Anna answered a knock at the door to find her cheerful Aussie ex-husband standing there, holding twin hot pink plastic buckets filled with bottles. At a glance, Anna saw rum, Curacao, and pineapple juice.
"What's all this?" Anna asked in amusement.
"Mai Tais." Robert announced, inviting himself into Anna's house. He set the buckets down on her coffee table. "Some assembly required."
Anna laughed, recognizing the logos of some children's show she'd seen in passing with her grandchildren emblazoned on the sides of the buckets. "Those are kids' sand pails."
"It was the best I could do on short notice, Luv."
"I didn't give you any notice." Anna pointed out with a smirk.
"All the same, I'm calling it."
"Calling what?" Anna asked in confusion.
"Our retirement. Our last mission was the final mission."
After finding out that Peter wasn't her son, but actually her nephew, and ending her relationship with Finn, Anna had desperately wanted to get away from Port Charles and find herself again. She didn't recognize the weak, weepy woman she had become, and she knew just how to fix herself – with a little excitement. When Robert announced he was leaving town on a human trafficking rescue mission, she'd insisted on tagging along.
They'd rescued a dozen young women, but after a shootout, they'd woken up with various injuries in neighboring beds in a shoddy Algerian hospital, where they spent a hellish week before Frisco was able to fly them to a world-class facility in Madrid to finish recuperating.
While on the mission, Robert and Anna had their usual banter, a little flirtation, even some cuddling. The physical affection between them had always been there, even when they were in relationships with other people.
"I enjoyed the mission, until we ended up in the hospital, anyway." Anna said, sitting down on the couch.
"I thought I did, but I realized something." Robert sank down onto the couch beside her. "It isn't as fulfilling as it used to be."
"I have a hard time believing that you are really going to commit to retiring."
"You don't trust me?" Robert asked with a raised brow.
"You know I trust you more than anyone else in this world, but you love this! You love traveling the world, putting yourself in danger, and being a hero."
"But I love you more, Anna." Robert said quietly, locking eyes with her.
He ran hand through her dark tresses, noting the shimmer of silver that had streaked its way through some strands – a result of weeks away from a salon. Somehow, that physical sign of her aging only made her more beautiful to him. It was symbolic of all the years that he had known and loved her.
"I love you, too." Anna whispered.
"The last mission was a wake-up call. We almost died, again, like so many times on these missions. Hell, we've even been believed dead…"
"Some of us more than others." Anna quipped.
Robert ignored her. "And we don't have the luxury of time like we used to. We're long out of nine lives by now, Annie. Shouldn't we spend this last one together? Finally?"
Anna studied him quietly, brushing her hand slowly down the side of his face and bringing her fingers over to trace his lips. Robert grasped her hand in his and placed a soft kiss where he'd once placed wedding rings onto her finger before pulling her body closer to his on the couch.
With one hand on the back of his head, Anna brought Robert's face close to hers in a deep kiss. He parted her lips with his tongue and allowed it to intertwine with hers. Her shirt went first, then his, and they continued undressing each other until they were down to their underwear. He caressed her bare skin reverently, carefully avoiding the part of her side that had been wounded by a bullet during the Algeria mission.
Robert fiddled with the clasp of her bra, but found his hands fumbling with the anticipation. Anna reached behind her and unfastened it herself, tossing it to the floor.
"My Anna…" Robert murmured, circling the swells of her breasts with his thumbs. "You are still breathtakingly gorgeous."
He trailed his lips down her neck, sucking and licking each new piece of skin he touched. With her head back, Anna closed her eyes and enjoyed his touch. When he got to her breasts, he sucked each one into his mouth until they formed perfect pink peaks.
She reached into his boxers to find him so hard that she was a little surprised. "Have you been taking Viagra in your old age?"
"Do you think I'd really need it around you?" Robert growled softly.
Anna inhaled sharply as his fingers made contact with the heat between her legs. His erection twitched in anticipation as he felt how wet she already was. He let his fingers linger there, running them up and down her folds. The slow, gentle touches he lavished on her reminded her of their first time together. For the young ingenue Anna, it had been the perfect introduction to making love; but for this more experienced Anna, it was tantalizingly slow. She craved more contact from him, and she sought it out by grinding herself against his hand.
