Author's Note: Thank you for the wonderful feedback last chapter, guys! I'm glad you liked it! Also, it seems the idea of Jamie/James is decently popular… That's quite interesting to me :). So this chapter! This was actually one of the ones I made you guys vote for a week or so ago and since it was winning until the last minute I thought I'd do it anyway. I can't wait for you all to read it. 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 They Worked With Tim

Those involved in the following events would deny any involvement with it and feign ignorance. That's how no one involved could possibly get into trouble. That is what happens when everyone against you has more power and influence than you could ever hope to get, especially after what happened.

It was supposed to be a simple meeting – or series of meetings, really. This one member of the dignitary had found his sense in quite a large hole of his own making, all of it legal trouble. Within this context he shall be referred to as "Mr. D". A lot of Mr. D's trouble could be swept under the rug using Mycroft and Anthea's particular set of skills. Some of it still required a hearing for the sake of public appearances. Bits and pieces had appeared on the news and even those of high standing must pay for their actions one way or another, a little public shaming wouldn't hurt. This of course meant that Anthea and Mycroft would have to meet with Mr. D and his lawyer in order to sort everything out into a plan.

"So how long are we scheduled to be here for?" Mycroft checked the time on his pocket watch as he and his personal assistant walked to the boardroom the meeting was to take place at.

"Mm, a few hours, sir." Anthea hummed, trying to placate her boss. Mycroft clicked his tongue and rolled his steely eyes.

"You know how I feel about vague estimations, Anthea, my dear." Anthea hesitated.

"Three hours." She said. Mycroft sighed heavily. See, this is what she was trying to avoid with her vague estimation. The duo stopped outside the double doors of the small boardroom and Mycroft turned to face the brunette, her hair pulled into a loose ponytail.

"Let's be quick, precises, and talk as fast as we can. Perhaps we can cut half an hour from the estimated time." Anthea cracked a lopsided grin as she looked over her boss's face. Sometimes, only sometimes, she found his disinterest in interacting with people adorable.

"Sounds perfect, sir." He gave her half a smirk in return before they turned to enter the boardroom.

When they entered Anthea could feel Mycroft next to her practically freeze over. This was not good. Her own reaction was one more akin with a dread fuelled surprise. What were they reacting to? Mr. D's lawyer. The lawyer was standing there with his sandy brown hair neat for work, wearing his glasses over his green eyes. It was the lawyer that Anthea had dated for a very long time. There he was with his decently charming smile. And yet, that charm was lacking compared to what it felt like last time she ran into him. Was it that she was sober or was it that Mycroft and all his sophistication was present?

"Mr. Holmes, Miss James," Mr. D greeted. "This is my lawyer-"

"Tim Burgess." Mycroft's eyebrows raised, his gaze cold. Anthea rolled her eyes. Of course now he knows the boy's name. In private it was always 'the lawyer'.

"You know him?"

"We've met at a social event." Tim walked around the large table to offer Mycroft his hand. Mycroft scowled and did not accept. Smile not faltering in the slightest, Tim offered the aforementioned hand to Anthea. She did accept.

"Miss James?" He asked, smile growing.

"Anthea James." Anthea crinkled her nose with her smile. "It's my main work name." Tim stuck out his lower lip and nodded as the name rolled around in his head.

"Very Greek or Italian. I like it, suits you." He agreed. Anthea giggled, Mycroft clicked his tongue.

"Can we please start the proceedings before your lawyer furthers his attempts to seduce my assistant?"

"No offence, Mr. Holmes." Tim adjusted his glasses.

"Oh good, the child with a law degree is talking to me." Mycroft turned to look off to the side, widening his eyes in annoyance and sarcasm. Tim frowned faintly, holding it back. Anthea looked down to her page and pretended to note something as she scribbled.

"With all due respect, sir. If we use your method, Mr. D may just end up in more trouble and we really-"

"Listen to me carefully, Mr. Burgess." Mycroft folded his hands together on the desk and leant forward. "I have been doing this type of discreet work since I was still in university. Never once have a failed, and that was before I had the power of the government and the monarchy behind me." His tone lowered and his eyes narrowed dangerously. "And you, a little lawyer turns up here with your glasses askew, your hair ridiculous, and your tie incorrectly tied. You think you and your university text books you still rely on, know better?" Anthea placed the lid on her pen and cleared her throat. As she sat up straight in her chair she swept the few loose curls out of her face.

"What Mr. Holmes means, Mr. Burgess, is that this is what we do." She began. "The reason you don't know about us or our success is because we're very good at it. Think of us as a less malicious Big Brother." She smiled. "Mr. D has seen us work, has worked with us on more public projects, and knows he can trust us." Anthea tilted her head to the side and smiled politely, Mycroft had an equally knowing smirk on his face. Tim looked relatively impressed.

