Author's Note: Thank you so much once again for all the lovely reviews! I am so pleased you guys loved last chapter as it was a particular favourite of mine. This one is a big one, twice as big as some chapters, but like I said, each chapter is self-contained so the whole event needs to take place in one chapter. I've had them have a little squabble before but let's face it, once you start to get close to people you're bound to have at least one fight. I hope you guys enjoy this nice long chapter on this long weekend. Once again I implore you to read, review, but most of all; 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 Big Fight

James and Mycroft exited Mycroft's office still at the tail end of discussions on whatever mission James had gotten back from. Apparently he was reporting to Mycroft before he went and reported to his actual superior. Anthea looked up from her computer to see James' brown eyes lock onto hers, she hazard him a quick smile before focusing back onto the computer screen. Mycroft was standing in his doorway.

"Yes, well, do tell me what he says." Mycroft gave James one of the contrived smiles that was basically saying he'd had enough. Anthea stopped herself from smirking. "Anthea, dear, could you come into my office?" Without a moment of hesitation Anthea locked her computer and stood up, smoothing down her dress.

"Yes, sir." She nodded. Mycroft began to walk into his office with Anthea right at his tail when she felt a warm touch on her hand. She stopped and looked to her hand to see James lightly touching it. Her brown eyes flashed up to his, a puzzled look surely plain to see on her features.

"Actually, Mr. Homes, I was wondering if I could talk to Anthea quickly outside." James stammered. He pulled his hand away and scratched the back of his head. Anthea quickly turned to look at her boss, brown locked onto steel and the two held each other's gaze both silently contemplating. Anthea silently pleaded while Mycroft looked for something in her thoughts. Mycroft pursed his lips before waving James off with a flick of the hand and turning to walk back into his office.

"Do be quick, James. We are quite busy." Anthea couldn't give you a reason why but as she watched that wooden door shut she felt slightly betrayed. She knew what was coming, she knew the nervous touches and stammering of male friends when they expected more. If she knew it, Mycroft knew it, why didn't he save her from this embarrassment? With a silent sigh, Anthea turned around to James. She raised her eyebrows and smiled. Feeling defeated she walked behind him to follow the agent out into the hallway. Once out James stood nervously while Anthea leaned on the frame of the closed wooden door. She felt alien and more exposed outside of her lair and felt the need to put on layers of protection.

"James, its Sunday. I'm not even supposed to be in today and I have a lot to do before I can go home…" Anthea trailed off as she did her best to speak nicely and find a way to avoid this conversation.

"Yeah, I know. It's just…" James trailed off as he stepped forward. Anthea crossed her arms over her chest, wishing once again to be safe within the confines of the office where one would not dare to do such things. "Look I was wondering if you'd like to hang out some time, just you and me." A pause as James searched Anthea's eyes nervously. "And you know, talk about things other than work." Anthea took a deep breath, trying to find the best way to say this, wishing it wasn't happening. She liked James, she really liked him, he was clumsy but good at his job, and funny, and a friendly face. Why do this, really? Anthea titled her head and bit her lip, arms hugging to her chest tightly, and by the look on his face James knew what she was going to say.

"Look, James." She took another deep breath. "I can't for two reasons. One, I'm sort of seeing someone." She wasn't lying, though her lawyer wasn't perfect he was just as busy as she was and it made being in a relationship extremely convenient. No one was needy and wanted constant attention. It was the best of both worlds for the two of them. "And two," She tilted her head and gave James a warm smile. "You're one of my only allies around here. What would I do if things went wrong? I'd be stuck with Mr. Holmes and his driver. Don't do that to me." He laughed, weakly but still laughed and that let Anthea soften her defences, arms loosening from her chest.

"Good point." He sighed. "Can't leave you to the wolves." He tilted his own head and smiled sadly.

"Speaking of wolves, I've got to go see what Mr. Holmes wants. Are we good?" Anthea spoke softly. She gave James a gently rub on his arm. The man gave her a toothy grin – though very contrived – and nodded.

"Yup, see you later, A." Anthea waited for James to be out of sight before sighing and rolling her eyes. Crisis averted and hopefully that wouldn't lead to any big fallout. She went back into the safety of the office, heading to Mr. Holmes' inner sanctum.

