Author's Note: Hi everyone. Thanks for the lovely reviews last chapter! You already know how much it means to me. I've been spending a lot of time at the hospital with my mum to visit my Nana. Let me tell you, this was a weird chapter to write while spending time at a palliative care ward. It's like my mind has been split in two and one was focused on happy things and the other on sombre things. I hope the writing is still good, I really do. 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 Baby Shower

Who needs a mother or a sister to throw you a baby shower when you have a best friend who knows you better than anyone? Jamie had outdone herself, and by that Anthea means she had held herself back magnificently. Instead of clichéd blue and pink baby decorations everywhere that made you feel like you were in a baby store, it was perfect for Anthea. The cake was designed to look like a pile of books, the top one being Alice in Wonderland of course. Most of the guests would understand why, only a few wouldn't and they might think it was a theme choice. After all Jamie had baked cookies and cupcakes and written "Eat me" on them, all the cups were different kind of tea cups with the punch having a "Drink me" label on it in beautiful writing. She had made her own banners so they looked like open books. The balloons were cream and brown to match the nursery and didn't fill the room, instead a few strung together flew elegantly in the corners of Jamie's living room and some on her kitchen table.

The guest list was very small. Anthea didn't have many friends and some of the ones she had were guys. After Jamie initially complaining that these things should be an all-girls event she saw why inviting John in lieu of Mary was a good idea, and then Rosie would be there to play with Hope. Then Anthea could argue why Sherlock was an important invite. Not to mention Jamie's husband was one of Anthea's best friends and having him there would make Carol comfortable… And Robbie! He might not be able to come to London for it but Anthea wanted him invited. So Jamie relented.

"I was already having to make it boring for you and Carol and stuff anyway, I guess the boys won't ruin it." Jamie had answered, rolling her eyes. Well obviously they hadn't ruined it because the place was beautiful.

The final list was;

Jamie (and Hope.)
James
Carol (and Katie.)
Molly
John (and Rosie.)
Sherlock
Robbie
Cate
Violet

Siger was invited of course but he chose to spend the day talking to his oldest son. Mycroft didn't want to be there but said he'd stop by towards the end. Then people would remember him being there but he didn't have to do any of the ridiculous games or activities that would make him roll his eyes and feel uncomfortable. Anthea would never force him to come to something like this so she wasn't going to make him. She was surprised John got Sherlock to come. Anthea also told Mycroft to tell his cousin about it but she travelled constantly so it was more of a 'we thought of you' sort of thing. She was busy in Berlin but she appreciated the thought wonderfully. Anthea could tell by the noise on the phone and the way Mycroft scowled.

As Anthea looked around the space she took a look into the bags of favours Jamie had thrown together for the guests to take home. Now this could easily fall into the cheesy category. It was maybe a little bit cheesy, but it was also so personal and so thoughtful. There was a handmade bookmark to commemorate the baby shower, clearly being the main take away from the shower, which was also brown and cream with that beautiful careful script writing. Also filling up the bag was a small jar full of pink and blue candies (couldn't entirely escape typical baby stuff) with a brown ribbon tied around it, and as a sort of insider joke that was perfectly Jamie but perfect for everyone here was a little cocktail umbrella. Seeing that alone made Anthea laugh out loud quietly. Jamie was amazing. She was obviously going to be that mum that threw the best birthday parties.

"Don't look at those!" Jamie yelled from across the room. She walked over quickly and slapped Anthea's hand. "Those aren't until people leave!" Anthea smirked at her best friend's behaviour and put the gift bag done. "Ever since you started working for Mycroft you just have to know everything ahead of time, don't you?" Jamie pulled a face at Anthea. She was pretty sure it was a trait she always had but yeah, working for Mycroft and having plans for all scenarios probably did make it worse.

"I was admiring your hard work." Anthea explained, trying to soothe Jamie by rightly stroking her ego. The blonde fell from fierce to bashful. "This is amazing, Jay." Anthea exhaled, shaking her head. "It's perfect."

