Mycroft was sat in an expensive-looking eighteenth century armchair, looking impeccably bored, gazing an absent-minded look at the scene that was happening right in front of him. He was letting his mind wander all the activities he could have been up to on this bright Saturday morning than to each and every way of making the woman sitting opposite him disappear without the police being able to accuse him – not that he had something against this specific lady, he actually didn't even knew her name, but he always had found it entertaining to plan people's death.-, before wondering if he could fake a dangerous threat over the event currently happening to have the Palace evacuated and being able to turn back home, all that while keeping the straightest and most formal face a human being could possibly pull.
It wasn't in his usual duty to assist to these kinds of meetings, his position being quite enough in the shadow not to expose him like a trophy everytime a foreign Prime Minister stepped a toe in the country, but the Prime Minister had personal requested his presence and despite all his power backstage, he couldn't refuse such a request, even if it was for a shabby reason such as his perfect mastering of the French language. Once again he wondered why the PM had thought about him as a translator when the room was full of fully qualified men and women that would have been more than happy to fill up for the job and he glanced a look at his pocket-watch, wondering where the French Prime Minister could possibly be as he was already half an hour late.
He was escaping back into his mind when the auburn noticed the British Prime Minister moving toward him. Repressing a sigh, the official tried his best to pull up a polite smile despite his boredom and stood up.
"Any idea where he could be ?" Bowling wondered, seemingly as bored as the elder Holmes was.
"None, sorry Sir." denied Mycroft. "We haven't bugged his car and the French are not very communicative I fear."
He had added this last sentence in a deadpan tone in another attempt to signified to the other man that he had absolutely no use whatsoever to be here and the Prime Minister seemed to understand the reproof the auburn was making in subtext as he walked away without adding a word, allowing the elder Holmes to go back to his daydreaming of deducing the best way of convincing his brother to have Gregory's name right, a task that despite his and John's constant effort, the consulting detective was still not willing to achieve.
It wasn't before another hour and a half that the French delegation finally appeared in the Palace's courtyard, resulting in the entire British hosts delegation, including the auburn, to stand up and made their way to the yard to greet their guests, smiling exaggeratedly for the journalists when most of them were internally cursing the French for ruining their Saturday and requesting them to get up that early for finally turning up that late.
Mycroft, for himself, wasn't to appear on the official pictures and hadn't even bother exiting to the courtyard, favouring to wait in the first lounge of the palace with the other member of the British delegation not ranked enough to be consider worth a picture. In fact, the auburn had been proposed to be standing beside the Prime Minister but he had politely refused, considering that he worked better in the shadows and that this kind of pleasure was to be saved for the politicians and their natural ability to show off.
After a few minutes of standing up in front of the journalists, the two Prime Ministers finally entered the room in which Mycroft was waiting, Bowling immediately leading his guest to the auburn who faked his most polite and professionaly-kind smile, internally promising himself to have a word with the PM as soon as he can to make sure he'd never again end up in such a situation.
"You really need to meet Mr Holmes, one of the finest man in the realm." Bowling introduced him, apparently very proud of himself.
"Enchanté monsieur le Premier Ministre." the official greeted the French man, in a perfect mastering of Voltaire's language.
"Moi de même, monsieur Holmes." nodded the Prime Minister. "Seriez-vous de la famille du celebre Sherlock Holmes ?"
Of course, thought Mycroft, how could he escape a question about his annoying little brother ? Thanks to John's blog, the younger Holmes was now well-known in every country or so and despite being the oldest, the cleverer and the one who had made the consulting detective's career something else than just an addict's dream, he was now always regarded, for those who weren't into the states powerful men very restricted circle, only as 'the brother of the great Sherlock Holmes'.
"Il s'agit en effet de mon jeune frère." he smirked, resisting his urge to let out a heavy sigh.
"Vous devez être très fier de lui ?" countinued the French man, delighted to know something about his interlocutor.
Was the auburn proud of his baby brother ? Of course, he was, especially these last months were he had behaved nearly as a normal human being, not causing too much tantrum and scandals, but he was certainly not to admit his proudness in public and simply nodded slightly with a little smile, letting the other man deduced whatever he wanted from the gesture.
"I'm sorry to interrupt your most probably fascinating conversation, but the Queen is awaiting us." Bowling intervene, not having understood a single word of the exchange the two other men had had, except that they had mentioned Sherlock at a point.
