Anna held Jack close, the shelter above them shaking as the dust drifted from the ceiling. John's arms wrapped over them both, holding them close when another explosion above them sent more dust below. Coughing filled the shelter and Anna rested her head on John's chest.

"They've been at it for three days now."

"And in another hour they'll either have to give up or enduring the Wuthering." John soothed Anna, kissing her forehead. "They've stretched themselves too thin. This is their last stand and they'll loose to the elements."

"Why'd you say that?"

"Because they've underestimated Plutonium." John grinned at her, "Like so many fools before have."

"But not this fool." Anna traced his jaw, "You never did."

"I never wanted to." They kissed and he leaned back, pulling her with him. "We'll wait them out. You'll see."

"It's a good thing I trust you."

"A very good thing." John reached a hand around to caress Anna's abdomen. "And a good thing you trust me."

"She will too."

"She?"

"I'm convinced it's a she."

"You're not even that far along."

"Mother's instinct."

John snorted, "I think you made that up."

"You'll never know." She teased, kissing his cheek, "Besides, you want a little girl don't you? Someone to adore you like I do."

"I do." John hugged Ana closer, "A little girl who needs her daddy to protect her. A princess for me to slay dragons for."

"And you won't slay dragons for me?"

"I slay them with you."

"I like the sound of that." Anna brushed some of Jack's hair out of his eyes from where he slept on her chest. "He needs someone to protect too."

"He can always protect you."

"You're here for that."

"Yes I am." John kissed her, "And I'll always be here for you. That'll never change Anna."

"I should hope not."

They settled, waiting for the shaking and distant thunder of the dropping bombs to stop, and eventually fell asleep to the steady lull of a barrage that would do nothing to the already pockmarked surface of their irradiated moon. Anna opened her eyes when the weight in her arms shifted and smiled to herself as Jack slipped free to play in the corner. She changed her position, laying on John's shoulder while his steady breathing lulled her back to a doze.

Eventually the sirens sounds and Anna gathered their things as John picked Jack off the floor to carry him upstairs. The hatch for their shelter thumped against the floor of the pantry and Anna cringed. John followed her, handing Jack up before he secured the shelter and closed the hatch again.

"We need a door that's not going to gouge marks all over my floor."

"In another few days we won't even need to use it for anything but cold storage again." John wrangled Jack away from the boxes, holding the giggling boy under his arm. "But if you want one I'll take to Branson about helping me install shocks or something."

"They're incommunicado at the Crawley Estate." Anna folded the blankets, sniffing each before making two piles. "They won't be reachable until the Brothers send out the all-clear code."

"That's what happens when you fund a rebellion I guess." John sighed, tossing Jack high enough to catch him, "I think you need a bath little man."

"We could all use one."

"Well," John dipped down, kissing Anna's neck near her pulse, "If you wait until he's in bed then I can manage one for us."

"Don't make promises you might not be able to keep, Mr. Bates." Anna warned, shivering slightly, "I might set my hopes too high."

"I wouldn't dream of disappointing you." John stopped Jack climbing to escape, "Bath time for you."

Anna took the soiled blankets to the laundry, working the machine with a crank and a kick. Pushing some hair out of her face and back into her bun she smiled as the door opened. "Glad to see you're alright William."

"Daisy keeps us all safe in her freezer." William shivered, "Though it's a bit cold for me and Beryl."

"She's probably a little terror in small spaces these days." Anna took the wet things and hung them on a line she rotated toward the enclosed space above the industrial steam generators. "How's she managing with these attacks?"

"She hates the noise and doesn't understand it." William shuffled, "I guess none of us really do. We're all just shadow boxing aren't we?"

"In a way I think we are." Anna sighed, "But, as John said, they won't bearing the Wuthering and then they'll be out on their own and not able to fight anymore so we needn't worry."

"I still do."

Anna put a hand on his arm, "I do too. It's the sign that you're a good parent."

"Is it?"

"It means you're looking out for the future world you're little one's going to have one day." Her hand brushed over her own abdomen, "The world we're giving them is more important than our own."

"Even if we're just giving them this impenetrable rock?"

"Even if it's that." Anna wiped her hands off on her skirt. "I guess it's to our benefit that the government ignored us for as long as they did."

"How'd you mean?"

"If they'd paid more attention they'd know that our atmosphere is so irradiated their bombs practically disintegrate in the atmosphere. They're just knocking ice chunks and rock to the surface."

"I guess there's a silver lining somewhere." William pointed to the bar, "Are we still opening today or keeping it closed until the bombing stops?"

"There's no reason to deny paying customers the promise of a drink when there's the possibility of the end of the world awaiting us." Anna waved her hand toward the door, "If you would Mr. Mason."

