Present Day

John opened his eyes, smiling at the feeling of her fingers caressing over the skin of his chest. "I didn't expect you to be up so early."

"Honestly?" Anna kissed his cheek, moving over him, "I don't think I slept at all."

"I thought I wore you out." John trailed his fingers up her arm, stroking up and down in a general lull of satisfaction. "I know you wore me out."

"A fact for which I can be very proud." Anna folded her hands over one another, perching her head atop them to stare at John. "And how's my husband-to-be doing otherwise?"

"Wondering how you manage to drag me to a registry office when all I want to do is stay in bed with you." John tickled at her side and Anna shrieked away from him, batting with a pillow until he had to wrench it from her grasp to defend himself. "Don't you want to stay here with me?"

"I'd like to stay with you forever, truth be told." Anna sat back, crossing her legs on the bed while John supported himself on the headboard. "But I want to do that as your wife, for good and proper, before I commit to staying anywhere with you."

"Are you always so insistent?" John leaned forward and Anna crawled forward, kneeling on either side of his legs.

"You're the one who insisted I should be a CEO." Anna shrugged, her fingers interlocking behind his neck. "I guess I've just grown into my role."

"I guess you have." John paused, "Does that mean you want to give me orders now? Punish me if I'm bad?"

"I've never really seen myself as the kind who likes bondage but with you…" Anna brought her mouth to his ear, breath tickling the skin there. "I might consider it if you're curious what I'd tell you to do."

"Always."

"But I'm more curious what you'll do to me." Anna taunted and cried out when John griped her knees to slide her forward. Her back hit his drawn up legs as John sunk down the bed to rest her higher on his chest. "John?"

"Trust me." He grinned, tugging her forward until she grabbed the top of the headboard, kneeling over him. "I'm enjoying the view."

"You're playing with fire, Mr. Bates."

"I'm investigating how dangerous you are, Ms. Smith." John licked a stripe up the inside of one of her thighs to leave Anna quivering. "You were impressively naughty last night and I wanted to see how much more you could be."

"Don't tempt me."

"It's not temptation when I want it." John kissed down the other thigh, "How about now Anna? Do you want me to do something now?"

"Please."

"Please what?" He let his teeth nip close to where she already glistened in the light of the morning breaking through his large windows. "I can't answer a request I don't have."

"Take me."

"With pleasure." John latched onto her nerves and sucked while his hands sculpted over her thighs to find a good hold.

He need not have worried. Anna used the headboard to her benefit and ground herself on him, seeking to steer him where she needed him most. But John followed her passion with the noises she made as his tongue teased her folds before delving deep to drink the sweetness and suck at the wet dessert he found there.

Before he could stop himself his fingers worked into her, driving her wild from the inside out while his tongue tried to do the same from the outside in. The trembling in her thighs drove him almost as much as the way she chanted his name in between breathless gasps or weeping moans. And when she went over the edge, her whole body sagging on her limp arms still keeping grip on the headboard, John sucked one final taste from her before tipping them to lay her on her back.

Given her state it surprised John when Anna pressed him into the bed. She slid down his body, limb still quaking slightly from her climax, and positioned herself where his actions and the morning combine to make him fighting fit for her. Anna turned her hazy be determined eyes on him and John worked his back against the headboard to better open his arms to her.

"At your leisure."

She gripped his shoulders, his hand at her hips to help her rise, and then sank down on him. John's head thunked on the headboard, ignoring whatever pain reverberated in his brain to groan at the always-familiar yet always-pleasurable sensation of her scorching heat wrapped around him. They stayed still a moment, neither wanting to break the heaven they found in those sensations.

But then John's hips stuttered and Anna dug her nails into his shoulder. She rocked against him and John gripped at her hips to steer her motions. Keeping their motions slow, John tried to steer them to a gentle rise but his body had other ideas. And so did Anna.

When she snuck her own hand between them John was lost. He caught her mouth in a kiss while she worked over the both of them to send herself higher. His own hand slipped over her breasts to get her mouth slanting over his own.

Then it was a race. One he lost but not without putting Anna over the edge again. His body stuttered to a stop, leaving his chest heaving as her slight weight settled over him. With a sweep of his hand over the skin of her back he took stock of the time.

"If we're going to make the registry office then-"

"Shhhh," Anna put a finger over his mouth without moving her head from his shoulder. "Just give me a few minutes."

A few minutes turned into another two hours but Anna impressed John with her preparations. The suit she wanted him to wear was already in his closet, her own dress arrived shortly after they finished breakfast, and when John opened the front door to lead Anna to the car his jaw dropped at the sight of Talbot, Jack, and Mary standing there. Mary handed over the bouquet while Jack took his mother's arm and led her to the first of two cars.

