Amy stop fidgeting. Amy don't touch that. This was the extent of what Sherlock had said to her so far. It was hardly a conversation and Amy was bored. She'd come here at his request and he was currently ignoring her for some idiot that had been staring at him with puppy dog eyes for the past half an hour. "That could burn your hand off, put it down," Sherlock was saying, sighing quietly as he glanced at her and Amy scowled, placing the test tube with a yellow coloured liquid in it back onto its stand. She waited until Sherlock had turned back to the text book him and John had between them before sticking her tongue out at him. "So mature," He drawled, apparently having noticed, and Amy's scowl deepened. "I'm going to explore," She muttered, walking out of Sherlock's room before he could say another word.

The house was huge, of course she'd already known that. When her mum had pulled up outside they'd both just sat there staring. It had taken her a good five minutes to get the courage to knock on the door and that was frustrating for her because if there was one thing Amy prided herself on it was she never lacked courage. She was the brave one, Rory was the kind one and Mels was .. Mels was the trouble maker. Sighing quietly, Amy shook her head. She missed her friends and it was awful that they weren't here but she had Sherlock, sort of, so it was okay.

Turning a corner, she found herself walking down a set of stairs to what she assumed was the first floor. Yes, there was the front door. At least she wasn't lost, she didn't need to give Sherlock more reasons to tease her. Walking down a corridor, she hummed quietly, taking in everything. A few more pictures hung on the cream coloured walls and a certificate that had been awarded to Mycroft Holmes. She didn't pay much attention to what it was about but it looked official. It didn't interest her, official nearly always turned out to be dull. She wanted something exciting, adventurous. A part of her had been hoping for some sort of secret passage somewhere, the house was bloody big enough for one, but she knew it was unlikely. That sort of thing only happened in the movies, never to her. "Oh, dead end." Amy looked at the door in front of her. She could either turn back or go inside and have a look. Deciding on the latter, she pushed open that door and was surprised to be met with something that resembled .. homely. Threadbare furniture that was mismatched, a light brown carpet which was still quite soft, pale yellow walls. The colours all seemed to clash with each other, but it was nice. A few family photos, the only ones Amy had seen so far, were stood on a shelf along with a few books. It reminded Amy of her home and she found herself smiling as she walked further into the room, towards the pictures.

Baby Sherlock sat on his brother's lap. What appeared to be the Holmes's parents with their sons sat on the floor. A couple of pictures that looked to be from Christmas, Sherlock and Mycroft opening presents. There was even a picture of a young Sherlock with messy hair and muddy knees clinging to a dog, a smile on his face. The dog looked young in that picture and she wondered if it was still around. Sherlock didn't seem like a dog person, but she supposed she could be wrong. There was a cough behind her and Amy jumped, turning round to see Mycroft leaning against the door frame. "Miss Pond, it's not polite to go snooping around other peoples houses." His voice was quiet, but not really unwelcoming. Still, Amy was nervous at being caught somewhere she shouldn't be and she had already been given the impression that the older Holmes brother wasn't fond of her, she didn't want to give him more reasons not to be. "Sorry, I just got bored. Sherlock's busy with homework and I wanted to do something," Amy rambled, attempting at an apology but it sounded silly even to her. Mycroft raised an eyebrow but said nothing as he moved and sat down on one of the sofa's, gesturing for her to join him. She was hesitant for a moment before slowly walking over, sitting on the edge of the sofa.

There was an awkward pause and Amy fidgeted slightly. She assumed Mycroft had something to say, but he was just sitting and staring at the pictures. It was almost as if he'd forgotten she were there at all and Amy was about to get up to leave when Mycroft finally spoke. "We like to forget about this room. Mother usually has it locked." Amy nodded silently, a little confused. She saw no reason to forget about this room, it was lovely. "The family memories are here. The ones we all want to forget. The room, this couch, the family photos. We Holmes's aren't good at dealing with our problems, no matter how small. We aren't good with emotions," Mycroft continued and Amy found herself nodding again. She'd already been witness to how Sherlock dealt with emotions and how much he understood them, it wasn't hard to believe the rest of his family were the same.