"Eager, are we?" Robert said with a cocky smirk, sliding a finger inside of her.
He pumped his finger in and out of her and added a second, loving watching her squirm underneath him. His fingers curled inside her as his thumb stroked her most sensitive spot.
"How is that?"
"It's wonderful." Anna said, breathing heavily. "But what I really want is you."
"Me where?" Robert prompted, teasing her with lazy caresses.
"Inside of me. Now." Anna gasped desperately. "I need you to make love to me."
When she said those words, he couldn't take it anymore. He pulled off his boxers and moved so that he was between her legs. Using his finger, he tipped her chin so that they were gazing into each other's eyes.
"Look at me." Robert whispered.
After nearly thirty years of not touching her in that way, Robert's intention was to go slowly and to savor the feeling of joining their bodies together inch by inch. But she felt so warm and ready when he positioned himself at her entrance that he pushed himself completely inside her and filled her in one stroke, causing Anna to let out a breath she didn't realize she'd been holding into a soft moan that he barely heard over his own.
The intensity of his touch drove Anna crazy with each thrust. Her head knocked back into the arm of the couch over and over, but she didn't care. Nothing else mattered but Robert and what he was doing to her body. The pressure and heat built inside her, spreading through her stomach. Robert could feel she was close, and he increased his pace, making her cry out in his arms as she relinquished control of her body and shuddered with a strong orgasm.
She was so beautiful when she came that he was quickly right behind her. Recognizing the familiar sounds of his approaching climax, Anna suddenly clenched the muscles of her core tightly around him – something she remembered he had loved when they were together.
"Oh God, Anna." Robert panted.
He groaned her name and an assortment of expletives into her ear as he released himself deep inside of her. He collapsed to the side of her on the couch. Anna pulled a blanket off the back of the couch to cover them and snuggled her head into his chest.
"You're still amazing."
"So are you."
"Can we just stay like this in each other's arms forever?" Anna asked, trailing a maroon shellacked nail down his chest.
"We're retired, Luv. We can do whatever the hell we want now."
The couch wasn't built for two people to sleep on, but they'd slept in far worse places. The sun streaming in through the window woke Robert first the next morning. He smiled at the sight of Anna still dozing against his chest. He brushed a few tousled strands of hair away from her face, watching her and enjoying the moment. It wasn't long before she felt his eyes on her, and her eyelids fluttered open.
"Morning, Annie."
Anna smiled, stretching. "Morning."
"You sleep okay?"
"Mmhm. You?"
"This couch isn't the greatest, but the company was pretty amazing."
"I thought this retirement was supposed to come with beach chairs and an ocean." Anna reminded Robert, giving him a soft kiss.
"Mmm." Robert murmured against her lips. "That's right."
"Well, we've got the passports…"
"Where should it be? Bali? Bora Bora? Mykonos?" Robert punctuated each destination with a kiss to her lips.
"I thought I would wake up, and you would be gone." Anna suddenly confessed.
"Never." Robert said firmly.
"It wouldn't be the first time." Anna pointed out, picking at the blanket.
"We can't do anything about our past, Anna." Robert said, putting one hand on Anna's cheek and forcing her to look at him. "All we can do is think about now and our future. We're soulmates, and even as the universe keeps us apart, it's always trying to put us back together."
"I want that." Anna said softly. "I really do."
"Then take it. One day at a time."
"One day at a time." Anna agreed. "I love you so much."
"I love you too. Now that that's settled..." Robert clasped his hands together. "Should we have the drinks?"
"I don't even know how to make them." Anna admitted.
"Hell, I don't either. That's what Google's for."
"It's also 8 o'clock in the morning."
"Hm… I guess we'll just have to find some other way to pass the time then, won't we?" Robert said with a wink, sliding his hand between Anna's thighs.
Anna bit her lip. "I think we'll manage."
This was originally supposed to be a one-shot, but I do have a plot idea if there's enough interest for me to continue. :)