Author's Note: Thank you so much for the feedback last chapter! It keeps me going, it really does. It was a fun chapter and I'm very happy you all had fun with it. First thing is were probably going to reach 300 really soon so this chapter is your last chance to tell me what second time one-shot you would like to see. As far as this chapter goes, we've got a nice long one today. Please let me know what you think, I live for your feedback and talking to you all about it. So 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 His Family Came First

Anthea and Tim were sitting down in Anthea's new flat eating lunch. It was a chicken Caesar salad that they had managed to assemble themselves! To be honest, it was Tim who had cooked the chicken so it wouldn't taste like rubbish from being over cooked. He also did the bacon. Anthea's job was to assemble all the elements nicely and artistically on the plates. Regardless of who made what and who did the jobs relegated the children to keep them busy, it was the first proper meal created in Anthea's new kitchen and she was quite proud of them. They sat at the small wooden dining table that fit in the rather large main living space close to the kitchen without encroaching into the living room section.

"I've got to say," Tim spoke between mouthfuls of food as he looked around Anthea's flat. "I really like how you turned this into two rooms almost." A pause as Anthea smiled at him and he took another mouthful of iceberg lettuce. "It's really smart, Ali." Ali, Alison was the name she had given Tim a long time ago. It worked if he met Jamie as Alice could be a nickname and it worked when he met James who liked to call her just 'A' these days. A wise choice on her part if she didn't say so herself.

"It finally gave me an excuse to assemble that cheap bookcase we bought for my old place." She laughed, pointing at the fake wood cube with her fork. "It's finally got some books in it and a great makeshift room divider." Tim mmm'ed in response. "You don't think the new couch is too big though, do you?" She half sighed as she asked, pushing her food around the plate. Tim looked over across the room.

"Nah," He shook his head, turning back to his long-term girlfriend. "You needed something bigger for the space." Anthea rolled her chocolate eyes.

"I know I was upgrading on purpose, but I think it's a little too big." Tim casually looked around the space they were now inhabiting, his green eyes ticking away.

"Yeah, it's more of a couple's flat than a single person's flat." He hummed in thought. Anthea laughed, picking up her glass of water to have a sip. She looked in the glass absentmindedly, busying herself.

"If such a thing exists." She quirked an eyebrow, pulling a face at her lawyer. Tim rolled his eyes but smiled wide.

"You know what I mean." Anthea shrugged as she put her glass back down. "We can fix that though." Anthea's brain started to slow down as she tried to compute that sentence. She looked deep into Tim's eyes, brow furrowing deeply.

"Wha-" She stuttered. "How, what do you mean?" Her brain still not quite understanding – or choosing not to. Tim frowned, looking down at the table, but kept his goofy grin.

"Ah well, my lease is up in a month or so and I was thinking… Since after your mugging you don't like to be alone too much and we've been going out for a long time… Why don't I just move in here with you?" His tone was so sweet, and caring, and hopeful. He did not deserve the response he got, Anthea choking on absolutely nothing. She patted her chest a few times to stop her coughing and as she recovered she looked nervously around the room, tucking her hair behind her ears. She could feel her heart racing.

"What? I mean, why would you want to do that?" She giggled nervously, not being able to look Tim in those lovely green orbs of his. She saw the lawyer lean forward in his chair, resting his elbows on the table. A voice in her head that sounded suspiciously like Mycroft's chided him for doing something so ill-mannered.

"I just told you why." He too laughed in confusion at the end of his sentence. "Ali, it's not like this is too soon. It's been well over a year." Anthea fought the urge to stand out of her chair as her back pressed against it.

"Yeah but, we're both so busy with work we'd never get to spend any extra time together anyway. It – I mean, everything's fine." Where were her sentence forming skills going? This was ridiculous.

"But we'd know we live together. The last person home would get to jump into bed with the other one and we'd get to see each other in the morning." Yeah, but I'm not here every morning, I don't come home every night. And she didn't want to stop that.

"Tim, I-"

"What are you so worried about, Alison?"

