Disclaimer: If you recognize it, it's not mine.

A/N:This chapter is a little different from the rest, but I hope you all will bear with me and enjoy it just the same! As always, a huge THANK YOU to lilsherlockian1975 for all of her help, ideas, and beta work going into this!

This is How a Heart Breaks

Chapter 4

Back in Time

"Some say that time changes / Best friends can become strangers

But I don't want that / No not for you
If you just stay with me /We can make it through"

~ Good Charlotte (Say Anything)

It was a little-known fact that Anthea Lillis, Mycroft Holmes' most trusted PA, never gave anyone anything but her real name. She just always made sure to hesitate before telling them, making it possible for the idea of her giving a fake name to take place. This little game worked on everyone she was introduced to; everyone, that is, except Molly Hooper.

It was also a little-known (read: obsolete) fact that Molly Hooper and Anthea Lillis were best friends when they were children. They met at a birthday party for an older child when they were four, and they were inseparable until they turned fourteen. They did all the things that most little girls do, held tea parties, convinced their dads to build a tree-house for them, had sleepovers, and told each other their deepest dreams and desires.

Things started changing between them when they were 12, and if you were to ask Molly, she would tell you that she should have seen the break coming. Anthea's grandmother moved in with her family, and while that alone wouldn't necessarily be a problem, she was strongly opinionated. And most of her opinions had to do with how Molly was the wrong type of girl to be around.

"She's rather morbid, don't you think, Dear?" Gran would ask Anthea on more than one occasion. Anthea would do her best to defend her friend, but it never swayed her Gran. The older woman would always find different ways to try and dissuade her granddaughter from being around Molly. She would mention things about the Hooper family being a lower class than the Lillis family, though where she got that idea, Anthea would never know. It might be due to Adam Hooper choosing to not send his children away to boarding school. Anthea found that she was envious of Molly in that respect.

It was because of their separation to different schools, making new friends, and finding themselves in different social circles, that the break finally came.

The day after Molly's brother left his childhood home for good, Anthea came home for the weekend. She was excited about a party that she was invited to, and she hoped that Molly would go with her. She found Molly in their old tree-house asleep and kicked the bottom of her foot to wake her up.

At the sight of her best friend, Molly burst into tears, spilling the entire story out. Anthea hugged her and shushed her and told her that everything was going to be fine (even if she knew it wasn't).

When Molly finally calmed down, she declared that she was going to go looking for her brother and she would bring him home. Anthea told her that she was being silly and naïve, and it would be a waste of time. "Besides, wouldn't you rather go to a party with me?"

"Thank you for the invitation, Thea. But, I really think I can find him!"

Anthea looked dubiously at Molly and made a decision that she had been mulling over for a while. "If you do this, I won't be going with you," she said seriously. Molly had never heard her use that voice before. "And, you probably shouldn't call me anymore."

"Thea – What…?"

Anthea moved over to a corner of the fort where a wooden log with a hole in the middle of it sat. She knelt in front of it, pulling out a small treasure box out and sat it on the floor in front of her, then she pulled her plaited friendship bracelets from her wrist and set them, almost reverently in the box.

Anthea felt Molly's eyes on her the whole time and she cursed her friend's stoic facade. She almost wished that Molly was the type of person that threw fits and temper tantrums, but she wasn't. She never had been, and Anthea knew that if she asked Molly to never speak to her again, then that is what would happen; even if it broke Molly's heart to do so.

Anthea turned and faced Molly one last time, then left her childhood friend behind.

She didn't see Molly again until they were 21. Anthea got herself seriously injured in an accident and Molly was the intern on duty when they brought her in.

It hurt that Molly refused to acknowledge Anthea in any other way than professionally, but she consoled herself that this is what she had asked for. Shortly after her stint in the hospital she was recruited by Mycroft Holmes.

She didn't give another thought to her childhood friend, after all, their paths wouldn't cross again. She was sure of it.

And then Sherlock Holmes had to die, and she found herself facing Molly once more.

Molly was, as ever, a true professional. She remained immune to their old friendship and only answered when Mycroft said something. She did her part, and ignored Anthea unless otherwise spoken to by her.

