Hallo guys! I finished the chapter! it's uber uber long. Almost four times as long as all of the other chapters! It took me a couple days to write it. I filled it with fluff, sweet stuff, and MAJOR ANGST AT THE END! Woot woot! I'll keep this short so just yeah, go on and read.
-Katie-
After watching over Molly as she slept, Sherlock couldn't resist the temptation and he also nodded off, dozing lightly. But since he was such a light sleep he was woken up when the door opened and Mr. Hooper walked in.
He stretched, careful not to wake the sleeping girl in his arms and Mr. Hooper smiled a bit at them.
"Hello Sherlock, sleep well?"
"Just fine thank you Mr. Hooper how about yourself?" Sherlock asked.
He shrugged and rubbed his eyes "Alright I guess given the circumstances."
"Do you want to talk to her?" He asked.
Mr. Hooper looked lovingly at his daughter and sighed. "I don't want to wake her up, she looks so peaceful."
Sherlock looked at the clock on the far wall before replying. "She has been asleep for 13 hours and 42 minutes, so I think she should be waking up soon anyway."
"Yeah you're probably right...I know it's going to be tough for her but I need to talk to her about school, when she thinks she'll be ready to go back and stuff. I had to talk to the principle to let him know what was going on and he said she could take a couple weeks if she needed to."
"I have a feeling like she'll want to go back as soon as possible. Do you want to talk to Molly alone?"
Mr. Hooper chuckled a bit. "I dunno if I could get you to leave either way or that she would let you leave."
Sherlock nodded and rubbed her arm subconsciously.
Mr. Hooper smiled warmly and chuckled again. "Sooo I take it you guys are a thing now?"
This caused Sherlock to look at him surprised. "How could you tell?"
"By that," Mr. Hooper said, pointing at Sherlock's hand which was still subconsciously rubbing Molly's arm.
Sherlock looked down and smiled a bit and hugged her a closer.
Mr. Hooper sat down in the chair next to Molly's bed and sighed, rubbing his temples.
"Are you alright Mr. Hooper?" Sherlock asked
"Yeah I'm fine it's just been a...tough week," he said and laughed sadly.
Sherlock nodded slightly.
"So um, how long have you known Molly?" Mr. Hooper asked curiously.
Sherlock took a deep breath and began the small speech that he had been preparing. "Only for this year but I know her very well. You see, I have always been known as being more of an emotionless person, blocking away any sense of it from my mind. However I can't hold back my feelings and emotions when I'm with your daughter and I've never felt like this before I met her, this intense feeling of sentiment for her that I've never experienced besides for her. So please Mr. Hooper do not have any doubt in me for caring about Molly because I care deeply for her and will do whatever she needs me to do for her."
For the third time Mr. Hooper reached out to shake his hand. "Congratulations Sherlock Holmes, you have my permission to go out with my daughter."
Sherlock raised an eyebrow but returned the hand shake. "I wasn't aware I needed parental consent but thank you it's very much appreciated that you are alright with us being together."
Just then Molly began to stir. She stretched and yawned and opened her eyes to be immediately met with a pair of beautiful green-blue eyes looking down at her, they both smiling softly, and she blushed.
She turned over a bit to see the clock but instead saw her dad. "Hey dad!"
"Hey Molls, how did you sleep?" Her dad asked her.
"Pretty good yeah, thanks."
"Good that's good. Listen Molls. Um I know this might be a little soon but when do you think you'll be able to go back to school?"
"Um what day is it, Tuesday?" She asked.
Her dad nodded.
"Well I guess I'll go back next week. I'd rather just forget this whole thing; not make a big deal out of it or anything."
Mr. Hooper sighed. "But it is a big deal Molly... You can't just act like nothing happened and forget about it!"
Molly shrank back against Sherlock and he wrapped his arms around her supportively. She looked up at him.
"When do you think I should go back Sherlock?"
"Based on the depth of your injuries and that at how they're healing you'll most likely be discharged on tomorrow or Thursday. That gives you three days at home which would be an acceptable amount of time to emotionally prepare for school considering you will have your very supportive father and frie...no boyfriend to help you whenever you need it."
Molly quickly hugged him tightly and whispered in his ear. "Thank you"
"What for?" He whispered back.
"For supporting me and saying you're my boyfriend, I know you don't really like those kind of terms."
"But I know you do so I'm willing to make this small sacrifice to make you happy." He smiled at her and she smiled back.
Her father rubbed his face. "Yeah I guess you're right. Fine. Monday it is. God knows I can't win an argument with you anyway Molls, can't or uh couldn't win any against you mother either." He glanced at his watch. "Oh bloody hell I've gotta go to work!"
