Bangkok, Thailand- One Year Ago

Anna opened her eyes and smiled at the arm wrapped over her stomach. She shifted to see John's head halfway buried in his pillow. Tracing a line down his nose had him snorting himself awake.

"Good morning."

"Morning." He smiled at her, "What'll your friend think since you spent another night here?"

"Whatever they think, they'll have to keep it to themselves." Anna kissed him, "They've done the same, if not worse, and we don't want to get into those confrontations."

"Best not." John agreed. "How's Mary doing?"

"She's still wrecked but we'll be leaving this afternoon and she and Matthew'll talk it out."

John grinned, "I hope you'll still get to wear a terrible bridesmaid's dress."

"You're terrible." Anna whipped him with the thin pillow. "And I probably will. The truth about what happened between Mary and Kemal Pamuk boils down to a drunken assault on his part that she never reported because she thought it was her fault."

"And she feels bad for that?"

"Rape culture's a real thing. It taught her it was her fault."

"Men are pigs."

"Says the man."

John propped his head on one hand, "You don't think I'm a pig?"

"I couldn't ever think that about you."

"What if you look back and think this was a bad decision?"

"Since I was completely sober the two nights I spent with you, Mr. Bates," Anna kissed at his cheek over her shoulder, "I don't really believe that'll be a worry for us."

"I hope not." John kissed her before burying his face between her neck and shoulder. "You're going back to England this afternoon."

"You're going back soon too."

"But I'll only be in London a week before I've got to cover some kind of civil war near Nicaragua."

"Ever the traveler."

"It's the glamor of the life I lead. Endless nights in hotels, tents, and the hard ground with only a few days actually spent in my own bed."

"Poor you," Anna teased, squirming away from his fingers trying to tickle her under the sheet. "You'll make too much noise and Mrs. Meesang'll accuse me of being a prostitute again."

"I could never afford you, as you were so kind to tell her, and we both know I couldn't ever have picked you off a street or even out of a catalogue." John kissed behind her ear, "And remember, she thinks you're my wife."

"That's just as big a lie."

"She doesn't have to know and I don't plan on telling her."

"I wouldn't have thought so." Anna shifted back against John's chest, bringing the hand around her waist up between her breasts while interlacing their fingers. "Do you ever wish we weren't pretending to be man and wife?"

"Like we didn't have to keep up appearances?"

"More like… we might actually one day be married?"

"After only two days?"

"It's silly-" Anna tried to shake her head but John stopped her, leaning over enough to meet her gaze with her head turned toward him.

"I've thought about it."

"Really?"

"Of course I have." John smiled at her, "What kind of idiot would I have to be to not think about what a future with one of the most attractive, bravest, and skilled individuals I've ever met would be like."

"That's fair." Anna bit her lip, "Does that mean you thought the same thing about Robert Crawley?"

John attacked her with tickles again and Anna fought him off. He landed back behind her, "I knew I shouldn't have told you about that time he was drunk and kissed me full on the mouth."

"In some countries you can do that you know?"

"I don't want to do it in any country." John ran a finger over her back, "But you know we'd both regret it if we found a tiny roadside chapel and eloped."

"It's true." Anna sighed, "We wouldn't even get a honeymoon."

"What if this was our early honeymoon?"

Anna laughed into her pillow before turning to face him, "Can you imagine telling people that story. 'Oh yeah, we honeymooned in Thailand but because our budgets were as tight as our schedules John was working on trying to break into the red light district and I was attending a bachelorette party'." Anna shook her head, "I don't think I want that to be the story we tell people."

"What story do you want to tell?"

"Of how we got to know one another."

"Do you want to have R-rated conversations with co-workers and at family functions?"

"I didn't mean give them all those details." Anna rested her head on her hand to mirror him. "I meant how we're going to get to know one another."

"What's your plan?"

"As far as I know, most of this world can be accessed by someone with an Internet connection so we can email back and forth. When we're in the same country we'll call or meet up, if we can, but we'll be flexible. We've both got demanding jobs and claims on our time so if there are drops we'll have to be forgiving."

"What if that's not enough?"

"It'll be enough for now." Anna put a hand to his cheek, memorizing the feel of the skin there with her fingers. "We've got a lot more to learn about one another than how good we are in bed."

"We're pretty good there."

"According to all the neighbors yelling in Thai about the noise I'd think so." Anna laughed with John, "But I'm serious. One day this kind of thing runs out and we need to know if we've got the conversation that's as stimulating as the sex."

"You afraid it won't be?"

"I want to know." Anna took a deep breath, "So?"

