A/N: In honor of Robert being in town, even if I don't really watch anymore lol. Thank you to BoandNora-ItsOneWord, ShanRB, 4gcrazyme, ReetSLP, chzwit and tracy for the reviews! Hope you enjoy this next bit!

Anna had long sent Robin to bed, but her daughter's questions and concerned face still assailed her thoughts.

Are you sure you're okay?

In a weak, broken moment, she had kissed Robin's father—one of the few people on this earth that she could trust completely. So she wasn't okay. She hadn't even been okay before that…

But she lied and she lied some more… there were miserable moments when she felt as if it would never end. Faison was darkness, feeding into all that was wrong about her—those shadowy corners. Desperate and shaken, she had chased the light. She hadn't done that since before Robin—the WSB and the DVX, when she had felt dark and precarious and dirty…

And then she met someone who was infuriating, but heroic, and charming and they tumbled into that forbidden, romantic spell together. From the moment he stood there, tongue-tied and she smirked back at him in reckless glory and their adventure had begun. He made her feel clean and good again. He had made her look for a way out.

But it hadn't lasted. With a gun to Robert's head, she had lost the first man she ever loved, for the sake of him. No, nothing good ever seemed to last, except Robin.

Anna smiled for her daughter, but the image was tainted…Faison had put a target on Robin's back—no, not on Robin, but on her relationship with Robin—the thing that she valued most in this life.

Robin's young face was creased with worry when she asked her mother if she was fine, and she didn't believe her assurances. That child was so worried, so loving and lovely and the best of Anna. So entirely blind to what her mother was…unable to understand the depth of betrayal.

Traitor. Liar. Seductress. Thief.

The doorbell rang and Anna shooed Robin back to bed hurriedly, not knowing who could be on the other side. For one heart-stopping moment, she thought it might be Robert, or Faison. And in that moment, she didn't know which man would be harder to face. She kissed Robin's head and waited until the girl was safely back in her room, and she felt so weary.

But she had least expected Sean at the door, who should have been home recovering!

"What are you doing here?!" She inhaled in surprise and ushered him in. "Oh, are you alright?" She observed that he looked carefully around the corner into the living room, not answering her.

"Is Robert here?"

"No, and neither should you be!" Anna chided, closing the door against the night air while Sean glanced shiftily around. Concern enveloped her as she got a closer look at his pale, glistening face and how he nursed his side… he was in no condition to be running around at this hour. Anna went to his side and put a hand on his arm, but he stubbornly nudged her off.

"Look, I know that he struck out with the WSB." She recognized that slight vulnerability in his eyes, reminding her of those moments best forgotten in Sean's hospital room when he revealed his betrayal. And she was surprised to realize that it still hurt… Sean looked at her and look chagrined, as if he knew what she was thinking. "You think he's gonna tell me about it?"

Concern and sympathy warred with the remembrance that she could very well distrust him, knowing what she knew… but Sean had taken a bullet for her child…and she knew he was her friend, whatever had happened in the past. "No," she said honestly and apologetically, running a hand down his sweaty cheek, wondering how he had even got here under his own power. "Probably not."

Sean exhaled, looking back down at her. "Are you?"

Anna took that pointed look for what it was. Sean and Robert were best friends, but Anna and Sean knew each other differently, and in some ways…better. Her friend and former boss was reaching out a hand that Robert couldn't take at this time, and Anna knew what she needed to do.

"Yeah," she breathed, running a hand through her hair and dropping her gaze. "Yeah…sit down and I'll tell you."

It was almost a relief, to unburden to Sean about the facts of the case. Sean was clinical and calculating… if she were to propose to Sean what she had to Robert hours ago, Sean wouldn't get passionate about her and wouldn't fly off the handle.

He wouldn't sweep her up in a stolen, breathless kiss that neither of them had any business sharing.

