I am not lonely [Mystrade]

CHAPTER 48 : 334 steps

Mycroft smiled softly, sighing of happiness, his hand in the warm hand of his partner, the two of them wandering along the Thames embankment on this clear Saturday morning. It has been nearly a month since Greg had accepted to forgive him, but the official was still sometime awoken by nightmares in which the detective was announcing him that he was leaving and every morning when waking up and seeing his lover by his side, the auburn blamed himself of being sometime that cold-hearted and strict, thinking that next time he might not be that lucky.
"I've never seen this before ..." remarked the DI in mid-voice, more for himself than anyone else.
"What ? The Tower and London Bridge ?" wondered the elder Holmes, surprised.
"No, London under the raising sun. I can understand why you woke me up this early this morning ..." replied the yarder, a gentle grin on his face.
"It's splendid isn't it, having the city for yourself. It always makes me feel privileged." Mycroft agreed.
"I could nearly forgive you for interrupting my dreams ..." retorted the inspector in a breath, leaning to his boyfriend and kissing him fondly.
The official pulled his husband by the hand and led him to a small coffee shop in a street near to the place they had been standing a few minutes before and ordered two large cups of tea to take away, something that, in the eyes of the policeman, was hardly believable from his posh boyfriend. Their paper cups warm in their hand, they made their way back to the river and sat down on a bench near the City Hall.
"When is the first time you've done this ? Strolling around the Thames at dawn ?" asked Greg after a few minutes of silence.
"Aged 12. I escaped Harrow one night and all its rules and I took the first train to London, arriving at Waterloo just to see the sun raising. I've stayed there two hours before taking a train back. I never told anyone where I had been." replied the auburn with an amused pout at the reminiscence of his trip, 35 years ago.
"Oh. That's unexpected ... I thought it was maybe your mother that brought you there when you were little or something like that, certainly not you being a little runaway." chuckled the detective.
"My mother ? Don't be silly. Why would she have bother doing anything with any of us ? She had her ladies clubs to go and her friends to invite." retorted the elder Holmes, frowning his nose of disgust at this thought. "No, mother, definitely not her thing. Maybe the old Mrs Blatt ? I don't remember but I believe she would have preferred the parks over the embankments ..."
"Mrs Blatt ?" enquired the inspector, the name ringing no bell to him.
"Sherlock's and I's nanny, before we got to Harrow, a rather nice lady, if we except her rather annoying habit to always try to dress us as if we were twins." explained the auburn. "She was quite old-school but not in an unkind manner. Sadly she passed away 20 years ago without having any children of her own."
"I shall have guessed. Of course a family like yours used nannies ..." remarked the yarder with a little smile.
"I'm the first one to demean this tradition since the family exist probably. And still, Alden goes to the nursery, that could probably count as a nanny no ?" chuckled Mycroft.
"Shall I start being worried about boarding schools ?" giggled the other man, teasing his husband about his education.
"You know, it's not that terrible, even Harrow nowadays is far better than when I've been there 30 years ago. Still, I kinda like my time away of home, but that's maybe because of the home." retorted the official in a smirk. "No, I think we can find a decent school in the centre of London really. Maybe Knightsbridge school ..."
"Isn't that Sherlock's old secondary school ?" wondered the DI, recalling himself of a conversation about sports he and his partner had got months before.
"Yes, a very good school in central London." nodded the elder Holmes, finishing his tea.
Gregory drank the last gulps of his before the two men stood up and made their way down the embankment. The sun was now shining over the City and people was starting to flood on the promenade where the two lovers were rambling, the official's arm closely wrapped around his partner's waist.
The auburn noticed a new exhibition at the Tate Modern about the work of Jeff Koons, an exhibit he made a mental note to bring Alden to, quite convinced that the little boy would love the colourful work of this modern and slightly mad artist that he himself liked a lot. He set a reminder on his phone to ask Anthea if she thought he could find some time Wednesday afternoon if he had no meeting to attend to have a little moment between father and son. Usually the little boy spent his Wednesday with his grandmother but Greg assured him that Mrs Lestrade would see no inconveniences to have her watch shortened if Mycroft wished to spend time with his son.
They walked slowly to Westminster Bridge, the crowd of eager tourist becoming more and more important as the time was passing by, and stopped before Big Ben.
