Disclaimer - I do not own Sherlock, I am merely borrowing the characters.
AN/ I apologise for all spelling and grammar mistakes. Thank you's are at the bottom. Enjoy :)
After the brief meeting at 221b a month prior, it became almost routine that Molly would visit Baker Street every Wednesday for tea and biscuits. Often she would be greeted by Mrs Hudson downstairs who would offer advice and give her a variety of different snacks and hot dinners. Molly would then be let in by John, who would inquire about her health before shooting off to Mary's, deciding that the future parents should have the flat to themselves, finally leaving Sherlock and Molly alone. Mostly they would talk about the pregnancy never the baby, but the pregnancy, sherlock would ask clinical questions and Molly would answer with a testable precision, it was civil. On the day following the fourth Wednesday, their relationship shifted and the routine began to change.
Molly woke to the pained beep of her alarm, dressed, and ate the same breakfast she had every Thursday since she had begun working at Saint Bart's. Arriving on time she greeted Mike and began to plan her day of cutting cadavers. Never having the best sense of judgement, she felt as though today was going to be a good day, which is why she happily accepted Mike's rather loud request for a coffee just as she had finished cutting into Mr Lindon. She had even promised to get it from the top floor with one and a half sugars just as he'd ordered. Taking a leisurely stroll up the stairs she began to reflect on how well things were going for her. The whole pregnancy thing was going well, she had fairly regular conversations with the father, appointments had been booked with the local hospital that wasn't Bart's, morning sickness had come and gone within a week, and she was building up a relationship with her boss so he wouldn't fire her when she told him. Life was good.
Coffee in hand she sprung the lab doors open a short time later. Walking into a complete silence, she saw four male figures standing around her desk. Varying in just about every aspect, including current emotion she looked around the room in question. Firstly, she noticed Mike, the shortest and chubbiest of the gang who was sporting a rather confused look. Next she saw the silver fox that was Greg Lestrade, although only meeting him briefly she was sure he was a professional man, making the bright, childish grin spread across his face look peculiar. Turning still she recognised the short, sandy haired man as John Watson, despite the fact that he was looking down to avoid her gaze, which meant the fourth and final man could only be one person.
"Sherlock?" She knew he was some kind of detective, but she wasn't sure why he was here, at her desk.
"Wait, you two know each other?" She heard Greg question in the background. She was too occupied looking at Sherlock's expression. It was the same look her Gran had given her when she accidentally told her Santa Claus wasn't real. It was guilt. Before she could think about the meaning behind this, Mike on the far left of her vision began to speak in a stern tone she had never heard him use before.
"Dr Hooper, are you pregnant?"
She turned back to Sherlock with what only can be described as fire in her eyes.
"What did you do?"
(Sherlock's POV)
Sherlock was woken by the simple beep of his ring tone informing him that a third victim had been found and he jumped out of bed finding a new spring in his step. The text was simple and gave little away, but if he had guessed correctly this one would be far more gruesome and even better it was a surprise. Perhaps the killer had gotten bored, he broke his own timeline meaning that he was acting out of character meaning he had might have made a mistake meaning Sherlock was undoubtedly going to beat him. He yelled a quick update to John whilst wrapping his scarf around his neck. Today was going to be a great day, he could feel it.
The killer was dumber than he'd assumed, the case went from an 8 to a 3 in the space of ten minutes. He was outraged, and once again hated the human race for being fickle and allowing their emotions to take over, if the killer hadn't lost his temper with the third victim, the murder would have been much more efficient and Sherlock would have had a better case to work on.
Sherlock slid into the back of a taxi followed by John whilst Lestrade sat in the chair opposite. After one stop at Bart's he would confirm the killer to be a Mr Irvin Hargrave, then be on his way. He was trying to create a better ending to the now disappointing case, but the constant patter of Greg hitting the buttons on his phone was far too distracting.
"Do you need to text someone this very second? I doubt that Anderson needing you to sing him a lullaby is of the highest importance."
John sighed, he knew it was coming after watching the great big man child berate the crime scene workers and yet it still managed to anger him.
"Actually, I'm not texting Anderson. I happen to be informing Mike that we are on our way so he can get the bodies ready." Greg continued to stare at his phone.
"Oh, it's to get the bodies ready? Here I thought it was to warn him so he can distract the new pathologist, how silly of me." His voice, completely monotone, managed to make Lestrade pause his actions mid word.
"Well, can you blame him? The last doctor quit three days after meeting you."
