Chapter Text
“Oh, your husband is rather cute! How long have you been together?”
Molly’s head snapped up from where she had been waiting at the bar for another drink while Mycroft made his way through the assorted dignitaries and politicians at the event. This opera had been special, a politically motivated event, and while Mycroft said normally he took Andrea to events such as this she was preoccupied that evening and he had invited her instead. She had a lovely semi-formal black dress that she now had an excuse to wear and she looked absolutely lovely, so she should have been having the time of her life, shouldn’t she?
She wasn’t, because she knew there was nothing there between them.
Long ago she had given up on being anything more than friends with Sherlock. Even before the end of her engagement with Tom, she had known Sherlock would never be there to take his place. But she had hoped perhaps someone would, but it seemed there was a dry spell, filled with friendly platonic pub dates with Greg, third-wheeling with John and Mary and things like this.
But oh, she had found her feelings for Mycroft changing long ago, back when Sherlock was gone and he was her only tether to how his brother’s journey was doing. They had tea, they had coffee, she shared her Jaffa cakes, he shared his wine...it had been nice. But then Tom had shown an interest and Mycroft had backed off and she had been...sad.
Sherlock had never been the threat to her relationship with Tom; no, it had been the other Holmes brother who had swept in and stolen her heart out right from under her, and now, at moments like this, when all she wished was she could say they were together…
“Oh, he’s just a friend,” she said with a smile as the bartender handed her a drink. Yes, just a friend...unfortunately.