Author's Note: Wow! Last chapter was my most reviewed one yet! And it was amazing! Some of you were furious with how it went down, some of you were excited, some of you laughed, but nearly all of you had what I deem to be a good response and I am so happy about that. Thank you so much, guys. Now this chapter… I'm unsure about this one because I worked through a bad mental health day, followed by a migraine day (which was today) to get this done and therefore ran out of time to give it a good hard edit. I covered everything I wanted to, which I'm happy with because I was afraid I might have to cut it short. Anyway… I really hope you like this one… I really do :/. 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 Meeting Under The 'Understanding'

"So you're telling me," Jamie began another spiel as she lay on Anthea's bed, staring up at the ceiling lights while Anthea rushed around her, trying to find all the components for her smart-casual outfit. "That you're putting all this effort to look good, in order to go out with a guy…. But not on a date?" She was absent mindedly tossing one of Anthea's throw pillows up and down in the air as she grappled with this hard concept. Having found her skirt, Anthea emerged from her closet, shimmying it on, and smiling at Jamie.

"Yes." Anthea half laughed. "It's not a date." Jamie sat up on the bed, legs folded, holding the throw pillow to her chest, giving Anthea a deadpan look. Anthea laughed again and shook her head. "It's not."

"Mmmhhhmmm." The same unbelieving stony face. Anthea ran her hand through her hair.

"He's just a guy that I like and we're… just seeing where it goes." Jamie slowly pouted, her bottom lip jutting out, as she thought.

"Still sounds like a date." She shrugged, hugging the pillow tighter. Anthea laughed again.

"It's not." She walked past Jamie on her bed to her door and walked into the bathroom to finish her hair. She'd already curled it ever so, so it looked like effortless loose curls, fluttering around. Effortless was the last thing it was. Now she needed to put in her grey headband without ruining all the hard work. Then decide whether the small silver hoops or simple studs looked better. Jamie had followed her to the bathroom and was now standing in the open doorway. Her arms were still folded across her chest, sans the pillow. She was watching Anthea with critical eyes.

"And you have the whole weekend off? For this?" Jamie asked. The girl could easily be helping Anthea with her hair right now, she was very good at that sort of thing, instead she stood there, watching, doing her weird investigation. "Why would you, Miss Workaholic, get Saturday morning off to not go on a date with a guy you liked?" Anthea rolled her eyes as she carefully placed in the headband, pushing all her curls behind her ears.

"He has to catch a flight tonight to go deal with some business overseas." Anthea explained as she turned her head at different angles, making sure her hair looked right. Satisfied, she looked Jamie in the mirror and shrugged. "It's the first time we're doing this and he wanted to do it before he went away for almost a week. We looked at our schedules and made it fit." Anthea picked up the small hoops and slotted them into her ears. She stepped back to look at them with her whole outfit.

"And how did you get Mycroft to agree to this? This weekend off?" Anthea bit her bottom lip to stop from grinning.

"Mycroft owes me a lot of favours." Anthea lightly pushed past Jamie to head back to her room. Now she needed to find her boots to go with her outfit. She'd gone for a long sleeve black shirt, a grey skirt, some warm black tights… now she needed those black boots. Because, unlike Jamie, she kept her shoes in her wardrobe, and not all over her room. "Don't you have to pack?" Anthea called out as Jamie gave up and wandered into the living room.

"James has only put an offer on the house, Ali. You're stuck with me until he gets accepted." Distraction attempt, successful. Anthea dug through the bottom of her wardrobe, behind all her work heels, to her normal shoes. The ones she barely wore anymore. She knew she had that pair in here somewhere.

As she was searching the doorbell sounded. There was a thud which Anthea presumed was Jamie eagerly getting to her feet – no doubt hoping to meet the mystery 'date'.

"I'll get it!" The girl squealed, followed by the sounds of hurried footsteps. Anthea shook her head, just picturing the blonde acting like a naughty little girl with a plan. A few seconds of quiet muffled talking before Jamie's voice came back. "Turns out you might have to work, anyway. It's only Mycroft." She called down the hall to Anthea's bedroom sounding quite disappointed. Anthea could just imagine Mycroft, leaning on his umbrella, quirking an eyebrow in bemusement of 'Miss Thompson'. Finding her shoes, Anthea scooped them up and wandered her way back into the family – best not to leave Mycroft and Anthea in the same space alone for too long. As she entered, she couldn't help but break into a shy smile as Mycroft looked her up and down. There was nothing different – Mycroft was dressed as he normally was, looking as calm and composed as he always did…. But it was different.

