John waited at the edge of Ondine's bed, Anna asleep in the seat next to him. Ondine stirred and John sat up. His movement disturbed Anna and she snorted herself awake to immediately look at the blinking Ondine.

"What happened?" Ondine whispered with her hoarse voice and Anna hurried to get her a cup with water.

"You were in an accident when you drove home with your mother." John soothed, his hand rubbing over Ondine's hair. "She's alright but Richard didn't make it."

"How did I-"

"You wore your seatbelt." John leaned forward and kissed her head before laying kisses over her little hand. "You wore your seatbelt and then performed admirably in surgery."

"Surgery?"

"Your transplant came through." John guided her fingers to raised incision, held together by staples that made a little pattern under her hospital gown. "You're going to walk and move again."

"And swim." Anna reminded, offering another sip of water to Ondine.

"Can I see Ma?"

"When you're ready to leave hospital."

Ondine closed her eyes to groan, "That's not for another five days at least."

"You've got the television and we're bringing you books." John looked over at Anna, "And we'll visit you every day."

"I'll stay with you, if you want." Anna put her hand forward and Ondine caught it, noting the ring there.

"When did this happen?"

"Two days ago, while you were still recovering." John made a face, "I'm sorry we rushed it without telling you but we needed to get married rather quickly."

"Why?" Ondine frowned and John turned to Anna.

She swallowed, "Because I'm in a bit of trouble and we wanted to make sure you stayed safe."

"Did your seal husband come?"

"In a manner of speaking." Anna smiled at her, "I needed to make sure nothing would happen to you if it didn't go the way we hope."

"Then…" Ondine shrunk back into the pillows a bit. "Does that mean you're not a selkie?"

"I'm afraid it was."

"But it means you want to stay with us forever?"

"Yes it does and that's why we're doing this." John took one of Ondine's hands in his and the other he used to hold Anna's. "We're going to be together, even if it takes a bit of time for us to get there."

"Okay." Ondine reached for the remote and Anna passed it to her. "Then we'd best see what's happened in the world since I've been away."

She clicked the channels and landed on a Chinese soap opera. John groaned and Anna turned to him, "What?"

"She always does this. Picks random channels with languages she doesn't understand and starts pretending she knows what they're saying."

"She won't have to for this one." Anna moved to Ondine's side, stretching along the little girl's side and pointing up at the television. "I know what they're saying."

"No you don't."

"I do." Anna stuck her tongue out at him, "I studied Mandarin at school and I'm very good."

"Are you?" John put his elbow on the bed, resting his chin in his hand, "Then what's going on?"

"It's a drama and she's worried her mother in law doesn't like her." Anna turned to Ondine, "In Chinese culture that's a very serious concern."

"It's serious in any culture." John huffed, "My mother never liked Vera and that made life rather difficult all around."

"It's all about making two families compatible and that's not always possible." Anna shrugged, "I never got along with my step-father."

"We're not bound to them in the same way."

The drama moved to a commercial and John went to turn away but stopped. The music coming from the television sounded familiar. And it sounded even more familiar when Anna whisper-sang along. When she noticed him staring she turned to face him. "What?"

"This is what you've been singing, on the boat."

"It's one of my favorite Chinese songs." Anna smiled at him. "It's a song about love and living up to the fairy tale someone wanted in love."

"What's it called?"

"It's called 'Tong Hua' and it's beautiful."

"I know how beautiful it is." John reached over and held her hand. "I've heard it a few times."

She squeezed his hand back before putting her arm around Ondine and settling back into the pillows with her. "Oh, it's back on."

John huffed and sat back in his chair.

A few days later they entered the police station, Anna clinging tightly to John's arm. He rubbed his fingers over her hand, trying to soothe her but noticed the tremor in his own hand. They waited together, only whispering half sentences or single words to one another until a woman called them into the bowels of the building. She escorted them to an office and had them wait in the available chairs, John giving Anna the better looking of the two.

He gripped her hand, tapping the edge of the hard wooden chair arm with his fingers. Anna crossed over his body, grabbing his other hand and forcing him to meet her eyes. "Please stop."

"Sorry." He adjusted, "The last time I was in an office like this it didn't go well."

"What exactly were you doing there Mr. Bates?" Anna trilled, her fingers tracing over his hand. "Something devious I hope."

"It was a bit daring." John admitted and moved his hand out of her grasp. "If you keep doing that we'll end up stuck in her for a whole different reason."

