Anna frowned and rubbed at her back. Branson, twisting a screw in the elevator, looked over at her, "I think you should see someone about that."

"About what?"

"That's the third time in the last ten minutes you've rubbed your back." Branson jumped, grabbing the ceiling of the lift, and pulled himself through the opening in the top so Anna could hear his voice echoing down to her. "It could be a bigger issue."

"Just because your wife is a nurse doesn't make you an expert in medical matters, Mr. Branson."

"No," Branson ducked his head inside, "But it also doesn't make me wrong. Besides, William mentioned you've been looking a little peaky lately. Combine that with irritability and you could've a bigger problem."

Anna sighed, "Fix my lift please."

Walking out toward the bar Anna stopped. She risked a look back toward the lift, chewing over what Branson said, and groaned, throwing her head back before heading for the exit. The arm of her jacket almost slapped William in the face as he came around to restock something and Anna pulled it to her in a hurry.

"Sorry William."

"Not a problem." William paused, "You're looking a little pale boss, are you alright?"

"I'm feeling a little sore and under the weather so I'm going to go have a little chat with Doctor Clarkson."

"Do you need me to go with you?"

Anna held up her hand to stop William, "Not to worry, I'm sure it's nothing but a space bug someone passed to me when they sneezed or coughed or otherwise left some sort of fluid on the floor."

William shuddered, "Maybe we should all get a visit with him."

"As you like." Anna ducked under the partition of the bar and headed out the door.

She waved to a few people she recognized in the street and walked the steps to the multilayered yet simple building. The windows edged with grime, like everything else on Plutonium after wuthering the hydrogen, but a dedicated crew of washers were halfway down on their weekly clean. Anna called up to them, waving to the ones who patronized her bar before going inside.

The lift took her to the eighth floor and she dodged two nurses pushing a bed hissing gas from the risers. They nodded to her and Anna returned the gesture, hurrying down the hall to the office with a flickering sign. Rapping her knuckles on the metal she listened for the calming voice to bid her enter before pushing the door inward.

Doctor Clarkson pulled at his vest to straighten it as he stood, extending Anna a hand over the desk, "It's been some time since you needed to visit me Ms. Smith. I hope nothing's seriously wrong."

"I don't think so. I'm hearty and work keeps me busy and moving." Anna took the seat Doctor Clarkson indicated and pointed to him. "And how've you been? I haven't even seen you in for a glass of cider."

"My work keeps me as busy as yours does you. Especially after Wuthering Hydrogen. More burns than I care to mention." He sighed, "Too many people not taking care of themselves."

"I'm actually here in the spirit of caring for myself," Anna chewed the inside of her cheek, "I've been experiencing back pain."

"More than usual soreness from lifting?"

"I'd say so." Anna shrugged, "My appetite's not been the same either since I feel like everything tastes different."

"Tastes different? Anything in particular?"

"Wine, for instance. I know we don't have much call for anything top shelf this far out but even the lukewarm piss we serve sours for me. If I try anything too acidic I can barely swallow." Anna sighed, "I had a chance at an orange the other day Doctor, a real orange, and I had to give it to Daisy because I couldn't eat it."

"I can see the tragedy there." Doctor Clarkson chuckled, "Are you getting all your vitamins?"

"I take the supplements so I'm as healthy as I've ever been. I just don't feel healthy, is that makes any sense."

"It doesn't but there's something that might be the cause." Doctor Clarkson stood up and came around the desk, "Could you show me your arm please?"

"My arm?"

"The one where I implanted your prophylactic."

Anna removed her jacket and rolled the sleeve on her shirt. Doctor Clarkson massaged her arm between his hands a moment and Anna peeked over to see the little red dot show on her skin. He frowned and felt around again before stepping back. His hand went to his chin, eyes narrowing and Anna shivered.

"What is it?"

"That's one of the better models I've ever had come in and it seems to have failed." Doctor Clarkson rounded his desk, tapping at the screen there. When it whirred but did nothing he slammed his hand on the top, the image fuzzing into view. "And the Galactic Health says I don't need new equipment. If they'd actually come and do a proper review this wouldn't be an issue."

"What wouldn't be an issue Doctor?"

Doctor Clarkson sighed, "It seems the shipment of prophylactic implants I received when you got yours were recalled a month later for failures. No one informed us and the details on the recall are only available on request."

