The Water is Warm, Ch. 2

*None of the characters are mine, but all the mistakes are…

'It was a long flight. No, that was not nearly accurate enough. It was a bloody long flight. Nope, still not there,' Molly thought to herself. 'It was an exhausting, harrowing, disgusting, nearly life threatening, epic tale,' she thought as the boat zoomed through the water. Though Mycroft had booked them in first class, it hadn't stopped a child from turning to Molly as his parents were walking him to the back and throwing up on her. She had made the mistake of not packing any extra clothes in her carry on and thus was stuck with the now revolting shirt.

Luckily, Sherlock had packed an extra set of clothes in his carry on and had been so kind as to loan it to her given that there was no way he could be on an 8 hour flight followed by another 2 hour flight with her reeking of sick. Even after the clothing change that Molly actually didn't mind too terribly much since Sherlock's shirt had the excellent quality of smelling like Sherlock, the plane still held the odor from the child's sickness and thus they were all stuck like that for a grueling eight hours. To make matters worse, they were supposed to land in Florida and take and charter plane down to the island, but given that there was a storm above the entire state, they were forced to circle overhead for another two hours.

After an extremely shaky landing in which the Captain's skills were much congratulated, they were informed that their charter plane and all others had been grounded due to the weather. At this, Molly was sure that Sherlock would begin to go off on the attendants at the counter, but instead it was his poor elder brother who bore the brunt of his frustrations. After several rather terse moments on the phone, Sherlock announced that they would be picked up by a car service and taken to the dock, from whence they would be taken by boat to the island.

Unfortunately, the car service turned out to be a man in a van that had no air conditioning in the 36 degree weather that also came with one hundred percent humidity. By the time they got to the dock, the two were pale and both were feeling the effects of the drastic change in climate. From there, they went to meet the man with the boat, only to discover that it was actually a rather nice ship. There were bathrooms in which they could wash up and change from their adventures, and there was bunks in which they could try to get a few hours sleep.

The best laid plans of mice and men were overturned, however, when the storm moved south and followed them for several hours. Both Molly and Sherlock discovered their distinct lack of sea legs and how to deal with being sea sick. Eventually neither had anything left to give to the sea, and they fell asleep next to each other on the couch inside the cabin. It was thus that Molly had awoken from where she had been sleeping on Sherlock's shoulder. She realised that the boat was no longer thrashing about on the ocean, and she decided to venture out onto the deck to see what everything looked like in the calm.

What met her sight was well worth the journey that had just taken place. Dawn was just breaking, and as she stood at the prow of the ship, she had a front row seat to the sun rise. It was slow at first, but before she could blink, the sun peaked over the ocean and began to light up the entire sea. The colours that were changing before her eyes were overwhelming. When she had walked out, the world was grey and blue, but now pinks and reds and oranges and yellows overtook the sky and the sea making the most astounding picture she had ever seen. She took a deep breath and rested her hands on the rails next to her. It was all a bit like Titanic, and she giggled at her silliness.

"What are you laughing at," the most familiar baritone voice interrupted her thoughts.

"Just being silly. Isn't it lovely?" she replied, not turning to look at him, since the scene before her was so captivating.

He sighed and came to stand directly behind her. He put his hands directly behind hers and rested his chin on her shoulder. "I suppose so. I'm just glad that the weather has finally calmed."

She smiled. "Yes, I didn't think it would be quite so difficult. I just can't wait to have a proper shower and sleep in a proper bed."

"Oh, and what's so wrong with my shoulder? I should have thought that would be plenty of rest after all the sleep you got on the plane." At this, her cheeks blushed pink, but given the colour of the world, only someone who knew her exceptionally well would be able to tell. Someone like the man who stood behind her.

"There's nothing wrong with you shoulder. I just want to get horizontal," she answered cheekily.

"Is that a proposition before breakfast Dr. Hooper, my how forward you are," he teased. Molly turned at this to look at him.

"No, sorry, I just meant that-"

"I know exactly what you meant, and though I do not appreciate sleep as much as you do, I agree with the sentiment. All of this traveling has quite disrupted my system," he interrupted. She smiled up at him, taking in the way that the colours of the young sun painted him. His hair, which normally was so dark in the weak, London light, was brightened considerably. Instead of black, it reflected reds and browns that gave it new life. His so pale complexion had new life to it, and Molly began to wonder if he would tan.

Just then, the captain walked up to them to inform them that they would be at the island in just under an hour if they would get their things together so that they could disembark. Molly sighed wistfully as Sherlock walked away from her to begin packing. Maybe on the way back she could convince him to do the whole Titanic thing for real with her …

AN: Oh dear, this is becoming more of a story than I thought it would be… Silly plot bunnies, leading me around. Enjoy! Reviews are appreciated. I'm going to do my best to get another chapter out tonight, so please feel free to pester if I don't! Thanks!