"I just wanted to make a day really special for you." The blonde shrugged a shoulder. "Obviously you miss you mum and there's a lot up in the air but I wanted to make sure this was a good day." And Jamie earnt herself a hug. Who needs a huge list of friends when the ones you do have say and do things like that.

"What would I have done if you never moved to London?" Anthea said as she squeezed Jamie. They let go of each other and Jamie smiled.

"Not had a baby shower for once, and probably not have an awesome niece either." Ah yeah, it was easy to forget these days how lucky it was that Jamie and James had hit it off to the point where a long distance relationship just couldn't be anymore. Maybe that's where some of Jamie's wishes to give Anthea a nice party came from. Or probably not, she'd have done it like this long before then.

Anthea didn't need to gush over Jamie's efforts anymore. Violet came up with all her exuberance and did a better job at it than Anthea ever could. Violet had come with Anthea since she and Siger were staying at her and Mycroft's place. They added a few extra days to the trip to make it worthwhile. It was nice getting their approval on the baby's room and Violet was doting all over Anthea in a way Anthea had never experienced.

When Cate and Robbie walked in Anthea was so excited. It's her so the only outwards sign of this excitement was a big smile. She walked over to give Robbie a big hug only to be lifted off the ground by him as per usual. He grunted a little this time, Anthea carrying extra weight.

"I didn't think you guys would make it!" She said as Robbie placed her on the ground. Even to a baby shower Robbie was wearing all black. To be fair, and much to Jamie's chagrin, Anthea was wearing a black dress too. Cate was in red and it went surprisingly well with her hair.

"Ali-bear, mate," Robbie patted her on the back. "We'll take any excuse to spend some time in London. You're just giving an excuse to take time off work."

"No." Cate chimed it. "This bugger's just playing down how much he cares about you." Robbie elbowed her.

"Oi, she's already got an ego, Cate. Don't make it worse." He cheekily said to his partner. They looked at each other in that loving way the best couples do.

"Whatever the reason, I'm so happy you're here." She got herself another heavy pat on the shoulder and then a nice hug from Cate. She watched at the couple walked over to Jamie and were directed where to put their gift.

Just like Jamie's gift it was flat and appeared to be a book. So the theme continued to the gifts, did it? That was perfect actually. All Jamie's complaints about what to get the woman who could get anything she wanted by talking to her boyfriend and she'd found the perfect gift idea. For an avid reader and an absorber of knowledge, buying their baby books upon books was just the most perfect thing you could do. After all they already had a bookshelf in the baby's room. Jamie continued to outdo herself.

Molly came only moments before John, Rosie, and Sherlock which was good because it gave Sherlock someone awkwardly to talk to and bug other than John.

"I don't know why I had to come to this." Sherlock muttered. "We could have mailed the gifts, or I could have given them to Mycroft next time he stopped by."

"It's your niece or nephew." Molly whispered at him.

"And your godchild, so shut up, put a smile on your face, and play with the girls on something." John added. He and Molly perfectly tag teaming Sherlock. It was lovely to see that some things never changed.

Carol and her daughter Katie were immediately drawn to James. Katie was a beautiful young lady now. As tall as her mother but without any of the fierceness about her. It was nice to see again that some things don't change when James winked at her and she blushed. Carol's daughter never got over her crush of James and it was amazing. Jamie and Anthea both caught the blush from the other side of the room from each other. They looked at each other and smiled. They'd known Katie for such a long time that it was so cute.

Unfortunately there was no escaping organised activities forever. Jamie had gathered everyone to sit around the living room. She'd brought chairs in from the kitchen to make sure there was enough places to sit, and was gathering what she needed for theses annoying games. It was a baby shower after all. Jamie had proven herself so far, there was all hope that her activities wouldn't be stupid.

