The little hand tucked safely in his tugged for attention and he crouched next to the girl with hair as dark as his. "Yes?"

"It's snowing." She pointed and he followed her finger to watch thick flakes pelt the window. "Can we go sledding?"

"Not right now Emmy." He stood and turned to the woman at the desk, "My flight-"

"Was just cancelled Mr. Bates." The woman behind the desk cringed, "We're sorry for the inconvenience."

"How long until the next one to Leeds?"

"It's…" Her brow furrowed and she clicked a few keys before blinking at the screen. "I'm afraid the storm's predicted to last a few days and they've… They've cancelled all flights, to be safe, so I can't say."

"You've got nothing?"

"Nothing here." She shrugged, "At least your bags aren't on a plane and you've not boarded yet."

"What about a taxi to a hotel?"

"I'd hurry and get into a queue." She pointed, "It'll be a long line."

Mr. Bates looked to the line and sighed. "Might be worth the line."

Handling their bags, and making sure he had a firm grip on Emmy's now-gloved hand, Mr. Bates worked them into the line for taxis. A line that kept them inside the airport terminal for enough time that Emmy's complaints about being hot and stuffy were echoed in murmurs but met with disdain. The disdain of those viewing the interaction with the judgment of parents potentially failing to keep their children behaved in a public place.

But he insisted she keep her coat on and, the moment they stepped outside the terminal, the frigid chill hit them. It only grew worse when the whipping wind almost stole Emmy's hat. As John bent to adjust it on her head, releasing her hand for one second to retrieve their bags, Emmy turned and dashed forward in line.

"Emmy!" He looked helplessly to the older woman standing next to him and she nodded before stepping just close enough to his bags to assure him she was either going to guard them or steal them. At that moment he prayed the former as he tried to dash over the slickening concrete to chase after his daughter, trying to watch as she wove between people. A feat that almost finished him when he had to skid to a stop as she latched her arms around the leg of a small woman with two overly long, cylindrical bags and a roller case that matched in perfect black the rest of the woman's ensemble.

"Sorry." He muttered toward the woman and bent down to extricate his daughter from the woman's leg. "Emmy, you can't run off like that."

"But she's a fairy."

"What?"

"She's a fairy."

"Emmy she's not-"

"But she is!' Emmy protested, her grip strength surprising Mr. Bates as he worked to get each finger loose and snatch her hand away before she could reestablish a hold. "I had to make sure she couldn't run away without giving me a wish."

"She's not a fairy, Emmy, she's a human being and that's rude." Mr. Bates stood, holding Emmy tightly to him despite her attempts at escape. He took a breath and turned to the woman who, throughout the episode, stood stock-still. "I'm so sorry. She's not normally this rude. It must be the situation and-"

"Four?"

"Sorry?"

"She's four-years-old, yes?"

Mr. Bates blinked and nodded, "Yes. Just had her birthday, actually. Armistice Day."

"Four's bad luck around here." The woman turned to see the movement of the line and then addressed Emmy. "And, unfortunately, I can't grant your wish. I'm not a fairy."

"But you've got the same hair as the Fairy Queen in my book." Emmy protested and Mr. Bates cringed at the sniffle that preluded an oncoming storm of waterworks. "You've got to be a fairy. There's just-"

"Again, sorry." Mr. Bates tucked Emmy closer to him, trying to muffle the tears and worked to make his way back toward his bags, now inching in front of the older woman in the snow.

"Sir," He turned over his shoulder to see the woman point to the cab. "Care to share? It could be the wish I grant."

He struggled to speak and then nodded before looking desperately between the still weeping Emmy and his things. The woman handed her things to the driver as he rounded the car before holding out her arms to Mr. Bates. With her nod of assurance, he handed Emmy over before dashing the distance to his bags. In an instant he wondered if he just handed his child to a snatcher but once he worked his now-damp bags together and returned to the cab, Emmy's breathing slowed and she sat demurely on the woman's lap in the backseat as comfortably as if she wanted that position all along.

