A fluffly fic written in the midst of a fever, so please forgive any mistakes and OOC-ness. Enjoy, my dears!

The holiday had been going well up to this point. It was Molly’s first Christmas with Sherlock’s family and, up to now, it had been wonderfully normal. Christmas Eve afternoon found Molly and Anthea sitting on either side of Mummy Holmes, sipping hot cocoa and gleefully listening to her regale them with delightful stories about their respective significant others, photo albums stacked around them. Sherlock and Mycroft sat slumped in the chairs across from them, each sporting red spots on their hands from Mummy’s slaps when they tried to wrest away the photo books. 

‘Oh, how sweet!’ Molly cooed over 8-year-old Sherlock, his curls unruly and a patch over one eye as he brandished a plastic pirate’s cutlass. 

Anthea smiled at the chubby 15-year-old Mycroft holding Sherlock’s other hand and wearing a pilot outfit and an expression that clearly showed his deep hatred of the ridiculous Halloween tradition of fancy dress. ‘This might explain his disdain for pilots,’ she teased.

Sherlock snorted.

‘Must we suffer through this agony?’ Mycroft whined, rubbing his forehead. ‘It was bad enough going through the torture of Halloween once, must we relive it?’

‘You’re just sore because you didn’t get as much candy as me,’ Sherlock said with a smirk. ‘It pays to be adorable.’

Mycroft sat up and glared at Sherlock. ‘As I recall, I got just as much candy, but most of it was stolen by a certain pesky pirate the next day.’

‘I most certainly did no such thing,’ Sherlock refuted in offense.

‘Did so! You picked the lock on my bedroom door and took all the good pieces!’

Sherlock crossed his arms. ‘Fine, so what if I did? Maybe I was trying to help you with your diet.’

‘As if,’ Mycroft spat. ‘You would stash cupcakes and biscuits all over my room trying to sabotage my diet!’

‘Sherlock!’ Mummy gasped.

‘He still does it, too,’ Mycroft continued, on a roll. ‘He knows when I’m doing well and he’ll have chocolate cake delivered to my office. And he once threatened to post photos of me pre-weight loss on John’s blog if I didn’t get him unlimited morgue access.’

‘Sherlock!’ Now Molly turned to him in surprised indignation.

‘W-w-w-well,’ Sherlock stammered under everyone’s frowning glare and Mycroft’s gloating smile. Angry jumped to his feet and, turning to his mother, shouted, ‘Well, Mycroft was the one who stole the top tier of your 50^th wedding anniversary cake!’

‘Mycroft!’ Mummy frowned.

Mycroft’s mouth fell open and he jumped to his feet, shouting childishly. ‘Well, Sherlock and Molly got married at the register’s office last week!’

Mummy gasped, her hand flying to her chest. ‘Without your family?!’

Sherlock’s eyes widened in horror and he pointed a finger accusingly at Mycroft. ‘Well, Mycroft and Anthea got married on a business trip to Las Vegas last month!’

Mycroft gaped in anger. ‘W-w-well, Molly’s pregnant!’

‘So is Anthea!’

Stunned silence descended upon the group as Mummy gaped between the four of them, her overwhelming joy robbing her of words, and Papa patted his sons’ back proudly. Realizing that they had perhaps gotten a bit carried away with tattling on each other, Sherlock and Mycroft looked sheepishly at their wives.

Flushed in embarrassment, Molly leaned toward Anthea and whispered, ‘Did you know you were pregnant?’

Wide-eyed, Anthea shook her head. ‘You?’

‘Nope.’

badgeenvy:

Reading the post by captain-liddy
really struck a chord with me. Sherlolly has always made me feel vaguely uncomfortable and not just because it is not my preferred flavour of fan-fiction.

For one, I am no way disparaging the actress. Lousie Brealy is an incredibly talented person, and from what little I have seen of her in the press she seems like the kind of woman that I would love to have a pint with.

My problem is as follows. I think people (I am going to say mostly woman) ship Sherlolly because they identify with the character Molly and not because she is a wicked clever pathologist.

They want Molly to end up with Sherlock because it enables them to live out the fantasy of someone special and amazing suddenly seeing them as someone who is special too and therefore worthy of love. That makes me really sad to know that there are so many people out there who could fantasize about absolutely anything or anyone and instead fixate on a character being validated by someone who has consistently treated them with callous disregard and occasional cruelty. If you need a het ship to ring your bell why not focus on Molly and Greg, Sherlock and Irene, or even Sherlock and Donovan?

