A/N: Just a little something I ended up putting together during my week off work. Set during 2.8's canon, because who doesn't adore wedding times? Rated M for description more than anything else.
Inspired by the following prompt: 'Imagine your OTP making love the first night they're married, holding hands so tight it hurts because Person A's ring is pressing against B's fingers painfully - but it's good pain, because it's reminding them that they're joined by law and by love.' (of course, it's completely coincidental that person 'A' and person 'B' match up here...)
Also, I missed JamesLuver and Downtonluvr's birthdays recently, so take this as a belated offering if you so wish :)
Disclaimer: Downton Abbey, Anna and John Bates don't belong to me. Sob.
By Law and By Love
The fire crackled a dance of flames in the hearth, the flowers that had been placed in the room sent a beautiful aroma swirling. The bed beneath her was so remarkably soft that she believed if she sunk any further down into it that she might disappear for all eternity, the satin of the plush comforter the most luxurious material she had ever felt with her fingers that were accustomed to dealing with the starkest of contrasts.
Yet none of these aspects, as wonderful as they were in combination, were as perfect to Anna as having her husband - for now that's what he was, she thought in sheer amazement - laying next to her; the warm, solid and broad bulk of him as comforting and contenting as it was absolutely thrilling. For endless nights, she had envisioned him just in this very manner – in the most innocent of her passing thoughts as well as her deepest and hidden fantasies – his marvellous frame beside her, stretched the length of her.
She tore her gaze away from his amber-tinged irises and the soft crinkles that edged his eyes with the perfect and loving smile on his lips, down past his jaw and neck. With her eager help he had disrobed of his jacket, waistcoat, collar and tie; this was the most undressed he had been to her, and the intimacy was already deeply striking. A few buttons of his crisp white shirt had been freed whilst they had been engaged in their kisses, and Anna could not help but remain transfixed to the undervest that clung to the outline of his figure. She could observe a small dark patch of hair beneath the edge, her breath hitching at the barest suggestion that there could be more as yet uncovered to her. Her head dipped to attempt to conceal the rose flush upon her cheeks, the glowing fire seeming to ignite upon her. His legs covered by pinstriped fabric, sturdy and strong and going on forever. She imagined she must have looked almost unreal in comparison, her frame compact and cloaked in the ivory nightgown that flowed nearly past her feet.
His words had halted when he first saw her in this secret room, his breath held upon the air. His eyes had remained upon hers and the love within them had been unquestionable. A beauty from heaven, a goddess. A lady if he ever knew one.Her name, those two simple syllables she had responded to her whole life, had never sounded more wonderful as when they came from his lips.
He had not so much as insinuated as affirmed to her that she would be disappointed by the way he looked underneath his clothing. The male form wasn't the most attractive, and he had long since lost the best of his aesthetic qualities. She hushed him with utterings and soft presses of her mouth to his hands and then up to his own, tracing the dips and curves carefully and with much consideration. He was her husband, and she would never consider a man that could be finer or greater, with all that he had conquered and the victories he had laboured for and won graciously.
Her husband.The words made Anna's heart leap within her chest, as well as ache for the arduous amount of time they had waited to be confirmed in the eyes of God and the law, never mind that they had been so dedicated to one another for the longest time.
She saw the years flow within his eyes, the depth of emotion and the bond between them that had only served to grow stronger for all the adversity they had overcome. His hand engulfed hers in the space between them, and the rush Anna felt in her very soul was indescribable.
His other hand reached to cup her cheek, the pad of his thumb rubbing small circles and his gaze full of adoration as it connected with hers. A smile settled and then grew upon his face, he stretched hardly far at all across the bed to meet her. Anna felt alight at the surge of him, his body not even upon hers but the presence of him completely overtaking every one of her senses. His lips were warm and she felt his smile as he kissed her forehead, gentler than anything she had ever known. She closed her eyes and smiled too, the instinct absolutely natural, the joy she revelled in the purest that could be experienced.
