The cab pulls outside Molly's building and she and Sherlock climb out of the cab.
"You got the money for this babe; I left my wallet in the house." Sherlock says making Molly frown.
"What?"
"Pay the man." Sherlock says smiling awkwardly at the cabbie who was frowning unhappily at them obviously a little concerned that they couldn't pay him. Molly snaps out of her moment of shock and digs in her bag for her purse.
"Sorry how much?" She asks and the cabbie sighs.
"Eight fifty." He says grumpily and she hands him a ten pound note.
"Keep the change." She says and he rolls his window up grumbling about townies and Sherlock waves in his window and smiles.
"Thanks man." He says and Molly frowns at him and he shrugs. "What?" He asks and she shakes her head and he just grins and bounds up the stairs and opens the door. Molly stares at him and hurriedly searches her bag for her keys and he jingles them loudly. She rushes up the stairs and Sherlock looks around the street before following her into the hallway.
"How did you get my keys?" She asks in a whisper as he leads the way to her front door.
"You really shouldn't leave your bag open." He says with a shrug and he opens the front door and marches into the house checking every room quickly as he goes. He walks straight into the living room and molly just stands in the doorway a little shell shocked. "Well come in." He says peering around the doorway and she rushes as he disappears again. "And lock the door." He says from the living room. Molly locks the door behind her and slides the chain on for good measure. She walks into the living room and Sherlock is at the windows running his hands along them and then he pulls the curtains quickly closed and proceeds to move around the room like he is looking for something.
"What are you..." Molly begins but he raises a hand and she is silenced. She watches with a frown on her face as he moves around the room, finally he stops and he lets out a breath. "Sherlock what are you doing?" Molly asks her voice sounding desperate as he pulls off his blonde wig. Molly notices his hair is still bloody and she looks back down at his face.
"I was just making sure there were no cameras or bugs." He says.
"Cameras?" Molly squeaks looking around the living room."
"Yes or microphones but I think we are ok. Can never be too careful though." He says as Molly slumps down in her chair completely exhausted by all the drama.
"How do you do it?" She asks in a breath.
"Do what?" He asks frowning.
"This," She indicates around the room, "How do you handle all this drama all the time?"
"I just don't let it get to me." He says with a shrug. "It is my job." Molly frowns and shakes her head.
"You invented the job Sherlock, you must enjoy it." She says and he looks away. "You must have a sadistic side." She adds and he looks down at her frowning.
"What makes you say that?" He asks.
"Well it is all a bit depressing, the whole thing. I can hardly stand everything, I feel like I am falling apart and you…" She looks up at him, "You look normal completely unfazed." She says and he looks away again.
"I am just in control of my emotions." He says his voice low and he pulls off his hoodie. He sucks in a pained breath and Molly springs out of the seat to his side.
"What, what is it?" She asks as he lowers his arms slowly.
"My ribs." He says lifting his t-shirt revealing the bandages from earlier. She takes note of his flat white stomach before her eyes travel to the bandaged area and she desperately tries not to notice the small trail of dark hair that leads into his jeans. She swallows and feels his ribs again.
"I will have to check them again, is that ok?" She asks and he nods.
"If you wouldn't mind." He says and she nods and disappears into the kitchen and grabs a bundle of bandages. Sherlock is struggling to pull of his t-shirt and she rushes over to help him.
"Here let me." She says and he lets it drop his face unreadable and paler than usual. His adrenaline must have worn off and he is now staring to feel every pain he sustained from the fall. Molly pulls his t-shirt up and she has to step closer to get it over his head, as he is so much taller than she is. She can feel the heat radiating off him and she sees that he is trembling slightly. She carefully removes the t-shirt and he gives her a small smile.
"Thank you." He says and she nods and walks around behind him and starts unravelling the bandages trying desperately not to let her mind get away with her and behave herself. As she unravels the bandages she takes in the smoother white expanse of his back, which is surprisingly muscular, something she was not expecting. A pleasant surprise. She bites her lip as she makes her way round to his front hiding a smile. Her smile vanishes when she sees the extent of the damage however and her breath catches in her throat.
"Oh Sherlock." She says covering her mouth with her hand as she looks over his rib cage, which is a violent purple. "That looks awful!" She says and he gingerly moves a hand over them. "Are you ok if I examine you? Just to make sure there are no breakages?" She says and he lets his hand drop.
"I need to wash first," he says touching his bloody hair, "If that is ok with you?" He says and she shakes her head.
"No of course." She shows him into the bathroom and smiles.
"Thank you Molly." He says closing the door. She rushes to her airing cupboard and rummages for her nicest towel and knocks on the door. The shower is running so she knocks louder.
"Sh-Sherlock I have a towel for you." She says through the door.
