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She was late. She was late and his mobile was off and she felt horrible because she doubted there would be many films that interested him and he said Hitchcock did and really, she’d been looking forward to this ever since he brought it up and now she was ruining it by being late. She quickly paid the cab driver and looked at her watch. 6:18. She had to pray they’d let her in and she could find Sherlock among everyone else who decided to attend. She hurried to the entrance to the gardens and followed the signs to where a ticket taker stood. “Sorry ma’am,” the ticket taker said. “We can’t allow anyone inside.”
“But I have a ticket,” Molly said, holding it up.
“In the fine print it says no admittance after 6:05,” she said apologetically.
Molly sighed. “Could you at least try and deliver a message to my date that I tried, at least? His mobile is off.”
The ticket taker’s eyes got wide. “You’re not Molly Hooper, are you?” she asked.
Molly nodded, going to her handbag and pulling out her hospital ID so the ticket taker could look. “Yes, I am,” she said, slightly confused. “Why?”
“We got told to make an exception to the no admittance policy for you,” the ticket taker said with a smile. “Mr. Holmes is sitting in the back, so as to disturb fewer people. I’m to take you to him myself.”
Relief flooded through Molly. The date wasn’t going to be ruined after all. She handed the ticket taker her ticket and she got the stub back in return as well as a stamp on her hand, and then she was allowed in the cordoned off area, following the ticket taker. There was an area filled with chairs that had people sitting in them, and in front of them on blankets were other people. The movie had already started, and she couldn’t see much of any features that distinguished Sherlock from anyone else until she got closer and saw him sitting a bit apart with an empty chair next to him that had a thick blanket folded upon it. Even with the unexpected heatwave which had allowed such a rare occurrence such as this it was still a bit on the chilly side, so she knew she'd be grateful for it later if it got colder. His attention was locked on the screen, at least until she approached, and then he looked up, giving her a small smile. “I was afraid you weren’t coming,” he said quietly, lifting the blanket off of her chair.
“I tried to call but your mobile was off,” she said as she sat down.
“I didn’t want to be interrupted,” he said. He set the blanket on the ground and she saw a basket between them. “There’s food in the basket for us to eat. Your favorites, I believe.”
She looked at him warmly before leaning over to look in the basket. It looked as though there were some meat pasties, some fresh fruit, her favorite sweets to enjoy at the cinema and some bottles of Maynard House Orchards Apple & Elderflower juice, which she was sure Sherlock had noticed in her home on a few occasions. “This looks nice,” she said, pulling out a pasty and taking a bite. It was lamb, her favorite. He certainly had outdone himself. “Thank you.”
“There will be someone around with popcorn and more sweets during the intermissions, as well as coffee and hot chocolate, but I thought this would suffice for a start,” he said.
“It’s a very good start,” she said before eating some more of her food. She had seen this film many times, as “Rear Window” had been one of her father’s favorites, and she relaxed and enjoyed the film, the good food and the occasional commentary from Sherlock. He had appeared to learn some rather interesting tidbits about the film she didn’t know, so it was nice to learn a few new things. Otherwise he seemed to be paying rapt attention to the film, which pleased her. When it was over and people began to move and stretch during the first intermission she looked over at him. “I take it you enjoyed the movie?”
“I did,” he said with a nod. He stood and stretched himself. “Are the other two as good?”
“Well, everyone I know loves ‘North By Northwest,’ but it isn’t my absolute favorite. But I do love ‘Strangers On A Train.’ I just hope I can stay awake all the way through it.”
“Did you not get a lot of sleep last night?” he asked, concerned.
“I slept decently, I suppose, but I didn’t get a lot of it. My next door neighbours were having a row until well after midnight, so I didn’t sleep until nearly two in the morning, and then I was awake at seven.”
“There is coffee here tonight,” he said. “I can get you some.”
“That would help,” she said with a smile. Sherlock left their chairs and she picked the blanket up and opened it up, draping it over her lap. It was starting to get a wee bit chillier, and the blanket would help keep her warm until she could get the coffee. She was honestly surprised she wasn't freezing, and she was quite thankful for the unexpected warm weather. This was a splendid evening so far.
It didn’t take him long to come back, but he had two cups in his hands when he did, a large one and a small one. He handed her the large one. “It isn’t fancy, but there’s sugar and flavored creamer in it for you. I even persuaded them to add some whipped topping to it.”
She gave him a wide smile before she took a sip. “Extra sweet,” she said. “Just the way I like it.”
“I do know how you take your coffee after all these years,” he said with a small grin as he sat back down. “Café mocha with two shots of hazelnut syrup and an extra shot of espresso on the tricky mornings when you're awake earlier than seven. You usually have it topped off with whipped topping and chocolate syrup sometimes you indulge in a bit of caramel syrup when you feel the need for extra sweet. On rare occasions you swap out your hazelnut syrup for amaretto, but that is usually around more somber anniversaries, such as your father’s death and your parent’s wedding anniversary.”
