Mycroft flicked on the kitchen light and visibly flinched as the group of people in his kitchen shouted 'Surprise!'.
"Good evening." Mycroft said with a nod, "What can I do for you all?"
Rosie rolled her eyes and approached him with a glass of champagne, "We're having a joint party." she said, handing him the glass.
"What are we celebrating?" Mycroft asked.
"Today was your last day at work so we're having a retirement party for you and we're also celebrating my university graduation." Rosie replied, clinking her glass with his.
"You graduated almost three months ago." Mycroft pointed out, leaning his umbrella against one of the kitchen chairs.
"Yes, and we haven't had a party to celebrate, hence the joint party." Rosie explained with a smile, watching him.
"I don't feel much like celebrating, Rosamund." Mycroft replied, putting the glass down on the kitchen counter and leaving the room.
"I'll talk to him." Anthea assured Rosie, squeezing the girl's arm as she walked past.
"You really know how to lower the mood at a party, Mycroft." Anthea said, leaning in the doorway of the study.
Mycroft was sat at the large desk, a glass of whiskey in front of him. He looked over at Anthea but didn't speak, unsure how to explain his actions.
Anthea sighed and entered the room, shutting the door behind her. She sat down in the chair opposite the desk and poured herself a drink from his decanter.
"I don't know how to feel. I've never been very good with sentiment." Mycroft admitted after a few moments of silence.
"Do you regret retiring?" Anthea asked.
"Yes and no." Mycroft replied vaguely.
"You don't know what to do with yourself now you're not the British Government, is that it?" Anthea asked with a raised eyebrow.
Mycroft picked up his glass and drank down some of the amber alcohol, giving Anthea her answer.
"Mycroft, I know this is difficult. It's going to be difficult for a long time, but it was the right time for you to go." Anthea said with a sigh, "You're a rich man with a good family, you've got nothing to worry about."
"I just gave everything up, Anthea. Everything that I worked for is gone now. All the power, all the influence, everything's gone." Mycroft murmured.
"You've devoted every waking moment to Queen and country for the past 40 years, Mycroft. It's about time that you had a rest." Anthea replied gently, "Now pull yourself together and come and have a drink with everyone."
With a chuckle and a mock salute, Mycroft downed his whiskey and got back to his feet. He came around the desk and linked their arms together gently.
"Come along, Mr Holmes." Anthea murmured, leading him back to the kitchen where their friends and family were waiting.
"You alright now, Mycroft?" John asked from a few feet away, a beer bottle in his hand.
"Yes, thank you. I just needed a moment to gather myself." Mycroft replied with a polite smile and a nod.
"Mycroft's back everyone! Hide the cake!" Sherlock called, teasing his brother with a smile.
Mycroft rolled his eyes, "I doubt I'll manage the whole cake." he replied, picking up his glass.
"Cheers." Rosie said from his left, holding up her glass with a warm smile.
"Cheers, my dear Rosamund." Mycroft replied, clinking his glass with hers and taking a sip of the champagne, "Dom Perignon?"
"I didn't think Bollinger was fancy enough." Rosie explained with a smile.
"Good choice." Mycroft assured warmly, "Have I ever shown you the champagne section of the wine cellar?"
"No, I don't think you've ever shown me the wine cellar." Rosie admitted, "Do you have a large selection of champagne?"
"It's a modest collection of vintage champagne." Mycroft replied, "Would you like to come and look?"
"Yes, I would." Rosie agreed with a smile, "Are we going to get horrendously drunk on old alcohol?"
"Speak for yourself, Rosamund. I can hold my drink." Mycroft replied with a chuckle and a wink.
"I have been here before." Rosie said as she stood amongst the rows and rows of carefully stacked wine.
"Yes, I believe you were 5 or 6." Mycroft replied, "You were interested in history."
"You showed me a bottle of wine and it was really, really old..." Rosie said, thinking back as best she could.
Mycroft nodded and moved across the room, carefully lifting the lid of a sturdy wine box, "A red wine from the Tudor court." he said, looking down at the 500 year old bottle.
