Author's Note: Oh, man! Thanks so much for the feedback last chapter! It was all so varied. Lots of you had very different reactions to each other but they were all reactions that made my happy. Thanks guys! This is the clean-up episode, if you will. I hope you like it, or at the very least it's not a disappointment. 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 Time She Went To Sherrinford

An hour doesn't sound like much. It's a 24th of a day, it's the length of a T.V. show, or a decent sized lunch break. When you're busy it goes by unnoticed, when you're having fun it goes by too quickly. Sitting still and not acting for an hour shouldn't be hard. It was an hour, not a day, not even two hours. For Anthea it was the excruciatingly slow. Her mind was too aware of what could happen in an hour. She couldn't stop thinking about Mycroft locked in that glass cell with criminals all around him. She wondered where Sherlock and John were and if they were safe. She feared what Eurus was going to do with that hour. She lamented what Eurus had made her do to her life. Mostly she worried for Mycroft but every time she looked at the doll and the pieces she had collected up and put on the coffee table her heart shattered into identical pieces.

Her house, her Grandmother's house. The one Mycroft had gotten back for her. It was her remnants of her childhood and early teenaged years with her family. It was her connection to her mother and her family. It was also a symbol of what it meant to be an ally of Mycroft Holmes.

Tim. Poor Tim. Her lawyer. She had wasted years of his life trying to be comfortable. So, so boring, but a constant at a time when she didn't have any. When Jamie didn't live in London, and she was still very much a loner. Anthea had never been in love before Mycroft but love comes in many forms.

That doll. She didn't even want to talk about that doll. Did she have a right to be so heartbroken over it anyway? Eurus was right, it was supposed to be hers. If Violet knew her daughter was alive would she have given Mycroft the permission to give this to Anthea? Or would she have saved it in case her daughter could have it one day? As much as she might like to think, Anthea was not part of the Holmes family. She was just the eldest's girlfriend. Maybe Violet only took interest in her because she missed memories she could have had with her daughter. Now she might get her daughter back…

Anthea felt like she was going to cry. Her eyes were filling with water and she furiously tried to blink and shake them away before they fell. This was stupid, she shouldn't cry. This wasn't time for that. This was time for work. This was time to be a good assistant and go save her boss from the horrors he must be going through. He looked like he had been through the ringer. She just needed to wait a little longer and she could do her job.

But that doll. Sitting on the coffee table looking sad, and broken, and all alone. Every time it even got in her peripheral vision Anthea felt herself being choked from the inside. She just wanted to go back a few hours and fix it. To fix everything. She just wanted that carefully constructed life back. She wanted to go back before the big bad wolf came from the East and blew it down. Now she'd have to dig through the wreckage.

Before she could realise what she was doing Anthea had picked up her phone and searched her contacts. She found Tim's number and hit call. Her eyes were still full of tears that threatened to fall.

"Hello?" Tim answered his mobile cautiously. Anthea couldn't blame him for a second. As soon as she heard his voice she sighed with relief. A tear or two escaped as she did.

"Tim!" She gasped as she inhaled. "Tim, I'm so sorry. I'm so, so sorry." She wiped those few tears away. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean it. She made me. I'm sorry. I didn't want to hurt you like that. That's not me. Well to you, it's not me." She was frantic and barely took a breath as she spoke.

"Woah, woah, woah!" Tim sounded taken aback. "Ali, one thought at a time. Take it slow." Anthea took a breath. She rubbed her eyes and soothed herself.

"Tim, I didn't mean it." She said. "I was with you for years. Of course I loved you. Not the right way but, I did." There was a pause. It made Anthea nervous.

"I know." Tim answered. Anthea sniffed a choked laugh. "Ali, you wouldn't have been so hurt when we broke up if you didn't love me. And we wouldn't have hooked up and almost hooked up a few more times if you never loved me. You're not that type of girl." He sounded a little proud of himself with that last note. It brightened Anthea's mood a little.

"Really? Like really?" She double checked.

"Yeah. I just figured you were mad at me, or at everyone, when you added that to an otherwise profession request for a lawyer." Then she was reminded. Anthea placed her forehead in her free hand.

"Mycroft's sister made me do it. I'm so sorry, Tim." Anthea held herself together the best she could as she said that.

"Well, I've seen her psychological profile. I'm not surprised."

What?

