~*~ Part 4~*~
The sight of a friendly face in the great wilderness of London is a pleasant thing indeed to a lonely man.
-A Study in Scarlet by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Molly sighed as she finished with the last body on her schedule. She couldn't help but think Sherlock would have liked looking at the body of Mr. Gillsen. He had some very interesting bed sores on his elderly body. She sadly shook her head as she quickly filed her paperwork to ready herself for the end of her work day.
She heard the sound of heels clicking from the hallway leading to the doors of the morgue. They were moving at a slow and steady rhythm. Molly turned to face the door to see who would enter. What she witnessed entering was a beautiful woman with dark flowing her, wearing an expensive black business suit with a solid white silk blouse. She wore dangerously tall high heels. Her fingers were upon her black phone, texting with lighting speed. She didn't bother to look up from the phone as she spoke, "You are wanted. Come with me please."
Well, at least she said 'please'.
Molly studied her, "No thank you. I'm Molly Hooper, by the way."
The beautifully cool woman lifted her eyes from her phone before she stated with certainty. "I know exactly who you are."
Molly smiled, rocking lightly on her heels. She had a strange feeling that she knew exactly who she worked for, and if she was wrong…well…she'd be wrong. "And yet, I don't know your name and I'm just suppose to mindlessly go with you…Did you know that when I was eight years old a man asked me to get into his car for he needed help with finding his puppy…Seeing you know exactly who I am I'm guessing you don't want to know the rest of the story. So anyway, my response to your oh, so nice, request is a big 'NO'."
Molly turned away, moving to go through the other set of doors that would take Molly down a corridor leading to her locker and all that much closer to calling it a day.
The woman's face looked stunned and bewildered as if this was a situation she'd never encountered before.
In her lab coat pocket her phone rang. Taking it out of her pocket she glanced at it to see it was a blocked number. She turned her phone off deciding that whoever had called could leave a message in her voice mail. She had learned never to trust block numbers.
"Perhaps, you should answer your phone, Doctor Hooper." The woman stated as she moved gracefully behind Molly.
"Perhaps, I'd rather know your name instead of answering my phone." Molly told her in a completely cheeky manner.
The woman tilted her head. "Name's Anthea."
"Nice to meet you. I like your shoes. Sadly, I can't wear high heels; I'm a bit clumsy on them. I tired wearing them once to a wedding no less…It was disastrous. Never fun to fall into the wedding cake. I still have nightmares about it."
Anthea looked down at her phone as if reading something very important. "Doctor Hooper, my boss, Mr. Holmes would like to speak with you…Please."
Molly stopped and gave the woman a certain look. She wished she could raise a classy eyebrow like she'd seen some of her favorite actors do on the telly.
"And what did he break his legs? This is a hospital after all, I'm sure no one would mind if he were to borrow a wheelchair. Let my guess, he plans to break into my flat again! Anyway, I honestly think we said all that needed to be said." Molly told Anthea.
There was, however, a small part that made her wonder if she should apologize to Mr. Holmes even if she had spoken the truth.
Anthea gave a soft smile as if she admired her spunk. "Actually, he knows your work is done for the day and you are about to go home. He'd like to give you a ride."
"I'd like to sleep in tomorrow but seeing I have to take my cat in to see the vet for a checkup bright and early in the morning and I fear I might get maimed getting him into his carrier…I'm not going to get what I want so why should he?" Molly asked, honestly wanting to know.
Anthea's fingers seemed to fly on her phone as Molly had talked. The beautiful woman looked up and looked thoughtful before responding, "Good question. I think you have surprised my boss. He's not often surprised by anything."
"That sounds boring."
"The life he leads is everything except for that." From the mysterious tone in which she spoke told Molly that she believed with all her heart that she spoke the absolute truth.
"Will you please thank, Mr. Holmes for me but I'll find my own way home and I don't need a ride." Molly informed her in het kindest way she knew how.
Anthea's big smile made her look positively wicked. "You can tell him yourself, Doctor Hooper. Mr. Holmes says he needs to tell you something important about his brother."
"Oh! Goodness, why didn't you say so! Um, of course, I'll meet with him right away."
Molly threw her lab coat into her locker, having before taken out anything of importance from its pockets. She grabbed her purse and jacket.
"So, you will accept the ride home now, Doctor Hooper?"
Molly paused for a moment, "I guess that would be lovely, thank you."
Anthea's fingers danced upon her phone. "So if you will follow me?"
Molly did just that following a few steps behind her. She lightly bit her lip, feeling worry over what that 'something important' about Sherlock could be.
Anthea slowed so they would walk together side by side. "Tell me, Doctor Hooper, did you get into that vehicle when you were eight?"
Molly blinked at her in surprise before giving her a small smile. "My big brother, Danny, stopped me. Informed me that if an adult needed help that they wouldn't ask a kid but another adult. My argument was 'but puppy…' Still, he wouldn't let me."
"He sounds like a good big brother." Anthea said for a moment she sounded almost wistful.
"Yeah, he was. " Molly told her softly. For a second she was tempted to slide her hand into her pocket to rub at the small green button.
"Oh. Was. Sorry." Anthea replied just as softly before admitting, "I had a brother once. I had to kill him."
Molly's steps faltered in surprise. "Oh, I'm not real sure how to respond to that."