"I'll say this…" John took her hand off his face, kissing it before returning it to her. "I want to know everything there is to know about you, Anna May Smith."

"On the condition you don't refer to me by any pet names or use my middle name."

"Why no pet names?"

"Because my email's not just my property. The British Government has access to them and they can read them so I don't want to have to explain the pornographic references or anything that'll be used against me in practice interrogations."

"There goes the plan for Skype calling you."

"Were you planning technologically advanced phone sex when we could be in countries where the image'll freeze?"

"It seemed worth the risk." Anna kissed him and then squealed when John turned her back over so he covered her from behind. "But I could demonstrate how I'd tell you about what I'd like to do to you now if you want."

Anna only rubbed her ass against his growing arousal. John's hand at her waist splayed and shifted up while his other arm gripped her hip to keep her close to him. "I'd start with an image of me, in all my glory."

"Naked glory?"

"Mud stained trousers and boots, scuffed shirt, and tousled hair." John whispered against her neck, kissing there while his hand massaged over her breasts and he shunted his hips in controlled motions against her. "I'd tell you all about my fantasy that involved shower sex."

"How tight's the shower?" Anna breathed, her fingers raking into John's hair when his fingers tweaked her nipple and moved to the other.

"Not tight at all. Wide, multiple jets, and glass doors that'll steam from the water and how hot you'll be when I eat you out under the stream."

"Not fair." Anna groaned, her voice hitching even higher when John's other fingers eased between her legs to slide through her dampening folds. "What if I wanted to do something?"

"What would you do Anna?" John ran his tongue in a sweep toward her jaw before retracing the path with nipping teeth.

Anna caught his mouth, sucking on his lower hip as she worked her hips toward his fingers and back to meet the rock of his hips. When she broke away the haze in her eyes had John's wrist flicking faster against her clit and kneading at her breasts. "I'd want to suck you off."

"Be my guest." She tried to turn but John kept her in place, "Not now."

"I thought it was an invitation."

"For later." Anna grinned to herself as John attempted his halfhearted reprimand in response to the heat she felt as he expanded behind her. "Right now we're imaging the future."

"Then I'd suck you off in the shower, definitely." Anna groaned, pulling at his hair, "Stop teasing now John. That's for later."

"Okay." John sucked hard at her pulse while driving his fingers deep inside her. "Then after that shower I'd want to spread you over a bed, tie you down, close my eyes, and learn your body with my tongue."

"I thought the blindfold went to the submissive in that situation."

"I'm the submissive."

"Perfect." Anna ground out, "I'd want to use one of your neckties later and tie you to the bed so I could have my way with you all night."

"You might need more than one," John drew her to the edge, taunting at the edge of her climax.

"Damn it just finish!" Anna sobbed against him, digging her nails into the back of his neck as John finally dragged his thumb over her clit to send her over the edge.

She barely had time to breathe before he slotted his leg between hers to pull one backward over his hip. With a shift and a half-turn she was on his lap, his feet on the floor, and her ass rested right on his erection. The steady shift of the muscles of his legs under her slid him through her weeping folds.

Anna used her other hand, the one not keeping a death grip on his neck, to hold her position steady on his legs until John ran his hands to hold her hips. They shifted enough for Anna to turn over her shoulder to see him and in that break of a moment they kissed. The snap of a moment passed and the next thing she fathomed was John thrusting into her.

He kept a tight hold on her hip with one hand while the other glided over her stomach to keep her close to his chest. Her head fell back to his shoulder, panting to bring air into her lungs as John drove forward with his feet on the floor as leverage. In the back of her mind she thought she could hear the bed hit the thin walls but when the hand John kept at her stomach snuck lower to play at her clit again she could not care less.

Tumbling over the edge again, she cried out to deafen herself and only leave her body to feel John finish. The grip they kept on one another would surely leave bruises but those, unlike the possibly pornographic or suggestive emails, she would bear as badges of honor. Or... at least she would have a good story to tell about them.

"So," John's muffled voice at her shoulder finally moved Anna to notice real life again, "About those ties."

She swatted at him and then took his face in her hands to kiss him.

They did not stay long at his hotel, closing out his room and returning to hers for her things. Gwen left a message saying she and Mary would meet her in the lobby when she was ready. They managed, between the four of them, to get a car to the airport and while they loitered around outside John drew Anna to the side.

Pressing a card into her hand he kissed her cheek. "For those emails."

Anna peeked at it, smiling. "Trusting me to return this with my email?"

"You don't even have to write anything for the first one. Just put a link to your favorite version of 'One Night in Bangkok' and I'll know it's you."