Buzz.

Both of them jumped as Anthea's phone began vibrating right on the dining table. She apologized profusely but jumped at the phone to answer it as quick as she could – not even bothering to see who it was.

"Hello," She sung her generic answer a little too cheery as she stepped out of her seat and walked closer to the kitchen.

"Oh, hello dear." Mrs. Holmes' voice came across light and shaky on the phone. She sounded relieved that Anthea picked up. Anthea frowned, turning back to Tim and holding up a finger to signal she'll be a moment.

"Are you okay?" She asked, concern ringing through her voice.

"No. Well. I am." A shaky breath was heard over the receiver, Anthea's heart constricted more. "I've been trying to get hold of the boys. You're not with Mycroft, are you, dear?" Anthea hugged her free arm across her chest.

"Um no, I think he's in a meeting right now so he probably can't take calls." She frowned to herself. "As for Sherlock, I know that he and John are out of town working on a case so either they're out of range or Sherlock is ignoring his phone." A pause. "I can get you John's number if you want, or..."

"No dear, it's okay. If Myc contacts you first can you please tell him to call his mother immediately?"

"Why?" There was panic trying to edge its way into Anthea's voice but she was holding down the best she could. Tim was looking at her with concern. "What happened?" There was hesitation.

"Siger was having some chest pains so we called an ambulance."

"Oh my god!" Anthea gasped, her free hand rising to cover her mouth. Tim shifted in his seat, frowning more. "It's not a heart attack is it?"

"No, dear." Mrs. Holmes tried to placate the assistant with the rising pulse rate. "I don't think so. I hope not." Anthea started scrambling to get her handbag together.

"Look, I'll see what I can do for you." She spoke as calmly as possible. "Can you text me what hospital you're going to and we'll meet you there."

"Anthea dear, you don't have to do that." Anthea stopped in her tracks and frowned into space. After everything that the Holmes' had done for her.

"No, I really do. I want to." A pause as Anthea heard a much more steady deep breath.

"Thank you, sweetheart. I'll see you soon."

"Bye." Anthea hung up the call and stared at her blackberry for a long moment before she could move once again. She turned to Tim and pointed at her front door, mouth gaping for a moment. "Look," she finally spoke in a soft tone. "I'm sorry, bad timing, but I have to go."

"What is it?" He asked quietly. "Is it Jamie's family?" Anthea smiled sadly and shook her head.

"Hey, can I borrow a cigarette and a lighter?" Tim frowned at her and Anthea shook her head once more. "It's not for me." She reassured as she walked into the kitchen to take a cigarette out of Tim's packet.

"James' family then?" Anthea smiled at him again.

"No." She sighed. Tim's face went blank as he watched his girlfriend.

"It's your boss' family, isn't it?" Anthea didn't answer, she merely winced and nodded. Tim shook his head and sighed. "How do his parents even have your number?"

"It's a long story Tim, and I've got to go." She turned to leave.

"Ali," He called out, halting her in her way. "You two spend a lot of time together so you know each other pretty well, I've always got that. You know I get that. I think it's funny how Jamie and him are one such different wavelengths they can barely communicate, and I think it's cute that you go for walks for the sake of having cake, but you want to know what I don't get?" He stood up and stepped away from the table. "Why he has met Jamie twice and I never have. Why he knew about you getting mugged and your phone stolen before I did. Why you know his parents enough for them to call you but you still refuse to come meet mine." Chocolate eyes and green eyes searched each other before Anthea pointed to the door once again.

"I'll try to be back as soon as I can. If I'm not back by late night stay the night and we can chat about this flat stuff in the morning, okay?" He shrugged and turned around.

"Be safe." He sighed.

Anthea walked right into the meeting room wearing her jeans and casual blouse, her hair still tied in a messy ponytail from cooking. Her phone was clutched in her hand and she was out of breath but she didn't care. Mycroft turned around in his seat and regarded her with a long deduction.

"Miss Michaelson." One of the ministers greeted her with a smile. "We were told that you weren't coming today." Anthea put on her best work smile and took a steadying breath to keep the panic out of her voice.

