Author's Note: Hey guys! Thanks for the nice reviews last chapter! I'm really glad you liked it and it seemed a lot of people needed it as much as I did. This chapter is the one I put off because I didn't feel capable enough to write it last week. I was worried I wouldn't be able to this week either and was going to take extra time if I needed to but I got it done early and was pretty happy with it. Based off an old short post from the blog again but heavily edited because I look back at what I did and thought 'that's not quite right'. I really hope it goes down well. 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 Jamie Was (Almost) Speechless

Addendum to the title: It didn't last long.

Jamie and Hope had come over – as expected – and with the brought a fair amount of food – not expected. There was a whole family sized lasagne, half a tomato and asparagus quiche, and a tiramisu. As Anthea was in the kitchen putting the food into the fridge and freezer Jamie stood on the other side of the counter explaining herself. Meanwhile Hope was sat on the couch behind Jamie with an iPad opened to a game and some toys.

"I was making lasagne anyway." Jamie explained with a lazy shrug. "And like you guys don't look after yourselves anyway and having a baby makes that ten times harder so I just got extra and made you some." Anthea sighed and shook her head. She was appreciative but she didn't want to encourage this behaviour. Jamie didn't need to worry about adults when she had Hope to worry about and Margot a few days of the week now, too.

"And the quiche?" Anthea questioned.

"That's James' fault." Jamie said adamantly, her posture straightened as she felt confident in her defence. "He wanted to try baking a quiche and I don't like quiche but I know you do." Anthea laughed a little. Okay, fair enough. Anthea held up the plastic take away container of tiramisu. Jamie rolled her eyes and shrugged. Her shoulder slumped again like a defensive teenager.

"We went out for desert last night. It's not our fault we're wonderful and considerate people and thought 'hey, let's get some for our friends too'. Or is it a crime here to think of others?" Jamie folded her arms across her chest. Anthea's eyebrows danced up and down as she turned to put the tiramisu away. She felt personally called out.

"Actually that's pretty much all we do in this house." She muttered.

"Exactly!" Jamie exclaimed. "Not our fault, then."

"Whatever." Anthea rolled her eyes. She softened and smiled at Jamie. "Thank you." She said. Jamie smiled back.

"It's no big deal." She replied gently.

"Anthea." Mycroft's voice came from the far end of the living room. A glance over showed he hand just entered the room and was making his way over. "I need to know if you sent those files over to Warwick's secretary."

"Hours ago." Anthea said proudly. Mycroft laughed once under his breath and smirked. That was his way of being proud of his personal assistant. Anthea smirked back. Jamie would have made a remark had Hope not spoke first.

"My!" She exclaimed, eyes momentarily off the iPad game to greet her favourite uncle. Mycroft turned to her and bowed lightly.

"Hello little Miss Hope." He said. She beamed like the sunshine she was. He turned back to the adults and pretended to look exasperated at being forced to interact with the one year old. Anthea didn't believe it for a second. "Jamie." He greeted the child's mother, too.

"Hi Myc." Jamie laughed. She never really got over her daughter's excitement for the genius and his partner. Anthea just appreciated any moment she could be in the room with both these people without snark being thrown around no matter how friendly that snark may be. Of course, Mycroft pulled a face at being called 'Myc' but he did that to everyone but Anthea.

"Jamie brought us a whole bunch of food." Anthea announced to Mycroft. His eyebrows raised and then frowned suddenly. A reaction Anthea completely understood. It caused Jamie to jump back into defensive mode.

"It's not that much." She shrugged.

"A lasagne, half a quiche, and tiramisu." Anthea listed to prove Jamie was wrong.

"Why?" Mycroft hummed cautiously.

"No idea." Anthea replied. Jamie sighed.

"Look, Christmas is hard for you guys. Crazy sister and stupid uncle for one of you, missing family for the other. Then like I said to Ali, having a baby is hard and you guys don't look after yourselves." She shoved her hands into her pockets. "I was trying to do something nice. Just because you think everyone has an ulterior motive doesn't mean we do. I'm a nice freaking person." Anthea laughed at the rant. Mycroft barely reacted at all. He took it all in.

"Forgive me." He said with a little nod of his head. "I forgot that when you're pregnant you become nicer to me. It's been a while."

