Author's Note: …. I wanted to post this chapter 13 hours ago but the power went off 14 hours ago and only just came back on. Thanks Australia, you know how to handle stormy weather… Thank you for the fantastic feedback last chapter. I had a feeling you'd all be excited for it! Thanks for the well wishes too. I'm still sick but a tiny bit better. Not a real long chapter today but considering I just posted the new Mycroft chapter it's like double the updates. I hope you like this chapter, it was an interesting one to do. Read, review, and most importantly, enjoy!

Disclaimer: Clearly I don't own Sherlock. The show is the baby of Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss, while Sherlock Holmes itself is the creation of Arthur Conan Doyle.

The First Time She Reassured Him

The ringing of the blackberry sounded gigantic compared to the previously completely silent wooden office. As she finished typing her sentence, Anthea's head slowly turned to look over to her phone. The caller ID read James. She'd been waiting for this call for hours. She picked up her phone and pressed accept.

"Did you find him?" She asked without a greeting, getting to the point. She could hear talking and rustling in the background. The other agents most likely.

"We didn't find him but we found the place." There was a pause Anthea bit her bottom lip. Not the response she wanted, but the one she had been expecting. "I think Mr. Holmes might want to see this." Anthea swivelled in her chair to face her computer again, using her free hand to bring up Mycroft's schedule on the screen. She took a deep breath. The thing was packed until the evening and that would not do.

"Mr. Holmes is unavailable." She hummed, tapping on the desk. "How soon can you send me the address?"

"Right away." James did not even question Anthea's authority in this situation – he knew better.

"Good. I'll be there. Do I need to be armed?" Muffled talking was heard in the background.

"No, it's clean. Plus, you'll have me." Anthea smirked slightly as she rolled her eyes. Trust James to flirt in a reasonably serious situation.

"That brings me such comfort. Be right there."

The most surprising thing to Anthea was the fact that the place was a normal looking house right in the middle of suburbia. She had to blink and look around as she got out of the town car, daring the street to show its true colours to her. Someone dodgy walk past, someone brandishing a weapon, anything. Nope, it looked straight out of a fifties suburb. How cute. James and Carol were talking to another person – someone involved in crime scene investigation – when Anthea approached. For a tall girl, Anthea was shadowed by the agents and the lanky investigator. Still, it was apparent to all who had the most authority amongst them as they all stopped talking as the brunette in the black suit approached.

"Quaint." She raised her eyebrows sarcastically as she approached. She looked through the open door where she could see the dust particles flying around. James smiled at her.

"Ready to have a look around, A?" He asked, his tone always light. Anthea pursed her lips and looked between the two agent friends.

"Have you checked for wires and bugs?" Carol nodded.

"It wasn't clean, it is now." Her deep voice sounded. Anthea's trepidation must have been clear by the look on her face because soon after Carol added. "Two separate teams swept it." Another pause as Anthea contemplated. She looked back at the town car with Walter sitting in the front, pretending not to be watching her but of course he would be. She nodded and began to step towards the house.

"Alright, take me through it." She agreed curtly, pulling her black leather gloves out of her handbag and fidgeting them on. James walked besides her, slipping latex gloves back on, Carol behind them to stop at the door.

"There's not much to see." James spoke like a professional. "The entire second floor was completely clean. Nothing in it what so ever. Dust everywhere." Anthea rolled her eyes. She hadn't expected to find much, not from what she'd been told. "Anything that was on the ground floor isn't now." He took a step in front of Anthea to lead her to the correct room. Anthea frowned to herself.

"What do you mean?" She asked.

"There are outlines in the dust where equipment clearly sat only days before – we've identified some of this equipment. But there's nothing. The bathroom smells disgustingly of bleach. Do me a favour and don't go in there." Anthea crinkled up her nose at the thought. The smell of bleach and rust reminds her purely of her kidnapping now and James knew that. She was good for the most part these days and could come and go from her new apartment as she pleased. The smell of bleach was a little too much for her still and Mycroft warned that it may always remain a trigger.

"Duly noted." She nodded. "Torture room?" She asked. James didn't answer straight away.

