John kept his eyes down as he limped lamely over to the pristine doors leading to the morgue. He knew he shouldn't be visiting Molly for the fourth time in three days but she was the only person who listened and understood that sometimes, well nearly all the time, he just wanted to talk and reminisce about Sherlock. Though whenever he talked about Sherlock to Lestrade he would turn tight lipped and silent, and the mere mention of Sherlock's name sent Mrs Hudson into an emotional flurry.
John absent mindedly pushes the white doors open and staggers through only to be greeted by an unfamiliar site. Instead of the usual sight Molly's mousy hair pulled back into a simplistic ponytail, he was greeted by raven waves falling free obscuring any view of the Molly's face.
"My, my Molly. When did you do that?" John asked as her settled into his comfortable lab stool, at the end of the raised table. "Not that I don't like it, in fact your hair looks fantas-" He compliment was cut short because who he had thought to be Molly, well to put it simply, wasn't.
She was most likely to be in her late twenties, early thirties. Her complexion free of any make up aside from kohl around her emerald eyes. Angelic and pale features in stark comparison with her raven hair, in fact she would most definitely be mistaken for a female Holmes.
"Oh, I think you have mistook me for someone." She gives him a warm, open smile showing off two well defined dimples. "Molly has popped out to get something to eat. I'm Mary." She pulls off the disposable gloves and offers a delicate hand.
"Umm…okay. I'm Watson…John. I'm John Watson." He takes her outstretched hands and is pleasantly surprised by how soft her skin feels against his calloused hands.
"Oh yes, actually Molly did say you might come in. You two known each other for long?" She pulls the gloves back onto her hands and starts to look back down her microscope.
"A couple of years now…are you a friend of hers?" Still struggling to understand why she is here, Molly hadn't mentioned anything about her.
"I think so, I'm her new co-worker. Did you know the guy who worked here before, when I asked Molly she got shiny eyed and said he was a brilliant man." My throat immediately tightens, she's his replacement. They…they replaced him! How-He-I can't even believe it. And she doesn't even know who he was, like so many others as soon as his name was off of the headlines, he is another forgotten soul to the world.
"He was a close friend, Sherlock Holmes, you may have heard of him." It all comes out a bit harsher than it was intended it, her head snaps up and she looks at him in disbelief.
"Oh my…Sher-And you're John Wats…Oh my God. He was-I-I'm sorry for your loss." For a few moments I am stumped at to what I should say. Most people avoid my gaze when I mention Sherlock, most people say I should forget about him. But here this woman doesn't even avoid eye contact.
"Yea-Yes, me too." She removes her gloves once more and reaches across placing a her hand his own.
"You probably get this a lot but personally, I don't believe a thing the newspapers said. He couldn't be a fake."
"Trust me, I don't hear that nearly enough."