A/N: It's Fashion Week! I don't follow the fashion world and really have no knowledge of such an event minus what I've seen from the early seasons of Project Runway, so hopefully you all can look past that.

Disclaimer: Same as the previous seven chapters


"Be careful with those dresses!" Anna shouted to the workers helping her transfer her completed collection into a cargo van to go to Somerset House for her very first show at London's Fashion Week. "So help me if I find even one dress dragging on the ground!"

The young men assisting her quickly glanced down to make sure none of the garment bags hanging on the portable clothes racks were anywhere near touching the ground.

They'd never worked for the petite, blonde woman shouting at them from her doorway, but sensed she would make good on her threat should something happen during transport. Anna had worked too long and too hard to have her clothes tarnished before they even hit the runway.

Anna turned and headed back inside, found the mug of tea she had left on the kitchen countertop, gulped the last remnants down and placed the empty mug in the sink. She anxiously looked around her flat, making sure she'd left no important items behind. Her bag with her sewing kit and tools for any last minute repairs sat by the door as well as her steamer, packed and ready to go when she was. Her outfit for during the show was hanging in a garment bag next to it.

The day of Anna's debut fashion show had finally arrived, and needless to say she was a bundle of nerves. She'd spent the past few days working tirelessly, making sure every last stitch was perfect, often forgoing sleep and meals. When she did manage to sleep, her sleep was light and filled with nightmares. She had visions of the dresses disintegrating from the models as they walked down the runway, leaving them as naked as they day they were born by the time they reached the end. She even dreamt no one would show up leaving her in an empty room as loud, pulsating music echoed around her. As excited as she was to present her collection, she absolutely could not wait for the whole mess to be over with so she could enjoy some well-deserved rest and relaxation. And hopefully a reprieve from stress dreams. Though how much rest and relaxation she'd actually get was a matter of debate as she'd promised her mother she'd travel back up to Yorkshire for her annual end-of-summer garden party the following weekend. Honestly, she had no idea why she was making the time to fulfill her mother's desires when her mother couldn't find the time to make it down to London for her only daughter's very first show. Yet heaven forbid Anna should miss one of her mother's lavish parties.

One of the benefits of having absolutely no free time of late was that she had little time to dwell on the fact that she'd heard nothing from John since their date almost a full week ago. She couldn't understand it; John seemed very interested in her during their date and even said he'd talk to her soon. Since then, no text, no email, and no phone call. Nothing. It just did not make any sense. She hated to admit it, but the first Sunday after their date she'd not let her phone out of her sight. It went everywhere with her, even resting on the sink in the bathroom while she showered, which resulted in a too-close-for-comfort last moment save from plummeting into the toilet bowl. After that, the phone stayed a safe distance away from any sources of water.

By Monday with no response, Anna contemplated texting him first, but then decided against it and instead distracted herself by adding intricate beadwork to one of her dresses. This distraction lasted only until nightfall before Anna logged herself onto Soulmates to see if he'd been online. It wasn't considered stalking if she already had a reason to log-on, right? To her relief, and dismay, she found he had not logged in since before their date. She took some comfort in knowing that though he had not contacted her, it at least appeared that he was not in contact with anyone else at this time. Though why she felt she had any claim to him she could not explain. This is precisely why I never date she had thought to herself several times since then.

By Tuesday she'd come to the conclusion that he was just busy. He was a personal assistant to a high-level television executive after all, so his time must be very much in demand. But still, she was finding it difficult to believe that someone who said he would talk to her soon, and actually seemed to mean it, couldn't find a few seconds out of his day to send even a quick text saying that he was busy, but was still interested. Hell, she'd take a simple "Hi" over radio silence. She had thought he was different, just as she had every man before him, but apparently he was not. So, like she had done in the months, and even years previously, she threw herself into her work. If nothing else came out of the past week of overthinking, and the previous weeks of flirty emails, she could at least feel confident in the fact that she was putting forth a phenomenal line of dresses in her inaugural fashion week.

With that confidence, she gathered her thoughts, and her required belongings, and headed out the door. She had a long, and exciting day ahead of her.


John sat at his desk absentmindedly clicking through the excessive amount of emails in his inbox. Ever since he commandeered the lead from Thomas on the Darlings promotions it seemed the amount f emails he received on a daily basis had tripled. He spent the majority of his days of late working with various magazines and news outlets throughout the UK in an attempt to get the stars and creators of Darlings involved with as many as possible. The majority of the cast was very likeable and relatable, both as themselves and as their characters, so John knew if he could show that to the viewing public the network could very well have a hit on their hands.

