My Valentine

Sherlock sat in his usual place in the lab and stared down the lens of the microscope. Molly stood beside him, holding a number of slides. She sighed and looked up at the clock that displayed both the time and date. It was 12:20 in the afternoon. Her eyes moved to where the date was displayed. 14 Feb. She frowned as she recognised the date. Another year and she still hadn't found anyone to spend Valentine's Day with. She knew who she wanted to spend it with but that was out of the question. However she would still try.

"So…what are you doing for Valentine's Day?" she asked the detective, who was still staring into the microscope.

"I'm treating it as any other day. I don't regard it as something special". He replied, not looking up from the microscope once. He put his hand out towards Molly.

"No one special in your life then?" she asked jokily as she placed the next slide into his hand. But the detective gave no response. He took the slide and replaced the other one with it. Molly stared at him expecting him to return the question, just like any other person would. But this wasn't any other person, this was Sherlock Holmes. He never asked about anything that he didn't care about.

Molly decided to answer the question anyway.

"I was supposed to have a date tonight but he cancelled on me". She looked down at the floor. "So it looks like I'm spending Valentine's Day alone…again". She looked up at Sherlock, hoping for a response.

"Exactly, just like any other day then". This wasn't the response she was hoping for.

Molly sighed. "Yep" she replied looking back down at the floor. She was waiting for a more comforting response but it never came. What was she expecting him to do? Ask her out? Of course he wasn't going to. She started to feel stupid for even trying in the first place. She started thinking about what Sherlock had said and she realised just how lonely she really was. He was right; she was alone today, just like any other day. Just like every other day. Molly was still looking at the floor. Her vision began to blur as her eyes filled with tears. She could feel a lump in her throat. Her nose began to run so she naturally sniffed. This drew Sherlock's attention. He stopped looking at the microscope for the first time since he'd been sitting there, and turned his head towards Molly.

"Are you crying?" he asked.

"What? Crying? Of course not" her voice cracked as she said the last few words.

Sherlock turned his body around on the chair so that he was facing her. He now had a concerned look on his face.

Molly knew she couldn't keep it together for much longer, she was about to burst into tears. But she didn't want to do it in front of Sherlock.

"Erm…I was actually about to take my lunch break now, so…"

"But Molly…"

"I'll see you later" she interrupted him as she started walking towards the door.

Sherlock watched her as she walked out. As the door was closing behind her he saw her raise a hand to her face, as if she was wiping a tear away. Sherlock sat back in his chair confused. He didn't mean to make her cry. He was just being himself and doing what he always does: speaking without thinking first. He didn't like seeing Molly in pain, and he especially didn't like it if he was the one causing it. He felt terrible. He hadn't felt like that since he'd humiliated her at the Christmas party. But unlike the Christmas party, a kiss on the cheek might not be enough this time.

About an hour later Molly was stood outside of the lab door. She'd spent most of her lunch break in the ladies toilets, wiping her tears away and composing herself. She had now pulled herself together once again, like she always does. She took a deep breath and started to push the door open.

"Sherlock, I'm sorry I rushed ou-" she stopped mid sentence as she noticed that the room was empty. She looked around confused.

"Maybe he finished the rest by himself and left". She thought to herself. She shrugged and started walking towards the desk.

As she got closer she suddenly stopped. She stared at the desk where a bouquet of red roses was placed. She looked around the room before walking forward and picking them up. As she picked them up she noticed a note attached to them.

"To Molly, Happy Valentine's Day x" it read.

Molly smiled and smelt the flowers. She then paused with her nose still in the bouquet. She quickly grabbed the note and read it again before twisting the paper around to look at the other side. A confused look came across her face as she realised that the note didn't actually say who they were from.

"A secret admirer?" she thought to herself. "Maybe they're from….no, don't be silly Molly!" she told herself. She shrugged, gave the flowers another sniff and went to find some water to put them in.