"Come in." He says and her eyes widen and she almost falls through the door. She peeks at the shower curtain and just sees his outline as he washes his hair.
"I have put it on the side." She says and she rushes out before he can answer. She leans up against the closed door and lets out a low breath. Molly makes her way back into the living room and slumps down into her chair and closes her eyes.
Well I did not expect my day to turn out quite like this. Molly thinks as she kicks off her shoes. Sherlock Holmes in my flat, naked! The thought makes her sit up in her seat and her face flame with the thought of it all. She mentally slaps herself for getting carried away and then she remembers why Sherlock was naked in her flat. The events of the day spin in her mind making her feels sick. She cringes when she imagines what poor John and Mrs Hudson are going through and she feels guilt course through her so strong she has to fight the urge to run to then and divulge the elaborate fake suicide. He leans forward and puts her head in her hands and sighs. How am I going to get away with this one? She thinks and she recalls all the other time she has had to cover for Sherlock or went along with one of his requests, whipping a dead body to see the bruises that formed or giving him random body parts on request. Now she has helped a wanted man escape the police and death, sure she had saved peoples lives in the process but she began wondering, was there nothing she wouldn't do for Sherlock Holmes?
She began wondering what his plan was now; surely he couldn't stay with her forever? Will he escape to another country; will he take her with him? She was surely going to be watched from now. Maybe now he would try and find Moriarty and finally bring him down. He will not let that rest surely? Maybe her will find him and bring down his network of criminals and return from the dead in spectacular fashion. She dreaded the reactions of Sherlock's nearest and dearest when it finally came out that she knew everything and she did nothing to ease their suffering. She knows she would find it hard to forgive such deception. She rubs her tired eyes and jumps when Sherlock clears his throat behind her.
"Sherlock!" Molly squeals springing out of her seat clutching her chest. He frowns at her and shakes his head.
"You need to get a hold of your nerves Molly." He says and Molly frowns at him.
"Oh I'm sorry, I have a lot on my mind and with you creeping around doesn't help!" She snaps and he raises his eyebrows surprised at her out burst.
"That is the first time you have got cross with me." Sherlock says and Molly stares down.
"I'm sorry I just…"
"Don't apologise." Sherlock says and she looks up at his face. "I have asked a lot of you today." He says and Molly nods she chews on her lip nervously and she notices he is standing there in nothing but a towel. Her eyes wander over him for a moment until he clears his throat and her eyes snap up to his face, she is shocked to see he has a small smile on his lips. "It is rude to stare." He says and she feels her face heat up immediately and she turns away.
"I-I'm oh my…" Molly rushes into the kitchen her face flaming and she closes the door behind her and puts her hands over her face. What is with this man that makes me such a mess? I am not like that with any other guys! She thinks angrily to herself, she has always been nervous and intimidated around Sherlock. He has a certain power to him that molly finds fascinating and she just cannot control herself around him. She loves watching him work and how he so easily comes to difficult conclusions just with a few tiny sometime useless seeming clues. She loves how smart he is yet how clueless he is about the simplest of things. She knows most people find him irritating and rude and she sees where they are coming from but being one of the few people who gets to see him regularly and see him work she just finds him fascinating. It also didn't help that she thinks him as one of the most attractive people she had ever met that was even more of a bonus in her opinion.
Molly sighs and starts rummaging around her cupboard for some pain relief and when she finds a few boxes she walks back into the living room where was sat in her char, towel and all, waiting patiently for her. He is just any other patient Molly! She says to herself and she moves in front of him and he looks up at her.
"Do you need some pain relief?" She asks and he shakes his head.
"Ex addict."He says shortly and she stares at him in shock. He looks up at her trying to guage her reaction and he is not surprised to see the shock there but the sadness he was not expecting.
"Um, I need you to stand up please." She says all business now and he does as he is asked, wincing slightly as his ribs stretch.
"I am sorry if I embarrassed you." He says as Molly stands back after he ends up to close to her.
"It's fine. I am just going to feel for breaks is that ok?" She says trying to brush over the awkward moment.
"Yes. It is not ok I should be making you feel bad for your feelings." He says and Molly frowns and starts to press on his ribs.
"This may hurt." She says still ignoring him.
"I know." He says and Molly stares up at him and frowns. She presses on his rib and he hisses she smiles a little and looks back down continuing her inspection.
"You are enjoying this Dr Hooper." Sherlock says with humour in his tone and Molly just continues feeling around to his back.
"You are lucky that you didn't do anything worse than this." She says and he chuckles.
"What like, actually die?" He says and Molly looks up at him again.
"Yeah." She says and he taps his temple.
"Don't worry I did all the math, I knew where I was going to land." He says and Molly rolls her eyes.
"So do you know what did this? I thought it was a laundry truck." She says and he frowns down at the bruise.
