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Sherlock and Molly often tag-teamed to babysit Rosie after Mary died and Sherlock was back in John’s good graces. It wasn’t because either of them was incompetent, but Rosie had favorite people to do certain things when it came to her care, and when Sherlock and Molly were able to babysit her together, the evenings and afternoons went more smoothly than when it was just one or the other. And so as Rosie grew older, Sherlock and Molly grew closer.
The first Christmas after Mary’s death was hard. While Sherlock and Molly were happily in a relationship, John was alone, and therefore Rosie only had her adopted family of godparents and family friends with her. Molly went overboard to celebrate until Sherlock gently reminded her that Rosie was probably not even going to remember that Christmas. The year to make a fuss would be next year.
Molly took the gentle hint and that Christmas was festive and fun, even if everyone missed Mary.
The next year, Rosie had some of her own opinions of Christmasy things, and Molly realized she liked the Rankin & Bass Christmas specials a lot. She bought them all on DVD, along with some other Christmas movies meant for young children, and would bring them to Baker Street when she would watch her. If Sherlock was there, he would usually ignore the movies and try and occupy Molly and Rosie’s attention in other ways.
But then came the day that they watched “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” with him around, and his ignoring of the movie was replaced with scoffing and facts on real reindeer.
“It’s not just male reindeer that have antlers, it’s female ones, too. The males and the females shed them at different times, but they both have antlers. They’re the only species of deer that work that way.”
“Their hooves are soft in the summer, when they shed their winter coats. They harden in the winter to forage through the ice for food.”
“Did you know reindeer float? They float, they do not fly.”
“They don’t live at the North Pole with Santa. The Sami take care of them and round them up with helicopters and snowmobiles now.”
“Because of unprecedented rainfall in 2013, 60,000 reindeer starved to death.”
Finally, Molly turned and glared. “That is not something she needs to know.”
“Climate change affects us all. And besides, this is all fantasy. Santa doe---”
“Finish that sentence, William Sherlock Scott Holmes, and you will spend the rest of the month wishing you hadn’t. Alone.”
Sherlock swallowed and stopped talking, sulking slightly. But Rosie seemed to enjoy it all, moving from Molly’s lap to the chair where Sherlock was sitting and reaching up to him. Molly softened her stance as Sherlock picked her up and set her in his lap. “Perhaps we could go to the zoo and see if there are reindeer there?” he said quietly
“I think that’s a good idea. Afterward, we can go find a Santa photo area and get a picture of her on Santa’s lap for John.”
Rosie’s wide grin told the adults that that was, indeed, a good compromise. And she carried around a Rudolph plushie, a conciliatory gift from Sherlock, for many years afterward. But it was very funny when, Rudolph plush in hand, Rosie got sent home with a letter when she described how the reindeer starved because of climate change in gory detail. Sherlock, at least, was amused.