"Hi." Anthea crinkled her nose.

"Hello." Mycroft nodded, cracking the faintest of smiles. Anthea sat down on her couch as she began to put on her boots. Jamie, who was standing next to Mycroft, gestured to Anthea.

"You're supposed to be able to read people. Tell me, Einstein, you think Alice is going on a date, don't you?" Anthea rolled her eyes and scoffed, while Mycroft played the part, he pursed his lips and looked Anthea up and down.

"What gives you the impression that she's going on a date?" He hummed thoughtfully. Jamie laughed.

"Just look at her. When have you ever seen her get that dressed up to hang out with someone?"

"Jamie." Anthea hissed. The blonde gave her another deadpanned look.

"No. I'm serious." Mycroft shrugged lightly.

"While I'll agree with you, Miss Thompson, that Alice does look quite remarkable today." Mycroft nodded. Anthea brightened up and beamed a smile over to the pair on the other side of the room.

"Thank you."

"You're welcome." He glanced over to Anthea before turning back to Jamie. "If Alice did have a date, why would she not tell you?" Jamie raised an eyebrow as her hazel eyes searched Mycroft's steel ones. She bit her bottom lip and looked over to Anthea, trying to come up with a reason why she would lie.

"I guess so." She huffed.

"Good!" Anthea sighed, as she zipped up her boot. "I'm glad you finally believe me." She stood up and brushed off her skirt, neatening it and huffed a breath – feeling as the nerves began to set in. It was stupid to feel nervous, but at the same time it added to the excitement of it all… The excitement of… spending time with Mycroft Holmes. She rocked on her heels one time, and raised her eyebrows, indicating her readiness and her nervousness. Mycroft let that smile slip out again, as he twirled his umbrella into Anthea's carpet.

"Are you ready?" He asked, eyes meeting hers.

"Where are we going?" Anthea breathed.

"Just for a walk." Mycroft spoke in a calming voice. He could probably sense her apprehension and was trying to placate her… good. She needed it. Just to the side Jamie frowned and started pulling a face as she looked between the minor government official and his assistant. Taking no notice of Jamie, Anthea took in a deep breath and nodded.

"A walk." She repeated, nodding to herself. "Yep. Yeah, I can do that."

"Good." Mycroft smiled – a proper one – one of those ones that made his eyes sparkle. "Let's get going then, shall we?" He gestured towards the makeshift dining room where the front door was. Trying to seem confidant Anthea nodded again, and began to walk towards the door, Mycroft a step behind her. Jamie didn't move as she watched the pair make to leave, staring at them like something didn't make sense.

"What?" Anthea heard Jamie mumbled. Mycroft pulled open the front door and let Anthea through first. She gave him a polite smile in thanks as she stepped through. Mycroft came through, and as he was closing the door they heard Jamie one more time. "Hang on a second… WHAT?"

The walk was… okay? Slightly awkward? Weird? There wasn't a word to describe how it was fine but just felt off in a way Anthea couldn't pinpoint.

It was really like any other casual day for them – except with expectations that neither of them knew how to meet. They'd walked down to a coffee shop they liked – Mycroft insisted on paying, walked to a park they were familiar with, and sat on a bench people watching like they always did. One issue was definitely how hypersensitive Anthea felt to the whole thing. She'd sat the customary length away from Mycroft on the bench – the length of a car seat, as if they were in the town car – to make him feel comfortable. That distance felt like a mile. Their talk – their usual chatter about people and how to read them fell away to nothing as Anthea was so aware of how Mycroft despised small talk and didn't want to make him uncomfortable. However, this ended up with the supposably together pair sitting at opposite ends of the bench not talking, like strangers sharing a seat in the park.

Eventually Mycroft cleared his throat, crossing one leg over the other as he looked out into the crowd.

"Why are you making this uncomfortable?" He asked with a heavy sigh, like he would ask her why the documents were late. The same time. Anthea's posture shot up straight as she turned to regard Mycroft with a poignant look.

"Why am I making it uncomfortable?" She repeated in disbelief. "I'm not the only one here."

"Yes," Mycroft nodded. "But I'm behaving as I always do, therefore the problem lies with you, therefore why are you so anxious?" Anthea blinked, turning back to look into the crowd of people. She was a little put off by having the whole thing put so simply. Why was she so anxious?

"I don't know." She sounded defensive, she didn't mean to. Anthea licked her lips and tried to adjust her tone. "It's weird isn't? I don't know what to do here?" She could see Mycroft smile incredulously – only barely visible through the mask, of course – out of the corner of her eye.

