A/N: Thanks again to everyone who reviewed, every review means a lot to me. And thank you to all of the people who favorite and follow this story as well. All of you genuinely help keep me on track with getting the new chapters written up. This one has a bit of a trigger warning as it brings up stories of past abuse for a bit near the end. I don't own Sherlock BBC or any of the characters originally on the show. Oh, and to my reviewer Paisayshi this one has a little something for you in it! Enjoy everyone.

It had been a week since Molly had last seen Jim, which meant she would hopefully be getting to see him tonight. He had refused to tell her whether or not he'd be back in town by tonight. But she had a feeling it was because he was a drama queen and just telling her to expect him wouldn't be exciting enough. She smiled at the thought of seeing him and had to remember not to look too happy while she was examining a corpse. Most people would probably find someone who was too happy unsettling in her line of work.

Molly looked down at the body in front of her and took off her gloves, discarding them in the nearby trash can. She marked down the cause of death, a gunshot to the head, and marked it as a definite suicide. He was her last examination for the night, so she decided it was time for a coffee break until it was time to head home. As she made a pot of coffee Molly's thoughts drifted to when her and Jim used to take their coffee breaks together and she couldn't help smiling again. She honestly hadn't felt this happy in a long time. She was surprised Jim had even kept his word and called her just about every night he'd been gone. And when he hadn't been able to call her, he texted her to say goodnight at the very least.

All of the calls were nice except the first one. After that call she found out she needed to set some serious phone call guidelines with him. She sighed at the thought and sipped her coffee.

"Hello?" Molly answered, hopeful that the restricted call was from Jim.

"Hello love." Jim purred into the phone, sending butterflies dancing in Molly's stomach. "What are you up to?"

"I just walked into my flat actually. I was about to feed Toby his dinner. What are you doing?" Molly balanced her cell phone between her ear and shoulder and scooped food into Toby's bowl, where he was waiting expectantly.

"Oh, just stuck at work. You know how it is, my hours can run pretty late when they have to." Molly was about to say something when she thought she heard the sounds of muffled yelling on his end of the phone.

"What's that?"

"What?" Jim answered after a moment of silence from his end.

"What was that sound? It sounded like someone was yelling."

"Oh, it's usually pretty loud here. Someone needed to ask me something. Don't worry about it, it's nothing. How was work?"

"It was slow tonight, which I suppose should be considered a good thing considering my line of work."

"Well I may just have to come back to London early. I can make it so you have a bit more work." He laughed and Molly rolled her eyes, glad he couldn't see her.

"Not funny Jim."

"Oh, have a sense of humor Mol." He countered, his laughter followed by another strange noise. This time Molly was positive she heard a gurgling noise and then it sounded like someone was choking.

"James Moriarty you had better not be talking on the phone to me while you're killing someone!"

"I'm not killing someone" Jim whined unconvincingly, "It's just a bit of torture. Every day stuff, quite routine really." Molly could picture the smirk on his face as he told her that, she didn't even need to see him to know that's almost certainly what he looked like.

"Oh my god. Why would you even call me while you were doing something like that?"

"Because I knew you'd probably be going to sleep soon and I wanted to talk to you." His voice sounded genuinely pouty now. As if she should just accept that he was torturing some random person while he was on the phone with her because at least he wanted to talk to her.

'For the head of a criminal network he sure manages to pull off the whiny child thing very well.' Molly thought to herself angrily. "Jim from now on don't call me while you're doing any of your work. I told you I don't want any part of it. And I definitely don't want the soundtrack to your phone call being someone choking on their own blood."

"You can tell exactly what was happening to him just from some background noises?" He sounded genuinely impressed. "God, you're wonderful."

"That's literally only a good thing to you. I'm hanging up now. Call me tomorrow when you aren't being a jerk."

After that call he had always made sure he was somewhere silent when he called her, and they had spent hours at a time on the phone some nights. Molly looked up as her co-worker Cordelia came in and waved at her. "Hey Molly" Cordelia made herself a cup of coffee and joined Molly at her table. "Hey Delia" Molly smiled warmly, "How's your night going?"

