Chapter Text
Sherlock slid onto his favourite stool in the cool, quiet, calm of the lab in Barts and he felt himself exhale for the first time in what seemed like weeks. After everything that had happened at Sherrinford his time had been consumed by his family and sorting out the repairs at Baker St and it was only now that he felt as if his life could return to some semblance of normality.
He took a moment to prepare his slides, cells from a liver that Molly had recently got for him, and then he adjusted the scope...someone else had been using his microscope and it made him huff in irritation.
Just as he was settling into his work the door opened to the side of him and he felt as well as heard Molly coming in.
‘Hey Sherlock, good to see you back here. How’s everything going? Are you back in your flat now?’
He sat back and watched as she dumped the files she’d been carrying onto her desk.
‘Yes, I’ve been back in there a week now.’
She smiled. ‘That’s good. Anyway, I won’t disturb you. I just need to work my way through these.’
She sat down and after a moment of sorting out her pens and the space she started to work on the first file; her head dipping in concentration as she began to read.
Sherlock brought his head back to the microscope but his eyes and his mind were still on Molly.
Molly...she’d been in his thoughts a lot over the last few weeks. He took a few seconds to assess how he was feeling, both physically and emotionally. It wasn’t an exercise that he was particularly familiar with but it was something he knew he needed to do where she was concerned.
He was very conscious of how he had physically reacted when she had entered the room. He’d heard people talk about their heart skipping a beat when they saw someone they loved or their stomach swooping but he hadn’t ever experienced it himself...at least not until now. He had definitely felt a change to his heart rhythm when he’d seen her. He’d known without checking that his pulse rate had increased, no doubt his eyes had dilated and he’d felt the first stirrings of sexual arousal. So it was true then...he actually did have feelings for her.
He swapped the slides in the microscope and once again as he bent his head to the microscope his eyes were on Molly. In fairness he could have sat up in his seat and watched her openly and he doubted she would have noticed she was so engrossed in her paperwork; plus, he knew from experience that she didn’t tend to look over at him. She was always too worried he’d catch her staring at him, undressing him with her eyes but he’d always been aware of it in the past when his back was turned or when she’d thought he couldn’t see her. Now he was the one doing the undressing.
Whether she felt his gaze or not her hand moved self-consciously to her hair, brushing back a few strands that had fallen out of her pony tail. She wore her hair a bit shorter nowadays and only up when she’d been carrying out autopsies or working on files as she was today. He could still see the indent on her wrist though where she’d put the hair band earlier in the day when she’d been doing other things.
His breath felt shallow as he watched her, his heart beating harder in his chest and he licked his lips wondering what hers would feel like when they finally kissed.
A slight frown flitted across her face and she bit her lip as she worked through some boring administrative problem and he found himself wanting to smooth the lines away and pull her lip from between her teeth. In fact, he found himself wanting to do so much more than that.
He imagined himself taking her hand in his and pulling her against him, feeling her slight body starting to press against his own. He’d pull the hair band out so her hair was loose around her shoulders and he’d feel just how soft her lips really were as he kissed her. It would be a kiss to end all others; she would never kiss another man again. She was his, she just didn’t know it yet. It felt right though, now felt like the right time to tell her.
He cleared his throat and started to stand. ‘Molly, we need to talk...’
It was at that exact moment, just as she looked up at him with anticipation and slight confusion on her face, that his phone rang.
He huffed and pulled it out from the inside pocket of his jacket.
‘Sorry, it’s my brother, I need to take it.’
He saw her nod and turn back to her work as he answered the call.
It was a robbery, and not just any robbery, vital papers had been stolen from inside 10 Downing St no less.
Sherlock had left Barts regretting not being able to talk to Molly but vowing to return as soon as the case was finished. He wanted to be able to give her his full attention when he told her how he felt, not a fleeting five minutes before rushing off for work.
In the end it was a case that was almost reminiscent of Moriarty in its complexity and pure brilliance and it had taken both Sherlock and Mycroft working together to solve it but solve it they had and three days later Sherlock had made his way back to Barts to finally catch up with Molly. The trouble was she was nowhere to be found. He did however bump into Mike Stamford down near the morgue.
‘Oh hey Sherlock, what brings you to our neck of the woods today?’
‘I’m looking for Molly. She’s supposed to be in but I can’t find her.’
Mike shook his head. ‘She’s on holiday. Decided to take some time off for Christmas this year.’
Sherlock frowned. ‘Christmas? Oh is that what all the garish, cheap decorations are about?’ He gestured loosely at the foil garlands pinned on the wall.
At that Mike laughed out loud. ‘Oh don’t tell me you’ve deleted Christmas. That’s too bah humbug even for you Sherlock. It’s going to be Christmas Eve tomorrow.’
Sherlock huffed feeling intensely irritated. Why did these stupid holidays have to get in the way of everything?
‘So, do you know where she’s gone? Or when she’ll be back?’