After Sherlock left for his mission, Anthea was sent to Molly's flat to make any last-minute arrangements and offer any assistance to her, but Molly declined as Anthea knew she would.

"You know I owe you for saving my life in the emergency that night, right?" she asked just before she left Molly's.

Molly shook her head. "You owe me nothing, Thea." Anthea sighed in resignation and left.

Her original plan had been simple; get clearance from someone higher than Mycroft so he wouldn't realize what was going on, get a helicopter and extraction team, go to Texas, land the helicopter as close as they could to the house, get Molly and the kids and go.

As plans went, it was a pretty good one with few loopholes. She was almost sure that nothing could put a wrench in it either, and neither of the Holmes brothers would have to know. Everything was perfect, until she walked into Mr. Andrews office and found herself not only greeting him, but Mr. and Mrs. Holmes as well.

'Great'

Them being there turned out to be a blessing in disguise. After she explained why she would need the things that she did, cursing Molly for only giving sparse details, they helped her iron out the smaller details and offered their home as a safe-house. They even decided on what would be told to the boys to keep them in the dark. (Anthea silently thanked them for not inquiring why keeping it from them was so important.) They only had one caveat, and Anthea braced herself in anticipation.

They were going on the mission with her.

~SH&MH~

Previously:

"Back door, Aensleigh. Where is it?" The younger girl drew in a sharp breath, but managed to tell her aunt where the door was. They went as fast as they could into the hallway and through it to the kitchen. There was a small mud-room that Molly had noticed when she was cooking dinner, but hadn't given it much thought.

Her phone rang just as she was leaning Aensleigh against the wall. Grabbing it from her pocket, she saw it was Anthea. "I'm kind of busy here!" she answered harshly.

"So, I see," came Anthea's calm reply. "Where exactly are you in the house?"

"Back door. Mud-room."

"Okay. Stay there. We'll have you out in no time."

"WE?" But the only answer she received was the click of the line.

"I feel their eyes all over me / It's lookin' like conspiracy
I'm out of friends that I can trust / Maybe they're on to us"

~NeedtoBreathe (Maybe They're on to Us)

Molly wasn't one to sit around and wait to be rescued. She had spent too much time with Sherlock and company for such nonsense as that. She knew in her heart that doing what Anthea said would be, in theory, for the best. However, she wasn't sure where exactly Anthea and her team were and there was a (possibly murderous) person in the house with them right now.

"We're not really going to wait here, are we?" Aensleigh asked, as if she were pulling Molly's thoughts from the air. Andrew stood next to her, holding her hand and staring up at Molly with innocent eyes.

Molly closed her eyes for a moment to regather her wits and shook her head slightly. "The car."

"What?"

"The car you said you drove home. I didn't see it when I drove up. Where is it?"

Her niece's eyes lit up in understanding. "It's actually right out back. Right at the bottom of the stairs."

"She almost parked it under the house, that's how close it is," Andrew added with a little giggle.

Molly beamed. At least something was going right.

"We can't drive it though. I think the engine died right as we got home."

Her heart sank at those words, but she refused to be brought down. Really, all they needed to do was hide in the car for a little bit. As long as they weren't found by anyone but Anthea, everything would be fine. She pushed Andrew in front of her towards the back door and pulled her niece to her, allowing the younger girl to use her as a crutch.

A thump from behind them had her freezing in place. Aensleigh was quietly whispering, "Oh, god. Oh, god. Oh, god."

"This is no time to panic, Aensleigh. We'll be fine."

"We're all gonna die," Andrew hissed at them.

"Not helping," Molly hissed back.

A male voice in the kitchen sang out in a high-pitched way, "I'm looking for you. I'm going to find you."

The pathologist froze. She knew logically that the male looking for them could not be Jim Moriaty. Sherlock had assured her that Moriarty was dead, and for everything that she knew Sherlock to be and do, she knew that he would never lie to her about that. But more than even Sherlock's assurances, she had been the one to do Moriarty's autopsy. The knowledge of all of this did not stop the memories of that sing-song voice going through her head as she was transported back to the night she broke up with him, and he told her that one day she would regret choosing Sherlock over him.

