Bates, Beauty, and the Beast

by The Author's Mightier Pen

John Bates, former neurosurgeon and current hospice nurse, takes a job to work in the house of Mary Crawley Talbot. His job is to care for two ailing, elderly women and Ms. Crawley-Talbot's best friend, Anna Smith. As part of John's duties, he reads to Anna from a book about a designer and the bodyguard hired to keep her safe.

9. Of Beast and Beauty

Yorkshire, England – Reality

"Been awhile since I had a fancy dinner."

"Boyfriend not doing it for you?"

"Night shift and school's not doing it for me." Gwen sighed, checking over the options on the list John handed her. "But I've been to a couple of these."

"I've been to none of them so anything you can offer helps." John sighed, "I want to do this right."

"I applaud you for any and all sincere efforts." Gwen paused, "Anna's not had many people put forth this level of effort."

"No one's wanted to do right by her?"

"Not once they've got the opportunity to pursue her romantically, no.." Gwen shrugged, "People've always got their own motives."

"You can't think mine are pure."

"I've seen the way she kisses you and, believe me, I think you've probably got slightly purer motives than she does." Gwen tapped one of the options. "Take her to this one. It'll be a light crowd and they've got competent servers."

"Competent servers?"

"Ones that won't get flustered if they've got to warn her before they set the plate on the table or explain the layout of the utensils."

"I hadn't thought of that."

"Funny the things we take for granted when we've not got to work around something like not having our sight."

"True enough." John nodded and then pursed his lips. "Does she like the food?"

"The best thing about Anna is she's open to trying anything so it wouldn't really matter what kind of cuisine you offered her." Gwen noted John's expression and nodded. "But yes, she's a fan of the food."

"Good." John let out a puff of air. "I want to do this right."

"It's been a stretch since you've dated too, hasn't it?"

John cringed, "Is it that obvious?"

"Other than the two of us working in healthcare, hospice especially, and you being of the divorced variety I'd say I had a pretty good chance of being right if I were betting on it." Gwen nudged John's shoulder with hers. "But, the truth, is that your investment in making sure this date goes well tells me you're not as confident in the process as you might've been… a millennia ago."

"For a minute there I thought you were on my side."

"I'd hate to give you the wrong idea." Gwen gathered her things. "You taking her tonight then?"

"Yes."

Gwen frowned, "But you only just brought me the list of options."

"I made reservations at all of them." John shrugged when Gwen's jaw dropped slightly. "I wanted to make sure I could have them available. Now that I know which one she'd like best then I cancel the ones I can and reschedule the others if they'll let me."

"You know what, I was wrong." Gwen put the straps of her bag on her shoulders.

"About?" John frowned as Gwen shook her head at him.

"It's not been a millennia since you dated, you're from the future and living in a completely different dimension than the rest of us." She checked her watch. "I've got to go or I'll miss Jai before he leaves for the day."

"Want me to tell you how it goes?"

"No."

"No?"

"Absolutely not." Gwen lowered her voice as she leaned toward John. "Because if you tell me how it goes then that means it was a PG or a 12A rating, and we both know that's neither what she's thinking or what you're probably hoping."

"I-"

"Don't get your knickers in a twist about it." Gwen waved off John's affronted expression. "She wants it too. And if it is that, which I suspect, then that's above a 12A rating and…"

Gwen shuddered, "Much as I like the both of you, I don't want to think about either of you in those terms… Ever. So if it's anything above a 12A, I'll assume the best. Anything else and I'll just judge you for not moving forward with something you both clearly want."

"I feel like I've just been told I'm too old, not old enough, too slow, and too horny all at the same time."

Gwen shrugged, "Life's tough."

"You sound remarkably unsympathetic."

"I am unsympathetic and I'm almost late." Gwen winked at him and hurried out the door. "Good luck."

