A/N: This one is going into the past for a "missing scene" right after Alex tried to blow Valentin and Anna up with a pressure cooker. I like to be as historically accurate as possible (unlike some of the real writing, ahem), but a lot of Valentin's past's timeline is a question mark… So, I did the best I could. :)

The prompt for this one was "cheating death."

After allowing the paramedics approximately two minutes to check her out, Anna had jumped back into the action, talking to Robert about what had transpired inside their warehouse.

Despite being pistol whipped, she was in far better shape than Valentin. Whether it was from the gas, the unknown drugs, or a combination of the two, Valentin had a splitting headache and was focusing on trying not to vomit into the oxygen mask he was wearing. He'd refused a stretcher and trip to the hospital and had compromised with accepting the oxygen, a shot of Zofran, and a period of monitoring.

As he sat in the back of the ambulance, he watched Anna buzzing around, fully in her element. The woman was unflappable. One would think that she would have some sort of PTSD reaction to explosions, but she was eerily calm.

Valentin remembered the day when he'd found out that she was "dead" in the boat explosion. He was working with a diamond theft ring in the Ukraine after his surgeries had been completed. The communication had come across from a former WSB contact.

Anna Devane, Robert Scorpio, and Cesar Faison are dead. Boat explosion off of Venezuela. No survivors.

Valentin had sat there, dumbfounded, just staring at the transmission for an hour. He had always assumed that their paths would cross again, that their story wasn't over.

When he was finally able to move again, he went straight out to buy a bottle of Anna's favorite champagne. Back when he knew her the first time around, she was not a scotch drinker. He brought it back to his flat and poured a glass. With his gaze fixed on the one picture he had of Anna from the training academy, he spoke, tears fighting their way through his eyes.

"To what could have been had you seen what I look like today… But maybe it still wouldn't have been. You probably wouldn't be too proud of the man I am now. Anna, you were the first person to show me kindness and care, to look beyond what was on the outside… You will always be my first love, even though I was never yours. I'll always love you." Valentin had said, raising his glass to the picture. He had only been able to take one sip before he was choking back sobs, mourning the one who got away.

Suddenly interrupting his thoughts of the past, the present day and very much alive Anna climbed into the back of the ambulance, an impressive feat in the heels she was wearing.

"Are you okay?" Anna sat down next to him in the back of the rig and laid a gentle hand on his knee.

Valentin pulled the mask off of his face to talk. His voice was still husky from coughing. "I've been better, but I'll survive."

"Well, I'm glad to hear that."

"It's a good thing for us that cheating death is kind of your thing, huh?"

"It's impossible to cheat death. All you can really do is postpone it." Anna squeezed his knee.

Valentin looked down at her hand. "Then you must have one hell of a rain check from death."

Anna laughed softly, took the mask from his hand, and fitted it back over his nose and mouth. "Just keep breathing, Valentin."