Chapter 3
"You were good at hiding the truth about Sherlock's fake suicide from everyone for two years, sweetie. You'll be good at hiding my and Sean's presence in London, I'm sure", Molly tilted her head looking at the person who took the seat opposite hers.
She was wearing a pair of black skinny trousers with a turtleneck of the same colour. Her stiletto heels lay on the floor beside her seat and her legs were tucked under her bum. She was perfectly made up and on her nails stood out the shade of fire red with which she had painted them.
"It's not easy to deceive him" Molly replied, "Allow me to disagree" said the other giving her a silvery laugh and Molly smiled at her perfectly aware of what her traveling companion was referring to, "Yeah, but I'm not as good as you are".
As she turned her piercing blue eyes from Molly, the child got up and walked over to his mother's seat. The two whispered in each other's ear for a few minutes, then Sean walked over to Molly and slipped his small hand into her left hand. A gesture of affection she greeted with a big smile, knowing that it would not arouse his mother's jealousy.
"Mmm, I was thinking…" he murmured and Molly leaned lining up her eyes with his, "I could be your fiancé…until your friend Sherlock becomes your fiancé. Mom says it won't take long" Molly couldn't help but smile at him, "I would be delighted if you were my fiancé" she said running her free hand through his short black hair, "But you have to tell your mother…" and she looked up at her "That about my friend Sherlock, what she expects will never happen".
She sipped the scotch she had poured into her glass with a smile and replied "I know the man and I know what I saw in that video, my dear", Molly snorted blushing and was about to retort but Sean interjected "Will the government man tell her where our safe house is, right mom?" he asked turning to her "I still have some injections and I want aunt Molly to give them to me. We agreed on this".
His mother reached out and patted his cute little freckled nose "Of course he will, darling. Aunt Molly will come to us whenever she wants", the boy nodded satisfied and then, turning to Molly, added with a serious face "Auntie, you have to be very careful…Some of the bad men who killed mom Kim are still looking for us".
Molly's heart sank to hear him mention his other mom so bravely and she put him on her lap hugging him tightly. It felt like a single day instead of two and a half months since the FBI agents taken Kim Delaney's lifeless body to the morgue for Molly to post mortem.
Still vivid in Molly's mind was the memory of the moment when agent Reynolds entered her office and told her that someone arrived for Kim Delaney's recognition, "It's a woman, doc. Her wife, if you knew what I mean".
Molly got up from her desk and opening the door said to the agent "I don't care about her sexual tastes…and you shouldn't care either" and then with a heavy heart, sadly, as always happened to her when she had to talk to the relatives of the victims, Molly walked the corridor that led to the door of the morgue in front of which stood an FBI agent and a woman with her back turned.
"Doc, this is Mrs Delaney's wife. Let me introduce you, Mrs Rebecca Davies", she was ready to reach out and shake the widow's hand but when the woman turned to her, Molly's arm remained stationary at her side and she widened her eyes as she realized who she was, because the woman in front of her was not called Rebecca Davies at all.
"Can we speed up, please? I have to go back to my son" her voice was shaken and uncertain, exactly the opposite of her face which was a mask of firmness and confidence. Molly immediately roused herself and preceded her into the room where the Kim's corpse had been placed.
Once the recognition formalities were completed, Molly guided her to her office to have her sign the required papers. It was there, finally alone, that Rebecca Davies spoke "You know who I am. Who I really am, I mean".
Molly nodded and the other scrutinized her carefully "You're not surprised to see me alive…so I have to assume he told you he saved me in Karachi years ago", Molly stared straight into her blue eyes with a hint of a smile "For what it's worth, I also know you still text him…Miss Adler".
She crossed her legs "And do you also know that in all this time he has barely answered four times?", she gave a short chuckle "I should have known right away from the way he answered to Dr Watson's suggestion to send you, Molly Hooper, to retrieve my phone that you were the one he would give himself to".
Irene raised an eyebrow and her red lips curled into a small smile "Of course if his sister hadn't stepped in…" she stopped talking for a moment, waiting for Molly reaction to her knowing about Sherrinford. But Molly didn't flinch, she wasn't surprised at all Irene knew. It was easy to deduce that her wife's murder was due to the fact that although she had changed her life, she had maintained some contact in the criminal world.
"He would still be trying to solve the mystery that concerns you" she went on, "I'm no mystery, Miss Adler" Molly stated firmly, "Oh, I assure you for him you were! A man who only believes in pure cold reason and who sees romantic relationships as a hindrance to his thinking process…" Irene got up and started pacing the room looking at the plaques hanging on the walls with fake interest.
"Suddenly finds himself noticing every little physical detail of a certain woman, a brilliant pathologist he professes to be a friend of. Her lips, her breasts, her weight, her hairstyle. He finds himself jealous of the men she dates…" Irene narrowed her eyes on her, "Moriarty was so amused he was able to distract the great detective thanks to you…and forgive me but I also used his same trick".
