COD(Cause of Death): Unknown

Note: there a bit more of you lot now, I've noticed since the last chapter. Thanks for checking this one out. Dare I say it we have a minimum of five chapters left, and a max of six. I previewed a portion of this one on the little Tumblr of mine. Anyway, I hope you're ready. I bring you the reunion chapter. See you at the bottom. :)

Nineteen.

She was angry. Molly Hooper had never been so upset in her entire life. Well not entirely sure but this was in the top five category. She was freezing, and she could feel the muddy wet ground caking in her feet which had been bare when she had been dragged away from her flat.

"What do you think you have to prove now, Jim?" Molly asked as she clenched her hands at her side. It didn't matter that she would probably have a cold in the morning if she made it out of this one unscathed, all that mattered was that she was doing this again. Becoming that person again that she had been a few years ago when she helped a man fool nearly everyone.

Apparently they had been the fools now, it seemed.

"You're still as naive as when I dated you, Molly." He chuckled as he circled her.

"I never was with you. James, you must have been too into your little game. How very unfortunate."

He stepped closer to her as she spoke - her tone reaching heights as she built back up her backbone had once been in the shadows. When dealing with men like Sherlock Holmes and James Moriarty you tend to try to hide yourself for protection. It's only when you really need to show that you do.

"Mousy Molly has disappeared then. How interesting. Okay the stronger version will be easier to deal with. However you are still the same. You don't exactly change do you, you are great at pretending though aren't you?"

Molly tilted her head up as she looked into the dark orbs that were his eyes. "What are you talking about?"

"When it comes to men, or really one man in particular you are willing to do anything for him. I mean anything. You thought you didn't count and I suppose in the eyes of Sherlock you hadn't at first. I see everything my dear. I didn't just stumble upon you for no reason. No, no, no but you knew that didn't you. We both had our own ulterior motives for teaming up didn't we?"

He touched her skin, trailing his hands along the edges of her face. In a caress but unlike how it was supposed to feel if it was anyone else. This touch burned. Molly stepped back a few steps.

She didn't want to back down from him. She was not weak. He might have thought so but it was accurate. Molly Hooper had never been weak. She had been hiding.

"Shut up. You don't know what you're talking about. You like playing games but I am not one of your pawns to play with. I have a heart whereas yours is as black as your eyes." Molly seethed.

"Aren't you though? You've been playing this whole time without knowing it. You'd have to heart to get someone like him to finally see you were worth something. Not worth much but ready to help when you're needed. The next phase is upon us, Doctor Hooper."

"What phase?" She mumbled not daring to look away from him despite the fact he was invading her space again.

Jim just smiled as he pulled her towards him, squeezing her wrist as she looked at his hand for the briefest of moments before looking back at him. "He will die again. Nothing you can do can stop that. You are a pathetic excuse for a person but he finds you fascinating now. That could be a problem. I need him to burn like I promised him. He will burn and this is the next phase. It has been fun, it really has to watch you get close. However this is where it ends."

"He will uncover the truth. It's what he does. It won't make sense at first but he'll take the case because it will puzzle him if he doesn't." Molly paused as she looked around for a second seeing as this was inevitable. She would do it willingly because what James Moriarty said was true. "You'll never win this game of yours. You might be a criminal mastermind but he's much better."

"You sicken me. You have too much faith in him but what did I expect. You will even die for him." He scoffed.

Molly just smiled at him tiredly. This was it, she figured.

"Just one more thing, sweetheart. Before I end you there is one more thing that you never really allowed me the pleasure to do. Not really. I've been curious." He chuckled as he grabbed her by her waist eliciting a gasp from her lips as he pressed his firmly against hers.

Molly tried to push him away, hitting him in the chest but he was stronger. As she tried as much as she could to get away from him she felt the pain start. It wasn't Moriarty. It was the man who was with him. She had never really paid attention to what he had called him as she felt the effects of the puncturing that was being dragged from where her hips started to her diaphragm.

She had fallen after James let go of her. She had lost more blood than she had anticipated at the slicing of her skin. She ignored whatever they were saying as she tried to feel for a spot for an area that she could seal it off. There was too much mess. Molly's vision was getting hazy too. That had been too quick.

She pushed herself off with the blood on her hands as she was shaking. She hadn't noticed until she started gathering a bit of the blood on her fingers that she had started crying.

I do too much for you, she thought as she breathed beginning to write out her message in her own personal ink.

I am sorry, Sherlock.

She went to add her initial when she felt the strong grip of someone pull her hair and she was on her back again. She could see those dark eyes again. She decided to focus on them as she breathed. Moriarty just crouched over her with a blank expression on his face. It was his eyes that really spoke volumes to what he was thinking. He was overjoyed and she just rolled her eyes at him before speaking quietly. It was all she could manage now.

"Was it worth it, Jim?"

He just grabbed the hand she had been using to write that message with and added her name to it with an x for good measure.

Molly was too tired to stop him and he had put his knee on her stomach causing more pain. She just shut her eyes. She didn't want to see it anymore. There wasn't much time left, she could feel her heart slowing down.

