A/N: I have had the idea to write this little one-shot for a while now and I finally had some free-time today, so I decided to get it written! There are very, very brief mentions of Anna's assault in this. I thought I would add that in there as a little warning in case people would rather avoid. Happy reading!


Opening his arms to his wife when she climbed into bed beside him, John waited for her to lie down and make herself comfortable before he wrapped them around her and pulled her close, allowing her to tuck her head beneath his chin and drape an arm across his stomach. Silence fell over them for a little while then, neither of them feeling the need for conversation as he ran a hand along her back and pressed kisses to her crown, but a thought that had been on his mind for most of the evening began to slowly creep back in and he sighed into her hair. "Can I ask you something? Would you mind?" He asked before she moved her head to his shoulder and looked at him, shaking her head in reply. "Why was it so easy for you to forgive that woman? I admire you for it, more than you could possibly imagine, but I do wonder."

She lost his gaze for a moment and tightened her hold of him, tangling a leg with his beneath the covers as she thought about her response. "By concealing the truth for so long, she put the two of us in an awful position and the outcome would have been completely different if one of us ended up convicted, I know that," She admitted, meeting his gaze once again and allowing him to brush a wayward curl from her face. "But ever since I found out about her, all I've thought about is how I could easily have been the one in her shoes. He did to her what he did to me and then he…he found her in the street and taunted her about it. I…" She paused for a moment. "On the night of the house party, he told me that I was weak for not putting up enough of a fight. I fought so hard, I know I did, but those were the words that he said to me."

"You are the opposite of weak," He growled, his voice trembling with rage. "The things he put you through even after…"

"I know, I know," She cut in, moving her hand to his chest and stroking her thumb against the hair there which helped to calm him down a little. "He was pure evil, to me and so many other women, and that is why I worry that I would have done the same as that other woman if it had been me on that pavement. I can barely talk about what he did to me now and it happened almost two years ago. I admit that I have come a long way since then and I am proud of the progress I've made, but you know what I was like around the time all of this happened. I was still having those nightmares, I was having panic attacks during the day and I couldn't even walk past the boot room without feeling like I was going to throw up, so if he had belittled me, I…well, let's just say that me shoving him isn't all that far out of the realm of possibility."

Looking at her in silence for several long seconds, caressing her face with light sweeps of the back of his palm, John couldn't believe his luck. He had been married to this woman for six years now, but he had never been as in love with her as he was at this moment. Since her attack, her strength had been tried and tested time and time again in every form imaginable, but it had never wavered. Even locked away in prison, away from everyone she knew and loved and trusted, she had put on such a brave face and always had a smile for him when he went to see her. She was his inspiration. He was always telling her that and she was always tutting at him and telling him to stop being so daft, but she was. Her kindness and her ability to understand those that he could never fathom understanding were only two things he admired about her.

"Do you know how in love with you I am?" His voice was no higher than a whisper.

"You would probably love me more if I could give you a child," She muttered before catching herself. "I'm sorry, I said I would stop this."

He shook his head, moving his hand around to play with her hair. "This is going to take time for you to accept. For both of us to accept, honestly, but I promise you that we are going to get there eventually. I would have loved to have a child with you because if there is anyone on this earth deserving enough of one, you are that person, but I am more than content with only you. You are the only thing I really need."

"Me too," She whispered, closing her eyes when he leaned down to brush a kiss against her lips. "I think we ought to get some sleep."

He hummed in agreement before reaching over to turn the lamp on his nightstand off and plunge their room into darkness, the two of them sighing as they settled down together and she tucked her head into his neck to breathe him in. "Goodnight." She said against his skin.

"Goodnight, my love," He echoed, turning his head to rest his lips against her forehead. "Pleasant dreams…"


A/N: Thank you so much for taking the time to read! I really hoped that you liked this and would love to know your thoughts on it with a review. I'll see you all soon!