The Shift In Our Fate (Part Three)
Note: Long one ahead, depending where it ends it might be the conclusion of this section of the shots. Guess we'll find out when I get to the ending AN I suppose. Haha I hope you like. :)
The last day with the Watsons was spent out and about after the storm. It was muggy outside but it was nice for everyone to get out and stretch their legs and play a little catch. It was a bit tedious to Sherlock after awhile but Mrs. Watson made it fun by suggesting that they each say something completely random each time one of them caught the ball which was an American football.
John's dad had gotten it while on a trip over there a few months ago and from time to time when John was home they would tussle around outside. The randomness of it all was quite amusing to Molly, eliciting a few giggles from her. It had become a bit of a game after awhile to get Molly to laugh. She had a cheerful laugh.
They did stop playing after some time and John's parents decided to go inside while the boys and Molly went on a walk in town. Molly had only been inside town once when she was last here at the Watson's home after offering to go get a few things for Mrs. Watson. At the time Molly had just stopped by to help John inside after he had injured his leg during a hiking trip that their survival class went on last year.
The class only lasted a semester however, so not many incidents in nature happened. John had just happened to miss the rock he had been trying to step onto to go up the mountain type cliff they were trekking up and he twisted his leg. It caused a bit of trouble for him for the next couple weeks. He pulled through, as always.
The town was a bit small but it was big enough that everything was close together. The trio, Molly and John out voted him and decided to get a few pastries to bring back for the dinner they were having. Sherlock seemed to not mind the picking out the delectable treats upon getting inside the small bakery and the scent hit him. It made Molly smile to see him not being so grumpy about things. Sweets did have odd effects on people, though.
Once they had purchased them, they started back up to the house. It wasn't much of a trek but it still took a bit of time. Upon their arrival back inside they were greeted by a worried stricken Mrs. Watson. She quickly hugged and kissed each of them and let them know how she wished they would have told her where they were going when they suddenly left.
It took Sherlock a moment to blink away the shock of Mrs. Watson blatant show of affection towards him. Once he got over it, he spoke quickly. "We're perfectly fine. No need to fret." There was a weak nudge in his side and he looked over to see Molly rolling her eyes at him.
"What he meant was that we're sorry that we worried you. We did bring a bit of dessert back though." Molly smiled and that's really all it took for things to be brushed aside and then they were settling in for dinner.
The rest of the night was spent discussing the morning's plans. Sherlock and Molly would set off for his family home without John whom wanted to stay behind to have more time with his family. Sherlock didn't try to change that though there was a bit of a change in his demeanor for awhile the wheels in his head began to turn and he realized that this would be the first time he was really alone with Molly for more than a few hours. It really shouldn't have mattered but with his family involved it could get bothersome.
He mulled over it a bit after dinner was over and the boys settled in the library / living room. Molly had went up to shower and make sure her things were packed for the morning.
"Are you sure you won't want to eventually come?" Sherlock said as he flicked through the paper that had come that day. He hadn't had a chance to go through it because they had been out that morning.
"Yes. It's not like you'll be entirely alone Sherlock. Molly will be there too."
"Precisely. It could be a bit troublesome." He mumbled as he began to read over a case that had been developing over the past couple weeks. It shouldn't have taken them (Scotland Yard) that long to solve it. They weren't as good as him, however he thought.
"You should just need to watch out for her. Having all of you in the same vicinity could do more harm to her than if it was just you. She can handle you."
"Handle? What do you mean by that?" Sherlock put down the paper and looked at his friend.
"I just mean she's able to deal with your slip ups of saying rude things. You know how your family is. They can be difficult to tolerate. Then there is your rival that I hear is back around."
Sherlock hummed at the last part. He had heard whispers about his reappearance. That might be a bigger nuisance than dealing with Mycroft and his mother. He'd handle it, as he always did. Molly was merely there to help him with their project and as a guest. Not entirely uncommon in that household.