The last thing she heard before she was left with the sound of the wind was. "Absolutely, my dear." He chuckled as he got back to his feet and bounded away.

Molly couldn't agree more. There had always been something about Sherlock Holmes that drew you to him. In the end it drove her to want to help him, even in death.

She thought of their moments together then as she lay there cold and dying. His arrogant ways, her bad jokes, his fake smiles that never really reached his eyes except once really. The way he looked when he first truly saw her. Their goodbye and the last day she had seen him. It was all so very bittersweet.

Molly wouldn't have changed it though. She couldn't. She breathed a huge breath as she spoke her last words, "I am really sorry, I hope you know that."

Then there was darkness and silence.

In the social forms of the world a text was a getaway from speaking verbal but useful sometimes. Molly had found them useful recently. Her texts to John especially but the ones that matter the most were the ones she sent to Sherlock Holmes. They were few in number but she thinks he knows they are from her.

The first had been sent a mere two weeks after she left with the raggedy Doctor. The Doctor had left her in a humongous cafe styled place as he and River went on one of their dates. They never specifically said that that's what they were doing but it was obvious to Molly.

The Doctor had taken Molly briefly back to London to take a peek at how the consulting detective was doing. She had been a bit antsy about doing that.

It hadn't been that she hadn't wanted to but because she knew what she would see.

As she sat there sipping a rich chocolatey latte with foam on the top she typed out the message and hit send without thinking about it.

Sherlock had gotten it immediately but hadn't checked it. He had been composing again though he heard it. He went over to it a few moments later once he finished the stanza he was on.

He hadn't been answering any messages. He had gotten many from Lestrade and a few from John when he was going to be staying with Mary. Mrs. Hudson had came up to try to get him to go out but he had ignored it. He had too much on his mind to be bothered with trivial things.

He had sat down in his chair upon reading the text. He had known it was her but it still unnerved him that she was looking out for him again. It always made him uncomfortable that she could see him.

The text read:

You look sad again.

He had sat there awhile just trying to see if another text would come. When it didn't he attempted to reply.

How do you know?

It sent an error message back. "Your message could not be sent. The reciever's carrier is unavailable.'

He had just frowned at that. How could that be? She could send him messages but he couldn't reply. It wasn't her number that he had for her either. It was an unknown.

He got another three months later. It was as short as the first one but it did hold a little more to it.

Worrying doesn't suit you. I am somewhere safe.

He just huffed as another text came in from someone else. Lestrade another case. A seven ...it was tempting. As he got ready to decline it another came through. It was Molly.

Take a case, it'll distract you. Though I am flattered you care.

I don't. He wished he could say that. He had never prided himself as a liar except in certain situations.

He decided to come back out in the next month though. That was fair.

The final one caught him off guard four months after the last one. It was a question. It made him wonder if he could reply this time.

Coffee or tea?

He looked up and surveyed the scene once again as he typed, and spoke to the D.I. whom was over this investigation in Dublin.

Coffee, black, two sugars.

Sherlock had to hold back a smirk as he saw that it had sent. So, she had returned then. Good.

He tucked his phone away as he continued speaking but at a more hurried pace. John gave him a look as he looked up from his own phone seeing the look in his friend's eyes. Something had happened and it had nothing to do with the case.

John's phone beeped then. He finished his text to Mary before looking at the other one. Molly Hooper was texting him again and she had a request.

Why don't you take Mary out for an earlier lunch when you get back? I'd like to have tea with your flatmate.

John just chuckled before following his friend towards a cab waiting to take them to the airport once again. He responded back to her text as he slid in.

Welcome home, Molly.

Molly smiled as she read the two messages. She thanked John before addressing Sherlock's.

I haven't forgotten that. I'll be waiting.

She smiled before tucking her phone in her pocket and going into the kitchen. She was surprised at how clean it was. John had to have been keeping an eye on it or possibly Mrs. Hudson had raised the rent again. She remembered how happy the older lady was when she invited Molly in off the doorstep as she arrived.

Mrs. Hudson had hugged her and then at the mention of Sherlock brought her up to the flat so that she could wait comfortably for him to get back.

She got both the kettle on and a pot of coffee before grabbing the tray to put the cups on and a plate of biscuits before sitting it aside and going back to the sitting area. She looked around a moment before sitting down in Sherlock's chair. It was quite comfortable.

Molly closed her eyes and let her mind drift to what she had experienced these past couple months. It was almost hard to believe all the different things she had seen and done. Much like the cold night she had stopped breathing, she didn't regret it. She could never do that.

It all got her back to this point, back to this place.

The sound of the kettle whistling broke her from her memories and she unfolded her legs and made her way back to the kitchen to prepare the rest of the tray. It didn't take too long. She put the rest of the tea in a teapot she spotted in one of the cabinets, and the coffee stayed in it's pot in kitchen. She grabbed the sugar cubes as she situated everything as it was supposed to be before taking the tray out to the table. She set it down and placed everything on the table carefully.

