"Always In My Head"
Sherlock was weightless, flying through halls, flashing down corridors. Some went by in the blink of an eye, others seemed to stretch on forever. There were rooms that were full of odds and ends, some that were furnished, and others that were completely empty. And every so often, there were glimmers of soft brown eyes and shining hair.
He shook his head, trying to remain focused. "Unimportant…"
He was trying to find important things he might have read in the news as of late. Things had been discomfortingly quiet in London, lately. There must have been something he'd missed.
He paused before a particularly high-ceilinged room furnished a la rococo style, with ornate, gold-rimmed mirrors framing every wall and sickeningly sweet paintings of clouds and babies smiling down at him from above. He wrinkled his nose in distaste.
"How did this get here?"
He waved his hand, and instantly the room was smoothed over with white, pixellated walls, forming a giant computer screen around him. Sherlock began to scan it, information presenting itself to him at the mere touch of his hand. Words were floating off of the screen, flying around his head until he could get a good look at them to decide if they were relevant or not. He tossed some to one side and others he kept, sorting. The act of getting them to stay still was becoming increasingly frustrating, however.
"I liked it better the other way, you know," a voice said behind him.
He whirled around, the transparent words falling away and vanishing at the floor. Molly Hooper was there, lab coat and all, smiling up at him with warm brown eyes. With a jolt, Sherlock realized they were the same eyes that had been haunting him for days. They twinkled at him infuriatingly, as if they knew something he didn't. He glared at her.
"Well too bad, it's my mind palace. What are you doing here?"
"I dunno, it's your mind palace. Don't you want me here?"
"Not really. You've been very… distracting as of late…"
"Me? Distracting?" Molly giggled. "Imagine that."
"Why are you here?"
"Why do you think I'm here?"
Sherlock studied her closely with narrowed eyes as she continued to taunt him with her know-it-all glances. He didn't like it when other people did that. It was only fun when he was the one who knew it all.
"I suppose… you must have relevant information for me."
"I suppose so."
"So… what information could you, Molly Hooper, possibly have about the London crime circuit that I might have missed?"
Sherlock had begun to circle Molly now like a vulture, but she seemed unperturbed. She only continued to smirk at him good-naturedly, allowing his scrutiny with the utmost patience.
"Who says it's about the crime circuit?"
"Yes, true, maybe it's about a murder? Maybe you got a new body I didn't realize was relevant-"
"Not everything has to be about crimes, Sherlock."
Sherlock briefly paused his pacing to stare at her in silence for a few seconds after this declaration, bemused. "What else would there be?"
"I dunno, why have you been thinking about me so much recently?"
"I just said, there must be relevant-"
"No, Sherlock, think. There must be something more, if I'm here this much."
Sherlock narrowed his eyes, completely halting his pacing now. The room around them changed again, flooding back to the rococo theme. He took a step forward toward Molly.
"Why wouldn't I be able to get you out of my head?"
He took another step closer.
"Why wouldn't I be able to sleep?"
Yet another step closer.
"Why would I be so distracted by you out of everyone? Why aren't you like the rest?"
"There isn't always something that has to be analyzed Sherlock," Molly said quietly. The golden light bouncing off the mirrors around the room seemed to make her glow. "Sometimes the truth is just right there in front of you."
His face was inches away from hers now. Her delicate features swam into the sharpest of focus. That same knowing smile was back on her face, playing around her lips. Those lips that were so close now, if he only reached forward…
-"Sherlock!"
Sherlock's eyes fluttered open and he sat up, looking mutinous.
"John! I thought you knew not to interrupt me in the mind palace."
John rolled his eyes. "Oh sorry, I didn't realize it was… that time. Anyway, Mary and I were wondering- where are you going?"
Sherlock was on his feet, going to the closet to throw on his long coat and ruffling his hair in front of the mirror before going to open the door.
"I need to see Molly Hooper."