Do you have a girlfriend?

"What are doing?" John asked, as soon as he found Sherlock sitting in Mrs. Hudson's sofa.

"Good evening to you too, John!" Sherlock replied, without looking at his friend. His eyes were fixed on the wall in front of him, while Mrs. Hudson moved around in her kitchen, making tea.

"What are you doing?" John asked again, ignoring Sherlock's rather rare display of education.

"Thinking…"

"No… what I meant was, what are you doing here, instead of going to Molly's house to apologize…" John said, smiling at Mrs. Hudson and accepting the tea she was offering him.

"He has been like this since you came back…" she whispered to John.

"I heard that, Mrs. Hudson!"

"I know you did, dear, that's why I said it!" the unimpressed lady smiled sardonically at him. "Now, John, try to make him behave towards Molly, alright? She deserves better anyway…" and with that she left the room.

"She is mad at you…" John commented.

"Mycroft made me the favor of telling her everything that happened…" Sherlock commented, his eyes still fixed on the wall.

"So…" John tried to start again. He rose from the chair and stood beside Sherlock, looking at the wall. "What are you seeing on the wall?"

"What?" Sherlock finally looked at his friend. "There's nothing on the wall, I was just using it as a concentration technique to start planning…"

"Do you already have a case?" John asked.

"No…"

"Then what?"

Sherlock sighed and with a quick movement that was all legs and arms rose from the sofa and started pacing around the living room.

"I'm planning…" he said mysteriously. "What to say… Stuttering is not really my style, John…"

"You're planning a speech? To beg for Molly's forgiveness?" John deducted, stopping the laugh that almost fell from his lips.

"I'm not going to beg… I will tell everything that happened and as someone with a high intellect she will realize that what I did was not meant to hurt her, but to save her life and she will understand my reasons…" Sherlock explained.

"So, after you beg for her forgiveness… Are you going to take her out to dinner?" John asked and ducked before Sherlock could throw a pillow at him. "Well, I'm going to let you work on that… But… Sherlock…"

"Hum?" Sherlock hummed, stopping at noticing his friend's serious tone of voice.

"You have to understand something, if you didn't already… What happened during that phone call… What Molly said, it hurt her more than you can think… Love is a fragile thing, something that you protect with all your being and she protected the feelings she had for you, for a very long time, until it was an inherent part of her being… She protected it through your belittle of her in the beginning of your acquaintance, through the stupid experiments, and your drug use, and your fake death, her rather awful romantic history… she was engaged for Christ's sake! But every time you needed her, she was there, to help you, not only because she loved you, but because she trusted in you, that you were doing the right thing! And in those 3 minutes, all the trust she had in you, that you wouldn't hurt her on purpose shattered… In that moment, she thought everything she knew was a lie, you were throwing her loyalty and friendship and love back at her… that's not something you can repair in such an easy way… She may forgive you, but she will hurt for a long time, very long if you don't do anything to help…" John said, noticing that probably for the first time, Sherlock heard him without trying to stop him once.

"John… I don't know what I feel for her… The words I said, I know why I said them, but at the same time, I don't... I'm a highly functional sociopath… I'm not good at this emotional part of being a human being… I hurt people even when I don't mean to… I don't understand their feelings and I don't understand my own feelings either! Why did I break that coffin? Why didn't I call her as soon as we came back? I don't know John, but I don't want to hurt her by doing something stupid…" Sherlock confessed, looking through the window at the soaked street of London.

"Sherlock, what you just said showed more than you can realize… A highly functional sociopath, as you like to call yourself, wouldn't worry about hurting Molly, he would say what he had to say and be done with it, a sociopath doesn't hug a friend that is mourning his wife and doesn't cry because of a friend's death, a sociopath doesn't feel… You feel, Sherlock. The problem here is that you feel too much and protect those feelings too much… Probably because of Euros and Victor and Mycroft… you are not the one to blame… But you do are the one to blame if you let this chance at something more go away… You have to make your choices, Sherlock and live with them, but please, do not regret not talking with her. Being in a relationship with someone is hard, but you have to trust that person, you have to talk to her, explain how you are feeling, and ask her when you have doubts, tell her your fears and your insecurities…" John fell silent suddenly. "Maybe if I had done that…"

"They were just texts… even you, good Doctor, are just human… And I know Mary would knock you on the head, probably a punch for good measure, but in the end, she would understand and forgive…" Sherlock replied, clapping his friend on the back.

John sighed, cleaned the stray tear and cleaned his throat.

"Well, good luck, mate. And if she tries to slap you, take it." John smiled at him, and left the flat.

"So, do you have a girlfriend?" John asked as soon as he saw Sherlock after their last conversation.

"What? No!" Sherlock replied, clearly more worried about the prints he was observing in an old lady's flowerbed.

"Molly didn't forgive you?" John asked, observing the azaleas the lady was carefully taking care of until she died two days ago in that exact same spot.