"Game time!" Jamie announced from the front of the room. She was giggly and smiley but some of that was nerves which was unique to see. Jamie was rarely nervous. The blonde wiped her hands on the front of her trousers. "So obvious because it's Thea and because Mycroft might show his face at some point I can't do those usual baby shower games that Thea would call lame and Myc would call degrading." She laughed and pushed her hair out of her face. "Also this is a weird bunch of people." Everyone laughed. "Like we have Sherlock, the queen of the Holmes family, we have agents, and there's Robbie who's always been a bit of a slacker." Robbie rolled his eyes. "Molly and I are probably the only ones who'd enjoy the normal games. Oh, and James."

"James would have with a piece of string." Carol sighed. There was a story there, you could tell by the look in her eyes.

"Of course he would." Sherlock replied.

"Sherlock." Violet, who was sitting next to Anthea, chided.

"Hey, those string-hand games my sisters taught me are cool." The head agent smiled like to goof he was. Jamie stroked James' back lovingly.

"So um, I've had Mr. Fun-lover here go around taking Polaroids of people and stick the best ones in this scrapbook I made." Jamie used her thumb to point towards the kitchen. "When you get a chance just go, like, decorate your page however you like, oh I have markers and stuff there, and write something for the baby. Like advice or something, it doesn't have to be serious. Most of you have serious jobs so you can joke if you want." Anthea took a breath and rolled her eyes. Jamie pouted. "What?" She asked, sounding a little hurt. Anthea blinked, she hadn't intended for that to be noticed.

"Oh, it's just a little cheesy." She admitted. Jamie's brows furrowed faintly.

"Anthea, dear, it's lovely." Violet chided her this time, patting her on the knee. Did that make her officially one of the children under Violet's guidance?

"You've got to have some cheesiness at a baby shower." Molly defending Jamie, looking at Anthea with an apologetic smile.

"Thank you!" Jamie sighed. Anthea threw Jamie a lopsided smile as an apology, Jamie waved it off. "We also have blocks to design for everyone. Obviously there's like an appropriateness thing that goes into these because the baby will actually use these."

"Sherlock, that warnings for you." John said poignantly.

"No body parts." Molly added. Sherlock didn't say anything, just sniffed in derision.

"Actually that warnings for pretty much everyone but Robbie and Cate. You're all um…. Unique?" Jamie cocked her head to the side. "Yeah, that'll do, unique." Everyone had an individual reaction to this. Anthea caught Violet's the best, the matriarch chuckling softly. "But that's for whenever. That's not what we're doing now." Jamie looked at James. He nodded at her. She took a breath and continued. "So now onto the games. And you shouldn't roll your eyes at me, slacker, I've accounted for the fact that you love music so ha." She pulled a face at Robbie and he gave her a big, slightly sarcastic, grin in return. Cate gave him a look. Poor Jamie, Anthea had given her a lot to deal with.

The first game was perfect by Robbie and, given how his relationship with Anthea was often about music, it was perfect for her too. It was a game where you had to list as many songs with the word 'baby' in the title as you could. The winner had the longest list and there was a consolation prize for who had the most unique list. Sherlock lost by a long shot. Robbie beat Anthea by two songs. Everyone else did reasonably well. The consolation prize went to Violet who knew songs in different languages and from musicals and no one really knew if she was right or wrong.

"I mean, I guess the universe is only right if a Holmes is winning something." Jamie said as she handed the box of chocolates to Violet. The laughter in the room was probably based on what a true statement that was.

"Vernet, dear." Violet said smugly. "I was born a Vernet. Every day I beat at least one Holmes at something." This lead to Sherlock trying to argue with her for a few minutes. Of course Mummy usually wins against her boys.

Robbie's gift as the winner was an iTunes gift card. Robbie called himself a purest, he liked to own hard copies of things, but gladly handed the gift card to Cate. She was going to use it on Apps.

The other game wasn't so much of a game as it was a discussion with a voting component to it.

"Right!" Jamie bounced forward in her seat, making Hope (who was sitting on her lap) drop her teddy. James immediately picked it up and handed it to his daughter. "So now we're going to guess the first word of the baby." She smiled and it was nice to see her past that initial nervousness. "And this time I really don't want obvious things, this isn't supposed to be serious. Like words they'll hear all the time from their parents that they'll likely to say. We'll vote on the one we think is most likely, but I don't want really serious answer 'cause that's not the point, and the one that's the funniest. They'll be the winners." Jamie stopped to take a breath. All of that had come out in a string of words and while Anthea was used to it the others might need a second to understand it.

