Author's note: It seems rather fitting that I should conclude this story six months to the day after my father-in-law's passing, which makes it six months also since I began writing it, feeling that God wanted me to channel my grief into something that might help others through their own losses, whether recent ones, or ones from long ago, or even future ones. Of all my stories this one has been the one that has been the most personal one for me. I hope and pray that this story has had a positive impact on my readers and been a source of comfort to those who might be experiencing their own grief.

The process of grieving after a loss can be a long one, but I can say, six months on, that the pain does ease and the happy memories of time spent with the person who is no longer here with us begin to surface more often, rather than dwelling on the sad days surrounding that loss.

If after six months you are still having a hard time adjusting, may I suggest grief counseling? We all have different timelines for our grief process, and some people need to just take that extra step to help them get through it.

Sherlock woke to the sound of a knock on the door to the bedroom and Molly's body shifted to pull away from him.

"Daddy, Mummy, are you getting up? Grandma said to tell you breakfast is ready. Christina and I have been up for ages and Grandma helped get Noah and Scott up a little while ago."

Sherlock glanced over at the digital display of the alarm clock on Molly's bedside table. It was almost eight o'clock. He knew they wouldn't have slept so late if he hadn't found it necessary to make love with her once again during the night. Over the years, when he would wake in the middle of the night, he almost always required that activity to tire him enough so he could fall back asleep. It was rather fortuitous that Molly was always a willing participant to those nocturnal activities.

"We're getting up, Victoria," Molly called back as the door handle turned. Sherlock was glad they always remembered to lock the door. They had had a close call a few years earlier when a young Victoria had woken in the middle of the night and wandered into her parents' bedroom saying she had had a bad dream. Thankfully Sherlock and Molly had just been cuddled together following their union. Heaven only knew what would have happened if Victoria had been subjected to the sight of a few minutes earlier, even if she would not have understood what exactly was going on. On that occasion, Molly had helped Victoria crawl onto the bed and had held her, keeping her own body covered with the duvet, while Sherlock quickly slipped his boxers back on before returning his daughter to bed and soothing her with a lullaby. Since then, Sherlock and Molly had always been careful to lock the door and had told their children they must always knock on the door and wait for a response. Apparently, Victoria didn't think her parents would lock the door away from home. "Tell Grandma thanks and we'll be down in a few minutes," Molly added.

"Alright, Mummy," their daughter responded and Sherlock heard her footsteps retreating down the stairs.

Now, he sat up even as Molly hastily got out of bed. She slid on her knickers and quickly fastened her discarded bra from the night before. "Hurry up, honey. I can't believe we slept so late," she said, turning her head towards him.

Sherlock threw off the duvet and picked up his own discarded boxers. "My fault, sweetheart, for waking you up in the middle of the night."

"Sherlock, I'll never complain about that," she told him, dashing around the side of the bed to offer him a quick kiss before getting herself dressed properly. Within five minutes they were downstairs and Sherlock sniffed the air appreciatively. Pancakes this morning, apparently. He glanced towards the dining table and saw the children were all eating their pancakes, as was Mark.

Sherlock followed Molly into the kitchen and walked over to his mother who was standing before the stove and kissed her cheek. "Good morning, Mummy. Sorry we are late. You didn't need to go to the trouble of making us breakfast."

His mother turned her head and smiled at him. "I don't get to spoil you and your family very often, Sherlock. Your brother is certainly not complaining." She indicated Mycroft who was sitting at the Kitchen table with Elizabeth, his plate laden with at least three pancakes that Sherlock could see. There was sugar and a cut lemon ready for use, one half of which had obviously been squeezed onto Mycroft's pancakes. There was also Nutella on the table which he knew the children would have used, and some golden syrup that had been used by Elizabeth. Sherlock himself preferred the sugar and lemon on his own pancakes while Molly usually alternated between that or Nutella.

Molly was getting their coffee ready as Sherlock presented a plate to his mother to add a pancake to it from one pan and another from the other. She always used two frying pans to make things a little quicker when there were several people to feed.

"Do you want me to finish up so you can eat, Mummy?" Sherlock asked, carefully avoiding his wife's gaze. The last time he had offered to help Molly make pancakes he had been distracted with thoughts of his latest case and the pancakes had burned. He heard Molly's soft snort and pursed his lips. It was a bit unfair of her to laugh really. He had helped her before on the odd occasion in the kitchen with better results.

"No, dear, you and Molly eat. I know you need to get your things packed yet."

Sherlock nodded and set the plate on the table in front of Molly who had just set down their coffee cups. He soon joined her with his own pancakes.

