"You died" Sherlock woke up from his very long sleep on a familiar cold voice.
"Your heart stopped beating and you technically died" he began to open his sensitive eyes, the lights hurt them. He couldn't fully open them at first, but he could recognize the unbalanced shape of the woman standing in front of his bed in her signature lab coat and her ponytail, holding his chart with iron fist.
"Seems like the devil keeps rejecting me every time" he smirked and blinked few time to get used to the lights in the hospital room.
When his sight was totally functioning he looked around the place, flowers were everywhere, and he knew each one was sent by whom.
"You think this is a joke!" Molly's voice brought him back to her, her eyes were still full with coldness and anger.
"Actually don't answer that, it is a joke, the whole situation is a stupid crazy joke!" tension began to appear on her shoulders and her white knuckles from squeezing the chart, he began to feel guilt, a familiar feeling he started to get used to it around her, a feeling she mastered through the year to pull out of him with no effort.
"It's for a case" he defended himself lousily, he wasn't even trying to convince her as he knew there was no hiding from her. She was always capable to see right through him.
"it's never just a case Sherlock" She rolled her eyes in exasperation, "you always have a case, you are always annoyingly reckless and a danger magnet, but not like this, the last time you acted this way, like you have a death wish, was when you needed to save your friends, then you had me by your side" she was moving around the place with nervous steps, never leaving the chart out of her hands, her eyes began to hold tears when she said the last words looking to him.
She was right, he wasn't in a better situation than before, then he had her and Mycroft, they helped him and were by his side, this time not only Mycroft wouldn't help but he also could be an obstruction after the behavior he showed when Magnussen's name was mentioned, he knew he could always rely on Molly whenever he wanted but the idea of putting her in the radar of the shark's eyes made him feel nauseous, this time he only had himself, and he prayed for the sake of John and Mary it would be enough.
"I need to solve this alone this time" he tried to sound as strong and distant as he could.
"You know I can help" she almost begged him.
"I NEED NO HELP" his rips tortured him after his burst, causing him pain, but the terrified look on Molly's face hurt him more.
He closed his eyes "I really appreciate your offer, and I'll always be in your debt for what you did for me years ago but this time I need to solve this by myself" he said as an apology.
She shook her head, seeing there was no way to know what trouble he put himself into this time, and put the chart down.
"Just stop treating your life as a stupid game you can restart after the words game over got written" she said in disgust and clenched her teeth, "It's not only yours to risk it the way you do"
Before she walked out of the door he called her name in desperation, she looked at him still holding the door knock.
"I meant what I said, I'm really sorry your engagement is over" he said sincerely, she only frowned.
"I really wished he would provide you the happiness you deserve" she looked fighting different emotions inside her, he wished he could deduce what was in her mind, but as usual he ceased to fail.
"I know" she left the room in hurry.
Sherlock kept looking to the door she walked from for a while, thinking of what she said about his life, how it wasn't only his before his breath stuck inside his throat chocking him.
Magnussen was standing in the far alley in front of the window of his room with horrific smile on his lips; Sherlock didn't need to use his deduction skills to know he already listed Molly as a pressure point for him and him as hers.
Magnussen waited the sign of fear and horror on Sherlock's eyes he extremely treasured seeing them in the face of his properties, instead Sherlock picked the remote next to him and began to move the upper half of his bed higher, never took his eyes off Magnussen's, there was no fear in Sherlock's eyes, no terror, there was only dare.
It was a battle of wills, the first one who moved his sight away would lose it, and Sherlock had no intention to lose.
Magnussen moved his head to the side watching Sherlock and the way he stared at him daring, after a minute he smiled a half smile moving his head down and fixing his glasses on his nose, he looked to Sherlock one last time with a smirk and walked away.
He spent years collecting his properties and mastered the art of how to push them enough to kill for him, but not to push them in a tight corner where there is no other choice but to attack him, in his calculations, he already owned the man.
This technique would work easily on any normal person as it did for years and years, the only problem was that there was a missing factor in his equation, Sherlock was anything but normal.