A.N: Hello everyone! Until now I have written two Sherlock one-shots but lately I have started finding more Sherlolly plot bunnies in the closets that I open for Narnia. Thus, I decided to leave this story open and update with one-shots / two- shots now and then that may or not strictly interconnect with each other. Story's main title from Paul's McDonald's "All I've Ever Needed".
This one is for you dear xXDesertRoseXx. Have a safe trip to where you are going for the next months and be ready for we shall plot to take over London. It is also dedicated to all Sherlolly shippers
Story Info: This story takes part after John's and Mary's wedding. In this story Sherlock learns that Molly broke up with Tom in other way. This could stand as a base to almost all the others that will eventually follow.
DISCLAIMER: I do not own Sherlock Holmes. He belongs to Sir Conan Arthur Doyle. Molly Hooper belongs to the creators of Sherlock in BBC. I only own the plot.
Home is where your heart is
A week had passed since John's wedding and Sherlock was utterly upset. He seemed to be unfocused and sometimes out of place. Sherlock had told Lestrade, when he called him for a case, that he was in the middle of something so he hadn't had the time to work with him.
Everyone seemed to believe the detective, everyone but Molly. Of course Molly Hooper was the one who always saw Sherlock the way he was and how he felt. Even John didn't see the real Sherlock.
Molly was the one who saw him leaving John's wedding too. She saw him leaving the reception and wanted to rush behind him and tell him that if he needs anything he has her. After she saw him exiting the hall she reluctantly turned to dance with Tom.
Her head could explode; Sherlock Holmes was once hurt and the only thing that she wanted to do was to alleviate his pain yet again. However, now there was Tom a good, hard working, friendly man that he loved her and she loved him as well but he was not Sherlock. Molly believed that she had moved on but when Sherlock came back from the dead shifted her entire world. Sherlock shifted her entire world with his constant recognition of her importance to him, not only for faking his death, but also for her help all these years before John. And then there were the looks that he gave her when Sherlock thought that she didn't pay attention. All these things made her wonder the last months if she was true to herself. At the wedding when Molly saw Sherlock leaving she wanted to run behind him. She wanted to hug him and kiss him and tell him that he will not lose John now that he is married to Mary.
And the kiss she wanted to give him wasn't an innocent one. That was the moment she knew that she had to talk with Tom and tell him her uncertainty and her fears. Molly had to be sincere for the both of them.
Tom would be back soon for he had left from London just after the wedding for a work related matter and she would discuss this matter with him upon his return. In the meantime Molly found another company for the hours she wasn't in the hospital.
Well, to be frank you cannot call it exactly company because Sherlock had merely spoke this past week that he had visited her in order to think. He had used her bedroom and left her to sleep on the sofa. He merely spoke but when he did he was the Sherlock who Molly knew; the real scared Sherlock that wished until today to be a pirate and she loved him for that. He loved him because he wasn't afraid to be his true self when he was alone with her.
And then there was the night that Sherlock chose to sleep or better to think in her sofa.
"Are you not going in my room?" Molly asked him softly.
"Molly Hooper I have deprived your comfortable sleep already three times this week and I do not want my pathologist to suffer from back problems in such young age" responded Sherlock.
"Why you do that?" finally Molly told to him not wanting to carry on for long this game. Sherlock Holmes had to face the truth he liked or not.
"Why I do what?" Sherlock asked in confusion.
"Come on Sherlock. Why you have picked up a case that must be at least ten? It's obvious that you trying to distract yourself from something"
"As you said, Molly, is a ten so I..." Sherlock have started saying when he saw her eyes locked on him with a firm expression.
"Oh! Is this so? Sherlock William Scott Holmes you are a big liar!" the usual calm Molly Hooper snapped back at him.
Sherlock smirked. This could be intrigue;
"Enlighten me then!" he eagerly answered back to her.
"You will not be smiling when I will be over...but remember you asked for it and I cannot stand to see you one more day like this. You are a liar because the reason that you took this case is John"
"John has not..."
"Oh, shut up Sherlock! I am doing the talking now so open up your brilliant mind because I am going to say this once" and with these words Molly took a minute to compose her thoughts and then a deep breath to gather her courage. However in this minute she failed to see that Sherlock eyes sparkled dangerously towards her.
