Chapter Two: Meeting Mycroft
Greg left the house late the day he told his kids he was seeing another man. He had tucked the younger ones in and read them a chapter from the book they were reading, and he stayed up with the older ones and made fun of some idiotic reality show while Michelle and Dave had a night out. When she got in around 10:30, Henry and Tristan were slumped on the couch against each other fast asleep, and Greg somehow had an arm around both of them. Sarah was curled up against him on his other side, wide awake and talking to him.
Sarah had started talking when her brothers had passed out about half an hour earlier. Greg had teased her a bit about having her first serious girlfriend and had pressed for a few minor details. Sarah was normally a bubbly kid, but tonight she seemed… quiet. Not tired, but subdued. Greg asked her if there was something bothering her.
"There have just been some nasty kids at school lately. Nothing really out of the ordinary," she admitted to him softly.
"The fact that this is 'ordinary' for you shouldn't be alright, sweetheart," Greg had frowned. "What are they saying?"
"Oh, more of the same, and a few new things. Some of the guys are coming up to me and saying how if I spent a night with them I wouldn't ever want to go back to a girl. There are a few who are convinced that I'm too pretty to be a dyke-" Greg cringed at the thought of someone using that word to describe his oldest, and then realized that must have been the way his parents felt when he had been beaten up in his last year before uni and some Neanderthal had carved the word 'fag' into his forearm. He would have to call them and thank them for everything they did for him in the morning. "-and that I've just been doing it for attention. Then there have been some girls who don't want me to sit with them at lunch because they're worried the guys will think they're lesbians too and they won't want to get near them, and there's those who keep asking me to make out with them because they feel like if the guys in our class see them with another girl, it will make them hotter."
"Sarah. Why haven't you told me any of this? Does Mum know?"
"No, and I would rather keep it that way. I really don't want to stir things up, Dad. It's nearly summer holidays, and I only have to get through next year before I never have to go back there again." Sarah was always the peacemaker. There were moments, moments like this one, where Greg wished she could give over to her less rational side and just get angry because she was being treated unjustly, but he knew that she never would. Sarah always shrugged things off and tried her best to forget them. In a way, Greg was glad that of all of his children, Sarah was the one who was a homosexual. She was going to be the one who would deal with all of the hardships that life was about to throw at her with the most poise and grace.
As soon as he thought that, though, the armor cracked.
"Do they think that if I could make the choice, I would actually choose to make my life hard? I can't help it. I wish I could, but God I just can't."
"Sarah Marie," he scolded firmly. "Don't ever say that. Don't even think it. That is what will break you. Thinking like that is what makes them win. Promise me that you won't let yourself go there, because that's what makes people think they aren't good enough. That's what makes people lose the will to fight for anything, and you have so much to fight for." He didn't say the bit in his head about what his absolute greatest fear is, because he can't let her know that. He had dreams that he would show up to crime scenes and his children were the victims, but he had a separate dream that it seemed to be reserved just for her. It involved no investigation and no trial, just his baby girl, package of sharp, lethal razors, and him trying desperately to wake her up, not caring that his whole team and John and Sherlock and it seems like the whole world are all watching him.
She seemed to pick up on his meaning, though. "I promise, Daddy. I promise I'm not a suicide risk or anything. Don't worry."
He grunted. "Will you tell me when stuff like this happens when I call? I won't force you to do anything about it. I don't want you carrying all of this around by yourself." She hummed and nodded into his chest. "Thank you."
They sat there for a few more minutes in silence.
"I just don't understand why people have to be so cruel, Daddy," she finally whispered.
"I wish I had a good answer for you, sweetheart," Greg sighed, running his fingers through her long hair, the exact same color that his used to be. From looking at her, you wouldn't automatically assume that Sarah was a lesbian. She had never cut her hair short, and when she wasn't in her school uniform, she opted to wear dresses, hair bows, makeup, and feminine jewelry. Of course, Greg knew that didn't matter. Being a lesbian didn't mean you were automatically butch, just like being gay didn't mean that you were naturally effeminate. Greg just squeezed her tightly and wished he could take away his little girl's pain.
