Hi guys, this is my first attempt at a Sherlock fic, any comments are greatly appreciated :)
Hope some of you are still with me!
Chapter Ten
"Well?" Meena questioned, her voice strained and accusing. Molly snorted to herself,
"Well, what?" she responded, crushing the phone in between her shoulder and ear as she continued to push Rosie in her toddler's swing.
"Higher Auntie Molly!" She shrieked, kicking her little legs as hard as possible and causing a few passersby to smile warmly in their direction.
"Don't you 'well, what' me Molly Hooper. Deets please." Meena sounded impatient and Molly could understand why,
"Higher!" Rosie sang out once more and Molly give her an extra big push,
"There aren't any deets." She responded, shifting the phone to her other ear in an attempt to find a more comfortable position.
"Yes. There are. You just don't want to tell me." Molly sighed heavily. She was so transparent sometimes and she hated it. The question just made her nervous – She felt as though answering it would cement the fact that the life that she had spent five years building had fallen apart in a matter of days. Chest a little tighter, she drew in a deep breath,
"It's just really really weird." Was all she managed to say,
"Which bit? The part where the man you've been in love with for the best part of a decade-"
"Meena!" Molly interrupted, cheeks flushed and looking around her nervously as though someone could possibly to listening in to their conversation,
"AND fucking ran away from is back in your life?" Guilt flooded Molly at Meena's words, but she tried desperately to suppress them,
"I didn't run away." She spat through gritted teeth,
"Push harder Auntie Molly!" Rosie squealed,
"Or the fact you've been riding the secret bestie bants train with said lover boys big bro?" Meena said slyly, causing Molly to flush even further, her voice raising an octave,
"What are you talking about? Mycroft has absolutely nothing-"
"Or that the man you've not seen in almost two DECADES and who ditched you for your best gal pal has waltzed back around and you're playing friends reunited?" That one stung and made Molly's heart clench tightly.
She felt as though she had been plunged into a deep dark water from which there was no escape, no air to breathe and no chance of rescue. Despite her elation at Wills walking back into her life, she knew the baggage it brought, but had pushed it down and away to focus on her issues with Sherlock first. And when he had not pressed the matter, she had gladly accepted the relief it brought.
"It wasn't like that, and you know it." She whispered back, barely audible, and breathless.
"Girl, you need to sort your life out." Molly nodded to no one in particular, one eye on Rosie as she swung back and forth, the other on the lookout for Wills and John.
"I have been trying to do that." She said finally, hearing Meena snort on the other end of the line, "I thought I'd succeeded to be honest," She continued, momentarily stopping pushing Rosie and changing ears again,
"Apparently not." Meena laughed, Molly could tell she found the whole situation ridiculous by the tone of her voice, "So…What are you going to do?"
"Do?" Molly flinched and blinked rapidly. It was not even something that she had considered, "Nothing. The Professor will be knighted, we'll do the parties, we go home." Her voice waivered a little, but the more she thought it over, the more certain she was that that was the correct course of action. Ignorance. "Done." Molly took hold of Rosie's swing seat and stilled her,
"Are you having a laugh?" Meena said hoarsely, disbelief littering her tone of voice,
"What?"
"It's pardon, Auntie Molly!" Rosie interjected, looking up and backwards and Molly raised a disapproving eyebrow back at her, resulting in a giggle,
"Look, why don't we hit the town Friday? We can chat then. Try that Moroccan place near the hospital you used to bang on about going to." Molly's mood brightened instantly. It had been weeks since she last went out to a club to dance and drink herself into oblivion, even longer since she had done it with Meena. With a wide smile plastered onto her face she nodded vigorously, unmindful to the fact her friend couldn't even see her,
"Auntie Molly! I really don't think that you're taking this seriously!" Rosie shouted up at her, a devilish look reminiscent of Mary with a plan in mind plastered across her face,
"And you shouldn't be so needy young lady." John's voice cut over them and jump - started Molly into action,
"Sorry Meena, got to go! See you Friday, I'll text you." She gave Rosie a large push, much harder than she had intended to and sent her goddaughter flying.
