Sherlock was surprised to say the least to be back in London, walking into Bart's, and not finding the one person he needed to talk to.
Turns out, she had been fired. That was her bad day.
And he had only made it worse. The East Wind really did break her.
He searched and searched, and the only explanation was that she went home. Like she had done when he "died" for a couple months.
That was how she met bloody meatdagger.
He took his time, wrapping up any political probelms, making sure the facility was never compromised again, visiting his mute sister and playing with her.
He took almost a year before he sat down, and looked through his mail. Only to get nothing important. He looked up Molly's name and searched and searched before he saw her, over Christmas just last week, in the paper. Someone had taken a shot of her under the mistletoe with a big shiny ring on her very important finger.
Digging more on the guy who was named in the picture, he found not a single flaw. No ex, no kids, no affair.
Just as he was getting through the news, John walked in, talking and only upon hearing Molly's name did Sherlock pay attention but he had missed the important part.
"Start again John." He held up his hand and stood up and advanced on him.
"She sent me her wedding invitation." He dug through his coat before handing it over. The invitation was for him and Rosie only. No 1 and Sherlock surely didn't get one.
He was not invited.
He huffed and rolled his eyes at the date they planned. Valentine's Day. He could imagine it now... red hearts from the tops of the ceiling, balloons and heart shaped cakes and favors and anything that would be so easy to do.
She was not in love.
Sherlock tossed the invitation back in Johns hands after catching the town name and went right to his room.
"What are you doing?" John asked through the door since Sherlock had slammed it.
"Packing. No cases until further notice!" He shouted back and less then ten minutes later Sherlock was walking through the entire flat, looking for things he needed as well to finish packing.
He got his things, grabbed the keys to the car, and he drove calmly to the town he had only heard in little stories Molly would share.
He headed to the florist shop, knowing that was the place her mother owned and saw that it was closed to a dress fitting down the street.
He took a deep breath, thinking about what to do. He wanted this sham of a wedding to end as quick as possible.
So he opted for the fastest way. Leaving the car on the street with his bags inside he went walking down the store fronts before he pushed his way into the white covered store.
He heard chatter and he walked into the back, watching as women around a small table in a couple mismatched chairs, sipping wine and he waited as someone shouted they were coming out.
He lost his breath as Molly came out. White from shoulders, well off the shoulders, down to the floor.
She was beaming and looked breathtaking. There was lace around her much smaller stomach, he put a pin in that deduction and watched her twirl.
"It's like a bell!" She giggles and moves her hips back and forth before getting up on the little pedestal. She looked in the mirror, and he saw the smile, but he could tell it didn't reach her eyes.
She was putting up such a front for these women, but he could tell she was slightly enjoying being the center of attention. She got giggly when someone brought out the matching veil.
It was placed, and Sherlock felt his heart sink as she started to tear up. He could tell it wasn't from feeling complete, but rather incomplete.
"Oh honey your cryin, guess this is the entire order!" Her mum stood up and moved to hug her, wiping her own tears and then cupping her face when Molly moved the veil back.
He waited for her to notice, and when she did she turned away quick and said she had a lunch date with David to get to.
She got charged and changed and she met him outside with her arms crossed and waiting.
"What are you doing here Sherlock?" She crossed her arms, didn't make eye contact and she kept shifting her weight.
"Wanted to stop this before it goes further." He told her and she rolled her eyes. "Why wasn't I invited Molly?"
"Because you'd do this! You deduce and for once in your long career Sherlock, you're wrong. I can't wait to marry David." She turned to go but turned back after a minute. "You're not welcome around here Sherlock."
"I'll be around to see for myself." He told her and she shook her head before turning and leaving him standing there in front of the dress shop, and she went to the pub and ordered a white wine.
She hadn't had any all day while she tried on dresses, mostly in fear of being a klutz and having to buy more than one dress if she messed them up.
During the past 8 and a half months she had come home, took over her mums flower shop, met David, a wonderful man who paid attention to her and had conversations with her and never once did he say something to get his way.
And over Thanksgiving, which was his holiday since he was born and grew up in America, he purposes, telling her just how thankful he was to have met her.
She and David made sense. He was her age, he wanted kids, he wanted a home and a little wife. He wasn't into anything dangerous he didn't make her feel two feet tall or insecure about her body... he was just right for her.
Her puzzle piece.
She smiled at the term, drank the rest of her wine before heading right back to the flower shop.