"Oh, you know." She shrugged and took a large sip of coffee, "I just finished a surgery a bit ago, and I have another in an hour. How are things in the morgue?"

"Pretty slow, I had to do a report on the cause of death for a suicide victim, but I don't have much else to do for the rest of my shift. Thankfully I'll be done soon."

"I think I saw that detective friend of yours heading to the lab, he's looking for you most likely."

"Oh, maybe." Molly replied, "I doubt it though, he probably just wants to use the lab equipment."

Cordelia shrugged and took another sip of her coffee. "You seem extra happy lately, any specific reason?" Molly could tell she obviously had a guess about what the reason was, because Delia had a knowing smile plastered across her face. "Maybe a certain detective friend of yours has been paying you some visits at home?"

Molly felt her face heat up and she vehemently shook her head no, "Sherlock? No, no way. He isn't interested in me at all, trust me. That ship has long since sailed, we're just friends."

"His loss. So there's a different guy then?"

"What makes you think it's a guy?"

"Molly, sweetheart, it's clearly a guy. You have that starry eyed look and the stupid smile every girl gets when they think of a guy they like. I haven't seen you smile this much since you and Tom broke up."

Molly laughed and gave in, "Okay, yes, it's a guy."

"Aww, good." Cordelia looked genuinely happy for her, "You're such a sweet girl, you deserve a nice guy."

'Right, a nice guy' Molly kept the sarcastic thought to herself. Maybe, he's not nice to other people, but he was nice to her after all. "Yeah, he treats me really well. We just started seeing each other though, so we'll have to see how things go."

"What does he do?"

'Oh you know. Plans assassinations, bombings and any other criminal act you could imagine. The usual.' She answered silently. "He's a businessman." She settled for out loud.

"Very nice, you go girl." Delia finished her coffee and stood up. "It was good catching up with you, if you want to grab lunch sometime let me know." Molly nodded and agreed to plan something soon. She decided to head upstairs and see what Sherlock, and no doubt John, were up to. She tossed the last few sips of her coffee in the trash and made a cup for each of them.

"Hey guys." She greeted, poking her head in first and then walking in. "I heard you were working up here so I brought you some coffee."

"Thanks Molly" John took his and smiled at her, Sherlock just continued focusing on the microscope he was using.

"What are you guys working on?" Molly clasped her hands nervously in front of her. She certainly felt more like a part of their group now than she had used to. But she couldn't help still feeling like she was always on the back burner, always less important. Sherlock glanced over at her, "I'm testing this blood. A client of ours is convinced their husband was killed in their barn because he never came home the other night and she found blood splattered all over one of the stalls."

"And?"

"Animal blood, it's all but obvious he walked out on her. She shouldn't be expecting him back anytime soon. He's probably long gone by this point."

"Why is it obvious?" Molly asked him, hoping he'd explain it without making her feel like an idiot.

"Easy. Her body language screams that they haven't had sex in over a year, in every picture his body is angled so it's facing away from her. A sure sign that he doesn't want to be with her. She also seemed like she was covering something up, possibly that he was having an affair. So what she really wants to know is was he murdered by his mistress? But in reality she's hoping he was because she was thinking about doing it herself. He probably made the right choice in leaving."

"Oh." Molly nodded, "I see."

"Speaking of relationships I take it that you're seeing someone?" he stared at her and Molly fidgeted uncomfortably. John stiffened a bit, no doubt waiting for the negative comment that usually followed statements like that.

"Why do you say that?" Molly braced herself for it as well. She had put on a pound or so, not that it had anything to do with Jim. She'd just had a bit of a sweet tooth the past few nights. Not that anything like that ever got past Sherlock.

"You've changed your perfume, it's less sweet and more sultry. Indicating you are planning on seeing someone tonight. Someone you want to make think of sex when he smells it on you. Besides that you've put on three pounds again, most likely because you feel comfortable around whoever it may be and haven't felt the need to watch what you're eating. And finally you're far less tense than normal, which would suggest that someone has been helping you unwind. One way or another." Sherlock smiled in obvious self satisfaction and Molly just stared in awe.

"I don't think I'll ever fully get used to how amazing it is to watch you do that. Even when it is slightly insulting."

