AT THE HOME OF MOLLY HOOPER

Will woke up with a start in the morning, his eyes popping open and the light immediately burning his pupils. He was tempted to shut them up once again and just try go back to sleep, but he decided that he'd be completely unable to fall asleep after waking up. It was far too bright outside for that. Besides, there was already too much inside of his mind for him to just sleep again.

Of course, when he looked over to his side, he almost wished he could just fall asleep again and postpone from those moments from ending. Molly was still fast asleep beside him - he just hoped that she didn't have work that day because she would likely be late. The sun had risen significantly already in the sky, so Will wasn't surprised when he glanced at a clock to see that it was already 8:43 in the morning.

After releasing a quick yawn, he started making his way out of bed. Molly shifted around slightly with this change in her surroundings, making Will think that she was about to wake up. He wanted everything to be perfect for her, as perfect as he could make it - so he'd try making her breakfast. Cooking wasn't exactly his thing, but he would try for her.

Dear Molly. In the gentle morning sunlight, she was illuminated like some sort of ethereal being. The light streamed through the flyaways in her hair, making it look like she had a golden halo surrounding her head. In that moment, she was nothing short of an angel. She was a perfect little angel about to rise from a fulfilling sleep. That was all he could ever hope for.

Will found himself reaching out to gently stroke her cheek with the side of his hand. She didn't react to it, but his lips turned up at the feel of her skin against his own. Last night had been the best sleep he had gotten in what seemed to be forever, and that was all with Molly beside him.

As he stared down at her adoringly, he couldn't help but think about how soft she was underneath his hand. She was soft and warm like those cats she loved so much. Just like those cats, she was fragile, too. Molly certainly on the smaller side, and she didn't have much of any muscle on her.

She was so breakable in so many ways - her past had given her moments of emotional breakage, that much was for sure, but she seemed like she could easily be physically broken as well. While she could collect her feelings and become stronger from her experiences, she would have difficulty recovering from a physical injury. Will could tell.

Will felt himself wondering what it would be like to break her. First, her skin - so warm and soft against his fingertips. Then, she would snap underneath his power like a twig. She wouldn't stand a chance. He could look over to her and see her with blood running down her face. Her blood - warmer than wine, thicker than water, staining everything.

She might look angelic in the morning light, but how would the bright crimson affect that glimmer? Will knew, the image was clear within his mind. In fact, it was far more than just an image. He could feel it. It was so close to being reality, so close, too close-

"Will?" Molly's groggy voice cut through Will's thoughts like a shard of glass. "Will, what time is it?" When he didn't respond, she tossed herself over to look at the clock.

"Oh, God, it's a quarter to nine already...I need to get ready..." She turned back around, ready to apologise. She found, however, that Will had already turned away from her, just enough so that he couldn't look to her. "Will? Will...is something wrong?"

"Leave me, Molly," he said.

"I'm sorry, what?" Molly asked, her eyelashes batting gently as she blinked in confusion. "I didn't quite hear you there."

"Leave me," Will repeated, this time a bit louder. He refused to turn to her and meet her eyes. He didn't think he would able to handle such a thing. "Just leave here while you can, leave me."

"Leave you?" Molly echoed. "Will, why would I ever leave you?"

"Because I told you to," said Will.

"You don't make my own decisions for me," Molly replied. But her faith was already fading. "I...I don't want to leave you. So I won't. I won't leave you."

"It's not a simple request," Will said, gritting his teeth. "You need to leave."

"I won't leave until you explain to me what is going on," Molly demanded, her voice wobbling slightly.

Will placed a hand over his face and then ran it through his hair. He couldn't even face her as he spoke to her. Molly, dear Molly. He was only trying to do what was best for her, but she would never understand it.

"I'm trying to help you, Molly."

"Will, that doesn't tell me anything."

"I mean...you shouldn't be around me," Will began to explain. "I am dangerous, more dangerous than either of us know..."

