Beijing, China – Present
When he emerged from the bathroom, John saw Emmy attempting her best impressions of Anna's movements through the forms of tai chi. He tried not to make a sound, noting how Anna fixed Emmy's stance when the girl wobbled or tried to copy too quickly, and watched how smoothly Anna moved in her own forms. After a moment, however, Emmy turned and dashed over to him with all the excitement of someone desperate to display a new skill.
"Did you see?"
"I did." John bent to kiss the top of her head. "I was very impressed."
"She's teaching me to be a Water Bender."
John frowned, "A what?"
"A Water Bender." Emmy made a movement that Anna corrected slightly so the girl did not over balance. "I can guide water now."
"I still don't-" John looked to Anna but she just shrugged.
"Beats me. I don't watch children's television."
"I thought you stayed up-to-date on children's programing."
"Children's books, not television." Anna stretched out, "I don't watch much television in general since I'm usually training."
"Almost makes me feel like I'm wasting my life." John sighed and turned to Emmy. "What's the Water Bender show?"
"It's an animated…" Emmy gave an exasperated sigh, almost throwing her hands up at John before Anna moved to correct her pose so Emmy would not fall over. "It's an animated show. It's great and you… I told you about it."
"I'm sorry you might have to tell me about it again." John sidestepped them to nod at Anna. "Sorry if she's interrupted your exercise."
"It was fine." Anna shook her head, gathering some of her things. "And it'll keep me in good practice for when I go back to teaching classes."
"You teach?" Emmy piped up, climbing onto the chair near the bed. "What do you teach? Is it at a school?"
Anna paused, holding her clothes in a pile, and met Emmy's excited eyes. "I am, sort of. Not in a school though. I teach martial arts."
"Like Fire Benders."
"Sure." Anna nodded, peeking toward John as he could only shrug. "I teach wu shu."
"Can you teach me?"
"If your Daddy says 'yes' then we'll find a place for it." Anna paused, turning to John, "I think, when I go looking for a better bed and a bigger room, I'll see what kind of gym facilities they've got here."
"We can take a look around too." John extended his hand to Emmy. "Come on, let's get some breakfast and see what we've got here."
"Is Anna coming with us?" Emmy paused, bouncing slightly on the bed as she jumped to it from the chair.
"Uh," John turned to Anna, "Do you want us to wait for you?"
"We could get breakfast and then tour around together and explore and-"
"I think," John snatched Emmy around the midriff, catching her from rifling through the sheets, and lifted her onto his shoulder as she giggled. "What she means is, would you mind if we went around together?"
Anna's fingers flexed in her clothes for a second, her body stiffening, but before John could speak to rescind the offer she nodded. Her eyes did not meet his, her fingers still burrowing into the clothing in her arms, but Anna continued nodding. "Yes. I think I'd like to join you on your adventure."
"Great." John smiled, moving Emmy off his shoulder and flipping her onto the floor. She immediately clutched around his good leg and wove to a better position. "I'll just get her dressed and a little better situated and then we'll go down and get something to eat?"
"I'd like that." Anna held her clothes tighter to her chest and jerked her head back to signal toward the bathroom door. "I'll just get a shower and then-"
"Of course." John reached down to grab Emmy's hand and tugged her toward the sitting room. "Come on, let's get you dressed and see about cleaning up a little bit."
They went into the sitting room, John closing the door with a definitive click, and started folding up the blankets that made Emmy's temporary bed. She climbed onto the sofa, bouncing slightly, and sat patiently as John put the blankets to the side. "Daddy?"
"Yes?" John pivoted in a circle before taking the blankets and folding them into the ottoman so he could open Emmy's suitcase on the sofa.
"Why's Anna so nervous around you?"
John paused, his fingers fiddling with the zippers before opening them as a distraction. "I'm not sure I should tell you."
"Because I'm too young?"
"Because it's not my story to tell."
"Did you do something to her?"
John stopped, the case for the luggage remaining closed despite the fact he already pulled the zippers open. "Why would you think that?"
"Mummy used to say, when you'd fight, that it was all your fault. That you made her do the things she did."
