Author's Note: Hey guys! Thanks for your reviews last chapter! I appreciate everyone who leaves one very much. With most of my uni work done by Wednesday night I slowly wrote this one whenever I found some energy. I feel it turned out better than some of the more recent ones so I hope you enjoy 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 She Went On Holiday with Jamie

Anthea didn't like the Diogenes Dungeon, not at all. Not only did she not like the club in the first place, but the Bond villain atmosphere Mycroft had set up was far less comfortable than their nice wooden government "official" office. She needed to speak to him about something quite normal, not at all intimidating, but this whole environment made her feel like every discussion was one about ending the world. If she was in the other office she'd be able to pop her head into Mycroft's office and talk no problem. Talk was prohibited upstairs here, and conversation in the dungeon should be about dungeon like things, not friends and lives and things normal people did.

Anthea knocked on the door, waited a few seconds, and let herself into Mycroft's office. He didn't look up from his laptop as he worked – knowing exactly who'd be entering the room. Even if he had been expecting someone else the way Anthea's shoes echoed on the floor here gave her away in an instant. Anthea slid into one of the seats facing Mycroft and crossed her legs, trying to force herself to be as comfortable as possible. She finally felt a little bit more at home as the typing stop and blue eyes flashed over to her.

"Hello, my dear." Even Mycroft's tone seemed warm compared to the entirety of the Dungeon. Anthea cocked her head to the side and smiled warmly at her boyfriend, just allowing the warmth in his tone to wash over her.

"I need to talk to you." She scrunched up her nose. Mycroft rolled his eyes.

"I would have never guessed." He answered in a sarcastic and breathy voice. Anthea pulled a face at him.

"Hang on, it's more complicated than that." She waved his sarcasm off as he tried not to smirk at her. "I need to talk to you as both my boss and my…" This place made her pause and look over her shoulder. "Boyfriend." Mycroft pouted his lips as he considered Anthea's word. The genius closed the lid of his laptop and folded his hands together on the desk, giving Anthea his full attention.

"Well," He took a deep breath. "Since we are indeed at work, why don't we start off there?" Logical and precise, how wonderfully Holmes of him. Anthea nodded.

"Okay." She smiled. "Can I have a week off starting next Wednesday?" Anthea could see Mycroft toss the idea around in his head as he chewed on the inside of his cheek and faintly moved his head to the side.

"You very rarely take any time off, I don't see how that would be an issue." That was his yes. Anthea gave a bouncy nod.

"Good." Her voice chirpy. Mycroft seemed mildly amused. He cleared his throat and sat up in his chair.

"Next?" He asked. Anthea playfully rolled her eyes. Onto the boyfriend section of the conversation.

"James is sending Jamie and me on holiday for Jamie's birthday." Anthea explain.

"Oh." Mycroft pursed his lips and nodded.

"Since they're trying for kids he wanted to her to get some good alone time I think." Anthea shrugged. Mycroft picked up his silver pen and began fiddling with it in his hands the way he did in meetings.

"Naturally." He hummed in his neutral tone. "Where are you going?" Anthea watched the pen in his hands. She looked up to his face and watched it carefully.

"Florence."

"Lovely."

A pause.

Anthea shifted. She uncrossed her legs and placed the other one on top.

"I just wanted to make sure you'll be okay." She watched as his eyebrows furrowed.

"Why wouldn't I be?" It wasn't defensive in tone but the neutral tones to it gave Anthea the impression that it was indeed defensive. Never one to admit to needing someone.

"Well," Anthea tucked a curl behind her head. "We've been busy, Magnussen, Tim, Sherlock, and you don't sleep well." Mycroft scoffed.

"Yes, Anthea, dear." He looked up at her. "You're right. You, who has been equally as busy as I have been, should turn down the chance of having a holiday with your best friend for both of you to destress so you can keep an eye on a man who thrives when alone." Oh, he was such a liar. They held each other's gaze.

"So you'll be fine?" She asked, shaking her head. "For a little over a week? With no word from your brother in about a week, and me gone for that long, it'll be fine?"

"You'll have fun and I'll get to relax." Anthea's eyes narrowed, Mycroft smirked.

"Mycroft-"

"London will be a far better place without Jamie here." Anthea narrowed her eyes.

"If you're worried about Sherlock you could always call John-"

"Please." Mycroft sniffed. Anthea tucked a curl behind her ear and shrugged.

"If you think there's anywhere Jamie and I should visit tell me, and I'll write it down."

"I'd love to." He sung as he looked away and opened his laptop.

