Chapter 3

Sherlock had been back in hospital, for the second time, for about five days. The first couple had passed in a blur of machines and morphine as the doctors made sure there was no further internal bleeding from his wound. There had been much tut tutting from the doctors about him going AWOL for a couple of days but he had just found that tedious and irritating.

He had no regrets about leaving hospital to resolve, or try to resolve, the Mary situation. She had warned him not to say anything to John but after lying to him for two years about his supposed death he was not about to lie to him again. So it was all out in the open even if that meant that John had temporarily moved back into Baker Street and was currently ignoring any texts that he received from Mary.

Sherlock still needed to figure out a way to force Magnussen's hand re the blackmail of Mary but he was limited re what he could do in hospital which left him bored. He had spent some time in his mind palace reworking it based on his new found decision with regards to Molly. He had gone over all their previous interactions, analysed her likes and dislikes and worked out how long it would be before John moved out and he could reasonably expect Molly to move in but this led him to his current dilemma. Molly had yet to visit him and he didn't know why she hadn't been.

He was yet again quizzing John who was starting to get suspicious.

'So, why exactly are you so bothered that she hasn't been?'

'I'm not BOTHERED, it's just out of character. We're in the same building, she's had a crush on me for years now, why would she not take the opportunity to come and spend time with me.'

John sighed. 'Well she did spend quite a lot of time with you last week when you were sedated. Maybe she prefers you unconscious you're less likely to be obnoxious to her.' John laughed at his own joke but Sherlock just glared at him.

'I don't know mate, why don't you just try asking her?' he said as he picked up his coat and headed for the door. 'I'm in work tomorrow morning but I'll call round just after lunch, OK?' Sherlock didn't respond, just lay there in his prayer pose thinking. 'OK then, don't know why I bother!' said John as he left.

Ten minutes later Sherlock asked John to pass him his phone from the bedside cabinet. He held out his hand expectantly but finally cranked an eye open when there was no response. 'Typical, he's never here when I need him' he grumbled as he reached for the phone himself.

Come visit me - SH

Sherlock sent the text to Molly and waited expectantly. He had timed it to arrive just before her normal break so she should be here soon. He was surprised therefore to receive the following message two minutes later:

No - MH

Hmmm, maybe he'd been too blunt. He could almost hear John in his head saying 'not good, Sherlock'.

I'm bored, I need you - SH

There, that should appeal to the compassionate side of her.

No - MH

Right, this called for the ultimate plea.

Please - SH

This time it took five minutes for the reply to come back.

No - MH

SHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSH

Molly, felt guilty. She couldn't believe she had turned down Sherlock's request. Part of her felt empowered for not jumping when he texted but, damn her, she still loved him and ached to see him. 'I must stay strong, I must stay strong' she chanted.

'Strong about what?' Asked Sherlock as he strode into the morgue barefoot wearing nothing but a pair of striped pyjama bottoms his blue dressing gown billowing behind him. His chest was bare apart from the dressings covering the gun shot wound.

Molly felt faint, her heartbeat stepping up a notch as she stared open mouthed at him. 'What are you doing out of bed?' she gasped.

' I was bored and you wouldn't come and see me. Why not?'

Molly's hands fluttered at her sides, 'I've been busy...' She trailed off wincing at the lie which wouldn't have fooled most people let alone the worlds only Consulting Detective.

Sherlock glanced around the room, taking in the files on Molly's desk, the notebook open by her microscope. It took him only a couple of seconds to be sure of his deduction.

'You're lying! You've done 4 autopsies in the last two days. Your paperwork is all up to date and you've even had time to do some further work on your latest paper for Pathology Monthly'.

Molly was surprised 'you know about those?...of course you do' she finished when he raised his eyebrow.

'So, why haven't you been to see me?' Sherlock frowned turning his attention to Molly herself. Her hair was up in its normal ponytail meaning she wasn't trying to attract anybody. She normally tried out different hairstyles then like the side parting she'd tried out to attract him. Her face was pale, she'd lost one, no two pounds and her eyes had circles under them and were slightly red rimmed, she was upset then, not sleeping, probably crying a lot. There were cat hairs on her trousers so nothing wrong with her cat Toby. There was a smudge on her thumb, ink, black...newspaper ink...oh!

