Author's Note: Hey guys! Thanks for the wonderful feedback last chapter. I love reading your reactions. I had a busy week, I was social for once, so I didn't have as much time to write as I'd like. I did, however, make a compromise with myself that allows for the chapter quality to remain at a standard that I like, but I'll explain the compromise at the end. 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 Mycroft Called Jamie Clever

A week passed before any contact was made. Mycroft ensured Anthea that this wasn't abnormal. It didn't mean anything for Jamie. All it meant was that the kidnappers were waiting in order to let the friends and family squirm for a while. If they'd killed her they would have made sure James knew about it by now. It wasn't as comforting as Mycroft probably thought his words were, but Anthea appreciated the thought anyway.

Anthea couldn't sleep, not longer than an hour anyway. She'd wake up from nightmares based on her own capture and torture, then spend the rest of the night panicking. James wasn't any better. He had to focus on fixing his errors and between that and worrying about his wife James was a mess. Mycroft had asked Carol to assist James with the mess he made and help set up the new systems, along with the occasional help from Anthea. It wasn't a demotion for James but it was a promotion for Carol. No one was having a good time.

If any progress in finding Jamie had been made then no one was communicating it to anyone. That wasn't helping James stay calm at work or ease Anthea's nerves. Mycroft had told Anthea that he and Sherlock had theories but he didn't care to elaborate until further evidence was found. God forbid he be proven wrong. She suspected that he didn't want to get anyone's hopes up but any news would help.

That's when the VHS tape arrived. Not a USB, not a cd, but a VHS tape. Carol had arrived at her and James' office to find an envelope with a VHS tape in it. She didn't wait to show it to James, she took it straight to Anthea and Mycroft. Anthea could only presume that Carol, with her calm attitude and judgement, had thought James may overreact to whatever was on the tape while Mycroft could stay detached and analyse it. Mycroft had sent Anthea in search of a VHS player. Luckily she knew she had one stored away under her spare bed. She only hoped that it still worked since it hadn't been used in what felt like eons.

When Anthea arrived at the office Mycroft and Carol were still there waiting for her with solemn faces. Anthea hurriedly plugged the aging machine into the back of the waiting television and then into the nearest power point. She took the tape from Carol and looked at the reels to make sure the tape was rewound before she placed it in the slot.

"Who uses a video recorder anymore when everyone has camera phones?" Anthea spoke mostly to herself. She heard Carol sniff in agreement.

"A video camera bought decades ago or even recently from a garage sale is far harder to track than that of a recent recorder or phone." Mycroft spoke bluntly in his cool Ice Man tones. "We have serial numbers and model makes we can trace. This person has some experience finding people." Anthea pursed her lips as she kept her eyes on the old machine, trying not to let that lump forming in her throat turn into something more akin to panic.

"The perpetrators have training?" Carol asked.

"Oh, most definitely." Mycroft answered so casually it almost made Anthea feel sick. "One look at the… house and you could see that." Crime scene. He'd almost said crime scene but he hadn't because of Anthea's presence in the room. She appreciated it, Mycroft finally learning to watch what he said to spare her feelings. But at the same time it made Anthea feel a little bitter and angry. As if Mycroft felt like she was too fragile to hear him speak opening about her best friend. Like he better tread around the orphan girl with a bad experience being kidnapped about the kidnapping of her oldest friend. As if Anthea hadn't been anything but professional, as if Anthea hadn't shot and killed men. As if Anthea wasn't the best employee he had.

"Waiting to press play, sir." Anthea's words came out as sharp as a knife. Sharp enough that she felt herself be cut by it. She could feel the two sets of eyes on the back of her head.

"By all means." Mycroft answered as cool as ever. Anthea took a moment to put her ever calm assistant persona back on before she pressed play.

The screen was full of zigzagging black and white lines and white noise at first. The lines slowly disappeared one by one to show an image but the sound came in first.

"I don't care what you do to me or how many takes you do, if you want me in the background I'm not going to stay silent." That unmistakable voice that made Mycroft sneer at the sound of it was none other than Jamie's. Anthea sighed with relief as soon as she heard it. The blonde was being smart too, very smart. Trust her to be defiant until the very end.

The image of the video finally came together. The floors were wooden floorboards and the back wall was covered with red curtains. To Anthea it looked like the dance studio her school used for drama practice, and behind those curtains would be a wall of mirrors. Jamie looked messy and dirty, her blonde hair mattered in places and her white shirt filthy. She had a dark mark on her throat and her knees seemed grazed to the point of bleeding but other than that the woman seemed to be in one piece and relatively unharmed. Her hands were handcuffed to something behind the curtain, and if Anthea's dance studio theory were true than that would be a ballet bar.

