Why Sherlocks bolt hole is Molly's bedroom

 (Sherlock meta by justanotherfangirls)

Bolt-hole (noun): a safe or restful place; a place where you can hide or escape from something that is dangerous or unpleasant. — merriam-webster.com

I want to talk about this, so let’s. At first glance it seemed just your regular fan serving, fan-teasing trolling thing that Moffat does to tell us, yes I read your fanfiction. Have some more details that please you but will not affect the plot and won’t be leading anywhere. And it also seems that Molly was back to being the girl with the crush who [Sherlock] takes advantage of, which she allows. Might be why she is uncomfortable and a bit embarrassed in that scene.

Yes, that may well be the case. To which I say, You don’t do that. You don’t just imply that Sherlock casually stays at Molly’s, in her bedroom no less. That is just too intimate a detail I think, and it does affect the plot and characters. Yes Mr. Moffat it will. Especially since this might have happened while Sherlock was faking his death (unlikely, Sherlock himself said he was unfamiliar with London implying he was away for the whole two years), while she was with Tom (that would explain the breakup, unlikely it was after Tom because it seemed he had only known the engagement was over when he noted she didn’t have the ring anymore), and/or while he was with Janine (it was pretty much implied in their scene that he avoided sex with her). I think it would be the latter two. There is a very good possibility that their initial unspoken rule of staying away from each other in The Empty Hearse lasted only until the end of The Sign of Three. And given that their mutual decision was loaded with tension and emotions and they allowed themselves to be together like that. I am not implying they had sex or even kissed. For all we know Sherlock just came marching into her flat, demanding he needed to think and charmed her into letting him borrow her bedroom while she uses the spare one, and then he leaves without as much as a goodbye when the case calls him. And so Molly is left both guilty and embarrassed when she was asked about it. Because in her point of view, it will always be unrequited, embarrassingly so.

It was needless to say entirely different in Sherlock’s point of view. We saw his mind palace. We saw what she made him do in his mind, in the brink of death. We saw how exactly he sees her. And that had conveniently given me some ideas. And now I will try to be as logical as possible. Really.

Of all of Sherlock’s known boltholes, even counting the Big Ben one, there’s only one that sticks out like a sore thumb. What makes Molly’s place special? He could have secluded places and nice views, and he has. He could have larger bedrooms and spacier locations and he could isolate himself all he wants. The answer is easy. It’s Molly’s. Molly is the bolthole. She makes him feel safe and protected, this tiny brilliant pathologist who matters so much she doesn’t even know. He protects John and Mrs Hudson and Irene and all of London, but this woman protects him. And I think the reason he had asked for her bedroom is he was testing her, like he had tested John in The Empty Hearse. Does she still like him enough to accommodate his irrational, demanding requests? (I also think he just likes to be in Molly’s bedroom to smell her pillow and deduce her bedthings but that is already with shipper goggles, so.) Surprise, surprise. She does.

And so quoting Benedict, it’s just so beautiful, their relationship is beautiful. I have read some articles, and even Louise had said people ship sherlolly because we see ourselves in Molly’s place and wanted to be kissing Sherlock or Benedict. But unrequited love is also beautiful and bittersweet, heartbreaking and good, and I would have no problem if that’s all they would give sherlolly. But that is not what I was seeing that they’re showing us. They let us see a potential. How much Sherlock needed Molly. How much he actually loves Molly.