The Heart of Sherlock Holmes

It takes two years to find Molly and three weeks to rescue her.

Part 2

It takes two years to find Molly and three weeks to rescue her.

It's a joint effort between Sherlock, Mycroft and Mary. John doesn't know exactly what they did and has told himself that he doesn't want to either. He's a soldier, he knows war is a brutal and the casualties are many. He cannot imagine how in anyway it can be good to know what those three can do combined.

He does know that it take several weeks for anyone to be allowed to see her and even then it's with restricted access. He finds out why on his first visit when Mary has to subdue Molly from shoving her IV in his throat. Molly is frighteningly different and it terrifies him when he cannot see the old Molly at all. John feels stripped to the bone when she assess him, her eyes calculating and mindful. It's after Mycroft takes him aside and explains her current track record with unsupervised personnel, (apparently she's very handy with a scalpel) that he realises that she reminds him of hunter, waiting to strike.

Molly is not the same woman she once was and John doesn't realise until he sees the her in the cold light of day, how much he was expecting her to be. That night, in bed and in the dark, Mary holds him as he cries for the loss of his friend.

The Doctor screens Lestrade's calls for the first 6 months of Molly's return. Sherlock doesn't take on a single case during this time. He spends everyday with her, trying to coax the truth of her imprisonment, one secret at a time. It's common knowledge that he has scars from her attempts to get at him. Later it emerges that it's all a compromise; a scar for each secret. John doesn't approve of the therapy, when he does become privy to the information, but patches his friend up anyway. Mary, however, does understand and often reminds her husband that none of Sherlock's relationships are conventional.

When the 'therapy' hits a standstill Sherlock takes a level 4 case in frustration and it takes him far longer than it should to solve. In the end Anderson intervenes at Donovan's insistence and helps Greg catch the criminal. It does not go unnoticed that Sherlock disappears before the case is solved and doesn't visit Molly.

When sighting and rumours start to surface about the detective being spotted in Eastern Europe, Mycroft disappears too. John remains puzzled until Mary mentions in passing that Moriarty is supposedly hiding out there. He doesn't follow but instead goes to see Molly.

His first visitation after Molly was discharged from the hospital was awkward to say the least. It also wasn't very long. The subsequent visits are longer but it is mostly to bring Tobey to visit Molly, since he can't stay at the clinic with her. Tobey is initially as suspicious of Molly, as she is of him. It's only an apparent and mutual distrust of Sherlock that seems to bring them back together.

Molly looks healthier now, nowhere as wild as before, but there is still calculating look in her eyes. She eyes him in the beginning with curiosity and suspicion. He doesn't really blame her, he hasn't spent much time around her since her return (except as a first aider) and they were not the closest of people before her abduction.

She never mentions Sherlock's absence during those months he's gone and John is fairly relieved about that. Their time together is spent mostly in silence, occasionally it is filled with the rustle of his newspaper and her playing with Tobey. It's not the most exciting way of spending time with someone, but John likes to think that his being there is a small comfort.

When Sherlock does return, he avoids Molly and takes on several of Lestrade's cases. He solves them all quicker than ever before and takes on every private case that comes him, no matter how tedious they are. It doesn't take a genius to work out that the trip was a wasted endeavour.

It's raining when Molly finally asks why Sherlock is avoiding her.

Tobey had been left at home as he hates storms and the room is filled with a deafening silence. John resents his inability to fill it, the tension making him itch and suddenly he sees out why Sherlock is so desperate to try to fix her. He is overcome with how much he really does miss the old chatty Molly. The quiet is a stark contrast to the old days and without warning John finds himself speaking to her about everything. If you asked him today what he said, he would honestly reply that couldn't remember, the whole scenario is similar to an out of body experience. He knows that speaks of her disappearance and through the years she was gone. The memories and events she has missed and cases that have passed. He speaks of his family and his marriage.

It's turned dark long before he talks of Sherlock, of his friend's sadness and unflinching relentlessness to find her. It's easier to speak of it in the dark, like its a secret that he shouldn't be sharing. The words come leaving Sherlock's heart laying bare and Molly listens. She never moves. Never stops looking out the window. He can't tell if she hears him and there is no sign of acknowledgements, but the Doctor has spent so many years with Sherlock that he knows appearances are deceiving.

John feels lighter when he leaves. The rooms tension has cleared, like the sky after a storm. He doesn't know if what he has done will help but he just hopes that he's cut away enough of the scar tissue from the wound so regrowth can now happen.

It's Molly that goes to Sherlock first. John walks in to 221b Baker Street to find her sitting in his chair and drinking tea. Tobey curled in her lap. John wonders if she has her protection detail in tow but a text from Mycroft informs that she no longer needs one. He knows that his brother is more than equipped to deal with the former Pathologist. Mary's smile when she comes round later that day, toddler in tow, tells John to shut up and enjoy himself.

That is exactly what he does when Sherlock starts experimenting with his two-year old and teaching her new words. Molly spends the entire time watch from her perch, seemingly entranced with their interaction. The Consulting Detective has a uniquely brilliant way with children and his daughters laughs of delight at "silly Unkol Sher" are pure delight.

It doesn't go unnoticed by any of them when Molly leaves that Sherlock's eyes follow after her with rapt attention.

To be continued...