"Does that mean-"

"Ms. Smith, you're pregnant. It explains why everything taste different to you, why you've have muscle soreness, increased appetite and perhaps trouble sleeping?" Anna nodded, "I'd congratulate you but I don't want to give you any pressure if it's not good news."

Anna struggled to find words a moment, "I don't know what kind of news it is, to be honest."

"This may seem a personal question but do you know who the father is?"

"Does that matter?"

"It might. There are some diseases we've found in space that can affect fetal gestation and development. If you know who the father is and all the places he's been we could focus our testing to make sure the baby's healthy."

"And if I couldn't tell you where he's traveled?"

"Then I'll do a general battery followed by more specific tests if I think the situation warrants it."

Anna felt her breath catch, "You mean if something's wrong?"

"I mean if something isn't completely right." Doctor Clarkson smiled, "You'd be surprised what the human body can endure, survive, and thrive under. Babies, and their mothers, are stronger than most think they are."

"Could you tell how far along I am?"

"That'll take a scan but give me a moment and you'll know." Anna waited on the edge of her seat as Doctor Clarkson connected a tube to the fuzzing monitor before taking the cold metal rod to her stomach. She jumped and Doctor Clarkson put out a hand, "Are you alright?"

"It's cold."

"I know, and I'm sorry, but I promise it won't take a moment."

Anna waited, Doctor Clarkson's hand slapped the monitor to steady the image when the rod stopped moving on her stomach. She almost could not bring herself to look at the picture but Doctor Clarkson's exclamation drew her attention. The sight of the child, moving around inside her, almost put Anna in tears.

She reached out a hand the traced the outline on the screen. It took her a moment to find her voice, "How old is it?"

"I'd say," Doctor Clarkson adjusted the rod to read the measurements flickering at the bottom of the monitor, "About four months."

"Can I- Can I get a copy of the image?"

"I can do one better for you."

Doctor Clarkson held the rod steady in one hand while reaching over the desk to pick out a few buttons before striking one harder than the others. Wheezing from a machine in the corner drew Anna's attention and she cringed as it whirred and smoked a minute before making her jump at the ding of an obnoxious bell. Doctor Clarkson set the rod on the desk and Anna gasped when the image of her child disappeared.

He laughed, pulling something out of the machine, "It'll be alright Ms. Smith. I promise you'll like this better." Turning, he presented Anna with a three dimensional image, printed in a hard plastic. "Now you can feel your son."

"Son?" Anna looked up, her fingers tracing over the outline of the baby growing inside her. "It's a boy?"

"Within eighty percent accuracy." Doctor Clarkson walked over to his desk, "I'll need to have you take a silicon letter and schedule your appointment for me to run the battery on you."

"Silicon letter?"

Doctor Clarkson paused, "It's part of the National Health. It registers women who are single mothers. It entitles you to increased services, given your vulnerable state."

Anna snorted, "You think I'm vulnerable Doctor?"

"Now? No," Doctor Clarkson tapped out a few more things before going to a printer, cranking loudly as the paper rolled out of it. "But in eight months when walking is difficult or your ankles swell or your hormones are swinging your emotions everywhere, yes."

Anna accepted the letter, reading over it, "And a copy of this is registered where, exactly?"

"I have to register one with the Yorkshire Health Office, so they're aware, and another goes to the local office here."

"What about the government?"

"In general, the government doesn't care and it'd get lost in all their files anyway." Doctor Clarkson paused, "If you change your mind, I can retract the letter and perform a very simple procedure. At four months it's a little more difficult but if you make up your mind within two weeks I can-"

"No," Anna stood, "Thank you for the offer, Doctor, but this baby's coming home with me today and every day until he's old enough for me to kick him out to see the world on his own."

Doctor Clarkson laughed, "If you say so Ms. Smith. But I do warn you now, that day comes sooner than you think it will."

"Thank you, Doctor," Anna reached over the desk and they shook hands.

"My pleasure. Just remember to register your next visit with my secretary and we'll make sure Baby Smith is healthy as can be."

"Bates."

"Excuse me?"

"The baby," Anna put her hand on the door, "His last name is Bates."

"Congratulations to Mr. Bates then. If you can, you should tell him."

"When I have the chance I will." Anna clutched the letter and the printed image to her chest, "I certainly will."