Molly came down then in her night clothes and a book in tow. It was something that Sherlock had read years ago, he paid her no attention as he went back to the paper and continued to thoroughly check it for any interesting matters he could figure out.
Molly stretched back out on the vacant sofa and continued reading the chapter she was reading about the pros and cons of using laser to manual surgery. It wasn't really much but she had started this chapter and she wanted to finish it. She liked reading up on things like this despite her preferred profession will call for work on dead bodies. It still was interesting to read.
Soon however, she grew tired after three chapters and accidentally fell asleep.
Sherlock had finished reading by then and had moved to observe the young woman. Like he had told John, he found her interesting some of the time. He had learned a few things as he watched her read. She chewed on her bottom lip when she read anything new that she didn't know about and found interesting. Her shoulders rounded up a bit but if it wasn't particularly interesting she was quite calm looking and relaxed.
He had noticed when her eyes began to droop of course but he figured she would have gone upstairs at that point. The read wasn't that fascinating, she could have marked the page and went up. He didn't stop her from falling asleep though. He didn't talk to her.
He had to do something this time though. He couldn't leave her out here during the night. The house was safe but there was something about not being in a room safely sleeping that off put him.
He waited a few moments after noticing that John was no longer sitting in his usual seat and got out of his own chair and walked over to the girl. He moved the book first, closing it with the handmade bookmark in the spot where she left off and then stood there going through the few ways that he could do this without causing her to stir. He went with the easiest. One he had seen done before in a few of the tv movies that John watched on occasion.
The good thing about it was she was already turned over on her back so there was a higher probability that he would be successful. He leaned down, slid his hands under her legs and positioned the other under her neck. Once he was sure that he had her securely he stood up and adjusted her a bit. He tiltef his head a moment and waited to see if she would move before going any further. She squirmed slightly but ended up curling a bit in his arms.
It made his lips twitch just the slightest. He just sighed before beginning to head upstairs. He slowly made it up there and was relieved to see her door already open. It was a good thing too. If not, things could have gotten a bit difficult. He quickly slipped in the door and carefully placed her on her bed. He tucked her in like he remembered moms doing that sometimes and then walked out.
A definite success.
The morning came quite quickly for Molly. She was in a bit of a fuzzy state when she was woken up by several knocks on her door. They weren't as quiet as one Mrs. Watson would make, nor as courteous as John's. It was a bit of a rushed and demanding knocking which only made her realize that it was Sherlock.
She groaned as she slowly pulled herself up and out of the bed. From there she went ahead and changed into her clothes for the journey further away from here. Sherlock hadn't said much about his family's place but she knew that it would take them some time to get there. She went to the bathroom to finish her transformation from night to day and to brush her teeth and comb out her hair. She ended up pulling it back but that's more out of the lack of time to do much of anything else to it.
Molly stuffed her toiletries in her bag before grabbing it and making her descent down the stairs where everyone else was waiting. She placed her things down next to the door as Molly said her goodbyes to the Watsons. Mr. & Mrs. Watson gave her hugs and told her to come back some time and then John gave her a nice long hug and whispered that she should try not to mind anything that happened over the next few days around the Holmes. They were their own class of people. Then kissed her cheek and told her he'd see her back at the academy next week.
Molly joined Sherlock who stood waiting by another one of those town cars that she was in a few days ago. He slipped in shortly after saying something to John who had shouted something to him. Molly wasn't too sure what that was about but just brushed it off as the car began to move. Sherlock chose to stare out the window, making no move to start a conversation so Molly decided that getting a little rest wouldn't hurt. She felt exhausted still anyhow. Rest would be good.
"Molly." Sherlock called her name forcing her awake from her deep slumber. She blinked for moment trying to adjust her eyes and then turned to him. He was already getting out. That were there now. She felt like they hadn't traveled that far.
When she joined him outside the car she was quick to realize that they were no longer in the small countryside where John's family resided. This was something far more grandeur. In the back of her mind Molly told herself that she shouldn't have expected anything less but it was a bit difficult to take in in the present. It was nearly a page out of an old Victorian novel. It was better and it stilled her in her spot.
