The car pulled up to the house. Mycroft got out of the car and started walking up to his house. He stopped in his tracks when he noticed something was different. Chrysanthemums on his lawn and his front yard. He bent down and touched the flowers. They were blooming well and the color was vibrant, some white, some red, some pink, and others yellow. They were flourishing, the white ones more than the others.
He picked up his phone and called Tara.
'Have I always had chrysanthemums in the front yard or am I slowly going insane?' he asked ignoring the pleasantries.
She laughed 'No, you're not going insane and I promise to kill you if you do. I planted them before Christmas' she told him, pleasantries were becoming a thing of the past.
'You did not'
'I sure did. When you asked me to spend the weekend with you and then ditched me. I'm a little surprised you didn't notice them sooner. You're getting old.' She teased him.
He laughed 'I can't believe it, I didn't notice it sooner. Where you that bored?' he ignored the 'you're getting old' comment.
'You invited me to spend the entire weekend with you. I had nothing to do. Your fridge had nothing in there I could bake out of. The next thing I knew I was down on my knees in the dirt, earthworms and all' she laughed.
'I can't even picture it and I know you have plants in your apartment' he said between laughs.
'Neither can I, and I was there. Having a few plants in my apartment is very different from gardening on a lawn. It got really messy, real quick.' She laughed.
'They seem to be doing very well.' he said
'Yeah. I know. I stopped by to check on them.'
'Thank you'
'You're very welcome' she chirped
'What else? Distract me from all the scandal and gossip.' He asked.
'What else...' she sighed 'Oh, the weirdest thing happened the other day, this man came into the bakery and said he recognized me. And for the life of me, I couldn't recognize him. He had such a peculiar look. He was a tall man with a beard, well dressed in a suit. His long salt and pepper hair tied neatly in a ponytail. Not something one would forget...' She was interrupted by a notification on Mycroft's phone. 'What was that?'
'I just got an email' he told her and looked at his phone to check the mail.
'Work?' she asked.
'Yes, Work' he sighed
'Go, if you need to get back to them' she told him.
'No, it can wait. I'm talking to you' he really did want to talk to her, it had been a while.
'That's okay. I'm going to have to head to work soon anyway. See you soon?' she asked hopefully.
'I hope so.' He said in exasperation. They hadn't seen each other in three weeks and even though now he was back in London, he was buried in work and didn't have the time to see her.
Before Mycroft heads out to work again, he cuts off some of the most beautiful chrysanthemums from his yard. He arranges them into a beautiful bouquet and wraps it with some baking paper, Tara had left behind.
When he enters his office, he sees Anthea sitting on her desk working. She looked exhausted.
'Anthea, you've been working all night. Thomas will drop you off, go home get some rest.' He said as he walked to his office.
'Thank you, sir. Unless you need anything else, Rose has you covered for the day' she accepted with a smile.
'No. Go home... you did well this past couple of days' Anthea kept things running in his office while he was away, keeping tabs on everything and making sure everything went smoothly.
'Thank you, Sir' she smiled and turned to get her things.
'Oh, and before you go home, can you do me a favor? Would you swing by the bakery and make sure these get to Tara?' he asked handing her the flowers in his hand.
She seemed hesitant. 'Umm...Yes, Sir' she smiled and nodded taking them from him.
Mycroft entered his office and found Tara waiting for him, wearing nothing but lingerie and a trench coat, looking at him with a coy smile.
'What are you doing here?' he asked her in surprise.
'It's been three weeks since we saw each other, I thought I'd surprise you. Anthea let me in.' she said innocently and leaned against the table.
He sighed That's why Anthea seemed so confused about the flowers he thought and looked at Tara. She looked ravishing. 'Please, tell me you're not one of those people who celebrate valentine's day.' He asked and came around the table to face her.
'Ughh, valentine's day is for chumps. It's just some cash crap cooked up by the greeting card people.' She gagged 'I'm here because I missed you and I might have seen something that got me feeling all frisky' She growled and pulled him close.
'While, I appreciate the gesture, needless to say, this is my place of work' he told her.
'There are no windows or cameras here, I don't see what the problem is' she reasoned.
'The problem is I am at work' Mycroft repeated.
'Va te faire foutre' she cursed and started to walk away.
He pulled her back before she could get away. 'Oh, I could never say no to you. Get on that table' he said and picked her up, making her sit on his desk. He crashed his lips on her lips, kissing vigorously. He worked the buttons of her trench coat as the make-out session got heated. He pulled her closer into his embrace. Tara wrapped her hands around his neck, running her fingers through his hair and her legs were wrapped around his waist. They were interrupted by the office phone ringing continuously. Mycroft ignored it and continued to kiss her, but it was starting to get on Tara's nerves. 'Just answer it' she said and broke the kiss.
