Author's Note: Hey! Thanks for the awesome reviews last chapter. I honestly love Hope – she's very cute and I'm glad others love her and her parents too. As for this chapter… It was on my list to get around to and I was in a very Tim mood. So here it is! 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 Tim Met Margot

There was a text from Tim on Anthea's phone. Whenever there was a text from Tim on Anthea's phone she was filled with an array of emotions. Part of her wanted to be happy and pleased. She had sentimental feelings for Tim that as the anger and hurt from the betrayal faded away became stronger. It was somewhere between sadness and a genuine fondness. There was still some hurt present but only a little – like a quick pang when she saw his name written down. Mostly it made her tired. Tired when she thought of another conversation about how Mycroft wasn't good enough for her. Or even another conversation with Mycroft about how Tim never got over her even when he got under someone else.

What really got Anthea to give in pretty much every time was her brain reminder her quickly and quietly how very few people she had around her. That Tim was someone she had connected to at some point in her life and that it was wrong to completely throw him away, especially when he only popped up every few months. How was that hurtful?

Moriarty only ever popped up every few months.

Yeah, but Tim was no Moriarty. Not in evil genius, not in looks, and certainly not in personality.

Anthea could read and answer a message or two…

Word through my clients is that Mycroft Holmes' assistant had her baby already. – Tim.

Anthea felt bad in two distinct ways. One was that she hadn't told him – though she told very few people. The other was that he found out at all. Obviously he was going to work out the dates but Margot was early and Anthea could have had more time before having to deal with the inevitable. Anthea pulled a face before composing an answer.

My, how the rich and influential like to gossip ;). – A.

Perfect answer in Anthea's mind. It was light hearted, friendly, but nice and distant and not confirming anything. The sass could be taken in so many ways.

They're worse than teenagers :P. – Tim.

Anthea rolled her eyes at the reply. Why did Tim know? When was the last time he spent more than five minutes with a teenager that wasn't his nephew? Going for a cliché like the boring lawyer he was… And Anthea felt a little bad for saying that to herself. Not enough to answer.

Is it true? – Tim.

It came fifteen minutes later. Anthea sighed and closed her eyes. Now she had to answer.

I hope so. If this baby isn't mine then I don't want it. – A.

Was she being funny or sassing him to go away? Honestly Anthea herself couldn't even tell.

Can I meet them this week? – Tim.

Anthea sighed.

Tim. – A.

She hoped her sigh was palpable even in text form. She was so done with this game of his.

I just want to meet your kid, A. I want to see what your baby looks like, that's all. – Tim.

She was going to have to spell this out for him. She was going to have to give him a reminder of how done she was with his attempts to get her back.

Remember what happened last time? I am so done with you badmouthing Mycroft. I loved him then and didn't realise it, okay, I get it. But you know what, Tim? I love him now. I didn't mind it when I was single, I put up with it when I wasn't even though I probably shouldn't have. Now I have a daughter and I won't listen to you say a negative thing about her father that isn't work related. – A.

After she pressed send she quickly sent another one.

You're not worth her hearing those things. – A.

Anthea folded her arms across her chest and took a deep breath. She needed to do that. She felt good for doing that. She was convinced it was over now until her phone pinged.

You had a girl. – Tim.

Anthea felt like saying a very Holmsian comment about pointing out the obvious. She did not.

Another message came through.

She won't hear a bad thing from me, I promise. – Tim.

Anthea rolled her eyes and it was almost like Tim saw it as her phone binged again.

I mean it, please. Five minutes. I have some files for Mr. Holmes. You can stop by my office to pick them up and have a quick chat. Bring the baby and that's all. – Tim.

If you come tomorrow before 12 I have a lunch date with my girlfriend so I can't talk long anyway. – Tim.

Like having a girlfriend stopped him last time… Or when he and Anthea were having difficulties either.

We're living together right now, A. That's further than you and I got. Five minutes, a few files, and a quick chat. – Tim.

