As soon as they arrived at Molly's flat, she put on the kettle for them to have a cup of tea.

Sherlock watched her, his elbows leaning on the kitchen counter, thinking how lovely she looked with her hair down. "I didn't get the chance to tell you earlier how beautiful you look this evening," he told her. "Will you keep your hair down on our wedding day?"

She smiled at him, as she got the sugar out of the cupboard and set it on the kitchen counter. "I like having my hair down too, when I have the opportunity. So yes, that is my intention."

"Good," he murmured as he stood, then walked around the kitchen counter to stand just behind her. He brushed several silken strands of hair out of the way, so he could press a soft kiss against her neck, and she made a little sigh of pleasure.

"Now tell me, what did your work colleagues think about your sudden change in engagement ring?" He moved away from Molly as he spoke, to allow her to finish making their tea.

Molly's lips curved upwards. "Surprisingly, it was easier than I expected. I think quite a number of people knew how I felt about you before your apparent death. Those who had met Tom knew that he looked a little like you. I just said that you and I had been getting close before you 'died', which is the truth, and your return forced me to realise I had never really been successful in getting over you. I also said that my split with Tom was an amicable one. It isn't as if he and I spent time together with friends anyway. My work life was always separate from my private one."

She brought over the cups of tea to the table, placing one in front of Sherlock, who had seated himself.

"Well, that's one hurdle out of the way," he remarked. "The next is introducing you to my parents." He pursed his lips. "Oh, there's one other thing I should probably tell you."

Molly sat across from him and raised her tea cup to her lips, taking a sip, before commenting, "That sounds rather ominous."

Sherlock cleared his throat nervously. "Well, I may have mentioned to the reporters this evening I was engaged. You know, 'kill two birds with one stone'?" He looked at her closely, wondering if she would be cross that he had been so forthcoming about their relationship to the media, without her consent. To his relief, she did not seem angry at all.

Instead, she smiled. "You were really willing to make it public that way?"

Sherlock stood, ignoring the rest of his tea, and she did the same. His gaze never left hers as he walked around the table to stand in front of her. He placed his hands gently on her shoulders. "I know what I want, and I don't care who else knows. If there's one thing I learned while I was away, it is that you have to reach out for life and grasp it with both hands. I love you. You're mine, Molly, and I'm never letting you go." He could feel the way she trembled at his words.

"Show me," she whispered, just before his lips came down on hers. He kissed her forcefully, demandingly, trying to convey without words how much he loved her, and she surrendered to him willingly as her body invited his touch.

The tea was forgotten as they found together a much more satisfying way to warm themselves.

Some time later, as they lay in Molly's bed, with his arms around her to hold her close, Sherlock asked, "So, did you and Mary discuss where and when we are getting married?" He really didn't mind if the women took care of the details. He'd be happy to just show up on the day.

"Mhm," she murmured. "We thought May would be good."

"Ah, a spring wedding. Sounds nice." He tried to muster some enthusiasm into his voice, but really, what did it matter? They already belonged to one another. Exchanging vows and wedding rings would just be the icing on the cake.

Molly shifted her position slightly so that she could look up at him properly. "You do realise we will be making vows in a church, in front of God as well as other people?"

He hadn't really thought about it before. He had always been a self-proclaimed atheist, but loving Molly had changed things for him. His arms tightened around the woman he loved. "I'm beginning to understand that life is about more than just me, that there has to be a greater purpose. Logically speaking, that would mean something or someone has created that purpose."

Molly pressed a soft kiss to his shoulder. "I'm so glad to hear you say that."

He fell asleep with a smile on his face.

The next few months passed in a whirl of activity.

Sherlock's parents were delighted with Molly and the way she brought such a steadying influence to their son. Molly reconciled her differences with her only close relative, her mum, and Mrs. Hooper seemed delighted that her daughter was getting married too.

Molly had moved into Baker Street and Mrs. Hudson was thrilled to have another woman around to chat with regularly.

As for Sherlock, he found he had become so used to having Molly in the bed next to him, that he missed her presence when she was on nightshift and he had to sleep alone.

Mary and Molly had become close, doing most of the wedding planning between them, leaving Sherlock and John to go out on cases together.

A few days before the wedding, Sherlock noticed that Molly and Mary were acting rather strangely. He and John had just returned from the successful pursuit of a criminal, and Mary was at Baker Street, talking about the final details of the wedding with Molly.

Sherlock had just opened the door and the women were talking animatedly, but immediately stopped when the men entered.

Sherlock gave them a suspicious look. "Were we interrupting something?"

He could tell by the guilty look on the women's faces that they were hiding something, but he could not deduce what it was. "It's just wedding stuff, honey," Molly told him brightly.

