"So." John took his hand back. "How long will I be intruding on your space?"

"Not long. I hope." Anna maneuvered around him carefully, reaching her desk to neatly arrange her things. "But until you get your own workstation, there are some ground rules about this space."

"Do we need to put down a line of tape to delineate the sectors I'm allowed to touch?" Anna blinked at him and John raised his hands in surrender. "Joke."

"We won't need a line of tape." Anna studied him a moment. "Not unless you brought some with you and you need it for organization."

"I haven't carried tape in my bag since Uni."

"You used to carry tape around with you?"

"Of course. Hand wrap, KT tape, bandage wrap." He showed her his hands. "I used it for boxing, football, and rugby."

"Were those the reasons you have that?" Anna nodded toward the knee brace just visible through the pressed creases of his trousers.

"No. This is a few years old."

"Will it affect your work?"

"Not at all." He tapped the brace. "I'm used to it."

"May I ask how you got it?"

"Few years ago, before undergrad, I blew out my knee."

"How'd you blow out your knee?"

"Service. I was in the Army and took a piece of shrapnel to the knee. Tore through the ligaments and…" He grimaced, "It took a decent bit of work to put me back together again but once they did the shrapnel took out a few of my dreams with my knee."

"Sounds miserable."

"It was for awhile. But I finished my degree and put away my dreams of pro sports to get this job." John shrugged, "I promise, I'm a consummate professional."

"I should hope so. I won't stand for anything less." Anna turned back to her desk and picked up the paper there, reading it carefully. "You're awfully young to've gotten this job."

"Youth is no indicator of experience or qualifications." John nodded at her, "You were younger than me when you started here… If that bio I read in the Journal is accurate."

"Accurate but embellished by our Curator." Anna put the CV down. "And she's the one who hired you so this'll be on her head and not mine if you fail."

"I won't fail."

Anna eyed the CV again. "Did you really work at the Vatican Museum for a year helping restore parts of the Sistine Chapel?"

"Toughest summer of my life. Worked my way down to my last euro, quite literally because I was an intern." John gave her a smile. "Worth it, though."

"Was it?"

"Gave me a chance to appreciate your Greek exhibit better on my second viewing of it when you featured at the Royal York."

Anna paused, "You saw my Greek exhibit?"

"The one on the gods, yes." John almost grinned. "I thoroughly enjoyed how you arranged them so the landscapes blended into one another. Like you were creating a panoramic painting through all the ages. It was… Captivating."

Anna shrugged, "It was just my training."

"No." John shook his head. "I've worked with a number of curators and I recognize talent that's bred in the bone, not just training."

"For someone as young as you are, the idea that you've worked with enough curators to know that is…"

"Laughable?"

"Improbable." Anna took John in again. "But not impossible."

"My mother was an amateur painter. Did custodial work at a number of smaller museums and dragged me along. I got to study in an unorthodox way."

"Sometimes it's the best way to study."

"I always thought so." John pointed at her. "It's how I can tell what you've got is natural instinct only refined by training."

"I had a teacher very interested in…" Anna stopped herself, fingers clutching for the piece of leather to rub with her thumb again. "She noticed I needed different stimulation than the rest of my class."

"Having an above average intellect'll do that to you."

"You too?"

"No, I can just tell." John gestured to the room about them. "If we're sharing this workspace then I thought it'd behoove me to study you a bit."

"What did your studies tell you?"

"That you don't think like other people." John gave her a smile and Anna rubbed harder at the piece of leather. "You're special, Ms. Smith."

"It's 'Mrs.' actually and yes, I rather am." Anna held herself taller. "I had a teacher who noticed that, when I was younger, and interested me in art."

"Hence your occupation?"

"It's a puzzle worth solving." Anna sighed, "Different from when I worked cryptography and far more fascinating."

"You worked cryptography?"

"It's how I met my husband."

"Lucky man."

"Not anymore." Anna sighed, "He's since passed."

"My condolences." John shuffled a moment, "I didn't notice a ring-"

"It'd get in the way of work so I don't wear one." Anna tried to manage a smile but it stretched her mouth in an odd way. "James always understood."

