Author's Note: Hey, guys! How's it going? Thanks for the wonderful reviews last chapter. It was silly and fun and I'm glad that it was obviously in character enough for you guys to enjoy it. This was a random spark of a good idea I had. I don't know where it came from. I think I was thinking about studying and instead of actually studying I came up with this. Procrastination at its best. I like it so I hope you like 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 He Remembered An Anniversary

Mycroft had been acting weird from the moment Anthea got up that morning. Any other boyfriend she'd think he was being ether extremely sweet or had done something wrong. With Mycroft… Anthea was at a complete loss. He wasn't prone to displays of affection, nor was he one to try and make up for something he did wrong since he viewed everything he did as necessary.

The first incident of the day was waking up to Mycroft rather than her alarm. Dressed in in shirt and tie already he'd brought her up a wonderful smelling cup of tea and her usual morning food of a banana. He'd wished her good morning and placed the items on a tray on her bedside table. Well, his bedside table, it was his house. When Anthea moved to get up he placed a hand on her knee and stopped her.

"No need to rush this morning, dear." He hummed. "We have no meeting until late afternoon, you don't need to rush out of the house." Anthea had watched his careful placed smile through narrowed dark eyes. She muttered thank you, and she meant it, but she was suspicious. This wasn't typical Holmsian behaviour. Sure, she'd often go downstairs to see a cup of tea waiting for her but it was never brought to her. He was usually reading the paper or in the middle of getting ready by the time she made it downstairs. Anthea was also no stranger to hearing "do hurry up" as he walked past her doing her hair in his mirror.

Once she'd finished her cup of tea and caught up with her friends via social media Anthea made to pick up the tray. Once again Mycroft took it from her, insisting that he could clean up. Anthea was less suspicious of this behaviour. This could be his way of getting her to get ready quicker while hiding it in a nice gesture. It still seemed very out of character though. It wasn't the Mycroft she knew like the back of her hand.

All day he was being extra courteous and, dare she say it, sweet to her. He wouldn't let another person so much as look at her the wrong way without tearing them to pieces. However the next strange turn of events happened at lunch time. He came waltzing out of his office as he quite often did only to stand in front of Anthea's desk and clasp his hands together tightly.

"Alright, Anthea my dear," Mycroft hummed as he rubbed his hands together. "I am in a rather generous mood today." She looked him up and down with a curious look. She had noticed and she would have told him so in a snide remark had she not held her tongue and not just stuck with giving him a stare down. "What would you like for lunch?" Anthea sighed as she leaned back in her chair and stared up at the roof. She was already conjuring up her list of Mycroft approved dining places.

"Well if you're watching carbs this week," She mused out loud. "I guess I could go for a really nice salad from-"

"No, no." She looked down from the roof to see an elegant hand making a ceasing motion with a long horizontal swipe. "Don't worry about me, dear. What would you like for lunch?" She sniffed and gave him an incredulous look once more, her mouth pulling into a lopsided grin.

"Really?" She asked sarcastically. She always had to worry about Mycroft. She constantly thought of his opinion. When it came to lunch at work, for example, she had to consider so many things. First of all was the length of their lunch break, secondly was what office they were at. That set parameters. The next thought was where was Mycroft with his diet. What did she have to consider and what was off limits. Then there was of course that Mycroft only went to a handful of cafes, he didn't eat certain foods, and they had reputations to uphold. Going to lunch during work hours was never as simple as 'what do you want'. Mycroft's brows knitted together and he forced on a very tight lipped smile.

"Really." He repeated. A flash and that slightly confused and offended expression was gone and replaced with the old favourite stony mask. "I am trying to do something nice for you, Miss James." Anthea folded her arms across her chest.

"But what do you want is never that simple. Is it, sir?" Anthea answered. "And even if it was, there's always strings attached to it." Mycroft smirked wryly, a sparkle in his silver eyes.

"Really my dear, who taught you to be so mistrusting?"

"A devil in a bespoke suit." Their eyes held each other. "He promised a fun job and I got filing instead." The heat in the room increased. Mycroft placed his hand on the edge of Anthea's table as he looked down and chuckled. Anthea felt the tiny hairs on the back of her neck stand up.

"In all seriousness, Alice, choose what you wish to eat." He looked up. He steely eyes looked so soft and so kind that it was almost frightening how captivating they became. "I only wish to make you happy." Anthea leaned forward over her desk and placed her hand on top of Mycroft's.