"Don't worry John still hasn't managed to get used to it yet either." Sherlock resumed looking at his slide before turning his attention back to Molly a few minutes later. "It's not serious I hope."

"Why would you hope that?"

"You have terrible taste in men."

"Sherlock." John interrupted him with a sharp glance.

"Hey Molly" Cordelia poked her head into the lab and apologized for interrupting. "I was on my way to surgery and I guess there's a car waiting outside for you. It looks like a certain someone wanted to get you from work in style." She gave molly an impressed look and a thumbs up before shutting the door again as she left.

"Oh, how impressive. He hired a car to pick you up from work." Sherlock commented his voice oozing with sarcasm. "He's very original."

"It's a nice gesture Sherlock, that's what people do." John sighed, "I think it's nice Molly."

"Thanks John." Molly gave him a grateful smile.

"It's mundane, it's what someone with no originality does for someone who isn't very important to them." Sherlock sounded bored, but Molly was almost positive this was Sherlock's form of jealousy. He was acting a bit like a child himself now, and Molly couldn't help but wonder if all geniuses were secretly like five year olds deep down. When he found out she was dating Tom he didn't seem to care. But maybe the fact that she might be seeing someone who made a real effort bothered him. She had never imagined that Sherlock would get jealous of anyone, especially considering she used to throw herself at him time after time only to be rejected. She couldn't even imagine what his reaction would be if he actually knew who she was seeing.

"Let's just hope he's not a sociopath. Or just plain stupid like in Tom's case." Sherlock talked into the microscope. Molly didn't know what to say in response to that and looked at John, hoping he could chime in and help her. "Alright, I think it's time for Molly to go, she clearly has a date." John gave Molly an apologetic look and Sherlock continued to look at whatever he had on the microscope now. "Thanks John. I'd better leave." She forced a small smile and looked over at Sherlock. "Bye Sherlock, it was good seeing you."

"Yes, it was nice." He didn't sound very convincing, but she knew it wasn't anything personal. Her and Sherlock had actually become much better friends ever since she helped him survive his fall from the hospital roof. She was pretty sure that was his only reason he would even be jealous. He was probably just feeling protective over her, like he would for a sister. Sherlock was a great man, and despite everything he did to try to prove otherwise, she knew he cared deeply for the people he considered to be his friends. He definitely reverted back to his old, more callous, persona at times though. There was no denying that.

Molly wrapped her scarf around her as she walked out into the cold London air and she shook her head at the black car waiting out front of the hospital. There was nothing mundane about it to her. She had never been picked up by a car this nice, and she certainly had never had a chauffeur waiting outside to open the door for her. "Thank you." She tried not to show she was embarrassed but she felt slightly guilty, like she was being lazy not opening the door herself. Which, admittedly, was ridiculous considering it was literally a part of his job. Regardless she made sure to thank him many times between trying to get him to tell her where she was going. But of course he refused, knowing better than to ruin a surprise Jim had for her.

Molly's eyes widened and she lowered her head into her hands as she looked out the window once the car stopped. In front of her was 45 Park Lane hotel, one of the nicest hotels in London. 'I am going to kill him' Molly grabbed her purse and clutched it tightly with nervous hands as the driver walked her into the hotel. She was embarrassingly under dressed to even be standing in the lobby. All around her were waif thin girls who looked like they could be models, and they were wearing clearly expensive dresses and outfits. And here she was, wearing baggy jeans and a sweater, and having just left her job at a morgue. "Hello, I'm Jenny and I'll be your host throughout your stay here, can I show you to your room Miss Hooper?"

"Uh- yes, please, thank you so much."

"Right this way, this is your private elevator, it can only be accessed with a key, so there's no need to worry about privacy."

"Private elevator?" Molly felt her heart race and couldn't help but feel slightly overwhelmed. She had never been anywhere this nice before, and she doubted that any old room had a private elevator.

"Yes, the penthouse suite can only be accessed by this elevator." Jenny smiled as the elevator took them straight up to the ninth floor. "Here you go, If you need anything at all just call down and I'll bring it right up."

"Thank you Jenny." Molly stammered and immediately turned her attention to the room she was in once the elevator closed again behind her. She felt like she had stumbled into a movie, because everything was far too beautiful and perfect to be real.