Not surprisingly, Christina returned, asking for another pancake, and finally Mrs. Holmes was able to sit down to her own breakfast.

After breakfast and cleanup, Molly went to help the children with their packing while Sherlock took care of doing his and Molly's. By the time the limo arrived, he had taken the suitcases to the front entrance.

Many hugs and kisses were exchanged as the chauffeur carried the suitcases into the boot of the vehicle. Molly was given a bag of sandwiches to take home for their lunch. Mycroft had told Sherlock that he and Elizabeth were staying one more night and returning to London the following day, accompanied by Mark. Sherlock had been quite surprised but pleased that his brother wasn't rushing back to work immediately.

Sherlock shook his brother's hand, thanking him for the use of the limo and then went to embrace his mother one last time, engulfing her small frame in a warm hug. "Thanks for everything, Mummy. We'll see you soon, okay?"

There were tears in his mother's eyes as she nodded and responded with, "Have a safe trip back home and give me a ring when you get back."

"Will do," promised Sherlock. He was much better about keeping in touch with his parents these days than he had been years earlier. It was going to take some getting used to, knowing that he wouldn't be able to reach his father over the telephone anymore.

The children climbed into the limo, followed by Molly and himself and off they went. Within a short amount of time the children had decided it would be fun to sing some children's songs and nursery rhymes to pass the time.

"The Wheels on the Bus" came first, followed by "Mary had a Little Lamb." Then the children started singing "Ring around the Rosies" at which point Sherlock decided to make an observation once they had finished.

"Did you know that a lot of nursery rhymes have dark origins?" he asked, ignoring the look Molly was giving him. It wouldn't hurt for the children to be aware of such things. "There is a theory that the last one you sang actually

refers to the Great Plague of London in 1665."The rosie" could refer to the rash that would manifest amongst those afflicted, and there was an attempt to cover up the foul odour with posies of flowers in the pockets." He added a little more information, noting the wide-eyed looks of the children and once again ignoring Molly who was now frowning at him. "Did you know that particular plague killed nearly fifteen percent of the country's population? The ashes probably refers to the way bodies were often burned afterwards in order to contain the spread of the disease."

He continued his history lesson as Christina watched him in fascination with her mouth open and the boys looked a little bemused. Victoria was pursing her lips and looking decidedly unimpressed, much like her mother. "Incidentally, the idea of burying bodies six feet below the ground began as a reaction to the plague in another attempt to ensure the disease did not spread. Unfortunately, this was ineffective as later it was discovered the disease was not spread by contact with dead bodies, but due to infected fleas that would carry the plague from person to person."

Sherlock realised he had gone a little too far when tears welled in the eyes of the twins. Perhaps now was not the best time to be discussing dead bodies, he thought with chagrin as Molly gave him an exasperated look and reached to hug the twins who were on either side of her.

Christina on the other hand, who was on the seat beside him, had been listening in rapt fascination and she looked up at him. "Tell me more stories about nursery rhymes," she pleaded. "What about 'Mary, Mary, quite contrary'?"

"Sherlock!" said Molly in a warning tone, and he decided to not expound on the notion that that particular nursery rhyme probably dated back to the reign of Queen Mary I of England who had also been known as Bloody Mary. As a devout Catholic, she had seen to the execution of hundreds of Protestants. The silver bells and cockle shells were thought to be ancient torture devices. There was also speculation that the 'maids' referred to in the story were guillotines which were known as maidens at that time. No, Sherlock decided, perhaps it was best he just let the children be children. "Just an innocent nursery rhyme, poppet," he said smoothly, ruffling her hair.

Molly breathed an audible sigh of relief. "Why don't we sing 'Amazing Grace' instead?" she suggested. Sherlock knew she was trying to distract the children from his thoughtless comments and he felt ashamed of himself. With that in mind, he joined in the singing of the beloved hymn and decided to make a more positive comment at the end of it.

"Isn't it nice to think about the fact that once we are in heaven and have been there for ten thousand years we will have no less time than when we got there. Time will have no meaning."

Victoria looked at him then. She had been studiously avoiding his gaze since he had spoken about the nursery rhymes. "If time has no meaning in heaven, doesn't that mean Grandpa can see us now and what we will be doing later and what has already happened? I think that would be pretty amazing."

Molly smiled at that and answered before he had the chance. "I'd like to think that is exactly the case, sweetie. It's very hard for us to imagine because we look at everything by using a timeline of past, present and future. But God created time so it will be irrelevant once we are in heaven. It is definitely a concept even adults find difficult to understand."

