Standard disclaimer stands, I don't own anything.

If you find grammar mistakes or wrong spelled words please let me know. There is no beta proofreading this story, only a spell checker.

Huge thanks to all those who read and reviewed the first chapter. The positive response was a great motivator to get this chapter out as soon as possible. You are awesome!


Molly sighed and looked back. She was almost at the end of the street, almost out of sight of the reception hall, and she hoped she would see someone following her. Someone asking her why she left early. Someone telling her to come back. Someone requesting a dance.

There was no one.

Just as she predicted.

It was a very stupid thing of her to decide but Molly watched as a cab passed her and didn't even bothered to try to stop it, to get a ride to the train station, so she can return to London and the flat she shared with Tom. Not yet anyway, she needed to spend some more time at the fresh air before she found herself surrounded by cold white walls and greeted by silence. Not even the dog would be there to welcome her since he was currently staying at Tom's parents. Tom didn't want the dog to stay alone at home.

Home.

The word is supposed to have only one meaning but to Molly it had dozen. It wasn't just the housing where someone lived. Not everything with four walls and a roof could be considered a home. And Tom's flat certainly didn't count in that category.

He would always say it's their flat, their home, but even after living there for almost eight months Molly still hasn't started to make herself comfortable there. It was hard to do so.

When she first moved in the walls were white and the floors all covered with dark wood, the spacious sitting room decorated in a modern but somewhat detached style and that was exactly how the rest of the flat looked like too. And now, eight months later it still looked the same.

But she tried to change things; no one can say she didn't. The medical books she placed on the shelves would be packed back in boxes in less then a day and stored in a spare room because those just weren't kind of books one should display. No one wants to see 'death' mentioned on the spine. The colorful quilt she made herself as a teenager, something she was extremely proud of, didn't look nice at the back of the leather sofa. The photo of Toby was also removed with an explanation no adult should have a framed photograph of their dead cat on a mantle.

Tom treated his flat as he treated the gallery where he worked at. Everything had to be on its place. Molly's things were in storage.

It wasn't like the controlled chaos that ruled over her old flat. Although it went a bit out of control for those two weeks after the fall when Sherlock stayed with her. John truly deserved sainthood for putting up with the consulting detective for as long as he did without smothering him with a pillow on one of those rare occasions Sherlock did fell asleep.

She couldn't help but remember that one time…

Molly stopped in her track and yelled, "Stop it!" to the dark night. Why was it impossible for her to just stop thinking about him? No matter what kind of thoughts were running around her mind, sooner or later, he would invade.

She looked around to see if someone heard her outburst before continuing her walk in the direction of the station. It was a really stupid idea, not to mention a potentially dangerous one, to walk alone at this time of the evening but at this point she was beyond caring.

A sudden gush of wind made Molly gasp; for a moment it was almost like it chilled her right to her bones. A flower fell out of the large yellow bow at the side of her head and landed at the pavement. And soon the rest of the bow followed as she took it out of her hair and let it slip out of her finger on the cold ground.

Her long hair spread across her back, now free for the wind to play with it.

She sighed and looked down at the cheerful yellow material. A giggle escaped her lips as she mentally scowled herself for littering. She was a good girl; she shouldn't do things like that. She also shouldn't have agreed to marry a man she didn't love like she supposed to, because she still loved a man she shouldn't have helped to fake his death and hurt his friends in the process. But Molly did all that.

Bending down, she picked the bow and crumpled it in her hand. And as she did the lovely stones on her ring caught light from the street lamp and reflected. When she first accepted the proposal she did that often, played with the only piece of jewelry she wore since she started to work at Barts. It was that girly part of her that loved to watch the reflection of the diamonds on the walls and ceiling. Now it seemed like it weighed a ton.

By now she was several blocks away from Goldney Hall and her feet started to hurt. Looking back towards the direction from which she came she didn't saw any cabs coming so Molly took out her phone from her handbag and tested the application she installed recently but never used before. It took only fifteen minutes of walk from the flat to work so it made it unnecessary to spend money on a cab. But now it was necessary since the nearest train station was Bristol Parkway and it would take over two hours to reach it by foot.

It seemed strange at first, when she read the reception would be held all the way in Bristol, when neither the bride nor the groom ever lived there. But eventually it made sense since it was probably cheaper then renting a reception hall somewhere in London.