John turned to Emmy, kneeling in front of her and offering his hands. Emmy put her smaller hands in his and he kissed the backs of them before meeting Emmy's eyes. "I want you to know something and never forget it."
"What?"
"I never hurt your Mummy. Just as I'll never hurt you, or Ms. Smith, or anyone."
Emmy tightened her grip on his hands. "Mummy said you hurt people."
"Did she?" Emmy nodded and John bit the inside of his cheek to force himself to think through what he said next. "Who did she say I hurt?"
"People, when you were in the Army." Emmy shifted in place. "She said you were trained to hurt people."
"Did she?" John let out a sigh, his body deflating slightly. "Do you think that's true?"
"I don't know."
"Well, I did learn how to hurt people, when I was in the Army. But I didn't hurt anyone. I was trained to protect people and to fight to keep people safe. That's not the same thing as learning how to hurt people." John narrowed his eyes, studying Emmy. "Do you think I'd ever hurt you?"
"No."
"Do you think I could hurt Ms. Smith?"
"No."
"Then why," John tried out a smile and noted how it helped Emmy relax a little. "Would you think that I'd hurt anyone?"
"Mummy said you could."
"What did she say?"
"She said you hurt her." Emmy shrugged, "She told me that you wouldn't come for me because you don't care about me because I reminded you of her."
"Do you believe that?"
"No." Emmy shook her head. "You came for me."
"Do you know that I love you?"
"Yes."
"Good." John kissed Emmy's hands again, ensuring she looked at him. "Then know that I always love you. I'll never stop loving you."
"Okay."
"And," John tugged a little on Emmy's hands to stop her moving toward her suitcase. "I haven't done anything to Ms. Smith. I'd never do that. Do you understand?"
"Yes."
"Good." John released her hands, "Let's get you dressed."
They picked through the clothes in her suitcase, John stopping Emmy twice from grabbing conflicting patterns or a pair of shorts, and then helped her change as the door to the bathroom opened. Before John could stop her, Emmy dashed inside with a toothbrush and called about needing to 'potty alone'.
Using the edge of the sofa, John lifted himself from the floor and started collecting the discarded clothing to refold into Emmy's suitcase. "Sorry about the mess."
"She's very independent." Anna noted, pulling her hair back into a messy bun as she surveyed the damage. "And not afraid to say what she thinks."
"Sometimes I wish she were a little more reserved but then…" John bent for another shirt, folding it carefully to tuck into the case. "Then she wouldn't be herself."
"No, she wouldn't." Anna paused near the door and John stopped, his fingers on the zippers of the suitcase.
"Is there something-"
"I…" Anna took a step toward him, keeping the chair between them and her voice low so Emmy could not hear. "I heard a bit of your conversation with her. While I was in the bathroom. I didn't mean to overhear but I-"
"Anna. Ms. Smith, "I never-"
"Hurt your wife?" Anna's fingers dug into the back of the chair and John noted the whiteness of her knuckles. "Even when you told me she abused you?"
"No matter what my wife did to me, I never… I never hurt her." John worked his jaw a moment, "Never physically, anyway. Maybe with words, when we hurled them at each other, but never with my fists."
"But she hurt you? Physically, I mean."
"A few more times than I want to admit to and more than anyone would believe."
"Then what did you do?"
"I deflected her. Or tried to. It was harder to do when she threw things at me but I was always taught never to act the bully."
"Even when she attacked you?"
"You disarm and disable, not fight." John shrugged, "I was always bigger than her and I never wanted to be the bully."
"No, I couldn't see you as that."
John watched Anna a moment, "I hope you know that I'd never do that to you, either. In case you were worried."
"I don't think I was." Anna gave him a small smile. "You don't strike me as the type."
"I don't strike many people, even if I did look the type."
"There's a distinct difference between looking the size of a bear and looking the size of a bully." Anna's fingers relaxed slightly on the chair. "Alex never looked the type. Everyone always noted how charming he was so… So it was hard to convince anyone to believe me. If I had told them what happened."
"Emmy…" John cleared his throat. "Emmy's worried that you're nervous around me because I might've done something to you."