Victoria nodded. "Is that what you think too, Daddy?"

"Yes, indeed," agreed Sherlock. "Your mother has always been the smart one where matters of faith are concerned, as she was a believer many years before I was. We are trying to give you a head start in life in offering you our own knowledge and belief about things."

"I like knowing about things from the Bible much better than about that nursery rhyme stuff," proclaimed Noah.

"Me too," chimed in Scott.

Christina folded her arms. "Well I like hearing about both," she declared. That was his daughter, contrary as ever and determined to walk to the beat of her own drum.

The rest of the journey was spent in doing more singing - some nursery rhymes and some praise songs they often sang at church, and a game of "I spy" that went on for some time. It was a relief though to finally see the familiar streets of London come into view and know they were almost home again.

Upon arrival at their house in Harringay, as soon as Sherlock opened the front door, Redbeard came to greet them, wagging his tail. Callie and Rusty lifted their heads from their favourite spot on the rug in the front room when the children entered it to immediately lavished their attentions on the animals for several minutes while Sherlock and the chauffeur brought in the suitcases. Even the normally independent Rusty consented to being held and stroked for a little while. Callie purred contentedly in Victoria's lap for a few minutes.

Molly went next door to thank the Dillingers for looking after the animals and to retrieve the spare house key while Sherlock took the suitcases upstairs.

When Molly returned inside, she told the children it was time to go upstairs and unpack so they could have lunch afterwards. While Sherlock unpacked their own suitcase, Molly collected the pile of dirty washing so she could put the first load into the machine. That was going to be a task that took all day, Sherlock reflected. Thankfully they had a separate dryer in the utility room. Even so, there would be some clothes that Molly preferred to not put in the dryer which would need to be hung outside afterwards on the washing line that was on their back terrace. At least the weather was good and the breeze would undoubtedly help in drying them properly. Sherlock recalled that Lori Lestrade had commented years ago on the fact that the washing machines and dryers in America were significantly larger than the ones she had seen in England. Some of these larger machines were now quite popular in houses big enough to accommodate them, and Sherlock had decided that the next time they needed a new washing machine or dryer, he would invest in one of them. Undoubtedly they were not particularly energy efficient but it would be much more convenient, especially with a family of six.

After lunch, Sherlock and the boys went to take Redbeard out for a walk while Victoria and Christina helped their mother hang up some of the washing Molly preferred to not be put in the dryer. When the boys began to talk about school, Sherlock suddenly realised that the new school year was fast approaching. It had been rather strange the previous year when the boys had started reception. For the first time, the house has been empty during the day rather than filled with activity as it usually was. Fortunately, the school was easily within walking distance and Sherlock and Molly usually walked together with the children when Sherlock was not on a case, only driving if the weather was particularly cold or rainy.

As soon as they returned, the boys went off to play and Sherlock went to speak with Molly who was putting another load of washing into the dryer.

"Sweetheart, we probably need to check whether the children will need new school uniforms for school. They will be going back in less than two weeks."

Molly turned on the dryer and leaned back against it, smacking a hand to her forehead. "Oh gosh, you're right. With everything that has happened, I completely forgot about that. We'll have to get them to try on their uniforms from last year and I'll go online tonight to order the next size up if necessary. Thanks for reminding me."

Sherlock shrugged. "You'll have to thank the boys for that. They are the ones who started talking about school when we were taking the dog for a walk." He rested his hands on Molly's shoulders. "Oh, and I believe I owe you an apology."

She looked up at him, brow furrowed. "What for?"

"For showing off unnecessarily in relation to those nursery rhymes and talking about how many have dark origins."

Molly laughed and slipped her arms around his waist. "Oh, that. Honey, it's okay. You're allowed to act less than perfect no ow and then. Nobody can do and say the right thing all the time. Besides, you more then made up for it with your lovely comment after we sang 'Amazing Grace' together."

"In that case, may I steal a kiss from my beloved wife while our children are otherwise occupied?" He had no idea where Victoria and Christina had disappeared off to, he just knew they were not in the vicinity right now.

"You may," said Molly, batting her eyelashes at him.

He lifted his hands to cradle the back of her head and kissed her, several lingering kisses, then pulled back, feeling the heat rise within himself that he knew could not be accommodated right now. "Much as I love having the children around, I am rather looking forward to us having more private time together once they return to school," he admitted.

Molly's hands loosened as well. "You'll probably be busy with your consultations and cases soon enough and won't even know they are at school and I'm home alone." She turned then to reach for another pile of washing, mostly socks.

