A/N: Another Christmas song fic idea that wouldn't leave my head. Last year it was Christmas Wrapping by the Waitresses, this year it's Last Christmas by Wham!

This was the original idea for Christmas but when this went from my normal length to take on novel proportions, I wrote another story that I could post on Christmas with good humor. Instead of bawling my eyes out that I failed to finish this story on time.

So, the other story "All I Want For Christmas is You" will be up tomorrow. And this story will update every Saturday I can. I have three chapters (including this one) that are completely ready for publication. So I hope that three weeks is more than ample to time get the rest of it written, typed up, and edited by the marvelous, Old Ping Hai, who manged the impossible and convinced me not give up on this.

Thank you, darling!

Also this story is divided into two parts: Last Christmas, where John gets his heart broken. And This Christmas where it chronicles the gradual falling in love with Sherlock, culminating in John giving his heart to Sherlock.

Enjoy!

John was excited about Christmas for the first time since he was a small child. He and Mary were meeting up with some friends in Scotland, hoping for enough snow to get in a little bit of skiing. And if the weather report was right, they would have quite the storm with lots of lovely snow. But John was excited for another reason. After dating Mary for six months, he was going to propose.

He had bought the ring about a week ago and he was practically vibrating with pent-up happiness. It was a wonder that Mary didn't suspect something. Well, to be fair she had asked what had gotten into him lately, but John just told her that he couldn't wait to spend their first Christmas together. That seemed to appease her, and John was a little more careful about how much he excitement he showed around her, in case she figured it out.

The ring was currently in Mike's possession. He didn't want Mary to accidentally stumble on it. And since the cabin belonged to Mike's parents, it was perfect. Mike would bring the ring with him and then slip it to John when the time was right. Of course, having the ring out of sight did nothing for his nerves. The last few hours before they had to leave for the cabin, John texted Mike incessantly.

He only stopped when Mike sent, Chill out. It's in my bag. And if you send one more text about it, I'll tell Divya it's for her. Divya was Mike's long-term girlfriend and would love a ring on her left hand from Mike. He bit back the fear and anxiety and placed his trust in Mike. He knew Stamford had never let him down and now was not the time to start doubting the friend who got him through advanced chemistry.

John typed back a brief apology and went to make sure that his and Mary's skis were securely strapped to the top of his car. He walked out, and Mary was by the car, squealing in excitement.

"You ready to go, love?" John asked as he tugged on the straps.

"Yes," Mary said, jumping up and down. "Skiing in Scotland? Who knew?"

"Me and Harry used to go almost every year, so me?"

Mary waved him off. "Your parents are Scottish, you don't count," she teased.

John smiled. "All right, last call. Anything else you need to grab from the flat?"

"Nope," she replied with a wink and a grin.

The drive up to Mike's cabin was uneventful except for the storm arriving a bit early. By the time they got to the place, the snow was coming down in sheets. It was almost a complete whiteout. When they pulled up the drive, Mike came running out to greet them.

"Oh thank god!" Mike huffed. "I wasn't sure if you two were going to make it. It's really coming down out here."

"Yeah, it came much faster than anyone could have predicted," Mary said, looking behind her into the storm.

"You okay, love?" John asked, joining her on her side of the car.

"Yeah, I just hope there isn't anyone caught in that," Mary shuddered. "It would be dreadful."

Mike shook his head, "There are no other cabins for miles. But I made sure the cabin was well stocked with emergency gear and food."

Mary nodded, but she looked out into the night again and this unease settled on John. He shook it off and got his and Mary's things into the, well it was too big to be considered a cabin now that John had seen it. Lodge was a closer term. It certainly looked big enough for all five of them to be more than comfortable for the week.

"Did Molly come up with you or did she drive herself up?" John asked as he got the skis down from the roof of the car.

"She came up with us," Mike replied.

John nodded and went in carrying all of their luggage and the skis.

