What Molly Missed

Genre: Family, Friendship

Pairings: Greg and Molly

Main characters: Molly, Mrs. Hudson

Mollstrade tie-ins: Continues the "Missing" drabbles series in "The Chosen Ties that Bind"

Molly Hooper-Lestrade liked boys. Really she did.

She loved them, in fact. Adored them, even.

But even for Molly, the sheer magnitude of the males to female ratio was getting to be a bit much.

She had married a gorgeous one, a certifiably dishy silver fox, after moving in with him with her cat Toby – another boy of course.

Together, she and Greg had had twins. Both boys, naturally, Gregory Scott, known as Scott, and John William, known as Johnnie.

The tropical freshwater fish in Greg's aquarium consisted of three dwarf gouramis, and four smaller top feeder fish – mollies, Greg had deliberately chosen - for neighbourly filler to keep the gouramis happy and content in the peaceful community fish tank. Every single bloody one of those fish were, not surprisingly, male. They didn't need a fry factory after all.

Molly wouldn't have been the least bit surprised to find out that the algae eaters living in the tank's "basement" were boys as well.

Molly loved all of her boys – even every one of the damned fish – but she really, really missed having a girl around.

Most specifically, Rosie Watson, and the company of another particular adult woman – Mrs. Hudson.

She found herself trying to stall Sally Donovan of all people, when she'd stop by the Lestrade flat to talk to Greg. Tried to serve her an extra cup of tea, or engage her in a continuous conversation that didn't seem to have much by way of an out for Sally.

Sally, in her own way, understood, and was patient. She didn't even mind helping Molly out with the twins for a few minutes, as long as it didn't involve changing any nappies or getting puked on. She had found that Johnnie had a spunkier personality, but little Scott was a bit more reserved. Both of the identical twins were endearing, most closely resembling Greg in their looks, although they did seem to take after Molly in smaller ways. Sally found herself preferring Scott, who was less restless and wiggly when she held him, and he seemed to like her enough. Sally Donovan wasn't much for babies, but these ones she could handle in small doses.

That suited Molly just fine. Any port in a storm, she'd say.

And then one day, a miracle appeared at her door.

Mrs. Hudson, with Rosie in tow. Molly nearly cried with joy at seeing not one, but two beloved and much-missed females – and one of them was even an adult, and not in a hurry to leave because technically she was on duty.

Ah… bliss!

Mrs. Hudson had come in, handed Rosie over, and promptly gone over to the cot to pick up the closest available boy – Johnnie, as it turned out, as Scott seemed to be deep in contented slumber.

"I just came by to see you, Molly dear it's been ages since you've been by Baker Street!"

"Oh, I know Mrs. Hudson, I've just been so tired and overwhelmed lately. Greg does his best but he does have his job to tend to as well. Honestly it wouldn't surprise me if he were even more tired than I am."

"Oh, dear me, I don't remember this flat being so… small," Mrs. Hudson suddenly said, glancing around with a concerned tsk.

"Oh… well, it wasn't to start with. Babies need a lot of stuff though. Two babies even worse. I suppose Greg wasn't counting on adding a new wife and two children to this flat when he first moved into it."

Mrs. Hudson thought back, smiling inwardly, at the idea she'd had begun to form earlier in the week when Greg had stopped by 221B.

"Well, perhaps soon you can start to look for a new place to move to. Someplace with more room. Maybe even closer to Rosie, and John and Sherlock," Mrs. Hudson said sweetly. "And me, of course. I do miss you so."

Mrs. Hudson and Rosie had stayed for a couple of hours, rejuvenating Molly with a sense of true sisterhood and helping her to feel a bit less smothered by males of various species, however much she loved all of them.

She thought about Mrs. Hudson's visit while she stumbled around the tiny, crowded flat, wondering if there actually WERE any larger places available closer to Baker Street.

And on the day several weeks later, when she had heard a painful sounding thud for the third time that day, her husband's muted, muffled and frustrated attempts to avoid yelling "BOLLOCKS!" in his booming voice in the boys' room, and heard a soft whump as a pile of previously neatly stacked nappies and onesies hit the floor, Molly found herself more than ready to hear what Greg had to say when he brought up the subject of moving into a bigger flat.

He'd even had a suggestion as to where.

Molly didn't think she had ever felt this much relief.

"Well, boys," she had said later on, a twin in each arm and watching Toby harass the gouramis in the fish tank. "Looks like it's not going to be just you and me for much longer." She turned her face to place a solid, smacking kiss on first Johnnie's chubby cheek, and then Scott's, much to their giggling delight. Toby abandoned the fish and began to weave around her feet, purring and rubbing against her shins, sounding like the happiest cat in the world. Even the fish seemed livelier, darting around through the waterfall of the filter unit and playing in the bubbles from the air pump.

Molly didn't think there was a single living boy in that tiny little flat who wasn't just as happy as she was about the prospect of moving to a larger flat.

That suited Molly just fine.