Author's note: In this version of what happens after The Reichenbach Fall, none of the characters aside from Mycroft, Lestrade, and a speckle of non cannon characters know how Sherlock survived the fall.

One week….

Molly's wrist bobbed limply, barely supporting the weight of the brain saw. Chin resting in her other palm she stared down at her chosen snack of the day.

What the hell had she been thinking? Pear Drops and Maltesers, all thrown together in a little tin.

"Still resort to sweets I see," a playful voice quipped from the doorway.

Molly flipped two metal trays in her scramble to catch the slipping brain saw.

The Woman stifled her laughter with a gloved hand, almost demure, as she stepped further into the lab.

"Ms. Addler! How did you...I mean why are you," Molly stumbled over her words, eyes darting around the room, as she stood, but she was stilled when Irene dropped her large black fur to the floor, took her cheeks in hand, and kissed the alphabet from her lips.

"Shut up," she whispered between them. Irene could taste the creamy chocolate as she passed her tongue over Molly's lips. "You don't have to play that role with me." Her eyes fell to Molly's downy soft lips.

Molly closed her eyes as they rested their foreheads together.

Slowly her veneer began to break till her shoulders were shaking with sobs. Irene wrapped her arms around the small ME.

Molly moved to hug her but stopped short, remembering her brain and blood covered fingers.

They both began to laugh as they untangled and removed their respective gloves before embracing properly. "I'm so glad you're here," Molly whispered.

Irene stepped back, "where else on earth could I possibly be."

Molly laughed and shook her head, "anywhere, you could literally be anywhere."

"True!" Irene smiled, plucking a tissue from a nearby box to better clean Molly's face. "But there's nowhere else i'd rather be." She fully handed the tissue to Molly, "go on and blow".

A few moments later they sat together, hand in hand, in Molly's office.

"How the bloody hell did you get back into London? I'm sure at least Mycroft and Lenny already know you're here."

Irene shrugged, "when I heard he was gone," she rubbed gently at Molly's palm, meeting her eyes squarely. "I had to come back. If not for him or myself, then for you. I know how much he meant to you." Molly let lose a teary smile and squeezed The Woman's hand.

"Thank you….. I'm just so so shocked...but pleased," she stumbled. "That you're here. After our last meeting I never thought I'd see you again. I thought." Molly shook her head and sniffed, forcing herself to keep contact with the eyes she'd been trying to avoid for over a decade. "I know what I did was...unforgivable…."

She rubbed her thumb across Irene's wrist, remembering the perfume she'd smelled there. "I was a different person when I worked for...them." Molly's eyes darted around the rooms, quietly showing Irene where the bugs were hidden. "...and I couldn't...wasn't supposed to...feel. If my superiors had even suspected…." She faltered. "I couldn't think of any other way…."

Molly's past was known to three people in all of England, one of which was currently holding her hand. Her acting skills had been fooling the great Sherlock Holmes for years, with a little help from the seated british government.

Irene closed her eyes. "What you did was cowardly."Her head hung, "you ran away from me, left me to pick up the pieces of a life I didn't think was possible for someone like me."

Molly's eyes were wide with fear.

They'd had more than love once.

Trust.

The most fragile and basic component of young love.

They were too young, to jaded, and to innocent to weather the tidal wave of blood and tribulation they'd be hit with.

When the dust settled Molly had stared down at Irene's broken body and cried, silent like the grave, unintentionally, for the second time in her life.

Looking into Irene's eyes today had been the third.

When she looked up it was with a mirth and clarity that had taken nearly two decades to find.

"You also kept that bastard from killing me." Irene squeezed her hands. "And when I was released from the hospital Lenny was waiting for me with passports, cash, and a safe house."

Molly smiled and swiveled slightly in her chair, "Well that must have been helpful."

"Oh it was. That hundred thousand euros didn't hurt."

Molly tried to keep the mirth in her voice, "I couldn't have lived knowing you weren't taken care of." She scooted her chair closer. "I still can't."

They were so close Molly could smell the cherry of her lipstain. She'd remembered. Nearly twenty years and she could still remember the echo of their first kiss.

"Where are you staying, while you're in town?" Her focus was split, but only between Irene's eyes and lips.

"There's a cabby outside with your address in his GPS," she grinned.

Molly kissed her quickly and stood to grab their coats, helping Irene in to her's, before slipping on her own and offering The Woman her arm.

"I've got a ton of PTO saved up," she said with a wink, guiding them out of the morgue.

ooooo

Until next time…. /=^.^=/