Half an hour later Molly Hooper purchased the train ticket back to London and exited out on the platform. For what seemed the first time today she was fortunate. The train was leaving soon and she managed to find an empty compartment. No odd looks for the woman in a summer dress from other passengers tonight.

Once in Paddington Station she once more caught a cab and gave the driver the address in the Old Street. Leaning back in the seat Molly sighed. She was now miles away from the reception and from the man she desperately tried not to think about. Out of sight, out of mind was such a lovely saying. It was a complete lie but right now she was willing to deceive herself. Better then imagining him dancing with the maid of honor in purple.

"You alright there, miss?" the cabbie asked.

"I'm fine, thank you. Tired a bit."

"Look fancy there, important night?"

Molly didn't had the habit of talking to taxi drivers but right now talking to someone, even a complete stranger, felt really good, "I was at a wedding. It was lovely."

"And you're going home already? It's just after ten-o-clock. Doesn't seem so lovely if you left already. Don't you young folks stay at the party till early hours of the morning? I remember my daughters didn't come home till the next day."

"I'm not much of a party girl." Molly mumbled, just barely loud enough for the cabbie to hear her, "It seemed pointless to stay if all I'll be doing is sit at the table and drink."

"Not dancing?"

"Not dancing. Didn't have a partner."

He actually snorted, "That's what the weddings are for. To catch an eligible guy."

"Oh, I have one. But he wasn't available to come with me today." Molly mentioned sadly, it would have been so different if Tom was with her at the reception. She wouldn't have left early; she wouldn't have cared that Sherlock danced with the maid of honor. Maybe if Tom was there the roles would have been reversed. Maybe Sherlock would have left the reception early.

But if he did she would have noticed. That is the biggest difference between the two of them.

"Well, he missed a perfect opportunity to dance with his lovely girlfriend. So it's his loss in the end." The driver concluded and Molly caught his eye in the rear-view mirror and smiled.

"Thank you."

The car stopped few minutes later, "Here we are, dear. I hope the rest of your evening goes better."

Molly looked out the window and saw the lights at the flat were on; Tom was already back from work, "I'm certain it will."

She paid the driver and exited the cab. The air was even colder now so she rushed to the front door of the building and fumbled with her purse to get the keys out. She rolled her eyes and sighed after pulling the wrinkled yellow bow out first, she should have thrown that thing away in the first bin she came across instead of stuffing it in her already full purse.

After finally getting the keys out Molly entered the foyer and let the doors close behind her and automatically lock. It was one of the few modern modifications on the older building. She walked to the staircase at the right and went to the second floor. By now her feet really hurt and she was ready to throw the shoes she purchased specifically for the wedding straight to the back of the wardrobe and never take them out again.

The wall mounted lights on either side of the door were on and it was a blessing since she had far too many keys on a single keychain and none of them was marked. So finding the right one was always a bother.

But before Molly managed to put the key in the lock the door in front of her opened and Tom stood in front of her with a grinning ginger next to him. He instantly straightened at the sight of his fiancé and the girl cleared her thought.

"Back already Molly? I haven't expected you to be home for at least five more hours." Was the first thing that came out of Tom's mouth and the girl next to him blushed.

"I decided to leave early." She answered and turned her attention to the unknown woman standing next to the man she was engaged to, "Hello, I don't think we met before. I'm Molly Hooper."

"Oh, how rude of me. Violet Smith." The woman said offering her hand for Molly to shake.

Seeing her father raised her properly Molly accepted the handshake before focusing back to Tom, ignoring the fact she was still standing in the hallway and the two of them in the flat "Everything settled at the gallery?"

"Yes, we even unexpectedly finished early today. Mostly thanks to Violet who made plans beforehand with the gallery manager, she's an agent for some of the artists whose arts we'll be displaying. And since she made all those plans I didn't had to, so at least I could do is cook her dinner." Tom explained the presence of the woman in the flat in a calm voice, like he practiced the speech just in case.

"And now I better go. It was nice meeting you Molly." Violet said, smiling sweetly at the pathologist in front of her, not realizing she was being deduced from the moment Molly saw her.

She may not be good at it like Sherlock is but Molly Hooper learned how to notice certain details, it was a side effect of helping the consulting detective for years now. So she noticed the dilated pupils when the ginger woman glanced at Tom, and she sensed her pulse during the handshake and noticed it was elevated. And if that wasn't enough then the telltale sign was the woman's blouse.