It was about then that Michelle walked in. She helped him coax Henry and Tristan up and into their beds, and then she ordered Sarah to say goodnight to her father and go to sleep. Once they were all in bed, they headed downstairs and Greg began to gather his things.
"Keep an eye out for Sarah. There's been some additional bullying going on," he said. Michelle sighed and nodded.
"You're welcome to stay the night, Greg. You always are," Michelle offered.
He shook his head. "Maybe some other night when they convince me to stay out past my bedtime. Mycroft got off of work a little while ago and I'm going to head over to his place."
"How often do you get to see him?" she asked.
"Usually twice a week, three times if I'm really lucky."
"Not enough?"
"Not nearly," Greg agreed. "But if I'm being perfectly honest with myself, I could spend the rest of my life conjoined at the hip with that man, and it still probably wouldn't be enough."
Michelle giggled. "Go on, get out of here. Go have mind blowing sex with your boyfriend."
"Watch it," he warned, but his grin gave away the fact that yes, he was very much looking forward to hopping into bed with Mycroft. He placed a kiss on Michelle's cheek and opened the door.
"Drive safely. Text me when you get there. I know how you get when you're tired."
"Yes, Mum," he sighed. He then hopped in his car and drove back into the city. He parked in the lot under Mycroft's building, fired off a quick text to his ex, hopped on the elevator, and rode it all the way up to the Penthouse where he gorgeous boyfriend was waiting for him.
Mycroft spent the next Friday night over at Greg's flat. They woke up tangled together, completely naked, in bed, and quickly took care of any morning issues by rutting desperately against each other, and then by moving into the shower to clean each other off after Greg had thrown his sheets into the washing machine so they were taken care of before the kids got there in the afternoon.
Once they had finished having sex for the morning, Greg stood in the kitchen and made pancakes while Mycroft pretended to read the newspaper. Greg had been working for the last several months to convince Mycroft that there was absolutely nothing wrong with his body and that he didn't need to be on a diet, so when he merely poked at his pancakes, Greg worried that he was on some sort of new dieting kick that was not going to be good for him.
"Are you dieting again?"
Mycroft's head snapped up. "Whatever gave you that idea?"
Greg gestured vaguely to Mycroft's plate. "You've barely touched that." Mycroft made a noncommittal noise. "I will keep saying it until you believe me, My. You are absolutely perfect and you don't need to be on any sort of diet, no matter what your brother may say. I think you're perfect just as you are."
Mycroft blushed and ducked his head. "Thank you, Gregory, but no, I'm not on a diet, despite my own better judgment."
Greg ignored the jab and asked, "Do you want me to make you something else?"
"No, these are perfect, but…"
"What is it? Just spit it out, love, I won't care what it is."
"What if they don't like me?" Mycroft asked sheepishly.
Greg would have laughed if Mycroft wasn't so serious. "What's brought this on so suddenly? Sure, you're meeting them in a few hours, but you haven't shown and signs of worrying so far. Have you been protecting my feelings again?"
Mycroft looked extremely guilty. "I'm sorry, Gregory. I just- I can't do this any longer. I'm so scared that they won't like me and if they don't like me, then I'll lose you, and I can't lose you. Not now, not ever."
Mycroft then got up and began pacing around Greg's small sitting area. "Hey now, you don't get to walk away from something like this." Greg marched over to the couch and sat down, patting the cushion next to him. "Please, My, just sit down and talk to me." Mycroft sat, but he didn't speak, and he had started to put up what felt like a brick wall between them.
"What did you mean, you'll lose me? I promise that I'm not going anywhere." Greg took both of Mycroft's hands in his and rubbed them gently.
"You might not be planning on it, but if your children hate me, which I am certain they will, you will feel that you have to choose between them and me. I could never ask you to choose anything over them. I wouldn't be able to blame you for that."
Greg was speechless.
