The Mad Man and Molly
...
The next time she saw him, she didn't hesitate to walk up and ask him what he was doing near the hospital – again. After all, the last couple of times had ended with her life being in danger, some way or other.
He stopped, staring at the nervous woman who was trying not to show it, and looked at her. And that look again reminded Molly of Sherlock, and wondered what kind of world it was to have two people in it who could give her that look and have it affect her in such vastly different ways.
"...Looking," the man said at last. "People seem to be interested in this place. I can't quite figure out why. I mean, yeah. Important people, but still. Why here? Why not somewhere else, where things actually happen? Why a hospital?"
Molly couldn't think of an answer for him, and wasn't sure she even knew what the question was in the first place. The man then started to pace back and forth in front of St. Bart's, seeming to use her as a sounding board similar to how Sherlock used John. It gave her a warm feeling, but one which was tempered by the wistful wish that it was Sherlock pacing there, not some strange man who she neither knew nor really trusted.
"No one's really been up to anything other than mischief so far – but why? If this place is important, then why just show up here, without any reason? Unless that's the reason, and- no. Or maybe there's something about the place that's just plain attractive. Could be something the sensors didn't pick up, but there's really not that much they wouldn't, and I've been around most the rest of the time to... Think. What's really been happening...?"
At this, though, he stopped in front of her, seemingly caught out in the middle of his train of thought – she stared back, startled, having been doing nothing other than watch him and listen to his babble since he'd started.
"Molly Hooper. You're very good at being in the wrong place at the right time, aren't you? Just enough to be very, very good at getting in the way..."
Something about that – the words, the way he said them, that look on his face that said, quite clearly, that she wasn't what they'd been after, why would she be, she wasn't important enough.
It was one thing from Sherlock – but quite another from someone who hadn't even told her his name. Was it that easy to see? Just by looking at her?
Her face must have started to go red, and he noticed, instantly backing away – what was he expecting, a slap or something? Molly Hooper wasn't the kind of person who gave out slaps like that, and right now she didn't feel up to it, even though she felt rather deeply that the man desperately needed one.
"Wait wait wait-! No – I didn't mean it like that. I'm good at getting in the way. Always have been, always will be. It's not a bad thing. It's a good thing. Really."
She didn't believe him. She might not be able to see clearly when Sherlock flirted with her to get access to the latest piece of equipment or the most recent unclaimed body, but with someone who wasn't Sherlock, she could see slightly clearer.
"Why? I mean, why is it a good thing. And why me? I work here. Could have been anyone."
At first he just looked at her again, but then he smiled abruptly, and suddenly she was struck by how un-Sherlock he was, because Sherlock had never smiled so widely and so openly and so honestly.
"Oh, Molly Hooper. So... ordinary. Never, ever let anyone tell you that there's anything more important than an ordinary person."
She'd been right when she'd first called him mad. He really was. She stared, then blinked, and caught the time on her watch by accident, only just realising that if she didn't get a move on fast, she was going to be late for her shift.
...
AN: There's a hint here as to where - or rather, when - the Doctor's from in his own timeline. And another that is both foreshadowing and a call-back, of sorts.