This was a prompt fill for an anonymous user on Tumblr who wanted a story about Sherlock looking out for Molly through out the years. I hope you guys like this one! I couldn't help adding in a slight Star Trek reference, and I will be amazed if anyone can find it!
It starts when they are twelve years old. John stumbles upon his best friend punching Billy Campbell (a huge, brute of a boy) in the face. He is momentarily impressed that Sherlock seems to be winning before grabbing his friend and pulling him off of the bleeding boy. John stops Billy's response with a quick jab to the ribs. Billy hunches over, groaning. John notices the teacher headed towards them and drags Sherlock by his collar back inside the building.
"What were you thinking, Sherlock?!" he asks in exasperation. Someone as smart as his friend must know that hitting someone bigger than himself, especially with a teacher nearby, is a horrible idea.
"I saw him giving Amelia a flower during our break this afternoon, even though, only yesterday, he told Molly Hooper that he liked her!" Ah. Everything makes sense now. Sherlock has always been overly protective of their pretty and quiet friend.
"Okay, okay. Just promise me you won't do anything so stupid again!" He pats his heavily-breathing friend on the back, and they walk back to their classroom together, taking their seats next to Molly.
She gasps in surprise when Billy staggers through the door behind them, traces of drying blood visible below his nose. "My goodness! What do you think happened?!" John shrugs and looks at Sherlock, who merely smirks smugly to himself and remains silent on the subject.
Throughout the years, John watches curiously as the pattern repeats itself over and over. Sherlock becomes more subtle in his approach as the years go by, but the result remains the same. Any boy who hurts Molly Hooper inevitably feels the wrath of Sherlock.
There is Charlie in Year 10, who laughs in Molly's face when she timidly asks if he would like to attend her birthday party. He is banned from the football team because someone alerts the coach that he has been buying his essays from another student. When they are sixteen, Ben makes Molly cry when she overhears him telling his friends about his weird lab partner who wants to work with dead bodies. The next morning, photographs of Ben kissing his male math tutor are plastered all over the school. John thinks that one might have been his favorite.
Through all of this, however, Molly Hooper remains unaware of Sherlock's self-appointed role as her avenging angel. John wonders how she would react. Would she be mad or flattered? He also considers his friend's reasons, but when he interrogates Sherlock about the pranks, he is ignored in favor of a particularly interesting microscope slide. He sighs and continues to observe, mentally making note of every occurrence.
Molly does not catch on until they are all in their second year at university. John is studying the bones of the wrist for his anatomy exam (Who cares about the difference between the trapezium and the trapezoid? An x-ray will show it's broken either way), when Molly Hooper storms into the flat that the three of them share, roughly slamming the door behind her.
Sherlock barely manages to plant his foot in the crack before it shuts in his face. "Molly! I don't see why you are so upset! He had it coming!"
Molly Hooper, face flushed red in anger, turns on him, jabbing a finger into his chest. "What do you mean, 'he had it coming'?! No one deserves that!"
John closes his book quietly and twists his head between his two flat mates. This is far more interesting than anatomy, anyway. "He cheatedon you, Molly! I'd say his punishment was fairly light, given the crime!" John hisses out a breath. Sherlock has finally been discovered, then. Molly has been dating Oliver for almost a month. John has reservations about the man from the beginning, but keeps quiet under consideration of Molly's feelings. Sherlock, it seems, does not share his tact.
"You stranded him in a locker room without any clothes and caused him to miss his final presentation! Then, you convinced his professor that his absence was due to 'excessive alcohol consumption' as you so eloquently explained. He has failed the class. Why on earth would you do that?" She shakes her head to the side, trying to understand Sherlock's motive.
The tall, curly haired man appears as though he is not going to answer, when he meets her gaze and sighs. "Fine! He hurt you, alright? I could not just stand by while he flaunted her in front of you. He needed to pay!" Sherlock takes Molly's smaller hand in his, lightly tracing the bones. (John fleetingly thinks this would be a far more enjoyable method to study for his exam.)
Molly gapes at him, the weight of his words shocking her into silence for several minutes. John questions if he should leave the room and leave them to their private moment until she speaks up. "Thank you for your concern, Sherlock. But while I appreciate the sentiment, you didn't need to go quite that far. He has to retake the entire class! I'm not worth all of that trouble."
"You, Molly Hooper, are worth far more than that." He smiles at her, prompting one from her in return. John gathers his books and walks to his bedroom, almost missing Sherlock's next statement.
"Besides, it's not like that is the worst thing I have ever done for you."
"What?!"