More kisses in all their natures followed, hands joined as each blissful moment extended and then merged into the next. Anna paused now and again to breathe, reminding herself that what she was living was not simply a dream but so very real. John was patient and let his happiness show, kissing her cheeks and the slope of her neck softly, his breath tickling her while his fingers wove themselves carefully into her undone hair. He had developed a swift obsession with it, mesmerised as he helped her to remove the pins that held it securely in place, raking his fingers through the strands with the utmost care, tenderness and reverence. She had not asked him but she felt a deep affection fluttering within her chest at the way his hands had worked alongside hers, mirroring her movements. Already it seemed like a well-worn ritual, and she delighted in the idea that it would happen time and time again.
There were no obligations, he had promised her. It may have been their wedding night – the night that neither had dreamed they would get the pleasure of encountering so soon – but God knows, they had not gone about things in the most conventional manner. Though she was inexperienced and some apprehension would be entirely natural, Anna had no hesitations. The fact that she had married the perfect gentleman, so concerned about all being absolutely right for her, only made her more certain that she wanted to share all that she was with him. She was his, and he was hers, and their love had already made them one.
John's touch had been feather-light as he brought the nightgown and shift from her body. She had covered her arms about her momentarily, taking partly shy glimpses at his figure as it gradually became bare to her. He had been entirely wrong about his beliefs of how she would find him, and Anna vaguely thought of how crimson she must have coloured as her gazes became prolonged. The first brushes of his lips against her bare skin distracted her, in the most marvellous way. Her eyes fluttered like blossoms upon branches, her teeth almost cutting into her bottom lip as her husband's mouth mapped a path across her.
She very nearly surrendered as she lay upon her back upon the bed, almost lost herself to the exquisite intensity but remembered before it was too late. Anna didn't like to see John's face furrowing in concern, yearning from the loss of his body heat as she needed to pull away to the bedside.
"I didn't want to be without it."
Both wore wide smiles as she slipped the plain gold band back in its rightful place, nestled on the third finger of her left hand. Anna didn't know how she had managed to exist without it upon her; already it was like a piece of her, as important as a limb or a vein connected closely to her heart, as significant and as rooted as her soul. The only thing she wore at this moment in time, aside from her husband's body which inched nearer to hers with each breath that passed between them, close enough to be shared now. His head lowered as she felt the heat over her skin, trapping itself and covering her. He held her hand gently, planting a firm and consolidating kiss over the cool metal. The sensations that sparked at the pit of her stomach at each of his touches upon different parts of her made her want to cry.
In my whole life, I never thought I could be as happy as I am at this moment.
"I love you," she whispered, partly surprised that she was able to utter the words.
She could feel him so immensely, pressed against her, rigid and with so much heat and so desiring. Every fibre of her was longing, calling out for him with silent pleas.
"I love you, so very much," he replied in a breath that she sensed within her. His gaze roamed her features beneath him before it aligned perfectly with hers. "I'm so sorry if I..."
Anna shook her head lightly upon the pillow, hushing him with soft and urgent breaths.
"You won't," she smiled, seeing so much pure and eternal love in his eyes that matched her own with every beat of their hearts.
Her hands pressed more firmly against his back, and John exhaled a sigh before he met Anna with a slow, sweet kiss, preparing them both for what was to be.
With a gentle push, he joined their bodies completely intimately. Anna gasped sharply at the sensation of being filled by her husband, but once past the initial sting she relaxed, her hips undulating upon instinct. John peppered kisses over every inch of her skin that he could reach with his mouth, his hands working similar wonders across the swell of her breasts and down the curves of her sides.
Anna was utterly overwhelmed, least of all by how utterly sensitive John was to her. For a long while he was still, allowing her to get used to the feeling, and when he did begin to rock his hips against hers his thrusts were shallow and slow. She could feel every movement, she felt she knew him better than ever before, and that alone brought her careening over wave after wave. John had linked her left hand in his right at the very beginning of their lovemaking, and as he moved and she followed, learning quicker than she had expected to with his loving guidance, their fingers entwined themselves closer together.
