edit posted 2/1/2018

Part Three

It felt late. That was the first thing Molly thought as she came to. If the darkness in the room was any indication, she had slept much longer than she thought she had. She sat up slowly pressing her hand to her head to move strands of her hair away from her face.

Some sort of fabric fell down off of her shoulder as she shifted around to try to spy anything that looked remotely familiar. There wasn't much that she could see at the moment. She rolled off the bed with a thud and moved cautiously around the room until she came to the switch against the wall near the door.

The lamp that was sitting to her right on the desk illuminated the room when it was turned on. That was a weird setup, a light switch turning on a lamp – she usually had to do things manually. There was a clock sitting on the table. It looked like one of those old fashioned ones you saw in the movies. Two pegs on its bottom while the rest of it came up into a spherical and on the top were the little bells that she was sure would make noise if she had set it for a specific time. She hadn't noticed it before she had went to sleep.

There were a few things among the hard surface of the wooden desk. She paid them little mind as she picked up the clock and read the time. It was a little after 12 PM.

She had really slept! She almost tripped over her bag as she turned to the door to open it. It was as she was doing that that she notice the plate which she almost missed on the corner of the desk. It was covered up by a piece of paper or maybe it was napkin.

Molly reached for it and picked it up. It was a napkin but it had something smudged on it with a marker, possibly. She turned it around to see that it had a more curvy penmanship to it. A woman's handwriting or a young girl's.

She read the short note slowly, her mind was still a little foggy from just waking up. It was from Lilith and the boy – Maximus. Sherlock thought you should sleep more, we brought you this little snack just in case you woke up later and was hungry. Bon appetit. - Max & Lilith

Molly smiled at how sweet the children were to someone who they had only just met. She read the note once more and realized that maybe Sherlock might have influenced them to let her be. She didn't like to think that he encouraged them to bring her this but it was a nice gesture all the same.

She pulled out the chair and sat down on it so that she wouldn't have to stand as she consume the round pastry that was covered in powdered sugar. The outside was flaky while the inside oozed out a little form of sauce. It could have been jam or jelly or maybe some sort of syrup. It tasted delicious. It reminded her of the cream puffs her brother would get her to make sometimes.

She planned to thank the two of them for their thoughtfulness later on when they were sure to be up. She wiped her mouth on the napkin before turning back to the room.

It didn't take long for her to spot the piece that had been wrapped around her when she was still in the bed. It was a yellow and blue striped throw. Someone must have brought it to her when they discovered her still sleeping away. She folded it and put it at the edge of her bed before deciding that she might as well go on and unpack her things into the dresser.

It took her a few minutes to do that. There really wasn't all that much. She placed her journals on the desk next to the dictionaries that had already been there. She took a look at a few of the books that were stationed against the wall between the lamp and the end of the desk. They were mostly books she remembered she would be needing for her introduction to anatomy course. She decided to not make a big deal that someone had went out of their way to make sure she at least was prepared for one of the three courses she would be starting very soon.

They had the means to do things like that, she reminded herself as she picked up the larger of the books and traveled back over to the bed and plopped down against it. She opened it and began to go through it. It was a good way to pass time seeing as she wouldn't be going back to sleep any time soon.

She often did this back in her flat. Sometimes she stayed up for entire days when there wasn't any work for her to do. She just couldn't get to sleep. Reading was a way of lulling her mind into a state of focus. She enjoyed it until she eventually ended up falling asleep.

She was entering the second unit of her text when she noticed there was a bit more light coming from the hallway and there was noise coming from outside. The children were up, now. When the sound of Martha Hudson's voice came she knew that maybe she should go out to greet them. She folded the page she was on and moved towards her dresser to change into some clean clothes. She probably should have showered but she hadn't known where it was down here and didn't want to disturb any of them from their slumber.

Shortly after dressing she exited the room and made her way through the hallway towards the kitchen where everyone was gathered. It took her a moment to realize that they were about to leave to go somewhere. They looked dressed that way. Lilith's hair was tied back against her neck and a summer dress adorned her form. Max's hair was covered by a hat and he had on a pair of cream colored slacks with a light blue button down – the sleeves were rolled up to his elbow as he ate. She was surprised to see the suspenders he had on but smiled at how adorable he looked in his getup.

Her gaze moved over to Martha just as the woman's eyes spotted her in the doorway. "Hello, dear. We missed you at dinner last night. I was going to wake you but you looked peaceful. Sherlock had come down to get you but then told me to just let you sleep. Come, you can join us if you like."