"Sounds exciting." Both jumped as a tall, lanky man entered the office. 'But I'd rather you didn't since this is a newer desk."

"Mr. Talbot, I'm guessing." John stood and held out his hand to the man. "They told us you were the one to speak to about… this."

"They told you right." Talbot shook Anna's hand as well. "Although I'm curious what either of you would know about international drug smuggling."

"Don't we seem the type?" John pointed to himself and Anna to have Talbot laugh.

"I'm not one to judge seeing I as caught an eighty-year-old Pakistani woman a few years ago smuggling heroin into the country in herb boxes." Talbot tapped a few keys on his computer and then pulled a recorder from his desk drawer to set on the desk between them. "I get the feeling, however, that you two've got a bit more to tell me."

"We do." Anna shifted in her seat. "What do you know about a man named Alex Green?"

Talbot puffed his cheeks with air and then blew out slowly while shrugging. "I know he's in town and the Yorkshire NCA's got a bit of a thing for him. Suspected of supplying more than a few people with some dangerous recreational materials that led to the deaths of three university students last year."

"And nothing happened?" John shook his head, "Why not?"

"It's a bit of a rough go when you need more evidence than you have available to prosecute."

"What if I could give you the evidence you'd need?" Anna leaned forward, "What would that be worth to you and your counterparts in Yorkshire?"

Talbot's eyebrows brushed the top of his forehead. "I guess the better question, Ms. Smith-"

"It's Mrs. Bates, actually." Anna held up her hand, "For the record, official or no."

"My apologies," Talbot ducked his head toward them, "My congratulations."

"Thank you."

"But to continue my question, the best response I can give you is to ask what it's worth to you."

"Immunity or whatever it is I can get that keeps me out of prison and doesn't reflect on my family."

Talbot opened his mouth to make an 'ah' sound. "Hence the wedding. Mr. Bates here can't testify to anything as that'd be equal to him testifying against himself and your daughter would be immune to prosecution as well."

"That was the idea."

"Then I'm guessing you're not coming here to blow smoke up my ass about anything and that you're very serious." Talbot leaned back to whistle, "You must be very confident in what you're about to give me."

"I can give you the drugs Alex Green wanted to bring into this country as a test batch as well as the dates and times of the shipments he received while I worked for him in Yorkshire." Anna hung her head, "I was one of his mules."

"Not a dealer?"

"I didn't have the face for it."

"But you did have the body." Talbot held up a hand as John rose from his chair, "Swimming, Mr. Bates. I'm aware of Ms. Smith's prowess when I looked you both up before coming into this office. I wouldn't dare comment on her appearance in such a crass way."

"Thank you." John settled back in his chair. "But will that deal work?"

"I think it'll be more than enough. We can check the information on the shipping routes from here right now and then arrange a time for Anna to turn over the drugs."

"Other than getting them off the street, what'll that prove?" John frowned, "I'm sorry, I just don't understand that part."

"They serve a few purposes actually. First we can test them against batches we've found in other places. Everything, even water, is unique in its formulation. We can trace the origin of the drugs through the dealers to the production houses to the farm where the poppy grew. With a small amount we can map where every particle of a batch has been on its long journey." Talbot shrugged, "Second purpose of it is proof of intent to sell or distribute. Third, it proves Mrs. Bates here isn't just spinning a story."

"Won't it come back to bite us in the ass later, when they bring it up in court?"

"I'm sure it will but we'll worry about leaping off that particular bridge when we come to it." Talbot pushed a pad of paper and a pen to Anna. "If you wouldn't mind, Mrs. Bates, please write down what you know in as much detail as possible."

Anna took the pen as Talbot stood. "Mr. Bates, I think we'll only make her nervous if we stay. Mind stepping outside with me?"

John shot a look at Anna before nodding, "Sure."

They left the office, Talbot burying his hands in his pockets as he snuck a glance through the glass of his office at Anna. He tipped his head in her direction, "Brave woman you've got there."

"Yes she is."

"They say she washed up in your net?" Talbot made a face, "I find that hard to believe."

"So did I at the time but she said she'd got caught in the waves and passed out from exhaustion."

"That makes sense." Talbot scuffed a line in the rough carpet with his shoe before looking at John again. "I hope you don't find what I'm about to say… impertinent, but I need to tell you something I don't know if I can tell Mrs. Bates."

"What?" John tensed, "Is it about her deal?"

"No, no, heavens no." Talbot shook his head, "Our system's going to be very generous to her for a number of reasons."

"Because of her information?"

