Doctor Hooper?"

Molly glances up from the autopsy table, goggles, gloves, and bloody rib cutter in hand. She sees a beautiful woman with shoulder length, bone straight,dark hair and pale blue eyes; looks to be around Molly's age. She's wearing black leggings and a light blue tunic, which mimics her eyes, and white tennis shoes. Molly shuts off the offending tool and places it down, lifting her goggles.

"Yes?"

"Ah, I thought I'd find you here! After all the incredible things I have heard about you, it's great to finally meet you."

"Oh, well thank you…erm...you would be?"

The woman smiles sweetly. "Doctor Eileen Hampton. I specialize in anatomy and physiology. I can tell you, your department chair thinks the world of you."

Molly smiles back, still a bit confused, and covers the body. "Oh you know Mike then? That's wonderful."

"Well he and I just recently met at one of those doctor conventions, y'know? The ones they hold to make sure hospitals around London are fundraising as well?"

"Yes, yes. I couldn't make it this year, so Mike went instead. I'm sorry, where are you based out of?"

"Originally from London but I got a job in Scotland years ago. I've been staying in London recently, so I'm scoping out a few hospitals here", she chuckles a bit. "I hope I'm not intruding. I just heard so many good things about Bart's best pathologist and youngest department head, so I thought I'd come say hello."

"No, you're not intruding. It's actually been a bit slow today except for this poor bloke. Also, that's very kind of you", Molly grins and ditches her gloves, shaking Eileen's hand. She can't quite place her, but there is something a bit familiar about her.

"Of course. I'm considering applying to Bart's and I just thought I'd go to the best to hear what it's like to be an employee."

"Well everyone here is very kind. Mike is a great department chair, he's very supportive and helpful whenever I need anything, or if there is any sort of family emergency. Obviously, it doesn't happen often, but shit happens, right?", she chuckles nervously.

"That sounds lovely. You must have a big family, then?", Eileen questions.

"Me? Oh…no, I-..I don't actually. I'm still single, unfortunately. I have lots of friends, and a couple godchildren, but nobody of my own quite yet."

Eileen smiles knowingly. "Dating pool really is crap for women our age, eh?"

Molly giggles and nods. "You could definitely say that, yes."

"Excuse me for prying, I tend to do that sometimes, being so extroverted. But I'm pretty sure that I heard Mike telling someone that you help Sherlock Holmes? He's on a bunch of news here and there, isn't he? Must be amazing working with a famous detective. Not to mention he's a nice looking fellow!"

Molly flushes red and clears her throat. "There's definitely no denying he's good looking, but we are pretty good friends. Sometimes it's difficult, you know, with how immediate most of his cases are but yeah, you could say I help him forensically sometimes."

"Wow…that must just be…incredible. Watching him work and all. I've heard stories but I've never seen him in person. Maybe one day", she laughs. "Are you gonna go for him? You seem like an incredibly kind woman, I'm sure he needs someone with your caliber of expertise as well as softness to hold him down a bit, going by what the tabloids say about his wild personality."

Molly flushes pink and wrings her hands nervously. "Oh…er…honestly, I-…Sherlock isn't really the type to delve into romantic relationships. Believe me."

"Oh, pish posh. You never know. He is still a man after all. Plus after all the hard work he has been putting in for years and years, I'd be surprised if there isn't some sort of softie hiding under all that business!"

Molly laughs, never hearing anyone use the word "softie" in regard to Sherlock before. But then again, the woman has never met him. "Well, you should know that Sherlock is far from ordinary. He is human, yes, he has his flaws, of course. But ordinary? Not most of the time. There have been times where he has leaned on me as a friend, because everybody has their bad days, even Sherlock Holmes. But he's just not a man of romantic involvement…no matter my feelings. Plus, he knows of them quite clearly. I've decided that I would rather be friends with him than not. He does need a support system which I sometimes begrudgingly act as. But romance? No way. Not for him."

"Oooh. I don't know, but I'll certainly be rooting for you, Doctor Hooper."

"Call me Molly, please", Molly says kindly.