Anthea rubbed her temples. It felt like the messages weren't going to stop. No wonder he was a good lawyer; look at him go. Fierce until the end. He wasn't going to give up and Anthea was so tired she just wanted him to stop.

If I come you have to say two very complimentary comments about your girlfriend in our five minute conversation. – A.

Two? Easy! – Tim.

Four, then, and I'll be there at 11.30. – A.

Still easy! See you tomorrow. – Tim.

Jamie was going to kill Anthea.

Anthea had Margot all packed and ready for her visit with Tim. Her short visit with Tim. There was just one thing left to do; tell Mycroft that they were going out.

Anthea let herself into the home office. Mycroft was wearing his glasses today – he mustn't have slept well. On his desk were some printed documents that he was reading over. It made Anthea momentarily think of the files Tim was giving her and instead of enjoying Mycroft in glasses working as the beautiful sight it was she felt… Bad.

"I'm popping out." She said. Then remembered she had a baby to account for – she needed to get used to that. "And I'm taking Margot." Mycroft flipped a page and looked at the back before setting it aside and starting a new page. He didn't look up.

"Take my car." He murmured dully.

A beat.

Anthea pursed her lips together.

"Do you want to know where I'm going?" She asked. Mycroft stopped reading. He carefully placed the paper back down on the neat pile and looked at Anthea from above the glasses. If you looked closely you could see that one eyebrow was ever so slightly quirked.

"Should I have a reason to be suspicious?" He asked. Anthea clenched her jaw as her eyes slid across the room. Mycroft got it then. He sighed and pinched his brow.

"It's the lawyer." He said. Anthea felt guilty and relieved at the same time. Relieved he knew before hand, it was easier that way. Anthea tucked a curl behind her ear.

"He was bugging me and I gave." She said. Mycroft sniffed. She stepped forward. "It's no longer than half an hour because he's meeting his girlfriend." Mycroft laughed. "I can see through him, Mycroft, don't worry." Mycroft took off his glasses and frowned at the wall with the door.

"I'm not worried about his ridiculous advancements." Mycroft sounded exasperated. He looked at Anthea with a mixture of hurt, annoyance, and confusion. Half a breath escaped his open mouth. "The month isn't even over yet, Alice." He said with a tone that matched his gaze. It was Anthea's turn to be taken about, hurt, and confused. She subconsciously stepped back.

"What's that supposed to mean?" She said. Mycroft's expression dropped to one of resignation. He waved her off, glasses still in his hand.

"Never mind." He sighed.

"No." Anthea insisted. "What month?" She tried to encourage him to look at her with her own eyes digging into him. "The month before you decide if you're going to be Margot's daddy or not?" She asked. Mycroft's lip twitched. "Because that's your thing and has nothing to do with Tim messaging me and bothering me to meet our daughter."

"It's subconscious, then." Mycroft gave a haphazard shrug. "I must apologise then. It's only offensive if you're aware of it."

"Aware of what?" Anthea rose her voice. Mycroft shook his head.

"No, no. It's my own doing anyway." He sighed. "I'd say hindsight is 20-20 if I had truly improved but alas," He forced a smile. "Only minor steps have been made." Anthea frowned.

"Mycroft?" She questioned, softer this time.

"Oh don't mistake my words, Alice, dear." He said earnestly. "I wasn't questioning your loyalty. Given everything I know about you that is the last thing I would suspect of you." Then what was he suspecting her of?

Well she knew, kind of. Or at least she suspected. The month. He was questioning her faith in him. Not in loyalty but in his stickability. He wanted his month without a replacement being sought. And if this was the case, what was her subconscious behaviour? Like she'd ever see Tim like that ever again.

So what did she say to him now?

Anthea looked at her feet. She shuffled them.

"You know, I deal with Tim the way I deal with other sort-of-not-really friends." She said. She looked up and smirked playfully. "You see them once and then you can claim to be busy for about six months before you have to say yes again."

