Thanks to LadyShadows410 for leaving this idea as a review. I really hope it isn't too terrible. I'm always terrified to try to write Mycroft or Sherlock because I'm not sure I can do them justice. Anyway, this is just a holiday companion piece to my first story 'Make it Count'. I'm working on some new chapters of Source Code, may just do a bit of a marathon soon. Thanks for reading, let me know what you think! - Alicia
The snow fell softly as she found herself involuntarily holding her breath.
"Don't be nervous," he said, squeezing her hand tightly as the pair made their way to the front door.
She exhaled slowly, looking over at him with a small smile.
"I'm trying not to be," she said, "I just want to make a good impression."
He nodded, "You will, don't worry. My parents are going to love you."
He kissed her quickly before knocking on the door.
—
The door opened to a cheery woman.
"Quentin! You're here!" she said as she embraced her son.
Looking over at the redhead, she smiled softly.
"And you must be Piper. Quentin didn't mention how pretty you are," she said causing Q to blush. Piper laughed.
"It's a pleasure to meet you Mrs. Holmes," she said extending her hand.
The older woman waved her hand at the girl, "Nonsense dear, call me Catherine."
Piper nodded, as the woman wrapped her in a warm hug.
She ushered the pair inside, "You're just in time Quentin, your brothers have just arrived as well!"
—
Serious. That was the only way that Piper could describe Sherlock and Mycroft Holmes. Both had a firm expression, but with the way he sat up in a suit, Piper knew Mycroft, the government worker, must be the one sitting near the window.
"Boys, please make Piper feel welcomed," Catherine urged as she went back to the kitchen. Q's father, David was seated next to the fireplace and nodded at her.
Sherlock looked at her, as if she was a book to be studied. He opened his mouth before David interrupted, leaving Sherlock with a slight frown.
"So Quentin tells us you work with foreign languages, Piper," he began.
"The ink on her fingers and the tone of her voice, especially when using non-English based words, is a clear indicator of that," Sherlock muttered under his breath. Mycroft and Quentin looked at their brother.
"Sherlock," Mycroft warned.
He glared at his brother for a moment longer before looking over at Piper with a smile, "What languages do you speak Piper?"
She shifted nervously, "Other than English, I can speak Arabic, Greek, Russian and Belarusian, Italian, French, German, Korean, Portugese, Spanish fluently as well as some Latin. I've been studying some archaic languages as well."
"Impressive," Mycroft noted.
She shifted uncomfortably as she fiddled with the sleeve of her green jumper. She pulled her red hair behind her ear. Sherlock and Mycroft had begun discussing a case while Q spoke to her softly, coaxing her to become more comfortable just as Sherlock and Mycroft's voices began to raise.
"It's called being polite Sherlock, of course you have no idea how to do that, " Mycroft said with a smug smile on his face.
"What good is being polite if we're all going to clearly avoid the obvious fact in this room," Sherlock said. Q looked to his brother, confused.
"And what's that Sherlock?" he asked.
Sherlock shook his head, "For someone so good with computers, you really can be quite daft Quentin," Q glared at his brother.
"Sherlock," Mycroft warned, but the curly haired detective ignored him.
"The flush of her face, the way her arms instinctively go to her stomach and the fact that she's avoided drinking any tea of coffee. Piper is clearly pregnant. About two months, I believe," Sherlock said matter-of-factly.
He looked over to the redhead, as her eyes widened.
"What?" Q said loudly.
"Oh, you didn't know," Sherlock said before sipping his tea.
Piper got up from the couch.
"Oh my god," she said, looking from Q to Sherlock, and then to David and Mycroft. "If you'll excuse me," she said before rushing out of the room.
After finding the bathroom, Piper shut the door and locked it. She had only just found about the pregnancy a week ago and had been agonizing over what to tell Q. They'd only been together for a year, and she didn't want to rush him. She wasn't even quite sure she could handle a baby right now.