"Daddy! Look how high I am!" She shrieked in delight as the two men neared, seemingly much more at ease than they had previously been. Wills gave her a coy smile and John pushed his hands into his jacket pocket,
"Yes sweetheart, I can see." He gave her a quick glance before turning back to Molly,
"But you're not paying attention!" Rosie shouted back at him, drawing John's attention once more. He stretched his hand out and caught her swing, causing her to come to a halt rather unceremoniously.
"That's enough now Rosamund, come on it's time to go." He began trying to pull her from the chair, but she simply straightened her legs to a right angle in refusal, Molly and Wills snickered as they watched John try to remove her,
"But Daddy! I was about to fly away!" She was batting her eyelashes at her father innocently as he struggled to get her to bend both of her legs,
"Daddy wouldn't be that lucky," He muttered in annoyance, "Come on." He huffed at her in frustration and impatience, and Molly took pity on him, shooing him out of the way and holding her arms out to Rosie, who allowed herself to go limp and be lifted from the swing,
"You're already the luckiest Daddy in the world." Rosie tittered mischievously as she was lowered back to the ground, taking her father's hand, and swinging herself around his legs, "Auntie Molly has a date."
Molly sucked in as much air as possible and dried her mouth out instantly, giving her a look that simply said 'traitor'.
"Does she now?" Wills asked, his interest obviously piqued. The four of them steadily began walking towards the exit of the park, Molly and John swinging Rosie between them as they went,
"It's not a date." Molly clarified, swallowing the lump that had formed there. She had not had an official date in years, the thought actually left her feeling quite nauseous and apprehensive – Sometimes she felt like the thought of ever actually dating again was an impossibility. The scars of her last days in London were still raw,
"Meena just said we should go for a few drinks Friday, catch up." She muttered, concentrating instead on not ripping Rosie's arm off.
"That sounds great! I'd love to meet her." Wills added, smiling widely, and drawing her attention. Molly swallowed heavily. How could she possibly refuse when he was looking at her with such expectant glee?
'Oh, sorry Wills, I really wanna go moan and bitch about you and the other intelligent idiot in my life with my bestie, do you mind not interfering?' She mentally scolded herself and instead stretched as wide a smile across her features as possible – At least it wasn't Sherlock trying to insert himself into the situation.
"Ah…Yes…Well…John! Perhaps you fancy a night out as well?" She asked, rather avoiding the question, and noting the slight frown on Wills' face that disappeared almost as quickly as it had appeared.
"Daddy, you can't date Auntie Molly. What would Uncle Sherlock say?" Rosie stopped suddenly and dropped her father's hand, staring up at him defiantly, a fire burning in her eyes that startled Molly and she raised a questioning eyebrow at John. Yet he simply shrugged in response and retook hold of her hand,
"It's not a date." He said flatly, pulling her along again with Molly's help. "Yeah, actually, why not. I haven't been out in ages." He seemed to have an extra spring in his step at the thought of possibly letting himself go for a few hours and freeing himself of the stresses and inhibitions of life, "And maybe Uncle Sherlock or Mrs Hudson can look after you." He directed his question to Rosie, though did not look at her, instead concentrating on lifting her into his arms as they neared a road crossing,
"Auntie Martha has the best sweeties. They taste like fruit."
~x~x~x~
Molly stumbled into the bar with John and Wills, holding onto them for dear life and pulling down her too short, strapless, backless dress as she teetered on heels that were too high for her. She was already slightly tipsy after necking what Wills had dubbed 'walking beers' before they were allowed inside.
The place was dimly lit with plenty of booths lining the outside of the room and a bar opposite them. A giant circular banister and staircase was in the centre of the room leading to the lower floor and the three of them shimmied their way round, heading straight for the bar.