"Six months?" Mycroft asked. He scoffed. "You're an amateur." Anthea laughed.

Tim opened the door to his office with a goofily big smile on his face. The way his cheeks rose pushed his glasses a little and made them crooked.

"Anthea." He sung cheerily. He held his hands out like he was going for a hug. Anthea pulled a face and held her finger up equal distance from his face and hers.

"Four nice things about your girlfriend." She said. "Go." Tim leaned his face against his doorframe. He looked up at the roof and held up one finger.

"She gets along with my friends." He said and Anthea rolled her eyes. She remembered those friends. Tim held out another finger. "She's silly which is really weird because she gives off this vibe of like professionalism but she loves really goofy stupid stuff." Good, that was a better answer than the last. Tim raised a third finger. "She likes to stay up watching tennis with me." Anthea nodded. That was good too, she liked it when she and Mycroft stayed up reading together. "And…" Tim looked down from the roof. "Every time we get back together we have the best make up-"

"Okay!" Anthea held her hands up in the air as she cut Tim off. "You ruined it." She tried not to shiver at the image in her head. "I don't need to hear about an ex's sex life. You don't hear me telling you stuff, do you?" Tim laughed. The serious dreadful expression did not leave Anthea's face.

"Come in." Tim said. He let Anthea and the pram walk past him. He left his office door open. Anthea did not sit down and neither did he. He kind of stopped awkwardly at the side of his desk neither next to Anthea nor behind the desk.

"It's great to see you, Ali." Tim said gently. She softened and smiled.

"You look happy." She said. Tim put his hands in his trouser pockets and nodded.

"I am, I am." He said. "Besides usual family dramas everything's pretty good."

"Good." Anthea said and meant it. Tim looked over to the pram. From where he was he probably still couldn't see into it clearly.

"Is that her?" He asked. Anthea gave him a deadly expression just to illustrate how stupid that question was. Tim, used to it, ignored it and slowly walked around – one foot just past the other – to the opening of the crib. As he got in front of it Anthea decided to give him a piece of helpful information.

"It's Margot, by the way." She said.

Tim covered his mouth and rubbed his jaw as he looked in at Margot. Anthea came over to peep over his shoulder. Looks like Margot was awake but happily and silently sucking on her pacifier. Anthea smiled at the sight of her own daughter. Only thing about this view is she couldn't see Tim's reaction anymore.

"Hi there!" He said after he removed his hand from his mouth. Instead used it to give one of those strange half salutes and half waves things. Margot blinked at him with her big blue eyes. "You're a bit cute, aren't you?" He said, leaning in.

Anthea had never heard Tim speak in this voice before. This his, cutesy voice. She knew he was close to his nephew but Anthea never knew the nephew as anything younger than a walking talking child. It was still so interesting to her how people behaved around babies. It changed them so much.

"You're as pretty as your Mummy." He said. Anthea made a point not to visibly react.

"She looks like both me and her Daddy." She did make a point of saying that though.

"I've said a lot of things about her Daddy, but I've never said the family doesn't have some good things going for it." He said it in that cutesy voice and to be honest Anthea almost laughed. Like with that one statement a lot of her anxiety about this went out the window. Tim stood up straight again, almost shoulder to shoulder with Anthea. He folded his arms against his chest. "Like those eyes." He whistled after he said that. "Those are not from you."

"They're great, right?" Anthea said.

"They look pretty special on a girl." Tim agreed with a nod. Anthea frowned.

"You haven't seen them on Eurus." She murmured.

"I've seen security footage." Tim said. "And I'm not taking what I said back." Anthea was taken aback. She looked at Tim with an incredulous look. He turned to her. "What?" He said. "Crazy can be pretty." Anthea's facial expression became more potent. "I've heard the way girls talk about Moriarty."

Ah. Good point.

Anthea turned back to Margot with a single shoulder shrug. Tim didn't laugh but Anthea could feel his smile.