John huffed and turned back to his work. Work he cut with calls to cancel and change reservations with his list of restaurants until Violet Crawley took the phone from him and handled the list. He could only watch in abject shock as she worked her way through the restaurants and demanded the necessary changes. When she finished, Violet handed the list and the phone back to John.

"If you want to say something, you say it with authority." He could only swallow and take the offending items back as he nodded.

"It also helps that she terrified everyone in the local community." Isobel looked up from where she arranged the backgammon board next to a chess set. "Which restaurant did you choose?"

"Gwen recommended the Jade Swan."

"They're a good chain." Isobel nodded and moved pieces on both boards. "I've enjoyed a few of them."

"The Jade Swans?"

"They're all a color and then 'Swan'." Isobel paused, her lips pursing in thought. "I think the first one was a jazz club in London."

"A night club." Violet shook her head and responded with two moves of her own on the boards. "With a rather debauched history."

"Really?"

"Oh yes. There was a murder there, in the fifties. And some rather scandalous affair in the thirties. And then, when it burned down, the reopening experienced a drive-by shooting." Violet shuddered, "All very dramatic."

"Sounds almost made up."

"Life can be as bad as fiction sometimes." Isobel made her moves. "But I'm glad you're going somewhere nice. We worry about you, on occasion."

John smiled, "Worry about me Mrs. Crawley?"

"Someone's got to dear boy." Violet gave John an almost pitying expression before responding with moves of her own on the boards. "You've obviously not worried about yourself lately and it shows."

"Do I look that bad?"

"You look positively devoid of female influence in your life." Violet examined John again before turning to Isobel. "Do you think our gaoler would be against a trip into town?"

"Did you forget your medication again?" Isobel met Violet's moves and then huffed when Violet took one of her chess pieces. "I was wondering why you're so much crankier today than you usually are."

"I'm as cranky as ever with no deviations. No," Violet motioned toward John. "I'm certain this man is trying to woo a young lady and he'll wear some horrible suit that'll make him more waiter than intended paramour."

"I think he'll look dashing if he cleans up well."

"That's my concern. What if he doesn't?" Violet sighed, "We've got to do something for him. If we don't then the spirit of his dearly departed mother might come up from her grave to haunt us for poor caretaking."

"In that case," Isobel addressed John, "Would you mind taking us on an excursion?"

"What about Anna?"

"She knows how to use a phone if she needs help." Violet held up her cane. "And if you need to rush back it's not as if we can cut and run for freedom while you're gone."

John chewed the inside of his cheek a moment. "Let me at least tell her we're going out. I'd hate for her to worry."

"She's got nothing to worry over. Carl," Violet called out and the dog lifted himself from his spot next to the fireplace to pad over to her. "Guard the house."

"You've got to say it in German." Isobel chided and then took one of Violet's pieces off the backgammon board.

"He understands my English." Violet stared at the dog as her hands covered the head of her cane. "We understand one another, don't we?"

The dog only blinked and then returned to his spot by the fireplace to lay his head on the floor. John snorted a laugh to himself and took the stairs to the second level. His knock barely sounded over the music playing through the door but he heard Anna's voice call out for him to enter.

The decibel lowered as John opened the door and he stepped to the side as Bernie moved into the hall and lay out there. John frowned and turned back to Anna, "Did you drive Bernie from the room?"

"He doesn't like ABBA." Anna shrugged and continued forming the clay over the piece in front of her, pausing when the earbud in her ear blinked before making another move. "It's his way of staging a protest."

"Then you need to change his musical preferences." John leaned into his hand's grip on the doorknob. "ABBA, without question, was one of the best things to come out of the seventies."

"You don't go for go-go-boots?"

"I was never one for heels."

"You don't need them." Anna moved her hands off the piece and reached for a towel to wipe the clay residue from her hands before taking a breath. "But, as a woman who needs an advantage to her height, I appreciate those shoes."

"The style was a bit flashy for me."

"That's a shame." Anna smiled to herself, pushing off her stool to reach the barn sink. "I sometimes think you'd wear rhinestones."

