Winterfest, Yule, Christmas - whatever you wanted to call it - was over in Rhy'Din, and that meant it was time to get back to work and school. Just in time, too. As much as Jonathan Granger adored his family, he was one of those people who loved his job and needed to work. The first play of the new year was Hamlet, which was one of his favorites, but he was quickly learning that directing was actually a lot more work than acting - something Mataya and Ludo had warned him about when he'd taken on the job - but at least, he didn't come home emotionally drained every night from acting on stage. Today had been dress rehearsal before the play opened on Monday, and while most of the actors had their lines down pat, there was always one problem or other to have to iron out, and today was no exception.

As a former head of department for the Shanachie, an occasional consultant, and the wife of one of the directors, Vicki didn't need a pass to get in on rehearsal days. She and Jon were due a date day, and it had arrived. Thus, she had arrived to pick him up, and was lurking in the stalls of the auditorium, watching him finishing up with the inevitable problems a dress and tech rehearsal could bring.

The last rehearsal before a performance was set to open was always a little bit hectic, and today was no exception, but to his credit, somehow Jon always managed to keep his head and calmly deal with each problem as it arose. Today was no exception, and he'd been so busy, he'd lost all track of time.

"Want me to get him for you?" a familiar voice Vicki would recognize as that of Jon's cousin Miranda came up beside her.

Vicki grinned up at Miranda, comfortable in her seat with her feet up. Very unladylike in her LBD, but she had never really cared about that. "No, I remember how this goes," she assured the older woman. "Has it been hellish today?"

Miranda shrugged and smiled down at the younger woman, who she'd come to think of as another niece. "No more hellish than usual," she said, looking like she could probably go another six hours without breaking a sweat. "Date night or are you planning on seducing him in the Green Room?" she teased, noting how Vicki was dressed.

The redhead laughed. "I was here for the tech rehearsal from hell that ran until after 2am and ended up with the opening night postponed a day so everyone could recover," she said cheerfully. "This is mild." Miranda's question brought a wicked glimmer to her eyes. "Well ....what makes you think we haven't christened every surface in this theater by now?"

"Well, it's not like we've never done Hamlet before," Miranda remarked, easing into a seat beside her cousin's wife. She laughed a little at Vicki's question. "I don't doubt that you have, but I'm not going to bring a black light in here to find out."

"Oh god, please don't ever black light this place!" Vicki's distinctive laugh rang out across the theater as she tossed her head back. "I'm not a germaphobe and I don't want to be!"

"Yeah, I'm not sure I want to know either," Miranda said with a smirk. "I can guarantee you won't find any of Rufio's DNA in here anyway," she said, though whether that was true or not was questionable. She smirked again as she glanced at the stage. "I think he knows you're here," she stage-whispered, though it was hardly necessary, as she nodded her head toward the stage, where Jon had turned to search the seats upon hearing his wife's familiar cackle of laughter.

"Ooh, do you want to bet on that?" Vicki challenged Miranda laughingly. "Don't forget, I'm the one who caught the two of you smooching in a corner at the Christmas shindig." She raised her hand to wave to Jon, her smile softening fondly in greeting.

"Smooching, my dear, is not quite the same thing as shagging," Miranda said, borrowing a word of slang she had picked up from either Austin Powers or present company.

Jon waved back from the stage, before turning to give some final instructions to the cast and crew and dismissing them for the evening.

"Looks like Mr. Perfectionist is finally satisfied," Miranda remarked with another grin. "Good thing you've come to rescue us."

"Don't you play innocent with me, woman, I saw you zip him up," Vicki countered laughingly, dropping her feet down onto the floor to sit up as Jon prepared to release his captive cast for the evening.

Miranda laughed. "Well, he is a bit of a prude, but I'm slowly breaking him. I mean breaking him in," she said, quick to correct herself.

The slip did not go unnoticed, but Vicki chose not to comment, just grinning at Miranda in solidarity. "Tell me about it," she commiserated. "When I first asked Jon out, I practically offered myself on a silver platter and I still thought he might say no."

Miranda laughed again. "Sometimes men just need a good prodding," she said.

"What was that?" Jon asked, only overhearing part of that conversation as he approached the pair.

