Chapter Text
Chapter 1 - A Problem Presents Itself
‘Detective Inspector Lestrade, there’s a gentleman here to see you.’
Greg let out a sigh as he pressed down the button on the intercom.
‘Tell him to wait; I’ll see him in a few minutes.’
Sherlock smiled smugly as he took a step closer to the detective inspector’s writing desk, putting his hands down on the edge of it as the other man sat down in his chair on the opposite side.
‘Oh, why do you look like it’s Christmas then?’ Greg asked hurriedly, already annoyed by what Sherlock a few moments earlier had proposed. ‘We’re discussing the murders of twelve innocent people, and you’re just smiling at it.’
‘That’s not why I’m smiling, detective inspector. It’s the fact that my brother is making his way up to this very office that amuses me.’
‘How d’you know that?’
‘Because usually, when Mrs Norton tells you that someone’s here to meet you, she says that there’s a “man” here to see you, not a “gentleman”. To be honest, Mrs Norton is a quite prudish woman; my dear brother is one of the few people that she would actually call a gentleman, and practically the only one of them who actually ever would have a reason visit your office.’ Sherlock made a short pause, enjoying the full attention he was getting from Greg. ‘Besides, I know he’s looking for me anyway, it was only a matter of time before he would get his arse out of his office to come and find me himself. You can’t imagine how bored I get by all those underlings he sends to make me come to his office.’
The detective inspector shook his head, and decided that whether or not Sherlock was telling the truth, they had more important matters to take care of. Sherlock’s older brother would have to wait, Holmes or not.
He turned his attention to the map on the desk in front of him. It was depicting King’s Cross Station in every last detail, and all over it was small crosses written in blue ink with accompanying notes next to them.
‘I cannot possibly let you place a fake bomb in King’s Cross, not under any circumstances,. Not even to catch this killer, Sherlock.’ The consulting detective gave him a disapproving look. ‘There’s no chance I could convince the superintendent. Besides, it’s far too dangerous.’
‘People have died, Lestrade.’
‘And since when have you started to care about that?’ sputtered the detective inspector in response. Greg was really far too tired to be on duty in the first place, and having the consulting detective who seemed to try his best to make Greg lose his job didn’t make it better. They had been chasing a psychopath for over two weeks now, and now finally Sherlock had found a way to catch him. Unfortunately it was a very, in fact extremely, dangerous plan, and Greg couldn’t not in anyway let him proceed with it.
‘We can’t do that; you’ll have to come up with another plan.’ Greg dropped the pen he had been holding onto his desk and then he leaned back in his chair, crossing his arms, as the other man started to frown angrily. Sherlock had just opened his mouth in order to protest when the closed door to Greg’s office opened, and a man stepped into the room.
It was a fairly tall middle-aged man, dressed in an exquisite three piece suit, Greg noted to himself. He had well combed brown hair and a determined look upon his face. To Greg he looked like a very posh, successful official of some kind, or possibly a business man. The only thing that the detective inspector was entirely sure about was that this was not how he had imagined Sherlock’s older brother. Neither had he been prepared for how attractive he actually was. Greg blinked surprisingly a few times and then stood up to greet the man in the doorway.
‘Mycroft Holmes. It’s a pleasure to finally meet you, detective inspector. I am here about my brother. I shall not bother you more than necessary.’ Mycroft shifted the umbrella in his right hand over to the left one, and then extended his hand towards Greg, who shook it awkwardly.
‘DI Lestrade. I did tell you to wait outside until I was done.’
‘Yes, but as I said, this should not take too long.’ The tall man smiled degradingly at Greg, who now felt very patronized. Sherlock, who had been standing by the desk, with his prim facial expression, now started to look annoyed as his brother turned towards him.
‘Brother dear, how wonderful to see you.’
