During his worst days on the Peterel, Will had dreamed of waking up to a morning like this. Curled up around his wife, who didn't have a stitch on and the both of them warm under the blankets. He wanted to linger in that darkness for as long as he could, but then Ana had begun pressing kisses to his throat. There really wasn't a reason to tell her to stop, especially when her kisses travelled down his chest and even lower.

He could have let her continue in that fashion, by God did it feel wonderful, but he wanted more. So he drew her up, kissing her deeply and groaning into the kiss as she settled herself on him. He'd woken up aching from dreams where she had ridden him to completion, and now she was here, moving above him and letting him knead her breasts and suckle at them. He reveled in her soft skin, the warmth of her, the way she curled her fingers in his hair and whispered how she had missed him.

They both finished within a few heartbeats of the other, and Will would gladly have spent the rest of the day in bed, his wife draped boneless over him. But then Ana's stomach growled and she ducked her head. "Breakfast?"

"Breakfast." He agreed, kissing her quickly. It pained him to see Ana dress, but at least it was in his uniform. She did carry it off wonderfully, although he had to tease her a bit by keeping his waistcoat from her grasp. The suspenders kept the shirt close to her skin, and he could see quite a bit of her breasts as she grabbed for the waistcoat.

He used it to lure her downstairs, leaving it on the table while he ducked into the kitchen. While fresh milk was hard to find now, there was powdered milk that he could mix up quickly and add to a couple of beaten eggs. It was easy enough to fry them up, and he set a pot of coffee on with it. There wasn't much tea to be had, but coffee was still available. The bread was a bit tougher than the usual, all the good flour headed to the trenches in France.

But Ana tore into it all like she hadn't eaten in a week. She didn't even complain about the lack of cream and sugar for the coffee, gulping it down black. Will went back to the kitchen after she had looked at her empty plate, coming back with more eggs for her and a small plate of them for Rigel. He had been content with his own serving, and he laughed when Ana reached up with her napkin to clean her lips. "You didn't even have anything there."

"It felt like it." She mumbled, leaning back in her chair. "I want to go back to bed."

Will collected the plates, "We should."

"But Lieutenant Campbell-" Ana's words were cut off by the door opening, and Rigel tearing off towards the figure stepping in with his teeth bared. Will flung the plates back down on the table, lunging after the dog. He barely managed to grab Rigel's collar, the dog's teeth snapping shut on air instead of Campbell's leg.

The younger man looked down at Will, sniffing. "That beast should be destroyed."

"You should have knocked." Will muttered, hauling Rigel backward.

"I told you noon," Campbell walked to the table, looking disdainfully down at the remains of the eggs. "Breakfast at noon?"

"We slept in." Ana pursed her lips. "You can't be angry that I'm exhausted."

"Oh, I'm not angry." Campbell drew out a handkerchief, flicking away a bit of egg on the table and wiping it over Will's seat. He sat down, looking to Will. "Put the dog outside and clear this."

Will let go of Rigel's collar, immensely glad when Rigel trotted over to Ana and immediately put his front paws in her lap. Ana's arms wrapped around him, and Will picked up the plates. "I would remind you that this is my house, Lieutenant."

"If you can even call it that." Campbell cast his eyes around, "I would hope you're looking for someplace better, given your promotion."

"We're quite happy here." Ana sniped, and Will was glad to hear a bit of anger in her voice. "Can we simply finish this, Lieutenant? I'd like you to leave as soon as possible."

"As well dressed as you are polite." Campbell growled, and Will simply shoved the plates in the kitchen sink before coming back out. A notebook was out on the table now, a pen poised above. "Oh dear, it appears I lost my notes from yesterday. I'm afraid we'll have to begin our interview all over."

Ana hugged Rigel tighter. "I was on the promenade deck; I saw the torpedo." Will drew a chair over, making sure that he was as close to Ana as he could be.

Campbell's pen kept scratching away. "Alone?"

"No, with my friend, Alfred Vanderbilt."

"Continue."

