Party time

Sherlock raced into John's room, hair messed and clothes scruffy. Grabbing the covers of the bed he dragged John onto the floor where the blankets hit the floor concerning a disgruntled 'umpf' from the now awake retired Army Medic.

"What on earth…" John tried to get up, falling down again quickly.

"Dressed, quickly." stated Sherlock before darting out again. John grudgingly obliged. After pulling on the same clothes he wore yesterday, he moved into the kitchen.

"Sherlock, why did you wake me?" John asked the mad man, who was currently pacing erratically around the lounge. Sherlock continued pacing. "It must be pretty important to get me up this early. Actually, scratch that, you would wake me up cause the room was too hot." Sherlock paused in his pacing and spun round to face the shorter man.

"Important? This is more than important! This is deadly! Dangerous! We need to go they. He can find us here. We need to run John! Run!" he yelled.

"Whoa. Sherlock calm down. Start from the beginning. Who is 'he' and what does he want." Asked John, trying to pacify Sherlock.

"Mycroft! He… he…" Sherlock trailed off. John relaxed a bit, he was quite certain Mycroft wouldn't kill them. Quite.

"What did Mycroft do?" enquired John. Sherlock looked defeated and scared. It didn't bode well with John.

"He invited us to a party at Holmes' manor. For my birthday." Answered Sherlock. John stared at him.

"You woke me up, for that!" Without further ado John turned on heel and went back to his bed.

The day of the party had finally arrived. John was nervous to say the least. Sherlock had insisted he wore what he usually wore, not a suit as John suggested.

"You need to be yourself. Bad fashion sense and all." Sherlock interrupted Johns thought track. John pulled at the edge of his jumper.

"How…? What…?" John sighed. "Never mind. And why do I have to go?" Sherlock shrugged.

"You are my only friend. Can't be just a family event." Replied Sherlock very quickly. John frowned.

"Why not?" he asked. Sherlock darted to the window, hearing the almost silent purr of Mycroft's sleek black car.

"Car's here. Let's go." Sherlock was out the door and down the stairs before John had even come out of the kitchen.

"Idiot." He declared, following Sherlock at a more sedate pace.

"John. What took you so long?" whined Sherlock. The driver looked like he was ready to kill Sherlock. John shot him a sympathetic smile. Sherlock had obliviously deduced something which didn't please him.

"Nice car. Did Mycroft send it?" asked John. Sherlock nodded.

"Well done. Great deduction. Now can you just get in the car?" he demanded.

"Fine. I don't want to go any more than you so don't take it out on me." John climbed into the car.

The car journey was spent in a silence that was neither fully awkward or nervous, John didn't say anything until they were turning onto the drive.

"Bloody hell, Sherlock! You didn't mention you lived in a mansion!" John exclaimed. Taking in the Edwardian architecture, gargoyles and all. Sherlock shrugged. He was still very much in his bad mood. John frowned, if looks could kill. "No cutting comment. No quick remark." Sherlock shrugged again. John sighed and continued staring out the window.

"John. How nice to see you! I hope you had a nice journey." Welcomed Mycroft. John smiled.

"It was nice. Thanks for arranging the car. I believe a taxi driver would have killed Sherlock before we even got going." John replied. Mycroft chuckled.

"That bad?" he questioned. John nodded.

"He's been in a bad mood all morning. Since he woke me up at two acting like the world was on fire." They both laughed at that. Sherlock poked his head out of the car window, since he flat out refused to budge.

"John, that isn't physically possible." Interrupted Sherlock with a frown.

"He's back." John muttered. A cough was heard from the grand entrance of the house. A woman who could have been part insect stood waiting for their attention to be on her.

"Yes mummy?" questioned Mycroft. John bit back a laugh.

"Mycroft. It is not polite to keep guests out in the cold. Bring them in." the mother, as John was now calling her, turned and walked back inside.

"Come on you two. Sherlock, out of the car, Mummy says." Ordered Mycroft with his usual dignity.

After being lead into the house and their bags taken from them; Sherlock and John were taken into a big room which was already full to the brim. John sighed. Everyone here were wearing suits or lovely dresses. He felt a bit under dressed.

"Stop fretting, it's not good for your blood pressure." Stated Sherlock.

"There's nothing wrong with my blood pressure." John frowned.

"High blood pressure supresses brain activity. Something you don't need." Replied Sherlock.

"You… never mind." John looked around. "These people seem normal; so why are you acting like seeing them is the armageddon?" he asked.

"Because Sherlock here is anti-social and doesn't like meeting people or being nice to people." Interrupted Mycroft. John smiled.

"Knew that. So why organise a party? If you know that he doesn't like it why do it?" John paused. "It's for the comedy value isn't it?" Mycroft smiled.

"While it is funny, this was actually organised to show mummy that I am taking care of Sherlock. By showing her that he's got a friend." He explained.

"Me." Stated John quietly. The mother moved over to the trio.

"You must be John. Mycroft mentioned you a lot in our phone call. It's very nice to meet you." Greeted the mother. John smiled.

"It was very nice of you to invite me." Replied John. Sherlock slumped over.

"Mother, John. John, Mother. Now we're all acquainted, we're needed back in London. A case has arisen. It was nice to see you Mother. Come along now john." Sherlock started towards the door. Mycroft blocked him with his umbrella.

"Detective Inspector Lestrade agreed to send all cases to me so I can assess their importance. It's not nice to lie Sherlock." Interrupted Mycroft. Sherlock sneered.

"Not nice to spy." He stated. Mycroft smiled.

"It's not nice to walk out when someone has gone to the effort of organising a party for you. Now I am going to check out the buffet. See you all later. And Sherlock be nice and do try eat something." At that Mycroft walked off.

After a while most of the guests began to leave. By 9 all the guests had gone and all that was left was Sherlock, the mother, Mycroft and a man who seemed to be Sherlock father.

"Sherlock was this your doing?" asked John quietly. Sherlock grinned.

"You remember when I said don't touch the salmon. Did you eat any?" John shock his head. "Of course not, you hate salmon. Well it was the only flavour strong enough to cover up the laxatives." Sherlock then causally walked over to the buffet. "Look Mycroft: eating." Announced Sherlock picking up a cucumber sandwich. Mycroft shook his head.

"Did it have to be the salmon. You know how partial I am to the salmon." Responded Mycroft. "If you wanted a quiet party you should have agreed. Then you would have had a part in the planning." Sherlock's father walked over to John.

"Hello I'm Siger, Sherlock's father. You must be John. It's nice Sherlock has got together with someone else after that horrid Matthew character." Greeted Siger. John smiled, then frowned.

"Wait we're not…" Mycroft walked over interrupting John.

"John, can I have a word in private with you?" Mycroft then walked off, begrudgingly John followed.

Mycroft led John to a library which seemed to double as a 'casual' office. In the middle of the huge room there were two armchairs facing each other.

"Please, take a seat." Mycroft said graciously. John sat down. Looking up expectantly at Mycroft, who looked almost guilty. "John, I'm going to have to ask a huge favour of you…" John sighed.

"You told your parents that me and Sherlock are going out to make it look like you are doing a great job looking after him. Correct?" asked John. Mycroft smiled.

"Sherlock and I," he corrected. "Will you act boyfriend?"

"Does Sherlock know about this act?" John questioned. Mycroft shook his head.

"He will work it out the moment you change your tune." John nodded.

"You will owe me for this," muttered John, just loud enough for Mycroft to hear.