"Would you like to have a look in it ?" asked the official, smirking to his lover.
"But we can'tMyc', I thought it was open to visits only on very specific occasions and not without a booking ..." replied the detective.
"You forget who I am ..." retorted the auburn with a wink. "So, would you like it ?"
"Well, yes. If it's that gently asked, of course I would like." chuckled the yarder, letting his husband take his hand and lead him to a little door on the side of the Westminster Palace. The police officer in charge of guarding the door tried to stop them from entering the building before the governmental official showed him his high ranking insignia. At this sight, the sergeant stood to salute the visitors in attention.
"Gregory, would you stay here will I'm looking for the key keeper ?" requested the auburn before disappearing in another room of the palace, letting his boyfriend alone with the guard who was still saluting.
"I think you can rest now." suggested the DI, smiling to the young cop.
"Sorry sir, but it's the first time I see a level one authorisation insignia." apologized the sergeant, looking rather impressed. "I've never been taught how to salute such a high ranked person."
"Well, I'm giving you the order not to salute him when he come back." grinned Greg.
"I'm sorry sir, but I can't take orders from commoners, only from my hierarchy." smiled the young man, shyly.
The yarder pulled out his badge from his wallet and showed it to the cop. "Well, I think we can say that I am your hierarchy, so I order you not to salute him."
"Oh, sorry Detective-Inspector. I couldn't know you were one of ours." apologized again the cop.
"No problem sergeant." the detective reassured him. "So you are in duty here all day on your own?"
"Well, yeah. Not every day tho, sometime I'm in other place of the building but someone has to look after this door, isn't it ?"answered the man in a pout .
"I suppose main entrance is funnier..." remarked Greg. "I've been lucky enough to avoid those kinds of guards when I entered the force but I think I wouldn't have survived two months in your position ."
"It's not that bad, at least here we are kinda untroubled, only the MPs and a few tourists when we are at the front door, but nothing that huge. I wouldn't like to be at the Tower or at this kind of touristic place. Got a buddy of mine there, he can't have five seconds of peace all day ..." explained the cop.
"Yeah ... And you are inside, quite of a good spot during winter ..." chuckled the detective.
"That's right. Well you say winter, but rainy day is nothing better is it ? What do you do at the Yard if I may ?" questioned the sergeant.
"Criminal." answered the inspector at the moment his husband was coming back.
"Find a new friend ?" joked Mycroft.
"Find the keys?" retorted the yarder, deadpan.
The official nodded, introducing the keyin the keyhole of the tower's door. "Have a pleasant visit sirs." wished the cop while the two men were going through the door.
"I'm sorry, but there is no lift yet here, but don't be worry, only 334 steps to the top ..." explained the auburn before starting to climb. As Gregory was training nearly daily to stay in shape for duty, he was up the first hundred steps without even being out of breath were the elder Holmes was starting to feel a little giddy already. Pausing to wait for his partner to catch his breath, the detective thought that this was one of the hidden privilege of dating the auburn, being able to visit places usually closed to the public and enjoyed it alone with the person he loved without anybody saying anything.
They finally reached the belfry after more than a quarter of hour of climbing, having to stop every 50 steps or so so both of them could have a bit of rest but when the yarder looked through the glass of the clock faces, he instantly forgot his tiredness and all the stairs he just had climbed, breath taken by the beauty of the view. Mycroft stood right behind him, resting his head on the DI's shoulder, his arm wrapped around his boyfriend's body, his warm breath tickling gently Greg's cheek.
"You see why I can't live anywhere else in the world." he whispered after a long time of silence.
"This is just ... magic..." commented the inspector, placing his hands over his partner's one.
"This is London. I could stare at it all day and still discover something new every minute." replied the auburn. "If you look from the other side you'll see Buckingham and from the left you can see our home."
The two men moved to the south face of the tower, staring in amusement to their house that could be seen in the distance. For some reason, the yarder had felt immensely happy to hear Mycroft saying 'our home'. Even if he was living there for nearly three years now, Greg still thought about the mansion as his partner's house, considering himself as an occupant of it, but apparently the official considered that it was the property of both of them, something that in the eyes of the inspector was a great proof of love.