Author's Note: Hey guys! Thanks for the reviews last chapter. Thanks for being understanding about how weird my schedule was last week. And look! I managed to update on time for the first time in a little while! Now this chapter isn't the longest but it's decent and I do like it. I hope you guys 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 They Bought Baby Furniture

Anthea expected Mycroft to be at the Diogenes Club when she got home from the movies with James and Jamie. Instead she found him sitting on the couch busying himself with some manuscript his dad had sent him to read. He looked up from the bound bunch of paper and watched her with suspicion in his deep blue eyes. Anthea smiled warmly.

"Hello?" Mycroft asked, his inflection turning his greeting into a question. Anthea frowned and laughed quietly.

"Hello." She chirped in reply. He watched her, curiosity and suspicion still on his brow as she walked into the kitchen. She opened the fridge and some small part of her had hoped that somehow it had filled itself up. Empty of course, not even a nice juice left to drink. Anthea settled on the bottle of water that was probably the best thing for her to drink anyway. She took a sip and a moment to enjoy the cold water.

Anthea walked back into the living room. Mycroft was still watching her with those steely eyes. Anthea crinkled her nose at him as she came to stand before him just passed the coffee table.

"What?" She asked, eyes widening for a split second.

"What are you doing here?" Mycroft asked in a low tone. "I thought your little friend was supposed to take you crib shopping after the film." That's right, she had told Mycroft that and even when he didn't care he remembered. Anthea bit her bottom lip, looking up to the roof.

"Yeah." She sung.

"What happened?" Mycroft asked. Anthea looked back at him in time to see the end of a quick full-body scan. "There was nothing wrong with Hope otherwise you'd either not be here or you'd be tense. Judging by your body language I'd say it was your decision." At his words Anthea squared off her shoulders and stood straighter.

"I told them I didn't want to go shopping today." Anthea shrugged. Mycroft stared at her blankly.

"You didn't want to?" He repeated, mouth almost scowling.

"That's what I said. Don't make me repeat myself, dear." She sighed dramatically to sound like Mycroft whenever she said something like that. He rolled his eyes.

"Why didn't you want to?" He continued on. Anthea looked at the bottle of water in her hands.

"I don't know." She said. "Hormones." She gave3 the genius a lopsided smile. "I'm tired."

"No you're not." Mycroft replied flatly. "You jumped too quickly at the opportunity to mock me to be tired." Anthea pulled a face. Truth was she was feeling a little overwhelmed since Jamie gave her those clothes. There was so much to do but Anthea felt like she knew how to do none of it. That was why she initially went to Jamie to help pick out some furniture. James and Jamie were new parents and they had worked it out. They could be Anthea's help and tell her what worked and what didn't. But then Anthea was very aware of her lack of maternal instinct. A little voice that had never sounded in her brain before was warning her of making the wrong choices. She just wanted more time to read up on information but you could only read the same information written in different styles so many times.

"I didn't want to go with them today." Anthea offered instead of the complete truth. "And I have time." Mycroft was staring at her like she was talking nonsense again. Was that just the look for today?

"Alice, I'm not even entirely invested in this process and I'm beginning to worry about time." He said it seriously. There was no sarcasm or sass of any kind recognisable in his tone. The man who was taking all the time available to him to decide what he was doing was beginning to worry if the baby had a home. Anthea was just worried about picking the wrong thing – about knowing nothing.

"Well if you're so worried why don't you come and help me?" She asked, expecting it to end the conversation. She expected a scowl or some muttering comment that shut down any further discussion.

"I will." The genius replied promptly and firmly. "Tomorrow we have nothing imperative at work. We'll take the day off and go together."

"You will?" Anthea asked incredulously. That was the last response she expected.

"No, I thought it was the perfect opportunity for an unfunny joke." Mycroft's sarcasm as dry as usual. "Of course I will." He sniffed, perhaps feeling a little dejected. She hadn't meant to do that but she hadn't expected such a genuine interest. She also didn't want to see him mope and moan all day around shops.

