I am not lonely [Mystrade]

CHAPTER 120 : Snorkling

"Why are you taking your shirt off ?" wondered Greg, surprised by his partner's initiative.
"Well, I'm not going to go swimming in a hundred-pounds worth t-shirt, am I ?" chuckled the auburn before grabbing the sun cream tube.
"You are going .... swimming ? In the sea ? Really ?" retorted the detective, astonished at the simple idea of this eventuality.
"I think it was quite implied yes." nodded Mycroft, a little smirk across his face. "Would you be kind enough to help me put some cream on my back please darling ?"
"I thought you couldn't sustain salty water because, I quote, you had 'a soft and way too delicate skin for that type of non-sense'." the policeman remarked, still accepting the tube his boyfriend was handling him and spreading a generous amount of cream over the pale skin of his back.
"I have indeed said something like that I suppose, even if like always you are probably exaggerating my sententiousity, but it would be quite a shame to have travel all this way and to stay here like an idiot on the beach while the two of you are having a tremendous fun in the water, wouldn't it ?" the elder Holmes explained, shivering just a little under the soft touch of his husband's hands spreading the cold cream across his back.
"So you are going to hurt your delicate skin because you can't stand staying alone on the sand while we are having fun ..." the inspector teased.
"You have a real talent to make everything look way worse than what they are Gregory dear." the official tutted the other man. "I'm going to enjoy my time here with my son and the stupid git I have come to spouse and try to forget there will most probably be consequences."
"That's probably one of the funniest thing I've ever heard you say." laughed the detective. "You, Mr I-am-the-british-government will not give a damn about consequences ? I want to see that ..."
"Actually, I'm not forgetting the consequences because let's say they could have an ... indulgence attached to it ..." replied the auburn with a michevelious smile.
"I didn't knew you had a masochistic part in you, although I should have understood it last time you accepted to have a diner with lady Smallwood ..." retorted Greg.
"It was a professional diner about a high security matter that I couldn't refuse and I had managed to invite a couple of other people along to avoid any let's say embarrassing situation." the elder Holmes chuckled. "But I can be masochistic if that's what 'having my dear husband to massage my entire body with moisturiser twice a day for the week to come' means to you."
"You seem quite sure I will help you with that." grinned the yarder, teasing.
"Oh, it's as you want really, but if you don't I will just have large portion of my skin pealing off and that will make me very grumpy, and that would be a shame when you see the size of the bed we've been granted." replied the official with a falsely innocent smile.
"You wouldn't do that ... May I recall you how you could barely contain yourself yesterday at the diner table only because I've joined you in the shower and we'd been interrupted ?" denied the detective.
"It wasn't the same !" Mycroft protested, unconvincingly. "If I had been grumpy I wouldn't have allowed you to enter my shower."
"And I wouldn't have cared and would have still come in because there is way only I know to drive your grumpiness away." retorted the policeman before placing a soft kiss between the other man's shoulder blade and standing up, offering his hand to the auburn to help him stand and lead him to the edge of the water where their son had been playing for a little while.

A blue and yellow fish found shelter in the seaweed as a little crab carried on with his journey, undisturbed by the movements agitating the surrounding water. The scenery of the wildlife taking place before the auburn's eyes was one that could be called enchanting and if he ever had had doubt about immersing himself in the salty water that he usually avoided that much, a simple glimpse at the unbelievably colourful range of fishes leaving just meters away from the beach was enough to wash all his doubts away.
He waved his feet a few times to reach a huge coral mount in which a large family of goldfishes seems to have established their home and he couldn't repressed a little laugh when he thought of how much they could look like those dull human he was forced to work with, and by doing so he nearly drowned himself, inhaling water by his snorkel instead of air.
He pushed his feet against the sand to come back to the surface and coughed a couple of time to avoid filling his lung with water and take advantage of having his head out of the water to spot his lover and son, exploring another coral mount twenty meters away.
The elder Holmes made his way to them before gently catching his son from the policeman's arms, gesturing to the other man that he could go explore a little further while he was taking care of the little boy. The child was too young to use a snorkel, so they couldn't go very deep into the water and had to go back to the surface regularly but the auburn didn't really cared as the water was that limpid that they could nearly see all the fishes with their heads out of the water.
The boy secured his arms around his father's neck before the man started waving his feet, carrying him further to a spot where he had remarked a little purple squid. He could feel the child moving on his back and a fish grazing around his feet and thought that at this moment, he wouldn't have wanted to be anywhere else. Of course, he wasn't able to fully forget about his work and couldn't help feeling a little concerned by the fact that he had left to Anthea the charge of running things smoothly just two after she had been back from a four months leave but he pushed these thoughts away to the back of his mind and dive a little deeper, pointing out his finger toward an orange starfish, just a meter away to draw Alden's attention to it.