"I've worked with Sherlock plenty of times," Molly protested. "I dated a man who ended up being the biggest criminal mastermind in the country - yes, it's complicated. I've had rather a lot of danger in the past, and I wouldn't mind it too much if I were with you-"

Will interrupted as he said, "No, Molly. That's not how it is. I'm unpredictable, I don't even know what's happening..."

"Will, I haven't the foggiest about what you're talking about," Molly replied. She reached out a concerned hand to place on his shoulder, but he immediately moved away the moment she was going to make contact.

"You know about the murders that have been happening recently."

"Of course," Molly replied, confused. "That's all you and Sherlock and John have been working on lately."

"I have a feeling that I was the one that murdered them," Will replied, gulping. "It all started right after I arrived here in London...I've had gaps in my memory...nightmares...Molly, you don't understand."

Molly attempted to respond, but found her usual pool of words dried up completely. It seemed like a gaping hole had opened up in her stomach, right around where her heart was.

"Is that what everything was all about? The drinking, the insomnia...?"

"Yes, yes," Will said. "But it can't be surpressed - I thought it could, but it can't. Molly, you have to leave me."

"So that's why you wanted to forget," Molly said, murmuring mostly to herself. She shifted around until she was directly in front of Will. What she said next needed to be crystal clear.

"I'm not going to leave you, Will," she said.

He didn't respond. All he could see was the light woven into her hair and the halo it created around her. She was an angel, an angel who was sure to fall if he ended up staying around with her. The way to injure an angel would be to snap their wings first - they would have no way out.

He couldn't possibly leave her.

She had to leave him willingly, otherwise her wings would be snapped and she'd be stuck.

If Molly were to stay, she would die. He could feel it.

The last thing he could ever allow to happen was to have her end up laying dead in front of her. She would end up dead, and she'd just be another body that Sherlock and John would have to investigate. Molly Hooper would be gone if they remained together. He'd never be able to forgive himself if something like that were to happen to her.

"Why wouldn't you leave me?" he asked. "I'm telling you to leave me, and you're fighting against it despite of everything."

"If you feel so strongly about it, why don't you leave me?" Molly countered. "You're not telling me what's really happening. You're not telling me anything, really."

"I've told you all that I can, Molly."

"And it's not enough."

"I can't tell you."

"We're engaged," she said. "We're engaged, and you can't tell me why you want to leave me?"

"I don't want to leave you," he said.

"No, sorry, yes," Molly replied, beginning to get flustered all over again. "No, you don't want to leave me, you want me to leave you for whatever reason. It just doesn't make sense. You're not even trying to explain yourself, Will!"

"I'm trying to explain it in whatever way I can," he claimed. "There are just some things you wouldn't understand."

"Do you think I'm not smart enough to understand what's going on?" she asked.

"It has nothing to do with intelligence, Molly."

"Then what is it about? Even if I won't understand what you said, at least I'll know. Maybe I can figure it out - I just don't want to not know. It's horrible, Will. It's horrible. Please."

"I...I guess the best way I can explain it is that I don't want to see you getting hurt," Will said. "The last thing I want is to see you getting hurt."

"This doesn't have something to do with Sherlock, does it?" Molly asked, crossing her arms in an attempt to look stronger but only succeeding in collapsing into herself even further. Sherlock seemed to have mentioned something very similar to her not getting hurt, and she couldn't help but think that possibly the two might have conversed about it.

"Sherlock?"

"Yes, Sherlock."

"No, it has nothing to do with Sherlock."

"So...you two have never talked about me, then. I don't know, it just seems like - never mind."

Will ended up hesitating, knowing that if he spoke up at this point he might end up spilling out lies, or maybe even unfortunate truths. Of course, he had spoken about Molly with Sherlock on that one day when the detective had forced him to speak up about getting engaged.

Luckily, Molly seemed to be moving on from the subject of Sherlock.

