I am not lonely [Mystrade]

Chapter 150 : Babysitting

The house was oddly silent on that Friday afternoon. No sound was coming either from the living room, nor from upstairs as Mycroft exited his study, a small case in his left hand, a stack of paper under his right arm. He managed to put on his coat, balancing the items so none fell on the ground before slipping the little box in his pocket and exiting the Mansion. A brand-new - even if still black - Jaguar was waiting for him in front of the house and without any hesitation he climbed in it, assuming the passenger seat for once.

"Diogene Club or Cabinet Office sir ?" the driver enquired, a little surprised by his boss' seating.

"Victoria Station please." the politician retorted before opening one of the files he had brought and starting to read, his brow frowned of displeasure.

It took them a little over twenty minutes to reach the entrance of the station due to the usual London traffic on this late afternoon. Glancing anxiously at his watch, the auburn jumped out of the car, afraid he was to be late for the train he was looking for. He quickly walked inside the station, his eyes on the arrival screen before he finally localized the train from Croydon.

Thankfully, it was supposed to arrive at the nearest platform, and he was on time to catch the said train just entering the building. As he never really had travelled by train since his childhood, he was a little anxious on how he was to find the people he was looking for in the middle of the crowd slipping out of the train, but it was all sorted out when it was them who found him, thanks to his peculiar appearance and stature.

"Mycroft !" Jack Lestrade exclaimed from afar.

"Here you are !" the elder Holmes smiled as he joined them and showed them outside. "How was the journey ?"

"Oh, nothing terrible really, if you except that guy that kept snoring three inches away from my ear." his brother Lucas shredded.

It had been quite a time the official hadn't seen his husband's children as he had been abroad the last two time they had come to visit, and he couldn't help but find them a little changed. Sarah was now 14 and looking more adventurous than ever with her new short haircut and her yellow DocMarteens associated with black tights and dress. Her younger brother had grown up from at least 3 inches since the previous summer but it was the only noticeable change of the time passing on him, his favourite outfit apparently still consisting of a football jersey and a pair of jeans. Lucas, on the other hand had decided to try out a new style, now wearing nothing else than smart shirts and jackets and having change his haircut to look more Boheme after he had fell in love with poets such as Baudelaire and Tennyson found in Mycroft's personal library. In one word, children were being children and it couldn't have been a bigger joy for the elder Holmes at that moment than to see them and noticing their evolution.

They went back to the car outside the station just to notice a policewoman trying to give the driver a ticket for having stayed to long at the drop-off. Ordering the child to put their suitcase in the boot and take their seat inside, the official approached the middle-aged woman.

"Can I do something for you ?" he asked politely.

"Is this gentleman your driver ?" the policewoman retorted, not seeing why the man would try to interrupt her if it wasn't the case.

"Yes. Is there a problem ?" the politician nodded.

"This is a drop-off sir. It means you can't stay parked here for more than a few minutes, just the time to discharged someone's luggage." the woman replied, seemingly a little cross.

"Well, I suppose we can sort that out." Mycroft smiled, showing her a fake, but perfectly imitated high-ranking Scotland Yard badge. "We were here to pick up protected witnesses and couldn't risk having them walk around London like this.