Author's Note: The reviews last chapter were very nice, thank you so much. It got me more into the mood to write the actual birthday… which ended up way longer than expected by the way. 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.

Hope's First Birthday

There was no separate quiet event to appease Mycroft this time. It was Hope's first birthday and Jamie wanted everyone there on the actual date. Anthea wanted to be there too. They weren't going to rearrange everything to disappoint the mother of the birthday girl just to please Mycroft. No, he had to attend the family event.

It was smaller than it could have been, lucky for Mycroft. Jamie's brother couldn't make it from London for the event. James invited all his sisters but Poppy and Emily were the two that were going to be there consistently. Elizabeth, the eldest and the namesake of Hope's middle name, couldn't stay because her kids had a sporting event. She was dropping her parents off, spending an hour with her brother and going. Conveniently Mycroft made an excuse as to why he and Anthea would be late. So less people and way less children to be a pain. Carol wasn't invited – James had taken Hope to work the day before and done a silly little birthday thing with Carol in the office. Their bond was theirs and she'd enjoy these things about as much as Mycroft.

There was still Jamie's mum and step-dad, Poppy, Emily, and James' parents to contend with. Anthea was fine by that.

Mycroft and Anthea needed help with the presents since Anthea also had a pram and Margot's supplies to carry. Luckily they had a wonderful and loyal driver they could pretend to need a lift off of and use as an extra set of hands. The playdoh set had been shoved underneath the pram with Patches and a few supplies buried beneath it. Mycroft carried the table and Walter was left to deal with the large dollhouse. Anthea felt a little bad for the retired-due-to-injury-agent but it was Mycroft's fault really. Anthea couldn't drive a pram and carry a box at the same time.

James opened the door to sullen Mycroft, pleasant Anthea, and a whole bunch of presents. Taken aback he stepped backwards.

"Whoa!" He said, running his fingers through his blonde hair. For once it looked like he'd bothered to style it – pushed it back off his face and combed it. Looking good for photos or for mum and dad? It was hard to say. He stepped out of the way and gestured for them to bring in the presents muttering a 'hey' as he did.

When Walter put down the large box with a soft grunt James noticed him suddenly. He hadn't caught him behind the shock of the gifts.

"Walter!" James beamed. He was always good and respectful of the old agent, as demonstrated by how he held out a hand. Walter took it and shook it proudly. "I could have come to the car, man." Walter smiled subtly. He leaned closer to James.

"The kid's our responsibility, not yours." Referring to Anthea and himself. He stepped back and spoke louder again. "You're going to have to carry it all upstairs." He patted James on the back. James laughed, a little fear in his voice.

"Yes, thank you Walter." Mycroft sighed. "You may go now."

"Thanks Walter." Anthea said.

Just as James had thanked Walter and closed the door Jamie's voice was heard.

"Whoa!" She exclaimed – eyes wide as she stared at the present mountain. She was dressed the most feminine Anthea had seen in almost two years now in a soft pink dress. She held Hope in her arm. The birthday girl was in a white dress with a black ribbon in her hair. She was more pleased to see Mycroft and Anthea than whatever those boxes were. She waved.

"Hey." Anthea laughed. Jamie's parents were sitting on the couch. Jamie had come from the kitchen where presumably the other guests currently were.

"What did you do!?" Jamie squealed. Hope clasped her hands and giggled. Mycroft rolled his eyes.

"We bought your child a gift." Mycroft sneered. "I believe appreciation is the emotion you should be displaying." Jamie scrunched up her face and shook her head.

"That's not a gift, Einstein, that's spending way too much money." She said. Mycroft looked at Anthea like he was already tired of this conversation. Anthea smirked at him and took over.

"You don't know what they are yet, Jay. How do you know it's too much money?" She said to her best friend. With her free hand Jamie pointed at Anthea.

"Because I know you and your perfectionist ways." She said. She pointed at Mycroft. "And I know him and how he either doesn't care about people or will go to extremes looking out for people he loves." Mycroft rolled his eyes.

"For Heaven's sake I-" He began.

"Don't deny it here." Anthea cut him off. Her words weren't a warning but more of that amused adoration from when he bought to dollhouse by himself. Mycroft scowled.

