There was a knock on the door, and John walked in, holding a cup and a jug of water.

"I can come in, right?" He asked, noticing how intimate the two men looked.

"Yes, that's fine, John." Mycroft said, releasing his hand from Greg's. "In fact, I need to make a few phone calls, please excuse me."

Mycroft pulled out his phone and left the room, closing the door behind him. John poured out a cup of water, and handed it to Greg.

"Thanks, mate." Greg said, mostly out of reflex, but John beamed at hearing the term of endearment.

John had been so ashamed of his behaviour, he'd assumed Greg would want nothing to do with him anymore - and so was very happy to hear Greg treating him like his normal self. He felt like he didn't deserve it, but at least it gave him a chance to be a better person for his friend. Because since he'd gotten that call from Mycroft - he'd realised just how shitty of a friend he'd been. For a very long time.

"We're not going to ignore you anymore Greg. And I want you to try being more open with us and tell us when we're being complete arses to you. And you know, talk to us about how things are going of course."
"I… I dunno, John, it's hard at the best of times…"
"I know, I know, but we're letting you know that you can. Anytime. I'll ask questions to you so you can just answer without needing to bring it up. And I promise I won't avoid you, like I tried to."

John understood what Greg meant. He'd had quite a few patients over the years with problems bringing up problems to talk about, and found that being asked directly and often would help them start.

Greg gave him an awkward smile. John returned it. They hadn't really spoken about anything that Greg had shouted, but it seemed they'd reached an understanding. Greg knew that John realised the err of his ways, and was going to try change. And John could see Greg was willing to give him a second chance.

"John, look, I know that everything is still crap for you as well… I'm not expecting you to put yourself aside for me."
"Like you did for me?" John said pointedly. Greg smirked.

"Yes. I don't want our roles to be reversed later on."

John nodded. He was very appreciative that the detective, even despite everything that had happened, was still considerate towards his feelings. He was a good man, and deserved a better lot in life than he'd gotten thus far.

Out in the hallway, Mycroft called Anthea.

"I need the contact information for Gregory Lestrade's work colleagues, known as 'Donovan' and 'Anderson.'"

"Sir, it's rather late - nearing midnight…." Anthea protested.

"I … do not… care." Mycroft hissed into the phone.

"Yes sir." Anthea replied. She wasn't concerned about doing the work so late, as that happened all the time… she was more concerned that the who officers in question would not take kindly to being contacted at this hour. She hung up and began searching.

It only took a few moments for Mycroft to receive a text message containing the contact numbers of Sally Donovan and Phillip Anderson.

He pressed to dial Ms Donovan first. He knew neither of them knew who he was - all of his contact with NSY was done from higher up and his 'requests', as Gregory had put it, were filtered down from there.

"Hello?"
"Good evening, Ms Donovan."
"It's bloody night. What do you want? Who are you?" Sally's voice was garbled and brisk, as if she was annoyed from being woken. Mycroft found he was inexplicably angry at her, and decided to not reveal that he was Sherlock's brother, and instead merely a friend of Gregory's.

"My name is Mycroft. I am a friend of your boss, Detective Inspector Lestrade."

"Oh, alright."

Mycroft smiled at the change in tone of her voice.

"Why are you calling me at this hour? Is…is everything alright?" Sally asked, sounding slightly worried.

"No, in fact it is not. However this phone call is not intended to deliver you information, but rather for me to gather some of my own." Mycroft stated, smiling to himself at taking charge.

"What happened?"

"I will eventually answer your questions, however as I stated, I require information from you first."
"I can't give out information about our cases to someone I've never met over the phone." Sally stated blankly.

"You misunderstand me, Ms Donovan. Should I have required information regarding your work I would have it already without your involvement."

Sally didn't quite know what to make of the conversation so far. Mycroft was pleased that he was keeping her on her toes, it makes it much easier for honest information.

"Look, you said something was going on with Lestrade…"
"Yes, indeed it has, but first I need you to describe to me his behaviour since he returned to work, and your responses to said behaviour."

"What, all of it, now? You're crazy, mate. Forget it."

Mycroft's anger increased. He was not used to being spoken to with such insolence. He took a deep breath and channeled the emotions to further his purpose. Protecting Gregory.

"Listen to me very carefully. While Gregory has survived thus far, I can assure you, that unless you cooperate …you will not."

It was mostly an empty threat, but Mycroft couldn't help but say it.

"Are you threatening me? I could arrest you, you know."

"No, you couldn't. You wouldn't make it that far." Mycroft said in his calm, dangerous tone. "Now, as I can see you are having difficulty understanding me, I will make this easy for you. Answer my questions, and I will explain to you the situation."

Sally was not interested in submitting to death threats or blackmail, but she was still curious about knowing what happened with her boss. His departure earlier in the day was suspicious enough to make her follow through.

"Alright. But I'm still going to report you."

"Very well. What would you say Gregory's mood was when he first returned to work?"
"He was angry at us, that's what. Shouted at us about the Freak's death, and insulted us for just doing our jobs."

Mycroft cringed at hearing his brother being called a 'freak'.

"Do not call him that."

"Oh so you liked him to eh? Can see why you and the boss get along. He's always telling me that now."
"Good. Did you return the insults?"
"Well… I, he… he was being unreasonable."
"I'll take that as a yes."
"Look, it wasn't just me alright, everyone did. The Chief Superintendent was really pissed at him, and had blamed all of us as well for following Lestrade's mistakes with the F- Sherlock."

