Thank you so much for all your comments and responses about this fic. I just hope that I can keep your interest going with the rest of it.

Chapter 2

'Molly?'

She spun around and there he was, less than five feet away from her and looking as real as she did; it was Sherlock.

'Sh…Sherlock? Is it really you?'

He took a step forward and smiled as he nodded. Without even thinking about it she flung herself forward and wrapped her arms around him; her hands sliding underneath his coat and around his slim body. She was just so relieved to not be alone in this terrifying world that she found herself in.

He seemed shocked by her actions at first, and when she realised he wasn't hugging her back she started to let him go, feeling a wave of mortification at her actions starting to creep over her, but before she could step away his arms came around her, pulling her back against him, and she found herself exhaling. She could smell his cologne, feel the solidity, the utter reality of his body pressed against her own, the strength and security of his arms as he held her.

'It's…it's good to see you, Molly.'

'God, you too Sherlock.'

He gave her a last squeeze and then let her go and Molly stepped away, already missing the comforting feel of his arms holding her close, the feel of his body against hers maybe for the first and last time in her life.

'What the hell is going on Sherlock? Tell me I'm not going mad, and that you can see what I can.'

'I would, but I don't know what you're seeing. Tell me, describe it.'

Molly glanced around at the shadowy, ethereal people moving through the foyer.

She took a deep breath and tried to be as detailed as she could in her answer. She knew him, and she knew that he wanted information. 'We're at the front entrance of Barts. The layout of the hospital seems to be the same, but the decor is different; the tones are darker. There's no strip lighting or electronic equipment as far as I've been able to see. Instead, there seem to be some kind of, maybe gas lights in the corridors. The lab that we were working in, has been replaced by a makeshift morgue. And I suppose I should have mentioned it earlier, but the place seems to be occupied by ghosts. Other than you I haven't seen a single real person. Would you agree with that?'

Sherlock came and stood next to her, so he was looking at the same scene as her.

'I would, bar one thing. They're not the ghosts…we are.'

Molly felt her stomach drop away and she looked at him in horror. 'What?'

He turned to look at her briefly and he smiled. 'Just what I said. We are the interlopers in their world, not the other way around.'

'Are we…are we dead?'

At that he fully turned to face her, and he placed his hands in her upper arms. 'No…no, of course we're not.'

'So, what then Sherlock? What are we? I don't understand any of this, and I hate it. I hate it all. I just want to go home.'

To her utter surprise he pulled her to him again and she swore that as he hugged her, he kissed the top of her head.

'I know, I get it. I have to admit to feeling more than a little unnerved myself, even though it's equally very intriguing and endlessly fascinating.'

He let her go once more as he turned to the doorway and he held his hand up, no doubt feeling the invisible barrier preventing them from leaving. She saw a frown pass over his features.

'I was going to head to Baker St, but I take it from your attempts as I arrived that we're trapped here.'

As he spoke his hands travelled over the space checking up to the top of the door frame and along until he'd covered all the edges.

'That was my plan too, I was going to see if this world had a "you" in it.'

He smirked. 'That would have been a good plan.'

After he'd checked the other doors, all to no avail, he gestured for her to follow him. 'Come on, let's check the rear of the hospital and see what other information we can pick up along the way. I'm still not sure what time zone we're in. The paint and lights say Victorian, but the uniforms and equipment say our time period or later, what's your opinion?'

Molly hurried to keep up with him as he strode across the concourse. She was impeded by trying to avoid the people whereas Sherlock seemed to have no compunction about walking straight through them. As he did, she noticed some of them looking around uncertainly and it made her feel even more squeamish about interacting with any of them.

It was easier once they hit one of the side corridors that led towards the rear of the hospital, Sherlock had chosen one of the quieter routes and for that Molly was grateful.

'My opinion? On a time period? I'm sorry, I don't understand. Wait.'

She tugged on Sherlock's hand to get him to stop, and she saw him glance down and briefly narrow his eyes at the connection, but rather than pull his hand away he surprised her by wrapping his own hand around hers.

'Have you ever heard of timeslips Molly?'

'Timeslips?'

'Please don't repeat everything I say, it makes you sound like John.'

Molly took a breath and when she spoke, she couldn't keep the sarcasm out of her tone.

'Oh, I'm sorry, forgive me for being so slow on the uptake. It's not every day that I'm pulled from my own reality.'

Sherlock either didn't notice or was choosing not to react. Instead, he started walking again, this time holding her hand and pulling her along with him.

'Timeslips have been documented throughout history. It's where people find themselves temporarily transported into a different time period. All of the ones that I've read about were people finding themselves in the past and only for a few moments, maybe an hour at most. There was one very famous occurrence at Versailles in France.'

Molly suddenly felt a spark of recognition. 'Oh, I remember reading that one, two women at the turn of the last century travelled to Versailles and thought they'd gone back to the time of Marie Antoinette.'

Sherlock grinned. 'Very good Molly. There have also been numerous accounts in Bond Street in Liverpool.'

'But why us, and why now…and more importantly, how long are we going to be stuck here?'

They'd come to the back of the building where there were some original Victorian windows as well as another, smaller, exit out of the hospital.

