6. The Trial

The King and Queen of Hearts were seated on their throne when they arrived, with a great crowd of people assembled around them. Molly, Sherlock and John were marched slowly into the courtroom together. They were flanked by policemen wearing black.

As they passed the king, Sherlock turned to face him and cried, "I will stop you!"

"No you won't!" The king, Moriarty, replied. "I'm the King of Hearts and I'll burn ... the heart out of you." He motioned with his hand, and the policemen pushed them then, directing them to stand behind the wooden railing.

Despite the drama of the scene before her, Molly was starting to get bored with all of the running around that she had been doing today. She leaned over to Sherlock and said, "I've never been in a court room before but I've read about them in books. I hope that they get this done quickly. I'm hungry and I didn't get a bite to eat at that tea party of yours."

A man in long robes walked in in a hurry. "That must be the Judge. I can tell by the wig," Molly said pointing at the man who rushed up and sat in the box at the front.

"Let's get this over with quickly," he muttered to the bailiff beside him, "There was a queue at the loo."

"That's the Jury box," Molly said staring over at them, "and I suppose that those are the jurors."

"So far, so obvious," Sherlock said looking over at the jurors with his careful eye. "Moriarty's already got to them," he said.

"What do you mean 'got to them' What's the matter with the Jury?" Molly asked. Sherlock quirked a small grin, and John turned away covering his eyes with his hand.

"One librarian, two teachers, two high pressure jobs, probably the city, one is a medical stenographer trained abroad by her shorthand, and those two are having an affair." He said pointing at a man and woman who quickly turned away from each other, "He's planted doubt in their heads. They're going to have to be strong to resist, only... they aren't strong."

"But if they can't resist him, then surely they'll find us guilty?" Molly said.

"Don't worry," Sherlock replied, "They won't convict us."

"Why in heaven's name not?" Molly asked.

"Because they have no conviction," he replied, "not one of them had enough conviction to resist Moriarty's bullying."

Molly rolled her eyes, then she looked up hastily as a the judge hammered the gavel and cried, "Order in the court!"

"Really!" Molly said excitedly, "then can we order Chinese?"

"I'll make the order," said John.

"No I will," Sherlock said, "I know all of the best restaurants as I make it a priority to help people who can give me free food. You can always tell a good Chinese restaurant by examining the bottom third of their door handle..."

"Mr Holmes," the judge began, "Keep your answers brief and to the point. Anything else will be treated as contempt."

Sherlock had pulled a Chinese takeout menu from his pocket and was reading through the selections. Molly leaned over to him and whispered, "Why do you even bother going to restaurants, Sherlock, you hardly eat anything."

Sherlock raised an eyebrow and glanced over at John. "The way to a man's heart is through his stomach," he said.

"Do you really think so, Sherlock?" John asked overhearing them, "You'd need something like a Bowie knife to pierce through the liver and diaphragm that way. A straight thrust through the chest would be better."

Molly noticed Moriarty's smile widen at that remark. He looked over at John and made a mock frown. John looked back with a worried face. Molly simply sighed and put her hands in her pockets to find that she had stashed a candy bar there.

She peeled back the wrapping while it was still in her pocket, and then she sneaked it out and took a bite.

"Herald, read the accusation," the Judge cried.

It was then that Molly first noticed the redheaded girl with braids. She was wearing a white robe covered with red hearts, and she held a newspaper in her hand. The bow tied in her hair made her look a bit like a kitty cat. She wore a I heart Sherlock pin on her breast, but the predatory way that she stared at Sherlock didn't make her look like a fan. She opened the newspaper and read, "Sherlock Holmes is a fraud!"

John ran forward clenching the railing with his hands."Oh don't be ridiculous!" he said.

There were murmurs all around the courtroom. Kitty smiled and read more, "He made up all the crimes, and to cap it off, he tried to make His Majesty into a master villain."

