Mr Holmes and Miss Hooper - a Sherlolly Story

Chapter 3

Over the next few weeks, Molly became closer with Meena and Mike and often sat with them in the staff room at lunchtime. They were all friends now and she enjoyed their company. Not as much as she enjoyed Sherlock's but she could never sit with the man at lunch because he disappeared and became impossible to find until five minutes before class started when he sauntered back into his classroom. She and Sherlock had become close too, close enough that she would say he was her best friend here, or at least in a tied position with Meena. She supposed that was what happened when two people's lives overlapped so greatly. They had the same interests and could sit and talk about anything and they would never get bored. She often felt like a high schooler again, chatting with a best friend about nothing at all. Sherlock also wasn't freaked out by Molly's history in pathology. He was interested in it and one time he even brought her in an autopsy report from one of the cases he deemed as an 8/10 and asked for her opinion. He needed 'a competent pathologist' and he did not doubt that she would have been one of the best in the business, or at least that's what he said. She supposed he could have looked into her previous career achievements but she felt it was more likely that he may have just been testing her knowledge. She didn't mind. She enjoyed his unusual quirks, it just made him all the more attractive to her. She knew her crush on him had grown, and would even go as far as to say she may be falling for the man. But she knew him well enough now to know that he didn't delve into such things. She was shocked he'd even entertained her frivolous friendship for so long, after everything she'd heard about him. She simply accepted the fact that her sentiment would probably be unrequited and resigned herself to a desirable friendship with him.

She smiled as she thought about how her life had turned around in the past month and a bit of living in London. She and Loo were settled into their house off of Marylebone Road and Loo had made friends with a nice group of children in her year, a girl named Amanda and two boys named Martin and Benedict. They seemed nice and Molly was glad she had managed to find somewhere to fit in.

"Molls!" Louise's voice echoed through the empty corridor as Molly was sat in one of the communal areas waiting for her printing to finish (the joys of being a teacher). Loo's face appeared in front of her with Amanda, John and Benedict lurking behind her slightly. Loo plastered her sweetest smile on her face. "Sooo, I know we had plans for tonight but please please please can I sleep at Amanda's with Martin and Benedict? We just want to watch some films before we have to start the group project and Amanda's mum said it's okay and the boys' parents are fine with it-"

Molly knew she needed to do something or her sister's babble could last forever.

"Loo!" Molly cut her off so Louise puppy-dog eyed her big sister, batting her eyelashes.

"Please?" Molly laughed at her little voice.

"Thank god you've stopped talking!" Molly joked and let out an exaggerated sigh, eliciting giggles from the teenagers behind her sister. Loo turned and scowled at them but could barely hide her own laughter. Molly put her hand on her sister's shoulder and Loo's head snapped back around, her curls flying everywhere and her eyes widening in anticipation. "Of course you can go. I'm sure I can handle rescheduling our Friday night ice cream and Netflix binge."

Louise's eyes lit up and she hugged her big sister around the middle. Molly's arms snaked around her shoulders and she gave her a loving squeeze before letting her go, knowing she would get embarrassed if Molly hugged her for too long.

"Thank you, you're the best!" Loo placed a kiss on Molly's cheek which she then returned,

"Go and have fun! Text me when you need picking up in the morning."

"I will. I'll text you the address," she paused before adding "I love you." in a whisper and hugging her sister one more time.

"I love you too." was whispered into Loo's hair before she ran off with Amanda and the boys. Molly didn't have the heart to tell them off for running in the corridors.

"No plans tonight then, Molly?" The deep baritone voice she knew so well surrounded her.

"Oh hi, Sherlock. No, erm, Loo is staying with friends so the usual Friday night in with take away and crappy telly is a no go." She looked down and blushed, wondering why she would ever reveal her social activities of Fridays, or lack thereof, to the gorgeous man in front of her.

"That's a shame."

"Yeah."

A moment of silence passed.

"Well, we could always do something together? If you'd like that." Molly raised her eyes to Sherlock's face and saw how he was fidgeting with his signature Belstaff sleeve and how he couldn't meet her eyes.

"Sherlock?" He looked up, "That sounds lovely." She smiled and he slowly returned it before his face fell again.

"Well, I-" he stuttered a bit, "my flat is kind of ... indisposed .. at the moment. A little mishap with an experiment, and well-"

"Sherlock, it's fine. We can go to my house. As long as you can deal with the overly girly presence that comes with two sisters living together and a slightly cross-eyed tabby cat who walks into things a lot." He laughed along with her.

"I think that sounds tolerable."

"Come on, I'll drive seeing as you came in in a taxi this morning. Another experiment gone awry?" She smirked at him and he suppressed a smile.

"Maybe."

They laughed again as they walked out to Molly's yellow vintage model beetle - in perfect working condition after her Dad's tinkering with it. It was the last present she received from him for getting a promotion when she still worked in the morgue. She always thought that he just wanted an excuse to give her the car and her birthday was too far away.

They pulled up outside Molly's little house and Sherlock clambered out, muttering something about long limbs and small cars. He straightened up and looked around for his quickest route home.

"You know, Molly, I actually live quite close to you. I'm over on Baker Street."

"Oh really? Well-"

"Yeah,"

"-there's this really nice fish and chip shop .."

They trailed off and breathed out a laugh as they both spoke the same sentence at the same time.

"Seems like we both have good taste in food."

"So it does."