A/N: For the Oct 9th prompt: "(blank) are my weakness." An alternate ending to the path lab scene in "His Last Vow." Rated T.
Sherlock watched Molly from where he stood in the middle of the path lab. The others had left, John needing to take Mary to her doctor's appointment. Molly had said she'd take Sherlock home. She was currently using the microscope to look at something-or-other, completely ignoring him.
He was having none of it. "I'm not as high as I act."
"I tested your urine," Molly said, not looking up from the microscope. Her irritation was clear. "If anything, you're higher than you act."
"Molly-"
"Don't 'Molly' me," she said, finally looking at him. Her brown eyes were like frozen earth in the middle of winter. "How can you destroy yourself like this?"
"It's for a case."
"That's what you told John, he didn't believe it either. What's really going on, Sherlock?"
"I'm telling you the truth. I needed to get the attention of a man who preys on people's weaknesses. Being a junkie was safer."
"Safer than what?" she asked dubiously.
He approached her cautiously, not wanting to get slapped again. Her eyes widened with every step he took in her direction. "Safer for everyone else. My real weaknesses are the people I care about – John, Mrs. Hudson, Graham, even Mycroft." Sherlock stood in front of her, willing her to understand.
"So, you'd risk overdosing to save them?"
"I'd risk anything to save them."
Molly looked away. "You could have found another way," she said quietly. She tried to move past him but he blocked her path with his arm.
"I am sorry about one thing I did today," he murmured.
She looked up at him, surprised. "Just one?"
"I'm sorry I announced to everyone that your engagement was over. And I'm sorry I lied – I'm actually happy it's over."
Molly sighed quietly. "Yes, I know – this means I have more time to moon after you and do whatever you ask of me."
Sherlock smiled a bit. "While you were wearing that ring, his ring, you were unobtainable. Someone else had you, so I had lost my chance. But now, well, things are very different, aren't they?"
With each word from his mouth, her eyes widened. "Sherlock…"
"You're my biggest weakness, Molly Hooper," he murmured, dropping his voice an octave. "I'd get on my knees right now if I thought it would make you forgive me."
Molly blinked rapidly, reminding him of his own "buffering" state, then she shook her head a bit. "This isn't you, it's the heroin talking."
"Ask me when I'm sober what my biggest weakness is," Sherlock said. "My answer won't change."
He'd been out of the hospital for a week before she came to Baker Street.
"Sherlock," she asked over tea, "what's your biggest weakness?"
He smiled at her softly. "It's still you, Molly."