Author's Note: Hey everyone. Thanks for the nice reviews last chapter. The runaway chapter was well received :P. This chapter is what was supposed to be last chapter before it got away from me. It's the parents and Sherlock chapter I promised you and I hope you like. 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 Sherlock Told Mycroft He Loved Him

The commotion at the front door caused Anthea to stir awake. She hadn't enough time to digest the sounds as the door was opened. As Sherlock entered through the front door all Anthea could do was stare at him with a bewildered expression on her position on the couch as her brain kicked back into gear. Sherlock smiled at her.

She was at the Holmes family house.

They had gone to see Eurus today.

She went to sit down for a second on the couch.

She must have fallen asleep.

Anthea rolled her eyes at herself and gave Sherlock a bashful smile in return.

"Mycroft." Sherlock called out, not turning back but instead keeping his eyes around Anthea. He was making deductions obvious. "Your girlfriend fell asleep on the couch." Just like a younger sibling to dob like that. Sherlock smirked at her again as Anthea sat up. At least she was part of the games now and not an accessory. It suggested to her that Sherlock did value her.

Sherlock walked into the room proper, no longer blocking the door. He found the pile of envelopes of unopened letters his parents had and brought it upon himself to open one and start reading it. Mycroft was next through the door. His black coat was on, he had his umbrella in hand, and a scowl on his face.

"Can you please not call her that?" Mycroft barked at his younger brother. He put down his umbrella by the door. Sherlock looked at him from above the letter. "It makes her sound common, and I do believe we've past such terms." An unreadable expression flashed across Sherlock's face. He put down the letter on top of its open envelope. Anthea looked over to it, it was just their water bill.

"Mother of your child, then?" Sherlock asked. Mycroft smiled sarcastically at his brother.

"Partner will suffice." Mycroft replied darkly.

"Fine." Sherlock shrugged. He sat down heavily in his father's armchair. "I'll lie for you." Sky blue eyes landed on Anthea. "What about you? Requests?"

"Boyfriend is fine." Anthea said. "I like how it makes him squirm." Sherlock chuckled under his breath. He looked up at his brother smugly. Mycroft sighed and patted the top of the arm chair and Anthea could see that it was a familial gesture. The way Sherlock reacted to it, it was like anyone else's' brother patting them on the shoulder. No hard feelings. This was not the bickering of old. This was a new kind of teasing that had evolved since Eurus. It had become so important to their relationship that they didn't know how to talk without it but now where harshness and hurt feelings existed was humour and a connection. Anthea liked to see that.

"What is this all about?" Violet asked about the arguing as she and Siger made it into the room. It was clear by the time difference that Mycroft and Sherlock had walked way ahead of them.

"Nothing." Mycroft muttered.

"I found his partner asleep on the couch." Sherlock answered, looking at the empty fire place. Violet looked at the open letter she clicked her tongue and looked around disappointedly. Mycroft shrugged defensively so she lightly tapped Sherlock on the head with the open letter. The younger Holmes flinched and blinked at her.

"There is nothing wrong with that, dear." Violet answered as she handed the open letter to Siger. He sighed but didn't seem annoyed. If anything he seemed lightly amused – it was probably something that happened all the time when Sherlock lived at home. "Alice-"

"Ali." Sherlock corrected her.

"Needs all the energy she can." Violet continued, ignoring the interruption. "She's growing an entire human being inside of her."

"I know." Sherlock whined. "I've seen the ultrasound." Mycroft's brow furrowed. He looked surprised.

"You have?" He asked his brother in a suspicious voice. Sherlock nodded.

"She brought it over last time you sent her with a file."

"She did?" Mycroft asked. He looked at Anthea. It was her turn to nod and look at him like he was missing the obvious.

"It's my niece or nephew. I'm invested." Sherlock gripped at the arm of the chair. "At this point I'm more invested than you are."

"Sherlock." Siger chided his son, giving him something close to a stern look but not quite making it.

"It's true." He defended.

