Author's Note: Yo! How's it going? I hope you all enjoyed The Final Problem. I LOVED it! LOVED IT! Thanks for the feedback on the previous chapter, I'm glad you liked it. James was stuck between a rock and a hard place and he got a little freaked out, didn't he? As for this chapter… I like it. I don't know if you will but I hope so! 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 Met Rosie
Anthea stood with her hands on the lip of the little see-through hospital crib staring down at the new life that was Rosamund Mary Watson. She couldn't stop smiling from ear to ear with her eyebrows raised high as she looked at this little girl her friends had created. This tiny life that was made up of Mary and John, and would be raised by them, and Sherlock, and likely Mrs. Hudson. They'd get to watch her grow up into her own woman influence by her parents and those who love them. Mary, in the hospital bed, was looking at Anthea with a proud smirk on her face. The new mother was already so proud of her little girl. John stood by her and Sherlock sat in one of the chairs in the room. The genius was looking up with a small smile of his own in the intervals between tweeting and texting.
"She is so beautiful." Anthea breathed in absolute awe.
"I know." Mary cooed proudly.
"Obviously." Sherlock muttered into his phone – looking a lot like Anthea usually does. The way he said it, as if there was no way she wasn't going to be beautiful. John sniffed a laugh and smiled at the two people he cared for most. Anthea wasn't really listening though, she was watching the baby. She held up her hand and waved.
"Hello." She said quietly. "I'm… I guess I'll be Anthea to you. I'm Uncle Sherlock's brother's assistant."
"Or Mycroft's girlfriend." John simplified it. He said it so soberly, just like Sherlock had spoken before, as if certain that was going to last. Well, Mycroft was certain it was going to last so yeah, it was probably safe to say things like that now.
"Or her Mum's friend." Mary simplified the connection even further. Anthea looked up at Mary. The two caught each other's eye and smiled gently. They were really friends again and it felt great. No one understood what it was like to live a double life but Mary. No one knew what it was like to be alone like Anthea and Mary. It was nice to have someone like that back in Anthea's life.
"The point is," Anthea looked down at the baby. "If you ever see me standing around your kindy or something near a black car it just means that someone has asked me to look out for you."
"You're not going to abduct my daughter from school." John crossed his arms over his chest. Mary laughed as she looked over at him.
"I think I'd trust Anthea and Mycroft." Mary said to her husband. John pulled a face but then moved his head from side to side like accepting the idea.
"Never trust them." Sherlock said into his phone again. "They always have their own agendas. She'll be safe but I still wouldn't trust them."
"Don't listen to Daddy and Uncle Sherlock." Anthea leaned in and crinkled her nose. "Mummy will tell you that Mycroft and Anthea always equals safety, okay?" Hesitantly at first, Anthea used her thumb to stroke the baby's head. It sent a pleasurable tingle up her spine. Anthea had never been around new babies before and she'd never really had friends with small children. Katie was already at an age where she could have a cohesive conversation by the time Anthea met Carol. So this was very new to Anthea. The smell, the tiny features. It was strange. It was scary and beautiful all at the same time. Between Rosie and Jamie's upcoming baby Anthea better get used to having other people's babies and children around her now.
"Is that from you?" Anthea turned to John as he began speaking to her. She looked to where he was nodding. Under the other chair was her handbag and the gift bag she'd brought along.
"No," Anthea hummed, her shadowy assistant smile on her lips. "It's from Mycroft." Sherlock snorted.
"Just like your wedding." She sneered. "Mycroft seems to think gifts are acceptable substitutes for his presence." After that comment a strange silence crossed over the room. It was strange being in a room of people who knew the Holmes brothers and knew when they were hurt by one another. It creates a weird aura – like mourning a death. John widened his eyes and shook off the aura first. He nodded to the gift again. Anthea waved at him, giving him the go ahead to take the gift.