"I get it." Anthea said. "So," She tucked a curl behind her ear. "If I had to guess based on what word the baby will hear all the time I'd say their first word will be 'really'?" She sighed 'really' in a tired tone to express exactly how it would be said. "I'm pretty sure 'Really, Myc?' or, 'Anthea, really?' are said at least once a day." There was light laughter and Anthea shrugged while smirking. "We question each other's choices a lot."

"Yeah! Like that!" Jamie nodded happily.

"Well, what do you think then, darling?" Violet asked the hottest. Jamie hummed, looking up at the roof.

"I would say 'phone'." She settled on with a sharp nod. "Those two, and James, are all about the phones. They're on their phones or talking about phoning or calling someone or 'Have you checked your phone?'. The kid is going to point at the thing in Anthea's hands and say 'phone'."

"You could argue for umbrella then, too." John joked, earning some laughter.

"Impossible." Sherlock muttered. "Umbrella has too many syllables, phone only has one and is therefore more likely." Anthea rolled her eyes and Molly blinked and shook her head but she had a shy smile on her lips.

"I think it could be 'dear'." Molly peeped up. "Mycroft's always calling Anthea 'my dear', and Mrs. Holmes says dear a lot. Sherlock calls Mycroft brother dear. They'll hear it all the time and in an affectionate way so…" She shrugged and smiled bashfully.

"That's…" James began trailing off.

"Really sweet." Sherlock finished, his brows furrowed. Molly looked down to her hands.

"Well, you know Mycroft's first word was 'no'." Violet said. The room fell into laughter, except for Sherlock who obviously knew the story and was only smiling. Anthea knew it too.

"That's amazing!" Jamie cried with laughter.

"He argues that it was the most effective word to learn in order to communicate efficiently." Anthea explained, sighing. "As if he thought it through before choosing a word to say." John and Jamie found that particularly funny.

"I don't know about communicating efficiently, but it certainly made him fussy." Violet huffed. "So if you're as unlucky as I was, dear, and your child follows in its father's footsteps then you just might get a 'no' when trying to feed them food they don't like too."

"Oh, please no." Anthea sighed.

"Please, yes!" Jamie said as she wiped a tear from her eye.

"I'm not even going to try and beat that." Robbie threw his arms in the air and leaned back in his seat. "Anthea is all about the 'no's too. Or she was when I dated her." Anthea scoffed.

"How?" She asked.

"No Robbie, I don't want to move in with you." He began his list. "No Robbie, I don't love you too. No Robbie, I don't think it's a good idea to jump off the second story balcony. No Robbie, I don't want your underwear in my flat. I will have your favourite shirt to claim as my own, though." Playfully Anthea glared at him.

"Let's here from someone not so biased against me." Anthea turned from Robbie to Carol. "What do you think?"

A pause. Carol and James looked at each other. They both smiled.

"Sir." They said at the same time.

"I don't think a word will be there first form of communication." John interjected. "Have you seen Anthea and Mycroft? Both of them are all about the facial expressions. Their first communication will be like a…" And he pulled a face. It was like looking down your nose at someone with a vaguely amused expression at the same time. That got some laughs but not as much as Violet's revelations.

"Right?" Robbie's Cate agreed. "And that silent club place? Don't they work there a lot? That sweet child will have to learn sign language before English."

"If they want to scream at the club, I'll let them." Anthea sneered. "I'd like to give the staff something to panic over."

"Sherlock." Molly prodded the genius' arm. "What about you?" The genius sighed, pulling his attention up from his phone to the group.

"Well logically their first word will be 'Mama'." Sherlock said. A few people in the room groaned.

"That's not the game, dear." Violet cooed.