Mike called out to Mary as she stood staring into the dark. She jolted as if she had been awakened from a dream and followed him to the lodge. Mike looked out into the darkness, but not seeing anything closed the door tight against the storm.

John was standing next to the large fireplace that framed the back wall of the lodge. The kitchen, dinning area, and sitting room were not separated by any walls. It was just wide open and cozy. The upstairs had three bedrooms but much to the ladies' dismay, only one bathroom.

John took a sip of the spiced apple cider that Divya had brewed up and watched as she and Molly and Mary set to decorating the interior with Christmas decorations. The tree was up and the ornaments on. There was holly on the chimneypiece and tinsel was beginning to sprout everywhere. Mike hurried away from the ladies and sidled up to John.

"So, you've been banished, too?" John asked, taking another sip of his drink.

"Escaped. The word you're looking for," Mike replied, "is 'escaped'."

John laughed. "Thanks for having us."

"It's no trouble, someone should use this place," Mike said bitterly.

"Why?"

"My parents spared no expense. There is a large generator, a walk-in pantry, a tankless water heater, a state of the art kitchen, hell this damn fireplace cost at least £7000. You want to know when the last time they came up here was?"

"When?" John obligingly asked.

"When me and my brother Rupert were kids."

"Ouch."

Mike cracked his neck. "It's a waste. They should just sell it, but they keep saying they'll come back up here. They're retired and they still haven't made the effort."

"I'm sorry, Mike. But it's lovely to be up here."

"Yeah, I know," Mike sighed. "Come on, let's get that little present out of my bag and into yours. The last thing either of us need is Divya actually finding it and getting us both in trouble."

John laughed.

He looked back at Mary and that unease came back as she playfully argued that red tinsel was better than silver. He shook it off. It was probably the storm, making him anxious.

The fire was burning low and they were starting to feel drowsy enough for bed. The wind howled through the chimney and then there was a pounding at the back door.

At first they thought it was just the wind, but then there came three distinct thumps, hard against the wood. John and Mike jumped up and ran for the door. Divya and Mary covered Molly, Divya holding the fireplace shovel as a shield. John had picked up the poker as he followed Mike to the back door.

The two men stood waiting at the door. Then the thumping returned, a little weaker, a little more desperate. As they were now closer to the sound, they could hear plaintive cries for help over the shrieking of the wind.

John dropped the poker and leapt for the door, pulling it open before Mike could holler for him to wait. The wind threw the door open wide and four bundled figures fell through, the one in the back falling on top of the other three.

John shouted for the women and they sprang into action. Mary and John called out the orders to the others for blankets, to boil water, and to stoke the fire back to full blaze. Mike began pulling off the wet outer layers of the travelers. Afterwards he spread the coats and sweaters to dry over any surface he could find that didn't have a warm body on it.

Warm tea was pressed into frozen fingers and cold toes were placed in water to thaw, hot water slowly added to warm up the extremities.

Once sufficiently defrosted, the travelers were revealed to be a brunet, an auburn-haired fellow, a blond, and silver-haired man. The blond seemed to be keeping his back to the group of friends.

"What are you blokes doing clear the hell out here?" John asked the main three.

"My brother wouldn't know how to use a GPS if it bit him on the arse," the youngest sneered.

"I know how to use one just fine, Sherlock," the older of the two brunets sniffed. "The one on our rental was clearly programmed by an idiot. Mummy will be displeased."

"Mummy? To hell with your mother, Mycroft," the silver-haired one snapped. "I'm displeased. You promised me Christmas with the Queen, not lost, frozen, and wet in the middle of nowhere!"

Mike and John shared a shocked glance.

"I hope you don't really mean that, Gregory..." Mycroft said softly.

Greg wilted. "Of course not, My, I'm just tired."

Mycroft nodded, but Sherlock rolled his eyes.