John takes the bag and sits on the edge of Mary's bed so that they could open it together. Out of the large gift bag John takes out a brown teddy bear with a purple bowtie around its neck and two black boxes that look like radios. Mary hums, intrigued, nodding approvingly at Anthea who smiles back. John stares at the bear in his hand.
"Is this one of those Nannycams or something?" He asked. Sherlock has stopped typing and is now looking at the present.
"No, John. They made this." Mary explained. "The bear has a transmitter in it and these are receivers. It's spy-grade equipment. Like a baby monitor but without a distance limit."
"Not only are they fancy baby monitors," Anthea continued. "But when she's older and you two are away overnight for cases or something she can know she can talk to her bear and her parents can hear her." Mary coos and tilts her head to the side. John looks at the bear in his hands once more then back to Anthea.
"This was Mycroft's idea?"
"Surveillance and communication." Anthea nodded. "A very practical gift. Not at all about sentiment." She let them decide if she was sarcastic or serious. Mary smiled and John laughed despite himself. Sherlock kept typing.
"He could have come and given the gift." The genius seemed to be speaking mostly to himself. Everyone ignored him.
"Well, Anthea." John put the bear back in the bag and placed it down next to other gifts that had come in with friends and family. "Thank Mycroft for the strange but thoughtful gift." Anthea rolled her eyes and then nodded. She was done with the conversation though, she wanted to see the girl of the hour some more.
"She's cute, right?" Anthea heard Mary speak from her hospital bed. Anthea nodded a few quick short nods. Her heart strings were yanked as the baby tried to stretch.
"I hate to say it, but it's making me want one." Anthea widened her eyes and spoke breathlessly.
"When you're ready." Mary said. John and Sherlock laughed at the same time. Mary's warm expression dropped as she looked over to her boys.
"Mycroft Holmes? With a baby?" John laugh jovially at Anthea. Anthea gave him a fake curtesy smile. It was a strange thought indeed. "I think that would be his worst nightmare." Anthea fought to keep the smile on her face. Mary raised an eyebrow disapprovingly.
"He's far more likely to get married than he is to have a child." Sherlock continued to joke with John. "And even then I'm absolutely certain it would be forced upon him by his work or by someone holding a gun to his head." Anthea's fake smile dropped away. She bit the inside of her cheek and held herself as neutral as possible.
"Domestic Mycroft." John laughed. "Can you imagine?"
"He keeps you idiots alive, doesn't he?" Mary interrupted. John took one look at his wife's serious expression and his laughter stopped. He then looked over to Anthea and seemed to immediately interpret the lack of amusement in her face as having done something not good.
"Sherlock." John muttered. When the younger Holmes brother met his friend's eye John shook his head as a sign to stop. Sherlock glanced at Mary and Anthea. He cleared his throat and turned back to his phone.
"She's in no rush to get married." He spoke into the phone. "She's run away from every single relationship that has turned serious, she and Mycroft have agreed for her to keep her flat in case of emergency, she's independent and has commitment issues. Marriage isn't something she's looked for in her life. Family, yes. Wedding, no." Anthea resisted the urge to roll her eyes.
"You don't know for sure, Sherlock." John shrugged. "Mary ended up with a normal life." Mary smiled at her husband. She took his hand, their fingers intertwining. Anthea pursed her lips. She stepped away from Rosie and stood near the wall.
"Don't sugar-coat for me, John." Anthea faked that smile again. "I gave up on any thoughts of a normal life, as you said, when this relationship started."
"You don't know, Anthea." Mary continued to try and make it better. As if Anthea's feelings on the subject were even important anyway. "There's a first time for everything."
"I suppose that's true." Sherlock spoke and texted at the same time. "Some things are highly improbable but they would have laughed at the idea of landing a man on the moon once. Mycroft is more like Pluto, but the metaphor stands."
Anthea wasn't by any stretch of the imagination an idiot. She was a smart, well together girl. She'd become wise to the world at a young age and working with Mycroft Holmes had only made her wearier and more perceptive of people.