"I'm sure he did." John paced the small space around him. "Again, my sincerest condolences."

"There's no need for that." Anna tried to wave it off as the comment pricked something in her. "You didn't know him."

"No, but I can still extend empathy as… As someone who's lost people before. As someone who knows what it's like."

"You lost a spouse?"

"My mother, actually."

"To what, if I may ask?"

"Cancer. The most insidious of the bodily evils." John motioned about him, "But, more to the point, where do you need me?"

"In that corner." Anna straightened. "I'm very particular about the order of things in my office and in the workspace. I hope you'll respect that."

"Absolutely."

"And I can't stand loud music. At least nothing that's not classical music or a musical score. If it's the latter then you'll have to run it by me before you play it."

John frowned, "Any particular reason?"

"If you're playing it out loud then I'll hear it and…" Anna shuffled, "Words in music distract me from my work. Makes things… Difficult to see. I need my focus and I won't have my mind affected."

"Separation of church and state then?"

"We're neither church nor state here, Mr. Bates. We're making art. We're repairing the work of the ages and we need to give that the respect and attention it deserves." Anna took a breath, "It's how we order life. How we remember spaces we'll never see and the lives of people we'll never touch."

"Like how music is how we remember time?"

"If that's the analogy you prefer." Anna collected herself, "You'll stay in your space. If you want music that's not mine then you'll need headphones to play it but they'll have to be low enough that you can hear me if I need you."

"I'm at your beck and call." John pointed at the desk, "Mine then?"

"Yes." Anna let herself relax a moment. "And this'll be temporary. Within the next three weeks we're getting an office expansion. Then you'll have your own space and I'll get mine back."

"Just curious then," Anna turned back to him as John dragged a finger along his desk. "What's distracting about the music?"

"It stops me concentrating." Anna sat down, "Now there's a packet in the top drawer you need to read through before I take you on the official tour."

"Wouldn't want to delay that."

Anna turned from her work, "If that's another joke, I'd prefer if you told me so. It's very confusing."

"It was supposed to be." John's mouth flexed, as if he shifted his jaw, "But I guess it landed rather poorly."

"I'm not the type to really understand jokes so they'll usually land poorly." Anna arranged the contents of her desk again and set to work. "In future you'd save yourself time and effort to simply leave them be. To not attempt them would be a benefit to us both."

"I'll keep that in mind."

England, 1880

"I fail to see what benefit it'll be to either of us for me to attend another one of your father's ghastly functions."

"Thank you very much."

"I'm serious Mary. My mother continues to use them as…"

"A stock auction?"

"Thank you very much."

"What else would you want me to call it?" Mary tucked a loose hair into her bun as the wind kicked up. Both of them turned sideways against the bluster of dust and rubbish along the street until it ebbed enough for them to continue. "She's trying to sell you off as quickly as she can."

"She's wasting her time."

"Because you've already got your eye on someone?" Mary prodded but the other woman refused to budge. "Give me some credit, Anna. I'm not so naïve that I haven't watched the way Mr. Moseley's been staring at you every time you catch his eye in public."

"Then perhaps he should watch where his eyes go in public." Anna let out a breath. "As much as my mother would see me marry again, we both know that I'm still bound to my husband."

"The one currently missing?" Mary shook her head, guiding Anna down another street and both nodded as a trio of men tipped their hats as they passed. "His boat was due to arrive in India more than a month ago and yet… He and it are nowhere to be found. Most would take that as a sign."

"Of?"

"Good fortune?"

"Or poor." Anna shuddered, "It's made me available again and that is a condition I never wanted to find myself in. Not after how horrible it was to be trotted out for evaluation."

"Whatever spectacle you believe yourself to be, it's what happens to women in our positions controlling the fortunes we do." Mary paused them on a street corner, playing with her glove as carriages passed them. "Do you think I wanted to marry again after Matthew died? That I wanted to swim through the sea of suitors to try and find one who would fight for my son's position?"

"I tread the same waters with you then Mary, I know how it feels to drown." Anna sighed, "Hence why I've no desire to take to them again."

"I think you forget that women like us aren't allowed to option out." Mary shrugged and they crossed the street. "Even if you do control your mercantile empire all on your own."

