Chapter Six.

"Why didn't you tell me?" John asked his friend quietly one night. Sherlock didn't look at him.
"I don't know what you think you know John but it is inevitably wrong." Sherlock had his eyes closed and he refused to be tricked into talking about Molly.
"You're in love with her."
Sherlock smiled, opened his eyes and sat up.
"No."
"I saw you cry by her bedside Sherlock."
Sherlock sighed, he supposed he had cried. Damn.
"I cried because I was sorry I'd put her in there."
"How did you put her in there?" John wasn't letting this go. Sherlock stood and leaned against the fireplace, studying his face in the mirror. He saw himself say the words but he could hardly believe them.
"I slept with her."
John stared at him, unblinking.
"When?"
"Oh ages ago, six months or more."
"Just once?"
"John!"
"I just want to know how serious this relationship is."
"It isn't a relationship. It only happened once and I was...," Sherlock faltered, "I don't know what came over me. I haven't been near her since. I saw her at work the other day when..."
He stopped suddenly and straightened, a moment of epiphany on his face that John knew all too well. Before he could say any more, they were interrupted by Mrs. Hudson's chirrupy tones coming up the stairs.
"Sherlock? You're brother's here! Though why I should keep showing your guests up I don't know!"
"Thank you Mrs. Hudson." Mycroft Holmes' solemn voice preceded him into the room as Mrs. Hudson bustled back down the stairs.
"What do you want?" Sherlock said, throwing himself back into his chair. John stood and held out his hand.
"Mycroft." He said with a smile.
"John." Mycroft returned, drawing out the word to a drawl, never taking his eyes of his brother, "I'm here to talk about Molly Hooper."
Sherlock raised an eyebrow but remained outwardly nonchalant.
"What about her?"
"Don't play with me Sherlock. The woman was beaten to within an inch of her life and thrown into to the Thames because of you."
"Why because of me?" Sherlock shouted, causing John to jump. Mycroft smiled slyly.
"No longer a virgin eh brother?"
Sherlock shot him a look that would have lesser men begging for mercy. John took a step towards the door, he did not want to be caught up in an argument between the Holmes brothers.
"There are people who would quite like your 'snooping' to stop Sherlock."
"I'm aware of that."
"Yes, well, they intend to stop you by, and I quote 'burning the heart out of you."
Sherlock tensed but remained silent. John couldn't take his eyes from them.
"Rather melodramatic I agree but you see, you have so few people that mean anything to you that when they find a new one well they, tend to overreact in an attempt to get you to...well react."
Mycroft gave a shallow laugh and turned toward the door.
"These people are impossible to catch Sherlock, they have a system, a network and it is run by one man. We cannot touch him, you know that. My advise to you dear brother is whatever you feel or felt for Dr. Hooper, it ends now. Pray to whatever God you believe in and sever all ties. For her sake if not for yours."
"I feel nothing for her."
Sherlock closed his eyes and Mycroft frowned.
"Then your actions are even more inexplicable to me than they were before. It shouldn't be too hard to stay away from her then should it?" Mycroft smiled and turned to John.
"Goodbye Dr. Watson."
John nodded but was looking at Sherlock. Mycroft descended the stairs and John didn't move until he heard the downstairs door click shut.
"I thought I knew you Sherlock. I thought if there was ever going to be in a woman in your life that she'd be the luckiest woman on the planet because I thought you'd move heaven and earth to protect her, that your love would be as strong as your hate, as powerful as your sense of justice, as beautiful as your mind. I was wrong. Molly was just an experiment and she was so in love with you. You didn't deserve her. You don't deserve anyone."
John slammed the door as he left, Sherlock did not move. He knew Molly was in love with him. He stared into the dying flames of his fire and saw her face.
"Molly Hooper, I think I love you."
The words felt wrong, strange in his mouth, laughable in his voice. He couldn't say what he didn't feel. He wasn't sure he knew what love was, what it felt like. He felt someone for Molly, angry at her treatment, scared of the way she looked at him but love? He sighed. His thoughts were interrupted by the shrill ring of his mobile. He dug it out of his pocket. A number he didn't recognise.
"Hello?"
Silence. A slight smile.
"Yes, I'll be there. One hour, that's fine."
He hung up and twirled his phone in the air. He flew to his bedroom with one thought on his mind. Revenge.