"Had you thought of it like that before? Oh, God, you hadn't. I've spoiled what is supposed to be a perfectly lovely day by just being me. They're going to hate me, and now you're going to worry and it's just all my fault. I shouldn't have even told you how much I want to meet them. This is why I am so rubbish at these sorts of things. You should just get out while you still can because I am clearly unable to handle a romantic relationship like an adult and-"
"My, will you just shut up for a second!" Greg nearly shouted. Mycroft looked up at him, breathing heavily and looking completely shattered. "Thank you. Will you let me say something completely uninterrupted?" Mycroft nodded. "When Michelle said she was vetting you that day at lunch, she wasn't just kidding. She wouldn't have let you near them if she didn't like you or didn't think we were ready to take this step as a couple. More importantly, she wouldn't have let you near them if she didn't think that they would warm up to you right now because she wouldn't want to put that kind of strain on us. She doesn't trust many people. It's part of the reason that she's such a kick-ass lawyer. It also makes her an amazing mother because she's so fiercely protective of our kids. If she didn't take to you, she wouldn't have hesitated to say to you 'no, sorry, I don't want you anywhere near my offspring in the foreseeable future' and that would have been that. More importantly, and I don't mean this to sound cocky, but my kids worship me. For some strange reason, they love me to a nearly unhealthy degree. Those who have been through the worst year of growing up haven't had a rocky relationship with me at any point. They like what I like, and if I was able to portray just a fraction of how much I adore you to them last weekend, they're going to be head over heels in love with you the moment they set eyes on you." He paused for a moment to let Mycroft absorb that information, and then asked, "Do you feel any better?"
"I love you so, so much, Gregory," Mycroft managed huskily.
"I love you too. Even if I was forced to choose between you and my kids, I would spend the rest of my life alone and loving you from a distance. Or, I would wait until Katie was all grown up and out of school until I was a free man so I could make my move on you again, if you would still have me."
Mycroft lifted one of Greg's hands to his lips and pressed open-mouthed kisses to his palm. "Of course I would still have you, Gregory. I would wait for you until the world ended and then a thousand lifetimes after that."
That was enough to simultaneously stop Greg's heart and send all of the blood in his body rushing to his cock. "We have six hours until they get here. Wait here. Give me a few minutes to get everything sorted in there, and then let me take you to bed so I can try to show you just how much I adore you."
Greg retrieved his now clean sheets from the dryer and remade his bed, smirking knowing that he would have to wash them again this afternoon. Then he retrieved Mycroft and made love to him at a pace that was so torturously slow that they both cried, which was a feat that Greg had only achieved once before in his sexual history. Greg pressed kisses and nipped bruises on his body while telling him how much he loved him, until Mycroft screamed in pleasure and came in between them, gasping and choking and sobbing into Greg's hair.
Greg finished remaking his bed ten minutes before his kids arrived. He found Mycroft pacing around his sitting room.
"You're going to wear a hole in my floor if you keep that up," he smiled. "Come on, just sit with me for a few minutes. You're going to get yourself even more would up before they get here."
Mycroft huffed and sank down on the couch. Greg brushed some of the hair away from his forehead. His face was screwed up, almost as if he was refusing to breathe.
"My, breathe, please. You're worrying me, "Greg said gently. He coaxed a few steady breaths out of his boyfriend and was relieved to see him relax a bit. He grinned. "There you are."
Mycroft cleared his throat. "I confess, I don't remember the last time I was this nervous."
"You intimidate some of the most important people in the world for a living. I'm confident that you can handle yourself in the company of my children." Greg rubbed his knee and Mycroft made a soft, appreciative noise in the back of his throat. His head dropped onto Greg's shoulder and he kissed it through the fabric of his shirt.
They stayed like that for several minutes until there was a buzz that signaled someone was trying to get in to see him. Mycroft visibly tensed.
Greg reluctantly stood up to let his kids in. He took Mycroft's hand and led him towards the door.
"They're just miniature versions of me," he said as they made their way down the seven flights of stairs between his flat and the lobby. It was his last best hope for calming him down. "You're fine with me. Just pretend you're talking to me as a kid. Except half of the time I'm going to have girl bits."
