"And here is the final list," Gwen handed over the paper and Anna took it, squinting slightly in the weak light of the single bulb as they shared a desk at the back of the emptying office. "It's… It's workable."

"Sounds like a project." Anna pointed at Gwen. "I heard it in your voice."

"What voice?"

"The one you only pull out when you're steeling yourself for something rather awkward and horribly painful."

"Yes, the dreaded project voice." Gwen mocked her and then checked her phone, hissing. "It's late."

"Did you have plans with Jack?"

"No. He had court all day and briefs to read in Chambers." Gwen waved Anna off. "We spent last night together."

"So when I…"

"Yes, you disturbed my sleep." Gwen shrugged, giving a little smile. "And then I found a way to make it a little better."

"Good." Anna paused, "Crowe says hello."

"And how is James?" Gwen noted something on her pad before pausing to look at Anna. "Are you alright?"

"It's…" Anna checked the office was deserted before lowering her voice. "He made mention that sobriety isn't permanent."

"Did he suggest he knew more than that?"

"I think he knows all about it because he then asked if 'the Minister' knew." Anna shook her head, "I should've known he'd do a deep dive into my background when I asked him to help on this project."

"So we've officially got the Crowe Club on our payroll?"

"Technically they're investigators doing private work for me but however you want to bill it for the tax people." Anna checked her phone and then stretched. "You're right. It's late and we should go."

"You say that like you'll not be working until the wee hours."

"Sure I will but that doesn't mean I want to continue working here where my ass'll suffer from these abysmally poor chairs."

"I'll see if there's a line item for new ones while we pack it in." Gwen huffed, "How about we take it to yours. Mine's empty and I don't like being there when it's got an abandoned feel to it."

"Then move in with Jack."

"He's got flatmates."

"Then you get him to move in with you." Anna shook her head, "You make it sound like a difficult decision."

"For some of us it is."

"Is he dragging his feet?"

"His mother's dragging his feet." Gwen rolled her eyes as they headed for the office door. "She's convinced that it's a sin for two unmarried people to live together."

"But it's not a sin for them to sleep together?"

"We've not exactly been open about our sex life."

"Pros and cons." Anna shrugged a shoulder before pursing her lips as she raised an arm for a cab. "You could just marry him."

"He wants to be Silk first." Gwen raised a hand to stop Anna's argument. "He wants to know he can provide for me and not subject me to years of schlepping along for scraps in the interim."

"Marriage is built on the messy bits you know." Anna quieted, shifting her weight for a moment before speaking again. "You should just marry him now Gwen."

"I think you're preaching to the wrong choir for that." Gwen opened the cab door and waited for Anna to climb in before joining her. "I was ready to marry him the first time he bought me fish and chips."

"Do you think I should talk to him?"

"Heavens no." Gwen snorted, "You'd frighten him to death."

"Yeah." Anna cringed, "Poor sod would shit a brick if I gave him a piece of my mind about all this."

"Not to mention I imagine you coming to him like the Grim Reaper, with a rented fog machine, to tell him he's got to get his shit together."

"But if it works?" Anna made a face and Gwen gave a soft laugh. "He's probably just nervous. He's always thought he wasn't good enough for you."

"Which is ridiculous."

"Unarguably." Anna let out a breath, "Do you still have my flat key?"

"Probably." Gwen dug around in her purse to hand the key over. "You sure your luggage is actually there?"

"I dunno." Anna flicked out the driver's card from that morning. "I hope so. I was planning on getting a permanent driver so cabs don't fleece me throughout this campaign."

"Sure you can afford one?"

"It's the benefit of having a settlement the size of mine as well as the inheritance you get when your husband was the grandson and heir of a former transportation magnate on the Indian subcontinent." Anna opened her arms. "I'm absolutely flush with cash I don't even know how to spend."

"It's a shame you don't have a taste for the finer things in life."

"I'd rather be one of those gaudy, tacky rich people who cobble together their expensive tastes." Anna leaned back into her seat. "And it's all blood money at this point anyway so it's practically poison."

"I know." Gwen stewed in thought a moment. "Not that I didn't take what you offered me with little to no argument."