Mycroft swallowed. He hadn't realised the backlash Gregory had suffered from Sherlock's 'fraud' accusation. No wonder he'd been depressed about his future at the Yard… and his work was everything to him, apparently.

"Ok, and so after all this, what did he end up doing at the Yard? In general I mean."

"Just paperwork. He wasn't trusted out in the field by the boss, and he'd gotten a lot of paperwork built up while he was away. So he just sat there at his desk. Didn't talk to us anymore."
"Did you not find that odd? Why did you not go and talk to him?
"Cause we didn't want to get yelled at again, did we?"

Mycroft knew it was a lie, and that she at least hadn't wanted to talk to him because of being offended and angry. But he still had to ask about the 'goodbye' Gregory had mentioned, and wanted to make sure she felt bad for ignoring that.

"Well, consider today. Did anything out of the ordinary happen?"
"No. He just sat at his desk like normal. It looked like he didn't do any of the work even, but that's his problem, not ours."
"Did he speak to you?"
"No, why? What's this all about already?!"

"Soon. I need to build up a picture of events. Are you sure he didn't say anything to you at all?"
"No, well.. he said goodnight to me as he left, that's it."
"What did he say exactly?"

"I don't…"

There was a pause.

"He said 'Goodbye, Sally.' That was it."

Mycroft snorted into the phone.

"You idiot. You didn't think that meant something was up? After someone acting that way all week and then out of nowhere just says goodbye to you? Are you really that ignorant?"

"Wha…?" Sally said, her voice showing her fear. Mycroft was satisfied with that.

"Well, he attempted to commit suicide earlier today after leaving the office. I alerted the emergency services and his other friend, and so we made it there in time to save him. He's currently in the hospital."

Mycroft took a sadistic pleasure in hearing Sally's distressed squeal. He denied her coming to visit. He promptly informed her that he needed to phone her colleague, Phillip Anderson, and hung up. He smiled to himself. At least she was realising how bad things were for Gregory, but he felt a twinge of self hatred at himself because he had been just as ignorant not 12 hours ago.

The beginning of his phone call with Mr Anderson had gone similar to his one with Ms Donovan. However, he seemed to realise that something was wrong earlier, and care more. It surprised Mycroft, since his brother had always spoken so derogatorily about him.

"I… I realised something was up today, when he bumped into me and said goodbye. I mean he normally doesn't use my first name, and he never says 'goodbye', I mean, who does? I thought that tomorrow I could talk with him, and tell him that I felt bad bout how things happened and that I regretted being so forceful in my accusations against Sherlock. I mean it's obvious he's taken it hard…oh god, what's happened? He… he… looked so depressed, and you're telling me now that things aren't ok…"
"Your assumption is correct, Mr Anderson."
"I… I was awful to him, Mr Roft."
"Mycroft. Not Mike Roft."
"What? Oh, sorry. Mycroft. Is…is he ok though?"

"No, he's currently in hospital, but he is alive."

Mycroft easily worked out that Mr Anderson was a lot more remorseful than Ms Donovan. He didn't allow him to visit either, but asked to call him again later to discuss how to make things better for Gregory in the future once he returns to work. Mr Anderson requested that he inform Gregory that he was sorry, and Mycroft said he would if he felt he could bring up the subject. He honestly wasn't sure if it would help Gregory at the moment.

He made one more phone call, explaining the situation to Gregory's boss's boss, and that the detective inspector would be absent from work until further notice. He ended the call, smiling to himself. Sometimes he enjoyed having so much power. Well, most of the time.

He returned to the room to find Gregory had fallen asleep. John was sitting on the chair at the end of the room, and raised his finger to his lips to make sure Mycroft didn't wake him. He waved at the doctor to join him outside.

"I have arranged for Gregory to be off work until further notice. Now, I suggest we go speak to the nurse in charge. They will no doubt attempt to make us leave, and I assume you do not wish to?"
John nodded.

"Are you staying as well?" John asked incredulously. It was becoming evident that Mycroft did really care about Greg. Offering to stay in the hospital was simply astounding to John.

"For the time being, yes. I will organise for some change in clothes for us as well as a place to sleep."
"Thank you, Mycroft. I'm serious, not just for this, but for everything. You saved his life. And he seems already much better having heard that you're going to take care of him. You take care of us all… and in re-evaluating my own actions towards Greg, I've looked over mine towards you … and I want to say I'm sorry for my hostility all this time. Everything you've done has been to try and help others, and I saw you as having so much arrogance and power that I forgot for a while that you're still human… and humans make mistakes. All this is hard on you too so don't ignore yourself either, ok?"

Mycroft didn't know what to say. He knew John was being rather repetitive, but he needed to hear it just the same. He nodded.

"And I think Greg really likes you. You must remind him of Sherlock or something, cause he told me things don't seem so bad when you're around."

Mycroft tried to hide the faint reddening of his cheeks, and smiled. He'd always found the DI interesting, and had always felt affection towards him. Usually, he'd remind himself that he was affectionate because of how well Gregory took care of Sherlock. But now, he found himself caring for him independently of Sherlock. Mycroft contemplated on how this average bloke from NSY had managed to be appreciated entirely in the background for so long, and then suddenly become entirely… unavoidable.

Thanks to everyone who reviewed! I really appreciated all of the support. I got so encouraged that I decided to turn this into a series, "The Paths We Walk Together". There is now a sequel posted, Part II, "The Stairs Back Up" ( s/12632767/1/The-Stairs-Back-Up )
The next instalment will be Mystrade, and so I wanted to separate it from this part of the story.
I hope you enjoy the continuation!