Author's Note: Sorry to hit you guys with a hard chapter for Anthea last time but I'm a very pleased by all the feedback I got from it. I love the different takes you guys get and how they all seem to be what I was getting at – it's brilliant. I love the reviews and the reviewers so much :). Also, thanks for the comments on A Surprise Indeed as well, you guys rock! Let's steer away from the hurtful stuff for a second, shall we? I promise you I'll try not to hurt Anthea for at least a few chapters, I love her too. 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 She Missed Him

"Are you sure you want me to go, Sir?" Anthea looked up from her blackberry and across to Mycroft Holmes. Mycroft, who had been looking out the window of the town car, looked at the umbrella in his hands as he twisted it around.

"My dear, there are delicate negations to attend to and I need to stay here." He hummed. Blue eyes flickered up to meet chocolate ones and his mouth pulled into a half smile. "And who else would I send?" Anthea looked back at her blackberry, a smile forming on her lips out of pure reaction to his own.

"But what if you need me? We could send James, sir." She heard Mycroft sigh as she continued her email.

"Anthea, this is very important – I'm not going to trust just anyone with it. You are a recognisable figure so that no one will question your transitory authority and you're the only person I trust with this level of secrecy. I am not trusting a gun toting buffoon like James." Anthea's smile widen at the trust demonstrated and the sort of compliment she just received. She looked at Mr. Holmes slyly from the corner of her eyes and quirked her eyebrow.

"No offence meant to James, of course?"

"Oh of course not, he's the best gun toting buffoon I know." Anthea chuckled under her breath. She put her phone down on her lap and looked Mycroft up and down, considering the offer.

"Two weeks in Virginia?" She re-affirmed. Mycroft nodded.

"Two weeks in Virginia." He tilted his head as he watched her watch him. "Think you can handle the Americans for that long, my dear?" Anthea crinkled her nose.

"I'll try." If truth be told Anthea probably needed this assignment more than anyone. It had been a few weeks since the breakup with Tim and Anthea had buried herself completely into her work to cope. She'd started leaving at the same time as Mycroft and going straight to bed. Any time she did have at home she did anything she possibly could – emails, drafts, security footage, and whatever else.

All this mission was going to be was examining the FBI's latest advances in agency work and technology. She was to give input and feedback the way Mr. Holmes would and then report everything back to Mr. Holmes in an official report document. It was nice and simple but really did require Anthea to go, they would open up to her as if she were Mr. Holmes, and they wouldn't do that for just anyone.

Sure Quantico was work, but it meant a break from all her usual duties. When the day at the base ended she'd go back to the Hotel room to relax. Maybe she'd pack some books and some DVDs and try to feel normal again. She could demand a room with a bath and chill out by herself. Anthea could even use the free time one evening to have a long phone call with Jamie, the likes of which they hadn't done it years.

Also that meant James would be doing her job while she was away and that meant funny stories from both James and Mycroft about what had happened. That could be fun.

If Anthea had learnt anything in her life so far it's that things very rarely turned out the way you wanted them to. The big things, certainly, she has had her fair share of rather important aspects of her life turn in a way she hadn't expected, but it's actually the little things that throw you off.

As far as the assignment itself was concerned, it had been a rousing success so far. Many of the people she was dealing with she had already met before – and may or may not have gotten into arguments with – so with these decently high people already respecting her as the next best thing to Mycroft Holmes, her opinions and questions were very well received. Half of what they were showing her was ground breaking and she wished James or Carol had come with her to appreciate it – even Walter – and the other half was drab and stuff she had learnt in the minor training Anthea herself had received in the first few months of her career.

The time Anthea got to herself in the evenings was astounding. She'd explored the town, done some nights of reading non-stop, watched a bunch of films on the hotel's pay per view, it was such a different experience to her life these days. For the first time in a long time, Anthea was starting to feel like the stubborn snarky girl who had got roped into this world. In fact she barely found herself thinking of Tim. Well, she most definitely did think of him from time to time – certain smells and items on the menu – and when she did it hurt a little to think of what he did wrong in the end and what she did wrong during the relationship. It hurt a little but the sting didn't go as deep as to make her want to cry, or throw up, she just felt like she had lost.

That is not what had caught her off guard about this whole thing.