Sherlock had moved towards the staircase that led inside but immediately halted in his steps when he noticed that she hadn't followed him. He turned his head and stared at her for a moment, looking for any signs of distress. There weren't any thankfully. She was awestruck if anything, he saw. He didn't see why though. It was just a house. To someone who wasn't use to this kind of living this was incredible.
"Are you coming then?" He decided it was best to move things along accordingly. This was just the outside. He was a bit curious of how she would react to the inside if she was basically paralyzed to the ground.
She bounced back pretty quickly and looked over at him and nodded. She went to turn to the trunk when he called out again. "Leave it, someone will get them." Molly breathed out and began to meet him up the stairs which he climbed quickly with his lanky long legs in advantage.
The doors were pushed open before either of them could begin to open themselves and another man stood there. He looked anything but regal from his tailored suit to the way he obviously kept himself up. "Hello brother." He greeted with a brief smile before it disappeared.
Sherlock moved around him without speaking and beckoned Molly to do the same. She did slowly, not really enjoying being scrutinized by another Holmes. She knew this to be his older brother by the looks of him. "Where have your manners gone, dear brother? I believe a few introductions are in order." He sneered at Sherlock before approaching Molly who felt uneasy as the tension in the foyer chilled the entire area. "Molly Hooper, correct?" He extended a hand to her and after looked at Sherlock who frowned but didn't say much to acknowledge that he wasn't going to stop the greeting. She nodded and slid her hand into his. "Mycroft Holmes, Sherlock's older brother. Pleasure."
Molly went to pull her hand away but then Mycroft began speaking quickly all the whole tilting her hand this way as he firmly grasped it. "Hm. Good choice in a future profession by the state of your hands. You've battered them up quite a bit during experiments and cadaver examinations for your anatomy course a few months ago. Any other job probably wouldn't have worked out well. You should try to form a schedule for sleeping as you rarely get any as you often are up crying. What a pity, really."
"Mycroft." Sherlock growled as he came and separated their hands and began ushering Molly into the next room. She seemed a bit on edge as she took a much needed seat on a couch.
"How did he know all that?" Molly asked as she looked over at Sherlock who was sitting across from her but wasn't paying much attention once he had made sure she was away from his brother.
"It's a bit of a speciality in our family." He muttered without staring at her, he seemed to be somewhere else entirely. Molly didn't ask, just looked around the room. There were many shelves of books and a few plants set around the room on small circular tables set in the corners. A set off drapes near the large window were pulled back so that the light could filter through. It was a sitting room but not exactly what would be seen in a middle or lower classed family's home. Not that that would change throughout the rest of the house.
"Tea, anyone?" Molly head picked up at the sound of the voice. Sherlock moved quickly to greet her as well. He pecked her cheek and then stepped back a moment as she gave him a once over.
Molly just sat there and marveled at the woman standing there. She and Sherlock were one in the same as far as looks went. Before she could bring herself to look more on that she admired the gown that seemed to accentuate the older woman's figure. She had one. It was a flashy number that brought Molly back to the dress fiasco with the woman's soon the previous month. It all made sense then. It almost made her smile before she went back to looking at the similarities between the mother and son.
Sherlock and his mum had the same piercing blue grey eyes and curly dark locks. Hers were a bit on the longer side but she was a woman and they framed her face much like her son's. The high cheekbones were another thing as well. It was remarkable to see something like this. It made her wonder were they all this good looking?
The feeling of being less adequate and small in comparison came back up. This time it came in the form of her lab partners mother. Each time it was a woman, that had to mean something however.
Sherlock and Ms. Holmes conversed quietly for a moment before he turned to leave almost hesitantly. That left the two females together. Molly being honest a lot of the time now, wasn't too sure how she was supposed to handle this. She was quite inferior when it came to the two of them.
