Sorry for the delay! Had to go out of town for a couple of days. Anyway, here's another chapter. Thank you everyone who left reviews! Another chapter and this story will be done, I think. Molly's and Sherlock's paths cross again. Please read and review :)

All rights to Moffat, Gattis and Sir ACD.

The first two weeks of Molly's life in Edinburgh flew away in a whirl of settling down. She found a new flat, received her luggage and set about the task of turning her new flat in to a home. After that, it was a matter of getting used to the routine in a new place. She made grand plans for a journey of self-discovery – she promised herself that she would visit at least one new place every weekend. When the second weekend arrived (the first was eaten up the by the exercise of moving in to her new flat) she realized that she has to try very hard to stay motivated enough to go out. Making plans with other people means one of them will hold the other to her word. Plans made by self for self, never really materialize. That was why even as the third weekend rolled around, Molly found herself lolling on the couch, staring at her mobile listlessly. She was debating whether or not she should call John Watson.

Oh, what the heck? What harm would it do? He said he expected me to keep up with my God Mother duties and that's what I am doing. I'm just calling to talk about Rosie. That's it.

"Hey John! How are you?"

"Oh, hi Molly. Yeah, I'm fine. How're you?"

Molly could instantly tell that something was going on. Not something dangerous, but definitely something that made John sound tense and tired.

"Is everything alright? You sound rather worried."

"It's just that…no, everything's alright."

"It doesn't sound that way. Is Rosie sick or something?"

"Yes, she is. She has come down with the flu. It's okay. She just needs monitoring. That's all."

"Oh, why are you so worried then?"

"It's just that Sherlock's on a case. It's not complicated but we're dealing with a potentially violent suspect. I have to watch Rosie but I'm not comfortable about letting him go alone. You know how he can get carried away sometimes."

Molly understood his dilemma. He couldn't leave a sick daughter to somebody else's care, no matter how small the complaint but he was also feeling guilty about letting a friend go alone in to a potentially violent situation. Molly thought, but only for a few seconds.

"I could come watch Rosie."

"I can't ask that of you Molly!"

"I want to come John, I miss her. Her flu is just an excuse. I am her God Mother."

"Molly…"

"Just say yes. You know you want to. It's not the same as leaving her with someone else – I'm a Doctor. She knows me. She'll be alright. It's better than you sitting on a cliff edge the entire weekend, worrying about Sherlock."

John finally caved in. It didn't help that his friendship with Sherlock started with John saving his life. He's scared of the lengths that Sherlock goes to, to prove himself right. And thus started Molly's visits to London.

Not visiting Sherlock was not a deliberate choice Molly made. She went to London whenever her weekends coincided with Sherlock's cases and that didn't happen often enough for any coherent plan to be formed. In the four months of her Exile (that's what Molly called her move to Edinburgh, Exile with a capital E), she visited only five times. Any person other than Sherlock would not have even noticed her visits. She hadn't even thought of Sherlock or about how he would feel. As far as she was concerned, she was just visiting her God daughter and her friends. She wasn't doing anything wrong and frankly, she didn't think Sherlock would care. Besides, she never really felt secure in her friendship with Sherlock and felt that if she visited him, he would only feel burdened.

The first couple of visits were okay but afterwards she did begin to feel that she was sneaking around him. Her conscience warned her that she should be more upfront. But she was having too much fun with Rosie and there was too much emotional scar tissue from five years of pining. If all's fair in love then all's fair in getting over it, she told herself.

On the 'getting over' front, Molly didn't know if she was making any progress. She thought she wouldn't know until she faced Sherlock again. She was having the time of her life though. She bought a tourist map of Edinburgh and on the weekends that she wasn't in London, she explored the city that she decided to live in. After being hung on a guy for so long, living a completely single life felt very liberating. With the excitement of planning her weekend tours, she gradually stopped thinking about Sherlock. After nearly six months of living in Edinburgh, Sherlock wasn't even a factor in her life anymore. Even when she visited London, she didn't feel like she was walking on egg shells. Any association between London and Sherlock slowly evaporated.

Once, she visited London purely on a whim. It wasn't for Rosie, Mrs. Hudson or even Meena. She fancied visiting the John Snow pub. After having a quick drink she was wandering aimlessly, window shopping, when it happened.

John and Sherlock were shopping. John wanted to buy new clothes for Rosie and somehow convinced Sherlock to tag along. John was complaining to Sherlock about how difficult it was to find clothes for little kids.

"They're constantly growing and they won't fit in to clothes that were perfectly okay even two weeks ago. I have half a mind to just wrap her up in a blanket – what do think – Sherlock?"

When he turned to look at Sherlock he didn't find him. He swirled around and saw that Sherlock was walking as if on auto-pilot towards a woman on the other side of the road. He recognized the woman instantly. It was Molly Hooper. She was staring quite intently at a mannequin wearing a sun dress and therefore didn't notice Sherlock approaching her. John immediately tensed up. He was worried about how they would react to seeing each other. He could've spared himself the trouble.

Sherlock tapped her on the shoulder. Molly turned around and became still but only for a second. John was surprised when Molly flew to hug Sherlock but he was very pleasantly shocked (he learned that could happen) when Sherlock caught her in his arms and twirled around. Both of them were grinning like maniacs.

Huh, interesting.

"Sherlock I missed you!" was what she said when she was flying at him.

"I missed you too!" was what she heard as he put her down.

A few seconds passed by when she finally realized that her hands were still on his coat and his were still on her shoulders. When her brain finally switched to manual, she stepped back as is she was scalded, took her hands off his coat and said,

"Oh my God, I'm so sorry! I wasn't thinking! You have to realize I didn't mean to do it. I'm so sorry Sherlock!"

"Molly, no –"

"Don't be ridiculous Molly! Didn't you notice he was hugging you back? What a pleasant surprise! You didn't tell me you were coming to London."

"Hi! John!" Molly gave him a quick hug and breathed a sigh of relief. She was glad he had arrived to break the tension.

What is wrong with you?! You uproot your entire life to get away from him and then jump at him the second you see him. You disgust me! While Molly was berating herself silently, John noticed Molly's mortification and Sherlock's confusion, and quickly took control of the situation.

They're ready to bolt, both of them. Well, it won't happen, not on my watch. I've had enough of this star crossed bullshit.

"You know what, let's have coffee together. What do you say, Molly? We have so much catching up to do. You can tell us everything about Edinburgh and we have some interesting cases to share. Come on."

John led the way and both of them followed him in a daze.

The hug bit was cliched but it sort of happened to me once. I had met my cousin after years and my body almost moved on auto-pilot to hug her. I reeled myself in the last minute. We're not a hugging family.

Our body does get hijacked by emotions. Please read and review :)