"It was five am and then this girl" Clara pointed at Molly " …told us « Bye, I have to take a shower and a test! » and she just left! "
Molly had the decency to blush furiously nibbling at her salad.
« And she got an A. A freaking A. It 's unbelievable ! Girl, you're a genius »
« Oh, no. I was just a little bit inebriated, that probably helped …I got bolder ? Maybe, that's just what I needed to answer the question. »
« Bollocks. You're little Miss Perfect. » Her friend teased.
« I have three tickets for Marilyn's concert next month. Would you like to come ? »
Molly liked David. Flattered, she accepted.
Something Molly Hooper was always proud of is her ability to function correctly even after a busy night. Little Miss Perfect was known in Uni for having showed up after a concert to take her philosophy exam.
So now, age 35 she decided to bring the old Molly back and accepted an invitation from her uni friend David to a Marilyn Manson concert. After all it was in London, ended not later that one am and she really missed the old days.
The next morning she woke up in her bed. With a sore throat.
Another thing Molly Hooper was well known of was her professional behaviour which would explain why she bothered spending a great amount of time everyday grooming her self, making sure her hair was perfect like everything else about her and the low tone of her voice was right now the only clue to her last night's doing.
She just finished running some tests on blood simples from a crime scene when Sherlock came in and smiled to her.
"Molly. "
"Oh, hello Sherlock . It's nice to see you !" She chirped but then seing his puzzled look:
"Sorry for the hoarse voice, I had a shouting competition last night. You really don't want to know. "
Sherlock now was really weirded out.
"No, that's not what I meant. Well, do go on. You were going to talk."
Sherlock closed his eyes for a second and inhaled deeply. "I wanted to see how you were doing. How are you, Molly Hooper ?"
Why on earth was he calling her by her full name ?
"As you probably can see I am doing well" said Molly taking a step towards him. Today she felt she needed to stay closer to people. It's not like they could hear her better but she supposed it wa just psychological.
"Mm. Yes, I see. Have you finished ?"
"Of course not. I have …" she took a glance at the clip board under the table "….twenty more simples to run and a lot of paperwork afterwards. Uh!"
"I can help if you'd like" It was her turn to be surprised.
"You always helped me during cases and I am a graduate chemist. I'm sure we could give it some use right now."
"You don't have a case ?"
"There's something at the moment, actually. But nothing urgent. And you could need some help."
"Sherlock I can't give away crime scene simples to you » Sherlock was going to interrupt "No, they asked me to do it. That wouldn't be right. But thank you. » She gave him her sweetest smile and that seemed to calm him.
"But you're free to stay here. Your cultures developed wonderfully ! Do you want me to get them ?" He gently took her by the elbow while she was walking by. "Don't want to disturb you. Can I have your keys for the refrigirator ? "
"Sure, here."
"Thank you" Sherlock leaved with a nod and she didn't notice the way he was nervously running his hand through his hair.
"Uhm. Uhm."
Molly looked up from her volumetric pipette. "Oh, that's lovely. Thank you, Sherlock"
"I took the liberty to use the kitchen down stairs."
Molly sniffed at the hot beverage.
"No need to worry. In every canteen, I noticed, there's some quality food hidden somewhere. I used the best honey there was."
Molly took a grateful sip from her honeyed green tea.
"Frankly, one would think entering a canteen kitchen wouldn't be so easy."
"It was easy because it's you." She said leaning her head just a bit.
"Well." Molly noticed his blushing ears. She knew Sherlock always craved compliments but he never looked more endearing. With his face lightly flushed and his eye lids shot down.
"Well, Molly I still need your keys. I still need to look for my petri dishes." And he stormed off.
Half an hour later Sherlock seemed to be absorbed in whatever he was doing but when Molly discreetly was heading out of the lab he suddenly raised his head.
"Have you finished ?" He was repeating the same question from earlier, she remarked.
"I need to make a phonecall, go back to your cultures" She said, she hoped gently. At least as polite one can be with a husky voice. Sherlock nodded and got straight to work.
When she came back Sherlock was tightening his jaw and seemed angry at the microscope.
" Anything the matter ?" Molly always worried at a tense Sherlock.
"No, no. The cultures are not conclusive. They didn't go as planned."
"That can't be disappointing, can it?I thought you would like the element of surprise."
"I wasn't ready for it. I need to go. I have to catch up on my case."
"Sherlock!"
"Yes ?" he was at the door and seemed very eager to leave.
"You know you have to turn off the equipement when you're finished. No, don't worry this time I'll do it. Good luck."
"It's not easy to turn it off" Sherlock muttered when he was sure she was out of reach.