"See the ballet bar, sir?" Anthea noted out loud so the genius in the room might clue on to her theory.

"Mmhmm." He nodded.

"Agent James," A voice came from what Anthea presumed was behind the camera. A voice that sounded familiar. Not so familiar that Anthea might recognise it on the spot but one that sounded like it might sound like someone you knows voice. Like when you're watching an animated film and you think you recognise that voice actor from somewhere but you don't know where. "I have your pretty little wife here, James." Jamie rolled her eyes dramatically. She'd clearly grown sick of hearing this in how many takes she's ruined. "I don't think you're a very good agent if I can walk into your house and steal your wife from you, James."

"You can't steal an adult person, you moron." Jamie pulled a face at the man behind the camera. "I'm not an object."

"Listen to her. If you can't control your wife how can you control an entire agency?" Jamie raised an eyebrow and looked the man up and down. "You're a yes man, James. You're a good little soldier. You're not a leader." Jamie shifted positions. One look at her face and you could tell her shoulders were aching from her hands being clamped so high above her head in sitting position. "You're a hired gun, you're cannon fodder, you're not supposed to be in control."

"First of all, no one is cannon fodder." Jamie kept her promise and kept talking. "Secondly, who even says cannon fodder anymore?"

"Shut up."

"Why? You're not going to kill me when you're making a ransom video."

"You want your pretty little wife back, James? All you have to do is quit." Jamie rolled her eyes again. "Quit the agency and don't take another job in the field. Don't take up the FBI's offer, don't join any other country. Don't even join the police. Quit and find another job better suited to a yes man."

"You think getting rid of James will get you your job back?" Jamie barked a horse laugh. "Who's going to hire you?"

"Rewind that." Mycroft stepped forward. Anthea glanced up at him.

"Rewind to what?" Anthea asked. She could hear the man on the videotape talking again.

"To Jamie's last interruption." He flicked his wrist in a rushing motion, ushering Anthea to the video player. "Hurry, Miss James."

Anthea pressed pause, then rewind, the after a few seconds she pressed play.

"You think getting rid of James will get you your job back?"

"Clever." Mycroft shook his head. "So very clever, Miss Thompson." Anthea made eye contact with Carol and back to Mycroft.

"What is it, sir?" Anthea asked, hitting pause on the machine. Mycroft looked down to her and then to Carol. He seemed to forget that people didn't keep up with him.

"Don't you see why she wouldn't stop talking?" Mycroft nodded towards the frozen image of Jamie on the television screen. "She wasn't simply being annoying, she wanted to get a message across. She knows who has her."

"Well?" Carol asked. Mycroft clicked his tongue.

"Both of you please try to think." He sighed. "She knows this person, she managed to communicate it in that line right there."

Anthea turned back to the screen and stared at it as she thought. Anthea had thought she knew the voice. Apparently Jamie knew this person, but who would Jamie know capable of doing this? Who didn't have some job right now? Who, adding all this together, would also have a grudge on James? Anthea inhaled sharply, her eyes widening. She turned back to Mycroft, eyes silently speaking words.

He smirked and nodded.

"No." Anthea hissed.

"Who else?" Mycroft nodded again.

"Agent Richter?"

It made sense, really. James got his job after he was fired. After being blackmailed by Magnussen and fired by Mycroft Holmes there was no way anyone would ever want to hire that man for this type of work ever again. Anthea knew the voice because she knew the man, and Jamie would know him from James' work parties. It clicked together so clearly.

"Carol," Mycroft hummed. "Please look for any deserted dance studios, theatres, or drama schools within and around London." He paused and looked deep in thought before he added another order. "And don't tell James until we're ready to act. He'll only overreact."

"What do you want, 'Thea?" James asked as Anthea walked into James' office. The blue light from his computer monitor shone in such a way on his face that it showed off the bags under his eyes. The agent looked more than tired, he looked completely done with everything. He had his head propped up on one arm as he studied his screen. "I'm only now getting back to normal work."

"Oh, it's nothing." Anthea shrugged as she wondered around his office. She picked up a photo of his mum and dad with his youngest sister and examined it. It was from her high school graduation. "Just thought I'd tell you that you're joining me on a mission tomorrow." James sighed. Anthea looked over in time to see his head land on his desk. Anthea quirked her eyebrow at this action. "Not interested?" She smiled. James sat back up, his big tired eyes on Anthea's face.

"You know I love fieldwork, and you know I love working with you A, but…" Just looked passed Anthea wistfully. Anthea pursed her lips and offered James a sympathetic look.

"Tired?"

"Exhausted." The agent groaned. "I spend all day busting my hump to fix things and prove myself to my men again, and then I go home and I just think about Jamie." Anthea nodded.