"I'll have you know I spent more on my brother's friend's baby so don't feel too special, Miss Thompson." He said. Jamie's eyes narrowed. She took a deep breath.

"Yeah okay, that does make me feel better." She said. If you weren't familiar with this dynamic you would not understand what just happened at all.

James was told to move the presents out of the way for now. He groaned, was promptly reminded by Jamie that he had more muscle mass than all the other people there combined, and then moved them. Anthea moved the one from the pram onto the kitchen table and said high to James' family while in there. Mycroft did nothing.

Anthea followed James' sisters back into the living room. Being pretty familiar with Poppy she was about to strike up a conversation with her about how her life was treating her when she was interrupted and called over by Jamie's mother. Anthea came over and was forced into a hug.

"Ali, I just need to see your baby." She said. "Jamie sent me a photo but I just love new babies." Anthea had been promised by Jamie that she could use Hoe's room to set Margot down when she needed it. Right now she was in the pram still under the care of Mycroft. Anthea glanced over at him. Having heard the conversation he made sure the wheels of the pram were locked and conveniently side stepped away from it.

"Sure." Anthea said to Jamie's mother. "She's right over here."

Anthea took her over to the pram and cue the regular fussing over babies that many women do. She held her, cooed, talked about how beautiful she was. All the regular. Anthea was already well used to it. It was sweet though, given how long Anthea had known Ellen for. Plus; Margot was cute. To Anthea she was very, very cute. Anthea could talk about that all day.

"Oh!" Jamie's mum light up like a light bulb had burst to life about her head. She turned around and clicked her fingers at her daughter. "James, Jamie, come over here. Ali, pick up Margot." Jamie looked from Anthea to her mum.

"Why?" She asked, not budging from her spot.

"I want a photo of your London family." She said as she dug through her handbag to find her phone. "I don't have any recent photos of you with Ali and this will be perfect." Finding no reason to argue Jamie shrugged. She and James came over.

Jamie stood in the middle holding Hope. Anthea holding Margot stood on her right and James smiled goofily on Jamie's left. Jamie looked quite tiny in between her markedly tall husband and her reasonably tall best friend. Especially when James leaned over her to try and make the photo 'more levelled'. Anthea laughed.

But Jamie's mum did not take the photo. She waved her hand in Mycroft's direction but didn't click at him the way she had at her daughter (probably trained to be careful around him given the last time Jamie yelled at her for not following the Mycroft rules).

"Mycroft, get in the photo." She said. Mycroft looked at her hand with a mixture of aghast and fear.

"Oh, no, no." He said, taking a step back and holding his hands up apologetically. The whole room was looking at him as he tried to offer a polite smile. "A- Ali and Margot are your daughter's family." He said. "I have no connection in all this except to Margot." He said.

"That's not true." Ellen said with a soft scoff. "Jamie loves you." She said. Mycroft rose his eyebrows.

"Mum!" Jamie exclaimed. James giggled. Jamie kicked his shin lightly. "You're the one in love with him." Jamie hissed.

"Yeah, but this makes me happy." James beamed. Mycroft seemed stuck in his brain trying to formulate a sentence but couldn't come up with an answer. Anthea stepped in.

"You're Hope's only uncle in London, Myc. Come be in the photo with me and Margot." She said. Mycroft's eyes landed on her. She nodded towards the group. The genius came and awkwardly stood right next to Anthea.

When you think about it; if it wasn't for Anthea working for Mycroft Hope wouldn't be born. Anthea introduced them and she only knew James through work. That was worth something.

Jamie's mum took the photo.

"Can I get a copy of that?" James asked.

"Me too." Anthea said.

"Sure!" Ellen twittered. "I'd tag you on Facebook but neither of you have one." And the pair looked at each other. They both did have Facebook accounts… Just under fake names with no photos or information set up with a fake email. It was mostly for messenger and stalking people.

Carol's Facebook account was under the name Carol Burnett. James has been James Dean, James Bond, James Cameron, James Franco, Lebron James, Jesse James, and so many others.

Mycroft and Jamie didn't look at each other for the next half an hour. When they did talk it was brief damage control.

"I love a lot of the things you do, sure. But I hate a lot of the things you do, too."

"Of course. I understand. I have similar, perhaps less potent, mixed emotions about you."

