There might have been a moment where she thought that she would save him, over and over again. She would have done it too, in a heart beat with no questions asked. But she doesn't have to, and Molly isn't sure if that makes her happy or if it'll cause her yet another sleepless night.
She mind spins and whirls everyday from the blare of her alarm clock in the morning to when her head hits the pillow. She smiles and is polite, because that's how people expect her to be. Molly Hooper, little Miss. Perfect, and she wants to scream at them. Every bleeding one of them.
How could they be so stupid? How could they be so blind to the world around them?
But she just goes out to drinks instead with the few friends that she has. Meena, bless her heart, brought a tall man with her. Dark curly hair, impeccably dressed, long face and strong features, Molly doesn't need to be Sherlock to figure out who else this man looks like.
As it turns out, his name is Tom.
His parents are James and Samantha, and they have a dog name Caesar.
Molly doesn't like dogs.
She doesn't really like Tom too much either, but she's tired of her sheets being cold and not having someone take her hand. She wants to share her skin with someone, someone who will wear her out until she can no longer think about the consulting detective.
It's a few pushes here and a few tugs there, and rather suddenly he's on his knee asking for her hand. She wants to say no, Tom is the poor woman's Sher- Molly stops herself, she has to, for her own preservation. Even still, she wants to say no.
But it is expected of her, as she slides on the ring, after all she's already been the poor woman.
It feels like her heart hasn't had a beat until he finds her in the locker room. She feels alive again, her cheeks hurt from smiling so much, even as she stumbles about the crime scene. And then he calls her John, her heart stutters in her chest and comes to a halt.
It wouldn't do to have an almost married woman running around with someone she used to fancy. But they solve the case and he tells her 'thank you.'
He points out the engagement ring that she never mentioned, almost forgetting that it was there until it burned her skin at his words. She tells him the list of things she's memorized about him, it's not important.
He kisses her cheek and draws away, pupils dilated with no danger in sight, but she doesn't mention it. Her heart wouldn't be able to take it. Even as he walks away, she just wants him to be happy. She just wants everyone to be happy.
They know who he looks like, but Tom is thankfully vacant. She thought she almost saw him question it, but it was gone as soon as it started. And she was glad that no one mentioned it, especially him.
"Yeah, I've moved on…"
Maybe if she said it enough times, it'd be true.