"Just sharing tips on how to entice our fellas," Vicki assured her husband cheerfully, looking him over. "You're so lucky I pay attention to what you're wearing when you leave for work," she added, lifting a suit bag from the empty seat beside her. "You need to change into something sexier than cable knit and jeans."

Jon arched a brow, his gaze wandering over his wife and her LBD. "It's date night, isn't it?" he asked, having forgotten until this very moment.

"Mmhmm," she confirmed with a knowing smile. "I even put your wash bag in there so you can make yourself pretty for me." She winked at him cheekily, knowing perfectly well that teasing him in front of his family always made him a little awkward.

"I'm not pretty enough already?" he asked, batting his lashes at her.

Beside Vicki, Miranda rolled her eyes and got to her feet. "Why don't you two get a room?" she teased the pair.

"Later on, we will." Rising to her feet as well, Vicki flashed Miranda a warm grin before moving to greet her husband affectionately. "Figured you'd forgotten tonight was for us," she murmured. "Just as well I'm the one who did the organising this week."

"Guilty as charged. Do you want to punish me for it?" Jon asked, as he slid an arm around his wife's waist. If he had become an incorrigible flirt, she only had herself to blame.

It was only their first lesson, and thankfully their instructor was easy on them. All in all, it went far better than Jon had been expecting, despite the fact that he'd nearly crushed Vicki's toes twice. The lesson was only an hour long, and they had come away from it laughing at their own mistakes. Hadley had assured them they were doing fine though and that he expected them back for another lesson next week.

Giggling, Vicki tucked her arm around Jon's waist beneath his suit jacket as they stepped out into the chilly evening. "Well, that was fun," she said, sounding a little surprised. "I can't believe I managed to spin directly into a mirror, though!"

Jon chuckled, far more relaxed now than he had been when they'd arrived. "I'm just glad I didn't break your toes!" he told her, sliding an arm around her shoulders. It was a chilly night in Rhy'Din, but thankfully it wasn't snowing.

"I am impossible to break," she declared effusively, shaking her hair out of the clip she'd held it in for the lesson. "Next week, though, I am going to wear something less ....constricting. Pretty sure my dress isn't supposed to be up around my hips for half the dance."

He chuckled again. "I'm sure Hadley didn't mind the view," he teased. Neither had he really, though he'd been more worried about stepping on her feet than flashing too much of his wife's thighs.

"I think they'd have preferred it to be you," she laughed, squeezing him warmly. "We're heading for the Silver Hawk, by the way. Good food, short walk to the bedroom. And I already checked us in."

"Me?" he echoed, blinking in obvious surprise at her remark. "But I wasn't the one flashing my thighs," he pointed out, though he got her gist. "Cold?" he asked, pulling away momentarily so that he could shrug out of his jacket and settle it across her shoulders. Even if the car was only parked a short walk away, let it never be said that Jonathan Granger was not a gentleman.

"Jon ....now you're going to get cold," she pointed out, but she didn't argue with being looked after. It had taken a long time, but finally Vicki had learned to let her husband be a gentleman without protest from time to time.

"I'm not the one wearing a little black dress," he reminded her. And it was little. "You look gorgeous, by the way," he told her, pausing a moment to touch a kiss to her cheek and whisper in her ear.

She smiled, the chill on the air hiding the faint blush on her cheeks at the intimate affection in his compliment. "You always have liked this dress," she reminded him softly, nuzzling close for a long moment. It was, of course, the dress she had worn on their first official date, one she always pulled out of the closet when she was undecided about what she should wear for an evening.

"I have always liked you in this dress," he corrected, smiling as his hand found hers. It wasn't so much the dress that he liked as the way his wife filled it out.

Chuckling, Vicki raised their joined hands, brushing a tender kiss over his knuckles. "I seem to recall you like peeling me out of it, too."

"There's not much there to peel you out of," he pointed out as they reached the parking lot and he led the way to where he'd left his precious Bentley. Like most men who had a love affair with their car, he always parked it as far away from other cars as possible.

"Naughty, Mr. Granger," she teased. "If I didn't know better, I'd think you were trying to seduce me before dinner." She flashed him a sweetly wicked smile.

He smirked at her reply. "Do I even have to anymore?" he asked. Even after nearly nine years of marriage, their desire for each other hadn't waned.

"It's always nice to be seduced," she admitted innocently. "And you certainly get a kick out of being wound up so tight you have to go caveman to get it out of your system."

