Their location had all the prerequisites of a tropical getaway: clear blue waters, white sand beach, coconut trees, crashed plane still smoking from their recent crash onto this island… okay, maybe not that one. Molly dug into the pocket of her shorts and pulled out her iPhone. She sighed. The screen was broken and on her palm were miniscule smithereens like fine sugar.
She had fainted, Sherlock had explained, so he had to carry her away from the plane to relative safety on the beach, beneath some coconut trees. It was almost a good thing that John wasn't with them. Mary was ready to give birth any moment and of course John chose her over this case (started as a ten, ended a three. Sherlock had been furious).
Sherlock had been piloting the plane when lightning hit it and, according to Sherlock, one of the laterals failed so they had to make an emergency landing. The navigation system and the comms were damaged by the lightning strike, too, so they had no idea where they were. All Molly knew was that they were on what looked like a big island, and Sherlock told her to stay put on the beach while he went back to the plane to see if he could salvage anything useable.
Molly stood up from where she was sat on the sand and looked around her. It wouldn't do for her to just sit around and wait for him to come back. She was hungry and there were palm, bamboo, banana and coconut trees. There was work to do.
o-o-o
It was almost sunset when Sherlock came back, and when he found Molly, he was pleasantly surprised to find that not only had Molly made them a makeshift shelter out of palm leaves she'd woven together, she'd also gathered some young coconuts which would have coconut meat for them to eat and potable coconut water for them to drink. Molly had also made a fire out of coconut husks and some dried banana leaves, making her little campsite smell fragrant and inviting. She was sitting on the sand with her back to him, crouched in on herself and staring at the fire. He approached her cautiously, not wanting to startle her. "This is amazing, Molly,"
Molly shrugged. "You spend enough nights alone and you learn a thing or two from Bear Grylls,"
Sherlock chuckled. "I suppose," He produced a small machine. It was the plane's radio transceiver. "I managed to separate it from the rest of the plane's comms and I think I'll be able to get it to work, but I'll have to cannibalize my watch for it. I'd do it now but," he gestured to the sun which was setting on the horizon.
Molly nodded and gave him a small smile. "It's okay. You can work on it tomorrow." She reached for one of the young coconuts and carefully broke it open from the top with a wedge-shaped rock, so that the drinkable water would not spill. She then handed it to Sherlock before going back to her previous sitting position, staring at the fire. Sherlock murmured his thanks and they spent the next few minutes in the quiet, warming themselves with the makeshift hearth.
It was Molly who broke the silence. "It's weird, but I have the strangest craving for sashimi right now. I don't even like fish,"
Sherlock chuckled again. "Well, that's good,"
Molly looked at him puzzledly. Sherlock pointed at the full moon that was rising in the opposite side of the sky. "When I was hunting down Moriarty's men, I learned to survive in the wild. I had to do. Anyway, a full moon means fish, so if you feel like sashimi, you need only wait a few more hours for the moon to rise above our heads,"
Molly smiled at the sky, closed her eyes, and hummed in contentment despite the situation they were in. At least she wasn't worrying about Sherlock's safety; they were facing the same dangers after all. "I never got to that episode." She shivered as a sudden gust of cold night wind hit her. Her sleeveless top and her shorts weren't any protection at all. She threw a few dry coconut husks into the fire and ran her palms over her skin to warm herself. The next moment, a familiar scent accompanied by an unfamiliar but not unwelcome warmth enveloped her. Sherlock had scooched closer and had taken off the Belstaff, covering the both of them.
"This could have gone so much worse," Sherlock commented.
Molly nudged him on the shoulder. "Oh? How?"
Sherlock wrapped his arms around her and held her closer. "I could have gotten stuck here with Mycroft."
"For your sake, I hope there are no cameras here, " she teased.
o-o-o
Meanwhile, back in London, Mummy and Mycroft were surveilling Sherlock and Molly in real time via wireless webcams that were apparently watching from the tops of trees.
"Mummy, I do think we should send reconaissance there ASAP. Who knows what diseases they might catch there,"
"Pass me the popcorn, Mycroft."
"Yes, Mummy."