John and Wills drifted to the cloakroom to hand over their coats whilst Molly looked around for Meena, casually leaning up against the silver topped bar that was illuminated by brightly coloured carmona lampshades.
"What happened to a girly catch up?"
Molly almost jumped out of her skin at Meena's voice floating to her over the loud music. She turned to face her, she was smiling at the very least, and pulled her into a warm embrace, holding tightly onto the friend she had not seen in person in so long.
"Well Rosie dropped me in it, and he wanted to come, I couldn't exactly say no." She pulled away and looked into Meena's smiling face before returning to lean on the bar, Meena following suit.
"Yes. Yes, you could. You say 'no' and you all move on like adults and accept it." Meena had always been so blunt and straight to the point, a quality Molly loved about her and one she wished that she had the capacity to execute.
"Well, that's why I asked John, they can keep each other company," She shrugged, flicking her long wavy hair behind her, and shuffling uncomfortably before being jabbed in the side by Meena who was grinning fiendishly.
"So, what, we're double dating now?"
"Don't be ridiculous."
"I need a drink." She proclaimed rather loudly, clearly drawing the attention of a barman who had just walked from downstairs to greet them. Meena batted her long eyelashes at him and leaned as far over the bar to him as she possibly could while he flashed her a dazzling white smile and cocked an eyebrow at her questioningly, "A bottle of Tanqueray No. Ten and four tonic waters!"
He gave her a short, sharp nod and a wink and then turned away immediately to fetch the bottle and some glasses,
"Meena! It's one hundred and forty – five pounds a bottle!" Molly gasped, holding onto the crook of her friend's arm in shock, but she only batted her away, reaching into her purse and pulling out her card,
"Yeah, and that's only thirty – five – ish quid each." Meena reasoned, "Come on, we've not had a drink together in five years." Molly sighed at her, resigned to the fact that there was no winning with her, and that the men were probably best not to argue with her either. She began searching for her own purse before stuffing two twenty pound notes into her friends hand.
"And I've not had gin in even longer, not since-" Molly was cut off as Meena burst out into an uncontrollable fit of laughter, no doubt as the memory of their last gin adventure came flooding back to her, "It's not funny."
"I had totally forgotten about that." Meena gasped, flicking her wrist and card at the machine as the bartender returned with their drinks and the card reader, "Fuck you were drunk." Continuing to laugh as she shoved the bottle and a glass into Molly's hand then collecting the other three herself.
"I couldn't stand for two days after without getting motion sickness." Molly smirked, nodding to the bartender before turning to walk over to a bright pink booth not far from them, sliding onto the seat, "It's really not funny at all."
"It was fantastic."
It wasn't long before Wills and John returned and the four of them began drinking and reminiscing about past experiences and adventures that they had been on. And although Molly as slipping further and further towards the oblivion of drunken memory loss, she was contented with how the evening had turned out. It had been much more relaxing than she had anticipated, and she found that the company of John, Meena and Wills gave her an overwhelming sense of nostalgia and peace.
"I really feel like there's so much I don't know about you at all." John laughed, the tip of his nose having turned as pink as his cheeks as the night wore on, "I mean I had no idea you played cello – Which you do beautifully by the way, I can only assume Sherlock was furious that he may have actually met someone better than him that wasn't Eurus-" He stopped abruptly and Molly's throat closed temporarily and she had to force another drink down to try and open it again. Clearly, even when drunk, the memory still cut deep.
John seemed to have sensed her discomfort even though the other two had not and cleared his throat, "And ballroom competitions. I mean that's crazy. Did you ever win anything?"