Joining them on the seat, Mr. Bates handed over the card of a hotel to the driver and waited for them to join yet another queue as they tried to escape the clutches of the airport. "Thank you, for offering the cab. And for holding her."

"I was surprised you trust that I wouldn't run off with her."

"It crossed my mind."

"As it should've. Child trafficking's a very big deal."

"I worry about it all the time. Curse of being a parent."

"You handled it well enough."

"I've got a bit of practice." He removed his glove from his hand and extended it to her, "John Bates, by the way."

"Anna Smith." She shook his hand and tipped her head down to look at the girl on her lap. "And you're Emmy, yes?"

"Yes." She nodded, "My name's Emmanuelle but I can't spell it."

"It does have a lot of letters, doesn't it?" Anna nodded in agreement with Emmy. "But it's a very special name. Do you know why?"

"No."

"It's from Hebrew and it means, 'God is with us'."

"That's beautiful." Emmy wiggled a moment, "What does yours mean?"

"Anna?" She pursed her lips, "I believe it means, 'Full of grace'."

"That's beautiful." Emmy almost cooed. "You've got a good name."

"Emmy's also a good name." Anna tipped back, still holding Emmy. "And it suits you very well. Small and full of promise, just like you."

"My daddy chose it for me."

"Did he?" Anna looked at John, "Then your daddy's got good taste."

"You're too kind."

"You're the one who already had a hotel in mind." Anna gave a little shrug. "I would've just slummed it back in the hostel where they put us up."

"Us?"

"The competitors." Anna nodded her head back toward the boot. "I was here for a competition and they had us in these hostels for the duration. I've not been that cramped since gap year and it took a bit of maneuvering to adapt."

"But you did?"

"I did."

They sat in silence a moment, watching the tableau of cars eke their way out of the airport. John broke the monotony of it all as he ran the words Anna just said over in his mind. "What kind of competition brought you to Beijing?"

"Martial arts." She gave a little smile at what must have been naked surprise on John's face. "Don't seem the type?"

"Everyone's the type, in my experience." He shrugged back, sharing the smile that did not quite reach her eyes. "I was just curious what forms."

"Wu shu, mostly, but I compete in MMA. I won for my weight division."

"Then those long bags…"

"The cases for my bo staff, katana, and dao."

"Dao?"

"It's a Chinese sword that can hook the handle so it's a single blade or double."

"Like Darth Maul?"

"More like a blade that divides into two so you go from using one sword to holding two, one in each hand." Anna tipped her head back. "They're my weapon of choice."

"Always a surprise then?"

"I can only hope." She brought her fingers up, as if to caress Emmy's hair, and then dropped them. "I preferred armed fighting to unarmed. Makes you smoother. It's more artistic. Unarmed fighting is brutal and you end up taking easy hits."

"But you compete both?"

Anna nodded, "You should never be unprepared."

"I agree." John opened his coat in the building heat of the cab. "Is that what you do, professionally?"

"No. Technically speaking I work as a radio DJ actually and co-own a bar with a friend of mine 'professionally'." Anna let her eyes close as she rested her head back on the seat. "But I teach a few martial arts classes in the afternoons, just to keep it all interesting."

"I'm starting to feel very under-accomplished."

"Why's that?"

"Because I just help build plane engines."

"That's not nothing." Anna nodded toward Emmy, already dozing on her lap. "You're raising her, aren't you?"

"I am now."

"Now?" Anna frowned, "Not before?"

"No. And it took an arm and a leg to get her back." John bit the inside of his cheek to check his emotions. "It was a long custody battle after an even nastier divorce with her mother. But I won it and now we're both free of her."

"Horrible woman?"

"I hope you never meet her." John leaned over to kiss Emmy's forehead. "And that Emmy never has to see her again."

"You brought her all the way to Beijing to ensure that?"