Molly knew the moment he'd got it. She'd seen him turn his deductive powers on her and wondered what he would see and what he thought. All of a sudden he looked in her eyes and his mouth formed an 'O'.

'Newspapers,' he said, 'you've been reading newspapers'.

Molly started babbling, trying to divert him away from how upset she had been at him having a girlfriend. She didn't want to see any look of pity especially from him. 'I was just giving you space, I mean I didn't want to bump into Janine if you were trying to get her back...'

Sherlock snorted. 'Get her back, you have no idea Molly, I couldn't wait to be rid of her. The whole thing was just for a case, I felt nothing for her.'

As soon as he saw Molly's face he knew that somehow he had said the wrong thing. Why were human emotions so difficult for him to understand?

'You felt nothing for her! You mean you used her, played with her emotions?' Molly spoke, her voice rising in anger. 'You just can't treat people like that Sherlock, that poor girl.'

'It was for a very important case Molly. Janine was the key to getting into Magnussen's office...'

Molly cut him off 'You slept with her, and got engaged to her...to get into an office...'

'No, well yes. I mean, I didn't sleep with her' this conversation was not going the way Sherlock expected. He needed to find someway to distract Molly, to give him back some advantage...every time he opened his mouth he seemed to be digging himself in further. He decided to appeal to Molly's caring side. He was already feeling the effects of his over exertion both in getting down to the morgue (he'd left the wheelchair outside so as to make a dramatic entrance) and standing for so long so it was more of an exaggeration than a lie.

He stumbled backwards a bit until his back hit the nearby pillar, his eyes started to close as he slid down the pillar to the floor.

He heard Molly exclaim and then she was by his side her hand on his forehead checking his temperature, her other picking up his wrist to check his pulse. It was already slight elevated from his efforts in getting down to the morgue and it spiked a bit higher with her hands on him.

He opened his eyes slightly to see Molly's concerned face close to his. Small lines had appeared between her eyes from her worried frown, her hair coming out of her ponytail slightly. To Sherlock in that moment she looked like an angel. The scientific part of his brain wondered if he was more ill than he had realised but the emotional side was eager to capitalise on this change.

He suddenly reached out and caught the back of her neck, leaning in quickly he captured her lips in an intense kiss. He felt her stiffen slightly before relaxing. Her lips were smooth and warm and her mouth felt so right against his. How had he not done this sooner, he felt his mind relaxing for the first time in years just before Molly pushed him away with a shocked and hurt look on her face. 'Oh my God Sherlock. You can't keep doing this, you can't keep using people to get your own way. It's cruel.'

'What, no, Molly I wasn't using you, yes I used Janine but not you, not anymore. You saved my life and it's changed me, changed how I see you.'

Molly looked at him suspicion across her features. 'That was over two years ago and I haven't seen much change.'

'I wasn't talking about two years ago Molly, though you did save me then as well. I'm talking about when I was shot last week.'

'How? I wasn't even there. How could I have saved you?' She exclaimed in exasperation.

'You were there Molly. When I was shot your face was the first thing I saw, your voice was the one I heard and trusted. It was you Molly telling me how to react, which way to fall, how to control the shock.' Sherlock's voice was soft his eyes catching hers, his hand cupping her face. 'It was you Molly, and in that moment when I thought I was going to die I realised it had always been you and I'm sorry. Sorry that I used you, sorry that I was too stupid to realise that caring is an advantage not a disadvantage.'

Molly couldn't believe what she was hearing. She had never seen Sherlock, conscious, with such a soft expression on his face and in his eyes. She wanted so hard to believe what he was saying but she was still nervous.

'If you are just manipulating me Sherlock, I will never forgive you,' she warned, the hope and desperation starting to slip into her voice.

'I'm not, I swear.' He stated simply before leaning in, slowly this time, to catch her lips in what was simply the best kiss of her life.

That's it for this story but at the request of my friend B there will be a one shot sequel/epilogue with a higher rating which looks at the happenings at Christmas when Sherlock shoots Magnussen and is sent away. Should be up in about two weeks.

Hope you enjoyed this. If you did please review.