Anna tapped her foot against the floor, chewing a bit on her nail. Mary, sitting next to her at the desk, twisted her chair back and forth. Talbot and Branson paced the lab at opposite ends, occasionally bumping into one another. None of them spoke, keeping whatever thoughts they had to themselves.

The phone rang and Anna jumped. All eyes were on her as she steadied her breathing before reaching for the phone. She lifted it off the holder on the third ring and brought it to her ear with a quivering hand.

"Grantham Labs this is Doctor Anna Smith speaking."

"Doctor Smith this is Evelyn Napier. Do you remember me?"

"Yes."

"Good. I'm calling to inform you that you're drug has been approved for human trials. You start end of December."

Anna tried to move her tongue in her mouth but it was almost too dry. She coughed, "That's wonderful news."

"Yes, yes it is. We're excited by the results we've seen from Grantham Labs and we've got a few doctors willing to test out your research. They'll be contacting you to finalize the plans for the human trials. We're hoping for great things."

"Thank you Mr. Napier, so do we." Anna hung up the phone and turned to the three other scientists at the edge of their sanity. "They approved us."

Talbot and Branson fist pumped the air and hugged one another while Mary grabbed Anna from behind to hold her tightly about the shoulders. "I knew it!"

"Okay," Anna extricated herself from the grip, "We get a week to celebrate then it's back to work."

"So soon?"

"They want to start end of December and since that's just next month we're not going to let them down." Anna clapped her hands together, "I want your drafts for proposals in my inbox by end of the day then your week of freedom starts. Deal?"

"Deal boss." Talbot said as Branson shook Anna's hand.

"Congratulations Anna."

"To all of us, Tom. This belongs to all of us."

Anna spent the rest of the day filing through their original proposal and fielding calls from the doctors wanting to submit possible patients for their study. After hours of studying people's x-rays and charts Anna rubbed her eyes to see the time on the computer clock. The lab had long emptied, leaving Anna to sit in the near dark alone.

Sighing to herself, Anna flicked off the lights and gathered her things. A vibration in her pocket drew her attention and Anna dug for her mobile, flicking it open as the lift landed at her floor. She entered, hit the button, and checked the text. Reading the words there put a smile on Anna's face.

The doors to the lift opened and Anna dialed John's number, putting the mobile to her ear as she walked across the carpark to her car. The voice on the other end of the line betrayed the joy in John's voice. "Hello there."

"Hello." Anna unlocked her car and climbed in, connecting the lead and her earbud to the phone. "I hope you don't feel bad that I'm calling you so late."

"I'm happy you're calling to tell me the good news."

"It's cheating when you already know."

"Robert telling me that my investment paid off is not the same as my girlfriend calling to celebrate a huge success for her." She heard something that sounded like John settling in a chair. "Tell me how it feels."

"I don't know." Anna waved at the security guard and turned out of the parking garage to enter the lighter evening traffic. "How do you describe shock and joy and fear as they fight for dominance in your chest?"

"That sounded pretty good."

"You know what I mean."

"I think you're looking for me to tell you how you're going to be more than fine." Anna waited but John did not say anything.

"Was that not what you were about to say?"

"No because you're going to be more than fine. You're a brilliant scientist, you're a dedicated worker-"

"As evidenced by my team leaving hours ago and I'm only just dragging myself from the lab?"

"Be that as it may," Anna bit back the smile as John's playfully reprimanding tone. "You're going to handle this like you have everything else. With professional optimism and enough compassion to put the world to shame."

"You're biased."

"Of course I am. What else could I possibly be?"

"You win there." Anna pulled her car into the parking of her building and stopped there. "I don't want to fail all those people depending on me John."

"You won't. Even if it doesn't work like you think it will you made it this far and you either win or you learn."

"Nelson Mandela said that."

"And now I did too." Anna laughed and settled back against her seat, loving the sound of John's voice. "Trust yourself Anna. I do."

"That means a lot to me you know."

"I hope so." There was a noise in the background and John groaned, "I've got to go. Something's come up with our new line launch in China and we're buried in piles of legal legwork to get it going again."

"Alright. Go save Chinese chocolate then. And John?" Anna waited, making sure he was still on the line. "We should have preliminary results by March. If there's positive feedback then I want to go and tell your mother."