Every time someone writes about Molly and Sherlock as their OTP, I (wrongly or rightly) feel like they are flashing me with their insecurity, and I end up feeling like I invaded their privacy. I know they would be upset if they knew that’s how I was seeing them.

Why is this important at all to mention? Because it drives me crazy that the cultural narrative tells women that it is all right to want someone who treats you badly and that if you just tried harder, gave them more time etc. they will see you for who you really are. That is bullshit for two reasons. First of all no one deserves to be treated badly, secondly even if you are dull as a brick and not special in any conceivable way, you still deserve love and dignity.

Molly is a kind and decent person and deserves to be loved for that regardless of whether she is “special” and certainly not because Sherlock finally realizes that “she matters” aka is useful to him.

First, let me tell you that I’ve never seen a single Sherlollian who wasted their time ranting about how they disliked or how confused they were with other people’s ship.

Do we love Molly because we see a ourselves on her? Yes. But not just the ‘mousy’ Molly, but the ‘badass’ Molly who doesn’t give a damn on what the others think. She does what she think is right. She’s confident on what she does and she damn well know what she’s doing.

Sherlock Holmes always NEEDED Molly. He trusted her about EVERYTHING. Even his life.

Did Molly ever needed Sherlock? NOPE.

Because she is a strong woman who can stand on her own and be a stronghold for everyone who needs her.

You don’t need to be a genius to see that. Geez.

badgeenvy:

Reading the post by captain-liddy
really struck a chord with me. Sherlolly has always made me feel vaguely uncomfortable and not just because it is not my preferred flavour of fan-fiction.

For one, I am no way disparaging the actress. Lousie Brealy is an incredibly talented person, and from what little I have seen of her in the press she seems like the kind of woman that I would love to have a pint with.

My problem is as follows. I think people (I am going to say mostly woman) ship Sherlolly because they identify with the character Molly and not because she is a wicked clever pathologist.

They want Molly to end up with Sherlock because it enables them to live out the fantasy of someone special and amazing suddenly seeing them as someone who is special too and therefore worthy of love. That makes me really sad to know that there are so many people out there who could fantasize about absolutely anything or anyone and instead fixate on a character being validated by someone who has consistently treated them with callous disregard and occasional cruelty. If you need a het ship to ring your bell why not focus on Molly and Greg, Sherlock and Irene, or even Sherlock and Donovan?

Every time someone writes about Molly and Sherlock as their OTP, I (wrongly or rightly) feel like they are flashing me with their insecurity, and I end up feeling like I invaded their privacy. I know they would be upset if they knew that’s how I was seeing them.

Why is this important at all to mention? Because it drives me crazy that the cultural narrative tells women that it is all right to want someone who treats you badly and that if you just tried harder, gave them more time etc. they will see you for who you really are. That is bullshit for two reasons. First of all no one deserves to be treated badly, secondly even if you are dull as a brick and not special in any conceivable way, you still deserve love and dignity.

Molly is a kind and decent person and deserves to be loved for that regardless of whether she is “special” and certainly not because Sherlock finally realizes that “she matters” aka is useful to him.

The whole sherlolly fandom is jumping on board this post to nail their two cents to wall, and while they’ve all said incredibly eloquent and wonderful things – and explained the truths behind many sherlolly shippers much better than I can, I’m sure – this is a pissed off broomy that needs to open her big fat mouth and word vomit some truth. So buckle your fucking seatbelts, it’s going to be a vitriol-istic ride. (So hey, don’t say I didn’t fucking warn you.)

So, let me begin by saying this: you, OP, clearly have less disgust for the sherlolly ship itself than you do for the actual people shipping it. You talk about us as if we are all these shy, insecure little women hiding in corners and pining after handsome men (or women, as the case may be), too nervous and scared of failure to step out of our anxiety boxes and take a chance. Which is not only mother fucking degrading to each and every one of us, it’s the most batshit lunatic thing anyone has ever said about sherlolly shippers, and we get called shit on the fucking regular. Now I’m going to explain to you why you’re fucking wrong, in no uncertain terms.

