Chapter 11: There is No Return~
The Major and Molly approached the Estuary, and a cold wind began to blow, out of the ashes of Winter, somewhere else in the World.
A man suddenly approached them.
"Wait here, would you,please?" the Major asked Molly.
She sat down on a large wooden box, and wrapped her arms tightly around herself. She was only wearing a thin green sweater, and thin white blouse, and a pair of dark green capris. It was warmer when she got dressed this morning.
Something in the air made her feel very small. Like the very last dandelion at the end of the summer, that one little breeze can pull all of the seeds away from. Something told her what the Major and the man (one of Mycroft's agents, come to give last-minute debriefing on the mission) were talking about was not a good thing.
Anxiousness for Sherlock was swirling in her stomach, as fast as a washing machine on spin cycle. She wanted to throw up, but knew what he would say if he were here:
"Ah-quit that sniveling! Makes your mouth look smaller than it actually is,which is saying quite a lot!"
For some reason, he liked to constantly tease her about her looks. It didn't really bother her though, well, most of the time. He could be rather a beast, couldnt he? The thought made her laugh, which made her worry more.
She was worried about John too. She really genuinely cared about him, and all, but Sherlock was her best friend. And sometimes it seemed like he was the only person that could actually see her ,never mind that sometimes seeing her meant he would say things like, "Oh,you have a date tonight, don't you ,Molly dear? Yes that dress does add quite a bit of padding about your breasts?", or, "Ah, no, no, really you didn't have to add THAT much lipstick, your lips went from being the size of a kitten's to being more like a duck!"
She wrinkled her nose. Yes, he was horrible. But he belonged to her. And she wanted him back.
Even if it meant giving her life.
The Major walked to her , face almost grey. He was holding a small package of syringes.
Molly stood up to meet him, knowing this was bad , but ready to have it over with.
"Mycroft's men have gotten to the bottom of why the boys were abducted. Our mission has been compromised. Even the clean phones Mycroft gave the lot of us ,..." ( for he had of course, don't be silly)
"...Have been overridden with those GPS locators. Harriet sold the program, one developed to be a GPS virus, that Moriarty gave her back during their romance...Those pirates can have unlimited access to us as long as we are in contact with the home office. Which is why , the only way to get to Sherlock and John now, the only safe passage, is via the zoo transfer carrier vessel to your port side, which is actually under the command of our friends the pirates. We 'll be bugged by our bosses , of course, so they can make sure we are on the right course, but we can receive no directives from them..."
Molly nodded, knowing in her bones this was not the bad news the Major was grey in the face for needing to give. He swallowed, and then let a little puff of air,
"We will board the ship in a crate, with some of the bags of animal feed removed so we can fit. It will be dark and cramped. There will be very limited supply of oxygen. It will be our best chance, quite frankly our only chance, and we may survive...if we use this."
He held up the syringes, "This is a drug that will lower our heart rates enough to survive at least to the first port on the way to Haiti, which is the general vicinity of where the boys have been taken. Then we can get out of the crate unsuspected, and be mobile on the deck, enough to scout out our own way. Once safely in Haiti, Mycroft plans to meet us on Rochelais Reef, so we can map out the general locale where the boys are hostage...However, while the drug is supposed to save our lives,the extended period of time which we must be under its influence ...could actually kill us."
The reality of the situation hit Molly like a ball from a 20 pound cannon. Her entire life flashed before her eyes, as if she were walking to execution,and she felt her heart fluttering like a bird. Death had always been close to her, being a pathologist, she knew very well what the cause of death from bradycardia drugs overdose would be, what it would feel like...
The Major nodded, seeing all the emotions pass over her face.
"Whatever you may have heard about me, I should like to be the one to tell you myself, that I am not a fan of collateral damage. That is why I am giving you the choice. Molly, if it is the only way to save them, would you die for your friends? If not...I will leave you here, I will hide you somehow,...you can walk away..."
Molly laughed at the irony of all of this. The only way to live was to possibly die?
Suddenly, she saw Sherlock standing behind the Major and off to the side, as vividly as if he were actually here. Remembered the night that he asked for her to stay with him, and talk him through his decision to meet with Moriarty on top of the roof. She had played the role of shrink, not pathologist,that night, listening as he made his last confessions, not to a priest, but to her. That had been the night before he jumped off of St. Bart's. That had been the night before he died...