The door to the inner sanctum was open when Anthea entered the office and even as she stepped into the room Mycroft, currently standing with his back to the door looking over some documents in his hand, did not even look up to acknowledge Anthea's entrance. That was out of the ordinary but not entirely strange. Anthea came to stand next to him, picking her own copy of the document off the desk to read over it. It was nothing special, just a mission she had a hand in playing and therefore she got to look at the final paperwork – this was not why she was in his office. Still – moments after her initial entrance - without looking up or making any form of acknowledging her corporeal form, Mr. Holmes finally spoke to Anthea.

"You turned him down." He hummed – that condescending tone that Anthea had always completely ignore annoyed her for once, most likely because the lack of acknowledgement besides it was annoying enough. Anthea took a deep breath, eyes on the paper in her hand, before she answered.

"I did." She used the same sigh fuelled voice he was using.

"Why?" Anthea let her eyes flicker over to her boss to see if he was looking up. Still no. Anthea frowned.

"I have a boyfriend, remember. Plus James isn't my type." Finally he moved to his side of the desk, placing the document down.

"Ah yes, the lawyer." He breathed, eyebrows followed the word 'lawyer' up as a sign of derision. "But let's face it, you're not satisfied with him and James has much higher credentials than your usual candidates." Anthea felt that spark of annoyance again, at what this time she could not quite pinpoint. She folded her arms across her chest and cocked her hip.

"Excuse me, sir?" She sniffed. "First of all, that's not true. Secondly, 'usual candidates'? What do you know of the 'usual candidates'?" Finally steel blue came up to meet her gaze. They were absent of any true emotion, hiding behind those stupid firewalls.

"You've been with this lawyer of yours for months now, and nothing has changed. Your appearance is on par with standard – suggesting that you neither feel the need to look more attractive to someone nor feel comfortable enough to not focus so much on appearances. Your weight is the same when most people in domestic bliss tend to gain a few pounds. Something is clearly not satisfying you in that relationship – mentally, emotionally, or otherwise. As far as James is concerned, he's intelligent, athletic – which that brute of an ex-boyfriend of yours proves you have a taste for, and knows your real name. That, I hear, is quite the bonus when one is trying to make a lasting connection with another living being." Anthea kept her gaze locked on Mycroft's as she tried to comprehend this. Mycroft was blunt, sure, but this went levels beyond that to which she was used to. This was Sherlock levels of rudeness. That hurt, coming from him. Taking a few deep breaths to calm herself Anthea ran a free hand through her hair.

"Look, sir. I don't care what you think you know-"

"I don't think I know anything. Anthea you made me play a game reg-"

"No, sir. You can't just go making random guesses about my personal life, ok? You've met one ex-boyfriend, you've never seen how I behave in a relationship before. I don't have a type, alright and if it was James, or my lawyer, or Fabio, sir, it's none of your business. So can we just get to work now? Sir?" This time it was blue that took a moment to search brown. Mycroft's mouth was pursed, facial expression carefully flat as he searched Anthea and her eyes filled with a heat. A moment passed like a century before Mycroft clicked his tongue and sat down at his desk. Anthea took this as his agreement and sat in the chair opposite him.

"Have you confirmed the video conference for tomorrow night?" He asked as he flicked open a different file and began thumbing through the papers.

"Yes, sir." Anthea answered, nodding subconsciously.

"And did you complete the preparation for the MI6 computer system update last night?" A page was flicked.

"Yes, sir. Long before I left." This time he nodded in approval.

"Do I have your confirmation that the surveillance on Sherlock has been increased?" Anthea's breathed hitched in her voice as she hesitated to answer.

"Y-yes, sir." Was how it came out and she was already mentally chastising herself for it as blue eyes flickered up to rest on her, an eyebrow quirking. Mycroft placed the paper down, leaving the file open, and folded his hands together on top of the sheets of paper.

"What is it?" He asked slowly and carefully. Anthea shook her head and waved him off.

"No, it was nothing sir." She shrugged one shoulder. "I definitely did it, I have the confirmation text on my blackberry, sir." Mr. Holmes' frown deepened faintly.

"I'm not doubting that you followed my instructions, I am questioning your hesitation in answering. It is not nothing, my dear, what was it?" His head tilted slightly as he took her in. Anthea closed her eyes and took a deep breath in – there was no getting out of this now.