What she was trying to say was she had always known who Mycroft was. A man who tried to desperately shut himself off from the world. He hated people and hid from anyone whom he might develop a relationship. James wasn't his friend, Walter wasn't his friend, John and Mary weren't friends, and Anthea had become his only friend after they had kissed. He'd never ever wanted a relationship. Whether out of his hatred of people, his enjoyment of silence, or purely out of some deep seeded fear of humanity Mycroft had been determined to spend his life alone. The only reason he was with Anthea was because he'd grown attached to her and once he was attached to something he couldn't bear to lose it.
Anthea went into this relationship with the knowledge that there was an extremely high chance it was going to go nowhere at all. If you told her years ago she would be living with him one day she would have laughed in your face and signed you up to be psychologically examined. This was as far as it went with Mycroft, living together. Anthea was never in a rush to get married unless she found the person who she could call the one. Well, her one didn't want to get married. Kids had been a different story entirely. Once Anthea had moved out of her Aunt and Uncle's house she had realised how alone she was. No blood relatives. No family to call her own. No one but Jamie and Jamie had a real brother. A small part of Anthea, the part that didn't hate every boy she ever dated, looked forward to one day having blood relatives again. To have a little person or two that she was absolutely related to. That were hers and she was theirs. She wanted to look at a kid and see her mum's nose or her dad's cheeky smile. She had let go of that too, once she realised that she was in love with Mycroft Holmes. They'd never discussed it but based on everything she knew she had no doubt Mycroft wouldn't never even let it come close to happening. He couldn't interact with babies in the slightest, and he hated stupid children, let alone people. He needed peace and quiet and something had made him so strange when it came to touch. He had wanted to spend his entire life alone, locked away in his office or the Diogenes Club. It was a wonder that he had committed so vehemently to Anthea.
Anthea knew the moment she told Mycroft Holmes she loved him that these little pleasures of a normal life were no longer in the cards for her and she thought she was already passed that. But now… one friend with a baby, and another baby that will be Anthea's niece or nephew on the way… It reminded Anthea of how alone she could be.
As much as she hated the place, as much as it looked like a villain's hide out to her, Anthea was a little relieved to be back in the safety of the Diogenes Dungeon. She inhaled the damp air and exhaled with happiness. This place was a respite for her too right now, an escape from married friends and children she'd never get to have.
The tall brunette woman walked over to her desk and dropped her handbag next to her desk. The thud noise it made reverberated off the walls of the dungeon, echoing. Anthea took another deep breath as she placed the bottoms of the palms of her hands against her eyes – careful not to rub and smudge her makeup. She then stood up and walked around, heels clicking loudly on the floor, and sat down at the desk. She pulled out her phone and texted the kitchen to send down a pot of tea. She dropped her phone on her desk and leaned back in her chair, that too creaking.
Ding.
Anthea's phone went off. It couldn't be the kitchen – they didn't respond to message orders. She picked it up and saw the number was Mycroft. He was in his office right behind her desk. He'd gone to bed last night with a headache and woken up with a migraine. That's why they were at the club – the dungeon was the darker of their two offices and the club demanded silence. They could talk in here but there would be no talk from the halls or from the staff and no interruptions from people wanting help. Surely he knew she was back, so why the text? Maybe his head was pounding and he didn't want to come in or call out to her.
Do you mind? I can hear your biological clock ticking from in here. – M.H.
He'd known where she was, he'd given her the gift. He must have heard her in here. Was she being louder than normal? She had tried to shake it all off before coming back here. It certainly didn't give him a reason to be so short with her. She was the one who insisted he took his migraine medication, she was the one who asked if he wanted to stay home today. She quirked an eyebrow at the text just as another came in.
If you're going to be so loud then please, go run errands. – M.H.
Anthea felt a little deflated. She leaned back in her chair and closed her eyes. She took a moment before she responded. Like Mycroft she sent two messages as well. The first was to make him see how he was speaking, or writing rather, to her.
If you wanted silence then you should go sit upstairs in the real club. – A.
That was Alice the girlfriend responding. Now Anthea the assistant would respond.