"Because your ex-wife taught her you'd do that sort of thing?"
"It'll take time to convince my own daughter her mother lied to her face but…" John let out a breath. "If you want to say something to her, that's your business, but I didn't tell her. I wouldn't tell her."
"Because you don't want her to know about things like that?"
"Because it's your secret to tell." John shrugged, "What you want to say about your life is your business, not mine."
"Thank you." Anna pushed off the chair. "I don't think I'd want her to know either."
"That it happened?"
"That evil like that exists in the world." Anna glanced toward the bathroom door. "Let her believe in fairies and be innocent awhile. The world'll see to revelations like mine soon enough as it is. I don't plan on exacerbating or accelerating that process."
"I agree." John chewed at the inside of his cheek. "And I do hope I don't-"
"Please," Anna held up a hand. "If we're going to continue our rather convenient charade for the lovely people at this hotel, I'd rather we not be walking on eggshells around one another."
"You think I'm walking on eggshells?"
"You barely slept in a bed we had to share and you're nervous about speaking to me because you're afraid I'll break." Anna folded her arms over her chest. "I'm not a victim and I'd hate for you to see me as such."
"I don't see you as…" John stopped himself, putting a hand through his hair. "I don't see you as a victim. I see you as a survivor. Like me."
"Good." Anna gave a sharp nod with the comment, as if to confirm it to herself with physical action. "Because I don't want what happened to define me."
"It won't. Not if you don't want it to." John slid his lower lip through his teeth. "But that doesn't mean we don't both need a little care."
Anna met his eyes, her nod a little easier this time. "I guess that's true."
"Whatever happened to us before, it doesn't just go away." John opened his mouth as if to say something else but the bathroom door opened and Emmy emerged, flecks of toothpaste dotting her cheeks. "And we might want to continue this conversation later."
"Maybe." Anna looked about the room. "It's not a bad room, all things considered."
"No," John guided Emmy back into the bathroom, "It's not."
"Are we changing rooms?" Emmy struggled against the wet cloth John applied to her face but he managed to clean the toothpaste from it.
"We're trying to find one that'll have a bed long enough for my legs." John stood and Emmy knocked her knuckles against his prosthetic through his trousers.
"But this one comes off. Can't the bed fit you then?"
"It fits that leg but what about my other one?" John lifted Emmy, tickling her as she giggled at him.
"Maybe get that one removable too."
John raised his eyebrows at Emmy, "But then I'd run faster than you. My legs would be all metal and you'd never keep up."
"Yes I would." Emmy insisted, wiggling out of John's grip. "I'm a Water Bender now. That means I can make ice and I'd slide on it and skate faster than you can run. And, if you tried to catch me, I'd use it to trip you."
"I think you've got a rather devious little…" Anna frowned, "Water Beader?"
"Bend-Er." Emmy shook her head at the both of them before tugging on John's hand. "We should go find breakfast."
"You're right, we should." John took one of the keys to the room and turned to Anna. "If you'd still like to come with us."
"I'd feel rather odd eating alone." Anna gave them a smile and took a key for herself. "In case I get distracted in the exercise room."
"Contemplating the five miles you might run in the morning?"
"Maybe." Anna slid the key into a pocket. "Although I do worry."
"About what?" John ushered Emmy out the door and trailed her exuberant dash to the lifts.
"What you'd say if I told you I run more than five miles."
"May all the saints preserve us?" John offered and Anna offered him another smile.
Roman Spain – Distant Past
Juan noted Ana's expression as they bid the General and the Senator a good evening and watched them enter the guest quarters. He caught her hand when she tried to turn away into the house, perhaps a way to seek escape in the mundane tasks of the night. "What is it?"
"What do you mean?"
"You appear as if you've heard the worst." Juan let his fingers carefully replace an escaped lock of hair. "As if we did not know this was the news they brought."
"It does not mean I wanted it." Ana waved at Adrian as one of the servants escorted the yawning boy to bed. "I'm not ready for it. No matter how much I claimed I was."
Juan opened his mouth to speak but could only sigh. Reaching for Ana's hand, he kissed the back of it before tucking it into the crook of his arm and nodding toward the vineyard. "I'm not tired yet."