"The reason, the true reason you took this case is John and his wedding. You are afraid Sherlock. You are afraid that you will lose him. You love him so much and you are afraid that you will lose your best friend forever. Two years ago you risked everything in order to save him and you succeed. In a strange way your "death" was what made John found Mary. When you came back you believe that everything would be back to how it used to be before the fail...but it's not! You believe that we all have moved on and that you have stayed in 2012. Sorry to inform you but we haven't. Your loss, because it was a loss, affected us inexorably. All of us...even me that I knew that you were alive...so many sleepless night...so many nights filled with nightmares with you being dead..." teardrops had started falling for her brown eyes and this was the moment when Sherlock realized that he didn't want to make this wonderful, mesmerizing brown eyes sad. Yet, there was Tom and he could do nothing to get rid of him.
Molly wiped away her tears saying;
"But this is not about me. It's about you. It's about John. Sherlock you are afraid that you will lose the person that you consider brother. Even more than a brother and it's completely understandable. You think that because he is married he will forget all about you and that he will let you in your solitude again. But the thing is that he will not and if he does- which he will not- you are not alone. I finally want your beautiful mind to absorb this; Sherlock Holmes you are not alone. You are our friend and may the others not be able to put up with you well sometimes, but I do and I will not allow you to rot because I know that John loves you too and he will be always by your side no matter what. So do me a little favour and understand that." and with that Molly rose fροm the sofa leaving him to lie back.
"You say my mind is beautiful but you only assume.." Sherlock bitterly commended forgetting for a blink of the eye that he was talking to the woman who had seen him when he was in the rehad, he forgot that she was the one that helped him so many times during and after this not to relapse.
"I don't assume. I know so..." Molly eyed him and no offence taken could be found in her eyes.
" Molly I am sorry.. I do not deserve you...I do not deserve to be your...your friend" he finally said.
"I am the one who decides what deserves to me. Not Jim, not you, not Tom. It's my life, my choices...and so many years ago I chose to have you in my life" she said as she was sitting down again placing her hand on his cheek.
She widely smiled to Sherlock and she saw happiness in his eyes. They remained in silence for few seconds before a blushing Molly broke their mutual silence.
"Right...Well, you stay here, sleep, go to your mind palace, do whatever you want. I have to write the last part of my article so if you need me you know where to find me" Molly pointed towards her room.
"Molly please tell me that you didn't rewrite your paper for a fourth time".
"Guilty!" Molly laughed and went to her room leaving her door open.
Having Sherlock there never annoyed her. She could write or read books and be concentrated to what she was doing.
It had been just an hour after their talk when Sherlock heard Molly speaking on her phone. He heard her telling to someone to come up but they have to be quite.
"Apparently Tom" Sherlock thought as it was late.
His mind was spinning over and over the same words;"What he is doing here? He supposed to be in York for five more days...Bloody Tom. Now I should leave, shouldn't I?"
"I should stay. Pretend to be asleep. This can be very entertaining" finally he had made his mind up. Sherlock he was staying at Molly's sofa pretending to be in his mind palace.
Little did he know that from the moment which Tom would step into Molly's flat everything would chance for ever.
Tom embraced Molly and he felt that somehow she was cold towards him. He was about to speak when Molly pointed to him to take a look to the sofa.
Suddenly, Tom realized that they are not alone, that there is another man in her house and not just any other man; Sherlock Holmes himself. Tom smile back to Molly and followed her to the bedroom.
Molly sat in her bed with Tom next to her. His coming tonight surprised her. She didn't expect him back until Monday, she had to talk in private with him and now Sherlock Holmes of all people was in her sofa.
Tom was the first to speak;
"Molly, love, do you know that Sherlock Holmes is asleep in your sofa?"
"He is not asleep. He is in his mind palace" Molly replied as she turned to face a bewildered Tom.
"So tell me, why on earth Sherlock Holmes is in his mind palace on YOUR sofa?" he questioned her.
"He is my friend that's why" Molly was too tired even to reply.
"But it's almost midnight...shouldn't he go to Baker Street?" Tom voice ton had started increasing
" He is my friend. He needs some space to think. I offered him my home" she explained
" If he needs a place to think why he doesn't go to his house?" his voice ton had gone even higher.