"So we can stand around awkwardly not wanting to be there and not knowing what to do together?" Anthea teased. It was a way to lighten the mood but also express her feelings.

"Precisely." Mycroft answered with a curt nod. He smiled at Anthea carefully but it was a real smile. The real smiles were important, it meant that he meant his word. Anthea let out a breath that bordered on being a single laugh. She pouted her lips, thought about it, and nodded.

"Okay." She said. Let them look out of place together.

Of course it wasn't going to be easy. This was Anthea and Mycroft. Two strong, opinionated people who had no practice being around babies. Why would it be easy? Buying anything for Mycroft's precious house felt like pulling teeth unless Anthea knew what she wanted and today she had absolutely no clue. The genius had to upper hand.

Anthea spotted a crib that looked alright. She walked up to look at it. White and pretty pleasing on the eye. According to the price tag it was also convertible into a toddler bed. The price itself wasn't bad considering it was two in one.

"What about this one?" Anthea asked. She looked over her shoulder to where Mycroft still stood awkwardly in the middle of the store, both hands on the handle of his umbrella. The genius didn't move. He only glanced over and jeered.

"I thought your theme was cream and brown." He griped.

"It is." Anthea replied. The price tag was still in her hand. She looked at the crib. Yeah, white might stand out in a bad way in a cream room. "But I could get Carol's husband to paint it." As soon as she finished she heard Mycroft laugh in derision.

"Don't waste his time making a piece of furniture tacky when you could save us all the bother and buy a nice one to begin with." Mycroft tapped the umbrella onto the ground. Anthea dropped the price tag and continued wandering around the baby furniture section. She came across a wooden crib. It was cheaper and maybe a little plain but it was much better suited to the room. She caught Mycroft's eye across the room where he was looking at a dining table and gestured him over.

"This one?" She asked. At least this time he didn't pull a face. Mycroft took a deep breath.

"No."

"What?" Anthea huffed.

"The bars are too far apart." Mycroft answered in his cool tone. "Sure it's not enough to be noticeable but young children are surprising in the troublesome situations they can get into and that small different may prove to be important. Not to mention the mattress is ever so looser than one might like it to be."

"Couldn't we get a different mattress?" Anthea asked.

"And ignore the obvious danger?" He talked down to her. The hairs on the back of Anthea's neck stood up.

"I don't know!" She hissed quietly not to get attention. "Neither of us have any clue what we're doing. You could stop being such a Holmes jerk and actually help me." She glared at the taller man. Mycroft looked surprised by her words. He was trying not to pout.

"I am helping you." Mycroft said. "Need I remind you that I have two younger siblings?" He looked at her carefully in her eyes. "And not only that, but I was seven and eight years old when they were born, not a toddler or a baby. I was also me so not an idiot child fascinated by all the pretty surroundings. I asked questions while my parents picked Sherlock's crib. I entertained Sherlock and made sure he didn't cry or cause a fuss while they argued over which of two potential options to pick for Eurus. Even though I had no interest in children myself I am no stranger to babies. Perhaps you need to stop being so stubborn and stop taking everything I say as a personal attack on your parenting abilities."

A pause.

Anthea scratched at her nose and looked down to the ground.

Mycroft cocked his head to the side.

"Too far?" He asked, questioning his last statement.

"No." Anthea looked back up, putting a smile on her painted lips. He watched her carefully so she stroked his arm. "Really, not too far." She assured him. Her gaze wandered around the store. "So what do you think, then?" She asked. Mycroft followed suit and looked around swiftly.

"Nothing here." He replied.

So they moved on to the third store.

This store seemed much more to Mycroft's liking. The choice of all sorts of furniture had a more old-world feel to it than the others. It spoke more of Mycroft's home and interests. Some of tables and night stands for sale were elegant enough to belong in a palace. Some of them were trying too hard also, but no one can have a one hundred percent win rate.

