Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Greg's P.O.V.

Christmas 2008

The first time I met Mummy Holmes was one Christmas when Mycroft had invited me to go home with him. He almost always goes home for Christmas, and Mummy Holmes has always said that her children can bring guests with them. Mycroft asked me to go so I accepted the invitation. Mycroft and I had only been on a few dates at this point, as I met them for the first time a few months prior, when Sherlock barged onto a crime scene and started rattling off deductions, solving the case in about 5 minutes. Sherlock has been helping us ever since.

“Mummy, this is my partner, Gregory Lestrade.” Mycroft said, introducing me.

“Hello.” I greeted confidently as we walked inside.

“Welcome to Holmes Manor.” Mummy Holmes said, walking over and pulling me into a hug. When she let go, Mycroft took my hand and led me over to the table. “So, Gregory. What do you do for a living?”

“I’m a Detective Inspector at New Scotland Yard.” I replied.

“Which division?”

“Homicide.” I winced. Probably not the thing to say to impress your boyfriend’s mother. Mummy Holmes had clearly seen and placed a hand over mine.

“I’m sure it can be very tough. I imagine they are very lucky to have you. What did you say Sherlock does, My?” She asked. Her usage of a nickname for Mycroft made me smile. He hates anyone shortening his name. Unless it’s me when we’re in bed together.

“He calls himself a consulting detective.” Mycroft sighed.

“What does that mean?” She asked. Mummy Holmes then turned to look at me. “I love all of my children but I don’t always understand them.”

“He helps the police when they are out of their depth and can’t solve a crime.” Mycroft explained.

“So, he’s a private detective?” She summarised.

“We don’t consult private detectives, Mrs Holmes.” I added.

“Please, you’re such a charming young man. My name is Emily.” She smiled.

Chapter Text

The first time I took John to meet mummy was Christmas, as that’s the only time I actually make any effort to go home. We hadn’t been together for that long, but John and I have been friends for years and we made it through Reichenbach, we were clearly going to be able to make it through anything. At least, I hoped we could considering mummy is very much like me and my siblings. This Christmas though, thankfully, both Mycroft and Quentin had to work so it was just me and John. The perfect time to take John home. I don't like it when my siblings are there, too. They always interfere with things that are none of their business.

John was feeling slightly nervous when we pulled up to the house. “Why are you nervous?” I asked.

“Sherlock, you do realise that there is the chance your mother won't like me, don't you?” John checked.

“That never occurred to me. I love you and I'm sure mummy will too.” I replied, honestly.

“You love me?”

“Of course I do.” I replied. John then pulled me into a kiss. I guess he didn't expect that. I don’t really know why it surprised him, there’s no other way to explain how I feel about him. We were interrupted by a knock on the car window.

“Are you coming in or not?” Mummy asked, hands on her hips. John and I both flushed red. I didn’t exactly want my mum to catch up kissing. We had been unlike most other teenagers growing up. Most parents would have not been surprised to come home and find their children having sex with someone but we were never like that. We didn’t even have any friends so we certainly never had anyone else. Mummy headed back into the house, allowing John and I to compose ourselves before following her. Once we entered the house, I led John up to my old room so we could put our bags down before joining mummy in the main room.

“That was embarrassing.” I stated.

“Sherlock, she could’ve walked in on us doing much worse.” John stated.

“I suppose so.” I sighed. I then led John back downstairs to where my mummy was making tea. Mummy started with the questions as soon as we sat down.

“So, John, what do you do for a living?” She began.

“I work part time in a doctor’s surgery. I also help Sherlock with solving cases for the police.” John replied.

“And you live together?” She continued.

“Yes, we’ve lived together for about 3 years now.”

“How did you become a doctor?” Mummy asked.

“I became a doctor when I was in the army.”

“You were in the army? What happened?”

“Mummy, did you ever think maybe John doesn’t want to talk about it?” I asked, knowing he wasn’t fond of that particular memory and tried to repress it as much as possible.

“Sorry, John, you don’t have to tell me about. You’re right, Sherlock. I was being insensitive.” Mummy apologised. John smiled.

