The smell of stale beer and smoke hung in the air long after Bill Wiggins had left. Molly was in the kitchen, giving Toby his mid afternoon feed. She knew that she shouldn't feed him as much as she does, it probably was the reason poor Toby was gaining a lot of weight recently. She stroked his fur affectionately as he tucked into his second meal of the day, purring graciously. Molly walked across the kitchen and opened the fridge. Since she moved in, Molly had cleaned out the refrigerator, while doing so she had found some mouldy severed fingers and eyeballs, it took Sherlock about an hour to allow her to throw them away. It took a promise of fresher ones from the morgue to finally talk some sense into him. She smiled at the memory, taking out a carton of milk.

Presently, Sherlock was sitting in the living room, on his armchair with Molly's pink laptop on his knee. She smiled to herself at the peculiar sight, she watched as he looked at the screen, engrossed in whatever he was currently reading, she noticed how his eyes seemed to gleam and how his cheekbones looked so defined by the bright light of the screen, she watched as his large fingers danced across the keys so elegantly. He was always an enigma, so incomprehensible to Molly. But it seemed, bit by bit he was starting to unravel, revealing himself to her, luring her into his perilous life and she wasn't resisting.

It had been a week since Moriarty last made contact with him, Sherlock was beginning to grow impatient. He didn't like Moriarty's silence, it was making him anxious, what was he planning? The memory of the last crime scene was still stuck in his mind, it was unlike anything he had ever seen. The absolute obscenity of the whole thing made him sick. Sherlock looked down at the laptop screen, searching through different sites about mass murder in history. He knew something seemed familiar when he was at the crime scene the other day, the barge, the stabbed victims, a mixture of age brackets...

"Molly" He said suddenly, snapping her out of her daze. He turned to her, with a sombre expression. "He's duplicating past murders..." Molly walked over to him and looked over his shoulder at the webpage. He couldn't help but notice the fragrance of strawberry from her hair.

"12th of April" Molly read. "That was the date...the date the bodies were found in the barge, three days ago"

"I think we've just uncovered Moriarty's new game" Sherlock said, hatred in his voice.

"Why does he do this Sherlock?" Molly asked, quite innocently.

"He likes watching me dance" Sherlock said, his voice full of loathing as he opened up a new tab on Molly's computer.

The Science of Deduction

"Your blog?" Molly said, confused.

Sherlock didn't respond, he was too busy typing in a new entry.

12th April 1958, Brighton Barge mass murder.

"Sherlock..?" Molly began.

"The game is back on Molly" He looked at her, she was still over his shoulder looking down at him with a bewildered expression. Suddenly Sherlock's phone blared from the desk beside them. It was an unknown number. Sherlock stood up swiftly and picked up the phone.

"This is the new game is it Jim, duplication? Bit outside your taste. And there I was thinking you were so original" Sherlock blared down the phone mockingly.

"Ouchie, Sherlock, that really hurt!" Moriarty replied in his sarcastic childlike voice. "Well I see you've figured out my new game"

"What are you planning?" Sherlock demanded. Molly was standing beside him, watching him with her face filled with dread.

"Oh Sherlock...it's just a silly little game, just play along" He giggled smugly down the phone. "Lets just say, I'm making my comeback. Did you have fun by the way, dismantelling my criminal network? I found it quite entertaining to watch. That big finish in Serbia, bravo!"

"You were dead.." Sherlock began.

"And so were you" He said. "But look at us now. I can't wait for you to see what I have planned for tomorrow, you'll be very impressed"

"And by 'impressed'.." Sherlock began

"I actually mean extremely repulsed, yes Oh look at us finishing each others sentences" He giggled. "Oh. Before you hang up brashly Sherlock, I'd like to ask, How is it living with mousy Molly Hooper? I gave her quite a scare a few days ago, it was quite funny"

Sherlock walked into the kitchen, Molly watched anxiously. "If you try anything Moriarty...if you touch her" He whispered, snarling.

"Oh, shhh now Sherlock, all in good time" Moriarty growled back, before hanging up.

Sherlock threw the phone down in anger, yelling as he fell to his knees in defeat. Molly ran into the kitchen in shock and put a hand around his shoulder comfortingly. He put his hand on her arm. Molly felt him panting with rage.

"He's playing...a game...I never asked to play" Sherlock said, weakly. "I don't know how much more I can take Molly. He uses my friends against me like some hideous weapon"

"We have to be stronger than him Sherlock, we can't let him control us" Molly said, her voice steady with determination. Sherlock looked at her. How was it possible for Molly Hooper, quiet, timid Molly Hooper, to have this much strength? He saw that she was stronger than him, mentally, in that moment. It made her beautiful, even more beautiful than she already was. He looked into her hazel brown eyes, was it possible that he was developing feelings for Molly Hooper, the pathologist..his pathologist? '

Is he going to..' Molly thought in disbelief.

Sherlock leaned in and pressed his lips against hers. Molly blushed, the moment she had always been waiting for, that she wished and dreamed for many years was finally happening. Sherlock put his hands on her head, pulling her in closer, tasting her and savouring every sensation of the kiss. After about half a minute, they pulled apart, there eyes fixed on each other. Molly smiled and looked down, he tilted her chin up with his fingers.

"Molly Hooper...thank you" He said quietly, sincerely.

"It's my pleasure Sherlock..always, my pleasure" She said, her wide smile not leaving her face.

They stood up, Toby watched from the counter, purring wildly, expecting his third meal of the day. She went over and stroked him. Her face still flushed and her smile permanently shining on her face.

Sherlock watched her as she stroked Toby, she never meant more to him than she did in that moment.

Molly Hooper, he thought, you give me strength.

"I can't wait for you to see what I have planned for tomorrow"

Oh Molly, he thought helplessly, I'm going to need it.