Tastes slowly came back and Anna was in the back, taking a break, enjoying the first full flavors she had in weeks when a door slammed. She hurried to her feet, hand wrapping around the handle of her pistol. Walking slowly toward the noise, Anna drew her gun and prepared to aim it when she saw John. She all but dropped her pistol to get her arms around him.

He held her close, arms wrapped around her as if he wanted to merge them into the same skin. Anna buried her face near his neck, breathing in the scent of him under the layers of exhaust, sweat, and whatever else occupied the same cargo hold he did most recently. Her fingers held the back of his hair, familiarizing themselves with the feel of him again before he lowered her to the ground.

John took her hands to his mouth, kissing over them before reaching a tentative hand to her cheek. Anna smiled, her own hands tugging him closer, and their lips finally met. In the back corridor of her bar it was not a long kiss, but long enough to remind the two of them they were together again.

Anna broke the kiss and placed her forehead on his chest, "I thought they'd never get you back."

"They almost didn't. The government's tightened checkpoints and jump chambers from here to Londinium. Between their encroachment on Federation territories and the coalition forming between the Former Euro Planets I'd say we're just about boxed in here."

"Then you'll have to stay?" Anna tried not to sound too hopeful as John's thumb caressed her cheek a moment.

"As long as I can. What I published last isn't going to win me any friends. But given the riots and general unrest it'll take time to get around. Still, it was risky."

"I read it." Anna nodded, "Your assessment of the conflict on Monte Cristo and the catastrophe on Karenina is gaining traction with the right groups."

"Or the wrong ones, depending on who you are." John chewed his lip, "I got word that Barrow and O'Brien paid you a visit."

"They did." Anna admitted and checked the hallway before pulling John toward the lift. She closed the doors and hit the button for her floor. "William let slip you'd stopped here for a time and that he's seen you since."

"On purpose?"

"William can't keep a secret to save his life because he's disgustingly noble." Anna shrugged, "He meant well and doesn't know anything significant about you to tell anyone."

"All the same. Is he a risk?"

"He's now aware that you're a person of interest to the government and wants to keep you far away because of what may happen."

John sighed, rubbing the back of a hand to his forehead, "He's wiser than we are then."

"He's just in a different position."

"One that's not always walking the edge of danger?" Anna didn't answer and John slumped his shoulders, "I should've kept moving. I'll find the next ship out and be gone before William knows I've been."

"No." Anna clung to John's hands, "Don't leave me. Not now."

"Why?" John stepped closer, "What's wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong." Anna drew away a bit, playing with her fingers, "Everything's extraordinarily right, actually."

"What are you talking about?" Anna refused to meet his gaze a minute, "Anna? What is it?"

Finally Anna stared at him, "I'm pregnant."

John coughed, "What?"

"I'm pregnant."

"Are you sure?"

"I had Doctor Clarkson confirm for me. He already ran the battery of tests to say our baby is perfectly healthy and growing well."

"When?"

"Two days ago."

John ran a hand through his hair, leaning back against the wall of the lift in shock, "This is… I don't have words for it."

"If it's-" Anna cleared her throat, closing her eyes, "If it's an inconvenience then I can still get rid of it. If that's what needs to happen I can do it."

"Why would you do that?"

Anna stuttered, "It could expose you. That's what you're worried about aren't you? That this baby could be dangerous to you?"

"No, no, that's not it at all." John put his hands on her arms, a wide smile breaking over his face, "I'm just surprised that I could feel this happy and excited and nervous and frightened and elated all at the same time."

"Really?"

"Really," John nodded, "I can't even begin to express to you how blown away I am by our good fortune in this. This is cause to celebrate."

"You're sure?"

"Yes," John nodded his head, face still split into his enthusiastic beam, "We're having a baby, Anna."

"What if someone finds out it's yours and-"

"And what?"

Anna bit her lip, "Someone could use this against you John."

"Let them try."

"John I'm being serious."

"So am I." John held her face so gently in his hands, "I swear to you, nothing will happen to this baby while I draw breath."

"You can't promise that."

"Well I'm going to." John went to place his hand on her abdomen, pausing just short so Anna could draw his hand there herself. He rubbed lightly, staring at her, "This baby and you are the most important things in my life, bar none. No matter what else happens, you two come first."

