Disclaimer: I make no claims to these characters.

A/N: Just a bit of Anna and Bates married fluff for Valentine's Day. General spoilers for Season 4.

"I don't know how she does it, having that many men court her at once."

While Anna rarely betrayed a confidence of Lady Mary, even to her husband, Bates enjoyed hearing about the usual gossip and news surrounding their employers.

"She seems to do well with the attention," he observed.

"I just don't know how she keeps them all straight," Anna said with a sigh. "How does she remember and keep separate the conversations she had with Lord Gillingham from the ones with Mr. Blake?"

"Not to mention Lord Napier. Unless you count him out of the running?" Bates asked.

"I'm not sure I'd put him out entirely but he's certainly at the rear of the pack."

He grinned at his wife's assessment, watching her as she talked and folded laundry at the kitchen table, the book sitting before him mostly forgotten. They rarely got these moments together, just relaxing at the cottage and enjoying each other's company in the midst of the mundane tasks of life.

"What?" Anna asked, spying his enigmatic smile. When he shook his head in response, she demanded, "What are you thinking?"

Amused, Bates answered, "I was just thinking about you."

"What about me?"

"About what it would have been like, to court you properly."

While Bates reveled in the life he'd built with Anna, he often regretted the circumstances which led to their tumultuous start. Trapped in a marriage to his first wife, he couldn't very well bring Anna flowers or ask to escort her to the picture show. They had private moments together, certainly, but nothing as public and showy as an official courtship. Indeed, his first wife had only been dead a short period before their hasty wedding in the registrar's office in Ripon.

"I rather liked our courtship," Anna responded.

"Stolen talks in the courtyard and glances across the table in the servants' hall?" he asked with a snort.

"But they were very nice talks in the courtyard," she pointed out with a laugh. "And I had no one else to exchange glances with."

"I'm sure Mr. Moseley would have obliged you."

Shaking her head sadly, Anna observed, "Poor Mr. Moseley. I tried to let him down gently."

"What do you mean, 'let him down'?" Bates questioned, his interest suddenly piqued.

"When he expressed an interest in me, I tried to let him down easy."

"When was this?"

Anna shrugged. "I don't remember exactly, only that it was after you'd left for London, when she made you go. I basically told him that even though you were gone and I didn't expect to see you again, you were still the only one for me."

The certainty of her feelings for him, even then, warmed his heart.

"Then I don't feel so bad," he commented.

"Bad about what?" she asked, confused.

"A little before I... left for London, Mr. Moseley asked me if there was anyone special in your life." Anna cocked her head to one side, the laundry momentarily forgotten as she listened to him.

"And what did you tell him?"

"I told him there was someone who was very keen on you."

"But you didn't tell him who," she surmised, clearly amused.

"No."

"And what is there to feel bad about that?"

Bates sighed. "Because I had no right to steer him away from you, not when I wasn't free to court you myself."

"Well clearly he didn't listen to you."

"He thought I was out of the picture," Bates said, then added, "And I was."

Stabbing him with a look of admonishment, Anna said, "You were never out of the picture. Besides, while I always thought highly of Mr. Moseley, I never fancied him much. Not in that way."

She continued about her folding and he watched her with thoughtful eyes. The young Anna Smith he'd met his first day at Downton was a pretty young woman. And while she'd blossomed with age, he still remembered her fresh-faced and friendly with an easy manner and sweet disposition.

"Who did you fancy, if I may ask?"

"What, before you?" Anna asked, coloring at the question.

"Yes, before me. Or after. Whenever."

"There was no one after you," she scolded him.

"Then before."

She shook her head and focused her eyes on her work, not responding.

"Anna..."

"There was no one," she insisted.

"Surely there was a farm boy, maybe a shop keeper's son..."

With curious detachment, Anna allowed, "There were a few who flirted with me, but none I fancied."

"None?" he pursued, still taken aback.

"Well, I did find that Turkish gentleman rather nice-looking, when I first saw him, but you know how that turned out..."

"And there was really no one else?" Bates queried, genuinely confused as to how his beautiful, sweet, funny Anna never had a beau.

Biting her lip, she looked at him as she answered, "Well, there was this one bloke..."

"Go on."

"He was ever so nice, and very handsome..."

Bates raised his eyebrows.

"With a voice I could listen to for hours," Anna added.

"Oh?" he asked, already suspecting the identity of the man in question.

"Of course, he was always difficult to read. I knew he liked me, but he wouldn't come out and say it, not for the longest time."

Mouth quirked, Bates commented, "He sounds like a tedious chap."

"Not at all. He actually cut rather a romantic figure. A lot of the other women below stairs thought so, too."

"Really?" he said in surprise. "Well I suppose under the iron reign of Mrs. Hughes they didn't get much exposure to nice young men."

Suppressing a laugh, Anna agreed, "That's certainly true."

"So what happened with this bloke?"

"He had a spot of trouble for a while," she said pensively. "But after a time, things worked themselves out. And now he makes me extremely happy."

Anna smiled at her husband at the conclusion of her story. He could see by her expression that she wanted to find a way to turn the tables on him, to ask about one of his earlier relationships, but any discussion of his romantic past included Vera, and neither of them liked discussing her.

"It's funny you met this man at Downton," Bates said casually. "Because I met an exceptional young woman there myself."

"Oh really?" Anna asked, pinning him with sharp, amused eyes that dared him to go further. "And pray tell, who was this woman?"

"She must have filled half a dozen different positions in the house, as much as she worked. I don't think I ever saw her just sitting about idle."

"That sounds rather boring," she suggested.

"Not at all. I found her energy and work ethic refreshing."

Anna smiled at the comment but made no reply.

"She was also extremely kind," Bates went on. "And I wish there was a better word to describe that aspect of her, because 'kind' sounds so plain and unextraordinary, when she was really exceptional. Her kindness kept me going when I had nothing else, and I wasn't the only recipient of it. She treated the kitchen maids with respect and mentored the other housemaids. When a new footman arrived fresh off the farm, she did not laugh at his inexperience or lord it over him. Instead she would give him advice and showed her pride in him as he learned his position."

Anna asked, "What other qualities did she have?"

"Well, she had a quick mind and saucy sense of humor. And she was beautiful..." Bates sighed appreciatively before continuing. "Alabaster skin, hair the color of afternoon sunshine, and a smile which could light up a room."

"That's very poetic, Mr. Bates," Anna told him.

"She was the type of woman to inspire poetry. Thoughtful and loyal and every good thing."

"Surely she wasn't so perfect as all of that? She must have had some flaws."

Bates shook his head. "If she did, I never saw them. And I think 'perfect' is the best word to describe her."

"No one is perfect," she informed him tartly.

"They are to the people who love them."

Anna gazed at him, her folding all finished and stacked neatly on the table between them. Taking slow, languid steps around to his side, she put her hands on his shoulders as she looked down at him.

"And what happened with this 'perfect' woman?" she asked quietly, suddenly quite serious.

Bates looked up at her in earnest as his own arms circled around her. "She made me the happiest man on earth by becoming my wife."

Standing, he let their bodies come into full contact. He sighed at the sensation of her petite form against him and felt her answering shudder. Bates supposed that courtship was overrated in comparison to the married life he and Anna shared.

"Are you done with your folding, Mrs. Bates?" he asked, unable to keep the tension out of his voice.

"Yes," she answered.

"Good, because there's something up in the bedroom I need your help with."

Reaching down to take her hand, he led her towards the stairs, turning back only to smile at his wife in adoration, his eyes flashing with passion at the sight of the promise in her smile.