AFTERMATH

Got this as a prompt on tumblr a few months ago but thought I'd share it here too as there are few Mythea fics. I'm all for adding more of them if I can.

Hope you like it.

much love,

day

Prompt: Exes meeting again after years au

Anthea had always taken him off guard. Especially when they were together years ago. It shouldn't exactly surprise him. The way they were brought back together was still baffling to him. He certainly didn't expect to find himself staring down the barrel of a gun.

The first words that flew out of his mouth was, "It was years ago, surely you're over it dear."

Anthea for her part had merely rolled her eyes at him and cocked the trigger on her gun. That made him raise his hands in surrender. She mostly ignored him as she took a step closer to him. It didn't occur to him until moments later when she had shot the bullet that he wasn't her intended target.

A little behind him, to his left by 30 degrees. The sound of a body falling with a thud took him for a turn and soon he saw a man who was entirely too familiar to him on the ground. Shot to the head.

His former ex-fiancee had been an excellent shot. It seemed little had changed. Except that it had. They no longer worked together but it seemed she still was in the business. He took pause as she stopped at his side, placing a hand on his shoulder. "You're slipping, Mycroft."

He straightened up, as she was taking off her heels. She had run here, he realized. She handed him her shoes which made him sniff. "What are you doing here?" Why after all this time? - he kept himself from mumbling. In truth he hadn't looked for her either after all was said and done.

"Don't make things into something that they're not. I do have to feed myself. I'm not an assassin if that's what crossed your mind. Mr. Yeller happened to be about to go for you from behind. I have always tried to avoid any casualties if possible. You know that." She wouldn't look at him he realized. Why? He wanted to find out but her words made it seem like she didn't want to talk about them - or what was them.

He watched her as she walked over to the body, squatting as eloquently as she could in her dress and fished for something on Mr. Remi Yeller - a contact that he was supposed to be having a discussion with to settle a matter. Mycroft pinched his nose not liking the paperwork he would have to do for this.

"You've made things…difficult."

Anthea huffed, as she got to her feet. The heels had hurt but the ground wasn't as forgiving either. "I'll do the paperwork if you're that tortured by it."

"You don't work for me."

"That wasn't my call." She mumbled quietly, taking her phone out and staying out of his line of vision. He moved forward towards her as if any of this was easy for him. He didn't exactly understand something and he needed more information out of her. Business could wait for a few minutes.

"I was under the impression that it was." He told her as he came up beside her, knowing that under the circumstances anything that could make her less uncomfortable was a benefit. "You left."

"Is that what they told you, or is that the lie you tell yourself to make you feel better that things didn't work out between us?" She lifted her head after sending a confirmation text to her superior. She watched his face. He was conflicted. Something didn't feel right about this. It wasn't even the fact that she was standing in front of him again after four years. It was the confusion in his eyes as if he was trying to work something out. Had something happened to him?

"You're okay, aren't you though? I would have stayed if I had a choice."

He interjected before she could say anything else on the matter. They had always been strong partners in the professional sense. They knew how to leave personal matters until the day was over. That was something he enjoyed about being with her. Not everyone was so willing. "You have mentioned the fact that you didn't have a choice, twice. I'm not following you. There was a signed notice from your abrupt exit."

Mycroft had been shocked to find out that she had also left her job too, two days after they ended their personal relationship. He had thought it was painful for her and that was her reason to find out now that some one else had been involved in that made him come to a complete stop.

"You of all people should know it's not that hard to doctor a fake signature especially when the other party is still reeling from heartache."

He could have dismissed the notion that he had been fine with the breakup but that wasn't the truth. Even now as they were standing side by side for a different matter entirely he realized how much he had missed her - miss this. Some of their best moments had been during the job. Yet, there was something else that he missed. He missed talking with her about anything. He wasn't an open book but the nights where they did talk extensively about nonsense had been a welcome relief.

He wasn't sure what he was supposed to here. Say that he was sorry? How could he do that without further mudding the waters that they were fumbling through.

"I slipped up. I apologize. Did you fight it? Those people."

"Making someone disappear is fairly simple with people like you." She paused as an incoming text broke her train of thought. She looked at her phone before replying, "Of course I fought it. I wanted to talk to you. I thought it was a mistake."

He sighed, rubbing a hand over his face. Like many things in his life one of his mistakes was not pushing to pursue this line of thought back then. It was his belief that if she was leaving the job that she didn't want to see him anymore. He had thought of going to her place but had dismissed it not wanting to seem like it was about their failed relationship.

"It's late but I would enjoy working with you again. On our terms."

Anthea didn't acknowledge that for a long while. An SUV had pulled him and out came a handsome fellow along with a pair in protective garbs. They were here to dispose of the body.

"Well, if it isn't Mycroft Holmes." He had managed to take his eyes off of his once PA for a moment to find recognition in the man who had come to finishing things up for Anthea.

"Yes. Hello again, Sullivan." He too had once worked with them, leaving only four weeks after Anthea had. He had been a good agent but he believed in people needing to want the lifestyle in order to stay in the business. He had seemed to manage it well enough. In light of everything that he had just found out he quickly realized that Sullivan probably left or was pushed out because of Anthea. They had been close friends.

Pressure points were something of the past.

Sullivan smiled at the Iceman as he looked between the two of them. He noticed that Mycroft had Anthea's shoes in his hand. "Should I leave you two?"

He had to have known about them personally to have asked the question. Mycroft let Anthea answer seeing as he was still waiting on her to respond to his other proposition.

"No." She grabbed her shoes from Mycroft's hands. "I'll call you later." She told him before taking Sullivan's arm and heading back into the car.

He stood there for a few moments, unsure of what he could do about it now. Waiting wasn't one of his favorite things. Instead he headed back to the office. Paperwork had to be done.

He hadn't hired another PA after her. Whether that said anything about his feelings about her leave he didn't care. The work still had to be done and no one had seemed to understand the way he worked well enough for him to interview any of the other applicants that had been suggested to him.

A few hours of work behind his desk and he was gathering his things to leave when he received a text on his mobile.

When can I start? - Anthea

He sighed, relief flooding him for reasons he couldn't ignore any longer. It was a welcome feeling to him. Maybe this could put them back on track in one way or another.