"And none of the charities or rehab centers that receive my checks seem to mind either so I guess the currency's only as corrupt as you imagine it to be." Anna shifted in her seat and dug in her purse for her card to swipe as the cab stopped outside the address. "I hope the cleaning crew liked the money too or we're going to be coughing through piles of dust."

"I'm sure the company you hired was fine." Gwen followed her to the front of the building and made a face. "Egh, I forgot how much I hate the sight of this place."

"What?"

"It's…"

"If you say 'tacky' then I'll remind you-"

"Yeah, yeah, it's tacky." Gwen shuddered, following Anna inside to the ancient lifts. "I'll remind you that we live in the modern age and a lift like this is-"

"It's an aesthetic."

"That's not an excuse." Gwen pulled the grille and Anna pulled the door open to crowd into the tiny space. "How you ever pass the inspections for this place always baffled me."

"It's easier when you own the building." Anna shrugged, closing the grille and the door to hit the button so the lift could groan and crank its way upward. "Besides, I happen to like the art deco feel. It's very twenties."

"The nineteen twenties, Anna." Gwen shuddered again, "I always feel like this place is about to fall down around my ears."

"It's sturdier than that."

"Okay, then it'll trap us as it comes tumbling down." Gwen almost leaned on the back wall before realizing her mistake. "I'll not sleep a wink in this place. What was I thinking?"

"That I might make a mistake tonight and you're here to keep me sober."

"I trust you more than that."

"Says the woman who made mention, just this morning, that-"

"You mean last night? Because, as I recall, three in the morning is-"

"That I was only just out of the clinic and, therefore, should not consider taking on a stressful campaign."

"This is why I don't argue with you if I can help it." Gwen put a hand over her face as the lift stopped and Anna led them out. "It only ever gets me into trouble."

"It's not your fault I've got eidetic memory." Anna handled the key and opened the ridiculously tall doors to lead them into a multi-room flat with cavernous ceilings. "And stupid-high ceilings."

"I like your ceilings."

"You can tell that to the cleaning crew who have to dust the rafters on ladders." Anna checked her phone as she wove between the stacks of boxes and through the half-set up room. "They're not fans."

"Sure they weren't complaining about you having only just moved in?"

"What are you talking about?" Anna frowned at Gwen. "I've lived here for a long time now."

"Then why does it look like you're sorting donations for a Goodwill?" Gwen peeked into a box. "Did you become a hoarder?"

"It's…" Anna shuffled in place before moving into the kitchen. "I've not unpacked anything since the accident."

"Were you packing it before?"

"Ravi and I were…" Anna set her bag on the table and turned to face Gwen as she entered the room. "Ravi and I had planned to move to Yorkshire. He thought the change of scenery would be good for us."

"Because London's the problem?"

"Because I was the problem in London." Anna waved a hand toward the boxes. "And my last campaign… It was killing me."

Gwen took her turn to shuffle in place before she put her hands on the back of a chair. "I heard what happened to the chief of staff for that minister."

"Did you?" Anna barely looked at Gwen as she dug out the contents of her bag and set it up on the table.

"I heard he was hit by a bus. Almost died."

"Pity." Anna moved past Gwen and into the foyer, finding her bags from earlier and dragged them into the bedroom with the bedframe but no mattress. "I heard he lived through it."

"He's permanently disabled and needs full-time care." Anna turned over her shoulder to see Gwen leaning on the doorway. "You wouldn't happen to know how something like that happens, would you?"

"I know a great many ways something like that can happen." Anna spared a smile that did not reach her eyes as she dragged the mattress from the wall and thumped it into place on the frame. "It was one of the benefits of having general medical courses before they let me get my degree."

"To get one of your degrees, don't you mean?" Gwen entered the room and worked through the contents of a few boxes before she found bedsheets to hand to Anna. "You never did say how that campaign ended."

"I wasn't there for it so it doesn't matter to me." Anna snapped the sheets perfectly straight and arranged the creases to perfectly line the bed before stepping back. "I should just donate all of this. Start over."

"Anna-"

"And the best part is that I won't have to consult anyone about the changes." Anna sat on the end of the bed, interlacing her fingers a moment. She tugged at them as she continued speaking. "I can change everything about this flat. I could take a sledgehammer to the walls if I wanted."

"Do you want to?"