"Then it's good you don't see me in the bland scrubs I wear."

Anna paused, shaking her hands to rid them of residual water before wiping them on another towel. "Want to risk getting them a little dirty?"

John coughed, "I don't think that's-"

"It's a completely innocent request I assure you." Anna licked her lips, "For now."

John coughed again, cleared his throat, and noted the way Bernie's eyes flicked to watch him before settling into a laying pose echoing Carl's on the floor below. "What'd you have in mind?"

"A little sculpting lesson."

"I'm hopeless at art."

"If you used to be a surgeon then you've got to be good with your hands."

"Surgery's not how I got good with my hands." John enjoyed the flush of red to Anna's cheeks as he moved into the room. "But the delicacy of surgery always seemed easier than the motions needed to work with art supplies."

"We've all got our preferences." Anna went back to her stool and shifted it out from the table a bit. "But this one'll be easy, I promise."

"I'll trust you." John put his hand on the stool and moved it the fraction of an inch more he needed to get his legs under the table as he sat. "What do I do?"

"There should be an image on the computer." Anna nodded in the general direction of it and John noted the odd image on the screen. "It's some kind of DnD thing."

"I thought you were an architect."

"I do graphic design and this is part of what I do on the side." Anna reached out and John met her hand. She guided him to the sculpture she already started. "Now, the clay is on a rough model the 3-D printed did. What we're doing is adding detail."

"Your 3-D printer can't do that?"

"Not with rough sketch edits. This is one of four possible concepts I'm making based on the specifications they sent." Anna tapped the earbud in her ear. "A computer can only do what you tell it to at high speed. They don't think for us yet."

"Thank goodness." John shuddered, "It only took Ultron five minutes on the internet to decide we deserved death."

"Some would say he wasn't wrong. Anyway," Anna's fingers left John's hand. "You're going to do the ear."

"Am I?"

"Yes. And you've got the advantage." Anna smiled, "You can see what they thought they wanted and the one I already did. You get to try to match it by sight instead of feel."

"I'm sure this… orc… won't need matching ears."

"It's a troll and you might be right but it's a chance for you to try sculpting."

John put his fingers to work, starting tentatively and taking direction Anna gave him as her earbud blinked blue. "How'd you know what I'm doing?"

"The model you're using has sensors to work with the cameras around the room."

"What?" John noted the room's setup. "Why've you got…"

"To track my progress." Anna shrugged, "It's a very specialized program to make sure I can watch what I'm doing… Sort of."

"It makes me feeling like I'm trying to pass the Gom Jabbar… Or trying to do something embarrassing while someone watches."

"Do you get performance anxiety?"

"About a great many things." John took a breath and tried to relax. "But I actually came in here to see if you'd be alrigh alone."

"Planning on cutting and running?"

"Not in those words, no." John smiled to himself and continued sculpting the clay. "The Missuses Crawley below would like to take me to town to dress me for a date with a young lady… Since they're convinced I don't know how to dress myself."

"You should've told them that you were going to wear a onesie with a tuxedo printed on it because your date wouldn't see it anyway."

"They make those?"

"Oh yeah." Anna nodded and then shrugged, "But the important thing, for the future, is that smell will be more important to me than looks."

"Good to know." John paused his work as Anna's fingers covered his hand to trace up to his work and carefully feel over it. "I've got a cologne based on something from…"

Anna paused, "You're about to edit what you were going to say."

"It's a little embarrassing."

"Is it?" Anna smiled and made a minute change to the sculpture. "And why, John, is the cologne so embarrassing?"

"It's from Bath & Body Works."

Anna paused, "You use their men's line?"

John nodded, "They've got great scents and-"

"I prefer the Graphite smell." Anna smiled and stepped back from the table. "If you're looking for my scent."

"I've only got the Ocean smell."