"Her mother was here, working for the Embassy, and I'm here to take Emmy back to Yorkshire." John caught Anna's expression. "What?"

"Where, in Yorkshire?"

"Downton." John's eyes narrowed, "Why?"

"That's where I live." Anna gave a little laugh. "Small world."

"Very small world."

They stayed quiet during the long slog back to the hotel and worked between the two of them to extract their bags and the sleeping Emmy from the cab. John paid, insisting Anna could not reach her wallet as she still held Emmy, and ushered them inside and out of the cold. Cold that left him unprepared for the warm temperatures of the hotel lobby as he made his way back to the reservation desk.

The woman there smiled at him as John laid down his passport and card. "Do you have available rooms?"

"We've got a lovely single room with a pull-out sofa bed for your daughter and a king sized for you and your wife." The woman smiled toward Anna and Emmy.

"My…" John frowned and then flustered. "No, she's not-"

"That sounds lovely." Anna stepped forward, "And it'll be perfect for our family."

"That's-"

"How long is your stay?"

John could not concentrate on Anna's face and the woman at the counter at the same time and surrendered to the question. "How long's the storm supposed to last?"

"At least until New Year's sir." She paused, "Western New Year."

"Then until I can get another flight out." John waited for the woman to finish with his passport and card before taking the room keys. "Thank you."

"Have a pleasant stay." She bowed at the neck to them before addressing the next couple shivering off the cold.

"I could've booked you a room." John whispered to Anna as she continued to hold Emmy and he handled the bags.

"They'll be full-up and I can always take the sofa bed." Anna shrugged, "It's the best sleeping arrangement I've had since I've been here so I won't complain."

"No, I can't allow that." John pointed at Emmy in Anna's arms with his elbow since his hands were entirely occupied with their bags. "I'll take the sofa bed with her."

"It was a stretch that she'd fit on it. With you…" Anna eyed him up and down before managing the buttons for the lift. "I'm not sure you've noticed but you're not exactly the size of the people here. You'll swamp that bed and hang off the sofa."

"I can't put you on it."

"You could."

"As a self-proclaimed gentleman, I most certainly could not."

"We could always put her on it, like the lovely lady at the desk suggested, and then take the bed for ourselves." Anna got into the back of the lift, squeezing herself to the wall so John could maneuver their accouterments inside. "If you don't find that awkward."

"I can sleep anywhere so the floor-"

"With me on the king-sized or with your daughter, Mr. Bates, there are no other options." Anna waited and then smiled at John's sigh. "I won't allow anything else."

"And I'd be an idiot to argue?"

"You would, yes."

John heaved another sigh, "Then her on the sofa bed. She kicks something terrible in her sleep and I don't want bruises everywhere."

"Thought you'd come 'round." Anna smiled to herself and John managed a small one of his own at the naked satisfaction on her face.

"Do you always get your way?"

"I fight as part of my life, Mr. Bates, I know how to win."

"I'll just take this as proof of concept and not try to challenge you to a duel when you've got these." John tapped the long cases with his elbow as they exited the lift. "They're heavy enough to warn me away."

"They do take getting used to." She waited as John managed the key into the slot and elbowed the door open. "And please don't be a gentleman. Get those things inside first."

"Emmy's not small-"

"And neither are those bags so I'll not have you crowding the corridor with them."

"Now you sound like we're married."

"Thank you." Anna followed John into the room, closing the door with her foot as John tried to arrange the bags on the floor before the sofa as he examined it for the promised sofa bed. "I was hoping to make this as realistic as possible."

"How's that?"

"I thought it might make it easier if we're not strangers." Anna adjusted Emmy in her arms before John threw up his arms. "Problem?"

"There's no sofa bed here." John sighed, putting a hand to his hair before throwing his coat onto his bags. "But it's comfortable enough for Emmy if I can find some blankets and sheets for her."

"Perfect." Anna sat on the sofa, leaning Emmy on her shoulder as she rested back. "I'm in no hurry."

