Author's Note: Oh, look at that! Despite my wrist I got the chapter done in time. Yay? :P. Thanks for all your wonderful feedback last chapter. It seemed very well received. As for this chapter, I told you Hope would be back. 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 He Held Hope

As Anthea lay comfortably across the couch in her large, quiet house talking to Jamie on the phone she felt guilty and a little bad for her best friend. Anthea was home after her half day of work for the weekend. Her shoes lay on the ground while her feet rested comfortably on the couch. She was the only one here and should she step foot in one of the less decorated rooms the only thing she'd hear would be the echo of the noises she made. Jamie had it a lot harder right now.

If someone ever told you maternity leave was like a vacation then they deserve to be slapped. James was away right now. It was not the same mission from when Hope was born rather something more crucial. They'd discovered talks of attacks on key figures in England and James had gone with some of his men to investigate. That meant travel, overnight stakeouts, and sometimes communication block outs. It was supposed to be a few days but that became a week… Now, reaching the end point of day six it was turned into "Just a few more days. We're finally onto something". Jamie said that was fine, she told James everything was great and he should focus on work. The truth was the blonde woman was exhausted. Being stuck in a house for six days alone was beginning to drive her stir crazy. The vibrant, talkative woman left with a baby and a dog to talk to. It did not make for stimulating conversation. Not only was there the feeling of confinement and loneliness, there was also the fact she was left to look after a newborn baby all by herself, 24 hours a day for almost seven days now. Jamie was an excellent parent. She took to motherhood the way a duck takes to water. Even the greatest swimmers begin to drown after some time.

"I don't know what I'm doing anymore, Ali. I just don't." Jamie spoke breathlessly on the phone. Anthea could picture her running fingers through the front of her hair and pushing it back. Anthea clicked her tongue and looked at the roof. Only of the two lightbulbs were working.

"Jamie." She cooed.

"Nah, I mean it!" Jamie said. "Last night… Or was it this morning?" She stopped to think. Thirty seconds passed. Anthea waited patiently. "I don't know, at some point before the sun came up she was crying and like I hadn't had any sleep so like I was about to start crying to." Anthea cracked a smile despite how frantic Jamie sounded. "I picked Hope up and I asked her 'What do you want? Just tell me what you want.' And she looked at me with these beautiful big eyes like she was saying 'I'm trying to tell you, you idiot.'" That was it, Anthea actually laughed. She covered her mouth with the back of her hand, embarrassed of laughing. "And I thought, you're right. And you know what? Usually I'm pretty good at knowing what the cries mean. Usually it's like yeah she's hungry or whatever. Right now on no sleep they all mean the same. They just mean 'help me'. Like Thatch could howl and I'd think it was Hope asking for something." Anthea chuckled again at Jamie's words and rolled her eyes. Jamie was worse than a Holmes with her hyperbole sometimes.

"You're a great mum, Jay." Anthea tried to console her friend. Jamie snorted.

"Yeah, when I can get a few hours of sleep I am. A zombie sucks at raising babies."

"Good thing they can't reproduce." Anthea muttered sarcastically.

"Good thing I had one kid before I died then." Jamie answered. Anthea leaned back and collapsed into the couch. She didn't know whether to laugh or to cry.

"Who's going to tell James his wife is a zombie?" She asked.

"Einstein can do it." Jamie answered seriously. "Might as well get someone emotionally dead to tell James I'm physically dead." Anthea cracked a smirk. She felt so bad for Jamie right now. All she wanted was a break.

"Come here tomorrow afternoon." Anthea said. "I can make you dinner, something easy, and I can help look after Hope. You can have a nap and maybe stay in one of our spare bedrooms if you want and bring the right things for Hope." She heard Jamie hummed unsurely on the other end.

"Don't think Mycroft wants a baby in his house. Don't think he wants me anywhere near him overnight." She grumbled.

"Phhfft." Anthea hissed through her teeth. "Who cares? It's my house too. He always says it's equally my house. That means my best friend and my niece can come over whenever they want." Anthea said determinately. She paused and took a gentle breath. "Plus, he's doing some freelance work for the CIA right now so he'll be in his home office all day anyway."

