After Chinese in which Sherlock explains why he can tell a good Chinese restaurant by the bottom third of the door handle, and during which he explains to Lestrade everything he's found out so far in a very bored and slightly frustrated voice.

They leave and go back to the flat and John shakes his head, immediately going for tea. "I am bloody beat." he says with a small sigh. "I feel like I've been in surgery all day." he says as he looks over at Sherlock, watching him since he's just standing there by the door.

Of course since he hasn't been home for a few hours, Sherlock had no idea the extent that John went to in regards to the Christmas decorations. So when he steps in he just pauses and looks around, taking in all the changes, looking over at the tree with raised eyebrows for a moment. "I see you took the liberty of redecorating." he says before he finally starts to remove his jacket and gloves, hanging them up carefully before he unbuttons his suit jacket and heads over toward the kitchen. His movements are smooth, efficient, and a bit catlike.

John smiles a little and nods. "Yep. You're letting me stay here, least I can do is return the favor and make it a bit more festive in here." he says as he motions around, smiling a little. He hesitates as he goes to make some tea and shakes his head. "No. No tea, I need some sleep." he says as he looks over at Sherlock for a moment. "I'm going to go ahead and go to bed." He says with a small nod of his head, touching the counter for a moment with just his index and middle fingers, right in front of the kettle. For a moment he seems to debate before he shakes his head and turns toward the detective.

Having returned to his microscope, Sherlock glances up and then nods. "I'll wake you if there are any developments in the case with which I need your assistance." he says dismissively, fiddling with some knobs on the side of it as he examines the slide, frowning briefly before starting to switch it out for another.

"Well. Goodnight, then." John says awkwardly before he removes his jacket as well, hanging it up slowly with the scarf that Sherlock lent him, putting his gloves in his pockets neatly before removing his shoes and lining them up neatly as well, before he finally turns toward the bedroom.

When the doctor is just at the door of the bedroom, is when the detective looks up from his microscope. "Goodnight, John." he says quietly, but his voice carries rather well. Before it can be noticed too much though he ducks his head back to his microscope to finish whatever experiment he was performing.

Surprised at the comment and not even sure he heard it, John glances back at Sherlock, watching him for a moment as he tries to decide if he really said that or not. Finally, the older man turns and steps back into the bedroom, closing the door behind him before he gets ready for bed.

It takes about an hour of silence in the flat before there's a gentle tapping on the door which makes Sherlock sigh. Given the time of night and what he's already deduced about who is on the other side, he ignores the knock, trying to focus on what he's doing for his experiment.

"Oh, for goodness' sake, Sherlock." A very proper male voice comes from behind the door before the man merely opens it and steps inside. "If you wished to keep me out, you should learn to lock your door." Mycroft says as he steps into the flat and looks around. "Interesting, I was under the impression you disliked Christmas, since you avoid Mummy's so much, this time of year." The older man says, swinging his umbrella slightly as he steps further into the flat.

Huffing his annoyance, Sherlock lifts his head and looks at his elder brother. "Some people respect closed doors." he points out with a tight, fake smile. "I am not overly fond of Christmas. The decorations were John's doing." he says simply, shrugging as he shifts in order to write something down in his notebook, before he sharply looks up as something occurs to him. "Isn't it past your bed time?"

Mycroft smiles faintly at the sarcasm in his brother's tone before he looks down at the tip of his umbrella for a moment. "If you must know, I had several phone calls to attend to from people who are in different time zones." he says vaguely before he looks back up at his brother. "Ah, yes. The soldier. How are things working out on that front? Is it everything you hoped for?" he asks with some amount of amusement, this apparently having been something he may have teased Sherlock about before.

"He has proven to be an excellent companion. While he lacks our intelligence, he is an excellent focus. Having him around has also proven useful, his skills as a soldier especially." Sherlock says as he looks at his brother. "I would have thought you would be a little more happy about me having John in my life, seeing as how he has been very helpful in my recovery, even from a distance. One can only imagine how much help he could have been had he been here." he points out as he watches Mycroft, glancing him over warily before he looks back at his notebook to put down a few more thoughts.

"And that is the only reason I have gone along with your little games, Sherlock. Do remember that. John Watson will be dealt with if he ever proves otherwise." Mycroft says as he watches Sherlock for a few moments, looking around the flat with a somewhat bored expression. "Believe it or not, I do want what is best for you, Sherlock." He reminds his brother as he looks over at him.

"If that's everything, Mycroft, you know where the door is. Kindly let yourself out the way you let yourself in." Sherlock says dismissively, deciding to not engage in this conversation mostly because he knows it will lead to a fight and he doesn't want to wake up John.

For a moment, the elder Holmes merely watches his younger brother before he finally nods quietly. "As you wish, Sherlock. Do keep in mind what I said." He says before he turns toward the door, swinging his umbrella a little. "And try to lock your doors, you have not chosen the most hospitable of neighborhoods and I would hate for your Captain to have to do something rash which might jeopardize his career." He points out in a vaguely threatening way before he lets himself out, no doubt to the car that is waiting for him.

Relieved when his brother is out of the room, Sherlock lifts his head, looking around at everything before he rises to make himself a cup of tea, digesting everything but mostly thinking about John, the doctor's nightmare the night before and how he intensely wants to know what it was about. But he can't force it of course, only keep a silent watch over him to ensure it doesn't happen again. After his tea is ready, the detective slowly makes his way over to the window, peeking out to make sure that neither Mycroft or any of his spies are out there. Finally he reluctantly approaches the door, glaring at it for a moment before he lifts his hand and quickly secures the locks on the door, nonchalantly returning to his microscope and trying not to analyze what he just did.

All better! Me, I mean. I realized that I hadn't done a proper Sherlock/Mycroft scene, and I thought that this was the perfect opportunity. :) Christmas should be coming up soon! Quick note, I am probably going to split this story up, mostly to keep myself sane with the chapters and such. When I do, I'll post the last chapter here, and the first chapter of the other one on the same day so everyone knows where to check out the continuation of the story. :) Don't worry, besides maybe doing a minor (few months) time skip, it will be a linear continuation. Just wanted to give everyone a heads up ahead of time, because there are so may followers, I want everyone to get the message by the time I get to that point. Thank you all for reading and I hope you enjoy this chapter!

EDIT: For some reason the post did not work the first time but it seems to be fixed. Sorry!

EDIT 2: My laptop bit the dust, so I will not be posting for a few days at the least.., if I'm lucky. Sorry! I will get back ASAP! :)

Reviews/Comments welcome!