Unfortunately, every time he seemed to make significant progress, an email would come through from one of the outlets confirming a cancellation request. There was no doubt in his mind those were of Thomas' doing, as John would never cancel such hard-earned publicity himself. John would see him conspiring with one of the other interns, their beady eyes glaring at John whenever they would leave for one of their many smoke breaks. That reminded John, he really needed to talk to Robert about the criteria for their interns. Kids like Thomas didn't deserve such an opportunity. Kids who only looked out for their own self-interests and not the good of the whole network.

John could see it every day, the fact that John's tactics were working gnawed at Thomas. The ratings for Darlings had gone up each week, and increased in the most coveted of the advertisers' demographics. John was certain with just a few more weeks of solid promotion, Darlings could be considered a hit by the time the finale aired.

In fact, John was certain that if he spun the numbers just so in his final ratings report to Robert, a renewal of Darlings was not out of the realm of possibility. Of course, with the way Robert ran his network, he'd see the possibility of a hit show and promptly cancel the show for good. John had to wonder what Robert would do if John wasn't around to save him from himself.

He clicked away from his emails for a moment and looked at the schedule for the day. They had a full day of appointments and conference calls ahead of them, and Robert was already running late. At this rate, John was going to have to spend the day on the phone canceling and rescheduling meetings.

He took a quick glance at his phone to see if he had any new notifications in the fifteen minutes since he'd last checked. He was looking for a message from Robert regarding his tardiness, but if he was honest, he was really hoping for something from Anna. Though he had no reason to expect to hear anything from her. He was the one who had told her that he'd talk to her soon, and now an entire week had gone by with him doing absolutely nothing.

In hindsight, he probably should have texted her the same day as their date, when he was thinking about it and had the confidence to do so. Now, days had passed and his head was getting in the way of his heart. With each passing day he thought more and more about how she was too good for the likes of him. She was all that he was not – successful, gorgeous, and from what he could tell, baggage-free. As far as he was concerned, she'd do well to stay away from him. No matter what kind of life his mother thought he deserved, he knew the truth. After all the mistakes of his past, he deserved to live a life of solitude and broken dreams.

With a heavy sigh, he shook the negative thoughts from his head and refocused on his work, still wondering where the devil Robert was this morning.

As if John's thoughts were enough to conjure him, Robert came blustering into the office, a cup of to-go coffee in his hand and a hint of annoyance already on his face.

"Rough morning, Mr. Crawley" John asked as he stood from his desk to help Robert off with his coat.

"Oh just the usual trouble with the missus. Be thankful you're not married."

John chuckled, "Believe me, sir, I'm thankful for that almost daily."

"Right, I forgot who I was talking to for a moment. I'm sure Cora at her worst can't even be half as bad as that She-Beast was at her best."

"Quite right. What seems to be the trouble? If you don't mind me asking, that is."

"Of course I don't mind. We are friends after all, even if you refuse to acknowledge it at work."

"Just trying to maintain some professionalism. You know I don't like people thinking I receive special treatment just because we're old friends."

They both knew it was Thomas John was speaking of.

Robert nodded in agreement. "Well, Cora was having a go at me because I told her I wouldn't have time to go to see Mary walk in her first show today. Apparently, since it's her first one, Cora arranged for the whole family to have front row seats. She claims I'm 'not being supportive of Mary's career' if I beg out of it. Which is true. How am I supposed to support her when she wants to make a career of walking while wearing fancy clothes? It's absurd! Really, the last thing I want to do is sit at a fashion show watching malnourished women walk down a runway, but it seems I have no choice in the matter."

"So, am I right to assume that all of your appointments for today need to be rescheduled?"

"Well, only the middle part of the day. Her show is in two hours."

Inwardly, John was seething. If he wasn't mistaken, Robert was giving him just over an hour to reschedule almost an entire day's agenda. And he couldn't have sent him a text on his way into the office to at least give him some warning? No matter how good of friends they were outside of work, there were some days where John didn't get paid near enough to deal with Robert's shenanigans.

John sat back down at his desk and looked at the schedule for the day once again, already mentally rearranging appointments and making a list of whom he'd need to contact. Perhaps if he stayed at the office he could take some of the meetings himself. Surely Robert didn't need to sit in on all of the conference calls personally. Perhaps he could arrange for Robert to dial in from the car on the way to and from Somerset House, as there was sure to be excessive traffic.

"Sir, if I stay at the office, I can jump onto a few of these calls for you, that way they won't need to be rescheduled…"

Robert interrupted John before he could finish conveying his plan, "I'm afraid not. I'll need you to come with me. Plus, as a friend of the family, Cora arranged for a seat for you, too. Now, rearrange what you can and email me a revised agenda. We'll need to leave in an hour. Have the car waiting for us out front."