"No." Anna shook her head. "I love this flat. I just… I don't like being in it alone. And I don't like being in it surrounded by all this… stuff."

"You could just throw it all out."

"I can't." Anna shook her head again. "I couldn't make those decisions on my own and I… I don't want to involve anyone else in it."

"I'd help you, if you asked."

Anna smiled at Gwen. "Thank you. I just… I don't think I'm ready for it yet."

"Well, when you are." Gwen nodded her head toward the kitchen. "I'm going to order us some food and go through some of the information you had Crowe gather for us. See where we might be weak."

"Have we already got a strategy for discussing his wife's infidelity and their divorce?" Anna stood, pacing the room for a second and then snapped her fingers. "And the shelters. We've got to coordinate those into the tour so it's not just a stunt but a functional part of his campaign."

"I've got some workable models for it that I think you should look at. As for the wife…" Gwen cringed, "The divorce is not going well and it's going to be very ugly in there before it gets better."

"I don't doubt it." Anna sighed and then jumped slightly when her phone buzzed. She blinked at the alarm before nodding. "If you could get started on that, I've got to make a call."

Gwen checked her phone, "Ah. That time already?"

"It always hits when you least expect it." Anna untangled her earbuds and plugged them into her phone as Gwen left the room.

In the silence, Anna tried to regulate her breathing. Her fingers beat a tattoo on the raised footboard of the bedframe as the tone on the video call trilled until it set Anna's teeth on edge. But once it connected and the picture engaged, Anna gave a full-toothed smile. "Hey you."

"Mum!" The brown-skinned boy on the other end of the line grinned at her with a gap-toothed smile. "I lost it!"

He pointed at one of the gaps and Anna made a show of trying to get closer to peer better at the sight. "And what did the tooth fairy give you for that one?"

"A fiver." His grin widened. "And a promise that I'd get to see you at weekend for my cricket match."

"That's absolutely right I will." Anna pouted at him. "How else would I prepare for another boring week at a terrible job?"

"But your job is so cool." He leaned forward on his desk on the other side of the screen. "Dad used to say you were a 'mover-and-shaker'. Like a giant."

"Yes he did." Anna smiled, "And now I'm working with someone I think will change the world so my job now won't be as boring as the old one."

His face froze a moment, "You changed jobs?"

"Yes." Anna closed her eyes, grimacing a second, and opened them with a forced smile. "It's a new job. All settled with the old one and it's more fun than the ad campaign. A lot more fun. And Gwen's working with me."

"Yes I am." Gwen leaned in the doorway and Anna turned the camera so Gwen could wave. "Hey there Jai. How are you?"

"Excited you're coming to see my cricket match on Saturday."

"Wouldn't miss it." Gwen scoffed and spoke to Anna, "Food's going to be here in twenty."

"Thanks." Anna waved her off before turning back to Jai. "She's going to make sure I don't cock up this new job."

"You always say that about her."

"Because it's true."

Jai quieted a moment, "Will you… cock it up, I mean?"

Anna waited until he met her eyes. "Absolutely not. I promised you and I won't break that promise."

"Dadi said…" Jai glanced toward his door before looking back at Anna. "Dadi said that you always wreck things. She calls you Shiva."

"And what does your Dada say to that?"

"He says that you can't be Shiva because you're from Yorkshire." Jai shrugged, "But he once said you were Kali."

Anna forced her smile now, "Well, at least your grandparents think I'm a goddess. Your daddy always thought so."

Jai frowned, "What does that mean?"

"Nothing." Anna shook her head and tried to get comfortable on the mattress. "How are you?"

"Happy you're calling." Jai leaned back over his chair and straightened to show off a jersey. "They've got my name spelt right this time."

"Thank goodness." Anna read the name. "It's nice to see 'R-A-I' instead of 'R-Y-E'. Your dad would be proud."

"That's what Dada said." Jai shifted in his seat. "He's dusted off the wickets to try and help me practice."

"Good for him."

"I wish I had my wickets and bat instead." Jai pouted and then brightened. "Are you at the flat? You could find them. Dad packed them and I think-"

"I think it might take a bit of time to find them." Anna cringed, "I only just got back to the flat today and… It's kind of a mess."

"A mess?"