"She did…" Sherlock answered, kneeling to take a sample of the dirt.

"Then what?" John was finding it amusing that he had to fish for that kind of information, especially when he never thought he would be the one to help Sherlock in a relationship.

"She heard, like I knew she would and she understood, once again according to my deductions, however, she is still hurt, like you said… it's good to see you are getting better at deducting information…" Sherlock rose again and put the vial with the sample inside his coat pocket. "Now I have to take this to the lab and analyze it… And I think you're 5 minutes late to your work…"

"What? Oh, bloody hell! Sherlock, don't forget, be nice!" John said, before running away towards the street.

Sherlock took the vial out and smiled at it.

"So, do you have a girlfriend?"

"Somehow, it feels like a déjà vu…" Sherlock said, from his place in Mrs. Hudson's sofa.

"I'm just hoping for a different answer…" John smiled at Sherlock's exasperated expression. "So, what is this? A case?" the doctor asked, looking around the myriad of papers scattered around Sherlock. He bent to grab one and had to read it twice to make sure he read it right the first time.

"Meaning of flowers' colors?" John read out loud, making it sound like a question.

"Yes…" Sherlock replied, without paying him much attention. His eyes were flying over his computer screen, while his fingers jumped over the letters.

John grabbed another paper. "Best chocolateries in London?"

And he started picking up the papers, noticing a trend in all that information.

"Sherlock, are you studying how to woo Molly?" John asked, barely suppressing a laugh.

"And he is making a poor job of it!" Mrs. Hudson said, appearing behind John. "It's all papers and data and statistics! He needs to listen to his heart!"

"My heart doesn't have vocal cords or a mouth, so how could I hear him, Mrs. Hudson?" Sherlock huffed from the couch.

"Honestly! Why don't you ask Molly what she wants to do?" Mrs. Hudson suggested.

"And that's exactly why I'm waiting for…" and his phone started ringing. "Ah Ah!" he said in victory. "John, please, can you answer Mycroft's call?"

John look at Sherlock and then at his phone a mere meter away from the detective. For a moment he pondered not answering, but his curiosity won over.

"Yes, Mycroft?"

"Where is that brother of mine? Mingling around the homeless again?" Mycroft asked in a huffy voice, clearly offended his brother didn't answer his own phone.

"No, actually, he is researching something…" John said, peeking over Sherlock's shoulder and noticing he was now researching on perfumes attractive to women. He snickered under his breath and Mycroft scoffed.

"Well, since he is so busy, tell him the tickets will be ready at the theater, he just has to be there 20 minutes sooner… And he better use them well, I had to call Jo herself to get those!" and Mycroft hanged up on John.

"Hum… the tickets will be ready at the theater and you just have to be there 20 minutes sooner…" John relied the message and Sherlock smiled proudly.

"Splendorous! She will love it!"

"She? Molly? You are going to the theater with Molly? And why did you ask Mycroft for tickets?" John asked, clearly confused with all the situation.

"Molly's birthday is tomorrow, and she is a big fan of Harry Potter…" Sherlock said.

"I'm more of a Lord of the Rings kind of guy…" John piped.

"Yeah, me too… Anyway, I want to surprise her with tickets to that Potter play that has everyone in an uproar…"

"Wait! So, the Jo that Mycroft talked about… that was THE JO?! Like J. ? He asked her for tickets to her own play?" John was clearly a bigger Harry Potter fan than he was letting one, but Sherlock chose to ignore it.

"Yes, and if that doesn't sway her, I don't know…" Sherlock sighed and rose from the sofa. He grabbed his coat and opened the door. "I'm going to buy flowers, wish me luck!" he said with an expression that looked like he was going to a funeral.

John waved at him and closed his eyes. Sherlock's love life was getting him more tired than Rosie ever could.

"So, do you have a girlfriend?" John asked, as soon as he opened his front door and found Sherlock in there.

"How did you know?" Sherlock asked, clearly still out of breath.

"First, rumpled hair, second, lipstick on your lips and third, you don't have your coat and you only part with your coat in dead or life situations… Since it started raining 30 minutes ago, Molly probably didn't have a coat and you let her borrow yours…" John deducted and Sherlock looked proudly at him.

"Finally, all my teachings are coming to fruition…" Sherlock said with a grin, accepting the tea that his friend was giving him, while grabbing Rosie's fingers that were trying to reach his hair, while the baby sat in the sofa, next to him.

"Now, if you are here to ask me for baby names… John Hamish is a great one…"

Sherlock looked at him surprised and actually laughed, an open, full belly laugh. John smiled back, surprised and happy at his friend's display of emotion.

"What if it's a girl?" Sherlock suddenly asked and John spit his tea.

"Just joking, we didn't start the reproductive process just yet…" Sherlock chuckled and John shook his head in mirth.

"Joan is a great name for a girl!"

"That it is…" Sherlock replied, clicking his tea cup with John's.