Disclaimer: I own nothing.

A/N: Spoilers for "The Empty Hearse." So I decided to join in on the fun. Everyone has written such amazing Sherlolly fics post TEH. Thought I can offer a humble contribution. This one requires patience because this is mostly from a specific point of view and loads of internal monologues. Hope you enjoy reading as I enjoyed writing it.

Friend Zone

Once upon a time Detective Inspector Greg Lestrade entertained the idea of asking one Dr. Molly Hooper out for coffee. It was way back when he and his now ex-wife first had the first of many 'trial separations.'

He was living in a hotel, spending too much time at the Yard, feeling a little too bitter and too angry over the fact that he had to move out because his wife was stepping out on him. So he thought, why not? What exactly was stopping him from asking out the pretty pathologist? Molly was attractive, smart and most of all nice. She would be a wonderful dinner companion; he actually appreciated her humor even though it drove through the border of morbid. The two of them both worked long hours and so they would be actually likely to understand missed dinners and early wake up calls. Over all Molly Hopper would be a better match for him.

So with that logic in mind, he was in the midst of putting his plan into action. Molly was just about to pop the body (the reason he was there in the first place) back into freezer. And then the primary reason why he shouldn't walked in. With such impeccable timing.

Consulting detective Sherlock Holmes, took one look at him, raised a single brow and said quite empathically, "No." And then he turned to tell Molly that he would like to see the body, the same body that she just stored.

Now Greg was not accustomed to taking orders from Sherlock, despite what the berk might think. Let it be said that his aborted plans of asking Molly out for coffee had nothing to do with Sherlock bloody Holmes. It did have plenty to do with Molly Hooper. The moment that the other man marched through, the pathologist turned slightly pink, a small smile painted her lips and she looked genuinely happy to see the consulting detective, a rare occurrence when it comes to Sherlock and interactions with…people in general.

The sad truth came barreling into Greg. Of course! Molly fancied Sherlock. That was why he never bothered to REALLY look at her as a woman, that…and…uh he was a married man. So yeah, not going to touch that situation. At all. He was satisfied being her friend.

Sure, over the years he thought about it. After the second and third and then fourth 'trial separation,' he toyed with the notion. But Molly Hooper was quite faithful in her affections.

But then Sherlock died and it became the last thing in his mind. Mind you, the world did not stop turning when Holmes jumped from the roof of St. Bart's, though the man probably thought otherwise. At that point he decided that romancing Molly Hooper was not the thing to do, it felt wrong somehow.

And so he settled in a comfortable position in the friend zone when it came to Molly.

Turned out he was right. She was a great dinner companion. He happened upon her during a late night investigation. The two of them were in the morgue and after getting her postmortem report, his stomach grumbled quite loudly. Molly simply giggled and offered to get some crisps from the vending machine. He agreed and he happily discovered that her humor had not changed despite the death of a certain consulting detective. It became a sort of postmortem tradition between them. They were mates. He got to know her better and she learned more about him.

Then Sherlock Holmes was alive again.

Phillip Anderson told him about Molly's part in the entire plan (it still astonishes him, the fact that Sherlock chose to reveal his brilliant execution of his fall to Anderson when he couldn't stand the man before his 'death'). Greg had to admit that he mildly resented the fact that Molly lied and that she was able to do so with such amazing ability. The first time they encountered each other post-reveal he tried to hide his resentment. But Molly had an uncanny ability to see through the façade and apologized as though she herself faked her own death. With tears in her eyes, she told him that he was one of Jim's (Moriarty, will always be Moriarty to him) targets to get Sherlock to jump. He forgave her, of course he did. She was his friend and she did everything because Sherlock asked her to.

Now…Sherlock. The git was back and…he was less of a git. The nicer and gentler version of his friend (because Sherlock is his friend despite his continued insistence on not remembering that he was in fact GREG and not Graham or Gavin or…he could really go on) was disconcerting but he chalked it up to character growth. Greg always believed that Sherlock could be a good man and he was simply on his way to becoming one.

The most remarkable instances of Sherlock 2.0 somehow involved Molly. When Sherlock brought Molly along with him on a case, instead of his friend and blogger John Watson (understandable since he took Sherlock's 'death' the hardest and so the reveal must have hurt), Greg was mildly surprised but he rolled with it. Molly proved that she was an invaluable resource when she had her turn with the corpse. He was different then, Sherlock. He was less obnoxious; he even had to be prompted to show off, something truly disconcerting. Then he mentioned not wanting to insult their intelligence, it took a lot for his jaw not to drop at that. Sherlock thrived at insulting everyone's intelligence while simultaneously showing off his brilliance. Should he continue to be so…nice, Greg would have to get accustomed to it and it's not a guarantee that he ever will.