Ana wormed a hand over to Will, and he wrapped his fingers around it. "After the torpedo struck, we could feel the ship begin to list. I knew where my lifebelt was, so we ran to my cabin and got it. I found another one for him, and we went out onto the other side of the ship." She drew in a shuddering breath, squeezing Will's hand. "There were so many people running around, and the lifeboats were leaning in which made them hard to launch. Alfred said he saw one getting loaded towards the back of the ship, and he led the way."

Rigel whined, licking Ana's face. Campbell snorted, "And your valiant protector here?"

"Yes, he was with us." She ruffled Rigel's ears. "Alfred ran into a woman on the way, he gave her his lifebelt. He planned on getting in the boat, but when we got up there the boat," Will could see tears in her eyes, "Some man had a gun, and he was threatening the sailors to lower the boat, but they did it wrong and it swung in." Will's heart plummeted as Ana continued, "So many people were crushed, Alfred among them."

"And you?"

"I have some bruising, but nothing permanent." Ana leaned into Rigel, her voice almost muffled as she spoke faster and faster. "I, I ran to the other side of the ship and jumped into the ocean. I thought I could swim to a boat or a deck chair, and then I was being dragged down. I couldn't get up and if it wasn't for Rigel pulling me up, I would have drowned." She was choking back sobs by the end of that, spotting Rigel's fur with tears.

Will stood, coming to put his arms around the both of them. Rigel licked his cheek, and Will made a promise to himself that he would buy that dog the biggest bone he could find. He looked to Campbell, "That's enough."

"We've barely begun." Campbell sneered, "And she needs to get control of herself, she can't break down like this during the inquiry."

"She was grievously affected by this!" Will stood up, Rigel jumping down from Ana's lap to look out the front window, his tail wagging. He could have continued if the dog hadn't begun barking, and Will whirled over to look out the window. The entire Lightoller brood was outside, including a large gray and white dog that was barking back at Rigel. Will opened the door, taking in the sight.

Lights had a valise in his hand, as well as the dog's leash. More valises were carried by Roger and Trevor, and Sylvie was tapping along as she held Mavis's hand. Lights was grinning, holding the leash tight. "Hello, Will. We figured we'd come over now, is Anna home?"

"Yes, she is." Will stepped back from the door, gesturing for them to come in. "As is some Intelligence officer who won't leave her alone."

The least was immediately shoved into Will's hands, and Lights looked far angrier than Will had ever seen him. "Hold her for me, and boys put those down. Your Aunt Anna needs you."

Everything was suddenly chaos as Rigel loped over, him and Nana circling each other and barking loudly as Roger and Trevor threw their valises down and sprinted for Ana. Campbell was shocked beyond words when the boys immediately climbed into her lap, wrapping their arms around her and talking a mile a minute. Lights followed them, "What are you on about? She's barely been home and you're already after her?"

"Sir, you have no reason to involve yourself in this situation." Campbell stood, straightening his uniform. "Now, remove your offspring, your dog and yourself."

"I have every right, that's my sister-in-law!" Lights thundered, and took a step towards Campbell. "You can get the hell out."

Will was so absorbed watching the two that he barely noticed when Sylvie came in, picking up Mavis and placing her in Will's arms. She grinned as he tried to juggle the toddler and the leash, "Oh, you can let Nana go. Bertie has her well trained."

Lights turned at that, smiling. "Sylvie, my love, come get Aunt Anna while I deal with this one." Sylvie seemed far too happy to do that, coming to gently prize Ana out of her chair and lead her over to the parlor, both boys trailing them.

She patted Ana's hand, "Honestly, what a beastly man. Bertie, be a dear and get rid of him."

"Of course," Lights nodded, turning back to Campbell. "You heard my wife."

Campbell slammed his notebook shut, "And you'll be hearing from me, later."

"Such a strong man, being cruel to a woman." Lights followed him, as he made for the door. "I hope you do find me later, I'd dearly like to tell your commanding officer what you were doing. Making a woman who had just been through a tragedy cry, you're the perfect model of an officer, you know that?"

