Eyes On You: Book-1 [A Mycroft Holmes Fanfiction]

Chapter 38- A Tiny Brown Woman

It's Tara's day off. She hardly ever took a day off, sitting idle at home was not her cup of tea. And with Mycroft of to work, she was bored out of her mind so, she decided to clean the closet. Not that it needed cleaning, since she shared it with Mycroft. But she had to do something to keep herself busy.

As Tara organizes their closet, she found a box full of files. Mycroft was a very organized person, even when he did bring his work to the bedroom, he was sure to take it back to the study when he was done. All the files were labeled with the names of women. One of them was named Elizabeth Smallwood. Tara curiously opened the file and flipped through its pages in horror.

'Well, that was oddly descriptive' she muttered and put the file back in the box.

When Mycroft returns home, he finds Tara sitting on the settee at the end of their bed, a familiar box sitting next to her. This was going to be a long night. He sighed and started to undress, getting into his pajamas.

Tara blankly blinked at him. 'Mycroft'

'Yes' he drawled.

She didn't really have a plan about how she was going to ask him about the box of contracts. 'Do you mind explaining what exactly is this?' she pointed at the box.

Mycroft smirked at how uncomfortable she was. 'It is a box of contracts. Non-disclosure agreements to be precise, with every woman I have ever slept with, preventing them from revealing the details of their dalliance with me' he said coolly. 'Well, not every woman I have slept with. There is another box' he added.

'Huh... So, there is another box' Tara laughed uncomfortably. There were at least 20 files in one box. She didn't have to do the math to understand, that was a lot of women. She had a lot of questions and her mind wouldn't be at peace until she got acceptable answers to all of them. 'The period of some of these contracts ...overlap' one would think she would be bothered by the fact that her partner signed NDAs with all the women he slept with, NDAs that described in detail their sexual arrangements. They were so detailed she couldn't bear to read them. But, she came from a place where people often used sex as a means to get their way so, she wasn't going to judge Mycroft for drawing up a clearly defined sexual contract.

'They do. And?' Mycroft couldn't help but smirk at his partner's discomfort. 'They were sexual partners and only that. Fidelity was not something I owed them' he explained and waited for her to process it.

Tara looked at Mycroft and nodded. Seeing that she came from a family where she was the only person, who understood the concept of fidelity, she could live with Mycroft's explanation. She understood that Mycroft had never cheated on her, he didn't have to say it out loud. So, she moved on to her next query. 'There is a file named Anthea Dawkins' she said calmly. With any other couple, this conversation would have held an entirely different tone. This couple however chooses to discuss it like it were an item on their grocery list.

'Yes' Mycroft nodded.

Tara looked at Mycroft, nervously. Having meaningless sex with women and making them sign a non-disclosure agreement before it, was not exactly fine but she could understand it. But doing it with your secretary. That was a whole different ball game, bordering on sexual misconduct at the workplace.

'She wasn't my secretary at the time' Mycroft said when Tara wouldn't stop staring at him.

Tara sighed in relief. 'One last question... Why didn't you ever sign a contract with me?'

Mycroft smiled and exhaled 'The clearly defined contracts were my safety net. You trusted me with everything. I owed it to you, to trust you. Besides what I shared with these women' Mycroft said pointing at the box of files 'will never come close to what you and I have' Tara smiled at nodded 'On second thoughts, you would have killed me if I had asked you to sign an NDA' Mycroft added. Tara laughed and smacked his arm. Mycroft pulled her close and kissed her forehead.