"You can't win them all I guess." Anna let out a breath, "And I'd best release you to the care of two women looking to boss you around. Especially Violet, she'll love getting you all guessied up for dinner."

"They don't know it's with you."

"Hence why they used the words 'young lady' I'm sure."

"You're still young."

"I assure you I'm not." Anna laughed, "But thank you for the compliment."

"You've stayed young."

"For now." Anna patted John's shoulder, slightly off center but still there. "And you did alright work here."

"Maybe I should try sculpting again."

"Maybe you should. It's relaxing." Anna reached over to the computer and typed a set of instructions. "And get to it. I expect you to be dressed impressively for this evening."

"I'd hate to disappoint."

"Never."

---

London, England – Caustically Beautiful

"We're on the move." John straightened at the lift as Talbot approached with Anna right behind him.

"Is this where I get turned over from one jailer to another?" Anna looked from Talbot to John. "Your eight hour shifts and all."

"I'll be taking point for your interviews today Ms. Smith." John nodded at Talbot, who peeled off, and addressed Anna again. "I thought it'd put you at ease."

"But not you?"

"My opinion, in this, isn't important Ms. Smith."

"Even after what happened the other day?"

John bit down on the inside of his cheek for a second. "I'm a professional, Ms. Smith. What happened, as was decided then, was the only time."

"I'll repeat my thoughts of then, shame." Anna sighed and followed John to the car where she ducked in after he opened the door. "But I understand you've got another set of standards for things like that than I do."

"I wouldn't call it that."

"I'm sure you wouldn't." Anna leaned her head back onto the seat and John studied her posture for a moment. "If you keep staring I'll think you were lying."

"About?"

"About your intentions." Anna turned her head to look at him, "What's caught your interest about me?"

John opened his mouth to speak and then leaned forward to close the divider between them and the driver. Anna raised her eyebrows and pursed her lips into a grin. "So you were lying."

"No, I wasn't. I just feel that, maybe, this conversation isn't one you want to have where others might hear it."

"Then you're shit about picking locations for whatever you want to talk about." Anna shifted back into her position. "What's on your mind?"

"I was about to ask you the same question."

"Haven't you heard?" Anna put a hand to her chest, giving a dramatic performance. "I'm an airhead after nothing but fame so there's nothing in my head at all so there can't ever be anything on my mind."

"I don't believe that."

"Of course you don't." Anna dropped her hand and regained her earlier demeanor. "But that's hardly relevant in the long run."

"Then something is wrong?"

"Why would you think that?"

"Because you're in rare form this morning."

"No, I'm in performance form." Anna's lips pursed, her jaw tightening, and John sighed before he spoke again.

"I'd like to think I've learned enough about you to recognize when something is wrong, Ms. Smith. And, if you'll excuse my saying it, there's something wrong."

"I won't excuse you saying it but I will validate your extensive study of me." Anna snorted a mirthless laugh. "Not that you'll take up the chance to study me further and in far more personal conditions."

"That aside," John bit at his lip, "Is there something wrong?"

"Nothing I want to discuss."

"Then you've read the news?"

Anna rolled her eyes to closed and let her head hang back into the leather seat as if the conversation exhausted all of her patience. "What news?"

"That Alex Green's coming back to London."

If not for his focus on Anna, John might have missed the twitch and stiffen of her shoulders before she forced herself to relax. "Who?"

"The man who…" John cleared his throat and forced a swallow, "The designer who attacked you at Robert's old studio. The man who…"

"Who raped me?" Anna opened her eyes but stared forward. "You can saw the word John. It's only got power if you make yourself afraid of it."

"I'll keep that in mind." John tried to clear his throat again. "But my friend, Luther, said he'll be back in London soon. And the news confirmed it this morning."

"Interesting."

"You don't seem overly bothered by that?"

"Why should I be?" Anna shrugged, "He's nothing to me anymore."

"I think you're lying."