"Me either."
"Would you walk with me in the vineyard?" Juan watched as Ana nodded before he reached for one of the lanterns hanging nearby. "I think we could both use the fresh air."
"And the space." She almost muttered but followed him.
They walked in silence, Ana's hand never leaving Juan's arm, and only stopped when they reached the edge of the vineyard. Only then did her hand leave his skin as Ana paced away from him toward the edge of the slow, meandering river. A river lower now that the rains of summer stopped enough to leave its formerly swollen banks looking almost abandoned. Even in the darkness outside the reach of the lantern.
Juan left the lantern on a sturdy rock and joined Ana were she sat by the river's edge, her knees pulled to her chest as her arms crossed over them. Their silence continued under the weight of the river's occasional gurgle until Juan finally spoke. "I believe the Senator wanted a few moments alone with you."
"I don't much care what the Senator wanted." Ana let her arms drop as she leaned back onto them. "He's every bit the name his parents gave him."
"I'm sure the Senator would not enjoy how you speak about him."
"As I said," Ana turned to Juan, "I don't care what Senator Alexander Immaturus wants. I never have."
"That is obvious as his name is Crudus."
"It hardly matters." Ana faced the river again. "He'll be going back to Rome with General Robertus as they leave you with the armies they're using to siege the Gauls. He'll be out of my thoughts the moment he stops darkening the doorways of my house."
"Do you not mean my house?"
"No, I do not." Ana stretched a smile over her face at him. "It is the prerogative of a man to rule over land and seas. It is the duty of a woman to keep her home."
"Is it now?"
"Absolutely." Ana reached out a hand, tracing along Juan's jaw. "You're only for breeding purposes. And since I've already bred a son from you I've little reason to keep you around for much else."
"Is that so?"
"Yes." Ana's fingers firmed in their grip on Juan's skin. "I might as well send you off to war. Otherwise you'll grow tiresome here."
"I must beg your forgiveness if I've strained the patience and goodwill of your house, my lady." Juan turned into her grip to kiss Ana's palm. He caught her hand before she could move it and started laying a trail of kisses over her skin. "What can I do to properly display my contrition?"
"I'm not sure." She shivered as Juan continued his trail upward, tracing along her collar and neck. "But I suspect you've a plan."
"I rather do." Juan paused, his lips almost touching hers. "If you've no objections."
"None." Ana breathed as her hand caught the back of his neck and forced their mouths together. Their teeth almost clacked together with the force of her pull but Juan followed her lead. "I want my husband."
Juan offered all and took nothing back. Responses were as useless as arguments when Ana pressed him back to the ground, ravishing his mouth with savage kisses as her hands fought and tore at the fabric of his clothing to shed it. Soon his skin exposed to the dry, warm air and Juan had only a moment to breathe before Ana dragged her skirts high enough to tuck into the belt at her waist and kneel over Juan's chest.
"What do you want?" He breathed, his hands trembling as they touched her skin and she almost shied away from his fingers.
"I want to take you."
Juan did not breathe as Ana positioned herself to skin down. His mouth immediately set to work kissing at her folds as his fingers finally firmed in place at her hips and thighs. But his position only offered him the leverage he needed to respond to the twisting gyrations of her body above him. The movements that pressed her all the more insistently against his tongue as he sought to taste her.
Sought to respond to the unspoken order to devour her.
So he did. Did until his jaw almost ached and the taste of her flooded his tongue. Did until his fingers almost lost all feeling inside her as her walls clamped about him again and again. Did until the shaking her of legs left Ana unsteady above him as she rode insistently against his tongue. Did until she finally shifted back, expended for the moment, and lay back against Juan's bent legs.
The new position rested Ana's ass against Juan's own arousal and, as he wiped the results of the orgasms he gave Ana from his chin, Juan tested her readiness with a thrust of his hips. In the shadows and the darkness, her eyes were almost invisible but the barest hint of a glimmer there encouraged Juan to repeat the motion. And when he did, Ana's knees firmed int the soil at either side of his hips and her lips took over wiping the remains of her satisfaction from his face.