The pair strolled around the baby section together. Mycroft had no outright complaints so far and neither did Anthea but none of them were particularly right for the room. If nothing came up then they'd just buy one though. That was the goal for today.

And then Anthea found it. It was made out of dark wood like so many other pieces in this store except this one had padded upholstery going up three of the four walls of the crib. It looked soft, and safe, and warm, and also beautiful to look at. It was what her child deserved for its place to sleep. A special crib for a special little thing.

"Oh, I like this one." Anthea cooed as she approached it. She placed her hands on the top of it as she looked in. "Please tell me there's nothing wrong with it." Mycroft came to stand next to her. His steel eyes took in every detail.

"There is nothing wrong with it." Mycroft smirked at Anthea. She sighed with relief. She looked at it again.

"Except it's in yellow and not in cream." She noted. She wasn't disappointed, it was expected, and that was the how the whole day was going.

"They may have it in other fabrics." Mycroft hummed. "And if we have to reupholster then you'll have entire control over the fabric." The sudden change of attitude caused Anthea to quirk an eyebrow at her genius.

"So now you're will to spend extra money on a crib?" She asked teasingly. He rolled his eyes at her.

"Money is no option when something is actually good, my dear." He huffed. "I'm not throwing money down the drain when it's not worth it." Like that time he 'lost' the silent auction to buy Charlotte jewellery but managed to win Anthea her necklace. Anthea felt a bubble of happiness swell inside her.

"This is it, then!" She pronounced. Mycroft's face twitched. His eyes were ticking away in his brain as he looked behind Anthea. She got the sinking feeling something was wrong.

"What now?" She asked.

"Well," Mycroft uttered. "If we're buying the crib I'm going to have to get this matching dressing table." Anthea didn't know whether to be relieved, annoyed, or amused. She hit the government worker lightly on his arm. Mycroft rubbed his arm and glared at her.

Sometimes it felt like there was no growth in this relationship. Sometimes it felt like it couldn't survive a change like a baby because Mycroft hated change and Anthea didn't do well with developments in relationships. Once in a while, when Anthea thought of her baby, she thought that this should have changed her relationship with Mycroft. Maybe they should have grown up some more.

"Oh!" Anthea stopped as they walked out of the furniture store. "You know what?" She tapped him on the arm, lightly this time. He wanted to go home, Anthea knew that. He hated being around 'goldfish' for too long but while they were out there were a few things Anthea would like to do. "While we're out I really want to get one of those big pillows. Carol says I might sleep better." Mycroft was watching her with the stillness of a prey preparing to flee from its predator at any given moment. "And I would really like to get some lighter sheets for our bed."

"Lighter?" He asked.

"More breathable. Less heavily." She tried to explain. "I just really want to be able to sleep at night." Anthea was prepared for an argument again. She was ready for the snappy comments or something about how it was his bedroom long before she came along.

"Alright." He said. Anthea was not expecting that. "Although I don't really know where one would find one of these 'big pillows' but I'll accompany you if you have an idea."

"You're the best." Anthea sighed.

"Oh, I know." Mycroft hummed.

And then there were times like this where Anthea realised just how far they'd come together. Not only as a couple, but as people. They still teased each other and they still acted childish and dramatic but they were also very responsible people. Mycroft had learnt not only to let someone close to him but how to accommodate for them. Anthea had learnt how to rely on another person. Together they were always capable of great things. Sometimes it just took a very long time…

Author's Note: Here's why I like this chapter; go back and look at Chapter 101. That's the first time they went shopping. Compare and contrast these two chapters (using teacher words when I'm not at work -_-). Lauren, my best friend, suggested the first for this chapter about a week ago and then I came up with the concept for it only days ago and got quite excited. Because I'm a nerd. So? What did you guys think of it in general? Thanks to our guest reviewers last chapter; Guest and B. Thank you to you all because you're all so kind. See you in five days!