"We haven't had a chance to let forensics go crazy in here yet, and the neighbours haven't reported and suspicious noises but yeah, we think so." James stopped in front of a door. "The thing I thought you and Mr. Holmes would want to see though, the only thing that was left, was this." He opened the wooden door and allowed Anthea entrance into the room.

Anthea stepped in to the space. It was like any other room, the couches and coffee table were littered in dust. Some large piece of equipment had previously been taking up half of the coffee table. Pale blue wallpaper ripped off the walls to display the dark red brick underneath and the carpet was riddled with all sorts of stains. The interesting item that James had intended her to see was on the back wall with the majority of its wallpaper intact. Hung up by a sharp steak knife was a picture of Sherlock and John clearly taken from the third window of a building. They were walking across a street, jackets pulled close to their bodies. Anthea came up close to examine in, mouth pursed, brows furrowed. She was disturbed but not at all surprised.

"This is it? This is all that was left?" She asked, not taking her eyes off of the photo. James came to stand behind her.

"This is it." She felt his breath on her neck.

"Have you checked it for prints or DNA?"

"Not yet."

"You won't find anything." She hummed, still scrutinizing the photo. It looked only a street across from Bakers Street.

"Yeah, we know." James shrugged. "Just felt like you needed to see it."

Anthea nodded.

Mycroft smiled earnestly as he let Anthea into one of his private rooms on one of the higher levels of the Diogenes Club.

"Good afternoon, my dear." He hummed as she walked past, smiling back at him. She led herself over to the large comfortable couch by the equally large bright window and sat down, crossing her legs. "Can I offer you anything?" He gestured over to the desktop of amenities from scotch, to tea and coffee.

"Just water, thank you, sir." She responded with a polite nod. He echoed the nod and walked over to poor two glasses of water.

"As lovely as it is to see you on such a busy day," Mycroft spoke while he carefully poured the decanter into the glasses. It was a waste to use such a beautiful decanter on water but that was the Diogenes Club for you. "I do have to wonder why you have chosen to visit me up here." He walked over and held out the glass is his nimble fingers. Anthea took the crystal glass with both hands carefully. She took a sip of the room temperature water.

"They found a place today, sir." She said. Mycroft's expression went neutral as only an eyebrow quirked.

"Oh?" Anthea nodded.

"And I went to check it out." Mycroft walked over to his desk and sat down.

"Was that wise, Miss James?" He asked his face still not giving away a sign of emotion. He was so still, so calm. Anthea smirked in response.

"Your driver took me to a street in the middle of suburbia surrounded by special ops agents." She scrunched up her nose cheekily. "I'm pretty sure it was a fine choice, sir." Mycroft sniffed, his disapproval but acceptance.

"So?"

"We didn't find him, sir." Anthea bit her lip.

"Of course not," Mycroft spoke in the same neutral tone. No disappointment to be heard. How he could do that all the time and never slip up still astounded Anthea. "Moriarty is a very intelligent creature. He will not be found until he wants to be found." Anthea took a deep breath and looked down to her glass.

"We did find something, sir." A pause. "Or rather, something was left for us." A coldness flowed over the steel eyes as they looked over to Anthea. She felt like he was daring her to give him terrible news. "There was a photograph of Dr. Watson and your brother pinned to the wall by a steak knife, sir." Mycroft pursed his lips looking down into his crystal glass.

"No surprise there." Anthea looked into her own glass once more. She looked up and winced.

"You don't suppose there's anything behind that? Or is he just leaving a hello, I'm still here message?" Mycroft didn't look up as he shook his head, essentially waving Anthea off.

"Playing games, that's all." The duo lulled into silence on this note. Anthea watched Mycroft has he busied himself staring at his crystal glass intensely. He seemed to be studying every corner of it for any blemish or mistake in the pattern, holding it up to see how the light shone through the liquid inside as well as the material itself. It's as she watched Mycroft doing this, face stern, eyes deep with thought that it occurred to her what was going on. She could see as plain as the nose on his face. She laughed silently to herself and shook her head. How could she have been so blind?

"You're scared." She announced out loud. His blue eyes flickered briefly onto her before Mycroft scoffed, standing up.

"Hardly." He spat, walking back over to the amenities station. "Whatever for?" She watched as he refilled his barely touched water. A smile cracked through the edges of her mouth. She looked to the side of the room and then back to Mycroft.