Once it was done, she added a little milk to her teacup and stirred it before reclaim her seat in the chair. There was a little bit more time before the man in the coat would be back in his own domain.

She sipped quietly as she waited. Her body seemed to start buzzing at the idea that she was about to see Sherlock Holmes again. Granted, it had been awhile.

She smiled a little while later as she poured some more tea at the sound of footsteps rushing up the steps. She looked up at him as he came through the door. He took time before glancing her way to straighten himself and take off his coat and scarf to hang it up.

However when he did look at her, he look almost boyish. He didn't have a neutral expression for starters and he had a bit of a look in his eyes.

Molly unfolded herself from the chair as he gave her a once over. He spoke quickly as he walked over to the table and grabbed his cup of coffee. He added the two sugars as he spoke to her. "You changed your hair."

Molly sipped her tea as she nodded. Her hair was a little lighter since the last time she was in London and since he had last seen her. Her hair sat in waves at her shoulders, her bangs swept to the side. As for her attire, she wore a light blue sweater that was quite loose but at the same time it was very form fitting. A pair of hip hugging jeans on her legs and a pair of converse on her feet. All very different but comfortable.

"It got in the way." She turned smiling. Sherlock noticed the difference in the way her mouth curved. It was as if she had a secret, he supposed she had many now. It had been awhile.

He followed her over to the larger window and placed his cup down. He had taken a few sips of it as he walked. It tasted as good as ever. He could give her that. Some things hadn't changed. He was okay with that.

Why did you do it?" He spoke quietly as they stood at the window. A place he had ventured to many times. It had a great view of the city's street below. Plus the snow was falling.

Molly smiled, not taking her eyes off the scenery. She lifted her cup to her lips and took a sip. "You already know the answer, Sherlock." She replied quietly.

"I'm not sure if my assumption is correct. I am wrong, at times. I'd like to hear you say it."

Molly turned and looked up at the man who she hadn't exactly stopped saving yet. She turned back to the pane of the window and sat her drink down before staring at him curiously. "Why can't you accept the fact that I was willing to give my life for you? I don't have to say it. It's not truly necessary."

"Yes, but it would help me. I have a lot of questions you know." His eyes hadn't left her a single second since he found her waiting for him in his chair.

"You'll be disappointed. I can't give you all of the answers you seek. Not because I don't want to, because I have to. There are things that have to stay hidden no matter how much you try to uncover them." She said quickly, he could tell that that was a very important thing for her to say.

"I'd expect nothing less from you. After all Doctor Hooper, you have changed a bit."

"Oh. You noticed, how sweet." She giggled.

Sherlock smirked before reaching out and pulling her towards him when she began to walk away. "You still haven't answered my question."

Molly smiled softly though he noticed it didn't reach her eyes at all. She had adverted her eyes from him again. This time choosing to look down. "When you…" she hesitated a moment as she looked up at him. "When you care for someone, when you really care you're willing to go to any lengths to make sure they are protected."

"You felt that it was the only way?" He asked quietly, his tone had shifted and she noticed. He sounded almost in pain as they discussed it.

"What?" She wanted to be clear. Sherlock still had his hand around her wrist. It wasn't a firm hold as before, now he was slightly caressing it under his fingertips. He wasn't paying much attention to it so Molly realized the second thing as she was waiting for his response. Sherlock was trying to make sure she was actually there.

"Dying?"

Molly reached up and slowly placed a hand against his cheek carefully. She didn't place it all the way there, just enough so that she would get a slight response.

She let out a shaky breath as she answered. "Yes."

"You're a bad liar. You've always been. You don't just care for me."

Molly stepped away from him as she heard footsteps coming up the steps. "I'm glad you realize that on your own. I do have to go again. I'll be around." She paused as she felt the other man come in. He was staring at the two of them. "Hi John." She looked away from Sherlock.

"Nice to see you around again, Molly." He shifted uncomfortably. Sherlock was staring at him curiously. He was most likely seeing the lies he had told him now.

"I have one more person to see. I'll be in Cardiff for awhile. I'll be back though. There are still things left unfinished. Things you don't know about yet." She had turned back to Sherlock. She surprised him by pulling him down to her. He grabbed the windowsill to keep him balance as he looked into her eyes. She whispered into his ear, "I'll see you soon." She pressed a short peck against his jaw before dashing out.

John looked amused as Sherlock blinked out of his reverie. "You knew from the start, didn't you?"

"I have no idea what you're talking about, mate." John mumbled as he reached into the cushions of his chair looking for something. He grinned upon finding the small coin purse there that belonged to his girlfriend. He told Sherlock he would be out for a little while.

Sherlock knew he wouldn't be coming back but nodded anyway as he turned back to the window gazing down and seeing Molly speaking to Elise, one of his spectators on the street.

"Oh. Molly Hooper you are a clever one." He chuckled as he continued to drink his coffee.

Welcome back, Molly.

Longest chapter ever. That's all I have to say.

Let me know what you think, yeah?

See you next week!

Much love,

Day