"Well, Tim. I say we let Mr. Holmes and his assistant do their jobs and meet back up to talk further when they're done." The man spoke to his lawyer. "What do you say?" Tim looked down at his notes, grinned, and after a moment laughed.

"I think you're absolutely right!" Green found and locked onto brown. The exes smiled at one another.

The meeting was adjourned. Anthea and Mycroft packed up their equipment while Tim shook the hand of his client and bid him farewell. He then approached the two mysterious government types. He shoved his hands into his trouser pockets before he talked.

"So, Ali." Time began. "What's next on the agenda for Mycroft and Anthea?" He quirked his eyebrows at the name. Anthea looked down and let out a single laugh, leading to Mycroft looking her up and down with a condescending and quizzical look.

"We're going out to lunch at the little restaurant down the road." Tim mouthed an 'oh' and nodded.

"Good food." He asked.

"The meet is so-so but anything with chicken is amazing."

"Mind if I join you?"

"Please, take my place." Mycroft mumbled as he picked up his suitcase. Anthea's head shot around to look her boss in the eye, frowning deeply.

"Mycroft, no." Anthea objected. She searched his cold eyes.

"No, I don't want to go now, Miss James. I'll pick something up for myself."

"Don't be foolish, Mycroft."

"Oh, I'm not the one being foolish here, my dear."

A pause.

Mycroft turned to leave.

"I expect to see you in an hour my dear and with not a single hair out of place." Anthea scoffed and rolled her eyes. She turned back to Tim as the door of the boardroom closed. She smiled, trying to pretend she wasn't slightly disappointed.

"Shall we go?"

Anthea and Tim sat at the restaurant eating and chatting. Anthea had her usual chicken Caesar salad, Tim a seared chicken burger. Both had water at this time of day. Anthea leaned over the table and pinched one of Tim's chips. Smiling cheekily and trying to ignore the CCTV camera on the corner of the building across the road. That reminded her, actually…

"Sorry about Mr. Holmes." Anthea's smile turned into something far more sheepish. "He's just very protective of those around him. He kind of likes to keep them safe, just ask his brother." Tim waved her off. He leaned in very faintly, only a centimetre or two, and when he next spoke it was with a hushed voice as if he could feel eyes and ears all around.

"Does he know about-?"

"Yes." Anthea interrupted her ex. "But not because I told him."

"Because he did that weird analysis thing." Anthea laughed and nodded.

"He deduced it." She corrected Tim.

"I'll deal with him if it means seeing you again." Tim smiled. He leaned over and placed his hand on top of Anthea's. Anthea felt her heart freeze. She pulled her hand away and used it to tuck the loose curls behind her ears.

"Yeah, it's nice to catch up with you too." She spoke into her plate. Tim pulled his own hand back and leaned into his chair. The table fell into silence as Anthea played with her food and Tim looked around absentmindedly. He eventually cleared his throat.

"So um, been up to anything interesting lately?

"Uh…" Anthea bit her lip. "I guess. Jamie and I saw some friends from high school a little while ago."

"You? See people from school?" Tim laughed.

"Yeah, and we did karaoke."

"Oh no! That never ends well. Remember that time I had to get you to pick Roger and I up after we went?" Anthea cracked up laughing, dropping her knife and fork onto the plate.

"I forgot about that!"

Monday of the following week Anthea was at her desk of the normal office. She was typing away on her computer, answering Mycroft's emails and organising the schedule for the week. She was taken by surprise when the door into the office was pushed open without so much of a knock. She frowned and folded her hands together. In came Tim. He was in one of his work suits, wearing his contacts today. He looked quite annoyed and clearly was to just barge in like that.

"Tim?" Anthea asked in disbelief. "You're not supposed to come in like that. Every office in this building houses secrets and you could get yourself into some serious trouble." Tim barely seemed to take in what Anthea had said as he only now just seemed to notice the confused brunette girl.

"Alice!" He exclaimed, walking up to her desk. Anthea quickly locked her computer. "Do you know what your boss did?" His tone was quite furious for Tim. She was finally getting to see how he might actually have the guts to be a lawyer.

"Hang on." Anthea help up a manicured hand up in a stop gesture. "In my office it's Miss James, and Anthea if you're lucky. Finally, don't come in with a question like that!" She rolled her dark eyes. "The answer can vary from bought a pastry from the café to destroyed half the world with a single button press." Clearly not in a humorous mood, Tim took a deep breath. He placed his hands on the edge of Anthea's desk, causing Anthea to quirk and eyebrow at him.

"Your boss got me fired." Anthea blanched.

"He did what?" She spat. Tim's forest eyes drifted over to the wooden door to the left of Anthea's desk.

"Is he in there now?" He pointed and began walking towards it. Anthea leapt out of her seat.