Relieved not to have to find something else to say, the elder Holmes stepped aside, letting the two Prime Minister walk through the room, following them in the distance. The Queen was indeed awaiting them in a large lounge on of the second floor and as Mycroft was to stop at the entrance, letting the two head of government proceed through the room, Bowling grabbed his arm and dragged him in as well, forcing the elder Holmes to plaster a polite smile on his face as he was bowing.
"Bienvenue au Royaume-Uni monsieur Stamm." the Queen greeted the French man, shaking his hand, smiling despite, the auburn could notice, a nervous stiff in her left arm, probably due to her angriness for the man's lateness.
"Votre Majesté." the Prime Minister bowed once again. "C'est un immense honneur de vous rencontrer."
Bloody French, the official thought, they had beheaded their own kings and claimed they couldn't be happier in their republic but everytime they were to encounter a monarch, they couldn't repress being all cheesy.
Despite his numerous bowing, it quickly appeared to Mycroft that Stamm had no idea about the protocol and etiquette and it took him less than two minutes before making his first important mistake by talking directly to Bowing about the Queen as if she wasn't in the room. Taking pity of him and desperate to find a use at his presence in the room, the auburn gave the French man a little hit in the ribs with his elbow, granting himself a surprised glance from the man, who apparently didn't understood the message and carried on talking to the British Prime Minister.
As he was looking up again, the elder Holmes caught an amused look on the Queen's face and they exchanged an amused look, the monarch having remarked the man's attempt to arrange the situation. It wasn't the first time the official exchanged a joke with his sovereign as they had meet more often than the auburn could recall, but it always gave him a weird feeling of himself breaking the conventions.
The encounter lasted an hour and a half more and when he was leaving the lounge, the elder Holmes could have sworn to have seen the Queen winking at him. As the rest of the visit was supposed to take place at the 10 Downing Street, the three men made their way out of the Palace, the French PM apparently still unaware of his numerous rudeness against the monarch and the Peter Bowling not being in a rush to point it out to him. The two PM climbed in the first car, Mycroft following in the next one in which his personal assistant was already awaiting him.
"Anthea ? What are you doing here ? I told you I could manage my day without you." he remarked surprised as the driver was closing the door behind him.
"No you can't sir." she denied with an amused smile handling him his home keys and wallet. "Gregory called me because you've left those at home and he was going out for the day, locking you out.
"Alright I can't." chuckled the official. "But I need to learn."
"Indeed you need. So, how was that meeting ? Have you heard anything about what they said in the room." she wondered as the car was leaving the Palace.
"Better than that. I was in the room." sighed Mycroft. "I really need to figure out what Bowling have with me at the moment because I don't like that a bit."
"Do you want me to try to sneak around and my Downing Street's colleagues gossip while you will be at the luncheon ?" the young woman proposed with a grin.
"I really don't know what I would do without you Anthea ..." nodded the elder Holmes. "About Stamm, he is probably the rudest person toward the Queen I've ever met. He doesn't even understand when you try to correct him ..."
"Bloody French ?" giggled his PA.
"Pretty much yes. And a bit dumb too." snorted the auburn. "Even the Queen noticed that I was trying to correct him and that he didn't seem to respond. She winked at me, Anthea !"
"She winked ? The Queen winked ?"" chuckled the assistant. "Have you slept last night sir ?"
"Pretty sure, yes. That might give out how much he had been neglectful of the etiquette." confirmed the official.
"Am I to deduce that we must prepare a war declaration with France in the next days ?" joked the young woman.
"Not before Wednesday please, I have something planned on Tuesday night and I'd rather not be disturbed please ..." winked Mycroft as the vehicle was stopping in front of the 10 Downing Street.
He escaped his car and entered the infamous address, sighing heavily at the prospect of the next hours he was to spent sat between a French dismissive man and his own dumb Prime Minister. Sincerely, he had no idea if the PM was thinking that he was making him a favour by letting him assist to this encounter but he would rather be anywhere else than in the lunch room of Downing Street.
Xxxx
This chapter is dedicated to WholockedEllie because she dedicated way to many chapter to me without me reciprocating it so here you go dear !
Looking very excited for the next chapter which will mark quite a big step, 100 chapters !