Blushing Proposals.
Authors Note: To everyone who reads my story 'Take This Hand, We Can Do It' I'm sorry I'm not updating that but I finished my work and I've been dying to write this story. So, I'm taking a break from writing angst and instead I'm going to write this oneshot. It came to me last night and so here it is. I hope you like it! Oh, and before you read I apologise if I got any of the details about pathology wrong. I tried to look it all up but everything was so contradictory and I couldn't make my mind up whether it was for the UK or other countries, the information I found. If any of you know the real details: let me know and I will gladly rectify my story! Thank-you!
Disclaimer: I do not own Sherlock in anyway.
Molly Hooper was just twenty and everything was perfect.
She was a couple years away from medical school and currently getting straight A's in her undergraduate course at university.
She had the greatest friends… ever!
When she wasn't studying, she was partying and she couldn't have asked for better people to party with.
And then there was him.
Ah, the boyfriend.
The wonderful, smart, gorgeous, older boyfriend.
All her single friends were jealous of her relationship.
He was simply perfect.
Even her mother approved of him despite the age difference.
He was twenty-nine, nearly thirty.
He was currently rising to a high position within The Metropolitan Police Force.
He was just so… perfect!
Molly sighed as she sat in their usual spot in St. James' Park, waiting for him.
They were supposed to be having a picnic today and he was surprisingly late.
Her eyes fell to her watch and she frowned.
Had something happened?
Her heart began to race.
Her eyes widened at all the thoughts running through her head.
'Oh God, please let him be OK,' she sent the silent prayer up to the sky above.
"Molly."
The brunette's eyes snapped to the figure standing beside her.
She let out a sigh of relief.
'Thank-you, God,' she whispered inside of her head.
He was fine.
He was alive.
He was looking exceptionally… perfect!
She smiled up at him, waiting for him to sit next to her.
He didn't smile back.
He didn't even so much as move to sit beside her.
She frowned.
"I-Is ev-everything OK?" She asked softly, her voice cracking from nerves.
He sighed.
'Oh dear.'
"Look Mol, it's been fun and all. You're a beautiful, intelligent, young woman but you've got to understand that at my age there are certain things expected of me by my family."
Molly felt her world whole world being torn apart.
She couldn't breathe.
Tears blurred her vision.
"Wh-what d-do you m-mean?" She choked out; her throat was constricted.
She forced back the sobs that wanted to take control of her body.
She heard him sigh and he bent down beside her, resting his hand on her shoulder.
She no longer felt like a woman in his presence; she was like a little girl.
"There's no easier way to say this, Molly," she looked up in to his eyes, trying to understand him.
"S-say wh-wh-what?"
"I'm engaged."
She thought it was bad when her world felt like it was being torn apart; that was nothing compared to how it felt now.
It was as if all at once everything shattered to the floor in to tiny pieces.
"H-how?"
"She's a family friend. I always knew I was going to marry her. It became official last night."
Molly could no longer see; the tears spilled over her lids.
Did he not even care?
He didn't appear to.
"Oh fuck. Molly, please don't cry. I don't want this. I really don't… but it's what my parents expect of me."
He sounded broken then.
Utterly broken.
She scoffed.
Serves him fucking right!
The tears continued falling; a lump had now grown in her throat.
"Then why are you doing this?"
He fell down next to her and wrapped his arms around her shoulders.
"Molly, I've told you! It's what my fam–"She cut him off.
"I know that! Why didn't you tell them no? Why didn't you ask to marry me instead!" She let out a choked sob when she spoke the word 'me.'
He let out a bitter laugh.
Molly felt worthless.
"Molly, you're far too young to be married; you're nowhere near finished your education, marriage would hold you back. You're an amazing woman and I refuse to keep you back from all you will do. My parents would never approve of us anyhow; the age gap is too great for them."
She nearly laughed at that.
It was more likely just to do with his parents than her be amazing.
"I'm sorry, Mol."
Molly spoke nothing.
She just stayed in his arms for what felt like hours but could have been no more than half an hour.
He pulled away from her, placed a final kiss upon her lips and walked away, off to his bride.
That had been thirteen years ago.
