He'd called from the airport, when his flight was delayed two hours leaving, and asked if she wanted any souvenirs from Russia. She'd said she would rather have him come home early than spend time shopping for trinkets.

"Help yourself to anything in the top left drawer, there should be some in one of the tins," he'd said when she asked if he had anymore thumbtacks.

She hadn't found any tacks, but some of the contents of the square Cadbury's biscuit tin were puzzling. When she'd shaken it, it had a metallic rattle so she opened it hopefully. Inside, she'd found a collection of laminated ID badges, the sort you clip on your lapels. There were security passes and badges complete with pictures in each of their names, enabling entry to the FBI headquarters, Area 51, the Pentagon, MI5 London, and two in languages she couldn't recognise. It appeared Julian was prepared for any cover they night need.

At the bottom of the box were two enamelled pins she did recognise, one was Red Guards and the other was KGB. Not the type of souvenir Russian pins she remembered seeing for sale on every street corner in Prague, these were the real things with the threaded posts and locking washer on the back that had to be put through a special buttonhole in one's jacket or coat lapel. Julian had never mentioned having been in Russia before, yet there was a whole shelf of books in the Cyrillic alphabet just across the room.

Arianna had wondered about it before putting the tin back where she'd found it, resuming the search for more tacks to go in the needlepoint frame. She was eager to get started on the surprise, an inset for a glass paperweight with a cypher of his initials, JS. It was going to be hard to keep it hidden from him until it was finished, but she was determined to try, and she hoped two days alone should give her time to work out the design and complete most of the stitching.

This morning, the truck to take away the old furniture had arrived earlier than expected. Promised to be there at 10am, they'd shown up at 9. Luckily she hadn't slept well alone and had arisen early, stripped the bed and rechecked that all the dresser drawers had been emptied. Truck two, bringing the new furniture was scheduled to arrive at noon but they'd phoned that they would be late, twice, and finally arrived at 6pm. The time had gone quickly though, and she'd almost finished the stitching on the new project.

It was silly, but she didn't want to sleep in the new bed until he got back, and after several hours of tossing and turning in the guest room, went downstairs to watch some late night telly. After surfing through the cable channels and hitting a commercial on almost every one, she settled on American Movie Classics, and without thinking watched an unfortunate pairing of scary movies, -Wait until Dark- and -He knows you're alone-.

*That was foolish* she thought, pressing the off button on the remote and putting some soft, soothing music in the CD player before once more checking that all the doors and windows were securely fastened. After a cup of camomile tea, she curled up on the sofa under the soft mohair afghan to listen to the music, turned off the lights and finally fell asleep.

Arianna woke to total blackness and the feel of something cold and clammy plastered over her face. She sat up clawing wildly at the damp thing that was suffocating her until she heard a re-assuringly familiar voice.

"It's all right, just hold still a minute." When the thing was pulled away her attacker turned out to have been Julian's raincoat. "What are you doing sleeping there?" He dropped the coat into the nearby chair and went to the liquor cabinet. When she caught her breath and settled down, she could sense his weariness and something else as he brought the Scotch bottle and a glass to the coffee table and sat down heavily beside her.

"Something went wrong didn't it?"

"You could say that." He winced slightly as he straightened out his left leg.

"What happened?" she asked worriedly, noticing a tear in his trousers, just below the left front pocket.

"A slight disagreement over ownership of a car, it's not that bad."

"I've heard that before, come on, time for the first aid kit again." She started to move away but he caught her hand, drawing her back to sit down.

"Not yet, let me just sit here awhile first. Please?" He put his arm across the back of her shoulders and pulled her closer against his side drawing comfort from the feeling of being home.

"Okay," she whispered, laying one hand against his chest and resting her head against his shoulder.

He finished his drink with one gulp and grimaced as the amber liquid burned it's way down his throat. When he put his head back and closed his eyes, she could 'see' his scuffle in the alley with the two street urchins. They were just kids planning a joy ride with his hired car so drawing his gun had seemed overkill. He'd thought he could deal with them easily enough and one of them had been easy to scare off. The other was a bit tougher but he thought still manageable, until the kid had plunged a knife into his thigh and run away. The wound hadn't bled much so he'd just tied his handkerchief around it and headed for the airport, mission accomplished. Now that he was home, he suddenly felt totally exhausted.

"How about a hot bath?" she suggested.

"I'd rather just go to bed," he groaned when she tried to get him up.

"First, I want to look at that leg."

"Yes ma'am." He obediently followed her upstairs, through the new bedroom and into the bath. Dropping his jacket and trousers in a heap on the floor he carefully sat on the tiled ledge at the foot of the oversize tub.

With one look at the knotted cloth tied around his leg, she reached over to close the tub drain and turn on the hot water. The wound was high on the outside of his thigh. When he'd tied the handkerchief around it, the hem of his silk boxers had been caught underneath and looked as if it was embedded in the dried blood. "You'd better soak that first so we can get the cloth out of it." She pulled his loosened tie the rest of the way off and unbuttoned his shirt, gently nudging him toward the bathtub. "Get in."

"Come with me?" he mumbled sleepily.

"I'll be right here."

He gasped slightly when he entered the hot water but soon sat back with his arms resting along the back of the tub and relaxed, closing his eyes and letting her sponge hot water over him. There was a bruise on one arm but the only real injury this time was the leg. After soaking a few minutes the fabric softened enough to come off easily so she could get a better look at the puncture wound. "You're right, this time it's not that bad."

As she stood up to get the disinfectant and bandages he grabbed her wrist and pulled her off balance, catching her in his arms as she fell into the tub on top of him. "I missed you," he whispered, kissing her warmly before he tried to unbutton her now wet pyjama top.

"I missed you too, that's why I was sleeping on the couch." Her fingers gently stroked his stubbled cheek and along the side of his chin as he blinked sleepily.

"I spent last night in the car and the past 12 hours on a plane, at this point I could sleep almost anywhere."

"Well, the water will get cold soon, let's try the new bed, it's softer and warmer."

"Splendid idea."

She flipped open the drain and climbed out of the tub, then wrapped up in one of the thick terry robes that hung on the back of the door. "Stay there and let the water drain out, it'll be easier to bandage that leg with you lying down."

"Whatever you say," he murmured. Too sleepy to resist anything she suggested, he rolled partway onto his right side when she pushed his shoulder in that direction so she could reach the wound on his thigh.

"That's cold," He hissed when she poured the antiseptic over the red gash.

"Better cold now than hot and infected later." She carefully dried his leg and covered the wound with a Band-Aid from the package of super-jumbo size ones she'd purchased in case of just such an emergency. Realising he was laying a little too still she dried off the side of him she could reach and then nudged his shoulder, "Come on sleeping beauty, time for bed." Handing him the bath towel, she went to get his pyjamas and turn down the covers.

As he let her lead him to the bed like a sleepy child he mumbled, "Remind me tomorrow there's some Russian teas in my valise. We can have some for breakfast."

"I think you'll be having lunch for breakfast, it's already 4am, just lie down and go to sleep now."

"Okay." He was asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow but when she crawled into bed beside him he rolled over and wrapped an arm around her waist snuggling his head against her shoulder. She fell asleep smiling, glad to have him home safe.

Continued in VR ?