I am not lonely [Mystrade]

CHAPTER 165 : A day off

On this general election day, Mycroft Holmes had been grounded to his  house by a joint request of the head of all major parties and his  internet cut. They were concerned that him, alongside the few in  government who had some unconventional powers would try to interact in  the result of the election, something the official would never do, too  loyal to his country to do such a thing, and they had requested  everything being done to unsure the neutrality of the election. After  the resignation of Peter Bowling and the instability period that had  followed, those general election were held under a lot of pressure and  controversy and the outcome were believed to be very unsure.

Bothered  but understanding the tension that had led to that decision, the elder  Holmes was stuck at home for an entire day with nothing else to do than a  few letters to answer and by nine he was already done. However, he  wasn't completely unhappy to have a day off, and he was humming to  himself an old song his nanny used to sing him years and years ago as he  was climbing up the stairs.

With a little smile he entered his  daughter's room and gently ran a finger over her cheek to wake her up.  The two years old yawned, carefully opening her eyes, beaming at the  view of her father's face over her. The man picked her up and secured  her close to her chest before taking her out of the dark room.

"Looks like we are having a day just for you and me pumkin'." the politician whispered to his daughter as he was bringing her downstairs for breakfast.

"No work ?" the girl wondered, surprised. "You and me ?"

"No work. Just me and my favourite daughter !"  Mycroft winked, putting her down on a kitchen chair while Michael  installed her cereals and milk and left the room to go grocery shopping.

"Can we go to the park and play ? And have a tea party ?" the toddler wondered, voraciously eating her cereals.

"Of course can pumkin'. We can do whatever you want !" the official nodded, sitting beside her with a burning cup of tea in his hands.

He  was just too happy to have an opportunity to spend some time alone with  his daughter, something he couldn't do really often, at least not as  often as he would have done with Alden when the little boy was still a  lonely child, and he was willing to let her do whatever she wanted and  make her happy.

"Would you like to go to the toy shop ?" he asked, already knowing the answer.

Which  kid would have said no to a visit to a toy shop, especially when  offered by the elder Holmes, something that could only mean new presents  in indecorous numbers ? It was unclear who between them two was the  most excited to the prospect of this visit, Mycroft usually using his  kids as a pretext to indulge himself with a visit to his all time  favourite shop. He wouldn't have admitted it, but he never really had  grown up at heart, and he was still his ten-years-old self whenever he  found a reason to enter Hamley's.

They were prompt to be ready  and not an hour letter they were already entering the toy shop, having  decided that it was more urgent to pay Hamley's a visit before going to  the park to try out the new toys. The little girl was immediately  attracted to the construction toy's section, looking around in awe. She  wanted to know everything about the construction sets and was more than  happy when a sale assistant proposed her to try one out, showing her how  to clip the parts together.

Mycroft was beaming at the view of  his child having fun and couldn't help but sit alongside her and help  her clip things together. The girl seemed to be very good at  construction games, a trait the official suspected she had taken from  Gregory and her brother as he himself was quite ordinary at it.

"Can I have one of these please Daddy ?" she begged after a few minutes of playing with it.

"Of course, have as much as you want." the man agreed, unable to say no, as always.