John pressed against the wound but the slickness against his fingers signaled the blood already soaked through the handkerchief. Tearing off his suit coat, John bunched it up and pressed over the bullet wound. A glance at James's face, gray and growing more ashen by the second, had John praying to whatever gods deigned to listen to save the poor boy caught in the middle of something he would never understand… No matter how much of her story Anna already explained to him.

James gave a little grunt and John pressed harder as shouts finally reached his ears. Someone shoved him over and he almost fought back but the sight of a nurse's uniform had him shuffling sideways to get out of their way. Almost slipping a little on the floor, John only just noticing the reality of his blood-stained clothing, he rotated around them to bump into a staggering Talbot.

They both stared at one another for a moment before Talbot grabbed for John's sleeve to keep himself upright. John wrapped an arm around Talbot and moved him around help the weaving man into a chair. Dragging a finger in front of Talbot's eyes, John noted the uneven dilation of his pupils and nodded before taking the man's face between his hands.

"Can you understand me?" Talbot barely nodded and John patted his face until Talbot seemed to focus a little more on John's face. "What happened to you?"

"I was trying to get Anna away and something…" Talbot put his fingers to the back of his head and winced before drawing them away to note the blood there. "Or someone clubbed me in the back of the head."

John put a hand on Talbot's shoulder to tip the man forward and check the back of his head. "Clubbed expertly. A bit more force and you'd be dead." He pushed Talbot back and held the man's face in his hands again. "I guess it's a bit of mercy, in a way, that you're not dead."

"Mercy?"

"Like I said, you're not dead." John let out a sigh, nodding toward the nurses treating James. "He might be in a few minutes."

"The bullet?"

"Still in him and he's bleeding enough to leave his face the color of parchment." John shook his head, continuing to study Talbot's eyes for indication that the concussion was fading, "Let's hope they are the miracle workers we need."

"Sir!" Both John and Talbot turned, John putting a firm hand on the other man's shoulder to keep him in his chair, to address the nurse with bloodied hands. "We need someone who can lift him."

"Lift him where?"

"To hospital. It's close but…" The nurse wiped at her forehead, leaving a streak of James's blood there. "We've not got time to wait for a gurney."

John leveled a finger at Talbot. "Stay here until you're not seeing double."

"I can-" Talbot tried to rise but fell sideways into the chair. "I'll stay here."

"I can leave my partner here." The nurse brought John with her to James's body, looking a little farther from death now but still barely clinging to life. "She'll make sure your friend's not going to get himself into any more injury."

"I'd be much obliged."

John bent over and lifted James into his arms, holding him close as the man groaned against his chest. The nurse nodded, "At least he's still alive."

"He's got a fiancé waiting for him." John tucked James close and followed the nurse out of the building and through the streets. "He's got to stay alive."

They hurried through the streets and into the hospital. The nurse directed John through the corridors and found an empty bed for John to leave James on. He settled James carefully on the bed as the nurse returned to them, dragging a doctor with her. Between the two of the medical professionals immediately treating James, John was shoved aside.

He eased himself to the side, watching as they operated on James and stripped the man down to his graying skin and the bloodied clothes. John leaned on the wall, only moving when Talbot eventually entered and the nurse who brought him needed someone to watch over the other man. Taking a seat next to Talbot, John leaned back and gave a little laugh. A laugh that had Talbot frowning at him through uneven pupil dilation.

"What's got you laughing?"

"It's ridiculous… When you think about it." John pointed between Talbot and James. "I'm waiting to discover the health of the two men in Anna's life before I stop being one of the people in her life."

"That's a very dismal perspective." Talbot settled on the bed, almost shifting off the cover before John stopped him rolling to the floor. "What's… What are you talking about? And who are you… Really?"

"I grew up with Anna… Sort of." John shook his head. "We were both on that island where she was taken."

"You know where it is?" Talbot grabbed at John's sleeve. "You could take me there? You could lead me-"

"Okay…" John put his hands on Talbot's shoulders and pushed him back onto the bed. "You need to not do whatever it is you're doing that's going to make your condition worse."

"Fine." Talbot almost collapsed back to the bed. "But you were on that island with Anna? You've been?"

