Summary: Modern AU. He always left her chocolate candies on her desk. They were a secret, of course. And on Valentine's day, she expected another. After working for the man for ten months, she knew it would be forthcoming. Mister Bates was sweet like that, to think of her.

Disclaimer: I don't own Downton Abbey or Anna or Bates.

A/N: I wrote this for terriejane's Anna & Mr. Bates Weekend Challenge on tumblr, and I am posting it here as well upon request. I don't usually indulge in modern AU's, but I started typing and this is what came out after I stalled on what I was originally working on. So... Happy Valentine's Day! In lieu of chocolate, reviews are appreciated. :)

The prompt: It's John and Anna's first Valentine's Day as a couple. How does it go? What do they do? Can be a modern A/U as well.

She'd known him about ten months and considered him as good of a friend as people she'd known just as many years. Even if he was her boss. But he was one of those friendly, considerate bosses who asked her about her day before demanding the latest client memo or asking her to stay late unless absolutely necessary.

And there was the chocolate.

He always left her chocolate candies on her desk when he knew she was having a bad day. They were a secret, of course, these treats that she looked forward to at random times when the work proved overwhelming and the clients impossible to please. She knew that he could not be open with such displays or he could lose his job.

Or worse. His wife could find out.

But the man she only ever referred to as Mr. Bates still left them for her, by her keyboard or under a sheet of paper containing a memo about a client's file. They were never accompanied by a note or other token of affection, nor did he ever mention them. She could not even swear that it was he who left them. But Anna knew.

She also knew that the treats from her boss held no hidden motive or request. He never asked anything of her which made her uncomfortable. But just as she knew that little Tommy Preston had a crush on her in their first year of school together, Anna recognized the love in Mr. Bates' eyes. It reflected as brightly as any precious stone. But his wife, the company's policies on sexual harassment, and his own self deprecating nature stood between anything coming of that love, much to Anna's sadness.

On Valentine's day, she expected another candy. In fact, she searched her desk for it as she arrived in the morning, seeing the light already on across the hall in Mr. Bates' office. But her desk was sadly empty of any such treats. But Anna was patient. She could wait. After working for the man for ten months, she knew it would be forthcoming. He was sweet like that, to think of her.

The day went on with co-workers receiving flowers and balloons and gifts from their sweethearts. No one questioned Anna about her lack of deliveries, not even those who did not suspect she had a schoolgirl crush on her boss. After a particularly bad break-up, Anna had not been on a date in nearly two years. And after finally beginning to understand what real love felt like, she had no desire to settle for something less.

But as the morning turned to afternoon and then five o'clock approached with aching finality, Anna despaired that Valentine's day would pass entirely without any acknowledgment from Mr. Bates. True, he had no obligation to leave her candy, or anything else, for that matter. Doing so was a huge risk for him, and part of her understood why he might let the holiday pass without any acknowledgment. But still… it hurt to think that perhaps the feelings she held so deeply for him were not returned after all.

Towards the end of the day, Anna decided that she did not care if she received nothing on this day of love. But she wanted Mr. Bates to receive a token from her of affection, even if it was secret and even if it was inadequate to reflect how much she cared for the man who was more to her than any employer ever could be.

The heart was cut from a piece of red paper she found in a supply closet, and the remainder of the piece was shredded in the copy room to dispose of the evidence. Anna added no embellishment or handwriting to the heart that might identify her as the giver. And once it was hastily created, she was quick to deliver it, finding a moment while Mr. Bates was upstairs speaking to their vice president, Robert Crawley. Entering his office with a stack of papers he needed to sign, Anna quickly slid the heart under the mouse of his computer so he would discover it when next he sat down to work.

And then she waited.

The clock showed only a quarter of an hour left of her day, but Anna usually waited for her boss to return to his office before she left, mostly to ensure she took care of any last minute work needing to be done. But she also waited because it felt wrong to go without saying good night, a ritual between them. Besides, Mr. Bates rarely left her waiting for long.

True to his nature, he appeared at five minutes until five, casting her a smile as he strode down the hall towards his office. Anna returned his smile as she looked up at him from her desk.