Anthea frowned. She cocked her head and then quirked an eyebrow at Mycroft. Pregnant? Mycroft looked surprised by Anthea's reaction. Jamie herself hadn't moved. She stood there and gawked. Anthea had time to look her up and down and cock her head to the side in concern before Jamie closed her mouth and tried to begin formulating a coherent though. Anthea went to move to Jamie's side when the blonde opened her mouth again and Anthea stopped. Then she closed it and ran her fingers through her hair.

"What?" The blonde spluttered out a few moments later. By then Mycroft's body language had turned as close to sheepish as he gets in front of people other than Anthea. His hands were in his trouser pockets and he looked… quiet.

"You don't know?" Mycroft asked. He looked Jamie up and down. "I thought you knew. Hence James' shirt." Jamie took a sharp breath.

"I'm wearing James' shirt because I felt bloated and wanted to be comfortable. I didn't think I had to look like a queen at my best friend's place."

"Oh." Mycroft hummed. He looked from the quietly stunned Anthea to Jamie whose breathing was slowly increasing in speed. "Now you know why you're bloated." He offered. Anthea's eyes widened and she subtly shook her head at Mycroft. "The fact that I discovered this first really is a sign that we spend far too much time together." Anthea rubbed at her temples and laughed. It was dawning on her in this ridiculous situation that she might be getting another niece or nephew and her urge to be quiet was beaten by that little bit of excitement.

Jamie turned to Anthea. Her hazel eyes were full of unspoken questions. Anthea grinned and shrugged.

"Did he… just…. Did he?" Jamie was trying to find her words and her breath. Was she panicking? Anthea looked at Mycroft. He shrugged quickly. "Ali, we weren't trying." She said.

"Neither were we." Mycroft muttered. Anthea glared at him but she was certain Jamie didn't hear him anyway.

"Ali, I wasn't ready for this." The blonde said. Anthea touched her arm. She was about to speak but Mycroft spoke first.

"James will be pleased." Mycroft offered in a soft uttered voice like the teenager he was at heart. Jamie whipped around to him.

"I know James will be!" She yelled. "He comes from a giant ass family and doesn't understand that not everyone grew up sharing a room with their sister!" She looked like she wanted to throw something. Mycroft's eyes even shone with a hint of fear.

"Jamie, it's okay." Anthea stroked her arm again. "Don't take Myc's word for it. Go to a doctor. We can call John for you."

"I wanted a gap like you and Sherlock." Jamie kept talking at Mycroft. "I can't do two toddlers. That's insane."

"My mother did it with Eurus and Sherlock." Mycroft offered. Jamie snorted.

"You think I'm as good as a mum as your precious Mummy?" She scowled. Mycroft pursed his lips.

"Would I trust you with Margot if I didn't?" He said. Jamie fell quiet.

"Jamie," Anthea turned her back to face her. She looked her dead in the eye. "Myc might not be right."

"Do you think he's wrong?" Jamie question. Anthea looked at Mycroft. She took a deep breath then put her focus back on Jamie.

"You still need a doctor to confirm it. Do you want John?" Anthea all but said she believed Mycroft because he could be wrong but he rarely was. He wouldn't do this if he thought he was wrong. Jamie felt her chest and took sharp shallow breaths. She looked over at Hope who was happily playing her game. She just watched her daughter.

"Miss Thompson, let your friend make you the appointment with Doctor Watson." Mycroft said.

"Sure." Jamie spluttered out quietly. "Thanks, Ali."

Anthea got her to sit down first and have a drink of water.

It took a few glasses of water and Anthea telling Jamie to calm down as they sat on the couch next to Hope for Jamie to begin functioning again. Mycroft had attempted to slink off but the furthest away he managed to get without Anthea warning him was the kitchen. So there he stayed, on the other side of the counter pretending he was far away.

"I don't know if I'm cut out for this." Jamie said. Her hands were in her hair as she leant forward, elbows on her knees. Anthea had her hand firmly on Jamie's back.

"I always thought you wanted two." Anthea said, or questioned. It was hard for even her to tell.

"I did. I do!" Jamie sat up properly. "Just not yet… Not while Hope is so young." Anthea bit her bottom lip. This is why she didn't have many friends – she didn't really know what to do hear but she'd keep trying.

"If you're not ready then you don't have to have it, or keep it. You know that." Anthea said carefully. Jamie shook her head.