‘Stop that, Sherlock, you know why I’m here. What on Earth made you think that I would not notice that you’ve stolen two of my identity cards? Do you realise how dangerous it is to use them in order to break into NASA’s most top secret base?’ The older Holmes brother’s voice was calm and methodical, but still so threatening that it made Greg shift uncomfortably. ‘I am taking a huge risk letting you out in public in the first place, Sherlock, and if I can’t trust you, then I am afraid that I will have to-’
‘I get the point, Mycroft.’ The consulting detective shrugged ignorantly, as he took up Greg’s empty coffee mug from the desk and started to inspect it closely. ‘Don’t talk to me like I’m some kind of pet you can keep on a leash. Stop worrying about me, and start worrying about the fact that that favourite bakery of yours, the one near Fleet Street, is closing down in the end of the month. I imagine that it will get a bit more difficult for you from now on to get hold on those favourite doughnuts of yours, the ones with pink sprinkles on them.’
Sherlock put Greg’s mug back on the desk as the older Holmes brother took a few steps towards his brother so he was standing just a few inches from his face.
‘If you don’t learn to behave, Sherlock, I promise that I will make sure that Scotland Yard won’t give you any new cases for a very long time. And what would you do then, without cases, without your distractions, brother dear?’
Sherlock didn’t answer; he just stared at his brother with accusatory eyes.
‘Wait, hold on a second.’ Greg was now starting to get annoyed by the family feud taking place in his office, especially since they’re was a serial killer on the loose that they needed to catch. ‘How can you,’ he pointed towards Mycroft, ‘decide whether or not I will give him any more cases?’
‘You will find that I can be quite persuasive when I want to, detective inspector.’ He gave Greg a strained smile, but somehow his words still made the detective inspector’s stomach rebel against him.
‘Oh, really now, can you? What makes you believe that?’
The older Holmes brother snorted as he looked down on Greg.
‘You see, detective inspector,’ Mycroft kept on giving Greg that false smile ‘your superiors’ superiors’ happen to have superi-’
‘We get the point, Mycroft.’ Sherlock was just as frustrated by his brother as Greg was, but suddenly he plucked up his phone from his pocket and started to smile when he had read the newly arrived text. ‘I’m afraid I got to dash, John’s finally found those hidden engine parts in the graveyard.’
Mycroft didn’t care about protesting, and just let out a long sigh as his younger brother disappeared out of the office.
‘I truly am sorry about all this, detective inspector, but as you understand I only want the best for my brother.’
‘Of course, of course’ mumbled Lestrade as he stood footed next to the older Holmes brother, surprised by his now much more relaxed tone. Greg decided to take a wild chance, even though the man in front of him was a bit of a bastard. His good looks almost made up for that. ‘Can I offer you some coffee?’
‘Yes, why not?’ The younger man now gave Greg a genuine smile. ‘I have already cancelled my meeting with the Foreign Secretary; I just might as well have some. Black, four sugars, please.’
Oh, dear, the man wasn’t kidding then, Greg thought as he was just about to pick up his coffee mug from the desk, but then he remembered that Sherlock could have done something to it a few moments before. Instead he smiled apologetically at the other man and went out in corridor to go and get said coffee.
On his way to the coffee machine he felt how his heartbeat quickened. This was all because of the obviously well-off, very handsome man who was now waiting in his office.
This is absolutely not good, Greg tried to tell himself as took out two mugs from the kitchen cupboard. Don’t go and get all head over heels for a man you met only five minutes ago.
A few moments later when he went back to his office he found the older Holmes brother sitting in a chair with his back against the door. Greg couldn’t help but to notice the other man’s beautiful frame, slender shoulder clad in what obviously was very expensive dark blue fabric, along with his umbrella leaning against the chair he sat in.
‘Here you go!’ The detective inspector placed Mycroft’s cup of coffee in front of him with a smile. ‘Black, four sugars.’
Mycroft looked up at him and smirked, almost wistfully, and to Greg’s amusement showed some more of his beautiful neck as he did so.
‘So what’s it you’re doing then? I imagine that you can’t be any ordinary politician if you have such powerful and dominant superiors…’ Greg asked it jokingly as he sat down in his chair opposite to Mycroft, but he was also genuinely interested. And, to be honest, it was nice to watch the other man’s lips move when he spoke.