That was the first and only time Molly Hooper had, had her heart broken.
She hadn't let anyone get as close to her like he had.
She couldn't suffer that pain again.
Anytime that god awful memory surfaced in her thoughts she regretted everything she had done that day.
She wished so much that she had been strong.
She wished she had slapped his handsome face and yelled to him how much she hated him and wished to never see him again.
She would have walked away and at least felt like she still had her pride.
But no, she hadn't.
She'd simply cried in his arms like the pathetic mouse she was.
She was thirty-three now and the memory still haunted her.
She was no longer in love with him, she knew that.
She fell out of love with him the moment he told her it was over between them.
She just spent the next four years trying to get over the pain he had caused her; she had felt so dreadfully humiliated.
After that day, she had withdrawn from her friends and put all her energy in to studying instead of partying.
Her perfect life suddenly had taken a drastic turn.
She didn't regret it now.
Hell, it was the reason she had gotten her job at St. Bart's.
With all her focus on her career she had ended up becoming a better student than she already was, which was pretty hard considering she always got A's.
She had done so good that one of her professors had suggested her for the role of a pathologist at Bart's, after the other had sadly passed away.
Bart's had been dubious of taking her on at first, after all she had only just finished her required years as a House Officer but the professor was very well regarded and so they took the chance.
They hadn't regretted the choice.
Molly had been as thorough with her job as she had been with her studying.
Her only flaws were whenever Sherlock Holmes was around.
When Molly thought of how well she was doing in her life, she wasn't sure whether she should be thankful to him; she always wondered how she would react to seeing him again in the flesh.
She had seen him since that day.
Of course she had.
After all, he now held a high position within The Metropolitan Police; he'd been on the television.
She'd seen glimpses of him whilst she had been being questioned about Jim from IT who turned out to be the vicious James Moriarty, but that had been all.
She hadn't spoken to him.
What would she say to him?
Would she be kind?
Would she let him see how much he had destroyed her?
Or would she show him what he was missing out on?
Those were the thoughts crossing through Molly's mind as she stood alone in her mortuary.
She was leaning on one of the tables where she was supposed to be sorting out the equipment she had ordered in last week.
"Molly!" A voice behind her exclaimed as the doors to the morgue swung open.
The pathologist jumped but didn't turn around.
She was trying to keep her calm.
Perhaps if she didn't turn around she'd be able to talk like a normal human being and not a stammering fool.
After she had helped him fake his suicide she thought things would have changed between them but, sadly, they had stayed the same.
He saw her no differently.
She was about to reply to him when a yelp sounded throughout the morgue.
Molly turned around in surprise, thinking Sherlock had hurt himself.
She was shocked when she found Sherlock stood in front of her, completely… perfect.
"Oh Anderson! Must you always show the world how brainless you are?"
Molly's form went cold.
Anderson?
As in Anderson from The Metropolitan Police Force?
As in Adam Anderson?
Molly stood on her tiptoes, nervously, and glanced over Sherlock's shoulder.
She gulped.
There he was.
Adam Anderson.
The man she had only caught glimpses off since the day he'd broken her heart when she was only twenty-years-old.
"You slammed the door in my face!" He cried to Sherlock, clutching at his nose.
Molly wasn't sure what to feel at what she saw.
Part of her was gloating at the fact Sherlock had just hurt him.
Another part of her was angry at Sherlock for hurting him – it should have been her!
An even bigger part of her simply wanted to go over to him and help.
He was bleeding for heaven sakes!
However, she didn't.
She remained put.
She slipped off her tiptoes and let her eyes glide to Sherlock who was watching her with an expression she had only seen once before.
She had seen it the day before his suicide when she had told him she could see that he was sad.
He looked genuinely interested in her.
She blushed lightly and was surprised to find that when she spoke her voice was strong, and unbroken.
"What do you want?"
The look remained on his face for a few moments before it vanished, being replaced by his normal, emotionless expression.
"I need to see the body of Mrs Angela Felton. It seems to be the only way to prove to the excuse of a human being behind me that I am right."
Molly almost laughed.
Of course.