"Listen to me, blabbing about my happy relationship after what that lawyer has done to you." The amount of venom in Jamie's voice as she said 'that lawyer' over the phone made Anthea smile. She lay back on the hotel bed and stretched out, kicking off her shoes. The flats, those Chanel flats that Mycroft had bought her when she had broken her ankle. They were a god scent with all the walking around the Quantico bases.

"Don't worry about, Jamie." Anthea laughed lightly. "I like hearing about your happiness. Think of it as me living a stable relationship vicariously through you." Jamie laughed over the other end but Anthea could hear the sympathy in it. Jamie was like a chalkboard with her emotions written all over it. She may as well be announcing how she's feeling out loud all the time.

"Speaking of living vicariously, Miss Jetsetter, how's this secret business trip going? Having fun." Anthea scoffed and rolled her eyes.

"Trust me, I'm nowhere fun. I can't buy you anything pretty so don't get your hopes up." Jamie sighed, pretending to be let down. "It's really relaxing compared to my usual work. I forgot what it was like to have whole evenings to yourself. Like, how do you do it?"

"It takes a lot of practice to be as good at wasting time as I am, Ali. You couldn't handle it." Anthea laughed and rolled over onto her stomach.

"You're an idiot and I miss you."

"Aww! I miss you too! You should come visit me sometime." Anthea, resting her cheek against the palm of her hand, frowned.

"Yeah, maybe."

"Maybe?"

"Yeah, I don't know." Anthea paused as she bit her lip. "I don't know if I like being away from home for so long." Jamie went to talk but hesitated.

"Hey, I thought here was home and London was where you live." Jamie sounded hurt, not fake hurt but honest to God a little upset. Anthea shut her eyes and took a deep breath.

"No, you're right, that is my home. It's just-" She paused. "Nah, it's stupid."

"What?"

"No, really. It's stupid and I don't get it." Jamie laughed.

"You know who you're talking to right? You remember all the stupid conversations we had in high school? I think we once came up with a plan on how to take over the world." Anthea laughed hard at the memory, flipping to lie on her back once more.

"I thought having so much time to myself would make me miss Tim. You know, he was around mostly for company."

"Yeah, I get you."

"But he's not the person I miss." Anthea rolled her eyes and shook her head at herself. "I miss Mycroft." There was a pause followed by a giggle.

"Creepy government guy? Really?"

"Yeah. I spend most of my time with him, you think two weeks away from that mess would be like an amazing holiday." Anthea sat back up and looked down at the shoes. "But I miss the weirdo."

"Oh Alice, what have these people done to you? Are you still human?" Anthea laughed. "Don't you have to check in with him anyway?" Anthea shrugged out of habit.

"I spoke to my friend James on the phone to help him out with a few things and I've sent a few emails full of details but that's it."

"So why don't you call him?" Anthea scoffed. She got off the bed and walked to the kitchenette to get a drink of water.

"And say what. 'Hey, Mr. Holmes. I know you despise small talk and we've said all we need to say to each other in emails but I saw a woman rip a man to pieces today for doing something incredibly stupid and it reminded me of you so, hey, want to chat?'"

"Yeah, why not?" Jamie laughed as she spoke. Anthea took a sip of the water and rolled her eyes.

"You don't get it, Jay."

"Good thing I don't want to. You two are weirdoes."

Anthea,

A rather urgent matter has occurred within the Australian Government, I need to go deal with it immediately. I am taking James. Clumsy hands are still an extra set of hands. It should only be a few days after you arrive home that I shall return.

MH

While Anthea will always stand by her comment that the Diogenes office was the coldest of the two offices, the wooden office wasn't so pleasant either when you're the first to walk in there in the morning and turn on the lights. She scoffed at the pile of files on her desk. She came over and placed her briefcase down next to the desk, examining the files. There was a sticky note on top of the pile.

File me away, please. I don't know where I live.

Anthea rolled her eyes. Of course you don't know where they go, James. These files had a blue spine which meant they originally came from the Dungeon and James wasn't supposed to know about that office. It also meant that they shouldn't just be sitting out in the open like this. Great, that meant a trip to that office at some point today too.

A few days catching up on her work and doing the essentials of Mycroft's, it would be time consuming but it wouldn't be hard.

