In the Near Future

Life had not been kind to him. Not until he met her. And met her again.

She made him better and he forgot how horrible life had been because it was nothing to him. The past held no hold on him when she held him. Or when he held her. Or held their children. All else faded away. It no longer mattered. Only they did. Only they would.

When the case against Green finally wrapped he was a shell. The word was that he died in prison not four months after his conviction for the death sentence. His lawyer tried to appeal but nothing could save him. Talbot said Green hung himself in his cell.

John checked the body himself and attended the funeral. Anna chose not to come but Jack attended in her stead. For all Alex Green had ever been to Jack, he was his father for a time. For all Alex Green had ever done to John, he had once been his friend.

Some things should be stronger than hatred.

Within the next year Jack Bates bid his parents goodbye and headed for graduate school in America. Anna missed him terribly but once their third child came into the world she had no time to mourn. They had no time for anything since Matthew Crawley Bates decided he never wanted to be anything but contrary.

John wondered if they loved him all the more for it.

As to the surprise John promised- and the sex he promised Anna she would want with him after he told her- he was right on both counts. Shortly after Matthew came into their lives they left John's large house to Talbot and Mary to move to a little island off the coast. There the house had room inside and out for their two growing children… and one day for the fourth one to join them.

The press fervor about John's revealed identity, the criminal cases, and even questions about parole hearings for the guilty parties involved faded into the background as the Bates family took to their new life. Their little paradise of Monte Cristo gave them all the comfort and fulfillment they needed. With John and Anna chasing their children around the house and gardens they wanted nothing more or less than what they had.

When Jack finished school he took John's position and John promoted Talbot to Anna's. Talbot also took John's house in the city, at John's insistence, when Mary told Talbot they were having a second child. George roomed with Jack.

One night, after tucking all three of their children into bed, John walked out to their garden and took the seat next to Anna. Her fingers found his and she leaned against him. John kissed her forehead and sighed.

"They're all in bed. They're probably pretending to be asleep but they're there."

"I'd probably win if we guessed what each one of them is doing at the moment." Anna closed her eyes, as if envisioning the scene, "Jean's got the covers pulled over her head and a torch in hand to read a stack of books before midnight. Matthew's kicking around until he contorts his body into the most unnatural shape between all his toys and then'll snore to wake up Maggie."

"Maggie's the only one actually sleeping."

"She's six months old. That won't last more than an hour." Anna sighed, "But I'll take that hour if I can get it."

"So will I." John shifted to lay on the bench. "Care to join me in using that hour to it's best effect?"

Anna narrowed her eyes at him, pointing an accusing finger in his face. "If you're suggesting that you want to ravish me on this bench while our children sleep just above us then you're a mad man."

"Mad about you."

"Charmer." Anna settled herself over him, nipping at his lips.

"Naughty." John pinched at her ass. "Do I assume it's a yes?"

"I'll let you decide."

John tugged her arm, dragging the two of them to the grass. Anna lay back and John took his time. Kissing over her neck to the edge of her shirt before pulling it over her head to drape over the bench. His kisses worked over and around her bra before she decided it had to go.

By the time she started moaning at the attention he lavished over her breasts John lost his shirt to her questing fingers. They speared through the hair on his chest, scratching down his skin to leave him moaning against her skin. And it was as if both synchronized to remove the other's trousers and knickers so the weak light from the back door gave them only the moon to light off their skin.

John guided his lips down her body, licking and kissing while her hands struggled to find purchase on his body. She writhed when his hands decided to explore her hips and her folds. And she barely suppressed her own cries as his lips and tongue joined his already questing fingers.

Driving her over the edge always drove John faster. His own desperation built at the base of his spine but he ignored it, burying his tongue and fingers as deep inside Anna as he could manage before sucking at her nerves. She broke with a shriek so loud John stopped all motions to listen for their children.

"Mrs. Bates," He chided, guiding his fingers slowly from her to leave her quivering muscles relaxing instead of clutching for more. "You'll have to keep quiet or you'll wake the children."

