Improper Disposing Method
AN: Finals are in fourteen days and I thought 'Hey, you should stop studying and write a Sherlolly one-shot instead.' So that's what I did! Hope you enjoy reading it, as much as I enjoyed writing it, xoxo
With a powerful heave, and a determined grunt, the cooler door slowly swung open. Molly walked inside the unit, her thin lab coat doing nothing to protect her fair skin against the cool artificial air. The unit walls were decorated with rows upon rows of metal shelves, each shelf holding jars that contained a variety of human remains. Body parts that would eventually be used for scientific exploration.
Molly stood in front of the closest metal shelf to the door, her pink kitten covered clipboard held firmly in her right hand, and her yellow pen in the other. Her eyes bounced back and forth between the words labeled on the jars, and the items listed in her inventory check list. She hummed a catchy tune under her breath, and tapped her foot along with the beat, as she worked on completing her daily inventory check.
"Has Toby been exhibiting any odd or peculiar behaviour recently?"
Molly yelped at the unexpected voice that came from behind her. She whipped around to glare at her intruder. Sherlock's head was tilted, and his expression passive as his eye's quickly flashed over her.
"Evidently not. Your eyes are too bright, and your clothes too neat to indicate something of concern. Which means, nothing has happened to Toby. Brilliant, I see no reason why we shouldn't proceed then." A pleased smile creeped on Sherlock's face at his deduction. He waved his hand dismissively at her bewildered expression, and bent forward to pick up the clip board she had dropped when she was startled. He brought the clip board closer to his face, his eyes reading the inventory's contents.
"Good morning Sherlock. Was there something you needed?" Molly asked, her hands stretched forward to snatch the clipboard away from his grabby hands. Sherlock's expression turned to one of interest as his eyes focused on one of the shelves behind her. He placed his hands behind his back and walked purposely towards the shelf labeled 'Extremities.' He gingerly picked up the jar labeled thumbs, and nodded his head slowly at its contents.
"I need a pair of thumbs, specifically the two thumbs on top with the pink nail polish." Sherlock said, a pleasant smile on his face as he led Molly out of the refrigerator unit and into the slightly warmer morgue room. Molly quickly scribbled the change in her inventory list as she trailed after him. His foot tapped impatiently as he watched Molly grab a small biohazard bag, and sterile metal forceps.
"So, when do you need me to swing by and pick up the body parts I've given you? Speaking from experience, it's harder to get rid of the smell of death after the bodies begin to decompose. If it's alright with you, I think it's best if I pick them up before then." Molly said, her voice strained slightly as she attempted to tug and twist the lid open. Sherlock shook his head, an impatient sigh leaving his lips as he watched Molly struggle with opening the jar lid. He quickly snatched the jar from her grip and with one fluid twisting motion, the lid popped off.
"It's unnecessary for you to pick up my experiments. For small body parts, such as these thumbs, I will be disposing of them myself."
"Oh, alright then." Molly said, an uneasy feeling sweeping over her at his strange words, but eventually she shrugged her shoulders and ignored the uneasy feeling. Mycroft had probably provided Sherlock with a more convenient way to dispose of the body parts, she thought to herself. Molly lifted the chosen thumbs into the biohazard bag. Quickly she sealed the bag, and gently handed the thumbs to Sherlock. He placed them securely in one of the inner pockets of his belshaft coat.
He nodded his head in thanks and walked towards the morgue door. When he reached the door he froze. Sherlock pivoted on his heel and strode across the floor towards Molly, his hands ruffling his hair before he leaned forward and placed a gentle kiss on her cheek. "Laters." Sherlock than straighten his back and left the morgue
Molly leaned her hip against the counter, her cheeks flushed red from Sherlock's unexpected kiss, and her brows furrowed slightly at his odd behaviour. With a quick shrug Molly straightened her back and walked inside the refrigerator unit to finish her inventory check. For the remainder of her shift her thoughts continued to return to Sherlock's peculiar behaviour, and the random kiss he gave her.