"Molly. Thank you for taking time out of your day to speak with me. I had better let you get back to work. Hopefully, we can talk again soon. I don't have many friends left in London."

Molly nods empathetically. "Maybe we can have lunch sometime this week?"

Eileen grins. "I'd love that!"

"Great." Molly scribbles down her phone number on a piece of paper and hands it to her. "Here is my number. I'll text you to confirm a day?"

"Lovely. Looking forward to it."

The two women exchange friendly smiles as Eileen leaves, then Molly gets back to work.

Thursday rolls around rather quickly. Molly has the day off and had made plans to meet Doctor Hampton for lunch. Molly smiles softly to herself as she gets dressed for the day in a nice long sleeve burgundy fall dress and black leggings. She can barely remember the last time she made a genuine female friend except for Mary, and Meena lives all the way in Texas now.

{Hello Eileen, it's Molly (Dr. Hooper). Just wanted to confirm lunch today around noon? x Molly}

After a moment, her phone pings and she checks it.

{Hi Molly! Lunch sounds great. See you around noon. ~ E}

Smirking to herself, Eurus arises from the plush sofa of a small home a few blocks from Molly's house. She had spent the entire week researching everything she could about the woman, and easily found her home address online. Molly seemed harmless enough, and just knowing how she felt about her brother was worth going the extra mile to get to know her even more, despite her hatred of small talk. In a way she felt for Molly, if that were at all possible with her type of demeanor, but it would take an idiot not to see a bit of similarities. Both are fairly isolated, alone, both are fascinated with death, though to be fair, Molly's way was more legal, and both are highly regarded; one by the London hospital board, and one by the British Government. But the one thing that Eurus can absolutely understand in Molly is her love for her brother Sherlock. It makes her blood boil just imagining the way he treats this woman who so carelessly gives him the time of day, just as it does that Mycroft erased every important memory of herself from Sherlock's mind. Sherlock is the only person in the entire world that Eurus has ever even remotely cared about. He was always her favorite, and he would always do what she said because when they were kids, Sherlock was really the only Holmes' capable of love without stipulations. Of course, killing his best friend was supposed to make him pay more attention to her since nobody else did. She assumes that her parents were a bit befuddled by her "condition" if not scared of her, even back then. But her little plan backfired badly and only ended up ruining her brother and isolating him in trauma, making him more like Mycroft and less like the kind little boy and brother he once was. Horrible miscalculation on her part, but to be fair, she was a child at the time.

Being a true sociopath, she really isn't supposed to give a damn about anyone, but she really does care slightly about Sherlock, if only to stop herself from being so isolated, as he is the only one that could ever truly want to know her. Once he is broken down again, anyway. She is determined to right the wrong that happened with Victor Trevor. Unfortunately, the only way to get back an emotionally connected Sherlock was to break down every tiny fragment of his heart that cared about anyone or anything, and Molly Hooper is definitely the secret key. John Watson she has been following for weeks, especially when around Sherlock, until his wife died and he somehow blamed Sherlock, cutting him off for the time being. She'd even gotten him alone a few times and pretended to be a pretty redhead that the ladies' man easily fell prey to; texting her at all hours, even though she knew he had a wife at the time, and newborn. He'll be fun to mess with, but he's just another Victor; easy to handle, but love…love is an entirely different thing for Sherlock. Molly Hooper must be the reason why he had been visiting the hospital more and more regularly. Jim was right about Molly's extreme affections for him, and admittedly she is quite perfect for him. His love for her is something he will need to recognize if his emotional context is to come roaring back at one hundred percent. It shouldn't be too difficult to prove to him that his emotional context still exists, as she does know that his inner child is still alive and well underneath. It will just take some deep digging, so to speak.

"Pun intended", she chuckles as she shovels the last of the dirt pile on top of the body of the woman who previously resided there, within the back yard. Brushing off the dirt from the "borrowed" pajamas, she places the shovel back into the shed and heads back into the home. Within the half hour she is showered, dressed, and has her wig perfectly in place.

"This is a great place, Molly. I'm glad you suggested it."