"There's the reason I can come over." Jamie said. Anthea sat back up on the couch, pouting down the phone.

"No." She shook her head. "No. This is my house, too. This isn't boss and assistant. If I want to have a party I could have a party. He should be grateful I only have a few friends and only invite you over." Jamie laughed in response. The end of her laugh turned into an exhausted sigh.

"You sure you want us over?" She asked. It was clear by this question that she now was convinced she was allowed to come. "I mean, I think I'm more fluent in baby than you are and I suck right now." Anthea smiled softly like Jamie could see it.

"Of course I want you over." Anthea answered. "I love this place when there's some life in it."

"Hello, cutie!" Anthea cooed at her own front door into the pram in front of Jamie. She knelt down and pulled an adoring face at the barely awake infant in the pram. Anthea silently awed and lightly touched Hope's stomach playfully.

"I see how it is." Jamie said with a hand on her hip. "I've been replaced as your best friend by a younger, better looking version of me." Anthea laughed quietly as to not disturb Hope. She stood back up and nodded.

"That's it." She said with a single shake of her head. "You can leave the baby here and go home now. I don't need." She flicked her hand, waving Jamie off the way Mycroft waved off employees. "And when I say home, you can leave London now." Jamie scoffed, momentarily pretending to be extremely hurt by this. The exhausted looking blonde then laughed and came forward to hug Anthea.

"It's so nice to be able to talk at someone and have them answer in words." She spoke into Anthea's chest. Feeling sorry for Jamie, Anthea stroked her back.

"Come on," She pulled away and stepped out of the entrance. "Let's see if I can find a way to bridge this language barrier." Jamie responded with a noise. It could have been a laugh or it could have been a sniff of relief. Either way the blonde woman took the breaks of the pram and wheeled her little daughter into the big empty house, Anthea picking up the bag of stuff that was left behind at the door.

They managed to get in a full half an hour of uninterrupted talking before Hope began crying. She needed attention before that but little gurgles was how she got their attention. Then she started crying. Anthea could see as a wave of exhaustion hit Jamie making her look like she hadn't slept or even rested in an eternity. Anthea felt sympathy for both the girls in this case.

"Is she hungry?" Anthea asked. Jamie shook her head silently and solemnly – a very unlike Jamie reaction.

"She ate in the car." She answered quietly. She got up and, while whispering sweet nothings at Hope, gently picked her up. She gave the baby a sniff and a feel. "Her nappy is fine, too." Jamie rocked Hope back and forth, hushing her. When that didn't work she looked at Anthea with hazel eyes full of despair. "Since like Thursday she's been doing this. Everything is fine but she just cries. I'm doing everything the same." Anthea rubbed at her neck, unsure as to what to do to help. She'd seen Jamie do this, she was good at it. She couldn't be doing anything wrong.

"Do you want to pass her to me?" Anthea offered weakly. "Maybe a change of person will do." Jamie looked sceptical that this would work but nevertheless passed her daughter over to Anthea. Anthea tried bouncing her and rocking her, offering soothing words. "You're okay, Hope. We're not that scary in this house. You like me, remember?" She heard Jamie laugh. Anthea looked away from Hope to see Jamie wiping her nose. Anthea's brow furrowed. "You okay?" She asked. Jamie pursed her lips and nodded furiously.

"I can't stand her crying, that's all." Jamie widened her eyes and took a deep breath. "Not in an 'oh my God, that's sooo annoying way', in an 'I'm supposed to be able to help her'." Anthea smiled sadly at her best friend. That was the sweetest thing she'd ever heard her say. Anthea tickled Hope's hand and managed to get the crying down to light sobs as watched Anthea with curiosity.

"You're off your game without James, that's all." Anthea said. "After some time here you'll be better and after James gets back you'll all be back to normal." Hope lost interest in the tickling and the sobs grew in volume again. Anthea hushed her and tried to rock her. Jamie watched her, looking lost.

"How can you sound so sure?" She asked. Anthea shrugged.