"That sounds wonderful. But I'd like to see you before then."

"When?"

"Would you consider Christmas here, in France, with me?"

Anna could not stop her smile, "I'd love to celebrate Christmas with you John."

Anna wrapped her arms around John as he waited in the arrivals terminal for her. He held her close, burying his face in her neck. Anna positioned herself to kiss his cheek before leaning back. "I like this reason better than the last time we had to greet one another in this airport."

"Me too." John confided, kissing her hand, "Much better."

"Has there been news, about that?"

"Given the processing time the prosecution's said that she'll be a free woman by beginning of January." John shrugged, "I'm learning to live with it."

"Should you have to?"

"She's not my wife any longer so it's not really supposed to be a worry for me. She's got no hold on me and I've got none on her." John's cane clacked on the floor and Anna threaded her arm through his left while they walked to baggage claim. "My only connection to her is the trial and the parole hearing but since that went her way what am I to her?"

"More than we think." Anna leaned her head on John's arm. "The look she gave me in that courtroom John… it terrified me."

"She's always had a way of doing that."

"Would she ever come after you? Given you helped put her behind bars is that likely?"

John shook his head, "Even if she did there's nothing to gain by it. I'm nothing to her and I haven't been for a long time. I never visited her in prison and I've nothing to do with her life."

"That doesn't always stop people."

"Feels like your personal experience coming through on that one." John weaved their fingers together as the first bags tumbled onto the rotating kiosk. "Is Green still bothering you?"

"Not since I filed that restraining order on him before I came here for Vera's trial." Anna shrugged, craning her head when she thought she saw her bag then settling. "I don't know what I would've done if Tom hadn't been there. He looked absolutely rabid and I wasn't so much scared as stuck."

"Stuck?"

"What do you do when people won't respond to reason?"

"Don't ask me. I was married to Vera for ten years and I still can't claim I cracked anymore of her shell than what she handed me and even that was a lie."

Anna broke away from John to grab her bag and put her carryon atop it, pulling the handle extension so she could steer it in a drag. "We've just attracted the worst haven't we?"

"Might be a side effect of having the best in our lives at the moment." John kissed Anna's cheek and she swatted at him.

"Charmer."

"For you, always." John grinned and then sobered. "The most important thing we can do is not let them have power over our lives. They're far away from us for the moment, by law, and we'll take the beauty of that for what it is yes?"

"Absolutely." Anna kissed him quickly, "The beauty of what it is."

They walked out to the car and Anna, conscious of John, kept her greeting with Andy to a handshake. He took her bags to the trunk as John held the door open for her. Anna smiled to herself as she slid inside and waited for John to join her.

She took his hand, giggling to herself. John adjusted, pretending to frown at her, and studied her face. "What's so funny Doctor?"

"I was just thinking about what it'd be like to get used to this kind of treatment."

"Why shouldn't you?"

"Because," Anna shrugged, "I only get this once every few months and if I had it all the time I'd probably be one of those people who slides into the back of a nice car like it's a seat on the Tube and I don't want that."

"If you ever lived with me this would be how it'd be most of the time." John massaged his leg, "This tends to make driving long distances pretty difficult."

"Then I'd drive."

"I wouldn't turn you in my chauffer." John waved a hand up toward Andy. "He's the one driving because he's young and I pay him for it."

"And the part about needing a nice car?"

"I needed one with enough space in the back seat to stretch my leg and apparently that doesn't come in most, traditional, personal vehicles." John chuckled, "Have you ever tried to stretch out in the back of an Audi or a Nissan?"

"In Uni there was a time I tried it…" Anna bit her lip, sneaking a glance at John. He shifted in his seat and Anna restrained herself from encouraging the movement she noticed in his trousers. "But I guess it helped the boy I was with was about as short as I am. We fit alright but I wouldn't try it again."

"Never?"

"Well, not with him. He was all speed and desperation. Very unattractive." Anna kept her gaze forward, digging her nails into her hand to keep from responding to the interest in John's voice.

"What if the opportunity, with someone else, came again?"

"I think I'd want to make sure there wasn't a driver in the front seat." Anna leaned over to whisper in John's ear, "I'm a little loud."