"I love Margot."

"Again I feel a similar, less potent, emotion for your child."

….

"Good."

"Yes."

…

And Jamie walked off.

The presents were all vast and different. It looked almost co-ordinated in how it went and certain made Anthea feel happy and a tad smug about getting the toys. Jamie's parents came with a gift from Jamie's brother – a voucher for a nice hotel for James and Jamie. That was something Anthea hadn't even considered but imagined parents of a one-year-old would appreciate. The mum and step-dad themselves brought clothes in varying sizes for the growing little girl. James' parents bought four different stuffed toys and it was just such a James thing to do that Mycroft clicked his tongue and rolled his eyes so hard they might have gotten stuck. Anthea did her best not to laugh. Poppy and Emily had gone halves in buying some wall decorations for Hope's room which Mycroft and Anthea had both thought was lame and gave each other a look. It seemed to Anthea that it was Poppy's gift and the other had just put her name on it quickly having forgotten. Liz had dropped off a little music box which seemed like the more expensive gift for Emily to put her name on. Maybe Liz had said no. She was the eldest after all.

Jamie's face when she (and kind of Hope) opened the gifts from Mycroft and Anthea was a strange one. She looked blown away with awe and love but also quite angry.

"What did you do!?" She yelled again. Mycroft visibly winced at her voice. Jamie's family looked quite impressed. James' family – probably hearing way more about Mycroft as a boss – didn't look so surprised.

"Remember what I said before? Please don't make me repeat myself." He sighed. Jamie's face contorted. She threw the wrapping paper that was in her hand at Mycroft. With their lack of weight it landed at his feet which he looked at with contempt. Anthea was far more amused.

"I don't care about that, you idiot. Why did you spend so much!?" He growled. Anthea waved her off.

"Jay, it's not too much for my niece." She said.

"What is money but a tool?" Mycroft spoke at the same time. Jamie looked about ready to tear her hair out.

"You guys didn't have to." James said breathlessly as he scuffed up his hair. He was looking at the doll house. "I mean…" He blew air through his mouth. "This is amazing."

"Anthea was setting a precedence for gifts." Mycroft said sarcastically. Anthea bit her bottom lip to stop from grinning and nodded.

"You mean you want to do more of this stupidness?" Jamie's anger was directed at Anthea this time.

"You bet." Anthea let herself smirk. "Can't stop me, either." Jamie rubbed on her face hard out of frustration.

"Guys…" James shrugged. "Thanks… from Hope, I guess." He smiled.

"Don't thank them!" Jamie said. She pointed at them. "Tell them how stupid and dramatic they are." She stormed over to the pair sharing an armchair (Anthea was sitting on the arm). She pulled Anthea into the angriest hug she had ever been in. "I bloody love you." She hissed. Anthea hugged her back.

"Yeah okay, that makes sense." Anthea scoffed. It meant 'I love you, too'.

"I'll hug A when she's further away from Holmes." James said.

"Would you please?" Mycroft replied, leaning away from the friends.

Anthea was helping James in the kitchen… or making life harder for him, it could go either way. She was helping him clear up plates and put out new food but didn't mind taking a moment to flick something at him and laugh. It was just the pair of them in their mucking around when Mycroft came through the backdoor. Being out the back probably meant he had gone out for a smoke. Anthea eyed James to see if he knew about this but the agent avoided her eyes. That meant yes.

"Hey," James said. He pulled a cashew nut out of his hair. "Did that help?" He asked Mycroft. So yes, Mycroft did have a smoke. Anthea looked at Mycroft poignantly. He saw it but chose to ignore her too.

"No." Mycroft muttered. He took a breath and stepped forward into the space closer to Anthea. "I'm sorry but I need to leave." He said.

"What?" Anthea asked. James deflated a little.

"Yeah, no problem, sir." He said despite it. "I mean, thanks for even coming."

"Why?" Anthea cocked her head to the side.

"I'm done. I can't do these people anymore." Mycroft explained sounding exhausted. Anthea pulled a face.

"This is a really small party, Myc." Anthea said. She'd seen him get mental overload at huge events, sit down for a while, then manage to get back up again. This didn't seem like a valid excuse. Mycroft nodded in acknowledgement.