"I've yet to hear you complain," he remarked with a grin as they reached the car. He gave it a quick once over to make sure she was as pristine as she had been when he'd pulled out of the garage and hit the button that would unlock the doors. "Your carriage awaits, my lady," he said, as he pulled open her door.

"Why, thank you, good sir." She kissed his jaw as he ushered her into the car, sliding into the seat with a smoothness that came from literal years of practise at this point.

Jon knew it couldn't be easy to easily navigate while wearing that dress, but he sure enjoyed the view. He smiled at her kiss before moving around the car to take a seat behind the driver's wheel. The Silver Hawk was only a short drive away, which was probably a good thing as he was starving for both dinner and his wife.

As if reading his mind - and his body - Vicki didn't tease him while they were in the car. Instead, she slid gracefully into wife-mode, relaxing into her seat as they talked. "So how did the rehearsal go?"

He shrugged as he pulled the car out of the parking lot and into the narrow city streets. "Oh, you know ....The usual last minute chaos. Don't tell her I said so, but thank the gods for Miranda. There were some minor problems with costumes, but she had it all sorted in no time."

"I guess Jessamin still isn't quite in charge yet, hmm?" she asked, idly curious more than intrigued. "I don't think anyone is ever going to be able to do quick fixes in the same time frame as Miranda can."

"At least, we didn't have to ask Sol to snap his fingers this time," Jon admitted, regarding his admin assistant who relied heavily on using magic to make himself useful. "Jessamin is coming along, I think, but she's ....well, she's not Miranda. She's young and a little too quiet, but Miranda has high hopes for her. She just needs to gain some confidence, I guess."

"She's better than she was, at least," Vicki agreed. "Having twin boys running around has done wonders for her ability to command a room when she needs to."

"True. She's a sweet girl and Miranda has faith in her, so that's good enough for me. Besides, I don't really make those decisions. 'Tay does," he pointed out, though she knew that already. He might be Director of the Rep and Mataya's best friend, but the Shanachie was and always would be her baby.

"You really think 'Taya made that decision, with Miranda pushing for it?" Vicki laughed. "Not even Mataya De Luca can argue against Miranda. Your cousin fights dirty."

"Yes, sir," the valet replied, but not until he checked to see how much he was being tipped.

Jon turned his attention to Vicki as she took his hand. "Not intimidating. Just warning," he pointed out quietly as he led the way into the place.

"Intimidating," she insisted through a grin, blue eyes sparkling as they stepped into the warmth of the hotel lobby. The concierge nodded to them as they passed, the couple turning toward the restaurant.

"Do you know how much that car is worth?" he countered. It wasn't like he couldn't afford to replace it, but he was kind of attached to that one.

Vicki laughed, shaking her head. "Your devotion to your four-wheeled mistress is adorable," she informed him, pulling the room key from her bag to show the maitre'd, who smiled, collected a couple of menus, and moved automatically to show them to their table.

"Hey, we've been together a long time," he said, though he didn't - couldn't - remember picking her out or buying her. "You know, as much as I love that little black dress, it isn't very practical in winter," he whispered, having noticed the shiver she had tried and failed to hide.

"Practicality is not particularly sexy when the goal is getting you hot and bothered before we reach privacy," she murmured back, unsurprised he had noticed. For all that she teased him, she loved that Jon never missed even the smallest hint of her comfort.

"Oh, I see. So that's your goal," he murmured back, with a smirk of amusement. The truth was it didn't take much for her to get him hot and bothered, but he appreciated the effort. "I will have fun peeling you out of it later," he whispered back, for her ears only.

"Would you rather I'd shown up in a fur-lined catsuit?" she asked innocently, slipping out of his jacket now they were in the warm so she could take the seat the maitre'd was holding for her.

He coughed to cover up his shocked laughter at her remark. "Could you?" he asked, grinning at her once the shock wore off. He didn't wait for the maitre'd to offer him a chair, but slid into the one across from her.

"Baby, I have direct access to the Miranda," she reminded him. "That woman could make anything in the space of three days."

Momentarily distracted by the image of his wife in a form-fitting catsuit that hugged all the right places, he blinked out of his thoughts before his imagination got the best of him. "We'll have to put that on the list," he said, offering a nod to the maitre'd as he took his menu.

