And I'm back with Part 2! Getting to the good stuff now with this visit. Hope you all enjoy it... ;)

Sherlock got up rather early. For him at least. He came down at seven thirty the next morning and found Lestrade already sitting at the kitchen island drinking his coffee and eating some toast.

"Sleep well, Lestrade?"

"I did actually. I know we're working a case, but I can't help feeling a little like this is a vacation. It's quiet and relaxing here. Had you visited before, with Molly?"

"No we haven't. Not together. I'd never been here before yesterday."

"Oh good morning Sherlock!" Mrs. Hooper said as she came into the kitchen. "You should really eat something. Sure you don't want anything?"

"Just coffee for me, thanks. I promised Molly I'd eat a little something for lunch though. If you have any sandwiches left over from last night I could just take one with me for the day."

"Sure, Sherlock. I'll just wrap it up for you... My, you were up late, Greg! I didn't hear you come down the hall till after midnight." Mrs. Hooper suddenly said as she turned to face him. Sherlock saw his ears turning a bit pink.

"Oh, um, yeah... We all got talking."

"I wasn't talking." Sherlock said, being not so helpful. "I actually went to bed around ten. Molly came to bed soon after... Who exactly got talking, I wonder?" and he stared pointedly at Lestrade with a smirk on his face.

Lestrade gave him as secretive an irritated look as he could manage, with Mrs. Hooper standing there as well. "Well, yeah, Becky and I did talk for a while after the rest of you had gone to bed... Say, Mrs. Hooper, would you mind if I had a bit more coffee?"

"Oh sure Greg, help yourself." she said with a smile and passed the pot to him. "I'll just go see if Molly will be wanting to eat anything. I'll see you boys later!"

Greg sighed in relief as she left the room.

"Sherlock!" he hissed under his breath. "What are you trying to do? Get me kicked out of the house?"

"Why?" Sherlock asked, eyebrows raised in feigned innocence. "Did you do something that could get you kicked out of the house?"

"Oh shut up! I didn't do anything like you're clearly implying. We just talked... She's an amazing woman." and he smiled a bit, looking into his coffee mug.

"A bit younger than you, isn't she?" Sherlock noted.

"Yeah, a bit. What's she, thirty? That's not too bad. I'm only just forty two."

"Mm, I suppose... Well you probably have quite a good chance. If genetics have anything to do with it, you'd be exactly what a Hooper woman would look for in a man."

"Oh yeah, and what's that?"

Sherlock looked up from his phone. "Close proximity to crime, danger, and a lot of corpses." and he grinned at the detective inspector.

Lestrade laughed lightly and shook his head. "Ok, let's do this Sherlock. I'd like to solve this case as quickly as possible. Because I'm beginning to be very glad that I came here with you this week."

Molly came downstairs as they were getting coats on. "Oh, you two leaving now?"

"We are. Probably won't be back till dinner. Hopefully it'll be done, but I'm not so sure. Even if I figure out why this woman has gone missing, that doesn't mean I can immediately produce her to her family."

Molly encircled his neck with her arms and stood on tip toe to reach his mouth, pressing a light kiss on his lips. "You'll find her, one way or another. And don't worry about us, not that you were. We'll occupy ourselves. Becky took the day off, so she'll be able to spend time with me today. And she'll be staying for dinner again too." and Molly glanced conspicuously toward Greg who was clearly paying attention.

"That'll be nice." Greg said with an obvious smile.

Sherlock rolled his eyes into the air, refraining from saying anything insulting. Then he looked back down at Molly and kissed her soundly before turning to leave through the door.

"This is more complex than we had thought. She's trying to cover her tracks. And she's doing a good job." Sherlock said as the two men climbed into the car that evening.

"Well you could be right though, she could very well be having an affair." Lestrade admitted.

"No. I'm beginning to think she wasn't. I find nothing suggesting an affair in her records and recent activities. And what I find when I look further back in fact, is nothing. Nothing back further than when she had met Peter. No past residence, jobs, or finances. Which is rather suspicious."

