Author's Note: I am so relieved that you all enjoyed last chapter. I was happy with it, but I was worried some of you might not be happy with the way it happened. Thanks so much for being wonderful. This chapter only came to me yesterday after the other idea wasn't working. It had to happen eventually and I don't know why it wasn't on my list of Firsts in the first place... Oh well, it exists now. Please read, review, and 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 Silly Fight

Mycroft had been in a bad mood all day. He'd had to work on a minor crisis all weekend from his home office. He'd insisted that Anthea didn't need to help and that she was free to stay all weekend. That did nothing to lighten his mood, however. So Anthea kept to herself most of the weekend – except for the evenings – and tried to help in other ways. She did bits and pieces of tidying up like making the bed and dusting the piano. She also stocked his fridge and cabinets and organised dinner.

Anthea was spending Sunday morning reading on the couch. She was halfway through To Kill a Mocking Bird when Mycroft walked past her, a deep grimace plastered on his face. Anthea watched him from just above her book as he made his way to the kitchen. She kept reading. She heard the fridge open, followed by a reasonable time of silence. Then Mycroft clicked his tongue. There was shuffling and the sound of the fridge shutting.

"What is this?" Anthea looked above her book to see Mycroft quite dramatically plonk the fresh loaf of bread on the kitchen counter. Anthea smirked to herself.

"It's bread." She teased. Mycroft wasn't having any of that. He pursed his lips and quirked an eyebrow.

"It's pumpkin seed bread." The words came off his tongue as if they were offensive to his very soul.

"Yeah?" Anthea laughed. Mycroft crossed his arms across his chest.

"What in your right mind possessed you to buy it?" Ah, he was very much in a bad mood. Anthea's brow furrowed as she tried to focus back on her book. Best to ignore this, it would go away soon.

"I like pumpkin seed bread." She answered as she turned the page.

"Well, I don't." Mycroft snapped. "And last time I checked, my dear, this was my house." Brow furrowing deeper, Anthea looked up from her book. Steel eyes full of defiance were on her face.

"I went shopping for you, be nice." She carefully watched her own tone. "If you don't like it, I'll take it home tomorrow." Mycroft cocked his head to the side.

"And what am I going to do? Hmm?" Anthea's face contorted slightly.

"Buy new bread?" Like a grown up. Anthea was starting to feel blessed that she never met Mycroft as a teenager. Imagine him during exam periods.

"Stop trying to be funny." Mycroft scoffed. Anthea closed her book and placed it on her lap, sitting up on the couch. "And stop acting like you did me a favour." Anthea let a single laugh escape her mouth as she stared at Mycroft incredulously.

"I did do you a favour." Anthea crossed her legs. "If it weren't for me your kitchen would be completely empty right now."

"Oh, yes, pardon me." Mycroft hummed sarcastically. He turned around and opened the fridge again. "Instead, I have a fridge containing items, such as…" He slammed it shut and turned to face Anthea again, eyes still fierce. "Yoghurt. Since when do I eat yoghurt, hmm?"

"Um, I do sometimes." Anthea snapped back, finally standing up from the couch. She walked over to stand on the opposite side of the counter as Mycroft. She placed her hands on the back of one of the stool. "Maybe if I'm forced to have breakfast in the morning I don't want to just have toast. Maybe I wanted something different." Mycroft smiled dangerously at the brunette woman.

"If that was the case, then why did you buy the bread in the first place?" Anthea rolled her eyes. "Or make me buy a new toaster?" He gestured to the offending item on the counter space behind him. Anthea groaned as she looked off to the side of the room.

"You're so annoying." She breathed exhaustedly. "It's like dealing with a child."

"Oh, no, my dear." Mycroft placed his hands down on the counter and leaned forward. "You see, a child needs someone to take care of them. I could quite easily get the items I need myself."

"If you can how come you never have anything then?" Anthea rose her voice, turning to look at Mycroft. "You and your brother are like little kids who try to be adults. You throw tantrums when people actually try to keep you alive." Lighting quickly flashed through Mycroft's blue eyes. He gritted his teeth and glanced down to the counter, shaking his head.

"Honestly," He sighed. "Why on earth do I keep you around?" Anthea scoffed. She walked back over to the couch and sat down.

"Because you aren't capable of looking after yourself." She muttered as she picked her book back up. She opened it and began reading again. "Why do I keep you around?"

"Because you have abandonment issues." Anthea laughed under her breath as she felt the sting.

"Going for the jugular again," She muttered. "Nice."

A pause.

"Get back to work before you actually start thinking about murdering me over bread, yeah?"

"Murder you? Please. I'd have someone else do it."

Anthea just rolled her eyes as Mycroft walked past her once more.

Fifteen minutes later Anthea had cooled down. She put down her book and went to the shops to buy the usual type of bread. Mycroft was very stressed right now and if it would make him happy, she'd get the stupid bread. And maybe she could keep the pumpkin seed at his after all. It wouldn't kill him to have two types of bread in his fridge.

Before Anthea knew it the sky had turned dark. It was when she realised there was no more natural light shining into the room did she realise she was hungry. Glancing at the time on her phone, Anthea pursed her lips and titled her head in surprise. It had been hours and Mycroft had not yet emerged from his office since the earlier incident. Well now would be as good as time as any to check on him. If Anthea was hungry than surely he was ready to break for food.