"But it doesn't matter. Not right now." Anthea tried to diffuse the moment. She sat forward on the couch and tucked a curl behind her ear. "I just like having… family in London to show these things to other than Jamie." Mycroft pursed his lips and nodded.

"Naturally." He replied gently. He believed her. "Although if I knew Sherlock was interested I would have gladly shared it with him myself."

"You've seen it?" Sherlock asked. Violet scoffed.

"Don't be ridiculous, boy, of course he has." She said to her youngest son. "Look how nosy you two are. Do you think he could keep away from a video of his own child?" Anthea winced.

"Can we stop saying his baby?" She asked as rubbed at the side of her face, feeling the stress. The room was looking at her now. "We've been saying my baby. It takes the pressure off, okay? It just makes it easier." Mycroft's expression was confusing to her. It was half hidden away and half showing on his face and she couldn't quite read it. Sad? Concerned? What?

"It's fine around them." He said to her, looking at her with his deep steel eyes.

"Are you sure?" She asked. He quirked an eyebrow and suddenly his expressions were what he wanted her to see again.

"I let them call me Myc without killing them. They can say my child. Genetically it's correct." He said. Anthea didn't know what to say. She searched his eyes, trying to find the meaning in those words.

"I'd like to see you try to kill me before I killed you." Sherlock murmured immediately gaining a look from Mycroft like he was willing to take that bet. Violet jumped on it quick smart.

"I've had enough of my babies trying to kill each other. Don't you dare even joke about that!" She held a finger out sternly.

"Mummy." Mycroft sighed.

"Come on!" Sherlock said at the same time.

"There's too many conversation tangents in this room." Siger interrupted before it could continue. "Sherlock, come outside with me." He started walking to the door.

"No thanks." Sherlock answered.

"Fine. Listen to your mother instead." Siger replied. Immediately Sherlock jumped off the chair and began following his dad to the backdoor. Siger was good.

After they left Mycroft quietly excused himself to put his stuff up in his old bedroom. Anthea nodded to Mycroft to indicate to Violet that she was going to follow him. Upon entering the old bedroom Anthea shut the door and leaned on it. She folded her hands across her chest. Mycroft placed his briefcase down on the bed followed by his coat.

"How was it?" Anthea asked about the first family visit to Eurus. Mycroft's back to Anthea, he didn't speak at first. She watched as his shoulders shrunk. He took his time to pat some dirt off his coat before turning to face Anthea.

"Fine." He fake a smile. Anthea chewed on the inside of her cheek and hummed. Mycroft knew she was waiting for a better answer than fine. "Mummy and Father adored it." Was that it? Arms still folded across her chest, Anthea took a step forward.

"That didn't make them upset at you, did it?" She asked, feeling protective of her favourite genius. Mycroft closed his eyes and shook his head, dismissing Anthea's worries.

"Not at all." He insisted. Yet Anthea had no doubt their previous words echoed through his head as he watched them. "Mummy even…" Suddenly his old study desk looked very interesting to him. "Took my hand during the recital." Oh, that was good. That made Anthea feel much better.

"Lovely." Anthea replied. "And this arguing between your brother and you, that didn't happen there did it?"

"Not at all. We very much put up a united front." Mycroft then smirked. "But that is the current issue. We have to release all those built up jibes now before one of us dies from being too kind." Anthea laughed, a natural smile filling her face. She finally lowered her arms and stepped closer to Mycroft.

"So it went better than the nightmare you imagined?" Anthea asked, stroking Mycroft's arm.

"Apparently so." He replied. Anthea let out a breath laugh. She slipped her arms around Mycroft's waste and hugged him. She felt him rest his forehead on her head.

"I'm glad your family is doing well." She sighed.

"Hmm."

The rest of the afternoon and evening was what Anthea viewed as a typical family evening. Or it might have been better than a typical evening for the Holmes family since puberty hit and contention raised between the boys. It was the typical family board games and meal she had come to expect but the amount of heated arguments decreased. Competition was still rampant but for once Anthea even witnessed Mycroft and Sherlock team up in Monopoly as a kind of housing and banking duo to take down their mother. Anthea couldn't wait to tell both John and James about it. They'd be impressed. They fought during Uno but that wasn't surprising at all.