Talbot shuffled John into the second, following the first through the lighter morning traffic. "It's amazing actually."

"Which part?" John took the ring box Talbot held out to him, checking it before tucking the box into his breast pocket.

"That you've made it this far." Talbot swept his hand forward, "I remember that man with his conspiracy theories that shared my cell and then planned revenge for years just to perfectly destroy his enemies."

"Haven't we?"

"In a way." Talbot ticked off on his fingers. "With Bricker, Barrow, and O'Brien all giving testimony and already preparing their own defenses for the inevitable trials the Crown now has to prepare against them, Green's a sitting duck."

"You don't sound so convinced."

Talbot shrugged, "I didn't steal a billon pounds from the government because I'm an idiot that trusts in happy endings."

"That's not encouraging Henry."

"What's not encouraging is the fact that we still haven't found the definitive proof that'll nail that bastard's ass to the wall."

"Mr. Pelham's can't find anything?"

"I didn't say that." Talbot stopped John's argument, "I said we hadn't found definitive proof yet, not that we wouldn't."

"He's made progress though?"

"Oh we've handed over boxes that link Green to the smuggling ring with Bricker, his work with Vyner, Barrow, and O'Brien, and even some insider trading deals that'll get him into a nice little white collar prison but nothing to say he's the one behind the death of Matthew Crawley."

"We've got to find it."

"Don't worry," Talbot put his hand on John's shoulder, "I do know what this means to you. I also know Robert Crawley."

"You know Mary better."

"We don't talk about her deceased husband in our… associations. It'd kill the mood a bit."

"Probably best." John took a deep breath as the car pulled up outside the registry office. "I don't know if I'm ready to believe this."

"Why?"

"Because I wanted it for so long that I can't comprehend the reality of this situation."

"I suggest you wrap your head around it pretty quickly since you're bride's already out of her car." Talbot pushed John toward the door, escorting him up the stairs and holding the doors for the little group to enter the building.

The process itself was a blur. Moments of it burned into John's brain but the majority was a happy memory at the edges of his thoughts. Seconds that stretched to infinity were when Anna walked down the makeshift aisle on Jack's arm or when he slid the ring on her finger to join the other he gave her only the night before or when they kissed for the first time as man and wife. All the other details could go hang themselves for all John cared.

Anna was finally his.

They went back to the cars, John and Anna taking the first with Jack while Mary and Talbot crowded into the second. Dropping Jack at the station, to catch his train back to school, John and Anna took the remainder of the weekend for themselves. And it was not until much later that night, with Anna asleep beside him and his own exhaustion tugging him toward dreamland, that John wondered whatever happened to Talbot and Mary's car.

The question answered itself early one Monday morning when his phone buzzed to the overarching tone of a musical piece. Anna rolled away from him, burying her head in more pillows than John realized his bed actually had, and he stretched for the device. Fumbling a moment with the touchscreen he brought it to his ear while massaging at his eyes to wake himself.

"Hello?"

"John, it's Henry."

"I'm glad you said so because if anyone else called me this early I'd probably fire them." John blinked, frowning at the gray light in the room. "What are you doing up this early?"

"We found it."

"Found what?"

"The papers. Bertie, Mary, and I, we found them."

"Who's Bertie?"

"Pelham, Bertie is Pelham. Try to keep up John."

"I would Henry but it's-" John tipped the phone to see the time and then groaned, "It's five in the bloody morning."

"I know and I've been up since yesterday afternoon so complain to someone who cares but do it later and get your ass over here so we can get this to our friends at the Met before Green realizes what we have and tries to flee the country."

"If he hasn't already." John sat up, walking to his closet to pull together the components for a suit before stumbling into his bathroom. "No one's seen hide or hair of him since the divorce."

"We'll worry about where he's hiding once we've got cuffs waiting for him when they find him. Now get over here."

"Did we forget who the boss is here? I'll be in when I'm in. If you've got somewhere to be then leave the information in my office."

"Which office?"

"I don't know." John groaned, closing his eyes and leaning his head against the wall of the bathroom a moment, "Just… my office at Christian Enterprises."

"We'll be there."

"And apparently so will I." John hung up the phone and flailed his hands a moment to find the shower.

The blast of cold water woke him and John only endured it long enough to rinse off before working himself into his clothes. Patting his neck with the cologne Anna preferred, John walked back into the room. He knelt beside the bed, kissing her cheek as she grumbled into her pillow.

"What, in the name of all the holy things, are you doing up?" She blinked at him and John could do nothing to resist kissing her again. "And why are you dressed in a suit?"