"Thanks. It used to be one of my favorites when I was interning. It's been so long since I had been here, that I nearly forgot about it."

"Well the food is great. So have you seen Sherlock this week?", Eileen wiggles her eyebrows curiously.

Molly blushes and chuckles. "Just a couple times. Once for a case and one to stitch up a cut he got. John was at work, and God forbid he steps foot at John's clinic. It's one of the few rules John has. Sherlock is not allowed to bother him at work unless it's about Rosie, his daughter."

Eileen nods and smiles. "Stitches huh? Luckily, I never had to have those as a kid, but I'm sure I made other kids get them. I was a bit of a brat."

Molly laughs. "You, a physiology doc, a brat? Wow."

"Yeah, I was a bit of a bully, I was definitely a headstrong child. It's good that I was an only child though, probably would've given any siblings hell. What about you? Any siblings?"

"Just one. He's in the army though, and I haven't seen him for a long while. It was just us and my dad until my father died. I was only eighteen, but I took on the role as guardian for my brother. He was ten."

"Wow."

"Yeah", Molly bites into her sandwich.

"How can someone honestly be this /good/?", Eurus ponders. "Although goodness means weakness as well."

"So where'd he need stitches?"

"Oh, Sherlock? On his shoulder. Got nicked by an arrow. Can you believe that?"

"An arrow? I guess all the talk about his adventures isn't just talk."

"Oh no, he gets himself into all sorts of unbelievable situations. It's crazy."

"So I assume his shirt was off for ya", she smirks and Molly blushes red.

"Yeah…"

"I wish he could see what a great person you are. But I suppose what they say is true. The more brilliant minded someone is, the more spectacularly ignorant they can be to normalcies as well. As I said before, you'd probably be a good match for him. Opposites attract and all."

Molly shrugs. "He knows how I feel. He's just…as you put it, spectacularly ignorant sometimes. Either that, or he really truly doesn't want any type of relationship ever, unless it's a friendly one."

"How do you know that he knows how you feel? Did you tell him?"

"Me? Oh God no, I'd be a puddle if I ever tried. We've known each other nearly a decade. I was actually engaged once, but it didn't work out. In part due to my…crush…on Sherlock. As I'm sure you've seen, the stories of him faking his death, I actually helped him because it was a terrible terror network, and it needed that level of discreetness. Anyway, I was engaged when he came back to London and since John was angry at him, he asked me to tag along on a few cases. It was a really good day. There were a few fleeting moments where I thought maybe…maybe he actually /saw/ me, you know? But of course then I was engaged. He did wish me the best and said I deserved happiness. I get a kiss on the cheek as a thanks or a sorry now and then."

"Was he upset that you were engaged?"

"I don't really know. There's this running joke he makes about being a sociopath, which of course everyone knows isn't true, but he acts like an arse sometimes, so he calls himself one jokingly. So he said that he was glad my fiancée wasn't a sociopath. I kind of took that as "you're glad he's nothing like me", but that was the thing. He was nothing like Sherlock. I do want a decent future, but I couldn't marry the man knowing that I had feelings for someone else. I just couldn't. When he left the house we were visiting, I actually had the audacity to say out loud "maybe that's just my type". Thank God he didn't hear me, or at least he didn't make any indication that he did."

Eileen gapes and grins. "Molly! Come on there had to be some more hints!"

"Well…I don't really think they're hints and I'm sick of getting my hopes up."

"Do tell!"

Molly takes a breath and chuckles lightly, blushing. "Well for some reason two of the cases he took had to do with love, or affairs of some sort which isn't usually his style. At one point he was talking about this victim and he said, "you really thought he was the love of your life?", asking her, but he glanced at me. I think maybe that was just a coincidence, but then before he noticed I was engaged, or at least before he let me know that he knew, he asked me to grab food with him. Just chips, chips are his favorite snack but…I wish I could've said yes, looking back… Of course I said I couldn't because again…I was engaged. Ugh, that was so foolish of me."

"Wow…Molly I do think he likes you and he just really struggles with those types of feelings. Going by everything I know about him, he tries to be a hard ass and…maybe he's just scared of sentimentality. A lot of people with ego issues usually are."