"As you can see by my clothes, I was not expecting to come, either." They laughed and she smiled bashfully, all very typical for schmoozing. "If you don't mind me gentlemen I need to borrow Mr. Holmes immediately." Mycroft looked from Anthea, to the documents in front of him, and then to the four men at the table. He sighed and stood up.

"Excuse me, I shouldn't be long." He followed Anthea out of the room. She let him pass, closing the double doors behind him. The hundredth moment of silence passed once again as Mycroft folded his arms and watched his P.A. "I would ask why you chose to interrupt and what could possibly be the matter with you," He sighed. "But judging by the extreme levels of anxiety radiating off of you it's clearly multiple issues and what is important right now is which of these issues relates to me." Anthea opened her mouth to answer her boss but found herself momentarily unable to as she looked into those steel eyes that shone with high levels of intelligence and calm. She really didn't know how to do this or how to approach it. Mycroft frowned at the hesitation. He lowered his head to peer more closely at her. "Anthea?" He asked. She looked down at the blackberry in her hands.

"Well, it's your dad." Anthea winced. "He's having chest pains, enough for your mum to call an ambulance." The mask on his face only faltered slightly – eyebrows raising, mouth opening only a hint – but the array of emotions that crossed those intelligent eyes that usually gave not a thing away physically hurt Anthea.

"Oh." He mouthed. "Oh." This time it was verbalised. His hand raised to touch the bridge of his nose before he forced it back to his chest. "Is it-?"

"You're mum doesn't think so." Anthea interrupted him. "Well, she's pretty sure." Mycroft pursed his lips and nodded, not looking at anything in particular. "Do you-" She reworded her sentence. "Should I try and get hold of Sherlock?" Mycroft turned around and took a few steps in the opposite direction before waving her off and turning back to face her.

"No, no." He placed his hands on his waste. "The boy is susceptible to emotions and will panic if I can't answer his onslaught of questions. Best to wait until we know precisely what the issue is." Anthea took a step in his direction.

"Yeah, sure, makes sense, sir." She shook her head, her voice was much softer than she intended. Mycroft was still looking at nothing in particular. She held her phone up and shook it slightly, steel eyes latched onto it. "I have which hospital they're heading to." Mycroft snapped out of it slightly, nodding both to her and most likely to clear his head.

"Ah, yes. Well, I suppose the appropriate thing to do would be to postpone the meeting and head straight there." Anthea almost laughed nervously at her boss' uncertainty.

"I think so, sir." She nodded, the amusement still faintly heard on the tip of her tone. "If you want I could – Would you like – I'll come with you, sir." He blinked as he looked into her chocolate eyes, searching for something. He shook his head.

"Not necessary, Miss James." There was no real effort to his argument. "You have no obligations as I do, and I believe you have your own day to get back to." Anthea stepped forward again.

"I have plenty of obligations to come, sir." Mycroft began walking back to the boardroom at a quickened pace.

"Well if that's how you feel, my dear, who am I to stop you?"

Anthea's little car – with the radio turned off for once – pulled up into the parking garage of the hospital. She put the car in park, turned off the engine and turned to look at Mycroft, waiting for further instruction. Having been on his phone the whole time, Mycroft pocketed the device in his breast pocket, took a steadying breath and gave Anthea one of those fake smiles of his.

"Let's get this over and done with, shall we?" He breathed as he ejected the safety belt. Anthea leant over into the back of the car, stretching to grab hold of her handbag. She was successful in time to hear the soft click of the door of the car opening.

"Wait a second, sir." She called out, digging through her bag. Finding it after about a minute and a half of digging through her 'not work' handbag she found the cigarette, holding it out to Mycroft. The man's blue eyes landed on the cigarette and his face stilled. She could see his brain – that was already working overtime – ticking. Eventually his face wore a slightly relieved smile as he took the cigarette and lighter with the grace of a practiced smoker and stepped out of the car to light it. Anthea got out of the car, locked in using central locking and walked to the opposite side of the car. She leant on the car next to Mycroft as he took a long drag of the cigarette, coughing twice as he tried to hold it in. She watched as he breathed out the smoke, feeling her boss' energy relax.