The first thing she did when she got home after her late shift was put dry cat food in Toby's blue dish. Molly shook the bag, and made obscene kissing noises when Toby didn't run immediately into the kitchen to eat his dinner. Her eyes roamed the room, searching for the plump tabby cat. A small frown appears on her lips when she spotted the open window. He must have left sometime during the day.
Molly heated the left over Chinese food in her fridge and sat cross legged on her plush flowery couch. A satisfied moan left her lips as she stuffed the steaming broccoli and noodles into her mouth. She turned the television on, and eventually stopped her channel surfing at a re-run episode of Doctor Who.
Thirty minutes passed before she heard the sound of Toby landing inside her apartment. His purrs loudly as he trotted towards her, a small white object held in his mouth.
"Well good evening Toby. It's not often I'm home before you." Molly said in a loving voice, a small relieved smile on her lips at the site of her cat. She patted her leg twice, and Toby jumped gracefully onto her lap, his purr grew in volume as she stoked his silky fur. He dropped the small white object on her lab, and left her company for his food dish.
Her lips turn down in a small frown at the object, she carefully picked it up and held it towards her lamp light. The uneasy feeling from earlier had once again swept over her. It was a bone. A small bone, specifically a metacarpal. The bone found in fingers, and thumbs. Slowly she placed the bone onto her coffee table, and turned her head to observe her cat, who was happily munching away at his dinner. How could Toby get a bone that looked like it belonged to a human thumb?
Quickly she fished out her phone from her jean pocket and sent a quick text message.
'Have you lost a thumb? Specifically the metacarpal bone?- MH'
'I know exactly where the metacarpal bones of the thumbs you've given me are.- SH'
The uneasy feeling remained even after his text message. Toby trotted back into the living room to sleep on top of Molly's lab, and slowly her hands resumed their previous stroking actions. Although he was a chubby cat, Toby was lighting fast. Maybe she was wrong, maybe it was a bone from a bird or a rat. She nodded her head at the thought, and gently carried Toby into her room.
Two days passed before she saw Sherlock again. She had been in the middle of an autopsy when he had stormed into her morgue. He placed a small glass jar beside her utensils and went to stand beside her.
"Thumbs were a success. I now require toes." He said as a greeting. A large, Cheshire cat smile crossed his features as he bent forward to look closer at the corpse feet. He pinched the flesh of the corpse foot, and nodded his head in approval at its elasticity. He then grasped the foot between his hands and lifted it towards his nose, and took a generous sniff.
"Exquisite toes. Plump, ripe, fresh, perfect for conducting my experiment. I'll take two of them." A snort escaped Molly's lips as she watched him. He acted like he was shopping for quality fruit, not human extremities. She took a step towards him, her eye's full of mirth as she adjusted her imaginary tie. She cleared her throat twice, and tried to compose her face to look serious, but his bewildered expression kept causing her to break into a smile.
"Oh yes, what you are holding is definitely some quality toes. Best one's in all of London I'd say." Her tone and infliction mimicked that of a sleazy used car sales man. Sherlock's face had morphed into bewilderment, and Molly's face had turned a deep shade of red as she tried to contain the laughter that was bubbling up inside of her.
"As my first customer of the day you get the honor of choosing your produce. Or should I say meat? What are you in the mood for? Do you want something with a lot of meat on it? Or something more delicate and small?"
A small smile creeped onto his face, as he shook his head at her amusing behaviour. "I thought I told you not to tell jokes." His smile grew as she rolled her eyes at him. He leaned forward and wiggled each toe from the corpse before he came to a decision. "I'll take both big toes."
Molly quickly sawed the chosen toes and placed them into his glass jar. She then ripped off her gloves and walked towards the sink. She stopped moving away when she felt Sherlock's hand on her elbow. When she turned around, he placed a soft kiss on her forehead. She felt her heart increase, and her skin felt like it was on fire at his touch.