"I was kept trapped there so I'd rather we not refer to it like I went there on a holiday." John shifted in his chair, his clothes crinkling as James's blood dried. He paused, brushing at it, and then settled. "My mother and I were sailing too close to the island and happened to stop there. After that we were prisoners."

"You were there."

John opened his mouth and then shut it. "Yes. I was there. I was there with Anna for all of her training." He blinked, the sounds of the hospital fading around him as Talbot's voice buzzed in his ears. "We were together a long time ago."

John tossed a rock over the water, watching it bounce and skip until it plopped into the bay. He went to select another when he noticed Anna walking over the trail, smiling to herself at the sight of him. He gave a smile of his own and found another rock to toss. As she moved toward him, John almost dropped the rocks in his hands but she held up her own to stop him.

"Don't stop just because I'm here."

"I'd rather spend my time with you." John held up the rocks and before he could drop them, Anna put her hand over his and slid them to her palm. "This isn't exactly the best use of the little time we get."

"It's a nice way to distract myself." Anna let the rocks slide through her fingers before selecting one to skip over the water. "I need a few moments… To find myself."

"Was it… Worse, this time?" John almost moved is fingers toward her hand but stopped himself, holding back to give her the space she needed.

"It was what it was." Anna took another rock and skipped it over the smooth water. "Jane died this morning."

"What?" John's jaw dropped, "Jane's dead?"

"Yes." Anna refused to look at him, refused to see the face of shock and pity he knew was naked there, and instead chose another rock to skip over the water. "I pulled her from the water. Water we never should've been in. It was dark, she wasn't a strong swimmer, and…"

"And?" John risked, almost clenching his jaw as he waited for her answer.

"And she's dead because of it." Anna threw the largest rock in her hand as hard as she could. "She wasn't supposed to die! She shouldn't have been here!"

"Anna-"

"None of us are supposed to be here! We're not supposed to be these people!"

John watched as she punctuated each word with a rock. When she ran out of the ones she took from him, Anna bent and pitched those on the beach under them until she finally collapsed to her knees, sobbing. He crouched next to her, waiting a moment before finally putting a hand on her shoulder, and then hurried to stop himself falling hard on his ass when she almost threw herself into his arms.

His arms wrapped around her, fingers dragging through her hair as she clung to him. Despite the rocks digging into his ass and legs, despite the cold of the ground under them, and despite the threat of the water coming in with the tide, John held Anna. Held her until she finally drew back from his chest.

"We should go." She wiped at her eyes. "We'll get soaked if we stay here."

"Where do you want to go?"

Anna looked around before nodding, "Up there. I've never been that far up and I want to see if we can finally watch a sunset together."

"I'd like that."

John led them up to the top of the hill overlooking Mermaid Lagoon and settled them under an overhang. One that left them sitting on the softer grass while still hidden from the world around them. They settled back, Anna slotting herself at John's side, and sighing at the sight.

"The world feels so simple here." Anna shook her head against his chest. "As if this is how it's all supposed to be."

"The world's not this simple." John sighed, "It's not supposed to be."

"But it's not supposed to be like this." Anna pushed herself from his chest. "I'm not supposed to drag my friend's body from the water when she's forced to swim into an unforgiving current because some sick bastard wants us to train to kill people for him. I'm not supposed to-"

"I know." John put his hands over hers. "I know."

Anna almost fell limp against him. "What's it like out there? In a world where difficulty isn't this?"

"Don't you remember?"

Anna gave a little laugh. "My life wasn't… It wasn't real. Edna, the girl who came with me, was my maid. She lived in my house and helped run it while my father worked in a bank. My mother worked as a seamstress for wealthy individuals. Neither of them had callouses on their hands or had to wake up before dawn so we could eat." She sighed, "My life wasn't life before this. I was never expected to have to work for anything. I was only going to marry, have children, and entertain society at my level. There was nothing expected of me before."

"And it's difficult now because you have to meet expectations?"

"It's the expectations they've placed on me." Anna turned to John. "They want to take me, John. They want to take what makes me… Me, and destroy it. Twist it to their own ends use me like a tool in their agenda."

"That's not you, Anna."

"And yet…" Anna shrugged a shoulder before shaking her head and turning toward the horizon. "I've never even been kissed and I'll kill someone before I've been in love with anyone."

