"And we are likewise ignorant about how long it takes from grape soda to the onset of baby minions," he muses. "Well, it will just have to be a surprise."

"I could ask them, but I'm really not confident in their ability at this time to distinguish between 'her majesty is just curious and I can tell her to mind her own business' and 'I must answer her majesty because I am a minion'."

"Yes, there is that."

"I suppose I could get Soph to ask. Or you, maybe, but they seem more casual around Her Majesty's Sister than Her Majesty's Consort."

"Perhaps because Her Majesty's Consort visits so rarely," he says, and kisses Her Majesty's cheek.

"That could be it, yeah, Soph is up there all the time teaching them interesting forms of poker and stuff." She kisses the end of his nose.

Now his nose is especially majestic! He nuzzles her with it.

Bella laughs, and squeezes him. "I love you."

"I wonder if baby minions are any better-looking than grown-up minions. Probably not, but maybe in a wrinkly-puppy kinda way? I suppose I will probably see."

"Are wrinkly puppies especially endearing?"

"Not more than regular puppies, but enough to earn the adjective."

"Aha."

"They look old and baby at the same time," Bella explains.

He giggles.

Snuggles. Sherlock is even cuter than a wrinkly puppy.

And terribly proud of this achievement.

Apparently he is also smugger than a wrinkly puppy. Wrinkly puppies are mostly kind of confused.

Sherlock is not at all confused. He generally isn't, in fact, but at this particular moment he is especially not.

That is good. Bella is not confused right now either. She is just snuggly.

That is how Sherlock is also! What a coincidence.

It is not really a coincidence at all!

That is true. It is not. It is a snuggle.

A highly non-coincidental sort of snuggle.

Yes.