Life After Death - A Post-Reichenbach Trilogy

Part Two - Consequences

Chapter Three

Molly had not seen or heard from Mycroft since the day Sherlock went away, nor did she expect to, but neither had she spoken to John Watson or Mrs Hudson since the funeral. However, one afternoon, towards the end of her second trimester, she was coming down in the lift from the path lab when it stopped at the floor below, the door opened and John Watson stepped in.

'Molly!' he declared. 'What a lovely surprise! And, wow, look at you! I had no idea!'

He clasped her by the shoulders and gave her a warm peck on both cheeks. 'When's the baby due? And who's the daddy?'

Molly cleverly side-stepped the second half of this question by launching into a very technical account of the current status of her pregnancy then said,

'What about you, John? How are things with you…now?'

Dropping his gaze, momentarily, in acknowledgement of the inferred reference to Sherlock's tragic demise, John Watson grinned broadly and explained that he just dropped in to see Mike Stanford because he had some news of his own.

'I've met someone, Molly. We're getting engaged. I just came by to invite Stamford to the party, next Saturday. Please say you'll come, too? Mrs Hudson will be there and Greg Lestrade. Even Sally Donovan and Phillip Anderson are coming. It will be nice to get the old crowd back together again. I haven't really seen any of them since….well, you know, since….Anyway, please come and bring along your partner. It will be great to meet him.'

Molly thanked him for the invitation and he gave her the address. It was not 221B Baker Street. John had moved out of there as soon as he could find an alternative. Too many memories, he admitted. They bid one another goodbye, outside the main door to St Bart's and Molly assured Dr Watson that she would come to the party, though afterwards, left to her own thoughts, she wondered how difficult it would be to keep up the pretence that Sherlock was dead, faced with all the people who knew him best – the very people, in fact, for whom he had made the great sacrifice of faking his own death and going into self-imposed exile. However, she really wanted to see the old faces again – even Donovan and Anderson, perhaps – so she decided she would go.

As it turned out, it was rather a pleasant social occasion. When Molly arrived, everyone greeted her warmly. They all expressed surprise and delight that she was expecting a happy event and, once everyone had exchanged pleasantries and introductions, she sat with Mrs Hudson for quite a while, talking about babies. Mrs H had no children of her own, which was probably why she had unofficially adopted Sherlock and John, but she had nieces and nephews and even great ones, too, so she had lots of baby anecdotes to share.

John's fiancée, Mary, seemed really nice and, seeing them together, it was obvious that they were truly in love. Molly was pleased that John had found someone who clearly made him happy. It must have helped him deal with the loss of his best friend.

Inevitably, the conversation came round to Sherlock. Unbeknown to Molly - and probably facilitated by Mycroft - Moriarty's deception had been exposed and the 'Rich Brook' revelations discredited. Lestrade had been reinstated as a DI and Sherlock's name had been cleared. Why hadn't anyone thought to tell her? she wondered. But she had been so out of the loop for the last seven months. Sherlock was the glue that held this group of people together. Without him, they had drifted apart.

Of course, the revelations about Moriarty's guilt and Sherlock's innocence led them all to speculate as to why he had insisted it was all true and jumped off the roof, but it was agreed that he had been under a huge amount of stress at the time and, perhaps, he believed there was no other way out.

It was quite cathartic, talking about Sherlock. Even Donovan agreed, grudgingly, that he was good at what he did - Anderson abstained from commenting. John became rather pensive and took himself into the kitchen, which is where Molly found him, when she went to say goodbye.

'I'm a bit tired, John,' she explained. 'Carrying all this extra weight around really takes it out of you!'

'Well, I'm very grateful to you for coming, Molly. I really wanted everyone to meet Mary. I don't know where I would be now, without her,' John confided, looking close to tears.

Molly gave him a hug.

'You know, John, Sherlock would be pleased that you've found someone you want to spend the rest of your life with. And, let's face it, I don't think you could have made it this far in any relationship with him around. He was rather 'Death to Girlfriends', wasn't he?'

John had to laugh at that.

'God, you are so right, Molly. He could kill passion with a glance. Anyway, please keep in touch and let us know when that baby arrives. And, when we set a date for the wedding, you will definitely be on the VIP guest list.'

He stepped forward and hugged her close, just as the baby let loose with a might kick, which he felt, even through his and Molly's clothing.

'Good God, what have you got in there, a horse?' John exclaimed, laughing.

'It's either the Karate Kid or Johnny Wilkinson, I'm not sure which,' Molly replied. 'But I'll keep you posted!'

Molly took her leave, silently marvelling that no one had even asked about the father of her baby but she assumed Mike Stanford had probably filled them in on the 'A.I.' story and she said a heart-felt 'thank you' for Maria and her fertile imagination.

ooOoo