Chapter 2- Experiment

Disclaimer : I don't own Sherlock or any of its amazing characters. Damn.

Song recommendation for this chapter - Distance by Christina Perri

Enjoy

"Your skull." Molly crossed her arms in front of her chest as annoyance streaked through her mind. Now that reality was catching up with her, and Molly was beginning to believe that Sherlock was really standing in front of her and that she was not dreaming; she was starting to get a bit annoyed.

"Yes, the one back at Baker Street." Sherlock nodded without even looking at her as he took out his belongings from his bag which Molly hadn't noticed before. "An old friend, if you know what I mean." He muttered under his breath as he took out a suspicious looking container and stood up.

"May I use your refrigerator?" He asked her even as he moved past her and made his way towards the fridge, automatically assuming that he had the permission to do so.

"What for?" Molly stepped in front of Sherlock, effectively blocking his way. For once, she was glad that she didn't stammer or made a fool out of herself and was pleased –and surprised- with the firmness in her voice.

"Experiment." Sherlock said as his eyes locked with Molly's. "Obviously."

"Yes." Molly nodded, refusing to look away. "Right."

"So, let's not waste any more of our time…" Sherlock tried to brush past Molly but she blocked his way again.

What am I doing?She thought to herself as Sherlock frowned down at her. His vividly colored eyes still had the power to pierce right through her soul but somehow, she was starting to feel more confident with her actions. Since Molly had known Sherlock, she had always been the meek, hesitant, mousy looking woman in front of him who he easily dominated and manipulated to get his work done. As far as she remembered, she had always fancied Sherlock. Really fancied him. Until recently, she had taken all his insults, coped with his obstinate personality and had been subjected to harsh words on his side throughout the years.

"Sherlock…I want to say something first." She said quietly as she wrung her hands together in agitation. The fact that he was staring at her without blinking wasn't helping either.

"Yes?" He raised an eyebrow in a perfect arch, silently questioning her about the content of her thoughts.

"I am not the same Molly Hooper which you left behind two years ago." She began, surprised at how strong her voice sounded. "Things have changed. My…feelings have changed." She managed to get out without cringing.

"Feelings." Sherlock sneered uncharacteristically. "A waste of time and energy, if you ask me."

"For you maybe." Molly replied as she stepped out of Sherlock's way. "Not for me." She hoped that Sherlock would understand the hidden meaning behind her words- Molly Hooper was not to be played around with anymore.

Sherlock eyed her curiously, his eyes flitting from one angle of her face to another as if he was trying very hard to read her. She did her best to keep her face expressionless although it was proving to be very tricky as Sherlock continued his analysis on her.

"The fridge is yours, then." She said quickly to break the awkward silence. She turned around to leave the room so that she could gather her thoughts but she inhaled sharply as a warm hand closed around her wrist. She didn't turn around and instead closed her eyes as Sherlock drew her closer to his body until there was almost no space between them and his lips were right at her ear.

"I am failing miserably. This is not how it's supposed to go." He murmured in his gravelly voice, his lips barely grazing the upper portion of her ear. Her skin tingled sensitively and she tried her best not to faint right into his arms.

"What do you want, Sherlock?" She asked him as she still kept her eyes closed and reminded herself to breathe.

"John."

Inhale. Exhale…what?

"Huh?" She whirled around to face him, her eyes growing wide by the second. "Oh….oh! You should have told me earlier that you are…I did have my doubts…"

"What? No, no!" Sherlock ran a hand through his curly black fringes as he let out a frustrated sigh. "Married to my work, remember Molly?"

"Then…?"

"I need John! I need him here, standing by my side, interpreting all this -" He took a deep shuddering breath as he waved a hand in Molly's direction. "All this…I don't even have a name for "this"!"

"I've lost you, I'm afraid." Molly responded after a short pause. She wondered where thing conversation was going because she could neither grasp the head nor the tail of it.

"Course you have." Sherlock shot her a withering look, "And would you mind getting this cat away from me? It's ruining my shoes."

Molly's eyes widened as she looked dawn and saw that Toby, her male cat, was purring and clawing at Sherlock's trousers.