"My dear," He breathed. "You are getting frighteningly good at your job." Anthea looked at her boots and smiled to herself.

"What can I say?" She spoke softly. "It's all in the details." He took a final drag of the cigarette before dropping it on the floor and stubbing it out with his shoe.

"Indeed." He exhaled. With that gesture the duo walked side by side as they silently made their way to the entrance of the hospital.

As soon as Violet Holmes spotted her son and his personal assistant a wave of relief crossed her very worried face. She walked at a very fast pace to reach them.

"Oh, Mycie." She nearly sobbed, pulling her son into a hug and planting a kiss on his cheek. Mycroft allowed his mother to hug him for at least a minute as he awkwardly placed his hand on her back. "I'm so glad you're here." She let go of him, blue eyes landing on Anthea.

"And you, my darling, are an absolute angel." Anthea was treated to the same hug and kiss on the cheek that Violet's own son had experienced seconds early, though Anthea was a lot better and reciprocating the hug. Despite the general emotion flowing between the three Anthea couldn't help but smile at the warm gesture from the lady. As Mrs. Holmes let go of Anthea, Mycroft pulled down on his sleeves to neaten them and clear his throat.

"So what do we know?" His tone was all business and as Anthea looked at him she could see his mask was firmly in place.

"We're waiting for the ECG machine." Mrs. Holmes huffed. The frown across Mycroft's face was immediate.

"Waiting?" He scoffed, looking between his mother and Anthea. "Well then surely they're certain it's not a heart attack if they feel complacent enough to wait." Mrs. Holmes shook her head, indicating that she didn't know. "Who is the physician?" Mycroft asked.

"I can't remember her name, sweetheart." Mrs. Holmes sighed. "A short woman with dark hair."

"Right," Mycroft hummed, eyes searching the vicinity. "If you'll excuse me I have some questions that need answers." He turned and began walking back to the nurse's station with all the purpose he had when he walked around the office. Mrs. Holmes gingerly laid a hand on Anthea's shoulder and guided her over to some of those ridiculously uncomfortable plastic chairs. Once they were sitting down Anthea got out her phone to answer emails – might as well work.

"So how is he?" Mrs. Holmes' voice was quiet and sounded exhausted. Anthea's chocolate eyes shot up from her phone to meet the eyes that matched Sherlock's so perfectly.

"Mycroft?" She asked. Mrs. Holmes nodded. Anthea looked in the general direction that they had last seen Mycroft and bit the inside of her lip. "You know him, nothing gets to him, he's fine."

"No dear, I know how he wants people to think he is. How is he really?" Anthea met her eyes once again. Oh, she knew her son too well, it was strange when talking to Mycroft's brother and parents – they were the only other people in the world who could see through him. The same is probably to be said for Sherlock but John was slowly being added to that list. Anthea scratched her nose and sighed.

"I think he was a little shaken. You know, he's not easily surprised." She took a deep breath. "But I think now he has people to boss around he'll be fine." Mrs. Holmes nodded and looked down to her hands folded in her lap, the answer seeming to be satisfactory. Anthea went back to her phone, the only noise between them being the clicking of the keys. A few minutes later Violet spoke again.

"You know, Siger and I were talking about you only yesterday." She elbowed Anthea's arm. Once again the girl looked up from her phone as she frowned.

"Me?" Anthea smiled. Mrs. Holmes smiled sadly back and nodded.

"We were talking about John which led to you." Anthea laughed genuinely and probably a little too loudly for a hospital.

"That's a logical transition – I've already told Mycroft that John and I are basically the same person to our own Holmes brother." She scoffed.

"We were saying how in the last few years that our kids have finally started to make friends." Anthea giggled again. "It's so lovely to hear our sons actually surrounding themselves with people." Violet sighed. "We listed the names we hear often. Molly, Detective Lestrade, Walter, Mrs Hudson, and of course John and Anthea."