Anthea sat up and stared into space.

"You knew about Eurus?" She hissed down the phone, finding more of her spark of life. She heard Tim scoff.

"I wrote Mr. Holmes' latest will. Since he's her primary caregiver there's a whole section about what happens with her."

"You wrote Mycroft's will?" Anthea asked louder.

"Yeah because he knows I'd help you with all his assets better than some other lawyer." Later Anthea would realise there was something awfully sweet about that. About Mycroft choosing someone he hated because he knew Tim would look after Anthea. For now she wasn't focused on that. She cursed into the phone. "I guess you didn't know."

"Not until recently." Anthea rubbed at her forehead. "Wait, if Sherlock didn't know and I didn't know, who gets are of Eurus?" She asked. Tim hissed.

"Client confidentiality, Ali."

"It's James, isn't it?" She asked. Before Tim could answer Anthea shook her head. This didn't matter right now. That's not why she was calling. Although she did find that her destroyed little life was still on some firm foundation. "No. Don't worry." She said. "The point is I did love you, and I just wanted to make sure you knew that."

"Well I do."

"Good." Anthea nodded. She scrunched up her nose as a thought came to her mind. "Did you already send something to my uncle?" She asked nervously. Even before he spoke, Anthea could tell that Tim had darkened.

"I did." He spoke lowly. "Was that not you, too?" He asked. Anthea sighed, feeling a little defeated again. It was too late for the house. "Do you want me to try and rescind the offer?" Tim asked.

"No." Anthea huffed. "No. It's okay. It's…" She stopped. She didn't know what she was trying to say. "It's just a house. We'll wait and see. Maybe if he sells it I can buy it off the market. I bet Eurus would know if we pulled out now."

A pause.

"Ali."

"I've got to go, Tim. I've got to help my boss and then hug my boyfriend." Not for another fifteen minutes, but still. She had enough of this. She didn't want to talk about the house anymore. Not right now, not until Mycroft was safe and Sherlock was found.

"If you need help…"

"I have the government at my fingertips."

"Good point." Tim laughed lightly. "Still, I'm a great lawyer and I liked to charge Mycroft some more money. It's my time off so double time from his bank account would be great." Anthea sniffed. Okay, so sometimes he was funny and not entirely boring. He was just boring when you had to spend a lot of time with him, like anything over an hour.

"See you."

"Good luck, whatever you're doing."

Click.

She could have used that luck a few hours ago.

Sherrinford, out in the middle of nowhere, looked exactly what one might picture out of a novel. A practically underground island prison. Like Alcatraz was a prototype for a much larger monster. If movies were real, such as X-Men, this is where they'd have the plastic – metal free – cell designed specifically for Magneto. That's the vibe Anthea got from the outside as they approached on helicopters and that's definitely the vibe she got from the shots of Eurus' cell.

James, Carol, and Anthea arrived with a small team before the rest of the squads arrived. They were the first wave if you will, or the negotiators. The others would come to help take control of the island if all went to plan. Although Eurus made it sound like the island would just be given to them. If she had the prisoners and staff under her control than that was likely. James agreed but warned them to be on high alert.

Two armed guards and one prisoner greeted them when they landed. What was unnerving was the prisoner wore a radio and carried the same gun the guards did. The sight did something to you – unsettled a strange part of your brain that usually only responds to surrealism or absurdism. They acted normal, they acted like this was okay, but as an outsider you knew it wasn't. The three of them had clearly been chosen to greet them on purpose to do just that. James had given Carol a look, and the woman had rolled her eyes. Yes, they knew it was on purpose too.

"James." One of the guards nodded to the head agent as James, Carol, and Anthea approached. Their team stayed a few metres behind.

"Hey, you don't get to greet me like you haven't been brainwashed by Eurus Holmes." James pointed at the guard. "You've worked here how long? And you let her get to you. Nice." His face was so stern. The man's face flickered like he wanted to feel or say something to James but he didn't. The convict chuckled.

"Do I know you?" James asked.

"You should." The man sneered. "I worked for Moriarty." James looked him up and down.

"A lot of people worked for Moriarty." James looked down at the convict, not letting him over power him. "I can't remember all the people I caught or interrogated. Carol, can you remember him?" Carol sniffed a laugh.

"If he's not the boss he's not worth remembering." She said. James looked over his shoulder and smiled at her. She smiled back. It was always fascinating to watch James work. He was a different person.

