AN: Okay guys, this is it, the end of this story. I've already made a start on a fluffy one-shot to follow it up, hopefully that'll be up in the next week or so. Until then...

Epilogue

Molly had had a week off work to recover from her trauma, and was more than ready to be back. Thankfully everyone else had chipped in to make sure she didn't have a mountain of paperwork to catch up on when she got back, and she was quickly able to dive back into the research she had been working on before.

It was around midday that Sherlock came swooping into the lab, catching her arms and twirling her around in the manic energy he always wore when a case was going well, before planting a quick kiss on her lips and letting go, settling down at his favourite microscope to examine a sample he pulled out of his pocket.

"Good case?" Molly giggled, moving her own work over to work closer to him.

"Absolutely brilliant! A genetically engineered virus, Molly! Programmed to target specific genetic markers. Of course I'd heard such a thing existed, but I never thought I'd get a chance to examine one. The police are only interested in using the sample to devise a cure, which is simple enough, but there's so much more we can learn from it. I might even be able to trace it back to the lab where it was produced."

Molly smiled and let him get on with it, sneaking glances at him every now and then as she did her own work. It was late afternoon, and Sherlock had almost completed his analysis of the virus by the time Molly got up the nerve to ask the question on her mind.

"Um... Sherlock? I was wondering... When are we going to go on a date?"

"A date?" Sherlock looked up from his work, wearing a confused look.

"Yeah, a date, now that we're... Y'know, together?" Assuming they were together, she hadn't misread his acceptance had she?

"Oh... I thought we were just going to skip that bit." Sherlock replied, relieving her of her worry.

"You mean jump straight into snogging and groping on the sofa?" She teased. She was rewarded to see his eyes widen in shock, and a hint of a blush staining his cheekbones, which he quickly tried to hide behind the microscope again.

"Maybe you're right, we should start at the beginning." He mumbled.

Molly bit her lip, thinking for a second. He didn't seem comfortable with either option, and the last thing she wanted to do was make him uncomfortable, but what did it mean? Feeling tense, like she was setting herself up for a potential rejection, Molly tried again.

"Sherlock, what is it that you want from... This?" She gestured between the two of them, "Because it kind of feels like you don't really... Want it?"

Sherlock lifted his head from the microscope slightly, but didn't look directly at her, his eyes were unfocused, and she knew he was thinking about it, so just waited and let him.

"I want what John and Mary have with each other." He eventually said.

"John and Mary ...are married... Is that a proposal?" Molly said, half in jest and half trying to figure out what he meant by that.

"Yes - no - Marriage is irrelevant, though I suppose what I want is generally a state found in married couples." Sherlock mused " I mean how comfortable they are. I just want to be myself, for us to be ourselves, but together. Without all the pomp and ceremony of courtship."

Molly nodded slowly, taking it in. She could see what he meant, and it made sense. Years ago she would have balked at the idea, wanting to be wined and dined and have a proper fairytale romantic relationship. But now, she found she could do without it. As exciting as it was, it was always so tiring, the first stages of dating - worrying about what to wear and what impression it'll give, how to get through dinner without making some awful morgue humour joke - and it was all pretty much irrelevant with Sherlock anyway. Neither needed to impress each other, they'd already covered most areas of conversation that came up on first dates, and they'd even tackled the dreaded 'L' word. It could be so easy to just slip into the 'comfortable' stage of a relationship.

"I was thinking of staying in tonight, watching crap tv and catching up on medical journals." She proposed.

"I like crap tv, and I've been meaning to write up an article for my website on the most common household biohazards." Sherlock replied casually.

"I get in at 7"

"It's a date."

Sherlock brought flowers at Mrs Hudson's insistence, and Molly got takeaway. Sherlock told her all about the case with the virus, and she talked him through her current research. They figured out the ending within ten minutes of a crime drama on the TV, and picked out which gun Molly would have online. Sherlock left her with a satisfyingly long kiss goodnight, and an invitation to stop by Baker Street tomorrow, if convenient.

It was the best date she'd ever had.