"Will you take me now?" He breathed, itching in his own skin to move and writhe under her as she had over him.
"Yes." Ana dragged her lips over his, deepening the kiss that slowed as if the fervor of her worry settled into a firmer, more grounded concern. "I'll take you now."
One more kiss was all Ana gave as she reclined back. Juan watched in rapt attention as she finally shed her clothes to join his on the ground about them. Gazed helpless as she rose up and sank down to sheath him to the hilt in a moment. And then waited.
Waited for Juan's hands to sculpt over her legs. Waited for his hips to rise with the thrust he could no longer restrain. Waited for his lips to find any place of her moon-kissed skin to rest before seeking another. Waited until Juan almost whimpered to her before her knees gripped his hips as if he were a horse and dug into the dirt to ride him.
It was all Juan could do to keep up with her. To follow the lead Ana expertly executed. To think of himself as her loyal stallion when she bid him faster, harder, deeper. To remember their races, so long ago, on beasts of their own when he imagined they might one day be in the position they now occupied. To remember how he wished, even then, that she could ride him as expertly as she did her horse. To revel and exult in the pleasure she took for herself without reserve until Juan lost any hope of finesse or focus as he drove helplessly into her in response to the cries she gave out to the moon.
He finished before she did, his body struggling to maintain her pace but Ana continued without him. Finished with her head flung back and her hair falling free to brush over his skin. And finally slumped forward onto Juan's chest as the gentle drip of tears finally touched his skin.
Wrapping his arms around her, Juan kissed the top of her head. Kissed the tears from her face as he followed them in the moonlight and the weakening flicker of the lantern. Kissed her lips until she responded.
When he pulled back, Juan brought their foreheads together and breathed in time with her as he spoke. "I am yours." She shifted in his grip but Juan insisted on holding her close as their muscles quivered together. "Only yours."
"Only mine?" The question in her voice almost broke his heart.
"Only ever yours." Juan repeated and kept his grip steady as Ana's fingers firmed along his jaw, holding him so tightly he imagined he could see the white of her knuckles.
"You are mine."
"I am yours." Juan said again, his hands gliding over Ana's skin as he maneuvered her to the ground to hold himself over her. "You are my lady."
"Your lady." Ana's fingers loosened their hold to trace his face and follow the barely-perceptible scattering of scars over Juan's torso. "For I am yours."
"And you are mine." Juan lowered his head, kissing along Ana's jaw.
He moved slowly, tracing the lines and angles of her from head to toe and back. Tracing her as he returned to her face. "Do you remember, when you challenged me on horseback, to race around your father's villa?"
"And you thought I was just a pretty face then." Ana's fingers returned to their trail over his skin. "That my father did not include me in the breeding and raising of his chariot racing horses."
"Never." Juan assured her, his hands smoothing over her skin. "I watched you that day, riding free as the wind, and I knew I wanted you."
"To marry?"
"To have." Juan pressed his body against hers, grinding his hips so his growing arousal pressed to her skin. "To keep forever."
"That day?" Ana brought one leg up and over his hip, her hands moving to his shoulders to bring him closer. "I thought it was later. When we danced at the harvest festival together and you whispered you loved me."
"That was the day I knew I couldn't live another moment without telling you." Juan brought their lips together. "I knew I loved you long before that."
"I did too." Ana held him close, keeping either of them from moving. "I wanted you from the moment I saw you."
Juan could only kiss her, bringing Ana out of the memory to the present as his hips shifted lower to leave space between them. Space his fingers immediately filled as he slid them inside her to stroke over her internal walls. "But that day was different."
"Was it?" Ana's eyes fluttered closed, her back arching slightly as he pressed against her. "How was it different?"
"I watched you riding that horse," Juan's fingers continued inside her as Juan's kisses moved to Ana's breasts, exchanging words and kisses. "And I wanted to be the horse."
"What?" Ana's nails dug into his shoulders as his thumb pressed on her clit.
"I wanted you to ride me. As you do when you want to have me. To take me. To make me yours." Juan sucked hard at one of her breasts and Ana shattered under him. "I wanted to be yours."
