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Mrs. Hudson has a heart of gold, even if it’s a little rough around the edges sometimes. That’s why, when Mycroft Holmes starts to pay the rent for 221B under the condition of absolute secrecy, she merely nods and pats his cheek. It’s why she turns right around and tells John that he can stay for as long as he wants, without having to pay, and that she won’t say anything if he wants to just hang on to Sherlock’s clothes and things, and even that terrible skull on the mantle. But she does stipulate that the eyeballs and body parts have to go - and no more bullet holes in the living room walls, thank you kindly. It’s also why, when Sherlock returns three years later, acting for all the world as if he’d merely been on extended vacation rather than dead and six feet under, she slaps him hard across the face and kicks him in the shin for good measure before she grabs him firmly and hugs him fiercely, with tears streaming down her face and muttering insults into his curly hair as she welcomes him home like the son she thought lost who has finally returned.