"I couldn't do that to James. He has enough sadness in his life." She said sombrely. It was hard to connect cheerful James to sadness but when it was put out in front of you like that you had to remember it was true. Anthea looked over at Mycroft. He was not surprised. Anthea wandered if James was different in the middle of the night or in closed bunkers or if it was something that only those who lived with him or were extra perceptive could see. Anthea had been surprised to see James interrogate Moriarty after all. What Anthea did know, however, was Jamie.

"What about you?" She asked. Jamie laughed.

"I don't not want it." She almost smiled. "I just don't know if I can do it."

"Mycroft thinks you can do it." Anthea said softly. She got her smile but only for a second.

"There's just so much to do."

"Is it about work?" Anthea asked.

"No. Screw that." Jamie waved her hand and scowled. "Maybe the fun stuff, the really creative stuff, but screw the salon. It's all high school drama anyway." Anthea snickered but she still remained concerned for Jamie.

"Then what's the problem?" Anthea asked. Jamie looked at her, puzzled. She frowned and pursed her lips.

"I don't know." She said.

"Call James." It came from the kitchen. Mycroft had his hands on the counter and was leaning ever so slightly forward. "What you need to do to rid you of your anxiety is to call James." Anthea looked at Mycroft poignantly.

"He's just going to be excited." Anthea pointed out. Mycroft looked mildly surprised that Anthea hadn't immediately followed his train of thought.

"And maybe that's what Jamie needs." He said. Anthea crinkled her nose and shook her head in confusion. Excitement isn't the best when you don't know whether to be excited. "Jamie and James are excitable people. Instead of you and I who – let's face it dear – are snide and dreary, perhaps she needs to hear from someone like herself."

"Stop talking about me like I'm not here!" Jamie whined. Anthea patted her pack in an apology.

"Call James." She said to the blonde. Jamie took a shaky breath.

"Will you hold my hand?" She asked. Mycroft scoffed from the kitchen. Anthea nodded. "And can I put it on speaker phone?" Anthea nodded.

"I don't need to listen to this." Mycroft bemoaned.

"You started it so you do." Anthea said firmly to him like a teacher punishing a student. Mycroft remained in the kitchen reading the back of packets and throwing away out of date items.

Jamie called James and put her phone on speaker phone. She had it in her free hand as Anthea held the other. Anthea occasionally glanced over at Mycroft to make sure he was still there.

"Hey there, hot stuff." James answered the phone to his wife. In the kitchen Mycroft pulled a face. Anthea rolled her eyes while smirking.

"Hi James." Jamie said quietly and therefore not sounding like herself.

"Whoa Jay, you okay?" James asked. Jamie swallowed nothing. Anthea squeezed her hand.

"Yeah. Um." She stopped and squeezed Anthea's hand back. "James, um… Mycroft just told me something."

"Is he okay!?" James asked, growing in concern as he tried to work out what was going on.

"Yeah, he's fine." Jamie sent a glower in the genius' direction. He took it like a champ. "It's just… He, ah…" She screwed up her face. "He said I'm pregnant again."

A beat.

"Holmes told you that?" James asked in the same deadly serious tone.

"Yeah." Jamie said. She began rubbing at her forehead. "I don't know how. I've been wracking my brain but I can't remember us not being careful. Something must have gone wrong or something. I don't-"

"That's awesome!" James cut Jamie off. He was practically laughing. "Carol! We're having another baby!"

"What?" Jamie blinked. "Don't tell Carol! I haven't seen a doctor yet!" Anthea was trying her best not to laugh at James' sheer joy and forgetting general protocol.

"Nah, just now on the phone! Holmes did the Holmes deduction thing." He was still talking to Carol. "I don't know when. We'll work it out later. But how cool is that?"

"JAMES!" Jamie called down the phone.

"Yeah, babe?"

"Don't celebrate with Carol. I'm at Ali's house still and I'm freaking out!" She said. Anthea squeezed her hand again, supporting her for admitting it… and quite frankly not knowing what else to do while listening to a (semi) private conversation.

"Ah, sorry. But you're not freaking out, are you?"

"Yeah!" Jamie nodded her head furiously.

"Why? Jay! We wanted more than one." James was doing a Holmes sibling thing and acting like there was no other option and couldn't understand why people were not in the same frame of mind.

"Not yet. Hope's only one. We said in a few years. I wanted more years than you, too." Jamie explained some of her thoughts.

"Ah, who cares if it came like… a year or three early. It's great! Hope gets to be a big sister!"