"That and she's pretty and married. It's a bit hard to swallow sometimes but prettier women with more 'stabilizing ties', shall we say, tend to appeal to the instinct of the jury. She'll have no problem swinging free on this." Talbot swallowed, "It's more about Mr. Green."

"What about him?"

"You're aware that Mrs. Bates has a stepfather, yes?"

"Yes but she's not had contact with him since University and then he vanished after the death of her mother."

"Yes he did and we believe it's partly because he was guilty of her murder."

John nodded, "She suspects the same."

"But see," Talbot shuffled in place, "I think he's still out there."

"Why?"

"There was something a bit… convenient about Green finding a strong swimmer suddenly in need of a source of income that I thought deserves some investigating."

"What did you find?"

Talbot ruffled his hair a bit. "It's all still circumstantial and, I'll be honest, most of my superiors and fellows here think it's a long shot, but I think her step-father is actually the head of Green's operation."

"What makes you so sure?"

"There's something… skeezy about him." Talbot shrugged, "Call it a hunch but there's too much coincidence for me to ignore it."

"I tend to think coincidence shouldn't be ignored."

"Which is why I'm devoting energy and resources to hunting down our elusive Mr. Bricker." Talbot turned another glance toward Anna in the office, still writing steadily as she lifted another page to continue. "He's not the kind of man one usually suspects for this, which is why I suspect him all the more."

"Like your Pakistani woman?"

"Just like that." Talbot sighed, "The worst part about that case was that the poor woman thought her nephew in Pakistan was just sending her home remedies she couldn't get here to give to her son."

"Family drug trade?"

"It's often the people we suspect the least who get used for that exact reason." Talbot rolled his shoulders back and stretched, "Mind a cup of tea? She'll hopefully be in there for a stretch more. I can't promise anything about the state of the tea since most of what we've got funding for is shite but we could manage something."

"I'll pass, thank you." John jerked his thumb toward the window, "When she's done we're going to get my daughter from hospital."

"Congratulations then." Talbot went to move away but stopped, "And you made the right choice."

"About coming here?"

"No," Talbot shook his head. "About marrying her."

"Why's that?"

"Because then you won't have to testify against her and, in all technicality, they could prosecute you for harboring a fugitive."

"I didn't know she was one."

Talbot managed a sly smile, "You wouldn't have married her if you didn't know, Mr. Bates, but since you'll never have to testify to that effect we can both pretend that's true."

"I guess we can Mr. Talbot." John shook his hand, "It was a pleasure to meet you. And thank you, for all you're doing."

"Unfeeling as it may sound, I'm just doing my job." Talbot raised a hand as he walked away, "But I'll take your gratitude all the same."

John found a seat outside Talbot's office and jerked himself awake when his head started to dip. Anna's hand on his shoulder startled him and he stood quickly. "Everything alright?"

"Everything's fine." She assured him, "Mr. Talbot's already verified the dates, times, and locations so we're free to go for now."

"For now?"

"He's arranged it so he won't demand the hand off of the drugs until he's got the signed form offering me the immunity I asked for." Anna shrugged, "Until then we're free to go but he wants us to stay in town."

"We'll have to since we've got two invalids who need our help."

"And you've got a business to run." Anna looped her arm through his, walking out of the office far lighter than they had been walking in. "Which brings me to a proposal."

"What's that?"

"Let me be nursemaid." Anna held up a hand as John started to argue and she danced in front of him to stop his progress toward the driver's side door on the truck. "You and I both know you've got to take care of your work and I've nothing else to do now that we've cleaned up the mess that Green left. More to the point I can drive between your home and Vera's-"

"That's sweet but you've two problems there."

"Oh?" Anna put her hands to her hips, "And what are those?"

"First, Vera's staying with her friend. She'll be there until she can manage crutches around her house." John ticked up his fingers, "Second, you don't need to be anyone's nursemaid."

"I do." Anna insisted and put a hand on John's arm. "I've nothing to do, for one, and two being that I'm Ondine's stepmother now. I want to help."

John sighed, "I don't want you to feel you have to."

"There's no 'have to' when it comes to Ondine." Anna soothed him. "She's just as lovely as you… if not more so."

"Thank you very much." John laughed with her, kissing her quickly before directing her toward the passenger side. "Speaking of, if we don't hurry she'll think we left her in that hospital bed to wither and die."

"She can be quite dramatic can't she?" Anna opened her door, "I wonder who she learned that from."