"From all the boxes and dust." Anna shuddered theatrically. "I may need a strong person, like you, to help me clean it."

Jai grimaced and stuck out his tongue. "Blagh!" They both laughed for a moment before Jai quieted and pulled in on himself, as if preparing to weather a storm. "When… When could I come back to the flat to live with you?"

"Soon, I hope." Anna sat straighter. "Maybe, if I can okay it with your grandparents, we can schedule a weekend. I could have you here and we'll set up your room again."

"Yeah. And find my cricket kit."

"Exactly." Anna looked around her room. "Maybe choose some paints to brighten up the walls."

"And hang my posters."

"I don't see why not." Anna shrugged, "We'll get something for all the rooms."

"Even Georgie's?"

Anna swallowed and forced herself to smile. "Of course. We wouldn't want to leave her room out if we're redoing the whole flat."

Jai thought a moment, "I think blue. It's the same as my uniform. And Chelsea. And her eyes." He paused, "If that's okay."

"Why wouldn't it be?" Anna swallowed again, blinking quickly as she wiped at her eyes in the second Jai looked away from the camera while moving one of his headphones off his ear. He leaned out of his chair, as if trying to get his ear closer to something, and then rearranged the headphone. "What is it?"

"Dadi's calling." Jai shrugged, "She's got all the cousins over for Diwali."

"That's fun for you."

"Mostly." Jai made a face, "They're all wrestlers or footballers. Not a single one of them knows how to bowl so I can't practice."

"You just said your granddad's dusting off wickets."

"But he's old." Jai whined and Anna snorted.

"You'll be fine. I'm sure he's got some things to teach you."

"If you say so."

"I do." Anna blew a kiss at the screen. "Go on. There's no need to make your grandparents wait. You know how your Grandmother hates tardiness."

"Alright." Jai sighed and then blew a kiss back at her. "Love you Mum."

"Love you too." Anna smiled until the call ended. As it did she blinked but the tears came anyway. Wiping at them in a hurry, Anna moved to the kitchen where Gwen looked up from her paperwork. "So, how is it?"

"Are you really going to try and talk about work right now?"

"What else would I talk about?" Anna took a chair and finally met Gwen's expression. "How much of it did you hear?"

"Enough to know you're a better person than I am."

"I doubt that."

"I couldn't tell my son to respect his grandparents when they're actively trying to keep him from me." Gwen shrugged, "But that's just me."

"He's in their custody. Legally. Badmouthing them to my child, who is their blood, would be in bad form." Anna slumped in the chair a little. "Besides, who knows how long they'll be his legal guardians."

Gwen reached over the table and put her hand over Anna's. "You're going to be him back, Anna."

Anna smiled and put her other hand over Gwen's, squeezing it for a second. "I'm glad I can lean on your faith for that."

"You don't have to lean on my faith. You're going to get him back."

"After everything that's happened…" Anna shook her head, "I'll be lucky if they even allow him to stay a weekend in his own home."

"They're letting you come to his game."

"In public."

Gwen groaned, "Look, pessimist, they can't deny that you're doing your due diligence to get custody back. And the courts'll see that too."

Anna stroked her finger along a woodgrain in the table. "What if I shouldn't get him back?"

"Excuse me?"

"What if it's better for him if he doesn't come back to me?"

"Don't say that Anna." Gwen shook her head, "You've worked too hard for too long to give up when the end's in sight."

"That's usually when I cock it up."

"Then don't this time."

Anna snorted, "You say that like it's easy."

"It is easy."

"Is it?" Anna looped her finger in the air. "It's a cycle for me Gwen. An inescapable pull like a whirlpool or a maelstrom. It never ends and I'm always right on the edge of escaping its grip before I'm thrown to the bottom to start the whole bloody thing all over again."

"Maybe if you stopped seeing your sobriety as a one-and-done thing then you wouldn't keep having these relapses." Gwen shrugged as Anna glared at her. "go on and glare at me, since you can't argue."

"Can't I?"

"No, you can't." Gwen let out a breath, "You lost custody of your son because a series of events, that you've never fully disclosed to me, led to you relapsing when he needed you most. That's human but that's on you."

"I never said it wasn't."

