Epilogue/Bonus mini-chapters
St. Bart's Hospital, the moment after the door of the lab closed behind Molly Hooper:
"Sherlock? What was that all about?" John asked as he approached his friend.
Said friend appeared to be frozen in place, still staring at the empty air that Molly Hooper in habited a moment ago. John felt a smile creeping across his face but he didn't quite know why. But then the good doctor's conscious awareness caught up with his subconscious observations.
"Sherlock," John started, smile growing wider, "You're blushing! What did Molly do to make you blush Sherlock?
At this the consulting detective seemed to gain some of his wits back about him.
"I don't know what you're talking about, John. I am doing nothing of the sort." tumbled out rather quickly.
Sherlock stood and started gathering up his journal and slides, making a good show of acting like a man who has it all together. But his best friend and flatmate was not buying it. Nope, not for a second.
"Yes you are! It's brilliant! Right up your neck and, Jesus, your ears are beet red!" John chuckled as he stepped into Sherlock's personal space and even ventured to push back a curl from his ear for a better view.
"I am NOT blushing, John! It's just hot in here and I'm finished now anyway. Let's get going!" Sherlock was putting on his coat and scarf with a bit less grace and finesse than usual.
"Yes, that's it" John replied, dripping with sarcasm. He was also donning his coat and following Sherlock's be-line for the door. "I'll tell you what else is hot, have you noticed Molly lately? She seems to have changed a bit don't you think?"
"John DO shut up!" sneered the detective to his loyal blogger.
John couldn't stifle the giggles that were bubbling to the surface.
The duo stopped to wait for the elevator in pointed silence. The doors opened and John entered, still smiling broadly to himself. Sherlock did not enter.
"John I seemed to have forgotten something in the lab, I'll meet you in the lobby momentarily."
John watched Sherlock disappear around the turn to the lab as the elevator doors closed in front of his face. John was then confronted with his own reflection, his expression a mixture of amusement fading into confusion. Sherlock never simply forgot anything in his whole life.
Belgravia, the moment after Irene Adler sent the last text to Molly Hooper:
Irene re-entered the room where Kate was standing guard over His Eminence, whip in her hand and ready to strike again if need be. She cocked a silent questioning eye brow to Irene, a quick glance aimed at the phone in Irene's hand.
Irene caught the question seamlessly. She walked up behind Kate, pressing their bodies together. She held the phone in front of Kate's line of sight, scrolling through the last series of texts for her to view. As Irene did this she kissed the redhead's shoulder and slid her opposite hand down her arm, gently removing the whip from her hand.
Kate tilted her head towards Irene and angled her body just enough to come face to face with The Woman. She whispered against Irene's lips "So, should I be..."
"Jealous?" Irene stole the last word from Kate's mouth, followed the the theft of a quick but deep kiss.
Irene's phone vibrated in her hand as the reply text came in.
"Absolutely."
Molly Hooper's Office, a moment after she received the last text from Irene Adler:
Molly was stirred from her consideration of the text invitation by a tentative rap at the door. Her eyes flared with a touch of panic, her mind immediately flying to the possibility of being subjected to a torrential series of rather graphic deductions. She tried to tell herself "Well, what of it?" but she noticed the tremble in her hand as she reached for the door handle.
"Oh! It's you!" Molly exclaimed with obvious relief.
The young man on the other side of the door brightly smiled back. He then dropped his eyes to his trainers and shuffled a bit, seemingly trying to find his words. "Hi Miss Hooper, I was just in the neighborhood sorting some stuff out for Dr. Stamford down the hall and I thought I would drop in and check if your computer was still working ok since I worked on it for you?"
"Yeah! And, call me Molly, please. Come on in! It was...Jim, right?"
"Yes! That's good of you to remember. Most people just call me 'that skinny guy from IT'" Jim replied with a nervous chuckle.
"So, umm, did you want to look it over and see if the stuff that you installed is still working ok?" Molly asked, motioning towards the laptop on her desk.
"Umm, actually, I kind of came here to see you." Jim responded. More of the foot shuffling followed. He took a deep breath and then met her eyes "Iwaswonderingifyouwouldliketograbsomedinnerafterw orkthisevening?" was forced out all at once, as if he didn't say it fast enough he would have lost his courage somewhere along the way. He then smiled a hopeful toothy grin and rocked up on his toes like a little kid, waiting for her response.
Molly was very flattered. He seemed sweet and this was normally the kind of guy that she would end of going out with. But these last few weeks left Molly wondering if some of her past dating choices were part of that "fluffy" costume that she had worked so hard at shedding.
Molly tipped her head to the side and gave him a little smile as she replied "Actually, Jim, I just made dinner plans for this evening. But maybe we can grab some coffee together in the cafeteria sometime this week, okay?"
It passed so quickly that Molly would later convince herself that she had imagined it. But she could have sworn that for just a split-second Jim's face twisted into something akin to surprise/indignation/rage. But in the space of a blink it was gone and he was all smiles again. He seemed happy with the idea of sharing a coffee and kept thanking her as he clumsily backed into the door frame on the way out of her office.
She closed the door behind him. Molly sent a reply text:
Yes, Miss Adler
St. Bart's Hospital, same day, the end of Molly Hooper's shift:
Although the morgue was manned all night, the lab got closed down at the end of regular bank hours. Molly swept in to do her final check of the day. As she went around locking cabinets and turning off machines, Molly smiled to herself about the events of the day. When she turned in romantic revelry towards Sherlock's usual work space, she froze. She approached slowly, running all of the possible reasons through her head. Was he disgusted by their meeting earlier? Was he so confused by the gesture that he needed to rid himself of the evidence all together?
Molly came to stand in front of Sherlock's favorite microscope. Draped conspicuously across the top was one black leather glove. She picked it up gingerly. Turning it in her hands she tried to place what was different. Molly unconsciously moved to put it on, as if feeling it from the inside would help her figure out the motivation of its owner.
The Molly's heart leapt in her chest.
This glove was for the left hand.
The one she had returned to Sherlock fit the right.
Author's note:
And that's all folks! I can't thank everyone enough who followed, favorited and especially reviewed this fic so far. If I haven't mentioned this earlier, this took place well before the SID episode and also, as you can see now, before Molly started dating "Jim from IT". In this little alternate plot line I created I have no idea how this effects future events, so don't ask! I was just having a wee bit of fun!
Please let me know what you think!
Up next for me, I am self-imposing a little break from writing fanfiction until I make a nice chunk of progress on the original book I am working on. But when I do start writing this fun stuff again, it will either be the Sherlock/Torchwood crossover I have been kicking around for a while (I even have that one started), or maybe an epically long !Winglock! idea that came to me recently. But that one will take copious planning and re-watching of all the episodes (Ha! I say that as if I won't be re-watching them anyway!). As for the cross-over, I think I have a good plot in mind, using the Torchwood episode "Reset" as a basic framework. But really I just want to get all my favorite characters together to play. There is a BAMF Lestrade-heavy scene, and also I may use it as my first Johnlock experiment. My original writing muse is the Janto pairing, so maybe they could act as a jumping off point for steering John and Sherlock together. If you have any opinions on the matter, please let me know! I love input!
Thanks again everyone!