“I’m kind of surprised by that,” she said. “You really do know me well.”
“I made it a point to learn,” he said. “Or at least I tried to learn certain things, things I thought might be important. I’m still learning, though.”
She leaned over and kissed his cheek. “I’m glad.”
“Are you having a good time so far?” he asked when she pulled away.
She nodded. “Even if it is a bit cold it’s lovely.” Then she draped some of the blanket over his legs. “So you’re not cold.”
“Thank you,” he said. “So far there is only one thing I don’t like about this arrangement.”
“Oh?” she asked. “What’s that?”
“There’s space between our chairs,” he said.
“Do you want to get close to me, Sherlock?” she asked with a smile.
“Maybe to at least put an arm around your shoulders,” he said. “If you’d let me.”
She smiled wider at that, then scooted her chair closer to his until the arms of their chairs were touching. She leaned closer to him and after a moment he hesitantly put an arm around her shoulders. She responded by snuggling even closer and resting her head on him. “I will have to lift my head up to drink my coffee sometimes,” she said.
“Hopefully not often,” he replied.
“Well, I’ll stay as close as I can the rest of the time,” she said. “If you want me to.”
“I do,” he said.
“Okay.” She could drink her coffee as the movie played, she thought to herself. For now she’d just stay as close to Sherlock as she could. The only time she moved for the rest of the intermission was to get a bag of popcorn for them to share when the trolley went around, and when the next film started she realized she quite liked being in this position. Sherlock was absently running his fingers on her arm and she could feel his heart beating beneath her fingertips, and it was really quite soothing. Too soothing, unfortunately, as she found herself slowly beginning to nod off before the film finished.
She felt him nudge her awake some time later, the blanket pulled up nearly to her chin, and she realized she must have slept through the third film as well because there were fewer people around them before and the lights in the garden were brighter. “You must have been more tired than you thought,” he said.
“I slept through the third film, didn’t I?” she asked with a soft groan.
“Don’t worry. You weren’t the only one,” he said as she sat up and stretched. “And at least I know it wasn’t because I was boring you to tears.”
She gave him an embarrassed smile. “I’m so sorry, though. You went to all this trouble and I fell asleep on you. Literally, I might add,” she said.
“It’s all right. I enjoyed the film, and if you want to watch it with me again some other time I wouldn’t be adverse to that,” he said as he stood up. “Are you still tired?”
She nodded. “A bit, yeah.”
“Then I’ll make sure you get home safe and sound and then I’ll head home,” he said as he began gathering their trash.
“That’s rather far out of your way from here,” she said with a frown.
“I would be a rather horrible date if I didn’t escort you home,” he replied.
“At least let me help carry some of this,” she said, standing up. “Maybe I can carry the basket?”
“All right,” he said. They gathered their things and after depositing their trash in the appropriate container they made their way out of the viewing area and then out of the garden. There were a cluster of cabs nearby and they got into one, with Sherlock giving the driver Molly’s address once they got the basket and blanket stored in the boot. Molly stayed close to Sherlock once the cab pulled away. At this time of night it would be a very short trip to her home and she had enjoyed being close to him, so the longer she could enjoy doing so the better. He spoke a few moments later. “Next time I’ll try and plan a shorter date.”
“Or you could plan another long one and I’ll just invest in ear plugs,” she said with a smile. “Really, up until I fell asleep it was a lovely evening. I’d like to do something like this again.”
“I’ll keep that in mind,” he said, slipping an arm around her shoulders. “While I think of something, perhaps we could have dinner tomorrow evening?”
“I would like that a lot,” she said with a slight nod. “Are we going to go out somewhere?”
“The thought had crossed my mind,” he said.
“Good. Then I have just the dress to wear,” she said. “Mary helped me pick it out the day we went on our first proper date. She said if I wore that and asked you out you wouldn’t have thought of saying no.”
“If you ask me on a date now I wouldn’t dream of saying now,” he said.
She lifted her head up, studying him. He seemed quite content, almost happy. And she’d helped put him in that mood. She licked her lip slightly. “What if I asked to kiss you?” she asked quietly.
“I would say you could,” he said, moving his other hand to gently brush some hair away from her face.
“May I kiss you then, Sherlock?” she asked.
He nodded slowly. “Yes.”
She leaned in, and when she pressed her lips against his she shut her eyes, sighing contentedly when he moved his hand to cup her cheek as he kissed her back. It wasn’t a toe –curling, world-stopping kiss, but it was rather sweet and lovely and she enjoyed every second of it until she ended it. “That was very nice,” she said quietly, staying close to him.
“I’m willing to try again, if you think there could be room for improvement on my end,” he said, letting his fingers play in her hair a bit. “I think there could be.”
“Well, if you think there could be improvement then I’ll defer to your judgment,” she said before kissing him again. This was quite a wonderful way to end an evening that had not gone quite as planned, she decided. And it definitely boded well for things to come.