prompted by mrbaker92 on tumblr: 'Sherlock is on a case with John & Lestrade where they have to make a visit to the lab and things get awkward between Sherlock and Molly. Post S4.
"Oh, hello, John, Greg," Molly nodded, blatantly ignoring Sherlock's presence. Things had gotten a bit weird between them since the Sherrinford incident.
"Molly," Sherlock acknowledged. "Your hair is…brown." Molly furrowed her brows. "I mean, it's uh…a lovely shade, chestnut." He cleared his throat as John and Greg looked at him strangely. "Right, well, I need to see any recent thumbs you've gathered in the past week."
Right," Molly nodded anxiously. She dug through the inventory and handed Sherlock two separate bags that held a different thumb in each.
"Thank you," he told her, his bright cerulean eyes piercing hers. Those eyes are gonna be the death of me, she thought, only she said it out loud unknowingly. "I'd much prefer it if you were alive, darling." Darling? Where did that come from? Sherlock asked himself. Another silently awkward moment passed before the consulting detective took over one of the microscopes to examine the first pollex.
"Boy, that was weird," Lestrade remarked to John.
"No kidding," John replied. "Things have been a bit too"—he paused, searching for the right word—"intense between them, lately."
"He's obviously smitten with her," Lestrade pointed out.
"I think he has been for much longer than we realized, Greg. I used to think it was Adler he was crazy about, but looking back, I see all that I missed about Molly," John explained.
"We can hear you," Sherlock groaned from the lab table. Molly was stifling a laugh while her face flushed bright red.
"I say it's been at least since the Christmas party a few years back," Greg spoke in a lowered tone.
"Out!" Sherlock shouted. "The two of you, go, now!" John and Greg backed out of the lab slowly and stayed in the hallway, peering in through the windows every now and then.
"You didn't have to be so rude to them," Molly scolded.
"Well, I'm not going to sit here and listen to their trivial conversation about us," Sherlock retorted.
"Maybe you should do something about it then!" she shouted.
"Maybe I will!" he shouted back in agreement. John and Greg were definitely watching through the windows but Sherlock didn't give a damn. A minute of silence passed before she spoke up again.
"Then do it," Molly prompted him. Sherlock stood and stepped closer to her. His towering height did nothing to intimidate her, for she felt safe when he was next to her short-statured self. One hand pressed firmly against the small of her back as the other cradled the back of her head when he leaned down to kiss her. It was a bit awkward and clumsy as they both spoke to one another in between each brush of their lips.
"I'm sorry I shouted," he mumbled.
"Mm, I'm sorry too," she replied, tracing her tongue along his bottom lip.
"I love you," he breathed out. "I do, truly, Molly, I—mmph!" She was snogging him senselessly.
Outside the lab, in the hallway, Mike Stamford looked through the window from behind John and Greg.
"Well," Stamford chuckled, "it's about time, don't you think?" Greg and John shot him a look of surprise.
"You knew!?" they both exclaimed.
"I thought it was obvious," Mike stated.