John went into the bedroom, discovering the spare blankets in the closet as he frowned at the bed barely large enough for his feet to not hang off the edge, and carried the blankets back to where Anna waited on the sofa. Holding them up, John moved forward and set them on the other side of the sofa before opening his arms to Anna. "I'm sure your arms are tired. If you're willing, I'll take her and you can make up a bed for her?"

"Can't say I've ever done that before. But," Anna groaned a little as she stood up again and they carefully switched Emmy between the two of them. "There's a first for everything in life right?"

"There are pros and cons to that idea." John held Emmy as she mumbled into his shoulder and watched Anna snap the sheets and the blankets over the sofa with military precision. Once she finished she stepped back, as if expecting inspection, and John could only raise his eyebrows at her.

"I was in the Royal Marines. That kind of thing sticks with you."

"Don't I know it." John carefully maneuvered to lay Emmy on the sofa and bring a blanket over her. "The Army left its mark on me as well."

"Just with how you fold sheets?"

"No." John shook his head, sitting back on a small ottoman to pull up his trouser leg and show Anna his carbon-fiber prosthetic. "Makes travel a little bit more difficult."

"I'm amazed you came all the way to Beijing to get her back yourself then." Anna rested on the arm of the sofa, staring down at Emmy before meeting John's eyes. "Even if she's your daughter."

"I wouldn't have entrusted her to anyone else." John nodded toward Anna, "You're a momentary exception."

"I enjoy being exceptional." Anna sighed and John noted how her shoulders sagged slightly. "But I wonder…"

"Wonder what?"

Anna met his expression. "Is it worth it?"

"The travel?"

"Kids."

"I've only got the one but…" John put a hand forward, brushing through Emmy's curls that held the color of his own hair. "She's worth everything."

"Even your divorce and all the problems that caused?"

"Absolutely."

"I mean," Anna put her hands on her knees, rubbing her palms hard against her knees for a moment to stretch her athletic leggings tighter against her skin. "If you had to do it all over again and you knew the costs of it, the problems it would cause you, the pain it'd leave to scar you, would you do it over?"

"If I still got her out of it," John kissed Emmy's forehead. "Without doubt. A hundred times yes, if it meant I got her out of it. She's worth all of it."

Anna's mouth gave a brief smile before something tugged at her mouth to leave her almost sorrowful. Like the answer he gave was not the one she wanted. John moved slightly, reaching out a hand to get Anna's attention. "Can I ask why you're curious about it? Why it seems to matter so much to you?"

"Well, since we're married," Anna tried to joke but her attempt at a laugh carried a sob at the end of it. She pushed the palm of her hand to her eye to try and stem a slow flow of tears. "I'm pregnant and I've been debating whether or not I should keep the baby."

John's eyes flicked to her left hand and, despite his attempts to appear innocuous about it, Anna noticed. She gave another snort before showing him. "No, I'm not married."

"Then it's someone's baby and you're not sure if you want them involved?"

"That would be the easy answer to it." Anna took a deep breath. "It's my ex-boyfriend's baby. There's no question about it."

John nodded a moment before he swallowed to speak, "Why tell me?"

"Because I don't know you and you don't know me so who'll you tell?"

"Fair point." John chewed the insides of his cheeks before interlacing his hands to hang them between his spread legs. "But there's got to be something else to it."

"You mean beyond the two of us pretending for a host of strangers that we're married?" John gave a non-committal shrug and Anna moved from the arm of the sofa to a chair. "Probably because I've had this weighing on me for a long time."

"You've not told anyone?"

Anna shook her head. "No one else knows. He certainly doesn't."

"And you thought you could trust me with it?"

"I thought, if I wanted advice about children, I should ask someone who's obviously devoted to their child; mind, body, and soul."

"That's very kind of you to say."

"It's true." Anna clutched her fingers together, leaning forward as her gaze shifted to where Emmy slept. "And she adores you."

