A/N: Just because I love you. Happy Val-Andith-times Day!
Nothing to Remember
"We've got so much going on right now, Anthony, I don't think we should worry about any grand gestures on St. Valentines Day."
"Oh dear…I had tickets to Disney World…"
"Liar. Save that sort of thing for our honeymoon. But could we please refrain from any kind of gift giving? Maybe just dinner?"
"Do you really want to go to Disney World on our honeymoon?"
"Anthony, focus…"
"It's hard to think about anything other than what your hand is doing right now. And Disney World, of course."
"Anthony! We've just put my flat on the market, we're meeting with my mother next week to plan an excruciating obligatory reception, I've got a publishing deadline next month—"
"You took your hand away."
"And I don't want either of us to be distracted by trying to come up anything big on Valentines. So can we please agree to keep it simple? No gifts, no flowers, no expensive lingerie that won't make it past one use? Just dinner?"
"I'll agree to anything you want, my darling. Especially if you put your hand back…"
"Thank you, Anthony. Oh yes…right there!"
"Is the lingerie completely off the table?
"I've got things in my bureau you've not even seen yet, Anthony. And if I may remind you, its been on the table before."
"And the sofa…the kitchen counter…the washing machine…"
Dr. Anthony Strallan whistled "It's a Small World After All" as he fetched his tea from the cart. He felt remarkably unstressed for a Valentines Day, and was quite grateful to Edith for suggestion they do nothing.
"You're looking chipper today, Strallan. Big plans for Valentine's Day?"
"As a matter of fact, Reggie, no." He grinned at the man's astonished look.
"You've just gotten engaged to the most beautiful woman to grace these halls in decades, if I may say—"
"No, you may not."
Ah…well, I can't believe you've got no plans at all. What sort of fiancee are you, man?"
"One who listens to his intended when she states very clearly that she doesn't want anything done," Anthony replied smugly.
To his surprise, Reggie Sparks laughed so hard he had to bend over to catch his breath. Although Anthony wouldn't have been devastated if Reggie expired right there before his next tutorial, he couldn't just stand by and watch. He thumped the man between his shoulder blades a few times, nearly knocking the smaller man off his feet.
"Dear God, Strallan," he gasped out. "Could you be a bigger fool?"
"Probably, but not likely in this context."
"They all say that," Sparks went on, red faced and wheezing. "And not a one of them mean it. You're barking mad if you don't do something, and you'll be doing your barking from the doghouse, Mate."
Anthony looked at him skeptically. Reggie Sparks had been married three times, so he might be useful as a sort of negative example. And God knows he'd made a hash of his marriage to Maud…
"You'd better get on the stick, Strallan," Reggie threw over his shoulder as he staggered back to his office. "It's almost mid-morning."
Of course, Anthony has no intention of listening to Reggie Sparks' advice on anything. Edith had said nothing, and he intended to honor her wishes in the matter. Besides, there wasn't anything he could think of off the top of his head that could go any distance towards expressing how he felt about her.
Foolish to try. He was scanning the websites of local florists to kill time, was all. And he was checking the hours of the jewelry store just in case such information should ever be needed. And the erotic toys site was just for…personal research.
"You've been taking bad council," Edith's voice came from behind him, making him jump suddenly and bang his elbow on his desk. He slammed his laptop shut and tried to slow his heartbeat down.
"You know…when a chap's door is closed, it really is considered polite to knock," he scolded. "You never know what I might be up to in here."
"Which is why I don't knock. What better way to find out?" She giggled at his disgruntled, embarrassed look. "It's not like I found you surfing porn, Anthony."
"I haven't figured out what to 'Google' for that," he replied with an attempt at innocence., hoping the exotic toy site tab had been reduced.
"You don't need to 'Google' anything," she replied with a smile. "I put the fan fiction links in your bookmarks."
"I haven't come across anything…" he began.
"Yet," she finished for him. "And it doesn't matter at the moment, because you were searching florists. I thought we had an agreement, Anthony."
"We did - we do! I was just…well…"
She raised her eyebrows at him. He sighed and she pulled him up to wrap her arms around him. He hugged her gratefully.
"I just started to panic a bit after Reggie Sparks explained—"
"Oh," she interrupted. "Well there's your problem; combining 'Reggie Sparks' and 'explain' in the same sentence is not common sense usage."
"I'll remember that going forward," he said as he kissed the top of her head. "But he made me think…"
"Did he? About what?"
"I know we'd agreed to nothing special, but I began to wonder if you really wanted our first Valentines Day to have nothing to remember. You know…when we're old together and I'm still trying to figure out how I was so damn fortunate that you married me anyway."
"Anthony, romantic gestures are lovely. But all I'm really going to remember from this first Valentines Day is how very much I love you. The same thing I remember from everyday. So…" she kissed his neck and began working her way up to his jaw as she spoke. "We'll have nice dinner, take a walk and talk about our future and come back home to be together." She moved across his cheek to his lips. "I might even be persuaded to see what's in my bureau."
Anthony's heart leapt as her lips moved gently on his. "That sounds like something to remember," he said before moving his hand to the back of her head and pulling her back for another, deeper kiss.
"I seem to recall that your new camera has a video recording function…" she said breathlessly. "If a memory aid is needed."
Anthony's throat went dry and he made several noises that bore no relation to actual words.
"Why yes," he croaked, "It does."
Edith smiled wickedly before letting go of him and stepping towards the door.
"I hope you've read up on the instruction manual then. Its not likely that we're going to want to take the time to study up on it tonight," she said as she left.
Anthony stood in the middle of his office, trembling with arousal, unable to think clearly. Suddenly, her last words sunk in and he rushed frantically over to his laptop to see if he couldn't find an on-line instruction manual.
Though when he accidentally expanded the exotic toys tab, he did take a few moments to browse for Disney themed items. He had a honeymoon to plan, after all.