He leaned over and kissed Molly's cheek, nodded to Sherlock then quickly ran off to work.
Molly sighed and laid her head on his shoulder. "Have you been here the whole time?" She asked.
"Yes I have, why?"
She looked at him wide-eyed "Does your family know you're here?"
"My brother does yes and I'm sure he told my parents. If they didn't allow me to stay here then they will have to come and drag me out of here by the ear because I don't want to leave." He pulled her tightly to him and cuddled her close.
She closed her eyes and relaxed in his embrace. "thank you."
"Now what am I being thanked for?" He asked.
She blushed. "For saving me."
He kissed the side of her head and hugged her a bit tighter, "I will always be there when you want and need me." She moved and kissed his cheek and hugged him.
He picked her up and put her on the bed and walked over to a backpack against the wall by the door.
"I asked john to bring some stuff for us to do since I get terribly irritable when I'm bored and he said he was willing to do anything to help out."
"Wait John knows!?" She suddenly got very scared and felt her heart start to race. Her mind started pushing out thoughts that panicked her even more.
'Wait if John knows, then who else knows, does the whole school know!? Oh god oh god oh god!'
Sherlock ran back over and picked her up and put her in his lap and held onto her hands tightly.
"Shhh. Molly it's okay calm down please. Breathe." He spoke soothingly, rocking back forth with her held tightly to him. "It's alright Molly, just breathe."
After a few minutes she finally calmed down enough to the point where she was only shaking slightly and was jumpy.
"H-how does John know?" She asked quietly.
Sherlock sighed. "Some students at our school, being the stupid teenaged that they are, began coming up with stupid little theories of why you were not at school and didn't tell anyone you weren't going to be there. A couple of them were that you had somehow died or been in some very tragic accident and might die. John heard and basically believes everything he hears so he got scared and texted me and wondered where I was as well so I told him a more simplified version. That being that something happened that resulted in you being in the hospital for a couple days but you were fine and I was staying with you because that is a duty, or if it's not it really should be, of a boyfriend. He then started to drone on and on about being happy that I finally opened my heart up blah blah blah and then asked if he could do anything and I had him bring some stuff here."
She sighed in relief and hugged him tightly and leaned her forehead against his. "Sorry for freaking out..."
As she spoke her breath blew across his face and his own breath caught in his throat. He could practically feel his pupils dilate and his heart start to speed up.
"You're so beautiful did I ever tell you that?" His eyes widened profusely, he didn't mean to say it out loud. He didn't regret, not in the slightest...he just didn't mean to say it.
She blushed deeply and kissed him lightly. "Thanks.."
He cleared his throat. "Erm no problem. But you don't have to apologize for having a panic attack, you have every right to get upset over people knowing the truth."
She nodded slightly and sighed. He couldn't take it anymore and tilted her chin up and kissed her deeply.
For both of them it felt like fireworks. A million tiny sparks erupting from their lips and and bursting into beautiful spectrums of light. A warm, tingling sensation from head to toe.
His mind went blank and he only thought about her. Her beautiful smile, her adorable laugh, her deep brown eyes, her perfect lips that were currently returning the kiss he had started.
Everything about her that he had in his mind palace took over everything else and he went against his instinct to push it back and instead let it take over for those precious moments. 'Is this how love feels?' He asked himself. 'Because if it is it's definitely not as bad as Mycroft says it is. In fact it's better than anything else I've ever experienced before.'
She was thinking the same thing but without a question. 'Oh god I love him.'
After a couple minutes he pulled back and nuzzled her shoulder. "I had John bring Cluedo but I think I like this better."
She smiled and kissed the top of his head, "Me too."
After being released from the hospital the next day her dad rarely let her out of his sight and watched her all the time. Although she appreciated the concern if was incredibly annoying. She would try to get up to simply get a glass of water or go to the bathroom and he would follow her or ask her what she was doing. If she needed anything. It was driving her insane and she was incredibly close to exploding on him. It actually made her glad that it was Sunday, even though she was terrified about going to school the next day.
She knew it wouldn't be that bad, especially since no one was supposed to know why she was out of school, not even John but she was planning on telling him just because she knew he would support her and be a good friend. But she still had promised her dad and Sherlock that if anything happened and she thought she couldn't handle it then she would tell one or both of them and they would get her out of there.
She didn't tell Sherlock or her father that she had her fingers crossed though…
Molly was tired of feeling like a burden on both of them, tired of having them revolve around her like every little thing would make her try to hurt herself again.