She paced in front of him and told him everything, leaving out her most recent conversation with Robert to avoid muddying it up. "…so Faison insists that I…I stick to my side of the bargain…"

Sean glanced sideways, hands clasped and shoulders hunched, but there was finally a little color returning to his face. "You aren't going to, are you?"

"No," Anna hissed, worrying her lower lip and rubbing her arms uncomfortably. "No, of course not, I'm just…telling him that so that I can have some kind of control over him."

"Oh, come on, Anna, don't kid yourself," Sean sighed.

She wasn't surprised that he dismissed the notion, but Anna was fairly confident that Sean didn't even know Faison like she did. Sean had always thought of Faison like something of his darker counterpart, the other side of his coin. But Faison wasn't that…only Anna had seen the nakedness in his eyes, for her.

Of course, that wasn't the immediate problem. As Robert so aptly demonstrated in Katherine's dressing room, he wasn't interested in letting Anna handle things. And without Sean to make her ex-husband see reason, she didn't see how she could put him off.

"It's Robert I'm worried about," Anna said, leaning over the couch, recent memories on her mind. "Because now that the Bureau's turned him down, he's gonna go after Faison on his own…"

Sean groaned in frustration, throwing his head back on to the cushion. "Ugh, you know this whole thing is stupid, this whole thing is absolutely stupid!" He stood up in agitation, turning to Anna. "It's not even his—it's not even his problem!" As Anna approached him, he threw his hands up in surrender, aggressive and desperate. "It's not even yours! You didn't cause this mess!" He backed away from her attempts to calm him down, though he was looking sicker from the moment he was back on his feet. He jabbed a finger at himself. "I did. And I'm the one who's gonna fix it!"

"Sean, you shouldn't be here," Anna said, finally getting her hands over his and stilling their frantic motions. She understood his need to discuss this, but he was far too injured to deal with any of this now. "You should go home!"

"No!" He batted her gentle grip away, shaking his head. "No, what I'm going to do is I'm going to go to Ross. And I'm gonna give Ross exactly what he's asking for!"

Anna's breath caught in her throat as she stared at him, horror sinking in to her bones. "What are you talking about?" she pronounced. "You'd have to tell him about us!"

Sean coughed and turned his face away from hers, as if he couldn't be aware of the graveness of what he was suggesting. "Don't worry, I'll leave you and Robert out of it."

"No!" Anna said with disgust. She couldn't believe he was saying this, and she could barely find the words to argue. "You can't do that! You'll spend the rest of your life in prison, Sean, you can't do that!" She was nearly spluttering and her voice jumped in pitch, hoping that he wasn't serious at all. With everything else, she'd be damned if any of them suffered on account of Faison's resurrection. "Don't even think about it!"

"Look," Sean said, cutting a hand across her. "That's all I can think about, please." He walked past her, his shoulder brushing hers. "That's all I can think about."

"Sean." Anna grabbed him, trying to force him to face her and injecting a calm into her tone that she couldn't feel.

"What?" he snapped, not strong enough to fight her.

"You're not gonna do this…" she tried to smile. "You, you have a life now, you have Tiffany, you have—"

"Look," Sean cut her off with violent suddenness, "what I have with Tiffany, and what I would do to Tiffany, can't even compare to what I did to you and Robert." He forced the words through gritted teeth, his face so close, so heartbroken that it gave her pause. She swallowed her words, knowing too well his pain. She'd felt it before.

"No, Anna, this is the only way, this is the only way." He was panting, so fiercely believing his words that she was swept up.

"God," she breathed, stepping back and looking down. She didn't want this at the cost of anyone she cared about. She didn't want Sean to offer himself for both of their sins. "Maybe I…maybe I could tell him myself."

"Oh yeah, that's great, that's a great idea," Sean said sarcastically, looking her in the face. "Then what about Robin? She spends the rest of her life living down that her mother was a traitor?!"

A fresh wave of fear came at hearing that aloud and she knew Sean was right about that at least. She couldn't do it. Not if it cost her Robin.