John pulled the door closed on Ondine's room and tiptoed back to where Anna sat on the sofa, scrunching her forehead as she read through Ondine's schoolwork. She held it up for John to see. "Do you see what they're giving her to do?"

"It's just maths."

"It's impossible, is what it is." Anna turned the page, "I hope you're better with figures than me because I'll be no help at all."

"They've got that… Khan Academy or whatever online don't they?" John settled next to her, "Use that."

"I'll have to." Anna put the book back, "This is why I didn't go for Maths at A-Levels. Leave that to other people."

"What did you do you're A-Levels in?"

"Literature, Biology, and Mandarin."

"And you're complaining about not understanding maths?" John tickled at Anna but she squirmed away. "Did you finish University?"

"I did… and once I finished it was on to find another job but I was struggling to cover costs in the interim and, well, it's not easy to find work as a translator for a government entity when you're helping to sell drugs on the side." Anna shrugged. "I guess I never really thought about a job after that since I don't have anything to really put on a CV."

"You could always throw in with me." John suggested, "It's a hard life but it's a good one. The money's not always steady but I'm good with it and I know how to stretch it. More to the point, we've got opportunities to move to other places where you could find a job."

"Do you want to move?"

"No, but if you ever wanted to."

Anna leaned over, placing her hand on his cheek, and kissed him. As she pulled back she stroked his cheekbone. "You are, without a doubt, the sweetest man I've ever met John Bates."

"I'm glad you think so." John crawled toward her, "Would you like me to show you how sweet I think you are?"

"Your daughter is in the next room!" Anna hissed as John pulled her onto his lap. "I'd rather she not come in if we're…"

"Having sex?" John kissed at her neck as Anna dug her fingers into his shirt to stop herself reacting.

"I was going to say," Anna managed to gasp, "In a difficult situation."

"Then I guess," John lowered his voice to a whisper, kissing behind her ear, "We'll need to be very quiet."

"You're incorrigible."

"But you like that?" John pulled back, lifting an eyebrow, "Right?"

"I thought, Mr. Bates," Anna leaned forward, rubbing her hips against his tenting trousers. "We had to be quiet."

Their hands slipped and they giggled in their attempts to remove shirts and trousers and soon John found himself stuffing his fist into his mouth to keep from laughing when they both tumbled in opposite directions on the sofa. But the position allowed Anna to kick her knickers free and toss her bra away before yanking at his pants.

When Anna retook her position, straddling John's legs, they were still giggling as quietly as possible. As her hand slipped around him, however, the mood changed. They stared at one another, the smiles fading in inverse proportion to the growing glow in their eyes, and John snaked his hands to take a hold on her ass while the other slipped through her folds. She bit her lip in response to his motions and tightened her hold on him at the same time.

They moved slowly, building one another to a frenzy they answered with kick kisses or digging fingers. John's lips and tongue traced and sucked her breasts, exulting in the keening cries Anna released as quietly as possible. Her response to his teasing was to lift completely off him and retake her position with her back to him. He groaned and drove into her, kissing over her back until she sobbed a climax.

Turning Anna back around, John drove in as deeply as he could but with Anna coming down from her high it meant she regained her senses. Enough to tease him by drawing farther away and making it harder for him to find release before returning to taunt him with kisses that sucked at his tongue. John fought for a hold and then surrendered to her perfect seduction.

Soon it was too much to bear and Anna lifted herself enough to sink down on him fully, their heads tilting back to haul in air before they buried their groans of pleasure in the other's mouth, and moved. Hips met as solidly as possible but it was in Anna's hands to rise and fall or bob and twist as she could. All of it only making John harder and sending the hairs all over his body standing on end as he rose and higher and higher.

He kept his hands moving at her core, manipulating and circling to bring out the panting whimpers that drove him faster. Anna responded in kind as she shifted her knees to take John deeper while lengthening her strokes. She pulled him to the very edge of her entrance only to drive back down, sending his eyes rolling back into his head.

His insistent grip sent her over the edge again, hissing at the sink of her teeth into his shoulder, and followed shortly after with a few more thrusts before he stuttered to a stop. They breathed together a moment as John dotted sloppy and misaimed kissed from her lips to her breasts and back. Anna managed a laugh before pushing away enough to see him.

"In other circumstances, Mr. Bates, I might think you wanted to go another round with me."

"I'm always ready for another round with you, Mrs. Bates." John grinned at her. "But in our own bed, after a shower, and where I can let you be a little louder."

"That sounds like a plan."