Simply part 1 of this story line.
"Molly?" I heard from down the hall and I walked out, wiping my face one last time before letting him see me. "What's the matter? Why are we in the children's ward?" He asked looking around and then down to me, worry, something he never really showed anyone was written all over his face and I gulped.
"It's Rosie." I told him and he moved past me, looking in to the toddler now being fitted for a cast on her arm.
"What happened?" He asked me coming back to stand beside me.
"When I went to pick her up, she screamed like I had just ripped her hair out or something. She hadn't really been in the mood to play since John dropped her off. And Sherlock..." I didn't know if I wanted to tell him this, but I knew that he needed to know this as well.
"What Molly? Something else?" He asked and tried to make eye contact.
"John smelled so bad this morning. Reeked of stale booze." I told him and he sighed and turned and started to pace. "I am not saying John did this, but if he was passed out when she was up and not being watched... it could have been so much worse. What if he had fallen asleep while something was cooking." I whispered and felt the tears once again and turned away from him and looked back in to Rosie.
"We both know he would never hurt her on purpose." Sherlock told me and I agreed completely. "How could she of hurt her arm so bad she needed a cast?"
"That's the point Sherlock. The doctor asked how it happened, and I told them I don't know. That her father dropped her off before work, I was already getting her breakfast ready and I go to pick her up for the high chair and that is when I notice how badly she is hurt."
"You realize they are going to call in child services." Sherlock muttered and started to shake his head.
"Only for an investigation." I told him and he sighed.
"John has been drinking around Rosie. He will lose his rights the first second they find a bottle anywhere outside of a liquor cabinet." He told me and I just sighed.
"He needs to clean up his act."
"He needs Rosie." Sherlock glared at me and I gulped.
"Sherlock... Rosie needs to be watched and cared for more than John needs her to be around. He needs to be sober, and go to meetings and maybe rehab depending on how bad this is." I told him and sighed. "He is not like you Sherlock. He does it more often, he does it everyday. And he doesn't do it because he's bored. He does it because he has money, because he is hurt, because he can." I told him and shook my head. "Mary trusted me and you to take care of Rosie if anything ever happened to her and John."
"Nothing has happened to John."
"Yes something has. He might not be dead but Rosie is no longer safe around him if he is not going to take care of himself, or her. I am stepping in, and yes, John will need to be informed. Rosie is not going back to his flat if he cannot reach 90 days sober. Those are the conditions I came to with the doctor already. I am the got mother, the only one John has ever kept in Rosie's life."
"Why did you call me here Molly?" Sherlock worked his jaw just slightly, a small movement that let me know he was not pleased with me.
"So you would be able to tell John. He is welcome for visits that are supervised. If he shows up drunk I will petition the courts. He will not ruin her life by being a drunk father-"
"What? Like yours? I think you turned out pretty great Molly." I flinched at his words and put my head down. "Molly-"
"You think I turned out okay Sherlock? Really? I work with dead people because I don't have social skills past a couple minutes of conversation. I am compliant for a couple compliments from you. I will do whatever you say for a sweet word. You think that is okay? You think that is normal? Sherlock, I am normal by your standards, but to everyone else in the world I am a freak. I am a push over. I was taught, through my childhood not to piss people off because I could get hurt. I learned to be quiet as a mouse so I don't gain too much attention. I am not normal, and I was never okay."
"Molly-"
"No Sherlock. I am not budging on this. John needs to be 90 days sober, and if after I let her go home with him he continues to drink... I am going to the channels, I will adopt Rosie if I need to. He will not ruin her life." I told him before hearing a giggle and I turned to see Rosie getting pink over her white cast now and she met my eyes and smiled wide.
"When shall I tell him that she will never come home Molly?" Sherlock snapped and I just looked back up at him.
"If you are too worried about what it will do to him, I will tell him. I will tell him when he eventually remembers to pick her up, and if he smells I will tell him to come back sober. I will not have a conversation twice." I told him and moved. "If this was your child he would have no hesitation to take it from you." I told him and he opened his mouth as if to say something and then clamped it shut.
"Miss Hooper, she is ready to head out now. I take it you have done all the paper work." I heard the nurse and Rosie came out of the room, swinging one arm as the other was only moving a couple millimeters.
"Uncle! Can you sign my cast?" She held out a pen the nurse must have given her for her friends and I just smiled as Sherlock took her pen, whispered something to her and made her giggle before capping the pen and standing up. "Can we Aunt Molly?"
"What did he ask?" I asked her and she looked from him to me and I just waited.
"I told her that milk and calcium gets her bones to heal quicker... and there is both in ice cream." Sherlock told me and I worked my jaw for a millisecond, fixing my face into a smile as Rosie tugged on my jumper and begged until I simply nodded to her.
They held hands, me trailing behind slowly. He picked the shop, something he used to research to make sure that he would know the best places to bring Rosie. He held her close as she looked into the bins and I just sat back and watched. He really was good at making her forget things, and learn new ones.
She came over, two scoops in a bowl, Sherlock offered me a cone with my simple strawberry flavor and sat with his chocolate cone. She kept asking him things about bones, and differences between a break and a sprain, and he started to tell her how to inflict both.
"Sherlock." I called in warning and he looked from me to Rosie who did look so into what he was saying. "Maybe you can try it when your arm isn't in a cast love." I told her and she sighed but sat back down.
"You can still move your fingers right?" She wiggled them to show off and he smiled wide. "I think it's time for another present Molly. Let's eat up and head out."
I watched Sherlock eat quickly, enjoying his time with Rosie. I finished eating as we walked, they were taking turns after turns, and I finished before we got to the old music shop before we all went in.
