Hello guys! Thank you so much for the reviews and your kind words! So a little note, in this "world", if you may call it, Molly hasn't had the confidence to move on from Sherlock (YET) and Mary and John are already married. This story has its own timeline/world. Sorry for the confusion. I'm sorry I can't reply to all comments personally (for now), but please know that I appreciate them! I also apologize for the late updates because college is really eating up my time but I'll try my best to update as soon as possible. I have major subjects to study for too, lol.

Anyway, here's the next part! Just leave a review again and I'll try to answer them if I can!

…..

PROJECT M.O.M.

Chapter 03: M.I.T. [ MOLLY IN TRAINING ]

….

It has been exactly three weeks, five days, seven hours, three minutes and twenty-two seconds since her transformation started. Why he counted, that he didn't understand... yet. So as soon as their recent case ended, Sherlock headed home with only one thought in his mind- Molly Hooper. How Mary managed to bring out all Miss Hooper's assets in such a short amount of time was still a mystery to him but he assured himself that he was just surprised to see her transformation. She would now be able to get a new man and leave him to his peace- well, that was the plan. He locked his hands and placed them under his chin, thinking once more.

Sherlock was seated, quite comfortably too, when there was a knock. He already knew it was John due to the sound that was made by his shoes, the exact moment he stepped foot into the house. He was able to distinguish the quiet tap of his cane and his slightly limp leg's walk. Sherlock didn't bother to move since he knew that John would let himself in- and that he did.

"Sherlock," John greeted, making his way to his old seat.

"John," he replied. "Now, I believe that you are here for either two reasons," he started.

"Do enlighten me, Sherlock," his friend replied, with a small smirk on his face.

"It's either you've fought with Mary and need a place to stay… or you're here about Molly Hooper."

"I think you know that I haven't fought with Mary… so see, the reason why I'm here is…"

"Molly Hooper!" Sherlock said a bit too loudly.

"Yes, her. Now, will you accompany me to her date?" John replied, observing his actions.

"Her date? A date? I thought that it was a friendly gathering of some sort?" Sherlock said, his eyebrows meeting at the middle.

Before John could put a word in, Sherlock added, "Wasn't it supposed to be a meet-up with her old friends from university?"

Sherlock was about to open his mouth once more when John put up his hand, silencing him.

"Now, what are you doing Sherlock, spouting questions non-stop? Are you feeling what I think you feel?" John asked, feigning a bit of innocence.

"Oh, out with it John. I am not jealous. I don't know how to feel jealous since I don't feel," he replied, putting on his coat.

"I didn't say you were. My mouth was shut the whole time."

...

Molly pursed her lips once more, making sure her coral shade lipstick was still intact. Her hair was in a half-pony of some sort and her dress was the epitome of springtime due to the beautifully hand-painted flowers that it bore.

For some reason, she wasn't feeling excited or happy. She wasn't looking forward to a date. She scoffed at herself thinking, "You aren't feeling giddy for a date, Molly! Now that's a first!"

She suddenly felt bad because she did agree to Mary's planned blind date for her. Mary was so excited because she knew that the guy was probably "The One" for Molly. She heaved a sigh and decided to suck it in. If Mary believed that this guy was her soul mate, how bad could it be?

Soon, she remembered the "talk" she had with both Mary and John regarding her love life.

...

"Molly, you can't always be the one who puts in so much effort," Mary said.

"But if you don't put in effort, nothing's going to work out, right?" she replied.

"Yes, that is true. But let me give you this scenario. If you keep on putting in all this effort and the guy just isn't responding… what do you do?" Mary said.

"Put in more effort! I'm obviously doing something wrong if he's not responding," Molly said.

"No, Molly, see, that's where the problem lies. You're too nice for your own good. You need to step up for yourself sometimes. If the guy is treating you like shit, why would you take that?" John suddenly said. Mary, in return, nodded in agreement.

"Then how am I supposed to 'step up' for myself?" she asked, putting her hands up for air quotation marks.

"I'll give you a test so you can actually gauge how too nice and well, forgiving you can be," Mary said as she got a list from her bag. She threw it towards John's direction and he readily caught it.

"So first question, what do you do when a person hits you with their cart several times but apologize every time they do it?" John said.

Molly was about to speak when Mary cut her off. "There are choices, Molly. On with it, John!"

"A. Forgive them since they said sorry, B. Talk to them and put a space in between yourself and the cart."

"Obviously, letter A. They apologized!" Molly said.

"What? Seriously Molly! No!" John said in a hopeless tone.

"Honey, if they really were sorry, they wouldn't actually do that over and over again," Mary rationalized.

"Alright, next question then!" Molly challenged.

"Okay. A handsome guy has been acting like a douche all week. The next week, he is suddenly nice and asks you for a favor. Do you, A. Do the favor since he's been nice to you for the week or B. Ask him why he's nice to you all of a sudden before deciding whether or not to do the favor," John said.

"A! He's handsome and he's been acting nice. He probably had a change of heart, right?" Molly said with a wide grin.

John heaved a sigh and Mary's face was quite unexplainable. Molly quieted down and looked at her hands.

"I'm quite hopeless with this, aren't I? I'm quite easy and I'm a pushover."

Mary quickly came to her side and patted her back.

"No, Molly. We believe that you can stop being a pushover. So, John and I are here to help, okay? Just try and apply it, okay?"