"I mean, come on, we've gotta face this. I mean, the only way that we can destroy this Faison character," he took a breath and hesitated and Anna could see that falter in his face. Not for Robin this time, but for Tiffany. He couldn't do it. He couldn't do it either. "…is by destroying the people that we love, I mean, it's…" he shook his head, unable to go on.

"I guess we'll just have to ride it out then," Anna said, resigned. "…with Robert's help…I guess that's what we have to do…"

I'm rewriting history, Robert had said to her in Scotland, things would have been so much different with us if you had just walked on that last assignment… They wanted me, they wanted to kill me, ME!

She had looked into Robert's eyes and seen it: that monumental disappointment and that recklessness for her love—that frightening face. He thought she had lost her nerve as an agent and he hadn't cared at all about his life or his honor, what he valued most in this world. And he had felt that way for love of her.

She paced away from Sean, feeling as if she wanted to crawl out of her skin again, tingling. Stretching by the window, she pivoted around again, looking at Sean's wounded posture and feeling a kinship. She didn't know whether to laugh or cry. "It's kind of ironic, isn't it…? He's the only one of us that didn't do anything thirteen years ago…" She shook her head.

Sean stared at her grimly, that connection between them buzzing in his eyes, and he looked away with a quiet acceptance of a truth that he once had not understood, but did now. "Nothing but…lie to protect the one he loved…"

The truth of that sank in to the pit of her stomach and asked the unbidden question of why Robert did love her so much, so quickly, when she had done so little to deserve it… And now, now he couldn't stop paying for it…for her.

"Oh Sean," Anna muttered, "how much more lying are we gonna have to do? …what's it gonna cost us?"

But Sean didn't know that. None of them could.

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Anna was exhausted and rung-out by the total of the day's events, but she couldn't find sleep. Sean had gone at least a half-hour ago, and it seemed that Robin had finally drifted off and left the worry for her mother to her waking hours. Anna, for her part, was grateful for that.

But somehow, the night wasn't done with her yet, and perhaps that was why she couldn't relax as someone else announced their presence outside of her door.

What is it about tonight? she wondered, a little disgruntled, as she opened the door and found Robert on the other side, looking extremely ill-at-ease. She couldn't blame him, as the feeling was very much mutual.

In fact, there was a split-second in which she considered closing the door in his face, but Robert must have seen the indecision, because he moved quickly and shoved past her and into the house.

"Sorry about the hour, but I have to talk to you."

There was only one reason he should be coming to her home this late at night. "…did something happen with Faison?"

"No, no, no…" he waved his hand off at the suggestion and she felt her irritation rise in response.

"Then what are you doing here, Robert? Then where's Katherine?" She had hoped that he would have found Kate by now, talked to her, and perhaps sorted some things out… but when Robert looked at her in response, and his chest rose and fell with effort, she braced herself.

"She called off the engagement," Robert said.

Anna froze, having not expected something quite so serious. She really had…but how could she have done?

"Why?" Anna heard herself say.

Robert said nothing, and at his silence, her eyes snapped up to his, filled with horror for the second time that night.

"She didn't…?"

"No," Robert muttered, shame-faced at the implication. "She only overheard us talking in her dressing room."

Only talking. But even then…

"Oh no," Anna mouthed, thinking of Robert's words… his vow that Faison would never separate them again.

"Puts my behavior over the last few months to the fact that… I'm still in love with you."

Anna stared at him, not sure what to say to that…or what Robert would have her say. Before Faison, before Sean's confession, before that raw moment in Katherine's dressing room, she would have shrugged the accusation off—she wouldn't have even thought about it. But now… she felt caught. She felt as if they had been put on a course that they couldn't turn back from. She couldn't shrug off Katherine's words and pretend that they meant nothing. Harder still was the knowledge that she didn't want them to be true. And what if they were…

"Oh, I see…" she said, stepping slowly around Robert so she wouldn't have to look at him.

