Higher 10

Day 56: nearly 16:00 The weather is clear although beginning to turn humid... but that is not important.

"Care to fill me in Molly?" It wasn't a request.

"Sherlock it's... A long story, and it's not even about you really. Tom and I... we...and well my family- there was a fight, you came up but nothing you did caused it. It was... Can we please discuss this later? We, I mean I have to be there soon. And well you met Jillian, you can still stay... I can't imagine you want to be around her again. "

She shifted the heavy bag and started a bit toward the door. Sherlock huffed and took the bag from her.

"I think I can handle Jillian, Molly. The question is, can you?"

They walked out. Molly stayed quiet.

"Why do you let her treat you like that, Molly? You absolutely let her speak to you like you were a child. Why?"

Molly let out a sardonic laugh.

"Are you truly telling me I shouldn't let someone talk like that to me? " she gave him a light-hearted smile but it didn't reach her eyes. Deflection.

" I can't deny my past behavior towards you has been lacking in that regard, but for some time I have at least attempted better behavior. I thought that I had improved. Is that how I treated you?"

They climbed into a cab waiting around the corner.

"West Hill, please." Molly told the cab driver. She took a moment to sort our belts and bags then addressed him.

" You're right, it has been a while since you said anything extremely horrible. But I know that given the right moment you won't hesitate to do it. Like the thoughts are there, only you don't say everything you think. I see you filter yourself. That I suppose is a minor miracle. You try, and I appreciate that. We all do. " Molly had reached over and took his hand to squeeze then release but Sherlock gripped hers and she let him hold it. It was a surprise that the ridiculous act brought him peace, not so much that it brought a hint of color back to Molly's pale skin. It must have comforted Molly as well.

"Jillian, well she's always been awful but she's usually more snide about it than shouting at me. I was stunned by that outburst in the lobby. Granted, I know how she and Richard are not exactly fans of yours, but she took it so far. I almost looked around to find the camera crew. Didn't that out burst seem fitting of a bridal terror reality Show?!" Her attempt at levity fell flat.

Sherlock kept his eyes on their joined hands, studying how their different muscle structures bent to accommodate the connection between them.

"But it goes further than that Molly."

She turned away again.

"We are just so similar and different all at once and it makes us volatile together. When my mother died, I was so young, just two and my father had no clue what to do with a daughter. We lived in London and my only other family lived here in Hastings so we only saw each other rarely. Dad tried his best to give me a proper childhood but where most little girls like Jillian where playing Dolls and fancy dress I became interested in mechanics and construction sites and helping dad pull wires through walls after school. A Tomboy through and through. " She grimaced at the moniker.

"Aunt Ruth is a wonderful, sweet, ideal mother. She baked treats and took Jillian to ballet, did her hair in curls and on and on. I'm close with Aunt Ruth, she was the closest thing I had to a maternal influence and she would do all those things with both Jillian and I but it upset Jillian when I had her mothers attention.

"As we got older she got more and more upset when I came to visit. And she was...Jillian was beautiful, intelligent and everyone just fawned over her. My Uncle Bobby would give her anything and she eventually got her way on everything . My visits became less and less. And when I did come, Jillian would became cruel and accuse me of copying her in everything and was convinced that I was jealous of her. It never seemed to matter that we liked different things or had dissimilar interests. She would find a way to excel or surpass me at every turn. She acted as if I were a freak of nature and someone attempting to steal her life. You can imagine how it would be if we liked the same group or movie, but when it came out that we both were perusing medicine it got really bad. We didn't speak for all of our Uni years. Oh Look we're here. God I talk to much."

She pulled her hand away and grabbed some bills to pay the driver while he grabbed her bags and got out. It was surprising how quickly he missed the contact from her small hand.

After removing their belongings from the cab, he glanced around him and then up at the hill. Sherlock felt a rush of childish excitement growing in him. A Funicular! He was giddy to get on it.

"We get to take a Funicular? I haven't been on one before. Ah yes! Hastings! Of course now I remember This is Fantastic! I wanted to come here as a child however Mycroft refused and my parents always choose other destinations for us. I must have deleted my desire to try it out. We get to go up on it right?" He was almost bouncing and turned to see why Molly wasn't coming.

She was Laughing. At him. Molly Hooper was standing on the corner of a tourist attraction and laughing at him. It was indeed a sobering moment. He straightened himself and frowned at her. His severity towards her only made her laugh more.

"Sherlock! I've never seen you so happy a about something that doesn't involve homicide. It's very good to see. " She was grinning at him with no malice or ill will behind it. It wasn't in jest or to taunt him. Molly was genuinely happy to see him excited.

"Shall we?" She asked. Sherlock nodded and felt a ghost of a smile return. Oh, he knew she was happy also that the subject of Jillian was dropped, and they would be finishing that later, but for now there was a Funicular to experience.