"I know." Sherlock huffed. "Which is why my amusing suggestions is 'stop'." A pause as no one reacted. "As in 'please stop talking about your boring jobs or how important you are, no one cares.'" Sherlock looked quietly pleased with the laughter he received and a little surprised like he hadn't expected it.

"What about you, Katie?" Jamie asked sweetly. Carol's daughter looked surprised. "What do you think?" The late-teens girl shrugged her shoulders.

"I can't think of one." She said.

"Come on doll," James egged her on. "Give it a shot."

"Ah." Her hands began playing with a section of her hair. "I don't know. Every time I've met Mr. Holmes he's been really quiet but very polite to my family, and Anthea is just so friendly so… I don't know. They're the kind of people to enforce manners so maybe 'please'?" She received the same quiet surprise that Molly had received. Katie looked at Carol. Carol stroked her hair.

"That was good." Carol told her daughter.

"Very real." Jamie said, agreeing with Carol with a nod. Katie visibly relaxed.

The funniest award went to Violet, once again proving that a Holmes – or Vernet – is always right. The most likely answer went to Katie, the teenager was shy but proud of herself.

Just as Anthea suspected the gifts were all books. Jamie had asked people to buy baby, toddler, and children's books. It was on the invitation apparently but Jamie reminded everyone. Apparently John had to hand his phone over to Sherlock so Jamie could tell him herself to make sure he did.

"From what John, James, and Mycroft have told me Sherlock always needs a little extra mothering." Jamie had told Anthea with a light shrug when they got a chance to talk alone. She wasn't wrong.

Jamie had also asked that people write their names in the book so Anthea would always know where they came from. It was a lovely touch. The books themselves were already reminiscent of the people who brought them but this was just a nice reminder for Will or Margot.

Robbie and Cate had brought A Very Hungry Caterpillar and another book by the same author. Robbie had written "A good reminder of Uncle Robbie". In it with a silly face before his name and Cate's were written in their own handwriting. It was tongue in cheek and perfect.

Molly had brought a small collection of Mr. Men books and Little Miss books. All of them bright and colourful and individual. An equal amount of men and miss not for the sake of the gender but as an equality thing no doubt. Molly worked so hard to be taken seriously in her job she'd want a little girl to feel as empowered as a little boy.

John gave Anthea Charlotte's Web. A reliable old favourite for everyone. The story of a remarkable friendship. He might not have seen it but to Anthea is was a perfect gift from John.

Sherlock acted like his was nothing and like no thought was put into it. It was Treasure Island. Anthea had heard all Mycroft's stories enough times and spoken to Siger enough to know that was Sherlock's favourite as a kid. It reminded Anthea of when Mycroft went out and came back with a book for the baby. He didn't leave a personalised message but the name read "Uncle Sherlock".

Sherlock also brought a gift that was sent to him from Varya. It was a little book of Russian Fairy tales. The letter with it said "There's no Russian in his side of the family, but Mycroft will like it anyway. If not, who cares, I'm sure you'll like it!" Anthea laughed. She'd only met Varya the once but she was such a vibrant character Anthea felt like she knew her well.

Carol (and Katie) gave Anthea Peter Rabbit. A beautiful book to give a child and a wonderful book. More importantly to Anthea it was a book written by a smart and respected lady given by a smart and respected lady.

Violet and Siger had gone a little overboard, as to be expected of a genius and a retired literature professor. They'd given a collection of Enid Blyton books, including all of The Faraway Tree collection and the Wishing Chair collection. Those two series in particular had ribbons tied around them to keep them together. All the books hand "Love Grandmamma and Grandpapa" with a few hugs and kisses. Anthea wondered how long Siger thought and chose and how many ideas Violet turned down. Anthea even wondered if any of these came from Siger's own book were beautiful.

James and Jamie got a few Doctor Seuss books, namely; The Cat in the Hat, Green Eggs and Ham, Fox in Socks, The Foot Book and The Cat in the Hat Comes Back. It was only natural that these two would pick out the quirkiest books, the ones that would be the most fun to look at the pictures in and laugh at with the child. Each book had the same handwritten note in them that was clearly more for Anthea than the baby but would hopefully mean a lot to the baby too. "Family is more than blood. Love Auntie Jamie, Uncle James and Hope xo. It had to be the hormones' fault because Anthea got misty eyed at that.

