The Morning After

Janine was awoken by a gasp and a soft thud. Her eyes snapped open, bewildered at first as to where she was. Then she remembered. She and Sherlock had danced late into the evening. She had finally pulled away, exhausted, and staggered to the sofa to rest and get her breath back. Sherlock had been beaming, only a little out of breath, and looking like he could go on all night. He had taken pity on her though, and suggesting that it was too late and she looked too tired to go home, had brought her a blanket and pillow so she could sleep on the sofa.

Which is where she now was, facing a startled Mrs Hudson, who had dropped the tea tray she was carrying in surprise. Thankfully nothing had broken, but it did make an awful mess.

"Oh dear, I'm sorry, I wasn't expecting…" The elderly lady quickly apologised, stooping to pick up the mess.

"Oh. No, sorry, it's my fault. Here, let me…" Janine jumped up from the sofa, hurrying over to help.

"Oh, how kind of you. Let me just go get some cloths…" Mrs Hudson rushed away to the kitchen, coming back with a damp tea towel, passing it down to Janine to mop up the stain on the rug from the spilt tea, while she took the now empty mug and tray out of the way.

"Thank you dear. Sorry again for waking you, you think I'd be used to it by now, people coming and going all the time. Are you here for a case, love?" Mrs Hudson asked as they finished up.

"No actually I'm um… I went on a date with Sherlock yesterday, and you know how it is, I ended up staying a bit late and then… staying over. We met at the wedding, remember? I'm Janine."

Mrs Hudson stared at her in wide-eyed shock, before blurting out; "Sherlock? On a date? With a Woman?" and laughing "First John, now Sherlock, what is this world coming to?"

Janine laughed nervously, her eyes flitting about for a second. "Does he not… usually date women?"

"Well… no, he doesn't usually date at all." Mrs Hudson explained, "Well, there was that one woman, Miss Adler, I think her name was, I'm not sure if they were actually dating or not, but she did text him a lot. And he was so sad when she died, until it turned out she wasn't really dead of course. It was all very confusing. She wasn't very good for him I don't think. And of course there was him and John, who knows what was going on there. They kept denying being a couple, but the way they went around together, and they certainly argued like an old married couple, and I caught them dancing one time, behind closed curtains. But then John is married to Mary now, so maybe it was nothing. Anyway, I hope things work out well for you, dear. I'd better go get him another cuppa, he'll be up any minute."

"What time is it?" Janine asked, looking around for her phone, before remembering it was in her coat pocket and heading over to get it.

"Nearly nine, dear." Mrs Hudson answered from the kitchen.

Janine swore loudly, then quickly apologised to Mrs Hudson for her language.

"Don't you worry, dear, I've heard far worse." Mrs Hudson assured her.

"Oh, I'm gonna be late for work." Janine moaned as she threw on her coat, and scanned the apartment for a pen and paper to leave Sherlock a note. "And I'm gonna have to go home and change first, I can't go in like this."

"Best hurry then. Don't worry, I'll let Sherlock know why you had to rush off."

"Thank you, Mrs Hudson. I'll see you around." Janine sighed, dashing out the door and down the stairs. Mrs Hudson just smiled and shook her head fondly as she made the tea.

When Sherlock emerged from his room 10 minutes later, already fully dressed, he found Mrs Hudson folding the blanket on the sofa, where Janine had slept.

"She left." He stated, blankly, picking up his tea from the table.

"Yes dear, said she was going to be late for work. You never told me-"

"Pity." Sherlock spoke over her, taking another sip of his tea as he made his way to get his coat and scarf. "Still, never mind. I've just had a call from Lestrade, he has a body he wants me to check out. Thanks for the tea, Mrs Hudson." And with that he was gone, leaving his cup hanging on the coat rack by the handle.

"But you never explained… oh never mind." Mrs Hudson sighed, taking the teacup down and retreating back to her flat.

Molly bit her lip, watching Sherlock examine the body on the table between them. She twisted her engagement ring round and round her finger. She still hadn't decided what to do about Tom yet. When she heard Sherlock was coming down that morning she had thought talking to him about it might help, but now he was here she couldn't think what to say, and couldn't force the words out of her mouth when she did think of anything.

Sherlock sighed, not taking his eyes off the body. "Molly, it's obvious there is something on your mind, so either say what you're going to say, or drop the thought process altogether. You're irritating when you're trying to make a decision."

"I saw you, last night. With a woman. It… it looked like you were on a date." Molly blurted in reaction to his words, flushing with embarrassment.

"That's because I was." Sherlock answered succinctly, moving around the body with his magnifying glass.

Molly's lips pressed together in a straight line, while she tried to decide how to word her next question.

"But you… don't date. You've never shown any interest in dating. Why now?"

"Oh you know, John has Mary now, you have Tom. I thought it was about time I found someone too." He answered casually, as if that was a normal thing for him to say.

But Molly didn't question his change of heart. To her it only confirmed what she had thought last night when seeing him, about the loneliness she had seen in his eyes at the wedding.

"If… if I didn't have Tom -"

"But you do." Sherlock cut her off, still without looking at her.

"I know, but… if I didn't -"

"But. You. Do." Sherlock repeated, this time looking up into her eyes with a piercing gaze, his tone clearly final. After a long tense moment he snapped his magnifying glass shut, standing up straight. "I think I've seen all I need to here. Text me the results from the blood tests when you get them back." He instructed, before turning on his heel and leaving the morgue in a swish of his coat.

Molly sighed, more confused about Sherlock Holmes than she had ever been before.


AN: Sorry for the lack of interaction between Sherlock and Janine in this chapter, but I felt these scenes had to be done. Thanks again to all my readers/reviewers/followers and favouriters (and yes I know thats not a real word, but I didn't want to leave them out since there wasn't a word for them)