(A/N: I really appreciate all the favorites and follows on this story, increasing daily! You guys are terrific! I hope more of you will leave reviews to let me know what you think of the chapters because I greatly appreciate feedback, especially as life for Sherlock and Victoria is really getting underway. What are the things you like that make you favorite/follow this story? What do you hope to see in their future together? I haven't 100% decided if I want their first child to be a boy or girl. What do you readers hope for? And don't worry, there will be no angsty miscarriages or events like that. I have enough drama in my real life and in my original fiction to make me want this fan fic to be an angst-free zone. I hope you understand and enjoy that element of this fic. Thanks!)

Chapter 16 – Under the Oak Tree

The sun filtered through the sheer curtains of my parents' bedroom window, catching the diamond ring in my hand, light sparkling and refracting in a spectacular fashion despite the simplicity of it. Nothing more than a princess-cut, half-carat, white gold, solitaire engagement ring, the honor of merely holding it felt a tad overwhelming.

"Do you like it, dear? I know it's simple by today's standards."

"Mummy, of course I do. It's beautiful. It's elegant. … It's perfect. But are you sure?" I couldn't help but keep asking myself how I got there, standing in my parents' room with my mum offering her grandmother's engagement ring to me, passing down a family heirloom so that I could make a real marriage proposal to Victoria. Hadn't just a month ago I'd been still doomed to a life alone? Considering my vast spectrum of faults, which my 'friends' were quick to remind me of, I found it difficult to comprehend how my life fell into order so quickly when I wanted it to change.

I may have been on the side of the angels, but I wasn't one of them. Yet fate, destiny, karma, or something of the like seemed to be on my side.

"If you want it, it's yours, Sherlock. If you'd rather not take it now, just leave it, and it'll be here when you're ready, but mother's intuition tells me you are, and so is Victoria." She patted my cheek and gave me a kiss, something I would have shied away from in the past. "My little boy has done quite well for himself. I'm so proud of the man you've become, your father and I both are. You're going to be such a fine husband and father, Sherlock."

"Thank you," I replied in little more than a whisper, afraid my emotions would get the best of me.

She nodded knowingly. "I should go start dinner before we're all starving. Those biscuits won't tide us over forever."

But when she left the room, we both knew it wasn't in a rush to prepare a meal, rather to give me a moment alone, time to think and shore up my resolve to action because I certainly wouldn't be leaving the ring behind.

It wasn't long before I'd returned downstairs and excused Victoria and myself out for a short walk, much to my parents' quiet delight.

We really didn't walk far, only strolling out to the massive oak tree behind the house, just beyond the line of sight of the kitchen window. "I wasn't always as serious a child as my brother would often have people believe. At one time, I wanted to be a pirate more than anything else and had a dog I named Redbeard. We'd run around this tree, playing fetch, and doing all the typical things little boys and their dogs do. He was my best friend, and in all my childhood innocence, I thought he would live forever, or at least as long as me, always be at my side, never leave me. Of course, that was a childish dream, one that couldn't possibly come true and didn't."

I leaned back against the tree, pulling her to me, thankful for the way she silently touched my face, a simple gesture of love and heartfelt sympathy, uncomplicated by words I didn't need.

"Now the dream I have isn't childish and is quite possible. More than anything else, I want to be a husband and a father. I want to live the forever we're given with you at my side. I'll never leave you, and I want you to never leave me." Slipping the ring from my pocket, I took her left hand and gently slid the symbol of everything she meant to me onto her ring finger, watching tears fill her eyes. "Soon, very soon, while the days are still warm, would you do me the honor of marrying me under this oak tree, Victoria Rose Taylor?"

"There is nothing I'd like more, William Sherlock Scott Holmes," she answered with a grin. I had said I wasn't overly fond of my full name when I told her what it was, but it turned out, what made me cringe from anyone else's mouth was something that gave me a small thrill when spoken by Victoria.

"You have no idea how relieved I am to hear those words, no matter how sure I thought that would be your answer." I kissed her, a lingering, promising kiss, smiling like every bit the man in love I was when our lips parted. "I do enjoy being proved right."

"I know. … We should go tell your parents and probably Skype mine."

"One more thing before we go inside." I turned her, leaning her back against me, wrapping my arm around her waist, and pulled my phone out, holding her left hand to proudly display the engagement ring placed there then snapped several photos of us under the oak tree. "We need to send out an announcement to everyone," I explained, scrolling through the pictures, arms still around Victoria. "What do you think of this one?"

"Hm. Yeah, I'd say it's the best. You look adorable trying to kiss my cheek with my hair in the way like that. It's cute."