As per habit from the office, Anthea knocked on the door to the study, waited a few seconds and opened the door. She popped her head through the gap first, looking over to the desk. She found Mycroft reading something off of his screen. His blinds were still open from the day time.

"Hey." Anthea smiled as she pushed the door further open and leaned against the frame. Mycroft didn't look away from his computer screen. In fact, he didn't acknowledge her presence at all. "What do you want for dinner?"

Silence.

Anthea smirked.

"If you don't answer, I'll just try and cook something myself." At the very least her attempt to be amusing garnered her a sigh. Mycroft shifted his seating positon and rubbed at his forehead with his index finger and his thumb.

"I don't care." He muttered, eyes still on the screen. Anthea frowned to herself, smirk still on her face. That was an odd response. Mycroft had an opinion on absolutely everything and that is not how he usually left the option up to her. Not out of the office, anyway. Surely work would put him in such a bad mood.

Oh…

Anthea stepped further into the room and titled her head.

"Are you sulking about earlier?" She could keep the slight hint of amusement out of her tone as she looked down on the poor genius. The man's mouth twitched very faintly. Anthea laughed. "You really are a relationship newbie, aren't you?" She asked as she came closer to the desk.

Poor Mycroft had been up here all day sulking over a little miniscule fight like it was the end of the world. All the while Anthea had been relaxing downstairs, having bought new bread and forgetting the argument ever happened. Knowing Mycroft he would have been driving himself crazy.

Mycroft clenched his hand into a fist as steel eyes finally looked away to the screen to meet Anthea's dark orbs. He looked somewhere between upset and offended.

"What do you mean am I sulking?" He scoffed. "My dear, we had an argument."

"Yeah." Anthea sniffed, her smile only growing bigger. "Over bread." She scrunched up her nose and flicked her hair. "Myc, that's a really stupid fight."

"Exactly." Mycroft leaned back in his chair. "Anthea if we fight over such a thing what chances do we have?"

A pause.

Anthea chuckled again. Mycroft frowned.

"The same chance as any other couple." She sat on the edge of the desk, folding her arms across her chest. Mycroft pursed his lips as he watched Anthea carefully. "It's a silly little fight that doesn't mean anything. Couples have them all the time." She watched as Mycroft computed this new information.

"They do?" He double-checked his facts. What an adorable little idiot of a genius.

"Yes." Anthea nodded playfully. "James has a go at Jamie for leaving her shoes everywhere all the time. Mary hates how John leaves the bathroom. They all do that."

Another pause.

Mycroft looked over to his books. His expression changed faintly multiple times as he went over the ideas over and over again in his head. Anthea patiently waited for him to analyse it to his heart's content. Steel eyes, now with a hint of confusion, landed back on her face.

"And what do they do to get past these minute disputes?"

"Nothing." Anthea shrugged. "Jamie and John try to put things away better, and I start buying the right bread. I'm not mad about it."

"Hmmm." Mycroft hummed. He placed his hands together and turned to look at his shelves full of books once more. Anthea jumped off the desk and came to stand in front of his chair.

"Mycroft, when you have two people like us we're bound to fight. It's who we are. I mean, look at you and your brother." Mycroft sniffed something between a scoff and a laugh. "A disagreement over bread isn't enough to make me stop loving you. Or even stop liking you." Now that comment earned her an actual smile. Those smiles still filled her stomach with butterflies.

"This relationship thing is a lot of work for hardly any reward." Mycroft sighed, shaking his head. Anthea laughed again. She wanted to stroke him, or kiss him, or ever play with his hair. But Anthea knew after sulking for so long it was not a good idea to break Mycroft's personal space bubble without request. So she took a step back and outstretched her arms.

"Come give me a hug, you alien." Mycroft's eyes went from one arm to the other.

"I don't want to." He answered flatly. Anthea rolled her eyes at the man.

"Oh, come on. It'll get rid of the remaining negative energy." Mycroft hesitated as his eyes narrowed. The man sighed inwardly and slowly stood up from his chair. Anthea's arms went around his chest. After a brief pause one arm went around her back and the other around her waist. She gave the genius a soft squeeze as he buried his nose in her hair. That was the sign that she had been right, all the negative energy had dissipated. Mycroft was right, this relationship was a lot of work but for Anthea moments like this was the reward.

"I may have overreacted multiple times today." Mycroft muttered into Anthea's hair. She sniffed a laugh as she squeezed him once more.

"You were stressed, probably angry, and you're always dramatic." She half teased. "I thought nothing of it."

Mycroft pulled out of the hug. He began neatening his suit – staring by pushing down the fabric and pulling on his cufflinks.

"Go get changed." He spoke like it was an order. "I'll take you out for dinner."

"Ooh." Anthea raised her eyebrows. "Yes sir." She started waltzing back to the still open door. "If this is my reward for putting up with you, maybe I'll buy the wrong bread more often."

"Don't push your luck."

Author's Note: There, how was that? Alright? It's a shorty but it really didn't need to be dragged out. Thanks to our guest reviewers; Guests x3, Hazel, Anna, Chulija, Smileyannez, Elaine, Maia, Chocolate Cake, and Mars. Thanks to all my readers and reviewers. I hope you enjoyed this chapter.

Quick Note: I have three assignments coming up in the following weeks and I want to get working on them. If I take an extra day to post a chapter for the next few updates, that's why. I have the writing one completed, but I still need to do the two psych ones.