His Favorite Melody

And She Takes

Around five in the afternoon, John and his girlfriend Jeanette showed up, followed soon by Greg. Both John and Greg snickered at Melody's headband, but gave her a quick kiss on the cheek nonetheless. John had been rather easily persuaded into wearing a Santa hat, and Melody laughed at he put it on his head with a proud smile.

An hour or so later, Mrs. Hudson sat in John's chair by the fire, looking happier than ever as she listened to Sherlock play carols on the violin. John poured her a cup of tea and Jeanette served around a tray of mince pies. Melody stood beside Greg, entranced by Sherlock's playing. Greg, on the other hand, was nursing his third drink of the afternoon.

He came to the end of his current carol with an elaborate flourish and a deep bow.

"Oh, that was lovely, Sherlock, just lovely. But I wish you'd worn the antlers." Mrs. Hudson said with a smile.

"Some things, Mrs. Hudson, are best left to the imagination." Sherlock said with a grin.

Lestrade piped up from his place in the kitchen. "Nah, I've got photoshop on my computer - hours of fun after a day of Sherlock."

Melody couldn't help but let out a peal of laughter, causing everyone to join in.

Jeanette offered Sherlock a mince pie, and he shook his head. "No thank you, Sarah."

The room dropped a degree, and Melody's laughter died in her throat.
John quickly popped next to Jeanette, placing an arm round her. "He's not good at names."

"No, hang on, I know this." Sherlock snipped.

"Oh, God, Sherlock." Melody whispered.

"Sarah was the doctor one, then there was the spotty one, the one who thought you were sleeping with Melody, the nose one, and who came after the boring teacher?" Sherlock listed.

"Nobody." Jeanette snapped.

"Jeanette! Process of elimination."

Molly Hooper broke the tension by bustling through with big shopping bags full of presents. "Hello everyone, sorry, hello. It said on the door, just to come up."

"Oh, everyone is saying hello, how wonderful." Sherlock snarked, rolling his eyes.

Melody caught his attention as she mouthed 'behave'.

"Molly, dear, in you come." Mrs. Hudson rushed, pulling the focus to the woman.

"Hello, Molly!" John and Melody greeted in sync. They exchanged a quick smile, chuckling a bit.

Molly took off her coat, causing John and Greg to gawk a bit.

"Are we having a Christmas drinkies then?" Molly asked, obviously waiting for Sherlock to notice her.

Melody bristled a bit, but just stood silently to the side. As terrible as it sounded, Molly was not a threat to her relationship in the slightest.

"There's no stopping them. Apparently." Sherlock griped, now at this desk, busying himself.

"It's the one day a year the boys have to be nice to me. It's almost worth it." Mrs. Hudson joked.

"John, this counter's stuck." Sherlock interrupted. "On your blog, it's still 1895."

John and Melody quickly surrounded the laptop.

"Oh no - Christmas is cancelled." John huffed, causing Melody to snort.

"And you've got a photograph of me in that hat!"

"People like the hat." John said, walking away.

"No they don't. What people??"