I must apologise for missing a week, I'm sure I have some excuses somewhere, butI know you don;t want to bore yourself with those. All I will say is: Sorry, and in lieu of a chapter last week, I give you an extra long chapter here, and another uploaded straight after. Enjoy.
"Johnny Boy!" John had opened the front door to a rather enthusiastic looking Meena, holding a bottle of wine in one hand and a pack of cards in the other. "I must warm you, 'Burn' is about the only half decent card game I can play."
John was a little shocked to see Meena on a Friday night, not only was he sure she'd always had one date or another lined up every Friday he'd known her, but she must have know it was Molly's turn for the late shift. She must have been aware, also, that they had never spent longer than the ten minutes Molly would excuse herself to refresh her lipstick, alone together, they may have been friends, but in those moments they had only just escaped the casual whistling of awkward silences.
Plus, rare occasion though it was, John had company; the company of a stressed, grey, stubbled DI, but company none the less.
"Hey Mee, not to sound rude, but you know Molly's at work, right?" Meena nodded with the enthusiasm that had greeted him as he'd opened the door.
"I sure do. Which is why I came over, thought you might need some company... Thought you might have some clinic gossip?" By this point, Greg, beer in hand, and having put 'the game' on pause had wandered the few steps it was to the door, intrigued by the female voice, and the familiarity it'd held with 'Johnny Boy'. "But I see you've already got the company... Which means I'm here for the gossip."
"Meena, you know medical gossip isn't my thing, much less the gossip of my ex."
"Okkkay, so I am here to share wine and play cards or watch," she leaned in the door to see they were half way through a match. Tottenham vs. Man U. At least she recognised the team names. "The football, with my friend and his rather handsome friend."
It was only then John realised his manners, Meena was still standing outside with the evening light fading and the mid autumn breeze biting at the skin beneath the few layers she had chosen to wear. "God, Mee. Sorry come in before you catch your death or I look like a proper arsehole."
"You were certainly close there, Doctor Watson." She wore her wicked grin, that matched brilliantly to the deep purple floating dress and black denim jacket she had matched with her regularly worn and near breaking point biker boots. She dumped herself into the center of Molly's plush sofa, she was only small and it could easily accommodate three, she patted the two spots next to her and as a bemused Greg and chuckling John sat themselves down she snatched the remote from the table in front of her, pressed play. She then, upon seeing the two men were sufficiently supplied with beer, uncorked the wine bottle with her teeth (pre-planning always came in handy when she turned up to Molly's with near open wine) and took a swig. "Who am I cheering on?"
The evening had turned to night swiftly, it was near midnight before any of the three had noticed they'd migrated to the dining table, Meena had collected another chair from Molly's room, and as she sat she placed the cards on the table with a heavy hand. Half her bottle of wine had been drained and her hand eye coordination had suffered as a consequence.
Both men sat with a thud, none of them where fully into the realms of drunk but their silly smiles weren't completely the fault of Greg's poorly told jokes, and they certainly weren't a result of the score.
"So... 'Burn'. It's this or snap, and snap is tedious when you have 'Burn' in your repertoire. Rules are simple, or at least easy to learn as you play." Menna rambled as she dealt the cards she had been shuffling throughout the 'excitement' of the football, placing three cards face down, in front of each player, and three cards face up upon those, she then dealt them each a three card hand, placed the stack of cards equidistant from them all and continued to explain the rules. "Aces are high. Twos, sevens, eights and tens are magic and you pick up a card to keep a three card hand until the deck runs out. You play your lowest card if you're going in fresh and then each card you put down has to be higher than the last on the table. If your hand only has lower cards and no magic you have to pick up the cards on the table as your hand, once you've got nothing in your hand you can play the cards facing up in front of you then those facing down, which is really when the chance kicks in, that moment when your last card's a three has brought grown men to tears." Menna took a deep breath before continuing her rampage.