"No Valentines for you?" he asked, noting her empty desk.

The question surprised her, and Anna ducked her head in embarrassment that she had been anticipating one from him. Hiding a wave of disappointment, she said only, "No, not for me."

"I hate to make you stay, but could you take this down to Mr. Carson for me?" he asked, holding out a copy of a memo he'd brought from upstairs.

"Of course," she said, taking the paper in hand. The walk across the building to the office in question only took a couple of minutes, and she found the gray-haired old curmudgeon still at his desk. But across from him in a plush leather chair sat Ms. Hughes.

"Mister Bates wanted me to bring you this," Anna said as they both looked up at her in the doorway. She handed over the memo, and Mr. Carson thanked her. She smiled at Ms. Hughes, for whom she used to work as an administrative assistant until she'd been assigned to Mr. Bates. Feeling as though she'd interrupted something, she turned to go.

But the older woman forced her to pause by asking, "Are you looking forward to moving back down here, Anna?"

Anna stopped. "What do you mean?" she asked in confusion.

Ms. Hughes glanced at Mr. Carson, who looked at her curiously. "We just received a call from upstairs that you're to be re-assigned to our section, effective immediately. I had assumed you were already informed by Mister Bates."

The information felt like a stab directly to her heart, but Anna forced herself not to react. It would do no good for everyone to know of her preference for a man who obviously no longer wanted her working for him. And she thought she'd understood him, that they understood each other. They didn't have to be together, not now, and perhaps not ever. It was enough to know how she felt about him and how she thought he'd felt about her…

She blinked back tears and the choking sensation in the back of her throat enough to say, "Oh, I'm sure he will as soon as I get back. Goodnight, Mister Carson. Mrs. Hughes."

Before either could say anything further, Anna fled.

She stopped in the women's toilet on her way back to her desk, taking a moment to allow herself to reach some composure. Thankfully, five o'clock had passed while she was in Mr. Carson's office and people were on their way out. She allowed herself some time so as few people might glimpse her devastated reaction to this news as possible.

Mister Bates did not want her as his administrative assistant. He had not even told her about the reassignment. She suddenly felt like such a fool, to believe that he harbored these hidden feelings for her when he had never openly expressed such emotions. His attention to her had never stepped beyond what was purely professional, and even when her own comments danced too closely towards that fine line of flirting, he distanced himself. With painful, aching clarity, Anna realized that she'd been projecting her own emotions onto him all along.

But the candy… surely that had to mean something? Her stomach rolled painfully as she determined that it really was nothing. Even if it was Mr. Bates who left her pieces of chocolate periodically, that was no expression of love and devotion. It was only chocolate.

Glancing at her watch, Anna realized that it was a quarter past five o'clock and she still had not gotten back to her desk. She decided to go and collect her purse and power down her computer as quickly as she could so as to avoid even seeing Mr. Bates before she left for the day. If he stayed in his office, it would be easy enough to miss him, even though it would be out of character for her to leave without saying good night.

But as she approached her area, Anna was dumbfounded.

A huge bouquet of roses sat on her desk - yellow long-stemmed roses, at least two dozen, arranged artfully amid sprigs of babies' breath and stems of fern. Anna approached slowly, looking around to see if anyone else could confirm the apparition which had appeared in the twenty minutes she'd been gone. But everyone else in her area of the floor had gone home, either eager to see their own sweethearts or to drown their sorrows down the street at the local pub.

The delicate scent of the flowers greeted her as she walked forward and leaned in to take it in. Amid the beautiful blooms she looked for a card but did not see one. But even so, Anna knew who had left the roses. She also knew the giver was standing behind her in the doorway to his office, simply watching her as he leaned heavily against his cane.

Anna turned around, not bothering to hide her grin. He stood just where she anticipated. Appreciating the way the the skin around his eyes wrinkled when he smiled, Anna stepped tentatively towards him.

"They're from you?" she said, the words coming out more like a question than she intended.

Mister Bates nodded slowly. "There is a language to roses. Do you know what yellow means?" he asked.