….

The Watsons took a seat inside the restaurant, waiting for both Sherlock and Molly to arrive. Mary had a huge smile on her face and was quite proud of the fact that her plan seemed to be working.

"Now love, I'm going to repeat this plan of yours, alright? Just to see if we're both on the same page," John said. Mary nodded.

"So you told Molly that she'd be on a blind date with a Ben Winchester, correct?"

"Yes."

"But is there really a Ben Winchester?" John's eyebrow was raised.

"No, my darling. I made up a fictional man to be her 'blind date' so that Sherlock would be intrigued and so that when all of us are gathered here, we can leave the two of them alone. Sherlock would probably wait with her," Molly said, grinning.

"But what will you tell her?"

"We'll just pretend that this fictional man is a doctor... And he'll be busy with his patients that's why he can't make it!" Mary answered, her eyes glinting of mischief.

"That's quite naughty, my dear," he replied, smiling.

"Well..." Mary answered, smiling suggestively.

...

The wind was harsh on Molly's skin. It seemed like it was slapping her continuously so she put up the collars of her coat and walked a bit more briskly. The bustling restaurant finally met her eyes and for a while, it seemed like it was the only building on the whole block because of the intensity of all the lights. The restaurant had an industrial feel to it. Everything was modern and crisp but it did emit a certain warmth to it. She hesitated for a bit before finally entering. Once she entered, she was shocked to see John and Mary waving their hands in order to get her attention.

"Mary? John? What are you doing here? Are you chaperoning my date?" she said, which earned her a hearty laugh from Mary and a shrug from John.

"I am not chaperoning your date because you do not have a date, Molly. I'm sorry. Ben said that he had a patient who needed immediate surgery so he got tied down. He can't make it." Mary said in an apologetic tone. Her eyes shifted towards her husband, clearly asking for back-up.

"He does apologize," John added with a small smile playing on his lips.

Molly heaved a sigh once more and turned the other way around, facing the door. She suddenly felt a familiar grip on her hand. Curious to see if her guess was correct, she turned and met the eyes of the famous Sherlock Holmes.

"Sherlock! What are you doing here?" she managed to squeak out.

"You can't leave Molly," Sherlock said.

"Yes, I can. I am quite grown-up, Sherlock. I can do what I want," she replied, much to the chagrin of the consulting detective. He cleared his throat and apologized to her.

"Alright, Mr. Holmes. I can stay. It's just a pity that my date wasn't able to make it. But anyway, I'm here to have fun, so let's go!" she said cheerfully.

Sherlock put his hands in his pocket and led her to her seat. While this was happening, the both of them didn't notice the smile that the Watsons were sharing.

…..

After dinner and dessert, the group decided to have drinks. But after two rounds, John and Mary had to excuse themselves since they needed an 'early start' for tomorrow. Sherlock's eyes were quickly searching for clues or indications whether the couple was lying or not. He was having a private analysis in his head.

'Hmm, ironed, collared shirt, polished shoes and matching socks… he wasn't dragged here by Mary… but he was prepared for this dinner.'

His eyes darted towards Mary.

'Shiny hair, freshly manicured nails and appropriate dress… she's well prepared too.'

Apparently, there was nothing remotely interesting about his analysis so he dropped it and both Sherlock and Molly bid the couple good-bye.

…

Outside the pub, Mary eyed the twosome inside very carefully. She knew that Sherlock was very sharp so she watched for a little while, very silently and inconspicuously. John saw what she was doing and chuckled a bit.

"I guess Sherlock and Molly can have some time alone now, right?" John teased.

"Well, there never was a Ben to begin with so…" Mary said, trailing off.

"So, I guess we can leave the both of them alone now," John finished.

"Do you think Sherlock will know that we actually set them up on a date right now?" John added as they both walked away.

"No. I was quite careful of that," Mary replied, smiling.

…...

Meanwhile, inside the pub, Sherlock and Molly were having a conversation when suddenly someone stopped right infront of their table. Molly was taken aback and so she looked at the man who caused the stir. But before she could speak, he already greeted her.

"Molly? I'm sorry for the delay… I'm Ben. Ben Winchester," he said.

Sherlock was stunned for a bit and analyzed the guy right infront of him. His raven black hair was slicked back and his skin color was quite pale. He was in a suit and the expensive kind too. It was Italian. The man's dark brown eyes met his and his eyebrows furrowed.

"Molly, I'm sorry to intrude but… is this…" the mysterious man said, trailing off.

"No! No! He's not my boyfriend or anything and we aren't on a date. It's okay, I understand. Mary said you had an emergency surgery, right?" Molly jumped in quickly, not giving any time for Sherlock to speak a coherent sentence.

Sherlock quickly stood up and got his coat off the back of his chair. He cleared his throat.

"Well, Molly, seeing that your date is here now, although quite unpunctual, I shall leave you two alone. Have a good night," he said, walking away from the table.

...

I added a bit more since in the reviews, others were confused about this person's identity. So basically, Mary and John made up a guy who would be Molly's 'supposed date' because they wanted to make Sherlock jealous. But somehow, there's a mysterious man claiming to be Ben Winchester. Now, who exactly is this?

Please do review and leave me your thoughts. I'll try and update soon! (I'm keeping my word this time x)

-Li