John only coughed and Anna settled back against the seat. His leg adjusted, to fully stretch out in the space between them and the front seat, giving Anna a chance to really admire how long his legs were. For her size, everything was bigger than she was but something about the subtle grace to John always gave her pause. She was no artist, low grades in primary and secondary school art courses attested to that, but she was appreciative of good art. John was good art.

Somewhere in the roads to John's home, Anna lost herself in her inspection of John. Normally staring at anyone too long put her off, or made her feel weird, but not John. The way his hair would only behave under the influence of product while it tried to wave free. She loved raking her hands through his hair when it felt soft and airy under her fingers.

Or his shoulders. They rolled back, standing tall despite all he had seen in his life. Anna swallowed past the rise of heat in her cheeks when she considered all the times her nails had scored there as he sent her soaring with pleasure. Or even when they rose and fell while he took in deep breaths to steady himself after his own climax.

Something in Anna's demeanor must have changed because John turned to her. For a moment Anna could not tell how he judged the quickness of her breathing, of what she guessed would be the dilation of her pupils, or the slight opening of her lips to let her shallow breathing partially inflate her lungs. But when John raised a hand to her cheek, stroking slowly over her cheekbone, Anna knew immediately.

They held their statuesque positions while Andy trundled the car up the drive. He called back to them, saying something Anna heard as if someone yelled it through a wall. John responded but Anna's focus was entirely taken with John's mouth.

A beat passed, Anna fearing the door might open, but it never did. Instead John moved forward, cupping her other cheek in his remaining hand. His tongue darted out, licking over his lower lip, and Anna wanted nothing more than to do it for him.

"If you're not opposed, I'd like to see how much space this backseat really has."

Anna surged forward, clutching at the strong shoulders she had been admiring for their whole drive, and took his mouth. Her fingers buried themselves in his hair, tugging at the roots to pull him where she wanted. His moaning response in her mouth only gave Anna the confidence she needed to straddle him.

John wrapped a hand around the back of her neck as Anna slanted her mouth over his to take more of him. Her hips, almost of their own accord, ground down on the earlier suggestion of arousal. The groan that reached her ears had Anna grinning into the kiss.

Running her tongue along his lower lip Anna thrust into his mouth. John dug his fingers into the flesh of her hip and Anna regretted having decided to wear jeans on this trip. With a determined rake through his hair Anna rolled her hips to feel him right where her heat gathered.

The flick of his fingers, smoother than she realized or appreciated in the moment, had the button of her jeans undone. Anna twitched at the touch of his fingers, colder than she was expecting. But when he teased them over her center Anna cried out. She broke the kiss to pull air into her lungs.

John seized the advantage and attacked her neck, licking and sucking over her skin. His fingers slipped in the slick there and Anna hurried her fingers to the hem of her shirt. He did not seem at all bothered by the fabric there, or the fabric covering her legs, since his mouth moved over her breasts through her shirt and his hand kneaded the flesh of her ass through her jeans.

They slid over one another, the scratch of her jeans on his trousers grating on Anna's ears. She wanted them out of the way but, between John's determined fingers working over her folds and slipping between them, it was all she could do not to come right there. Her fingers finally found the edge of her shirt and she yanked it over her head to drop to the floor of the car.

The action sent John's mouth into overdrive, sliding around her breasts and neck to cover her with kisses. Anna gyrated against the insistence of his fingers and the movement drove her forward toward where John strained in his trousers. But as Anna went to grab his belt John pinched her nerves.

Perhaps it was the confines of the car or maybe it was the leather interior but the echo of Anna's shriek rang in her ears. Her nails crumpled John's shirt in her grasp and her forehead rested on his shoulder, her body shaking as she came back down. With all her nerves firing off signals it took her a moment to register the soft kisses and gentle touches John applied to her sweating skin.

But when Anna did move she had no time to waste. Crouching, despite her small frame, Anna pushed back off John's lap. One of his arms tried to hold her close but Anna took his fingers, glistening in the low light reflected through the windows from the garage, and sucked on them while she forced her jeans and knickers off her legs.