On the whole, and speaking towards the women that I personally know and have actively communicated with and gotten to know, we women that ship sherlolly tend to have a certain type among us. Some are shy and quiet, some are very loud and boisterous (that’d be me, if you’re wondering), some are thoughtful and analytic, yet others are always finding jokes hiding in corners and taking care of people. So while each of are as different as one would expect a group of randomly assembled shippers to be, what we have in common is this: we’re strong. Each one of us are strong, lion hearted women that have shown astounding amounts of courage and perseverance in the different situations that life has faced us with. That is what I see as the common denominator that links us together, and has drawn us to the utterly fantastic character that is Molly Hooper. In Molly, we DO see a piece of ourselves: even if she her personality is the exact opposite of our own, we see how strong and brave Molly is, even if it hides under her soft voice and shy smile, and there is a thrum of knowing that says, “Damn, I fucking love her. She’s a quiet badass, isn’t she? Shit, she cuts up dead people. I’d puke on my shoes if I did that. AND she actually dares to ask Sherlock out on a date in the first episode when he is a high flying piece shit bastard that just finished cropping a corpse within an inch of it’s now passed life. Wow. I think maybe I’m in love with her send help???” 

So when you say that we “ ship Sherlolly because they identify with the character Molly and not because she is a wicked clever pathologist.” you’ve got precisely one grain truth surrounded by a whole steaming hot pile of bullshit that we got to wade through. Thanks for that. 

You go on to say, “ Every time someone writes about Molly and Sherlock as their OTP, I (wrongly or rightly) feel like they are flashing me with their insecurity, and I end up feeling like I invaded their privacy. I know they would be upset if they knew that’s how I was seeing them.” Oh really? Of course it is incredibly fair to say that in each piece an author writes, a part of his or her self goes into it – this is unavoidable in the process of writing. It takes little shards of our thoughts, personalities, fears, hopes, dreams, what have you. But that is true for any pairing or genre, fanfiction or otherwise. But to lump it all together and basically say, “Well all the sherlolly shippers are voiceless mice scared of their own shadows and desperately want some magnetic man to sweep in and validate their existence,” like, wow. You could not possibly be any more wrong. Especially when it comes to Molly from season two and season three. S3 Molly is so fucking badass, I can’t even with her. She slaps Sherlock, son. I wouldn’t do that, out of fear reprisal. And she lays it on him three fucking times and demands an apology, and you can visibly see that she makes him feel about three inches tall and utterly fucking worthless. High five, Dr. Hooper. I applaud you.

Sorry, almost lost myself in tangent of awesome Molly is awesome. Where was I? Ah, yes; your belief that any sherlolly themed fic showing Molly as someone with weakness or insecurities (which is actually a good way to make characters seem, oh, I dunno, real???) is really thinly veiled self-insert the author gets to vicariously live through is not only incredibly demeaning, it’s fucking stupid. This is me full stop calling you a stupid asshole. Because you, buddy, are acting like one right now.

“ Molly is a kind and decent person and deserves to be loved for that regardless of whether she is “special” and certainly not because Sherlock finally realizes that “she matters” aka is useful to him.” First time I read this, I snorted water out my nose in disbelieving laughter. For the record, that burns like fire and is not fun. 

Here’s the thing, which you can disagree with all you like but does not change the validity of my statement one iota: Molly Hooper IS special. Out of all the characters in the show, there are two that fundamentally change Sherlock and help him grow as a person, and that is John Watson and Molly Hooper. (And Irene Adler, but that’s another post for another time and not relevant.) She slaps him, forces him to apologize twice that I can think of off the top of my head, force him steaming piles of truth pie when he’s all cracked out and doesn’t want to deal with it, is by Sherlock’s OWN WORDS the “one that matters most” and has “always mattered.” For Sherlock that’s practically a fucking marriage proposal, I mean shit. 

Molly is not important to Sherlock because she is useful. Molly is important to Sherlock because she has always been steadfast in her belief of him and friendship with him. Moffat clearly stated in I think it was a comiccon interview: “There is no Sherlock without Molly.” I’m going to cough pointedly now. I t hink there are two ways to take this: 1: There is no SHOW without Molly, which high five that’s the truth preach it good sir. or 2: Sherlock Holmes is irrelevant without his pathologist, because he’s fallen in love with her. Will anything come of it? who the fuck knows. But Molly’s strength and determination and goodness has helped form Sherlock into a man willing to give up his own freedom and very life for his best friend’s family, and her impact should NEVER be discounted as women looking to be seen as special.

So how about this? The next time you think you’re going to be clever and attempt to (very badly) disguise your disgust towards sherlolly shippers with badly mouthed appreciation of Molly while dissing us AND her incredibly awesome character, how about you go lie in bed and think about the fact in an attempt to make yourself seem like some kind of feminist warrior looking out for poor, sad, misunderstand women writing fanfic to make themselves feel special and worthy, you blatantly attacked women because they don’t conform to your ideals. 

And then go choke on a dick, because I’m so fucking done with you I can’t even.