No Way Out
Prompt: No Way Out
Disclaimer: I do not own Sherlock.
Molly Hooper sat on a few cushions in front of the fireplace of 221B Baker Street, her home for exactly six months to the day. She was sitting with her legs crossed and an old photo album in her lap. She was tracing old photographs of her parents on their wedding day. She had only been looking through the album for a few minutes before she felt the tightening in her chest and the lump form in her throat.
In exactly seven months she was going to be walking down the aisle towards the love of her life, Sherlock Holmes.
She had no family to see her do it.
And even worse, she had no father to walk her down the aisle.
"Molly, what are you doing?"
Molly wiped at her eyes and then patted a place beside her. Sherlock moved into her line of vision and very carefully sat down beside her. This wasn't the first time she had looked through this album, but she was certain this was the first time she had done it with him. "My parents. They were a lovely couple." She pointed to the smiling picture, biting on her bottom lip. "I just wish they could be here to see me…"
Molly and Sherlock perused through the photo album together, and Sherlock listened intently as Molly pointed to different photos, telling stories, describing her life, and sometimes just tracing them with her finger. By the time they finished, she had tears steadily falling from her eyes. Sherlock gently closed the book and covered one of her hands with his own.
"Molly?" he asked.
"Hmm?"
"I understand why you are overwhelmed by the emotions of this album, but why did you choose to look at it if you knew it was going to make you sad?"
Molly sniffled and looked at Sherlock. "I was just thinking about my Mum and Dad. They obviously won't be at the wedding." She sighed and tucked her hair behind her ear. "And I was thinking about my Dad walking me down the aisle." She shrugged her shoulders helplessly, more tears falling from her eyes.
Sherlock stared helpless at Molly, offering her a gentle squeeze of the hand. Even though she was crying, she smiled slightly. "It's alright. I'm just being silly." She set the book aside and stood up. "Tea?" She didn't wait for a response, making her way to the kitchen and tinkering around with the kettle.
Molly was immersed in her thoughts, so she didn't hear Sherlock enter the kitchen. He cleared his throat and clasped his hands behind his back.
"I'm going to call off the wedding."
Molly spun around so quickly, she almost knocked over the kettle. "What?"
"I'm going to call off the wedding. I know you heard me."
Molly felt as if the floor had opened up beneath her. She leaned against the counter and stared at her hand, the engagement ring glittering on her finger. "Why?"
"I can't do this if walking down the aisle without your father makes you this upset!" He crossed the room quickly and cupped her cheeks in his hands, forcing her to look up. "We can runaway together and come back…eventually."
"Oh Sherlock…" Molly whispered, mimicking him and cupping his face. "There is no way out of this." She leaned up and kissed his cheek. "I appreciate your offer, but I really do want to marry you in front of all our friends and family. I'll think of something, don't worry."
Two weeks later, Molly found herself sitting in the cafeteria of St. Bart's, nursing a cup of coffee and waiting for her coffee date.
"Sorry I'm late. I've been working on paperwork all morning and lost track of time."
"Hi Greg! It's alright, no worries!" Molly smiled brightly at Detective Inspector Greg Lestrade and he sat down across from her. She pushed a takeaway cup towards him and he took it gratefully.
"Thanks!"
They each drank a few sips of coffee, before Molly cleared her throat. "So…umm…I have a question. And you don't have to if you don't want to because you have other obligations but Sherlock and I talked and—" She cut herself off with a laugh, flexed her fingers that were gripping her cup tightly and sighed. "I'll just ask, I guess."
"That would be—yes." Lestrade arched an eyebrow at Molly and leaned closer.
"So…uhh…will you walk me down the aisle? I know you're a groomsman for the wedding, but Sherlock said Mycroft would be willing to step in to take your place…" Lestrade's jaw dropped for a moment, and then he slammed his jaw shut. "Over the years, you've been there for me like a father figure—not that you're old or anything! But I would—it would be—"
"I would be honored to walk you down the aisle."
Molly felt a smile take over her features. "Really?"
"Of course.
"Can you roll out Jeffrey Smith, please?"
"In a mo. Let me finish this paperwork…" Molly murmured distractedly, continuing her report. From the corner of her eye, she saw Sherlock remove his coat and scarf and place it on a clean slab. The morgue was silent as she finished her work, and barely ten minutes later, she signed her signature on the last page and pushed the paper away from her. "Alright, who do you need?" She picked up her clipboard with her list of autopsies for the day.
"Jeffrey Smith."
"Okay, I can do that."
Molly could feel Sherlock's eyes on her as she prepared the body for his inspection. He finally joined her as she was unzipping the body bag. "You talked to Lestrade during your lunch."
"I did." Molly looked up when she was finished.
"He said yes."
"He did."
Molly smiled at Sherlock and Sherlock smiled back. He leaned over the corpse and brushed his lips against her hers. Molly pulled back quickly, flushing bright red. "We can't snog over a body, Sherlock."
"I would hardly call that snogging. And I wouldn't allow that kind of behavior in the morgue. That's why you have an office, after all."
Molly cleared her throat and took a step back. "Ahem…well…you can do what you need to do. I'll be over there." She pointed over her shoulder to the work area she abandoned to help him. Sherlock just smiled widely at her, pleased that he could still make his pathologist blush so brightly.
Fin.
BB/N: Thank you for reading, reviewing, and or favoriting this story! This was day 10 (I think) of the One-a-Day Challenge.