The games stopped briefly at 8pm for coffee and biscuits. It appeared the plan was to play until midnight so this was just a moment to refuel. Anthea, not being able to have caffeine, was allowed to excuse herself if she got tired but the long nap was serving her well and she didn't want to be called a quitter by Sherlock if she left during a game. She was, after all, very competitive herself.

Somewhere between discussing Rosie's health scare and what James was up to Sherlock turn the conversation around on to Anthea and started talking baby names. Anthea hadn't even begun thinking of names at this point. The baby was her little one and nothing else. Hell, she didn't even know if it was going to be a Holmes or a Clarke. She thought this was too early to be thinking about it but some people had them planned for years. It probably wouldn't hurt if sooner or later she started thinking of names. Not around Sherlock, though.

Sherlock had just dunked a biscuit and eaten it when he leaned on the table to peer across to Anthea.

"Here's my thoughts regarding names for your offspring." He said. Anthea watched him with a bemused look on her face. Mycroft was busying himself with putting the correct amount of cream into his coffee. "If it's a boy, call it Sherlock." Anthea rolled her eyes. "If it's a girl…." He leaned back in his chair and searched his memory palace. Coming up empty he called out "What's Eurus' middle name?"

"Audrey." Violet responded.

"Call her that." Sherlock said. Anthea sniffed a laugh.

"This is only because John refused to name Rosie Sherlock." Anthea reminded Sherlock. The detective pursed his lips.

"I should think someone would name their progeny after me." His sky blue eyes were full of life.

"We're not having two Sherlocks." Anthea dismissed the idea.

"If they're naming their child after anyone it'll be Violet and me." Siger interjected. He held himself proudly. Violet simply laughed at him. Mycroft stirred his coffee meticulously and slowly. Anthea cocked her head to the side and hummed.

"What if I want to name it after my own parents?" Anthea argued. She didn't want to, not first names anyway, but that wasn't the point. Sherlock gained a confused frown.

"Why would you do that? They're dead? They're not here to care about it." He spluttered out in classic Sherlock style. Anthea rolled her eyes and sighed.

"Sherlock." Violet chided. "It would be to honour their memory." Sherlock looked at his mum like her words were nonsense.

"I say if you're dead you don't get a vote." He said to his mother. Anthea leaned in and looked at Sherlock.

"And I say you don't get a vote." She replied sarcastically.

"Why?" Sherlock chortled.

"Because it's not your baby. It's theirs." Violet whined at her son. Mycroft visibly frowned as he looked down at his tea. Some of Anthea's levity disappeared. She leaned back into her seat and tucked some loose curls behind her ear.

"Maybe we should change the subject." She said calmly. Sherlock looked between her and Mycroft two or three times.

"Why? Because of him? Ignore him." Sherlock said. Anthea sighed.

"Sherlock." She muttered.

"No." He shook his head. "I already told him he needs to get over himself and let others talk about this. It's not one of his deep dark secrets." He and Mycroft looked each other in the eye and Anthea was left wondering when they had this apparent conversation.

"Sherlock." Violet's turn to chide.

"No." Sherlock said again. "Mycroft, I love you, but you are being an idiot."

Anthea and Mycroft gave each other a look. It was the look they gave each other when something suspicious happened or caught them off guard momentarily. It was basically the 'what was that?' look. Siger blinked widely four times. Sherlock looked around distrustfully at the silence that had fallen in the room.

"What?" He questioned. Violet inhaled sharply and the clicked her tongue lovingly and cooed.

"I don't think I've heard him say that in twenty years." Violet held a hand to her chest as she spoke. She looked besides herself.

"When was his thirteenth birthday? It was before then." Siger spoke to his wife.

"What? I love you?" Sherlock asked, face contorted into a frown. "I say that. I tell you on your birthdays."