They probably weren't wrong, ever since being released she was on edge and defensive although she did have the right to considering what she just went through. A person can't get over that physical and emotional ordeal in a week, no matter how much they may want to and oh god did she want to.
She lay in bed that Sunday night staring up at the ceiling texting Sherlock.
Are you nervous about going back to school? SH
A bit I guess…why? Molly
Just asking. What specifically are you nervous about? SH
I'm not sure actually, just the whole idea of going back I guess? Molly
You know you don't have to go back if you don't want to I'm sure your father would be more than glad to let you stay home for a bit longer if you need it. SH
Sherlock if I don't get it over with now then I'm never going to get the nerve to… Molly
Yes I know but maybe that's for the best? Home schooled teenagers get just as many opportunities as a normal high school graduate. SH
Ugh no I'm not going to make my dad stay home from work and we lose our house because I'm too big of a nervous freak to just go to school, he's already worried enough about me. Molly
You're not a nervous freak Molly, you're just afraid of people finding out. SH
Yupp I am. And I'm also afraid of people finding out. I should probably try to get some sleep. Goodnight Sherlock. Molly
Sleep well Molly, see you tomorrow. SH
She tried to sleep but every time she closed her eyes she would be graced with another nightmare. Sometimes they were the same, some were different, and some she forgot as soon as she woke up she would find herself afraid of everything. Afraid of the dark, afraid of the night, afraid of sleep, afraid of school, afraid of the monsters in her closet that she hadn't had nightmares about since she was young, and she was afraid of herself.
She felt herself breaking again but she was too afraid to tell anyone about it. Because even after all she went through, no matter how much Sherlock told her he cared about her, she still believed that she didn't matter.
After a basically sleepless night, she dragged herself out of bed and got ready for school, making sure to wear a sweater that would cover the cuts that littered her arm. After going to the bathroom and going back to her room to retrieve her phone she saw she had a new text.
My brother and I can give you a ride to school. We'll be there in 3 minutes and 28 seconds. SH
Molly laughed and quickly went downstairs to get her shoes and backpack. She kissed her dad on the cheek and took a bite of his breakfast sandwich.
"Bye dad, Sherlock and his brother are giving me a ride to school, they'll be here in a sec." she said to him.
"Oh alright, don't forget Molls…" he started but she interrupted him in a mocking voice.
"If I feel like I'm not up to it then I'll text you or Sherlock." She changed her voice back to her own and sighed. "I'll be fine dad stop worrying."
"I always worry about you baby girl." He said, smiling sadly at her.
She was about to respond but the doorbell rang.
"Oh that's Sherlock, bye dad have a good day at work!" she called behind her while walking to the door.
"And you have a good day at school." He called back.
She opened the door to Sherlock leaning coolly against the door frame. "Hey Molly."
He kissed her gently and then grabbed her hand and led her toward a very and absolutely spotless black jaguar.
"Holy crap your brother drives this!" she felt too unworthy to even touch the door handle but Sherlock grabbed the handle and practically threw the door open and moved to let her in first then climbed in after her and slammed the door shut.
She looked at the man who must be Sherlock's brother sitting in the front passenger seat. He turned and shot the fakest smile she had ever seen at her.
"Hello Ms. Hooper, obviously I am Mycroft, Sherlock's brother, and no I do no drive this car I just own it and get driven where ever I choose in it." He practically scoffed and looked at her judgmentally and Molly shrunk back as far as she could in the seat.
Sherlock looked from Molly, interpreting her reaction to her brother's words and then turned glared at Mycroft.
"Never speak to her again like that Mycroft! In fact, it is preferred if you never to speak to her again. She is my girlfriend and you will treat her with more respect then you have ever even treated Mummy." He yelled at him.
Mycroft simply raised an eyebrow and laughed. "I do not take orders from my younger brother or his girlfriend."
"Just shut up Mycroft."
"Or what, dear brother?" Mycroft said sarcastically.
"Or I will shut. It. For. You. Dear brother." Sherlock shot back, leaning forward to get in his brother's face. This seemed to shut Mycroft up and he simply sneered and looked forward, arms crossed. Sherlock seemed pleased with this reaction and leaned back, sitting closely to Molly he held her hand and squeezed it apologetically.
"I apologize for the behavior of my brother." He said quietly to her.
"It's alright," she replied, flashing what she hoped was a convincing smile.
The remainder of the drive to school was silent and when they pulled up in front of it, he kissed her cheek and squeezed her hand again, this time reassuringly. He opened the door and got out, then held out his hand to help Molly out.
As they started walking to the door the window opened and Mycroft called out.
