"Did you see where she was living?" he asked with a smile. "What kind of guy would I be if I didn't make sure my one and only employee was taken care of properly?" Jon relaxed a little as the conversation turned away from the scare at the theater and toward more ordinary things. "Anyway, she's amazing. I just hope I don't work her too hard." He cast a wary glance outside before climbing out when the security man came around to open the door. If he sensed no danger, then Jon had to assume it was safe. Once outside, he glanced around again, nodded to the security man, and turned to offer his wife a hand climbing out. It was a short walk to the door, and the security man was there to escort them. There was no reason for him to worry. Though he couldn't shake the feeling that they were being watched, he chalked it up to a case of nervous tension.

"You, Jon boy, are spoiled rotten when it comes to living in luxury," Vicki laughed back at him. "There was nothing wrong with that apartment she was living in, it's just like a thousand other apartments in this city." She paused, watching him glance about as he stepped out of the vehicle before turning to help her out. She was more inclined to simply trust to the security guard rather than double-check for herself, just wanting to be inside and behind locked doors.

He couldn't very well argue with her. He was a Granger, after all. He was born and had grown up at Maple Grove. Guilty as charged, he enjoyed his lifestyle. He'd paid his dues and worked hard to make his own fortune, independent of that of his family. He knew money didn't buy happiness, but it sure as hell made life easier. "Would you rather go camping?" he asked with a smirk, taking her hand, feeling a small stab of guilt at his own good fortune. Though he'd donated money to various charities before, he knew it was high time to seriously think about giving back to the community that had been so good to him. "The condo's paid for. It was either let them live there or sell it, and it's not like I need the money."

"Camping in these heels" You have to be joking." Vicki laughed softly as they advanced at a respectable speed from the car to the hotel itself, shadowed closely by the security guard. The girl at the reception desk looked up with a smile - evidently greeting Jonathan Granger was going to be the highlight of her year. Vicki chuckled softly, curling her arms about Jon's elbow. "They're everywhere," she teased, deliberately not even thinking about how worrying that thought could be if she let it.

"Hush, you used to be one of them," he whispered back teasing, before stepping up to the desk with Vicki on his arm and offering a friendly smile. "Hello, we'd like to check in for the night. I believe there should be a room reserved under the name Granger?" he asked, as if his name was as ordinary as John Smith, and the hotel clerk had no idea who he was, making no assumptions. He wasn't arrogant enough to assume everyone knew who he was.

The girl, who couldn't have been more than eighteen, blushed profusely as Jon smiled at her, jumping to rummage for the key that had been left for him. "Oh, yes, Mr Granger, Ms Broderick left instructions that you were to be allowed straight up and to give you the key as soon as you arrived," she babbled cheerfully, as nervous as she was excited, it seemed. The key jangled on its tag as she offered it over. "Breakfast is between 7 and 9 in the morning, and room service is available all night. We hope you enjoy your stay at the Starlight Hotel, please come again soon." Vicki tactfully arranged herself so the girl couldn't see the wide grin on her face. She'd never heard the welcome and goodbye speeches run together like that before.

Jon's smile widened, but it was hard to tell if it was forced or natural. The man had putting on a face for the public down pat, even when he was a bundle of nerves. At the moment, however, faced with a single teenage fan who seemed relatively harmless, he seemed mostly at ease, almost amused by the girl's gushing attention. "Thank you," he replied politely, glancing at the girl's name tag as he reached for the key. "Shauna. Would you like an autograph?" Normally, he would wait for someone to ask him, but he was in a good mood and feeling accomodating.

"Oh, would you? That would be really nice of you, thank you!" Shauna, it seemed, had come prepared. She fished a battered but obviously much-loved autograph book from somewhere beneath the desk, leafing through the pages until she found the one she'd like him to sign. Tellingly, his cousin Caroline's signature was on that page, as well as Dom's, Ashlyn's, and a scrawl that looked suspiciously like Humphrey's name. This young lady was apparently a real Rhy'Din autograph hunter. She probably had a page of Governors' signatures in that book somewhere.

Jon arched a brow as the girl flipped through the pages, recognizing a signature here and there, mostly Grangers, and he privately wondered if she was a fan or if she just enjoyed collecting signatures of famous people. To his credit, he didn't ask, but waited for her to hand him a pen and then added his own name to her collection, a very carefully scrawled Jonathan Granger that was as neatly penned as the man was dressed, even if he was lacking a jacket. Once finished, he smiled again and handed her back the book and the pen. "There you go."