"Well I'd make you remember me if I were allowed to." The smaller man hissed up at James.

"But you're brainwashed too." James rolled his eyes. The guard James knew cleared his throat to gain control.

"Is the pretty one Holmes' assistant?" He nodded to Anthea. Anthea and Carol shared a look.

"Hey." James held a hand out. "Brainwashed or not, watch what you say about my girls." He straightened his shoulders, stood up straight, and gestured to Anthea with an open hand. "A here will go with four of my men to get Holmes. Carol," He gestured to the tall intimidating woman. "Will stay here with five men and await my orders." Or more honestly wait for everyone else. "You." He pointed to the convict. "Will take me to the director's office so I can start to fix this mess."

"Why me?" The convict scowled.

"Because he thinks you're pretty." Anthea rolled her eyes as she spoke. Why did he think? If he was smart enough to be here he should know that James had already identified him as the one least under Eurus' command. Maybe he wasn't smart at all – maybe he was just dangerous. Moriarty liked those people too.

So they went their separate ways. Perhaps they were being a little trusting of these people but there were parts of both Anthea and James that trusted Eurus. Maybe it was their relationships with Mycroft and Sherlock but you tend to know when a Holmes was lying to you. Not to mention they weren't entirely trusting. Everyone was armed to the teeth, there was plenty of highly trained people only seconds away, and they had open lines of communication. This wasn't just three people infiltrating a facility anymore, this was high skilled experts taking back control. Anthea felt safer now than she ever had during that Skype call.

Anthea was lead to the cell that was supposed to be Eurus'. Even the glass wall was hidden behind walls. With her weapon out, Anthea took one trusted agent in with her and the brainwashed guard. She left the others out at the door to keep guard.

Inside the cold grey room Mycroft stood out, even in his grey suit. He sat on the bed, long legs outstretched in front of him, folded over at the ankle. His head rest against the cell wall and he had his eyes closed. His face was wracked with worry. Anthea was beginning to understand just why Mycroft was prone to nightmares if this was a reality. The wave of relief that hit Anthea when she saw Mycroft in the flesh and alive had to have been palpable to the others in the room.

"Mycroft!" Anthea forced herself not to sob so it came out sounding like a strangled sigh. As the guard unlocked the door, Mycroft opened his eyes. They quickly flickered around to the agent and the guard unlocking the cell, then to the gun in Anthea's hand and the protective gear she had on. He was piecing together what happened. Then his eyes, eyes that never looked so blue against such a grey background, stuck to hers.

"Anthea." He sounded just as relieved as she was. If Mycroft looked bad over the footage on the computer, he looked shocking now. The things he must have gone through today, and all with family. People can't come out of that exactly the same, can they?

Anthea wanted to run to him and wrap her arms around him but she knew better. Just because the cell was open now it didn't mean it would remain that way. It was an easy trick, to close the door behind her, and perhaps too simple for someone like Eurus but Anthea would still not try it. So she waited. She waited for Mycroft to wearily walk out of the cell.

Once he was clear of the door, that's when she did it. She wrapped her arms around his neck, pulled him down, and held onto him tightly. She didn't care about the agent in the room or the guard – she had thought her boyfriend might die today and yet here he was. With less hesitance than normal Mycroft wrapped his arms around Anthea's waist in return. Stopping herself once again from sobbing, Anthea buried her face in Mycroft's chest and breathed heavily. She said nothing, and he said nothing. They simply embraced. After sufficient time passed and Anthea felt like she could breathe again she released herself from her boyfriend. She tucked a curl behind her ear and coughed.

"You're not hurt are you, sir?" She asked, looking at him with eyes full of love and yearning. Mycroft's lips twitched like he wanted to smile but he just couldn't. He was exhausted, it was clear to see.

"Physically fine. Mentally…" He cocked his head from side to side and once again almost smirked. "I'll assess the damage later." As Anthea smiled back Mycroft's smile dropped. "And you, my dear?" She scrunched her nose up, loving how he could always find concern for those he cared for. Even if he would deny it later.

"Physically fine." She teased a little bit, repeating his words. "Mentally, better as soon as we get you out of harm's way, sir." Mycroft widened his eyes and quirked his eyebrows.

"Right." He hummed. "I trust James is on top of it so far?" Anthea nodded.