"You're the expert here, Alice." Her real name sounded so odd on his tongue, particularly in that monotone voice. The problem solving voice. "You were on a date in the week, were you not?"

"But this isn't a date." Anthea resisted the urge to run her hands through her hair. She couldn't ruin all the effort she'd gone into styling it. "This is a meeting under an understanding. What are the rules?" She turned to look at Mycroft to see the beginnings of a frown forming on his face, eyes searching nothing.

"I suppose it follows many of the same conventions of a date." He mused out loud. As he turned to look at Anthea, his eyes gave away how deeply he was thinking. "What do you talk about on a first date?" Anthea smiled and pointed a finger at her… boss? Date? What?

"See, that won't work, either." She nodded. Mycroft quirked an eyebrow at the finger in his face, before Anthea lowered it. "On first dates you talk about work, family, hobbies. All of that." She shrugged and sighed. "You, Mycroft Holmes are a government official, you have a little brother who drives you up the wall but I know you wouldn't swap for anyone. You were a big reader as a kid and while that hasn't been continued so much as an adult, you still like a good piece of fiction occasionally." She then placed a hand on her chest. "You know that I'm your assistant. You know that I'm an orphaned only child that lived with her uncle. I too was a reader as a kid, a little later than you, and I still read a lot – it's something we have bonded over." She lowered her hands and shrugged. "See. First date, covered in a few sentences." Mycroft's eyes sparkled and he sniffed something that could have been a laugh.

"Fine." He widened his eyes, talking in a fake exasperated tone. "Talking is out of the question, then. What can we do to entertain ourselves then, Miss Clarke who came close to being expelled from her boarding school two times?" He had to show off, she couldn't be the only one to demonstrate her knowledge. She crinkled her nose at him and sneered playfully. Even if they were struggling to find how to work this understanding, at least Mycroft had managed to defuse to awkwardness enough to make them be able to play like they always did. She shrugged as she placed her elbow on the back of the bench, and leant on her closed fist.

"Tim and I went to a coffee shop to talk. That won't work."

"Robert was your friend before you dated." Mycroft noted and Anthea tried not to smile at his refusal to say 'Robbie'. "What did he do?"

"We both loved music so we went to this amateur band…" She trailed off, chewing on her bottom lip, staring at Mycroft but not really seeing him. That's when it hit her – her eyes filling up with life and light – a brilliant idea for something to do that would allow for playful… not flirting… but whatever came with an understanding, that allowed them to talk freely, and would allow them to keep whatever they could create out of today alive while Mycroft was away and they couldn't spend time together considering all their conversation time over the phone would be work. "I've got it." She spoke triumphantly. Mycroft turned his body to better face her. "Robbie and I love music. You and I both read."

"My dear, most of the population reads…" Mycroft mumbled.

"I like to read, and you used to." She rolled her eyes, correcting herself. "So, what you and I are going to do is go down to a bookstore. We're going to browse through everything they have until we find something neither of us have read and neither of us are repulsed by."

A pause as Mycroft ran his tongue over his teeth in thought.

"Go on." He urged.

"Once we find this book we're both going to buy it. Each night we have to find time to read a few chapters and then when we've finished talking business over the phone the next day, we can talk about the book. How much we hated it or liked it." Mycroft's eyes narrowed faintly.

"Like a book club?" He asked, the distaste clear on his face. On any other date, Anthea would playful push her date for being argumentative – this was not technically a date, so Mycroft got another playful face pulled at him.

"Don't say it like that." She rolled her eyes. "It's something to talk about." It would take away the awkwardness, it would give them something to joke about. It would be so incredibly them. "That time I tried to read you Italian copy of The Divine Comedy is one of my favourite non work memories with you… and I cherish that copy of The Phantom of the Opera in French you gave me." She tilted her head to the side and pouted slightly. "Wouldn't it be fitting and nice, if one of the first things we did under this understanding is read a book together in English." She may have fluttered her eyelashes a few times out of habit. Mycroft's face stayed stony as he looked Anthea over carefully, brain ticking away.

"I was right, you are very good at this." He hummed as he turned to face forward again. Anthea turned her head away and laughed lightly. She jumped off the bench, tossing her now empty coffee in the bin by her side of the bench. She came to stand in front of Mycroft.