The Funicular was an equilateral train that went up and down the side of a large hill. Hastings boasted a set of two of them. The east track that led from the water level up to where they were staying and had an exposed track on the side of the cliff and provided an excellent look out over the Stade and the Harbor. On the West hill line the view obstructed by an overheadtunnel designed to protect the track from the elements. The West, would take them up to the castle ruins at a height of 170ft at a 33% gradient on a track 500 ft long. Facts that Sherlock taught himself from the information in the walls as they walked up and into the stately entrance and in to the que to make the journey up. Molly pulled their tickets out and they were allowed to board the 16 passenger car along with several other visitors. There where empty seats so there was a small wait while they attempted to to fill the car. Settling in once again, silence surrounded them. It was neither particularly uncomfortable nor peaceful. Molly was debating on whether or not to say something. She finally gave in and spoke.

"So not a carriage?" Molly asked brightly. A low chuckle slipped out. Right. He should have thought of it first.

"Of course not Molly, it's a nod to the Early American railway system. Everyone knows that." Ah there was that half smile. He focused in on her lips as they waited. Now that he knew just what they'd feel like pressed against his he had to fight the desire to do again sitting there on a bench in the funicular. Sherlock Homes, man of international crime fighting reputation wanted to kiss his ... Molly right there on a local Hastings tourist attraction. It just wouldn't do. How many hours till he could get her alone again anyways? And then what would they...do? He gulped.

A few more tourists trickled on and the car began to move up the hill. It was a fairly smooth, liquid motion not like anything one was used to on a daily basis. Equal parts elevator and escalator with the odd mix of train car. It was also slower than Sherlock Holmes could generally stand to go. And darker too than he had imagined. He knew they were gaining height and wished to see the horizon.

As it proceeded up, Molly spoke. "Before they upgraded the track this trip would terrify me. It banged and clanged as it rose. It sounded like a roller coaster and I was just sure it was going to go tumbling down the hill. And well, I've never been that good with heights...but I think it's gotten worse since Reichenbach. " her volume had dropped with her admission.

Heights had never bothered him, not before nor since his jump. Leaping off the top of St Bart's though had not been a simple thing to accomplish. Well technically speaking it was a moderately difficult physical feat. It was an age old magic trick though. Timing and illusion. Sherlock knew seeing it happen was devastating to John and that the 'death' hadn't been easy on his other associates but why should that have bothered Molly? The Pathologist had been there. She knew what had to be done and was willing to do her part. Molly also had the benefit of knowing that he lived.

Sherlock recalled those final seconds on the roof. Looking out across the unforgiving gray ground and equally menacing grey sky, verifying all was in place in his landing area was in place and that his undercover ground crew were set to go with the aftermath.

And then he had felt it. The weight of a gaze that came from the shadows across the street. He knew it was Molly, that she was there. It was a moment of sentimental weakness, but he just said goodbye to John, had thrown his phone in preparation to jump. The time had come. So he gave in the sentimental desire he detested so much and allowed his own eyes to find her and return her gaze for a brief moment. When he discerned her small nod at him he'd taken a final breath and leapt.

"Molly, you knew of the procedures we had in place for Reichenbach. It went off without so much as a glitch. Why would you be affected still?" He queried.

"Yes, you lived. But do you know what it's like to stand by and watch someone you... Care for do something that reckless? Of course you had too. It was the right move. Yet, watching you stand on that ledge Sherlock. It broke my heart as if it were real. And I suppose it was in a way. You were gone. For so long Sherlock. " Molly was nearly whispering now but staring straight ahead of her.

Silence surrounded them. The car continued its accent. Suddenly the car flooded with light as it passed through the tunnel towards the top of the hill. The view he'd been denied of the village and harbor and Strand were all there, just as as he knew they would be. But it was good to see it all together again.

" I was. I left for far longer than I wanted to. And things changed so much while was gone. But Molly... I'm here now. We are here. Together. We have made it this far, perhaps... Well, perhaps we can make it the rest of the way together?"

Her face turned towards him immediately. His words were tantamount to a declaration. She studied him to decide whether he had meant it as such.

"Perhaps we can Sherlock. "

A/N

So that was a very emotional chapter when you are coming from Sherlock's head. Thankfully Molly has been willing to bare her soul and move the plot on. Anyway they are now established as wanting to be together. It's a big leap for them right?

I mentioned earlier that when I needed a setting for this story that I simply picked Hastings off the map. While researching it a bit I was floored to learn about the Funiculars there. And while I started this story based of the height difference created by heels, when your setting gives you something like a train car that climbs a mountain you run with it. Hopefully it works. Let me know if it doesn't.

I have to say thank you all for your reviews and favorites. It's so awesome to have people enjoy this story. Y'all's reactions to Jillian have been hilarious. Believe me she angers me too. Particularly since she is based on my own real life 'arch enemy'. Thankfully she's not my cousin (my wonderful cousin is a

doctor named Molly ) but she is just someone my family and I have been forced to be around for the past 25 years. And she is a terrible person.

I constantly wish she would move... Like to Antarctica. Since that's not happening I'm going to get some payback in this story. Yes, Ana she will get her comeuppance.

Now I'm off to write Chapter 11. All hell is about I break loose at this rehearsal dinner. I can't wait to share it with you.

Thanks and Love,

Mistykins06