Four Years Ago

As she let herself into their flat, she knew. Everything was in its place, but there was an echo of sorrow in the soft yellow walls.

On the table by the door he had perched an envelope against the vase of flowers that had long ago withered. A bouquet of roses he had had delivered for their anniversary with a note of apology that he would be unable to make it home in time.

He hadn't even had the decency to say good-bye.

Just another nail in the coffin of their marriage. She had held the pieces of it together for the past six months, but with each passing day, he grew colder and more distant.

With shaking hands, she opened the envelope. A flash of gold. Turning it over, his wedding ring tumbled into her hand. The note inside was short and simple.

Forgive me. SH

When her brother-in-law arrived the next morning to pack Sherlock's belongings, Molly had already cried her heart sick. She watched numbly as a fleet of black-suited men tore her life in half.

"Is he at least alive and safe?"

She couldn't bear to look at Mycroft and see the pity in his eyes.

"Yes."

It was all she needed to know. As the last of her husband's belongings were carried out the door, Mycroft turned to her and pulled out a thick folder.

"We can postpone this for a later time if-"

"Let's just get this over with," Molly cut him off and took the papers from him, her heart shattering at the title of the first page. She'd known what it was, but seeing Official Petition for Divorce written in black and white, brought reality crashing around her. Willing her voice to remain steady, she took the pen Mycroft offered. "Tell me where I need to sign."

And with that, she closed the book on her life with Sherlock Holmes.

oOo

Whatever words he had been looking for before, he had finally found and they burst from him as if he had no power to hold them back.

"I love you." He reached up with his free hand to cup her cheek, his palm cool against her flushed cheeks. "Molly, I still love you."

oOo

"Please. Say something."

"Liar." Her soft accusation was louder than any scream.

He had to make her understand.

"I know you have no reason to believe me, but it is true. It has always been true, Molly."

She scoffed derisively. "No. What's true is that you took the easy way out of a marriage your heart was no longer involved in and left me to pick up the pieces of my life, wondering what I had done to make you stop loving me."

He shook his head. "Nothing would make me stop loving you."

Tears filled her brown eyes and the sight broke his heart. "You left me a sodding note, Sherlock. And signed it like I was a client. Not the woman you had married. The woman who shared a home, a bed, a life, with you for five years."

He retreated as she fumbled in her pockets for a handkerchief and dabbed the corner of her eye, sniffling suspiciously. Running his hands through his hair, he knew he had to tell her the whole truth. It would be the only way she ever forgave him. And gave him a second chance he didn't deserve.

Going to the skull on the mantle, he pulled out a small envelope from the cranial cavity.

"Five years ago," he began, "a man named James Moriarty challenged me to a game. A game of murder."

She watched him warily and took the envelope from his outstretched hand. He sank into his chair and continued as she pulled out the snapshots and went through them one by one, her face turning pale.

"He saw me as his intellectual rival. A sick, twisted mind. He killed mercilessly and had built an empire that even Mycroft feared."

Suddenly, her hand flew to her mouth. Sherlock didn't have to look to know which one photo had caused her shock. It was burned into his memory.

Almost every photo was of her and him. Except one. It had been the deciding factor for him to leave. She had been a resident at the time at Princess and the snapshot was of her working in the locked lab. There was another pathologist with her, her friend Teddy. Only Teddy was smiling at the hidden camera while Molly's face was turned, his eyes cold and ruthless. A gun handle could be seen in the break of his lab coat. A last resort, considering the chemicals they surrounded themselves with every day were a more resourceful method of murder.

In black marker across the bottom, it read: IOU.

"You were in danger. Every day. We missed Moran, Teddy, the first time and I couldn't take the risk again. That's why…" He paused and took a deep breath, his heart racing, as he admitted, "That's why I left. As long as anyone thought you were important to me, your life was in danger."

She looked away from the photo, her jaw clenched. Suddenly, she stood up.

Sherlock stood. "Molly, I didn't want to worry you-"

"Worry me?" Molly exploded, rounding on him in a fury. "I was your wife! If you were in trouble, I should have been the first person to know! We would have come up with a plan to get through it. Together."

He blanched.

"But instead you decided for me. Decided that I didn't have a say in what happened between us. You just left and determined I would be the better for it. Well, let me tell you something, genius. I'm not."

As she stormed past him, he grabbed her wrist, the photos fluttering to the floor. "I would do it again."

Her nostrils flared in anger. Beneath his fingertips, her heartbeat was racing.

"If breaking your heart meant saving your life, I would do it again," he promised fiercely. "It broke me to leave you. Only knowing you were safe kept me sane while I destroyed Moriarty's empire. In my darkest nights, I dreamed of you, wondered what you were doing. If you were thinking of me. You were the reason I kept fighting.

"I thought I was doing the right thing." His voice softened and he relaxed his grip, rejoicing inwardly when she did not pull away. With his other hand, he trailed his finger along the necklace she wore and tugged it free of her shirt.

Dangling from the silver chain were their wedding rings.

"You kept them," he whispered in awe.

Gently taking the chain away, Molly tucked the rings back beneath her shirt's collar. Tiredly, she said, "For better or worse, Sherlock. We promised each other. And I meant it. Even if you didn't."

He let her go. "I meant it. I still do. I love you, Molly. Everything I've done has been driven by my love for you. If anything had happened to you because of me, I would never have been able to live with myself. I am sorry I was not honest with you and instead of trusting you with the truth, I made the decision for you."

Hope flared to life when she relaxed slightly at his earnest plea.

"Can you forgive me?"

He stepped into her space and drew his finger down her cheek the way he used to that made her shiver. "And if you can…do you still love me enough to get to know me again? To one day let me put that ring back on your finger?"