"So what do you say?" She asked, outstretching her arm and holding out her open hand in front of his. "Want to find a book we both don't despise the sound of?" Mycroft's steel eyes looked her up and down. He took a deep breath and looked to the side, now seemingly fixated on a tree but Anthea knew he was in his head somewhere, thinking. He turned back with a heavy sigh as he placed his hand in Anthea's.

"Fine." He groaned as he pulled his tall figure up into standing position. "It sounds far more appealing than other options." Anthea couldn't help but feel slightly smug.

They held hands all the way to the bookstore.

"What about this one?" Anthea held up a copy of The Hunchback of Notre-Dame. Mycroft walked right past her in the aisle she was standing in and went straight to the next.

"Read it as a child." He breathed, sounding tired. She put the book back.

"Let me guess." She mocked, putting on a snooty face and copying Mycroft's bored tone. "In three different languages." Steel eyes looked up from the shelf to briefly meet her eyes before falling back to.

"Two, actually." He hummed. Anthea giggled. She came to stand by his side in the biography section, eyes scanning for something interesting.

"Oh, what about this?" She pulled out a book with a skull on the cover. "When You are Engulfed By Flames…" She jutted out her bottom lip and nodded. Somewhat intrigued, Mycroft took the book from her hands and flipped it over to scan the back. He scowled and placed in back on the shelf.

"Humorous essays? No thank you, my dear. That's what I read James' mission reports for." Again she wanted to playfully nudge him for making her almost laugh, but chose not to, looking down and sniffing a laugh instead. They moved onto another shelf and found themselves in mystery. Mycroft was the one to pull out a book this time, and started reading the back. Anthea moved closer to him, her arm rubbing against his, as she read the title.

"Agatha Christie?" She read, frowning. "If I wanted to read a mystery novel and have someone tell me how derived it all is, I'd read it with the detective in your family, not you."

"You're in luck, then." Mycroft placed the book back in its place on the shelf. "I had to read them all to Sherlock when he was small anyway." A wave of sadness hit Anthea as she looked up at Mycroft's face. Despite the man's need to appear unfeeling, it was clear to her that he'd picked up that book because of Sherlock. Because a wave of nostalgia hit him and he missed his 'dead' little brother. She turned back to the books and shrugged.

"Well, I don't mind reading it." Her voice high as she reconsidered and did her best to keep any hint of pity or empathy out of it. "I've never actually read any..." Mycroft shook his head as he moved to the next shelf.

"Perhaps next time." Was the answer Anthea received. Anthea moved to follow him.

"Oooh." Anthea picked up another book. "The Vampire Chronicles." Mycroft stared at her like she was insane and didn't even grace her with an answer as he moved to the next shelf. Anthea chuckled, putting the book down. "I take it Twilight is out of the question, then?" She joked. Mycroft was currently busying himself with another book.

"Is that the one where they glimmer?"

"Sparkle, yes."

"I'd rather be stabbed in the heart with a stake." Anthea's smile grew.

"Yes, I know." She came to stand by his side. "I was just joking."

"I know." He answered back. They'd now found themselves in the section for New York Times bestselling authors. Anthea picked up a book that caught her attention.

"An Abundance of Katherines…" She tested the title on her tongue. "I've never heard of it, have you?"

"No." Anthea flicked it over and started reading the back. She could feel Mycroft reading over her shoulder. "Hey, a child prodigy. Sound like someone?" She didn't get a reply but she could picture him rolling his eyes. "What do you think? Are you willing to give it a shot?" She looked up over her left shoulder. Mycroft pursed his lips and Anthea could sense the apprehension. "Even if you hate it, we can talk about how much you hate it. Look. It doesn't sound bad to either of us, and if it accomplishes the job of getting us talking, then it was worth it."

Another pause.

Mycroft took the book from Anthea's hand and picked up another copy from the shelf before walking away towards the registers. As it turns out, Mycroft meeting under this understand was far more open to suggestions that work Mycroft, or even friend Mycroft was. It was different. It was… nice.

"Now," Mycroft began talking firmly – in one of his many work tones – as they approached Anthea's front door. "Regarding my itinerary tomorrow-"

"Oh, no." Anthea shook her head, holding her index finger to her lips. "No work talk." As they reach her front door Anthea placed her back to it, leaning against it to face Mycroft, looking up to him. "This is one my rules for your understanding." She had to give him credit, he didn't look annoyed by her taking control, he looked decently amused by it, actually. "You can call me in an hour to talk about your trip, and send me the longest email in the world. I can even come over to do work. But for one hour, I don't want to talk about work." Mycroft took a light step forward, cocking his head to the side – either still out of amusement or asking her to elaborate. "If we start talking work, then this won't feel different and next time we do this it'll be awkward again."