It was boring work, but easy. She closed and opened any time she wanted, she was her own boss. She just had to make a bouquet and order more flowers when she ran out.
Keep the books, pay taxes... keep up with kids one day soon. Hopefully.
While she hadn't waited for marriage, David had and they both agreed, given their age, kids would be the first thing they would work on.
She was excited to be thinking about baby names and looking through baby furniture. She had helped Mary when she had Rosie, and ever since she held that little girl in her arms... the biological clock that hadn't ticked yet began faster in Molly's mind than the regular clocks around them.
That was why she made a play to get married as soon as possible, on the most romantic day possible, and she was planning every single thing down to the G in wedding.
She had made a list a long time ago, when she used to have slow days in the morgue, and she had actually planned her wedding to Sherlock.
She laughed at the thought even now, and she thought about the fact she hadn't changed a single detail. In her picture perfect wedding she would still be marrying him... the git.
Molly couldn't work, couldn't sleep, not even eat the next morning and she had him to blame for it all. He came into the shop with lunch and sat down, on her stool!
"What are you doing?"
"Waiting?" He made it sound like a question and Molly just rolled her eyes and went back to putting in new flowers. "Why not take up a new ME position here in town Molly?"
"None of your business Sherlock." She told him and he dusted his hands to his side and all over the clean floor.
"Mum needed you to take over when you came back huh? She never did approve of you working with dead bodies did she?" He huffed and crossed his own arms as he looked around.
"Like I said, none of your business." She reiterated and went into the back to get a broom. Cleaning up his crumbs and some chuckle she went over and cleaned up the leaves she had trimmed and took it into the back and then waited.
"So where is David? I haven't even seen him around."
"He's a fisherman... goes out early." She told him and she watched him smirk even wider.
"Why are you with someone as stupid as a fisherman?"
"He's not stupid. And it's a job that pays the bills and has good hours."
"You just said he is out early. What kind of good hour is that?"
"I meant they are practical. No three day trips out or town or nights wandering about after criminals or being shot at... really quite relieved that there's barely any danger." Molly told him and even as she tried to cover up the lie, she felt bad for letting that price slip out.
"Why did you get fired from Bart's?" He asked and she gulped.
"If you didn't ask-"
"I did. They said it was personal and that they were not at liberty to say." He hummed and watched her look away. "Soo... why?"
"Someone called me a pathetic human being since I was a cling-on groupie of yours and I slapped him." She told him flat out and turned to look busy dusting.
"Who was it?"
"Doesn't matter. He was higher ranking and I got the pink slip after lunch the day you called to play that game."
"It wasn't a game Molly. My sister wrecked havoc on me and John and Mycroft. She lied and said she was going to blow you up if I didn't make you say those words. She some how got a casket for you, one even you would pick out."
"What? Even me?" Molly asked wondering where a sister fit into this equation.
"Euros. She killed my childhood best friend, tried to kill my entire family in a fire... set a fire in the first insane asylum she was in... and is now on a top secret island only Mycroft and well equipped soldiers are welcome to visit now."
"Stop making things-"
"I could take you to her, she doesn't speak anymore. Proof and all that." He told her before she seemed shaken.
"No. I don't want anything to do with any of the Holmes family."
"You love me Molly. And I will not let you marry a man-"
"You don't love me Sherlock. What am I supposed to do? Stay in love for years until I die and be buried in a simple casket like your sister assumed I would get?" Sherlock didn't understand why she was getting upset, he was getting to his feelings.
"You're not supposed to plan a very obvious loveless marriage and wedding to a man you don't really know. You're not supposed to marry someone when you love someone else... and you're sure as hell not supposed to run off because things become real and not some fantasy!" Sherlock shouted. Feeling slightly guilty when she looked worried about how much he was yelling. This was the first time he had ever yelled at her, and he already felt like a bastard for doing it.
"What do you know about fantasy Sherlock? What do you know about mine?" He couldn't possibly deduce that out of her. Molly knew she had never wrote it down or heard her talking about it, so he either was assuming or he had some of his own.
"I know you Molly. I know you've been in love with me far longer than I've been in love with you, at least how long I have been acknowledging my love. I know you want two kids. I know you want a marriage based on love and friendship. I know-"
"And how long have you been in love with my Sherlock? 8 and a half months?"
