Disclaimer: I do not own Sherlock, BBC. Just borrowing the characters.

Prologue

Molly Hooper had her hands full. She had just picked up her mail in one hand with a bag of groceries in the other, along with her side messenger bag banging her hip as she answered her phone and put her key in the door to her apartment.

Her best friend, Mary Morstan, was calling. "Yes, 'lo?" A flustered Molly spoke into her cell poised between her shoulder and ear.

"Molly? Are you ok? What are you doing?"

"I just got back to my flat. One mo'," she responded while placing her groceries on her kitchen counter and slipped her bag off her body. "What's new?" Molly continued the conversation, sitting on her comfy couch. She filled through the skinny white envelopes telling her how much she owed for her electricity, etc. Molly rolled her eyes at a few credit card company applications as Mary went talking about her day. Suddenly, a thick, light green envelope caught Molly's attention. She gasped, dropping her other pieces of mail. Please, not yet, she thought to herself.

"What?!" Mary exclaimed, worried.

.

.

.

"I..I've been called."

"Oh."

Molly stared at the rectangular death wish in her hands. The stamp of the Biological Urban Rejuvenation Administration in proud black letters curled around a vague picture of DNA. Molly told herself to breathe. She turned it over and ran her fingers under the flap. She remembered the day Mary received her envelope. They had just come back from lunch when Mary's life changed. The BURA sent Mary an indication that her group was called. Mary had finally been selected to pick out a husband, or reproductive mate.

After a biological plague that targeted females, the BURA was created to categorize the unmarried, straight, women who had the physical capabilities to bear children, and subsequently pair them with the most compatible males. Thankfully, Molly and many other people were able to maintain their pre-plague jobs. Mary told Molly that she had been able to choose from a selection of ten men who had been matched for both physical reproduction ability as well as personality. Molly's heart pounded as she remembered how awkward everything was the day Mary brought John Watson home. Well, John Morstan now. Thankfully, he fit into the nurse's life seamlessly as he was a doctor, who easily transferred to her clinic.

Molly smiled as she thought of the couple now. They were nearly inseparable. However, Molly's bottom lip hid behind her teeth as she worried about her own selection for mate. She looked down at the official-feeling paper in her hands.

The letter said exactly what Molly expected. Her group had been selected to choose their reproduction partners. Not all partners married, like Mary and John, but most did. Molly's heart jumped at the thought that this letter means she will have children soon. She looked around her one bedroom apartment in shock. Her pictures of her dead father, herself, and her cat littered the warm colored walls and mantelpiece. The soft meow from Molly's bedroom shook the young pathologist from her stupor.

Molly ran her hand down the bony back of her orange tabby. Feeling slightly soothed, Molly returned her attention to her phone. "Mary, what do I do?" She quietly asked.

A sigh came from the other end of the connection. "Move out."

A/N: I really wanted to write like a forced to be together trope along with an apocalypse setting. This is what resulted. Sorry about any biological misinformation or British Government hijacking. Making things up as I go along. It's more fun that way ;)