"I think he likes you." Molly managed to say between a fit of giggles. For some reason, the sight of Sherlock battling with her cat seemed hilarious to her.

"Oh for god's sake-" Toby had started to stretch and roamed around in circles between Sherlock's legs, rubbing it's furry little head against the material of his expensive, finely tailored trousers. Sherlock tried to step away from the cat but he just followed him, purring indignantly in protest.

"Okay Toby, go away now, you're bothering Mr. Sherlock." Molly scolded the cat half heartedly as she was thoroughly enjoying Sherlock squirm around.

"How funny, Molly, as if the cat would under-" Sherlock stopped mid sentence as his eyes followed Toby leaving the room. He slowly turned around to face Molly, clearly impressed.

"You have a great amount of influence on that thing." Sherlock observed as he folded his palms together and placed them under his chin, clearly observing Molly's reaction.

"Toby." Molly stressed on the cat's name, "And I suppose I do. Reminds me of something, now that you mention it." The words were out of her mouth before she could stop herself. She wanted to smack herself for her statement and she prayed that Sherlock would not notice the hidden meaning behind her words but of course he did. He was Sherlock.

"Molly Hooper, are you somehow trying to tell me something?"

"It would be best if you settle down now, I'll make us some dinner-"

"Just spit it out." Sherlock stated calmly, effectively cutting her off.

"I-I don't want to. Now, if you will excuse me…" This time, Molly brushed past Sherlock and exited the room. She went into the bathroom and splashed cold water onto her face from the tap. It helped her relax a bit and cleared her head.

In the other room, Sherlock paced around in circles with his hands crossed behind his back. After his return to London, he had made a spontaneous decision to visit Molly at Bart's Hospital. To be honest, he had been a little excited at the prospect of seeing her. During his time away from London, he had missed the city terribly but more than that, he had missed the people which made the city endearing to him. After coming back, he had been almost too confident that John would accept him with open arms but John's anger and his silent treatment had hit him like a huge wave of disappointment. And shock.

Hardly anything ever shocked Sherlock Holmes. He wasn't the world best and only consulting detective for no reason. But John's impending silence was gnawing at his mind day and night. To distract himself, he had decided to pay Molly a visit as he had been sure that at least Molly would be enthusiastic about his return. After all, she was one of the few who knew everything and she had played a central role in his escape from Moriarity. Initially, Molly had been excited. And flustered. And nervous. But Sherlock noticed that as the day progressed, her responses grew more firm and her behavior became more…stable?

This had come as another shock to Sherlock as he was used to a fidgeting, flustering, out of breath Molly. What had changed in these two years?

Finally giving up, Sherlock pulled out his mobile and typed a text.

I need to talk to you. Urgently. SH

He went into his absurdly small contact list and sent the text to John's number. After a few moments, his phone vibrated.

Piss off.

"Fantastic." Sherlock muttered under his breath as he contemplated his next move. He took a deep breath and typed another text.

Could be a matter between life and death. SH

He smirked as he sent this text. He was almost sure that John would come running to him after reading it.

I am well aware of your methods, Sherlock. Now stop bothering me.

Sherlock cursed under his breath as he read John's text. The man was being utterly perplexing and totally impossible to deal with.

As a last resort, Sherlock dialed John's number and waited for him to answer. After five rings, he picked up.

"John, I knew you'd pick up." Sherlock said as relief washed over him.

"Er… it's Sherlock, right? This is Mary actually." Came a female voice from the other end of the phone.

"Ah, Mary." Sherlock immediately switched back to his formal tone. "I assume John stormed off in a fit of rage after reading my texts and left his phone behind?"

Mary laughed at the other end, "You're right. This man can be a little perplexing at times, if you know what I mean." She whispered, afraid lest John hear her and throw a fit.

"Precisely my thoughts." Sherlock said as a quick smile graced his lips. From what all he had been able to gather about Mary, she seemed perfect for John. The idea of relationship and marriages still made him cringe but if John did want to doom himself into an existence of boring normality and dull lifestyle, then Sherlock thought that Mary would be the perfect for him. Just one thing bothered Sherlock about her…she seemed to be hiding something but he decided that it would have to wait for now.