"Not necessarily." He argued, as he always did. "But I see your point, my dear." Anthea felt tingles down the back of her neck and had to look down when a natural smile was sent her way. "In that case, how do you suggest we end this meeting?" Dark eyes flashed up. It was more impulse and her cunning ways than actually thinking something through, but Anthea lifted her hand to Mycroft's face and gently neatened his hair, smirking coyly.

"I could offer you a handshake." She murmured, using Mycroft's words against him. Not flinching in the slightest at the touch, whether he was forcing himself not to is a different subject, Mycroft chuckled lowly.

"You're not as funny as you think you." He matched her low quiet tone. Anthea bit her bottom lip.

"That's okay. I think I'm hilarious." There was that flash of a smile again.

"Goodbye, my dear."

"Goodbye, Mr. Holmes."

Anthea was too content when she walked into her door to be bothered by the site of her best friend sitting at the dining room table with her laptop open. The fact that she was at the table and not on the couch suggested that the blonde had been waiting for Anthea to return, and judging by how hard Jamie was trying not to look at her suggested that she was mad too.

"Oh, hello." Anthea greeted chirpily, ignoring her best friend's mood, as she put down her purse and bag at the opposite end of the table. She got no answer from Jamie as she wandered into the kitchen, grabbed a bottle of water, and went to sit across from Jamie at the table. It was better to stay near to makeup artist and see what she wanted now, rather than wait for her to explode. Anthea sat there, slowly sipping her water as Jamie fiercely stared at her computer screen, occasionally looking up to give Anthea an angry glare. After about fifteen minutes of this on repeat, Jamie finally closed her laptop, lips pursed together, as she stared straight into Anthea's soul. Anthea tilted her head and waited.

"So your not-date get together was with Einstein?" It was more of a statement than a question. Anthea screwed the lid back on her water, placed it down on the table, and nodded. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"Because there's nothing to tell you, Jamie, and I didn't want you to get like this." Anthea rubbed her eyebrow. "We're not dating. Mycroft calls it an understanding." Jamie squinted, pulling back in her chair.

"What is that?" Her pout was turning into a grimace. Anthea looked over Jamie's shoulder and shook her head.

"It's an agreement not to see other people."

"That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard." Anthea ran her hand through her hair and shook her head again, this time at getting just what she expected from her friend and no better.

"See, this is why I didn't want to tell you." She mumbled.

"Tell me what?" Jamie laughed. "That the reason you're not seeing the hot accountant is because the unfeeling man you've been in love with has finally decided to throw you a bone?" The look in those hazel eyes was nothing but condescending, and Anthea was having trouble meeting them. "Ali, he's just stringing you along and-"

"He kissed me, Jamie." Anthea interrupted, not wanting to hear any more about what bad decisions she made. It seemed to work, Jamie stopped and closed her mouth. The blonde went to speak again, stopped, tilted her head, frowned, shook her head, and tried again.

"You mean, you kissed him, right?"

"No." Anthea continued. "After my date with David, Mycroft was waiting for me here, and he kissed me." She stopped to allow Jamie to interject but the blonde didn't dare. "I was so mad at him for it Jamie, so mad I could have killed him. But the next day he opened up to me, and he was honest, and a little afraid, and I couldn't say no. But," She raised her index finger. "I've got myself a guaranteed out if he is stringing me along. I reserved the right to end it whenever I want." She expected some response from her childhood friend from that, instead, Jamie sat in bewildered silence. Anthea didn't know whether that was good or bad. When Jamie finally spoke her tone was quiet and calm.

"I don't sit here and pretend to know much about your boss." She placed her hands on the table as she looked down at it. "But you and James talk about him a lot so I feel like I do." She looked up and smiled at Anthea. "And Ali, I think he likes you." Anthea sniffed a laugh.

"Yeah, I hope so."

Author's Note: So? What do you think? Was it okay? I was really worried about disappointing you guys with this one. Let me know your thoughts. Thanks to last chapters guest reviewers; Britta, Guests x4, Corrine, Rielle, LoyalElf, Wheezzy8, Tadaa, ovejalucifer, Cumberkale, Mina Carlyle, Delta667, and Wink. Thanks to all my lovely readers – I love you all.

1500 Review Special: We're getting awfully close to 1500 reviews so I really want to do another special chapter. Suggest Myc POVs to me that you'd like and I'll keep score.