Everyone in the courtroom sighed loudly at this except for John who said, "That's not true! I've met Moriarty before and I'll punch the face of anyone who calls Sherlock a liar!"

The herald simply smirked knowingly at John before walking over to the king and dramatically pulling off his robe. There was a whirl of fabric revealing an unassuming man in blue jeans who emerged sheepishly slouching with his hands in his pockets. "Sorry folks," he said, "I'm not really an evil mastermind, I just play one on TV."

"Meet Richard Brooke," the redheaded herald said, "an actor hired by Sherlock Holmes to play the knave and take the blame for his crimes. Sherlock Holmes stole the tarts!"

"He did not!" Molly said, "You're just making that up. He told me his name was Jim when I first met him."

"But he did steal them," the herald Kitty said walking forward holding a laptop. "The evidence is here. Look at the #Sherlock hashtag on tumblr. Legions of women, many of them tarts, are throwing themselves at him daily. I see marriage proposals, erotic art, and even cosplay!"

"Off with his head!" Irene said.

"Which one," John muttered under his breath.

The court was alive with argument as everyone rose to their feet to comment, so no one noticed, when Molly had begun to grow larger. But now that she had reached a height of about twenty feet, people began to notice. They looked up and cried out.

In his haste to back away, John fell over Anderson who was crouching on the floor with head covered. John's legs kicked up into the air and his kilt flew up over his chest revealing bright red pants. Sherlock looked down at him and grinned wildly.

The judge yelled out, "You are in contempt. You are violating Rule 43!"

"I think you mean rule 34," Irene said, "It seems that's the only point of all this."

The people shrank below her. Their shrill cries getting higher pitched in her ears. One guard, encouraged by Queen Irene threw a spear which tore a hole in her dress. Molly pushed over the railing in anger causing a general exodus from the courtroom.

"I ca'n't stand this any longer!" Molly yelled reaching out a giant hand. She picked up Moriarty. They were now under the open sky. The tops of London skyscrapers surrounded them as she held him before her face which by now was almost fifty feet above the ground. He hung in the air, his legs kicking. "Oh you wicked, wicked little thing!" she said, "someone really ought to have taught you better manners."

She held him in both her hands and shook him backwards and forwards with all her might. He opened his mouth and his eyes grew large. His hands changed into paws, and then Molly found herself holding her cat Toby.

"Toby?" she said, "Was it you all along who did all this? I was certain that it couldn't be you because I saw you patiently washing your face in the corner. This is all so strange, there couldn't be anything curiouser."

But when Molly looked around, she noticed that she was normal size again. She was standing on a street corner outside of Bart's hospital. She looked up, and she could see Sherlock standing on the roof looking down at her. He leaned until he fell off of the roof. He came closer and closer waving his arms and legs as he fell. She should have moved, but she found herself paralyzed. The black coat flapped in the wind, looming larger and larger. Molly let out a scream and fell to the ground. Suddenly the world went dark!

,

.

.

"Wake up, Wake up, Molly!" a voice cried. Molly opened her eyes to find that she was lying at the foot of the stairs, and Sherlock was kneeling beside her. Sherlock helped her to her feet. "Are you alright Molly? You seem to have fallen down the stairs. You should let John check you out to make sure you don't have a concussion."

"Oh I've had such a curious dream," Molly said, and she told Sherlock all of the adventures that I have just told you. "That does sound curious," Sherlock said, "but you seem a bit out of it. You should go to the canteen now and get a cup of coffee."

Molly looked up into Sherlock's beautiful eyes. "Would you..." she began, "I was wondering if you'd like to have a cup of coffee?"

Sherlock smiled, "Black, two sugars please, I'll be in the lab."

Molly's shoulders fell. She sighed sadly to herself before turning and walking slowly toward the canteen. Sherlock halted a moment in the hall thinking, "Crisps that make you take off all of your clothes? Interesting. John likes crisps." And then he continued on toward the lab.

THE END