Disclaimer/AN: Alright, so I have two apologies. One: I'm sorry that I did not really give much detail of Sherlock's conversation with the professor as I do not begin to know chemistry and could not even make code for it, so I glossed over that. And I did look up the symptoms of an overdose of nicotine so that was accurate (woot, dedication), though I do not know how much is considered toxic. I suppose we wouldn't want them all over his body otherwise I know I would visualize him like when Amy and Rory had tally's all over them.
Molly walked alongside him with a bounce in her step. She hadn't been out of the flat really yet, and it was nice to get out into the fresh air, and enjoy Scotland. Her father was Scottish so it brought back memories of his side of the family.
As she admired her new environment, Sherlock grabbed her hand, and her eyes went wide but as she remembered their cover, she loosened herself a bit, trying to keep in character. Cover or not, she definitely liked this, but it was odd; she tried not to let herself think about the fact that it wasn't for the right reasons for her to be happy.
As they got closer to the university, Sherlock seemed a bit on edge, but was trying to remain cool. To anyone else, he would have seemed perfectly fine, but Molly always saw through these things.
"Sherlock, are you alright?" she asked quietly.
"Fine," he said, looking around as he stopped and turned his body towards Molly's.
He was holding both of her hands gently now and smiled at her, as she returned the smile, but a bit confused. He continued to hold the grin as he mentioned the professor was on his way over to them as he kissed Molly's cheek and then turned in the direction of the professor.
Sherlock was very polite, shaking the professor's hand as they stood there for a moment, making small talk. Molly gave a wide smile to the professor, but for the most part kept quiet. She had to contain the squeal as she felt Sherlock close next to her with his hand on the small of her back.
They walked over to the café and sat down; Sherlock trying to edge his way into asking interrogation questions, but for now was giving him a further explanation of their visit.
Molly drank her tea and listened, giving Sherlock's hand a squeeze every few minutes as they talked, but Sherlock seemed to be talking more in code than he was about anything related to chemistry. She saw the man's facial expression change dramatically as Sherlock slid a paper to him.
The man was very tense for the rest of the conversation as he checked his watch. "I really must get going, I am sorry for having to leave so soon," he said, tapping his foot nervously as he avoided eye contact with Sherlock.
"Congratulations again, to the both of you," he said, rushing off.
They spent some time walking around the shops that were a small ways off from the university, since Molly had pleaded him to let her look around. She was enjoying being in a different environment not only from the flat she had spent most of her time in currently, but from back at home. She loved London, and definitely missed it; she especially missed work. But she hadn't gone anywhere outside of London in a long time and it was nice to have a change of scenery.
As they walked along, Molly stood close aside Sherlock, constantly looking up at him. He was quiet, and she wanted to know what was up.
"So… was he?"
"Yes, but not at all of help to me."
"What did you say to him, I couldn't quite understand what you were talking about?" she said as she looked in the large window of a shop, admiring the jewelry displayed in front of her. She had her eye on some of the pearls, but kept her ears attentive to Sherlock.
"I simply told him that I knew he was part of Moriarty's network. Over the past six months I have learned a lot about the network, but I am still working on the members residing at the bottom. I thought maybe he would know something more, would accidentally give something away, but Moriarty was meticulous. That man was so obvious Moriarty would never place him on higher than a level of messenger."
"So he doesn't know who you are then?" she said a bit nervously, finally looking away from the window and gazing at Sherlock.
"No, he consulted with Moriarty through other people on other matters. Moriarty always wanted chemical warfare as an option if it was ever needed with his consulting; he probably knew nothing of what had even happened with me. Since he did not recognize me, he probably only worked on the side projects that Moriarty would take for fun."
Molly winced, "you weren't positive that he wouldn't know who you were?"
Sherlock gave a small smile, looking straight ahead as they walked. "You really think I would be so careless to risk everything I have been researching since I left London?"
"Well-" she thought.
"Mycroft has men everywhere; you just would never know it. I may be reckless, but since I have no choice but to work with my brother, some of the petty things must be on his terms."