"So, would you like me to pass on any message to John on your behalf? I mean, I can't guarantee that he will listen to me without flipping out but…"

"No, thank you." Sherlock said and almost hung up but another thought came into his mind and his eyes grew wide as he fumbled with the phone, "Oh, Mary?" He said, his voice taking an zealous edge.

"Yes?" Mary answered at the other end, surprised by the sudden change in Sherlock's tone.

"I require your help in a certain matter."

"Dear me, Sherlock Holmes requires my help? I am flattered." Mary said as she let out a little laugh.

Sherlock cleared his throat, "How does one say 'thank you' to a girl?"

He held the phone away from his ear as Mary unexpectedly broke into a fit of laughter. When her giggles subsided, she said, "Oh Sherlock, no wonder John adores you so much. You're full of surprises!"

"You barely know me." Sherlock responded monotonously.

"Oh I know more than you can think. John never stops about you! If I didn't know him better, I'd assume he was harboring deep rooted feelings for you."

"I am quite sure you're exaggerating." Sherlock responded although this new bit of information brought a smirk to his lips. "Anyway."

"Oh yes, sure I would love to help you. Why do you need to thank this particular woman, if I may ask?" Mary asked him curiously.

"She helped me fake my suicide two years ago. I need to thank her for her help." Sherlock said without missing a beat, as if it was the most normal thing in the world.

"Oh…right." Mary replied a bit uncertainly. "Okay….so, take her out for dinner perhaps? Or a movie?"

"Boring." Sherlock responded immediately as he rolled his eyes. "I personally find it perplexing at how a normal human brain works. Don't you get tired of going on dinner dates and movies over and over again?"

"Sherlock ." Mary said, her voice sounding a bit firmer than before, "Would you care to tell me how many dinner or movie dates you have been to in your entire life?"

"Irrelevant question." Sherlock said, checking the time on his watch.

"If you haven't experienced it yourself, how can you label it as boring?" Mary questioned him, already sounding exasperated. Something about her tone reminded Sherlock of John and he almost smiled.

"I don't need to experience it to know how boring or dull it is." Sherlock scoffed. "I like to utilize my time to do other, more important things."

"Okay…think of it as an experiment, Sherlock."

"An experiment?" His interest piqued as soon as he heard the word. "Go on."

"Yes. Now listen to me very carefully and do as I say…"

o~o~o~o~o

After eating a quite dinner by herself later that night, (Sherlock had stated that he was not hungry when she asked him and had locked himself up in Molly's room after that.)Molly decided to call her fiancé, Tom. She had been ignoring his calls and text messages all day and the weight of her engagement ring seemed to grow heavier and heavier on her finger as the day progressed.

She dialed Tom's number and he instantly picked up "Molly! Where the hell have you been?" His voice sounded gravelly because to the bad connection and Molly winced due to the amount of static present on the line.

"I am so sorry, Tom." She began after taking a deep breath, "I know we were supposed to go out today…"

"And you backed out, as usual." Tom snapped at her from the other end, sounding extremely annoyed. "You could have just given me a call, you know. Could have saved us both the trouble."

"Tom, let me exp-" But before she could utter another word, the line went dead. She stared at the phone in shock as unwanted tears started forming in her eyes.

The connection was bad, maybe…maybe he didn't hang up. She tried to comfort herself but deep inside, she knew the truth. Tom was furious with her.

She decided to take a shower at that moment. The warm water would help her relax and clear her mind from unwanted thoughts. She wiped a hand under her eyes to get rid of any escaped tears; the last thing she wanted was Sherlock deducing how she spent her past hour due to the state of her eyes.

She collected a fluffy white towel from the cupboard in the spare room and headed towards the bathroom which lay between the guest room and her room. She patted Toby's head as she passed the sofa. The cat had settled into his favorite spot on the cushion of the sofa and purred at Molly when she scratched his head. This sight gave Molly a little initiative to smile and after one last pat, Molly resumed her journey towards the bathroom. She yawned once as she opened the door and stepped inside. Her eyes were growing heavy with tiredness and she was looking forward to a good night's sleep since she had a busy day ahead of her.