"Wow," Anthea mused, nodding to herself. "Will you look at that? They are surrounded by people despite their best efforts not to be." Mrs. Holmes elbowed her again and nodded.

"Siger said it warms his heart to see his sons not so lonely anymore." She took a shaky breath, causing Anthea to place a hand on top of hers.

"It's going to be fine, Mrs. Holmes." Anthea squeezed her hand.

"I know, dear." She forced a smile. Another moment of silence pasted. "Siger loves to say that the boys are just made out of me but I can see so much of him in them, despite the annoying genius traits." Anthea laughed in shock, squeezing Mrs. Holmes' hand again. "Mycroft's got that beautiful quietness from Siger that Sherlock or I could never hope to have. He and his father can sit silently in a room together, not talking once, and agree that they had a nice catch up." She shook her head slowly. "And Sherlock gets so excited about things. When he was a little boy he and his father used to get so into their games and their stories. It was a sight to see. Even better when they somehow got Myc to step away from his studying and join in." She was looking at nowhere in particular as if lost in the memories.

"Hey," Anthea shook her hand lightly. "It's going to be fine. Mycroft isn't going to let anything bad happen and it's my job to make sure his life goes as smoothly as possible. If something goes wrong here, well that's a big hiccup and that could cost me my job." Mrs. Holmes laughed at Anthea's misplaced humour, freeing her hand to stroke Anthea's cheek.

"You're such a sweetheart." On that note Mycroft reappeared and seemed to be busying himself with his phone. Anthea freed her hands and went back to her own phone to appear as nonchalant and calm as possible.

"I managed to get Father moved up on the list to be next for the ECG machine." Mrs. Holmes let out a breath.

"Oh thank goodness." She sighed.

"And the doctor is currently fifty percent sure that it is a different issue relating to the heart – not one so immediately dangerous but still important to deal with." Anthea looked up from her phone and nodded.

"Would you like me to call John, sir, to inform Sherlock?" Mycroft pocketed his phone and shook his head.

"No, my dear, we'll wait for the final diagnosis." Anthea nodded once her attention turning back to her own phone. Mycroft sat down in the seat next to his mother, folding his legs.

"Excuse me sir," Anthea stood up, busying herself with her blackberry. "I need to make some calls to reschedule that meeting." She began to make her way outside. Really, the meeting had been nothing important and Anthea could wait until Monday or even Tuesday to reorganise it. The thing is she wanted to give Mycroft a moment with his mother where maybe the mask could come down a little bit. They both probably needed that.

While she was outside she considered calling Tim, just to make him feel slightly more included and to smooth things over. She was just about to press call when she ultimately decided against it, it might just make things worse, better not deal with it. Out of habit instead she started a text to Jamie.

Hey, just wondering how your parents are. Your mum still trying to get your stepdad to be a vegetarian? – A x.

Anthea held onto her phone and leant against the building, rubbing her arms due to the oncoming chill. She really should have brought a jacket.

She remembered when her Aunt and Uncle brought her to the hospital to wait and here about her parents. The memories were still so vivid she could smell the scents and remember the fear. Anthea blinked the tears away and sniffed. This was not a good time for this, but being in the hospital for someone closes parent's brought it back too vividly. Her Uncle and Aunt were nice enough people but Anthea had been an extra burden to them and she never felt like she belong – she was just happy they let her stay at her school with Jamie. Her phone chimed.

Yeah, they're fine! Nah, mum's given up on him :P. Still trying to convert me :/. Why, you ok? – Jamie xx.

Just peachy. Thinking about stuff is all. – A x.

Anthea thought of Jamie's mum bringing them cookies while studying, and her step-dad taking them to the drive-in cinemas. She thought of Mrs. Holmes and how she snuck around Mycroft's back to invite Anthea to Mother's Day and Mr. Holmes and how he walked her to her car. Really, she was lucky to have people willing to step in for her, it always filled her with a warmth. It was enough that she barely noticed the hole in her life anymore.

