Author's Note: Hey guys! How's it going? Thanks to those of you who reviewed last chapter! I'm glad you enjoyed the little fun chapter. Thanks for being patient. The bulk of assignments are done now… *Deep breathe*. This chapter is short too, but I don't want to make it any longer for quantity sake. It's good how it is. Some of you will know what to expect, some of you will not. 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 Asked

It was a very nice day as far as a work day was concerned. A quiet day at the Government office where having an extended lunch was allowed (and encouraged) meant that Margot could come along. I little play crib was set up for her next to Anthea's desk and a safe place for sleeping was set up on the couch to the side of the room – set up by Margot's genius dad. Not only was the day just nice having the whole family around and doing quiet tasks but Margot's presence appeared to make most visitors talk in baby talk for at least a few seconds and that was hilarious. Mr. Warwick crouching down and pretending to shake Patches' hand – Anthea would remember that to the day she died. It was times like today that Anthea figured her life was about as perfect as it could get.

Mycroft cleared his throat from behind Anthea. She hadn't heard him leave the inner sanctum and open that door. She turned around in her chair to face him and smiled politely (professionally). He had his hand tightly on the doorframe and his face was a neutral as it had ever been.

"Miss James, do you mind joining me in my office for a moment?" He said. It wasn't a request, just a polite order. Anthea glanced over to Margot. She was napping. She would be okay on her own for a second. Anthea nodded to Mycroft.

"One moment, sir." She said as she bent down to pick up Margot's travel bag. Mycroft nodded silently and retreated to his office. Anthea took out the baby monitors. She switched them on. She placed one on the coffee table next to the sleeping Margot and took the other one with her.

Out of habit, even with an open door, Anthea knocked before entering the inner sanctum.

Mycroft sat at his desk. His hands were folded neatly in front of him on top of a manila file. There was ease in his body but those folded hands were tightly clamped. It was intriguing. Not unusual but still intriguing.

"Who screwed up this time?" Anthea said, half joking, in a heavy sigh. Mycroft's mouth twitched into a small smile as Anthea sat down in her usual seat in this place.

"No one." Mycroft said. He glanced at his computer screen. "Although it's still early." He had been looking at the time. "Give it time." He smiled at Anthea. Anthea sniffed a laugh.

There was a pregnant pause. Mycroft cleared his throat then fiddled with the items on his desk, making sure they were all in the right place and facing the right direction. Anthea pretended not to notice this nervous habit as she, feeling the energy, tucked a curl behind her ear.

"As you know," Mycroft hummed, moving that manila file by half a centimetre. "I recently re-evaluated our situation." Anthea felt a lump form in her throat. She swallowed it and felt it instead become a heavy weight in her stomach.

"Yes…" She nodded a very slow and careful single nod. Mycroft folded his hands on that file again. His steel eyes were on Anthea. They were cold and hidden behind all his walls of ice. Ice instead of storms – that's how you knew the walls were up.

"And while we concluded together that it indeed still works I do believe it is not optimised." God, Anthea hated this. Sometimes this business talk was cute. Sometimes it was a weird flirting to them. When his walls were up and it was apparently serious it was not cute or fun. It felt like a job interview or performance review, and Anthea was somehow failing.

There was another pause. Apparently Mycroft was waiting for Anthea to respond. She took a steady breathe.

"Optimised?" She questioned. Mycroft nodded. Okay, not the response she wanted. She tried again. "How so?" Mycroft inhaled sharply. His gaze fell down as his hands once again adjusted the position of that file. He needed his umbrella, didn't he? If he was nervous then… Well that would make this business talk even less appropriate.

"While happiness levels are indeed high, I believe that overall contentment could be raised. This would also raise happiness as a positive reaction." Mycroft spoke to the file. Anthea began picking at her nails and tapping her foot. "I also believe that improving estimated contentment projections for Margot is exceptionally important." Anthea let a small laugh escape her lips as she looked down at her nails. Projections for a baby's happiness as she grows? Only Mycroft. "Don't you agree, Miss James?" Anthea fought the urge to wince as she cocked her head to this side. What was she supposed to say to this business talk? She looked back up at Mycroft.

"Not how I would put it, no." She crinkled her nose and almost but not quite smiled. "But Margot is the most important thing, yeah." Mycroft pursed his lips and nodded. He twisted a key and opened one of the side drawers to his desk and began rummaging around in it with one hand.

"It is for those reasons that I have a proposition for you that I think you'll find quite beneficial." Anthea's breath caught.

Not like this. No, not like this.

Not at the office.

Not talking like professional colleagues.

Don't do it.

Mycroft pulled a small black box out of the drawer and shut the drawer carefully, locking it again. He placed the box on the desk and slid it over to Anthea. She watched it as it was slipped to her like an upside down contract so you may check the prices privately and watch for reactions.

She looked closely at it. It was a jewellery box. Anthea's skin grew ice cold.

Oh, Mycroft. She thought sadly to herself. You think you're being respectful but you're not – you're really not.

The slide across the table might have been more of an insult than the choice of words.

Steeling her nerves, Anthea picked up the box. She held her breath and opened it.

Oh.

Oh.

It was beautiful. Positively stunning. One of the best pieces of jewellery Anthea had seen in her entire life.

It was a platinum ring. The centre diamond was cushion cut with a cluster setting. Smaller diamonds surrounded the centre one as a row of these small diamonds filled out the ring proper.