Anthea had never been in a relationship this serious before, she'd never lived with someone. She didn't know how this was supposed to be approached. She figured they had dealt with it well despite the fact that he was determined to appear emotionally shut off to everyone. If she wasn't worried it would have been easier – she would have simply told him and been done with it. She was worried, though. Very worried. Everything going on with Magnussen, working with Tim, Sherlock disappearing off the radar with John having been married. She wanted to be here so he might sleep and might open up to someone, but she couldn't say no to Jamie. Not when James had organised this for the two of them. It was sweet and they would love it. It was just one of things, another ball to juggle in an already busy life.

The holiday with Jamie was fantastic. Visiting the old buildings and seeing the Santa Mario Duomo in person was an incredible experience. They tried all the food they and bought useless souvenirs that they had no idea what they were going to do with when they got home – Jamie would probably give them to friends and family. It was that holiday that you always talked about taking with your friends once you graduated high school but never ended up taking because you got busy with university, or partners, or life in general wasn't kind enough, or just simply drifted apart. Jamie and Anthea got to do that.

And they only fought once which is quite incredible for two very opinionated and strong willed people. Anthea and Jamie had gone separate ways and had promised to meet outside of a cathedral at a set time. Then Jamie had gotten lost, very lost apparently and got scared. Anthea, who had been waiting over an hour for her and couldn't get hold of her, also was mildly panicked. Senses on high alert once they found each other Anthea gave Jamie a big lecture about not bringing a phone with her to Italy and -Jamie got mad at Anthea for treating her like a child. Half an hour later they were fine. They expected something like this to happen at least once on the trip.

"Really?" Anthea asked as she poured herself a glass of red wine. "You don't want one? It's customary here." Jamie chewed on her thumb and shrugged.

"Just in case. You know?" The blonde answered. Anthea hummed as she recorked the bottle and placed it on the counter.

"Cation isn't a word I think of when I think of you." Anthea came over to sit on the edge of double bed they were sharing, glass of wine in hand.

"Yeah well, super secretive government person was never anything I associated with Ali either." Anthea pursed her lips and nodded. Her best friend did have a point there. Jamie stood up and groaned as she stretched out her arms and her back. "I'm going to go have a shower and then I might call James."

"Sure."

As Jamie walked away Anthea realised that this would probably be the best time to call Mycroft. Away from Jamie so she couldn't put her two cents into the conversation or Mycroft couldn't scoff at her commenting in the background, and so that maybe she could talk to Mycroft properly. The thing about having a boyfriend who was nicknamed the Ice Man is he never wanted to talk about his feelings in front of anyone, even over the phone. Maybe now Anthea could ask him how he was actually doing on his own. Not that she should be worried – he was a grown man who had been looking after himself for years. Still… She was paid to worry about him and she even did so in her free time. She liked the challenge.

So Anthea placed her glass of wine down on the small antique bedside table, and picked up her phone, laying back on the bed. She entered the number off memory and pressed dial as she stared up to the ceiling enjoying the soothing atmosphere of the hotel.

"Hello." Mycroft answered fondly, obviously knowing who it was. He didn't sound distracted so he couldn't be up to much work wise. If Anthea had to guess he was most likely at the Diogenes Club.

"Hi." Anthea drew out the word as she practically sung it. "I miss you." She smiled a big toothy grin up to the ceiling.

"Do you now?" He sounded amused.

"Mhhmm." She crinkled her nose to herself. "We should come back some time."

"Oh come now, Miss Thompson can't be that bad of company." He teased.

"No! We're having fun." Anthea rolled her dark eyes. "I'd just like to go somewhere like this with you some time and not on work." She could hear Mycroft hum to himself in thought.

"Perhaps someday." He sounded pessimistic. Anthea chose to ignore it. Well, almost. She'd just act like she missed it.

"How are you sleeping?" She asked instead of asking if he missed her. It was practically the same question at this point, just far more practical in his eyes and easier to ask in that case.

"Fine." It was short and very polite. In other words; it was a bold faced lie. Anthea sat up on the bed.

"So you slept fine last night then?"

"Absolutely." Short again, and no wiggle room to question him. He knew how to lie. Anthea glanced over at her glass of wine.

"You know what you could do…" She tried to sound as innocent as possible. "You could put my pyjamas or one of my coats on my side of the bed if the smell is disappearing." Mycroft scoffed defensively.

"How ridiculous." Anthea smirked to herself.

"For you it is." Anthea tried to play along. "But if someone else found that they had trouble sleeping without a familiar person there and smell had proven to be a big factor of that before then that's what I'd tell them to do."

"Miss James, are you trying to tell me something very strange about our agent friend?" Mycroft teased, effectively changing the subject. Anthea knew what he was doing but she fell for it anyway.

"James can fall asleep anywhere."