"Wow. How can that still exist?" Rosie asked, carefully running her fingers over the glass.
"Someone like me saved it from destruction and kept it safe, passing it down over the generations." Mycroft murmured, "Everything in this room is an antique."
"What other historical periods have you got wine from?" Rosie asked, stepping back so he could safely lock away the old bottle.
"I have French wine from the revolution and British wine from King Charles I's reign." Mycroft replied, "I also have a wine from every year of Her Majesty's reign."
"Every year?" Rosie repeated with a raised eyebrow, looking around the basement room.
"Yes, the last 30 bottles have been presented to me by Her Majesty herself." Mycroft replied with a smile, "She is very encouraging of my wine collection."
"Could you drink any of it?" Rosie asked curiously, "Would any of it be fit to drink?"
Mycroft considered her question for a moment before he answered, "Some of it would definitely be off by now, but if the cork was sealed with wax then it is likely that much of the wine would still be drinkable."
"That's crazy, isn't it?" Rosie murmured, "I understand that the value of the bottles means they can't be opened, but wouldn't it be amazing to sit and drink something that was made to be drunk hundreds of years before?"
"Follow me." Mycroft said, his eyes glistening a little in the half-light of the cellar. He got out a key from a pocket in his waistcoat and unlocked another door, flicking on the light. Inside were lots of bottles of champagne, kept carefully preserved in a chilled, glass case.
"You really are a collector, aren't you?" Rosie chuckled, leaning close to the glass to look at the labels on the bottles.
"Step back, my dear." Mycroft murmured, leaning over her to unlock the glass case.
Rosie stepped back and watched him remove a bottle from the case.
"This bottle is from Her Majesty's coronation." Mycroft said, "I have two. This one was given to me by my Uncle Rudy when I joined the civil service. It was the first bottle in my collection."
"Where did you get the other bottle from?" Rosie asked curiously.
"That one was given to me by the Queen for some work I did for her about 20 years ago." Mycroft explained, locking the case with one hand as he kept hold of the bottle.
"Shouldn't we be keeping that chilled? I can look at it through the cabinet, it's fine." Rosie said, carefully taking the bottle from him.
"No, come on. We're taking it upstairs." Mycroft replied. He let her go ahead and switched the lights off, locking all the doors as he went.
"Speech!" John declared, knocking a spoon against his beer bottle as he watched Mycroft prepare to speak.
"Thank you, John." Mycroft murmured, looking around at the friends and family in his kitchen.
Once the conversations had come to an end and everyone was looking in his direction, Mycroft prepared himself to speak. He'd made lots of speeches in his career but none had felt quite as emotionally charged as the speech he was about to make at his retirement party.
"Thank you for coming here tonight. I was not expecting the occasion to be marked by a party, so forgive me for my initial panic." he spoke with a slight smile, "I have served Her Majesty for 45 years. Had I not been forcibly removed from my post this afternoon by Anthea, I'm sure that I would have made it to 50 years."
"No one can force you to do anything, Mycroft." Anthea teased, smiling at the man who'd been her closest friend for over 30 years.
"45 years ago, almost to the day in fact, Uncle Rudy presented me with this bottle." Mycroft said, putting a hand on the neck of the bottle of champagne, "It's a bottle of champagne from Her Majesty's coronation and Uncle Rudy felt it would be a fitting gift to give to a 21 year old who'd just joined the civil service. I never intended to open it, but I feel this occasion is suitably momentous."
"You're going to open it?" Rosie gasped from beside him as he pushed the corkscrew into the cork on the bottle.
"I think it's time for me to share a drink with Her Majesty, don't you?" Mycroft replied with a wink, pulling the cork out of the bottle. He carefully poured out the champagne into his own glass and Rosie's before he placed the bottle back down on the counter.
"This is a joint party, so congratulations on graduating, Rosie." Mycroft said, handing her a glass of the priceless champagne.
"Congratulations on retiring, Uncle Myc." Rosie replied, taking the glass and chinking it against his.