As Violet Smith was walking past Molly the young pathologist decided to, seemingly, do a good deed, "Perhaps you should rebutton your blouse before going out on the street. You don't want to give anyone a wrong impression."

Both Violet and Tom focused on the pale green blouse and noticed several buttons were buttoned wrongly. Violet looked back up at Molly but she already turned her back on the shocked woman and entered the flat.

She didn't stay to hear what Tom would say to Violet or vice versa, she didn't care. All Molly Hooper wanted right now is to pack her essentials in an overnight bag and leave.

The kitchen was spotless, she noticed as she passed by it. Tom didn't cooked dinner tonight. If he did and then washed the dishes afterwards he would have moved a coffee cup from the drying rack by the sink.

Upon walking in the bedroom the first thing she noticed was the unmade bed. Since she left the flat several hours after Tom today, and knew for a fact that was not how she left it, Molly didn't require any further evidence to prove what those two were really doing before she arrived.

"Molls, I can explain." She rolled her eyes hearing the expected words. It was so predictable.

"No need really." She said turning to look at Tom while she took her pajamas out of the chest of drawers.

"Oh." He smiled as his mind went in a completely different direction then his fiancé's, "Going to take a shower. I bet you're tired."

"No, I'll take a shower in the hotel." Molly corrected him.

A frown appeared on Tom's face, "What hotel?"

"The one I'll be staying in until I find a new flat."

Getting down on her knees Molly took out her small overnight bag from under the bed and placed it on the chest before proceeding to fill it with things she'll need for tonight. It was a tight fit but she eventually managed to fir her pajamas, underwear, toiletries bag with the most essential items and some basic clothes for tomorrow inside. Her wallet was still in the purse she had with her at the wedding.

"Molly-"

"I have a day off tomorrow; I took it so I can recover from the wedding. You see, I expected to dance the whole night long. But it seems I'll be spending it in a whole different way. I would appreciate it if you aren't here tomorrow so I can pack the rest of my clothes and grab the few boxes I have in the spare bedroom with all those inappropriate books. I'll leave my keys in the mail box once I'm done."

And with that said there was only one thing left to do. Molly calmly took off the engagement ring off her finger and placed it on the dark wood chest where her bag stood just seconds ago. She didn't even bother handing it back to Tom.

"You were having second thoughts." He called after her causing her to pause, "I've seen it when we went to Baker Street, I've been seeing it since then."

"Having 'what if' thoughts and actually cheating are two different things Tom. Two completely different things. I was picturing a life I knew I would never have, you… you destroyed any chance of a life I believed I could have. And yes, I sometimes doubted my decision but because I believed it wouldn't be fair to you if we got married and I didn't love you like I should, now I see it wouldn't be fair to me either. Goodbye Tom."


One positive thing of living with Tom was that he owned the flat they shared so she saved up a nice sum of money that would have gone to paying rent. Some of it was spent on several new clothing items she purchased in the eight months of living together but most of it was still on her bank account.

Molly took out her phone out of the purse that was still in her hand and did a search for hotels close to Barts. Most of them were far too fancy and required reservations weeks in advance but there were few that pooped out as potential residence for the time being. She just hoped at least one had a free room.

It was far too late to look for a flat but she would start tomorrow right after getting her things out of Tom's place.

She was fortunate right in the first try and made a last minute reservation in one of the budget chain hotels closest to the hospital. Next goal was getting a cab.

Molly just lifted her hand to stop the one that was driving towards the place she was standing on the sidewalk when the door behind her opened and Tom walked out "Molly, you don't have to do this. I've been thinking-"

"Don't strain yourself." She muttered and opened the back door of the black vehicle that stopped in front of her. She closed the door and told the driver the address, completely ignoring the man she truly believed, up to ten minutes ago, that she would end up married to for the rest of her life.

Was it truly been only ten minutes?

"Not expected seeing you again, miss." The cabbie said and Molly caught his eyes in the side-view mirror and smiled.

"Things don't always end up as expected." She pointed out sadly, "And sometimes I feel like no one knows that better then me."


I did a search for the location of the reception from 'The Sigh of Three' and found out it was filmed in Goldney Hall of Residence in Bristol so I used that location too.