Disclaimer: I do not own anything. The songs mentioned all go to their respective owners.


Molly Hooper loved music, especially in the mornings before she went to work. Sherlock quickly learned about this when he was sharing her flat after his 'fall'. Molly seemed like a girl who would like some of the classics like Bach or Mozart, but it turned out that Molly really liked hard rock and popular songs with many, many curse words. That first morning in Molly's flat Sherlock was very interested in this new little habit of Molly's.

Sherlock was sleeping in on that day. Molly had let him sleep in her room for the first week after 'the Reichenbach Fall', while she slept on the couch with Toby, her cat. At 6 am, Molly's alarm went off for work, and she stumbled into the bathroom to get ready. She grabbed a few articles of clothing and turned on a playlist of her own making. Right before she got into the shower, Molly stopped to turn her stereo up louder. Sherlock woke up to this rather loud music that he was not accustomed with. In his own flat, on Baker Street, he refused to listen to any kind of music in the morning, no matter how much John argued.

He jerked awake and took in his surroundings. Of course he did remember where he was, his genius mind could not forget anything unless he deemed it as unworthy. Sherlock was just mildly confused about the loud music that was topped by very high singing.

Sherlock had known Molly for a while and knew that she liked to sing, but the singing that he was hearing did not sound like Molly, or rather the song didn't sound like Molly. Sherlock identified the song as "Highway to Hell" by ACDC. Sherlock now understood why the singing sounded nothing like Molly; the song consisted of different octaves of scream. Sherlock was very tempted to yell at Molly so that she would turn it off, like he did with John so many times, but he closed his mouth.

"You have to at least try to be nice to her," he whispered to himself. "She's been kind enough to let you stay in her flat, you need to be nice. You need to make John proud." Sherlock had begun to remind himself of John to keep himself on a straight line. After that incident with the roof of Bart's, Sherlock felt he owed John.

Still curious, Sherlock grabbed his bath robe and crept out of Molly's bedroom, patted Toby on the head, and slunk closer to the bathroom door that was right beside the entrance to the kitchen. On one of the counters in the kitchen sat Molly's stereo with her I-Pod in it. On the screen was a playlist titled "Blood Splatters". If Sherlock wasn't too shocked by the title, he was shocked to see all of the songs that did not seem like Molly at all.

"'Before He Cheats' by Carrie Underwood, 'So What!' by P!nk? 'Bohemian Rhapsody' by Queen, 'Blank Space' by Taylor Swift...…. What are all of these songs?" Sherlock read the titles of the songs as Highway to Hell ended and a new song started to play. He scrolled down the list and came upon songs called "Mr. Brightside" by The Killers, and "Be Prepared" by various Disney artists. The water in the shower stopped and Sherlock could hear Molly climb out of the shower. There was another silence between songs. A song called "I Hate Myself for Loving You" came on, and he heard Molly moving around the small bathroom in time with the beat. As the lyrics started, he could only hear Molly. It didn't seem possible to him, but Molly had somehow got louder. With a quick minute of deducing and looking through her I-Pod, Sherlock found that this seemed to be Molly's favorite song on the playlist and device. As with most people, the most played song usually had a special meaning to the owner. Wrapped in his warm and fuzzy bath robe, Sherlock leaned against the counter of the kitchen listening to the lyrics of the song. Soon enough he had slipped into his mind palace. The reason was to connect the lyrics of the Joan Jet song to his memories of Molly.

Two months after he had first met Molly at Bart's, he had started to notice that she had taken a liking towards him. At the time he had taken advantage of this to get what he wanted. He had never before considered her feelings that she might hate herself so much for loving him when she never got anything for it. Just like what the lyrics said in the song, "I wanna walk but I run back to you". Molly was smart and talented. He valued this. Sherlock just never thought of telling her this. Maybe seeing the expression on John's face when Sherlock 'died' made Sherlock himself see that others had emotions that should never be hurt or manipulated. Unnoticed by him, Molly had come out of the bathroom and had come into the kitchen.

