Author's note:

Hi everyone! Sorry for the cliffhanger, I hope you forgive me.

Ok, on to the story!

Her body stopped working. She couldn't even call his name.

Everything seemed to slow down as Molly fell to the floor amid the shattered petri dishes. Her hair covered her face and stuck to wet cheeks as she tried and failed to push herself up and away from the shards of broken glass. She turned to focus on the man who now towered over her. She knew there was a gun, but her peripheral vision was impaired, her body was shutting down.

Molly looked at his eyes...The eyes of the man who would kill her.

She saw icy blue.

BANG!

Blood splattered on Molly's cheecks and Stefano cried out in anger, pain. He clutched his hand, which now bled copiously. There was a loud crash and she was dimly aware of people pouring in, of cries and of Stefano lunging for the gun and being pushed against the wall. She couldn't keep her eyes open.

One voice called her name, then another.

"Molly? Molly, can you hear me?"

John ran into the room after the ambassador and the officers, who were holding a man at bay; the doctor recognized him as one of the scorta. He was pinned to the wall and prevented from reaching the gun which James now picked up. The man's hand was dripping with blood as his brown eyes glared viciously at the confused Italian officers. John looked down to see Molly on the floor, instinct and training took over as he crouched beside her.

James turned to see the two officers that had been previously guarding the lab, now waving at him from a window in the opposite building. They stood next to Ascanio Rigamonti, who was armed with a precision rifle and his customary scowl. James nodded at them, then crouched next to the pathologist.

"Molly, are you all right?"

"Stefano? No!" Ginevra gasped, a trembling hand covering her lips. She ran out of the lab, unheeded.

"What happed here?" An officer inquired, puzzled at holding one of his colleagues at gunpoint. "What is Ascanio doing over there?"

"I asked him to come."

All eyes turned to the man at the door.

Sherlock looked at Molly, curled up on the floor with John and James by her side. He saw small cuts on her legs, arms and fingers, caused by the shards of broken glass that surrounded her. She looked up at him.

Blood covered her cheeks.

He blinked.

The consulting detective walked in with casual nonchalance, but James didn't miss the carefully controlled breathing and the tiny beads of perspiration on his brow. The slightest trembling of his hands wasn't lost on him, either... But James didn't care, he was too angry.

"I knew the accomplice would try to access the results, so we set a trap..."Sherlock began.

"You used Molly as bait?" James snarled, rising to his feet. In a moment he had pushed him against the wall, a hand gripping the throat of the unresisting consulting detective. "What kind of a man are you? Look at her! How could you let this happen?"

"You made this happen." Sherlock replied icily. "I told you not to say anything, but you had to talk about Molly... You brought this upon her." He spat.

"What are you..."

"James..." Molly murmured, slowly rising to her feet with John's help. The grip relaxed and Sherlock was released with a final, disgusted push.

"Are you all right?" The consulting detective's eyes were lowered, his head turned to the side.

"Yes, Sherlock. I'm fine." Molly replied softly. She let go of John's arm and straightened her stained labcoat.

She seemed to be getting a lot of blood on her clothes, lately.

Too much.

Officer Rigamonti walked in, along with the two men. "Take Stefano away. I want to speak to him later. And thank you." Sherlock muttered, and Ascanio nodded to his officers so that the order would be followed.

"I...I do think I might need to sit down." Molly murmured.

Some old buildings stand strong during an earthquake, but in the stillness that follows they tumble and fall to dust.

She was falling...

But there were hands to catch her.

Molly had hit her head when Stefano had knocked her to the floor, apparently.

She had a concussion.

It could have been worse.

It could have been much worse!

Molly felt very self conscious, lying in the hospital bed; she was usually on the other side of this scenario! The Italian doctors wanted to 'keep an eye on her', John agreed with them, James ordered a single room for her immediately and Sherlock...Well...He just walked away, really...But anyway she wasn't really given much choice.

She didn't even need to leave the building. How convenient.

People were talking all around her, James had some flowers sent, and she was being asked what she wanted for supper. It was hard to believe that only thirty minutes ago she was staring at death in the eyes...Molly looked around at the faces surrounding her bed. He wasn't there.

"I...I think I would like to sleep now." She said groggily, unaware of the slight slur in her words.

In a flurry of arms and tut-tuts, a nurse had evacuated the room, and she was finally alone.

And already asleep.

The nurse checked the room one more time before leaving, unaware of the tall figure who waited around the corner.

When she was gone, he quietly stepped into Molly's room and closed the door behind him.

For a moment he stood, as if frozen, his hand still on the doorknob as he watched her breathe. Eventually, as if he had gathered courage from the air around her, he stepped closer and picked up her chart, reading it with intense concentration.

Finally he sat on the chair beside her.

She sighed and his eyes flew to her face, holding his breath in fear of waking her, but she was too exhausted to notice his presence and slept on, peacefully.

He looked at her fingers, covered as they were with small plasters.

He took a deep breath and carefully held her hand in his, bringing it up to his lips.

"You were very brave, Molly." He whispered.

He lightly kissed those delicate, gentle fingers.

"And I am so sorry."

Molly woke up, alone. Puzzled, she looked at her left hand.

Her fingers felt warm.

.

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Warm thanks to haleyhi725, Evelyn Rose Caiside, ammyDOS101, lavanyalabelle, Justmandy0811, lovebirds413, superwholockian7437 , Renaissancebooklover108, 16magnolias,mrspencil, Reina434, Crimson and Chrome 42, wordgirl75, crown20, Rocking the Redhead , Silkenslay and SammyKatz for the reviews!