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She refused to look at Jacob.
Was it childish?
Probably.
Oh, it absolutely was, but she needed space to think.
And in Jacob's apartment, just where was she supposed to find that space?
"Mol, please."
"Please, Doctor? I promise I won't be there long."
He seemed to gather himself in that moment. "You can come up to my apartment. Miriam is there and would love to meet you. The two of you have something in common, and it will give you and the detective a chance to relax and think."
"I don't need any time." Jacob came around to stand between her and the door. "Molly. Please. Let me explain."
"I'm..." She shook her head and noticed that her hands were shaking as well. "I'm not ready to hear it. And I need time to think about things and understand my own feelings. I think some time separate from you would be a good idea."
She saw the look on Jacob's face and knew that she'd hurt him. She just couldn't find the words or thoughts to work things through. Her head was full of sounds like buzzing bees or wasps in her ears and her heart felt like it had swollen in her chest and she was having a hard time getting in enough air to breathe.
She wasn't familiar with these odd feelings and needed to put some space between them.
When she looked up at Doctor Webb's concerned gaze, she had a feeling that he might just know what she was feeling.
He turned to look at Jacob as he took her arm gently in his grasp.
"She'll be safe with us, Detective Rafferty. Miriam will be curious to hear about Molly's talent and Molly will have the quiet that she needs to think this all through. I think you might benefit from that time yourself."
The look that Jacob gave the doctor said volumes about what he thought about the other man's words, but he stepped aside and moved to stand against the wall.
"I'm trying, Molly. I really am, but I'm not... I have no practical experience with relationships. I hope you'll give me a chance later to explain, but the doctor is right. I need time to explain this to myself first."
Some of the tightness around her heart eased and Molly tried to smile at him. She wanted him to know that his words, these words, meant a great deal to her.
"Thank you, Jacob. I'll... I'll talk to you later."
"Soon." He amended her answer. "We'll talk soon."
She nodded, even though she wasn't sure it would be all that soon.
As they walked out the front door together, Molly leaned against Doctor Webb's side. Her legs felt like rubber.
At the elevator, she tried to pull away to get her weight off of him, but Doctor Webb gave her hand a gentle pat. "You can lean on me until we get upstairs and then I'm sure Miriam will take you in hand."
"I have a horrible headache." She closed her eyes. "I don't know how good of a guest that I'll be."
"You don't have to be anything," Doctor Webb explained. "If there's anything I learned while I was falling in love with Miriam, or rather getting her to fall in love with me, it was patience."
9
He wanted to follow her, but he didn't think it was a good idea.
Molly was dealing with a lot at the moment and if he thought it was a good idea, he would have asked to go with her.
He was pretty sure that she needed a little time away from him and if she was safe at his apartment, she would be doubly so at the Doctor's apartment.
Jacob wasn't joking about the penthouse floor earlier. If Doctor Webb lived on the sixth floor, it was better than a penthouse, it was almost a fortress. To access anything on the sixth floor, you needed a special key to insert into the control panel of the elevator. And even with that, there were special elevators for the different sections of the sixth floor. Someone on the East side of the building couldn't access the sixth floor from the North or West parts of the building.
