him that he forced himself to repress. Being in a moving vehicle was not a conducive environment for indulging in reflections of past intimacies, nor a place for implementing new intimacies .

Sherlock returned his hand to stroke soothing circles in Molly's palm with his thumb, and they sat in comfortable silence for a time. Then he suddenly remembered something. "Molly, we couldn't do this on the way down, with Mycroft in the car."

She gave him a suspicious look. "Do you mean what I think you mean?"

Sherlock had to chuckle at that. It was rather ironic his thoughts had been wandering in that direction a short time earlier, but these new ones were completely innocent. "Of course not. Get your mind out of the gutter, Mrs. Holmes."

Molly blushed at that, and he gave her a swift kiss on the cheek.

He fumbled in his pocket and pulled out a USB lightning charger as well as his phone. "There's a USB port in here. Do you want to listen to some music? I have our playlist ready to go."

"The playlist with our favourite wedding songs?" asked Molly hopefully.

Sherlock rolled his eyes. "No, it's the unrequited playlist you made back in the days before we were together," he teased, and she pouted at him.

"Of course it's our wedding song playlist," he said then, smiling at her and tracing his finger lightly across her pouting lips. He plugged in the cord to the port and his phone, then went to the music app and selected "wedding favourites." He hit the shuffle button to randomise the songs.

The first song that came on was Christina Perry's A Thousand Years.

Molly gave a dreamy smile. "I love this one. Remember how I put it on to play that night in the flat, a few weeks before our wedding?" she asked, looking at him from beneath her lashes.

Sherlock smirked, taking her hand and linking his fingers through hers. "How could I forget? You had it on repeat, and we got a little carried away." His grip tightened on her hand as he quirked his lips. "As I recall, I told you to stop the music, because if you didn't, we were going to end up in the bedroom."

"One of many near misses for us," she responded, resting her head against his shoulder.

"That wasn't as much of a near miss as on a couple of other occasions," countered Sherlock, turning his head to brush a kiss to her temple.

"True enough," agreed his wife. Indeed, there had been several near misses for them, and some very timely interruptions by either Mycroft or Mrs. Hudson.

As the song reached the chorus, Molly began to sing the lyrics to Sherlock, gazing into his eyes. He loved hearing her sing.

"I have died everyday, waiting for you,

Darling, don't be afraid, I have loved you for a thousand years,

I'll love you for a thousand more.

And all along, I believed I would find you,

Time has brought your heart to me, I have loved you for a thousand years,

I'll love you for a thousand more."

As the song continued its romantic melody, Sherlock leaned into Molly and kissed her deeply, caressing her cheek with one hand. He recalled the way they had danced to it during their wedding reception, swaying together really, rather than dancing, observed by their guests. Such sweet, sweet memories. Their wedding day seemed like ages past, yet at the same time he remembered it as clearly as if it had been yesterday.

Suddenly he felt moisture on his face and opened his eyes. Tears were slipping down Molly's cheeks as her eyes remained closed. He broke their kiss, asking anxiously, "Darling, what's wrong?"

Molly opened her eyes and smiled at him sweetly. "Nothing's wrong, Sherlock. This song just speaks to me. I will love you for a thousand years, forever in fact." There was an intense note of passion in her voice, and it made his heart beat faster. He kissed away her tears, offering her his love and devotion.

The songs continued to play, and the couple was oblivious to everything but each other. They whispered words of love to one another, their kissing growing in intensity until their hearts were racing, and they were both breathless.

Finally, they parted for air and Sherlock said, "Do you remember the Titanic film we watched on Blu-ray last week?"

"Well, I certainly don't remember much of it from the cinema, seeing as we were too busy kissing," Molly said pertly, giving his knee a playful tap.

Sherlock rolled his eyes. "Well, thank God we didn't bother sitting through the whole thing. It was much better watching it at home."

"Mmm" agreed Molly with a smirk. "As I recall, you made me pause the film during the love scene, because you decided we needed one of our own."

Sherlock's lips twitched in amusement. "Well, darling, we needed an intermission. That blasted thing is over three hours long. My legs were cramping."

"I liked that intermission, or should I say - interlude," said Molly, looking at him suggestively.

Sherlock shook his head at his naughty wife. "There you go again, tempting me." He gave her a mock frown. "What I was trying to get at with this conversation was the utter ridiculousness of them making love in a car that way."

Molly pouted at him then. "You mean you don't want to re-create it in here? You know how I love re-creating things."

Sherlock snorted. "Re-creating our first Christmas was not the same as re-creating a silly scene from a film would be," he stated emphatically and Molly folded her arms, giving him a cross look.

"I'm warning you right now, Sherlock. Another re-creation is coming your way very soon, one from our past. In the meantime though, are you sure you don't want to re-create the love scene from Titanic?" Another seductive look.

Sherlock ran his hands through his curls. "Sweetheart, that's supposed to be my line, not yours. Women aren't supposed to make suggestions like that."

Molly huffed and turned her body away from him in annoyance.

Sherlock sighed and reached out to turn her back towards him. "Baby, it's simply not practical. I mean, making love in a moving vehicle can't be comfortable. What if the driver had to stop suddenly?" he pointed out reasonably.

"You are so not fun." Molly stuck her nose in the air and sniffed indignantly.

He placed his hand gently on her face and stroked it. "I'm sorry, darling. No making love in the car." Then in an attempt to placate her, he added, "But we can make love as soon as we get home. How does that sound?" He placed a tender kiss on her lips.