"And you're still in love with me."

He delivered the latter as if it was a final blow, the last nail in the coffin. Hopefully? Anna closed her eyes and she could feel Robert's lips on hers again—heady and weak-at-the-knees. How it used to feel, even in her imagining. She rubbed her throat nervously, but she wouldn't turn around and see whatever was on his face. She wouldn't dare.

"Why in the hell does everyone in this town still think that we're an item?" he said, his voice rough.

"I don't know. Silly, really…" She was having trouble getting air, wishing that he would leave. No matter what his feelings for her, she knew that he had felt something for Katherine… why would he come here right after? It was the worst sort of judgment if he had any hopes of getting back with her, but Anna couldn't tell him that when he had probably come seeking comfort.

"I could go around and have a chat with her tomorrow if you like," she offered, trying to hide the misery from her voice.

"No." His hand wrapped round her arm and she felt him tug and then slacken once she gave resistance. His fingers were warm through the cloth of her robe and his mouth was just above her ear. She shivered and tried to ignore it. He had to know what he was doing. "I think she's a bit…sensitive about you right now," he rumbled lowly.

She suddenly wanted to punch him, and she yanked away.

"Anna, look at me."

"Why are you here, Robert?" she bit out, obeying him anyway. She was at the end of her patience, and she knew there was a challenge in her eyes. And he was so intense, so focused on her that the urge to run was only overcome by stubborn pride. She wasn't the one who kissed him first, damnit! He did this. And yes, he could blame her for every other tragedy that had befallen them…but not this one.

"Why are you here?" she said again, when it appeared he wouldn't answer.

"I…I don't know," Robert admitted peevishly. He gestured between them. "There's no one else—there's nowhere else to go!"

That sat and settled between them for a long moment. Robert's honesty always had a tendency to disarm her, but she shook her head and snapped out of it to get to the central problem. "Do you want Katherine back, Robert? Because I hardly see how coming to my home in the middle of the night will accomplish much in that way! And…" she sighed, "and if you needed a friend, you could probably find one that she doesn't think you're in love with."

"Yes," Robert said. "Don't you think I know that?" He sighed and rubbed his chin. "But I realized something when I was talking to Katherine, Anna. We…we have some things to sort out. If anything has come of tonight, it's hit me that I'm not being fair to her." He paused and then looked at her, his blue eyes stolid. "And maybe I haven't been fair to you, either…"

"You haven't been unfair to me," she said, aggravated. "If anything, you've been too good…"

"Yeah, well, you ever wonder why that is?" he said lightly.

That question landed solidly right in her chest, but she didn't let him see it. He was precariously near a confession of some sort, and Anna knew that they couldn't really talk about this tonight. Too much had happened and their heads would not be straight at least until morning. But she looked at Robert and she saw the one person in this world she could trust without question—the man who would give his life and his blood and his love for her. It wasn't really about a kiss…it was about everything else. Oh, she did love this man, in so many more ways than one.

So she shushed him and her arms went tight around his waist and she held on for dear life while he overcame his slight surprise at the gesture. And then she felt his arms encircle her and enfold her in his embrace until she could disappear right into him. They sighed together, as one, without words and he began to sway them like he always did…and for just a moment, everything was right with the world.

"Let's talk about it tomorrow," she whispered to his shoulder, those strong shoulders that had never let her fall before. He was hurting too…he had hurt too much. Faison could wait…Sean could wait...Katherine could wait, too. They were home. "Let's talk about everything tomorrow. Right now, let me just be your friend…"

"Okay," he whispered back, and she felt him sag against her in peace. "Okay."

A/N: Obviously, they weren't going to fix this mess in a night! But I hope this felt believable…I'm not planning on making this some trashy affair because I don't think it's in character and their relationship is so beyond just sex and romance. But hopefully you are getting some insight into where everybody is emotionally. Anna is very complex, but I hope I'm doing her POV justice. Anyway, let me know what you think!