Anna couldn't keep her eyes open after everyone had left but she couldn't remember the last time she had felt so complete, so content. The day had gone better than she could ever have hoped, she had basked in the acceptance of Bjorn's girls and their families and she had felt a massive sense of achievement as she watched Bjorn's wounds being healed in the bosom of his whole family. They had made a new world today and she was grateful to be part of it all. Now after the noise came the peace and it was just Bjorn, Benny, Frida and her left in the living room in front of the embers of a dying fire. Everyone was mellow and content and no one could be bothered to get up and see to the fire. Anna sighed contentedly knowing that right now these three people around her were all she needed. She was in that mellow state between sleep and wakefulness and was much soothed by the gentle rumble of Benny and Bjorn discussing the amazing day that they had all just had. Her head was resting on Bjorn's lap and he was absent-mindedly stroking her hair as he talked. "How long can you both stay?"she mumbled at Benny and Frida "I want you both to stay a while, I don't want to miss out but I'm so tired" Benny was instantly soothing "If you'll have us, we'll stay for a while little one. We have so much to discuss and enjoy together" Anna smiled, much reassured "You've done so well Anna darling" came Frida's gentle voice "it's no wonder you're tired. We'll stay and tomorrow and the next day we'll talk and cook and veg like we used to hmm?" Anna opened her eyes and said "You promise Frida?" "I absolutely promise you Anna, it's our time now but we are all tired. Not just you so don't feel bad little one" Bjorn felt so grateful that he didn't know what to say. He knew that this whole day must have exhausted her beyond endurance and yet still she was worrying "Baby, Frida's right. We are not so young and we are all also very tired. It isn't just you. Tomorrow we will do all the things we want to do. We will stay here and just be us four. Tomorrow we will relax and share everything, maybe Tuesday we will cook and then Wednesday or Thursday depending on how you are all four of us will go to Viggso. Benny has a melody stuck in his head and we need you two to get it out of him" Bjorn said gently. That made Anna's eyes open wide and she looked at Benny and Frida. She saw that Frida was looking equally surprised "Benny you do?" she asked eagerly. "I do" he said laughing. "Oh I want to go with you, I want to more than anything but it isn't safe for you three to have me with you." Anna was crushed. Bjorn opened his mouth to say something and Benny beat him to it "Anna, we will be safe. We will keep you safe" "I don't care about me!" Anna said, wide awake now. "I won't put you three at risk" "Baby, it isn't up for discussion. We four are going to Viggso this week. I will kill anyone that comes anywhere fucking near you. You will be safe and so will we. Viggso is safe" Bjorn told her in a tone that brooked no argument. "Its so far away from anywhere Little One and you can only get to it by one road. No one would know we were there" Benny said reassuringly "and Anna, there would be no reason for anyone to suspect we were there It's not like here where the people know you live here" Anna thought that Benny spoke some sense. "I'd love to go" she mumbled. "Then we will" said Frida. "Benny and I would also kill anyone that threatened you darling. We'll be careful but there's no reason to miss out" "Then I'll come, just once won't hurt" The other three thought differently and were determined that she would get to go more than once but they accepted her capitulation without mentioning it. "That's settled then" Benny said happily. "lots to look forward to this week" he settled back and Frida snuggled into his side. They remained talking for a while more and then Frida said "Bjorn I'm exhausted and she's out for the count" she gestured to Anna who was indeed deeply asleep on Bjorn's lap "I'm off to bed, are you guys going to stay up chatting?" Benny sighed contentedly and said "No, we are done for now, you girls will chat enough tomorrow and we will take cover somewhere and talk" he laughed at Frida's outraged face and Bjorn snorted with amusement "Frida, I'm off to bed too, we have time enough" he gently wriggled out from underneath Anna but she did not wake. "Will you be able to carry her right up the stairs mate?" asked Benny gently. Bjorn did not take offence, he knew Benny wasn't meaning anything other than concern for both of them but his response came from the heart "Yes, I'll be fine. I'll carry her for the rest of my fucking life" "Well we KNOW that darling, that wasn't quite the question" Frida smiled but her heart was melted. "In answer to your question Frida, she's lost a shocking amount of weight. She's smaller than even when we got married. I haven't told her that though. Even at my advanced age she is no weight for me" Benny felt for him and said "When her treatment is done mate, she'll put the weight back on and then you'll have to keep up with her if you want to keep carrying her about" Bjorn nodded firmly "Yes I will" he took Benny more seriously than had been intended and Benny couldn't help his smile at Bjorn's dogged determination.
He bent to lift her from the sofa and she did not stir as he juggled her into a safe position. He went up the stairs first and as he had predicted he had no issues at all. Frida and Benny had followed behind and when they got to the top of the stairs Benny slid in front and opened the bedroom door "You be ok with her?" asked Frida. "Yeah, we'll be fine, see you in the morning" Benny and Frida carried on to their room next door and Bjorn carefully put Anna on the bed. He went back to shut the door and returned to Anna. He wondered if he should just leave her dressed and not disturb her but he decided against it as she would be uncomfortable. He took her clogs off and undid her jeans gently and tugged them down her legs he managed to get them off her and he fretted quietly at the scars on her legs from her blistering, the one on her thigh that he saw that day at Vallentuna had left a massive scar that still looked sore. "Bjorn, I'm sorry. It will heal. Please don't be upset" he heard her whisper. "Oh baby, I'm just upset for you. It looks so sore" "I can manage it Bjorn. It'll be ok" She sat herself up and started unbuttoning her shirt then wriggled herself off the bed. "I'm so tired Bjorn and I am sorry baby. Thank you for carrying me up the stairs. She dumped her shirt on the floor and took her bra off, throwing it to join her shirt and just crawled into bed with no pajamas on. Bjorn's eyebrows shot up and he grinned at her."that tired?" he asked "I am tired but you said you wanted to sleep with me like we used to and as much as I really want you and I promised you earlier I'm so tired the best I can do right now is to sleep with you like you asked. Is that ok?" she asked. He couldn't actually think of enough words to describe how he felt about that so he settled on just "Yes" and thought himself a lucky bastard.
