Sherlock slowly walked up the steps to Molly Hooper's front door. His lungs felt shallow as he breathed in the cold night air. Finally he knocked softly on the door. Through the small window at the top of the door he saw Molly come around the corner and stop short when she saw him.
Molly, please.
She slowly stepped towards the door, her eyes never leaving his. They stood there, on either side of the door, looking bleakly at each other. Molly's lips were held in a taut line. Sherlock silently begged her to open the door, allow him to explain.
Finally, Molly opened the door to him hesitantly. She didn't trust him. She may never trust him again. Sherlock stepped into the warm light that filled her home. The door shut behind him.
The two sat at her kitchen counter with some tea.
"Molly," Sherlock breathed. "I want to talk about what happened earlier. The phone call."
"Sherlock, please," Molly whimpered.
"I want you to know the truth."
"The truth? Pure and simple?"
"The truth is rarely pure and never simple," the detective glanced down at the countertop. "But yes."
Molly was silent as he began.
"My sister Eurus, she set up this kind of game. Each room had a different challenge." Sherlock fidgeted with his mug. " And one of the rooms had a coffin" he met her gaze "a coffin for you."
Molly's lip flinched.
"The only way to save you was to call and make you say 'I love you'."
Molly felt a pang as she recalled their conversation that afternoon.
"Only after it was over, after you had said it, did she reveal that you had never been in any danger."
Molly stared into her lap. Sherlock shifted in his seat.
"Molly, I… I never wanted to hurt you."
She looked up at him now. Hot tears filled her eyes.
Sherlock stood up now. He felt a sort of desperate and unfamiliar agony fill him.
"Molly, you… you make me… you make me feel." His voice was rising but he couldn't bring it back down. "You make me feel." His voice broke and Molly released the tears she had been holding back.
Sherlock returned to his spot next to Molly. He put his hands on her shoulders. "I understand if you never wish to see or speak to me again. I've caused you enough harm, Molly Hooper." He bent forward and kissed her cheek. "But I meant it as much as a high functioning sociopath ever could, " he confessed.
Molly let out an audible breath at those words.
He stood and walked towards the door. Before opening it, though, he stopped and turned back to her, unsure of himself for perhaps the first time in his life. "I am deeply sorry, Molly Hooper."
The door closed quietly behind him, and Molly once again sat alone in her kitchen.