"We did an international competition once at the Royal Albert Hall. It was more just for fun than anything else though." Wills responded, leaning back in his seat, and draping his are around the back of Molly's, causing her to flush. John was staring at them both intently, only stopping when Meena also leant back into her seat and brushed against him a little,
"It helped with the figure skating more than anything." Molly added mindlessly, though she was far more interested in the sudden change of atmosphere between her best friend and her goddaughter's father,
"You two did ice dancing?" Meena asked, a spark of excitement lighting in her face and she sat forwards again, drawing John's eyes to her back and slim waist, which, despite the drunken cloud that seemed to be floating around them, did not go unnoticed by Molly,
"Just for a few years. And nothing too major. Just a few local competitions." She said casually, taking another drink,
"Molly Hooper, you enigma." John said, a small smile pulling at the corners of his mouth as she stared at her, almost as though he was actually seeing her clearly for the first time in his life,
"What is this…Molly?" Wills asked, giving her a little nudge to the shoulder, "I didn't want to ask because I feel like I missed the memo or something." She looked at him amusedly whilst the other two looked even more baffled by the statement.
"More like, what's all this Mags stuff about? I had no idea who you were talking to originally." Said John, smiling himself and raising his glass at them,
"You what? That's her name." Wills said bemusedly, giving Molly a confused look. Suddenly all eyes were on her and she laughed at them as they waited on her expectantly. Meena poured them all a shot and raised her eyebrows at Molly expectedly as she handed her hers.
"My name is actually Margaret, but I never really liked it. So, when I started at Bart's I chose a name that I liked. Molly." She downed her drink, gurning afterwards, and the others did the same, flicking their shot glasses back towards Meena who began filling them again,
"You'll always be Maggie to me." Wills took hold of her hand and squeezed it tightly and she blushed, looking at him with a feeling of flooding affection warming her completely.
"As if. You really are just one big mystery." John commented, shaking his head slightly on wonder of her, Meena slumping back into him where he lazily and slowly draped an arm around her shoulder. Molly smiled sweetly at them, it was nice to see John enjoying the company of another woman, she had feared that after Mary's death he never would again. He deserved happiness.
"Don't be daft John. That was a lifetime ago, you know me just as I am now, and that's enough."
"Holy shit, I love this song!" Meena stood suddenly and pulled John to his feet, both stumbling out of the booth and knocking back her latest shot and the remainder of her gin and tonic.
"Absolutely no chance we're leaving this here. Top up time!" She poured most of the remainder of the bottle into two glasses and offered the remainder to them straight from the bottle, "And take a gulp, boys," She rammed it into their mouths in turn and then herself, "You too, Miss Margaret," She shook it at her,
"Piss off Meena," She took the bottle and drained the few remaining drops from the bottle, gagging as she went, almost heaving it back into the bottle, before Meena grabbed at her upper arm and whispered into her ear,
"DON'T…Disappoint me!" Before turning and dragging John behind her towards a corner of the dance floor and out of sight.
"Come on, they look comfy enough together, don't you think?" Wills whispered into her ear and took Molly by the hand, leading her downstairs to the dance floor below. She laughed and followed him, bopping to the music as she went, despite her slightly churning stomach and fuzzy head. Pulling her over to a booth with a table by it they deposited the glass of gin and the two of them began to dance with one another.
Her limbs felt fluid and animated, and she allowed Wills to twirl her around, letting him lead her in their small area of the room and sway to the beat.
"Listen…I know everything has been a bit rushed and messy…" She heard him in her ear once again and her stomach plummeted. She had been enjoying herself like old times, like before all of the drama, before the pain, and now he sounded so serious.
"Wills…" She whined, staring up at him with sad eyes in the hope that he wouldn't continue trying to push the subject,
"I need to talk with you. Properly." And there it was. Out there and the ball in her court. Her mind was fuzzy enough without this,
"You really don't have to." She took a step away from him and backed into the table, refusing to look at him. Her organs felt like concrete, and she would have given anything to be able to evaporate on the spot.
