He knew the moment Mycroft had turned the lid, but used the verbal deductions to figure out how to make Molly admit them out loud. To him-Sherlock Holmes. Emotional appeal? Straightforward question? After all, he couldn't allow John to watch her be summarily executed.

Sherlock could not lose another friend, no matter the cost to her emotions.

"Is this one of your stupid games?"

"Why are you making fun of me?"

"I'm not an experiment."

"I can't say it to you."

She was broken before he began. He just needed her to say the words.

"Because it's true, Sherlock."

Of course he knew, but she had to say it out loud. John would never forgive him for Molly. He wasn't even sure how John forgave him for Mary.

"Say it like you mean it."

Molly was the door, his words the key. Said in a half-whisper, a promise tumbled together, "I love you," open any proverbial door. Really, Euros could've pulled any other phrase from the doctor's lips.

He would be more careful now, with his doctor. After all, Molly Hooper counted.

You know where to find me. - SH

A couple of weeks later, days after she'd shown up drunk from expensive wine, spewing hate, with ugly tears dripping onto her oversized, brown jumper, she came round with a batch of fresh fingers. "Thought you might like these."

He took her offering. "Thank you, Molly."

She came by more often after that, to fetch Rosie or for tea with Mrs. Hudson. He knew the day she had found someone and Sherlock was truly happy for her.

I heard about your sister. Let's have dinner.


AN: I waffled with a Sherlolly until I read this. Let's be honest...I wanna scream "MOFFATT!" and hug him at the same time. ~ JS

Except from Moffatt/Entertainment Weekly interview:

If there is something fans seem upset about with this episode it's that there's no resolving scene with Molly after that very effective devastating call to her while she's in the kitchen. Did you consider doing one? Is it fair to leave that like that?
But that's not how we leave her. People need to learn to face their televisions, we see her later on–

We see her skipping into the room but–
She gets over it! Surely at a certain point you have to figure out that after Sherlock escapes tells her, "I'm really sorry about that, it was a code, I thought your flat was about to blow up." And she says, "Oh well that's okay then, you bastard." And then they go back to normal, that's what people do. I can't see why you'd have to play that out. She forgives him, of course, and our newly grown-up Sherlock is more careful with her feelings in the future. In the end of that scene, she's a bit wounded by it all, but he's absolutely devastated. He smashes up the coffin, he's in pieces, he's more upset than she is, and that's a huge step in Sherlock's development. The question is: Did Sherlock survive that scene? She probably had a drink and went and shagged someone, I dunno. Molly was fine.