"You're welcome to think whatever you want." Anna straightened in her seat and dug into her purse to hand John a piece of paper. "And I don't care about what Alex Green is doing, on this island or another continent, because I've got other things I want to worry about. And, if you can hold more than one thought in your head at a time, I'd like you to worry about this one too."

"I think I can manage multiple thoughts." John took the paper and frowned at its contents. "What is this?"

"A name."

"Yes, but whose name is this?"

"It very clearly says 'Coulson James Philpot' but, if you're curious, his friends used to call him 'Potty' but he went by 'Phil' in school." Anna let out a breath, "The police, and his mother, call him 'Coulson'."

"And this matters why?"

"Because he's the boy… Man now I guess, who shot my husband." Anna faced John, "And he's got a probation hearing coming up."

"And you want me to keep track of the proceedings?"

"That'll be easy to do since I'm hoping you can find out when it is so we can go."

"I'm not sure that's necessary."

"Why not?"

"Because he's not got a snowball's chance in Hell of making probation."

"Then you misunderstand why I want us to go." Anna took a breath, "I want us to go so I can speak on his behalf so he can get probation."

John gaped at her and then held up the paper. "You want this man, the one who killed your husband, to walk free?"

"I want the man who made a mistake seven years ago to have a chance at a life now." Anna swallowed, "Devin wouldn't want that man rotting away for having been scared and desperate and inexperienced."

"And you want me to be concerned about this?"

"Yes."

John shook his head, "Why?"

"I just told you." Anna rolled back her shoulders, "And because I need your help to get on his visitors list so I can see him before my showing up at his hearing gives him and his family a coronary."

"As nice as that thought is," John worried the paper between his fingers. "I don't think he'll want to speak to you, much less see you."

"Why not?"

"Because you're the wife of the man he killed. And, by default, a representation of a night he'd probably rather never remember in any detail ever again."

"Be that as it may…" Anna took a breath, "It's been seven years so he might be willing to see me now."

"And that's what you want to worry about instead of a predator returning to London?" John frowned, "It seems-"

"It seems like the best use of my time." Anna's demeanor hardened slightly. "Alex Green isn't a problem I can address or solve. He's not something I want to solve. He's something I want to avoid. The way people avoid the plague or rats or roaches."

"Fair enough."

"Besides," Anna settled back into her seat, her voice lowering. "I knew I should've said something in Coulson's defense when he first went to prison. But I was in too much pain and I couldn't even speak for myself then. But now… Now I can do something. And I'd rather find a cause I can actually do something about instead of distracting myself with any ideas that are dead on arrival."

"Then you'll not do anything about Green?"

"Short of having the chance to kick that man in the balls to render him sterile… Or cut them off with a dull knife, there's nothing I can do about him." Anna moved on her seat as the car slowed. "So I'm distracting myself with the justice I can mete out instead of crying over the justice I'll get for myself."

"So you'll see it done for someone else?"

"Isn't the point of life, if you're Christian?" Anna unbuckled. "To do unto others as you would have done unto you?"

"I guess so."

"Then, as a Christian, I do believe you're obligated to help me in this endeavor."

John took a breath and nodded as he put his hand on the door. "I'm at your service Ms. Smith. How can I help you with this?"

"I need you to visit his mother for me and see if she'll help me get in to see her son." Anna bit the inside of her cheek. "I need an advocate."

"Isn't that what you're going to be for him?"

"But only if he'll let me."

"Then I'll ask." John opened the door and helped Anna from the car. Talbot took up his position behind them and tracked them into the building. When they reached the Green Room, Talbot peeled off to perform his sweep as John took up his position at the door.

Anna took her place on the sofa and flipped through a magazine on the table in front of her. The door opened and John immediately went on alert and pivoted to step in front of anyone entering. He stopped, almost frozen in place, at the man standing there.

The man only raised his eyebrow and studied John from head to toe. "New feature?"

John swallowed to regain his composure. "I need to search you before you come into the room sir."