"Yes, but there is no escape." He said, looking into her eyes. "I try to sit next to you or James because you'll let me be silent but then someone approaches us and talks. I follow Jamie into the kitchen and then her mother comes in. James' father is a nice man but if I have to hear him make another outdated and slightly sexist joke at his granddaughter's birthday and then laugh about it in that obnoxious guffaw one more time I might just have to burn the place down." James hid his near laughter behind his hand. When he recovered he scratched his hair again.

"Last thing we need is another Holmes in Sherrinford for pyromania and homicide." He tried to say without laughing. Mycroft nodded in his direction.

Mycroft looked honest and he looked about 150% done with all of this. Anthea knew what he was like. She held her palms up to the roof.

"Fine." She relented. Mycroft's brows furrow.

"I mean me, not all of us." He said. "You and Margot can stay as long as you wish."

Oh. Anthea perked up.

"In that case don't smoke anymore. Maybe have a drink and clear your head at the club." She said. Mycroft did that half smile of his.

Then Jamie walked in holding Hope.

"Ali." Little Hope said. Anthea waved at her. She waved back and giggled.

"James," Jamie said. "I think your sisters are about to fight." James waved this off.

"Ah let 'em." He said. "I'm the youngest – it's not my responsibility." He said. Mycroft's face contorted in pain.

"I've heard that one too many times in my life." He muttered. Anthea crinkled her nose, smiling, and rubbed his arm sympathetically.

"Then I'm hiding in here with you guys." Jamie announced. She plopped Hope down in the highchair that took up a place at the table. Jamie put a hand on her hip. "What's up?" She said.

"Mycroft's leaving." Anthea told her. Jamie's hazel eyes widened. She looked at James who only confirmed this.

"You can't leave Hope's birthday now!" She said desperately. "She loves you! We haven't done the cake yet." Anthea and James looked at each other. Yeah, like Mycroft wants to be around for a one year old destroying a cake. That just gave him a reason to leave.

"Jay," James tried to calm his wife. "He came."

"It's the people." Anthea explained. She put her index finger against her own temple, trying to remind Jamie about what it was like to be a Holmes. How the world swallowed them sometimes. How Sherlock used to take drugs to deal with that, and Eurus never even had a chance. Jamie rolled her eyes.

"Fine." She said. "Whatever." She shook her head. "No one's stopping you." She said.

"Thank you." Mycroft mocked Jamie's idea that he needed permission to leave. James and Anthea shared that look again.

Mycroft kissed Anthea on the top of her head. She was even surprised to get this given the sensory overload. She just gave his hand a tight squeeze in response. He walked over to the high chair and shook Hope's little hand.

"It's been a pleasure." He said to her.

He straightened up and began walking from the kitchen. The plan was to go say goodbye to Margot, grab his coat, and leave.

"My." It was the same little soft voice that had caught Anthea off guard when it had said her name for the same time except being a simpler name it was clearer.

Mycroft froze, his back to the room. Jamie looked down at Hope, her eyes widening. She broke out in a grin and looked between Anthea and James. James was laughing. Anthea's heart was breaking into little pieces again. She put her hand against her mouth then moved it down to grab her neck.

"Mycroft." She whispered; eyes on Hope. "Keep walking." He did so. He took two steps.

"My!" The little girl was trying to turn in the seat to keep eyes on him. Anthea joined James at laughing at the complete cuteness of it all. Mycroft was looking into the room now. He looked at Hope light he had never been more frightened in his life. The colour had drained from his face.

"Well you can't leave now!" Jamie cried, waving at her kid. "You've been asked to stay." Mycroft looked up at Jamie. He still looked frightened as he just thought for a good minute. Hope was still trying to just look at him.

"That bought her another hour." He said. The three other adults began laughing as Mycroft came to sit down next to Hope at the table. Jamie, James, and Anthea then sat down too. They were supposed to be preparing food but the others could wait. There was a little one year old to fuss over.

Author's Note: So, did you like it? There's a lot to comment on so I look forward to reading all your thoughts. When planning I only had the last scene in mind so I was surprised by all that came up when I began. Thanks to our guest reviewers; Observant Potato and Guest. Thanks to everyone! Let me know your thoughts. That last assignment is due on Wednesday so the chapter might take 6 days but I'll aim for 5!