Origins

Chapter Five

"Ah, Mr. Holmes."

Mycroft nodded politely to the portly secretary that had led the way to their destination and she smiled and left his side. The middle-aged man behind the desk stood up and walked around with a hand outstretched.

"Simon Harrison," he said with a nod as they shook hands. "Have a seat. Can I get you any coffee or water?"

"No, thank you," Mycroft said as he sat down. From behind him, the door shut and Simon walked back to his own chair to take a seat.

"So, you're looking for work for after you graduate from uni?" he asked.

"Yes, sir."

"Well, I'll just tell you right now that we usually don't hire fresh graduates except to work little jobs and be assistants here."

"I understand that," Mycroft said with a nod. "That's to be expected."

"Your credentials are what I would like to see in a potential candidate." Simon picked up a paper to read it over. "Top of your class, perfect grades, numerous academic accomplishments – very nice." He set the paper down. "Tell me, um…"

"Mycroft."

"Yes." Simon leaned forward and folded his hands together. "There are a lot of young people that would kill to be where you're sitting. I'm sure you know that you need to stand out from the rest of the applicants that will come through this office and interview for the same position you're trying to get." Simon's eyebrows rose. "So, Mycroft, give me one good reason why I should hire you and no one else for this job."

As if his mind was like a computer, Mycroft had all of the information that he needed to give Simon the reason he was looking for practically on a perfect list. Well, it's an interview after all; might as well start this with a boom.He took a deep breath.

"You've lost a substantial amount of weight in the last year." He fought to hide a grin at Simon's bamboozled blink. "It's evident in your suits; they've been tailored over and over again, suggesting that you've also been in some financial straits since your gastric bypass surgery. So if you're having money trouble, how in the world did you afford that trip to the Caribbean to visit your mistress- oh, obvious." Mycroft rolled his eyes. "Gambling. Horse racing, is it? How utterly ordinary."

Simon's jaw dropped. "How in the world-"

"You might also want to watch out for that charming secretary of yours; she has a very fast addiction to exhibitionism and bondage. In fact, she was just with the janitor that cleaned your office last night, but oh, dear, I hope she knows that he's cheating on her with her brother."

Simon's eyes practically bulged out of his head. "Carol?!"

"Oh, yes, Carol," Mycroft said with a nod. "You see, Mr. Harrison, the saying that people are open books is true; the problem is that a lot of people don't understand how to read what they're seeing. There are many things that you will never know about the people around you because you simply don't take the time to really look and try to piece together what you've been given. Imagine the things you could learn if you just took the time to really observe."

For a few seconds, all was silent in the office as Simon was obviously struggling with trying to figure out how to respond to such a random, yet enlightening speech. He opened his mouth and shut it again a few times.

"How did you figure all of that out if you don't mind me asking?"

"Deductive reasoning – it would a normal person much longer to make those conclusions that I presented to you, but for me, it takes mere minutes, sometimes seconds."

"I've never heard of such a thing."

"Most people haven't, but it's something they quickly put to memory when it happens to them."

Simon laughed. "Yes, I have to say that was all certainly a shock. I'll remember that for awhile."

Mycroft smiled shortly and Simon stood to his feet. "Why don't I take you on a short tour while I have some time?"

Mycroft waited until Simon passed him to let loose a smile in triumph and got to his feet to follow the man down the hall again toward the secretary's desk. He noticed that as they passed by, Simon did a double take to Carol as she typed up a report with furious speed, but kept his silence as they walked out into the main hall.

"You would mostly be working in MI5, but I may have you float in between them and MI6. You seem to be capable of learning both sides."

"Extremely capable."

Simon smiled. "Civil servant is the term that we use for our employees and that title embodies a lot of different things. I trust that in due time, you'll learn just where you fit in that spectrum."

"As long as it doesn't require being out in the field." Mycroft sneered. "Leg work isn't my forte."

"If you do better in the office, then we'll certainly use you here. Might as well play to your natural strengths if we're going to make the most of you. But I would encourage you not to completely turn down field work. You could brag to your dates that you're a real life James Bond." Mycroft rolled his eyes. "James Bond is considered a civil servant, too, Mr. Holmes, so you technically wouldn't be lying." Simon said with a chuckle as he opened a door to an office. "Shall we?"

With a look around his surroundings one last time, Mycroft followed Simon into the spacious office. Yes, he thought to himself, this job will certainly suit me just fine.

"Linda Gregory."

The name made Linda pause as she was looking over the piles of tomatoes in the produce section of the grocer's. Hearing her maiden name after all that time was so odd – who in the world still remembered her by that? She straightened up and turned around, a smile spreading across her face as the person who called her chuckled.

"Roger Parrington," she said as she set the tomato in her hand down. His brown eyes seemed to twinkle under the dull light of the shop.

"My goodness, it's been ages since we last saw each other. Over twenty five years if I'm not mistaken" Roger closed the gap between them, towering over her small stature. "How have you been?"

"I've been well. How about you?"

"Oh, fine, I suppose." Roger shrugged. "Working seventy hour weeks in investment banking takes its toll on your after a while."

"Does it now? My interest with the banking world was a brief affair; I tried working in a bank for a few months, but in the end teaching suited me best."

Roger chuckled. "Oh, yes, I remember all those long nights back in uni where you were tutoring half the class." He winked at her scowl.

"You all wouldn't have passed those tests if it weren't for me."

"So modest about your contribution to our success," he said with another warm chuckle. "So what happened to you after you left so suddenly?" A pang at the memory of Linda being almost brutally torn away from the university because her father had caught her dating Chris behind his back went through her, but she quickly shook it off.

"I went back for the next term, it was all just a little misunderstanding between my parents and I. I got married to the boy I was dating and ended up double majoring."

"Did you?" Roger look surprised. "I left for Oxford shortly after the term ended. I'm sorry, I don't remember the boy's name that you were with."

"Chris Holmes."

"Chris, Chris- oh, was he a writer or poet of sorts?" Linda nodded. "Yes, I remember him now, I think we had a class together at one point. He was an interesting fellow, though he was little odd back then."

Linda laughed. "Well, so was I; that's why we decided it would be best to just marry each other and contain all that strangeness between us."

"Well, that's good I guess." Roger smiled. "Do you have children?"

"Two sons." Linda pulled out a little mini photo album from her purse and showed a picture from the previous Christmas to him, who nodded and made a noise of approval.

"Good looking kids you've got there. The younger one looks just like you."

"It's a joke within the family to ask Chris where he was when Sherlock was being made," Linda replied with a chuckle.

"Sherlock? That's uh, an interesting name."

"The older one is Mycroft. Believe me," she said flatly in response to his expression. "I've gotten many strange looks for their names, it doesn't hurt my feelings in the slightest."

"I didn't say a word. So did they inherit the genius side of the family?"

"Yes." She sighed as she put the album back. "I thought raising Mike was going to be a challenge, but Sherlock puts a whole new spin on the words 'child-rearing'."

"But you seemed to have done a good job with them," Roger said. "They looked like they turned out well."

"I can only hope so."

They shared a laugh. "Well, listen, I better be off. It was nice to see you again, Linda." He put a hand on her shoulder and squeezed it gently. "Hopefully we'll talk again soon."

"Yes, hopefully." She watched him walk off toward the check out and sighed. It was always interesting for her to see classmates from uni; most of them, she realized in retrospect, weren't happy with how their lives turned out. And Roger was no different – he was obviously unhappy, and she could've sworn that he was looking a little jealous when she showed him the picture of the boys. I guess Chris and I just got lucky in the end, she thought to herself as she turned around to continue her shopping.