Prompt: after a lot of prodding and unsolicited helping from Sherlock Mycroft finally realizes that in a world of goldfish he cannot possibly live without Anthea and actually wants to grow old with her.
For: NotJane

Chapter 1: Sherlock's Idea
Sherlock's POV
Christmas had been nine days ago. In those nine days life had drastically changed, and yet it surprisingly remained the same. He had expected things to be a bit more difficult when he returned, particularly after hearing about John's emotional state while he was gone. Instead his partner had given him a bear hug and patched him up before feeding him. It was splendid, unexpected, and made him consider his brother for a bit.

During his time away, he had realized that his brother was lonely. Since he had returned, he had confirmed that with his own eyes and set to figuring out who would be the best goldfish for his brother after their conversation on the subject over Operation. His brother had shown no interesting in males or females equally in recent years. However, on the rare occasions he had noticed attraction they had been dark-haired females, though it was years between each instance. Body shape had not been the same in those cases either, one had been extremely short and thin, another middle height and plump, a third slender but muscle and on the tall side, and the last time had been just a bit shorter than him with curves. What does that get him? Dark-haired, female, slightly taller, curvy but not fat, with higher intelligence than the average person.

Anthea, his mind supplies, she fits all of those criteria. Past that, she has already proven to be able to work with and anticipate his brother's needs. She has been his assistant for nearly a decade.

It is time to review her. Well she fits the general type his brother has favored in the past. Most of the men she had dated were either dark-brown or auburn haired with a similar build to his brother when he is healthy. This leads him to believe that she is attracted to his brother. She is more protective of him than she needs to be. Often times giving him disapproving looks when he makes comments about his brother's weight or intelligence.

So how to get them together? Matchmaking is not something he is skilled at. Perhaps he can get John to help him. In the meanwhile he will research all the means in which to get them together. Perhaps he should contact her to see if she has any ideas, after all she made a living out of understanding people's needs and desires. Besides, she owed him for saving her life. Nah, his John had not been happy with her in their life the first time, best not to cause waves in their still new relationship. Perhaps he should enlist Mummy's help? After all, she would be thrilled if her Myc was finally in a relationship. Of course if he did that, then he would have to explain that he didn't need help for himself, that he was happy about his relationship with John and he wasn't ready to do that yet.

Instead, he grabs John's laptop and settles at the desk with it in front of him and a pad of paper beside him. Lots of notes, he thinks, then he can have John help him sort through with the best ideas.

When John gets home from the clinic six hours later that is exactly how he finds him, still engrossed in his research. The sound of his flatmate and lover opening the downstairs door draws his attention away from the research he is doing. According to the sound of his steps on the stairs, he had a very bad day. Maybe he should wait until tomorrow before asking for John's help or maybe he should ask him now and distract him.

Unsure, he hops to his feet, and heads into the kitchen to make tea for his doctor. Maybe that will help him feel better.

"Hello John," he greets the smaller man, turning to smile at him when he comes through the door.

"Hello Sherlock," his lover tiredly greets him as he hangs his coat.

A quick look over his flatmate tells him all about the shorter man's day. Three people had vomited him, he had to tell a man that his blood work came back positive for cancer, and he had one bloke try to take a swing at him for reporting him for child abuse.

Definitely use his current goal to distract his John, "Tea water is nearly ready," he tells the shorter man with a smile.

"I'll make the tea, order something for us to eat please," his lover replies.

Nodding, he heads into the living room and texting Angelo to bring them dinner. A moment later his phone buzzes, with Angelo notifying him that he will be there in half-hour with the food.

"So what have you been up to today?" his lover inquires as he comes into the living room a few minutes later with two hot cups of tea.

"Research," he replies grabbing his note pad.

Settling into his armchair, his lover queries, "About what?"

"I'll tell you about it after Angelo gets here with dinner, he should be here in fifteen minutes or so if you want a quick shower." He suggests.

For a moment the smaller man thinks about it before finishing is cuppa and doing just that. While his lover is in the shower, he gets his notes organized and grabs a new notepad for himself and John, along with pens. Just as he hears the shower turn off, he hears the knock at the door that is Angelo bringing his food. Heading down to the front door, he opens it, thanking Angelo for bringing it over, before going back upstairs to set out their dinners. Immediately after laying out the food, John comes wandering into the living room from their room with sleeping pants, slippers, and his house robe on. The fact that his lover is in his robe brings a smile to his face.