"Listen," she said. "I'm starting to think that you think that maybe you might end up hurting me because of the way you think and how it makes you stay awake at night, and how it makes you drink..."

"Yes," Will said, unable to say more.

"I want to help you with all of that, Will. I'm going to be the one person who will help you. I've done it once, even if it was just one night, I can do it again-"

"That doesn't matter right now," Will said.

"Of course it matters," Molly pressed. She got no response from Will, which seemed to be a prompt of sorts for her to continue with what she was saying. Still, he seemed completely unable to meet her eyes.

"That night," Molly began. "You were out at the bar, and I found you almost passed out from drinking so much. I almost didn't recognise you - but then I did, and I had to do something. I wasn't just going to leave you there...Will, please. Who knows what would've happened to you if you had stayed out there?"

"I don't know, Molly," he replied. "I'm grateful to you for that. But-"

"Please, Will, just think about it," she said. "Please. I can do something like that again. And if I can't help you, then I can help you find someone who can. I know we can do it, together."

"This isn't about me," he responded. "This is about you. This about you getting hurt."

"Please, don't talk like that."

"I'm just trying to give you the truth of the matter. The last thing I want to do is lie to you about what our future is going to be like."

"No one can predict the future."

"But I know that you'll get hurt if you stay with me."

"You can't know that."

"I know how many people have hurt you in the past, and I'll just end up adding to that list. I care about you too much to do such a thing."

"Will!" she cried out. "Don't you see? You're going to be different from the rest of those. You're going to be the one who doesn't disappear and break my heart."

"I'll have to go back to America some day," Will sighed. "I couldn't possibly stay in London forever."

"Well, I thought..." Molly began.

"You thought?"

"Maybe I would go with you," Molly began. "I know it sounds crazy and mad and impulsive but...that's what I thought."

"You can't," Will said, his voice firm.

Molly swallowed back the tears that pushed towards her eyes. The last thing she wanted to do was make herself look any weaker. In her heart, she knew that she wasn't weak. No woman who had been through everything she had could possibly be weak. But when her voice cracked and her eyes misted over, it was difficult to portray this inner feeling.

From the look Will was giving her, it was clear that he didn't want to look past her cracked exterior and notice how hard she was trying to keep herself together. Her mind spun with all of the things she could possibly do. More than ever before in her life, she needed to be strong. There was certainly some decision that would be better for everything in the end.

At the end of the day, it was up to her to decide whether she would follow her heart or her head. Both had mislead in her in the past, and both had ended up bringing her happiness. Now it was just a matter of deciding which one to pay attention to this time around. Either way, it didn't seem like she'd end up with pure happiness, that much was for sure.

She tried to think through all of her possibilities, but everything became tangled within her mind in just a matter of seconds. One way might end with tears, one way might end with silence, one way might end with loneliness. Molly's mind twisted itself up as she attempted to see which way was the bets way.

Molly could follow her heart and refuse to leave Will. She could find a way to work it out.

Or Molly could follow her mind and do what Will said. He'd end up leaving her, but at least he wouldn't loathe her.

Molly found herself just as perplexed at this point in time as she was when Will had started telling her that he wished her to leave him. His reasons were vague and seemingly made no sense. Surely he had some real reasoning behind it all, but try as she might she could not figure it out.

Heart aching, she looked over to him once again as if this might somehow allow her to understand something, anything more. No, in her heart she certainly did not wish to leave him no matter what his reasons were.

But he seemed so very desperate for her to do such a thing, even though he seemed just as reluctant to leave her as she was to leave him. Yes, maybe several details had been illuminated further, but she still felt far from what was truly needed for her to understand. However, it didn't seem like he would end up giving up any more information any time soon.

No, Molly needed to make a decision on what she would do from what few details she was aware of, and make that decision almost immediately. The last thing she wanted was for Will to make this decision for her and force her to leave him. If she were to do such a thing, she wanted it to be out of her own free will.