I shook my head, laughing quietly and placed a quick kiss on her shoulder. "Well, I suppose that's true, but I was thinking about how much I love the way your dimples show when you smile that way. … And the sun shining through the branches highlights your hair beautifully. Yes, this one definitely."

Creating a group text, I included all the people we would want to inform of the news: John, Mary, Lestrade, Mrs. Hudson, Molly, Aaron (whom I'd met via Skype twice and liked a good bit), Mycroft, and Lucas. I then added a simple message before pressing 'send' on our engagement announcement photo.

The wedding is on! –SH & soon-to-be VH

We strolled back to the house hand-in-hand, my phone buzzing with multiple texts just as we reached the door.

Congratulations to you both! We must go out to celebrate when you return! –Lucas

Holding back a sigh, I replied: Of course. –SH

You don't believe in weddings and marriage. HA! Cheers, mate! Thank her for making a liar out of you. –JW

Victoria laughed when I showed her John's text as I typed in my response. I am a liar and never more pleased to be wrong. –SH

Lucky bastard. Best of luck to that poor girl. –GL

Does this mean more napkin folding lessons on YouTube? ;-) –Mary

To Graham, I sent: I know I'm lucky. –SH

And to Mary: If she wants me to expand my current skill set. –SH

"YouTube videos on napkin folding? Do I even want to know?"

Pecking her on the lips, I nodded, unashamed. "As John's best man, I was involved in every aspect of their wedding planning, including learning to fold the napkins for the table settings. I have a preference for the Sydney Opera House style, but if you prefer swans, I can do those. If neither of those appeals to you, then Mary's right, and I'm back on YouTube."

"Opera houses sound wonderful, as long as you teach me how to help you make them."

"I can do that." Taking her hand in mine, I played with the ring on her finger, admiring the way it shone in the sunlight. "Would you like to learn within a month's time?"

Victoria squeezed my hand. "Wait, are you saying—"

"That I want you to become Mrs. Holmes in one month with a wedding that suits us, elegant yet not extravagant, and with lots of dancing. The time would be perfect that our wedding gift to each other might be finding out we're expecting."

"Or worst case scenario, spending our honeymoon trying harder." God, I loved her smirk.

"I love the way you think, my beautiful fiancée."

She pressed her lips to mine, speaking so I felt her words on my skin. "Then it's settled. In a month, my brilliant fiancé will be my brilliant husband."

"Yep." I popped the 'p', just a tad nervous but far more excited, elated even.

My phone buzzed again, and I checked it to find a reply from Aaron incoming. Immediately, I turned my phone to show Victoria.

AWESOME! =D Skype when u get back! B safe! –A

"Equal D? That's another one of his emoticons, isn't it?" I was still learning to understand Aaron-speak in texting. He didn't always complete sentences or even words and randomly threw in strange symbols and acronyms.

"It's a big smiley face. And you really need an emoji app on your phone," she said, so I handed it over, letting her take care of that and reply to the man she considered her brother as we walked inside.

"Myc just called," Mummy announced the moment we entered the kitchen. "Honestly, Sherlock! You text your brother before you tell us, and we weren't but a hundred meters away!"

I had begun apologizing only to be stopped by her pulling us both into a smothering hug, nearly incoherent in her excited state, chattering on about lovely this and darling that, and everything was just precious apparently. Never had I heard her speak in such a way.

Things finally settled down as we all sat down to dinner, though after Dad offered up a toast, my mum got a bit teary over him saying, "Cheers to the happy young couple. May you be blessed with a home full of love and a healthy new generation of Holmes to keep you on your toes."

"I know you said you'd likely have a short engagement, but have you discussed a date yet? Or a venue?" Mummy inquired, a twinkle in her eyes that said she'd gladly have us saying our vows that very day with nary a complaint from her mouth.

"Actually, we have." I set down my fork and looked from my dad at one end of the table to my mum at the other. "We intend to marry in one month, on Sunday, fourteenth July, and we would very much like to do so under the oak tree out back, if you don't mind."

"Don't mind? Don't be silly!" There were tears rolling down Mummy's cheeks as she reached out to take my and Victoria's hands. "We don't mind one bit, do we Siger? Anything we can do for you dears, anything at all, you just ask." She didn't actually wait for a response from Dad, though he did let us know he agreed. "Our baby is getting married."

The baby of Siger and Violet Holmes' family, it was one of many roles I played in life, places I fit in which I'd finally learned to accept and better understood, places among family and friends. Soon, I would take on the most important role I'd ever had — husband and father in the Sherlock and Victoria Holmes family.

"Yes, I am, Mummy." Turning, I smiled at Victoria and reached to take her free hand. "Yes, I am."