"Whatever you say, darling." She flicked him a knowing smile as she opened her menu, lowering her eyes demurely to the written words as that smile became a wicked smirk.

He, too, smirked, knowing her well enough to know she would act on that suggestion sooner or later. "So, what is Ms. Vegetarian having tonight?" he asked, as he turned his attention to the menu.

"Ms. Vegetarian has been looking forward to the mushroom and truffle risotto all day, thank you very much," she answered easily. It was one of the good things about being a vegetarian - less to choose from on nights out.

He visibly winced at her choice. Though he was accustomed to her diet, it was the one thing they had never had in common. She might accuse him of being a barbarian from time to time, but he was not giving up his meat. "Good choice, if you're a vegetarian," he murmured. As for himself, he was considering the surf and turf.

"You're such a snob about my food choices," she laughed, setting her menu aside as the waiter arrived to deliver a carafe of iced water and take their order. "When have I ever pulled a face while you inhale half a bird in front of me?"

"First of all, I don't inhale," he pointed out. "And second of all, I am a carnivore and proud of it." Or maybe he was an omnivore; he wasn't too sure, but he'd made his point. He turned to the waiter to place their order, including a bottle of their best chardonnay.

"That is just culinary way of letting me know you're a red-blooded male, and believe me, sweetheart, I know," she answered impishly, handing over her menu as the waiter stepped away from the table.

"And you wouldn't have me any other way," he countered, knowing her well enough to know that. It hardly mattered, of course, what he ate, but that wasn't the point.

"Oh, darling, I'll have you any way I can get you, and you know it." Grinning, she relaxed into her seat, pouring glasses of water for them both.

"So you've told me multiple times," he reminded her, mirroring her grin. He was curious how she liked him best, but that hardly mattered either.

"You want me to stop telling you?" she asked innocently, batting her lashes at him across the table. It probably didn't help that, under the table, she had removed one shoe and was teasing his shin with her toes - a clear sign of what she was going to do to him if they sat here for too long.

"Uh ..." he murmured distractedly, looking briefly around to make sure no one was watching. She was certainly good for his ego, among other things. "You're the one who said you were starving, remember?"

"Mmhmm." Her agreement was warm and wicked, eyes dancing with mischief as her toes stroked up to his knee and back down again. "Something wrong, stud muffin?"

"You are an evil woman, Victoria Granger," he whispered back, a smirk on his face that said he didn't really mind her attention, even if it made him squirm a little. "Just remember, I need some sustenance if you want me to go the distance."

"Oooh, zero to hero tonight, huh?" She giggled, taking pity on him as the waiter brought the wine. Jon was so much fun to tease, but she was not above stretching it out for as long as possible.

"Would you have it any other way?" he asked, teasing her back. He wasn't about to take his shoes off and do the same, but he would be sure to return the favor later. He tasted the wine and murmured his approval to the waiter, but his attention was clearly on the woman across the table from him.

"Thank you." Offering a smile to the waiter, Vicki finally removed her foot from Jon's lap so he could eat in peace. "Honestly, I would love to start exposing the children to more cultural experiences. We have a lot of fun with them, but we can do a little teaching too, right?"

"So long as we don't bore them," he agreed, setting his napkin in his lap and picking up his fork to begin, his mouth watering at the tantalizing smell of his dinner. "So, what do you think" Spring break?"

"There are ways to make history interesting," she promised him. Vicki was fairly sure that Bea and Ben would be interested in stories about castles and the people who lived in them, at the very least. "I think spring break sounds like a good idea for a holiday."

So long as it didn't conflict with his schedule at the theater, but then again, he'd probably be able to find someone to cover for him, if necessary. "So, we should probably make a list of possible destinations," he said, as he cut into his steak, though that didn't need to happen tonight.

"Is there anywhere you want to go?" she asked, finally turning the question around on him. He so rarely outright stated that he wanted something, she thought she should probably get it out of him while he was in the mood to talk about it.

He shrugged his shoulders. It didn't really matter much to him, so long as Vicki and the kids enjoyed the destination. "Are you asking for my wish list?" he asked, blue eyes twinkling with amusement.

She winked at him from around a forkful of her risotto. "Do you know, I think I am," she said sweetly. "You wouldn't want to disappoint me, would you?"

"Have I ever disappointed you before?" he asked, that twinkle still in his eyes. At least, he hoped he hadn't.