“We have all Christmas for you to get to know John.” I added.

When John went up to bed that night, Mummy pulled me aside. “I’m glad you have John. He seems wonderful.”

Chapter Text

Quentin was nervous. He was only 24 and had never been in a relationship serious enough to introduce someone to his mummy before. And then James Bond happened. Mycroft and Sherlock both disapproved of James; they'd told him as such after meeting the man. All their deductions told them everything they needed to know and Mycroft could just look at James's MI6 file. They had chosen a weekend to go up and see her because both of them had been ordered to take a few days off after James’s last mission had gone so terribly wrong that he’d nearly died and Q had been a wreck. Ideally, Q just wanted to stay in bed with James all weekend and get reaquainted with his body since he’d been away for nearly a month. But, of course, Mycroft and Sherlock had told their mother that he had someone so he’d received a call from her a week ago.

“Hello, Mummy.” Q greeted as he answered the phone.

“What’s this I hear about you having a boyfriend?” Mummy barked.

“Mycroft and Sherlock told you, didn’t they?” Q replied.

“Of course they did, I need to look after my baby. Who is he?” Mummy asked.

“He’s a colleague.” Q stated, hoping to keep this conversation as short as possible. 

“That’s not good enough, Quentin. I want to know more. You've never been in a serious relationship before and now someone is important enough to introduce to your brothers? I want to know more about him. I want to meet the man who has captured my baby's heart." Mummy stated.

"How about I bring him to meet you when he gets back?" Q asked.

"Back from where?" She continued. Q was fed up with the questions but knew it would be at least ten times worse when he actually took James to meet his mother.

"He's out of the country for work and don't ask because I can't tell you anything else. I'll tell you more when he gets back. I'll talk to him about coming to see you. I'm not making any promises." Q explained.

"Fine but I better meet him soon or I'm coming to visit you." Mummy added. "I love you, baby. Goodbye." As soon as mummy had hung up, Q breathed a sigh of both relief and frustration. Great. He'd be causing problems for his brothers in the future due to this. He would have told mummy eventually. Probably when he was ready to. And now he didn't have a choice. James would probably run for the hills - it had been difficult enough to convince the double oh to enter into an official relationship.

The mission hadn't gone too badly but James had only just got back and immediately visited Q Branch, even though he should have gone to debrief with M and then to Medical, not that James Bond ever went to Medical. Q was happy to see James, but they were at work and no one knew so James went into Q’s office and shut the door before pulling the genius into his arms and kissing him. It felt like forever since he’d last been with Q. “I missed you.” James whispered against Q’s lips, pulling Q against him tighter.

“Shut up and kiss me.” Q demanded. James was just about to when there was a knock on the door of the office. They pulled apart quickly and stood far enough apart that it didn’t look like anything had been happening.

“Sir, 006 needs help and is refusing to listen to anyone that isn’t you.” R stated before leaving.

“Of course he is.” Q sighed. “I’ll see you later?” 

“Yeah.” James agreed.

Q was just about to get ready for bed when James finally stumbled in. Q had spent 3 hours getting 006 out of the mess he’d gotten himself into and Q had been ready to kill the man himself. James had been to Medical and been given a clean bill of health after they’d stitched up a ‘small scratch’ on James’s side. At least that’s what 007 had called it. Q refused to call something that required 7 stitches a ‘small scratch’ but it certainly wasn’t life threatening. When 006 had returned to London a couple of hours after being extracted from the field, James had gone out with Alec for a couple of drinks whilst Q completed the reports of the mess, like usual, really. Q had got back to the flat and had a quick dinner, just a tin of soup heated in the microwave, but it had been enough to satisfy his hunger. James smiled as soon as he saw Q and pulled his genius into his arms for a kiss. Q grudgingly accepted, he wasn’t the biggest fan of tasting alcohol on his partner’s lips. Although, James must not have drank a lot as Q could hardly smell any, never mind taste it. “Something wrong?” James asked.

