A/N: I'm so pleased that people seem to be enjoying this story, if you are, please send me a review to let me know. They make me smile! :-) Okay, from now on, the gifts become increasingly more tenuous, I apologise for that, hopefully you (the reader) will just think it's quirky and sweet as opposed to odd and weird ;-P
Still don't own, wish I did! :) Please enjoy!
On the 6th day of Christmas my true love gave to me ...
31st December – New Years Eve.
Sherlock was bored, it had been a week since John had gone to visit his sister, and three days since he'd had anything like a decent case from the metropolitan police, it would appear that criminals along with the rest of the country also liked to spend Christmas at home with their families, eating too much, and watching crap telly. His boredom had reached such a point, he had even taken a look at the file his brother had left a couple of days before, texting Mycroft with the results of his deductions.
Picking up his mobile 'phone, Sherlock glared at the screen as though trying to will it to ring. It remained stubbornly silent, the only sound in the flat was the rain lashing against the windows, quickly he checked the signal, but it was the full five bars, so the network hadn't gone down in the storm. He hadn't even received a reply from John to his query regarding Downton Abbey, though that may have more to do with him texting John to inform him (politely, he felt), that his sister was still drinking even though she had promised that she had given it up completely.
Putting down his mobile, he stood up and walked over to the desk. The jigsaw had been filled in a little more thanks to the previous day's gift of a further 200 pieces. There was another songbird, a nightingale this time plus a number of pieces which fitted together to show trees and other pieces of greenery, which seems to be a suitable background for a jigsaw consisting mostly of birds. There were however some pieces that didn't seem to fit anywhere at the present time. There were several that appeared to have parts of an animal's legs on them and part of what looked like a hoof, so a mammal of some kind. There were also some that had some kind of writing. It appeared to be rather like the 'script' font found in probably every word processing package on every computer in the world. Unfortunately there weren't enough pieces to make sense of it as yet.
Heaving a huge sigh, Sherlock turned back to his chair and was just about to sit down again, when he heard Mrs. Hudson making her way up the stairs. Going to the door to the flat, he opened it with a flourish just as his landlady reached the top of the staircase.
'Ooh, hello dear.' giggled the elderly woman. 'Isn't the weather just awful, it's raining cats and dogs out there, that's a funny little saying, I wonder where it comes from? Well never mind. Your parcel has turned up, it's a bit wet. I hope your gift hasn't been ruined.'
Sherlock took the package from his elderly landlady with barely a grunt, and looking down at her, he raised an inquiring eyebrow.
Realising her presence was no longer required, she gave him a motherly pat on his forearm, and turning to go back to her own rooms, she said 'Well I hope you have a happy New Year dear, I'm going to just stay up and watch Big Ben on the tv before going to bed, so I'll say goodnight.'
Sherlock mumbled a quiet goodnight and turned back to the flat. He placed the parcel on the coffee table and began to examine it. Mrs. Hudson had rather understated the condition of the parcel. Sherlock supposed that when it had first been wrapped, it had been as neat as the previous five packages had been. Unfortunately the heavy rain had taken it's toll on the plain brown paper, Sherlock could see that parts of the wrapping had begun to tear where it had obviously been handled by himself and Mrs. Hudson. Pulling the wrapping open by using one of the aforementioned holes, Sherlock removed the jigsaw pieces, kept mercifully dry by the sealed clear plastic bag, and placed them to one side. What Sherlock saw next, made him blink in surprise, lying in front of him was a clear plastic police evidence bag, containing a plain white envelope with his name printed on the front.
Opening the bag, Sherlock removed the envelope. Once he had opened the envelope he saw there were two pieces of white paper and several coloured leaflets inside. He removed them all and noticed that one of the letters had a logo on the top. Recognising the logo as that of the RSPB, he opened the letter and began to read. 'Dear Sir/Madam, we thank you for the anonymous donation made on behalf of Mr. Sherlock Holmes. We enclose several leaflets containing information as to where your donation will be spent and to show you the much needed work we carry out to protect the bird population of the UK. Kindest Regards, Yours faithfully,' this was then followed by an illegible signature and a line stating it was signed by the treasurer of the London branch of the RSPB. Flicking through the enclosed leaflets, Sherlock noted several snippets of information about breeding and migratory habits that may one day prove useful in the detection of a crime. Putting them to one side with a promise to himself to study them at greater length later, Sherlock picked up the other sheet of paper and started reading, 'My dear Sherlock, for your sixth gift, you will have already seen that I have donated a sum of money in your name to the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds. I hope you will find it pleasing and the leaflets interesting. You never know, maybe one day, knowledge of the bird population of the UK will aid you in your work. May I also wish you a very Happy New Year my love. I hope 2014 brings you, your heart's desire. Always, Your True Love.'
As he put the note down, his mobile chimed a text alert. Opening the text, Sherlock read the words on his 'phone "Happy New Year Sherlock. JW". Sherlock grinned as he sent his reply. John had forgiven him.