By the time Mycroft and Siger came to the house the party was well and truly over. Robbie and Cate had left first, Robbie making Anthea promise to meet up again just the two of them before he and Cate headed home. Then Carol and her daughter left only minutes after. Molly stayed for another half an hour after that but had to leave to get ready for a late shift at work. So lucky for Mycroft it was basically only family left. No one to get him all uncomfortable.

As they walked in Anthea went straight to Siger instead of Mycroft. She gave the older man a warm hug. She pulled away, still holding his hands.

"Thank you for the books." She said to the retired university lecturer. "They're wonderful." Siger chuckle, his face beaming.

"It's nothing, dear." He said, "Violet and I almost gave double that." He admitted. Anthea clicked her tongue before hugging the eldest Holmes man again. Just as Siger rubbed her on the back there was a flash of light. They let go of each other to see James holding the Polaroid camera again, he had taken a photo of them hugging. Mycroft was looking at him like he was crazy. James took the opportunity to immortalise that look and snapped a picture of Mycroft too. Mycroft, standing by the door, leaning on his umbrella, looking at James like he was a maniac. As soon as the light flashed in his face Mycroft's expression changed to one of loathing.

"It's for the book." James admitted warily, saving himself from being murdered.

"The what?" Mycroft sneered.

"The book." Sherlock repeated from the couch. "Do listen." John rolled his eyes.

"We have a book everyone has to write something in." Jamie pushed past James to explain. The tall blond man walked away to stick the photos in the book. "We just need Myc and you, Mr. Holmes, too do it." She smiled politely at Siger.

"It's lovely." Violet stood up and walked over. She patted Siger on the arm. "You write advice to the baby. It's a wonderful keepsake."

"Would you mind?" Jamie asked.

"Not at all." Siger replied.

"Thank you! Just follow my husband." Jamie pointed to where the big man had disappeared to. Violet escorted her husband anyway. Jamie turned her attention to Mycroft. "What about you, Frosty? Too good for this?" She asked coolly.

"Of course I'll do your ridiculous book." Mycroft huffed at Jamie, scowling at her. Jamie only smiled triumphantly as he walked past her, umbrella in hand.

It only took them minutes to finish. Siger and Violet sat back down in the living room to talk to Sherlock and John. Mycroft came back to Anthea's side. He quietly took her hand and squeezed it. She leaned into his arm, knowing that was all the affection he could show right now. Even family put him on edge. James walked past with the book and began walking up stairs.

"Hey!" Anthea called out, pointing at him. The agent stopped. "Isn't that mine? Don't I get to look at it now?"

"Nope!" James replied. He continued up the stairs.

"Um, that's not for you." Jamie folded her arms across her chest. "That's a birthday present for the baby. You get it on the day they're born." Anthea's face contorted into a look of disbelief at Jamie's words.

"What?" She asked. Jamie nodded stubbornly and proudly. "Mycroft?" Anthea looked up at her genius for some back up. "That's stupid, right?" Mycroft pursed his lips, took a breath, looked at Jamie carefully, and then shrugged his shoulders. When he spoke it was in agreement with Jamie.

"It really isn't for you."

Author's Note: How was it? I really hope you guys can at least enjoy it. Thanks to our guest reviewers; Guests x4, and AbleFoxAlph. Thanks to all my reviewers, you guys are just the best. Um as a note it's not looking like my Nana has many days left. I don't want sympathy messages because we've been through that and she's not gone yet so we can save revisiting those until later. Also I cope with things with zoning out from reality a bit. It got me through some tough years so I'm not going to question it now. I'm just telling you in case the schedule gets a little wonky. It probably won't because I actually do heaps of writing when I'm in a bad place because of that whole zoning out thing, but something might come up and capitalize my time. Hopefully nothing will come up and hopefully I will see you all again in five days.