"There are occasional benefits to having a father who sealed in stone my rights and privileges." Anna managed a smile as they took the steps into the building. "No matter how hard my mother and step-father wrangled to try and break that entail."

"You could always marry your cousin and solve the problem."

"My cousin would never give me children." Anna lowered her voice as a group of men passed them at the entrance to the building. "Thomas rather prefers… A different style of riding."

"It doesn't mean he couldn't manage it."

"He won't and he so much as told me when I proposed the solution to our mutual problem." Anna removed her coat and handed it to the man at the check before stepping to the side to allow Mary to do the same. "And, as I already mentioned, I'm still married."

"Only for as long as he remains a victim to the waves instead of washing up on a foreign isle with his waterlogged body telling a sorry but victorious tale." Mary's lip curled. "I never did like the man they made you marry."

"He's part of the reason I own the empire I do, never forget that." Anna wagged a finger at Mary. "Now tell me why you invited me to Parliament today. I was looking forward to lunch and, instead, you drag me here."

"You make it sound almost painful."

"My shoes are pinching my toes because I didn't expect to walk the distance." Anna winced a moment as they took a set of backstairs to the gallery. "Had I known we were hiking I would've selected better footwear."

"We'll find a lovely MP willing to offer us the use of his carriage when we're finished." Mary hushed Anna as they descended to the first row and took seats to watch the clamor below. "Maybe even my father, if he's not distracted himself trying to earn votes for something."

"Are we here in support of your father?" Anna leaned over the rail a moment and pointed. "My father used to sit there."

"Thomas Smith, Duke of Cranburchurry." Mary gave a small shake of her head. "Truly a tragedy."

"My mother didn't seem to think so as much as I did." Anna shrugged, "But it did render her the Dowager and I became the Duchess so there is something to be said about that."

"The shift of responsibilities?"

"The escape from under her domineering thumb." Anna almost grinned at Mary. "Hence how I escape the crippling cattle auction she continues to attempt. I have final say now."

"Unlike when I waded the waters alone."

"It's not my fault your father's still alive to make some decisions about who'll raise the Fifth Earl of Grantham." Anna lowered her voice when a woman nearby shushed them. "Besides, I'm not looking for someone else to take a title. I'm looking for someone to support my title and, unfortunately, your father's parties don't host that sort of person."

"You make it sound like the only people we invite are pompous asses."

"Excluding the desire of suitors you found surrounding you after Matthew's death, tell me which one of the men you've hosted you would see at my side and not trying to stuff me into a back wardrobe?"

"For your money or your empire?"

"Either. Both." Anna shook her head, "It hardly matters. Women like us are doomed to marry again. We can't just grow old in peace like men who lose their wives. We've got 'duties' to perform while they're allowed an eternity of mourning."

"Are you mourning your husband?"

"I haven't decided." Anna picked at the darker color of her dress. "Not full mourning, anyway."

"Good. You never did look good in black." Mary nodded toward the floor, "The reason why I brought you here."

Anna peeked over the railing and noted the man taking the floor, despite heckling from the opposition. "Him?"

"That's Papa's friend. They fought together in the Second Opium War when Papa was stationed in Peking." Mary nodded toward the man. "That cane he's holding isn't for show."

"You brought me here to discuss your father's friend's cane?"

"No, I brought you here to listen to a man with a mind like yours."

"Mary-" Before Anna could finished her argument the man spoke and Anna refused to meet Mary's self-satisfied smile.

"My honorable friends in the opposition would have us continue fighting against the Boers. They'd have us take the land at the southernmost tip of the African continent because it is our right. But I ask you, what right do we have to send our sons so far from home just to die and bleed out on foreign soils?" He only paused a moment, so as to not allow the opposition to mount a defense. "What right have we to water the fields of foreign countries with our blood? With the blood of our sons and grandsons as they fight outside the protection of our flag and our Queen? What right have we to ask them to go to their fields of final rest when there is work and effort and sweat to be expended in noble toil here and now? Does our soil not deserve their efforts? Are we so confident that we'd allow this to continue?"