"Magic cards can be played on anything, if you play a two it restarts, so the next player can play their lowest card, a seven means you can chose if the next player has to play a higher or lower card than the seven, eight is invisible and terribly handy, tens burn the stack and the player with the ten starts fresh. Also if you have four of a kind or four of a kind gets played it'll burn the cards on the table. Got it... Good!" The tirade of words had fallen in a flurry from Meena, she obviously knew the game, or her version of it, well, and seeing as both men had only caught a handful of the rules it seemed they would be learning as they played.
As the games progressed so did the confidence of the two novice players, that is until it was knocked back by Meena's eleven game winning streak.
"Oh! Come on, no one can win a game of pure chance that quickly and that often!" Greg practically yelled into the table. Arms crossed and face in his hands.
"You've obviously never played cards with Molls." Meena retorted. "That girl is dynamite, never seen her loose a game of chance, must be all the right she does in the world, she has a fair few people smiling down on her."
John had retreated to the kitchen to fetch some water and another round of 'anything edible', the conversation from the other room was muffled as he pushed his head into the top cupboard in search of something that resembled food, and was not the mountain of cat food he found on every turn.
God knows he found that cat tolerable, he'd even grown to love the little sod, but lately, cat food, tea, milk and biscuits (all of which had been demolished by the hungry guests) were all he or Molly had the chance to purchase on the late night shop as the made their way home from a tiring shift.
"Yeah, and don't I know it. I hear only high praises of the great Molly Hooper, whenever I see John." Greg smiled, he'd known Molly for sometime, but it was nice to hear that she was a real person, outside of the lab coat and the cool reality of death.
"And yet, you've only heard mentions of me..." Meena shook her head, as if appalled, but she smiled to show the man opposite her it was only a joke. You had to spend quite an amount of time with Meena to understand her version of sarcastic humor. "It looks as if our Molls has a bit of an admirer in ol' Johnny Boy." Her tone was almost wistful as she remembered the difficultly acquired confession of her friend.
"Yeah, she really does." Dammit, Greg thought, I thought it took more than three bottles of beer until I started blurting mate's secrets. Here's hoping she thinks it's a poorly made joke. Laugh. The DI laughed slightly noncommittally but Meena was having none of it. Oh, she played along, but if she could just grasp a confession from the man himself, a whole lot of awkward subtext could be avoided.
John wandered back in the room, greeted by the defeated looking DI and the Cheshire grin of Meena. He held three colourful glasses of water in his hand and chuckled softly as he placed them on the table. "Oh, Molly would have a fit if she saw my blatant disregard of the coasters. We appear to only have water as serviceable food supplies, unless you're up for trying what Toby's having."
"'We' is it now?" The smile on Meena's face held a distinctly smug quality, John couldn't help thinking her and Sherlock would get on like a house on fire, that or they'd set a house on fire.
"Slip of the tongue Mee. Anyway I say we, when I'm refereeing to you and me, it's a plural term." John was a little flustered; he couldn't help but think he'd overreacted a little to a harmless jibe.
"Bit defensive aren't we Johnny Boy... Nooo, don't tell me you've taken a fancy our Molls? I mean she is quite the catch." Meena had caught John red handed and all three of them knew it. John's face caught up with his hands, a distinct blush covering his cheeks. He'd have to defend this at least a little, if Meena knew, everyone knew, and he wasn't quite sure he could face that rejection yet.
"What?! No... Ummm don't be silly, that could never, she would never..." Yes, that should do it, my eloquence was astounding. It didn't shock John much that his sarcastic inner monologue sounded distinctly of a certain Consulting Detective.
"So I'll take that as a yes then. It's okay, John, you know to fall for someone. Even now, even with everything, and even if she does work in a morgue." Her tone was comforting as she placed her hand over his, Greg not wanting the blame that was rightfully his to land on his shoulders, decided tactically, to remain silent.
"I haven't fallen for anyone... At all... Not even a -fine- yes, okay. But please don't tell her."
"Fine, I won't, but you'll have to. It's only so long I will keep this information secret. You have to tell her." Her smile was soft, but John didn't want to ever face the music of this specific situation, keeping it secret forever was kind of the plan. His face must have mirrored that sentiment as Meena rolled her eyes and looked at him sternly.