The two of them sit side by side on sofa as they eat off of the coffee table.

"Thanks," his lover murmurs appreciatively as he sits down to eat, "So what have you been researching?"

"Mycroft needs a goldfish," he answers as he uses a fork to grab a bite.

"Your referring to a significant other and not an animal right?" the shorter man queries after he finishes his bite.

Nodding, he sits back and reaches for the notebook he had set on the small side table. "I made notes, but the suggestions are so contradictory that I am not sure what is valid or not. Can you help me sort through it?"

Shaking his head, his lover chuckles, responding, "Sure, I'll help when we are done. Do you have a 'goldfish' in mind?" There is amusement and emphasis put on the goldfish.

He nods, grabbing another bite to eat, "His PA is his type based off of past choices. He's her type according to her past relationships too."

His lover's expressive face reflects the amusement that he is currently feeling at the idea. Though he is not sure if it is the idea of Mycroft with Anthea that his flatmate finds so funny, or the fact he has been trying to find a way to play matchmaker. Either way, it has made the doctor a lot less stressed than he was when he first walked into the door after work.

"That's interesting," the shorter man mutters before taking another bite.

For a little bit they are silent as they finish up dinner. While he does not eat a lot, his love does, and he waits patiently for him to finish. When they are done, he carefully cleans everything up while John makes them new cups of tea. After all that is done, the pair of them settles back onto the sofa, teas in front of them, and notebooks in their hands. Over the next few hours he goes over all of the matchmaking practices that he had found. While he is speaking, John is taking notes, carefully keeping an eye on him as he does so.

Afterward, he quizzes him on some of the things he had noted and they use the laptop to look up more information in some cases. It takes a few more hours still before they come to a tentative what not to do list, but the to-do list is rather small and he is not sure that it will work.

Eventually John remarks jokingly, "Why don't you just kidnap them? I am sure you can find a way to get them separated from their guards?"

Startled by the idea, he stops and thinks about it for a few minutes, eyes widening as a plan comes to mind. Of course! Why didn't he think of that? Isn't he supposed to be the genius in this relationship? "You're brilliant!" he tells his flatmate and lover with a huge smile, "Keep going, is there something you would suggest before or after?"

"Seriously?" John asks a bit startled.

He nods, grabbing his pen and paper to jot down ideas as he has them. "Please?"

Shaking his head, the shorter man replies, "Alright then, well first you need to get the idea in Mycroft's head. After all, if it's not there, he won't act on it. Secondly, perhaps it is her you should kidnap, not him or them, then he can play the hero and rescue her. Perhaps during the rescue you can trap them together in order to give a chance to admit their affection or attraction. "

"You're still the perfect conductor of light John," he compliments his lover as he writes furiously, a plan coming together in his mind. "Do you think I should enlist Anthea's assistance to make sure she really does want him?" he queries, pausing his writing for a moment, depending on that answer is what his next plan idea will be.

"It is a good idea. She might even be able to help with the 'kidnapping' and 'retrieval'." His John answers as he sips at his tea. "You know, I never would have thought we would have a discussion like this or that you would treat it like a serious case."

Blushing he glances at his paper, muttering, "I realized while you were gone that I don't want Mycroft to be as lonely as I was when I was gone. For him to not be lonely he needs a goldfish of his own. Though like you, Anthea is fairly intelligent, so I think you two are more salmon able to learn and adapt."

Chuckling, John shakes his head again, "Alright, a salmon? Been called worse, besides, salmon can be pretty flashy at times too, and it's better than goldfish. Do you need any more help?"

"Do you have her number? It was on my old phone but that one was broken while I was gone," he asks after thinking about it for a few minutes.

Nodding, his lover fetches his phone, passing it to him with the number pulled up.

"Thank you," he mutters as he memorizes it, since he had been back he was trying to have better manners with John, even if with no one else.

"If you're to a point where you can go on your own, I am going to read for a bit, alright?"

He nods again, "Alright, I put a few new books by your armchair that I thought you might like," he comments as he texts Anthea and asks her to stop by at her earliest convince. He is planning a surprise for Mycroft's birthday and would appreciate her input and silence. A few minutes later he gets a response.

-Be there at ten- A

"She'll be here at ten John," he tells his flatmate once the meeting is scheduled.

"Alright," his lover responds before returning to his book.

Now he just has to figure out how to convince her to go with his plan.