Thank you all for your lovely words. Hope you like this one :)
~0~0~0~
Today was Uncle Mycroft's day. John had looked after Bella for a week before Sherlock was forced to leave again, breaking the pair out of their little bubble and Mary headed back home, falling seamlessly back into Faye's life and relieving Uncle John of his babysitting duties. Bella had, apparently, started to crawl whilst Faye had been away, but when placed on the floor all she did was pull herself along slightly on her stomach before whining to be picked up again. Faye had held her close, placed a kiss on her head, and told her that she was happy to wait until Bella was ready. Bella had been very content in her mother's arms, leaning against her shoulder as she stared at her Uncle John as if he was the most fascinating thing in her world and that would just not do at all. Mycroft walked over, scooped Bella out of her mother's arms and held her against his hip.
"Perhaps it would be wise for me to take her for the day." He drawled, "Allow you time to settle back into regular life before looking after her once more." Faye blinked in surprise and even John turned on his chair, away from his jobs search to look at the the ostentatious man, eyebrow raised.
"I... I think I can handle her just fine, Mycroft." Faye replied, too stunned to be offended by his apparent lack of faith in her parenting ability.
"I shall return her this evening." Was his reply, heading towards the door, holding the baby as loosely as he possibly could without dropping her.
"Wait!" She called, chasing after him as he made his way down the stairs, "You'll need a car seat, and a buggy."
"I have everything required in the car." He called back up to her and she frowned. No he didn't, she would have noticed if there'd been a car seat.
"Where?" She shouted after him as he opened the front door.
"In the boot, where else?" He replied before the door swung shut and she was left at the top of the stairs, eyes wide in confusion. She headed back into the flat, hands held out at her sides in disbelief at what had just occurred. She looked at John, who seemed just as lost as she was.
"Did he want to spend time with her, but just couldn't come out and say it?" He asked her, looking for an explanation.
"I think you made him jealous." She replied, sitting down in front of the television, once again glad she'd moved it so she could see it whilst in Sherlock's chair. Her lips turned up slightly, Sherlock's chair, "You're Bella's favourite uncle, after all."
"Wait, so he's looking after her because of me?" John asked and she nodded. He laughed, turning back to his laptop as Faye turned the television on, switching to a Top Gear repeat on Dave, "That is, by far, the best thing I have heard all day." Faye giggled and they fell into a comfortable silence, until Faye drifted off in Sherlock's chair, dreaming of the man who'd not let her sleep.
~0~0~0~
And so, Mycroft ended up with babysitting duties, even though no one asked him to. His driver had strapped the baby car seat into the chair next to him and Mycroft placed Bella in it. She looked around the interior, intrigued by the new room she was in. She didn't cry, because she was used to Uncle Mycroft, but she wasn't going to settle like he hoped she would. She would have been easier to look after if she had been asleep. He turned to his helper for the day, Anthea, who was busy on her phone, as always.
"What does one do with a child?" He asked her. She glanced up and seemed genuinely surprised at the sight of the baby girl next to her employer.
"No idea, sir." She replied, going back to her phone once she'd deemed the child uninteresting, "I don't like children." He rolled his eyes.
"Helpful, Anthea, as always." He muttered before tilting his head to look into the little girl's glowing eyes. She gurgled at him happily, as if she was saying something of worth and he reached out and smoothed her brown hair down, "Apparently Dr Watson cannot keep you in a reasonable state of dress." He wrinkled his nose at the white t-shirt and dungaree's she was in. She looked like a farmer. He'd have to do something about that, but first he had to keep her entertained.
"My sister says she takes her kids to the zoo." Anthea declared, looking up from her phone, looking like she wasn't sure if it was a valid suggestion or not, "Kids are supposed to like animals?" He frowned in thought, looking over his niece.
"Seems appropriate, considering her attire." He decided. Anthea shrugged and sent the command to the driver to head towards London Zoo.
~0~0~0~
Considering the mass of children in uniform, running circles around their teachers, the Zoo didn't seem to be too busy. Still, Mycroft felt foolish walking around, pushing a baby up to fences as if she cared what they were looking at. Eventually, after lifting her up so she could see and putting her back down one too many times, he sent Anthea back to the car with the buggy and carried her the rest of the way. He received a few strange looks, a rather grand looking man carrying a farmer's baby around the Zoo and telling her factoids about the animals that she would never be able to understand.