"You're the only pathologist worth working with."
"T-that's because I'm the only pathologist willing to work with you." Molly stuttered in response. Without a missed beat, Sherlock rolled his eyes and continued to talk.
"And correct me if I'm wrong. Which I'm not, but humour me. I'm the only consultive detective that you are willing to work with." The corners of Sherlock's lips quirked up as Molly rolled her eyes and stomped her foot lightly in annoyance.
"Well yes, because you're the only consultive detective in the world." Sherlock waved his hand dismissively at Molly's exasperated tone,
"Irrelevant detail" Sherlock said as he reached forward and gently placed her hand in his.
"We are, logically speaking, in an exclusive relationship." Molly gaped at Sherlock, her mind running through everything he had just said. Work wise, they did seek each other out. She had the reputation as the only pathologist Sherlock would work with, and he was technically the only consultive detective that helped her to complete her research papers. She slowly nodded her head at his words. To Molly's surprise, Sherlock leaned forward and placed another soft kiss on her cheek before he left the morgue with his jar of thumbs.
Three kisses in two visits.
For the remainder of her shift, and the entire walk home, Molly's mind kept returning to Sherlock's odd visits and his unexpected kisses. The constant loop of why he had kissed her, and how much kinder he's seemed lately, broke when she realized Toby wasn't home.
Molly stirred her dinner on the stove, her gaze bouncing back and forth between her watch and the open window. It seemed that lately, Toby had been returning to her flat later and later in the evening. Even though she was confident he could take care of himself, she worried over her cat. Kids could have taken him, or he could have been hit by a car. Her worry soon dissipated when Toby appeared moments later, a happy purr escaping in his throat, a black object in his mouth.
Toby sauntered over to her and dropped the black object beside her bunny slipper. It was a black toe. Molly turned the heat to simmer and grabbed a pair of oven mitts. Carefully she observed the toe. Besides its black colour, the toe looked oddly familiar.
Her face dropped as she realized that it was the toe from earlier that day. The one that Sherlock had chosen. Her fingers flew across her phone's screen, an annoyed huff repeatedly leaving her lips as she typed furiously. Thanks to Toby, the answer to her uneasy feeling from two days ago was answered. Clearly, Sherlock was throwing his experiments carelessly out with his everyday trash. That's the only possible answer to how Toby got the toe and the metacarpal bone from earlier.
'Have you lost a toe by any chance? -MH'
'No. I still have ten- SH'
She shook her head to wipe the smile that appeared on her lips at his response. Quickly she typed a new message, and hoped that this time he would admit to his careless human disposing crime.
'This is me asking you outright. Sherlock, are you throwing human remains in the garbage?- MH'
'Of course not. That would be stupid.-SH'
She stared at his text message, a look of disbelief on her face. It had to be Sherlock! He was the only person in London that Toby could possibly grab body parts from. She slapped her hand against her kitchen table, a look of determination on her face. Fine, she would just have to find a way to catch him in his lie. And when she did, he would rue the day he lied to her!
As luck would have it, a few days later a heavily tattooed man died in a motor vehicle accident. In his Last Will of Testament, he left his entire body to science, including his tattooed ears. This was it, these tattooed ears were going to be the evidence she needed to condemn Sherlock and his irresponsible experiment throwing ways. She would jar the ears and give them to Sherlock, and after her shift she would walk to 221B Baker Street and search his trash for the easily recognizable ears. It was a full proof plan.
She snipped the ears off and placed them into a jar. Molly walked out of St. Barts and located one of the members of Sherlock's homeless network. She approached the man, and paid him a generous amount of money to ensure Sherlock got the ears quickly. Twenty minutes later she got a text message from Sherlock that simply confirmed he got her gift.