"Friendship," Anna said quickly, pulling the answer the recesses of her memory, stuck there from far too many magazines.

"And what do red roses mean?" he asked softly.

"Love. Romance."

Nodding again, he stepped to the side of his doorway and gestured for her to look inside. On his desk sat another identical vase full of roses, except these were a deep crimson instead of the bright yellow of the ones on her desk.

"I wanted to give you those instead," Mr. Bates told her softly, his voice dropping so low that it was almost inaudible. "But first, you should read this."

He handed her a stapled packet of paper, and she recognized instantly that it was a legal document. Anna's eyes scanned across the first sheet quickly, taking in the information. At the top was a familiar name - John Bates - but it was in a caption with another, Vera Bates. And in the center of the page in bold, official letters read the words, Final Order of Dissolution of Marriage.

"What is this?" she asked, already understanding but needing to confirm it.

"The divorce is finally done with," he told her. "I'm a free man."

The process had been long, Anna knew - three years of constant fighting and motions and every dirty legal trick Vera's attorney could use. But she could see from the relief in his eyes that it truly was over.

"I'm so happy for you."

Anna's enthusiasm was entirely for him, knowing as she did how miserable his wife had made him. She had worked with him for less than a year, but in that time she had seen how miserable the divorce proceedings had made him and how much vitriol and hatred Vera was capable of displaying.

"And this, this is something which impacts you," he said, handing her another piece of paper.

This one was a memo on the company stationary, and it was addressed to Robert Crawley from John Bates. Anna did not recognize it even though she typed all of his memos, and as she began reading it, she understood that he must have done it himself. With a smile, she even recognized a few typos that she was used to catching and correcting on his drafts.

But Anna's smile faded as she worked her way through the few lines of the page and their meaning sunk in.

"You're quitting?" she asked, aghast.

He nodded. "I believe I should," he told her.

"Why?"

"Because I can't ask my administrative assistant to go on a date with me while I still work here. It wouldn't be fair."

She blinked at him as her mouth went wide at the pronouncement. If anything, his smile went wider at her obviously stunned expression. But as she continued to stare at him in shock, his smile faded away.

"Anna, there is no pressure here. You are under no obligations, and nothing will happen to you or your career if you say no. In fact, I already told Robert what I was doing, and officially you are assigned to Ms. Hughes as of five o'clock this afternoon. I know it isn't right to dump all of this on you-"

What he might have said next was truly irrelevant because Anna interrupted his statement by occupying his lips with her own. She had to stretch onto her tip-toes to make up for the large height difference between them, but it was a small impediment. She felt his sigh of relief as he kissed her back, his free hand coming up to delicately wrap around the back of her neck and draw her closer.

The kiss was soft and slow, a perfect first kiss for two people who had never even discussed their attraction to each other. In it they found a world of hidden passion complete with the promise of more. And when it was over, Anna found herself giggling in delight as the heady sensation left her light headed.

"I want the red roses and the yellow roses," she informed him. "But I don't want you to quit."

"Why don't we discuss it over dinner?" he suggested.

Anna retrieved her coat and purse from her desk as he turned out the light in his office. And as they headed towards the elevators, Mr. Bates reached into his pants pocket and pulled out the red heart she'd left him. He held it up to show her with a question in his eyes.

"Happy Valentine's Day," Anna said softly.

He smiled at her in obvious pleasure. But instead of placing the heart back in his pocket where it might become creased or lost, he stopped and pulled out his wallet. Where other men might place a picture of their families, he had an empty space, but without hesitation, he filled it with that heart. As he returned the wallet to his pocket, he stopped again, an amused smile gracing his features.

"I'd almost forgotten," he said, removing a heart-shaped piece of chocolate wrapped in pink foil. Handing it to her, he noted absently, "I had intended to leave this for you this morning but got caught up in everything else."

Smiling to herself, Anna unwrapped the candy and popped it into her mouth. The velvety sweetness inside dissolved in her mouth. The foil contained a pre-printed message, and with a grin she handed it back to him.

Will you be my Valentine?

fin