He knew there was more to it than that, but he did not press the matter. He had no intention of getting into a row when the wedding was so close. Besides, Molly had seemed a little edgy lately. John had said Mary too had been that way, so it was obvious the stress of the wedding preparations was getting to both women.

On the night before the wedding, Sherlock vacated Baker Street to stay with John, while Mary went to Baker Street for the night. Sherlock did not sleep very well that night. The spare bed in John's flat was rather uncomfortable, and he missed Molly. He had a sudden, horrible thought. What if she suddenly changed her mind and got cold feet?

He had already been scolded several times for not keeping his experiments completely separated from the food in the fridge, and he knew he tended to be rather untidy. Molly was constantly picking up after him, reminding him to put his dirty dishes in the sink, instead of leaving them on whatever surface was nearest to him when he had finished with eating or drinking. He knew he tended to be a bit of a slob, which would be difficult to change, but he had come up with an idea to make sure the experiments would not contaminate their food, and he planned to tell Molly about it after the wedding.

To his relief, a text came in from Molly in the morning as he and John were getting ready.

I'll see you at the church. 143. So apparently she and Mary hadn't been talking about running off and abandoning their men at the altar, that was a good thing.

He responded with: 433. Can't wait.

Sherlock was further relieved when John made a comment soon after they arrived at the church. It seemed Molly wasn't the only one acting a little anxious about things.

"Well, I hope Mary's not going to leave me at the altar. She has been rather testy with me lately, especially over the past week. I think the last minute details have been getting to her."

Sherlock chuckled at that and hastened to reassure his friend. "It must be a female thing, because Molly has been acting the same way. She sent me a text earlier, though, which made me feel better. I don't think we have anything to worry about."

Indeed, he was quite correct. When the music began to play and two women began to proceed down the aisle, Sherlock had eyes only for Molly. She was a vision of loveliness in her strapless gown with a full satin skirt. Swarovski crystals glittered on her bodice, skirt and veil. Her hair was also down, as she had promised, styled with loose curls that framed her face, and he had to remind himself to breathe as she walked towards him.

He lifted her veil from her face early in the service, as they had arranged. He scarcely knew what was happening around him, repeating his portion of the vows and listening to Molly, even as John and Mary did the same.

At last came the pronouncement he had been waiting to hear. "And now, I declare you to be husbands and wives. You may kiss your brides, " announced the minister.

Sherlock needed no further invitation. He clasped Molly's face lovingly between his hands and kissed her, a lingering kiss that was really a little inappropriately long for a wedding ceremony. It was only when the minister cleared his throat, that he drew back, a little embarrassed. Molly's eyes were large and luminous, sparkling with unshed tears as she smiled at him, and his heart was so full of love for her, he hardly remembered the congratulations that followed their exit from the church.

It was during the limo ride on the way to the reception, as the brides sat together with Sherlock and John on either side, when Sherlock noticed the women giving each other a conspiratorial look.

"What do you think?" Mary asked Molly.

"Might as well get it over with," was Molly's cryptic response.

Sherlock and John exchanged confused glances.

Mary began, addressing John. "I want to apologise for the way I've been acting lately. I know you think it has been just the stress, but it's more than that."

Here, Molly interposed to Sherlock, "I know you think the same thing." She took his hand and squeezed it.

"Well, yes," Sherlock agreed, and his eyes crinkled at the corners as he smiled at his new wife, "but it's understandable. Planning a wedding is a big responsibility, and I am aware that you and Mary were the ones to do most of the planning. You can be forgiven for being a little irritable."

"That's right," agreed John. "At least the hard part is over now."

Sherlock suddenly recalled what Mary had said – It's more than that.

Then the answer came to him, the reason the women had cut their conversation short a few days earlier, Mary's irritability as well as Molly's. It was so obvious. Mary was pregnant, and Molly was just a little jealous about it, which explained her own short-temperedness lately.

He felt quite proud of himself and couldn't resist the opportunity to show off, just a little. "Well, Mary, I suppose congratulations are in order for you and John. I hope you know that Molly and I will be there for the three of you."

John stared at him open-mouthed, while Mary laughed delightedly. "Thank you, Sherlock, and John and I will be there for the three of you too."

This time it was Sherlock's turn to open his mouth in astonishment as he looked from Mary to Molly. I always miss something, he thought a little numbly, as he looked at the woman he loved.

"I'm pregnant too, you ridiculous man," she said with a beatific smile.

A huge grin spread over his face as he squeezed Molly's hand and looked over at John, who was still looking rather bemused.

"How did you figure this out before me? I'm a bloody doctor," his friend finally grumbled.

"I'm just as oblivious," Sherlock admitted, as the corner of his mouth lifted into a wry grin. "I just assumed it was Mary's secret, not one being held by both of the women." Then he added, "Can you believe it? We are both going to be fathers!"

John's attention was then diverted by Mary, even as Sherlock's was drawn to Molly.

