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By the week before Christmas they were back home. They had spent their nights at their home and their days at Molly's flat, sorting and packing and such. The whole place seemed different with the new furniture and the new kitchen and the redone sitting room, but it was still home. That was what mattered most, Molly realized. They hadn't really made plans for their first Christmas as a couple because they had been too focused on going back home to do anything for the holiday. The last piece of furniture had been put into place and both Sherlock and Molly collapsed on the sofa. They had ended up doing all the moving themselves, and she knew she was going to be sore because of it. She rubbed at her neck and as if he could read her mind Sherlock nudged her forward slightly and began to massage her neck. “Oh, that feels really good,” she murmured, shutting her eyes.
“I learned long ago how to massage tension out of my own neck,” he said. “I'm just applying what I learned to someone else.”
“I would kill for a full body massage tonight,” she said, hanging her head.
“I may give you one, provided I get to take a very long hot shower first,” he said, moving his hands slightly lower and working on the tension in her shoulder blades.
“I may join you for that,” she said with a smile.
“It would probably make it easier for the massage.” He continued to move his fingers on her skin. “Have you given any thought about Christmas?”
“Not really. I was just trying to get everything sorted and moved over here, and then there was the headache of breaking my lease.” She leaned back and smiled at him. “Thank you, by the way, for getting my landlord to do it. How did you manage to do it?”
“I borrowed Lestrade for a bit,” he said with a grin, removing his hands from her shoulders. “Your former landlord is a bit of a shady man and Lestrade made a threat that there would be repercussions of an investigative variety if he didn't cooperate. Donovan almost did it herself but in the end Lestrade said it would be more effective coming from him.”
“It could have been fun watching Sally do it,” she mused.
“Oh, I believe it could have been vastly entertaining. And I think she would have been a lot more vicious. She may even have gone so far as to arrest him on some trumped up charge if he said no.”
“I have good friends,” she said with a nod.
“We both do.” She leaned against him and he put an arm around her shoulders. “Back to Christmas, though. Do we want to do anything?”
“We don't need to,” she said. “John's having a party Christmas Eve, and that should be enough. Next year we'll actually do something for the holiday. I mean, it's a week to Christmas. It's not like there's any point in getting a tree or decorating.”
“I just thought you would like to do something,” he said.
“Why, do you want to?” she asked.
“I do, actually.” She pulled away and looked at him. “I just feel like we should, that's all.”
“If you want to we can,” she said. “But I don't have many decorations. I never really went all out for Christmas when I was on my own.”
“We don't need much. I would like to have a tree, however.”
“It's going to be nearly impossible to find a good tree right now,” she said with a frown. “We could always get a fake one, I suppose. Maybe one that's prelit. That way we don't need to deal with the lights every year.”
“I remember the tree we had the last Christmas John and I lived together. It was an incredible hassle to sweep up all the pine needles, and we left it here so long it turned brown.”
Molly chuckled. “John didn't take it out of here the minute the needles started falling off?”
“We were a bit distracted that year,” he said.
“That was the year you had the party, wasn't it?” she said thoughtfully. He nodded. “That was a very eventful evening.”
“It could have gone much better, and it was my entire fault it didn't. Well, mine and Irene Adler's. The plans she put into motion that evening caused me a headache later. And I'm fairly sure you didn't want to have to do an autopsy that night.”
“No, that wasn't pleasant,” she said. “Has she contacted you recently?”
He had told her the truth when they first began to date, that he had saved Irene's life from the terrorists and set her on a new life. “Not in a month. She isn't trying to intrude in my life, but I think she likes having someone who knows the truth. We usually only communicate through texts.”
“I am very glad you got a new ring tone for her,” Molly said. “Even I would get jealous if I heard that moan all the time.”
“I like yours much more,” he said, and she smiled before leaning back into him. “But you aren't jealous of her?”
“Not really, no. I like to think that between the two of us I was the winner in the end. I have you and she doesn't.”
“A very pragmatic approach,” he replied with a slight chuckle. “But as it stands, we don't talk often. Since I have resumed my life here and she has settled down herself there has not been much need. We talked more when I was away, as she had secrets pertinent to my quest.”
“Where is she now?” she asked.
“I am not sure. Somewhere in America. Even though she knows I would not reveal her whereabouts willingly I don't think she's taking any chances, which is a very smart move on her part.” He rolled his shoulders slightly. “I suppose it's for the best that everything happened the way it did. I think if she had continued in the secrets game she would be dead by now.”
“Would you feel bad?” she asked.
“I would. Irene is not a bad woman, just greedy and a bit too smug for her own good. Or at least she was. I get the impression she has changed greatly.” He nudged her up again. “Enough about her. Should we see about getting a tree now?”
“Could we take that shower first?” she asked, batting her eyelashes. “We both probably stink to high heaven.”
“If I give you that massage we won't leave the bedroom,” he pointed out. “And that would be best after a hot shower.”
“I can always take another one tonight,” she said with a shrug. “Shower first, then shopping. If you want to join me, I mean.”
“It's a good thing Mrs. Hudson is in a whole other part of the flat,” he said with a grin as she stood up.
“Well, she probably knows exactly what's going on,” she said with a chuckle, offering him her hand. He took it and stood up. “As long as we're quiet and considerate I don't think she'll say anything.”
“Let's not spend too long in this shower,” he said. “It's getting late and I would like to get the tree in here and up tonight.”
“We have to buy decorations too,” she said. “That might take a while.”
“All the more reason to start soon,” he said. He turned her around and gently pushed her towards the washroom. “So do not tempt me.”
“Who, me?” she asked innocently, turning to look at him. She batted her eyelashes and he grinned at her. “Surely you jest.”