Mycroft Holmes was a liar. It was more than a few days until he and James got back from Canberra. It was a few days over a week. If Anthea thought being away from home was lonely, she was sorely mistaken. What was lonely was being the only person in the office, continuing the day to day work and acting like everything was completely normal. Everything went past as it was supposed to, she did emails, she met with politicians, she checked in with agents, only it was by herself. She was alone with her thought instead of next to that imposing man who muttered insulting comments under his breath, without someone for her to make a cup of tea in the morning, no waiting to see what suit and tie combination was to be worn today. It was extremely different. By the time she'd been home for five days she was on the verge of going insane from that wooden box and there was no way the Dungeon would be any better. Perhaps she was being absurd, maybe she just needed more interesting things to do…

Anthea walked straight up to 221B, nodding at Mrs. Hudson as she passed. She knocked on the door lightly and leant against the wall. The doctor, who looked positively exhausted, opened the door. Sherlock had clearly being saying something because the doctor had a look of annoyance on his face that melted away as soon as he saw Anthea.

"Hey." John smiled and stepped out of the way for Anthea to enter. "You're looking really good." Anthea smiled slyly and held up the file in her hand. She nodded in thanks – he'd only seen her once or twice since the kidnapping and he had seen the worst of it.

"You look dead." She hummed as she walked past him. John sent a glare in the direction of the kitchen where Sherlock, safety goggles and all, was experimenting on something.

"Yeah well, that's what happens when someone sets the smoke alarm off at three in the bloody morning and the fire department comes out."

"It wouldn't have happened if you hadn't installed the alarms in the first place." Sherlock mumbled. Anthea cracked a grin at the exchange – enjoying it a little too much because she understood it a little too much.

"I had to after the actual fire!" Anthea laughed, looking down at the floor, and shook her head.

"What are you doing here?" Sherlock called out without looking up as he poured some chemical into a mug.

"I've got some work for you." She sighed as she let the file drop onto the crowded coffee table. John picked it up a moment later, went to sit in his seat, and began thumbing through it.

"Mycroft didn't call ahead." John noted in a light manner. Anthea pursed her lips.

"Mycroft's not here." She replied flatly.

"Then why are you here?" Sherlock asked louder this time. Anthea shrugged.

"This came onto my desk and I thought it looked like your type of thing. A little dangerous and very weird." Sherlock's icy gaze came off the chemicals long enough to look Anthea up and down. He chuckled as he went back to mixing chemicals. "What?" Anthea sighed, rolling her chocolate eyes.

"You're bored." He noted. John closed the file with a huff.

"Sherlock, what did I tell you about making deductions about our guests?" He called into the kitchen, not even bothering to look back at the genius.

"She's not a guest, she's Mycroft's pet." Anthea laughed and John scolded him.

"What if I am bored?" Anthea asked as she tilted her head. "What about that warrants laughter?"

"I just find it difficult to believe anyone can grow attached to my brother." Anthea and John looked at each other blankly.

"I find it difficult to believe anyone can grow attached to you either Sherlock, but we just can't seem to get away." John added, shrugging. Anthea liked John, he challenged Sherlock in a way that few people dared to and even fewer people were listened to by Sherlock. The Holmes boys needed that sometimes, someone to remind them that they're standing on the same ground as everyone else.

"He's my boss, I'm bored because he's not here to order me around. I'm here as a favour. Do you want the file or not?" Sherlock didn't even look their way as he sampled some of his new mixture, placing it under the microscope and began looking through it.

"Maybe once you stop lying to yourself."

"Stop it, Sherlock! We'd love to work on the case, thanks Anthea." Anthea smiled and nodded. "I'll walk you out."

"Sure. Try to stay out of trouble while Mycroft's not here, Sherlock." There was a scoff from the kitchen as the other two made their way to the door.

"You're even starting to sound like him." John widened his eyes at Anthea as he opened the door.

"That's not the next step is it, we don't become them, do we?"

"Tell you what, once I start carrying an umbrella around, you'll know it's time to run and save yourself." John chuckled and muttered a polite good bye.

Anthea walked down the steps from her building, heading for the town car parked straight outside the front door. She pulled her jacket closer to her body against the wind as she opened the car door. Anthea froze at the sight of another person in the back of the car. Black suit, red tie, stupid black umbrella, looking as cool and calm as ever. As Mycroft's gaze flickered onto Anthea he gave her a small smile, the glimmer in his eyes causing Anthea's heart to stop momentarily and she had to remind herself to breathe again.