"That's not true." John reached for her hand again, taking it in his and ensuring Anna's eyes met his own. "I love you and you've not killed anyone yet."

"You love me?"

"Of course." John put his hand up, almost stopping himself touching her, but finally let his fingers trace over her cheek. "I think I've loved you since the moment I first saw you on that dock, wrapped in my boat cloak."

"Really?"

"Of course." John brushed a few strands of hair from her face. "I've only fallen more in love with you as I've watched you triumph and struggle and succeed. Everything has made you more to me."

"Even with what I am?" Anna put her hand over his on her cheek and pulled it down to hold in her lap. "Even after all the things I've done? Or will do?"

"Putting your opponent on their ass isn't anything to be ashamed of."

"But I am ashamed." Anna's voice caught. "I couldn't imagine going back to my parents, as I am, and telling them what I've become. That I've got a shame now. That it's got nowhere to hide because it'll all get found out."

"What do you mean?"

"Imagine me sitting at a fancy dinner and then suddenly holding a knife to someone's throat because the wrong word came out of someone's mouth." Anna tapped her temple, his fingers brushing over her skin as she refused to release his hand. "They're changing me. And in that moment my shame'll have nowhere to hide because I'll be found out."

"Why are you talking about shame?" John tightened his fingers over hers but almost immediately released when she tensed. "There's no shame in survival, Anna. That's what you're doing and I don't see any shame in that."

"But I'm… I'm spoiled John. I'm spoiled for my parents, for the life they wanted to give me… For anyone stupid enough to want me now."

"You're not spoiled."

"You would say-"

John gripped Anna's hands tight, despite her initial flinch, to make sure she looked at him. To ensure she saw him. "You're not spoiled, Anna."

He waited again but Anna did not interrupt him. "You could never be spoiled and anyone who thinks so can sod off."

"John-"

"It's true." He lifted their hands, kissing over hers. "You're made holier, and higher, to me because of the suffering you've been put through. And I've… I've never loved you more than I do in this moment."

"Truly?"

"Truly." John swallowed, watching her face. "And if your worry is that you've never been kissed… Then maybe you've just not met the right person."

Anna lifted her head just enough to look at him. "And if you were to suggest the 'right' person… Who would you say that is?"

"It could be anyone." John tried to smile but his nerves made his hands tremble as they held hers. "But I'd like it to be me."

"You… You want to kiss me?"

"For a very long time." John took a breath, an attempt to steady his nerves. "For as long as I've been in love with you."

Anna's hands slipped from his and, for a moment, John feared she would run. Would tear herself away from him and his foolish declaration. Would never speak to him again after the admission in the dusk.

She did none of those things. Instead she leaned forward and her gentle fingers caressed over his cheeks. Her focus was entirely on memorizing his face, eyes cast down to take in his features until they finally met. The delicate touch of her fingers over his lips stopped John's breathing and then made it catch when those fingers fell away so her hand could frame his jaw. Firm enough to hold him steady as Anna put her lips on his.

John did not even breathe. His entire body tensed, taking in the experience as if fire curled gently from his toes to the top of his head. Every part of his itched and twitched to react, to touch, to hold, but he forced himself to remain still. To allow Anna the choice of continuing the kiss she initiated or drawing away and leaving it off as a poor first experiment that only satisfied the curiosity she craved or to salve the fear of never living even a fraction of a normal life after her ordeal.

But then he wondered if it was the wrong reaction. Anna pulled back, her fingers a little less sure on his skin, and watched him as if waiting for a reaction. It took them both a moment before they stumbled over their words in a hurry to speak.

"That was-"

"I'm sorry if-"

"No, I-"

"It was-"

They both managed a laugh and John put his hands over Anna's, twisting his head first one way and then the other to kiss the insides of her palms. She shivered and he did it again, more slowly this time, and watched her eyes. When he darted out his tongue to risk a taste to her, perhaps to even trace the heartbeat skittering from her wrists, John thought he had the upper hand.

How wrong he was.

Two individuals, as untutored as themselves, were a shuffling mess. But not one without its intriguing discoveries. For had them more experience they might have been deliberately slow or moved to tempt and tease one another. Instead they fit together awkwardly with fits and starts accompanied by gasps and giggles until they found what they liked together.