Piper wiped the smeared mascara from her cheeks. She looked at her face in the mirror, it was red and blotchy as she tried to will herself to stop crying. She was a mess. She heard a knock on the door.
—
She opened the door to Catherine who immediately wrapped her up in a tight hug.
"You're alright," she said softly, running her hand along Piper's back in a soothing motion.
She let go of Piper, who smiled despite the new tears forming in her eyes. Catherine shut the door behind her and ushered Piper to sit down.
"I'm just so sorry, this isn't how I wanted our first meeting to go…," Piper began.
Catherine laughed, "Oh dear, nothing ever goes as we think it's supposed to."
Piper laughed as she held her stomach gently. "Yeah, I'm starting to figure that out."
Catherine knelt down in front of the young girl, wiping a tear from her eye.
"I know this is scary, but I understand. David and I weren't married when I found out I was pregnant with Mycroft, but we knew that he was a blessing. And this baby of yours is too."
Piper nodded, "I just hadn't gotten a change to tell Q… Quentin, yet."
Catherine sighed, "Well my son certainly doesn't know when to be quiet. If there's a puzzle to be solved, he and Mycroft will fight each other to solve it. They've always been that way. Mycroft seems to understand when to keep it to himself though."
Piper laughed as she wiped her tears. Catherine got up and made her way to the door.
"For what it's worth, you seem like an incredible woman Piper. I can see how happy you make Quentin. You've got my approval," she said with a wink.
—
"Hey," he said softly as she looked up at him from the toilet. She'd been sitting in the bathroom for twenty minutes or so but Q had wanted to give her some space. His mother had patted his shoulder before he entered.
"I'm sorry. I just found out and I was trying to figure out how to tell you. I was planning on telling you about it after we got back to London," Piper explained.
Q nodded. "I'm sorry about my brother. He can be a right arse sometimes."
Piper smiled as Q reached out to hold onto her hand.
"But I want you to know that I'm really happy Piper, truly. And I actually have a ring waiting for you back in London because I was going to ask you to marry me when we get back…" he began before Piper's eyes widened.
"You… you want to marry me?" she said, as tears began to fill her eyes.
Q smiled widely at the redhead, "Absolutely."
Piper nodded and reached out to hug him tightly.
"Yes, yes, yes," she said in a whisper.
—
The pair rejoined the rest of the Holmes at the dinner table.
Catherine looked over at Sherlock who appeared to be entirely bored of the family gathering already.
"Sherlock," she warned, "Don't you have something you want to say to Piper?"
Sherlock sighed looking over at Piper, "I'm sorry for telling everyone that you're pregnant, even though it's incredibly apparent."
Piper smiled, she supposed this was the most of an apology anyone could ask of the famous Sherlock Holmes. She smiled warmly at the man.
"It's okay Sherlock," she said with a nod.
David began carving the turkey as Q squeezed Piper's hand under the table.
—
The weekend was finally over and Piper couldn't wait to get back to London. She hugged Catherine and Dave, as she and Q shared the news of their engagement. Catherine was beaming as she hugged the two tightly. David smiled and shook his son's hand.
Piper shook Mycroft's hand.
"Pleasure to meet you, Piper. Welcome to the family," he said with a curt nod before heading off towards a brunette woman who was waiting by a black town car.
Sherlock nodded at the redhead, "Piper," he began.
Piper stopped him, "It's okay Sherlock, I can tell these emotional meetings make you uncomfortable. It was a pleasure to meet you. If you ever need any help with the languages I speak, feel free to contact me."
Sherlock was surprised by the woman's response. A smile curled onto his face as he shook her hand.
"Thank you Ms. Anderson. I look forward to speaking to you soon."
She nodded before heading off with Q.
—
Q held her hand as they drove away from his parents' home.
"So what did you think?" he asked her.
"They seem like an interesting bunch," she said as she looked out at the passing trees. "One thing though…"
"Yes?"
"Can we give our child a somewhat normal name?"