This is a companion piece in the world of Cafe Observations.
Disclaimer: I do not own the characters. They belong to ACD & BBC Sherlock. This story I came up with though :)
Most days were fine. She was happy.
Her friends were safe. She was safe. Sherlock was safe.
As the years passed by, a line became more defined. The cases Sherlock sought out treaded from entertaining to menacing. At times, turning to the latter at the flip of a switch. Moriarity, Magnusson,… Eurus were proof of that.
She doesn't remember who mentioned it first. The stakes were too high for anyone to know. They learned the first time. Sherlock didn't want to make that mistake again. He wasn't one to be so overt anyway. It was for the best.
But some days… some days were unbearable.
The days that he would leave for days on end. For a case. She'd get updates. Regularly. He made sure of it. Its like she couldn't breath until one came. A breath of fresh air, to sate her needs for a while. But she couldn't help the feeling that one day, the update wouldn't come and she'd find herself suffocating. Waiting for something that was never sent.
She wanted him to stop. But she knew. His mind a labyrinth of information. Neurons firing, synapses trying to escape. He wouldn't last.
Besides, some cases needed him. People needed him. People who need the distraction, to keep from tearing the world apart.
But there were things that helped.
She really tried to take care of it. She was afraid of the day it would get lost or break. But it was something to keep in her hands as she worked. Something she could fidget with. A reminder of a time long ago. A reminder of his adoration before she even realized the depths of his affections. Before the dangers became so real.
It was a funny thing. She didn't know where he found it. She didn't know where he found any of them.
People always commented on those items. Identifying their peculiar features with her. They made her Molly. They just didn't realize she never chose those items herself. That they were gifts.
The first came unexpectedly. Six months after they had met. Only a few cases they had worked together.
One day, he came to work in the lab. Staring for hours through the microscope. He didn't say a word to her, only "Molly." as an acknowledgment when he came in. She had fetched him coffee, as usual. Not peeping a word as she sat the cup next to him by the microscope.
An hour later he left. Satisfied with his results. Coffee cup empty. She was in her office at the time.
When she came back to the workbench, she found it there laying next to her workbooks and files. A long pink pen, the head of cat at one end with a winking expression. Paw prints scattered about along the barrel. A stark contrast from the generic pens provided by the hospital that she usually used.
At first she thought someone had left it behind. But no one ever came back for it. So she used it. It was definitely something she liked.
Two weeks later, Sherlock had returned to the lab. Apparently cases were slow, but Lestrade had something of interest that day.
He was already at the microscope when she arrived. She sat across from him on the other side of the workbench, quietly finishing notes from the day's autopsies. She wasn't using that pen though. The day had been busy. She had barely finished her long queue of autopsies and it was late into the day. After making her way upstairs from the morgue with her stack of folders, she had grabbed the first pen she saw.
Sherlock didn't move until he noticed Lestrade in the hallway talking away on his phone. Standing up Sherlock headed to the door, making only one remark. The first words he had spoken since she arrived.
"I thought you would have preferred the cat." Looking up to her briefly. Her eyebrows wrinkled in confusion. She must have looked a mess, exhausted from the day's work. Maybe she had misunderstood him, after all she was tired.
"The pen." He clarified. Motioning with his eyes to the pen she held before walking out the lab door.
Surely he hadn't… She wasn't certain what he had meant but before he returned, she ran to her office and grabbed the pen. Sitting down just as he walked back through the door. She acted as if she hadn't moved. Scribbling a bit of jibberish in the corner of a page before her mind caught back up to the work, then proceeding with finishing the note.
Glancing up, she remembered the way his features had softened, the small smile he had while looking into the microscope. A little while later, he got up. Bid her adieu. He came by more often after that. Even when he didn't have cases. Saying it was experiments he was running that he needed the lab for. Which was a lie.
Eventually, he'd leave behind other odd trinkets. Some in her lab. Or in her locker. Others in her flat. Sometimes even in the mail.
A cherry jumper. A kitten mug. A pair of elephant slippers. Coffee cozies. A pink & black scarf. And the list goes on. Little oddities that surely fit her. To anyone else, they were things she bought herself. She liked them all.
But the pen was her favorite. For those long days when he was away. She'd take extra shifts to keep her mind occupied. It was something she could use throughout the day. A reminder of the earlier days when everything seemed simpler. But things were never simple.
His updates were random. Sometimes a text. Sometimes an e-mail. Sometimes a message from Mycroft or from the homeless network.
John walked through the lab doors, bringing her from her thoughts.
"Hey Molly!"
"Oh. John! How are you?"
"Good, good.. We tried texting you, but didn't hear back. Mary, Rosie and I are having a late lunch. Do you want to join?"
"Oh sorry! I got a bit behind today. I must've not seen the message." That was a lie. She had seen it. But was lost in thought she didn't realize she hadn't text back.
Unlocking her phone, she saw the the beginnings of her unsent message: SOUNDS LOVEL…
"Sorry. Phone was on silent. But yes, that sounds great." Taking off her reading glasses she placed it on the bench. "I'll just grab my coat."
"So, Sherlock's still out. On that case in Cardiff." John said, making small talk as she grabbed her things.
"Oh, yeah. Lestrade mentioned that the other day."
"Too bad I couldn't go. Not like he needs me much though." Chuckling to himself. "Oh, the front office gave this to me. Its for you." John handed her an envelope. No return address. Just, Dr. Molly Hooper, Pathology, followed by Bart's address.
"Thank you! Saves me a trip by there" Taking the envelope and putting it between her teeth as she put on her coat and her gloves. Then holding it again once that task was done.
"So what's for lunch?"
She didn't really hear what he said. Just following him down the hall as he spoke. She opened the envelope, a small item fell into her hand but quickly she put it into her pocket.
Humming in response, "that sounds good," an automatic reply.
The letter itself, looked formal. A letter head from some hospital, no doubt made up. Sherlock had taught her about skip codes and such. It didn't take to long to read. It was a short message.
BE BACK TOMORROW.
Smiling to herself. She folded the paper and put it back into the envelope. They passed a shredder by a desk where she put the paper, the grinding of the machine destroying the message.
She fiddled with the object in her pocket before slipping it on her wrist. Soon they were outside, where Mary & Rosie stood waiting.
Mary turned to her smiling as Molly reached out to her goddaughter.
"Hello Mary! And hello little Rosie." Rosie babbled in response.
"Oh, thats pretty!" Mary exclaimed, motioning towards her wrist as she handed Rosie to Molly.
"Thank you! I love the colors." Molly beamed happily looking to the multi colored beads lining her newly received bracelet. For now she had her friends. Her gift. And a promising message. And that was enough for today.