'Kay. Call me. – Jamie xx.

Tucking her phone back in her handbag Anthea took on last breath of the fresh air that didn't taste of disinfectant and went back inside. She stopped at the coffee shop on the way to get overpriced bad tasting tea and coffee for herself and the other two. Mycroft had taken it wordlessly while Mrs. Holmes had muttered a lovely thank you to which Anthea smiled at. She then took her previous seat at Mrs. Holmes' other side and continued working on her phone.

It was a half an hour before Mrs. Holmes was called in to accompany her husband for the tests, leaving Mycroft and Anthea sitting in the waiting room in silence – an empty plastic chair between them. It was another hour before the doctor came and got Mycroft to bring him to the room for what Anthea could only presume were test results. So Anthea was left alone in the uncomfortable plastic chair, fidgeting as she played with her blackberry. When she got home she'd need a shower – not for the germs but for the smell of disinfectant that was probably stuck in her clothes by now.

Eventually Mycroft emerged from behind closed doors, blue eyes searching for his assistant. Finding her exactly where he left her Mycroft walked to her, Anthea standing up to meet him. Though the mask was still in place she could just tell there was a slightly more relaxed atmosphere about him. Still, she waited on baited breath.

"Well?" She asked. Mycroft pursed his lips together and half shrugged.

"They believe its angina."

"Angina?" Anthea frown, her nails digging into the palms of her hands. "That can be controlled, right? With healthy diet, and lifestyle, and exercise?"

"And in his case some cholesterol medication." She didn't mean to and any other day, there's no way Anthea would ever have dared to but something came over her. Anthea bridged the gap between them, and pulled Mycroft into a hug, burying her face into his chest. She could smell is cologne so vividly, feel the heat radiating off of him, hear his heart beating in his chest. The funny thing is, once the quick awkward rigidness dissipated, like he had done with his mother, he reciprocated by patting Anthea on the back. She was too lost in relief for her boss' sake to really think about it but later thinking back on this little action would shock her to no end. Anthea pulled away and smiled up to her boss.

"Oh, I'm so happy for you!" The relief causing her voice to sound breathy. Anthea felt like one of many heavy weights had been lifted off her shoulders. Mycroft pinched the bridge of his nose and she could see him fighting the urge to smile in return.

"Yes, thank you, Miss James." He looked past her to the nurses' office and cleared his throat. "It would be perfectly acceptable if you went home now." Anthea shifted the weight on her feet.

"Are you sure, sir? I don't mind." She argued. Mycroft waved her off.

"No need for you to waste the rest of your weekend here, my dear. You've done enough." For some reason Anthea's heart sank ever so slightly. She bit the inside of her lip and nodded.

"Yes, sir, thank you." She muttered and leant down to pick up her handbag. "Can you –" She began but cut herself off once more to try and reword her sentence. "I would like it if-" Anthea frowned and sighed. One more try. "Do call if there are any other developments, sir." Mycroft watched her silently for a moment, face neutral, concerning Anthea to no end. Eventually he broke it by nodded.

"Absolutely."

Anthea got home to a darkened flat. She turned the light on to see the table had been cleaned and wiped. She went into her kitchen to place her handbag down but upon turning on the light Anthea found a note on her kitchen counter.

Hey, hope everything's okay.

I went home. The rest of the salad is in the fridge.

We need to talk.

Love Tim.

Anthea placed her arms on the counter and rested her head down, closing her eyes. One issue at a time, please. She needed a moment to catch her breath. Anthea walked out of the kitchen and turned the light off, deciding to deal with that later. Right now she just wanted a shower.

Author's Note: I hope this came across the way I wanted it to. Please let me know what you thought, I'd love to hear. Thank you to the guest reviewers: Corrine, Wheezzy8, toolazytologin, marie, and ValkyrieDefender. Every reviewer is like my favourite person ever, particularly since I usually wake up to reviews, it's amazing. I can't wait to hear what you thought of this one :).