I am not lonely [Mystrade]

CHAPTER 159 : Oh Gregory ...

Mycroft was sat in one of his home study's leather armchairs, his ankles cross one over the other, a half-emptied glass of bourbon in one hand, his look wandering out by the window. He had come back the same morning from five days in the United States of America, escorting Prince William on an official oversea visit and had headed straight to his Home Office's study where he was expected for a meeting concerning the Russian election that were to take place in less than ten days.

He had had a terrible night in the plane, unable to sleep, and he had thought that the looks he had been thrown by some of the officials in the meeting room was due to his dreadful look after nearly 30 hours without sleep. It's only later that he had understood that it had nothing to do with the dark circles under his eyes. Some people were gossiping around him but when he asked about it to one of them, they suddenly had nothing to say.

Gossiping about the elder Holmes was something that could happen, but you'd better not do it around him if you didn't want to spend a very difficult time under his questioning. Although, this time, he hadn't had the expected reaction. Instead of outbursting in rage at how ridiculous the assumptions could be, he just had dismissed the gossipers after a few questions and, as soon as the door had been closed, had collapse on his chair, absent-mindedly starring at the wall in front of him.

His mood hadn't improved as he came home later that day and since then, he just had been sat in the same position, all kind of though going through his mind. He wasn't exactly sad, but he was certainly not happy. He wasn't exactly fed up, actually he was not angry at all. He was just empty. Frightfullingly empty.

There was the sound of a key turning in a lock and the sound of the door opening to let Greg in. The policeman called out for someone but was answered by nothing but silence. The politician in his office was listening to every familiar sound his partner did, putting his key down on the entrance's table and taking his shoes and coat off. The sound of the living room door cracking as the inspector popped his head through it, looking for an inhabitant. The discreet, muffled sound of the man's barefoot on the flooring as he made his way to the kitchen and the noise of the water filling a glass.

The auburn was like hypnotised by those noises and it took him several minutes before coming out of his trance. Swiftly, he raised up from his armchair, faked a little smile and opened the door of his study. From the door step, he could see his husband's back in the kitchen on the other side of the corridor. He coughed softly to catch the man's attention.

"Oh, god ! I didn't hear you. Why haven't you answered my call ?" the detective reacted, surprised but joyful.

"Could we have a word ?" the official wondered, trying to make the question as casual as it was possible to make it.

"Is there something wrong ?" the inspector replied, slightly worried as he followed his boyfriend in the small room.

"Take a seat maybe ?" the elder Holmes proposed without bothering to answer the other man's question.

"No it's alright, thank you ..." the oldest retorted, now clearly scared.

"How was your week ?" the politician asked in the most agreeable manner, taking a seat near the window.

"Nice, quite usual actually." the detective explained, one of his eyebrow frowned, as he would every time he was not seeing where his interlocutor wanted to end.

"That's all you have to say ? Nice ?" Mycroft questioned, still trying to look agreeable.

"Well, you've just been gone five days and I've been working most of them so yeah, nothing special." Lestrade confirmed, quite unease.