The ins and outs of their clothing proved inhibitors to their kisses, growing more sure by the second, and they huffed in mutual frustration at the simple fact of disrobing. But then they discovered the chance to explore and entice as they removed each piece. The frustrations of buttons and snaps and ties were lost in the little sighs they emitted as they continued to discover one another.

John wondered if there was a man on earth who was as blessed and lucky as he was. To see and feel and touch and taste the vision before him. The one he only glimpsed so long ago, on a dark night in the water, and now appreciated all the more for the soul inside.

An appreciation that led him to kiss every bit of skin he revealed. That had him seeking out those places and motions that left Anna gasping and pulling at his shoulders. That dug her nails into his scalp and sides as he adored her.

All the tools at his disposal, between teeth and tongue and touch, aided in his mission. His only quest was to discover Anna so thoroughly he would never forget her. To leave her wanting for nothing and utterly satisfied so her fears would melt away under the weight of what they found.

So he could save her from all of it, if only for a single night.

Their touches grew more hesitant the closer their bodies moved together but the desperation in those fleeting caresses took on a searing heat that neither of them could ignore. Floundering and fresh though they were, theory and instinct took over where practice had yet to set. But their desire and basic knowledge was enough to maneuver John between her legs and hover above her.

"Are you sure?" His arms shook slightly with the tension of holding himself above her. "If you're not then-"

"John," One of Anna's hands settled on his shoulder and the other at the back of his neck. "I want this. I want this with you."

"I'll…" John cleared his throat, catching himself as an unintentional shift between them left his lungs seizing at the sensation of her damp folds against his pulsing erection. "I'll go slowly."

Anna's finger tightened at the back of his neck. "We'll go together."

They moved together. At first countering one another and cringing or shifting to try and find the position that would suit them both. John's lack of finesse had him stopping and starting at the sight of Anna's wince or the furrows in her brow as he caused her pain. But eventually they settled together and allowed instinct to override their fear so they could find the rhythm and direction they needed to meet their needs.

It was over far too quickly for John and he tried to bring Anna with him but he could claim no more control than she could. They quivered and trembled against one another until John managed to land heavily on his side so his weight would not crush her. Then they lay there, breathing hard and attempting to use words to define their rather inelegant first foray into the experience.

John turned his face to see Anna, her eyes shut and her chest rising and falling in time with slow breaths, and he struggled to fill his chest with air. His fingers reached out but stopped just short of touching her bare skin, as if the moments now made the act unmentionable when just moments before they wrapped around one another. But John kept himself back and satisfied his curiosity with running his fingers through Anna's loose hair. Tangles soon ran smooth and Anna blinked before looking over at him and smiling.

"How do you feel?"

"Shouldn't I be asking you that question?" John pushed himself onto his chest, angling sideways to be closer to her. To put their skin closer so the heat could arc between them again. "To ensure that I didn't completely ravish you or something?"

"You didn't ravish me." Anna pushed at his arm, letting out a breath. "But you tried your hardest and I… I feel wonderful."

"You're not in pain?"

"There's pain and there'll be aches tomorrow but…" One of Anna's legs bent up toward her body and John's blood ran hotter when he caught a better look at the sight between her legs, hidden from him before. "No more than a rigorous day of training. No one'll be the wiser for it."

"Then…" John moved his fingers from her hair to her arm, skating over it smoothly until he made the herculean jump to her torso and began tracing over the dips and valleys there. "Might I suggest a way to… ease the ache?"

"How would you recommend that?" Anna's hand ran up John's arm, squeezing when his finger ran over her breast and circled her nipple.

"Perhaps another try." John leaned over, kissing down her collarbone and toward where his hand had begun a massaging treatment of Anna's breasts to match the squeezing of her hand on his arm. "There are other ways to… do it."

"And how do you know these things?"

John lifted his head, his hand pausing as he met Anna's eyes. "I've heard stories. And I grew up near the docks where they tend not to watch their mouths when little boys are about."

"And what did you learn there?"

"I learned that I can kiss over every inch of you," John let his lips ghost over her skin, pausing just short of taking her nipple into his mouth. "Or I could just kiss here and you might like that."