And come the people did. Despite the threat of destruction looming over them as shadows through the thick clouds of the Wuthering they filled the tables and the glasses until closing time. Anna tallied the accounts, waving to William, Alfred, and Andy when they finished stacking chairs and scrubbing the floor clean. Once everything locked for the night she took the lift to her rooms at the top of the building.

The sight that greeted her, when she opened the door, put a smile on her tired face. John rocked Jack's bed with one hand while the other tried to maintain his typing speed. He looked over at her, grinning at her presence.

"There she is."

"No matter what, every man wants to drink at the end of the world." Anna sat on the end of the bed, nodding to the desk. "Are you documenting what they're doing here?"

"Managing correspondence for the Brothers and the Manganese." John turned in his chair, careful to slow the rocking of Jack's bed until it sat still. They both held their breath a moment before John joined Anna on the end of the bed. "I already reported on what's going on here."

"Did you get any of your own writing done?"

"Some." John nodded toward Jack, "He was not as helpful in that regard as he usually is."

"Being cooped up in that shelter drives him mad."

"Drives everyone a little mad I think." John took Anna's hands, "If you're not too tired I do believe I promised you something earlier."

"You did." Anna leaned toward him but stopped, sniffing. "However, I think you went ahead without me."

"It wasn't my intention but Jack's not one for patient bathing." John pointed to the corner where his clothes hung to dry. "He insisted on splashing me at every opportunity until I was about as soaked as he was."

"He's definitely your son." Anna stood, unlatching her skirt to drop it to the floor. She turned when she heard John's scoff. "What?"

"How'd you mean 'he's definitely my son'?"

"Can't sit still for too long." Anna pulled the laces of her corset, "Don't deny it. This is the longest you've stayed in one place."

"Doesn't mean I can't sit still."

Anna held up a finger, dropping her corset and making sure Jack's bed pointed away from them. "Let's test our theory, shall we?"

"Anna?"

She dropped to her knees in front of him, running her hands up his legs to the fastening on his trousers. "If you can't stay still until I'm finished then I'll know I'm right and so will you."

"And I can't just forfeit?"

Anna shook her head, "The point of the activity is to prove a point."

"Then you've made it a challenge and I don't lose."

"We'll see about that." Anna's fingers finally settled on his belt, "What if I add the stipulation that you can't speak either?"

"Worried Jack might wake up?" John leaned over slightly, shadowing her while his belt flipped open, "He's slept through it before."

"He doesn't sleep as deeply anymore." Anna threaded the belt through the loops before laying it on the floor.

"Then perhaps you'd be amenable to the idea of moving to a house? Somewhere with enough room for the three of us. Sorry," John caught himself as Anna slid his zipper down, "Soon to be the four of us?"

"I thought I was here to make a point about you not being able to stay still." Anna stopped, the tops of his pants in her grip. "But, if you've already made my point for me then-"

"No," John grabbed her wrist as she teased moving away. "I haven't moved from this seat and I'm suggesting we all move."

"Then," Anna glided over his skin, smiling when his breath caught. "I'm sure you'll be excited to hear that Mary finalized the details of the sale just this morning."

"What?"

Anna grinned at him, tugging his trousers and pants off in one go to leave his legs exposed. "They sold us that lovely place you've been coveting since Jack's first birthday."

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"It's a surprise," Anna stroked up his legs, scratching her nails over his abdomen. "Like this is."

"I thought I was supposed to pamper you this evening. Or," John craned his head a moment before hissing when Anna drew a line down his swelling erection. "This morning."

"Tense about something Mr. Bates?" Anna massaged his upper thighs, playing her fingers over her hips before sculpting back down to kiss a trail up from his mechanical appendage.

"Of course not."

"I heard it in your voice." Anna kissed an arc over his erection before going back down his other leg. "You bite back when you're trying not to react."

"I don't know what you mean." John managed, Anna pulling his shirt apart to leave him entirely exposed to her.

"Really?" She ran her hands over his chest, kissing where she pleased and licking where John's fingers tightened in the blankets of the bed. "I could've sworn you did but maybe I'm just not pushing you hard enough."

"Something's hard enough."

"Mr. Bates," Anna clicked her tongue against her teeth, pushing herself up on his knees to hold her face even with his. "That sort of talk is beneath you when our son is in the same room."

"Not as beneath me as I wish you were right now."

"I'd rather be on you." Anna did not give him a moment to think before she took him in her mouth.

She held back her grin as much as she dared when John's strangled attempt to keep silent drove him to groan. Her hands massaged over his hips and thighs, working to counter the efforts of her mouth to drive him over the edge… or as close to it as she dared. Her tongue smoothed over him, as if to memorize every detail of him, before her teeth scraped over where he swelled in her grip.