Molly slowly circled the island where everyone was standing. "You're going out?" Molly asked as she accepted the plate that had eggs and sausage on it with a small bowl of cut up fruit.

"Oh yes, Sundays are our family outing day. Before my husband's passing we used to take a stroll about town and catch a matinee if we could." She took a sip of her orange juice and Molly noticed that each of them had a different beverage to drink. Lilith had milk, Max had water and their mother had the juice, obviously.

"That's sweet. Sundays are usually the day I visit my dad. He's in the hospital." Molly told them. A silence grew over them after that. It made her wonder if she should have mentioned that at all. They were without a father figure and husband. She still had her dad at the moment. That couldn't have been a very nice reminder, especially after Martha's comment about it being the day that they usually did this activity with her husband.

She reluctantly went back to eating.

"I'm sure Sherlock wouldn't mind getting a car for you so that you can go visit him. Family is important to him even if he doesn't show it to people much. As a boy he was much more exuberant about them. I suppose as he's grown up he's been forced to see the world through much different eyes and it's changed his perspective."

Molly hesitated for a second before deciding to ask the question that had been running through her head ever since first being introduced to this family. "I'm a little curious, Martha. How young was Sherlock when you first started here?"

Martha laughed as if knowing what she really was asking. "I was his nanny since he was two. A terrible two as they say. He's wasn't nearly as bad as some of the other children I've had to deal with. Max was much worse." She admitted to her.

"Hey!" Max shouted in protest. Molly giggled as she saw the pout forming on his face.

"It's true." Lilith nodded as she took a bite out of a strawberry.

"Not you, too!" He grumbled as he pushed his hat down onto his face trying to hide his annoyed expression from their view. All of them just stared at him, amused.

Soon all laughter simmered as a man came rushing down the steps to all of them. "Miss Hooper your presence has been requested in the main office on the second floor."

Just as quickly as the man appeared he was out of dodge. Being the bearer of unwelcome news was never received with open arms.

"Uh oh." Max said quietly as he started pacing behind his older sister.

"What?" Molly asked looking at the worry on the young man's face.

"It's never good when someone is called in that office. I've been there a few times myself unfortunately." Lilith piped up with a bit of a faraway gaze on her face, she was remembering all of it, Molly figured.

"Shush you two. Don't go scaring Molly. It's just Mr. & Mrs. Holmes office. It's actually the mister's more the missus. I'm not sure which one is sending for you. As someone who has served her for more than a decade I can tell you that you shouldn't be worried too much. I'm sure it's just a formal meeting to welcome you and make sure you know certain things that weren't addressed yesterday before you were knocked out for the count."

Molly wore a wary expression on her face as she finished eating the small cup of pineapple and strawberries. It all sounded very ominous in her opinion. She had already met Mrs. Holmes and she didn't particularly feel very welcome by her. The way Sherlock had whisked her out of her presence gave her a bit more than enough evidence that she didn't want to be in the same vicinity as the woman if she didn't need to.

She had been summoned to go up there now, however. She couldn't decline the invitation. It was expected of her to go up there.

"Should I talk to Sherlock to see if he could intercede the meeting?" Lilith asked. Molly wasn't sure which one of them she was talking to more – her or Martha.

"No." Both women stated at the same time. "This is something I have to do. I can't just stay here where it's safe. You all are very nice. I think I need to do this. I'm not afraid of anything, really. I haven't done anything that could mean I was leaving now. I just arrived. Best to make my appearance a good one, don't you think?"

She downed the rest of her water before nodding. Yes, she had to go up there on her own and meet the two heads of this rather large home. It would be stupid of her to wish that it was the man of the house only, she hadn't met him.

"Enjoy your outing." She smiled at them before heading up the few steps that led to the upper level. This would go swimmingly, she hoped.

She took the large staircase up to the second floor slowly. There were a few workers who she hadn't seen before who had stopped upon her appearance and started to look at her as she ascended the staircase but she tried not to pay them much attention. They were just curious. Everyone was so curious.

She was almost down the hall when she saw him. Sherlock.

He was just coming out of a doorway and he spotted her and seemed to take a double take at her before she was greeted by the same man who had come down to tell her about her meeting with the head of the family. She let him guide her into the door to her right before Sherlock could open his mouth to say anything to her.

That didn't make her feel any better but this was required, wasn't it.

Here goes nothing.