She nodded her head, silently, and moved to pull the pretty, elderly woman from her wall of bodies.
She slowly pulled back the sheet, revealing the woman's face.
Her eyes went over to Anderson who was surprisingly quiet.
She froze.
The only reason he was so quiet was because his eyes were fixed upon her.
She gulped and slowly moved towards him.
"I better help him sort out his nose. I'm not having him bleeding all over Mrs Felton, she deserves some respect."
Molly was surprised at the fact she had even spoken.
Anderson didn't move, his eyes still stuck on his former lover.
He hadn't seen her since that day.
Not even a single glimpse of those heart-warming eyes.
Of course he knew about her.
He knew she worked here.
How idiotic of him!
How could he have forgotten that!
He had deliberately avoided this place for a reason all these years.
If it hadn't have been for the… the… freak, as Sally cared to call him, he wouldn't have forgotten, but he was so hell bent on him being wrong for once that it had slipped his mind.
And now, he was stuck in this damn cold mortuary watching the girl he had lost walk towards him for the first time in thirteen years.
Sherlock watched the pair in intrigue.
What was happening right now?
There was something between them.
He had realised it when he had noticed Molly was standing on her tiptoes; her pupils were wider than normal, her mouth hung agape, and he believed she looked much paler than she normally did – he wasn't entirely sure about that as the girl spent most of her time around him with a vivid shade of red covering her face.
But now, now he could feel the tension in the air.
Oh, it was simply delicious!
What evil thing had Anderson done to Molly?
Had he ran in to her like the wild animal he was and caused her daily morning coffee to spill all over her?
Or even better yet, had he ran over her precious cat, Toby, with his car?
He knew Toby had recently died.
Perhaps the culprit of the accident was in this room with them.
Oh! It was so glorious!
He'd have someone else to torture Anderson with.
Anderson would be so uncomfortable!
It was perfect.
No.
Wait.
If Anderson had killed Toby, why would Molly help him?
That didn't seem like the thing to do.
He frowned as he watched them.
There was definitely something between them though.
But what?
Oh, how infuriating this all was!
He sighed.
The sigh emitted from Sherlock went unnoticed by the other two in the room.
Molly was now in front of Adam.
She looked in to his eyes.
Her heart felt like it was breaking all over again.
He was still as handsome as he had been when they had first met.
Perhaps more even.
Not in the conventional sense but there was just… something about his whole person that Molly felt attracted to.
Maybe it was the thought of how she knew him?
She wasn't sure.
Still looking up in to his eyes, she smiled and spoke.
"Hello Adam."
Sherlock frowned.
Who the hell was Adam?
Sherlock was about to step in and correct Molly.
"It's been a while, Molly."
Sherlock's frown grew deeper.
He felt rather nauseous.
These two not only knew each other but they seemed to know each other on a… friendly level.
How was this possible?
And Adam Anderson?
Oh God, he really felt like he'd throw up now!
It was so… sickly!
"It has been," she nodded and then pointed towards a chair.
"Sit there, please. I'll just get the first aid kit. Your nose looks disgusting." She murmured as she walked off to her office on the other side of the morgue.
He laughed.
Sherlock wanted someone to kill him.
Anderson's laugh was grinding on his nerves.
Sherlock would have told them to stop it and get back to work had he not wanted to know what it was they had between them.
It was irritating him.
He couldn't figure it out.
Or perhaps, he didn't want to admit to himself that he knew what they had, had between them.
That thought would truly make him retch up the small amount of food he had consumed within the past forty-eight hours.
Molly soon returned with the first aid kit and began to work on fixing up Adam's nose.
"How have you been, Mol?"
Sherlock felt his gut twist at the way Anderson shortened Molly's name.
He wanted to do more than make that bastards nose bleed, and he wanted to do it with his fist.
"Oh, you know. I've been good. How could I not have been good?" She laughed, nervously, and continued to patch up his nose.
Why was Molly nervous?
What. The. Fuck. Had. Anderson. Done. To. Her.
Sherlock surprised himself then.
What was wrong with him?
He tried to ignore Molly and Anderson, turning back to Mrs Felton's body.