"That's it, too." Jamie almost whispered. She looked at Anthea then quickly looked down at her phone. "James, what about little 'Got?" Anthea and Mycroft shared a look before Anthea turned back to Jamie and shook her head. Don't worry about Margot, she was trying to say, she's fine.

"Margot won't get left out." James said, a little calmer now. "She gets a cousin younger than her. She won't be lonely. She gets to have Rosie, Hope, and a new cousin." Anthea nodded to Jamie, agreeing with James. And even if Margot got left out – that was for Anthea to worry about, not Jamie. Anthea might be a little concerned that a Holmes personality might lead to that but that wasn't Margot's Aunt's problem.

Jamie took a breath. A real breath this time. She nodded.

"Okay." She said, her voice still shaky. "Okay, so that might be okay." She was doing better. "But what about work?" Even though she'd dismissed it earlier it was suddenly a concern as the panic had grown.

"Just do the stuff you like, Jay. You do the photoshoots and I'm sure Ali or John could cover you for a few hours. You get booked for a wedding and I'll be home for the kids all weekend. You don't need to salon. Do what makes you happy only. We'll work it out. I'm busy but not unavailable. You guys come first." Anthea glanced over at Mycroft. She wondered if he thought the same or not.

"Two toddlers?" Jamie questioned her husband. "They'll be toddlers at the same time and I don't know if we're cut out for that, James." A pause as Jamie squinted in thought. "You might be, you get shot at. I'm not a soldier, James. I'm not a spy. The worst I've had is bridezillas."

"You've had 'Got and Hope on your own. You've had Rosie and Hope on your own." James pointed out.

"So?"

"So, it's the same."

A pause.

Jamie's grip on Anthea's hand loosened.

"Jay. It's okay. It's great. Jay! We're completely our family." James said. Jamie let go of Anthea's hand and push her hair out of her face.

"Oh my God, you're right." She whispered. "We're completing our family." She said.

"Uh-hah."

"We're having another baby!" Jamie smiled again and suddenly the world felt right to Anthea again. She looked at Mycroft who mimed a 'told you so' over the phone call idea. Anthea crinkled her nose teasingly at him.

"We are! It'll be the four of us!"

"Oh my God!" Jamie squealed. "And you're emotionally crippled boyfriend is the one who told us!"

"Yay?" James said and then began laughing which made Jamie laugh too. "Speaking of, did he like the quiche?" He asked.

"James!" Jamie chastised him loudly.

"Sorry, later. Yay baby!" He fixed his error. "Yay completing our family!" At least he made Jamie laugh and smile again at that. Anthea leaned back on the couch. She looked at Hope and blew air through her mouth indicating exhaustion. Hope giggled. Yeah, Margot liked that, too.

"I hate children, Anthea." Mycroft had said later, after Jamie had left. It had caught Anthea by surprise and she found herself frowning at the British Government once more. "Even as a child I hated children." He continued to lament. "Why do I always get surrounded by the things I hate most?"

"Really?" Anthea quirked an eyebrow as she question Mycroft. "You want to tell the mother of your child all about hating children again? Really?" She wasn't serious, of course. Mycroft took a deep and dramatically pained breath.

"Margot is exempt." He sighed. "I'm simply stating that I don't understand them and they don't understand me." Anthea smirked at him.

"No one understands you." She teased.

"No one tries." Mycroft uttered, looking like a lost and lonely puppy. Anthea laughed. She wrapped her arms around his waist and rested her forehead on his shoulder.

"I understand you." She said. "That's why I'm still here." Mycroft rested his chin on the top of Anthea's head.

"Well," He clicked his tongue. "Children and the general public don't."

"I think Hope understands you. I think Margot gets that cuddles from you are special because they're rare, too." Anthea further proved Mycroft wrong.

"The general public, then. Not people close to me or who have known me their entire lives." He tried. He lowered his head so his nose was in her hair and she could feel his lips near the tip of her hairline. "Better?"

"Who needs the general public anyway?" Anthea asked.

"A bunch of goldfish, the lot of them." Mycroft uttered into Anthea's hair. She giggled.

"Exactly." She said, pulling the rare long lasting hug tighter.

Author's Note: So, so, so? What do you think? We're getting no more Holmes babies and no more Watson babies but we can have another J^2 baby. Ahh I'm nervous about this. I hope its okay, I really do. Please let me know. On important chapters I always really need the feedback. Thanks to last chapter's guest reviewers; Guests x2, and Madalina. Thanks to all of you reading this because that means you've gotten this far. See you all in seven days!