‘I am not really much more than an influential government official.’ Mycroft smiled once again, but this time it was a bit of a mixture of his genuine and false one, as if he was meaning to be kind but just couldn’t bring himself to it. ‘And I just happen to be interested in my brother’s well-being’ he added quickly, looking like he just remembered that it was the actual reason to why he was being in Lestrade’s office in the first place.
‘If you’re so interested in your brother’s well-being, how come we haven’t met before? After all, I’ve been quite an important person to Sherlock during the past few years.’
Oh, what exactly do you think you’re doing, Greg? You might as well have asked him out on a date…
‘Yes, you do have a point there, but the fact is that Sherlock has been…’ Mycroft stopped to look for the right word. ‘…a bit more troublesome lately.’ The government official sipped at his coffee.
How can he take so much sugar in his coffee and still enjoy it? I bet his lips taste really nice though, sweet, but with a dominant touch of- For Christ sake, pull yourself together!
Somehow Greg managed to not show what was actually going on in his mind; he just nodded and took a sip of his coffee as well.
‘Yes, I suppose the Dr Watson has had both good and bad influence on Sherlock.’
Stop talking about Sherlock like he’s twelve. Well, he kind of is- but that’s not the point. You should be happy that he hasn’t left the office already; you’re insulting his brother for God’s sake…
To the detective inspector’s relief Mycroft didn’t stand up and leave the room in protest, he only leaned back in his chair, fixing his despondent gaze on the picture of the seaside that hung on the wall just behind Greg.
‘Helpful as he has been to my brother, you were the one who was there for him when it mattered the most.’
Greg felt how his cheeks turned slightly red. What the government official had said was true, and hearing someone say it out loud was enjoyable, especially since Sherlock never had thanked Greg properly for his support. But the joy of hearing a Holmes complimenting anyone else but Dr Watson was almost unbeatable. And when he came to think about it, it was something that he wanted to get used to.
Suddenly Sgt. Donovan abruptly opened the door to his office, obviously worked up about something. But before Greg had even got a chance to ask her what was going on she said:
‘He’s done it. We believe there might be a bomb in King’s Cross Station.’
Greg shook his head as he mumbled something about that he would be on his way. Before Sgt. Donovan disappeared back out in the corridor she gave the older Holmes brother a long gaze, and Greg could see that there was a mix of aversion and admiration in it.
‘Bomb threats aren’t really your division, are they, detective inspector?’ The government official smirked once again as he stood up. ‘Thank you for the coffee, I might add.’
‘No worries, no worries’ mumbled Greg as he put on his dark grey coat, his brain starting to fill up with possible outcomes for Sherlock foolhardy action. ‘Don’t hold me responsible if I decide to skin your brother after all this is done.’
The politician let out a small laugh, almost undetectable, at least if you weren’t looking for it. Greg decided to take another chance.
‘Will I meet you again, Mr Holmes?’
You really are getting desperate, aren’t you?
Thankfully, or rather unfortunately if Greg was being honest to himself, the government official didn’t get the hint; he just extended his hand again towards him.
‘Judging by Sherlock’s behaviour, I would say yes, we will.’ The elder Holmes once again smiled that sad smile he seemed to have reserved for the mention of his brother. ‘It has been a pleasure to meet you.’
Isn’t there some leering in that look he’s giving me right now? Or am I just imagining it?
Greg shook the younger man’s hand as calm and untouched as possible, but he couldn't help but to give him a hint of his brightest smile anyway.
‘Pleasure to meet you as well. Sorry, got to go. I hope you don’t mind showing yourself out. Besides, I bet you know your way around here anyway…’
The government official nodded, as Greg practically ran out of the office in order to get to the car that was going to take him to the scene of Sherlock’s madness. What the detective inspector didn’t notice was the smile on the elder Holmes brother’s face as he took up his umbrella which had been leaning towards his chair. The smile didn’t disappear when the politician walked out of the office and headed back to his work.