Anna grinned back at him, tears slipping from her eyes and she put her hands on his cheeks to kiss him. When she pulled away she giggled, "We're having a baby John."

"Yes we are." John hugged her to him and then sank to his knees before her, staring at her stomach as his fingers moved there. "Hello there. This is your father talking. I couldn't be more excited to meet you."

Anna tugged him to his feet as the lift doors opened, "I believe you said something about celebration, Mr. Bates."

He licked his lips at her, nipping at her ear, "I did."

"I have something in mind," Anna dragged him to her room.

With the door shut their kiss was no longer appropriate for the public. Anna felt the surge of the increased hormones Doctor Clarkson referenced and gripped at the back of John's neck for leverage while he steered her toward the bed. His bag and coat hit the floor but their thumps sounded distant, like the actions belonged to someone else, somewhere else. Her corset loosened and both of them tripped slightly over shoes before falling onto the bed.

They laughed together, Anna pulling John closer to her so her hands could work under his shirt to feel the heat of his skin directly on hers. He pulled the shirt over his head, hands returning to stroking her sides, and kissed her through their giggles. Anna kissed back enthusiastically with her hands working over his chest.

She stroked her fingers in the hair there, reminding herself what he felt like, and sighed when he moved his attentions to her neck. His fingers tickled beneath her shift and worked it up over her head to leave her chest exposed. John covered her body with his and Anna moaned at the feel of his rough skin rubbing her overly sensitive breasts.

He heard the difference in her voice and took his kisses lower, worrying his tongue over her breasts to tease at her erect nipples. Anna grasped the back of his head, holding him to her while the rest of her body rubbed against him like a cat. John's fingers flicked the belts holding her skirt in place away before dragging it with her knickers down her legs. With a kick she was free of them and her attentions went to his more complicated buckle.

When her grunt of frustration caught his attention John let her right breast slip from his mouth, sitting above her a moment before stepping back to shuck off the rest of his clothes. Anna moved forward faster than he could stop her and grabbed his hips. Before John could even think Anna had her hand wrapped over his arousal. He bucked her grip and Anna leered up at him as she slid to sit up with him standing between her legs.

Her hand tightened around him, pulling at the tip before gliding back to the base. There Anna played her fingers along his sack and John jerked, stumbling slightly. She tsked against her teeth before maneuvering her body to encase him in her mouth.

John's groan filled the room and Anna wrapped her tongue around his pulsing heat. When she added a scrape with her teeth John's fingers raked into her hair, sending whatever pins she left in it scattering over the room. Between her fingers, playing at his base and alternating to his sack, and her tongue sneaking licks into the slit at his tip, John's nails dragged over Anna's back.

"Please," He whimpered and Anna drew back, licking her lips.

Seizing her mouth with his, John pressed her back onto the bed. One of his hands held at her neck to better take her mouth and grunt at the taste of himself on her. His other hand kneaded over her breasts, playing with her nipples to send Anna moaning at him, before massaging lower. Anna lifted her hips when his fingers sunk into her, meeting the thrusts of his hand to bring herself to the edge.

John dragged her there, his fingers curling and rubbing inside her, and she could still feel the heat of his arousal resting close to her. With her leg, she snagged over his hip, drawing him toward her. He broke their kiss in surprise as Anna stroked herself against him with his hand trapped between them. John tried to pull away but Anna's insistence kept him working there.

A moment later she arched her back, the peak of pleasure sending her over the edge. Falling back to the bed, her body relaxing slightly, Anna noted John removing his hand before wrapping her legs around his hips. His tip just pressed into her, sending her frazzled nerves sparking again. She cried out, writhing against him, but she did not have enough strength to force them together and John knew it. His teasing smirk betrayed him and his intentions when he continued to only brush his tip barely inside her weeping folds. She keened but he kept his pace consistent, waiting for the haze to clear from her eyes.

"Don't play." Anna pleaded, scratching her nails down his chest to try and grab him or otherwise force him to action.

John caught her hand, kissing the palm before placing it on his shoulder in time with his alignment to her. "I just wanted you to be watching."

He thrust in and Anna fought every instinct to shut her eyes so she could continue staring at John. His motions held the edge of roughness, striking her deep or rolling his hips to send her to the edge. But when Anna grew frantic again, his positioning guiding the strike of his pubic bone right on her delicate nerves, John kept his cool.

