Molly's Soundtrack

Genre: Romance, Friendship, Family

Pairings: Greg and Molly, Sherlock and Sally in the background

Main characters: Molly, Greg

Mollstrade tie-ins: Tuning in the Neighbours; Loose Strings

The first time Molly had discovered Greg's musical hobby, she had been intrigued.

She had been looking for something in their old small flat, what it was, she could no longer recall. Perhaps it was an extra blanket for the bed they shared several times per week. Or maybe she had been searching for something more benign, like a storage container, or a whisk, still stashed away in a moving box in his spare room.

That's when she had found his guitar.

It didn't have a fine layer of dust, like the other items. It was actively used, and cared for. She didn't need to be Sherlock Holmes to make that deduction.

Then, after their engagement and she had officially moved in, she had heard him play, and she was fascinated.

He had played his guitar in front of her, admitting readily that he had never played in front of anyone save for his dwarf gouramis and mollies until then. Oh, and Toby. While Molly had been on shift at St. Bart's on those days when his own shifts were slightly askew from hers, and he had some time at home by himself before she arrived back, he had pulled out his guitar for a little tune or seven. Toby had seemed to approve, pussyfooting, literally, over towards Greg, "booping" his elbow in a shameless bid for a belly rub, then settling down at Greg's feet, purring all the while.

Molly had never envied her cat more in her life.

The first time Greg sang in front of her, he had seemed painfully shy, embarrassed almost, and definitely self-deprecating.

Molly had thought he had a beautiful voice, velvety almost, a surprising contrast to the deep gravelly tones he spoke with most of the time, though some of the time, she had found, he spoke in an even lower tone, his voice shifting into something that didn't even sound like him. It was all-together different, posher even, and she thought, definitely on a whole other level of sexy.

She didn't think much about the musical side of the people in her life for quite some time after that. Greg still played often, he still sang on occasion if she begged him to, but otherwise, she enjoyed what she got, and it became a part of the background landscape of who he was and the myriad of things she loved about him.

When they were married, she hadn't even realized that Sherlock and Sally Donovan even liked each other, let alone would collaborate on the song that she and Greg would hold each other so utterly obliviously for their first dance as husband and wife.

It sounded beautiful, watching the wedding video later on. Sherlock on violin and Sally stepping decidedly out of her comfort zone for Greg's sake – singing a gorgeously passionate rendition of "At Last."

In retrospect, Molly Hooper-Lestrade would realize that those moments of musical partnership between Sherlock and Sally may have been the start of their friendship – ultimately leading towards the casual contentment they now had in each other's embrace, finally acknowledged and appreciated.

Molly heard Greg's music, and she treasured it – in spite of all of his self-deprecating protestations. She valued it, and him, especially at that certain point, when there were twin baby boys who, for a time, would only be soothed by their father's music, and her emotional exhaustion had her near tears.

Greg had discovered Rosie's favourite song, not long after their move to Baker Street. Then, his strumming, and his slow but persistent foray into fingerstyle, seemed to set Sally into her own rhythm in creating a gift for the man she loved, but didn't see yet that she loved him. Molly recognized it from her own past experience with Greg, and of what she knew as "Cranial Rectal Inversion Syndrome."

In short, Sally Donovan had, for quite some time, her head up her ass. And so did Sherlock Holmes.

When they had finally sorted themselves out and, as their beloved departed Mary Watson would have said, "gotten the hell on with it", and Greg had continued to play and sing in front of her, now occasionally with Rosie as his exclusive audience, Molly had discovered her second, and what would ultimately be her final, pregnancy.

In the throes of hormones that she hated for their embarrassing insistence, yet knew she would miss when they waned in a few short months, Molly had seduced her husband shamelessly and frequently, especially if he saw fit to woo her with his guitar.

Okay, so he was just, in fact, "playing" - not, technically speaking, "wooing".

"Do you know what my favourite anagram is, you sexy silver fox?" she murmured from behind him, almost purring the words out of her throat directly into his ear.

The sound had made Greg stop short, the notes from his guitar coming to an abrupt halt, his focus utterly shifted.

Greg, being of sound mind and willing body, had simply set his guitar aside.

"What's that, then love?"

"Song," she said, as she moved herself to face him, bringing her hands up to hold his face. Greg rose an eyebrow and grinned, having a good general idea where her train of thought was leading, but still curious about the specifics.

"Oh?" he asked, sounding like sexy posh Greg.

"It's another way to spell "snog," she whispered, as she moved in for the prize.

Later on, she would lay next to him as he dozed, smiling and thinking about how music had become such a part of her life – starting with Sherlock, continuing with Greg, and now the little group they all called "The Baker Street Trio" – an accidental partnership born of John Watson busting Greg (who had initially been solidly nicked by Sherlock) and Sherlock practicing a contemporary duet. John, losing himself in the notes, had begun to sing along in his clear tenor, and Baker Street history had been made.

Molly's life, she realized – well, all of their lives at 221 Baker Street, if one wanted to extend it, had a soundtrack, of sorts.

And now, nearly a year later, when life had gone on with gorgeous normalcy, and families had expanded, and hearts had been acknowledged and fulfilled… and promises made and bonds made unbreakable, there was one special track left to add to that soundtrack.

An auspicious event – a very auspicious event – was pending, and it would likely involve nearly everyone who lived at that humble address.

Molly had just one obstacle – she needed to convince the two most stage-shy members of the Baker Street Trio to step outside of their comfort zone for said very special event.

Molly was confident she could do it, and so… she did.