Suddenly, she stopped dead in her tracks and her eyes flew wide open at the sight in front of her. Her tiredness was long forgotten as she gawked at Sherlock's half naked and dripping wet form. He was standing in front of the bathroom mirror with just a towel wrapped around his waist. His hair were wet and slicked back over his forehead, indicating that he had freshly showered. Their eyes briefly met in the mirror's reflection and Molly instantly looked away as a deep, red blush crept over her face and neck.

"Oh my god, I am so sorry I should have knocked-" She gasped as she squeezed her eyes shut and turned away from him, very intent on bolting out of the bathroom.

"You've been crying." Sherlock's deep and calm voice over ruled her mumbled sentences. "Stop." Sherlock said firmly as Molly started walking away.

Sherlock's slightly wet hand closed around her arm as he turned her around to face him. Her heart hammered in her chest as thousands of possibilities crossed her mind. Weird, inappropriate and highly sexual possibilities.

She almost fainted when Sherlock cupped her face between his hands and made her look up into his eyes. "I told you that you should have postponed your plans." His warm, peppermint scented breath washed over her face. She blinked twice and clutched onto Sherlock's arms as she swayed dangerously. She was starting to feel light headed all of a sudden and even the tips of her ears had grown tomato red in embarrassment.

"I…" Molly's breath caught in her throat as she stared into the two wonderful, multicolored orbs. At a distance, his eyes appeared to be a sparkling grey color but now that she was so close to him, each any every individual color of his iris was visible to her. Around the pupil, his eyes were an alarmingly beautiful shade of green and little specs of metallic blue and silver surrounded it, all blending in perfectly to form a unique color. Sherlock's hands felt very cold against the warm skin of her cheeks, and she still had no idea what she was doing with Sherlock standing in front of her, their faces barely inches apart…

"Swollen eyes, red veins lining the sclera, heavy lids. You clearly need to sleep, even if it's boring." Sherlock mused to himself as he let her face go. Molly looked away and inhaled deeply, trying to settle her nerves.

Of course. He was just analyzing my condition, nothing else. Silly me. Molly thought with a pang of disappointment. She wasn't supposed to feel this way about him. Not now.

The bathroom's atmosphere was steamy and she couldn't help but throw covert glances in Sherlock's direction. His skin was marble white under the bathroom light and she noticed that his built was slender yet toned, if not exactly muscular. His arms and chest were well toned and displayed honest hard work rather than hours of buffing up at gym.

"You should probably get dressed." Molly choked out as she ran a hand through her hair.

"Why, does my being naked bother you?" Sherlock chuckled throatily as he stepped past Molly. The towel around his waist slid dangerously low and was almost at the verge of falling. "It wouldn't bother me, if you were in my situation." And with that, he turned around and walked away, tightening the towel around his waist just before it slipped down. Molly exhaled as she weakly sank down against the wall and rested her head against her knees.

"You'll be the death of me, Mr. Holmes." She murmured to herself as she tried to gather her nerves.

Unknown to her, Sherlock was still listening just around the corner. His lips pulled up into an amused smile.

"Interesting." He said to himself. "Very interesting."

Thank you so much for all your lovely reviews! I am surprised at the amount of response this story received within one day of posting. I know Sherlock can be super rude and inconsiderate at times and you all are desperately craving some Sherlolly fluff but if I directly jump into all that, then it would mean swaying away from the integrity of the character(s). I hope you all will understand and bear with me!

As to Molly being more confident than before- yes I agree. When Sherlock returned to London after his apparent suicide, Molly was a lot more confident around him than usual. The story has just started people, just give me a chance to develop my characters.

So, things are heating up a bit! I will try to post chapter three as soon as possible and it goes without saying- your reviews are highly motivational! I don't mind criticism as long as it's constructive and I would love to hear your suggestions guys!

Thank you for reading!

Lots of love,

Vera.