"But…" Gwen stressed the word until Anna shut up. "But it's no reason for your son to be kept from you. You messed up. You hit a breaking point, like we all do, and you made a big mistake."

"A 'big mistake'?"

"Fine, a big-ass mistake. Whatever. Point is," Gwen leaned forward, forcing Anna to look at her. "Your mistake happened to be a repeat. A comfort mistake that bit you in the ass… hard. It came back when most inconvenient, as they always do, and you paid a steep toll of it. That's life."

"Not your life."

"I didn't meet my husband when we were both high." Gwen shrugged, "Having said that, I'm not without my own basket of sins, flaws, and struggles."

Anna did not respond and barely reacted when Gwen took her hand again. "Anna, the best thing we can do now is not wallow in whatever self-pity or anger you're feeling. We need to get you back on your feet and make it stick this time."

"Like we've never managed it before?"

"We only need one way to make it work." Gwen squeezed her hand and released. "Besides, if we get you well and functional then Jai can come be with you here instead of with all those cousins who can't hold a cricket bat."

"Maybe they'll convert him to football."

"Heaven forfend."

Anna sighed, "At least his grandmother can make curry." She shuddered, "I always ruined it."

"It's chicken and sauce, how do you ruin that?"

"No idea." Anna made a conciliatory face. "But I could make a good roti."

"I could live off those carbs." Gwen grinned and then frowned. "Now I want curry. Damn it."

"What?"

"I ordered Chinese."

"Well, we can save the Chinese in the fridge I have over…" Anna twisted in her seat and waved toward a tower of boxes. "Somewhere behind that wall."

"I'm so glad that, should the need arise, we've a fortress of cardboard in which to ensconce ourselves until reinforcements arrive." Gwen pulled out her phone, "What good Indian places do you have around here?"

"There was a place just down the street. Ravi's friend… Faran? Yeah, Faran Tahir ran it."

"I hope he's got a 'friends and family' discount because I could eat roughly the equivalent of my weight in lamb."

"You'll eat it all yourself."

"Whatever I don't finish Jack will." Gwen handed the phone to Anna. "Add whatever you want to the order. I'm saving the receipt and counting this as a working dinner."

"Did you open the expense account for this job?"

"I was born in the morning but it wasn't this morning." Gwen took the phone back and sent in for the order. She paused, noting Anna had not moved in her seat. "You'll get there Anna. This isn't impossible."

"I has been for me thus far."

"Don't tell me the Great Anna Smith is giving up."

Anna flipped her the bird before sighing. "I've never done it before."

"There's a first time for everything."

"Is this that?"

"I hope so since you've never been sober this long." Gwen smiled, "They'll give you a new chip you know."

"Goodie." Anna gave an almost manic smile. "I'll let it join the rest of them in my ineffectual collection."

"Pessimist."

"Realist."

"Defeatist." Gwen's voice sharpened. "This chip'll join all your other chips. That's how it goes."

"To remind me of constant failure?"

"To remind you of constant effort, dipshit." Gwen ground her teeth. "Now you're just whinging and making yourself feel worse."

"Maybe I am." Anna chewed the inside of her cheek despite the petulance. "What if I don't want another chip?"

"They won't force it on you."

"I mean…" Anna let out a breath, "What if I don't want another reminder?"

"Then you'll fail." Gwen folded her arms. "It's about accountability, Anna. And, if they bother you, make them into a keychain to give to Jai. Give him proof that you're trying and you're serious about making this change. Especially since he's the one you're trying to make the change for."

"I've let him down so many times."

"Then don't let this be one of them." Gwen stood at the sound of the doorbell. "Change your thinking and get your head out of your ass."

"How very inspiring."

"What can I say, it's a gift." Gwen struck a pose as she walked to the front door. "And we need to finish our work quickly because I'm starving and I've not had sex tonight."

"I'm not having sex with you."

"No," Gwen leaned back into the doorway. "I mean that I need to get home within a window so I can have sex tonight so we'll need to work efficiently and quickly so I can have sex."

"Thank you for clearing that up."

"I'll thank you when I get laid tonight." Gwen walked back to the door, "If I've even got the energy after I deal with your bullshit all evening."

"I heard that."

"That was the point."

Anna snorted and pulled the papers in front of her.