"Henry thinks they've found something and he wants me to come check it."

"Send someone else."

"I've got no one else for this but you and I wouldn't drag you out of bed if my life depended on it." John pressed another kiss to her before drawing back. "I'll be back soon. It shouldn't take long at all."

"I should hope not." Anna wrapped herself in the blankets, finding a new position. "I'm naked under this blankets and I want you to do something about it later."

John hissed, "You're not playing fair."

"You're up at five and we're not having sex." Anna waved her hand toward the door, "The sooner you go the sooner you come back to claim your prize."

"I thought I did last night."

"I'm talking about a different prize, Mr. Bates."

John's brow furrowed, "What prize then?"

"Later."

"But-"

"Later," Anna insisted and John huffed, standing to leave.

"If you insist."

"I do."

John hurried to his office, noting the surprise on the faces of the security guards as he took the lift to the top floor. Pushing open the doors to his office he noted Mary, Talbot, and Pelham all stand in a hurry.

He took stock of them a moment, their bloodshot eyes, the bags under them, and the general weariness weighing on their bones. But all of that paled in the sight of the pages Pelham clutched in his grip. John pointed to them and Talbot was already nodding before he could ask the question.

"Are those it?"

"They are. Well, copies, anyway." Pelham handed them over and John immediately flipped through them. "We've already sent the originals in your car to the Met. They'll have them in minutes and then we'll coordinate what we can from here."

The pages wavered in John's hand and it took him a moment to realize it was because his hands shook. He turned to Talbot, holding the pages out to him, "Do you realize what this means?"

"That it's over." Mary chimed in, gathering her things and aiming Pelham to the door. "We're all going to get some much needed sleep."

"I was going to a nice cup of tea." Pelham argued and Mary sighed.

"And I'm going to take a hot shower, because I'd drown in a bath I'm so tired right now, and then crawl into my comfortable bed to sleep for a week until I see people again."

John barely heard them, consumed with the pages. He glanced up, noting Talbot still standing there. "Why aren't you gone yet?"

"I wanted to make sure it really is over."

"With these," John held them up, "It is. It's over, Henry."

"Good." He gathered his things, "Then I think I'll follow Mary's example and make my way to the land of the clean and the well-rested."

"Then maybe you'll appreciate how my wife didn't take kindly to me leaving so early this morning."

Talbot laughed, "Did the security people still recognize you from back when you practically lived in these offices trying to bring down your enemies?"

"I think you've changed the staff since then."

"Glad you noticed." Talbot tapped the papers, "This is justice for Matthew, John. We're getting him justice now."

John could only nod, swallowing back some emotion so he could actually speak. "Robert'll be overjoyed."

"As I hope you are too."

"I've got no words for what I am Henry. Nothing's adequate for this except," John lowered the pages to stare at Talbot. "Thank you."

"What are friends for John?" Talbot walked backward toward the door, "What are friends for?"

John went around to the front of his desk, scanning each page as the proof of Green's involvement with Bricker's organization lay right on top of the report Matthew Crawley prepared to file fifteen years ago. The papers faded with age and yellowing but still evidencing the rain stains from whomever snatched them from the bag in the alley and then ran for it.

He barely looked up at the door opened, only speaking out. "This is incredible. You've got to-" John froze, the barrel of a gun pointed at him. He set the pages down, raising his arms toward his head. "I think you'd better lower that gun there mate."

"We're not mates."

"Not with the gun in my face we're not." John pointed toward the floor with a bent finger. "Just drop it and the security guys looking through the cameras in this rom won't have reason to tackle you to the floor and risk breaking open your thick skull Mr. Green."

Green only laughed, shooting the four cameras before returning the barrel to John's direction. "I may not've trained in the army like you did but I did train on how to use one of these so I wouldn't test me."

"What are you doing in my office?"

"Because I realized something."

"That you've reached the end of your rope?"

Green shook his head, "Your answer, about knowing my father's character… it wasn't the answer of a businessman admiring another."

"I assure you-"

"Shut up before I use this on your already once-busted knee, Mr. Christian." Green stopped, "But that's not your real name, is it?"

"It's my given name."

"Because you gave it to yourself." Green tapped his forehead with his other hand, "I admit, I'm ashamed that it took me as long as it did to realize the truth but you named yourself for my father when your created this whole new persona. But you couldn't hide your regard for him. Your love for him."

"Christian Green was a good man."

"To some. To those who claimed to know him well. To those he loved more than he loved me." Green stood within ten feet of John, the gun steady in his grip. "It's been a long time hasn't it, John Bates?"