A/N: For the January 3rd prompt - "You're standing in a doorway." Rated T. This is my take on who!lock.

Molly Hooper glanced around the control room of the TARDIS. The room was full of gears, switches, blinking lights, and monitors showing everything and nothing, but no Detective.

"Where's he gotten to now?" she asked, exasperated.

The TARDIS hummed in a pleasant but unhelpful way.

"He'd better not have gone on a case without me."

In the thirteen months that she'd been his companion, Molly found herself all too frequently waiting inside the TARDIS while The Detective was on a case he'd said was too dangerous for her. They'd have the same argument when he returned – she'd say she wasn't a child, he'd say it wasn't about that, though he never elaborated.

He doesn't have to, she thought as she started down one hallway. He thinks I can't handle danger because I'm a woman. I'm his first female companion, he doesn't know what women are capable of. Never mind the fact that I've lived on this ship for over a year. You'd think he'd know me by now.

Molly had only been in The Detective's private rooms once before, when he needed a book he kept there. These were what she was trying to find, but the TARDIS liked to move rooms around. One of these days, I'm going to stumble out of my bedroom pre-coffee and right into the pool.

She finally found the black-painted door with the brass 221B nailed to it after going down the third hallway. When she'd asked about the numbers and letter once, he'd gone into his Mind Palace and didn't speak for three days. By the time he'd come out, she'd forgotten the question.

Molly knocked on the door and waited for a response. Receiving none, she tried the knob. Finding it unlocked, she opened the door and poked her head in.

The Detective's private rooms resembled a shabby London flat. There was a sitting room with mismatched furniture, a kitchen that was more like a laboratory, a bathroom which Molly hoped was in better shape than the other two rooms, and his bedroom. She couldn't help blushing at the thought of finding him in his bedroom, a place she hadn't seen yet.

Fortunately, or unfortunately depending on how you look at it, she found the man she loved asleep on the sofa. He was still in his light grey pajama pants, white t-shirt, and dark gray silk dressing gown, his feet bare.

Molly raised an eyebrow. Did he wake up only to take a nap? "Detective?"

His eyes shot open. Molly knew if she were any closer, she'd be mesmerized by their blue-green-gold depths, so she stayed in the doorway.

"I wasn't sleeping, I was just resting my eyes," he said defensively as he sat up.

"If you say so, Detective." She smirked. "Any new cases?"

"Do you think I'd be napping … er, resting my eyes if I had a case?" he muttered.

The Detective stood and stretched, mesmerizing Molly anyway with the play of muscles under his shirt. His mobile chirped and he quickly picked it up from where it lay on the coffee table. He read the text, grinning. The mobile was programmed so that anyone in any place or time who wanted to contact him could. No matter their level of technology, their messages always came to him as texts.

"I'm off to 21st Century London," he said, his eyes still on his phone. "Four serial suicides and now a note! It's Christmas!"

"You mean we're off, don't you?" Molly asked quietly. She moved to him then reached out to take his hand and he finally looked up from his mobile, his eyes widening slightly. "Please, Detective, take me with you."

"It's too dangerous," he said firmly. "I refuse."

"I didn't run off with you to stay on the TARDIS while you go save Creation time after time. Do you think I'm not smart enough?"

He blinked in surprise. "You're a genius. Frankly, you're the smartest companion I've ever had."

"Do you think I'm blind?"

"You're also the most observant companion I've ever had."

"Then it's because I'm a woman. You make me stay behind every time there's even a hint of danger because I was born XX instead of XY. Why am I even here?"

The Detective groaned in frustration. "Keeping you behind has nothing to do with you being a woman and everything to do with you being you."

She stared at him. "What does that even mean?"

"It means you, Molly Hooper, are the one person in all of Creation that I have fallen in love with and I will not risk your life for anything."

Her eyes widened. "You … you love me?"

The Detective ran a frustrated hand through his curls. "I know I've done a poor job of showing it but it's true. I've lost companions before – death, old age, marriage, etc. – but I would rather have you leave me out of frustration because I don't take you with me than see you killed by some criminal who got lucky." He hesitated a moment then took her face in his hands, gazing deep into her eyes. "Please, Molly, understand that losing you would break both of my hearts."

She swallowed hard. "You won't lose me, Detective," she murmured. "I love you too and I'm not going anywhere."

He stared at her like he couldn't quite believe her words then his face lit up and he kissed her deeply. Molly kissed him back then murmured in his ear, "Except to 21st Century London." She nibbled his earlobe and he groaned.

"Whatever you want, sweetheart – just keep doing that," he murmured.

She grinned as she took his hand and led him to the bedroom. "My dear Detective, you're going to see just how persuasive I can be."