“Do not tempt me much, then,” he said with a chuckle.
“Well, it's faster if we shower together, so I promise I'll behave. We'll get all the shopping done soon.” She reached over and grabbed his hand and pulled him along to the washroom. They took what was a relatively quick shower for the two of them, then got dressed again in warmer clothing and left the house. It took them nearly two hours to find a tree they both liked and decorations for it, plus they each did some of their own separate shopping. Molly picked up a gift she'd had her eye on for John and a few things for Sherlock as well. She had one or two gifts already, well hidden in their room, but the things she saw while browsing were also perfect for him.
Hauling the tree in their home just made sore body parts sorer, as it was quite heavy, and they needed to make multiple trips from the cab to the sitting room to get everything in. But soon enough they were ready to put the tree up. Sherlock opened the box and looked at it closely. “Do you think there are instructions?”
“There would have to be,” she said, moving next to him. She knelt down next to the box and began pulling out fake branches. Finally her hands felt a piece of paper. “Got them.” She pulled it out and handed it to Sherlock. “Here you go.”
He looked them over. “They aren't very specific,” he said with a frown. “More like a diagram.”
“Well, you talked me out of all the prelit trees,” she said. “This one should be easier. Where did we put the stand?”
“It's in one of the larger bags,” he said.
She went over to the three large bags, digging through them until she found the stand. “Where do we want to put this tree?” she asked as she looked around.
“Over by the window,” he said.
“You usually stand there when you play your violin,” she said, moving the stand there as he hauled the box closer.
“It's only for a week or so that I won't be able to,” he replied. He tipped the box over and the fake tree branches came out, as did the poles to attach them to. Molly took the instructions and guided Sherlock with what to do, and then they got the tree up. It was a little on the scrawny side, and when they put it in the stand it was lopsided no matter what they did. “That does not look anything like the display,” he said with a frown.
“I don't know. I think it has its own kind of charm,” she said with a chuckle. “We can fluff out the branches a bit and then add lots of garland to the empty spots.”
“You know, the year of the party I had nothing to do with the tree. I haven't decorated a Christmas tree since I was ten.” He went over to the bags. “I'm sure I'll do an abominable job.”
“I think you'll do just fine,” she replied. “Let's add the garland first, fill in some of the bare spots. Then we can figure out where to put the lights, and then the ornaments.”
“Very well,” he said with a nod. He pulled out the iridescent tinsel garland and with Molly's help began wrapping it around the tree. It wasn't long enough, but Molly had anticipated it and so she had picked up a second garland. They wrapped that garland around the top of the tree. “It's improving,” he said.
“It's camouflage for a really shoddy fake tree,” she said with a nod. “We should check the lights and then string them up. We got all white lights, right?”
He nodded. “White LED lights.”
“Perfect.” She went to the bags and pulled out two boxes of lights. She opened the box and unraveled the string. “Plug this end in?” she said, handing one end of the lights to Sherlock. He took them and did as she asked, and the entire strand lit up. “Let's put these on the bottom.”
“Should I unplug them?” he asked.
She shook her head. “No, we'll leave them plugged in for now, just to get an idea of how everything will look.” As he began to walk around the tree and string the lights she checked the other strand and saw that they too worked. She unplugged those and when Sherlock finished she plugged one set into the other and then she strung them around the top until she couldn't reach. At that point Sherlock took over. “It's looking nicer,” she said with a grin when he was finished.
“With as sickly as it looked when we got it up I'm surprised.” He looked over at her. “Ornaments now?”
“Yeah. I just hope we got enough. There wasn't a really great selection.”
“I think we will make do,” he said as she moved over to the bags with ornaments. She began pulling out the boxes, setting them on the table. Sherlock went over and opened each one, looking them over. Some were glass, some were metal and some were ceramic. Generally they had looked at them and decided together, but there were a few that one of them preferred more than the other that they got anyway. They began to decorate the tree, spacing things out so it looked more even. Sherlock picked up the last ornament a half hour later and looked at it. “This was one you liked,” he said, handing it to her. “You should put it where you see fit.”
She took the ornament and walked around the tree. Once the ornaments went on the tree they had seen that they bought more than enough. The tree was quite full of them at this rate. Molly gave up after a few minutes and set it back on the table. “There isn't really a good place,” she said.
“Perhaps we can put it on the mantle,” he suggested. “We didn't get anything to decorate that.”
“That's a good idea,” she said with a smile. She picked it back up and went over to the mantle, propping the ornament up next to Sherlock's skull. “At least this way I can actually see it.”
“Next year we'll probably decorate more,” she said. “Have a proper Christmas around here.”
“With as much work as this was I think I'm glad it only comes around once a year,” he said, going over to the lights for the room.
“Well, we own the tree now, and all the ornaments, so next year shouldn't be as much work, unless we get overzealous in decorating everything else,” she pointed out.
He nodded and turned off the lights, looking at the tree. “It actually looks quite nice.”
“It does, doesn't it?” she said, moving over to him. “I'm kind of glad we did it, even if we're only going to have it up for a week. It makes it seem more like...home.”
“I’m glad we did it too,” he said, pulling her against him, putting his arms around her. She leaned back into him and he rested his chin on the top of her head. They stared at the tree a bit before he pressed a kiss in her hair. “Go take that second shower now. You’re fairly tense right now.”
“It’s because I’m so sore,” she said. He let go of her as she pulled away. She leaned in and kissed his cheek. “I’ll meet you in the bedroom.”
“I’ll be there shortly,” he said with a nod. He then watched her go before turning back to the tree. Christmas had never really been a thing he celebrated before he began dating her, he realized. There hadn’t been much of a point. But he got the feeling that was going to change starting this year, and that didn’t bother him at all.