Will was the one to slam the door though, snarling at Campbell before he did. "I'll come after you for this." But then the door was closed, and Lights was grinning. Will clasped his hand, "Thank you for that."

"You've got more to thank us for." Lights chuckled, gesturing to the valises and sending Mavis toddling off towards her mother. "Sylvie brought over everything she had that she thought might fit."

Will looked dubiously at the valises as he followed Lights to the parlor. Sylvie stood a good deal shorter than Ana, and was far more blessed up top. Ana would have to deal with baggy shirtwaists and too short skirts for a bit, until he could take her shopping.

Or she could just keep wearing his clothes, that might be a far better solution.

Ana was sat on the settee, Roger and Trevor on the floor while Sylvie sat beside Ana and patted her hand. Rigel and Nana were still a bit rambunctious, and Will saw a small smile break out on Ana's face as the two bowled past the boys. She smiled even wider when Lights leaned down, wrapped his arms around her, and lifted her bodily up in the air. She even laughed, "Lights, what are you doing?"

"I'm hugging you, silly." He replied, twisting to parade her around the room. "You worried us all, you know that!" Will knew Lights lowered his voice for the next part, but then again it was Lights. The man could think he was whispering and would be all but shouting. "You worried Will the most, but you're here which means he's still here. Try not to make him all grumpy again."

"I will if you put me down." Ana mumbled, and Lights set her down on her feet with a thump. She stumbled as the dogs raced by. "My word, those two are having quite a good time."

"I'm hoping they take to each other." Lights guided her back to the settee, "This time next year we could be looking at puppies."

Sylvie raised an eyebrow, "You mean I'll be looking at puppies while you go galivanting around in a seaplane."

Lights shivered, "Don't mention that blasted thing, woman!"

"Oh this I have to hear," Will leaned forward, picking up Mavis and settling her on his knee. "What has your daddy been up to?"

He watched as Ana looked to Sylvie, rapt as the other woman began describing Scapa Flow. "And then they put the planes in the water, and the pilot makes they start flying. Bertie there observes everything once they're up high, and signals down to other ships what he sees. Oh, it sounds like such fun."

Lights snorted. "It's bloody terrifying! Just wood and canvas and some bloke who was drunk last night trying to get you going fast enough you can take off. And most of the time you don't! I can't count how many of those seaplanes I've seen smashed. And once you get up, oh you'd better hope Tommy isn't hungover because he's the only thing keeping you in the damn sky and not spiraling down to smash into the waves. And even if you don't get up it's not fun, you're swimming back to the ship and freezing until you can slip down to the engine rooms to dry off."

"Sometimes it's better that way," Sylvie smirked, "Otherwise they'd be asking why your trousers were wet when you hadn't been in the water."

A charming conversation followed, Roger and Trevor wanted to know why their father's trousers would be wet if he didn't go swimming and Lights spluttered out some story about the propeller throwing water everywhere while Sylvie kept implying that Lights was so frightened of heights that he would like risk desertion to stay down here. Will kept an eye on Ana throughout, watching as her eyes slowly grew heavy until she leaned back on the settee, asleep. Sylvie glanced over, her voice a whisper. "Oh dear, the poor thing."

Roger noticed too, although he was a bit louder. "Why is Aunt Anna sleeping?"

Lights did his best to be quiet, "Because she swam all the way to Ireland from New York, and then she travelled all yesterday to get here."

Trevor screwed his face up. "She couldn't swim from New York."

"She was on a boat for part of it." Will moved to a cabinet, drawing out a blanket and laying it over his wife. "She only swam for a day."

Roger caught that, "Was it the boat in the papers?" He didn't seem to notice how all the adults froze. "I saw them when we drove over, everyone was talking about Lucy something."

Lights pulled Roger a bit closer, Trevor too. "Yes, it was. Somebody sunk the boat Aunt Anna was on, and we're all very happy she's here safe and sound."