Ms. Holmes smiled as she glided over to the chair Sherlock once sat in with her legs crossed, a bit of her leg showed due to a slit up the side of the dress. Molly couldn't help but noticed how slim and smooth looking it looked but looked away in embarrassment knowing that she probably would have looked at as strange. "Hello dear." She heard a bit of a humorous tone to the woman's voice as she looked up. "Molly, wasn't it? Yes. It's not everyday that my son brings home someone who isn't John Watson. I was beginning to worry about him. You're the first female he's ever brought in case you were wondering. It was surprising to all of us upon finding out. He didn't say anything of course." There was a brief pause as Ms. Holmes looked over Molly's appearance. It was adorable in her opinion. The girl was quite small but seemed to have something intriguingly special about her. She couldn't put her finger on it yet.
"We keep a close eye on him, you see. He likes to do things that aren't practical. It's upsetting sometimes. Regardless, I do love him. What about you Molly dear? Do you love him?" Molly drew in an intake of breath out of surprise than anything. She hadn't seen that question coming. It was executed rather quickly. "Oh. Did my asking you make you uncomfortable? My apologies, I like to know these things since he doesn't divulge much information."
"No, it's alright. I'm growing accustomed to people being curious about me. To answer your question," Molly paused briefly as she noticed the older woman perk up a bit at the fact she might tell her something particularly interesting. "No, we're not like that. I'm just his lab partner. He is interesting though." That was the truth and she knew she may have disappointed his mother but she didn't lie about things.
"What a pity, are you friends then?" There was the second time that phrase popped up in this house. It was making Molly feel conflicted about being in the house. She tried not to show how much it bothers her but she knew she wasn't great at hiding her true feelings from her face. "I'm not exactly sure yet."
Molly shrugged and almost sighed in relief as Sherlock came back in the room carrying a tray of teacups. "I hope I wasn't missed too much. Have a nice chat?" He smiled, trying to be discreet about checking on the condition of his lab partner. She was concerned about something but smiled at him anyway in a way that let him know she was fine.
"Molly's quite lovely, Sherlock. Thanks." His mom muttered as he passed her the cup that was designated for her on a little plate. Then he gave Molly's hers and grabbed his as he took a seat on the sofa a bit away from Molly but still fairly close.
"Did you discuss anything particularly interesting?" He took a sip of his tea and eyed the two women over his cup. His mum seemed a bit more cheery than usual and Molly seemed a bit more relaxed. It was strange for him to see.
"Hm. No, nothing that you'd be interested in Sherlock. Girl talk mostly. I haven't had much of it in awhile. She's a delight really. I think you should show her the lab when we're done here. Given your partnership it may interest her." Sherlock having known his mother longer was able to pick up on several keywords and hidden messages in her answer. He turned stoic as he gave a nod.
"Very well then. Dinner is at six, or has it changed?"
"Seven thirty. We're having a few special guests over." She smiled again. Molly knew there were some underlying tones to her message but she wasn't well versed him the Holmes communication. She sat quietly as they spoke, observing them until tea time was over.
Once it was a maid came through and cleared away all the dishes. Ms. Holmes spoke quickly as she began to exit the room. "It was a pleasure to meet you dear. I will see you both later at dinner." Then she was gone.
"I feel like I should apologize on my mother's behalf for anything that she might have said." Sherlock started but Molly just stopped him while he was there knowing he didn't enjoy apologizing in the slightest. There seemed to be no need anyhow.
"It's fine. She was fine. You have a lab in your house?" She redirected the conversation to something more safe. Sherlock stood and gestured for her to come along. He had a sort of smile on his face. More like a smirk but she could tell he was finally get a break from family time. It made him less tense, she noticed.
The lab being their next destination.
A/N: hello all! Obviously this didn't end up being the end of TSIOF. One more part in the next one. It's going to be very intriguing. The first real problem begins. I'm nervous about it but also very excited. What did you think of Mycroft and Ms. Holmes? Who do you think these special guests are and what could the problem be? Tell me all and everything. I really hope y'all loved this. I'll see you again next week.
Much love,
Day