Chapter 1: Lonely Nights.

Summary: Mycroft/OC. This is just my random little musing of Mycroft/OC, I had the idea after watching A Scandal in Belgravia and noticing he had a ring on his right hand, ring finger. I'm sure it has some other meaning, but I've decided to give it a go.

Rating: T.

It was Christmas time yet again. London was covered in a slight layer of snow. Christmas lights were hung everywhere. People were singing carols; it should be a very lovely time of the year. However, for a certain Holmes, it wasn't the happiest time of the year, it was a rather lonely time of the year. Simply put, Mycroft Holmes, while a man of power, was simply a man without a lot of close "friends" he had colleagues, acquaintances, etc., various people who had invited him to Christmas dinner, Christmas mass, etc. However, he declined most of them. Not wanting to have to deal with people. He would normally go see his mother, but his mother had decided to go visit some distant relatives up in Manchester, so here he was, sitting alone in his large house, with a fire going and a glass of whiskey in his hand. Something to numb the feeling of loneliness he felt, even Sherlock, his bloody brother Sherlock had John. How the hell he had managed that, he had no idea. It was him who would always be bloody alone.

It hadn't always been like that though. Years ago there had been a woman in Mycroft Holmes's life, a woman who he had loved very dearly, who had meant the world to him, a woman who had left, and it was that very woman who seemed to haunt him most of the time, especially around this time of the year.

Miles across England, a woman sat in her flat, some random Christmas movie was on TV, Home Alone, or something random like that, it was an American movie, why she was watching, she had no idea, but she paid enough each month to have the stupid channels. Why not enjoy them, though, she wasn't really enjoying them right now. It was Christmas Eve, her mother and father had recently retired and where in Thailand. Adele Gillman would be spending this holiday alone, it wasn't her first time spending the holiday alone since her parents had decided to retire, take all their savings and go travel the world, but it was Christmas, surely they could come home for one holiday. Apparently not. Sipping at the red wine, Adele sighed and looked around the modest flat. For what it was worth, it was a nice flat, two bedrooms, one and a half bath, a large, open kitchen/dining/living area, a small deck with a view of the London Bridge. She was able to afford it on her salary being a teacher. While it wasn't a large salary, working at a private institution where parents were willing to pay sky high prices to get the best education for their children had its advantages, the salary being one.

Sinking back into the couch, Adele sighed and looked out the window. Sometimes she wondered if the one man she managed to let slip away ever thought of her, like she thought of him, especially on holidays. Little did she know, he did. He was thinking of her at this very moment.

Adele Gillman and Mycroft Holmes had met at Oxford University in their first year. A class on Political Sciences had brought the two together when they were forced to debate against one another about the current government in England. The teacher had assigned everybody to either be for it or against it, despite what they really thought. They were to research and have enough material to do a debate about an hour long, they were then going to be paired up and random, and debate during class. The class would take notes, decide who was best and then pick the winner of the debate. Simple enough, yeah? Not so much.

Adele spent hours upon hours researching for this damn debate, she'd sit in the library and look through books as to why the current English government was working, even though she thought they could use a change, she was an education major who didn't really care much, but put all her effort into it anyway. She thought she'd be able to dominate her opponent, except, she wasn't expecting Mycroft Holmes, the young man who breathed, lived, and loved the government, he was after all, studying Political Science and Government at Oxford, he obviously had the upper hand against the young education major. He won the debate, despite how much time Adele had spent in the library. Apparently debating was not her thing, and she'd readily admit it wasn't. She got nervous, flustered, versus young Mycroft Holmes who was able to convince an Eskimo to buy ice.

Skip ahead a week or so after the debate. Adele was sitting outside the classroom, looking down at the textbook in her lap, a pen dangling from her mouth as she flipped through the pages. She looked about as disgruntled as they came. It was obvious not much work was put into her appearance this morning. A sloppy ponytail sat on her head, holding her auburn locks out of her face. Her green eyes were intent on the book in front of her, a to go container of coffee sat on the ground next to her. She was wearing a shirt that had obviously been worn before, some large sweater over it and a pair of jeans with a stain on them. That was the image Mycroft would always remember of the young woman, because while she was disheveled and obviously in need of a good shag and maybe a new wardrobe, he was attracted to her. "Why don't' I take you out tonight if you make it out of this test alive?" he had asked. Oh, the Holmes's charm. No woman could ever resist it. Except maybe Adele.

"Excuse me?"

"I believe you heard me, I said, why don't I take you out for a drink or something if you survive this test. It's obvious that you are stressed and need a drink."

Adele just watched the young man for a moment before shaking her head and going back to her book. What kind of game was he playing here? She was trying to study. Couldn't he see that? Maybe ignoring him would work. It seemed to work with everybody else.

"My. Not the talker are we? I'll take that as a yes? Let's see here. 7:30 p.m. work? We can meet by Sly Fox Pub?" he asked.

"Are you really asking me out? No. I'm not going to meet you anywhere. How about you leave me be?"

"Are we still bitter about the debate? I apologize. Your argument just didn't hold up very well." he said simply, giving a nonchalant shrug of his shoulders.

"Fuck off, Mycroft." Adele replied simply. Closing her book, shoving it into her bag, along with the pen, grabbing her coffee and making her way into the lecture hall.

That is where the chase had begun.

Author's note: I apologize for any skipping around in this chapter, I'm still trying to figure out how to get this to go somewhat smoothly, so for now, I hope you can bear with me, I haven't written a fanfiction in God knows how long, and I'm still trying to figure it out. Next chapter up soon.