Epilogue: Phone Call

Molly was sitting down after a long day at work, next to Sherlock in his chair in the sitting room when the phone rang. "I'll get it!" she said as she rose once more to fetch the phone.

"Hullo, Holmes residence, Molly speaking," she said.

There was a bit of a crackle on the end of the line. "Mum? It's Mer," the voice on the other end said. "Is Dad there? Can you put us on speakerphone?" Molly blinked. "All right," she said, wandering back into the sitting room and doing as she was asked.

Sherlock looked up as Molly came back into the room, putting the call on speakerphone. "Who is it?"

"Meredith and I'm assuming Ben as well," she said. "Yup! We're both here!" Mer's voice came in cheerfully over the line.

"Hi, Mum. Hi Dad!"

Molly chuckled as she heard her son's voice. "All right, I'm here with Dad and you're on speakerphone. What's up?" she asked. She could hear them both take a deep breath and a nervous giggle. "So, you're going to be grandparents," Meredith said quietly, a smile evident in her voice.

Molly's eyes went wide and she felt tears fill her eyes. Grandparents. They were going to be grandparents.

"The test was positive this morning, so Mer's at least three weeks along based on...you know, stuff," Ben said. "We've already told Uncle John and he's really happy for us, so I wanted to make sure we told you guys. I mean, we'll be finishing our trip of course, but we'll be home in a few weeks so Mer can get checked on and everything."

Sherlock looked at Molly, standing and walking over to his wife, holding her close and smiling. "Congratulations, Ben, Meredith, I'm so happy for you."

"Yes...Congratulations!" Molly said, finding her voice, smiling so brightly that she put the stars to shame. They talked a little more about the trip and about the impending new arrival before they hung up. She stood there, leaning against her husband quietly. "I can barely believe it; we're going to be Grandmum and Granddad," she said softly, marveling at the words.

Sherlock smiled. "I can believe it of course, it just has managed to amaze me how quickly the time has flown. It really does feel like yesterday that we were changing his diapers. Soon he'll be doing it himself."

She chuckled. "Payback..." she said. Then she pondered what he had said, how the time really had seemed to pass in the blink of an eye. Their reunion, their marriage, their child. And now he would have his child. She turned to face her husband, her dearest love. "Sherlock...the time has passed so quickly. I'm...I just...I hope you know how glad and grateful I am to have spent it all with you," she said.

One hand slid to her hips while the other cupped her face, new wrinkles and lines there that hadn't been when they'd first met, when she'd helped him, when he'd fallen in love with her. "To find someone willing to put up with me, that has been one of the most wonderful things for me, and I'm very glad that it was you."

She smiled and leaned into his touch, observing the silver in his hair and the new careworn lines on his face, before looking into his eyes, the sharp, clear eyes that had not changed. "'Till all the seas gang dry, my dearest love. 'Till all the seas gang dry." (1)

(1)- A Red, Red Rose- Robert Burns

And there you have it! Our magnum opus, quite literally. Thank you so much for reading all the way through, to those of you who have graced us with reviews and marvelous words and things. I'm now on Archive of Our Own where you can find all of my/our works: /users/thebookworm214/works. If you go there, you will be able to find the companion fic to this one...Putting Us Back Together: The Lost Chapters. I will no longer be posting new stories to , only finishing up what has already been started. Everything will be permanently on Archive, so I truly look forward to seeing you there. As always, read and review, you marvelous reader.