Robert went to his office with a slam of the door, leaving John to figure out how to clear several hours from an already busy day.


The hustle and bustle consuming the area around Somerset House threatened to bring Anna to her knees. She could feel her entire body quaking with nerves as she took in the palatial building in front of her, the courtyard filled with giant, white tents. All around her crews were finishing up the final touches, setting up chairs and testing the light and sound equipment. She likened it to the calm before the storm. All of the sudden, the nerves that were bubbling below the surface that morning began to spread throughout her body. Just standing in the same area as so many of her idols caused adrenaline to course through her veins. This was it. She had finally made it. Even if she never presented at another show after this, she could at least say she presented at London Fashion Week.

She made her way to check in and pick up her credentials, and then was led to her staging area. The workers who had helped her at her house earlier were unloading and hanging her dresses on the racks, ready for their final preparations. She checked each one over, making sure nothing had been damaged during transport and running her portable steamer over each to eliminate any creases.

Satisfied that everything was as it should be, Anna went about getting herself ready. She needed to be dressed and have her hair and makeup done by the time her models arrived to ensure everyone looked just so before they stepped foot on the runway.

"Anna, darling!"

Anna turned as she heard the familiar voice of Mary Crawley calling to her from across the staging area. As much of a pain as Mary could be on occasion, it was comforting to see a friendly face.

"Mary!" Anna ran toward her, as quickly as her towering high-heels would allow, and embraced her friend in an enormous hug. "Thank goodness you're here! I'm about to fall over with nerves!"

"You'll do splendidly," Mary reassured her while returning her hug. "Everything looks wonderful and the girls will do perfectly, you'll see. And if you get nervous, look for my family. They'll be sitting front row cheering us all on. Mama even said she'd treat us to a wonderfully boozy meal afterwards, if you aren't too much in demand."
Anna couldn't help but feel a sense of calm washing over her. It was comforting to know she'd have a few friendly faces out in the crowd. "That all sounds wonderful. Hopefully I can slip away once this is over. I don't think I've eaten a thing all week! Now come along," Anna nudged Mary toward the hair, makeup, and wardrobe area, "Let's get you ready for the runway. I'm going to need your help with the other girls since you're up last."


John had never felt so out of place in his life sitting no more than a foot away from the long runway. The pulsing lights paired with the loud, thumping music was already giving him a headache. He began skimming through the program. He didn't even know which designer they were watching, only that Mary was participating.

He looked up just as the designer's name was projected on the screen at the top of the runway. Anna Smith. Of course. She had mentioned she was a designer, but he never put the pieces together that she would be presenting a show at Fashion Week.

John turned to his friend and employer sat next to him. "So, have you heard of this designer before?"

"Who, Anna," Robert questioned, "Of course. She and Mary go way back. They've been friends since University. Anna specifically asked Mary to make her debut at her show with the hope they'd each get their big breaks together."

"Interesting," John muttered to himself. Suddenly he felt his own nerves kicking in. He supposed they stemmed from wanting Anna to do well. Yet he also felt ashamed. He really should have called her, regardless of his own self-doubt. Perhaps this was fate's way of intervening to correct his mistake. He couldn't even imagine what Anna must be thinking of him. Hopefully she'd been too busy recently to notice he was acting like every other asshole guy she'd ever dated. He needed to make sure he spoke to her. And soon.


The backstage turned into a flurry of activity as the runway show kicked into gear. Anna could feel her heart beating in time with the pulsating music inside the tent. She watched from backstage as her models walked out, working the runway one after the other. So far everything was going wonderfully. Her dresses, combined with the models' hair and makeup looked stunning, and it seemed the crowd was responding favorably.

Just as Mary was ready to walk out with the final dress of the show, Anna gave her an encouraging smile, which she returned, as they each knew what a momentous occasion this was, the pinnacle of Anna's tireless preparation.

Anna watched with pride as Mary confidently strutted down the runway as if she'd done it a thousand times before. Mary made it to the end, turning and walking back. She took a deep breath and waited for all of the models to walk back down the runway, where she would follow to receive accolades from those gathered.

As she stepped out onto the runway, she was met immediately with the popping of flash bulbs and a sea of camera phones. Her eyes darted back and forth as she looked for Mary's family, desperate to see familiar faces that weren't icons in the fashion world. What she didn't expect to see was John Bates sitting directly in front of her current line of sight, sat next to none other than Mary's father. She was stunned, and by the look of it, so was he.


A/N: Sorry there's no Anna/John interaction, but it's coming next chapter. I promise.