When her shift was over, Molly practically sprinted out of the morgue and into the locker room. In her hand she held a large, heavy text book from her university days. There was an entire section dedicated to the teaching of disposing body parts, it was over five hundred pages long, size six Times New Roman Font, and if memory served her right, it was a torture to read. When she caught him, she was going to read him each and every single page of that chapter. He would never forget the principles of proper safe disposing methods once she was done!
Molly was so focused on reaching 221B Baker Street that it didn't register that her boss, and close friend, Mike Stamford had been calling her name. It wasn't until she was out of the hospital and across the street that she finally heard her name. She walked towards him a bashful smile on her face as he caught his breath. He pointed to the heavy text book, an inquisitive expression on his face and a friendly smile on his lips. "Did you find something unusual in one of your autopsy's today Molly?"
"I wish!" Molly said with a bright laugh, her eye's quickly looking at her watch before meeting his curious eyes again. "That would have made my day more interesting. No, I was just looking at references, comparing my technique to the text books."
"I see. Well, I called you over to tell you the board is super impressed with your work ethic. They're considering giving you a raise. I'm not surprised though, you are one of the most efficient members of our pathologist team. Keep up the good work champ." Mike said with a proud smile on his face. His unexpected kind words ceased Molly's fidgeting. A shy smile grew on her lips at his words.
"Mike that is so kind of you to say-" Her words were suddenly cut off as her eyes spotted a familiar cat casually walking across the street. A small tattooed ear clenched tightly between his teeth as he walked, oblivious to the anger bubbling in his owner's chest. This was the third body part this week that Toby had found because of Sherlock's recklessness. "I have to go. I'll see you tomorrow Mike." Molly said as she jogged towards Toby, snatching him up into her arms and walking determinedly towards 221B Baker Street.
Molly stormed up the flight of stairs that led to Sherlock's flat, her fist pounding his door repeatedly until he answered. Sherlock swung the door open, a lazy yawn escaping his lips as a greeting towards her. Molly bit back a small gasp at the sight of Sherlock wrapped in nothing more than a think white sheet. Swallowing suddenly seemed to be a very difficult task for her to accomplish.
She stopped her appreciative stare when Toby began to squirm in her hold. Her anger returned, and she shoved Toby into Sherlock's arms, and swung her textbook at him.
"Sherlock Holmes, you are a liar! You told me you weren't throwing your used experiments into the garbage!" Molly shouted, her eye's blazing with equal parts anger and annoyance at the man in front of her.
"Molly-"
"No Sherlock! Toby has been scavenging through your trashcans and has dug out your little secret, and let me tell you something, I am not happy! I'm here to teach you the proper method of disposing human remains." Molly ripped her jacket off and threw it uncaringly to the floor as she marched her way to the centre of his living room. She cleared her throat and opened her used textbook, her fingers flipping through the pages until she found her desired section. "Chapter Twenty Seven: Disposing Human Remains."
"I didn't lie to you. I don't put my experiments in the garbage." Sherlock shook his head at her antics and gently placed the purring Toby onto his floor, then kicked the front door shut. He shuffled into the kitchen, Toby hot on his heels. Sherlock grabbed a pair of everyday kitchen tongs, and grabbed the matching tattooed ear and dropped it onto the floor. Toby immediately snatched the dropped ear into his mouth and began to chew it. Sherlock turned to face Molly, a toothy smile on his face as he gestured towards her flesh-eating cat.
"Toby has been following me during the day to crime scenes. That's where I first discovered his peculiar appetite for dead human flesh. I only feed him the remains that are not dangerous and have no chemicals in them … and look how happy fresh extremities make him."
"Sherlock. How long has my cat accompanied you to crime scenes? How long has he been eating dead bodies?" Molly asked curiously, her face calmly observing her cat happily finishing his snack.
"After my twenty seventh visit to your flat. He's taken quite a liking to me, much more useful than my skull. He's been eating flesh since the beginning of our partnership." Sherlock said in a pleasant tone as he shuffled towards the living room to stand beside the silent Molly.