Trevor looked up, "was it the bad men? The ones you chase?"

"Yes."

"Why didn't you chase them away, Papa?"

Sylvie could see Lights struggling. "Because the silly men who tell your Papa what to do had him in the wrong place. If he had been there, Aunt Anna would have gotten off her boat right on time and been here for tea yesterday." She reached down and took her son's hands, "But I think she'd like tea when she wakes up, and I need two more pairs of hands in the kitchen."

Will watched her march off with the boys, looking to Lights. "You should thank God every day for that woman."

"I thank him every hour." He smiled stupidly at her, and Will wondered briefly if he looked like such a lovesick dope when he stared at Ana. Lights looked to the dog, now growling slightly at each other. "We should take them outside, let her get a little rest."

Will led the way, the back porch was a small thing but he and Lights had spent a good deal of time out here smoking and talking over the years. Lights eschewed the chairs though, avoiding looking at the ashtray. "You know what your wife has mine doing?"

"Making tea." Wil snorted, watching as the dogs took off into the grass.

"No, she's making me bloody miserable." Lights growled, "All this nonsense about you not smoking anymore has put Sylvie in the same mind when she wrote her about it. Now Sylvie says that if she smells tobacco on me, hears of me smoking or even thinks that I might have smoked, she's kicking me out of her bed for good."

Will rolled his eyes, "You're being dramatic."

"No, I'm not. And I resent that. When have I ever been dramatic?" Lights didn't notice how Will had to literally bite his tongue to not burst out laughing at that. He briefly watched the dogs begin to wrestle on the grass. Lights, very clearly wishing he had his pipe, leaned against the house. "You've been gloomy, haven't you?"

Will glanced over to the dogs, watching as Rigel circled Nana. "You're sure he won't go after her?"

"She's not in heat, and quit dodging the question." Lights came over, gently shoving Will. "You've been gloomy."

He sighed, "I have."

"Why? Anna's here, you should be thrilled."

"I am!" Will raised his hands, "I'm incredibly happy to have her here."

"Then why are you acting like you're avoiding me for some reason." Lights stepped even closer, poking Will in the chest. "Something is wrong."

"Lights-"

"Will, tell me."

He sighed, "Lights, it's over."

"Obviously it's not, you're still upset over something." Lights crossed his arms. "Tell me."

"I had those thoughts again, alright?" Will looked away, "Just, when I thought Ana was gone, before I knew she was safe. I thought that I had killed her, that it would be best for everyone if I just, well, wasn't around."

Lights pursed his lips. "I won't curse at you, if that's what you've been afraid of." He shoved his hands in his pockets, "God I wish I had a smoke right now."

"At least Ana's kinder than Sylvie on that measure." Will chuckled, "She'll still let me have one on occasion, but if you want more children, you'd better keep away from them."

"Your wife gave her ideas." Lights snorted, "And I do want a few more kids, so I suppose I'll just have to get used to it."

Both of them looked over as Rigel began to jump at Nana, clearly trying to get her to play. "I, I wasn't in my right mind."

"You hardly are now." Lights shook his head, "I mean, Will, I've seen you like that far too often. Ada, Titanic, now this? You have got to stop letting yourself go down those roads. What would the boys do, without their Uncle Will? What about Sylvie and I? Your family? You think losing you would make our lives easier?" He took Will by the shoulders, not shaking him but holding him in place. "If something happens to the Unicorn, are you going to leave Ana behind?"

Will took a shuddering breath. "I'm not going to do it, not now."

"But you thought about it." Lights gripped his shoulders tighter. "You can't think about it again."

Will brought his arms up, thrusting them out and freeing himself from Light's grip. "You're not the only one going off on me like this, you know!"

"Good, Anna obviously knows you well." Lights followed Will as he stepped down into the yard with the dog. "But she wasn't there that night when I had to pull you out of the water. You kept going back there Will! I'm not letting you do that again!"

