Chapter Text
She had had the feeling that she was going to have this visit sooner rather than later. Opening the door and seeing Molly there, looking down in the dumps, was a sight she had completely expected. “Oh, Mols,” she said, reaching forward and giving her a hug.
“It’s a one-way trip,” Molly said, resting her chin on Sally’s shoulder. “Mycroft won’t even let him out of his fortress to say goodbye to us in person. He’s just...going to go off and go to Russia and we’re never going to see him again.”
“I’m so sorry, love,” she said. She let go of her and gestured to the bag Molly was carrying with her. “I take it you brought something for us to drink away your troubles?”
Molly held up two bottles of wine before handing Sally one. “A gift, from a great-aunt of some sort. I got them as a gift for the wedding, decided to save them for a special occasion instead of sending them back to her,” she said bitterly.
“Opus One 2001?” Sally said, her eyes widening slightly. “Aren’t these bottles about £231 each?”
Molly nodded. “Yup. And I have two more at home, so we can drink all of these. I feel like getting pissed and just ignoring the fact that tomorrow I’m never going to see him again.” She sighed at that. “Oh, I wish I didn’t care, Sally. My life would be so much simpler if I didn’t care.”
“Yeah, I know.” Molly stepped inside her flat and Sally shut the door after her, and the two of them went into Sally’s kitchen. Sally set down the bottle she was holding on the kitchen worktop and then pulled down the two largest wine glasses she had as Molly set the bottle she was holding on the worktop as well. “What are you going to do tomorrow?”
“Aside from cry myself to sleep when I get home?” Molly asked. “Not sure. I have no idea if Mycroft will be keeping tabs on his brother, or if he’ll deign to tell us what’s going on, or...you know, if the worst happens.” Sally went to get a corkscrew. “He really got himself in the thick of it all, didn’t he?”
Sally pursed his lips. “You don’t really want my opinion on this, do you?” she said finally.
“No, I suppose not,” Molly said quietly. “Sherlock doesn’t mean the same thing to me that he does to you, even if I don’t fancy him anymore.” Molly watched as she put the corkscrew in the bottle and pulled out the cork, and then poured them each a very large glass of wine. Molly had already chilled the bottles so while Molly picked up her glass she put the other bottle in the refrigerator to make sure it stayed cold. “Definitely worth the high cost,” she said when she had a sip.
Sally picked up her glass and had a sip herself. “Yeah, this is rather good,” she replied. She motioned to the sofa and the two of them headed over towards it. They got settled on it and Sally looked over at her. “Look, love, why don’t I distract you? I have the best collection of action movies, you’ve said that, and we can get takeaway and go through both of the bottles and if we still want to drink we can go through the sub-par bottle I’ve got, and you can just stay here tonight and I’ll make sure you have a good fry-up in the morning before work and then...who knows?”
“You’re a saint,” Molly said gratefully, reaching over and placing a hand on Sally’s arm and squeezing. “That sounds like a good plan.”
“Then I’ll bring the bottle over and we’ll make a dent in it and we’ll figure out takeaway and start with...new ‘Clash of the Titans,’ since you’re the mythology buff?”
“Sounds good,” Molly said with a nod.
Sally got back up and went into her kitchen, grabbing her stack of menus for Molly to peruse through as well as the bottle of wine. She set both in front of Molly and then went to her DVD collection and got the movie and put it in. By the time she got back to the sofa Molly had picked a local Vietnamese restaurant and was already on her mobile, calling them up. She placed an order for her and then asked Sally what she wanted and paid for it all, and then the two women settled into the movie. They were at the point where they had encountered the giant scorpions in the desert when the food arrived, and Sally got up to take Molly’s card to go pay for it and bring it all back to her. By that point, the bottle was two-thirds gone, and Sally topped off their glasses and went and got the second bottle out of the refrigerator.
They ate their food and when the movie was over they decided to put in the sequel film, but by then the wine had taken hold and the movie was more background noise. Molly pointed her fork towards Sally with the last of her food. “Men are idiots,” she said before eating her last bite.
“I’ve thought that for a long while, love,” she said, picking up her wine and taking a sip. They’d already gotten rather far into the second bottle, and Sally was sure eventually she was going to need to get her bottle of less superior vintage out of the refrigerator soon.
“No, but I mean, I never would have gotten in that position,” Molly said. “I never would have come up with the harebrained plan in the first place. I know he was trying to help John but still.”
Sally stayed quiet at that. She was sure Molly hadn’t meant to drop that tidbit, and she’d ignore the fact she had. The less she got involved in Holmes’s affairs, the better. “Well, the fact he was doing it to help someone shows he’s human, at least. Even people who are geniuses make mistakes occasionally when it involves people they care about.”
“Suppose,” Molly said. “You know, though, if it was you he was flicking in the face, I’d have shot him.”
Sally was surprised by that. “Oh?”
“Well, I like you,” Molly said. “You’re one of my best mates. You’re nice and kind to me, even if you aren’t to all my friends, and you care, and you’re pretty, and you’re nice...”
She was even more surprised by the inclusion of the “you’re pretty” remark, but she let it slide. “You said ‘you’re nice’ twice.”
“Well, you are, so you deserve to have it said twice,” Molly said. She moved closer to Sally. “You’re really a sweet person, Sal. You should pick better people to date.”
“I thought you knew I just decided to stop dating altogether,” Sally said with a smile. She hadn’t seen this side of Molly before, she realized. She should probably go lead her off to the guest bedroom or something, because while it was...interesting...she didn’t want Molly to do or say something she’d regret. Just because Sally was comfortable with the fact she was bisexual sober or drunk didn’t mean if Molly had come to any similar conclusions now was the time to test them out. She reached over and put her hand on Molly’s arm. “Why don’t we put you to bed?”
Instead, Molly leaned over and kissed her, and for just a moment Sally froze, but then she forgot about doing what she should do because what she wanted to do, what she’d wanted to do for so long, was to snog Molly Hooper senseless. And he lips were so soft and warm and they tasted just like the wine they’d been drinking, and she really was a good kisser, and as Sally framed Molly’s face in her hands, kissing her back as Molly made the kiss more passionate, she had realized that this kiss was what she’d always wanted.
Except it wasn’t, she realized. Molly was three sheets to the wind on wine and there was a good chance she wouldn’t even remember it in the morning, and while she would...well, it was complicated. She reluctantly pulled away, and Molly frowned, her eyes half shut and half open. “Sal?”
“It was a lovely kiss, Molly, but you’re drunk, and...I want you to remember kissing me, to be sure that’s what you really want,” Sally said, caressing her face before pulling her hands away. “Let’s get you off to bed, alright?”
Molly nodded. “Alright,” she said, sounding a bit disappointed. Sally stood up then, with Molly standing up soon afterward, and she knew if there was any wine left in the bottle she’d drink it all before Molly woke up the next morning. Sleeping tonight was going to be...interesting...and she was going to need all the help she could get.