"Like it?" She turned to her left to see Jim standing in the doorway to the balcony. He was wearing a dark blue suit, cut perfectly to his body. He looked like he belonged with the room because he looked too perfect to be standing in front of her also. He was grinning like an over eager child waiting for her reaction and she just slowly shook her head back and forth, utterly speechless.

"Jim…" she started and then shut her mouth tight again. She felt tears spring to her eyes as she looked around the room and she dabbed at each eye with the sleeve of her sweater.

"Are you crying?" his expression was so confused that it was comical, and it was apparent he had no idea what to do. "That's not exactly the reaction I expected."

"You didn't need to do this, this is insane."

"Well, you're dating someone insane, what do you expect?"

"You don't need to take me places like this, my flat would have been fine." She didn't want to sound ungrateful, but she also felt completely overwhelmed and out of place.

"Molly, come here." He held his hand out to her, his expression soft. When he looked like that she found it all too easy to forget anything bad he could have done or could do. He looked as harmless as a kitten. She walked over to him, setting her purse on the ground and he led her outside, lacing her fingers gently with his. Once he got her to the railing of the balcony he enveloped her in his arms and held her, both of them staring out at the beautiful London skyline. "I'm well aware I didn't need to do this for you, but I wanted to. And I've told you before, I'm not one to deny the things I want."

"Yeah, but this room probably costs what I make in a few months for one night."

"And it costs what I sometimes make in a minute. Welcome to my life" he turned her to face him, leaning her back against the balcony railing and shooting her an adorable lopsided grin.

"It's so beautiful. I've never seen any place as fancy as this."

"It's the penthouse suite, of course it's nice. I wanted to spoil my queen."

Molly felt a light blush spread to her cheeks and she cracked a smile. "Please don't tell me you stole the crown jewels again."

Jim genuinely laughed and pulled her to him for a lingering kiss. "I do look stunning in a crown."

"I'm sure you do." Molly agreed and laughed again, "I knew you were going to do something dramatic tonight."

"What are you implying? That I am dramatic." He placed a hand over his heart and looked appalled she would suggest that before laughing along with her.

"You. Oh no way, what was I thinking?"

"Are you hungry?"

"No, I kind of just want to spend time with you." Molly admitted shyly and was surprised by the way Jim's eyes lit up. She giggled as he picked her up and threw her over his shoulder as if she weighed nothing. He carried her to the bedroom and tossed her playfully on the bed and then joined her. He sat with his back to the headboard and she laid on her stomach so she could comfortably look at him. "I like when you're like this."

"Like what?" he asked her, reaching over and brushing her hair away from her face and tucking it behind her ear.

"When you aren't serious, or angry. You're just relaxed and enjoying yourself like a normal, ordinary person."

"That only happens with you."

"I know." She didn't know but she had a pretty good idea. "I want to know more about you."

"No, you don't" he laughed but it seemed far more strained than before. "If you knew more about me you'd run."

"I already know bad things about you, but I'm still here."

Jim nodded and seemed unsure of what to say. "Hence why you have to be an angel. Sometimes I think you were brought into my life to torture me. Like a punishment for all of the bad things I've done."

"Why would you think that? That's not a good thing."

"No. It's not." He agreed. "I've been lonely my whole life, that's the truth. That's why when I heard about Sherlock it was one of the best days of my life. There was finally someone on my par of intelligence that I could keep myself amused with. And he helped get rid of some of that loneliness, and he definitely helped my boredom. But ultimately Sherlock was a disappointment. He was far more ordinary than I originally gave him credit for." Molly noticed that his tone got a lot more angry when he talked about Sherlock, that and he sounded disappointed.

"But imagine my surprise when I met you. I thought you'd just be a fun toy to mess around with. But you turned out to be so intelligent, and despite that shy persona you project I saw how strong you were long before you finally got the nerve to stand up for yourself. I saw you Molly, right away, long before you saw yourself. And you don't know true loneliness until you've found someone who actually relieves you of it. Not a distraction for loneliness like Sherlock was, but a true relief of it. And then you were gone."

"That was your fault."

"Of course it was." He replied quickly, "I don't like it."