"I suppose he is too bored to do so. And please Tom keep your voice low. You distracting him with your shouting"
Tom was speechless! Not had she only let Sherlock to come and stay in her house, now she was asking him to be silent in order not to disturb the great detective. Of course he was jealous of Sherlock Holmes. All this time he was with Molly he had witnessed the passion with which she was speaking about him, he had seen her defending his "memory" when everybody believed that Sherlock Holmes was dead.
Tom had seen the love that exists in Molly's eyes for this man but he wasn't willing to lose her without a fight. She was a lovely young lady and he thought that they could build a life together.
"Honestly Molly I do not understand you. Why you have to take care of him all the times? He is a grown up man, he can manage" said Tom lowering his voice.
In his surprise, Molly was the one who raised her voice this time;
"William Sherlock Scott Holmes is my friend. I will stand by his side no matter what, no matter how many times he will need someone to help him even when he does not admit that he needs help. So, you choose what you want to do...be on my side or leave now."
It was obvious that something had triggered inside Molly and she was ready to unleash every thought and every emotion hidden in her mind and in her heart.
Finally Tom angrily asked her;
"So this is choosing Sherlock that's his name Holmes over me, isn't it?"
Molly's reply was direct and truly honest;
"No, this is choosing me above everyone else. I want Sherlock in my life. I need him in my life. No man or woman in this planet is going to tell me how to leave, who I am going to love or who I am going to befriend with."
"So we are breaking up because of Holmes?" Tom hissed back at her
" Tom you know Sherlock is not the only reason for us falling apart, you know that. However, If it will make it easier for you, because you will be able to blame me for the break up I have to say to you this; I just cannot keep going like this. I do love this man...I have seen him in his darkest hours and I know how harmful to himself can be. I do love Sherlock Holmes like I love all my friends, but Tom he is not all my friends, he is the only one who... " Molly froze when she realized what she was about to tell him.
She sat in silence few seconds which seemed an eternity to both of them when she finally spoke the truth to Tom but above anyone else to herself;
"He is the only one who understands me completely" she proclaimed and her heart beat started increasing.
"Even you don't get me that well...even you...Well, maybe, that's my fault too...I do not let myself completely free when I am with you...because I am never completely with you" Molly now was talking to herself and not to Tom
"Oh, Tom! I tried and I tried to carry on...after the fall...all these nightmares...I didn't knew If he was alive..I deep down believed that he was somehow alive" Molly said concealing from Tom once again her involvement in Sherlock's faked death.
"I believed him to be alive, I wished he was alive...because I cannot live without him. Even when he infuriates me, and believe me he does that, I know that he has good intentions. He is my friend and I love him. But, Tom, I am done trying. I am done trying to be complete with you when I am not...and I am about to say the thing you doesn't t suppose to say but Tom; I do not deserve you. I cannot keep up with this. I love you but I am not in love with you"
Finally she was free; the truth set Molly free. The truth liberated her from her own constraints.
"And you are in love with him?" asked Tom not sure if he wanted to hear her answer.
"Maybe..Even after all these years I may still be in love with him. But I am not leaving you so I can have Sherlock. No. I am leaving you because both of us deserve better. The only right thing to do is to call off the engagement now and not when we would be already married. I am not asking you to forgive me. I am asking you to understand that this man was in my life many years before you. I respect him, I care for him, I admire him tremendously. So I choose me before any of you. I choose me even before Sherlock bloody Holmes" Molly uttered her last words and collapsed into her bed.
Now it was Tom turn to speak uninterrupted. And he spoke clearly. He was mad and sad that Molly had call off the engagement. However, he admired her and loved her even more because she had the courage to be true to herself and to him. They spoke for about twenty more minutes, when she took of her ring and gave it back to him. The only thing that he told her was that he would call her in few days to come from the hospital to take any personal item that he had left in her house.
Tom left her apartment tiptoeing in order not to wake the now sleeping consulting detective.
Molly closed the door behind her deeply breathed and turned to face Sherlock for she knew he wasn't asleep at all.
"You can speak now if you wish" Molly told him.
Sherlock opened his green- blue eyes and looked at her saying nothing
"Very well, I am going to bed. You know where to find anything that you may need...so, goodnight" and with this Molly entered her bedroom.
She lied upon her bed trying to reflect what had just happened. She had call off the engagement that was the one and she had admitted to herself that from all people in this world the one who mattered the most to her was Sherlock bloody Holmes..
"Crap! I am so screwed!" Molly whispered.
When she heard a crack on her door and saw Sherlock entering in her room closing the door behind him.