"Have a good day little brother, don't blow anything up you know how it upsets Mummy."
"Make sure not to start any wars while we're at school either Mycroft, you know what it does to the traffic." He smirked and held the door open for Molly as they walked into the school.
He waited with her at her locker while she got her books for her first few classes. The warning bell marking that there were ten minutes until classes would start sounded and she closed her locker, her nerves tying a knot in her stomach.
Sherlock hugged her tightly then kissed her and laid his forehead on hers. "It's alright Molly, it's going to fine." He reassured her.
She closed her eyes and sighed then smiled slightly and looked at him. "Yeah, hey you're going to be late, go to class young man." She said with fake sternness.
"Yes Ma'am." He kissed her once more then turned swiftly and went off to his first class.
Her day sped right on by. Much like the day after her mother had died. As soon as she walked into class her teachers would treat her with sympathy, obviously the principal had told them what had happened to some extent. Some of her classmates would watch her as she sat down, staring at her quizzically. But since she hadn't had friends before everything nobody bothered to ask where she was, even if she would have lied, they just huddled in their little cliques making assumptions.
Before she knew it, it was lunch and Molly walked into the school cafeteria and sat at the table that she, Sherlock, and John always sat at.
A couple minutes later she saw John come in, holding hands with a girl she remembered Sherlock telling her about. Mary Morstan or something like that. Mary and John were looking at each other with ogling eyes then John picked up their conjoined hands and kissed her knuckles lightly, making Mary blush and Molly die internally at how cute they looked together.
Then John looked over and saw Molly, he suddenly turned to Mary and said something and she smiled and nodded then John came running over to her.
"Molly!" she got up quickly just as he came over and enveloped her in a comforting and brotherly hug. "It's so good to see you Molly! What happened, how are you?" he looked at her slightly concerned and she remembered that he didn't know why she was in the hospital yet and a lump formed in her throat.
She smiled sadly. "Well um, I don't really know how to tell you so I might as well just come out with it…" she started and John looked confused at her and nodded slightly, silently urging her to go on.
"Well my mother and my younger sibling died and then I um… I sorta maybe um tried to kill myself…" she explained, her voice only a bit above a whisper. John's eyes widened and he hugged her again, tighter than before.
"Oh Molls, I'm so sorry." He whispered in her ear. She could hear the sadness in his voice and it made her want to cry.
"John you shouldn't be apologizing, it's my own stupid fault."
"No it's not, I'm sorry Molly. I'm sorry I didn't notice something was wrong. I should've noticed." It almost sounded like her was tearing up and she felt herself tearing up too.
"Stop it John do not try to blame this on yourself okay?" she sighed and pulled back and looked at him.
He looked back at her and nodded. "Alright, well um, are you feeling you know, better now?"
She smiled the most convincing fake smile that she could and lied. "Yes, much better now."
He visibly relaxed a bit more and believed her and then hugged her once more. "I'm here if you need me Molly, but I know Sir Loves-A-Lot, your boyfriend, will probably be your first choice, but I'm here too."
She hugged him back and giggled. "He is a good boyfriend, thank you so much John."
He pulled back from the embrace then motioned for Mary to come over and sit with them and they sat down at the table. John looked over towards the door and nodded towards it.
"Speakin of Sir Loves-A-Lot." He said, eliciting a giggle from both of the girls and a glare from said Sir.
"Yes John, so very amusing, you should go into stand-up comedy." Sherlock replied sarcastically, punching John in the arm as he passed behind him.
"Oi what was that for! Take a bloody joke mate." He said, rubbing his arm.
"I am aware it was a joke it just wasn't funny." Sherlock replied, taking a seat at the table next to Molly and kissing her cheek. His tone changed to the gentler voice she had become accustomed to. "Hello, how has your day been going?" he asked.
She shrugged and smiled at him, "Eh alright I guess, my teachers are treating me like a freak but whatever I guess I should have expected that."
Sherlock nodded knowingly and took her hand in his and rubbed circles on her palm. "Well you're not a freak, if anyone is it's me so forget about them because you're absolutely beautiful to me, scars or no scars." He wrapped an arm around her.
John looked at him wide-eyed, mouth gaping, flabbergasted that he had said something so…well so sweet.
Molly smiled a real smile and turned and kissed him. "Thank you."
He closed his eyes, putting the smile that she just made and storing it in his mind palace so he can always see come back to it before opening his eyes and replying, "You should smile more, it makes you look like you're glowing."
Again, John's eyes widened considerably and he smirked, putting an arm around Mary. "Get a room you two!"