"Does my right honorable friend believe the sun is setting on Her Majesty's great Empire?" One of the opposition spoke and the first man only gave a derisive snort at the accusation. "Would you have us leave the land for the Dutch?"

"I would have us worry ourselves over the beam in our eye instead of the mote in that of our neighbors."

"And does my right honorable friend feel he can sit in comfort in his homes because he is not the one fighting?"

"I would not speak of fighting when you've never once shed blood in battle. Your own or anyone elses." The room hushed a moment as Mary's father's friend continued. "I almost lost my leg in China, fighting for Her Majesty. I have sweat and bleed for my country on her ships as they fought storms and sea. And I serve now at the pleasure of the government she allowed to form. So I would not, my honorable friend, accuse me of being unpatriotic when I say that we could save lives worth saving if we stopped treating war as a means to make money that lines our pockets but keeps our people poor."

He stared down the room, "It does us no good to pretend we're fighting for the good of our nation when it's the very future of it we sacrifice on far-flung fields and when it is the suffering of our sons we choose to ignore if we continue on the path toward war."

"Well?" Anna forced herself to turn toward Mary.

"Well what?"

"Are you impressed with him?"

"I'm not made of stone." Anna swallowed, noting for the first time the dryness of her throat. "It was… Like watching poetry."

"That, my friend, is Lord John Bates. The Interior Minister of the shadow cabinet. He was a Naval Captain, with my father, and holds the titles of Lord of Dunsaine, Burnsbury, and Colfe."

"Are you reading me his pedigree?"

"I'm offering you someone that isn't your scaly, dead husband."

"We don't know he's dead."

"Wouldn't you rather he be dead so you can pursue that man?"

"You can't be serious." Anna shook her head, "A Lord in Parliament isn't going to accept someone nipping at his heels. And it would be beneath me to chase after someone. Even if I did find him… Impressive."

"Then perhaps we make him chase you instead." Mary stood, bidding Anna to follow her as the session of Parliament closed beneath them. "He's recently widowed and swimming in the same ponds as you these days."

"Is his wife also missing at sea?"

"Poisoned, actually." Mary cringed, "A rather scandalous affair, mind you, given that she poisoned herself to avoid facing charges of adultery."

"You'd solve one scandal with another?"

"Anna," Mary stopped them both, keeping them out of earshot of those moving past them. "Your husband might've run to India to escape those pesky personal debts he amassed but his ship is still missing. He's as good as dead and, if he's not, I'm sure I could scrounge someone despicable enough to help us make it a permanent state for him."

"Take care how you speak Mary."

"Why, because someone might think I'm planning on murdering your coward of a husband if the sea didn't make him dead already?" Mary waited but Anna only deflated slightly. "This is a good opportunity, Anna. One you should consider taking."

"I'll not be thrown in the path of another man. Not again."

"He's not looking to solve his family's debt crisis by giving you control of his mercantile industry, Anna. He's an MP and well-enough off you'll never have to worry about money again."

"I don't worry about money now, Mary."

Mary groaned, "You're being purposefully difficult, aren't you?"

"And you're trying to orchestrate some kind of marital alliance." Anna folded her arms over her chest. "I won't be bullied."

"Then grant me one concession." Mary raised a finger. "Meet him and then make your decision about whether or not you'll consider the invitation to my father's ball tomorrow night."

"I'll give you on chance." Anna raised her finger as well. "But only one. If I don't like it then-"

"Then I'll say nothing more on the matter and I'll aid you in quieting your mother's equally insistent jabbering to the same effect."

"I am curious." Anna kept pace with Mary as they moved against the easing flow of people in the corridors. "Why are you so interested in my seeking someone else's hand so soon?"

"Because women in our position are vulnerable."

Anna put a hand on Mary's arm and stopped her. "What've you heard?"

"Henry's heard some rumors that, with your husband presumed dead, they might try to seize his company out from under you."

"They can try."

"I don't want them to even compete for it, Anna." Mary nodded down the corridor. "Hence the arrangement."

"And you believe I'm worth all this?"

"I believe you're worth my efforts to try." Mary winked at her, sliding her hand through Anna's arm. "And I intend to continue trying."

"You're incorrigible."

"I'm persistent."