"It's just-" Anthea scratched behind her ear, taking another deep breath as she decided to restart her sentence. "Sherlock is busy with consulting detective work at the moment, sir. Is there any reason to be keeping such a close eye on him?" Her words sounded much more uncertain than she had meant them to, mind you she hadn't wanted to say them in the first place. There was a brief pauses as Mycroft pursed his lips.

"Sherlock is a danger to himself, Miss James, of course there is a need for surveillance. Are you questioning me?" Anthea bit the inside of her bottom lip, frowning slightly. She shook her head lightly.

"No, sir. Of course not. It's just – you know – he's so untrusting of us. Maybe if we gave him more space when he's not such a high risk of relapsing he'd, I don't know, open up to you more often, sir." She knew as soon as she'd finished that it was the wrong thing to say, blue eyes went fiercely cold and Mr. Holmes scoffed, shaking his head. This just wasn't their day apparently.

"Oh yes," Mycroft's voice was oozing with thick sarcasm as his attention fell onto his computer. "I'm going to take younger sibling advice from an orphan who was also an only child. Certainly she'll know more than I do about being an older brother." Anthea felt herself go utterly cold and the colour drain out of her face. That really hurt, hurt more than him not coming to her aid with James. She shuffled the pages on her lap.

"I was only trying to help, sir." She spoke barely over a whisper, brown eyes on the page, taking deep steady breaths. She missed the quirk of the eyebrow and the sneer.

"Yes, well, I don't believe family advice was part of the job description, thank you, Miss James." The sarcasm continued to sting. Anthea looked up, a fire starting to flickered in the back of her chocolate eyes.

"Hey, you're the one who called me for help with him at the hospital. I didn't beg to be involved in your family and your little brother's substance abuse problem." Ice cold blue met molten chocolate. So it seems that comment had finally earned Anthea a firsthand view of the ice man.

"You're absolutely right, Miss James. Nothing to do with Sherlock is within your job description. I should have never brought you unwillingly into it. From now one someone else will assist me with him, thank you. It's also not in your contract to fraternise with my parents so the next time I ask you to let someone into my house. Let them into my house, do not assume to take it upon yourself to make yourself comfortable." Anthea leaned back in her chair.

"Are you telling me I'm not allowed to make decisions without your consent, sir?" Her cold was most definitely replaced with heat now.

"Yes, Miss James, I am." He smiled sardonically at her. Anthea raised an eyebrow and nodded, licking her lips as she pretended to accept and contemplate this.

"Alright, sorry, sir. The next time the Prime Minister's office calls in a panic because they can't get hold of you I will tell them that unfortunately it's not in my contract to make decisions and I can't assist them and since I don't have express permission to enter the Diogenes Club unfortunately I can't bring it to your attention. I'm sorry that happened sir, it won't happen again." It was her turn to smile fierily and sarcastically, holding his gaze, fire to ice. He tilted his head and waved her off.

"Oh I'm afraid I'm partially to blame here. After all I encouraged your misbehaviour by rewarding unprofessional behaviours with rewards such as flowers. The next time you speak to me improperly or take a photograph of me, even of a pre-existing photograph – and yes, I know about that , I shall make sure I regard this behaviour the same way I would with any other employee and see that you are properly dealt with." This was meant to intimidate Anthea, and if she were perfectly honest it did a little bit, but she did her best to hold her ground eyes narrowing.

"You know what else is not in my contract, sir?" She stood up from her seat, dropping her file on Mycroft's desk. "Being here on a Sunday. This is officially my complete day off. So I'm going to go." She pointed to his still open door. "And I'll see you tomorrow, sir." She turned on her heels and began walking to the door.

"By all means, go back to your small cluttered apartment and call your only friend or the boyfriend you don't care about and complain about how cruel your boss is." Anthea reached the door before she stopped in her tracks and turned around. When she spoke it was slow and careful.

"I'd rather go back to my small apartment with a few people who love me than live in that big, empty, cold house and have my little brother – the only person in the world I seem to have any sort of emotional attachment to – despise me, sir." The molten chocolate gaze held to the icy one. If he was affected by her comment the only hint was the clench of his jaw. "Goodbye, sir."

As she shut the door to the office proper Anthea wondered if she'd be fired on Monday, or turn up missing.

