AAAB 6

As soon as Sherlock had fallen back to sleep, a serene smile on his face with his bear tucked close to him, Molly quietly slid out of bed and padded across the room. Locating her mobile, she dialed the number Mycroft had given her some days previous, a result of Sherlock throwing a major tantrum in one of the busiest shopping centers of the city; a tantrum which resulted in Sherlock spewing out state secrets his older self wasn't supposed to know and his younger self wasn't supposed to remember.

It never occurred to Molly Hooper that it was 3 in the morning.

It also never occurred to her that Mycroft might have given her his ownmobile number, a number only selected few- that only a selected few of the most illustriouscircle- had.

"Ms. Hooper," said a voice laced with sleep yet managing to sound as regal as ever, "I trust Sherlock hasn't managed to set any important buildings on fire that you insist on disturbing my sleep?"

"Oh! I…er…I'm so sorry Mr. Holmes, it's just that…um…Sherlock's been having nightmares again." There was silence at the other end and Molly took it as an invitation to continue, "And well…It's the fifth one in three days; he's barely getting any sleep…I'm worried."

There was a slight pause on the opposite end of the line before Mycroft answered. "Well, I think it's safe to say the drug is wearing off. I was hoping for a more gradual-"

Molly cut him off. "Wearing off? You mean Sherlock will age a few years again?"

"No Ms. Hooper. While one hopes in these sort of cases that the change is gradual-" Molly wondered how many of "these sort of cases" did Mycroft even deal with- "Sherlock's physicality is as rebellious as he is. The change will be instantaneous."

Molly brightened a bit at this. Sherlock would certainly want to get back to normal as quickly as possible, she was certain. "That's great isn't it? He'll change back quickly-"

She was cut off by Mycroft who nipped her small relief in the bud. "I assure you Ms. Hooper, that while I have no wish for you to have to tolerate Sherlock in his teenage years, a slower growth would have been less painful for him. These instantaneous changes bring about the convulsions of the most hateful kind…"

Molly felt her stomach drop. "Wait…you said instantaneous. Does that mean he'll just go BAM and turn into a thirty six year old in front of me?"

Mycroft's voice took an almost amused tone – at least as amused as one can be when discussing the painful transformation of one's little brother at 3 in the morning. "Most changes come about at night, so you'll need to ensure that Sherlock's wearing his larger clothes…to avoid any…embarrassing circumstances."

Molly opened her mouth to answer but a sudden startled cry from Sherlock's room made her hang up on the British Government.

She quickly crawled into the bed again and had her arms around the sobbing toddler within seconds.

The next morning…

"Why are we at the park, Molly?" Sherlock asked, licking the pistachio ice cream Molly had bought him. Trust Sherlock to pick the one flavor no six year in their right mind would pick. But then again Sherlock was no ordinary six year old.

Molly had decided to have some sort of fun with six year old Sherlock before he got back to his normal age; she had been the youngest of three and always wanted a younger sibling. "Why do you ask? Can't I take you to the park on a whim?"

"No…Mycrwoft said that I should be inside more…after that time at the mall…" Sherlock trailed off, obviously remembering the trouble he'd caused.

Molly immediately jumped to his defense. "Sherlock you couldn't help that! And it's unhealthy to stay indoors for so long!"

Sherlock nodded thoughtfully; giving the steadily melting ice-cream cone another little lick. His green eyes settled on the playground.

"Would you like to go play?" Molly asked, smiling at the boy.

Sherlock made a scoffing noise that would have made his older self very proud, "I don't play."

"Oh," Molly said, brain cogs whirring for a while before adding, "Well…do you want to go experiment?"

"'Speriment?" Sherlock repeated, eyes widening, "How can I do that here?"

Molly tried to hide a smile. "Well, you could go see how quickly a boy of your weight can slide down that slide," Molly said, and that was all it took. Sherlock ran off in the direction of the playground, handing Molly his nearly finished ice-cream. Molly chuckled softly before going over to sit at one of the benches next to the playground, more than content to watch Sherlock play or experiment.

"Hello," said the blonde haired wisp of a woman whom Molly had sat next to. "Is he yours?" she asked, nodding in Sherlock's direction.

Molly smiled at her- something about her just exuded kindness- and said, "Oh no, I'm just his aunt." It was a lie Mycroft had asked her to repeat, deeming it easier for Molly to pass Sherlock off as her nephew rather than her son.

"Oh, he's very cute. I do love children." She paused, seemingly lost in thought for a moment, and then blushed. "I'm sorry. You must think me some sort of freak," the woman said, smiling apologetically at her.

"It's alright!" Molly laughed, "I'm Molly Hooper, nice to meet you." She extended her hand.

The woman took it. "I'm Mary. Mary Morstan. The pleasure is all mine."

"Is your kid here as well?" Molly gestured towards the playground, where Sherlock was currently dangling off upside-down on the monkey bars. Molly was momentarily worried, but then she remembered Sherlock's natural born dexterity.

"Oh! I'm just a babysitter! I don't have any children."

The way she said it told Molly that she would absolutely love children. She noticed Mary's ring finger had the tan line of a ring- she must have been engaged once. She had been around Sherlock far too long to not pick up some tips.

Molly found that Mary Morstan was very good company. Even though they didn't actually know each other, Molly quickly realized that Mary was a being after her own heart, apart from the being-a-pathologist-who-helped-the consulting-detective-fake-his-death bit.

So when Mary got up to leave, her charge, a five year old sweet little girl called Amanda, latching onto her hand and giving Molly a dazzling smile, Molly actually felt regret.

Mary gave Molly her number. The two women beamed at each other; knowing a good person and a good friend-in-the-making when they saw one.

As Mary walked away, Molly cast her eyes over the playground.

Her blood ran cold.

Sherlock was nowhere to be seen.

Oh Mycroft was going to kill her.

A/N: Dun dun de dun...Hehehe, Just felt like leaving it there. Anyways, thank you so very much to all those who faved, alerted and reviewed- magicstrikes, Zora Arian, MorbidByDefault, MadAsAHatterJay, GuEsT, whytejigsaw, Lono, Someone who wants a Fez, The GoldenHairedMockingJay and Beth-Tauri Chick!

Thanks a bunch to A Pirate by Any Other Name for being such a wonderful beta!

Lastly, lots of love to NoveraDeMedeci, for being awesome and kickass and fuelling my ideas.

Review and much love,

Adi x