The thump of them on the floor had John fumbling with the buttons on his shirt in time with Anna's determined fingers pulling his trousers open and away. They, and his underwear, stopped at his knees but it was enough for Anna. She mounted him again, trapping John's arms between them with his buttons half undone, and wrapped her hand determinedly around his erection. He twitched in her grip, sides quivering in time with the way his eyelids fluttered closed.

Anna grinned to herself, licking her lips. She timed it perfectly. John's hands flailed to hold at her, his eyes rolled a bit under her ministrations, and his chest pressed against hers in rapid time. With a swift remove of her hand, Anna sank down on him and took possession of his mouth.

John's eyes flew open, his hands clung to her waist, and his tongue could barely respond to Anna's insistent press in his mouth. She controlled their movements, reveling in how deeply he struck within her while exultant in his feeble attempts to control himself. With a suck on his tongue John was lost and Anna threw her head back to call out his name as he gave over to the most primal of reactions. Frenzied drives filled her completely and with a slight angle adjustment John hit right were her nerves screamed for further attention.

Breaking with an explosion of white behind her eyes, Anna tightened her grip on John. He thrust wildly, a kind of frantic energy in his expression, and finally released. His head leaned forward, resting on her shoulder, and Anna held him in place while their breathing calmed.

In the quiet, the stuffiness of the car brought the sensation of sweat on her skin and the slide of it under her fingers as she held John close to her attention. Anna shifted, sliding off John as carefully as she could before resting back on the seat next to him, and let out a breath. She laughed to herself, residual tension coming out of her.

John turned his head toward her, a smile picking up the corners of his mouth. "What is it?"

"I have to wonder, what does poor Andy think right now?"

"I don't really care what Andy thinks right now."

"Andy has to drive this car." Anna reached forward, pulling her knickers up her legs. "And everyone in your house'll know why we didn't come in immediately."

"They're only got each other to talk to."

"I don't know how much I like the idea of people giving me looks because they know I got my leg over in the car before I could even get in your house."

"You did rather have your way with me didn't you." John snickered and Anna gave him a half-hearted scowl while she pressed her shoulders on the seat to lift her hips and button her jeans.

"And not you with me?" She gestured to her newly buttoned jeans, "You're the one who opened these."

"You straddled me first."

"Whatever you say." Anna pulled her shirt back over her head, "I think you got jealous thinking that I may've, at one time, had sex with someone who wasn't you in the back of a car."

"The thought may've entered my mind." John tucked his shirt back into his trousers and ran a hand through his hair. "But Andy should've put your bag in my room by now and then gone on break or something."

"Or something?"

"I don't really know what I said." John admitted and Anna kissed his cheek.

"I don't know what you said either. But this is why I don't like the idea of a chauffer. You have to explain to them what it is you did in the car."

"It's my car. I can do what I like in it."

"Most people just drive in cars."

"We're not most people Anna."

"No, we're not are we?" Anna tugged his hand, "Come on, I don't want them coming to look for us."

The rest of the Christmas holiday was better than Anna could have hoped. John's house was positively bedecked with tinsel, baubles, and a tree large enough to almost scrape the two-storied domed ceiling of his entryway. The smell of cinnamon and nutmeg permeated every corner of the house, quickly covering any of the scents of sex Anna worried they might have brought with them from the car. And, to her relief, even if everyone knew exactly what they had done in the garage no one even batted an eye.

Phyllis and Moseley welcomed them with open arms and quickly explained the details of the house for the holidays. On Christmas Eve John hosted a Christmas party for his employees from the chocolate factory in the valley and the house staff catered the event. Christmas Day was the dinner for the house staff, all cooked to perfection by Mrs. Patmore, while Boxing Day was for whatever activities anyone had planned.

Anna nodded through all the details and almost wanted to spectate the whole event. But watching John act as the ultimate host was too much for her to stay away. Anna adored being on his arm for the parties, meeting all those who had nothing but kind words for her and John, and watching faces light up during the Secret Santa or the lighting of the tree.

After the party on Christmas Eve Anna and John sat together in the library, curled up in front of the large fire, under a blanket. She snuggled closer to him, her eyes drooping shut. John ran a finger down her nose and Anna started. Their eyes met and she buried her head by the crook of his neck with a sigh.

"I'm not used to so much activity."

"How do you celebrate Christmas Eve?"