'In case you still don't see it, this is why we don't have sex in my office' Mycroft told her breathily before answering the phone 'What is it, Rose?' he asked the temp.
'Sir, you have an appointment with Lady Smallwood in 5 minutes' Rose told him.
'Oh, yes, I almost forgot' he said and hung up 'You need to get out of here before she sees you' he told Tara and pulled her off the desk.
'Why?! Is she your ex-girlfriend or something?' she laughed, as she adjusted her coat, covering herself up.
'She was never my 'girlfriend', we had an arrangement' he explained and pulled her towards the door.
She stopped and turned to face him 'When you say arrangement, you mean booty call, right?' she teased.
'Let's not call it that' he said awkwardly, a slight blush creeping up on his neck.
'What would you call it?' she asked as innocently as possible, trying not to laugh.
'I'll let you know tonight. Now, get out of here and be discrete.' He said, pecking her lips and pulled her out of his office by her elbow.
'Calm down there, old man, you're going to get frown lines if you keep freaking out like that' she teased.
'I think we both know that ship has pretty much sailed. Now get out of here. I'll see you tonight' he told her.
'Okay, bye' she said.
Tara passed Lady Smallwood on her way out, but she didn't recognize her. Mycroft realized it was too late Lady Smallwood had seen Tara coming out of his office.
'Elizabeth, it's nice to see you again' Mycroft greeted, hoping she didn't think much of Tara leaving his office.
'Is that your new booty call?' she asked without missing a beat.
'And here, I thought we were being amicable' Mycroft muttered in defeat.
'Yeah, I thought so too, guess we were both wrong' she told him, menacingly.
'Am I correct to infer there was subtext there?' Mycroft asked.
'Yes, did you pick up on it?' she smirked.
'Yes'
'You're a very intelligent man, Mycroft' she smiled sarcastically.
'Can we get to our meeting?' Mycroft asked in exasperation and led her to his office.
...
When Mycroft entered the apartment, he noticed the chrysanthemums sitting in a vase on the table. 'You got the flowers' he said.
Tara turned around and smiled at him 'It was very thoughtful of you. Thank you' she smiled.
He nodded and sat next to her on the couch. 'May I bring up something we need to talk about?'
'Oh! And what is that?' she asked absent-mindedly, as she tallied all her receipts. She really needed to hire somebody to do these things for her. It seemed like that was all she did, and the work kept piling on.
'What happened today with Lady Smallwood...' he said awkwardly.
'Mycroft darling, I don't need a detailed account of every woman you've slept with' she told him without looking up from her work.
'Nevertheless, what happened today wasn't very nice and I owe you an apology' he took the pen and heap of papers from her lap and dumped it on the coffee table. It was probably for the best that she was distracted by work when he was talking about this, and not looking at him, but he needed her to listen to him.
'Cutting our make-out session short and throwing me out of your office because you had a meeting with your ex-girlfriend/booty call, isn't the worst thing you've done, Mycroft' she told him in amusement.
'I know' he sighed guiltily. It was probably better when she wasn't paying him any attention and had decided to let it slide.
'Was she the woman who passed by me when I walked out of your office?' Tara asked as she thought about it.
'Yes' Mycroft sighed.
'Oh, she was pretty. What happened with you two?' she exclaimed and asked, nudging his arm. It was as if she was actually upset about him breaking up with Lady Smallwood.
Mycroft looked at her in surprise and furrowed his brows. Taking a minute to settle. This wasn't how it was supposed to go. No, she was supposed to hate the ex-girlfriend. 'My arrangement with Lady Smallwood was purely sexual but she wanted more and I wasn't ready to make myself emotionally available to someone. So, I terminated our arrangement.' He explained.
She observed his face for a few seconds, confusing him and scaring him at the same time, he didn't know what he was afraid of. ''Terminated our arrangement'?! God! You're so lifelike' she said finally.
Mycroft sighed and shook his head. 'The cyborg jokes will never end, will they?'
'Nope. Not anytime soon.' She laughed.
'I brought you a bottle of Old Monk Rum' he said and handed her the liquor.
'Aww, you do know how to make a woman feel special.' She smiled and kissed him.
'I wouldn't go as far as women in general but, you, I do...' he muttered. 'What are we having for dinner?' he asked.
'I am too tired to cook. I was thinking we could order pizza' she said getting up from the couch, looking for the menus.
'Pizza and hard liquor. What kind of combination is that?' he grimaced as if it was an abomination.
'Why not? Pizza- Good. Hard Liquor- Good. Sex- Goooood' she winked, throwing her arms around his neck and kissing him.
'You are one crazy lady, aren't you?' he chuckled.
'Maybe a little bit' she winked.
He smiled 'Just order the pizza' he shook his head. He loved how easy and relaxing it was to be with her. There was no Iceman reputation to uphold. All he had to do is exist with her.
...