"You've already kissed all over me." Anna writhed under him as John demonstrated his promise on her breast, almost distracting himself as he moved over her to gain a better position.

"Not all." John finished with a kiss before grinning up at Anna as he slid down her body, peppering her with kisses along the way, and settled his shoulders between her legs. "Not yet."

Anna's fingers dug into John's scalp as he started investigating. Investigating the places where Anna's nails dug divots into his skin or when her legs tightened around his ears. He searched out the right strokes of his tongue to leave her hips rising and falling and then dipped deeper between her glorious folds until her grip forced his mouth closer to her. Even his fingers and hands worked to massage her ass, to glide between her slick skin, and then to enter her as he had earlier. Anything and everything that left Anna crying out his name was his to give. Any and all experiences he could find the leave her keening out in pleasure was his desire. And when her muscles clenched around him in a signal he failed to find earlier, John could only continue sucking and drinking from her until she shattered all over again.

If her chest rose and fell quickly earlier, it was nothing to the way she sucked for breath now. The haze to her eyes, the limpness of her limbs, left John leaving more kisses over her glistening skin. Skin that glowed golden in the falling light of dusk until he reached her mouth.

He paused but Anna's hands blinding sought for him, bringing their mouths together to perfect their kisses as Anna sought out the taste of herself there. A taste John gladly exchanged as Anna's legs bent around him to draw him closer. To bring him right where he just finished leaving her sated and sighing.

The heat and dampness there had John breaking the kiss, trying to hold himself back from the impulse to press forward into the scorching embrace he encouraged. But Anna's heels dug into the backs of his thighs and her fingers skirted down his body to dig her fingers into the flesh of his ass as she angled her hips toward him.

"I want to try again."

"Then we might want to try something else." John pivoted on his elbow, bringing Anna over him in what he hoped was a romantic movement. It almost knocked him on his ass and Anna slipped as she tried to hold onto John. They both paused before laughing at their predicament.

It took them a moment to get settled, Anna finding her position more quickly and distracting John to the point of torture as he tried to find a comfortable position, but when they did the giddiness faded. It was only them in the whole world and John watched, enraptured, as Anna took control of their rhythm the second she sheathed him smoothly inside her. The second of excruciating pause as she clenched her muscles around him almost left John suffocating but then Anna exercised pity and moved.

The new position only perpetuated their journey of discovery. One that gave John the chance to run his hands over Anna's body again. To leave her sobbing out in pleasure the way she left him. And to finally lean up and hold her close as they came together once his desperate fingers finally managed to locate that place that forced her nails to rake over his skin and leave him stinging from the pain-tipped pleasure.

They settled again, Anna draped over his chest, and John held her close. Even when the light faded and they both wondered about anyone debating their disappearance. Neither of them cared as they burrowed under their clothes and made a bed where they lay. Together in the dark of the night where none could touch them.

A change in the tide matched the first threats of sunlight on a gray day and Joh woke. Anna nestled against him and his arms tightened to hold her closer. She muttered into his skin and John sighed into her hair, closing his eyes to remember the smell of her. The smell of them. The smell of this place that would live forever in his memory. Untouched and never forgotten.

But when he attempted to rouse Anna she only burrowed deeper, grumbling something unkind and uncouth. It only gave John a smile as he kissed her forehead and attempted to urge her awake. Again, she ignored him and John almost huffed in frustration over the situation.

Until another thought struck.

The thought to leave her skin warm with kisses. To tempt her with promises and whispered words. To entice her to life as his hand found her breast in a gentle massage and his fingers taunted between her legs. To allow her sighs and starts to fill his ears over the sounds of morning until Anna gasped in his ears as her vaginal muscles clung to his fingers the way her arms did to his shoulders.

Given their mutual soreness they did not shift position much. Anna's leg went over John's hip and he edged forward. The angle shallowed but it gave them both control. A shared experience as they came together in the light of the morning. A beautiful joining that had them both groaning out the other's name as they held tightly to one another in the fear of losing their life line in the tide.

They slipped over the beach, washing quickly in the frigid waters, and separated at the path to return to their respective places. Anna slipping through the open window of her cabin like a shadow and John back to the rocking boat without a rudder. The one always tied to the dock that hosted a lean-to and a tiny cabin.