Adam gave Molly a tight smile and winced as he did.
"It's probably best you don't move." She continued to dab at his nose, clearing the blood that was drying there.
Adam nodded his head, slightly, and stared in to Molly's eyes as she worked.
Molly began to feel slightly uncomfortable under his gaze and so she broke their silence.
"How have you been, Adam?"
"Wonderful. Recently divorced." He smiled and regretted it the instant he did, his entire face stung like hell.
"I told you not to move." Molly muttered, as she continued fixing up his nose.
Sherlock felt his own twitch in disdain.
Why did Anderson feel the need to tell Molly of his recent divorce?
Molly did have bad taste in men; there was no doubt about it.
But her taste wasn't that bad!
"How about you, Mol? Seeing anyone?"
Sherlock's fists clenched by his sides.
"No. Not right now. Not many people want to date someone with hours like mine." She sighed and pulled back to admire her work.
"Lucky for you, that door didn't break your nose. Everything seems OK. You should just have some bruising come out in the next couple of days."
Anderson nodded and stood from the chair so he was a few inches taller than Molly.
"Would you like to be seeing someone, Mol?"
Sherlock's eye twitched.
Where was that idiot going with this?
"E-excuse me?" Molly stammered, cheek's flushing the red that was usually reserved for Sherlock.
"I was just thinking about how much fun we used to have, y'know? And I was wondering, since you're single and I'm single – no women my parents expect me to marry insight," he chuckled darkly at that before continuing, "Perhaps we could grab some dinner and just have… fun."
Molly turned an even more embarrassing shade of red.
She felt rather… violated by the way he spoke to her and the way his eyes appraised her appearance.
"I-uh… erm… well-I… Adam… I–"
Sherlock cut Molly's stammering off with a growl.
Anderson and Molly turned to look at him in shock – they had forgotten he was even in the room.
"SHUT-UP!"
Sherlock began stalking towards the pair in anger.
"I'm trying to work here but all I can hear is you two and your unnecessary chatter! Anderson hearing you think is a bad enough distraction but hearing your voice repeatedly truly grinds on a man's nerves! And Mol, I can usually handle having you around me whilst I work. You're usually rather helpful, fetching me coffee and anything I need, but with this imbecile about I find you barely tolerable and I cannot bear to deal with that. So, if you are so much as thinking of saying yes to that disgustingly bad proposal – really Anderson, even I could offer a more appealing package other than dinner and fun – then I am going to have to intervene."
Molly felt her heart tighten at his words.
And what exactly did he mean by intervene?
There was only one way to find out.
"I was in fact thinking of saying yes to Anderson's proposal."
A smug smile formed on Anderson's face, he didn't seem to notice Sherlock nearing closer to Molly.
"Then I guess I shall have to intervene on the world's behalf."
Anderson rolled his eyes at that.
"I guess you shall have to."
Anderson's mouth fell open as the words left Molly's lips.
What the actual fuck?
"How about a real dinner and a commitment from me that I will do everything in my power to make sure your answer to that wanker's proposal remains as a 'no'?"
Molly felt her lips form in to a huge smile at that.
"And what does this commitment from you entail?"
"We'll talk about it over dinner."
Anderson couldn't believe it.
Was this seriously happening?
Who on earth did Sherlock Holmes actually think he was?
Molly was his girl!
She may have had a stupid crush on the freak but he had actually BEEN with her before!
He couldn't claim her now just because there was interest being shown in her.
"I'm waiting for your yes, Molly."
"Oh, right… God, yes, Sherlock!" Molly exclaimed before blushing beet root.
Ah yes, that was how it was meant to be.
That blush was reserved for him and for him alone.
Authors Note: OK, so this was going to be slightly longer as I wanted Sherlock and Molly to have a private conversation without Anderson there… BUT… I wrote that line and it just felt damn perfect to let it end here. I'm not quite sure about my feelings on this piece. I've spent a couple hours writing and I think I like it. I'm just not sure if it turned out the way I wanted it. I'm a little nervous about whether or not Sherlock is in character or not. Anyways, I'm going to post it because I'd like to hear what y'll think.
Please review? :)
Petal.