"I think I worked out the catch." She whispered, her dark eyes narrowing. "Mycroft, are you dying?" He sniffed a single laugh as he pulled away from her touch and stood back up.

"No." He scratched at his eyebrow with his ring finger. "Nor did I have an epitome on the level of A Christmas Carol. I am merely trying to do something for another living being." Anthea felt the heat in her cheeks as she had to look down and tuck a curl behind her ear. "Now choose something," Mycroft cocked his head to the side. "Please."

A pause.

Anthea sighed.

"Fine." She scooted up in her chair and folded her legs. "You know what I feel like?" She placed her hands firmly on her desk. "You know what I really feel like?" Mycroft was watching her carefully. "A burger." Mycroft rolled his eyes and turned away. Anthea's mouth pulled into a smile. "And not some fancy one either. Just a good simple burger. The kind I never get to have when I'm with you."

"Anthea." As he turned to look at her once more Mycroft looked visibly pained by her suggestion. It was hilarious and very cute the way his mouth was pulled down and he looked like he was exhausted.

"You asked me what I wanted, sir." Anthea shrugged playfully. "That's what I want." Mycroft opened his mouth to argue. "In fact, that's all I've wanted to eat for like a month now." He shut his mouth and looked over her. "I dreamed about hot chips last night." Mycroft closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. He wanted to say no, Anthea could feel the very thought of saying no emanating off of him. In fact, she partly wanted him to say no just so that order could be brought back to the universe.

"Fine." He practically spat out the word. "But if not from a restaurant at the very least it has to be a bistro, and the employees need to know where the meat comes from." He turned to the coats only to quickly turn back and point a long finger at Anthea. "And it has to be at least three blocks away from this building."

"Wow." Anthea shook her head. "You must be dying."

"Well if I'm not now I will be by the end of this lunch."

The lunch was far less fast food like and greasy than Anthea had initially been craving, the burger a little too up market. However, Mycroft's clear discomfort making her laugh every thirty seconds was enough to make up for a lack of unhealthy elements. Regardless of her suspicions she had a nice long lunch with Mycroft, ready for the rest of the day and hopefully something more akin to normal behaviour from her already quirky boyfriend.

The rest of the day was full of errands for Anthea. She was picking one thing from one location and dropping of another thing at another location. She gave Walter a list of locations she needed to visit in order and they slowly made their way down the list location by location. It meant a lot of down time just sitting in the car but it also meant time with Walter. That was never a problem. The driver was always a calming force to be around. He made you feel safe and comfortable at all times.

When that was over Anthea was dropped back off at the government office to finish her paperwork for the day. She walked into the office just as Mycroft was walking out of the kitchenette with a cup of tea in hand. He rose his eyebrows lazily and nodded at Anthea as he spoke.

"Oh, hello." He hummed. So casual and relaxed, Anthea loved it. She smiled warmly.

"Hi." She answered as she took off her coat and hung it up. As she turned to her desk she noticed a bouquet of flowers on her desk. She cocked her head in curiosity. Her eyes flickered from the flowers to Mycroft, and back again. "What's this?" She asked as nonchalantly as she could. Mycroft shrugged as he took a sip of his tea. Anthea looked over the man suspiciously as she slowly and apprehensively made her way over to the desk.

The bouquet was beautiful. It was made up of lavender cymbidium orchid flowers and white cattleya orchid flowers. Anthea loved orchids since that plant Mycroft got her when James and Jamie started dating. The first just because gift he'd ever gotten her. It was still alive and doing well on her desk at the club. It was so elegant and so beautiful, her fingers absentmindedly played with the delicate petals as she looked over thing whole thing. It was times like this that she was jealous of Mycroft and Sherlock's memories. She'd very much like to capture this bouquet in her memory as perfect and as real as it was here and now. All she could do was try to commit as much of it as possible. She wanted to touch it and smell it and try so hard to implant that somewhere in her brain.

Anthea looked for a little card or perhaps a sticky note stuck somewhere between the leaves and petals of the bouquet but came up empty. She did, however, notice that the little white box was sitting on a manila folder that hadn't previously been on her desk. Or at least she swore it wasn't on her desk when she left. As Anthea pursed her lips and tucked a stray chocolate curl out of her face and behind her ear she wanted desperately to hazard a look over to Mycroft. She wanted to see what kind of look was on his face as he watched her by the door to the kitchenette. She wanted to know what he was thinking and what this was about. Knowing him, however, his expression wouldn't give anything away anyway. No use.

So Anthea carefully slid the folder out from underneath the beautiful impromptu bouquet of flowers. She chewed on her bottom lip as she opened it.