The cabin where his mother slept between bouts of sickness. John waited, listening, but heard only her gentle snores and shook his head. Part of him, the dutiful son, chided his selfness, his carelessness, and his stupidity in leaving his mother alone. But the part of him still riding the high of Anna could not find it within him to bear the guilt and shame for longer than it took to conjure the image of Anna's cheeks when they reddened under the haze of-

John started awake when his foot hit the floor. He rose out of the chair, his body creaking with the motion, and tried to orient himself in the dark ward. One of the nurses, the same one from earlier, approached him with a lantern despite the low lights hissing gas from the walls.

"Are you alright sir?"

"Just startled myself." John shook out his arms, restoring equal feeling to all his limbs. "How is Mr. Kent?"

"The younger or the elder?"

"The elder Mr. Kent is here?"

The nurse nodded, "Arrived earlier. He's apparently taking lodgings with Mr. Kent's parents. They'll be back in the morning, when the younger Mr. Kent is a little better. Able to bear visitors."

"But he's alive?"

"He's got a strong heart." The nurse smiled to herself. "He's got you to thank for it, you know. You're the one who kept him alive."

"I did what I could." John craned his head toward James. "But otherwise he's going to live?"

"Yes sir." She went to leave but John cleared his throat. "Yes?"

"What's your name, Sister? I'd feel awfully rude if I didn't ask after all you've done for Mr. Kent and for my other friend here." John pointed to the snoring Talbot. "I'll assume he'll be alright too since he's obviously not dead."

"He's sleeping off whatever clocked him." She held out her free hand and John shook it. "And I'm Nurse Stuart. Ivy Stuart, if we're being informal."

"I'd prefer it." John released her hand. "Would it bother you for me to stay?"

"Be my guest." She winced at the chair. "I've got something better than that, if you'd like."

"If you're willing to-"

James groaned from his bed and Nurse Stuart hurried to him, holding up her lantern. John watched, almost laughing to himself, when he heard the half-mumbled words of praise from James to Nurse Stuart. His garbled attempts at poetry about her appearance and praise for her kindness left John sitting back down in his chair.

"Good luck Nurse Nightingale." John turned back to Talbot, who snorted himself to sitting upright. "Alright there Mr. Talbot?"

Talbot turned to John, who recognized the glaze of someone still asleep and struggling to pull themselves to wakefulness. "We find… Anna. She'll lead us to… There's an island you know?"

"I know." John pushed Talbot back to the bed and closed the man's eyelids so he snored himself back into a deeper sleep. "I know all about that island. And I know that Anna's there. There when I'm not as I was there when she wasn't."

Her fingers dug into his skin and the sticky wet between them, soaking her nightgown, forced John to stop. They hid in the darkness outside the cabin, both breathing hard, and John tightened his grip over Anna's fingers. She tried to dart out but he dragged her back as shouts and running feet passed their position.

"Not yet." He hissed and they tucked themselves deeper into the dark.

He could never say who kissed whom first. All he knew, later when he scrubbed the blood from the front of his ruined shirt while his back still screamed raw from the beating and whipping, was Anna pressed to him. Their form had greatly improved with practice but even this was new to them.

Adrenaline and primal necessity to burn through it kept them moving despite the lack of sense. Despite the danger- or perhaps because of it- John succumbed to the pull of her kisses just as she did to his. They scrambled and held at one another as they sought for purchase and comfort. Even when Anna buried the cry of surprise as her back hit the wall, her legs still wrapped around him and they were one again. One in a moment when they needed one another most.

One before they would separate.

They finished, all gasps and muffled cries and confusion, only to try and sort themselves back to the present. To face the reality of their position. To run for the docks. To slip to the boat John promised Thomas and his mother but gave freely to Anna. To give to her despite her chidings and desire to save others.

She forgot about the blood on her nightgown. About how it got there. Her heart always the better part of her. But John did not forget and he pushed the boat from the dock and into the water before Anna could argue. Forced her to leave all of them behind and save herself.

Forced her to leave him. Forced her to forget him. Forced her away.

John blinked at the rising sun through the window and turned to a waking, groggy Talbot. "If she can't lead you there, I will. I'll take you and as many people as you want back there if it's the last thing I do."