Valentine's Day
Molly generally liked Valentine's Day-she liked hearts, flowers, chocolates and pink as much as the next girl, even on the years that she had no significant other to produce said Valentine gifts.
This year was different.
It had been a good five months, two weeks and three days since her engagement with Tom ended (not that she was counting), and truth be told, she was lonely.
It wasn't even necessarily Tom that she missed-which sounded terrible to say-but just the feeling of knowing that someone cared.
That was also silly, she knew she had plenty of good friends and family that cared about her, but it wasn't the same.
So as Molly walked into the work, she tried to the avoid her coworkers with their chocolates and flowers and balloons, pretending as if it all didn't matter. She knew that her coworkers were especially keeping an eye on her this Valentine's Day, since they all knew about the broken engagement.
It was difficult, but she managed to make it through the swarm of curious coworkers to her safe place-she strode right in and shut the doors behind her, letting out a sigh of relief. She had never been so happy to be in the morgue.
"Morning."
The low, rumbling voice nearly made her jump out of her skin, and she spun around to see who had spoken.
She should have known.
Sherlock Holmes was bending over a corpse that Molly had certainly not authorized, but had been on her agenda to clear, a young man in his late twenties who had been found dead in an alley, but his cause of death had not been clear. Of course Sherlock was here to find out.
"…Morning," she responded hesitantly.
Sherlock acknowledged this with a twitch of the head, intent only on the corpse in front of him.
Molly slid into place beside him silently and began to work. It was Valentine's Day and she was irritated, but she would not let anything Sherlock Holmes say or do affect her.
They both worked in nearly complete silence for a good ten minutes, breaking it at random times to make observations, but other than that it was quiet.
"So, Valentine's Day." Sherlock's low voice broke the silence.
Molly looked up in surprise. Did Sherlock really just bring up Valentine's Day?
Sherlock noticed the silence and looked up. "What?"
Molly blinked and shook her head. "Nothing. Just…what about it?"
"It's today."
"Yes."
Sherlock looked uncertain now, and Molly realized he had actually been trying to spark conversation.
"John seems to think it's a big deal," He said stiffly.
"It is to most people." Molly answered as nonchalantly as she could, trying to refocus back on the corpse in front of her.
"Not to you?"
Molly looked up again, and it was unsettling to see that he was actually looking at her now, actually interested in and waiting for her response.
"I suppose so," she said at last. "…Not so much this year, though."
"Oh."
Silence resumed again for two painfully awkward minutes, then Sherlock spoke again.
"Why not?"
She shrugged, purposefully avoiding his eyes. "You know, the, um..break up and all. I'm just going to work, go home, watch a DVD..." She trailed off, her face coloring pink as she realized she had told Sherlock Holmes her Valentine's Day plans. Cheeks burning, she pretended to make herself busy checking out a spot on the corpse's arm.
She tried to think of any observation, anything at all, but nothing came.
"...John actually hates Valentine's Day," Sherlock said irritably. "But the week leading up to it is miserable, running around buying chocolates and flowers and the like," he continued, sounding disgusted. "Everyone does, it's a nightmare."
Sherlock talked as he worked, moving around the corpse. "It's pointless and idiotic, they're all doing it in attempts at getting a shag. So why should you care?"
Sherlock's tone shifted from irritation to confusion, as to why John and Molly would even want to participate in such a useless holiday.
After all these years, after having them explained over and over again, common holidays still perplexed him.
"I don't know," Molly said. "I suppose it's nice to, you know, be cared about." Once she realized what she just said, she closed her eyes, groaning inwardly. She had not told anyone, not even her cat Toby, that that what was bothering her about Valentine's Day. She could hardly admit it to herself.
When she opened her eyes, Sherlock was looking at her curiously.
"What is it?" Molly asked. She was far from the point she was at two years ago, where one nice word from Sherlock could send her either into complete submission to whatever he asked or a full on lovestruck tizzy, but his gaze still had a tendency to make her feel self conscious.
"You mean you need..." Sherlock trailed off, digging through his memory for the name, "...Tom to make you feel cared about?"
"Um, well, not Tom specifically," Molly said. "Just...somebody."
"So just anybody would do for Valentine's?"
"No, I mean, not just anybody, someone I already care about, obviously. It's fine, Sherlock. It's just a silly holiday."
"Yes, it is," Sherlock agreed. "A holiday based entirely on the indulging of fleeting romantic whims that rarely, if ever, last."
"...I know," Molly said, but she couldn't help the bitterness that tinged her voice. "You're right. I would just like a nice Valentine's Day, is all. Wouldn't even have to be anything special," she continued on. Who cares, there was no stopping her now, she had already said enough embarrassing and revealing things today, why not get it all out at once? At least someone was actually listening. "A dinner maybe, any kind of affection would be lovely, I always had to-" She was cut off, but this time it wasn't because of her own embarrassment. Sherlock had stepped forward, and without hesitation had leaned forward and kissed her.
A million things happened all at once, her mind, with a few last protests, seemed to completely shut down. Her heart was practically beating itself to death against her ribcage, and everything was Sherlock and the way he smelled and the locks of his hair that were tickling her forehead, and his lips, undeniably on hers.
This was happening. This was happening. Yes, it was happening in a morgue, beside a week-old corpse, but it was happening.
And then it was over.
He stepped away, returning to work as if nothing had happened. "Now," he said coolly, busying himself with examining some cuts on the corpse's legs, "can we get back to work and forget this Valentine's business once and for all?"
Molly was still staring at him, wide eyed, and all she could do was nod, even though she knew, seeing as Sherlock was not paying attention, he would not see.
It took a few moments, but Molly was finally able to find her voice again. "What…what was that?"
"Hmm?"
"That. That-you know." She felt in daze, still unable to fully believe what had just happened.
"Oh. That." Sherlock said nonchalantly. "You said you wanted affection, and any kind would do."
"Yes, but that doesn't explain-"
"I wanted to get back to work, you were completely insistent on going on about today, Valentine's, so I did what I had to do. Satisfied?"
He didn't wait for an answer, resuming again as if nothing had happened.
It didn't take too much longer for Sherlock to find what he needed, and he began to pack up his things, texting with one hand, collecting his things with the other.
Molly's head was still reeling from the kiss-sure, he had done it to get her to shut up, but the thing that shocked her was that he had done it.
She doubted this meant his feelings had changed, but the gesture had been nice-very nice-nonetheless.
"Happy Valentine's Day," she said cheerfully as Sherlock went for the door.
He stopped and turned, looking at her. "Yes. Happy Valentine's Day, Molly Hooper. You deserve all the best." With that, he turned and left, the door shutting with a bang.
Perhaps it would be a good day after all, Molly thought as she collected her things. Even though her only plans still were to watch movies with her cat, this had still turned out to be a lovely Valentine's.
Thank you.
-Molly
Author's Note: Hello all! It's been awhile! I apologize for the complete lack of updates, but I have been a victim of a rather severe case of the dreaded writer's block-and Valentine's Day came around and I finally got an idea, I latched onto it even though I knew I would be posting after Valentine's Day.
I hope you liked this-please let me know what you think!