"Fine then," she said, crossing her arms as her voice started to tremble once again. "If that's the way-if that's the way you want it to be, then fine. You can go. I don't need you here. I'll leave you. You can go. I'm leaving you now. But this is my home so...go."

She seemed to be contracting into herself, curling into a ball to comfort herself as she looked over to him. Her eyes never directly met his, but she continued with her gaze in his general direction the entire time.

Will decided against saying another thing to her. He was no happier than she was about this situation, but this was precisely the result he was attempting to figure out. With a slight sigh, he started to gather the few things he had left at her house. She still refused to look at him - she couldn't bear to think about what she had just allowed herself to do.

He subconsciously ended up taking his time, the inner parts of his mind resisting having to leave Molly behind like this. But when he finally completed, Molly shuffled over to the door and opened it up for him. He walked straight through. Neither one allowed themselves to do anything more than glance at the other one.

If their eyes had met, then they wouldn't have let go of their connected gaze for anything. Their decisions had already been made and letting themselves immediately erase it would not bode well at all. No, they had already shared their last mutual look at one another for the rest of their lives. Their paths had been set, and there was no turning back on it.

Molly knew that Will wouldn't dare to look back at her, not even for a split second. He had been the one to initiate this entire situation, therefore he wouldn't be the one to immediately abort it in such a way as looking back at her and letting himself regret what he had chosen. Still, a part of her longed for this to be the case.

She listened to the gentle footfalls, which then triggered her head to pop up and allow her to look at him. He didn't seem to be turning back, and he wouldn't be turning around any time soon. In fact, she believed that she might never get to see him turn around again. He wasn't even out of earshot, and already she found herself regretting her decision to let him go.

No, she was regretting her decision to leave him. Those were the words she had used, the words Will had forced to come from her lips. She was leaving him, but he was the one who had to walk away and go through the door.

Despite all of the feelings churning within her, she couldn't find the will to move. If Molly ran after him and caught up with him, then he might turn around and look upon her with hatred. At least he'd leave with thoughts of her listening to what he said, trying to keep both of their best interests in mind. She just needed to convince herself that this was better for both of them, that it was a mutual benefit.

No tears pressed at the back of her eyes, yet. She just felt numbed, as if someone had taken all of the energy out from her. She felt pain throughout every cell, but she could not allow herself to begin crying. If nothing else, not a tear would drip down from her eyes as she watched Will walk away from her.

As Molly's stomach continued to drop, she found her eyes drifting down to the ring on her finger. This would be her second broken engagement. While part of her just wanted to blame it on horrid luck, she knew there was far more to it than that. Her own choices ended up being the problem.

But maybe it wasn't too late yet. Maybe she would be able to salvage something, anything. Perhaps this wasn't another thing that Molly would have to live to end up regretting. She just had to speak from her heart and see if Will would listen. She knew he would, as long as she could get the words out.

It was just three simple words, three simple words that hardly ever seemed to be able to spill out of her mouth. She could hardly remember the last time she had used them, but it didn't matter when it had been used in the past.

"Will, I-" Her voice seemed to cut itself off as she continued to mouth the words, watching Will walk away. Already he was too far away to hear a word she said. She didn't want to close the door even though he had disappeared out of her vision. The hope that he would return still sat on her shoulders, preventing her from breaking down into tears.

She stood there for an entire hour, staring out without an expression on her face. Everything was starting to turn numb within every last part of her. Her chances to fix everything had been lost. All the decisions she made turned out to be the incorrect ones. Now both her head and her heart were in agreement - she shouldn't have done it.

But there was nothing more she could do.

A/N When I realized I was posting this chapter today, I had one of those "Oh! Oh..." sort of moments. Let's just say, I was all sorts of worked up over this. But, you know, even though it burns my heart at least I won't be alone in my suffering...right? Isn't that right?

The perfect Molly graphic on the side is courtesy of veridical!