"You know, sir." She tilted her head as she watched him try to ignore her presence. "We've never really spoken about Moriarty before." Mycroft's face pulled into a disdainful look as he placed the decanter down and made his way to the front of the desk and leant against it, facing Anthea.

"Why would we, my dear? What is there to talk about? He has an unhealthy obsession with my brother." He raised his eyebrows and pouted, attempting to look disinterested. Anthea put her glass down and adjusted her seating position.

"It could have easily been you." She hummed.

"No it could not have been." Anthea smiled a little more.

"Because you don't take bate and their both bored." She tucked a loose curl behind her ear. "You would have preferred it to be you though, wouldn't you?"

No answer.

That was all the answer she needed. Anthea scooted forward on the couch, folding her hands together and leaning forward.

"There's no need to worry, sir. You know, that right?" Mycroft looked deep into the glass for a moment. He sighed, placing it down on the desk just behind him and placing both hands on the edges of said desk he was leaning on.

"Miss James, an intellect that rivals both my brothers and my own that suffers an extreme unbalance has an obsession with my little brother." A pause. "If sources are correct he has threatened to burn the heart out of my brother." A pause as chocolate held onto steel. Anthea shrugged.

"Sherlock claims not to have a heart."

"Please, we both know that not to be true." Another pause. Mycroft inhaled and crossed his arms across his chest. "This is a man who has a tangled web that stretches across the globe. He can go missing within a moment's notice and resurface wherever he pleases. Certainly sounds like a worthy opponent to the great Sherlock Holmes, don't you think?" Anthea took a moment to take in the faint hints of venerability seeping off the eldest Holmes brother at the moment. She didn't know when she'd get to see it again and it was positively stunning.

"Your brother has an army doctor, a D.I., a minor government official, and half of St. Bart's hospital looking after him." She titled her head and winced. "Not to mention a hundred or so homeless people." Mycroft scoffed. "He's just as smart and just as well equipped. What are the chances any of you are going to let anything happen to him?" Mycroft's face softened as he considered Anthea's words carefully and a sadness seemed to wash over him.

"My dear, it is those connections to ordinary people that make him so much more venerable. How is Mrs. Hudson supposed to help rather than hinder? One or two of John's girlfriends have already gotten in the way." Mycroft neatened his shirtsleeves, pulling them down to meet his jacket. Anthea watched his nimble hands while she listened. "Let's not forget he has already manipulated poor Miss Hooper." Anthea shook her head, looking up to the roof in disbelief. He would never see her point when it came to people, would he? Not when the emotional attachment went both ways, that just made people pathetic apparently. She shrugged her arms dramatically.

"Let's look at it this way then," She tried again. "There's two of you and one of him." She smiled lightly. "Odds are you two will pull out on top, no matter what." This earned her a noise somewhere between a single laugh and a scoff as Mycroft looked past Anthea to the window behind her. She pouted and shrugged. "I'd put my money on you any day." Steel eyes flickered over to observe her face. She smiled lightly. Mycroft sighed and moved to sit back down at his desk.

"I appreciate the vote of confidence Miss James." He hummed.

"Not that you need it."

"Not that I need it, no." He echoed back, side of his mouth pulling into a smile. "So do tell, did our lovely James try anything today?' A quirked eyebrow and a sly smile. Anthea tossed her head back as she laughed and leant back into a more comfortable position on the couch.

"How did you know?" Mycroft shrugged.

"It's been thirty two days since his last attempt."

"Oh, he has a cycle does he?" She asked, pulling out her phone, ready to plug it into her calendar. "I have to make a note of this. Know what days to avoid him."

Mycroft chuckled and Anthea grinned.

Author's Note: Well? What do we think? Like how I handled it? Let me know! Thanks to our lovely guests who I can't thank personally; Corrine, Guest, Wheezzzy8, overjalucifer (who also deserves a happy birthday for a few days ago), Wink, and marie. Thanks to everyone who reads and review, I love you all!

Mycroft's Chapter POV is UP! The First Time Mycroft Met Tim – Mycroft's POV is up! Go read it please, I think you guys will like it. It was definitely fun to write and is a big love letter to all of you guys anyway.