“No, I was just expecting you to taste of alcohol.” Q admitted.

“I didn’t feel like drinking much and I wanted to come home earlier but you know what Alec is like.” James responded, sitting on the bed and pulling Q onto his lap.

“So, if you’re sober, can I ask you a question then?” Q said.

“You can ask me anything you like.” James smiled.

“My brrothers have told our mummy about you…” Q started, trailing off, unsure how to proceed.

“And she wants to meet me?” James guessed. Q nodded. “That’s understandable. When do you want this to happen?”

“Wait, you’re okay with meeting my mummy?” Q checked.

“Of course I do. I love you.” James stated. Q pulled James in for a fierce kiss and all other conversations about his mother were removed from his mind and the couple lost themselves in the love and passion they felt for one another.

Q woke up the next morning with James wrapped around him. The genius couldn’t help but smile when he thought about the previous night. Q hadn’t expected James to love him, he thought maybe they could get there at some point, knowing he was already head over heels for the 00 agent, but James had never seemed like the type to fall quickly. Maybe it was something about Q. James began to lazily kiss the back of Q’s neck, knowing that James was now awake, Q turned in his arms to kiss him good morning properly. James always had a day off after a return from a mission and M often let Q have the day off as well, knowing it did everyone in Q’s branch a favour. Unfortunately, James wasn’t going to get the morning sex he was expecting. “James, we don’t have the time for this.” Q stated.

“Why? I thought you had the day off?”

“My mummy got impatient and is on her way here to meet you.”

"Oh, fuck." James cursed.

"You had to expect this at some point, James. And you did agree to meet her." Q responded.

"I just didn't expect it to happen today." The double oh remarked, getting out of bed and heading to the bathroom. There was no way he was meeting his boyfriend’s mother without having showered first.

Half an hour later, James and Q were sitting around the island in the kitchen when the doorbell rang. James was on his feet, immediately, not wanting Q's mummy to think he was slouching about. This whole thing was completely foreign to Q who had never introduced a boyfriend to his family before, not that Sherlock and Mycroft had allowed him to do it on his own terms, of course. That would be asking too much. Q led Mummy into the main room where James was waiting. “You must be James Bond.” She remarked.

“It’s lovely to meet you, ma’am.” James smiled. Mummy raised an eyebrow.

“Well, you’re politer than Mycroft would have me believe.” Mummy smiled. “You can call me Mrs Holmes for now.”

“Would you like a cup of tea?” James offered.

“That would be lovely but Quentin can make it. I need to talk to you without him being present.” Mrs Holmes warned, allowing Q to sneak into the kitchen as Mrs Holmes led James into the living room and shut the door so they couldn’t be overheard.

Once they were isolated in the living room, Mrs Holmes turned to James. “I’ve heard a great many things about you from both of my older sons, that do not paint you in the best light. This is, of course, understandable as they are protective of Quentin. He’s the baby of the family, so, naturally, we all are. I wanted to give you the chance to give me your side of the story.”

“I can imagine the kind of things they’ve been saying and I won’t deny that in the past I haven’t done the most reputable things. Your son has changed that. I lost my parents when I was young, that took its toll on me. I chose not to form attachments to other people in order to protect myself. I honestly never intended to fall in love with your son, but the more time I spent with him, the more time I wanted to spend with him. I never want to do anything that would hurt him but I don’t have the safest job, I know I could lose my life doing it, but so does Q. He’s chosen to love me anyway. I completely understand if you don’t approve of me though.” James explained. Q chose that moment to make his presence known.

“I don’t care if you don’t approve of him for whatever reasons, be it the dangerous job or whatever Mycroft and Sherlock have said. I’m not going to stop being with James. He’s the love of my life and I won’t give that up.” Q stated.

“I believe I told you that I wanted a private word with your partner.” Mummy frowned at him. Q stood his ground though. “I don’t disprove at all, actually. The things James has said make a lot of sense, hence why I wanted his version of events.”

“So he can join us at Christmas?” Q checked. Mrs Holmes nodded. James and Q shared a smile.