Mike shrugged. ‘I think she said something about a family get together...an uncle who’s hired a Christmas themed cottage or something over in Norfolk. Anyway, she isn’t due back until after new year. Anything I can help you with?’
At that Sherlock rolled his eyes. ‘No, definitely not.’
He turned and walked away and he heard Mike call out, ‘Merry Christmas Sherlock.’
He didn’t reply but instead held up his hand briefly in acknowledgement as he made his way back towards the lifts.
By the time he reached the taxi rank he had a plan and by the time he arrived at Baker St he knew where Molly was. He’d tracked her phone to a village just outside Norwich and a quick search of local rentals gave him three possible cottages. Then finally, phone calls to a couple of local agents where he pretended to be a member of the family enquiring about how the heating worked gave him the confirmation that the second property was the one hired by one Robert Hooper, uncle no doubt to his Molly.
He arrived back at his flat with a view to sorting out the finishing touches to his plan and packing an overnight bag for his trip. His only gripe was that the snow was too heavy for him to beg the use of Mrs Hudson’s Aston Martin, instead he had to hire a 4x4 to make sure he’d actually be able to get there. Roads were fairly clear in London due to the amount of gritters and traffic but he’d quickly gathered from news reports that the rest of the country was struggling to keep roads open, particularly in rural areas which was where Molly and her family were holidaying.
The next day, just after lunch, he bid Mrs Hudson goodbye and a forced, ‘Merry Christmas to you too’ and then he was off. He made good time getting out of London and for most of the journey up to Norfolk but the last couple of miles proved the most difficult and he was very glad of the Range Rover that he’d chosen otherwise he would never have managed it.
By the time he pulled up in the driveway of an old grey stone cottage with a holly wreath attached to the door it was started to get dark even though it was barely 3.30pm. He could hear distant laughter from around the back of the property but he unloaded his bags and made his way to the front door.
This was going to be the difficult part and he took a deep breath and closed his eyes for a moment as he mentally prepared himself and then he used the knocker to announce his arrival.
A female voice, which sounded a bit like Molly, called ‘I’ll get it’ but when the door opened it was by a woman in her early sixties. She had enough of Molly’s features though for him to hazard an educated guess.
‘You must be Mrs Hooper, Molly’s mum. Sherlock Holmes, I’m very pleased to meet you.’
He held out his gloved hand and saw her confusion as she shook it.
‘Umm...Mr Holmes...I...err...don’t think we were expected you?’
She glanced behind her as if to seek confirmation from someone but it was just the two of them.
He smiled widely, his fake charm turned up to the maximum.
‘Please, call me Sherlock. We weren’t sure whether or not I’d be able to make it so Molly probably didn’t say anything just in case. The case I was working on is now finished and luckily I hired the right car to get me through the snow so here I am. I’m looking forward to meeting Molly’s family. I know we haven’t been dating for long but she’s very important to me and I want to get to know you all. I brought champagne and chocolates, I do hope that’s appropriate.’
By this point Molly’s mum had her hand on her chest, her confusion even more magnified.
‘I..oh...you’re dating my Molly? She should have said. Umm, please...come in, of course you’re very welcome.’
She stood to one side and let him past and he made his way into the wide hallway, glad of the warmth even after such a short time outside.
‘You’ll have to share with Molly, but I’m supposing you won’t mind that, we’re pretty tight on space with so many of the family staying. Leave your bags here and I’ll take you through to her; I believe she’s in the back garden with some of the others. They’ve been building snowmen and sledding down the hill at the back of the property. Did it take you long to get to us?’
Sherlock dumped his bags by the side of the wooden staircase noting the garlands wrapped up the bannisters no doubt to give it some sort of Christmas look. Honestly, he really didn’t understand the need for all the decorations that people bothered with at this time of year but he had to admit it was at least tastefully done here rather than gaudy.
‘Just over two hours, so not too bad. It will be good to see Molly again though, I’ve missed her.’
He knew he’d said the right thing when he saw the smile that her mother gave him.
‘I have to say I wasn’t sure you and my daughter would ever get together. She didn’t seem to think that relationships were something you were interested in. What changed?’
He shrugged. ‘I finally opened my eyes and realised just how perfect Molly is for me and how much she means to me. What can I say...I was a fool for not seeing it sooner.’
By this point they’d made their way through the house, past a couple of elderly relatives napping in front of a fire in the front room and into the large kitchen/dining room which had French doors leading out into the snow filled garden.
He could see half a dozen figures throwing snowballs back and forth at each other and it was easy for him to spot Molly wearing her familiar pink and purple scarf, laughing and shrieking along with the others as she was hit by the cold snow.
Mrs Hooper opened the door and wrapped her arms around herself as the two of them made their way out onto the icy patio.
‘Molly...Molly...Sherlock’s here...’
He saw Molly glance over, looking surprised, and as her confusion grew at seeing him he stepped in between her and her mother to block her mother’s view.
As she made her way over he held out his arms and moved to greet her.
‘Sherlock, what the...’
He interrupted her question in the only way possible. He kissed her.