Um. Hello. I didn't expect to see you here. Well, I can guess what you want to talk about. Let's step into the morgue, shall we? Oh, sorry, sorry. That sounds weird doesn't it? Really menacing. Ha! I just meant I don't want us to be overheard and, well, the corpses aren't going to tattle to newspapers anytime soon, are they? Ugh. Sorry. Sherlock tells me not to make morgue jokes. They're really not everyone's cup of tea. Well, here we are then. Right this way.
Look, I know you're curious. But believe me when I say, I don't know the whole of it. Sherlock's trusted me with a lot in the past but that's because I was needed for the fake death to work. He trusts me, I know that. But he also doesn't drop by to have tea and spill his plans to me on a weekly basis. I wasn't needed for this one and so I don't know exactly what's going on but if you figure it out, you'll let me know? I do worry about him…I…just worry. But let me tell you this: the papers have got it wrong, like always. I'm sure of that.
I can tell you how it started. Incidentally, I caught bits and pieces.
So I was helping him run some DNA tests on that Sussex Vampire case…did you help him with that one? I forget. He was busy running some tests and—
Look, I fell in love with him. That much is clear, even if you're an idiot. Not that you're an idiot, sorry! I just mean…I pay attention and I know that look, when he's not okay. He was running some tests and I could see he was preoccupied with something. He almost looked like before. He looked sad. And John was busy on the other side of the lab, helping with some tests. The last time Sherlock quietly fretted in a corner when he thought John wasn't looking…well, you know, bad things happened.
"Are you okay?" I asked.
"As always, Molly, please don't feel the need to make small talk. Not only is it not required, it is actively discouraged on my part," Sherlock said, being his usual pompous self.
"I'm not making small talk. I'm saying you don't look okay. You haven't looked okay since John's wedding," I snapped.
He glared at me, a little hurt. I knew I'd crossed the line somewhat but I didn't care. I have no intention of going back to letting him walk all over me.
He went back to testing different types of venom without answering. He thought the eldest son was using one of the venoms as a way to fake vampire bites but he needed to know which venom it was…it was actually a really interesting case. Ugh…sorry, I've gone off track again.
So he went back to the venoms and he looked even sadder than he'd done before. He just gets this look in his eyes. It's like they go a shade darker and everything in his face becomes completely still and guarded. It's heartbreaking to watch, especially when you know he only does that when he needs to protect himself.
So I touched his arm, just a little, and I said: "Look, I understand that you may not want to talk to me about it but I know something's up. Something beyond the wedding itself. If you need help, like before, you can always have me…I mean, my help, not me. Oh god. Look, sorry. I'll go get you a coffee. You haven't slept in ages."
He looked at me for a second and his eyes softened a little. "Thank you," he said. And I knew he wasn't talking about the coffee.
"Two sugars," I said, trying to keep it playful as I walked away.
Usually, it takes ages to get Sherlock's coffee. He doesn't like the coffee from the canteen. Says it tastes like water. So I usually go to the coffee shop in the hospital lobby and the lines are insane. But my friend Jenna was there and I jumped the queue with her—felt really guilty but it was worth not queuing for fifteen minutes!—and bought his coffee and ran back in five minutes instead of the usual twenty.
But as I was about to walk back into the lab, I heard them bickering and I stopped behind the door, not wanting to walk in on a private moment. Sherlock can usually tell if you're about to walk into a room even before you do! But he notices almost nothing if he's wrapped up in John.
"I can tell there is something the matter with you," John was snapping at him.
"Can you really? Your powers of observation have somehow improved so dramatically overnight that you can deduce my mood by…what, exactly? The crease on my trousers?" Sherlock said.
"By the look on your face, actually."
"Oh, the look on my face. Brilliant. How stupid of me. I wish I looked at people's faces more often. I might have already solved this vampire nonsense if I simply looked at people's faces more often!"
"Please stop snapping at me. I know you're only trying to deflect and it's not working. You've been trying to avoid me since the wedding. You're the one who was secretly afraid that things would change—"
"I was not!" Sherlock interrupted.
"Yes, you were. You were. And now you're avoiding me and I can't imagine why. Not when I've told you a hundred times: I will be there whenever you need me. Do you hear me? When and where you like. I will be there."
There was this long, rather charged silence. I peeked through the door and they were both staring at each other furiously. Sherlock had his arms crossed defiantly, perched on a stool with an enviable sort of cool he has that no one else can really imitate and John was standing in one of his military postures, glaring him down.
I hoped they would stop fighting soon because the coffee cup was hot and sort of burning my hand.
"Now tell me," John demanded, "what the hell is the matter?"
"Nothing."
"Do not lie to me. Not again."
"Please, let it go."
"The last time I let it go—"
"Listen to me," Sherlock said and suddenly his face was all soft lines instead of angles. I really don't know how that happens but sometimes, usually when he's thinking about John or talking to him or about him, his face just melts a little and he looks open and warm. "Please. I know I have given you little reason to trust me in the past. But I swear to you that telling you would cause you a great amount of distress and danger."
"So it's something to do with me."
Sherlock didn't say anything to that but he just stared at John with a look that made me want to cry.
