Chapter 5 Facing Molly

Despite the fact that John had slept almost the entire afternoon and evening he fell asleep while Sherlock played the violin. With a startle he woke up when Sherlock yelled: "Come on John, we're on our way to Molly." Sherlock already was wearing his coat and put on his gloves. "Really John, still sleepy after all the hours you slept yesterday?" he said with a smile. John saw the excitement in his eyes. He really hoped that Molly would have some answers. Who else would give them to them. Mycroft certainly wouldn't.

At St. Barts Sherlock immediately walked over to the morgue, knowing that it was the first thing Molly did starting her shift. After all, she needed to know if during the night new corpses were brought in.

With a friendly smile he walked in and said: "Good morning Molly. Have you done something with your hair. It looks good. You must keep it this way."

Molly looked up from her list. She saw Sherlock and John standing next to her. And Sherlock was very friendly. She immediately knew he wanted something from her.

"What do you want" she said with a sigh. No good morning Sherlock or good morning John. Nothing. It sounded that it was inevitable to respond but her response wasn't heartily given.

"Molly, are you alright?" Sherlock asked. It sounded concerned. His face showed he cared.

Molly looked in his eyes. Mostly she was too shy to look to long but now it seemed she was searching for something.

Sherlock became intrigued. This wasn't the Molly he knew. Something happened yesterday and Molly had changed overnight. She definitively was involved in whatever it was. Mmm. It seemed that his charm wouldn't work on her. How could he persuade her to tell him everything he wanted to know.

"Yes, I'm fine, thank you for asking. If you would excuse me, I have a lot of work to do today. Good day gentlemen."

Before Sherlock knew what happened, Molly wandered off. Sherlock followed her with his eyes.

"What was that?" John asked, confusion written on his face. "Why is Molly acting this way? Were you sincere in your compliment about the hair or did she notice that it was a fake one. And were you sincere in her being ok?" He looked at Sherlock and noticed that he was curious.

"John, I may have exaggerated a little bit about her hair but the fact I wanted to know if she was ok, was sincere." His words barely left his mouth and Sherlock squeezed his eyes. Mmm, Sherlock thought, since when do I care about how other people feel. Or is it just Molly? Strange, I don't care. Caring is not an advantage. So why would I want to know if she was ok? Feelings. He couldn't work with that. John would know.

"John, why do I want to know if she's ok?" he asked confused.

John looked at him and gave him a smile. "Because she's your friend" he replied softly.

"I don't have friends, John, just you." It almost sounded as a snarl as if confessing this was a mortal sin.

"Does that mean that I'm the only person in your life you consider to be your friend and that you only care for me? Let me tell you something, you're wrong. I know you care for me. After all, you gave your life to save me. But not only for me, but also for Mrs. Hudson and Greg Lestrade. You asked Molly, the only person you trust besides Mycroft to help you and she did. What were you thinking? That you don't have friends, just one? Sherlock, the fact that you shield your heart to let people in, doesn't mean that they aren't already there. You only didn't notice. This night when you checked to see if Mrs. Hudson was ok, you sighed with relief to see she just was sleeping. If you really didn't care, you wouldn't have gone downstairs in the first place. Then you called Molly. I know just to check if she had slept during the day. But my guess would be that if she hadn't responded you would have gone to her place to check on her. Did you really think that Greg would call you, or that Molly would give you body parts of that Mrs. Hudson would give you tea if they didn't care about you? They even wouldn't come over for Christmas if that was the case."

When Sherlock wanted to react John raised his hand and said: "No. I can flatter myself for telling that people like me but if they really would despise you, they really wouldn't come on any party we're giving. Simple as that. Conclusion. They like you too. Mrs. Hudson and Molly were so pleased to see you again after you know... And even Greg hugged you. "

Sherlock then gave a sly smile. "Does this means that you don't care? After all, you hit me when I came back."

John started to laugh. "Yeah," he grinned "you could draw that conclusion. Well, come on, let's find Molly and see if she has anything to say about that captain fellow."