Sherlock grinned as he watched her, his eyes dancing. "I never forget when you are home alone, love. Why do you think I try to schedule my consultations in the morning or head off to work on a case with John as soon as the children are at school? It's so I can be home with time to spare for more enjoyable pursuits with my wife before our offspring need to be collected from school."

Molly grinned back, reached for a crumpled sock and then frowned at him. "Sherlock, will you ever learn to unroll your socks after taking them off?"

He gave her an abashed look. Ten years and he still hardly ever remembered to do that. He was usually in too much of a hurry to get undressed and into bed with Molly so he could concentrate on much more important things like making love with her. "Probably not," he admitted truthfully.

Molly unrolled the sock and tossed it in the machine, followed by another few socks, not only his, but belonging to the children, which needed the same treatment. "You're just lucky I love you enough to overlook your sloppiness," she groused and he placed his hands on her shoulders from behind as she closed the washing machine door.

"I make up for it in other ways, don't I?" he said, massaging her shoulders and eliciting a sigh of pleasure from her.

"Definitely."

Sherlock made an exclamation then. "Oh blast it, I had better give Mummy a ring to let her know we arrived home safely."

"Already taken care of," Molly assured him. "I called her while you were walking Redbeard. I also called my mum and Martha to say we were back as well."

"Did Martha tell you how her appointment went yesterday?" Sherlock enquired and was a little gratified to see Molly give him an impressed look.

"You remembered! Yes, I asked about it and the surgeon has recommended a hip replacement. Honestly, I think it's long overdue. I still remember her telling me her hip was giving her problems fifteen years ago. The current waiting list though is really long; it can be up to four months. I don't suppose Mycroft could pull any strings in that regard?" Molly asked hopefully.

Sherlock pursed his lips. "I can ask. Not sure if he has a lot of pull within the NHS though. It's a little outside his normal sphere of influence."

"Oh well, better than nothing. If it does take four months though we may have a houseguest this Christmas."

"If That's the case, we may end up bringing her along to Sussex. Even if Mycroft lists the house on airBnB, he would definitely block out the last half of December so we can go back there and have the usual family celebration."

Molly finished adding in the washing detergent and turned the machine on before responding. "Christmas won't be the same, will it?"

Sherlock took her hand. "I know, but we will still make more happy memories and will remember the ones from years past. Thank God the house isn't to be sold. Even though Musgrave Hall was from Mummy's side of the family, the house in Sussex was purchased by my parents together so it is really the home I associate with as where I grew up. Plus, I've enjoyed every time we have visited with our expanding family. We have so many memories there, Molly."

They headed back out of the utility room and wen to get the children to try on their school uniforms.

In the end it was determined that everyone except Victoria needed new uniforms. While Molly took care of new uniforms online, Sherlock decided to be a good husband and he solicited his daughters' help to sort out what of the remaining clothes could be placed in the dryer and which needed to be hung on the line. The girls sorted their already dried clothes and took them upstairs while Sherlock took shirts and underwear belonging to the boys upstairs. His and Molly's underwear and her blouses then followed. Sherlock's shirts of course would have to be dry cleaned and he made a mental note to take them to the dry cleaner the following day. The dress Molly had worn for the funeral he would take also, and a couple suit jackets and pairs of trousers.

Once these tasks had been accomplished, Molly suggested they drive to Sainsbury's to do some shopping. Having been absent from the house for several days, they were in dire need of some food staples. Her suggestion they follow it by getting McDonald's for an early dinner was met with enthusiasm by all except Sherlock who wrinkled his nose slightly. He didn't care much for the fast food chain, but it was the only one conveniently located nearby.

"We could just go out for dinner afterwards to a restaurant instead?" he suggested hopefully.

"No, Daddy, I want McDonalds!" stated Scott and he began to chant, "McDonalds, McDonalds!" until Noah and Christina joined in as well.

"I would have preferred going to a nice restaurant, Daddy," whispered Victoria, tugging at his arm.

Sherlock looked over at Molly who was trying to suppress a smile. "Sorry," she mouthed to him and Sherlock sighed.

"I guess I've been out-voted. Another time then," he said somewhat mournfully and this time his wife did laugh.

"We'll make sure to buy you a salted caramel McFlurry." she knew too well what tempted him, and Sherlock's lips curved upwards in a smile at his wife. Molly knew exactly how to improve his mood. The McDonalds McFlurry at least was a pleasant treat even if their hamburgers left a lot to be desired, and their French fries were certainly no competition to the chips from Joe's Fish Shop that he still liked to buy when he was anywhere near Baker Street.

