Molly and Sherlock stood at the edge of the curb, Sherlock's hands folded behind his back, standing up ramrod straight, his eyes darting everywhere with their quick, analytical gaze. Molly was a bit slumped over, tired, cold and confused. However, she was going to treat the situation in the best way she could. It was going to be very difficult to not blush every day when she got to 221B from work, knowing that she'd be living in the same flat as Sherlock Holmes. "So… when you said I'd get hysterical, why did you say so?" she thought, wondering what kind of severity would cause her to be thrown into hysterics. It was hard to alarm her with anything anymore; she felt as though she'd seen it all. She'd seen people die, she'd helped someone 'die', and she cut open dead people for a living, for God's sakes. She knew that she wasn't as composed as, say, Sherlock, but she could handle quite a bit due to her life experience.

"Simple. The reason why you're coming to live with me is because the reasoning could throw anybody into hysterics." Molly continued to stare at him, and being himself, he got the wrong message. He sighed impatiently. "If you think I'm trying to be sexist again, we talked about this last week. I told you, I don't care about how someone is biologically engineered-"
"No, I know. That's not what I meant," Molly replied. "I meant, what could be so bad that you couldn't tell me about it? I have to leave my home, and a full explanation would probably keep me from asking annoying questions all night."
"As much as I admire your attempt at persuasion, Molly, it's really not your area. And at the moment, the reason isn't your concern, either."
"Not my concern? From what I can gather, this has been all about me so far, so how is it-"
"Molly, I can't protect people when they live halfway across London, and for the time being, I need to."

Molly continued to look at him, before speaking up one more time. "Why do I need protecting?"
Sherlock hesitated, knowing that none of his immediate answers were going to work. She'd become far more confident in herself than she had been when she met him, and it took him aback. He respected it, however, and relented. Well, he relented halfway, anyway.
"Molly, someone has received a death threat, but we don't know whom. I'm just trying to keep you safe, in case it's meant for you."

She gaped at him for a moment, before snapping her jaw closed, realizing how much that expression probably wasn't helping. She stiffened. "Right, then. Any idea whom the death threat came from?" Sherlock finally turned his head and looked at her in surprise. "Huh." Molly looked blankly up at him. "What?"
"That's it? That's your reaction to being informed of a death threat?"
"Well… yes. I mean, it's scary, but nothing more frightening than any of your cases, or any of the stories coming from the people I've done autopsies for…."
Sherlock noticed her tone. Her voice had become more rapid and about a half octave higher. He analyzed her face. She wasn't shaking or twiddling her thumbs, two things she usually did when she was nervous or afraid. Her lips, however, quivered slightly and her eyes were opened wider than they usually were. He could tell almost immediately that she was scared out of her wits, but she was trying to keep calm in front of him. And if that wasn't enough for him to confirm his suspicion, when she was lying to him, he could easily tell because she would continuously ramble on, as she was doing right then.

But why was she trying to remain calm? This was a completely normal time for someone to break down, fearing for their life. Molly, however, seemed to be thinking it would… well, he didn't know what she thought. He didn't mind if she let it out. He'd seen plenty of people cry before, why would it be any different with her? "Molly, it's okay to be-"
"No, I'm fine, really. In fact, you don't have to have me stay with you, I'd probably just be in the way, and-"
"I'm sorry, did you miss the part where I barged into your office and asked you to stay with me? I wouldn't have done that if I hadn't wanted to."

Sherlock's expression softened. He hadn't meant for it to come out that harshly. This was a difficult thing to hear, and it wouldn't really help for him to talk like… well, him. Well. Look who's learning about feelings, he could almost hear John talking in the back of his mind. For whatever reason, John was always going on about sentiment and emotions to him any time he and Molly were in the same room and she left. It was almost naturally that he thought of something John would complain to him about before any of their conversations, and he found it frustrating. He couldn't understand why John was always so particular, constantly warning him to say the "right thing" in front of Molly. Now, for the most part, he ignored it and just blew it off as John continuously reminding him of everything she'd done for him, even though he was sure there was more to it. He closed that irritating door of his mind palace, deciding to leave it alone for the time being.

"Apologies, Molly."
"No, it's okay, really. Thank you." Molly replied kindly, as the cab rolled up, with a very tired Mary in the back.
"All right, see you back at home, then," Sherlock said, opening the door for her. Molly nodded politely and climbed in next to Mary.

"What's going on?" Mary asked as the cab drove away. Molly shrugged, not wanting to alarm her, especially this late and night, and definitely in case the threat had been geared towards her. "It looks like I'll be living with you all at 221B for a while."
"Why?"
Molly glanced out of the window, watching Sherlock typing away furiously on his phone, when something she hadn't thought about flickered in her mind. She gazed at him as he was walking away in the other direction and smiled. "Because it seems that Sherlock might need my help for a bit."

An early Christmas present for you all :)Thank you so much for the reviews, favorites and follows! (65 followers already? That's more followers than I've ever gotten on a story before, and this one's only three chapters so far! Thank you so much!) I'll try to get out as many chapters as I can over this lovely winter break. Happy Holidays!