She sighed, feeling reassured. "And he has also brought to my attention that my life is not the only one I would be putting in danger if I were found out here," he added, looking at her.
"Don't worry about me, Sherlock," she said, biting her lip. "All I want is for you to focus on the things that will allow you to go home sooner."
"Or for you to go home sooner; it is not hard to deduce that you miss London and your lab, Molly."
"Sherlock, that's not important..." she began. "I worry about you. I know as much as you won't admit it, you miss John, and Mrs. Hudson, and surely Baker Street. It will be easier for everyone when you can be back in London and not in hiding anymore."
Molly was stirred awake by loud noises coming from the kitchen, and she rubbed her eyes.
She walked out of her room to find Sherlock, and a huge mess: everywhere.
"Sherlock- what?" she paused, looking horrified as she glanced around.
"I've only been asleep for…" she looked at the clock, "for two hours, what are you… what happened?"
"This is driving me insane. I need a name, Molly," he said, throwing around files and anything else he could sort through. "This is not going quick enough. The Woman is out there making progress in Ireland and I am stuck in Scotland with the low end of this network. I am getting nothing done. Everyone still thinks I'm dead and everyone knows what I look like, so I can't go to a place more populated by the network. What good am I? I need this name so we can get this over with."
He was very twitchy, and it was making her nervous. She had known him a while before John did, and what he was like when he was misusing drugs, and this is what reminded her of it. Something wasn't right.
"Sherlock, you're not-"
He cut her off right there. "No." He laid his forearm out and pushed the cuff of his sleeve up, revealing six nicotine patches.
Molly's eyes widened, "Sherlock! What is… you can't use that many!" she said as she was getting increasingly nervous, glancing up to his face. He was sweating and his breathing was ragged.
She pushed him down on so he was sitting on the sofa and pulled the patches off of his skin. "Toxic levels of nicotine can have really bad side effects."
He let her pull off the patches, but said nothing. She was getting nervous that he was going to get sick. After a few minutes she grabbed his face and looked and him, examining him like the doctor she was; his breathing was normal, and the sweating had subsided.
She sighed, but then gave a look when she saw his eyes were blood shot and there were, dark circles under his eyes.
"Sherlock?"
"Hmm," he replied, his eyes were a little heavy as he was trying to fight off sleep.
"How long has it been since you've slept?"
"About six days now."
Molly winced at his words. "You need to go to sleep. Sherlock, this is not healthy at all."
"Do not concern yourself with a dead man that is not taking proper care of himself, Molly."
"You need to sleep."
He shook his head slightly, his eyes wide as he was forcing them to stay open, "I'll be fine."
"Sherlock, Irene is supposed to call you in a few days, what if it's information that will lead you to the next step, but you are so tired that you cannot go on to pursue it then."
"Well- that won't-"
"Yes, Sherlock, it will. You can only fight off sleep for so long before your body won't give you a choice anymore. Your mind is not going to tell you anything that you don't already know at the current moment. Like you said, you have nothing to do now, so this would be the best time to let yourself rest," she said desperately.
She began to calm down as his eyes were getting heavy and he was clearly giving in. She grabbed his hand and helped him up, dragging him into her room but he stopped in the doorway.
"This is your bed, Molly."
"You need good rest; the sofa is not going to be sufficient enough for sleeping well. You can sleep in here and I'll sleep on the sofa."
"Molly, don't be ridiculous. You are very small; there is more than enough room for the two of us in this bed."
Molly bit her lip as Sherlock laid down, closing his eyes. She stood there contemplating. Of course he did not find it awkward, but she did.
"Well?" he said.
She finally climbed into the bed and nestled herself in, trying to get comfortable, but making sure to keep a great distance between her and Sherlock.
After a minute or two in silence Sherlock spoke;"Molly?" he groaned.
"Yes, Sherlock?"
"You forgot to turn off the light."
She rolled her eyes, letting out a small laugh. "Go to sleep, Sherlock," she said, standing up from the bed.