Mycroft chuckled and squeezed his hand a bit tighter. Greg paused at the bottom of the stairs and took his boyfriend by his shoulders and looked him in the eyes.
"Gregory-"
"I love you," he said forcefully. He then pressed a hard, closed-moth kiss to Mycroft's lips. As he pulled away, he said, in a tone just as forceful as before, "Always."
Mycroft nodded. "I know. I love you too. This is going to be just fine."
Greg smiled. He knew that Mycroft was just saying it to try to convince himself that things would be okay, but as long as he was making the effort to think that things would be fine rather than panicking, he was already making a step in the right direction. He smoothed the lapels of his jacket and backing into the door and into the lobby.
All six of his kids were crowded around the door to the building. Michelle hung back a bit, looking almost apologetic that she couldn't stop the onslaught that was about to happen.
As soon as Greg opened the door, he was thrown back by the force of six bodies hurling themselves at him. He made sure to kiss every one of them hello and wave to Michelle. They had agreed she would say her goodbyes to the kids before he got down there as they were working out logistics the day before. She grinned at him, then turned and left him to deal with their kids. He turned his head to see a somewhat shell-shocked Mycroft observing the tangle of limbs that used to be his boyfriend. He sighed. No point in delaying it any longer.
"Right," he said, untangling himself from all of them. "Kids, I want you to meet my boyfriend, Mycroft Holmes. Mycroft, this is Sarah and Henry, Ian, Tristan, Charlotte, and Katie."
"Hello," Mycroft smiled, shifting is weight from foot to foot.
Much to Greg's chagrin, his kids were all choosing this moment to be uncharacteristically shy. He knew that something like this had happened when Michelle had first introduced them to Dave, but he had (stupidly) hoped that, since this was their second time meeting a potential step-parent, they could be used to it. He could see Mycroft begin to tense up a bit as well. This was not going well.
Then, miraculously, little Katie stepped right up to Mycroft, looked straight up at him, and wrapped her tiny arms around him, nuzzling her face into his abdomen. "You don't have to be scared if us. Mum told us you might be, but I promise I haven't bitten anyone since I was three and three quarters, and I'm six and a half now," she declared.
Mycroft chuckled and hugged her back. "I promise I will be much less nervous now, my dear. It is particularly reassuring to know that you are no longer a biter."
"Good," Katie said. "Can we go up, now? I drew you a picture."
"Sure, sweetie, let's go up," Greg interjected, opting to use the elevator for once because of overnight bags and small legs.
True to her word, Katie pulled a drawing out of her bag as soon as they were through the door of Greg's apartment. Charlotte and Tristan hung behind their sister as if they were afraid she would humiliate them, and also as if they wanted to soak up a bit of her gumption around Mycroft.
"Did Mum really tell you all that he might be scared of you?" Greg asked Henry as they moved the younger ones abandoned bags into his bedroom.
"She didn't say that specifically. She just told us that he was a bit shy and if we scared him away, we would be grounded for several years because you really love him." Henry paused, almost as if he was worried that he had stepped over some kind of boundary. "You do, don't you?"
"Yes," Greg admitted. "More than I could ever express. Truthfully, all of you being so delicate will probably be worse for him. He really wants you to like him."
"Thank God," Henry sighed. "I was about to burst, and I thin Sarah and Ian are having a joint panic attack in your bathroom about trying to hold back all weekend."
"Shit," Greg sighed, pushing past his son to try to avert a potential crisis in the bathroom. He managed to calm them down quickly and convince them that there was absolutely no need to walk on eggshells around Mycroft.
When he returned to the sitting room, he found Katie on Mycroft's lap, and Charlotte and Tristan were flanking him on either side of the sofa asking him questions (What's your favorite color? Do you have a dog? What's your birthday? Do you have brothers and sisters? What is your middle name? What street is your house on? What is your favorite food?) and he wasn't able to get in any words edgewise, which was extremely rare for Mycroft. Greg let them interrogate him with their harmless questions for about a minute until-
"Do you love Daddy?"