"Good morning, Anthea." He hummed, that lyrical voice sounding like music to Anthea's ears. Anthea smirked and slid into the car.

"Why hello, sir. A few days, huh? That was the longest few days I've ever come across." She quipped jovially. "Good morning, Walter." She beamed, making eye contact with the driver in the rear-view mirror.

"Morning Miss James." Walter spoke as cheerily as Anthea did. Mycroft hummed and pursed his lips.

"Yes, I apologize for the miscalculation." No one worded sentences the way he did. Who says that? Why not just say, sorry, I was wrong. Anthea had to stop herself from grinning as she crossed her legs. It had been so close to a month since she'd heard him talk like the pompous man he was.

"How was Australia?" Mycroft pursed his lips and looked out the window.

"Messy, but dealt with." A pause. "And Virginia? I read the reports."

"Interesting. I got to bring some stuff back, you're really going to like some of it." Mycroft nodded, pulling out his phone and becoming momentarily distracted by it. He put it away and turned to face Anthea.

"And the office?" Anthea pulled a face momentarily and sighed.

"It's perfectly fine, sir." Mycroft frowned slightly and tilted his head, noticing her change in demeanour. Anthea adjusted her seating position to be facing Mycroft better. "No, sir, everything at the office is running as smooth as possible. I-" She cut herself of, licking her bottom lip as she reworded the sentences in her head. "When you work side by side with someone constantly and for so long. Have you ever noticed how deadly quiet it is by yourself, sir?" Anthea's eyes narrowed as she realised how stupid that would sound to a man who chose to be alone. "That's not quite what I mean. I guess I'm used to discussing everything with you and then for almost a month we're suddenly people who email the necessary details to each other." Mycroft turned and looked down at the umbrella in his hand. He examined the handle closely.

"I suppose I can see how you might feel that way, Miss James." He spoke carefully, watching his own words. "Going back to second rate help was certainly a struggle." Anthea laughed, Mycroft's mouth tugging ever so slightly into a smile.

"You could have called me if you needed someone slightly more intelligent to bounce ideas off, sir." Mycroft continued to observe his umbrella, biting the inside of his bottom lip. With a silent sigh he turned to face Anthea again.

"I suppose, Miss James, if we're ever in a scenario where we need to be separated for a substantial amount of time perhaps instead of emails every other day, phone calls would be more efficient. After all, one can share far more information in a discussion that they can through a wall of text." Anthea nodded, tucking her hair behind her left ear.

"Definitely, sir. And if during this phone call, say I wanted to tell you about something that happened I thought you'd appreciate – like me putting an agent in his place – would that be an appropriate time to tell you?" She frowned slightly, listening to herself talk. Mycroft clicked his tongue and gave Anthea a preposterously graceful shrug.

"That sounds perfectly fine to me, my dear." Anthea nodded.

"Good." She smiled. "Excellent." She pulled out her phone to check her text messages and Mycroft looked out his passenger side window. A lull passed over the car.

"Tell me, my dear, have you eaten this morning?" Anthea did not look up from her phone as she raised her eyebrows.

"Does my usual banana count, sir?" She hummed, concentrating on the text.

"Would you like to get some breakfast to discuss our trips in better detail?" Anthea smiled to herself as she looked at the screen without actually looking. She nodded.

"Sure, good idea, sir."

"Walter, could you stop somewhere close to the office, thank you?"

"Yes, sir." If Anthea didn't know any better she could have sworn she heard Walter chuckle at the end of his sentence. She raised an eyebrow as she looked up at the back of his seat.

Author's Note: Well, well, well, what do we think of this chapter? A change of pace :). Guest reviewer thanking time! Thank you to the following lovely people: ValkyrieDefender, Corrine, Wink, Wheezzy8, ovejalucifer, toolazytologin, JohnsStethoscope, and Guest. Most of you guest reviewers were shocked but very pleased to see Tim go, it was highly amusing to me. I love you all. I look forward to everyone's reviews.

Once again, don't forget Anthea's blog. Someone asked how old she was, I answered as of 2015 but it gives you a clue of her age in this in comparison to Mycroft and Sherlock's.