"Hmm ....not that I can recall," she admitted. "You're stalling, though. There's nothing wrong with telling your adoring wife where you want to go and what you want to do."

"Okay ..." he murmured between bites of surf and turf, ignoring the potato and salad for the time being. Could they be anymore opposite" "What do you think about Hawaii?" he asked, though that was only one possible destination.

"I don't know much about Hawaii," Vicki admitted, taking a sip of water as she ate. "Is that somewhere you want to visit, love?"

"Des and Piper seemed to like it," he remarked with another shrug of his shoulders, though that was a bit of an understatement. Love it was probably more accurate.

"Seeing as they go back every year, yes, I would agree with that," she chuckled. "But is it somewhere you want to go, or somewhere you think you should visit?"

"I think a tropical vacation would be nice sometime. Someplace where the kids could swim with the fishes. But maybe they could do that in Greece," he said, reconsidering.

"We can do some research and find a place that will keep them interested with activities," she agreed. "But we were talking about what you would like."

He sighed, lowering his fork and knife for a moment to regard her. "To be honest, I'm not sure," he admitted with a small frown. They'd been to London, Paris, and Venice. Where else was there to go' "I would like to see Rome someday," he admitted.

"Then Rome goes on the list," she said. "It's as simple as that, Jon. You don't even need to have a reason to want to go somewhere or see something."

"So do India and Greece then," he replied, though it wasn't as if they had to decide on a destination today. "Maybe we should ask the kids where they'd like to go," he suggested.

"Of course we should," she agreed. "But Disneyland doesn't happen again until at least next year, or they are going to get too attached to holidays that involve vomit, sweets, and cartoon characters."

He chuckled at that. "Honestly, I think someplace with sun and sand and surf would do us all a world of good," he said, not only because it was the dead of winter in Rhy'Din. "Besides, it's a good excuse to get you back into a bikini." Or at least, a swimsuit.

She laughed, shaking her head at his comment. "You just like having fresh freckles to chase when I've been in the sun for more than twenty minutes."

"Guilty as charged," he admitted with a grin. "Be happy I don't play connect the dots with a pen," he added, teasingly.

"I do seem to recall a game of connect the dots on my belly when I was pregnant with the twins," she reminded him. "I even have photographs of you, Ben, and Emily concentrating on writing all over the bump."

"You're a living, breathing connect the dots puzzle," he said, a teasing grin on his face. It was just one of the things about her that he found adorable.

"Yes, and it tickles when you lot get together and play it on me!" She laughed. It wasn't that she objected to this particular game, but if Jon wasn't around to make sure they weren't using permanent marker, it could make the next few days awkward.

"Sorry," he said, though from the look on his face, he wasn't entirely. He had a feeling she had just as much fun teasing him, whenever she had the chance. At least, he wasn't suggesting they get pregnant again.

"It is rather cute how attached you are to my freckles," she conceded. "A day or two in a bikini would give you more to play with for a while."

"Almost as attached as you are to my, uh ..." he trailed off, leaving that thought unfinished, though if the look on his face was anything to go by, she could probably fill in the blank pretty easily.

"Oh, I am very attached to your uh," she assured him. "Just like the rest of you." She winked, taking another mouthful from her plate as, across from them, a young woman got down on one knee to propose to her girlfriend.

"Always, where you're concerned," he ghosted against her lips, sliding the zipper down against her back with deft fingers.

Her own fingers twitched his tie undone, opening up his shirt collar as she peppered his lips with kisses. They had never lost the fire that simmered underneath their connection, indulging it whenever they could, but date night was always a little bit special. There was no risk of an over-excited five year old rushing into the bedroom at the critical moment, for a start.

There was no risk of interruptions of any kind, except maybe the phone. "Champagne now or later?" he asked, as his lips drifted to her cheek, and ear, and down the side of her neck as he eased the dress away from her shoulders.

"Later," she breathed, rolling her shoulders to slip her arms free from the dress, sliding her hands beneath his jacket to pull open the buckle on his belt. "More hungry than thirsty right now."

"Sweetheart, you are always hungry," he murmured as his lips followed the line of her bare shoulder downward, while his feet steered her toward the bed.