"Four years." He knew he was counting his time away. Once he admitted that he needed her, his mind worked over time in why it had to be Molly and not someone Mycroft could find... because he worried over her, because he wanted her to know, because he needed her to be there. Because he loved her.
"That makes no sense- that's before-"
"Before Moriarty blew his brains out and I was gone for two years. I know. I loved you then, I love you now, and I was sure I was never going to get anywhere with you." He told her and took a step closer to her. "I love you. I love you. I love you Molly Hooper."
He said it twice on the phone that day and she didn't believe him, so he added her name and one more time to drill it into her brain.
"And you took this long to come and find me... why?" She asked, her eyes still narrowed but her posture was relaxing.
"I've been looking. I was giving you space, waiting for you to come back. I didn't want to force myself on you." He told her and she huffed out a laugh. "Why is that funny?"
"You're Sherlock Holmes. You actually waited for something? For me?" She giggles again, covering her mouth before shaking her head. "No, you must of just let it go. Forgot it or put it to the side." She waved her hand and finished her laughing before she felt the pain like she used to. The fact she was so in love with him but he could forget about her for weeks on end... it always made her cry herself to sleep.
"Why are you sad now?" He asked trying to catch her eye as she kept her face away from him. Her sad smile appearing to replace the giggles.
"Just a memorable thought of you forgetting me for weeks on end when I lived in London."
"I never forgot about you! Did I stop going to see you when I didn't need to bother you? Yes. Did I let you try and move on from me? Yes. Did you eventually find someone without knowing my feelings, yes! But now that you know there is no reason for you to move on with someone you don't really love."
"I do love him." Molly knew she didn't believe that, but that was her word and she was going with it.
"You might... like you love John... but not like you love me." Sherlock stepped closer to her, like he had done just a few times in the past. Stepped so close that she could feel the heat radiating off of him. Could smell the shaving cream he used this morning. She could even smell the coffee he had this morning as if he was blowing on it down and she was just getting the aroma.
"I can't be with you Sherlock. You would never let me-"
"I will never let you go Molly. Not again if this is what you intend to do." Molly watched as he opened up his jacket and dig inside before pulling out a paper. "This is for you. Signed and dated."
He hesitated for a moment, not sure if he should but then he leaned down and kissed the corner of her mouth. Lingering before turning and walking out.
"I'm at the only hotel... I'm the only guest." He added as well before he walked out on her, leaving her standing in the flower shop shaking from fury and confused from every nerve ending in her body.
Molly held the paper as she went to sit on the stool now, her hand went up and traced where his lips had been, and she took her time unfolding the simple white paper. Except it wasn't simple at all.
It was a marriage license. Her name printed and Sherlock's full name printed, and he had signed it. Dated 7 months ago.
Molly sat in the flower shop until it was dark. Planning which life she wanted most.
If she wanted to stay here and make babies and get married to a fisherman and rub a flower shop.
Or if she wanted to go back to what she loved and went to school for, maybe have a baby, and marry Sherlock, the love of her life.
At the very end of the day she wrote her own letter, leaving that along with another letter on the desk. Adding the ring he had given her to the one marked with her now second ex fiancé... she took the marriage license and went to the hotel.
She asked which room he was in and walked down the hallway to number 6 before pausing. Was she sure?
It took a moment to remind herself of the points in his favor before knocking quickly and taking a deep breath.
He was opening the door faster than he had done anything for her and she gulped when he smiled.
"There will be rules to marriage with me Sherlock. And the first one is... when you want something you ask like any other human being would ask it." She crossed her arms, waiting.
He seemed to lag for a second before he got down on one knee, then he stood holding his hands up for her to wait and she sighed then giggled when he came back with a ring box. "Molly Hooper... Please Marry me next week." He was already slipping the diamond and sapphire ring onto her hand before she could nod.
"I have more requests first Sherlock." She pushed herself into the room and he raised her hand to his neck and hummed as he waited and pulled her close. "A child."
"Just one? Maybe 3 or 4?"
"I'm a little too old-"
"We could always adopt if the number is not able to work itself out from us." He shushed her and she felt her heart swell a bit. He had thought about that? "And dogs, no cats. I know Toby passes on a couple months ago but I think getting a puppy before your pregnant means it will be protective over you and the baby, and then get along with kids-"
"Sherlock..."
He paused and looked back down to her. "Yes?"
"Say it again?" She whispered, wondering if he knew what she wanted to hear.
"I love you Molly Hooper."