Spoilers for "The Sign of Three" in comments, probably.

[thewomanwhocounts]

You know, I think you're far too amused by the indication that I have a sex life. It's lovely and all -  the sex, I mean, not your amusement - but I'm a grown woman and so are you and so I really don't think all that laughing and carrying on was necessary. It's embarrassing. And probably also unhealthy.

I think I liked you better when you thought I spent most of my nights watching Glee re-runs with Toby.

... though I guess there was a small sense of satisfaction in knowing that I rendered Sherlock speechless for a few seconds. 

Comments

[highfunctioning_sociopath]

I wasn't rendered speechless by the thought of you having sex, Doctor Hooper. It was the fact that you spoke so openly about it without stuttering.

[Well, Sherlock is Sherlock, after all. He offers a small smile, he's teasing, as much as he teases anyway.]

[thewomanwhocounts]

I would have hoped you weren't actually thinking of me having sex. That would probably make things a lot more awkward for the both of us in the future.

[She can abide the teasing, though the smile she offers him in return is a small one.] And a lot's changed since you've been gone, Sherlock. I sort of thought that was obvious.

[highfunctioning_sociopath]

[A slight twitch of his head.]

Are you saying that having lots of sex has fixed everything for you?

[Even if she starts to speak, he will talk over here.]

Because statistically, it tends to only fix things temporarily, then it causes more problems than what you had before...

[thewomanwhocounts]

Before the sex, Sherlock!

[Give her credit. At least she's not as red as she might've been two years ago.]

I'm not saying that Tom's... 'fixed' everything. It was time that did that. Though... I like to think Tom helped a little. Or more than a little.

[highfunctioning_sociopath]

Oh. I see...

[He shifts his weight slightly.]

Like John and I... only not like us at all, because we don't do... that.

[He makes an awkward gesture to indicate 'sex.']

[thewomanwhocounts]

[She wrinkles her nose a bit, but her lips twitch into an amused smile.]

Sort of. I mean... yes. Intimacy isn't just physical, after all. People change us. It's what they do.

[highfunctioning_sociopath]

I suppose. Though I suspect you mean that in a poetic sense, rather than logically.

[thewomanwhocounts]

What's so illogical about it?

[highfunctioning_sociopath]

"People change us." Completely illogical. Only we can change ourselves.

[seesobserves]

The writers are going for a bit of a theme this series.

[thewomanwhocounts]

Do you really think so? Can you really say you're still the same man you were before you met John?

[thewomanwhocounts]

Theme? Not about my sex life, I hope.

[Yes, she's being willfully ignorant. Because she's moved on. Clearly.]

[highfunctioning_sociopath]

If I changed, it's because I chose to change, not because John changed me. You can no more change a person than change a cat into a dog.

[thewomanwhocounts]

Really. Huh. [She just sounds thoughtful, maybe even a little amused at that.]

You have changed, you know. I just don't know that it was a conscious decision.

[highfunctioning_sociopath]

I was away for two years, Molly... I had no contact with anyone friendly...

["That changes people" goes unsaid.]

[thewomanwhocounts]

I don't remember you having a lot of friendly contacts before John....

[highfunctioning_sociopath]

Yes. Well, being up close and personal with terrorist and torturers caused me to re-evaluate my definition of friendly.

[thewomanwhocounts]

... one would think a man like you would have had a good idea of what that word meant before terrorists and-... sorry, did you say you were tortured?

[silverfoxy]

Well, to be fair, it would probably render any bloke a bit speechless.

[highfunctioning_sociopath]

Did I?

[Sherlock plays back that part of the conversation in his mind palace.]

I said I had been up close and personal with torturers.

[Damn it, he slipped. There are certain people he was never going to tell: John, Molly, Mrs Hudson, Mary. Lestrade, he still goes back and forth on whether he should tell or not.]

[thewomanwhocounts]

... it might not have been the most polite thing to have said, but you've got to admit that getting him to stop talking for a few moments is something of an accomplishment.

[thewomanwhocounts]

Sherlock, unless your definition of 'up close and personal' is very different from the rest of the world's....

[highfunctioning_sociopath]

What? What is it do you think happened, Molly Hooper? You think I define words the way the rest of...

[He breaks off. What did she really think he hadn't been tortured? Really? She knew what he had been up to. He sighs. Fine. The truth.]

Of course I was.

[thewomanwhocounts]

[She's quiet for a long time. Just because she acknowledges that something might well have happened doesn't mean that she isn't going to get emotional when faced by the reality of it. But she knows how much Sherlock detests emotions, so she says nothing until she can get past the lump in her throat.]

And you're... all right with that? I mean, I know that sort of thing takes a psychological toll....

And I was worried. About you.

[highfunctioning_sociopath]

[He deflates a little. Defences lowering, seeming more human.]

Hardly matters. It happened, not like I can change it.

[He looks over at her with her last statements.]

I know. That's why I took you out...