"She's everything to me and I don't let her forget it." John scooted his ottoman closer to where Emmy slept. "And, if you're still debating, then I've only got my opinion to offer you. But, if you still want my opinion, it's worth it."

Anna moved her gaze from him and John swallowed to speak again. "Even if it's selfish to admit that part of what makes it worth the trouble is that you'll not be alone. That, at the end of the day, you've got someone waiting for you. Someone who loves you too. Someone to be a savior to you and for you to be a hero for."

"And that's the life you live?"

John nodded, "It's the only one worth living and it doesn't get much better than this. No matter the hassles associated with it."

"I hope so." Anna leaned back, tracing a hand absently over her abdomen before forcing her hands back to her lap. "I wasn't ever thinking about this. I didn't hope for it or, I thought, even really want it. Not with him."

"But he did?"

She opened her mouth but stopped, her eyes moving to Emmy. "It's not a discussion for her ears. Even if she is asleep."

"Then," John stood, sorting through the bags to find hers and wheel it to her. "If you want to start in the bedroom I'll finish getting this settled."

"Thank you." Anna took her roller bag as John leaned her longer carrying cases against the wall and tried to manage Emmy's bags while digging for his own.

They left damp patches on the floor but John ignored those, leaving their shoes near the door, and took his things to the bedroom while noises from the bathroom indicated Anna's presence there. Filling the drawers was easy and he even managed to change into something resembling pajamas as Anna exited the bathroom and sat on the edge of the bed. Tiny squeaks had John turning and cringing as Anna shook her head.

"It's not very comfortable."

"And not much longer than the sofa, you poor man." Anna leaned back against the headboard and stifled a laugh as John dragged the stuffed chair to the end of the bed on his side and tested the length for his feet. "Will it work?"

"Hopefully long enough for me to sleep until I can get back to my own bed." John laid his head back against the pillow. "I had that bed custom made for my size."

"Big spender."

"When you're my height you try to give yourself a few pleasures for all the times you knock your head against doorways." John sat up and turned to Anna. "If you don't want to tell me any more about… Your condition, I respect that. I didn't mean to pry and it might've come off that way before so I-"

"No." Anna shook her head, putting up a hand to stop John continuing. "Like I said, it's been good to talk to someone about it."

"Because you never wanted kids?"

"Oh, I want kids." Anna's hands drifted up to her abdomen again. "I just didn't want kids with him. Partly because he didn't want children but also… I realized what kind of person he was and I wouldn't put a child through that."

"Was he…" John swallowed hard. "Again, I don't want to pry, but… I know a thing or two about abusive relationships. It's the reason I divorced my wife."

Anna blinked at him. "Your wife abused you?"

John nodded, "Physically, verbally, emotionally… All the ways I refused to allow Emmy to grow up. It's why I fought so hard for custody."

"Then you understand?"

"In a way. Everyone's pain is different but I might understand yours a little better than you think." John shrugged a shoulder, "If you want to say anything about it."

Anna nodded, "I do. I want to say so much about it but… But how do you say anything about it?"

"Never well, that's all I know." John leaned back on his arms. "In my experience, it's always difficult to talk about it because you feel you failed. That you failed yourself and everyone who depended on you. That you… That you were less because of it. That you should've seen the signs or stopped yourself or stood up for yourself or…"

He let out a breath that almost drained his lungs. "Or a thousand other things only clear in hindsight as you berate yourself until the end of time."

"I know a bit about that." John turned over his shoulder to her and adjusted on the bed, crossing his legs a little awkwardly with his prosthetic to fully face Anna. She opened her mouth to speak but pointed to his leg. "Do you want to take that off or…"

"Will it bother you?"

"I've seen the wounds of war, Mr. Bates. I'm not immune to it." Anna turned her head away, to give John some privacy as he manipulated the catches and the sock to pull his leg out of his pajama bottom and leave it next to the bed. Once it clunked down she turned back to see him knotting the end of it. "Just below the knee then?"