They watched Margot. Anthea leaned in to straighten her little outfit, and she let Tim hold his hand out for Margot to grab his hand like she had a tendency to do, and there was that one moment when Margot got fussy and decided she really didn't want her pacifier anymore so threw a small fit about it, but they spent a lot of the limited time together watching Margot.

"Margot's really great, Ali." Tim said.

"I know." Anthea told him. He sniffed and shook his head.

"You know, even at our most serious I never ever thought you would do it." He said. Anthea looked over at him again. He was still looking at Margot with a soft expression. "We talked about kids and we both said maybe but I never really believed you'd be a mum. I couldn't see it being something you stopped to do." Anthea looked back at Margot.

Tim wasn't wrong. He wasn't entirely right but Anthea could see where he got that impression for. She was never showing signs of wanting to slow down work to do this and plus, once she was with Mycroft… Well, his lack of interest in children is documented and doesn't need to be gone over in detail again. So what could Anthea say to that?

"She's the best kind of accident." She said. Tim almost laughed but he stopped himself. Not that a laugh would have been unappreciated.

"I'm really happy you got to have her." He turned to look Anthea in the eyes. "I hope you know I mean that." Anthea smiled sadly and nodded.

"I am too." She said. "And I think," She stopped herself. She leaned into the crib and touched Margot's foot almost as if for reassurance. "I think Mycroft is too. Now he's met her." Tim shifted. For a moment it felt to Anthea like he wanted to put his arm around her but he stopped himself. He walked away. He walked behind the desk and sat down.

"You don't want to hear it so I won't say it, and I am really happy with things right now, but…" Anthea felt herself stiffen as Tim began. "I am always here for you and Margot. Even if that just means I'm on Mycroft's payroll." He pulled out a file from his office drawer as he said that and placed in on the desk. Anthea relaxed.

"Thanks, Tim." She said. She quirked an eyebrow. "For the file, I mean." He was smiling but his green eyes looked sad.

"It's what I get paid for." He said.

As soon as Anthea and Margot were out of Tim's building Anthea wanted to call Mycroft. It wasn't because the visit with Tim had gone badly – it was actually alright. In fact it might have had something to do with the fact that it was alright. Something about needing to hear his voice or something about what he said earlier. Maybe both. It didn't matter. Anthea took out her phone and clicked on Mycroft's number. It only rang a few times before it was answered.

"Well hello, my dear." Mycroft's greeting was friendly and light. Anthea looked at Margot in the crib and smiled like a school girl when her crush complimented her.

"Hi." She replied in a breathy voice. "I just wanted to tell you that I'm on my way home. You still have a girlfriend who loves you very much. I was not stolen from you." She elicited a chuckle from Mycroft.

"And what of Margot?" He played with Anthea. "Has she been whisked away by the pied piper?"

"Mm, no." Anthea hummed, currently looking at Margot. "She wasn't impressed. She liked Walter better."

"Clever girl." Mycroft cooed. He cleared his throat. "I trust by your calm voice that you were not harassed."

"It went okay." Anthea replied. "But I did learn something pretty interesting about Tim today." She could picture Mycroft either rolling his eyes or sneering in boredom and disgust.

"Oh?" Yeah, his tone matched the image in Anthea's head. "And pray tell, what could be remotely interesting about the lawyer, hmm?" Anthea crinkled her nose. This was mischievous but she couldn't help it.

"He thinks your sister is attractive." Anthea said.

She heard a clatter on the other end of the phone, like something crashing suddenly to the ground.

She began counting seconds and got to three.

"Excuse me!?"

Author's Note: A few things. First of all I do the salute/wave thing that Anthea thinks is weird. Second; we mostly call 'pacifiers' dummies here but I didn't know how Australian that is and didn't want to confuse the living daylights out of all the different cultural readerships so I went with the… real(?) name. Thanks to last chapters' guests; Guests x2, Marie, and Observant Potato. Thanks to all my reviewers. I look forward to reading your thoughts on this chapter. See you in five days!.. Six if this next assignment is killing me.