"Are you...okay with this?" she asked in a low voice, then bit her lip and added, "I know we hadn't discussed having children quite so soon..."

Sherlock lifted a hand to trace her cheek lovingly with his thumb. "We also haven't been particularly careful to prevent that from happening. There were several occasions just last month in which we got a little, uh, carried away."

Then he leaned in to kiss her sweetly on the lips.

Later that night, after the two couples had gone their separate ways following the reception, having determined different hotels and honeymoon destinations would be prudent - they couldn't share everything, after all, Sherlock held Molly close to him in the king-sized bed of their hotel suite.

Her opulent wedding gown, and everything that went with it, lay discarded on the floor beside the bed, along with his own clothes. He traced his hand along her abdomen gently, marvelling at the fact that a new life lay within her.

"I can't believe I missed the signs of three," he murmured, before dropping a kiss on her forehead.

Molly made a little sound of contentment, before saying, "You do realise, Sherlock, that you really are going to have to at least make an attempt to change your ways when it comes to doing your experiments and so on, now that we have a baby on the way, don't you?"

Sherlock smiled at her. It was time to reveal his own little secret. "I've actually been thinking about that, since you've been making a big deal about it lately."

Molly huffed a little in annoyance. "So sorry that I was thinking about the future and how having a baby will change things for us."

"Now, now, love, don't be cross with me," he soothed, giving her shoulder a little squeeze with the hand that was holding her close to himself. "I have already made preparations for a change in my experimentation habits."

She shifted her head to gaze up at him in surprise. "How so?"

"I asked Mrs. Hudson if she would let me convert her basement flat into a laboratory of sorts. That flat is quite unsuitable for tenants, so she was quite amenable to the idea."

Then he gave a little chuckle. "I even mentioned the fact that I wished to do it, so that if and when the time came for you and me to expand our family, that the flat would be in better condition without the experiments in the fridge and my lab instruments on the table. Of course, I did not realise at the time that we would be expanding our family quite so soon."

Molly's hand, which had been resting on his chest, moved up to touch his curls and tweak one gently. "So you really, truly are happy about things?"

He grabbed her hand and kissed the palm. "The only person who could be happier about this is Mummy. She even asked at the reception when we were going to start a family. I thought it best to at least wait until after the honeymoon to tell her." He shifted his position slightly then, so he could claim her lips with his own, showing her how he felt about her and their baby.

Finally he raised his head just enough to say, "I love you, Mrs. Holmes, my wife."

"I love you too, my wonderful husband." The passionate note in Molly's voice brought forth that familiar ache for her, even though it had so shortly before been eased.

Well, it is my wedding night, after all, he reflected, before allowing himself to be lost in her again, as he always was. His Molly, his wife, his forever love.

Author's note: Thus ends this particular dream. I had a lot of fun with this story, putting in a double wedding for the two couples as well as having both women expecting at the same time. I also thought it would be fun for Sherlock to figure out Mary was pregnant and completely miss the signs that Molly was pregnant as well.

I do hope you enjoyed this latest story. Favourites/follows and reviews always gratefully accepted.

Special acknowledgements to the following faithful reviewers.

TheonewithwheelsASH - My most devoted supporter. Thank you so much. I know I can always count on you to venture an opinion on each chapter!

SammyKatz - You're amazing - thanks so much for giving me ideas that helped make this story even better! I wish more people were like you, willing to make suggestions.

Mamabear04 - You are so much more than a faithful reviewer, you are a dear friend. The fact that you take the time to read all of my stories and still manage to comment on most chapters astounds me. Love you, sister friend!

Ad iuficium - Andriana, I'm so glad you have made time in your extremely busy schedule to check out another of my stories. Your reviews are always appreciated and you were one of the people who helped me in the early days of my publishing, when I was struggling to establish a niche here. Thank you!

Analena - So happy you have given my storytelling a look, and been so kind as to review the chapters even as a late starter!

Kaoruca - Glad you were able to suspend your disbelief enough to give this story a go! Always happy to see those honest reviews from you!

Ben-addict Cucumber - I really appreciate you especially joining the site just to read and support my work. That means a lot to me!

To those of you who dropped a review here and there, I appreciate you as well. Every piece of feedback is welcome and responded to because I understand the value of readers who encourage me as well in my writing. Without encouragement, the majority of aspiring writers abandon their hard work and become statistics in the graveyard of incomplete stories. Your reviews can and do make a huge difference, don't underestimate your power as a reader.

If I see readers coming to this story late who also review chapters as they go along, I will update this final chapter to reflect their support in my acknowledgements.

Much love, and until next time,

GoodShipSherlollipop

P.s. I am thinking of changing my name to GoodShipSherlollypop, to reflect the British spelling of lollipop and also contain Sherlolly. Thoughts? Keep the name people are used to, or make the change?