"Shall I take you to him, sir?" She asked. Mycroft looked the guard up and down. He looked dead in his eyes and then squinted. He was no doubt thinking about what the ramifications of all these brainwashed employees meant for the government. Therapy, hiring new staff, training, new security measures. They might need to call in some help for all of this. Did Eurus know exactly the mess she caused?

"I know the way." Mycroft finally answered Anthea. "But I should like you," He said to the guard. "To walk in front of me and my men. I shall know if you take a wrong turn or make some sort of signal." He didn't seem to trust his sister for a second. He had every right to be as suspicious as he wanted.

"You sounded just like James." Anthea rolled her eyes, finding some humour in the dark moment. Mycroft glanced at her, silently asking her to explain. "He said something similar when we got here to someone."

"Do I sound like James, or does James sound like me?" Mycroft questioned smugly.

"Or," Anthea sung. "Do you both sound like the generic way they train agents?" She teased, hoping to get a smirk or something out of Mycroft. She got neither, but she did get an eye roll. It was better than nothing and meant to her that maybe he'll be okay.

Mycroft had kicked everyone else out of the governor's office while he took the phone call from Detective Inspector Lestrade. All that remained in the room were him, James, and Anthea. James had been trying to convince Mycroft to go home since he stepped foot in the office and Anthea was on his side. Mycroft needed to stop. He was fighting to keep going, probably to stop from thinking, but he needed to stop. Hopefully now he could.

Lestrade had brought nothing but good news. He'd received a call from Sherlock. They were at Musgrave Place. When asked for clarification they were Sherlock, John and Eurus. Apparently she wasn't moving and had no intentions of leaving. She would go back into custody willingly. It appeared that the bulk of this waking nightmare was over.

"So will you go home now?" James asked. He had his large arms folded against his chest as he looked at Mycroft. The genius pocketed his phone in his breast pocket. He was trying his best to look suave and superior but he was unravelling around the edges. Or he had been from the moment they found him.

"I have far too much work to do." Mycroft hummed. Anthea sighed and looked down at her shoes.

"No you don't." James pouted his lips and shook his head. "You're a victim. You, John, and Sherlock are the victims, and kind of A too. So that kind of means you should go home and leave this to people not involved."

"He's right." Anthea looked up and eyed Mycroft. "You guys have had a rough day, and I'm tired. Now we know Sherlock and your sister are safe we should just go relax."

"I appreciate the concern." Mycroft said somewhat openly and meaning it. It caught Anthea and James a little off guard, as they both tensed a little. "But my expertise is needed here to help James, Carol, and their men."

"No, it's not." James said. Mycroft looked at him like James had slapped him. "Holmes, any other time, yeah, sure! Your help is totally wanted." The agent uncrossed his arms and placed them down on the desk behind him as he leaned on it. "But not now, not when I can read your face, sir." James gave Mycroft a sheepish look as the genius looked surprised.

"Again, he's right." Anthea shrugged with her shoulders. "Everyone can see how wrecked you are. Not just us, all the agents can see 'victim' written all over your face." James nodded with her words.

"That's absurd." Mycroft scoffed.

"You look like a normal person does after they've been told somebody just died." Anthea said flatly.

"Yeah, that's that look." James agreed. Mycroft pursed his lips.

"Even still," Mycroft shook his head and looked at the ground, looking for words to say. "There is so much to do here today."

"I've got it, sir." James said. "I know what needs to be done, I have my agents all accounted for and doing duties around the place. I will have every staff member and prisoner accounted for, I will call for help from SWAT police if I have to. I came up with everything on the way here with A and Carol. I'm set. I can do this for you." Mycroft looked away. "Sir." James demanded his attention politely back. "Give me this chance to prove to you that I am good at this job." Mycroft looked at Anthea. She said nothing, only met his eyes and silently pleaded for him to listen to James. Mycroft clicked his tongue.

"I suppose it won't hurt to go home and shower." He muttered. "I'm more concerned with news from Musgrave anyway." James and Anthea visibly relaxed. They shared a smile with each other. James moved behind the desk to keep working. Anthea placed her hand on Mycroft's arm. He tensed at first but relaxed into her touch.