Over the course of his friendship with Molly, Greg realized one profound truth, something he hadn't shared with anyone. Molly Hooper was brilliant; she was an amazing and efficient pathologist, a great and loyal friend. Overall, quite the catch. That was when he realized that Sherlock did not deserve her; she was too good for him. Molly was harboring the notion that it was her who did not deserve Sherlock. That he was too brilliant for her but Greg knew that it was the other way around.

Sherlock was not the best candidate for a life partner; in fact he derided the idea of finding one's true love. Greg could remember the Christmas that Molly put Sherlock in his place and how Sherlock did not retaliate with a crushing deduction in return. Instead he apologized. Greg had an inkling that Sherlock knew too that he did not deserve Molly's devotion.

This new Sherlock though, he just might have a chance. Sure, Molly mentioned seeing some bloke in passing. Greg did not really think much of it. After all, Sherlock was back and Molly's unfailing affection for the man was still ever present. It was obvious. Despite Sherlock's estimation of his abilities, he still saw Molly's ever present blush when she was around the consulting detective, the way her eyes lit up around him, and the smile, a smile that only Sherlock seemed to provoke from her.

Greg also did not miss the way Sherlock acted in return. When they were gathered for Sherlock's great disclosure to the press, he saw clues that were pretty hard to miss. He was actually nice to the future Mrs. Watson (Greg would have had words with him if he hadn't, Mary Morstan was lovely). And when finally Molly appeared with her fiancé (When the bloody hell did that happen?), he smiled at her and not his fake smiles, those were easy to spot, a smile that conveyed he was pleased that she was there.

Ah Tom the fiancé. Molly never bothered to tell him the name of the man she was seeing, which informed Greg's ability to simply dismiss him as insignificant to the end game: Molly Hooper and Sherlock Holmes. It was what prompted him to ask if it was serious. Her answer was wholly unsatisfying. Because Tom! He was a Sherlock doppelganger. He dressed the way he did (down to the way he wore his scarf) and he looked like Sherlock, tall, pale and curly. Molly did not have a type. He'd seen the men she dated before, several blokes before Moriarty, others after Sherlock's 'death,' there was no common denominator in terms of the way they looked. Tom, Tom was proof that she hadn't moved on. And she was engaged! Bloody hell! The things people in love did.

And Sherlock! He was supposed to see Tom and spout off his deductions about the man. He would momentarily get the wrath of Molly but it would wane because despite being a wanker he was right and she would realize it and then everyone would move on (It would happen like this, he would smile at Molly and then he would turn to look at her fiancé, his eyes would narrow and pierce through Tom's entire being [the way he looked at people, like the man was looking at your soul!] then once he gathered his data he would say all there was to know about Tom the fiancé. Everyone would be amazed at his brilliance as usual. Then he would mention that everything else is irrelevant because it was rather obvious that she was simply settling for a pale imitation of him, Tom the fiancé would look at everyone, obviously outraged and then at Molly waiting for her to defend him but she would be too shocked, so he would leave in a huff. Everyone would be quiet and Sherlock would know then that what he had done was simply not good and apologize to Molly [and if Anderson was even the slightest bit right at his preposterous theories on how Sherlock faked his death, the two would snog right there in front of all of them!] Or maybe not). Perhaps with the new and improved Sherlock, the two could move on together. But no! Sherlock bloody Holmes decided to keep his mouth shut. At the most inopportune time. What was the world coming to?

So he asked the question. Really looked at Molly and asked if they were serious and she says of course, her ring glaring at him. She did look happy but a part of him simply was not convinced. After all Sherlock was there to affect her in his usual way. Greg was not convinced. And as he heard how the two met and that they had a dog (Molly was a cat person! Anyone who has seen her blog would know that!) And that they hadn't set on a date yet. He wasn't satisfied. He just wasn't. Molly was his friend and she deserved to be happy, not a pale imitation of happiness. Something had to be done.