"You don't like that I made it so you weren't lonely anymore?" Molly was lost, she didn't see how that was a bad thing.

"No. I was used to the loneliness, I always felt it, but I didn't fear it. And then I met you and suddenly loneliness was terrifying again."

Molly knew he'd be mad at her if she got emotional and cried, but she felt genuinely sad. This was what she had wanted, she'd wanted him to open up to her. But now that he was, she was realizing he had deeper scars than she had thought was possible. She could see the sadness in his eyes now that he had dropped part of his usual mask.

"You were lonely your whole life? What about your parents?"

Jim scoffed and shook his head at her, his eyes looked cold and menacing again when he stared into hers. "I killed my parents."

Molly instantly regretted recoiling the way she did. "They were the first people I ever killed. I pulled all of their teeth out and fed them to the pigs my dad kept on our farm once I had finished. Are you sorry you wanted to know the real me now?" Molly knew he was purposely being cruel about it to try to push her away, and she wasn't going to let him. "How old were you?"

"Eight years old."

"What did they do to you?" she asked gently and his cold mask slipped from his face again as she caught him off guard. He looked lost and vulnerable when he met her eyes. "Why would you ask me like that? Why wouldn't you just ask why I did it?"

"Jim, no eight year old just kills his parents for no reason, not even you. What did they do to you?"

Molly got up and moved to where he was leaning with his back against the headboard and sat next to him, pulling his hand over to her lap and squeezing his hand in her own. "My dad was an abusive alcoholic. He was constantly beating my mother near to death and then he'd turn his rage over to me when he knew she couldn't take anymore abuse that night. I don't remember a time in my childhood where this wasn't happening. And my mom never once tried to leave, or ever stuck up for herself or me. She was as disgusting and pathetic as he was." His words were coated with hatred. "As I got older he started focusing solely on me, and my mom let it happen. Hell she was openly grateful that he had decided to go after me instead."

Molly couldn't even imagine dealing with that as a child. Her parent's had been terrible parents but they had never laid a hand on her. They ignored her most of the time, and they were always saying they were disappointed in her, but they had never abused her. She flinched thinking about it and wanted to hug him, but she knew better. "I was far more advanced than your average eight year old as you can imagine. So I asked her if we could leave, I told her I had broken ribs and needed to go to a hospital. Do you know what she said to me? She told me to go to my room and act like a man. She told me my father would be furious when he found out what I had tried to get her to do and she would make sure he punished me accordingly."

Molly felt a chill run through her and gasped, unable to catch herself. She brought her free hand over her mouth and wiped tears away from her eyes. 'What kind of parent says that to their eight year old son, when he's begging her to go to a hospital?' Molly was furious. "I poisoned both of them with rat poison that night before he could lay a hand on me. That was my final test for her. She failed so I killed them."

"Good." Molly had never thought she would be happy to hear about one of Jim's crimes but he had proven her wrong. Jim looked over at her in silent surprise and she pulled him into her arms, holding him tightly. "I'm so sorry Jim." She whispered as he hugged her back. "You didn't deserve that."

"You're the only person I've ever told that to." Jim looked down and smiled, a small forced smile, his eyes still deep with sadness. For the first time Molly truly understood some of his rage she had seen boiling below the surface so many times. "I'm not going to run away, I promise." She meant it.

"I don't deserve you" he replied, "That's why I think you're my curse. It's only a matter of time until you realize that." He moved them so they were laying on their sides in the giant bed and he wrapped his arms tightly around her. Molly snuggled closer into him and brought his hands to her mouth, kissing them gently. "I'm not your curse, and I'm not going anywhere." Molly felt his arms start to relax around her and knew he was falling asleep.

"Thank you Mol." She heard him mumble, his voice heavy with sleep. Molly felt her heart tug in her chest at his words. "I'm not going anywhere." She whispered back. She knew she was repeating herself, but she had a feeling that's what he really needed to hear. Molly closed her eyes and let herself fall asleep in his arms. Her last thoughts before she finally succumbed to sleep were about how she could love Jim Moriarty. Despite all of his flaws and the way he hid how broken he was deep below the surface, she could love him, and it scared her.