A/N: Transition chapter. Next one will be longer and feature the return of a guest character. Thank you as always for reading, reviewing and favoriting!

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Molly smiled at him as the song ended. "Thank you."

"My pleasure," he replied. "Do you want to go back to our drinks for now?"

She nodded, and they returned to their table. For now, he'd said. That implied he'd dance with her more later. The thought made her ridiculously happy.

He moved his chair closer to hers so they could talk more easily. "How's your back? Healing up, I imagine?"

She nodded. "Yes, thanks. And well, as you can see, the bruises are fading…"

Sherlock stared at her. He'd noticed her face, of course. But it had just occurred to him that Molly hadn't used any makeup to lessen the look of the bruises on her face to go out. Most women probably would have. Why had she not?

"Molly, forgive me for asking, but-"

"You want to know why I didn't cover up my face," she finished for him. "The bruises."

"Yes."

She took a deep breath. "Because… covering it up would feel like a lie. Like I was trying to hide from it. If he could see me… he'd like that: he'd like knowing he'd made me ashamed or beat down. And I won't let him have that."

Sherlock stared at her the way he had the night he'd told her he needed her: face calm but with a haunted expression in his bright eyes.

She laughed slightly. "I guess that might sound stupid…"

"No," he said, his voice suddenly hard, angry, but not at her. "No. It doesn't."

Sherlock kept staring at her, as if he'd never fully seen her before. And maybe he had not. How did that Tori Amos song go? Molly thought. "Pieces of me you've never seen?"

She felt nervous now. Had she said too much? They were venturing into dangerous territory, discussing Moriarty. It definitely wasn't how she envisioned their first date to go. But if he needed her to listen…

Sherlock shook his head slightly as though to clear it, and smiled at her. "Well. Let's talk about him some other time, shall we? He's not exactly good conversation."

Molly laughed. He realized he liked making her laugh. He usually made people sneer or get angry. Not laugh.

"How about another drink?" he asked her, and she raised her eyebrows.

"Sherlock Holmes, are you attempting to get me drunk and take advantage of me?" she teased.

He raised his eyebrows in return. "Certainly not, Molly Hooper!"

"Oh," she said, half relieved and half disappointed. "Well, good," she added, trying to sort out her emotions.

He stood up and moved beside her, bending down to whisper in her ear.

"A gentleman doesn't take advantage of a lady. Nor does he seduce her on the first date. Other dates, however, can be a different matter entirely."

With that he brushed a hand across her cheek and went back to the bar, leaving a stunned, aroused Molly in his wake.

Molly watched him go. She shook her head slightly as though to clear it, because she couldn't possibly have heard him say what she thought he'd said.

Seduce her? Him? Her?

Breathe, Molly, she ordered herself.

As he stood there, she saw his head turn sharply and followed his gaze. He was looking at the two girls he'd been hateful to earlier. As she watched, he beckoned to the bartender and spoke to him for about a minute. The bartender nodded as Sherlock slipped him a note. The bartender rapidly made two drinks and summoned another employee, who carried them off to the girls.

Molly watched, confused and bemused, as the server approached the girls. She spoke to them for a bit. The girls looked at her, then towards Sherlock, then back. After a few seconds, they took the drinks and slowly raised their glasses to him.

Sherlock raised one in his own hand in return, then turned and joined Molly again, who was staring back and forth as though she was at a tennis match.

"What was that all about?" she asked as he put their drinks down and sat back in his chair.

"Oh, just making amends," he answered.

"How on earth did you manage it?"

He looked at her and grinned. "I had her tell them that they were indeed amazing at deducing. I am a right bastard."

Molly very nearly spit her drink all over him in her laughter.