"Pick something, any item, and I will get you a teacher." He told her and I looked around, pianos, flutes, clarinets, violins. She went around, looking at the saxophone before moving on to drums, and other things before she looked right to Sherlock, and then she pointed to a black violin.
"If I get that then you can teach me." Rosie told him and I bit my lip as he gave her a smile.
"Only if it really interested in it. No need to be bored with something that is supposed to help you think, or learn." He told her, shooting me a look before taking it off the wall and gently handing it to her.
She put it right up to her chin, smiling like she liked the feel of it. "Will you teach me all of your compositions too?" She asked him and I saw his eyes light up a smidge before nodding. "Even the sad ones?"
"Any and all if that is what you wish."
Sherlock bought her the violin, a new case, a great bow, everything to go along with a new player. Then we went back to my flat.
He showed her how to tune it, and I started on a dinner for all three of us. Rosie always had her ways of making sure Sherlock ate.
It was past 11 when I noticed Sherlock exhale deeply. Rosie had fallen asleep ages ago, and John hadn't messaged, or popped by yet. "Is he always late?" He asked me and I gulped.
"He always forgets. Sometimes when she stays with me for the day he doesn't come until noon the next." I told him and took the last long drink of my wine. "He'll arrange another day for me to take her, not care if I need to find someone to cover my shift when he needs it."
"How often have you had her?" There was a mild tone in his voice, like he was worried, or distraught.
"I usually have her 4 nights out of the week." I told him and he sighed and steepled his hands under his chin.
"How did I not notice?" He asked, softly, like he didn't mean to ask aloud.
"He lies pretty well, he doesn't know he lying most of the time. He probably forgets. If you are simply asking how she is, I bet he tells you fine, and it's not a lie because she is always fine with me. Sherlock… he needs help. He's not like you. Rehab might help him." I told him and he looked over at me, worried and I saw the way his eyes darted around my face before he stood and held out his hand to me. "What?"
"Just take my hand." He pleaded and so I did. He pulled me in, my shock was apparent because he sent me a small smile. "I am deeply sorry for what I said this morning at the hospital. It was rude and wrong and I know that now." My shock only got worse, but I wasn't opening and closing my mouth like a fish, I just watched him and waited.
"I'll help you in anyway that I can... Telling John, getting Rosie up to speed on things, watching her when you do have to work." He told me and I gulped. "I am her godfather, Mary chose me as well." He added and I just looked towards the room he used to take over, and then the room Rosie was in.
"You don't have to Sherlock-"
"Yes I do." He cut me off, shaking his head and I saw the narrowed eyes. He wasn't going to take no for an answer.
"Fine. I do have to do the night shift on Friday. I will talk to Mike about what is going on... discretely. Tell him I need normal school hours." I started to ramble, but Sherlock just nodded at them and moved along and then agreed to get 'business hours' for small clients. Also told me that he would check in about cases before they got too high in the scale.
"And I will handle John." He added and I gulped.
"You don't have to Sherlock. Really. This is what I am doing for Rosie. It wasn't your idea." I told him and he shook his head.
"I should have seen all of this a long time ago Molly. I am a horrible god father and friend, and by helping you I will improve." He told me and I saw his eyes flash to the door, and he walked towards his jacket. "I will go and find out where he is... tell him not to come by here... and then tomorrow morning I will be by just after breakfast. I guess she still wakes up close to 7?" He asked and I nodded. Usually, but today was long so she might wake up a bit later.
He left, a promise to come by after breakfast, and I got one text about 45 minutes after he left saying he found and told John, and that while he was drunk he didn't take it well. Sherlock had to head home and clean a cut on his cheek and he said John needed to be told sober.
I laid in bed, sleeping peacefully until I heard a loud crash, I sat up and was out the door, looking and turning on lights. I checked on Rosie and she was still out cold. I walked to the front, still flipping on lights and that is when I saw John, his hand was bloody, my door windows were smashed, he was laughing and asking me to open the door.
"C'mon Molls, I just want to get her home." He called out and I rushed for my phone, calling the police before getting my home phone to call Sherlock.
"What is it?" Sherlock sounded half awake.
"John is here, and he's smashed my window. His hand is bad, and I called the cops. I won't press charges but he will go to the drunk tank." I told him and I heard the throat clearing before whooshes.
"I am on my way now." He told me before hanging up.
"Calling your wanna be boyfriend? Sherlock doesn't care about you Molls. He only cares about Rosie. And he did care about Mary. He might care for me... but you?" He made the pfft noise before laughing hard. "You could get surgery to look like The Woman and he wouldn't give you the time of day." He repeated things like that until the cops were hefting him up, and even still when Sherlock arrived he tried to make him confirm what he was saying. I was inside trying to find some heavy duty tape when Sherlock walked into the kitchen.
"How long had he been talking that trash?"
"After I hung up with you." I told him and moved to hand over the tape to a man willing to help.
"You know that's wrong right?" He asked me and I just shrugged.
"Drunk mouth and sober thoughts. Obviously he never thought I was good enough for you." I laughed lightly, wiping away a stray tear before shaking my head. "Guess Mary chose me as God Mother." I told him and shook my head before going to get a drink.
"Rosie asleep?" He asked just after the last cop left.
"Yeah, slept through the whole lot. I am so glad I got that room soundproofed." I told him and sighed.
"Molly?" Sherlock called when I went to get the bag of glass.
"Yes Sherlock?" I asked back and kept walking until the glass was in the bin before turning back to him.
"Irene Adler might have been The Woman... but she wasn't Thee Woman I wanted. You were."
SO I rewatched Series 2 ep. 1 and at the very end when he flips the phone in his hands he say "The Woman..." he then moves to put it in the desk and he starts to move his hand, like he did to the note on Molly's gift... and then says 'Thee Woman." Two different tones for two very different feelings and objects.