Anna screeched out John's name, her nails raking down his back in a motion she thought might bring blood with it before securing her hold to him by sinking her fingers in his ass. John let his control go then. He matched her frenzy with frenetic rutting. Between the noises she still gasped out from the back of her throat, the sound of their skin meeting in sweaty strikes, and his grunts, Anna thought the world could end and they'd still be there lost in the symphony they created on their own.

John fell over the edge a moment later, his body quivering as it drove on instinct until he could barely move. His arm tried to support his weight above her but Anna moved him to lay on his side. They remained connected as she kissed him, bringing him back to the reality of their shared space. John responded as well as he could but it was a deliciously sloppy mess Anna hummed her agreement through until she had to pull away.

She laughed, "I think you need a little time to regain your finesse."

"I agree." John slipped from her, laying back on the covers.

Anna crawled over to him, sliding herself under his arm. He latched onto her, almost by instinct, and her arm went around his waist. They lay there, the air hanging heavily for a moment before Anna spoke.

"What'll we do John?"

"What do you mean?"

Anna shifted to look at him, "We're having a baby and you're on the run. We can't fool ourselves enough to sanely believe this is safe."

"It wasn't safe before."

"That was just us, making decisions as adults." Anna sat up, "This boy didn't choose his parents or his circumstances and we need to respect that."

"It's a boy?"

Anna nodded, "We need to start thinking about our son, John. This isn't about just us anymore."

John sat up as well, grimacing and then moving more gingerly. Anna finally noted the bruises that dotted his skin at various shades of healing. She risked a hand to trace the edges, running over scars she did not notice in the dark of their meetings or with her attentions distracted when they drove one another to pleasure, and wondered if she had ignored them before because they were inconvenient. Whatever the reason she had never noticed, she saw them now. Anna saw the man before her better now.

"What do you want to do?"

"Be with you." She looked at him, "I think I love you, John. I know we haven't known one another long and most of our time together in spent in this very room but-" Anna took a breath, "Before you I never let anyone in this room. I never wanted to trust anyone with my space. And now I feel I entrusted you with my heart before I even realized I'd given it away."

John reached a hand forward, holding her face between his palms, "I promise I won't break it. It's more precious to me than anything."

"That's just it," Anna put her hands over his, "I believe you want that to be true, and I love you for saying it, but there's a part of you still bound to a conflict that reaches so far beyond us it's impossible to fathom with conventional words."

"I know."

"So what do we do about that? Because it's not just going away."

"No, it's not."

"Then what, John?" Anna waited and wondered if John was making her wait like he had minutes before but this time it was not to bring her to pleasure but to find the right soothing words. Words she hoped, with her whole soul, were not hollow.

"I know I'm not a free man the way I'd want to be. I'm not free to live here with you or find a ship to take us to a settlement somewhere else or even to offer you a home but," John closed his eyes a moment, "I love you Anna Smith. I know it's not gentlemanly to say it when I've nothing to offer you but I never claimed to be a gentleman and that's how I feel."

Anna kissed him, her own hand going to his cheek to stroke her thumb over his cheekbone. "You are a gentleman to me and I never knew a finer one."

"That can't be true."

Anna laughed, "Welcome to Plutonium, John. And I don't need anything but you. I'll take you as you are with nothing else but your promise you love me."

"I do."

"Then that's enough for me."

John wrapped his hands around hers, clutching tightly to them as his fingers rubbed her skin, "I swear I'm doing everything I can to make it safe for me to stay with you forever. Here, if that's where you want, or anywhere else. I don't care as long as I'm with you."

"Then is it selfish to ask if I can have you all the time now? Not later but right now? To not have to worry that the next ship brings me your broken body or your bones or just news that you've been lost to the aether of space?" Anna sniffed, her hormones working against her now, forcing tears to her eyes, "I can't raise our child alone with nothing but stories of the man his father was."

"You won't have to." John insisted, "Before I met you I was drifting, at the edges of finding freedom because I had no reason to work for it. But now I have a reason to risk it all. If I do, if I succeed, I come back to you free of people chasing me. That's worth everything to me. It's worth whatever it takes to make it true."

"And you can drop your burden at the door?"

"I drop my burden at the door every time I look in your eyes." John huffed a moment, "I love you, Anna."

"And I love you John."

Anna held him close and they lay back together, resting in the arms of the person they loved.