"Sherlock?" she called but he gave her no verbal reply.
Instead Sherlock lied to her bed next to her taking her hands into his
"What do you need?" Molly asked him
And his reply was crystal clear; "You, Molly Hooper. I need YOU"
When his eyes finally met hers Sherlock for the first time saw confusion in Molly. Then he understood that he had to make known his intentions whichever it may were.
"I told you once before that you made it all possible. That you were the one person that mattered the most. And you do matter the most Molly. You have saved me so many times and I was a completely git to you".
Molly remained silent, listening carefully to each word that Sherlock uttered.
"You saved me once when you helped me in rehab the first time...To tell the truth that was the time when I noticed how brilliant and extraordinary person you are. Then you saved not only me but everyone else two years ago...you Molly, YOU. I know we are not most the people I know that. However, I know that the last two years that I was away I try to take down the Network not only because I wanted to return to my best friend. No. I also wanted, I want to return to you...Molly, I know I am not an easy man but you know that everyone is an idiot. Well not everyone. You are not an idiot obviously...you are everything but an idiot. You are a smart, independent, successful, beautiful, sometimes even mousy, hard working woman who..."
"Falls for the wrong men" Molly interrupted him bitterly laughing.
"...who I deeply care for, respect and admire it what I wanted to say, but you have a point here" Sherlock told her, slightly smiling to her.
Molly eyed him intensely and Sherlock knew that what he had just said wasn't good so he gather all the strength he had and speak;
"What I mean is that obviously you fall for the wrong man. You have fallen for me and I do not wish to harm you in any possible way. You are far too important to me in order to harm you or worst lose you...no more talking for you now " said Sherlock as he placed his fingertips upon her lips. Sherlock could feel his fingertips being on fire from the second they touched Molly's lips. He was trying to decide what to do.
"I don't want to lose you but today you gave me an important lesson. We must be true to ourselves so we can be calm and happy with what we do...and the truth is that since I came back I am not being honest. I am not being honest and this is rotten me to the core. I had many sleepless nights wandering in my mind palace trying to conceal everything..But there you are; in every corner I found you and the thing is that I don't want to lose you. I want you in my life and I promise that if you take me in your life I will try to be my true self to you. I will try to show you my real side...but wait a minute you already see my real side, so I have to refrain that. Molly Hooper If you take me in your life I do promise that I will not do any harmful experiment on you" he said looking Molly in the eyes.
Molly had taken aback. This was a love confession, wasn't it? Sherlock Holmes asking her to take him in her life and telling her that he will not perform any harmful experiments on her. This was serious however deep down she already knew the answer.
"I have already accepted you in my life...always. I want you in my life, I need you in it. So If you are sure you want this, if you are sure that you want us to be together, if you are sure that you will not walk away when we will need to talk, if you are sure for all this then my reply to you is that you have me and I want you in my life" teardrops made their appearance and this time Sherlock wiped them out.
He was trying to find the proper words to speak because of course he wanted Molly Hooper in his life. She was his Molly after all. Right now he was struggling with the words so he thought it was time to act.
Sherlock leaned forwards and places a kiss upon Molly's lips. She didn't deepen the kiss. There was no reason right now. They will have plenty time in their common future to do so.
When their lips parted they both smiled. Molly turned to her other side and Sherlock embraced her tight bringing her closer to his body. He wanted to hold his Molly and never let her go.
They stayed like this for hours, trying to savour their first moments together. Finally, before Molly fell asleep in his arms she mumbled;
"Oh! Sherlock, one more thing; Just because we are a couple that doesn't mean that I do get to get you body parts whenever you like"
""Although, I never thought that this would be one of the perks being with you I must say this is not fair!" Sherlock protested and Molly sweetly laughed
Few seconds later he cleared his throat and with his clear baritone voice whisper in Molly's ear;
"Sleep Molly, you need rest. I will be here when you wake up. I have no better place to be than by your side Molly...my Molly"
This was the last thing that Molly heard Sherlock saying before she drifted into sleep. She was looking forward to moments they now have together because now she was sure; all they've ever needed was each other.
This is the first one and I would really love to hear you feedback. I do not know when will be the next one but they will be more Sherlolly stories for sure as the Narnian plot bunnies that I have in my closet are really talkative. Tell me what you think or feel free to send a pm if you wish to do you for reading! Until next time take care!