He tried to get Sherlock to do his usual bit but he said no. John told him that he didn't not feel comfortable plotting against a nice bloke who seemed completely enamored with Molly. And that was a problem. Tom was actually nice. He did not seem to resent Sherlock even after seeing how similarly they dressed. He also understood Molly's exacting work hours. Tom was nice. It seemed unjust to withhold his approval because he thought that Molly could be happier.

Sure it was presumptuous but then again isn't that what friends do? Say the hard truths to those they care so much about. Sherlock used to be the resident truth teller, but the man had taken a vacation in sensitivity-ville, much to his dismay. Bloody Holmes had been unfailingly polite towards Tom. John was the one who told him how much Sherlock actually did not like Tom. Not because he was some criminal mastermind but simply because he had Molly, pure conjecture on his part.

Then when he and Sherlock were planning John's stag night (because damn it, John deserved a good bachelor's party and Sherlock could not be trusted to deliver on such an occasion and yeah he wanted to have a good time!), well Greg cleverly brought up the idea of inviting Tom. It was a gone in a blink of an eye, but Greg swore that he saw Sherlock grimace at the mention of the Molly's fiancé. He wanted to shake him into action. They ended up asking Tom to join them, ruddy Holmes.

It was John and Mary's wedding that he finally had enough.

The way he saw it he outranked them all. John was a doctor/blogger and partner for Sherlock, Molly was a pathologist and Sherlock was a consulting detective. He, Greg Lestrade, was Detective Inspector. He decided whether or not to Sherlock and John got to consult in a case. He had authority over the bodies that Molly examined. He just had about enough, He was going to overrule their 'best not' practice.

When he danced with Molly she seemed happy. Her entire appearance was quite cheerful. Yet her eyes would once in a while dart in the direction of one detective. Greg nodded to himself, thanked Molly as he led her back to the table. He then wandered towards Sherlock, who was hanging around the bar (bit shocking) with two glasses of pretty decent scotch. He handed the mildly suspicious man the other glass.

"She needs to hear it." Greg said before he took a sip.

Sherlock raised a brow as he too took a sip of the liquor.

"She needs to hear it from you." He said again, more insistently. Playing dumb did not become him.

"And what exactly does she need to hear?"

"Your deductions about Tom, how he seemed to bear a striking resemblance to you." He tried to put on a slight disinterested expression, not that the other man would fall for it, but Molly was looking in their direction.

Sherlock huffed. "And why exactly am I tasked with such an endeavor?"

"Because that is what you do." He looked at him intently. "You still say what's in your mind with little regard to the one on the receiving end, sure you may have become slightly more sensitive to other people's feeling," Sherlock scoffed at that. "But you don't do that with her. Not anymore." He sighed.

"The one moment that she needs you to just speak and you are denying her. Of all the times to keep your mouth shut you chose this instance, when her entire happiness hangs in the balance. " Greg shook his head in empathic disapproval. He half-expected Sherlock to comment on his melodramatic monologue.

"And what would you have me say?" He finally gave Greg his full attention.

"That she could be happier. And that you in no way deserve her but you're willing to try because she matters most." Greg smiled slightly as he recalled the way she haltingly told him about that particularly encounter. She actually did not mean to say precisely what Sherlock told her but as her mind wandered back to the moment; she laid her own heart bare for him to see. Molly Hooper was still irrevocably in love with Sherlock Holmes and Sherlock Holmes just might be harboring the very same feelings.

He cleared his throat. "Tom is a decent man."

Greg agreed. He nodded to show his concurrence. "But we already knew that he is not exactly her type." He offered the man a slight smile.

Sherlock seemed amused.

"Keeping silent may seem for the best. But in this instance it isn't. Certainly not the bravest and most selfless act." He clapped Sherlock on the back. "So Sherlock Holmes, you've had a shot of liquid courage. Do you feel any braver?"

A long silence settled over them as Greg let Sherlock ponder his words of wisdom.

Then the man gulped down the rest of his drink, slammed the glass on the counter and after offering a slight nod in his direction made his way towards Molly.

It was at that precise moment that Greg realized that John might not appreciate his meddling during his wedding day. His mind conjured various ways that Sherlock might make a scene. But as he watched the consulting detective approach the pathologist Greg threw his care away. The wedding was already exciting enough already, what was about to happen was merely icing on the cake. With a self-satisfied grin on a job well done (he seriously deserved the best mate award for knocking some sense into Sherlock and in effect Molly) he ordered another drink.

The End