"It's a thing he says now." Anthea said sarcastically to Violet, tilting her head towards her. Mycroft sniffed a laugh in response but his eyes were drawn down to where his hands were pulling on his cufflinks.

"Not to Mycie." Violet argued. She looked at Sherlock critically. She then did the same to Mycroft. Anthea looked from Violet, to Siger, to Mycroft, then to Sherlock.

"That's… very true." She shrugged, a smile forming on her face. Sherlock looked a little rattled as Mycroft kept busy with his cufflinks.

"Just because I don't say it doesn't mean I don't." Sherlock fumbled over his words. "He knows I love him." He said to his mother. Violet clutched at her chest tighter. He looked at Siger. Siger smiled and shrugged. He looked at Anthea. She was just enjoying the whole thing. She was already loving the change in dynamic between them and this just made it even better. Finally Sherlock looked at Mycroft. Feeling the eyes on him, Mycroft looked. "You know I do, right?" He sounded unsure. Mycroft blinked. He pouted his lips then bit the bottom one. He took a quick glance at the other people in the room before landing on Anthea. She didn't move a muscle. The last thing she wanted to do was influence this interaction in one way or another and make the response less honest. Finally Mycroft closed his eyes and nodded.

"Of course I do." He replied. It was kind of a lie. Anthea knew there were plenty of times that Mycroft doubted that Sherlock had any type of emotional bond to him. On days after big fights Mycroft would think that it was out of duty to their parents that Sherlock let him help out rather than any form of brotherly love. Anthea never knew how to counter this. She knew Sherlock had to love him but sometimes it was hard to see. Now, Mycroft was trying not to let the sides of his mouth pull into a smile. He gave up and let the awkward smile take over. "I assume you aware that the feeling is reciprocated, brother mine." He said. Anthea now knew why Violet was clutching her heart. That so very Holmsian response made Anthea's heart ache too. So sweet.

"Obviously." Sherlock rolled his eyes with extra drama and flare before smiling back at Mycroft. Violet leaned over to Siger.

"Where's your phone, dear?" She asked. "We need to capture this moment for proof."

"Already got it." Anthea answered before Siger could. She'd taken out her phone and was trying to take a photo capturing both the brothers in it. It was hard with Mycroft next to Anthea and Sherlock on the opposite end of the table from her. She got one shot but before she could get another Mycroft swiped the phone from her hands. Anthea scrunched up her nose at him. He turned off the camera and passed it back to her face down on the table.

"Moving on…" Sherlock mumbled, embarrassment leaking from his pours.

"Yahtzee?" Siger asked. He and Violet accepted when their sons needed to change a subject at a time like this. Pushing them would only ruin the moment. This was a precious minute in time that needed to be kept pure. Anthea picked her phone back up to check her messages, going along with it also.

"A luck based game? Sounds good." It was the only way she was going to win a game other than Poker. Poker was her game. Maths games went mostly to Violet, trivia games usually went to Mycroft, perception usually went to Sherlock and spelling was mostly Mycroft with Violet up there. Siger was the Operation champ tonight.

"I demand we check those dice first." Sherlock said. "I suspected last time that they were loaded." Mycroft scoffed.

"Why on Earth would our family have loaded dice?" Mycroft questioned the absurd statement. Sherlock leaned forward again and peered at Mycroft.

"I don't know, you tell me, brother dear." He accused Mycroft, bringing up some argument from years and years ago.

Thus the bickering was back. That was okay though, there was love behind it.

Author's Note: I'm surprised I got this done. My arm, the one I had an operation on about a year and a bit ago, is playing up like crazy this week. I was going to take today off if I couldn't write but I just wrote in small sittings today and got it done. Because of this, and because I need time to think of what I'm doing for 200, I will probably take a few extra days next chapter if that's okay. Thanks to our guest reviewers; Bunnyrabbit100, Singing Ferret, B, Christie, and Guest. Thanks to everyone who has ever left a review because you make me so happy. Let me know what you think of this chapter please! And also any ideas for 200 are still appreciated. Gifts and vacations have been suggested and I might combine them… We'll see. See you in about 5 – 7 days!