"Shut up John." Sherlock replied, not taking his eyes off of Molly's.
Molly blushed and looked down and opened one her books, hoping to get a head-start on her make-up work.
After lunch Sherlock walked her to her next class and then he went to his. The rest of her day passed by quickly and was as uneventful as ever.
Until she asked to go to the bathroom during her science class.
When she walked into the bathroom there were already three girls in there, putting on a fresh coat of make-up and gossiping about anything and everything. They all turned to look at her when she walked in. One of them smirked.
"Hey, aren't you, that Molly Drooper chick?" one of them, a tall blonde girl who was basically the image of perfection, asked her.
Molly suddenly became very nervous and fidgety. "Um yes, Molly Hooper I think you meant to say actually."
"Yeah yeah whatever the rumor is that you tried to off yourself. Is that true?" Another one of the girls asked, a shorter brunette who was wearing too much eye shadow.
Molly's eyes widened and she could hear her heartbeat in her ears. "Um, where would hear something like that?"
"We heard some teachers talking about some girl who tried to kill herself, but was too big of a wimp to actually do it." The last girl, a red head, piped in.
Just then something in Molly snapped. "I was not a wimp! I would have actually done it if it wasn't for my boyfriend coming in at the last second!" After she said it she regretted it and internally kicked herself hard.
The perfect blonde girl spoke again, and all three of them were laughing. "BOYFRIEND!? Why would anyone date an ugly freak like you! Seriously why don't you just go home and drink a bucket of bleach or something, it's not like anyone is going to miss you anyway!" The three girls laughed harder than before then walked out of the bathroom, each of them nudging Molly harder than the one before, the last girl practically pushing her into the wall.
Molly went to the last stall and shrank down against the wall, shaking and sobbing into her sleeve silently. She wanted no, needed Sherlock but she couldn't bother him. What hurt the most wasn't what the girls had said, but it was the fact that it was the things that she always thought and it was so different and hurt so much more being heard from somebody else than from her own mind.
She couldn't take it, she could hear their voices echoing through her head and wiped her eyes and shaking she went to the nurse and complained of a migraine and requested to be sent home, which the nurse fortunately agreed too. She told her teacher, who gave her a sad and sympathetic smile and Molly went and got her backpack before showing the front office the nurse's note and walking out of the school as fresh tears began to fall down her face.
The voices grew louder and took over more of her mind, echoing now as different people. As the girls, as some of her teachers, as her father...
"You should listen to those girls MollyWobbles and just go drink a gallon of bleach."
But worst of all, as Sherlock's… The terrible echo of his voice so harsh she broke down in sobs against a tree.
"Oh god Molly you're so pathetic! Ugly, pathetic, broken, weak, stupid Molly! I'm only going out with you because I pity you," voice Sherlock laughed, "oh god I can't believe you actually thought I cared about you" he laughed harder and it rang painfully through her head. "Seriously, just go kill yourself and do us and the rest of the world a favor. No! You know what? To make it better you should just cut reallllllly reallllllly deeply so you can feel yourself suffering for a few days as they hopelessly try to heal." He laughed again.
She sobbed harder and shouted back to no one. "Fine! I will just leave me alone please!" She slowly pulled herself up from the tree and started to walk slowly to her house, intending to do exactly what the voices in her head wanted her to do.
Sherlock walked out of his last class and quickly made his way to Molly's last class, he arrived just as the last couple of students trailed out of the classroom but there was no sign of Molly. He figured that she just went to her locker so went there but she wasn't there either.
He stood next to her locker when he saw a group of girls pass and they were practically crying laughing talking about someone.
"Oh god her face!"
"That was the best when you told her she was a freak!"
"I know but it was better when you told her to drink the bleach!" They all laughed harder.
"I heard from someone else that she went home right afterwards. How pathetic." They scoffed and walked past.
Sherlock knew right away they were talking about his Molly and he was racing out of the school and towards her house faster than he did even when she was going to kill herself. He hated those girls but he couldn't think about them right now no matter how much he wanted to scream at them he had to stop Molly from doing something horrible.
His phone beeped and he pulled it out as he was running and what he read nearly stopped his heart.
I'm so sorry for being so pathetic and weak… Molly
Molly whatever you're doing please stop! I'm coming!
I'm so sorry Sherlock... Molly
"Oh no…" he sprinted as fast as he could to her house.
Boom. Cliffhanger. Poor Molly :( I know how she feels. I hope you enjoyed the longer chapter that had both fluff and angst. See you next chapter! Keep the reviews coming guys I love hearing from you you're all amazing and I love you!
-Katie-