"Tim!" She spoke loudly and in a much higher pitch than usual. "I don't care how mad you are or what he did, Mr. Holmes is in a meeting!" Too late. Tim pulled the office door wide open and barged into the inner sanctum, Anthea followed and stopped just inside the door. "Tim, I suggest you leave right now." She hissed. Mycroft stopped talking midsentence and was looking quite perturbed. James, lounging in the chair opposite the desk, had turned around to view the intruder – looking more intrigued than anything else. Anthea felt like her heart had fallen into her stomach.

"Mr. Burges," Mycroft spoke in that condescending bored tone. "I am in a meeting with this gentleman here, and I believe my assistant is asking you to leave." James sniffed a laugh and saluted Tim haphazardly.

"You got me fired!" Tim repeated what he said to Anthea. James looked at Mycroft who merely shrugged. James turned back with a grin. Tim turned to Anthea, anger seething now. "Your boss called my boss and said that he despises working with me and if I wasn't taken off the case he'd never work with my firm again." Tim turned back to Mycroft. "And then said he'd advise his clients, co-workers, and friends to never work with me so my boss fired me!" James laughed and Mycroft scoffed. Anthea let out a little sigh of relief. It was an indirect fire. She'd been waiting for Mycroft to retaliate at Tim and this was relatively calm. Tim took a few steps forward. Anthea felt her breath hitch once more as she followed him forward. James stood up, face blank, a strong warning from the tall blonde. He wasn't going to let Tim approach the desk. "You've ruined my career!" Mycroft chuckled dangerously, looking at James with his steely blue eyes sparkling. He stood up, folded his arms and looked the lawyer up and down.

"Tim, the lawyer." He began. "Don't you remember the last thing I said to you?" Mycroft walked around his desk and leant on the front of it. "I believe I told you that the next time you came in contact with Anthea that you would be forfeiting your life into my hands. Now the only reason I haven't followed through with that promise is because, after you once again slept with my assistant, a Miss Jamie Thompson swore that if she ever saw you she'd beat you to within an inch of your life and I'd very much like to see that." James' face broke back into a large smile. "So instead, Mr. Burgess, I took your livelihood. I think you'd much prefer that." Jamie and Mycroft, apparently the most dangerous pair for Anthea's ex boyfriends. Anthea gave Mycroft a stern look and shook her head. Mycroft smirked back at her.

"You can't get away with something like this." Tim argued. Mycroft's gaze slowly returned to the lawyer. He looked him up and down.

"But Mr. Burgess, everything I did was within my power and within the law. Try to challenge me if you would."

"Come along, lawyer boy." James began pushing Tim towards the door.

"And who do you think you are?" James paused and tilted his head at the smaller man.

"Who am I?" He laughed. "I'm one of A's best friends, I'm Mycroft's very loyal employee, I'm hoping to be the next guy Jamie dates, and I'm a secret agent who could bench press your skinny body. Now come along." He shoved the lawyer harder. Anthea watched them leave awestruck. Once out the first door she heard James continue talking from her office. "Oh and if you don't know, Mycroft's famous detective brother lives with an ex-soldier and is close with a detective inspector at Scotland Yard, so you should really watch out the next time you try to barge in here."

Anthea turned back to Mycroft. She folded her arms across her chest as she merely watched him. Mycroft gave her that mischievous smile that must have come from his childhood. He was certainly proud of himself. She should be furious at him, not accept that behaviour on her behalf… and yet…

"Anyone else and I'd kill them." Anthea chided. Mycroft pursed his lips.

"And for me?" She rolled her eyes and shook her head once more.

"I understand that was you doing what you think is right. You don't act like a normal person and I learnt that a long time ago. Plus, part of me might have enjoyed it. The part of me that's still mad at him." She looked to the door and laughed. "Though I should really ban you and Jamie from ever talking to each other again."

"Oh please do!" Mycroft sighed. "That would make my life so much easier."

When did Anthea surround herself with maniacs?

Author's Note: And what do we all think of this chapter? I really hope you guys liked it, it was quite fun to write. James is kind of like Jamie in the sense that he makes scenes a little bit more fun. Alright! Thank you to my lovely guest reviewers: Eve, Anon, Corrine, Wheezzy8, Guest x2, Scarlett, Lilly, Rainbowdust, Jenny, Wink, JohnsStethoscope, and ffla. Thank you to each and every reviewer and reader, you all make me so happy to know you enjoy this!

Still a little bit off until the 600 review special. I went to the hospital for my arm last night. Got some new medication and a couple of referrals in order to get a permanent solution to this issue. I will get it done ASAP but the actual chapters come first… and then my health. Just kidding, don't hurt me. In the meantime, Anthea's blog is always fun. Thanks for understanding! I love you guys.