Anthea was not fired on Monday – of course not – you could not really be fired without grounds and she'd never been anything but professional at her actual job. Instead she treated to the most cold, quiet, and long week of work she'd ever experienced in her entire life. When you and your boss are both extremely stubborn people, in this line of work when you're on the same side it generally works out spectacularly. When you're on opposite sides, however, you get absolutely nowhere. A week full of no communication unless it was about work and even then it was excruciatingly polite and painful professional. Anthea learnt that this job could be just as boring and painful as any other when you were privy to certain piece of information or trusted.

On Thursday she'd received a text from Sherlock.

I don't know what you did, but fix it. He's more nauseating than usual. SH

I can't help you. He's your problem when it's not work related. – A.

So it is your fault. SH

Fix it. SH

She'd rolled her eyes, shook her head, and went back to sitting in the town car silently as she answered emails.

On Saturday night Anthea found herself out to dinner with her lawyer and his friends. As they made inane chatter Anthea was staring at her phone on the table practically willing Jamie to call her with some sort of relationship emergency. Anthea, having never met Tim's friends before and having an excruciating week, had jumped at the chance to dress up, go out to dinner, and have some interesting conversation with interesting and smart people. As it turned out these people were boring. She'd been aware that Tim was slightly dull, not interested in anything too thrilling, but his friends and their partners were mind numbing. They'd actually had a conversation about the weather. A serious and in-depth conversation about the weather and someone had actually said 'interesting' at one point. Anthea had almost choked on her glass of wine. She didn't let Tim in on her absolute death causing boredom, don't want to ruin his attempt at doing something fun on a night they both had free. Instead every time he glanced at her she smiled warmly and pretended to be interested in whatever boring thing was being said. Her last boyfriend had been stupid, this one was dull. Great.

Anthea had yelled and almost jumped up in her seat when – like a gift from the heavens – her phone began ringing. She looked at the screen. It was Mr. Holmes. Looking bashful Anthea smiled at the group.

"Sorry, it's the boss, I have to get this." She said, trying to keep the relief out of her voice and doing a very bad job at it. "Hello." She answered a little too eagerly and was rewarded with the briefest of pauses.

"Miss James," He sounded as cold as he had all week but if he was calling her out of work hours during this blow up of their then he probably needed to call. "We are under agreement that your contact states you are on call on Saturdays and are required to come if I so say?" Anthea listened carefully to her boss as the group at the dinner table laughed at something that probably wasn't even remotely funny. Tim squeezed her hand.

"Yes, of course, sir." She answered in her own overly professional tone.

"Well then, I require your assistance with an emergency that has just arisen. It shouldn't take long, half an hour I suspect. I'll need you at my house as soon as possible." Anthea fought the urge to sigh in relief.

"I'll leave now, sir."

"Yes, good bye." She hung up again and looked at Tim, summoning up the saddest smile she could imagine.

"Sorry, the Lord has summoned me." She pouted. He squeezed her hand again.

"That's ok. If he works you too hard I can sew him." Anthea laughed and kissed her lawyer on the cheek.

"I'd really like to see you try." She grabbed her handbag and placed her phone in it, pulling out some cash to leave on the table. Tim stroked her cheek softly.

"Call me when you're done, yeah?" She nodded and smiled.

"I'll see what I can do."

Mr Holmes had answered the door immediately as Anthea pressed the doorbell. She was not surprised since she'd gone home to pick up her briefcase and bought coffee on the way. If he was agitated at her delay, as she knew he would be, it did not show on his face. An eyebrow quirked as cold steel blue eyes looked her up and down.

"I was out with my lawyer." She told him flatly.

"I didn't ask." He replied, stepping out of the way to let the personal assistant into his house not a week earlier she'd called empty and cold.

"You didn't have to." Anthea sighed enter. When the click of the door was heard she turned around and held out one of the coffees for Mr. Holmes to take.

"Again, I didn't ask." He clicked his tongue. "I do have coffee here Miss James, this is time we could have spent working."

"Considering the world hasn't exploded and there wasn't panic in the streets I think it's safe to say I didn't endanger us all by stopping for coffee. I don't care if you don't want it, sir. I could use it." He took a deep breath in and out, took the take away cup of coffee from Anthea's hand and led her to his home office.

He'd been spot on about the issue taking about half an hour. Thirty five minutes to the moment she sat down, that's how long it took before she was filing papers back into her briefcase.