Molly came into the kitchen and was entirely focused on buttoning her cardigan and belting out the words to the song. She didn't even notice Sherlock until she almost tripped over his foot. He was so entranced by his mind palace he hardly noticed. He looked very peaceful when he was in his palace. His face looked like it was in a very deep sleep. Molly stood there starring at him before the tea kettle that she had set before getting into the shower whistled, making her jump.

The song ended, and Sherlock was pulled out of his mind palace to find Molly in the kitchen fixing a quick breakfast for herself, and one for Sherlock as well. The music had been turned off, and there was a comfortable silence between the two people in the room.

Sherlock turned his soft rainbow colored eyes towards Molly who was fixing her tea.

"Thank you... Molly."

Molly spun around, clutching her tea protectively. Sherlock smiled a little. Molly opened her mouth in surprise. Sherlock hardly ever smiled. He usually smiled whenever he wanted to manipulate someone. Molly warily smiled back, but her eyebrow was raised.

"Why do you want to thank me?" Molly asked. She held her tea cup tighter in her hands.

Sherlock just gestured to the apartment in response. After only a few milliseconds Molly realized what he was saying and relaxed slightly.

"Oh letting you stay here? There is no thanks needed. It was all a part of our deal. You needed somewhere to stay low before you can go out and get on with your life. It makes sense, and it was needed." Molly fidgeted with her tea bag and stared down at the murky water.

"It wasn't needed. You had the option to say no. You always do." Sherlock had a strange sensation of wanting to tell Molly everything and even hold her. Her small, petite face was scrunched up as she struggled not to look into his glowing eyes. There had only been a few times in the whole time she had known him when his eyes glowed with this much intensity. This glow only appeared when he was being truthful, and when he was not influencing her. Those eyes showed something that she could not explain.

With a slight tremble, but still not looking up, Molly whispered "You're a friend. There was no option."

"You could have gotten hurt. You still can get hurt." Sherlock had stepped closer to Molly. He now was so close that the hot air from her tea was softly warming his face as he looked down at her. "I value you, Molly. I can't have you getting hurt on account of me."

With a deep breath, Molly leaned her head back so that she now looked up at Sherlock with the same intensity in her eyes as his. "It's worth it to know that you will be safe."

Their gazes stayed on each other's eyes as the moments passed, but all of those seconds created one moment that both would remember and visit often in their mind palaces.

Sherlock's brain was going haywire as his brain tried to sort out all of the hormones coursing through his veins. With only a slight hesitation, Sherlock leaned even closer to Molly and laid one hand on her arm. Feeling something in the air to warn her, Molly set down her large cup of tea on the counter and she put her full attention on Sherlock.

Cupping her cheek with his other hand Sherlock leaned in to try something that he rarely thought was necessary. Both of them closed their eyes when their lips met. A spark flew through Sherlock and Molly's bodies, bringing warmth to the cold morning air that was seeping through the window above the sink.

Sherlock never really liked human interaction, but found kissing Molly very enjoyable. When he had kissed Irene, he had felt nothing. With Molly, he felt everything. He could feel her hands search his torso for a hand hold. He could feel her hair tickling his face. He could even feel his mind palace sorting itself out. He wanted this feeling to last forever.

Molly had gone on many dates in the past, and had ended up kissing many of them. She had always felt like she was missing something whenever she kissed these other men. That thing that was missing was Sherlock.

They finally broke apart, breathing heavily for air.

"You do know you're going to be late to work, don't you?" Sherlock whispered into Molly's ear. His breathy whispers sent nice tingles down Molly's spine.

Molly pulled the collar of Sherlock's bathrobe and whispered back at him, "Don't care." Molly left one more kiss on Sherlock's lips then she grabbed her cup of tea, her coat and walked out the door with a quick "See ya later."

Sherlock stared at the closed door with a very small smile on his lips. He really liked this new side of Molly. He turned around and walked back over to the stereo. With a flick of his finger he turned the playlist back on and danced a little to himself to the crazy, half yelling lyrics.


Hope you liked the story readers. Sorry I have not written in a while, that stupid Writer's Block has been blocking everything until I started to listen to some songs, and I thought of this story. :-) Happy belated Christmas and New Year!