"It's not the same, I'm talking about work and you're looking after a baby, but Mycroft and I are off our game when the other is gone. Don't even get me started on what's happened to Sherlock, John and Rosie since Mary's passed." Anthea stopped to gently stroke Hope's head. Why was baby hair so soft? "Team work." Anthea shrugged again. Hope wailed. "Something we're currently failing at."

"You did almost fail Home Ec." Jamie teased, her mood lightening. Anthea shot her daggers.

"That was because of cooking, and I was fifteen." She had to fight back the smile to say that seriously. Jamie laughed again. She rubbed her nose and sighed.

"I love you, Ali." Jamie said. Anthea was happy at this point to bring any relief to her best friend. Any time with her niece was wonderful, even if she was confusingly emotional.

Mycroft entered the living room like a moving shadow emerging from the doorway. His ears were perked and a frown was firmly on his brow. He'd followed the crying down from his office to the living room. At moments like this he looked like a predator preparing to pounce in order to protect his domain. Anthea, used to him skulking around his own home, watched him with love and amusement. Jamie only saw him after she saw Anthea watching the doorway. She wasn't surprised, not really.

"Hey." Anthea greeted sweetly.

"Why is there so much crying?" Mycroft asked instead of replying hello like a normal human with normal social graces might. Jamie rolled her eyes at Anthea. "It has been almost constant. Why won't it stop?" Jamie and Anthea shared a look, both questioning whether he'd called the crying 'it' or he had just called Hope 'it'.

"I told you I was trying to help out Jamie." Anthea answered. Blue eyes looked her up and down and then Jamie up and down.

"Yes, but you said nothing about a constantly crying infant in my home." He answered sharply.

"Sorry, Frosty." Jamie said as she rubbed her eyes. Mycroft was caught off guard by the apology. His eyebrows rose and he looked at Jamie like she was a stranger to him. "Hope's been like this for days now. Mycroft clicked his tongue and nodded. It seemed like all sorts of invisible pieces had just clicked into place for him.

He walked over to Hope and Anthea and Jamie watched in surprise as Mycroft, with the practiced skill of a veteran, scooped Hope up – supporting her head. He hushed her like both Anthea and Jamie had been trying to do while holding her close to his chest. Unlike Anthea and Jamie's attempts the baby began to whimper instead of crying.

"Come now, Miss." Mycroft muttered. "You'll never make it in the agency if you can't handle a little separation." The whimpering became softer until it disappeared and the baby settled into Mycroft's chest. The man's upper lip pulled into a scowl. "This was a one-time offer of assistance, understand?" He said to baby Hope as she shut her eyes. The genius pulled another face before putting Hope back down as easily as he had picked her up. When Mycroft turned back to his girlfriend and her best friend they stared at him aghast and amazed.

"Mycroft…" Anthea spat out, blinking her eyes like she couldn't believe them. He cocked his head to the side, questioning her. "You really were a good big brother, weren't you?" She said. Mycroft chuckled lightly as he looked down at his shoes.

"Not out of choice, my love." He raised his eyebrows playfully. "Much like now, it was out of familial obligation. Another reason why caring is not an advantage." He teased. Anthea crinkled her nose at him.

"What did you do?" Jamie hissed quietly as opposed to yelling, which is what she would normally do when so surprised. No way did she want to risk waking up her daughter.

"Simple." Mycroft pulled on his tie. "Since Hope's behaviour coincides with James' mission I easily deduced that the young lady was missing the presence of her father. While it is not a permanent solution a little bit of masculine energy around the heartbeat of someone who isn't her mother will help settle the baby's nerves for at least some time." There it was, like it was easy and simple. Anthea looked up at Mycroft and wanted nothing more than to kiss him and take that suit off right now. He had no idea how attractive all this was. His gentler side and his beautiful mind all in one. She loved this man. Jamie snorted.

"Masculine?" She repeated. Mycroft scowled again.

"It was either that or paternal, Miss Thompson, and I think we can both agree I'm more masculine than I am paternal." He said. Anthea and Jamie shared a look again – this time in disagreement with Mycroft's statement. He was loyal and dedicated to family like crazy. Could he not see that or did he not want to see that.