"So did I." He says and he prods the edge of the bruise. "So what is the prognosis Dr Hooper?"
"I don't think that you have broken anything, just badly bruised them." She says, "I won't need to bandage you." She says with a little pout and Sherlock chuckles.
"What a shame." Sherlock says teasing her. She frowns at him and prods him. "Ouch!"
"Oh sorry." She says with a mischievous smile as she retrieves the bandages from the chair before heading back into the kitchen to put them back. She smiled at herself for paying him back for her teasing. What made the whole situation with Sherlock more awkward was that she knew one hundred percent that Sherlock knew the extent of her feeling towards him. She also was aware that he had used those feeling she has for him to his advantage more than once but she found it hard to feel bitter about it. When the object of you affection was someone like Sherlock, she was glad with any little interaction they shared. However falsified it may be on his part.
"I have two sugars in my tea." Sherlock calls from the living room and Molly looks out of the kitchen towards him and frowns. "Please Molly." He adds at her disgruntled face.
"I am not your maid." She muttered to herself but she switches the kettle on none the less.
She re-enters the living room a short time later and Sherlock is sprawled out on the sofa his eyes closed and breathing lightly. He looks like he is sleeping so Molly puts the cup down on the side table and covers him with a blanket and sighs.
"Good night Sherlock." She whispers and she switches off the lights.
"Good night Molly Hooper." He says in a hushed voice from the sofa, she turns to look at him and he has not moved. She backs out of the room and closes the door. She walks quietly into her bedroom and closes the door lightly and not even bothering to undress she throws herself into her bed and cries. She is so emotionally drained that she cannot stop herself and when she is able to subdue herself for a moment she finally gets off to sleep.
Her sleep is not a peaceful one like she had hoped but it is plagued with images of John's devastated face and the real dead body of Sherlock and no matter how hard she tries in her dream when he falls he always lands hard on the concrete bellow and is still and not breathing.
Molly sits up in her bed horrified and in a cold sweat. She kicks the covers off from around her legs and she realises that she is still in the previous days clothes and grumbles as she sits up. She strips her bed angrily her mood getting the better of her and she balls the sheets up and exits her room quietly and tiptoes into the living room opening the door quietly. She peers around the door and she sees Sherlock sitting up and fully dressed and clicking away on her laptop. He doesn't look up or reply as she walks through the room and mutters "Morning". She throws her clothes in the washing into the machine and walks back through the living room where he is frowning at the screen and she heads into the bathroom.
She switches on her little radio and turns on the shower. Stepping under the spray she sighs as it instantly makes her tense muscles a little better but all of a sudden she feels her lip trembling and she lets out a sob and it is like a dam has burst as the tears flow freely.
How could she have gotten herself into such a mess for someone who doesn't really like her? She had put her life in jeopardy, with Moriarty still around, for a man who she is unhealthily devoted to despite the fact he is emotionally unavailable. She has put her job and her good reputation at Bart's on the line for someone who she really should care for. The few friends she has are not going to want to speak to her after they hear about the diabolical things she did to make sure Sherlock got away. What she allowed Sherlock to do to that poor mans corpse was enough to get her jailed for 5 years at leas and her medical licence revoked. She keeps clinging to the face that lives were saved because of her actions but she just cannot shake the feeling of dread that is taking hold of her. Her whole life is going to be a worry from now on unless Sherlock is able to bring down Moriarty. She was still unsure what Sherlock's plan was so she wiped her eyes, finished her shower and climbed out ready to talk to Sherlock about what was happening next. She opened the door forcefully and walked out just as Sherlock came out of the living room. She hit into him and fell to the floor her towel almost coming loose. She looked up at him and he was holding his ribs but offered her a hand.
"I'm sorry!" She squeaked as he helped her up, she wobbled a little and he held onto her arms making her shiver at the contact of his hands on her bare arms.
"You have been crying again?" He says and she looks down at the ground.
"You heard me?"
"Yes you were up most of the night." Sherlock says and Molly frowns. "And now in the shower?" He asks and she nods feeling embarrassed.
"Yes I was crying in the shower, can you let me past please?" She says and he drops his hands from her arms and steps aside and watches her as she marches into her room slamming the door behind her.
She gets dressed in a hurry her temper getting the better of her again at her disbelief of Sherlock's lack of compassion. Could he not see she was falling to pieces here? Was he not supposed to be the great detective? Were emotions really that much of a mystery to him? She gathered her wits and headed back into the living room and Sherlock was not there but she heard noise coming from the kitchen and she frowns as she enter at Sherlock wearing her apron and wielding a spatula while he scrambles some eggs.
"What are you doing?" She asks and he looks at her with his eyebrows raised as she stands in the doorway.