The moment his fingers touched her hair Anna pulled back. Supporting herself on his knees she stood. He watched her, frozen in place, as she drew the last of her clothing over her head before extending him her hand.

"I believe you made me a promise Mr. Bates."

"And I believe I proved I could stay still." He stood, towering over her as his steps backed her toward the stall. "As the instigator I think you should decide if I proved a worthy participant."

"Eager, definitely." Anna teased, reaching behind her for the button that erected the tub as John extended over her to start the steaming water. "I don't know about you not moving since you did move."

"Not much."

"There was leaning and then you touched my hair," Anna scraped her nails over his abdomen before venturing tantalizingly close to where he stood at proud attention. "I think that counts as moving."

"Then did I lose?" John pouted, crowding her toward the edge of the filling tub. "Does that mean you don't want to share the bath with me?"

"I think it means you might have to prove yourself in another way."

"Gladly." John slipped around her, sinking into the steaming water and holding a hand out to her after stopping the flow of water. "Careful, wouldn't want to you to fall in."

"I don't know," Anna stepped between his legs before settling with her back to him. "It could be nice to fall on something."

"It'll be more than nice when I'm done." John growled near her ear, laying kisses over her neck and shoulders while his hands reflected her earlier motions in massaging her thighs.

Anna relaxed her head back against John's chest, breathing in time with him as his motions only strayed to her hips or sides. His conscious avoidance of her more sensitive areas had Anna covering his hand with hers but despite all her efforts to steer his focus he stubbornly refused to move at her direction. When she huffed in frustration he only chuckled and buried his head near her ear.

"Something bothering you dear?"

"I thought you were going to help me relax."

"Oh, I guess I'm not doing a very good job of it am I?" John tugged at her ear lobe with his teeth and when Anna turned toward it he snuck his fingers over her folds. She gasped, sinking toward the sensation while John's other hand took advantage of her distraction to brush at her breasts. "How about now?"

Anna had no clever words for him. Instead she rocked her hips against his hand when he pressed his fingers inside her, stroking and pressing to arouse her nerves to spark and fire. Her knuckles whitened as her grip clenched on the side of the tub and his arm. The arm working over her breasts to soothe and squeeze until Anna could only keen and whimper under his touch.

Just as her climax approached he stopped. For a split second Anna was sure she could murder him but when John lifted her to sink solidly down where he solidly waited she wanted nothing more than to move. So she did.

They rocked and gyrated together, the water helping as much as hindering. Slipping and sliding easily while finding it difficult to maintain the necessary friction to bring both over the edge instead of remaining at the tempting and mocking peak. Anna grabbed John's hand from her hip and forced it to where they joined. The motion rubbed at her nerves to send her, finally, over the edge. He followed a moment later when her fingers slipped to brush over him and his pace increased enough to send water splashing over the side of the tub.

The water cooled by the time they finally had energy enough to move. John toweled Anna and then himself before they crawled under the sheets together. They lay there, entwined with Anna's head on John's chest, just matching their breathing with that of their slumbering son.

"So," John's whisper broke the silence and Anna shifted to the side to lay facing him. "You bought a house?"

"We bought a house." Anna tapped her finger on his nose, "I just happened to sign all the forms for it."

"Are we sure it's still standing after the bombardment?"

"It's as hardy as the moon, Mr. Bates."

"As hardy as you, you mean." John leaned forward enough to kiss her before settling back on his pillow. "Not sure there's anything built of stuff as strong as you."

"Sure there is." Anna ticked off on her fingers, "You, Jack, and whomever'll be greeting us in a few months."

"That's right." John pushed the blankets down, kissing Anna's stomach. When he resumed his position he answered Anna's confused look with a slight red tinge to his cheeks. "I hadn't kissed her goodnight."

"You've agreed it's a 'her' then?"

"I'll agree I want it to be a her. But I'll be happy no matter what." John pulled Anna closer, stroking over her abdomen. "It's part you and part me. Like Jack is."

"Our little bits of ourselves."

"Exactly."

Anna held John's hand, staring at his face. "We'll rebuild."

"What?"

"To answer your question, about what we do if it's not still standing when the bombardment and the Wuthering stop." Anna kissed each finger. "We rebuild. Just like we'll rebuild this moon, and restructure the government, and end all traces of the RA. We'll do what we always do."

"And if you were to summarize what that was you'd say…"

"Thrive, John." Anna held his hand in hers. "We thrive."

"I like the sound of that." John gave her another kiss before settling on his back with their hands still linked. "We'll build a better world for our children."

"A brave new world."

John shrugged, "I could just do with one that has a little more neon in it."

Anna swatted him, laughing as he pulled her closer and held her tightly to him. Never to let go.