"James Andrew Bond. You could have been a little more sensitive!" Monique snaps at her son after Noah leaves the room, hands on her hips as she glares at the young man in front of her. "Especially if you knew how he felt about it." She says with a shake of her head. "You'd better think of a very good way to apologize to him, but I would recommend leaving him on his own for tonight. If you want to keep him, you had better sharpen up and quick." She says with a shake of her head as she briskly starts to clean the table.

Thoroughly chastised about the conversation, James sighs a little and he nods. "You're right, mum. My mind got a little ahead of me, I guess. I'll work on it." He reassures as he gets up to quickly help his mother clean the table. "I thought I had been doing rather well with him. He's clever, mum, like I told you. More clever than I am in some ways. In most ways." he says with a shake of his head as he rolls up his sleeves and starts to do the dishes almost absently since he always helps his mother with dishes. "I'm glad you like him, he was so nervous about coming to meet you, afraid you wouldn't like him, wouldn't approve of him. Whether it's his age or the fact that we're both blokes, I'm not sure what he was more worried about." he admits with a small smile as he looks out the window that is positioned above the sink that looks over the moor.

Monique sighs a little. "You need to be careful with that young man. He's younger than you are, and so much more vulnerable. The way you were raised, your father was a little tougher on you, but you were always.. thick-skinned." He says quietly, knowing that Andrew was a little tougher because he's military. Not even close to abuse or anything like that, and while he was tough, he was fair as well. "Noah is more sensitive, I think. I worry about what his home life is like." She says quietly before she looks over at him. "You take good care of him, James." She says in a firm tone, kissing his cheek and ruffling his hair a little. "You're a good boy." She says with a nod of her head before she finishes putting everything away, making another pot of tea. "I'm going to take some tea up to Noah and make sure he has everything he needs. After you finish up here, why don't you go see Kincaid? He'll be glad to see you." She offers with a little smile.

Sighing a little at the hand on his hair, James nods quietly. "Alright. It will be good to see Kincaid again." He notes quietly for a few moments before he looks over at his mother. "I'll be back in time for dinner." he reassures as he finishes the dishes and then dries his hands off on a towel, leaning over and kissing his mother's cheek.

Although he's kind of shocked to have a signal this far out in the middle of nowhere, Noah is hardly back in his room a few minutes before his mobile rings. He sighs a little as he sees the ID on it, flipping it open. "Hello Sherlock. To what do I owe this rare honor?" he asks with sarcasm heavy in his tone as he puts his plate and water down on the desk, taking a bite out of the sandwich because he really was quite hungry.

"As much as it might surprise you, I wanted to make sure you got to your destination in one piece. I hope you know I am going to be trapped in this wretched house for a week thanks to you slipping out, and I wondered if it was worth causing your favorite brother so much anguish." Sherlock's dry, bored, and slightly condescending tone comes over the other end of the phone, and from the rhythm of a light breeze and slow exhales, it's likely that he's hiding outside somewhere smoking.

Sitting down in his chair, Noah considers for a few moments. "Yes. I arrived in one piece and survived meeting James' mother. She's a lovely woman. And how do you know you're my favorite brother?" He asks as he eats some more of his sandwich. "You really shouldn't be smoking, you know how Mummy hates it." he says with another small shake of his head. He tried smoking once because both his older brothers smoked, but he decided that he didn't like it much.

"I'm outside, well away from the house." Sherlock replies in a slightly annoyed tone. "Don't try deflecting. You're poking at my flaws to avoid talking about whatever is bothering you." If he can see through normal people well, it's even worse with his brothers. "You might as well give me something to do, a legitimate reason to avoid Mycroft." he says the name with distaste, taking a last drag on his cigarette before he stubs it out and put the butt in his pocket for later disposal.

Noah sighs a little and rubs a hand over his forehead, removing his glasses and putting them aside to rub his eyes as well. "I do not regret choosing to come here rather than going home. I know you understand I would rather be anywhere else during the holidays than there. I have a lovely excuse in the form of James. I was ecstatic when he invited me. You should see his home, Sherlock, I think you'd like it, very traditional." He says as he looks around for a few moments. "James can.. let his mouth get ahead of his mind sometimes. He's not letting on but I think he's stressed by being home, and by me being here. You know I can't read people like you and Mycroft can. Technology is something I understand much better."

"You're worried that it's a mistake, that he might regret bringing you, that whatever he said to hurt you was a subconscious way to try and push you away from him a little. Of course, from what you've said he looks to his father for approval, so he may not be sure how to reconcile his feelings for you with wanting his father's approval." Sherlock says casually before he takes a deep breath. "This is why emotionality is overrated. It causes too many problems."

Shaking his head for a few moments, Noah takes another bite of his sandwich as he listens to Sherlock. "Right. Of course. Why did I even try to talk to you about this? I'm going to finish my lunch and then relax for a little while. I'll talk to you later, Sherlock." he says before he hangs up the phone and puts it aside, glaring at it for a few moments. For once he thought that maybe his brother would be helpful and be willing to listen to him, maybe be sympathetic, but it's the same old Sherlock, and that frustrates him. Getting up, he finishes his food and then walks over to the bed, his glasses still sitting on the desk before he falls face first onto the bed, closing his eyes and turning his head to the side so he won't suffocate, but otherwise not moving, just falling into sort of a half-conscious state.

Well that took a little longer than I thought. Less yelling on Monique's part than I anticipated. But then again, you don't need a lot of words to get your point across sometimes.

Thank you for all your reviews, by the way, and for sticking with me! My chapters may start coming just once a week now that the weather is warming up and it's becoming spring-like out. I won't be cooped up at home so much. I hope you all won't be too disappointed.

Reviews/Comments welcome!