"I'm not old enough for that song."

"Everyone's old enough for that song."

"I know." Anna glanced over her shoulder and then sighed, "My friends need me I guess."

"I understand their predicament." John kissed her cheek, "And if this doesn't work out, know that I've enjoyed knowing as much of you as I do at this moment."

"I'll enjoy getting to know more of you, John." Anna pulled away, waving the card at him. "And this won't be in vain, I'll have you know that now."

"I hope not." He waved her off. "Go and save the world."

"You too!" She shouted back, running in to join her friends, tucking the card safely into her pocket. When she looked up both of them wore their own versions of a judgmental smirk. "Don't start."

"We wouldn't dare." Gwen laughed, linking her arm through Anna's. "I hope this one lasts. He seems like a good man."

"Yes he does."

Berlin, Germany – 1938

John rubbed at his eyes again before flexing his fingers over the keys of his typewriter. He managed a few clacks before a noise in the office had him looking up. Squinting in the dark he noticed a small figure coming toward him with two steaming cups and clicked his tongue against his teeth.

"I thought you left hours ago Fraulein Schmidt."

"Like you should have Herr Bates?" She set the cup near him. "Your newspaper will be the most popular back home now that you've given them three times the material of any other correspondent in this office."

"I'm one of the only ones left these days." John took the cup and blew steam away before sipping at it. "You heard that they expelled that reporter from The Timeslast week didn't you?"

"I did." She sipped her own cup. "I also know that your Lord Rothermere seems to think rather highly of our Chancellor."

"Daily Mail's never been one of my favorite publications." John set the cup to the side, typing furiously for a few lines before breaking again. "Any more of my mail come in with tampering?"

"All of it has, Mr. Bates."

"Right." John sat back, leaning his seat back, "All of it?"

"All of it." Anna nodded, "They're not taking any chances."

"Then it's a good thing they don't understand the finer nuances of the English language." John shifted his chair to look Anna straight on. "Did you know Frederick Voigt when he was here?"

"I've known them all." Anna placed her cup gently to the side and ticked off on her fingers, "I knew the Berlin Bureau Chief of Chicago Timeswhen they expelled him in '33. Then Noel Panter the same year."

"The one from the Daily Telegraphthat they imprisioned before they booted him?"

She nodded, "The very same. Then there was Philip Pembroke Staples the next year. He wrote from the Daily Express."

"Did the Gestapo really arrest him?"

"Yes. But they didn't have reason to hold him and made him leave instead." Anna picked up her cup again, bringing it almost to her lips before stopping to speak again. "You know, only your newspaper has ever been reliable in its reporting of what's really going on here."

"Voigt's articles about the concentration camps are why I got sent here." John took a breath, "He couldn't reconcile what he'd seen."

"They didn't want him too." Anna sighed, taking a sip of her cup. "Then there's John Segrue, from the News Chroniclewho hasn't been here since '33 but made his way to Austria."

"Is he still there?"

"From what I can tell, yes. But I suspect they'll find a way to rid themselves of him again."

"What a life we lead eh?" John smiled, finishing his tea. "We come here to allow the truth and find ourselves in some kind of horrible, gothic novel of oppression and silence."

"You're the ones writing history now." Anna finished her tea as well, taking his cup and saucer in her free hand. "I just wonder if history'll remember the worst truth of them all."

"What's that?"

"That the first country Herr Hitler invaded was his own." Anna smiled at him, "Try and sleep tonight Herr Bates. I very much doubt you'll find yourself at your best tomorrow if you don't leave now."

"And what about you?" John tapped his fingers over the keys, speeding down the line as swiftly as his fingers could depress the stiff keys.

"I'll leave when you do."

"I'm not afraid of the dark Fraulein Schmidt."

"Perhaps I am." She winked, walking away. "Just hurry please."

John finished his typing, removing the paper from the machine and resting it on top of the others on his desk with a paperweight to hold them steady, and grabbed his jacket off the back of his chair. Working his arms through it he found Anna by the front door, tapping a pen against her teeth before striking out something and writing in miniscule handwriting in the margins of the paper before her. Taking her coat from the rack that only held his now, John extended it to her.

"Shall we?"

"Ah," Anna capped her pen and blew on the paper a moment. "Thank you."

"Let me help you."

"That's kind of you." She started waving it while slipping her arm through the first sleeve John offered her and then switched hands to try and dry the ink before she had to do up her buttons. "I need to speak to the staff about the spirit of translation over the letter of translation."