"He was utterly useless. I did Dr Stamford a favour."
"A favour? Mike was on holiday, and it was his brother-in-law. He had to come back early and apologise to his wife all because you had to show off."
"I do not show off! I point out the truth, and he was an utterly useless doctor."
"Sherlock-"and here came the speech Sherlock was waiting for, John to calm the mad detective. After their argument a month ago, the subject was never brought up again. John was torn between being a good friend and being a good person, whilst Sherlock was hurt and angered that he was hurt. Neither knew how to talk about it or resolve the issue, so instead they took their frustrations out in other ways. For John it was taking an extra few minutes to get ready before going out for a case or forgetting to buy some new nicotine patches, for Sherlock it was being a little bit less considerate when playing the violin early in the morning or to steal his credit card and use it to buy nicotine patches. "- What you did to that doctor was unnecessary and you know it. Maybe if you were polite, happy and kind, doctors wouldn't quit and mike would be a lot happier. He might even give you extra limbs for experiments if you're really, really good."
"I'm not a child John, I can be nice to people."
"Really? It's just previous experience is showing me otherwise."
Sherlock knew what John was trying to do, he was trying to get him angry and competitive so Sherlock would have no choice but to be nice if he wanted to prove John wrong. Sherlock wasn't sure that he wanted to play.
"Sherlock please, I'm not sure if mikes got the text. I am begging you do not make this one quit, mike really likes her and says she is an amazing doctor-"Sherlock stopped listening to Lestrade in realisation.
This wasn't about mike or Lestrade or new doctors or any of them, Sherlock now realised it was about him. John wasn't tricking him into playing nice, he was trying to talk about 'situation baby' without talking about 'situation baby'. If Sherlock could prove to be nice to a random doctor, then he would prove himself capable of having a child, according to John at least. Thinking the idea was utter nonsense, he was tempted to play along, even just to cater to John's whims, but the idea of proving his brilliance was far too tempting. He had decided that he was going to enter the lab meet the new doctor and get her fired, afterwards they will all mask in his glorious intelligence and congratulate him on his excellent talent. At the very least he would get some entertainment, which after the dismal case he had today, he believed he truly deserved.
Mind made, Sherlock walked into Bart's with a new purpose. They walked into the lab which was only occupied by Mike, just as Sherlock had suspected, if his calculations were correct the new doctor would be back in the next ten minutes. Ignoring the greeting and general chit-chat that Sherlock deemed an irrelevant waste of oxygen and brain matter, he stopped over to the mystery woman's desk.
"Sherlock, what are you doing?" Mike laughed in a failed attempt to hide his nerves.
"Learning about the new doctor, she's worked here for almost two months now, I think I should really get to meet her." Sherlock's voice dripped in false pleasantry.
"Oh that's really not necessary-"
"Nonsense, I'm happy to do it. I love meeting new people. But first, I should probably get a feel for her personality, don't want to say the wrong thing and scare her off now do I?" Must to the misery of everyone else in the room, Sherlock moved over to her set of drawers and began to open them one by one. Although no one wanted to witness, they all moved closer drawn in by the cruelty that was coming this poor woman's way.
In the first drawer there were a few pens, a diary containing personal numbers and an orange. Sherlock could only see that she was organised, thin, right handed, non smoker with no pets or siblings and was allergic to nuts. None of these traits were good enough for a permanent termination of her contract although a more cynical part of his mind considered during the allergy to his advantage. The second drawer was almost empty, and primarily featured more stationary. Sherlock briefly felt panicked, as the last and final draw followed a similar pattern with the only variation being herbal tea and some more snacks. He all but slammed the drawer shut as mike breathed out a sigh, as his protégé seemed to have passed the test.
"I can't tell anything from her drawers I'll just have to meet her in person." Just as he had finished that sentence his mind flashed the answer right in front of him. The third drawer contained Ginger tea and crackers, a common home remedy for morning sickness. Now all he had to do was get Mike angry enough that he would justify firing her.
"She seems organised and efficient, overall a good hire." Mike was practically beaming at Sherlock's observation.
"One slight problem though."
As Sherlock was beginning to get ready to get this stranger fired, John noticed a coat in the corner of the room that looked familiar.
"Well, there's the replacement issue. That's never easy."
Looking closer John noticed that not only did the coat match Molly Hoopers, the scarf that was with it also did.
"Then there is the whole payment problem"
As Sherlock was building up to his big reveal, John's mind was slowly putting pieces of the puzzle together, which only became complete when he looked in the first drawer and noticed that the contact diary had an initial engraved on the bottom right hand corner. MH.
