Disclaimer: I own nothing of Sherlock BBC.

Molly Hooper could not quite feel her hands for they were swollen and red after hours of scrubbing the floors with icy water during winter. The first Wednesday of every month was the day where the Trustees and visiting committee would come to John Grier Home to make their obligatory rounds, read their reports, drink their tea and if necessarily, speak to the children who would always reply, as taught by the matron, with a respectful "Yes, sir", "No, sir".

At the age of seventeen, Molly was the oldest charge in the asylum and deemed not suitable to meet the guests which the young lady took it to her stride. One would not be able to survive in the orphanage with any other kind of mentality. Molly would then put herself to good use and assist with room F by taming their wild hair, wiping their runny noses and cleaning their grimy hands before sending them out in an orderly fashion for the guests to view.

The tiring day was finally over; Molly thought when she returned to her own room for a temporary respite until Tommy cheekily announced that Mrs Lippett, the matron asked for her presence in the office this very instant. Or perhaps not, Molly revised her thought with reluctance. She descended the flight of stairs and witnessed the departure of the last Trustee. The gentleman's back was facing her where he waited for his ride. The vehicle approached its owner and the glaring headlights threw his shadow against the wall, picturing long and thin limbs.

It looked just like an enormous daddy-long-legs. Luckily, Molly was not afraid of spiders so she merely smiled at the amusing scene. Gathering her courage and taking in a deep breath, Molly knocked on the door and entered quietly upon the matron's permission. To the young lady's immerse relief, Mrs Lippett was also smiling.

"Take a seat," the matron paused while Molly sat down before resuming, "You are an exception in John Grier Home, Molly. As you well know, we do not keep children after they are sixteen years old but you are intelligent and performed exceptionally well in your studies. Now that you are about to finish your education, the asylum unfortunately can no longer support you." Mrs Lippett was never one to mince her words.

"The question of your future was brought up today and the common practice would be for you to start finding employment but one of our most influential Trustees had come up with a most unusual suggestion. He proposed to send you to a Ladies' College in London and of course, the gentleman would sponsor it." Molly was understandably speechless; no girl in the orphanage was ever presented with this rarest of opportunities. It was unheard of; Molly would not even dare to dream about the possibility of it, until now.

"In addition to your board and tuition being fully accounted for, you will also receive a monthly allowance of twenty pounds. He has only but one condition; you would have to write a letter of acknowledgement once a month detailing the progress in your studies and of your daily life as one would write to one's parents. The gentleman wishes to remain anonymous and therefore you shall address him in your letters as Mr John Smith. Alas, do not expect any reply from him for he is no doubt a very busy man. Should you require an answer; you may correspond directly with Mr Griggs, his private secretary."

Molly had to pinch herself hard to ensure that she was not dreaming or hallucinating. The young lady accepted the pain with a big grin on her face. Molly was pulled out of her reverie by a loud snap of the matron's fingers. "You would need to board the earliest train to London tomorrow and that would leave us little time to prepare so do stop dilly-dallying around, Molly."

"What, tomorrow?" The young lady panicked upon hearing that. It was too soon. What if she could not excel in school? What if the other girls mocked at her for being an orphan? What if she let everyone down? Especially Mrs Lippett who seemed just as excited as she was and even more so. The matron gently placed her hands on Molly's thin shoulders, "I have faith in you but most importantly, you must have faith in yourself," and smiled softly, "Now go and bid your farewells," as she pointed to the group of children near the door.

Some were already sobbing with increasing loudness and the rest pretended that they were not tearing up because boys were not supposed to cry. Weeping, Molly rushed over to them as Mrs Lippett looked away for a short moment to sniffle delicately. It simply would not do for the children to see their matron crying.

Molly felt like Alice who dropped into the rabbit hole. It was an entirely different world – the train ride, the London streets, everything! The capital was mesmerising yet a trifle terrifying. Well-dressed gentleman would tip their top hats to ladies donning dresses that would probably be able to feed the orphanage for a whole year or longer. The sight made Molly horribly conscious of her plain black dress donated by one of the wives from the visiting committee few years ago so she picked up her pace, ignoring the pitying glances and whispers from her fellow pedestrians.

The uncomfortable sensation was immediately forgotten when Molly arrived at the Ladies' College. The young lady was genuinely concerned that she might find herself lost within the labyrinth of hallways and schoolrooms. Her room was shared with two other first year students. Sallie McBride had red hair, a turn-up nose and was friendly. Julia Holmes, however, had yet to notice Molly for the former was buried under the countless of dresses that she had brought from home and was in serious contemplation as to where to place them when her wardrobe was already filled to the brim with her shoes.

Molly's class had ended early and was returning to her room when she accidently bumped into a gentleman. He swiftly caught Molly by the elbows thus preventing her fall. "I'm terribly sorry, how clumsy of me!" The gentlemen in his top hat released her, "It is quite alright, Miss. You are not by any means hurt?" Molly shook her head meekly. "No, I'm fine. Thank you, Mr..." He kindly supplied his name, "Holmes, Mycroft Holmes."

Holmes? Molly recalled Julia mentioning about an uncle of hers that was planning to visit her today. "Do you happen to be related to Julia Holmes? Are you her uncle?" The gentleman raised his eyebrows slightly, "Why yes, Julia is indeed my niece. I had just concluded my business in this area and promised to call on her but she was nowhere to be seen. Do you know where she is now?" Molly knocked on her forehead, "Oh of course, Julia had to attend the supplementary classes this afternoon. She must have forgotten to inform you about it."

The gentleman pondered on, "Well then, do I have the honour of your presence as I take a walk around the school premises, Miss..." The young lady agreed to his request with a blush spreading across her cheeks, "Hooper, Molly Hooper." The pair strolled along leisurely and rather aimlessly while conversing just about everything and anything. They even had tea and dainty cakes at the College Inn when taking a break from their impromptu excursion.

In the end, Mr Holmes had to leave before his niece could be released from her classes and naturally, Julia was exasperated for missing him; it would seem that her uncle was a somewhat prominent figure in the government and it was an opportunity not to be missed for her to parade the poor gentleman about like a prized Thoroughbred in The Royal Ascot. As if she was not already proud of being a Holmes.

Author's note: The first two chapters are loosely based on Daddy-Long-Legs by Jean Webster and My Daddy Long Legs, a 1990 Japanese anime television series that was also based on the novel so the majority of my first two chapters actually comes straight from them but the following chapters will differ from the novel and more from the Sherlock world instead.

This fic will not be as Victorian as my other story, 'Parallel Universe' because the book was written in 1912 so I decided to stick to the slightly more modern style but still 'vintage'.