"They say that's best done in concert between native speakers of both languages." John placed his hat on his head and got his own coat over his shoulders as Anna tucked the papers away into her bag. "Perhaps you need someone else on your staff who speaks English as a native but also fluent German."

"Unfortunately the worsening conditions are making that almost impossible."

"Because of the threat of war?"

"It tends to drive people away." Anna joined John on the street and both shivered, burying their hands in their coats. "No one wants to come where their letters will get read, someone else will hear their phone calls, and intercept their telegrams."

"That's why we've stopped attaching our names to things." John raised his collar and tried to position himself to block Anna from the brisk wind. "None of us want the repercussions that'll cause."

"Goring's not the grandest supporter of reporters." Anna took a deep breath, "Though I wouldn't mind a visit to The Taverne."

"It's late."

"Not so late that we'd miss a night to investigate the health of our fellow reporters."

John smiled, "I guess not. I'm in the mood for Italian food."

They entered the restaurant as red tinged their noses and John helped Anna out of her coat again when they found a small table. He offered to let her stay, warming by the fire to get warmth back into her chilled bones, and spoke to a few of their friends there. By the time he returned to the table he knew he had not hid the grave expression on his face when he noted Anna's eyes widen.

"What's happened?"

"Remember how you told me Segrue was in Austria?"

"Yes." Anna quivering hand raised toward her mouth, "What's happened to him?"

"They expelled him from Austria and all the evidence anyone can find is that they sent him to a concentration camp."

"No," Anna mourned, "They haven't."

"There's no official news but it's a likely consignment." John covered her other hand, "It's alright, Anna."

"No, it's not.' She sniffed, raising her glass and nodded for John to join her. "To John Segrue, one of the brave and one of the martyrs."

"To Segrue." John clinked his glass against hers. "How well did you know him? Did you translate for him?"

"No," Anna shook her head, "I knew him in the way we all know one another in this journalist fraternity. We'd see one another at functions, we'd share stories and details, and then he'd invite me to parties he threw on the off occasion he had a mark to his name."

"We're not the most glamorous of people are we?" John chewed the inside of his cheek. "We're the defenders of the present and preservers for the past and what has it bought us but pain and sorrow?"

"If not us then who?"

"I'm not sure." John took her hand, "Thank you for waiting for me."

"It's my pleasure." Anna covered his hand with her other one. "I like spending time with you, in whatever capacity I can."

"Even though I'm up at all hours, I sometimes wear the same shirt two days in a row, or I get so focused on my work I forget you're there."

"You don't forget."

"I do. Often, it seems."

"You get absorbed, there's a difference."

"What's the difference?"

Anna smiled, "You twitch when I brush my fingers at your neck. You acknowledge the cups of tea. You thank me for translations and edits. You share your thoughts with me and allow me to help you find solutions. When you go out for a story you invite me along. If anything I feel more included in your life than I ever have in anyone else's life."

"Do you like it?"

"If circumstances were different, Herr Bates, and the Weimar Republic hadn't fallen as it did, I wanted to be a reporter."

"Why not now?"

Anna raised an eyebrow, "In this environment I don't think I'd survive."

"Because of the dangers of possible war?"

"Because my people are already at war." Anna's voice lowered, her fingers slipping over one another. "Most of my Jewish friends and neighbors are gone. Anyone who's not a German in my neighborhood already fled or has been snatched up and loaded into a truck to drive somewhere far from here and likely never to return. And when I walk home at night…."

John frowned, "What happens when you walk home at night?"

"There's a Gestapo agent I met rather by accident at the train station. We exchanged a few friendly words in the few times we ere taking the train in the same direction and now I notice it's the only train he'll take."

"He's following you?" John spluttered, "What's he think you are?"

"It's more what he thinks of me, Herr Bates."

"He likes you?"

"Don't sound so surprised."

John swallowed and hurried to correct, "It's not that I don't think he'd have great reason to think highly of you. There are many qualities about you that I find attractive and about which I could shower and heap praise. It's just-"

"I understand." Anna laughed a little, "I know what you're trying to say and I'm very grateful you think that way."

"Shouldn't I?"

"I'd hope so." Anna ducked her head, flashing a grin at John. "Since I feel the same way."

"Then," John cleared his throat, "Might we refer to one another by our first names, since I think we're moving from friends to something a bit more?"

"How much more… John?"

"I'd like to court you, Anna." John waited, "Am I out of bounds?"

"Not at all." Anna's smile almost split her face in half. "I'm delighted to accept your offer."

"Good." John turned to the waiter, "Then let's eat to celebrate."

"Excellent plan."