'You check the door; I'll try the windows.'

Molly missed the feel of his hand as soon as he let hers go, but she put her mind to the task at hand. The double doors were standing open, leading out onto a back-alley way between the hospital buildings, but just as she'd found at the front, she couldn't exit them.

From the rare expletive that Sherlock let out it seemed the same was the case for the windows.

Molly felt her heart and her mood sink. She leant back against the wall at the side of the door and put her face in the hands.

'What if we can't get back? What if we're stuck here?'

She felt rather heard Sherlock step over to her.

'If we are, I can't think of anyone else I'd rather be stuck with.'

Molly frowned and looked up at him, but he was already looking down the corridor, his hands on his hips.

'Maybe we should try and find out more about this place. I can't help but feel that there's a reason we're here. Come on, no point idling.'

She hurried to keep up with him as he strode away. Once again, she was dodging any of the figures they came across whilst Sherlock walked through them. They stopped once or twice to check out the rooms they were passing, and they were soon, both, fully convinced that whatever time period this was, it was in the future…but a future with little or no electricity.

Molly listened as Sherlock speculated as to possible reasons. 'Apocalyptic blackout, war, climate change, new energy sources…something has happened here that is outside our realm of knowledge. What else do we know?'

At this she piped up. 'They're dying of something I don't recognise.'

He stopped suddenly, causing her to almost barrel into the back of him, and he turned to face her. 'Tell me.'

As concisely as she could she described what she'd seen down in the makeshift morgue. It was enough to have them doubling back and heading back down to that floor.

'Do you think it's important?' She asked as they made their way down the stairs.

'I have no idea, Molly. I don't know if we're here for a reason, I don't know if we can even influence how we get back. So, in the meantime, we just need to gather as much information as we can.'

A couple of minutes later, and they were back in the room that in their time housed the main path lab. It should have felt unnerving standing in a room now filled with bodies, but Molly had never been afraid of the dead. Death was just a part of life, something to be accepted if not exactly welcomed. Death made her more determined to make the most of her life.

As Sherlock made his way around the room, she couldn't help but watch him and wish that he felt the same way about her as she felt about him. It had her remembering the phone call forced on them by his sister. When she'd heard him say those words 'I love you' to her it had felt so real, so convincing. That had been almost three months ago, but nothing had really changed between them, and she'd been trying to accept the fact that they'd never be more than this, more than friends. It didn't change her feelings for him though.

'What do you think? It's not something I've ever seen before. You?'

Sherlock had been leaning over one of the bodies and he glanced up at her, causing her stomach to flip over momentarily. 'Not exactly like this, but once, maybe. It was a biologically adapted radiotoxin.'

Molly made her way over. 'So, a kind of radiation poisoning?'

'Maybe, it was a case I picked up for Mycroft based in one of the Baltic states. Part of my remit was to find where it was being produced and close it down. I managed it but not before the operative, the man that I was working with, was killed using it. It took him a week to die and when he did, he looked like this.'

Molly shook her head. 'I've never read anything about this, or anything like it.'

'You wouldn't have, it was classified. Mycroft was sure that we had…umm, taken care of any knowledge sources and that this line of weaponry wouldn't ever be pursued again. Looks like he was wrong for once.'

He started to make his way back to the doors and Molly followed.

'So, where now?'

'There must be some labs somewhere nearby, somebody will be working on this, and I want to see what they're doing.'

It took them another half an hour of wandering corridors, checking signage and maps but finally they found what they were looking for on the top floor of the hospital. The room was large but only had a handful of people working in it, mostly silently, at their own workstations. What was particularly intriguing was the fact that whilst the lighting was the same strange gas lamps as in the rest of the hospital there was more equipment and some of it was electronically powered.

Molly heard Sherlock muttering as he looked around the room. 'Electricity in short supply then…rationed for the most important tasks.'

He turned to Molly. 'Check desks, paperwork, listen in on any conversations and let me know if you find anything interesting.'

They split up and Molly started to search. She was hampered by not being able to move much, it seemed she could only impact this environment when she was very scared or not thinking too hard about it. Now she was it seemed nigh on impossible.

She glanced over at Sherlock to see if he was similarly impeded and what she saw made her heart sink.

He was sat by a woman who looked to be of a similar age to herself; a beautiful woman with dark, curly hair strung up in a ponytail. What was worse was that Sherlock had his hand over hers, though she obviously couldn't feel it, and the look he was giving her was one that Molly had never seen him give anyone. It was a look of pure adoration, as if she was his whole world.

She watched as he lifted his other hand to push a tendril of hair from the woman's face and Molly saw her turn in Sherlock's direction, frowning and pushing her hair back herself. She was distracted by her colleague and whilst they conversed, she saw Sherlock writing something on the woman's notepad.

Finally, he stood and paused, before bending to press a kiss to the top of this stranger's head and Molly couldn't bear it any longer. She turned and pushed her way out of the double doors of the lab, feeling utter despair and exhaustion washing over her.

So, Sherlock is enamoured with another woman, who do we think she is? I hope it's still piquing your interest. I'd love to know your questions and theories xxx