Say Something

Holly Jolly Christmas

Upstairs she finds him waiting for her and raises an amused eyebrow at him. He has his hand on the doorknob to the second door on the left. She assumes that the first room on the left has to be Mycroft's and on the right side is the guest- and bathroom.
As she steps up beside Sherlock, he pushes the door open. They look in the room for a moment before Kate takes a step inside. Dumping her bag on the bed. "So, this is where the famous Sherlock Holmes grew up?"
She spins around in the room. It doesn't really look different from his room back in London, but then again Sherlock hadn't been a normal teenager. She detects a blue/green colour scheme and notices a spot on the wall that looks like the element chart from 221b hung there before. There are a few trophies from school competitions and even a few pictures on the shelves. It looks like most books also moved to London with Sherlock. Kate picks up a picture of Sherlock in some sports uniform and chuckles. "You were a sports guy?"
He rips it out of her hand and puts it back down. "I had no choice."
"Mh." Kate hums and lets herself fall onto the bed beside her bag.
Sherlock eyes her as if she's an alien.
"What?"
"Nothing. It's weird."
"You're weird." Kate playfully throws her scarf at him that she just took off before sliding out of her jacket.
"No one has been in here except family to date."
"Yea, well. A girl gotta sleep somewhere. I can always sleep in the living room if you're uncomfortable?" She teases him.
"No!" Sherlock says a bit too eager. "It's just an unusual picture. Not even Mycroft came into my room often."
"I'm never sure if I'm sad or glad that I didn't know you both when you were younger. It's just hard to imagine you as a family and living together."

The rest of the day they occupy themselves with decorating the house since Mrs. Holmes waited for everyone to be here to help with the last few items. She even got two more stockings for Kate and John. So there are currently six stockings hanging above the fireplace. All Kate could think about was how British everything was around here.
While John and her are eagerly helping the Holmes' parents decorate and are currently on the Christmas tree, Mycroft is nowhere to be seen. Allegedly he has to work. Dumbass can't take a few days off. Meanwhile, Sherlock is sitting on the living room couch with John's laptop on his legs. Solving cases as best as he can from there. It's pathetic, but it's Sherlock.
Mr. Holmes left for town to get some last-minute groceries before the holidays and Mrs. Holmes is currently preparing dinner.
"Sherlock." Kate calls for him.
He briefly looks up from the laptop for a moment with a hum.
"Would you be so nice?" She holds out the Star that belongs on top of the Christmas tree. "John's too short and I could reach it but nearly fell into the tree trying."
His eyebrow raises in amusement and he sets the laptop aside and walks over to them. With a swift motion, he gets the star from Kate and puts it on top of the tree.
Kate takes a step back beside John to look at their work. Both with their hands on their hips.
"You spend too much time together." Sherlock motions at their similar pose. "Copying each other's behaviours."
Kate huffs and brushes her hair back. "Maybe that explains why John and I are getting so bitter and our humour is so fucked up. It's because we spend too much time with you."
With a smile, she walks past him, leans up to give him a quick peck on the lips and walks off to ask Mrs. Holmes if she needs more help.

"Mrs. Holmes?" Kate steps into the kitchen.
"It's Violet for you, darlin'!" She doesn't look up from her pots but she can hear the smile in her voice.
"Violet." Kate tests the sound of the name from her own mouth. "The tree is done. Anything else?"
"Would you be so nice to set up the table and then get the boys? William just returned and we'll be ready to eat soon."

When she returns to get John and Sherlock after setting up the dining table up with Mrs. Holmes she can hear them talking.
"...this-...she confuses me? Still." Kate hears Sherlock say. She can hear the frown in his voice.
"The answer is quite easy, Sherlock. You love her. It's not rocket science, just admit it." Kate knows that John is rolling his eyes. Sherlock stays quiet and she bites her lip before entering the living room. Both men look up at her immediately.
She can see the shock on Sherlock's face but he covers it quickly. John just smiles innocently. Bloody-
She tries her best to smile innocently as well. "Dinner is ready. I'll go get Mycie."
With that she hurries off up the stairs, taking two steps at a time.
Kate knocks on Mycroft's door. "Mycie?"
After a few seconds, the door is opened and Mycroft stands in front of her. Missing the suit jacket of his 3-piece suit and rolled up the sleeves of his shirt. Kate steals a quick glance in his room. It's more of a brown/red colour scheme. She can see that he has the same bed as Sherlock and has his whole office setup on a desk.
"Kate?" Mycroft asks and draws her eyes back on him.
She smirks. "Dinner is ready. Would your grace be willing to dine with the simple folk?"
He huffs and goes to get his phone from the table before walking back out to Kate.
In those few seconds, she gets an even better view into his room. He has a few trophies too, but also a few more posters on the wall. Some are from inspirational intelligent men like Newton but there are also some random soccer-players from various teams. Kate smirks, he's so gay.
He quickly shuts the door behind him and gives Kate a look, she just responds with an innocent smile. "Didn't think you're into soccer?"
Mycroft doesn't respond and just heads down the stairs.
Kate walks right after him. "DI Lestrade plays soccer, you know?"
"It's probably in his file." He just states, acting bored before walking into the kitchen/dining area. Everyone else turns towards them.
"Ah brother, already forgot you're here with us as well." Sherlock teases him.
Siblings. Kate rolls her eyes.
"Don't act like you enjoy being here." Mycroft barks back at him.
Kate slides onto the empty chair between Sherlock and John while Mycroft takes place beside his parents.
They eat mostly in silence and chat long afterward. Well, John, Kate, Violet and William chat. Mycroft and Sherlock only throw in some things to prove them all wrong in a discussion, but Sherlock does his best to hold himself back because of Kate's warning glances and kicks against his leg under the table. Mycroft earns enough warning looks from his mother to be nice. Kate can't imagine how this dinner would be if her and John weren't here.
Throughout the whole evening when Kate laughs and chats freely with the Holmes parents, she catches Sherlock staring at her. Because what else would be interesting enough than reading her with those dull conversation topics? She's really enjoying herself and Sherlock notices how the tension of the last few months is slowly lifted off her shoulders.
Eventually, it's time for bed soon. They cleared that the schedule for tomorrow is breakfast, showing John and Kate around town, a small lunch, a walk to church and finally dinner.