A/N: And now, Day 12! Rated K+ post TFP angsty fluff.
"Sherlock, this is ridiculous. We can't keep dancing around the subject forever." Eyes locked steadily on his, Molly took a step forward, reached out and gently took his hand in hers. "If you tell me that you don't love me, that you only said it to save my life, I'll believe you. And we can go back to the way it was before that phone call, before your sister put you through such an awful experience."
He gave her an agonized look. "There's no going back from something like that, Molly, you know there isn't."
"So we go forward, then," she said, still holding his hand in hers. So soft, so warm, yet so strong and capable - both Molly and her hands, he thought shakily. "We go forward as friends, if that's what you want. Just because you know I love you as something more doesn't have to change anything, I promise."
Slowly, reverently he lifted her hand to his lips and kissed her knuckles. "But everything has changed, Molly. For the first time, you were in harm's way because of me. Yes, Moriarty, of course, but he was never an actual danger to you, not like Eurus was."
"But there weren't any actual explosives," Molly reminded him with a soft smile. She reached up and gently caressed his cheek. "You don't put me in harm's way, Sherlock." She tiptoed up and pressed a warm kiss to his cheek. "You keep me safe."
Wonderingly he touched his cheek, then looked back down at her. At her warm brown eyes. At her tender smile. She believed that, believed that he kept her safe, and that belief - that unwavering faith she had in him - translated into an answering warmth in his heart. "No, Molly," he finally said, pulling her close, enfolding her in his arms. "You keep me safe. And that," he breathed as he tilted her head up, "is one of the many, many reasons I love you."
He kissed her, knowing in his heart that it was the most dangerous thing he'd ever done in his life - but also knowing that if anyone could be trusted to catch him if he fell, it would be Molly Hooper.