Bottled up inside — Chapter 10: The game

Dumped by her boyfriend, fired from Bart's, Molly is in a mess thanks to our detective.Will he be able to amend the state of affairs before Molly does something drastic? Read on to know. Slightly AU, post Reichenbach. Bits of Sherolly fluff. Please read and review!

Truly alarmed now, Molly glanced around her frantically. There was not a soul on the lonely streets. The windows wouldn't open either. Sherlock was texting away on his phone at such a speed that she couldn't even see his thumbs as they darted over the keypad of his phone. 'Julia, let us go! Why are you doing this? We can talk it out at the morgue... please' she pleaded but no avail. Julia didn't even show that she heard her. Instead she continued driving at a breakneck speed, still grinning from ear to ear like a cheetah proud of its catch. Sherlock hadn't even bothered with the doors or windows once he knew that they couldn't be opened. Soon the cab screeched to a halt outside an old shed that had a single dilapidated table and three chairs. Four hefty men stood armed, waiting for their orders. Julia opened the door and stepped out. Pulling a revolver from her waistband, she strutted towards the backseat. She pointed it at Molly and opened the door. Sherlock gave her hand a last squeeze before Julia beckoned her to come out. 'Hurry up, I don't have all day' she snapped. Molly stepped out, trembling from head to toe. It was totally Sherlock's territory, she thought. Finding yourself at the wrong end of a gun, dealing with insane criminal minds and what not. 'You too, . I must say, you're not as devoid of sentiment as I thought. It took you a surprisingly short time to realise how you feel about this silly girl. Makes my work a lot easier, really' she smirked at Sherlock. 'And what d'you mean by that? How does it concern you something happens between the two of us, Julia? Or should I say Mrs. Julia James Moriarty?' he positively snarled at her. Julia's smile faltered but only for a moment before that annoying smile made its way back to her face. 'You figured out that too? Well, I must say I really underestimated you' she said, no longer smirking but smiling in a way that spelled danger ahead with a capital D and the rest in bold capitals. 'Just like him, right? Your so called-' 'How dare you?' she shrieked suddenly. The change in her demeanour was alarming. One minute she was so calm and composed and the next minute she looked positively wild, her eyes bulging out, her face contorted with anger. She looked livid. 'How dare you speak about him? How dare you say his name in front of me? You killed him. You killed him!' she yelled at him 'You don't have the faintest idea what I went through, right? My condition when I went to the roof after you jumped, hoping to find him jubilant and rejoicing at your fall, only to find him lying there silent and cold, in a pool of blood? All because of you!' Furious tears were leaking from her eyes now and Molly almost felt sympathetic towards her before remembering that she had a gun in her hand. Really, who knew better than her, how nice Jim was to his girls? Honestly she couldn't blame Julia for falling head over heels in love with him. Which brought back her attention to the shouting mess of a girl in front of her. It was admirable how Sherlock managed to keep a calm face even when confronted with something like this. Molly would've probably run away with hands over her ears. But he stayed put, watching her scream at him without the slightest sign to show what was going on in his mind. Molly was scared for him. After all, she had a revolver in her hand. Who knew when she might just end up shooting him in her deranged state. But her concerns were not really necessary. She calmed down soon after, enough to regain her composure and smile in her dreadful way again. She pointed her gun at Molly again. 'Have a seat, both of you' she said in her normal voice, brimming with false sweetness. When they had done so, she glanced once at the armed men who advanced on them and promptly tied them up, leaving only their hands free. Their legs and torsos were bound tightly to their respective chairs. Molly tried to struggle but stopped when Sherlock shook his head at her. She walked around them in a circle once, before facing them. Leaning on the table with her hands supporting her weight, she looked into Molly's eyes. 'Who would've thought it would be so easy to break your spirit? What a weakling you are! One rejection, one sacking and you think your life isn't worth living anymore? You almost spoiled my game. You weren't supposed to give up so soon, without him realising what you meant to him' she whispered all the sweetness in her voice replaced by pure venom. Molly felt herself breaking all over again. Who could've known that mere words had the capacity to slice through her like a sword, leaving her bleeding? 'So that's what you wanted did you? Me suffering in the same way that you did? Feel-' said Sherlock but was interrupted almost immediately. 'Yes, Holmes, yes. Though I doubt you'll feel the same way even if I put a bullet through her head right now. Why don't we try and see?' she smirked once again before pointing the barrel at Molly's face. 'Don't you dare' he growled at Julia. 'Really? Why so? What would become of Sherly once Julie's done with Molly?' she said in a sing song voice, mocking him. 'And I don't even need you Holmes to know how your precious Molly would react if I point this at you' she said and pointed the gun at Sherlock instead. For one insane moment Molly felt as if she were reliving the day he jumped from the terrace again. Her fears that he hadn't made it weren't devoid of reason because he hadn't been breathing even thought she had tried everything from shots of adrenaline to CPR. The only thing keeping her going was the feeble yet certainly present flow of blood in his pulse. Those two hours he spent unconscious were certainly the worst two hours of her life. Involuntarily, she whimpered and tears began to prick her eyes. 'Not him. Please. please...!' she choked out. 'There you go. So predictable and dull. How can you even stand to be around her?' she said with a roll of her eyes. It was becoming more and more difficult for him to control his anger and Molly could see him shaking with silent fury. 'Let her go. What you want is me. I killed him. Why don't we deal with this and leave Molly out of it?' he said, his voice stony. 'Oh but that would be no fun! No fun at all! But you know what, neither is this. There's no element of surprise if I blow out either of your brains right now ' she said pouting. Sherlock averted his eyes, clearly disgusted. 'I have a much better and exciting way to play this game Holmes. This time I'm bored devising plans to finally get you two together. I'd wait longer, maybe for you both to consummate your so called relationship, but I'd rather get this done sooner than later. So I'm giving you a fair chance to win this one. You win and you can walk away with your fool of a pathologist. You lose...' her voice dropped down an octave, 'and you know what happens. That's what a case is for you right? A game? Well, let's hope you enjoy this one because I'll be playing too' she said with another fake smile before opening the cylinder of the gun and revealing it to the both of them. It contained a single bullet. She gave it a flick so that it rotated and lodged it back before it had stopped rotating. A cold wave of trepidation settled over Molly as the realisation of what was going to happen dawned over her. Julia merely placed the bullet on the table between Sherlock and Molly and announced with a flourish 'Ladies and gentleman, I hope you've all heard of the delightful game we're going to play, the one and only, Russian Roulette!'

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