God dammit, Charlotte.
"With all of my heart."
Greg suddenly felt as if he could fly-
"So are you gay or are you bisexual as well?"
-but that feeling was quickly fading.
"I'm gay."
"So you don't care that Daddy likes girls too?"
"Why should I? He wouldn't have you if he didn't, and that would be a very sad world."
"Do you really like the picture?"
"I'm going to hang it in my office where I can see it all the time."
"Like Daddy does?"
"Just like your Daddy does."
"Do you have any allergies?"
Greg decided that this was a good time to make his presence known and suggest that they go and take a walk in the park.
Mycroft and the kids got along splendidly. It took a little while for his older kids to be completely comfortable with the situation, but by the end of their walk they were just fine. They continued to spend time with him after Greg retreated into the kitchen to get dinner ready. He could still see them, and could hear them reasonably well. Thankfully, no horrifically awkward questions were asked and he didn't need to intervene.
Dinner flew by, and Mycroft began hinting that he should be leaving. Katie nearly burst into tears and asked, in a quite pitiful voice, "Aren't you going to have a sleepover with us?"
Mycroft was caught off guard. "I wouldn't want your father to not get to spend his equal share of time with you."
"But we've known Daddy our whole lives and we've just met you," Charlotte sighed. "Besides, you're much cooler than he is."
"Oi!" Greg called out, too elated by his kids so obviously adoring his boyfriend to be hurt.
"Oh, Dad, you know it's true," Tristan piped up. "Can he stay?"
"I wouldn't have anything to wear-" Mycroft began to protest.
"I could let you borrow something. Would you be okay on the floor, though? The bed, the couch, and the air mattress are all claimed," Greg called over his shoulder nonchalantly, as if Mycroft didn't spend any overlapping free evenings they had at Greg's place or entertaining Greg at his flat.
"Please?" Katie begged. "We all really want you to stay."
Mycroft looked to Greg for a way out, but Greg just looked at him with the best puppy dog eyes he could manage. Mycroft smiled down at Katie and said, "It looks like I'll be staying."
Most of the kids collapsed at the end of the night. Henry dragged himself to the air mattress next to Greg's bed, but Greg had to carry the other five to their designated resting places. Mycroft had fetched some blankets and pillows from the linen closet in the hallway while Greg was busy moving them, tucking them in, and then sorting out the bed in the sofa for Ian and Tristan. He had hardly noticed Mycroft setting up a nest of sorts for them on the other side of the sitting room.
"You didn't need to do that," he stage whispered.
Mycroft shook his head. "You had your hands full."
Greg chuckled softly. "Listen, if you want to go, I wouldn't mind. I mean, I would mind, but you probably aren't used to sleeping on blankets on the floor."
"Don't be ridiculous, I can handle sleeping on the ground."
They climbed into the cocoon of blankets that had been laid out and curled up in each other's arms like they did every night that they spent together. Mycroft buried his head in the hollow part of Greg's chest and whispered, "I think they liked me."
"Jesus, My, they more than liked you. They adored you. You had nothing to worry about."
"Oh, but I did." Mycroft tilted his head up so he could see Greg's face. "I was so worried you'd be forced to choose, and I know I wouldn't have a chance. But they actually liked me, which doesn't happen all that often."
"I like you."
"It must be a genetic flaw then."
"Must be. I wouldn't do anything to try to fix it though," Greg muttered, brushing the hair along Mycroft's forehead away from his eyes.
Mycroft leaned up and pressed a quick, chaste kiss to Greg's lips. "Please don't," he whispered seriously.
"No," Greg whispered back, shifting so Mycroft could settle into his original position so they could go to sleep. "Never."
A/N: That's it! I hope y'all liked it! I'm currently working on another story to go with this one. I was originally writing it as a standalone, but I decided to tie it in with this. It isn't close to done yet though. I hope to get it up here within a month.
Thank you all so much for your support. As always, I don't own anything.