It didn't take long at all for Anna to find her confidence, thinking she had waited quite long enough, and she delighted in hearing the groan escape John's lips when she boldly wrapped her legs around his waist, sending him deeper and moulding them ever closer as one. A smile graced her lips, interrupted every now and then by the build of her ecstacy that needed to be voiced. She wanted him so much, though she was gaining more of him by the very second. Her grasp tightened in the spaces between his fingers as their rhythm became further in tune.
Anna focused upon her husband's face, as handsome as it was and was even more so through the effort of his love. She traced each faint line and crease, the ebb of his expression. Through the haze of her growing pleasure, fast approaching the peak she could only now envision, she thought that he looked to be somewhat pained, his eyes scrunching and the corners of his mouth tightening. Her heart was racing so much she thought it might burst, but before anything anywhere near fatal could occur, thousands upon thousands of tingles possessed her and she heard herself crying out, saying his given name over and over as much as she could with the rasps of breath that were left lying in her body.
An eternity of pure bliss suspended; she felt like she was floating on the clouds above.
In the moments and minutes that passed, there were more urgent kisses wreathed upon her skin; pace picked up once more, and her husband joined her soon afterwards in the rapture, Anna whimpering and shaking again as John's hand stroked over her with the right amount of tenderness and pressure, sending her spiralling yet again and this time even further. They kissed deeply, ensuring their connection could never be broken.
If this was what married life consisted of, she had the idea that she might never get another duty done ever again.
She lay almost breathless in the perfect circle of John's arms, smiling as the perspiration on their bodies cooled, as did the air around them. John brought up the bedclothes which had become rather carelessly cast about back up over them, covering his palm over Anna's hand while he laid several kisses on the top of her hair. Anna was left adrift in the deepest realms of love. It had been the most perfect experience of her life, and she smiled to herself when she thought of how there would be many more times henceforth.
Anna felt perfectly at ease held against the warmth of her husband's chest, only frowning slightly when she moved her fingers against the inside of John's palm to find a deep indentation against his skin. Intrigued and concerned, she picked his hand up with both of hers, turning his palm upwards to face her. The ridge on his second smallest finger matched up completely with the ring that rested upon her left hand.
She bent her head back against the crook of his shoulder, catching sight of a smile pinned on his face that made her heart sing a song that was matchless in the beauty of its melody.
"I didn't expect that you would have any discomfort," Anna chimed, feeling a little admonished at the red welt that faced her. Her kiss was the softest he had ever known as she placed her lips over the tender mark, moving down to put another into the centre of his roughened palm.
John's chuckle rumbled against Anna's back, the thatch of hair upon his chest tickling her bare skin delightfully. His hands hugged closer around her waist, squeezing her skin softly beneath the covers.
"You left your mark on me, Mrs Bates." He watched as a blush pervaded Anna's cheeks, and brushed the backs of his fingers against her cheek, easing her worries. "I won't deny that it pinched a little," he conceded in a voice that was lightly covered with hoarseness, "but it was all for the best, most welcome reason, my love."
He stared down at the glinting band on Anna's finger, edging it with the tips of two of his own. It was more than a mere object or symbol. It was the sign that they were finally, after so much hoping and wishing and waiting, husband and wife – in the purest sense of the word, in every manner conceivable. A couple of tears came to his eyes as he considered the journey they had been on, how their greatest dream had almost been torn from them several times. Anna had vowed that it wouldn't have mattered, that if it couldn't have been then she would have given herself to him anyway. He had somehow been strong enough to refuse, her reputation and honour the most precious things that were not even in his possession at that time.
He looked at her now, his wife in all her breathtaking beauty, and said a silent prayer of thanks to the God that he did not believe in – at least not until he had met her. They were one, completely, and nothing on this earth could be greater to him.
"That can mark me for the rest of my life," he exclaimed, gesturing to the ring she would need to remove in a few hours time to keep the pretence up, though they would know differently in their hearts, "and I'll be forever grateful. Because, Mrs Bates," he paused to bask in the blinding light of her smile, which he hoped would keep his shadow forever, " now we are joined by law."
He bent to kiss her once, twice on her soft lips, before he turned his attention back to her dainty, elegant fingers and the finest piece of jewellery he'd ever laid eyes upon, sighing at the sheer perfection of her.
"And by love."