He had, at one point, accidentally walked into the 'petting zoo' area, but when confronted by a harmless worker had declared he wasn't about to let his niece be subjected to the variety of germs on the fur of a goat, then turned on his heals and left the woman gaping at him.
"This was one of my less successful plans, I will admit." He told the little girl in his arms, who was currently memorised by the meerkats behind the glass she was clumsily clinging to. He couldn't leave so quickly, though. He had a reputation to create, he was her only blood-related Uncle and he wasn't about to be shown up by John Watson, who had already spent too much time with his niece, "However, I have something much more time worthy planned for us after this, little one." He turned back to the enclosure in time to see a meerkat shoot up on it's hind legs too close to the edge of a hill, tumbling down it. He rolled his eyes, too bored to contemplate staying there any longer, when Bella laughed. Surprised, he looked down at the little girl in his arms who was laughing in delight at the antics of the mammals in front of her.
"Did you like that?" He asked her, amazed as she turned to look up at him, flashing him a beaming smile, revealing the first of her teeth that had come through. Pure joy radiated from her, blazing eyes as she stared up at her Uncle in delight. He felt the corners of his mouth tug and he shifted her in his arms, "A meerkat fan, are we?" He drawled, "Let's see... They are immune to the venom of snakes and scorpions, choosing instead to eat them as part of their diet..."
~0~0~0~
Faye looked up from her book at the front door opened and Mycroft entered the flat, carrying her daughter in his arms. She placed the book down on the table and stood up, smiling in slight confusion at the new outfit Bella seemed to be sporting. A gorgeous deep burgundy dress with a white blouse underneath, white tights and little black shoes. There was a red flower pinned in her short brown hair and she was gurgling excitedly as she reached out towards her mum.
"You changed her." She declared in surprise as she took her daughter off him. Mycroft shrugged as his driver fetched the six shopping bags in and placed them at the foot of the sofa, "And went shopping?"
"I felt she needed something less rural to wear." He replied as John entered the room in a shirt and smart pants, ready for his night out with Mary.
"There was nothing wrong with what she was wearing." He replied lightly, smiling at the girl and placing a kiss on her head, "But she looks beautiful." Faye nodded in agreement.
"Did you have fun with Uncle Mycroft?" She asked and Bella gurgled happily a few times, "What did you two do?"
"Nothing of importance." Mycroft explained, placing an awkward kiss on his niece's head, "I know mother would like to see her granddaughter soon. Shall I tell her Wednesday is a convenient time to come visiting?"
"She can come whenever she likes." Faye replied, "I'm not up to much, it'll be nice to see her again." He nodded.
"Very well." He shot a patronising look in John's direction, "Dr Watson." He said as a farewell, leaving the trio in their flat and driving off into the evening. John spotted the bags on the floor and nodded to them pointedly.
"What's that?" He asked and Faye shifted Bella, sitting on the sofa with her daughter on her knees.
"No idea." She replied, "Have a look." John quickly headed over, opening one of the large paper carrier bags.
"This one is full of dresses." He told her, pulling out a white one with flowers on it, checking the label, "It's a size too big as well. He's been planning ahead." He grumbled, "What's wrong with how I dress her?"
"Nothing." Faye reassured with a laugh, "You know how Mycroft is. If she'd been a boy, she'd be in a suit by now." He nodded, agreeing but not liking it, and checked the next bag.
"This one's all shoes." He told her, pulling a third bag towards him, "What the hell?" He whispered in confusion.
"What?" Faye asked, intrigued by his sudden change in mood. John reached in and pulled out a stuffed meerkat toy, roughly half the size of Bella, "Aww, that's cute." Bella immediately reached out for it, making clumsy grasping motions as she gurgled. John passed it to her.
"I'm not sure..." He replied, pulling out another one, smaller this time. Then another, until he was surrounded by seven more of them.
"What the hell?" Faye laughed out in disbelief, looking down at her daughter, who was bouncing the meerkat rather roughly, "What has Uncle Mycroft bought you?"
~0~0~0~
Mycroft's phone vibrated whilst being driven to his home, and he reached into his jacket pocket to find a text off Faye.
Meerkats?
He smirked, replying with a one word text message of his own.
Naturally.
A few moments later a rather large smirk appeared on his face as she replied once more. He settled into the back of the chair, relaxing slightly as he shot a glance at the empty baby seat next to him. His driver would have to remove that once they'd stopped, he considered momentarily while congratulating himself on being the newly appointed 'Favourite Uncle'.
She loves them :) Thank you x