"I suppose that will make it more tolerable than mere greasy hamburgers," he conceded.

A short while later, Sherlock slid behind the wheel of their Land Rover Discovery as the rest of the family joined him in the car. After the boys had been born, they had needed to invest in a vehicle that could accommodate more than their previous five-seater. It had taken some time to get used to driving such a large vehicle, and parallel parking could be a right royal pain in the arse, but the convenience of not having to go back to relying on taxis for transport made it worthwhile. However, Sherlock still sometimes missed the more economical and easier-to-park Volkswagen Golf he and Molly had purchased when she had been pregnant with Christina and they had moved to their new home. 2019 had certainly been a big year of change for them, moving away from Baker Street, purchasing a car, putting on a very successful fundraising play through their church and also expanding from a family of three to four.

Once the shopping at Sainsbury's was completed and several extra unnecessary snack items had been purchased due to the children begging for this or that "special" item, Sherlock drove to McDonalds and parked in the parking lot. He didn't like using the drive-thru due to the size of their car.

The order was made and procured, McFlurries for all included as a treat. The Holmes family returned home and the treats were temporarily put in the freezer to be eaten a little later.

Afterwards, as Molly and the girls took care of taking the last of the washing off the line and out of the dryer, Sherlock decided it was time to get back to work and booted up his laptop. He had deliberately not taken it with him to Sussex, knowing that work would be the last thing on his mind.

There was a load of emails waiting for him, requests for consultations and Sherlock devoted some time to categorising them by his usual scale of interest. None of them was more than a three which was typical. The higher level cases almost always came through Greg Lestrade and NSY. He supposed he would soon contact his friend to say he was available once again to take on cases if needed. It was time to get back into the swing of things.

Having sent the children upstairs to put away the remainder of their now-clean clothes, Molly slipped into the seat next to Sherlock. "Are you sure you're ready to dive back into work?"

He stopped tapping away a response to an email and looked at her. "Life goes on, sweetheart," he told her, taking her hand. "After Mary died, I told Martha that work was the best antidote to sorrow. I know there will still be moments where I just want to wallow and miss my father, but this is the right thing for me. I want to keep making my dad proud of me."

Molly kissed his temple. "You're an unbelievably wonderful husband, father, detective, and man in general. I'm just as proud of you as your father ever was."

He turned towards her then, laptop and work temporarily forgotten, his lips capturing hers.

He only stopped kissing her when the sound of little footsteps approached. "Daddy!" exclaimed Victoria and Christina together.

Sherlock turned to his daughters, prepared to defend himself once again for his actions in kissing their mother, and to reprimand them for berating him for his undue display of affection. "What?"

Victoria's response surprised him when a smile curved her lips. "I'm glad you love Mummy so much."

"Yes." Christina linked arms with her older sister. "You may proceed."

With giggles, the girls turned around and left.

"Now, that's progress." Molly's smile was soft and Sherlock was only too pleased to follow his younger daughter's instructions by kissing her again.

The past ten days had been ones where many varying emotions were explored, and undoubtedly there would be more difficult days ahead, but he had a lot to be thankful for. Whatever the future held, his faith and his family would get him through it. He was a truly blessed man.

Author's note: Thanks to Wandering Soprano for her comments about fairytales and their dark origins that led to me writing about that via Sherlock, the poor, dear, oblivious man. Hope you found it amusing!

You will notice some references here to events from 2019. I do have a WIP that will explore things from that time which I hope I can begin publishing in a couple of months. That was the story I had planned to publish next when my plans were derailed and I put it on hiatus to write this story instead.

I know this story could have gone on for much longer, but I'm going to leave it there for now. Perhaps one day I'll take another forward peek into the lives of my beloved characters. I still have a lot of other stories I am working on (even aside from the 2019 story) that take place before this which are my priority, even as I am also working on editing one of my Victorian stories to make it an original story and prepare it for (hopefully) professional publication. If you think you might be interested in reading my work outside of Sherlolly, please send me a pm and I will keep in contact with you about my progress in that regard.

Remember to check your inbox for messages as the site no longer sends email alerts (well, it hasn't done so for two months now).

If you have found this story to be a blessing, if it has meant something to you beyond just reading for entertainment and escape, I urge you to tell me so. Knowing that my writing in this fandom is of value means a great deal to me, and I have very much appreciated hearing regularly from those of you who follow my work on a constant basis. It would be lovely to hear from a few more people who usually remain silent in their reading, even guests whi do not sign in to the site.