Fic Rec: Kitty Kisses

[discordantwords]

Title: Kitty Kisses
Author: TheWhiteLily
Pairing: Sherlock Holmes & Molly Hooper (gen or more if you squint)
Length: 3,075
Rating: Teen
Warnings: None
Verse: Sherlock BBC
Author's summary: Molly Hooper has one bad day that gets worse, and one that gets better.

Reccer's comments: The note I made when I bookmarked this story was "absolutely perfect apology-to-Molly fic." This fills in the gap between the wrenching phone call sequence in TFP and the final scene where Molly is smiling and all seems forgiven, and it does so beautifully. Molly's voice shines here: awkward, sweet, and, yes, practical about death.

She realised he was frowning at the disturbed soil as he did so with a disturbingly familiar focus.

“You’re not to come back and dig him up to observe the decomposition process,” said Molly firmly.

“Never even crossed my mind,” Sherlock said, avoiding her eye.

She glared at him for a long moment, and then at the carefully smoothed-down dirt at the base of the hydrangeas.

“Once,” she conceded. “Twice maximum, and don’t let me notice you’ve been.”

This story does a wonderful job of getting to the emotional core of both of these characters, highlighting the strange and lovely ways that they truly do complement and understand one another. There is love there, yes, but whether it is romantic or just a deep friendship built on mutual understanding is up to the reader, I think.

Be advised that this story does deal with animal death, if that's a sensitive issue for you.

Comments

[ancientreader]

Thanks *so much* for this rec. Although I like the author's work immensely, I had taken a pass on this story because of the tags -- I'm one of those demented John/Sherlock shippers who can't stand to think of either of them with anybody else, and also don't enjoy seeing Sherlock as asexual.

But "Kitty Kisses" is perfectly well readable as a story of friendship (and perfectly compatible with Johnlock somewhere off in the background, too!), and in taking it as such I loved it. Just as you say, it's a perfect bridge between that wretchedly painful scene and the happy Molly we see at the episode's close.

[discordantwords]

I'm so glad that you decided to give this one a go, and that you liked it!

It's such a lovely gap filler for the end of season 4, and I don't think it's gotten nearly as much attention as it deserves.

[haikitteh]

That was a great story, very touching and in-character. Thank you so much for the rec!

[discordantwords]

I'm so glad you enjoyed it! :)

[thewhitelily]

Wow, thank you so much for the recommendation, I'm really very honoured. :) I'm thrilled to hear again that you enjoyed this story.

[discordantwords]

It is beautiful work! :)