Author's Note: The characters contained in this story are not mine; I'm only borrowing them for my own amusement and am making no profit whatsoever. This is just a relatively short one shot about how Sherlock sees the people in his life. As always, reviews are absolutely appreciated. Bonus points for anyone who can spot the very miniscule cross-over.
Sherlock sighed as Molly fled the lab near tears. He'd just informed her that her latest beau, a rather awkward pilot, was in fact hiding something, and that she should press him for the truth. Of course, his exact words were a little more pointed than this, in an attempt to ensure Molly paid adequate heed, but his message was still the same. Given the brief amount of time he'd spent observing the man in question, he doubted the secret was anything sinister, probably the fact that he wasn't actually paid to fly, but Sherlock believed those kind of relationships should be based on full disclosure.
Molly of course had taken it as an attack, just as Mrs. Hudson had when he'd tried to warn her off the scratch-cards again, or when John had been trying to chat up a married woman (obviously trying to pose as single). 'Why do you insist running down every one of Molly's boyfriends? She finally decides to try her heart on someone not, not you, and you completely tear him to pieces. If I didn't know better, I'd say you were possessive bordering on jealous.' John ranted, having run into her in the hallway. 'Is that it, that you actually want Molly for yourself?'
'Don't be ridiculous, John. As I've said before, not really my area, romantic relationships.' Sherlock said off-handedly, waiving his hand vaguely in the direction Molly had left. 'Besides, I do believe Molly would prefer an honest relationship with her prospective lover. This Marvin bloke …'
'Martin' John corrected automatically.
'Whatever, he was definite hiding something. Nothing dastardly, more than likely a second job, which would explain his rather overly limited schedule and shabby dress. That and the fact that it took him multiple tries to get his pilot's license, probably owing to the fact that he was self trained. Still if Molly is considering a serious relationship with the man, despite his … ' another formless wave and a face, '…gingerness, and she most definitely is, they should start out knowing the truth.'
'Yeah, well there's this thing called tact … you should look into it.' John said, before stalking off to find coffee. Sherlock groaned before placing his forehead back onto the viewer with a little more force than was strictly necessary. He never understood why the people he, for lack of better word, cared about always misunderstood his intentions. He was honest with them in order to protect them. Why couldn't they just comprehend that? Mycroft did … sort of. One or two of his other 'friends' came close, although that seemed to be dependent on the day, and for all its randomness the phase of the moon. Despite common belief Sherlock did indeed have people he would consider friends. He'll admit the population of that group was extremely small … fluctuating between six and seven depending on how severely Mycroft had pissed him off. Granted, he highly doubted many, if any besides John, would consider him a 'friend' in return, but that didn't really matter in Sherlock's mind. Once someone had attained such a status, they were afforded certain privileges, even if they didn't actually realize it themselves. He would be loyal to a fault, and would protect them with his own life if it came to that. A practice that Mycroft had been warning him against for years. They even enjoyed a certain amount of leniency when it came to annoying him, he would let them push him much farther than anyone else. Sherlock also felt that providing his friends with the benefit of his particular skills was a certain type protection, and for the most part, he delivered these observations in an honest and timely manner. He wasn't always honest with them granted, but only when he had a particular reason not to be. After all, despite John's assertions to the contrary, he still thought it was kinder to tell them the truth up front. Especially given the fact that several of his friends, Molly and Lestrade included, tended to have disastrous taste in the opposite sex.
After a second's frustration, he simply shook his head and changed to the next slide, dismissing the familiar subject. If only his friends knew the lengths he would and had gone to in order to keep them safe, they might appreciate it. Then again, it didn't really matter, appreciation was over-rated, it wasn't like it actually changed anything.