Inside was a document like any other document she'd seen before. She'd seen ten on that letterhead alone today. There was also an A5 piece of paper with a hand written note in a long and elegant handwriting. She knew the handwriting well.

Anthea picked the document up first. It was then as she picked it up did she realise it was only the front page on what was supposed to be a far larger document. She could feel Mycroft's eyes digging into the back of her head as she inspected the one page. As she began reading it her breath caught in her throat. She knew this document, she'd read it at least twice and knew the first paragraph almost off by heart to this day.

It was a nondisclosure agreement.

Not just any NDA.

It was her NDA.

It was the first page to that stupid document that still made her feel sick to her stomach when she thought of all the events leading up to it and that came to pass because of it. Before her brain would even begin processing why that was in this file to begin with she placed it back into the file with a visibly shaking hand and picked up the little note. She shut her eyes and shook her head, sending curls dancing, to clear her head in order to keep going. Anthea took a calming breath and read the note in Mycroft's hand writing.

I understand that this document may cause unwanted memories to come to mind, but you must forgive me. I do have my reasons.

They say that the emotional response to anxiety and excitement is the same. Your heartrate increases, you breathing becomes erratic, and you begin to perspire. Some people have difficulty separating the two.

I never did. Not until you, at least.

This document is the only argument one needs to prove that fact.

- M.

Anthea placed her hand to her mouth as she finished reading. Funnily enough she could feel her heart beginning to race in her chest. She wasn't entirely sure what was going on, her brain had frozen somewhere between the NDA and this note. She knew it was a display of affection from Mycroft and that was very weird. She knew it was a better apology for the NDA than she'd ever gotten on the day. She knew it meant that he must have liked the kiss, even just a little. She knew it was another weird behaviour for the day.

Anthea turned around to look at the man near the door. Who knew what her facial expression was, it was probably a mixture of confusion, amusement, and adoration. His was something between scared, amused and, of course, nothingness. She tried to form a sentence but couldn't. She opened her mouth, shut it, and pursed her lips. She gave the little note in her hand a light shake, bringing attention to it. Steel eyes flickered on it and back to her face.

"It's the anniversary of what was actually our first kiss." Mycroft said with a stony face. He took another sip of his tea. He looked into the cup and then looked over to Anthea's desk. He walked by Anthea as he placed his cup down on her desk. "Couples are supposed to recognise these sorts of dates, no?"

Anthea looked down to her shoes and laughed to herself. Was this why he was acting weird all day? He was trying to celebrate an anniversary that she didn't even know the date of? Of something she wouldn't consider important in the long scheme of things. Of course it set things in motion, but it took so long to reach this point that the kiss and the NDA barely seemed to be a part of it at all. She didn't even know the date of it and here Mycroft, the Ice Man, was one to recognise it and try to do something nice for it. The man against sentimentality had just been sentimental over something not even little orphan Alice would think to hold onto.

"You weird, wonderful man." Anthea shook her head, still laughing as she met Mycroft's eyes. He looked puzzled by her words as she grinned largely at him, her eyes wide and full of adoration. She held her arms out by her side. "I don't have anything. I didn't even think you'd be the type to remember any occasions." Mycroft pouted his lips and raised one shoulder lazily like he didn't care. "You don't even like to celebrate birthdays." She continued, astounded by this behaviour.

"Well," Mycroft scoffed, looking to the side. "I don't like talking to the prime minister either, but I do that too." Anthea giggled at this typical response. She wrapped her hands around Mycroft's neck and pulled him down to kiss him softly. There was some resistance at first but his hands soon found their way around the personal assistant's waist.

As Anthea pulled away from Mycroft's embrace she allowed her hands to rest on the lapels of Mycroft's jacket. She felt warm and content as she looked up at him. She bit her lip and cocked her head to the side.

"So tell the truth," Anthea crinkled her nose. "What are you dying from?" Mycroft's mouth threatened to smile and he sniffed a single laugh.

"You." He whispered. "You're killing me. Now get back to work." Anthea playfully tapped him on the arm.

"Yes, sir."

Author's Note: What did you think? Was it alright? I had fun coming up with it. Just a heads up that it's study week and the week after is exams so I might leave off an update for a day or two but I'll let you know when that happens. The next chapter will be in five days as expected. Time to thank the guest reviewers; TeNamo, Tadaa, Yulia, and ovejalucifer. Thanks to everyone who reads and reviews. Your opinions and reactions are always so great to me. See you on Sunday!