"I do." He pushed and took a step towards her, taking a piece of stray hair and tucking it behind her ear, "Things were left...Left…Awkward." She took his hand in hers and squeezed it lightly,
"Wills…Please…" She was begging him to leave it now, her anxiety levels reaching heights it hadn't in years. He inched closer to her, towering above her, just inches from her face. She flushed from head to toe, her skin prickling as his breath tickled her face.
"No now, but please Mags, just hear me out." She looked into his pleading face and nodded slowly, tearing her eyes away from him and biting her lip in embarrassment. He smiled regardless and took a swig of the gin, giving her a sip and causing her to cough a little, "Hey, let me go get something to go with this - I won't be long."
She watched him disappear into the crowd and out of view momentarily before reappearing for a few seconds as he ascended the staircase, obviously intent on visiting the bar on the above floor that would undoubtedly be less busy. Molly's head was swimming with questions and unanswered statements. She had never had any intentions of ever speaking about their final goodbye to anyone, not even him, and the very thought of it made her feel queasy.
'Can I really unpack all of that again?' She pondered helplessly. It had taken her so long to sort through originally and store away at the back of her mind. She had come to terms with the past, and she wanted to leave their history there. Focus on the future and move on – If she was ever to even think about truly moving on from it. And yet here they were, dancing together like nothing had changed, flirting relentlessly, and reliving their golden moments together as though it were only last week.
Her head was throbbing at the racing thoughts, and she drew in a deep breath. It was hard enough concentrating with the level of alcohol pumping around her body, never mind when Wills was trying to coerce her into serious conversation. She wanted to have fun and forget for a while, and that is exactly what she intended to do. Swaying her body along to music that she didn't recognise she let the rhythm take her over, closing her eyes tightly and raising her hands over her head as she bounced in time to the beat. It seemed to help stabilise her and letting go gave her a sense of calm.
She felt Wills place his hand on her shoulder and without thinking she grabbed it and pulled him up against her back, slipping her fingers upwards and into his, continuing dancing suggestively through the haze of music around them. After a few moments, she realised he had yet to move and she opened her eyes, staring at the hand she was holding onto and squinting a little. He had rolled his sleeve up to reveal pale, creamy skin staring back at her – Something felt incredibly off about the whole situation. Holding tight onto his fingers and trying desperately to sort the swim of disjointed thoughts in her mind, she turned his arm with her other hand to find smooth skin on his forearm staring back at her.
Molly crinkled her nose in confusion before it dawned on her. Her mind instantly clearing and stomach plummeting into the floor. Wills had a long scar from wrist to elbow for a break he had had surgically repaired years before they had met. This was not his arm.
She froze, willing herself to breathe as she drew in great shuddering breaths, ready to die of embarrassment as she apologised to a complete stranger for her inappropriate behaviour. Staring directly above her, a dark - haired man towered over her, his stormy green – blue eyes piercing her through the densely lit room.
"HOLY SHIT!" She immediately released him and spun on the spot before shooting backwards and falling into one of the seats in the matey booth behind her, narrowly missing the table on her way down. "Fuck…Fuck…Sherlock…" She spluttered, staring up at his impassive face in absolute horror. Molly didn't think it was even possible to sober up so quickly, but her clear mind, wide pupils and dry mouth told her otherwise.
Pulling her dress down a little and smoothing down her hair she shakingly pulled herself to her feet, her legs like jelly and knees knocking together. "I-" She started, not even really sure how to save herself from the crushing weight of embarrassment, particularly in front of him. "I am so, so sorry." She managed to get out. Barely able to look at him as he practically glared at her.
Swallowing a lump in her throat, she took a shaky step towards him, trying to display a sense of calm and confidence, reaching up and placing a tentative hand upon his shoulder and speaking loudly directly into his ear, "I thought you were Wills! If I had known, I would never, ever-"
The rest of her sentence was lost as his hand shot out to grab the back of her head, his fingers entwining with the hair at the base of her neck and pulling her flush against him, dipping his head, and crushing his mouth into hers.
Japan's Arc Angel x