"You think she was trying to hide something? Or maybe she's not who she said she was."

"All possibilities. Though she thought it was working. For a while at least. She wouldn't have married the man if not. Because there's nothing she could have gained by the union. No clear motive for marrying him and then making a run for it. She simply wanted to marry him. So why leave?"

"Million dollar question." Lestrade grumbled.

"Don't start moping again, Lestrade!" Sherlock complained. "Especially since you know very well we are on our way back to the house that will contain more Hooper women than the two of us can both handle. Though, as for myself, I will readily confess that I would be much happier if it was only just the one."

"Not sure that'll ever stop being strange. You being in love with Molly, I mean." he said making a face.

"Why exactly? We both know you don't find it mysterious that a man could be attracted to Molly."

Lestrade was glad the car was dark and his embarrassment couldn't be so easily seen. "Yeah, yeah... I just didn't think any of that sentimental fluff mattered to you. I never thought you cared about stuff like that."

"I didn't. I don't..." Sherlock answered evenly. "But it turned out I do care about her."

Lestrade smiled to himself. When he'd first learned that the pretend romance between Sherlock and Molly had become very much a reality, he couldn't help feeling that Sherlock didn't deserve her. He cared deeply about Sherlock and considered him a friend, but after all he'd put Molly through, it just didn't seem right for him to turn around and be rewarded for it. And of course he'd always had a soft spot for Molly, so he wanted to see her truly happy and well treated. But now, he could honestly say that he couldn't be happier for the two of them. He'd never seen either of them so perfectly content. For lack of a more original term, they completed each other.

The two men arrived back at the house that was lit up inside. As they approached the door, Sherlock noticed Lestrade looking nervous.

"Oh relax, she's clearly interested in you." he huffed at the man.

Lestrade shot him a wide eyes look. "You think so? Really? I mean, if you think she is, she must be..."

"Don't get the wrong impression. I certainly wasn't spending my free mental energy deducing the level of attraction Becky Hooper had for you... But Molly was." and he gave Lestrade a half smile. "You're welcome."

Lestrade barely had time to control his grin before Molly opened the door to let them in.

An hour later the five of them had eaten and were sitting around the living room. Sherlock was laying along the couch and thinking with his head in Molly's lap, not really taking part in anyone's conversation, and Molly was treading her fingers through his hair. Her mother sat in the chair next to her talking about the latest family news.

Greg and Becky had wandered back into the kitchen since she'd wanted to get some wine, and Greg had happily agreed to help her. They ended up lingering there in the kitchen sipping from their glasses and leaning on the island.

"I'd love to go back to London some time." Becky smiled, as Greg had just finished talking about how glad he was to have some time off and get away from the city.

"I'm sure it holds more appeal to a visitor. I see the very worst that city has to offer, so it's not quite so romanticized for me. I know what it's capable of." he smiled ruefully.

"Well good thing the people of London have you then." she said sweetly and he came close to dropping his wine glass when she slid her fingers over his on top of the kitchen island. The contact was brief, she didn't let her hand linger too long. But it was enough to fluster the poor man.

He chuckled nervously before taking a swig of wine. "Well, um, Sherlock certainly helps. I have to call him more often than I should, I'm sure."

"You've known him for years then?"

"Yeah, I have. He's changed a lot in the past year or two. For the good, I mean. He's still Sherlock, of course. But there's a lot of good there now. There wasn't as much when I first knew him. Good thing the man had some friends forced on him. It's done wonders... And now this!" he said shaking his head as they both glanced over to where Sherlock lay contentedly with his eyes closed as Molly absentmindedly played with his hair.

Becky giggled. "Mm, big changes. I didn't know him before, but even I can see it. I mean based on what Molly had told me before we met him. She talked a lot about him of course... Right now though, I'm just surprised we never heard more about you." she said softly and she smiled at him in a way that lit up her face and made her eyes look even brighter.

