The Autobiography of Mycroft Holmes

Chapter 32: Dinner Date (Sort Of)

"What?" I asked Tom. I was still sort of in disbelief.

"Do you, Mycroft Holmes, want to go out to dinner with me tonight? Yes, I'm talking to you, Mycroft."

"Me? Oh, I don't really go out. If I really wanted to listen to loud music and get drunk, I'd call my sister and we'd do it together at the Diogenes Club one night when no one decides to show up. I wouldn't go out to a restaurant or club to do it. Which is ironic enough, since I live in the upper rooms of the Diogenes Club," I said, smiling.

"You really haven't been out in a long time, have you?" Tom asked me as if I was the most pathetic attempt at humanity he had ever seen in his life.

"Let's just put it this way; even with you and some of my other old friends here, I still do sit in my offices all day and administer business without looking at or talking to anyone," I admitted.

"Okay, just come out one time," Tom said, holding my hand. "I don't want to have to convince you; that's what I had to do to my ninety-year old grandfather, God rest his soul," Tom said, partially in jest but also partially serious. "This is a modern Diogenes. It should have a modern leader."

"Fine, I'll go with you. You had me at the state of the Diogenes Club," I joked, standing up. "First, I'm just going to run upstairs and grab my phone and money and-" I said, starting to leave, before Tom caught me by the door of the Strangers' Room.

"No, Mycroft, that's not how this sort of thing works. I take you out, and I pay for your food and drink."

"Wow, if I do this with you every night for a year, I could save nearly four-thousand five-hundred dollars..." I said, using my math skills for something that was not accounting for once.

"Okay, get your phone. But don't be that annoying person who always texts and makes calls while they're out with other people."

"I will now proceed to be exactly that," I said, laughing as I left the Strangers' Room. When I returned, Tom and I walked out the door and down Pall Mall for five hundred feet. We stopped at the end of the block and walked into a restaurant that was frequented by many Diogenes members.

The owner seated us by a window on the first floor, right near the door. I could see Tom straining to see something so I turned around.

"Actually, if you want, you can see my home from here."

"Oh, really, where?" I asked.

"There," Tom said, pointing to a brownstone at the end of a T-shaped intersection that ended Pall Mall as another street continued. He lived around the corner of that intersection, on the other street. The building that he claimed to have his lodgings in was a brick-faced building similar to the one I'd lived in with Sherlock, but Tom owned the entire building and not just one flat in the space. It looked very nice; probably owned and not rented, probably also very expensive. I assumed he inherited it from his parents or grandparents.

"That's a nice place to live. Near the Diogenes."

"Yes, and my office is also right around here. It's the opposite way down the block; you can't see that from where we're sitting though."

"Fine then," I said, smiling at Tom. He smiled back, and the waiter walked over. She took our drinks and appetizer orders, then left quietly. Tom looked into the restaurant.

"Have you been here before?"

"Not that I can remember. But there's another place at the other end of the block that I've been to with Sherlock. What about you?"

"Oh, I've been here a number of times with a few different people..."

"Your ex-girlfriend?" I asked, knowing that was already the answer since I had deduced it. I did not mean for it to sound snide at all, but it was taken as such.

"I do not want us to be rivals, Mycroft. I know what it's like; well, what it was like for you years ago and even recently with that person Lestrade. I want to be your ally. I won't try to steal your position. I want nothing from you, save your good will and willingness to work hard and help the Club."

"You cannot have just said that," I stated. "No one thinks that way."

"No one that you are close to or that you know. But not all people are bad, Mycroft. It may not seem like it, but it's true. There are some good people in the world..."

Tom trailed off here. But that was about all I could take.

"You would not say that if you'd experienced what I have. Even Lestrade, Tom! My closest friend wanted to kill me over nothing; over threats that didn't even sound half as convincing as something that I, or any other intelligent person for that matter, could have thought up."

"That is true, but you must not dwell on those small points. It's all over now, you'll never see her again."

"But it would be a mistake not to learn from your mistakes. And you are naïve if you think that you can trust any person in the world. You cannot. You won't. That's just common sense."

Tom did not say anything for a while, as we ate in silence. But after about ten minutes, he elected to speak up.

"You seem to have a lot of grievances harbored against a lot of people, Mycroft."

"You would as well; if you were in my situation."

Again, we fell silent. I did not mind, but Tom was obviously affected by it. And the fact that I proceeded to neglect that we'd ever had the conversation and continue on how I had before made it worse for Tom.

"I fear I have severely misguided you, Ms. Holmes."

"I must say, I was just thinking the same."

"This was a mistake," Tom said, taking his napkin from his lap and wiping his mouth. "I believe it is time for us to leave," he finished, standing up.

"No, we needed to have this conversation," I said, still seated and not at all ready to leave. "And I'm glad we did. Because, like you said, there is no need for us to think on the past. This is a new era. Besides, I want to have my dinner," I said just as a waitress brought us our appetizer.

Tom laughed, and took his seat again. "You know, I really misjudged you. But I should have known you better. You; Mycroft Holmes... I should have known. You have my deepest and sincerest apologies for all the ways in which I have wronged you in the recent past, and I know I have wronged you terribly."

"Not that terribly. I'm pretty sure that if I was in your position, I may have thought I was a little bit off as well."

"Okay then," Tom said, seemingly relieved. "I can say this and only this about you, Mycroft; I know much less about you than I thought I did."

"You know nothing of me. And I know much less about me than I thought I did, as well."

The waitress came to the table with our food about ten minutes later. We thanked her, and then kept a welcome silence for about ten minutes while we enjoyed the food we had ordered. After dinner, we continued on as though the conversation had never ended.

Soon, the waitress came over with the bill. Tom paid it, and gave the waitress a generous tip. We stood up to go, and Tom opened the door for me to leave. I thanked him. He was being especially polite, and then something hit me like a ton of bricks.

"Tom, was this a date?" I asked him.

He smiled. "Maybe," he said coyly. I began to laugh loudly.

"Tom, you should know me better than this. No, Tom I do not want to date you regularly. I plan to remain single for a very long time; if not the rest of my life. I've been convinced that I am not meant to be in a long term relationship with anyone, and I do not desire to repeat my mistakes."

"Then you want to spend the rest of your life alone?"

"If it'll allow me to achieve the end goals I've always wanted to achieve, I'd do anything really."

"Then no, it was not a date. But seriously, though. You should go out more. The Diogenes can get a bit stuffy sometimes," Tom said, still smiling at me. And so I was maybe not completely unforgivable.

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