"Yep. IED took out the front of the car and blew me back farther than I've thrown a rock before." John ground his teeth, "It's part of the reason my wife decided to leave me instead of just cheating on me behind my back."

"I feel even more guilty for asking if you'd repeat it all now. Knowing what you've been through."

"My answer wouldn't change. But," John tried to give Anna a reassuring smile. "We were talking about you."

"I'm deflecting." Anna took a forced breath. "The one meeting I had with a therapist, when I thought I could tell someone about this, told me that before I walked out and realized I couldn't talk about this with a stranger."

"I'm a stranger."

"But we're married, remember?" Anna clarified and John noted a real tinge to her smile. "It's easier to talk to you than it was to speak to him."

"I'm here to listen."

"Then the start is that he wasn't just my ex-boyfriend. He was my fiancé."

"Was?"

"He's since deceased."

"Should I be sorry or-"

Anna shook her head, "He was a former artist with the label I work for. The one who owns the radio station where I work. We met when he was doing some live recording for us and we hit it off. He was attractive and charming and we fell into a relationship." She paused, her fingers pulling at her tee-shirt pajama top. "But then he got… Not violent, not at first, but snide. He'd make this side remarks about weight or food. He'd watch how long I was out, who I was with, and started alienating my friends."

"That's how it starts."

"I know that now." Anna nodded, her focus still on the hem of her shirt. "And I didn't want to see the signs. I kept telling myself it wasn't happening to me. That it couldn't possibly happen to me because if it did, I'd fight back. I was trained to fight and I wouldn't let anybody do that kind of thing to me. I was stronger than that."

Her fingers let her hem fall as her head knocked slightly against the wooden headboard. "You never think it'll be you because you are strong. But then, before you know it, you can't get away."

"How'd you get away?"

Anna sniffed, her gaze shifting down again as tears welled in her eyes to make slow tracks down her cheeks. "He… He had an especially bad night. Found out his label was dumping him because his music had turned to shit and he was in debt and… And… And a host of other things that just had him thinking it was my fault. That I'd ruined him. And he came at me…" She stopped, her eyes closing as the tears continued their courses down her cheeks. "The bruises he left on me that night couldn't be hid and I couldn't lie to myself anymore. Not after I picked myself off the sitting room floor where he left me after… After he… After he took everything from me."

"He assaulted you?"

"He did more than that." Anna finally opened her eyes and wiped at them with the backs of her shaking hands. "That's the night he got me pregnant. Bugger couldn't even be arsed to use a condom."

John did not say anything else, waiting as Anna gained a bit more control over herself to continue. "I could take everything up to then. I shouldn't have, but I did, but after that night… After what he…" She took another shaking breath. "That night broke me. Broke me in so many ways but mostly it broke me free."

"How?"

"I got a friend to help me move the next day. I made sure all of my accounts and passwords changed. I even quit my job before he even came into work and moved across the country to start over." Anna managed another smile. "In a single day I vanished from his life. Enough so that I wish I could've been a fly on his wall when he got back to the flat and saw everything gone."

"Did he find you?"

"According to a friend or two he tried." Anna shrugged, "He thought I'd stay in London and even risked going up to York a few times but he never remembered where I was from and none of our mutual friends would tell him."

"Good on them."

"Yeah." Anna's face fell a little. "But I got a job at another radio station and I think he heard me so he found the station. And there he was one day, when I walked outside, waiting for me. There, across the street."

John could hardly speak. "What happened?"

"He crossed against the light and was hit by a bus." Anna sent her arm across her face, as if reenacting the scene playing before her eyes. "He died on the street in front of me without managing to breathe a word."

"And then what?"

"Who knows." Anna shook her head. "I couldn't be arsed to keep in touch with his family and when the police asked me about what I saw I told them he was a stranger. That I didn't know him and since there were witnesses it never came up again."

"So the bastard's dead?"

Anna nodded, "As a doornail."