"Usually?" Anna shrugged, staring into the fire. "Alone. Elsie and I do a dinner together on Christmas Day but Christmas Eve I usually enjoy sleeping in, maybe binge watching something I've saved up or reading for pleasure instead of for work, then I take whatever's in my fridge and see what I can make with it."

John chuckled, "Sounds worse than a single man's flat."

"It's bad some years. One time it was just expired biscuits and some macaroni." Anna shuddered, "Not a great memory."

"What about with your family?"

"When my dad was alive it was gingerbread houses and ice skating. I hated gingerbread then and still do now but whenever I smell it, I think of him."

"The sensory centers for smell are close to the memory centers in the brain. It's why we associate smells closely with our memories." John sighed, "Whiskey."

"What about it?"

"The smell that reminds me of Christmas. My mum always let me take a dram of whiskey with coffee on Christmas Morning. Called it her 'Irish Surprise' but I think she really used it to get her through the day."

"Christmas hard for her?"

"Yes and no. My father insisted we take lunch shift at the local food kitchen." John sighed, "For all my father's faults he wanted to do good in the world. That's what I wanted to remember most about him, above anything else."

"Above the hard school master and semi-violent father?"

John nodded, "We want to remember people better than they were because I think everyone wants to be better than they are."

Anna leaned her head on John's shoulder, "They do."

"Well," John kissed Anna's forehead and grabbed his cane to work himself to his feet. He bent back over, giving Anna a hand, "If we're not in bed soon Father Christmas will pass us by."

"We wouldn't want that, would we?" The clock chimed midnight and Anna locked her arms around John's neck, "Happy Christmas John."

"Happy Christmas Anna."

Anna waited at the arrivals gate. The bedecked terminal bathed everyone greeting their family members in a hue of green. When the stream calmed slightly Anna grinned to see John keeping his pace with his cane clacking over the floor. His face split into a wide smile when he saw her and they hugged there in the terminal.

"We need to stop meeting one another in airports." John rubbed his hand over Anna's back as she clung to him. "It'll give everyone the wrong impression."

"Which is what, Mr. Bates?" Anna raised an eyebrow, "That I'm your mistress or something?"

"Perhaps." John took her hand, after looping his bag over his other shoulder, "Or that we're only made for these quick visits."

"I think, if we've lasted a year like this, we're a bit more than that." Anna guided them to the street where Mr. Laing waited with the car. "I hope you don't mind me taking the initiative on this."

"Why would I mind?" John gestured to the airport, "The woman I love arranged a getaway for us to Dublin. What's not to love about that?"

"It gets better, I promise."

"You did mention a surprise of some kind."

"I did," Anna urged John into the car. "But you have to wait for it."

John paused, tipping his mouth close to her ear, "Does it have anything to do with leather, like in Germany?"

Anna shivered, "No but the next one might."

They got into the backseat, Laing taking the front after securing their things in the boot, and pulling into the traffic. They weaved through the streets of Dublin and Anna saw from John's face that he recognized the route. When he turned to Anna for explanation she folded his fingers with hers.

"Just wait. I promise I'll explain."

They arrived at the cemetery and Anna led the way out of the car. The familiar crunch of the gravel under John's cane reminded Anna of the first time they came here. This time the sun could not make up its mind whether or not it wanted to come out and really give light to the world but Anna hardly cared. She was excited enough without it.

When they reached John's parents' graves Anna took John's hands in hers. "I asked you, six months ago, if all went well in the human trials could we come here and tell your mother."

John's mouth dropped open a bit, "They're going well?"

"Better than expected. There's still a mortality rate and it's still a ravaging disease but cases like your mother's will be a thing of the past. We've slowed spread, cut down on pain, and even have a few cases going to full remission. Not many but a few. With a couple tweaks we could even-"

John seized Anna's mouth for a kiss and she gave over to it. After a moment he broke away and hugged Anna close. From the shake of his shoulders she could tell he was sobbing. Anna wrapped her arms around him, holding tightly as he wept into the fabric of her jacket.

"You've no idea how long I've waited for this news."

"It's going to be alright John. We never could've done it without you," Anna backed up slightly to see his face, tear stained and beautiful. "Your mother is so proud of you."

"She has reason to be proud now."

Anna kissed John's cheek, "She always did."