Sherlock's expression changed from happy into curious again. On his way to Molly he thought about John's words. Feelings. He was not familiar with them, but the way John described it made sense. John's conclusion that the people already were in his heart was something he hadn't noticed. But it was true. He did gave his life to protect John, Lestrade and Mrs. Hudson. He also would have given his life to save Molly. Mmm.

When he entered the lab, Molly was busy filling in some papers. Sherlock walked over to his experiment. John noticed that Molly looked at them, but she didn't say anything. John considered that Sherlock must have a plan and he decided to let him play the game.

Sherlock looked at his experiment. He saw that despite the fact that they have left it, he still could continue. He only had to do a few adjustments.

"Any good?"

"I only have to do a few adjustments and we can continue."

It seemed he was busy but from the corner of his eye he saw Molly watching them. By her stance Sherlock was pretty sure she would never tell.

"John," he said in a low voice. "It looks that she's not gonna give us anything. I would suggest you go and have a coffee with her. Ask her why she's so 'grumpy'. And try to find anything about that captain.

"Why me?" John asked quietly.

"Don't you notice the way she looks at us? And I can tell I'm not her favourite anymore." So who's the guy she fancies now."

"Do you really think that she fancies the captain?"

"Please John, go ask her for a coffee."

"Ok, it's too early. I wait an hour and then ask her. See if she's accepting my invitation."

Sherlock and John worked for the next hour on his experiment. From time to time Sherlock watched Molly and he noticed that Molly watched them. The friendly atmosphere that always was there, seemed off today. He gave a nod to John to go away, pretending that he was too busy to notice that John left.

John stretched himself a little and walked over to Molly. "Are you coming with me for a coffee?" he said in a friendly way. He often had invited her for a coffee when they were busy in the lab and most of the times she had accepted his invitation.

Molly pretended she hadn't seen him coming. She looked up from her files and gave him a brief smile. "Ok," she said.

John saw her face and he immediately noticed that she knew that it wasn't just a coffee offering. Sherlock saw her expression too. He decided to go after them after a few minutes. He never thought that Molly would have guessed their intentions. He underestimated her.

As soon as Molly and John were sitting at a table, in front of them a cup of coffee, Molly said: "Well, John, we often drank coffee together but now I know it isn't just a coffee break. I assume Sherlock ordered you to go and have a drink with me to interrogate me. Right? Well then, what do you want to know. "

John looked a little embarrassed. He sighed. He couldn't lie to Molly. "It has something to do with yesterday," he started.

"Of course. And what do you want to know?"

Molly was sitting with her back at the entrance so she didn't see Sherlock enter the cafeteria. John however saw him approaching them. He stealthily quickly shook his head to warn him not to come over.

Sherlock stood still but he could hear their conversation.

John took a sip of his coffee under while thinking how to phrase his question. 'Sherlock couldn't deduce anything about captain Jack.' No than she wouldn't say anything. He had to phrase it differently. He decided to bluff. "Molly, do you have feelings for Jack?"

Her reaction was not what he expected. She started to laugh.

"Oh John," she said after a while. "Nobody can mess with Sherlock's brains, can they." She still giggled a little.

Well, that wasn't an answer. He still knew nothing.

"Well?" he asked. "I notice the way you behave today. You didn't even said a 'good morning'. And it seems that you don't like Sherlock anymore. My guess would be because you love someone else. So I want to know if Jack is your friend?" He hoped that just saying his first name that it would look like he also knew the guy and that she would fall for that trick.

John took another sip of his coffee.

"It isn't that I don't like Sherlock anymore but something changed yesterday. Sherlock doesn't appreciate me. They do. I deserve it and they show it." Molly started to giggle again. "I guess you both don't have a clue who Jack is and what he looks like, do you? Otherwise you wouldn't ask. I knew it was risky to let them wipe your memory coming from St. Barts. I knew there was a 90% chance you would figure it out. Did they forget to delete you internet history?"

"You knew they would wipe our memory? Why?" Who is he? And how did you became acquainted?

Molly gave John a friendly patch on his arm, finished her coffee and stood up. Then she saw Sherlock standing near their table. She gave him a wink and walked away, leaving both men baffled behind.