"Sherlock. Sherlock, you should stop talking now."
"Absolutely not, I think as Mike's friend I should inform him that his new hire is keeping a secret. A secret that could interfere with Mike's early retirement plans."
"Sherlock, I'm being serious. Stop talking."
"Your new doctor happens to be pregnant, second trimester at least." Grinning from ear to ear Sherlock turned to face John in victory.
Whilst Mike was pondering the repercussions of this news and Greg was moaning about the fact that Sherlock always has to show off, the man in question was staring at the diary now in John's hand. It wasn't the initials on the diary, or the coat, or the scarf that finally made it click who the new doctor was, in the end it was John's face, telling him that was a bit not good.
"I'm wrong." Sherlock turned to face Mike.
"I'm completely wrong, she's not pregnant. I'm wrong."
"Bloody hell, is anyone recording this? " Lestrade joked.
"She's a brilliant doctor who is definitely not pregnant, if anything she should get a raise, maybe even a promotion." He was desperately trying to undo what he said, but it was clear from Mike's silence that the damage was done.
Barely a second after he had stopped speaking Molly walked in.
"Sherlock?"
"Wait, they know each other?"
"Doctor Hooper are you pregnant?
The next minute or so was a complete blur for Sherlock, he knew that at some point Molly spoke to him enraged, and he was sure Mike spoke, but it wasn't until Molly started crying that he started paying attention.
"I-I'm sorry, I didn't know how to tell you. I swear I didn't know when I got the job-"tears started leaking, and began to trail down her face.
"It's not-I'm not, I still would have liked to have been told." Mike was visibly becoming more uncomfortable.
"I know, it-s-s just, I thought you might have fired me."
"I think we should get going, we can come and see Mr Lindon tomorrow." Lestrade started to slowly back away.
"I promise I won't fire you, please calm down."
"O-okay." Molly was at this point, wailing.
"Bye now, bu-bye" Lestrade was waving as he walked out of the lab door.
John nudged Sherlock who moved for the first time since Molly entered the room, in hope he would go and comfort her.
"Molly, you can come to Baker Street when your shift has finished." Sherlock turned grabbing John's sleeve before leaving the lab just as quick as Greg had before him.
John turned one last time, he looked on towards Mike in recognition and instantly empathised with the poor man, before he too left.
Once safely in the comfort of 221b Sherlock sat in his chair, picked up his violin and waited for the onslaught of tears that were sure to be coming his way. He remained in this position for three hours before Molly arrived. He heard her arrive and recognised the gentle patters as she walked up. He watched the door open as she entered and he waited still as she removed her coat and scarf before sitting opposite him. He would be lying if he claimed he was not nervous, crying people were never his speciality.
Molly smiled, much to Sherlock's surprise, as she leaned forward and took his violin.
"If you ever have any information about me that could result in me getting fired, do not tell my boss. I'm fairly sure he won't fall for the crying act again." She spoke low, but with an unbreakable confidence that slightly terrified Sherlock.
"Now, I'm going to go and have a shower because if I remember correctly, yours is amazing." Molly reluctantly gave him the violin back.
She stood and made her way to the bathroom when she remembered something.
"Before I forget, Mr Lindon and the third victim were not killed by the same people, different poisons, different entry wounds and it looks like one murder was a man and one was a woman, so you were wrong. Oh, Hello John." Molly smiled at John before continuing her way to the shower.
"I like her." John said having thoroughly enjoyed the last few minutes.
Sherlock wanted to turn and berate him for his invasion of privacy or having fun at Sherlock's expense or taking too long to get ready this morning, but he couldn't stop himself from watching the space that was just occupied by a small pathologist.
AN/ I'm really sorry about not updating for a month, life got ahead of me. Unfortunately I can't promise to update every week but I solemnly swear that I will update at least once a month :)
Also its my one year anniversary since I started writing fanfiction which is why I had to write today! Well that and its SHERLOCK DAY ! Although I have a bad feeling about sherlolly, I don't know why I just think its not going to fun for anyone who ships some form of Sherlock love...
Most importantly, a big, BIG, thanks to those who reviewed that last chapter-
Potix / Rocking the Redhead / apedarling / AJP910 / Bella Coure / Icebabe59 / Guest / lavanyalabelle / Kathmak / Jasmine / Renaissancebooklover108 / patemalah / and NiceNipps :D
I hope someone enjoyed this chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it, see you soon (hopefully) :)