"We were on our way to Balmoral and because those two wouldn't stop making googly eyes at each other I decided to sleep through the sickeningly sweet glances. Little did I know I was putting my fate in the hands of the two most inept, directionally challenged idiots on the planet."

"Sherlock!" Mycroft protested.

"At least we weren't the only ones," Sherlock thumbed at the blond behind him, "this idiot got stuck in the snow in a sports car at the bottom of the hill."

Mary sighed and cocked her head to one side. "David, please tell me you didn't try to bring your Jag up to the Highlands."

The blond slowly turned around and with a weak smile, "Surprise!"

"David?" John asked, "Who's David?"

Mary rolled her eyes. "He's an old friend of mine. I was telling him that we had an odd number and he wanted to come."

"I wanted to surprise you, babe," David insisted. "I know you said that you just wanted to be up here with your doctor friends, but I couldn't bear the thought of poor Molly being all by her lonesome surrounded by happy couples, now could I?"

Molly sighed. "I don't need your help, David."

Mike looked at her. "Wait, you know him, too?"

"I've seen him a couple times at Mary's before she moved in with John," Molly hedged.

"I've never seen him," John said, crossing his arms in front of his chest and settling all his weight on his back foot, jealousy radiating up his form.

"And that would be why, dear," Mary explained and kissed his cheek.

David grinned at John, who couldn't help but think he was in competition for something.

"Wait," Greg asked holding up his hand. "David the Idiot knows who you lot are, but the three of us are lost." John immediately took a liking to Greg.

"Speak for yourself, George," Sherlock sneered.

"Greg!" he snapped back.

"We know their names. If you were paying attention when they were trying to fight off our hypothermia," Sherlock replied smugly.

"Sherlock, this is no time to show off," Mycroft warned.

"Why not? It's what we do," Sherlock said. "The first three you should already know if you were listening to the current drama with David the Idiot, as Gavin aptly named him."

"Greg!" Mycroft hissed.

And that nickname for David was a mark in Sherlock's favor as far as John was concerned.

"John is the blond; as David pointed out they are all in the medical profession, but his style is different from Mike, the chubby civilian. He immediately took charge, could be the head of an A&E, but his close-cropped hair and the fact that he is currently standing at parade rest suggests military. Recently out. I'd say about a year and from the way he favors his left shoulder, invalided out."

John raised an eyebrow and Sherlock winked.

"So that's two. How do we know that the chubby one is called Mike? Because when the door opened John yelled 'We have to do something, Mike!' when the chubby one protested helping strangers. Now, that could have been any of the girls. Mike can be short for Michaela but we know that the blonde is Mary as David the Idiot told us. And Molly is the mousy thing who was offended at his suggestion being her partner for the holiday. That leaves the Indian woman and the chubby doctor. And since it was the two men at the door and the women didn't come until called, Mike it is. Which leaves the remaining lovely lady. Mike told a Divya to get the blankets, that tells us that she is Divya."

"Also, Mike is a general practitioner who has been out of rotation for a while, but knows what to do in theory. Professor then. Now Molly and Divya left John, Mike and Mary to do the actual doctoring, which suggests that while they are doctors, they are not in professions that deal with people. They both mildly smell of disinfectant. But as Molly would know, that no matter how hard one tries, one just can't quite get the smell of formaldehyde out of one's hair. A pathologist, who specializes in post-mortums then.

"Now Divya was quite the pretty puzzle. She didn't have the smell of formaldehyde, but still that lingering smell of disinfectant. But what would she do that would require her to want to bathe in the stuff? Infectious diseases. That, and she mutters the scientific names of diseases when she's trying to concentrate."

Divya laughed. "Well done!"

"You didn't tell everyone what I was," Mary said with a huff.

"A nurse, of course."

Greg blinked at him, "Come again."

"David never said she was doctor, he said her doctor friends, indicating that she wasn't. But she was very capable and even better at the actual work than John. Which means that she is a nurse, not a doctor."

"Incredible!" John breathed.