Molly snickers. "What are you, a therapist too? Hey, that would work out, John had one until she moved, so maybe I need one too."

She laughs a bit, taking careful note of Molly's words and saving them for later. "No, no. I'm no shrink, but I do remember that part of medical school. It was awful."

"Really, it was!", Molly giggles.

About a week later they meet up again for drinks at the local pub. Molly had come from visiting Mary's grave, and had babysat Rosie the entire night before. Quite a few glasses in, Molly begins telling her how awful it is that John despises Sherlock so, and that she doesn't truly believe it was Sherlock's fault. She rattles off how much Sherlock cared about Mary, the way he does about John, and that he would never do anything to purposely hurt any of his friends, never mind get one of them killed. If he could prevent that from happening, he would do anything, really /anything/ to stop that from happening. That was part of the reason he faked his death, for God's sake. To save them. He'd have never let Mary or anyone he loves die if he could prevent it!

"He'd move heaven and Earth before he would let any harm come to any of us!"

Eurus smirks to herself then nods, placing a hand on Molly's back in faux concern as tears begin to spill down her face. "Oi, Molly…let's get you home, hm? I think you should get some rest. Come, we will call a cab."

Molly nods weakly, allowing Eileen to escort her out, all of her grief over the loss of Mary, and Sherlock and John's broken friendship, and Rosie…oh, Rosie, comes tumbling out of her in wracked sobs.

After a tearful cab ride full of "I'm sorries" from Molly, Eileen helps her into her home and glances around, cataloguing everything spatially for later. Once Molly is sufficiently asleep in her bed, Eurus grabs her large purse and opens it up revealing multiple mini, nearly undetectable cameras. She makes speedy work of placing them in the most discreet nooks and crannies of the house. If she is to use Molly Hooper for the experiment she and Jim had planned so long ago, she must be prepared with a live feed.

Once her handiwork is done, Eurus slips out of the home quietly and returns to the home a few blocks away that she had so easily taken over. Shedding the day's clothing and her wig, she let's her long, curly hair down and throws on another random set of pj's from the dead woman's dresser. Picking up the day's newspaper and the dead woman's laptop, she smirks devilishly to herself at the frankly evil looking man on the front page, which resides in her left hand, as she types furiously with her right hand.

"Oh you have been a bad, bad man, Culverton Smith. My brother and I will love your naughty streak. Eurus then grins at the photo on the laptop; an average looking woman with a shoulder length blonde hair, glasses, and a walking cane. Some people are just way too simple to replicate. Looks and life. "Poor woman", Eurus laughs, as she makes her way to her new bedroom, pulling out a large duffle bag of wigs and props until she finds the perfect wig, and a similar pair of glasses.

"Perfect. My brother's deduction prowess is no match for the drugs in his system, especially at this point."

The next morning, Molly awakes with a giant hangover and a text from Eileen saying that she got offered a job in Dublin and chose to take it. When Molly tries to text her back, it kicks it back to her with a "number disabled" message. Molly furrows her brow and sighs.

"Great, I lost another friend over one stupid drunken bout of grief. Just perfect. Way to go, Molly." She makes her way into the kitchen and sighs, taking one of her favorite tea bags out of the package and boiling the water, then grabbing a lemon. That ought to help her headache a little bit at least.

Over the next month or so, Eurus perseveres and works on the final plans for her Sherrinford experiment. She poses as Faith Smith for Sherlock's case, and prepares her next disguise as John's new therapist for the final touches. During this time, she monitors Molly's home feed. To her utter delight, she captures quite a few more than friendly interactions between her brother and Molly Hooper, who has resigned to visiting her at her home when morgue work is not of interest. Well, the conversations were more than friendly in her eyes, since she is clearly the only person who can see through his charade. She's the smart one. Sherlock Holmes loves Molly Hooper, and Eurus Holmes knows his darkest secret. Now, all she has to do is make him tell, both himself and Molly. Plus, every declaration of love needs an audience and a predicament of urgency, or at least her brother does to see past his sentimental ignorance. That is going to be such a good day.