Reconciliation — Chapter 6: New friends and old memories

When Sherlock left London, John and his identity behind, so did Molly. But destiny can be cruel at times, throwing things from your past at you when you'd rather make a fresh start. Eventual Sherlolly, Post Reichenbach. Please read and review!

Soon days became weeks and weeks became months and before she realised it, a month had already passed since she had started working at the hospital. The work was immensely pleasing but Jim still scared her to an extent. True, he was almost like putty in her hands and always listened to her, but his mood swings alarmed her. To understand him better, she was spending more and more time reading about the Frontal Lobe syndrome and it was helping her immensely. They had fallen into a routine, with Molly coming to see him at two every afternoon and leaving only when he slept off. She got him books to read, to teach him about human behaviour, emotions and moral sense, all of which he seemed to have forgotten. She had even convinced Dr. Drew to allow a TV in his room and he had agreed reluctantly, only because he had seen how hard she was trying. He had been very kind towards her and had once mentioned that she reminded him of his step daughter who lived in London. The other staff was just as good, helping her out with anything she needed. Yet, the air of loneliness always hung around her and she always found herself wanting a real friend. A nurse entered her consulting room to tell her that Dr. Drew was calling her to his office. She knocked softly on the HOD's door, wondering what he could want from her. 'Ah, there you are Dr. Patrick. I want you to meet someone. This is my daughter ' he said, introducing a young brunette. She couldn't have been older than 28 and was almost the same height as Molly. She had warm brown eyes and wore a simple cream blouse with a brown skirt. 'Hi I'm Mary. It's great finally meeting you, Dr. Patrick. I've heard so much about you from Dad' she smiled. 'It's nice to meet you too. Please call me Eleanor' she replied with a smile, extending her hand, taking an instant liking to the woman in front of her. She could see the resemblance between herself and Mary. She might've been her doppelganger if her hair wasn't black and her eyes weren't blue at the moment. 'I have to go now Dad, I'll see you later?' she said and her father nodded and she gave him a hug. 'Hope to see you again, Eleanor' she winked at her and left the office. Molly, meanwhile was trying hard not to let the tears that had pooled in the eyes trickle down her face. Oh how she missed her Dad! It had been almost three years since he passed away but not a day went past when she didn't think of him. And after watching this affectionate exchange between father and daughter, her eyes had welled up. And she was just his step-daughter! She was sure even Sherlock wouldn't have deduced it. It was hard to believe that they weren't related by blood. She walked back to Jim's room quietly. He was awake and rewarded her with a huge smile when she entered. She felt the corners of her mouth twitch up, his smile was really infectious. 'And how are we today, Richard?' she asked him in a falsely sweet voice. He winced slightly before shaking his head slightly and smiling up at her again. 'Great. I was waiting for you' he replied. She was unsurprised. He always winced when she called him Richard. She knew he preferred Jim, but calling him Richard was taking him one step farther away from his past. She settled into her usual armchair and took out her worn out copy of The Oxford textbook of old age psychiatry . It had belonged to her father. Looking at her father's name written in his own handwriting on the first page brought about a fresh bout of tears and before she knew it, she was sobbing her heart out. The tears fell freely, wetting the old pages and reminded her of all the things in her life that had changed so drastically in the past month. She cried, not just for her father but for the situation she was in, for Sherlock, for John, for Mrs. Hudson, for Greg and for herself. The day Sherlock had died in the eyes of the world, a part of her had died with him. She had been there to comfort him but no one had been there for her. A pair of strong arms around her made her jump slightly and she looked up to see Jim staring at her. He shook his head slightly and silently wiped away her tears. 'Please don't cry' was all he said before gently placing a kiss on her forehead. Without thinking, she threw herself into his arms and hugged him tight. A hug, that was really what she needed at the moment. She felt him stiffen at her touch, before relaxing and putting his arms around her again. He stroked her hair gently and patted her back before she calmed down and disentangled herself from his embrace, with her cheeks flaming. At that moment it struck her how much progress she had made with Jim. Not a month ago he had yelled at her, thrown china at her and here he was now, comforting her like any other friend would have done. He didn't say anything for the remainder of the afternoon and she was glad. They went about as usual, him watching TV while she read, seated in the armchair. 'Ella?' he asked in a meek voice after some time. 'Yes, Rich?' she asked. 'Why are they doing that?' he asked, puzzled, pointing towards the TV. A blush crept up her face as she saw that he was watching the New Year special episode of Friends and Monica and Chandler were kissing each other sweetly as Auld Lang Syne played in the background. 'They're doing it because it's New Year and people do that to celebrate a new beginning and also because they love each other' she said. 'What about the others? They don't love each other, do they?' he said, pointing to Rachel and Joey, Ross and Phoebe and many others. 'Um.. It's a New Year tradition. You kiss the person nearest to you to celebrate the moment' she explained hesitatingly, wondering if he would understand. He just nodded and she went back to her book. He said nothing for the rest of the day and neither did she. When he finally fell asleep, she gathered her things and left his room only to run into Mary. 'Hey Mary!' she greeted her. 'Eleanor! I was about to go to the cafeteria to grab a bite. Would you like to join me?' she asked. 'That would be lovely' said Molly cheerfully. It was when they were seated in the cafeteria with a plate of croissants and coffee that Molly spoke again. 'So what do you do in London?' she asked. 'Oh I work at the St. Bartholomew's hospital' Mary replied and Molly nearly choked. 'Really? That's great. It's a very reputed hospital right?' 'Yes! And I was waiting so long for an opportunity to work there! I was so happy when I got the offer. Their pathologist left for some reason and so I was called in to replace her' she said and Molly's head started spinning. How much more was she going to suffer? How long would it be before she could go back to her old life again? She would be lying if she said that life in Dublin was unpleasant but she wanted to go home! Back to her brother! Back to her lab! Back to her morgue! And most importantly, she wanted to go back to Sherlock! Just then, Mary's phone rang and she excused herself. Molly took a large gulp of her coffee and sank into her chair. Nothing made sense anymore. She was making progress with Jim and that made her happy. But how long would it be before the hospital would declare him fit to go home? What would she do then? And what if Sherlock took years more to take down the network? What if Jim's men came for him and restored him to power once again? She was jolted out of her reverie when Mary returned, still on the phone. 'Yes I will. Okay. Take care. I love you ' she was saying. 'Boyfriend?' asked Molly. 'Yes' Mary admitted, blushing. 'In fact, I met him at Bart's only a couple of weeks ago. He had come looking for someone in the pathology lab. The previous pathologist maybe. Molly someone' she rambled without paying attention to Molly who had gone pale. 'His name is John. John Watson' she said. Molly simply stared into her coffee. How many more surprises were awaiting her?

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