Rigel came trotting up, a stick in his mouth. Will flipped it in his hand. "Lights, you have no idea how grateful I am to you for what you did that night. There's nothing I can do to pay you back for that."

Lights took the stick from his hand, tossing it for the dogs before he grabbed him in a hug. "This isn't about you owing me, this is about all of us getting through this bloody war and out the other side. Both of our families, and after we'll both have more kids than we know what to do with."

Will squeezed him back tightly, "I'm not the one throwing himself up into the air all the time."

"You could have spared me that, you know." Lights pounded him on the back a bit too forcefully. "I would have made a fine second in command."

"You'd have cursed out the poor sod who sounds the bugle for dinner each night." Will chuckled, "Besides, I'll be back in Scotland by the fall and you'll find some way back down here. I can't say your made for flying."

"That I am not." Lights chuckled, "Maybe if I show up drunk for the next flight they'll let me go back to scrubbing the decks."

"Don't get yourself court martialed." Will shook his head, "It's not fun, believe me."

"Well, perhaps Captain Murdoch can see if there's some lowly role for his dear friend Lieutenant Lightoller." He sighed, watching as the dogs settled down on the grass, panting after their play. "But for now, let's go check on everyone. Ana looks like she could she could do with some good food."

"She could." Will moved with him back to the door, "Do you think Sylvie could help her with her cooking?"

"Why? She's going back soon, isn't she? Nothing wrong with restaurants until then."

Will caught his arm. "Lights, she's staying until the war is done. I can't risk losing her again."

"Oh Will," Lights smiled, "The boys are going to love that." The both of them were all smiles as they entered, greeted by the site of Ana trying to fix her hair. Lights took it upon himself to grab at her hair, twisting it up in some demented style. "You'll have all the London girls jealous."

"I'll have knots!" She squealed, slapping his hands away. "And Will just untangled all of them."

"Alas, another career ruined for me." Lights sighed, chivvying her up and moving them towards the dining table that Sylvie had set with a pot of tea and a few plates of sandwiches. "Your husband ruins my dreams of a naval career and now I can't become a hairdresser. Tell Sylvie I'll go die in the gutter to spare her the shame."

Sylvie, her hearing as sharp as ever, snorted. "When have I ever let you near anything to do with my hair? You sailors and your knots, that's the last thing a lady wants in her hair." She looked to Ana, "Come, eat. If you don't clean your plate twice I'm sending Bertie back over here every day to ensure you eat."

Ana blushed, "Thank you, Sylvie."

"You'll have to come over while you're here." Lights poured tea for Sylvie before himself, "She's staying until the war's done. Plenty of time for you to turn her into a housewife."

"Aunt Anna's staying?" Trevor gaped at his father; his sandwich forgotten. "Forever?"

Will reached over and tapped the boy's plate to draw his attention. "The war will be over someday, you know. But Aunt Anna will be here for quite some time, and I expect you two to treat her good for me while I'm gone."

"We will." Roger nodded, sipping his own cup of tea. "You can count on us Uncle Will."

"You can count on their mother." Lights whispered, "And me when I'm here." Teatime passed amiably, and after Sylvie collected Mavis from her nap in Will's bed, they all said their farewells with promises to see each other before Lights had to head back up. Nana seemed reluctant to leave Rigel, and Will noticed that Rigel was a bit subdued when she left.

Ana must have noticed too, "He misses her."

"He'll see her soon." Will wrapped an arm around her, "You'll see them often, after all."

She leaned into him, "Will, you know I love them, but I hope the war doesn't last for very long. I want to go home with you, back to New York."

"This isn't home?"

"Oh, it is." She turned, her hands on his chest. "Don't, don't think I don't think it isn't. But, but everyone back in New York, they told me not to go. Mother, oh God, Mother, she's going to be furious with me. I just-"

"I know." Will leaned his head against hers. "You want to apologize to everyone and you feel can't do it from here. How about you sit down tomorrow and write some letters? That should help."

Ana smiled, "I am glad to be home with you Will, I love it here."

"And it will be your home through the war and beyond."