People come, people go

Some grow young, some grow cold

I woke up in between

A memory and a dream

- Tom Petty

1995, March

The post-card was a permanent fixture on the fridge taunting him. He'd been - - selfless - is that what they called it? It made him almost roll his eyes. Constant aides-mémoires filled the flat - his and hers laughter grating when it was there, for the most the pair of them were at his - the boyfriend.

He'd become another permanent fixture in their day-to-day lives, and Sherlock begun to pay more attention to his projects and work, even picking up a stray case or two. Though he'd hardly felt accomplished when he'd found a missing dog within twenty minutes after he'd found the poster, handing it with a new leash to the owner, before walking off. He'd hoped to do it in ten to fifteen minutes, but the snow had slowed him down. With time he'd get quicker, or so he supposed.

Smoking a cigarette in doors for the first time, he almost smirked at the disobedience, but it lasted only a few seconds. He snubbed it out in his half empty coffee cup and sighed loudly. The landline was ringing; he ignored it, and was greeted to the sound of Molly locking herself in, her keys jangling. "Sherlock? - - Did you smoke inside?" she asked with a nose like a hound - the embers had barely flickered.

"Experiment!" he shouted back in return, listening to her mutter in return.

"Can you please pick up the phone?"

"It won't be important," he said rolling his eyes. "Probably a salesman or woman trying to sell us another peculiar set of Encyclopaedias."

"You bought them, though."

He didn't reply.

"Right-," she said laughing before rushing off to pick it up. "Hello - oh hi - yes - this is her - - - - wha - what do you mean? She's what? No, but she's not - so - oh - okay. I'll come now, umm, yes, yes!"

Sherlock let his eyes flicker to Molly's face, watching the furrows between her brows increase, and all of a sudden the landline was slammed down. She would hardly react this hard to Meena's pregnancy, would she?

The one he knew both Victor and Meena were keeping secret from him and Molly, though he didn't see why she couldn't at least be informed.

"Umm, I - I need to go to the hospital-," Molly said, her voice shaky, her lower lip trembling - "It's mum."