"I know." He answered flatly. "I've been on more missions with him than you have. He sleeps through explosions if he's relaxed enough." Anthea cracked up laughing.

"Stop it, you'll make me miss home and I'm trying to have a good time here."

"Oh, my apologies then." Mycroft whispered sarcastically. "I shall let you get back to it then, you are paying for this phone call after all." Anthea smiled warmly as if Mycroft could see it. She couldn't help it.

"Remember my hypothesis, okay?"

"There's no need." Sure.

"I love you."

"The feeling is mutual, I assure you." Anthea hung up the phone. She leaned back on the bed and sighed. He was so difficult, so very very difficult, but he could just say the exact right thing without meaning to.

It doesn't matter how much fun you have when you go on holidays, there is nothing quite like coming home. And that's what this was becoming, this big empty house that floors echoed with every step. It was home now. It was where Anthea's belongings were, it was where she came to after a long day at work, it was where she relaxed and read, and it was where the person she wanted to spend most of her time with lived. She couldn't wait to have a shower in her own bathroom, sleep in her own bed with her own sheets, and even deal with all the strange dramas that came with living her life.

She expected to enter into the peaceful quite entryway on her own and then to go find Mycroft in the study or the lounge room. Much to her surprise as she pushed open the front door Anthea found Mycroft walking down the stairs to meet her. She had no doubt that he would have heard her pull up but considering she had her own set of keys she expected him to stay where she was. He hadn't greeted her at the door since she got a key unless it was for a date. Pleasantly surprised she smiled warmly up at him, his neutral mask firmly in place.

"Oh, hello!" She peeped cheerfully. He forced a small smile onto his lips as he came to the bottom of the stairs and began approaching her. He shut the front door behind her and then oddly wrapped his arms around her waist. Once again very surprised, Anthea pulled a face to herself before reciprocating the hug and resting her head against his chest. "I missed you." Anthea spoke into the material of his suit.

"I bet you did." He was speaking into the top of her head, his nose buried in her hair.

"I bought you a book." She expected the hug to end.

"Did you?" It did not. This was odd. Appreciated, but odd.

"I really need a shower." She rubbed his back.

"Mmhhmm." Finally Anthea chose to be the one to break the embrace. She placed her hands on his arms and gently pushed herself away. His blue eyes were trained onto her dark orbs. She had missed those dark blue jewels that only shone for certain people and certain times. She nodded to the stairs.

"I'm going to have a shower and then maybe I can tell you what we did while I unpack?" Mycroft pouted and then nodded, his eyes still watching her face carefully. She took a step towards the stairs but he didn't move. Her brows furrowed slightly. "Are you coming?" She asked.

"Now?" He quirked an eyebrow. Anthea laughed softly.

"Of course now. When else?" Mycroft pouted again, finally looking away as his shoulders lightly shrugged. He closed the gap between him and Anthea, took one of her hands within his, leant in and smelt her neck exactly where she puts perfume in the morning.

"I had something else in mind for now." He hummed beautifully, making the hairs on the back on Anthea's neck stand up.

"Oh." She peeped. "Oh. Now?" She touched the side of his face to gain his attention away from her neck. He nodded. "Really?" She grinned. "Now?" He took her hand from his face, keeping hold of it, and began walking up the stairs. It was so unlike Mycroft other than that first time to initiate anything. Anthea had accepted that being with someone on the asexual spectrum meant finding a balance for both of them and that it wasn't going to be like her relationships with other men. The fact that here he was, adoring the scent of her and wanting her, it was very… sexy.

"I missed you." He answered like it was a fact. Anthea couldn't stop smiling, feeling a bit like a school girl. He wanted her because he missed her. He probably missed making her a cup of tea, and her jokes that never made him laugh, and probably having a competent assistant. He missed his closest confidant and that had made him want her.

"If this is all it takes maybe I should go away more often." Anthea laughed, squeezing Mycroft's hand.

"Don't make me handcuff you to the bed." He growled playfully. Anthea's skin tingled again and her grin grew larger.

"Mycroft Holmes, is that a challenge?" She asked. He gave her a devilish look. Anthea laughed again.

"I love you so much."

"Oh, now you're ruining it."

"Well maybe I'll have to chain you up then."

"That's more like it."

Author's Note: It was fun to revisit the idea of them spending time apart. They had quite the reaction when they weren't together so I thought it would be different now. Let me know what you all thought of it. Thanks to our guest reviewers last chapter; Guest, LittleSchoolgirl, Natasha, Chulija, Margotchan, Pauline, and Wheezzy8. Thanks a bunch to all my reviewers - your feedback is always appreciated. See you guys in five days.