"But I'm so much older than she his. And..."
"Nope, no excuses." She shot Greg a glance telling him to back her up.
"Yeah mate, and that's hardly an excuse, what's five years when you're past your 30's."
"That's that settled then."
"Fine. But it's not going to be easy." Those were John's final words on the topic, nothing more he wanted or needed to say, nothing more he wanted or needed to hear.
Easier than you think. Meena thought to herself. So much easier.
The night had moved smoothly from then, and Molly had come back to a slightly disheveled home, a Detective Inspector sound asleep on her sofa, John half in and half out of his own bed, and Meena safely snuggled on 'not Molly's side' of her bed. She'd prepared herself for sleep and wriggled underneath the covers, who needed men, when she could always just share a bed with Meena. Although sound asleep, Meena had felt the dip of the mattress and snuggled to Molly's side. "Soon things will be so much better." She grumbled in her sleep-ridden voice and promptly fell back into her practically comatose sate.
It was two weeks later that John plucked up the courage.
It was a regular occasion that Molly and John would treat themselves to 'good week dinner', it had started as takeaways from the local Chinese after one of those weeks filled with good days and happy moments. They wanted to celebrate the happiness they could find in their lives, and a friendly chat and not having to prepare food was the best way they'd found. It had slowly graduated (once the Chinese round the corner could recognise their number, and wouldn't have to ask for an address or an order) to going out to various places near Molly's flat, none upmarket, but all with good enough food and company.
So, John supposed he should have seen Molly's response coming when he blurted out the question that had been sitting in the tip of his tongue for so long.
"Molly, would you like to, umm... Go out to dinner with me, this Saturday?"
"Sure John." He was never sure why she always seemed slightly dejected when he offered 'good week dinner'. "Good week was it?" She glanced up at John. "Although, maybe not? You seem nervous." He was rubbing the back of his neck, and stuttering in a very Molly-like fashion.
"Yeah, I am a little, actually. Because I don't really mean 'good week dinner', even if it was a good week because I saw more of you. I meant more of a - a going on a date type of dinner." It was only then he really looked Molly in the eye, and for the life of him he couldn't read her reaction one bit. So, like all men putting their heart on the line would, he panicked. "But it's fine if you say no, you can ignore all that... I mean I could be misreading everything, and God only knows if I mess up this friendship I may have to actually shoot myself in the leg, or at least I'd get that bloody limp back." His words were rushed and his sentence ended with a sharp intake of breath. Molly was rubbing the soft skin of her wrist, she was nervous, why was she nervous?
"YES! I mean, yes, of course." Oh "Of course I'll go on a date type of dinner with you. And here was me thinking I was misreading this..." She gestured between the two, waving her hands around, her body constantly trying to find some occupation as she continued. "I was going to ask, ask you out I mean, but nerves, or that sarcastic voice in the back of my head, or some lame excuse always got the better of me. I thought you'd say no… And I'm rambling, you could have lived with a 'Yes that'd be lovely' I suppose it's more me to ramble."
"I can hardly talk, I used a good few sentences to just say 'will you go to dinner with me?'" They laughed softly, it was comfortable and definite. This was actually happening. This is actually happening!
"So, Saturday, at seven? I'll pick you up at your door."
"Perfect." Her smile was as clear in her voice as on her lips, John reciprocated easily.
I want to thank you all again for your continued support and loveliness.
You are all made to perfect.
To self proclaimed 'creepy guest' (who is not creepy at all): I'm rather proud you think I've made them more adorable, I hope the next few chapters reinforce that. I'm rather glad that you couldn't wait for the next chapter (although I'm sorry I kept you waiting)I hope I didn't disappoint.
To the lovely guest (all the way from chapter 3): I'm so pleased that you enjoyed the lengthy Molly's house descriptions (I quite enjoyed writing them). And I'm so happy you like the way I've written Molly, I hope I've continued to do her justice and I hope you've enjoyed the story as it's continued.