Anthea shrugged, "I never liked him much anyway. One night he tried to play 'murder your sibling' Cain and Able style and he lost."
"Well…I'm glad he didn't win."
"Oh, me too, Doctor Hooper. I would have hated it if he had won the last game we ever played together."
"Anthea, you can call me, Molly."
Anthea smiled, "In that case my name isn't really Anthea, Molly.
They were now by an elegant and obviously expensive black car.
"What is your name then?" Molly asked curiously.
Anthea leaned in close to her so Molly could hear her whisper, "That, my dear Molly needs to remain a mystery."
She opened the door and waved her hand indicating to go on into the backseat of the car.
Molly chuckled, "My goodness, I like you."
"Do get in the car, Doctor Hooper." Hearing Mr. Holmes' voice she leaned in to see him. She gave him a weak smile and a small finger wave. His stare seemed intense as she carefully climbed in beside him.
Anthea closed the door behind her and Molly watched her sashay away, her fingers once more dancing wildly upon her black phone.
"Well, hello. Isn't Anthea joining us?" Molly couldn't help but ask.
"No," Mr. Holmes stated with a slight edge. "She has another car and very important things to do."
"Oh, I'm sure she does working for you." Molly found herself stating with the same equal edge. Annoyance running through her. "Tell me, does she pick up your dry cleaning without so much as a 'thank you' from you?"
Mr. Holmes blinked at her in surprise, sitting up straighter than before. Molly felt the car slowly start moving. "Wha—"
"You don't seem the type of man to go get your own dry cleaning or do your own dishes. You are also very rude. Twice now, I've said 'hello' and received no 'hello' in return or even the classic 'how are you' instead you break into my flat like a ruthless thug. Perhaps to show me that you simply could like the control freak I've always suspected you of being. Also, you send someone else to inform me that you want to 'talk'. Again on your time and the place of your choosing. Your mum should be ashamed of herself for raising two sons with absolutely no manners whatsoever!"
Mr. Holmes looked away to gaze out the window.
Molly crossed her arms. Waiting. Suspecting any second now that Mr. Holmes would order the car to stop and throw her out or to tell the driver to speed up and then throw her out of the car. All she was certain of was the fact that he surely would kick her out of the vehicle. To be honest, she wasn't all that certain she wanted to be in the car with him anyway.
After what seemed like hours she finally heard him say in a soft voice, "Hello, how are you doing today?"
This time it was Molly's turn to blink at him in total shock before answering…"Well, I woke up breathing, so I'm doing a lot better than some of the other people I've seen today." She chuckled over her little joke before saying, "How are you?"
"I'm breathing." Mr. Holmes stated giving her aside look before quickly looking away.
Molly slowly uncrossed her arms to set her hands on her lap.
"Good." She told him slowly, looking out her own window.
"Is it?" He asked her.
"Of course, you might be a rude control freak but it doesn't mean I would want you to stop breathing, Mr. Holmes."
"You can call me, Mycroft, Doctor Hooper." Mycroft said carefully.
"Please call me, Molly." She told him unsure why she was suddenly feeling shy.
"Right, thank you…Molly." He said her name as if testing out her name.
"You are welcome…Mycroft." She too was testing out his name, in the same manner as he had with hers. "So…I was told you wanted to tell me something about Sherlock." Molly knew she couldn't keep the curiosity out of her voice not that she even tried all that hard.
"Hmm…Yes, well the reports I've received show that he's fine. He's being a bit reckless but then that's my lovely brother for you. At least he seems to be totally drug free and extremely determined on destroying everyone in Moriarty's network."
"Oh…Is that all you had to tell me?" Molly asked, not really understanding why Mycroft would go to the trouble to tell her that for part of her already knew all that. The man was a total idiot if he thought she was stupid.
Mycroft was silent for a while before he softly stated. "As much as it pains me to admit you were right about my brother. I am very envious about the loyalty he receives from those around him and he gets it without even trying."
"Should I…" Molly found herself asking just as softly, "Should I apologize?"
"For being honest? For stating the truth? No…Molly. Honesty and truthfulness should never be apologized for. Especially in this day and age."
"So…Why have you gone to the trouble of telling me this?" Molly asked, desperate to understand. She was beginning to see that Mycroft Holmes just might really be a man of mystery. He turned his head to study her with an odd intensity as if was reading a new and interesting book.
"After much thought, I have decided to do an experiment. Normally, my dear brother is the one to do all the experiments…However, sometimes I do have to get my hands dirty so to speak."
For a moment she thought she heard music warning her that she was about to be eaten by a shark…Or maybe the music was warning her of all those stories she heard of as a child the ones that always ended with, 'and she was never heard from again'…
"Why do I have this weird feeling that this experiment of yours involves me, some how?"
Mycroft smirked at her. "Good, perhaps you are not a village idiot after all."
Molly rolled her eyes. "Are you going to share or should I simply throw myself out of your moving vehicle?"
Mycroft gave her a startled look. "You continue to surprise me, Molly. If you throw yourself out of my car, I find that I will be most displeased."
"Trust me, so would I for it would have to hurt." Molly told him before laughing softly. "So, seeing this experiment involves me somehow, what do you wish to try?"
The smile Mycroft gave to her made her think of a shark. Molly silently blamed John for making her think of him as a deadly fish.
"After much thought, I've decided that you, Molly Hooper are going to be my friend…"
~*~End of Part 4~*~