"Aunt Molly?" Aensleigh whispered, shaking Molly a little to bring her back.

"Right, yeah. We're going."

Suddenly a light was shining in their faces. A man in his late 20's stood in front of them, a nasty grin spread across his face and a gun pointing at them.

"Come to help the little brats out, eh?" he asked. "Don't you worry. Let me take them with me, and you can just go back to wherever it is you came from."

"I should think not," Molly answered as she drew herself up into her full height. Intimidating as it wasn't, it always helped to show yourself as your most secure. (It was a little hard to do with Aensleigh hanging off her shoulder, but she did the best she could.)

"Ooh. A Brit. Lovely. Maybe we'll just take you as well. I always liked them accents." He leaned in close to Molly, and whispered in her ear, "We'll have lots of fun, you and me."

Molly shivered, Aensleigh whimpered, and Andrew clung to Molly's leg.

"I don't think we'll be having any fun at all," Molly said with obvious false bravado. She pushed her leg back, getting Andrew to let go and move back toward the door, and she slowly edged herself and Aensleigh away.

She kept her eyes on the would-be kidnapper the whole time, and when she felt the knob behind her, she twisted it. She briefly wondered why he hadn't attacked, but couldn't ponder on it too long, because just then the entirety of the back yard was flooded with light, and a helicopter was appearing out of the clouds.

Men were jumping out of trucks that had, unbeknownst to them, surrounded the house. Another man, dressed like the kidnapper, was handcuffed and being pushed to the back of a truck by operatives.

"You are surrounded. Step back from the family," a voice over a mega-phone announced.

The man lunged for Aensleigh, pulling her from her aunt's grip, and wrapping his arm around her waist, he aimed the gun straight at her head. Molly cried out at the loss of her niece.

"NO!" Andrew cried, running forward. Molly snatched him up and pushed him behind her before he could get too close.

"None of this is necessary!" the man called out. "Just let me have the kids, and we can all go about our business!"

Someone came up behind Molly and coaxed Andrew away. She heard their whispered conversation, an elderly man's voice that she knew she had never heard before, but somehow trusted just the same, promising the young boy that everything would be okay, his sister would be fine, and they were all going to get to safety. Then he whispered to Molly that Anthea was just behind them.

Molly nodded and turned her full attention back to Aensleigh. The younger girl was struggling to stay standing while the gunman yelled at Anthea's troops. Sweat rolled down her face and her unbroken leg was barely holding her up. The splint that Molly had managed to piece together was breaking down quickly and not very supportive. Her eyes were fever-bright, but determined when she caught Molly's gaze. Molly knew, in that moment that her niece was about to do something incredibly stupid.

Aensleigh pulled herself up on her broken leg, wincing as she did so, kicked back with her good foot and struck her captor in the shin. Hard. He was caught off guard just enough that his grip loosened and she dropped to the ground just as he shot off his gun, the bullet ripping through Molly's shoulder. Another gunshot went off hitting the gunman in the hand making him drop his gun and land on his knees.

As the operatives swarmed around the downed gunman, Molly ignored the shouts from Anthea and the pain in her shoulder, and raced for her semi-conscious niece. She was frantic as she knelt beside her.

"Are you okay? Of course you're not okay. Why would you be okay? Your splint is coming off, you have no energy. I'm sure you're in a lot of pain. You were so brave!"

"Dr. Hooper!"

"Miss Hooper."

Aensleigh's eyes were fluttered open. "I'm just a little tired. That's all. But you…" Her voice got quieter as she spoke. Molly could tell that she was getting weaker.

"MOLLY!" She turned around to see her former friend staring at her in shock and horror. There was an elderly couple standing nearby holding Andrew between them. His cheeks were red and tears streamed down his face. Molly watched his lips form, "Please don't die," over and over again.

"Anthea." The world started to tunnel, and she was suddenly cold and shaking. "Shock," she said matter-of-factly. Her eyes rolled to the back of her head and she promptly passed out.

"Oh dear," Mrs. Holmes stated.

A/N: I love hearing your thoughts, so please leave a review!

~Jeni