Molly gave her a bewildered look "Well, I made sure you were the one to show him my fake corpse…I was sure that his discomfort in recognizing me from my naked form in front of you, would have been so as not to make him carefully observe that body" she explained with the utmost simplicity and sat down again.
"So as I was saying, the aforementioned reason-is-all-detective, despite all his best efforts, can't stay away from the aforementioned woman-friend-pathologist. Why? Well, now he has his answers…he loves you" she wrapped-up her speech and intertwined her fingers together and placing them on her lap.
Molly smiled at her kindly, slid forward in her chair and lowering her voice said "All very interesting, but I think it's not the moment to talk about him now. You and your son are in trouble, Miss Adler. And I can help you…so here's what's we're going to do…" and briefly Molly explained to her how she planned to proceed with, asking for Mycroft's aid.
"Now I see why he loves you" Irene told her near the door before leaving, "You are not only smart, pretty and good at your job…you also have a big heart, Molly. You are willing to help even an enemy. It's brave of you".
Molly crossed her arms over her chest "I have no enemies. You're not my enemy, Miss Adler" she said taking small steps into her personal space, "A potential rival, then?" Irene teased her, challenging Molly with a provocative look "Not even remotely, Miss Adler" she replied with more confidence than she actually felt.
"As you yourself admitted…he loves me. Sherlock doesn't love easily but when he does, he loves wholeheartedly" she returned Irene's defiant gaze, "So I don't think there's room for you in his heart and not even in his mind, not as a romantic interest at least".
Irene held out her hand to shake hers "You're a tough girl, Molly. I like you. I think we could become friends", she opened the door and whispered "Anyway, thanks for your help. My son and I appreciate it very much", she took a few steps then turned back to Molly, "You're right. I took notice a while ago…I may be The Woman for him, but you are His Woman" she winked at her and walked away down the corridor with a weary step.
And thus began their strange, unlikely friendship. There was an understandable initial distrust on Molly's part in dealing with her. She never thought she could be friends with Irene Adler, so totally different from her. They were like day and night, but Molly knew well the bonds created in extraordinary circumstances were often the ones that turned out to be the strongest and most authentic.
And given that in some ways The Woman was so similar to Sherlock – they both got bored easily, needed constantly stimulation and loved the thrill of the game, Molly wasn't surprised when a formidable friendly chemistry was established between the two of them.
Molly had to admit that the first time she had found herself in the presence of little Sean, she had to overcome her instinct to strange Irene as much as she enjoyed playing with her insecurities. She had obviously noticed the face Molly had made when she was the child: short black hair, very fair complexion and very blue eyes. Features both Irene and Sherlock had in common.
"Apparently he didn't tell you everything…about Karachi I mean" Irene had told her after giving her son the consent to play for another ten minutes. "What?" Molly had replied with her heart beating fast, trying to gain time for her brain to find something that would disprove her initial thought this little boy was Sherlock's son.
"I left him practically in his underwear" she had continued pouring red wine into a glass, "Huh?" Molly had remained standing in the centre of the small living room of the temporary safe house where CIA, thanks to Mycroft, had settled them.
"Forgive me, I can't help it!" she had approached Molly with her usual catlike pace, "Relax, Molly. We never slept together, ever" Irene had run a hand up and down Molly's right arm, "I left him in his underwear because I needed men's clothes to escape from there, so…I ordered him to strip".
She had put a finger under Molly's chin to make her look into her eyes "I was having fun teasing you", "Yeah" she had nodded taking the glass from her hand and sipping some, "Sean is not Sherlock's. His face's bone structure…his nose, cheekbones, mouth and eyes are the same as Kim. And also your rescue in Karachi took place in late June…Sean was born in July the following year, so he was conceived in October 2011 when Sherlock was in charge of kidnapping the ambassador's children to USA".
Irene had smiled impressed and blatantly had clapped for her "If you weren't so madly in love with him, I might consider wooing you!", she had taken another glass of red wine and sat elegantly on the sofa suddenly becoming sad and silent. However bad girl she was Irene had feelings.
She had fallen in love with Kim, they had decide to get married and start a family and now she had to find the strength to grieve and mourning in order to dedicate herself to her son. But let herself go of the pain it was certainly not an easy thing to do for a woman who had always had everything under her control. Molly sat next to her and took her hand in hers "I'm here if you want to talk".
She shook herself from her memories and smiled at Sean "You don't have to worry, sweetheart. I'll be very careful. Now go to sleep", he threw his arms around her neck and kissed her cheek then slid off her lap to join his mother who had already converted Sean's seat into bed.
After a few minutes the two women were seated again facing each other, "Everything will be fine" Molly whispered when she noticed Irene was stroking with her fingertip the inside of her left wrist where she had a small tattoo with the letters K and I intertwined.
She nodded with a sigh "It'll be fine for you too", then sat back in her seat and told Molly grinning like a Cheshire cat "Can't wait for him to see your tattoo!", Molly gave her a dead-eyed stare "Irene, whatever you have in mind…don't!"