"Is the PM in here?" The man snorted and then stopped, his eyes gauging Anna's presence over John's shoulder. "If it isn't Anna Smith. How's the new line? I hear it's inspired by fire… Fitting for a pyromaniac."

John shifted to take the man's gaze. "I need to search you, sir."

"I like that. Sir." The man spread his arms and laughed, "Go ahead. And take care of the only goods you'll find. I promise it's all I'm packing on my person but it has been known to frighten some women."

John ignored the comment and searched the man before shifting from the door. "I'll ask that you take the sofa over on that wall."

"Assigned seating now?"

"It's part of my job description."

"Wow." The man mouthed the word before sidestepping to get into the room. "I didn't think they were that worried about my designs here but, I guess, when my biggest competition is Anna Smith then they're just trying to scare me out of the industry."

He took the suggested sofa and lounged on it while directing his next comments at Anna. "How've you been?"

Anna, sitting as straight as she possibly could and holding enough tension in her body to snap with a touch, did not answer him. He snorted in response and shook his head. "I guess I really do frighten my competition."

"I'll have to ask you not antagonize Ms. Smith." John moved to stand near Anna's sofa. "If possible, it's best not to say anything at all."

"Afraid I'll ruin the moment?" The man scoffed, "Do you even know who I am?"

"You're Alex Green." John shrugged, "Not that it's anything special."

"No?"

"No."

"Not one for fashion are you?"

"I prefer functional clothing and…" John bit the tip of his tongue. "Style."

"You think I don't have style?"

"No, I don't."

"Like you'd know the first thing about style." Green pointed at Anna. "You've got her for your example. And we all know that Anna here has to take off the clothes she designs for anyone to pay her a moment of mind."

He leaned forward, almost leering at Anna. "Not that I didn't enjoy your latest spread. People can say what they want but you've still got it where it counts."

Anna stood and, without a word, left the room. John followed her immediately, sending a quick text to Talbot as he trailed Anna to the loo. Waiting a moment, the internal debate strong enough to almost stop him, John entered the bathroom.

She noted his presence in the mirror. "What are you doing in here?"

"I wanted…" John swallowed, "I needed to know you're alright."

"Then be assured that I'm very much not alright." Anna gripped the edge of the sink and forced herself to breathe evenly. "I guess I should've been more prepared for this."

"I'm sorry I didn't vet who'd be here today and-"

"And you can't wrap me in cotton." Anna's grip loosened a little but she kept her gave down at the sink below her. "Better now than live in fear."

"What he said…" John stumbled over his words. "It was… He shouldn't have talked about your or your body in that way. It was-"

"It was what happens when you pose nude for a photoshoot." Anna raised her head to meet John's eyes in the mirror. "I don't care that he's seen me naked in a spread. It's how he's seen me naked before that bothers me."

"But he-"

"He commented on it to get a rise out of you, not me." John's frown had Anna shaking her head, "John, my body's been public property since I was of legal age… And, as far as some people are concerned, since before then."

"It doesn't make it right."

"No, it doesn't, but I'm not concerned about who sees me naked anymore." Anna turned to face John, her hands molding and flexing where she held the counter. "What I care about is people who see me exposed. And you, John, have seen that."

John kept quiet as Anna finally released the counter. "And that information, this conversation for instance, stays between us."

"Of course." Anna raised her eyebrow and John held her gaze. "Your safety's my first concern. Physical safety of course but emotional too… If I've anything to say about it."

"Thank you." Anna took a deep breath. "This all means that, when we get back in that room, you'll have to stop yourself strangling that man."

"Was it obvious?"

"To me." Anna's lips quirked toward the smallest of smiles. "It was a nice gesture."

"It wasn't empty."

"I never said it was." Anna walked to the door, "Although, in future, I'd suggest you not enter a women's restroom without checking that it's empty."

"I'll keep that in mind." John opened the door for her, "After you Ms. Smith."