Author's Note: Hello! Thank you for the fantastic reviews, guys! It means the world to me, and I'm so glad you like the names. I thought this chapter might be a day late as I had some 'in real life' drama happen. Nothing huge, just enough to leave me feeling bland and upset for a few days but I've gotten over it today and I managed to write this all in one day. So its reasonably short and might not be my best work but I'm really proud of myself for a lot of reasons today and one of them is managing to get past bad feelings and getting on with something I like to do – writing. 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 Asked Jamie to be Godmother

"Godparents." Anthea said.

"Hmmm?" Mycroft hummed in reply. He quirked his eyebrow but didn't even attempt to look up from his phone. His chin was almost touching his chest and he was holding the phone far away from his face to see the screen without his glasses or contacts. The free hand was on his umbrella. The look was quintessentially Mycroft. Add in the fact that they were currently in the town car and Anthea, all dressed in black, was organising dates on her phone and smirking at little messages she was getting from James, and this would be the perfect image to sum up Mycroft Holmes at work. Well, if Anthea wasn't pregnant that was.

"Godparents." Anthea repeated with more volume. "We need to discuss godparents for the baby." Now this conversation was not quintessential Mycroft but like so many other things it needed to be done. The back of the town car with only Walter's ears to hear was a safe place as any to discuss this. This place didn't really exist in reality, it was a hidden world for hidden conversations… and giving people lifts to places they didn't ask to be taken to. Mycroft's eyebrow fell and he scoffed.

"Do we really need to have a conversation?" He asked sounding exacerbated as if they'd had this conversation a million times before and this wasn't the first time Anthea had ever brought it up. He began responding to someone's email so the phone was allowed to be brought closer, his fingers knowing where all the letters sit on a keyboard. "I thought it was quite obvious that you'd pick Mrs Baker for the godmother of any child you might have." Anthea smirked. She breathed air out her nose quickly in lieu of a laugh. Okay, sure, that might be obvious but it still needed to be said out loud and it needed to be agreed upon by both parties.

"You okay with that choice?" Anthea asked.

"If I weren't then I'd agree we needed to have a conversation. Since I do not you should be able to answer that question on your own." The sass was all there but there was nothing cold or harsh about his tone. It was actually quite warm for the Ice Man. But that wasn't everything.

"Good." Anthea nodded. She locked her phone and put it down on her lap. "But as part of our new agreement I want you to pick the other godparent." Anthea looked at Mycroft's side profile. He hummed again and kept typing. Anthea waited a few more moments. "Well?" She asked upon getting impatient.

"Oh, we're still talking?" He asked, looking over at her with both eyebrows raised in surprise. "I should think the answer to that is obvious too."

Answer to what exactly? Anthea blinked.

Answer to if he'd choose one or answer to if he had one as a choice?

Now knowing her Mycroftian language as well as she did Anthea could answer this for herself. If he didn't want to pick one he'd be arguing for all the reasons he shouldn't. He'd go on about the month deal and how he might not be around so why should he choose one. Anthea would remind him about their deal but apparently that wasn't a problem here. So to her that meant he agreed. Mycroft could see why Anthea would like him to pick the other godparent. After all, she knew all the possible choices. So that meant he thought it was obvious who the person was.

"Elaborate for me." Anthea fluttered her eyebrows and gave a sweet smile. Mycroft rolled his eyes.

"I don't do friends, dear, so that leaves us with only one very obvious option." He said.

Obviously.

Anthea nodded her head slowly once as the answer settled on her.

Of course Mycroft would pick Sherlock and not because he was the only choice. He was the obvious choice because of so many different little reasons. Anthea approved.

"He's great with Rosie." Anthea agreed. Mycroft didn't appear to be listening, he had already turned back to his phone. "And John has Jamie and Sherlock's numbers so they can always get in contact with each other if something happened to us." Mycroft still wasn't listening but Anthea chose to continue on with her musing. "And two completely opposite people to instil the best values from both of them seems like a good idea." Anthea gave a short sharp nod. "I like it." She said.

"Good." Mycroft spoke although his attention was mostly on his phone. He took his time to lock it and put it away in his breast pocket. "I told you this conversation was unnecessary." He gave Anthea a fake smile.

