End of Story Disclaimer: I own nothing. Seriously. I have so much debt I barely own myself.

Chapter 12

When she had slipped the dress from her shoulders, he had stopped breathing. When she had confessed her love and acceptance, he felt his heart pound. And then that quip about his lips on her skin, followed by the moment he actually touched his hands to her bare flesh, it had lit him on fire. He knew this sensation; if you had taken the intensity of being burnt and made it ecstasy, it would have been what he was feeling. He lost himself in her, and never wanted to surface.

But he did surface, and with blinding quickness when she moved for his trousers. This was happening. He was going to sleep with Evey, enter the woman he loved, and he hadn't even shown her his face. It wasn't him, it was just flesh, but this was about intimacy. This was about trust. If he could trust her enough for sex, he had damn well better trust her enough to not run away from the sight of his face.

Heart pounding for a different reason, he raised his hands to the buckles, and took away his last barrier. He was hers now, to uplift or to destroy, and he was glad to be alive. He wanted to belong to her.

When he finally had the nerve to open his eyelids, the love in her eyes tore away all of his fears. He fell harder in love with her, even though he didn't know how that was possible. It was as if he could feel that love in his marrow.

The touch of her lips was bliss, her hands leaving trails of desperate sensation behind them, and he needed more. He touched her, entered her with his hands and her cries only fed his passion. He was new at this, essentially a virgin, but he didn't hesitate. There was no awkwardness, they moved as if they had always been intimate.

When finally, finally, he sank within her, he knew every feeling he had ever felt had been eclipsed. He knew the orgasm would shatter him, but that first penetration, that first moment of connection, heat and pressure was all encompassing. His brain rewired in that moment, knowing this feeling would be his definition of heaven.

Watching her, seeing this woman writhe and moan and abandon herself to pleasure was perfection. She controlled everything, the push and pull, thrust and check and hitch of hips was hers. He gripped her, met her, kissed her and flowed along in the river of pleasure she created.

As he watched her face contort in orgasm, he exploded and imploded; body wildly thrusting, and the pleasure seemed to roll on and on.

When he came down from that height, he clutched her to him. He caressed her flesh, hands smoothing up and down her back, glorying in the intimacy. As time when on and endorphins cooled, he lost a little of his nerve. This was new for him, and it was a little abrupt, for all they had been building to it since they had met. He buried his face in the crook of her neck, simultaneously protecting his face and nuzzling her flesh. It helped.

She stroked him back, ghosting her hands up and down him as well. She broke the silence that had not quite become awkward. "Oh V, you are beautiful."

He pulled back to look her in the eyes, and he found her flushed face. Her lips were partly opened and her eyes took him in in turn, they were soft, contented, and she looked at him with love.

He didn't know what the future held. All his planning, all his thoughts had been centered on the 5th, and his revolution. He had planned his death, dying alone and faceless in order to finally cut the hearts from those with power. Power gained from the deaths of innocents. He would gladly have died. But as he gasped that last breath, he wasn't alone. He hadn't planned on that. He could never have planned on her.

And as they trembled together in that deep cavern below the streets of London, he found that he loved not knowing. His hands stroked along the smooth flesh of her back, and she sighed at his touch, making them both aware of his flesh still within her. He had never planned on being here, on loving her and being loved, on living.

She stretched into his touch like a cat, his fingers dancing across her skin, rousing her from their contented stupor. She twisted her hips slightly, feeling him slip out of her, and she gave a sigh of disappointment. Still, he watched her closely as he felt her, fingers questing over every inch, mapping her body. Her sides were especially sensitive, and he loved the dip of her waist, and she gasped as he explored her curves.

"Evey." The word reverberated through them both; even he was not unaffected, and he acknowledged that his voice was his one true beauty, unmarred by flame. "Evey, I…" She looked at him intensely, passion burning in her eyes, and it was a fire he would gladly be consumed by. "I love you." He felt his voice rumble through his chest, radiating outwards, filling them both.

She leaned forward, and touched her lips to his. He was a fool to fear this. He vowed then to try and not hide himself from her, to keep the mask off in her presence, just so he could always be able to touch his lips to hers. The soft pads of their mouths met, caressed, and moved together. She took the lead, as always, and deepened the kiss with her tongue. He gladly followed.

They kissed and kissed, lost to the world. Still, he noticed when her flesh pebbled with goose bumps, cold from the chill of the tunnel. Even as lost to passion as he was, erection raging between them, he knew he needed to move them. She was still on his lap, and as he scooted forward, and wrapped her legs around his waist. Arms supporting her, he lifted her, and carried her up to the warmth of the Shadow Gallery.

Always the instigator, still kissing him, Evey reached one hand between them, and moved his length in to place, slipping his tip within her. Gasping, V crushed them to the nearest wall, and lost himself within her. She cried out in joy in to his ear.

In the darkness far below them, his mask lay cold and forgotten.

Evey couldn't stop her grin. She almost giggled in her haste, slipping on her boots. Grabbing her jacket, she rushed from her room to find him.

He was finishing the last of his mask, smoothing the edge of the prosthetic skin in to his face with makeup. She bounced on her toes behind him, eager and breathless, smile stretched across her face. A matching smile grew on his as he watched her in the mirror, and he grew just as impatient. He stood swiftly, retrieved a hat from its stand, and placed it on the short dark brown wig. Evey loved how his normal clothes showed off the graceful form of his body. His cloak had always covered it.

Looking in to his eyes, a fairly normal looking man looked back. The hat shadowed his face, helping with illusion. She looked at him, and wished he didn't have to wear any mask ever again, even one like this. She promised herself to kiss every inch of his face later when he removed it.

Grasping his hand, grinning fit to burst, she pulled him along, up and out in to the streets of London. When they breathed the cool air of London in winter, he paused, and pulled her back against him. Arms wrapping around her, still hidden in the shadows, he pressed his lips to the neck that had caused him to come so undone. Bringing his lips to her ear he whispered, "Thank you."

She twisted in his arms, looking at him. Tears coming to shimmer in her eyes, she felt the enormity of this moment, it stretched beyond her, and she felt as if she spoke with thousands of voices as she said, "No, V. Thank you."

The intensity of the moment lurked within her, but as she blinked away her tears, she stored it within her to treasure. Grin once again stretching across her face, she took his gloved hand in hers. Giddy, excited, she led him in to the streets, to a town still in celebration, to a London rejoicing at its freedom, to an England entering a golden age. Hands entwined, pressed up against his warmth, Evey couldn't wait to share it with him.

The End.

AN: Wow. It took me over a year, but it's complete. If you have ever reviewed or favorited this, know that you kept me going. Thank you. Every time my phone chirped with an email, I remembered what I had begun, and needed to finish. I sometimes find inspiration grows in me, and that's why this last chapter took so long. I started it, and then restarted it. And then got halfway though and stopped.

I plan on a few offshoot PWPs from this. So, it's over, but it's not OVER over over. ;)

Please, PLEASE REVIEW. Especially now that it's done. Pretty pretty please? Cherry on top and everything?