A/N: Many thanks to Phish Tacko for her help beta'ing this!
Marie's First Birthday
The theme for the party was the color purple, since it seemed to be Marie's favorite color.
Since it was Marie's first birthday, Sherlock had insisted that they go all out. Purple streamers were bought and hung from the ceiling. Purple balloons were purchased, and a vanilla cake was made using blue and red food coloring to make it a deep purple color, and it was topped with a purple candle.
Sherlock had done most of the decorating, while John and Mrs. Hudson took care of the food. Mrs. Hudson contributed a huge pan of baked ziti, while John cooked some sausage and peppers. Lestrade and Molly had promised to bring snacks, and Mycroft had promised to bring another dessert. The Holmes parents had promised to bring games, and Sierra had promised to bring Selah and James so that they could participate in the festivities with their half sister.
Half an hour before the party was to start, Sherlock dressed Marie in one of the purple dresses that Mrs. Hudson had given him. It had purple sequins on it, and she wore lilac socks and white shoes. A purple headband with a bow – purchased by Sherlock specifically for this occasion – was placed in Marie's hair.
Once she was dressed, Sherlock threw on his favorite purple shirt and a nice pair of jeans and took Marie to the living room to wait for their guests to arrive.
00
"My God, this is a lot of purple," Lestrade remarked.
He had been the first guest to arrive and, keeping with the theme, he'd worn a purple tie.
"Marie likes the color," Sherlock explained.
"Clearly." Lestrade smiled and handed his present over to John, who had a card table set up to hold any presents that the baby might receive.
Mycroft and Mr. and Mrs. Holmes had arrived next, all having come together in a limo that Mycroft had hired. Mrs. Holmes had purple earrings and a purple necklace on, while Mr. Holmes had dark purple socks. Mycroft showed up wearing a purple velvet suit jacket.
"Where the bloody hell did you get that?" John asked, looking the jacket over.
"The eighties were an odd time," Mycroft replied, blushing.
John nodded and tried to hold back laughter. He couldn't help himself when Sherlock commented a moment later, though.
"Mycroft! I remember that old thing! Got it taken in, did you? Remember when you wore it to the club and all of the girls –"
"Shut it, Sherlock," Mycroft warned.
"I want to hear what happened!" John snickered.
"Back in the early 90s, he wore it to a club and was called 'Barney' by several women there. Poor dear came home nearly in tears," Mrs. Holmes answered.
"Barney, eh?" John began to laugh.
Mycroft glared at him and his parents. "You're all horrible."
With that, he placed his presents on the card table and walked off to the living room.
Molly came next, wearing a light purple floral dress and white stockings. She had clipped purple barrettes into her hair as well.
"Hello, John!" She greeted her friend before turning to Sherlock. "Sherlock! Look at you, you've lost all your baby weight! And look at you, Marie!" She squealed, gently pinching Marie's cheek. "She's so pretty!"
"Thank you," Sherlock said. "And yes, she is often complimented for her beauty. I'll be chasing the men off with a baseball bat when she's older."
Molly smirked and moved on.
The last people to arrive were Sierra, Selah and James. Selah walked next to her mother and held James' hand, helping him walk along. In James' other hand was a purple balloon that read 'Happy birthday!'.
"Hello Sherlock, John," Sierra said as she and her children stepped up.
"Good day, Sierra," Sherlock replied. "And good day to you too, Selah and James."
Selah smiled and looked at her brother.
"James and me brought Marie a birthday balloon," She said.
"Did you now? That's very sweet of you!"
Selah nudged James and he quietly handed over the balloon to Sherlock, who showed it to Marie.
"See, Marie? Your sister and brother bought you a pretty balloon for your birthday!"
Since Marie still had yet to say her first word, she merely smiled widely and stared at it.
"She likes it," Sherlock assured the children. "You can never go wrong with something that's purple."
Sierra smiled.
"Thank you for inviting us."
"Of course. Wouldn't be a party without you."
Now that all of the guests had arrived, Sherlock closed the front door so that the party could begin.
00
At first, everyone sat in the living room, eating snacks and drinking juice and soda. Selah had taken the lead as far as playing and helping James and Marie. The three children were sitting on the floor, playing with blocks.
"Good job Marie!" Selah said as Marie stacked three blocks. She turned her attention to her brother. "James, do you want help building something?"
James was quiet. He nodded, and Selah moved to help him.
"She's very good with them," Sherlock noted to Sierra.
Sierra nodded. "Selah enjoys playing with James. I'm sure that she's happy to play with Marie, too."
Photos of the three were taken, as were photos of the adults.
Then the party moved to the table, where dinner progressed.
During this time, the adults mostly talked amongst themselves. John told everyone about his medical practice, and Sherlock showed every single person the video he had taken of Marie's first steps. Sierra discussed how Selah and James were doing, and Lestrade and Mycroft discussed subjects like work and the goings-on of the government.
Once everyone had finished eating, the table was cleared for the main event.
Mrs. Hudson came out of the kitchen holding Marie's birthday cake. The candle on it was lit and the cake was placed in front of Marie, but far enough out of her reach so she couldn't touch the fire and burn herself.
"Ready?" John asked, dimming the lights.
"Ready," Sherlock answered.
Everyone began singing 'Happy Birthday'. Marie was amused by this and she smiled and clapped throughout the song. When it was finished, Sherlock gently pushed Selah towards Marie.
"Why don't you help Marie blow out the candle?" He suggested.
Selah looked at him as if he had just given her a hundred pounds.
"Really?" She asked, grinning.
"Really. Go on, quickly! Before the wax melts!"
Selah nodded and hurried towards Marie's high chair. John got up from his seat so Selah could kneel and be at eye level with Marie.
"Come on Marie! Make a wish!" The girl told her.
Marie laughed and Selah blew out the candle. The entire group cheered.
Just as John pulled the candle from the cake, Marie surprised everyone by reaching forward and grabbing a huge hunk of the cake with her hand. She brought it to her mouth, took a small bite, the proceeded to shove it in John's face.
"Aw, thank you, Marie," He said, laughing.
The untouched parts of the cake were served, as was Mycroft's dessert of low-fat jello with fruit in it.
"Another wonderful low-fat dessert," Sherlock said as he spooned some of the jello onto his plate. "By wonderful, I mean flavorless, just to be clear."
Mycroft rolled his eyes.
An hour later, the party ended. By then, Marie was tired, and so was Sherlock. They'd gone to the living room after everyone had left. John went to retrieve Sherlock so that he could help clean up, but decided against it when he saw Sherlock lying on the couch with Marie on his chest, both sleeping soundly.