"I'm going to hide this bloody phone and just enjoy some free time." Greg chuckled lightly, impersonating his lover's voice, rather badly, when entering the room.
"I ... well ... all right ... I just ... I needed to make sure everything was alright ..." sighed Mycroft, craving his neck to face the policeman standing behind his armchair.
"Scared that England could fall apart ?" the detective laughed, seizing the phone from the auburn's hand and throwing it in the half empty suitcase forsaken in a corner of the room.
"Maybe ... I'm just concerned that Anthea could face any kind of tricky issues ..." nodded the official, not protesting however about the fact his phone being taken away from him.
"She is a big girl, she can handle your office for a week." the yarder reassured him, sitting on the armrest of his chair.
"But she haven't been around for four months, there's a lot of things that had happened during this time. She could be tricked by that." remarked the elder Holmes, looking quite concerned.
"Don't worry about that. She is way more qualified than you seem to notice and moreover, she is accompanied by your two other assistants. I know you think they are idiots, maybe you are not even wrong honestly, but they should at least be able to answer her questions if ever she had to ask some, don't you think ?" Greg smiled before placing his finger over his partner's lips to prevent him from answering. "Alden want you to read the story tonight."
Slowly, Mycroft raised to his feet before offering his hand to his husband and brought him closer. They made their way to their son's room and the auburn picked up the book the boy had chosen before sitting on the edge of the bed, the book right under the dim light of the lamp standing on the bedside table.
"Doctor Who, Nightshade" the elder Holmes started to read, his voice deep and smooth. "Prologue ; All around the cluttered cloisters, musty rooms and high, vaulted halls there was a deep and tangible hush. The only light in the virtually impenetrable gloom was of a peculiarly pellucid green, spilling out feebly from every heavy wooden door and misaligned stone. Everywhere, there was a terrible sense of stagnancy, imbuing the whole place with a fetid, neglected atmosphere as though some great cathedral had been flooded by a brackish lagoon. From out of the cobwebbed shadows emerged a little group of very old men, resplendent in their ornately decorated robes. The least ancient of the group, a white-haired individual with piercing eyes and a down-turned, haughty mouth, lifted the hem of his robes as he detached himself from the others, sending little flurries of dust over the flagstones. He murmured a few words of apology to his comrades and melted away into the shadows. After a time he came to a small door inset in the crumbling stonework. He looked about him, senses alert, and lifted his hands to grip the lapels of his robes. His twinkling eyes darted from side to side. It was time. A man with a face like a deflating balloon, dressed in dark gold robes which were too big for him, crossed the corridor, mumbling happily to himself. The white-haired man pressed himself into a doorway until the fellow had passed. It wouldn't do to be discovered now. When he was certain that he was alone, the old man opened the door with a spindly key and squeezed himself through into darkness. Beyond the door was a flight of stone steps, which he descended nimbly, leading into a huge, ink-black, domed chamber. Arranged in a row were eight featureless objects about the size of horse boxes, their dull grey surfaces tinged by the familiar underwater-green. The white-haired man lifted the heliotrope robes from around his shoulders and let them slip to the floor. He steepled his bony fingers and looked up at the ceiling high above his head. What was the night like out there? It had been so long since he'd ventured outside, smelled fresh air, seen the first frosts, watched the pale silver and bronze leaves disappearing under melting snow... But now all that would be different. It was time to go. There was a noise from somewhere close by and the old man hastily unlocked one of the featureless grey boxes."
Mycroft hadn't even finished the prologue that the little boy had already fallen into a peaceful sleep, his stuffed rabbit close to his heart and his head plunged deep into his pillow. Smiling at the vision, the auburn silently raised to his feet and placed the book back onto the bedside table before turning the lamp off and following Greg out of the room.