"Sherlock this is a dangerous city for a cat like Toby to be roaming around at night. Recently, he has started staying out later and later. He doesn't come home until after dark sometimes. The chances of him getting run over by a car increases every time he comes here. I don't mind him accompanying you on cases, but can you please send him home before dinner? I worry about him." Molly said, her eyes shut tight, as her fingers rubbed soothing circles on her temples.
"I wouldn't allow anything to happen to Toby. But I do see your point, London at night can be very dangerous. Molly, I only see one logical solution that will make all parties happy." Sherlock said as he stepped turned to face Molly.
"Move in with me."
Molly's eyes slammed open at his unexpected words, her body jerked backwards in disbelief and expression on his face.
"Sherlock Holmes, have you been nibbling on those body parts as well?" She watched him carefully as he readjusted his loose sheet. Her throat growing dry as she caught the brief site of his bare chest.
"No, those extremities are strictly for Toby's consumption." He replied, a small smirk playing on his lips as he caught her lingering stare.
"I can't move in with you!" Molly said forcefully, her cheeks growing red at having been caught staring.
"Because?" Sherlock questioned sincerely, his face returning to its usual passive expression as he waited for an answer. He adjusted the sheet again around his body, his eye's waiting for an answer as he continued to advance forward.
"Could you please put on some pants?" Molly pleaded, her cheeks flushing red once again as she sees more of his exposed skin.
"I'm rather comfortable."
"Fine. Reason number one. I won't move in with you because you clearly have no problem parading yourself in only a sheet. What would my mother think if she were to successfully execute a surprise visit and saw you in nothing more than this flimsy sheet?" Molly asked, her eyes narrowing into a heated glare as Sherlock smirked in response.
"Easy solution. We simply have to remember to lock the door." She continued to walk backwards until her back hit his kitchen counter.
"Reason number two. I won't move in with you because the kitchen is a mess. It's scattered with human remains and chemicals! How can I brew a cup a tea in this bacterial war zone?" She asked, her hand gesturing to the piles of used petri dishes that were lined up against the kitchen sink.
"We can turn John's old bedroom into a lab." Sherlock's eye's widened in size when Molly leaned forward to jab her finger repeatedly against his chest.
"Fine. I won't move in with you because I still have feelings for you!" Molly hissed as she jabbed her finger into his flesh. Sherlock sighed as he batted her irritating finger away.
"Yes, and I've returned your feelings for quite some time, and now we're in a relationship. Molly, we share custody over a cat." Sherlock said confidently, as if what he had stated was common knowledge.
"Sherlock Holmes, we do not have a relationship!"
"Yes we do, just a few days ago you agreed that we were exclusive." Sherlock's sighed as he observed Molly's blank expression. He tapped his foot impatiently as he waited for her eureka moment.
It never came.
With a heavy sigh, Sherlock leaned forward and placed a soft kiss on the corner of Molly's lips. One of his arms sneaked out of his blanket, and wrapped around her waist, pulling her closer towards to him.
"As I said earlier this week, you are my pathologist and I am your consultive detective. If you agree to it, I wish to move our relationship to the next level. Which, according to my Google search, is living together.
"We're in an exclusive relationship." Molly repeated in a daze, her head feeling light headed at the soft kisses he was trailing over her neck and face.
"Yes. We have been for quite some time. I thought it was quite obvious." He whispered huskily in her ear.
"Right, of course we have been." Molly cleared her throat, her hand slowly sliding under his sheet, until she felt his bare chest beneath her fingertips. His pupils dilated as she bit her lip deep in thought. "I'd like to retract reason number one. I'll only move in with you if the sheet comes off… and preferably stays off."
"Well, we wouldn't want that to prevent you from moving in." He grinned hungrily at Molly, as she pushed the sheet off his shoulders and wrapped her arms tightly around his neck. He met her lips in a passionate kiss, both smiling madly at each other as they sank to the floor.
She and Toby moved in permanently the next day.