"Thank you, Miss James. I'll let you get back to your unpleasant evening." She almost scoffed before she'd remember that they weren't exactly on the best terms. That's when Anthea had realised she'd enjoyed working this past half an hour way more than she'd enjoyed her evening with the lawyer's friends. She contemplated this, briefcase on her lap, as she watched Mycroft organising the loose papers into order and place them into the correct files. When had she ended up in a bizarre world where spending time working out a minor crisis for the government was more interesting then drinking and eating with new people? She closed her eyes and rubbed her forehead, aware of what she was going to have to do and kicking herself for it.

"Look, Mr. Holmes." She huffed. His hands paused mid document shuffle as his attention was brought onto Anthea. "I wasn't going to apologize unless you did first but I'm starting to realise that is never going to happened." He sniffed, attention back onto his.

"I have nothing to apologize for, Miss James." A small smile threatened to fall onto Anthea's lips as she rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, see, that's what I'm talking about, sir." He pulled a face, pouting slightly, as he continued working. "First of all sir, sorry for snapping in the first place, I was put off after feeling cornered by James. Defences were up and all. I'm all for you expressing your opinion on things it's just." She paused for a moment and noticed his papers were down, hands folded, attention on her. "Don't just say things about my relationships. I don't ask you about that sort of stuff and if I did I'd ask first. You know. So what if I'm with Tim because it's easy. Nothing else is." Anthea looked at her boss earnestly. He raised his eyebrows, pursed his lips and inclined his head slightly.

"I see your point." He answered flatly. Anthea shifted in the chair, tucking a curl behind her ear.

"And I'm sorry about sticking my nose in your business with Sherlock. I know he's your brother and your business but sometimes it just feels like neither of you know how to behave like normal people." She was rewarded with a scoff. She was getting somewhere. "I will stay out of it, sir. I promise." Blue eyes held onto brown as Mycroft chose his words in response carefully. He took a breath before he spoke.

"As I have stated previously, I do not require any assistance from outsiders when it comes to my precarious relationship with my brother. However, if I we're to ask around yours would be a valued opinion just as it is in business, my dear." My dear. Anthea had almost melted upon hearing those words again, a week had been way too long. Who knew a simple term of endearment could mean so much? She smiled warmly at her boss, knowing this was the closest she'd ever get to an apology.

"And Sherlock doesn't hate you, sir. Anyone can see that. It was just a payback comment." Mr Holmes took way too long to wave the comment off for Anthea's liking. He spent time considering the statement, eyes flickering with something she couldn't quite pinpoint before he shook his head.

"Like I said, my dear, you have an evening to return to."

Monday afternoon as Anthea sent out a group email to all agents involved in a mission the previous week, Mycroft emerged from his office. He walked over to their coat rack taking hold of his coat and the beloved umbrella.

"Working at the club this afternoon, sir?" Anthea asked, eyes flickering back to her screen as she let a polite smile play on her face.

"Indeed I am, Anthea." Mr Holmes put his coat on, smoothing over his suit nicely. "After a quick lunch, if you'd like to join me." The smile was replaced with a frown as Anthea looked over to Mr Holmes.

"I wouldn't like to intrude, sir." Mycroft's eyes sparkled as he smiled.

"Nonsense, my dear. I am about to spend the rest of the work day in a club that requires silence. The last thing I need is for an equally silent lunch. I'd even sit through your account of your lovely evening Saturday." Anthea laughed as she locked the computer. She walked over and grabbed her own coat. As she went to put it on she stopped and took Mr. Holmes in with a long look, the way he always did to everyone else, and a light burden free smile playing on her face. This earned her a frown and a tilt of the head. "Why is it that lately you have all these new expressions? What is it?" Anthea shook her head but left the smile on her face.

"It's nothing, sir." She shrugged. "I just think I missed you."

"Missed me?" He scoffed. "My dear, the amount of time spent in each other's presence barely changed. I've been in that office with you in here every day. How can you have possibly missed me?" Anthea rolled her eyes and went back to putting her coat on.

"You know what I mean."

Author's Note: So that happened. What do you think? Let me know :). Anyway, once again I'd like to thank my guest reviewers: Corrine, Connie, Guest, Wink, and Wheezy8. Corrine, I'm glad I made your day better, nothing pleases me more than when someone tells me I helped make their day/week brighter. Thank you to everyone who reads, reviews, favourites, and even follow me on other sites due to this fic. I love this story and I love you all.