"Whatever." Jamie shrugged largely, her shoulders reaching her ears. "You stopped her crying and that makes you my hero until you do something stupid again. Thank you." Mycroft hummed in response.

"I wish I could say it was my pleasure but it really wasn't." Mycroft sneered. Jamie laughed and Anthea just smiled.

"Are you going to go wash off the baby germs now?" Anthea asked. She was teasing but she was still looking up at Mycroft with loving eyes. He caught this and looked at her with blue eyes just as warm as hers.

"No." He hummed. "Wash my hands? Most definitely." Anthea bit her lip to stop from smiling as Mycroft walked off back to his office. Or rather to the bathroom first, then to his office.

"Ugh." Jamie hit Anthea's arm. "Stop undressing him with your eyes. It's gross."

"Shouldn't you try to get some sleep while she's asleep?" Anthea said to Jamie. "Leave me to start dinner and fantasize about ripping that tie off." Jamie scowled and stuck her tongue out. Anthea just smiled coyly. Jamie had no idea how hot that all just was to her.

"Hello?" Anthea answered the number she didn't know on her phone as coolly as she always did with unknown numbers. If it were the office phone she had a practiced professional line but for her mobile, even in office hours like this, she always played it cool.

"Yeah, hello." The female's voice rang through the phone. On that end Anthea could hear phones ringing and a lot of talking. It was an office, or somewhere that got a lot of traffic. "Is this Anthea? Or Amy, or…" The woman's breath hitched in something of a scoff. "Or whatever other name you go by?" Anthea smirked to herself.

"It all depends on whose asking." Anthea hummed coyly into the phone. She heard that almost scoff again.

"Yeah, I forgot who I was talking to. This is Sergeant Donovan from Scotland Yard." Anthea leaned forward onto her desk, now actually interested in the conversation.

"Oh." Anthea peeped. "Then yes. I'm A."

"A?" The woman sounded vaguely amused. "So I'm calling about the clearance you wanted on your 'friend'." The sarcasm on the word was heard heavily. "It's not our division but Greg told us to do it as a favour to you and your boss. You guys are the ones with all the secrets."

"Yes. Thanks for that. Anything?" She asked. Donovan inhaled sharply.

"That's the thing. The name you gave us, it doesn't exist."

Silence.

"I'm guessing you're not surprised?" At that question Anthea tucked a curl behind her ear and shook her head.

"I wasn't expecting it to be completely fake since she's employed. I did expect it to be a name change or something." Anthea answered honestly.

"Well she can't be employed under a name that doesn't exist. It doesn't work that way." The policewoman said as if Anthea didn't already know that. "Maybe she gave her employer a real name. Same first name, different last name." Anthea leaned back in her chair and bit her bottom lip.

"Maybe…" She chewed on the thought. "If I can find out from her boss would you run another check?" Anthea asked. She heard Donovan exhale.

"Look, we deal in murders usually. I was past this desk stuff years ago."

"You'll have a favour saved up from Mycroft Holmes' assistant." Anthea dangled the best fruit she had. "I can get Sherlock taken off a case if he's ever too manic for you. Only once, but I can do it." There was no reply for ten seconds. Then Anthea heard that hitched breath on the other end.

"Alright. If you can legally get that information I'll run it for you." She sounded unsure and like she instantly regretted it.

"Thanks."

Now the issue was how was she going to get Jamie's boss to give up that information? Maybe it was time to throw around a little bit of that British Government power.

Author's Note: So? How was it? I hope it was okay and not… dramatic or out of character or something. Let me know your thoughts, your reviews make me so happy. Thanks to our guest reviewers; Guest, B, and shortblondeone. Thanks to all of you! Next chapter will indeed take 6 days as not only do I have the wrist and the family stuff, I also have an assignment to work on and I don't have work on Tuesday so I'll have time for final touches. I hope you understand. The doctor told me to rest but this is my dominant hand and the other arm is the nerve op one so that's not going to happen completely :P. See you in six days!