"But I'd be satisfied and you wouldn't." Anna taunted, leaning up on her elbows as John kissed back to her mouth.

"You'd leave me in that state?" John pouted, his fingers slipping over her folds to leave Anna biting her lip. "You don't play fair."

"Never." Anna slipped from his reach, standing just out of his grasp. "But I do reward good work."

"Do you?" John pushed himself to stand, facing Anna where she leaned over the back of the bench. "How'd you plan to do that?"

"Come over here and find out."

John rounded the bench, moving behind Anna to kiss over her shoulders and neck. "I think I gave you grass stains."

"They invented showers for that."

"Or the bathtub."

"Mhm," Anna purred as John's hands wrapped her waist, "I could use the deep tissue massage and we haven't used the jets in awhile."

"No we haven't." He shifted against her, fingers whispering in their glide over her stomach to brush at her breasts. "But I'd like to finish this out here first."

"One thing at a time?" Anna giggled then gasped when John's leg moved between hers to open her legs so he could stroke himself along her.

"I'm old fashioned that way."

"Then by all means."

John drove into her, holding Anna's hips in a firm grip while her head rested forward on her arms where they held the back of the bench. He ran his lips over her shoulders and up her neck to her ear, "Are you alright?"

"I don't think I'm ever better than when we're where we are right now."

John drew out, holding just on the edge before plunging back in. "You mean the garden, yes?"

"Cheeky." Anna hissed as John rotated his hips with the next thrust. "It's no wonder we've already got three children under the age of five."

"Do you want a fourth?" John eased his pace, working to strike where Anna went up on her toes. He risked a look down and, even in the moonlight, he could hardly contain himself at the sight of her taking him to the hilt with each motion. One of his hands caressed back to feel over the skin of her ass before he increased speed.

"Do you want a fourth?"

"I asked first," John's other hand returned to her nerves, "Do you?"

"Yes." Anna breathed, her hand covering his while the other went to his hair, dragging his face over her shoulder so she could kiss him when he increased speed again. "But I think you're already getting your wish."

John stopped, "What?"

"I'm not sure yet but I think-"

John kissed Anna before she could finish, fingers fumbling to send her over the edge again as his own arousal reached a breaking point. He fell first, holding tightly to her, and she finished a few moments later. They sagged against the bench for a minute before John slipped from Anna.

His arms went around her, carrying her to the bench so they could sit on it. Her head rested on his shoulder and he kissed her forehead before meeting her eyes. "Are you sure?"

"Not a hundred percent but I'm pretty sure." Anna ran her finger along his jaw, "I'm sure you're never going to have a problem in that department."

"All these little Bateses running around, whatever will we do?"

"I'm sure we'll find something." Anna smiled at him, "We're resourceful like that."

"Yes we are." John moved a piece of hair from her face. "I do hope you know how much I love you."

"I do." Anna kissed him, "It's as much as I love you."

John went to say something else but they both turned to the house at the sound of crying from upstairs. He laughed, "And our future five-a-side football team?"

"I love them all the time, equally."

"And right now?"

"A little less equally." Anna got off John's lap, gathering her clothes and tossing him his. "I think you'd best draw me a bath and I'll see to Maggie."

"That's Matthew's crying voice."

"A tenner says your wrong."

John wrapped Anna from behind, kissing over her neck as he took her inside the house, "How about a massage?"

"You're just saying that because you already know I'm right and you just want to get your hands all over my naked body again."

"That obvious."

Anna dropped to the ground, looking down at his trousers before meeting his eyes again. "It's hard to miss. But I take it as a compliment."

"I should hope so." John swatted her ass, "There's a bath waiting for you when you're finished in there."

"I should hope so Mr. Bates."

John risked a look into the bedroom, watching Anna rock Maggie back to a doze while she moved the torch from Jean's fingers and pulled a blanket over their contortionist son. He smiled, sighing at the sight. Life had not been kind to him but it could be kinder to them.

He would make sure of that.