Variazoni (Sherlolly II)

Chapter Nine

Sherlock felt his laughter slip. He wiped his eyes and stared up at John. He leaned back, letting it go as John looked at the bomb.

“You…”

He stood. “Oh, your face!”

“Utter…”

“Your face!.”

“You!”

“Totally had you.” He snickered.

“You cock! I knew it! I knew it! You-”

“Oh but you said such sweet things. I-I never knew you cared.” He attempted a sincere expression, feeling his laughter bubble up again.

“You know, I will kill you if you ever breathe a word of this to anyone. You knew!”

“Scout’s honor.” He’d never even been in the scouts which meant Mary would hear all about it eventually.

“You knew how to turn it off!”

“There’s an off switch.” He looked up as he pointed to the bomb. “There’s always an off switch. Terrorists would get into all sorts of problems unless there’s an off switch.”

“So why did you let me go through all that?”

“I didn’t lie altogether.” Sherlock smiled. “I have absolutely no idea how to turn any of these silly little lights off.” He snickered again and wiped his eyes.

Distant radio chatter drew their attention to the tunnel as torches lit the way in front of a bomb squad. “And you did call the police.” John muttered. Of course he called the police. “I’m definitely gonna kill you.”

“Oh please.” Sherlock looked up with a smile. “Killing me… that’s so two years ago.” He turned away, laughing again as he remembered John’s expression.

***

“We’re so pleased, Mary.” Mrs. Hudson murmured as Sherlock brought out the champagne. “Have you set a date?”

“Well we thought May.”

“Ah… a spring wedding.”

“Yeah. Well once we’ve actually got engaged. We were interrupted last time.” She looked pointedly at Sherlock. He smiled as he set the glasses down.

Lestrade leaned forward from where he sat in John’s chair. “Well I can’t wait.”

“You will be there, Sherlock.” Mary tilted her head at him.

“Weddings…” He grimaced. “Not really my thing.” He winked as the door opened.

Molly entered with her usual cheerful greeting. “This is Tom. Tom, this is everyone.”

“Hi. It’s really nice to meet you all. Hi.” Her fiance said.

“Wow! Yeah, hi, I’m John. Good to meet you.”

Sherlock turned from the window. “Ready?”

“Ready.”

He smiled a hello at Molly, stopping short as he met her fiance's gaze. Oh dear god…He looked down and then up, noticing the similar dress style, right down to the scarf. And then there was the face… He glanced at John and then back to Tom, extending his hand in greeting. They said nothing to each other, both silently agreeing it was best not to. He walked out the door, hearing John follow.

“Did you uh…”

“Not saying a word.” Sherlock whispered. Best to let Molly have her way and be happy for as long as she could be. He’d let it fall apart on its own. Besides, he could at least enjoy the brief happiness that came with knowing she wasn’t really over him.

“No best not…”

***

Molly closed the door to their flat and rubbed Shay behind the ear. “Molly?” Tom shrugged out of his coat and folded it over the back of the sofa. He settled on the cushions, pulling her down beside him. She laid her head on his shoulder. “Did you ever notice… that um… Sherlock and I kind of look alike?”

She paused and looked up at him, frowning. “Oh. Suppose you do a little bit. Weird.”

He nodded slowly, staring down at her as she laid her head back down with a happy sigh. She felt her happiness fade gradually. Frowning now, she realized that they did look a lot alike. And they had noticed when they said hello. Tom knew all about her history with Sherlock but had their friends really introduced her to Tom as a replacement for Sherlock?

She shook her head. They were almost nothing alike. Tom was nice and funny and normal. Maybe they looked a little alike but they were different in personality and that was what mattered. Besides, if she only wanted him as a replacement, she wouldn’t have said yes to his proposal. She loved Tom. She had moved on.

They were happy together. True, they had been arguing a bit more lately and their work schedules were keeping them apart quite a bit… And sometimes it seemed like he really just wanted sex but maybe she was reading too much into it. Things were still good. Right?