"Oh, thank you so much. I really hope you enjoy your stay, Mr and Mrs Granger - ooh." Shauna paused, looking at Vicki speculatively. "Do - do you think I could have your signature, too, Mrs Granger?"

Vicki blinked, absolutely astonished. No one had ever asked for her scrawl, and to be honest, she'd never expected anyone to. She glanced at Jon, somewhat thrown by the request. "Uh ..."

If anything, Jon seemed amused by this, shrugging his shoulders with a smirk that seemed to say: "You're a Granger now. Get used to it." He curled his hand around the key and waited patiently for Vicki to add her signature to the girl's autograph book. She was the Angelina Jolie to his Brad Pitt, whether she liked it or not.

Given a less than helpful smirk, Vicki stuck her tongue out at her husband, utterly nonplussed by the request to begin with. As Shauna giggled at the byplay, the redheaded Mrs Granger lifted the pen and deliberately wrote her own signature above Jon's on the page, as though making some small point about something that would remain unsaid, probably because she had no reason but one-up-man-ship to go by. "There you go," she smiled to the girl, who gathered her precious book back to herself with a wide, happy smile.

"Thank you very much," Shauna smiled to them both. "Your suite is on the fifth floor. Turn left out of the elevator, and it's the second door on your right."

"Thank you!" Jon told her again, and just about out of patience, tugged on Vicki's hand in a hurry to get to their room and finally relax. He led the way toward the elevator, waiting until they got inside before blowing out a breath and relaxing completely, dropping the put on airs of perfect poise and politeness that he displayed for the public. "Is it me or was that weird?"

Leaning back against the fabric wallpapered wall of the elevator, Vicki laughed, looking over at her husband with a warm smile. If anything, that little encounter had actually calmed her. "It was, more than a little weird," she assured him. "But, you know, you can be absolutely sure that she isn't totally fixated on you."

"How could I have loved you like an uncle?" she asked him with a tender smile. "You told me when I was seven that you were my prince and all I had to do was wait for you. Princesses don't marry their uncles, after all." She filched the key from his fingers, nuzzling a soft kiss to his lips, and turned to unlock the door to their room.

"I hope you still feel that way when we're old and gray," he told her, kissing her lips and sliding an arm around her waist as she unlocked their door, pushing her hair aside to brush his lips against the back of her neck. As for himself, he couldn't see himself with anyone else. His heart belong to her and none other. Whatever had gone before no longer mattered. Only the future mattered, and his future was with Vicki.

She laughed again, deliberately taking him at face value purely to tease as she pushed the door open, trying hard not to melt as his lips found that spot on the back of her neck. "What, you hope I don't suddenly decide to think of you as my uncle when we hit senility?" she asked mischievously, laying the key on a table by the door and throwing his suit jacket onto a nearby chair. She turned to look up at him, looping her arms about his neck. "Do elderly, madly-in-love couples often do that?"

"No," he chuckled, as he stepped in behind her, reaching back to click the lock on the door as it closed behind him. "I hope you still feel like I'm your prince," he explained with a smile, though he felt a little embarassed by the story. "I didn't know how else to explain to a seven-year-old who I was." His arms went around her waist, but instead of pulling her close, he reached for the zipper at the top of her dress, anxious to get her undressed now that he had her all to himself, in a hurry to finish what he'd started in the limo.

Teasing her lips to his fondly, Vicki was no less impatient to see and touch, raising her own hands to the tie at his collar as she felt the zipper slowly descending down her back. "I think you coped with it beautifully," she smiled, glancing up at him from her focus on undoing the knot. "Not many men can convince a kid not to scream stranger danger on the first meeting." Never mind that it hadn't been the first time they'd met; she didn't recall that first occasion and she hoped that, in time, he would be able to set it aside, too.

"Maybe we've known each other before," he mused, as he slid the zipper down her back, watching her face as she loosened his tie. Having been raised on Rhy'Din, he'd never been very interested in spiritual or religious matters, never putting too much thought into it, since he knew there was no way of proving anything one way or another, and yet, the connection he felt to Vicki defied explanation. It was as if they were meant to be together, as if they were made for each other. Once he was done with the zipper, he set about sliding the dress from her shoulders, leaving them bare to the teasing caress of his lips as his hands peeled the fabric away from her body.