"I would have thought someone as smart as you would have recognised someone cooking breakfast." He says and Molly rolls her eyes and crosses her arms.
"Fine, why are you cooking?" She asks her voice still snippy and sharp.
"You are upset." He says with a shrug, "So I am making you breakfast." Molly opens her mouth to reply but Sherlock shoos her out of the door with and eggy spatula. "Out I will bring it out to you." He says and she tries not to smile as he steers her by the shoulders into her seat. He spins around and closes the kitchen door behind himself with his foot.
As Molly settles herself in her chair, feeling bad for doubting his compassion, her phone rings and she picks it up as Sherlock comes rushing out of the kitchen his eyes wide.
"Hello?" Molly says and the line remains silent, she looks up at Sherlock who is frowning now. "Hello, is there anyone there?" She asks and Sherlock presses the button on the stand and a sad sigh comes through it. Sherlock straightens up and backs away from the phone base his eyes wide and sad. "John is th-that you?" She says in a soft voice wiping away the tears that have started to fall onto her cheeks and the person on the phone clears his throat and Molly recognises the sound, it is John and Molly watches as Sherlock vanishes into the kitchen and closes the door.
"Molly…" He croaks and she swallows the lump that has formed in her throat.
"It's me John, are you – where are you?" She asks and he sighs again.
"I am in Baker Street… its so quiet here." He says and Molly looks to her kitchen door.
"Oh John I am so sorry."
"I just called to tell you it is tomorrow." He says sounding a little disorientated.
"Tomorrow?"
"The funeral." He says, his voice is shaky and it catches at the end.
"Tomorrow?" She asks feeling and sounding genuinely shocked. Her eyes dart to the kitchen door where Sherlock is now standing listening intently to the conversation his eyes are fixed on the phone base and he is frowning.
"Yes apparently he insisted on a quick burial." John says his voice sad.
"I- I thought he was to be cremated!" Molly says looking back up at Sherlock who doesn't acknowledge her and John chuckles humourlessly.
"Oh he has been already. Apparently Mycroft insisted. They did not let me see him before… I'm not family so…"
"I'm sorry."
"Nothing you could do." He says and Molly gasps and Sherlock looks at her and her eyes fill instantly." He had it all planned out did you know? He wanted a place where we could come and visit him."
"Oh really?" Molly says and Sherlock walks into the room further his eyes back on the phone base.
"He has been planning this for some time apparently, he knew it might come to this." John pauses and he is silent for a moment. "Did he say anything to you?" Molly's eyes widen and she stares wordlessly at the phone base.
"Me… why would he talk to me?" She sputters out glad that they were talking over the phone.
"He liked you." He says and Molly scoffed and Sherlock looked up at her frowning.
"Sherlock put up with me John, for when he needed me." She said her spite really showing now. Sherlock frowns at her and she ignores him.
"I'm sorry I just…"
"Please don't' apologise that is my problem." Molly says trying not to let John make her feel any more horrific than she already did. "John are you ok?" She asks regretting the question as soon as she has finished.
"No." He says simply and she sighs.
"I'm sorry stupid question. I heard you got hurt, I was just wondering…"
"I'm fine. So I will see you tomorrow?"
"Yes of course, what time?"
"Two o'clock."
"Ok I will see you tomorrow."
"See you tomorrow Molly, oh and if you need to you know talk or whatever…" John says and Molly bites her lip, "… I'm here."
"John I…" but before she could say another works the line goes dead and she stares at it and listened t the tone for a few moments.
"Molly?" Sherlock says in a soft almost comforting tone and she looks over at him her eyes threatening to spill over. "Well done." Molly blinks at him a few times and frowns.
"Well done?" She whispers and he moves forward and sits on the sofa next to her. "Well done?" She says louder turning to him. "I have just lied to a man about his best friend being dead." She says her voice rising with each word. Sherlock sits back a little and she stands up and she feels the dam of her emotions explode and she sends the phone handset against her wall in a rage. "He is crushed. For god sake Sherlock did you not hear him he id heartbroken." She shakes her head angrily and scowls down at him. "Are you really that emotionally stunted that you don't see what you are doing?"
"Molly!" He says angrily standing up and towering over her. "Don't for one second think you understand the complexities of what I am feeling."
"I don't understand?" She says her voice low and dangerous. "Sherlock you are and absolute…"
"What Molly what am I?" He challenges and she scowls up at him but she cannot think of anything hurtful to say because in truth she does not want to. "John is not the only one suffering." He says his tone calmer and sadder. They both are startled out of their staring contest when the fire alarm goes off. Sherlock rushes past her and into the kitchen and she snatches up her bag and keys.
I have been completely overwhelmed by the response to this story and I love that you are all following and reviewing. I Kline to hear that my stories are being enjoyed.
Thank you.