"Oh, Mycroft." Anthea whispered.

It was stunning. It was perfect. Anthea wanted to cry.

Instead a strange noise escaped her mouth. Half a sob and half a laugh.

She smiled and shook her head.

"No." She said. She dared not look at Mycroft yet. One last longing look at that beautiful ring and Anthea closed the box.

She never thought this would happen. She said no to something once deemed impossible.

But…

She was happy without it. Sure, it would be nice…

BUT…

Not this way.

Anthea put the box back on the desk and slid it across the table once more.

The offer had been denied.

"I'm so sorry, Mycroft," Anthea finally looked up at Mycroft. The walls were crumbling and he was doing everything in his power to keep them up. He was controlling his breath to keep it even, Anthea could see that from across the table. "But no."

Mycroft's eyebrows rose. He swallowed nothing.

"No?" He repeated in a soft and uneven voice. He hated when people repeated words back like a parrot. Anthea sombrely shook her head.

"Not like this." She clarified. Mycroft's brows furrowed. He opened his mouth the closed it.

"I'm sorry?" He shook his head. Anthea looked down and laughed again, trying to tuck away a curl that was already tucked away. There was a vice grip around her heart but at the same time it was determined and strong.

"That's the problem." She sighed at the end of her laugh. She looked back up at Mycroft and shook her head. "You don't see how absolutely wrong this is."

A pause.

Mycroft was silent.

So Anthea continued.

"This isn't a business deal, Myc." Anthea leaned forward in her chair, imploring for Mycroft to listen to her closely. The grey/blue storm clouds were watching intently. "Yeah it's cute when we're flirting but this is serious. You're not offering me a new job. You're asking me to marry you." And as she said those words something hit Anthea. She raised her hands up and shrugged. "And you didn't even say the words. No 'marry me', not even an 'I love you' or 'I love our daughter'. Just…" Anthea shook her head. "Professional jargon about projections."

"But." Mycroft began and cut himself off. He readjusted his sitting position. "But all of our decisions have been made in such a way, my dear."

"Not the time you asked me to move back in with you." Anthea smiled, lost in the beautiful romantic memory. The weird romance full treasure hunt. The way he proved he cared enough. "That was beautiful." That seemed to make it click. Mycroft mimed a silent 'ah' and leaned back in his seat.

"My apologies." He uttered with a curt bow of his head. Anthea was at a loss at what to do. Her heart and brain were sending her so many signals. Anthea smiled at him.

"Maybe once I would have accepted it." She said, as if it were any consolation. "But I'm not so stupid to think you can't do better anymore because I've seen you when you let your heart do the work and it's incredible." Mycroft looked down at his desk again. "And I have a daughter now. We have a daughter, Myc." Anthea called his full attention again, waiting for him to look up. "We've got to teach girls that they have power. She needs to know that she doesn't just have to accept things. Imagine what she'll say if I told her this story and I had said yes. I don't want her to think she's less than men, or even that people who aren't geniuses are less than your family." She'd kill Margot if she turned out to be a genius and referred to people as goldfish. That girl would get in so much trouble. Mycroft held up a single hand.

"I understand, my dear." He said softly. "No need for further justification." His eyes fell to the little box. He unlocked his drawer, picked up the box, and put it back away behind lock and key. His fingers tapped on the desk as he looked at nothing in particular. Anthea scooted forward in her seat.

"You okay?" She asked. The side of Mycroft's mouth twitched.

"Of course." He said flatly. His face portrayed nothing.

"I love you." Anthea said. Mycroft looked at her again. "I love you so much, and I don't ever want to be without you, but for my own sake I can't accept that."

"Of course." Mycroft said again with another curt nod. Anthea didn't like that. She reached her hand over across the desk.

"I do really love you, Myc." She said. Mycroft looked at her hand. He placed his on top of hers and gave it a soft squeeze.

"I love you too." He said and let her hand go. Anthea sat upright.

Seconds passed.

Mycroft licked his lips and looked to the side of the room. Anthea cleared her throat. She stood up.

"I've got to get back to work and check on Margot." She said. Mycroft was looking at her but not really seeing her – or anything in front of him really. "You'll be okay?" She asked. Mycroft gave her a smile and another quick nod.

"Okay." Anthea nodded. "Okay." She said again and slowly left the room as if moving quickly would lead to one or both of them combusting into flames.

Anthea shut the door to the inner sanctum on her way out. She plonked herself down at her desk chair and lowered her head right onto the wood of her desk. She groaned loudly.

In all her dreams and all her nightmares it wasn't supposed to happen like this.

He wasn't supposed to do it in a foolish way and she wasn't supposed to say no.

He was never going to do it at all.

"Why do we never get things right, 'Got?" Anthea lamented to her infant daughter.

That was incorrect. They did personal wrong. They always did business right.

Business.

Anthea groaned again.

She needed a cup of coffee.

Author's Note: I'm prepared for the reactions. I'm a little excited about it, to be honest. Oh man, please tell me what you think! I look forward to it! I hope to try and get the next chapter out by Wednesday but we might be stuck on Thursdays now. We'll see. No guests last chapter so thanks to my reviewers whom I got to thank personally. See you all next week on Wednesday or Thursday. Don't kill me! I don't make the character's act the way they do, I just write it!