"Me too." She muttered. "Not the proving myself, but I can't sleep." She tucked a curl behind her ear. "For once I'm glad Mycroft has trouble sleeping. We played cards all Sunday night. Last night he taught me how to play backgammon." James' mouth pulled and almost threatened to smile. For a second Anthea saw the real James again and it was nice. It was comforting to know she almost brought that out.

"At least he's helping you." James grumbled. Anthea frowned and she crossed her arms.

"James." She sighed.

"Nah, really." He leaned back in his chair. "Like, I get it, A, I always have. Holmes doesn't have friends, and he doesn't do friends. Sure." He shrugged his large shoulders. "But like…" He looked at his computer screen as if scrutinizing something on it. He scruffed up his hair and sighed. "I don't know. I thought he'd…" The agent trailed off. He shook his head. "I don't know! Do something that shows he appreciates it." Anthea felt her heart ache. She didn't quite know who it hurt more for right now.

"Do you think you'd still have a job if he didn't appreciate you as an agent?" She asked. James shook his head.

"That's not what I meant. I meant more like-"

"Friendship?" Anthea cocked her head to the side. James sniffed a laugh.

"Don't make fun of me."

"Mycroft Holmes doesn't do friends." Anthea put on a posh voice as she looked down her nose at James.

"You're making fun of me." The agent smiled.

"Mycroft Holmes doesn't do people at all. The fact that you're allowed in his presence should be reward enough."

"Yeah, I get it." The agent laughed.

"In fact, we should all be grateful he wastes some of his very valuable time helping the country."

"Right, now you're just poking fun at your boyfriend."

"He knows I do it." Anthea laughed it off. "I do it to his face all the time." She twirled one of her curls around her finger. "I think he likes it. He hasn't told me to stop, anyway." James pulled a face and Anthea chuckled quietly. She took a deep breath and looked around the room. Finally she came to sit in the chair across from James' desk.

"The point is, James, he's not going to hug you, he's not going to throw you a surprise party, but he trusts you." Anthea kept her eyes locked to James'. "You and I both know that's how he returns the favour." James leaned forward in his seat.

"Then why won't he let me help find my wife?"

"Because you broke that trust when you yelled at him." Anthea was honest.

"I yelled because he wanted to wait to find her!" James raised his voice.

"He was doing his job." Anthea kept her voice down. "And he's the best at it." Anthea paused as James leaned back in his chair quietly. "He was acting calmly and rationally because we couldn't and you accused him of not trusting you." James opened his mouth to speak but Anthea held up a hand to silence him. She continued. "Yeah, he is taking it out on you a little bit, but that's Mycroft. I know you know he's not as icy as they say he is, so you should know that breaking that trust, telling him it's not there, is a big deal."

"You've called him all sorts of names, A." James argued, but it was in a soft almost defeated voice. Anthea nodded.

"And he's called me all sorts of names. But we both end up paying for it, and it's never about what we do. You suggested he wasn't doing a job correctly."

The room was silent.

James tapped on the table.

He looked to his door. He looked back at Anthea.

"He's still a bit of a jerk." James mumbled.

"He's a giant jerk." Anthea nodded. "But he's a giant jerk who was never going to abandon our Jamie."

Silence again.

"Jamie thinks Mycroft likes her." Anthea added, thinking about their conversation a little while back. James broke out into a smile.

"Yeah, I know." He raised his eyebrows. "Says he loves to hate her."

"Like I said, I think he enjoys mean banter." James sniffed and shook his head.

"Weirdos." He said. "The both of them."

The pair trailed off into silence again. They were both in deep thought. About what was clear. Anthea was thinking about all the times Mycroft and Jamie had called each other names. She was thinking of the times Jamie had been furious with 'Frosty' and the times she'd actually taken his side. No doubt James was thinking about the funny little blonde as well. Their lives were certainly missing something without her present.

"Fine." James heaved a heavy breath. "What's this mission tomorrow about?"

"Oh." Anthea perked up. She playfully shrugged. "Nothing special, just to go get your wife."

"What!?"

And Mycroft liked to tell Anthea she wasn't amusing…

Author's Note: Surprise! It's going to go on to another chapter! That was the compromise. Instead of trying to rush out a 4000 word or more chapter and be dissatisfied with its quality I decided to cut it into half and only reach this point. That way I didn't have to rush it and become tired, and post something that felt half-finished and very rushed. Even if you hate cliff-hangers I hope you'll agree that with this compromise. Let me know what you think of this and the chapter. Thanks to our guest reviewers; Singing Ferret, Bunnyrabbit100, chulija, and Tadaa. Thanks to all my reviewers. I'll see you all in five days.