"You're mine." Ana's nails scraped over his skin, bringing his head from her breast to kiss him desperately as Juan maneuvered to run the length of his fresh arousal against her. "Only mine. Always mine."
"However, whatever, whenever." Juan insisted as he thrust forward.
Ana's legs wrapped around his hips then and she twisted against him to land Juan on his back again. He gasped for air as she seated him more comfortably inside her and rode him as hard as she had earlier. But when it grew too much her pace slowed and Juan groaned back, his neck arching where he pressed his head into the soil to try and release the tension her motions built in him.
Nothing worked. All he could do was sit up, holding Ana close to him as his mouth attacked her breasts again between lavishing her available skin with kisses. Her nails dragged over the flesh of his back and dug into his ass as if she could pull him even closer to her. To bring him deeper so they might share the same skin.
Instead Juan turned them back over, lowering Ana carefully to the ground as he lifted one of her legs higher to take him deeper. The clutch of her nails into the flesh of his ass drove Juan into a frenzy. All he could do was drive harder to Ana as they struggled to drag one themselves into a place where they would never be parted.
And they found it. For a moment as they came together in a flurry of gasping breaths and sweat soaked bodies. They clung together and their tears interrupted kisses before their kisses interrupted their tears.
Eventually they separated. Each took a turn dipping into the river before replacing their clothing and reversing their trek back to the house. They arrived and Juan blew out the fluttering wick before returning the lantern to its place. He had barely a moment before Ana put her hand on his arm and her voice was in his ear.
"I want there to be no confusion."
"About?" Juan struggled to understand as Ana dragged him into their room but left the curtains open. "Ana?"
She did not answer him, preferring instead to strip naked before beckoning Juan to her. Juan followed her instruction, unable to resist, and almost reached out to hold her before Ana caught his hands. The whisper of her voice against his ear left him breathless.
"Let there be no doubts in the mind of Senator Crudus to whom I belong." Ana released Juan's hands to spear her fingers into his hair and bring his mouth to hers. "Or to whom you belong."
"I am yours." Juan could only surrender to her.
Every move she made left him struggling to air. Struggling to find the will to urge her to quiet their sounds as Ana sank to her knees before him and took him into her mouth. Fought to keep himself from crying out when her tongue traced him and tasted every inch until Juan could only beg her to let him return the favor.
So she lay back on the bed and spread her legs for him. The stone impacting on his knees left little in the way of remembrance as Juan repeated his actions from earlier that night. As he left her quivering and crying out without hesitation in her climax.
But when he rose, expecting to lavish her in continued affection and lay her resplendent on their bed, Ana moved. Moved to her hands and knees. Moved so they would be in full view of the door should anyone pass. Or, as Juan suspected, should the Senator happen to look their way.
"Is this what you want?" Juan spoke in her ear as his hands followed the familiar smoothness of her back and sides as he draped over her.
"Yes." Ana pressed her ass to the cradle of his hips. "This way."
He obeyed. His kisses left shining evidence over her body as his fingers dug into her hips. The groan of the ropes holding the mattress to the bedframe did little to distract them from the rhythm Juan engaged and Ana encouraged. And when their voices melded and mixed with the slick slap of skin, Juan gave over to it.
Just when Ana clutched around him, her neck arching in response to her climax, Juan thought he noticed someone across the courtyard. But Ana's finish triggered his own and he had no time to truly look. Had no time for anything but her.
They lay together afterward, their skin sticking as the sweat dried to them. Juan kissed at it, tasting the salt on his tongue, and hummed into Ana's neck. Her fingers carded into his hair and applied enough pressure to pull him back so she could look at him.
"Return to me."
"Always." Juan took her hand from his hair and pressed it to his chest, above where the beat of his heart only just slowed. "I swear it."
"Good." Ana leaned forward to kiss the spot. "Because I would not put myself on display for just anyone."
"I know." Juan settled next to her, his fingers playing in her hair.
"Juan?"
"Yes?"
"That day, when we raced."
"Yes?"
Ana leaned up enough to smile at Juan. "I wanted to ride you as well."
