Author's Note: Thanks for being wonderful last chapter, guys! Typing one handed sucks! It takes me twice as long with double the amount of typos. So far in this A/N I've already done five typos! Now I'm not sleeping constantly I managed to get this chapter to a decent length. My mum is letting me on my computer again… with my arm resting on three pillows. As a side note, this is the 6th of October… tomorrow is my birthday, so this is kind of my present to you :P. I would have given it to you anyway. 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 Time He Called Her A Pet Name

Anthea was in the filling cabinet room of the Diogenes Dungeon. She'd tied her curls in a messy bun to keep them falling into her face as she dug through the files. She'd even given up on chewing her pen and pushed it into her messy hair. She was digging out multiple files for Mycroft in order to help him review a situation that had apparently gone quite wrong. The fact that all the files were here at the Diogenes office, rather than the official office, already made it stink of no good and suggest some sort o9f underhandedness from the start. Still, it was not often that one tried to pull something over on Mycroft Holmes, and as soon as the slip up was found they'd never mess up again.

Those were details Anthea blocked out, however, as she dug out a file with a gentleman's name on it.

Roger Smith

Anthea grew a lopsided, uneasy smile as she dusted off the file. She'd met him one. He was a little rough around the edges but nice. He'd shown her a photo of his baby.

Oh well, Anthea thought as she tossed Smith's file on top of her collection. Hopefully he wasn't involved in the mess. For his kid's sake, anyway.

Two more files to find. Thanks to her well organised filing system, Anthea was out of that dank – even by the Dungeon's standards – room, and carrying the pile of eight files to the main half of the office. The half people knew about, the half on the official blueprints.

Anthea, having left the door to Mycroft's inner sanctum slightly askew for this exact reason, pushed her way through the door using her behind. As she looked over to her boss she could see him deep in focus, scribbling all over what she assumed to be the document he was printing when Anthea went to collect hard copies. That curl that formed in the front of his hair when he hadn't styled in back enough was currently in place. Mycroft's jacket had been abandoned and his shirtsleeves rolled up, jaw set as if in stone, brows furrowed. Anthea smiled to herself, committing the image to memory. She also made a note to refill his cup of coffee and maybe bring some biscuits in.

Anthea walked into the office, shoes echoing on the hard floor announcing her arrival, and placed the files on an empty spot on Mycroft's desk. The genius of a man didn't even twitch, let alone look up, he was too focused.

"I found them all, sir." Anthea sighed. "And in record time, too." She added sarcastically, raising her eyebrows, eyes sparkling. A twitch of Mycroft's lip was the only sign that he'd heard his assistants attempt at being amusing. A day like today, Anthea would accept that as a success.

"I would presume that includes the file on the accident at the docks?" Mycroft muttered, eyes still on his paper. His pen was down and he was rereading the document complete with his 'revisions'. Anthea sniffed proudly as she went through the files she'd brought up, looking for that precise one.

"Of course it does." She gladly waved the file playfully in the air. Her boss still did not look up, instead he held out his left hand to collect the prize. Rolling her eyes light-heartedly to herself at her wasted effort, Anthea walked over and handed Mycroft the file. "Here you go."

"Thank you, sweetheart."

…

…

…

The heaviest, thickest silence to ever fall upon anyone in the history of the world fell onto that office as Anthea's heart did backflips in her chest. Steel eyes finally looked up from a piece of paper to lock fiercely onto dark eyes. Both gazes were full of confusion and fear as both parties were as still as statue.

What was Anthea supposed to say to that? What was Mycroft going to say to that? Why were neither of them moving?

It was then that Anthea noticed that both she and Mycroft still grasped the file on the docks incidentally. Anthea took a sharp inhale of breath as she snatched her hand back away from the file, clutching it to her chest. Her movement broke Mycroft of his own stupor as steel eyes came back to life and the usually composed man slowly placed the file down on the desk in front of him.

Anthea stared at the wall behind Mycroft, Mycroft stared at the file on his desk, neither of them breathing deeply.

…

…

Anthea habitually went to tuck a curl behind her ear before she realised her hair was tied up. She covered it up by scratching her ear.

"You're welcome, sir." She spat out quickly.

"Yes…" The answer was quiet.

…

Anthea turned on her heels and tried to speed walk out of the room at a convincing speed. She was certain she failed.

As Anthea softly closed the inner office door behind her she tried to take slow deep breaths, thinking they might kick start her brain into action. They didn't. Three breathes later and her brain was still frozen in that exact moment in the office. She shook her head and rubbed her forehead. Come on, Anthea, get yourself together. She'd blinked her eyes a few times and began walking to her desk when the door behind her was yanked open.

"Anthea." The volume was normal but the tone was full of edge and very short – a sign of nerves. Anthea turned around to find her boss standing in the doorway. He hand one hand on the doorknob and one resting on the frame at his eye level. His steel eyes as full of confusion as they had been just moments before. Anthea tried to force a quizzical smile on to her face.

"Yes?" She hesitated. Anthea swallowed. "Sir?" His gaze was on her, but Anthea felt like he was looking through her, or as if there was a brick wall between them.

"What I just said… In that room." His eyebrows raised as he spoke. It was his turn to hastate and swallow a breath. Anthea waited for her boss to continue. "A slip of the tongue…"

A pause.

"Oh, absolutely." Anthea waved her boss of lightly. Her heart was still going a mile a minute.