When he finally got into bed and she'd made herself sleepily comfortable he took hold of her restless hand on his chest while she hooked her leg over his and mumbled "Oh god, you've no idea how much I've missed this. I've missed contact with you" Bjorn smiled and replied " No idea? Anna, I missed this every fucking day and every fucking night that we were apart so yes I have a good idea. I swear to god we will never spend another night apart" "Promise?" Anna questioned. "On my life Baby, never again" came his determined response. There was a hum of contentment from both of them and Anna snuggled down. Bjorn manouvered her until she was exactly where he wanted her to be and he slept. He knew no more until he was ripped from his sleep by the breech alarms sounding. It seemed to him that Anna moved on autopilot. She leapt out of bed and pressed the button on her wristband which bought the shutters down at an astonishing speed. She threw joggers on that she kept by the side of the bed and shoved her feet in her clogs. She grabbed her shirt off the floor and she had done all of this in the time it had taken him to get his wits together and roll out of bed. "Bjorn, remember I love you. Welcome to my real world" she kissed him and shot off down the stairs leaving him pulling his jeans on. He met up with Benny and Frida on the landing and they rushed down the stairs together only to find Anna calmly controlling the cameras at the main console as she hunted for the breech in the zone the system had identified. "Got you you bastard" she murmured . Bjorn peered over her shoulder and could see movement up by the stables again. Anna picked up the phone and rang Linda who was wide awake and glad of her new shutters. "Bjorn can you call Christian, he's in the beach house. That isn't connected to the main system yet but it has shutters. Tell him to get the shutters down baby." Bjorn got straight onto it and woke Christian who immediately put the shutters down. "Sit tight son, we're all watching him. He's up by the stables again and Mama has called the police" They watched as the intruder took the walk down to the house. "Frida? Do you think it's the same guy as last time?" Anna asked as she swung the cameras to zoom in on his face. Frida moved past Benny to look "Darling I'm so sorry I can't tell, I was so panicked last time" "It's ok, I just wondered" Anna soothed gently. "We are safe guys, the house would take hours to breach" she sighed. "I really need to get the beach house linked properly into the system so it can be used safely" "Christian says the shutters are down so they are safe Baby" Bjorn was comforting "Linda and the girls are safe too so we'll just wait him out" Benny sighed and said "Little One, I had no idea of the conditions you lived with. I'm sorry" "I'm the one who is sorry Benny, I'm sorry you all are here and having to go through this" Anna said sadly "It was nice having you here though" Benny beat Bjorn to it with his next comment "Don't even say it or think it Anna" he scowled. "We choose this, we choose to be with you. We'll get used to it and it gives us good insight into what we need at the studio, what we need at Vallentuna and Viggso" "Yeah but I'm such a burden" Anna mumbled "Without me this wouldn't all be necessary" "Anna you aren't a burden, without you there is no ABBA and without you the rest of us probably wouldn't be alive so please hush" Frida said firmly. Bjorn wrapped his arms around her as they watched him climb the steps to the house "Guys, I don't think you need to see this bit" Anna said "They know baby, it's not your humiliation, it's his. Keep the cameras on him and get it all" Bjorn said calmly. "Do you want to go to the panic room?" Benny asked. "No, I feel safe tonight. I'm fine here with you all." she had noticed the police at the gate and let them in. The automated link to the police had done it's job. Same as last time, a pincer movement around the house ended the drama rapidly. Anna talked to the police over her secure channel and she was assured there was no one else in the compound but the policeman said that they had found a weakened area of the perimeter fencing that allowed intruders to climb a nearby tree, scale the fence and use the flat roof of the stable to get down into the compound. They were sure that the last breech had used the same access point. Anna made a note of it and Bjorn immediately said he would look at it in the morning with Christian and Benny. Anna asked the policemen if they could come out of lockdown and they were given the all clear. Bjorn immediately rang Christian to tell him and spent some time consoling him that he had turned his phone to update and his laptop had also been off. Bjorn asked him if he would have done that if his Mama had been alone in the house and once he got Christian to admit that he wouldn't have done all was well. Linda replied to the text Anna sent her with "I'm going back to bed Mama, we all are and so should you lot. See you later"
"Come on baby, let's go back to bed. We've survived our first breech together and you didn't need to go to the panic room" Anna grinned. "We didn't did we?" The four trailed up the stairs and Benny said "I'm sleeping in tomorrow, but Anna I'd do it again happily" on that reassuring note Benny and Frida went to bed and Anna went first into their bedroom shedding her shirt and dropping it on the floor and Bjorn was treated to an impromptu strip tease. He stepped over her shirt then her joggers and shed his jeans along the way, they ended up somewhere on the floor as well. It didn't take them long to settle and as Anna had left the shutters down she was relaxed. There was silence for a while then Anna whispered "Bjorn I'm not tired anymore."Bjorn's chest heaved in a quiet chuckle "Neither am I" he admitted quietly. He propped himself on his elbows and looked into her beautiful blue eyes. "You'll have to be really, really quiet baby, can you do that?" she smiled and whispered "Yes, if you can help me like you used too" His eyes narrowed involuntarily as precious memories returned to him and had a unexpectedly dramatic effect on his libido. He settled her on top of him and bought his knees up to hold her "This?" he absolutely knew what her answer would be. She leaned forward and peppered his face with tiny kisses "THIS" she whispered. "Absolutely this" No hesitation. He knew what he wanted and he knew what she needed.
He always would.