"Are you suggesting that your fine Catholic wife is somehow reincarnated?" Vicki teased softly. She was hardly a dedicated Catholic, attending only the services she knew she enjoyed at Christmas and Easter. In fact, she was more likely to agree with his theory that they'd known one another in another lifetime than with the assertion that there was a Heaven and a Hell. Her hands lowered, letting him slip the sleeves of her gown free before rising to undo the buttons of his shirt as she swayed into him, softly growing in passion as he teased her into heat with him once again.

"I don't know, Vicki," he frowned thoughtfully as he eased the gown over her hips to pool at her feet, searching her eyes for an answer. "I've never really thought about it much before, but there has to be more than just this. I feel like I've known you forever. Who's to say I haven't' Maybe we've always been together. You've known me all your life, but I..." He broke off, thinking this was probably not the time or the place to be getting philosophical. "It doesn't matter, I guess. I just feel like I've been searching all my lifetime for you."

"Well, you found me," she murmured soothingly, stepping out of her shoes to stand at her more accustomed height with him, leaving the expensive gown where it lay for now. Her hands stroked his cheeks as she gazed up at him, touching her nose to his, her lips to his, as those hands slipped down to draw his shirt from his pants, seeking out his cuffs to release the links that held him trapped in the starched cloth. "You're my match, Jon, however it happened. I'm never letting go of you, not without a fight."

Leave it to Jon and Vicki to get into a philosophical discussion while on the brink of sex. To Jon, it was all the same thing, his life so inextricably woven into Vicki's that each part of their relationship - intellectual, romantic, spiritual, physical - was woven together into an intricate web so strong, not even death could break the bonds that linked their lives and souls. He smiled as she reassured him, like she always did when he was feeling confused or uncertain, soothing him with a kiss or some reassurance that she loved him, that she'd always love him, no matter what. Now that he had her practically naked, he steered her toward the bed that occupied the better portion of the bedroom. "I'm yours, Vicki. Forever." Without another word, he laid her back upon the bed and set about finishing what he'd started hours earlier.

Slow and thorough, equally loving each to the other, they washed away the shock and fear of the evening, the worry and discomfort, until nothing was left but Jon and Vicki, and the child they had made with their love, curled close together in the tangle of sheets as breath mingled fast and hearts slowly found their rhythm once more. Vicki stretched gently, nestled close with the other half of herself, catching his hand to guide his palm to where the baby was exerting itself in her womb. "Can you imagine how battered my kidneys would be if there were two of them in there?"

"One at a time is plenty, love," Jon told her, dropping lazy kisses against her neck, feeling as content as a cat. He paused in his kisses to settle a hand against the curve of her belly, feeling the young life that was growing inside her letting itself be known to mother and father alike. Shifting against the tangled sheets, he laid an ear against her womb. Though he knew he wouldn't be able to hear the baby's heart beating this way, he somehow felt closer to their child this way, separated only by the safety of womb and flesh. "Hey, can you hear me in there?" he asked, his hand warm against the gentle rise of Vicki's belly.

Laid back within that tangle of cotton, Vicki smiled as she looked down, as enchanted as she always was by the way Jon could wrap himself about the prominance of her womb and always got an answer when he spoke. The baby stretched and kicked in response to its father's voice, drawing a quiet laugh from its mother as she stroked her fingers through Jon's curls. "I think that's a yes."

He smiled at the answering kick and glanced up at Vicki for a moment. "Should I say one kick for yes and two kicks for no?" he teased, blue eyes vibrant with pure joy and adoration, as if he no longer had a care in the world. He settled his head back on Vicki's bump again, his voice and soothing. "Whoever you are in there, I want you to know that your mama and I love you. We're always gonna love you, and we're always gonna take care of you and protect you. Promise."

Though he knew whatever he was saying would most likely not be understood, he felt the need to say it, not only for the baby's sake, but for Vicki's. He quieted a moment as Vicki's fingers found his curls, and he listened to the faint thump of her heartbeat, her body soft and warm beneath his cheek. Something twisted inside him, some depth of feeling he didn't have a name for, his heart swelling with immeasurable love and happiness, so profound it brought tears to his eyes.