Anthea stayed up keeping an eye on Mycroft at home. Characteristically, the man just wanted to sit silently and digest everything he had been through. Knowing him better than she knew herself in many ways, Anthea knew the best way to help is to let him be quiet but let him know she was around. She sat with him, not talking, occasionally gently touching his hand or his arm in a reminder that he wasn't alone. It was hard to put into words but she didn't like the idea of leaving him alone.

Until Lestrade turned up. Apparently he was here because Sherlock had asked Lestrade to check up on Mycroft. Now to Anthea this was fantastic news for many reasons. The most important one that for once Sherlock wasn't blaming his brother and instead was worried for him. Maybe Sherlock wasn't coming out of this unchanged either, maybe he finally understood his brother in a way he hadn't before. Secondly was that Mycroft needed friends, just like Sherlock, to get through this. Anthea and James were a good start, but he'd have to let others in too, like John and Jamie. Anthea knew Mycroft trusted Lestrade and if anyone could broach their way into actually getting Mycroft to talk it was the detective inspector. Finally and least important was that now Anthea could go lay down. She was exhausted and even an hour of sleep would be amazing so while Lestrade was here she was going to go lie down in bed. Someone else was on Mycroft watch.

Anthea was in a light stage of sleep when she felt arms wrap around her. She had no idea how much time had passed only that this meant Lestrade had left and instead of wallowing by himself Mycroft had sought some comfort. On his own or under advice, she wondered. Anthea placed her hands on top of the familiar hands, leaned back into the warm chest, and sighed.

"Hello." Her voice cracked.

"Hello." The melodic voice responded. Anthea could hear his voice in his chest. It was more comforting now than it had ever been before.

"I was so scared I was going to lose you today." She said.

A pause.

Mycroft's breath hitched in his chest.

"Really?" He asked. What an absurd thing to ask. Anthea hummed and nodded her head. She knew he was watching her – she could feel it – so he'd see the action.

"Except for a second when I found out Tim knew before I did." Anthea smiled, her eyes still shut. Mycroft sniffed a single laugh.

"You called your lawyer, then." He hummed.

"I had to." Anthe squeezed Mycroft's hand. "He's… my lawyer." She opened her eyes and looked at his hands. She loved his hands, so long and elegant, and skilled. "And your lawyer too, apparently."

"I'm sorry." Mycroft said, not even responding to her teasing. Frowning to herself, Anthea patted Mycroft's hand.

"I get it." She tried to sooth him. She could feel Mycroft's arms tense.

"I don't deserve you." He muttered quietly. Frowning further, Anthea turned and twisted so she could look at Mycroft's face. He looked lost still, and she didn't like it.

"Don't say that." She chided. "Why do you say that?" Mycroft's lip twitched. He shook his head trying to dismiss it. "No." Anthea pulled herself up further to look at him better. "Why would you say that?" Mycroft raised his eyebrows and swallowed his breath. He appeared to get lost in his thoughts.

"I." He stopped with a quiet grunt. "You shouldn't be forced into something like this." That's not what he was thinking. That wasn't at all what he was going to say originally, Anthea could see that written as clear as day all over his face.

"So shouldn't John." Anthea said. "Or Molly, or Mrs. Hudson, or Jamie." She continued to list names. "And we could all leave you and Sherlock if we wanted to but we're all still here." Mycroft said nothing as he stared at the door to the ensuite. Anthea placed her hand gently on his cheek to get his attention. "Hey." She whispered. "It's okay. I've got your back. I will always follow you into hell and back, whether you're paying me or not." Finally, finally she got something close to a real smile from Mycroft.

"My partner in crime…" He mused. He took Anthea's hand from his face and held it in his own hand. Anthea tightened her grip so they were holding hands. "People who'll stand at the gates of hell with you." He was musing, somewhere in reality and somewhere in his thoughts. "I can see why my brother has fallen so deeply into this sentiment thing." Anthea's heart swelled at the words. She leaned over and kissed Mycroft gently on his lips.

"It's not so bad, is it?" She said.

"Not entirely, no."

Author's Note: It was another longer chapter today. Did you like it? I hope you did. There's a few things we could talk about! I look forward to your reviews. Thanks to our guest reviewers; Sophie, Guest, Wheezzy8, Madalina, and Guesswho. Thanks to all my readers and reviewers – you're the best. See you next chapter… Which might be a day late depending on how I go with everything I have to do next week. Might be on time though. I just don't want to rush it out – it will probably involve the parents.