A/N: Ok, so this is another story from tumblr that I kind of threw together. There will probably be four or five parts to it. It's a post HLV story, probably not the only one I'll be writing, but I was urged to share so here I am, sharing, lol. I own nothing and no one and thank you all in advance for checking this out.


"You may now kiss the bride."

Sherlock leaned forward and tenderly kissed Molly, whose eyes had fluttered shut. She was dressed in a simple white cotton dress and clutched a small bouquet of flowers from Mary's small garden in her hands. The matching gold rings gleamed on her and Sherlock's fingers, and she thought she'd never been happier in her life.

"Awww, so sweet. Can't believe I missed the ceremony, but at least I'm here in time to catch the bouquet!"

Molly gasped and pulled away from Sherlock, who was glaring at the intruder, standing insouciantly by the door to the judge's chambers, one hand in his pocket, the other holding a gun that was trained on the happy couple. John and Mary had turned and started to move, but the gun held them in their places on either side of Sherlock and Molly.

Looking from one shocked, angry face to the other, Jim Moriarty's lips stretched in a manic grin. "Did you miss me?"

Moriarty's grin didn't falter even for a second as two other gunmen entered the judge's chamber, swiftly patting John and Mary down and confiscating their mobiles before herding them into the small storage cupboard and locking them in. Sherlock watched coolly as one of them jammed a chair under the handle. He rubbed his fingers soothingly over Molly's as she clutched his hand tighter, her face pale and drawn.

It wasn't lost on either of them that the judge who had just performed their wedding ceremony wasn't reacting to any of this. Clearly he'd been in on it, bribed or threatened into allowing Moriarty to do as he pleased.

"What do you want?" Sherlock finally asked, ignoring the way Molly's fingers tightened on his, as if trying to silently warn him to shut up and not antagonize her psychopathic ex-boyfriend.

"Oh, the usual," Moriarty replied, strolling into the room and stopping directly in front of the newlyweds. "A slice of wedding cake, a glass of champagne…" He swiveled his head and stared coldly at Molly. "A kiss from the bride."

Sherlock moved so that he stood between Moriarty and Molly, who had gone rigid with a combination of terror and loathing. The barrel of Moriarty's gun was pressed to his chest, but Sherlock remained between them, unheeding of the threat. "No," he ground out. He was still holding his wife's hand (was she his wife? was that actually Judge Harding standing in front of the small podium, or one of Moriarty's henchmen playing a part?), which had gone cold in his grasp. But she wasn't crying; he was absurdly proud of her silence, even knowing it was as much due to shock as to her own self-control. "Stay away from my wife, Jim. This is between the two of us."

Moriarty put his head back and laughed. Sherlock could have gone for the weapon, snatched it from his foe's hand, but the two lackeys had their weapons trained on him – and more importantly, Molly – and he knew it would be a futile gesture at best. When Moriarty had finished with his show of mirth, he gazed at Sherlock, his eyes dead and nearly black. Shark-like, John had described them in his blog, and that description, although overused and cliché, was nevertheless the one that fit.

"Sorry, Sherlock," he said, shaking his head in mock sorrow. "That's not the game I'm playing now." He leaned forward, as always unintimidated by the height difference between them, uncaring that Sherlock was taller and therefore supposedly held the psychological advantage. "The game I'm playing doesn't involve you, except peripherally." His eyes drifted over Sherlock's shoulder, clearly locking onto Molly's face. "This game is called Boy Meets Girl, Boy Loses Girl..."

He reached up suddenly and smashed the butt of his pistol against Sherlock's forehead. As the consulting detective collapsed to the floor, struggling to hang onto his consciousness, he heard Jim saying: "Boy Gets Girl Back" while Molly's terrified scream rang in the background…and was suddenly cut off. Then darkness, dragging him down with a sensation of having failed the one person who mattered most.