"I meant what I said at the wedding. I promise I will not let anything happen to any of you. I will protect you—"
"Bugger that," John snapped but he didn't look angry anymore. "I know you'll protect us. I need to know who's protecting you."
Sherlock looked overwhelmed and he just looked down at his shoes instead of saying anything.
"Tell me, Sherlock. And I swear, I will be there to help you—"
"You can't," Sherlock said.
"So, this is going to be like last time? Hmmmm? You leaving me in the dark and doing what you think is best for me and expecting me to be okay with that? Hmmmm?"
Sherlock looked up at him with this really really fierce look and he said: "It won't be like last time because I will keep you in the dark but I will not lie to you about it. I won't lie, John. I am faced with an unpleasant and very challenging problem. One that may require me to go away again—"
"Don't you dare!"
"And you cannot help me because I may need to go away and you need to stay with your family," Sherlock said, trying to look brave and placating but looking heartbroken instead. "However, let me tell you that I will not go away voluntarily. I will fight to stay here and I have dedicated the full extent of my not inconsiderable intellect to this very matter. I hope that I'll be able to solve the matter in time. But I will be honest with you. I am…distressed by the possibility of…"
He didn't finish that sentence but we all know what he meant. He was distressed by the possibility of leaving John again. My hand was really burning at this point. I'd forgotten to get one of those cardboard holder thingies from the coffee shop and I kept switching the really hot paper cup from my left hand to my right hand.
I looked over at John from the crack in the door. He really didn't look angry anymore. He looked…like he adored Sherlock.
"As long as you're trying to stay, I guess it's all I could ask for," he said with a really kind smile.
Sherlock smiled back. "I am. As I said, I will try to be there for you. Always. And if I am keeping this from you, it is only because I believe it will cause you unwarranted distress."
"And if you go, where will you be going?"
"Eastern Europe."
"And how long?"
"Six months or so."
"And then?"
"I…it's not clear."
They were both quiet again and then John just, sort of, smiled at Sherlock in this way he does whenever he thinks Sherlock is being brilliant.
"I'll get it out of you eventually," John said.
"No, you won't," Sherlock said, smiling playfully.
"Yeah. I will. I have my ways."
God, they were…flirting all of a sudden. How does that even work? One minute they looked like they wanted to kill each other and the next they were being all giddy and playful like they had a secret no one else knew about. They were staring at each other like they couldn't believe they got to be in the same room as each other. I wish someone looked at me with half the…
Anyway, the coffee was so fucking hot. My hand was properly burning and it didn't look like those two were going to stop looking into each other's eyes like they wanted to get lost in each other, so I was about to go back down to the coffee shop and double-cup the coffee or do something else to kill some time when suddenly Sherlock cleared his throat and broke the stare that was tethering them together.
He looked down at his shoes and said: "You can come in now, Molly. Your hand must be burning from that paper cup. Do come in. We're done with our little spat now."
I wanted the ground to swallow me up. I really did. I wanted to melt away. Or just turn around and leave. But he knew I was there, so I walked in, trying to hold my head high. My face—could feel the heat from it….I'm sure it was as red as a tomato.
And surprisingly, so was John's. He was blushing furiously, both hands clutching the table and his head hanging down. He looked so embarrassed, even though, technically, nothing untoward had been said or done.
"Jesus! Sherlock," he muttered softly, not looking at me. I couldn't have agreed with him more. I handed Sherlock, the only one of us who wasn't melting from embarrassment, his coffee.
He sipped at it and went: "Oh god. How did you stand there for ten minutes without peeling the skin off your palm? It is truly scalding hot coffee. Thank you, Molly."
I stammered something stupid and ran out of the lab. John said in a really soft whisper: "Do you let people catch us in moments to…what exactly? Amuse yourself?"
But he didn't sound mad at Sherlock, he sounded…I really don't know.
I didn't hear what Sherlock said in response, exactly. He said something about people being stupid and how "they always talk" and "misinterpretation". I was rushing down the hall, I didn't catch the exact words but then they both chuckled together and…well, can you really blame people, I guess they meant me in that case, misinterpreting? They sounded like just being together made them giggle.
Anyway, that's how it began, that's when I knew Sherlock was in trouble, but then there was the incident at the party…
Oh shit. Shit! Shit! I'm late for this report I was supposed to present at noon. Shit. Alright. We can talk later or you can go ask other people about this. I'm sure they'd know more, honestly.
Anyway, like I said. That's how I knew there was something going on. That's how it began. It began, as it always does for Sherlock Holmes, with John Watson. And that's what you really need to know, no matter what the papers say he did, I think it's pretty clear. He was doing it for…for John.
A/N: My lovelies, please please review. I am writing this as a way to get excited about writing again after a lot of my work was lost a few months ago and I can't get excited to rewrite what I previously wrote. Reviews are welcome. As is constructive crit. I am telling this slightly Shakespearean comedy story of the Sherlock and John romance from the perspective of everyone but them. There will be some unreliable narrators, some characters finding themselves overhearing unfortunately tender moments but the plot will all come together once you add up all of their stories together. The Sign of Three somewhat happens in this story but it isn't super Series 3 Compliant. Updating Wednesdays.