Molly pondered his words for a moment, then a small smile creased her lips. "There's one thing I'll have to do first."

Sherlock furrowed his brow. "What?"

She let out a giggle. "Go to the loo. By the time we get home, I'll be busting."

Sherlock chuckled as well. His adorable wife, sexy and seductive one moment, practical the next. That was his Molly.

"After you use the loo then," he promised and sealed the deal with another kiss.

Some time later, Mycroft's town car pulled up smoothly in front of 221B Baker Street. The couple alighted, Sherlock carrying the bag with Christmas gifts. He unlocked the door and they went inside, climbing the stairs to their flat.

For once there was no Mrs. Hudson to greet and distract them, because she had gone to see her sister for a few days. Sherlock was rather glad of that.

Once inside, Sherlock put down the bag and went to their bedroom, while Molly went to the toilet.

Five minutes later, she was sitting on the bed and in his arms. "Better now?" he asked solicitously.

"Definitely," she responded, winding her arms around his neck, trailing her fingers lightly through his curls and sending shivers of anticipation running through him as always with her touch. She had so much power over him, and she knew it, but she never used it to make him do anything he didn't want himself, not even during the limo ride. If she had really wanted to press the issue, she knew how to press the right buttons.

He nuzzled her neck. "Are you still cross with me for not giving in to your little fantasy of making love in the car?"

Molly pursed her lips playfully. "Yes, so you had better find a way to make it up to me."

"Is that so, my darling?" Wickedly, he slid out a bag of smoky bacon crisps from beneath the covers. "Didn't you say you were going to be hungry for crisps when you got home?"

"Hmph, you know I'm not hungry for those right now," she retorted, snatching the bag and tossing it to the floor beside the bed.

"Just so you know, my love, if you step on those crisps later, don't be expecting any of mine just because you crushed yours," he informed his wife, hooking a leg over her body.

"You talk too much, Sherlock Holmes, now shut up and kiss me," Molly demanded, reaching for the buttons of his shirt, and unfastening them, then sliding his shirt off.

"I would kiss you, if you weren't undressing me," he pointed out, and Molly smirked, before placing a kiss against his chest, and he felt his heartbeat accelerating to a maddening pace.

Then she raised her head to look at him, her eyes deep, dark pools of desire. "Okay, now you can kiss me."

Oh, he did love his assertive little wife. He complied, trailing kisses up her jawline and felt her tremble. Then he deftly removed jumper and blouse, followed by the bra that had caused them so much angst earlier. He stared at her chest in frank appreciation and Molly blushed.

Cupping his hands around each breast as if measuring them, he nodded. "Definitely bigger," he noted. Paying homage to those luscious curves, he lavished kisses on each breast until Molly whimpered and her fingers sought the button of his trousers.

They took their time, exploring each other's bodies with roving hands and mouths, returning to press their lips together often. The joining of their bodies was as intense and perfect as it always was, an extension of their love for one another.

Afterwards, as Molly lay in the encircling warmth of Sherlock's arms, he kissed her hair.

"It's funny," he mused. "I keep thinking I ought to be past the phase of wanting to be with you this way so often. But instead, it seems like I want to make love to you more instead."

"We haven't even been married for five months," Molly pointed out, "and we also waited to be together. Most people have already been intimate well before their marriage, if they even get married. I don't think five months is very long in the grand scheme of things. We're still learning things about each other's bodies."

"So we are conducting experiments on each other to determine the best results?" he asked, trailing his fingers delicately along the curve of her hip.

Molly chuckled. "You and your experiments. I told you I wasn't an experiment."

He pulled her a little closer. "And I said we were friends. How blind I was back then. You were my best friend, and the love of my life. Nevertheless, I highly enjoy conducting our own little experiments together."

"At least I don't have to find dismembered body parts for you with these ones," she responded teasingly.

"Nope, and these 'experiments' have eminently more satisfying results," he agreed.

Molly lifted her head from his shoulder to look at him. "You know what my favourite experiment is, don't you?"

"Of course, my darling. It's my favourite as well." He moved a hand to caress his wife's belly. "It's our nine month long one. Our experiment in progress."

They smiled at each other and kissed tenderly. "I can't wait for the results," said Molly, and Sherlock felt again the slight flutter that indicated their daughter was awake and moving inside her mother.

"Victoria and I agree."

THE END

Author's note: I hope you enjoyed my first attempt at writing a Christmas story. If you enjoyed this, please review it, and tell me what you liked best. Which chapter was your favourite? Did you have a favourite scene or line? Your feedback is very important to me.

I just love A Thousand Years. That song was the best part of "Breaking Dawn, part 1." If it had been released when I got married, I might well have wanted to use it for my own wedding dance.

If you want to read more about Sherlock and Molly's attempt to see "Titanic," check out my one-shot about it, entitled Titanic 20th Anniversary and please leave a review!

You can also check out First Christmas - Take Two, if you want to read about the re-creation of their first Christmas that Molly is referring to during the limo ride. The next re-creation she refers to will be coming on New Year's Eve, so make sure you keep an eye out for it!

God bless you all, and have a blessed Christmas 2017.

Update: November 13, 2018. By splitting the last chapter into two, and adding more detail, including extra conversation that relates back to the honeymoon, I am able to have the opportunity to, in effect, re-release this story, which may have been overlooked by people who didn't want to read it until they had finished A Journey to Love, Faith and Marriage.

This newly edited chapter is being published following the completion of A Honeymoon Journey.