"Mmm, insatiable." She laughed, taking a good grip on his waist as she felt the bed behind her. Then she tipped backward, bringing him down with her in a tangle of limbs

He had thought to just toss her cave-man style onto the bed, but it didn't quite seem like the right thing to do while dressed in formalwear. He smirked as he was pulled down with her, pausing a moment to toe off his shoes, letting them fall to the floor with a thunk. He replied to her remark, but not so much with words as with actions, mouth and tongue and teeth moving ever downward, hands unsheathing her curves from the cover of her LBD as he went.

It took a little wriggling, and a lot of husky laughter, but finally they were both bare to each others' touch, scrambling up over the covers to exchange kisses and caresses that knew exactly where to land.

Without anyone there to interrupt or overhear, they were free for once to express their desire in whatever way they so chose, and Jon, for one, was eager to show Vicki how much he still wanted her. It wasn't hard to figure out, given the obvious signs, but it wasn't just lust that drove him onward, but enduring love and devotion. Still, it didn't hurt that he knew what made her squirm and he used that knowledge to his advantage, starting at her lips and ending somewhere between her legs.

And he wasn't the only one with inside knowledge. Even as he drove her to the edge of reason, Vicki was just as eager to bring him with her, knowing that he got as much pleasure from making her scream as he did from her intimate affections. How many wives could say that about their husbands"

And who cared if she did scream, so long as there were no complaints about them making too much noise. Jon had never been too shy in bed, at least where Vicki was concerned, and he wasn't shy now. Theirs was a sex life that wasn't just based on love and trust, but on having fun. In the end, there were usually a lot more giggles than screams, and today was no exception.

Even when that first explosion of desire was over, there were still smiles and laughter as they lolled together in the bed, trading softer kisses as hearts calmed in their chests. "Feel better now, stud muffin?"

"For the moment," he assured her, as he tried to catch his breath. It wasn't that he was out of shape, but she did have a way of giving him a workout. There would likely be a lot more of this in the hours to come, until they were both ready to collapse. "Oh!" he exclaimed, as if he'd just remembered something. "I almost forgot." He rolled over a little to reach for his jacket, which lay discarded with the rest of his clothes on the floor and almost fell out of bed.

"Mmm?" She lifted herself up onto one elbow, unable to resist slapping his butt as he rolled away from her to rummage for his jacket. "We don't need condoms, darlin'."

"Not condoms," he replied, with a smirk, the slap hardly fazing him. He knew she was very careful about that with five kids at home to take care of. He fumbled around in his jacket for a moment before finally locating what it was he was looking for and rolling back to face her.

Vicki raised a brow, pretty sure this was going to be something romantic but more than happy to play along. She knew it made him happy to do little things like this. "Not condoms, hmm' Oh lordy ....did you buy a dental dam?"

"No!" he exclaimed, a look of confusion on his face. "Why would I do that?" he asked, almost forgetting about the small wrapped box he was now holding in his hand.

"I have no idea," she laughed, leaning over to kiss his confused face tenderly. "You have never got any harder to tease, love, you know that?"

"Were you testing me to see if I knew what that was?" he asked, a suspicious look on his face. He wouldn't have put it past her. Despite their very active sex life, there had been a time when just the mention of such things would have shocked him.

Laughing again, she patted his cheek and winked. "Maybe. Maybe not. You may never know for certain. You do know I'm a dick, though."

"I thought men were dicks and women were, you know ..." He trailed off, too polite to say that word aloud, even when no one was there to hear him but his wife. "Why do I feel like I'm being teased again?"

"Because I am totally incorrigible, and you are far too sweet to call me on it, even in private," she assured him, resting her head on her hand as she laid herself back down against the pillow.

"Mmm, maybe," he said, not too sure about that. "Sweet on you maybe," he replied with a cheesy grin, as he presented her with the wrapped box. "Happy Valentine's Day, Vicki," he told her, his grin softening, as he touched a kiss to her lips.

Nuzzling close, her fingers closed around the box automatically even as he kissed her, lingering in that moment of fond intimacy a while. Then she looked down at the little box in her hand, rolling onto her back to free up both hands to unwrap it.

Beneath the pretty wrapping paper, snugly fit inside the box was a something shiny and glittery. It wasn't anything too terribly expensive and it wasn't anything she really needed or had probably even wanted, and yet, he had been unable to resist buying it for her, even if she hardly ever wore it.