I'll keep it down, sir. – A.
Thirty seconds later the door between her section of the dungeon and Mycroft's office opened. Mycroft poked his head through and his exhausted looking eyes sought Anthea out. Anthea watched him silently, awaiting an order or a snarky remark, as Mycroft pursed his lips.
"Apologies for my bad manners." He spoke carefully. She knew the migraine medication made him feel less in control and so everything became extra precise. "I should have chosen a gentler approach and not pointed out my deduction." Anthea's mask cracked. Her heart melted a little bit. He was trying with her. She loved it when he tried. He was really learning from his mistakes of the past.
"We'll just blame the headache and pretend it didn't happen, okay sir?" Mycroft didn't answer verbally but his visage relaxed considerably. It would have been easy to miss how lightly he nodded his head, his movements made careful and precise due to the pain in his head. As Mycroft began closing his door Anthea quickly added something else. "I love you, sir." The door closed. Ten seconds later, how long it would have taken Mycroft to get to his desk, Anthea got another text.
The feeling is mutual, Miss James. – M.H. x
Anthea held her phone up to her lips and smirked. Sometimes when she was alone in the office like this, completely alone, she felt anything but alone.
I'm bored. Do you mind if I ask you some profiling questions? - Emily.
Anthea rolled her eyes. She was just going to put her phone down and go try and choose something for dinner from the takeout menus on the fridge.
If you answer I'll answer. – Emily.
Well… Anthea didn't have to be honest, did she? Someone willing to play quid pro quo was always fun for people like Anthea and Mycroft.
Only for a bit. I have to prepare dinner. – A.
It wasn't a total lie.
I heard from someone, not from Jamie, that you were an only child. I can see that in some of your behaviours. You have a high self-esteem and are conditioned to be outgoing. – Emily.
That's true. – A.
However at other times you are incredibly introverted. You are negative and cynical. Some would blame your job but I don't think so. You fear being abandoned so run away yet at the same time this fights with your need to belong and connect. Conclusion – you're an orphan, aren't you? – Emily.
Wow. Had she gotten that from the two times they'd talked in person and the few times they'd seen each other at the salon?
Yes. Later though, like mid-teens late. I don't know how much it affected me. – A.
It always affects people. – Emily.
What about you? – A.
It was quid pro quo.
I'm the youngest. – Emily.
Obviously! You have no boundaries. That's youngest all over. – A.
You're funny. I like that. – Emily.
Anthea smiled. She still got rubbed up the wrong way by this Emily, she still saw nothing but trouble when she saw her. But Anthea even enjoyed Moriarty being funny. You had to develop a sense of humour that transcended stress and fear in this line of work.
I keep telling people that. – A.
If they don't believe it then they're idiots. – Emily.
The thing was, even when Emily made Anthea laugh or smile it still rubbed her the wrong way. It was so familiar, that sense of humour. It seemed strange on a trainee make-up artist. It felt like it belonged more in the high powered stakes of Anthea's world. It was odd. The woman was… odd.
Jamie doesn't remember giving you my number. – A.
How strange. – Emily.
Author's Note: So? What did you think? I hope you liked it. Remember! The title of the fic is A First Time For Everything. Just because it's not IN their plans doesn't mean it won't happen. I'm sure Anthea didn't plan to get kidnapped :P. Now we're really getting into season 4. Unlike season 3 though, it won't be rushed. There will be a number of things happening in Myc and Thea's lives between all the drama and stuff of season 4. Thanks to our guest reviewers: Madalina, Guests x2, B, and Ember. Thanks to all my reviewers – I love you all so much! And thanks to the influx of new readers that came along with the end of season 4! Let me know what you all thought of this chapter and see you in 5 days for the anniversary chapter of the fic!
Myc POV Chapter: So it seems most of you want me to do another Myc POV for the 2nd anniversary. The popular choices seem to be: the first time they shared a bed, the first time they cuddled, and the first time. I'm sensing a theme here… Tell me which one you'd prefer.