Sherlock: His Lover Called A [Sherlaide II]

Revival

The Next Morning

The Pathologist almost turned around when she reached the Mortuary doors that morning. The sudden want to avoid what lay beyond the metal gates was neatly enough to prevent her from entering. And after a few minutes of quiet tears, Molly Hooper finally walked in.

Her heart was broken and heavy. Not for herself, but for Sherlock. He had invested so much of himself into his relationship with Adelaide that nearly everyone was sure that they were meant to be. It was plainly obvious that the two made each other happy and that their feelings were of love, not lust. Molly, Mary and Missus Hudson had sat together many times, discussing mutual hopes for the couple.

And Moriarty had destroyed it all in one night. He had incinerated Sherlock's heart by abducting, torturing, and then leaving Adelaide to perish in the bitter cold. She had done so much good for him. It hardly seemed fair for her to have been murdered in such a gruesome way.

Molly hadn't seen or spoken to Sherlock at all. John had contacted her and she'd cleared her schedule to focus solely on Adelaide. The blogging doctor had said that Sherlock was inconsolable, though. Mycroft had even had him sedated. John and Mary had taken him to their house. The least she could do would be to give Adelaide the proper care she deserved. It would bring some semblance of peace to Sherlock.

She found Lestrade standing beside the bodybag containing Adelaide's body, "Greg?"

He looked over at her. The DI looked as depressed as she did. They'd all become close to Adelaide. They felt her loss on a personal level too, "I-I just wanted to m-make sure that no one else touched her."

"I understand," Molly sighed and joined him, "But I'm sure she would appreciate some privacy. Sh-She was very modest, you know."

He nodded, "I suppose so."

Silence fell between them and then Molly sniffled, "Sherlock must be suffering so much. He really was in love with her even if he never said it. They would have been so perfect together."

"Yeah," Lestrade sighed sadly and then turned to her, "I'm sure Sherlock appreciates that you're taking care of her."

She nodded a bit, "Y-Yeah. I'm glad to do it. It'll give him a bit of peace, I hope."

Lestrade's mobile rung and he dug it out of his pocket. It was John. The DI exhaled and opened the message.

Sherlock just woke up. He's wanting to see Adelaide's body before Molly does the autopsy. -JW

Lestrade showed the message to Molly, "What do you think?"

"Um, well, she's not cleaned up yet. But I can get her cleaned up so he can see her in the time that it would take for you to pick them up."

"Okay. I'll do that then. Let him have a moment before..."

"Before her post-mortem. O-Of course."

Lestrade texted John and nodded to Molly, heading out to pick up John and Sherlock.

The Pathologist inhaled deeply and set to work. It wouldn't do having Adelaide in the same form that she was the previous night when Sherlock arrived. So Molly started with a basic sponge bath to clear off the blood and grime. She opened the body bag and peeked in for the first time.

To her surprise, Adelaide looked absolutely pristine. Lifelike, even, and when Molly lifted her arm it was neither rigid nor floppy. She wrote it off as being caused by the hypothermia and her having been essentially frozen. She had thawed quite a bit and was chilly to the touch, after all.

And then there was the fact that she was wrapped in Sherlock's coat, with his coat  and gloves on too. Molly exhaled sadly. He was so desperate to revive her.  She gently removed the items and stacked them neatly on her desk for Sherlock to collect. Then peeled off the rest of her clothes and set to work. Since the blood had frozen and dried, it was relatively easy to clean it away with a damp sponge.

Again, being a pathologist, it didn't alarm her when she started hearing noises. The dead went through many phases, and it wasn't uncommon for them to move or make sounds. So she brushed it off and went right along with her work.

Not long after she'd finished the sponge bath, Molly brought a crisp hospital gown to dress her in. As she finished putting it on Adelaide's fingers twitched against the cold metal table. Molly wrote it off again and then heard a stranger noise than before. She slowly stood up and backed away, "What in the world..?"

And then, in a flash, Adelaide let out a very lifelike moan. Her eyelids parted and revealed two bright baby blue eyes that soon clenched shut again as she groaned, twisting on the table. Molly froze. This can't be happening..!

"Adelaide?!"

Sherlock had not spoken or even glanced at Lestrade or John for the duration of the drive. It looked quite out of place for him to be without his signature coat and scarf but neither man commented on it. They knew he had tried to use them to warm Adelaide back up.

"Here we are, Sherlock." John said as they got out of the cruiser. Sherlock didn't respond, just trudged towards the Mortuary. The army doctor and DI exchanged somber expressions before following the tall brunette.

When they entered the Mortuary, it was strangely empty, except for a stack of Sherlock's thing on a counter and a whirlwind of a mess. The bodybag that had held Adelaide was haphazardly zipped open and thrown against the table.

Of course this set off a number of alarms in their collective minds. Sherlock ran to the wall where the refrigerated cubicles were and threw them all open, one by one. Adelaide wasn't in any of them. At that point Lestrade had called in to the Yard, John had called Mary, and Sherlock had dialed Mycroft, "Adelaide is gone! Someone stole her body! It must be Moriarty! He's taunting me even more, Mycroft!"

"Her body isn't with Miss Hooper?"

"No! And Molly isn't here either. It looks like there was a struggle and she could be in danger too!"

As he was barking at Mycroft, the doors opened and Molly jogged in, skidding past them to her desk to collect a clipboard. Sherlock marched over and grabbed her forearms,"Molly, where is she!?!"

After recovering from her sudden shock she cleared her throat, "U-Um, I don't know how to tell you this but..."

"But what!?"

She smiled a little, "Adelaide is up in the ICU. She's alive, Sherlock."

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