She remembered. She was there. He could say what he wanted to, could swear as violently as he had at Baskerville, but he had been absolutely terrified that night. Had been utterly lonely that night. And angry too, at the way that people had driven him to that rooftop, because they didn't understand. And he had had regrets. How he could have been a better friend to John.
That was the biggest one. She remembered...
She was not going to have the same regret in regards to him.
" The night that Sherlock died..." she began..."I was with him...And..." she swallowed, "And he had every exscuse to give up the fight, and turn himself in. He could have let Moriarty win,...and kill John, and Greg, and Mrs. Hudson...And me too, probably, when Jim found out who I really was to Sherlock...uhh,...his assistant, you know... If this were him ...in my place...he wouldn't think twice about doing the same for me. He would say...that death is the inevitable. Not to be scared, because being scared of the inevitable is really silly...
I'm going to have to die one day ,Major. If it's today, and if it's for him...then I think that's ..well...a good way to go...And...and really ,thank you...thank you for giving me the choice..."
She smiled bravely.
Major smiled back.
"Sherlock would say that was sound logic. But he doesn't know everything,no matter that he thinks he does! That 's courage, simple and beautiful...And I consider it an honor to die with such a brave lady as you are, if die we must."
With a sad smile, Molly took the Major's hand. She laughed to herself, thinking it was like being lead across the Mortal Veil, by your guardian angel. He lead her to where the crates were being packed on deck.
One was already provided with a space large enough for the two of them to slide into. She swallowed, thinking that it looked like a tomb.
"I'll go first..you're better with needles, I'd wager... " the Major said, holding out an arm. Molly held her breath, and pushed the liquid into his veins.
"Good girl, it will take about 5 minutes to work, which will give me time to help you." Major said, and took her arm.
Why was she so afraid? What would Sherlock do if this were him? She was almost ready to cry, and chewed her lip.
And in the end, as the needle went into her arm, it was Sherlock that came to save her. She didn't feel the drugs enter her system, only memories ran through her veins, through the playground in her memory where she met him long ago...
"Hello. And what are you doing?" he had asked.
She looked up, and froze.
Her very first thought was that he looked like an angel. Very tall for 7 years old, silver green eyes, slender as a nymph spirit, wild raven curls, a blue sweater and jeans in place of the dark garb he'd wear as a man. A big red dog sat obediently by his feet. Redbeard...she remembered the friendly old dog's name...
"The mouse. I'm trying to find out why it died.I want to be a pathologist when I grow up. I saw a show about it on my Grand-mum's telly."
The boy had wrinkled a brow. And took a pace around the mouse. Molly have expected him to make a hiss sound at how gross it was, call her a freak because most little girls don't poke dead mice with tiny sticks (she knew better than to touch it with her hands)
"Hmm...well we're in a playground. Nobody would poison a mouse in a playground..But it's not squished...so nobody stepped on it either..."
And to her surprise the boy had plucked a twig up from the ground, and plopped down in the sand beside her, ready to help her poke at that mouse till the sun went down...and they never did determine why it died...
But they had written down a whole autopsy report any way, over a page in Molly's coloring book she'd brought with her.
"Results were inconclusive..." Sherlock had said. "You should research more things, get more practice. It's an awful lot of work to become anything important, you know..."
She smiled, as sleep began to take her, unaware that this could be the end. She hoped it wasn't...She wanted to see him again.
The memory turned suddenly to a hallucination.
"Molly!"
"Sherlock? What...what's wrong?"
She woke up under an oak tree. Their oak tree, in Hyde Park, where they used to meet, for research, a long time ago. Everything from dead frogs, to the study of the chemical compounds of worms and juice puree; that had been their field of science in their childhood.
Only here in this dream they were full grown. She was shivering. Her sweater was gone.
"That's my girl, I knew I'd find you!" Sherlock laughed, relieved. "Come, dear, we need to go!" he held out a hand.
"Where?"
"Trust me, Molly. We have to leave. Now."
She held her breath. There was such urgency in the eyes of haunting silver and green.
"Ok." she whispered.
He took off his coat, reached and wrapped her up in it.
There was sudden warmth, and darkness.
Molly fell asleep then, tucked up in the crate of the zoo-ship on it's way to the Caribbean, Major Sholto tucked up in the cramped box beside her. She didn't know if she would be waking up again, but it was alright...because Sherlock was there ,guiding her through her dreams...