Greg began to feel his face flush, and hoped she would attribute it to the wine. He was only refraining from leaning down to give this delightful woman a kiss because the close proximity of her mother in the adjoining room.

Becky cleared her throat and tucked some hair behind her ear, displaying a little bit of her own nerves. "So um, when did you notice that Sherlock was falling for Molly? Did you notice it while she was still with Tom?"

Greg frowned a little in confusion. "Still with Tom? No, I don't think that's when it started. I never saw anything then. I mean, not on Sherlock's side for sure."

"Oh really? Well, I suppose they must have concealed it pretty well. But you must have picked up on something once she broke up with Tom."

Greg tilted his head in more confusion. "Nah, I don't think so... I mean I never noticed anything mutual till they became a couple. I mean actually became a couple. Not the stuff while you guys were visiting."

Becky then shifted her eyes for a moment. She stared at Greg, her expression changing a bit. "Wait, what do you mean, the stuff while we were visiting?"

"You know, the act. Just what they were doing while you and your mum were-" and then it hit him like a ton of bricks. Of course. How had he not seen it? They didn't know yet... And he could only think one thing. Sherlock is going to murder me and nobody will ever find my body.

Becky blinked at him and he could see her chest rising and falling heavier as she began processing the things he had just said. She swallowed and licked her lips as she placed the wine glass on the island and crossed her arms in front of her body.

"Hang on a second, Greg. I think you need to explain what you mean by, act."

"Uh... Well, um, I'm not really sure... You know I think this is something you should talk to your sister about-"

"Molly!" Becky called into the living room.

"You know, I didn't actually mean now!" Greg said with a pleading tone as she walked away from the kitchen and nearer to where Molly and Sherlock were on the couch. Greg ran his hands over his face and began to asses his options. Run up the stairs, out of the house, hide under the table...

"What Becky?" Molly answered with a little irritation as her sister had loudly interrupted the conversation she'd been having with their mother. Sherlock's eyes shot open as well and he sat up when he heard the tone in both women's voices.

Becky positioned herself in front of the couch and stared down at the two of them. "Molly, when exactly were you planning on telling us that you and Sherlock were not actually a couple while we visited those months ago?"

Sherlock's eyes widened and he whirled around toward the kitchen. "Oh for God's sake Lestrade! Can't you keep your mouth shut?!" he growled at the man.

"I'm sorry, ok?! I'm sorry! I assumed they knew by now!" he said defensively as he threw his hands up.

Molly sighed and looked at her mother who's expression had begun looking a bit horrified. "Mum... sorry. Look, we were planning on telling you..."

"What is this?!" Becky continued. "Are you two not actually dating?"

"Yes! I mean yes, we are dating. We are now." Molly said sheepishly.

Becky looked back and forth between the two of them. "But you weren't before?"

"No. We were not." Sherlock then answered, hazarding a look at Molly's mother who's expression wasn't so warm.

"Why?" Mrs. Hooper asked quietly.

"It's sort of complicated, and a long story-" Molly began.

"Actually, Molly, I'd like for Sherlock to explain this." Mrs. Hooper said in her most motherly and controlled authoritative voice.

Molly stopped talking immediately, and looked nervously at Sherlock. Becky sat down then in the other chair next to her mother, waiting expectantly. Greg Lestrade, on the other hand, couldn't bring himself to get closer to the four of them. He leaned on the doorway, listening from there and still fearing for his safety later.

Sherlock looked around and groaned inwardly. He hadn't planned to do this now. He wanted to focus on solving the case first. He would admit that Molly was now a perfectly comfortable part of his life, but having a family feelings session was still decidedly not his area. And now he was forced to pull himself from the important facts and evidence of the day, and focus on making things right with Molly's family.

Sherlock took a deep breath, and began...

Yeah, I know, I cut it off at a mean place! But it was getting SO long, and I still had a lot more to cover in the whole visit before they head back to London. So I decided to chop it up a bit more and make this a 3 part prompt. Good news is, that means I'm already part way through the next chapter! So hopefully that will be up shortly. Stay tuned! ;)