"I meant to say 'my dear', and –"

"It's like how a child accidentally says 'mum' instead of 'Miss'." Anthea shrugged. "No big deal."

…

…

"Precisely." Mycroft answered slowly, articulating every sound carefully.

Another pause.

Mycroft's thumb ran over the doorframe in repetitive motions.

"We are at an understanding, then?" He was watching his words.

"Completely." She was trying too hard to laugh and be playful.

…

"Excellent, Miss James." Mycroft's eyes fell to the ground. "… Back to work." Anthea turned around and blinked to herself.

"Yup." She breathed. "Back to work…"

How do you accidentally call someone sweetheart?

How does Mycroft Holmes accidentally call someone sweetheart?

What was she working on, again?

Hey, Jamie. Is it easy to accidentally call someone something? – A.

Like my mum calling me by my brother's name? – Jamie xx.

No, like a term of endearment or something. – A.

Sure. James accidentally called that Carol lady 'cupcake' in a meeting a few weeks ago with their boss. It's his new name for me :3 . – Jamie xx.

Hahahaha! REALLY? – A.

Yeah, his boss totally calls him cupcake now, apparently. – Jamie xx.

Correction: His boss AND I call him cupcake – A.

Any reason, Al? – Jamie xx.

Hypothetical. – A.

Hey, cupcake ;) – A.

Shut up, Alice in Wonderland – J.

Yeah, that's right! The Jamie talk highway goes both ways! – J.

Want to tell me about that time you fell off the stage in high school? – J.

Want me to tell Jamie that you once called Carol's husband to kill a spider for you? – A.

IT WAS HUGE! – J.

Truce? – J.

Truce, cupcake. – A.

Anthea took a deep breath as she entered the office the following morning. She was prepared and professional. What had happened – it was nothing to be awkward about, just another thing to put behind them. Like the crush, and the kiss, and everything with Tim… But best not to dwell on all that.

Perhaps it was because she'd had a good, honest craving for it, or perhaps she'd needed to treat herself for the sake of courage, but Anthea had asked Walter to stop at that coffee shop near her old flat this morning. She'd wanted a nice chai latte like nobody's business – the scent was soothing to her on busy mornings – and figured Mycroft could do with a nice coffee from a nice barista while he was working so hard.

Anthea set her belongings down on her desk, including her own latte. She threw away the cardboard take-away container and with coffee in hand, walked to the wooden door. She knocked, counted to three ion her head, and entered.

"Good morning, sir." Anthea sung brightly as she entered. Mycroft was reading something intently on his computer. He looked tired, but freshly showered and in a new suit, so he'd at least gone home. That was a relief… Even though, you know, since the NDA Anthea wasn't playing babysitter with her boss' sleeping schedule anymore… It just meant that he remembered to look after himself for once.

"Good morning, my dear." Mycroft prattled off his stock response as he read. Anthea rolled her eyes and smirked, classic Mycroft.

"I went to that place I like this morning so I got you some fuel for your caffeinated system, sir." Mycroft's lip pulled into half a wry smile. His eyes flickered off the screen, onto the plastic coffee cup, and up to his assistant as she placed it down on his desk. Mycroft opened his mouth to speak, but closed it as a small worried frown covered his features. Anthea sniffed a laugh nervously as she stood up straight.

"What?" She laughed, gaining her own frown. Mycroft, playing innocent, quirked his eyebrows.

"Hmm?" He hummed. Anthea crossed her arms against her chest and cocked her head to the side.

"You gave me a weird look just now."

"Ah, that." Mycroft folded his hands together on his wooden desk.

"What was it?"

"Nothing, my dear." Mycroft shrugged his assistant off. "I'd merely observed that you'd put more effort into your appearance than usual." Anthea was certain she flinched as she was taken aback.

"Really?" She asked, honestly. "How." Mycroft looked down to his coffee, scratching his eyebrow.

"You parted your hair differently today, your eyeliner in slightly more noticeable, and that… is a new blouse." Anthea patted her hair, running her fingers through the locks.

"I didn't mean to put more effort in." She pouted slightly, trying to think of why she'd dressed up more this morning. She couldn't really understand it.

"I believe you." Mycroft shrugged. "It was a subconscious act."

"Why do you think I'd do that, sir?" Anthea tilted her head. Mycroft widened his eyes and shrugged again, an exaggerated sigh to say he didn't know. That was a lie, he knew most things.

"It could be multiple things, Anthea, I don't have time for this right now." Ah, yes. Anthea nodded.

"I'll let you get back to work, sir."

"Thank you." On her way out, Anthea stopped at the door and turned to face her boss.

"Oh, sir." Mycroft looked up from his work once more. "About what happened yesterday…" Anthea tucked a curl behind her head as Mycroft began to deflate. "I'll need you to sign an NDA over that."

Mycroft's dead stare was met with a crinkled node and a cheeky grin.

"You do realise that hurts you far more than it hurts me, Miss James." His tone was as blunt and flat as his facial expression.

"I know," Anthea laughed. "But I saw an opportunity I just had to take."

Anthea was still laughing to herself as she closed the door on her way out of her boss' office.

Author's Note: What do you think? What did you like? 'My dear' doesn't count as a pet name, he's been using it since he met her – his mother calls everyone 'dear'. I liked this one so I hope you did. Thanks to guest reviewers; Britta, Corrine, Guests x2, Wheezzy8, and Wink. Every reader and reviewer is absolutely awesome.