"Did you want me to make assumptions?" Anthea teased, talking in a whisper and scrunching up her nose.

"It's not a wild assumption if you have reasoning and proof, my love." He copied her tone, mocking her. Anthea lightly hit his arm. She thought she heard Walter chuckle.

Anthea took Jamie out for lunch to a restaurant. It was a nice place, nicer than what Jamie and Anthea would usually go to together, but not as nice as say some of the places Mycroft insisted on going to. Anthea wanted to treat Jamie but this was not a proposal of marriage and Anthea wasn't made of money. She'd feel bad using Mycroft's card for food for her and her friend.

"Are you dying?" Jamie asked. "Did you bring me here to tell me you're dying?" She continued. Anthea laughed. "Because this is the kind of place I'd take you to tell you I was dying."

"No!" Anthea waved her hand in a ceasing motion as she laughed to get Jamie of her one train of thought. "I'm not dying. If I was I'd take you to that diner near my old flat for memories." Jamie still looked suspicious, like she didn't quite believe her brunette best friend.

"Then what's all this about?" She asked, leaning back in her seat. One leg was crossed over the other and her foot was shaking in a tapping motion under the table, rocking it slightly. Hope wasn't here. She was being looked after by Carol's daughter. This was just for the two of them. "What are you trying to tell me?" Anthea, smirking, rolled her eyes.

"Can't we eat our lunch first?" Anthea asked. They'd barely looked at the menus. A member of the weight staff would be over to bother them soon.

"No." Jamie answered acutely. "You're not lulling me into a false sense of security. You're not making me full and happy and sleep before you can stab me somehow."

"Jamie." Anthea chided her gently.

"Nope." The blonde shook her head. "Just tell me. Are you moving away? What's going on? Is there something wrong with the baby?" Reflexively Anthea put a hand protectively over her bump.

"No!" She whispered sharply. There was no having a nice lunch before telling the suspicious makeup artist at this point. The question would have to come first or this would go on forever. "I wanted to ask you to be my baby's godmother, you maniac." Anthea smiled warmly. All suspicion dropped from Jamie's face. It turned to surprise, then awe, then again.

"What is wrong with you?" She kicked Anthea's leg under the table as she whispered fiercely. "You take me to a break up restaurant to ask me that? Are you trying to kill me?"

"I was trying to do something nice for you." Anthea laughed. "You cooked me dinner, remember?"

"Yeah, at my house." Jamie leaned forward, glaring. "You don't tell someone that you met someone else at your own home. Only good news happens there." Anthea continued to laugh at Jamie's relief and frustration. It was moments like this that made Anthea realise that her world, all shadows and darkness and high stakes, could be a lot different than Jamie's. If James was here he probably could have talked the blonde down a little bit.

"I could argue some more, but I just want an answer, Jay." Anthea sighed.

"To what?" Jamie sat down properly in her chair again. She fixed her hair while she pouted.

"Will you be my kid's godmother, stupid?" Anthea crinkled up her nose, pulling a face at her friend. The anger faded and the remnants intermingled with joy.

"Well duh, I will!" She smiled widely at Anthea. "Just try to get rid of me." Anthea felt herself slowly grinning from ear to ear. Her heart felt light and happy.

"This is just great." She said. "Our kids are going to be cousins." She tried to bite her lip to stop from smiling so much but it didn't work. "They're going to be closer than we are."

"I'm so buying them matching outfits." Jamie bounced a little in her seat. "I don't care if you have a boy or a girl, they're wearing tutus if I think it looks adorable on Hope." Anthea had to stop from laughing too loud.

"Well, you know Mycroft views gender as this complex thing, and his family does have a history of crossdressing so I don't think you'd get too many arguments from him." She joked.

"Man, he really doesn't judge people, does he?" Jamie asked, shaking her head. Anthea pursed her lips and shrugged her shoulders.

"He does, and a lot, but on behaviour and personality, not on other stuff."

"Sometimes I can see why you and James like him so much." The blonde said. Anthea's heart got that warm fluttery feeling again. Her Mycroft was pretty special. The Holmes family in general were pretty special. "I hope my godchild is like that too. But fun, like you too. Then Hope gets the best of both of you as a cousin."

