June 12th
The intercom interrupts his thoughts as he pretends to be getting through some paperwork.
"Mrs. Landingham is here for her 3 o'clock," comes Mary's voice, "It…might take awhile, so I'm going to try to pass off the next few of your appointments."
"Alright," John says in slight confusion, "thank you; I'll be right out to collect her."
The intercom clicks off and John sighs heavily as he pushes himself up from his desk, straightening the papers before closing the file he was attempting to work on. John grabs the file for Landingham off the front desk and calls out for her. What he sees when he finally looks up from the file in his hands nearly makes him gasp aloud.
Under some very convincing make-up to make her appear to have a split lip, a black eye, and a knot on her forehead is clearly the face of Anthea. She limps slightly as she makes her way towards John, not meeting his eye as though she's afraid of him, but also embarrassed about the state of her face. He gets the feeling that she is supposed to be the victim of domestic violence and he greets her warmly by her false name.
"Come with me, Mrs. Landingham," he says gently as he offers his left arm to her for support, "everything is fine now."
They make their way back to his office and he helps her to sit before turning back and closing the door. When he turns back around, the entire facade has been dropped.
"Sherlock has some fucking nerve sending you in here like this," John growls, moving towards his chair and dragging it so he can sit in front of her.
"It was Mycroft's idea to send me here, actually, and my own to portray this act in particular. I figured your disgrace of a wife won't question what's taking so long if she thinks it's a delicate situation," Anthea answers truthfully, without any remorse regarding her words.
John grits his teeth. Truthfully, he's happy to see her and to know that both Holmes brothers are on his case, but he's incredibly worried that Mary will see through this ruse and…what? She's never gotten physical with him and, really, what more could she do to limit him? But still, he worries.
"So what are you doing here?" John asks.
Anthea reaches in to her oversized purse and pulls out a file. She opens it to reveal a piece of paper on top where Sherlock had copied the list John provided him of changes he's noticed in Mary's behavior.
"Let's start at the top, shall we?"
John inhales through his nose and nods resolutely. His worry is tinged with a small dose of cautious optimism.
A/N: I'm a West Wing fan, which is where I got Anthea's alias from. I apologize for nothing.