"There's a dog in the picture, whose is it?" She asked, nodding her head towards the picture with Sherlock and the puppy. Mycroft glanced at the picture and smiled ever so slightly. "The dog belonged to Sherlock. Survived five years, longer than any other pet. Then it accidentally swallowed a poison Sherlock was experimenting with. Wasn't the brightest of animals." Whatever soft, caring feelings Mycroft had been having a moment ago were apparently gone because his voice had taken a slightly darker edge and there was and there was a cruel smile on his face. "I think it's best we depart from this room now, Miss Pond. Mother would be angry if she knew we'd been in here," Mycroft said as he stood. Amy stood up, glad to be able to continue on her adventure, and swiftly left the room. She didn't look back but heard the soft click of a lock and knew the room was once again sealed away.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Not to long after seeing Mycroft, Amy made her way back to Sherlock's room. She didn't want to risk running into another member of the Holmes's family, it seemed the older they were the more threatening they seemed. When she walked into Sherlock's room she was annoyed to see that the boy's were still staring at the textbook and writing out notes. "Why are you still working, you have ages to do that!" Amy whined as she flopped down on to Sherlock's bed, staring at the ceiling for a moment before turning to look at them. John looked mildly amused but Sherlock had a faintly annoyed expression on his face. "My bed is not a place for you to lounge, get off." Amy just laughed, picking up the pillow that was laying on the bed and throwing it at him. "I like it here though, comfy. Better than that floor," She said happily as he threw the pillow back at her, smirking when it hit her in the face. Amy pushed the pillow away, still not budging from the bed. "Wipe that smirk off your face, Mr Holmes, it's quite unattractive," She said, glancing at John for a second to see him shake his head and smile a little. "Why, Miss Pond, I beg to differ," Sherlock was saying with a grin and Amy merely rolled her eyes, laughing quietly.

Eventually though John had managed to convince Sherlock they should take a break and the school work was, sort of, packed away. "Finally, that was getting boring," Amy muttered as she stood up, careful to not knock over any of the precariously stacked papers. "You really should clean this place up, Sherlock, it's a mess." Sherlock shook his head, standing and placing the textbook on his desk. "It's an organized mess, I know where everything is. Anyway, I like it like this," He muttered and Amy raised an eyebrow at John who shrugged. "I tried to tidy it up when I first came round and he kicked me out the house. Wouldn't let me in for ages, I was left out in the cold," John recalled with a chuckle as he put away his work into a messenger bag and placed it by the door. "The rest of his house is tidy though, extremely so," He added on and Amy thought back to the small room with the pictures. That hadn't exactly been tidy but she supposed John wasn't even aware of it's existence. The rest of the house though did seem incredibly tidy but, maybe that was why Sherlock liked his room such a mess. It was no secret that he wasn't fond of his family, not to her anyway. "I'll be back in a moment, need to go discuss something with Father," Sherlock told the two before leaving the room swiftly. It had been abrupt and John looked confused but Amy just shrugged. She was used to that.

"So, John. How long you known Sherly?" Amy asked as she seated herself back on Sherlock's bed, realising she wasn't going to be going anywhere any time soon. "Wait … Sherly?" John looked a little confused and Amy found herself giggling. "Sherlock's nickname! He calls me Amelia when he wants to annoy me so I started calling him Sherly," she explained, tapping her fingers against her leg. The nickname was one he didn't like her too use and so she was usually careful about when she said it. "Oh, right." John went quiet, looking a little troubled and Amy reached out her leg, nudging him with her foot. "Huh?" He blinked and looked at her foot, then her before shaking his head. "Sorry. Urm, me and Sherlock met at school. Known each other since year seven but we never really spoke. My friends … well, every one actually, think he's a bit of a freak. Our teachers have started pairing us up together in lessons because they think it'll do him good to have a friend. We're in sixth form now though, I'm not sure it'll make much difference," John said as he stared at a piece of paper, brow furrowed. Amy just shrugged, leaning back against the wall Sherlock's bed was pushed against. "He is a freak, but a nice one. You could do a lot worse than having Sherlock as a friend," she reasoned, watching John curiously. "Does it embarrass you to be around him?" She asked and John went bright red, not quite meeting her gaze as he fumbled for an answer. "Not really it's just that … my friends they …" He was about to continue but then there was a cough at the door and Sherlock was staring at them both, his expression hard and cold.

John had gone redder and he stood, quickly picking up his bag. "I'll see you tomorrow, Sherlock. Bye, Amy," He mumbled, edging past Sherlock and then out the room. A few minutes later there was the slam of the front door and John had left Amy with the slightly angry looking Sherlock. "He doesn't like me, Amelia. He doesn't want to be my friend so don't go round making this awkward," Sherlock snapped at her, stepping into his room and shutting the door. "Please, the boy's obsessed with you! He couldn't have made it more obvious, you just don't notice," Amy replied angrily, standing up to face him, head tilted in defiance. "He's embarrassed to be seen with me!" Sherlock argued and Amy just rolled her eyes. "I'm sometimes embarrassed to be seen with Rory, but I still love him," She replied calmly with a smile. "Think about that, Sherly." Sherlock didn't react, just stood silently in the middle of his room. "See you round," She added on, standing up and moving to the door, opening it. "Amy … I'll get better at this friend thing. Just don't call me Sherly," He said quietly and she smiled triumphantly. "Good boy. I'll see you Friday, right? After your appointment?" She asked and when he raised an eyebrow she laughed, pointing to the sheet on his desk. "Don't have to be a genius to notice some things," She quoted back to him and he laughed, nodding slightly. "See you Friday, Amy," He agreed and then she was out the door and into her mum's car, back to the hotel.