"My godchild turned out perfect, maybe yours will too." Anthea answered her best friend.

"That's because Hope is perfect, thank you!"

Anthea walked into the house and straight into the kitchen to put down her bag and keys. To no surprise Mycroft was in the familiar place on the couch in the living room with a book on his lap. He had his glasses on which to Anthea meant he didn't bother putting his contacts on again today. He still wore his shoes but his jacket had been discarded and his tie was loose. Anthea didn't say anything. She stood in the kitchen taking in the sight. He looked beautiful and so peaceful like that. A peaceful Mycroft was always a stunning sight to behold.

"Was she ecstatic?" Mycroft asked seemingly out of nowhere after a few minutes of Anthea watching him. Anthea knew he knew she was there so it was no surprise. She looked down to her hands on the counter.

"That's one word for it." She laughed softly to herself. "She's got plans for the baby already."

"She's most likely had those plans since you were both adolescents." Mycroft replied as he turned a page of his book. Anthea walked around through the kitchen, into the family room, and came to sit next to Mycroft on the couch. She left a gap between them. She hadn't been around him enough today to know how his personal space was.

"It's nice." Anthea said. Mycroft turned to look at her from just above the frames of his glasses. "Knowing Jamie would do as much for my kid as I would for Hope. It's security." Mycroft hummed. He closed his book.

"That's why they were the obvious choice, wasn't it?" He asked. "Because both Jamie and Sherlock have a deep sense of loyalty towards loved ones? People who would rather die than see harm happen to those closest to them." Anthea couldn't tell if Mycroft thought this was a good thing or a bad thing. His tone was reflective not happy or distressed, and his face was passive. His eyes even harder to read behind his glasses, and he kept trying to look at Anthea over then. Anthea took the bridge of the glasses between her thumb and index finger and plucked them from Mycroft's face causing him to initially flinch and then the largest crease in his brow to form. She placed them on top of her forehead, pushing her hair back like a headband.

"Yeah, that's why." She said, ignoring any tones. "That's how I feel about Hope." She said. Mycroft hummed. His fingers drummed on the top of his hardcover book. "So when are you going to ask Sherlock?" Anthea asked. Mycroft pouted his lips and shrugged the question off.

"I'll have my assistant do it." He said.

"No." Anthea answered, laughing in shock and amusement. "When are you going to ask him?" She repeated.

"Oh, I don't know." Mycroft replied more seriously this time. "There's no rush." He said. Anthea rolled her eyes.

"Before the baby is born, please Mycroft." She sighed.

"Why?" He asked seriously. "As long as the question is asked before the day of the Christening there is no issue. And as family Sherlock is obliged to attend the Christening anyway so theoretically I could simply tell him on the day if I'm there."

"Mycroft!" Anthea reprimanded him although she thought it was hilariously him to think that way.

"There is no fault in my logic, my love." He spoke in his lithe sing song like voice.

"Except that I don't like it and you're just avoiding feelings like usual." Anthea pointed out.

"I'm avoiding feelings related to my brother, not to you or the child. There was nothing about Sherlock or my parents in our deal." He argued.

"I really hate you sometimes." Anthea sighed, crossing her arms against her chest. Suddenly Mycroft plucked back his glasses from Anthea's head. He placed them back on his face with a wry smile on his lips.

"And that fury, my love," He said as he opened his book, "Is the energy I live off."

"You're stupid." She whispered. Mycroft turned a page of his book.

"I love you, too." He said.

"You're going to have to ask Sherlock eventually." She tried one last time.

"I'll try to remember to ask my assistant to put it in my calendar." Mycroft answered. Anthea scoffed. She went to take the book out of Mycroft's hands. He stopped her by grabbing her by the wrist. He brought her hand up to his lips and placed a kiss on her fingers bellow her knuckles. Anthea's heart fluttered.

"That's emotional warfare." Anthea told him.

"I know." He grinned into his book.

Author's Note: Let me know what you think! And if Anthea should be around for the eventual asking of Sherlock so you guys can read it? Thank you to last chapter's guest reviewers; Guest, and Christie. Thanks to all my readers and reviewers. You are all so cool! See you in five days!