Devils in the Details

Chapter Three // Abiding Notion

"I believe you heard me perfectly well."

"No, it's like I'm interested in her, not like that-" Will protested.

"Of course not," Sherlock replied, sounding completely unconvinced. "I just thought it interesting that you brought her up as the subject matter."

"She's engaged, for crying out loud," Will sighed, feeling rather flustered. "Even I was interested in her the way you're implying, it's not like I would stand a chance."

"Will," John said, his voice flat. "Don't mind it too much. He does it to just about everyone. He used to do it to me."

"Now you're married, which makes things interesting in a different way," Sherlock replied.

Will decided he'd be better off changing the subject. "So, about me staying in London," he began.

"There's nothing about it," Sherlock replied. "You're staying."

Will shut his mouth and didn't say another word for the entire ride to St. Bart's. He remained silent as they entered the lab where Molly was standing.

"Molly, I need to examine the body," Sherlock said. "John, you come with me. Will, stay here for now."

Will opened his mouth in protest, but then decided against speaking to Sherlock in such a way. John raised his eyebrows as he looked over, trying to send across the message that this was typical Holmesian behavior.

"You're sure you don't want Will to come along?" John asked, knitting his brows as he looked back towards Sherlock.

"He's already seen this all before. There's no new help he could provide me, and he would only serve as a distraction. Therefore, Will will stay here."

"Okay then," Molly said quietly. "I'll take you there now." She led Sherlock and John to the correct body and then made her way back into the lab. She wanted to know what was going on, but she wasn't willing to pry.

Molly stared over at Will for a few moments before she decided it was a good time for her to move in and attempt to talk to him. Sherlock was preoccupied with John and the body, of course, so she didn't see any immediate opportunities where she would be interrupted. She probably could have found something else to do, but she didn't want to make the situation any more awkward than it was.

Then again, she couldn't very well let the entire room stay in absolute silence. She didn't know that Will had already been through that earlier in the day. Molly just thought it seemed wrong to stay so quiet for no reason.

"Will, yes?" Molly asked.

"Yeah," Will said, not meeting her eyes. "And you're Molly?"

"That's right," Molly replied, her lips turning up slightly. She wasn't used to people remembering who she was after the first time meeting them. "Molly Hooper."

The awkward silence that was struck up between the two of them was very familiar. But it wasn't necessarily a bad thing. At that moment, it meant that both of them were involved in their own thoughts. Whether or not these thoughts would turn out to be productive or not were another story, however.

"So, uh," Will began, his uncomfortable feeling in social situations beginning to show. "What's going on with you?"

"Work, mostly," Molly said. "But I guess you already knew that."

"Yeah," Will replied.

Molly blinked several times, struggling to come up with a new way to keep the conversation moving.

"There's been a stray cat wandering around where I live lately," she said. "I've been thinking about taking it in, but Tom's not so sure it's a good idea, especially because we already have-"

"Tom?" Will interrupted.

"Oh," Molly said. "Tom's my fiancé. He doesn't dislike cats, he just doesn't want to have more than one. I don't agree with it, but I guess I can see his view..."

"Well, it is your house..."

"But we'll be moving somewhere else after we get married," Molly finished.

"I'm just guessing here, but would you be getting a bigger house?"

"Yeah, we'd need room in order to have a family," Molly answered, finding herself beginning to beam.

"Then you would have room for another cat. Cats are small, anyways."

"You've got a good point," Molly said, nodding. "I'll have to tell Tom about it."

Right as Will was about to reply to this, Sherlock walked back into the room. John looked significantly paler than he had before he walked into the morgue, the sight of the dead body evidently disturbing. Despite this, he stood his ground and kept himself steady.

"We've got a new one," Sherlock said, glancing down at his mobile.

"You're kidding," John said.

"Of course not," Sherlock replied, glancing over to his companion. "Apparently this one has button eyes."

"So the real eyes must be missing," Will said grimly.

"Precisely," Sherlock confirmed.

"Any chance it'll be coming to the morgue soon?" Molly asked, leaning into the conversation.

"Not until we've had an opportunity to see it in the crime scene," Sherlock answered.

"Oh," Molly said. "Well, I'll see what I can do as soon as I get to it."

"Keep it as clean and untouched as possible," Sherlock ordered.

"I'll see what I can do," Molly said once again.

Will decided to bring up his topic of concern from before. "You were talking about how I had to stay here for this case - I really do need to go home. I can't stay here in London forever."

"Oh, you're leaving?" Molly asked. "Didn't you just get here, though?"

"You were just here on vacation, right?" John said.

"Yeah, just vacation. I was only going to stay for about a week, but..."

"Sherlock's trying to make you stay?" John asked, somehow not surprised that his friend did such a thing.

"I guess," Will said, sighing as he looked over towards Sherlock. "Honestly, he's been avoiding talking about it."

"Enough meaningless talking," Sherlock said, interrupting. "We're going to the crime scene now."

A/N Will and John both like jumpers. Will and John get along well. I like that. I like that a lot. Will just slips into the world of Sherlock rather well, don't you think? But we've gotten quite a bit of the Graham for a while. Next chapter, we're going to be seeing a different side of things...