#shadow!anna

Anna used to kiss his scars. 

An adorable gesture, and she definitely wasn't the only one who's done it. 

She didn't ask for stories, for reasons. Only soft kisses on whatever she'd find, and maybe a bite or two just to annoy him.

She took him for who he was- a cocky fuckin' asshole, a traitor, a cunning bastard who would tear her apart.

And she loved him anyway. Adored him like some misguided stray. He'd tell her he wasn't gonna cave into her charming little act so easily and she'd only hear that he called her charming.

What kind of bullshit was that? 

He knew she still loved him now. It's why she was here in his bed in the first place. Right?

But she doesn't kiss him at all. And who could blame her? 

It didn't mean he wasn't…upset by it. Offended even. 

He's said his apologies. Given her space. What about her forgiveness? He'd done so much for her. Given her this job, got her a place to hide from everyone else, got her someone she could trust to watch over the little bundle of joy that bastard from Busan had put in her before he fucked off out of the country. 

And now she couldn't even look at him. All because he said he loved her. 

She's in his bed, lying with her back turned to his as he plants gentle kisses on her back. Her muscles tense, his lips brushing over the tattoo she got in his memory when she was sure he was dead- an ace of spades card on fire, with the words: take this love to my grave.

There's a small bullet scar on her back. It's small and round like a pockmark healed near her shoulder. 

"...Gonna say anything?" He says, her silence more loud than any of the noises they'd made just minutes before.

"Annie?"

She grabs her clothes and slips them back on, not looking at him. The glimpses of her face look hurt. Numb. 

He wants to beg her to stay a little longer. Stay with him in bed, stay with him emotionally. But his pride wouldn't let him. Hadn't he begged her to join the Shadow Company? Wasn't that enough?

He'd taken his Annie for granted. 

Smiling up at him, leaning onto him, randomly sneaking kisses when she was sure nobody was there.

"There's my Phillip!" She'd grin when they were together, and smother him with hugs and he'd only roll his eyes and pretend he wasn't happy to see her too.

To him, there were two women he'd had the privilege of falling for in Annabelle. 

Annie, his adoring little thing whose rose tinted lenses made her see past the red flags. Who loved him like some hopeless teenage girl and got on his nerves for fun. Who played pranks and did everything to make him smile a little when he was around. Who looked damn pretty when she cleaned herself up, whose lipstick smudged perfectly when he messed with her.

And Sergeant Pham, who was just as good as Soap on the field and ambushed enemy soldiers hiding in crawl spaces or in the vents like some vermin. Who wasn't afraid of other people's blood and fought like she wasn't afraid of dying. Who hung onto her superior officer's words like gospel.

He lost his Annie the moment he followed his orders that November. But he gained Sergeant Pham when he'd convinced her that this job would be in her best interests for her son. Some would call it manipulation. He'd call it getting her to see what was best for her. 

Why won't she look at him?

"Hey." Phillip says quietly. "Annie." 

She turns to him, the dim lamp illuminating her face, her expression empty if not inconvenienced.

"...Stay with me." He says, and he swears he sees her eyes show some sort of emotion.

"I have to get up at-"

"Please." His voice cracks at the end. Her pause seems eternal before she crawls back into the sheets with him. She still doesn't face him, but his arms wrap around her waist and he pulls her close, sighing. 

"I love you." He says again. "I missed you so much, Ann." 

Minutes of silence. He's almost ready to just let himself hold her close until he falls asleep and wakes up without her there when he faintly hears her speak.

tags: MW3 SPOILERS! Phillip is a manipulative little shit, semi? canon compliant, Literally Anna why are you still with him, Domestic Phillip, Fluff(ish?), toxic ass relationship, Anna why are you doing this babygirl

summary: Phillip comes home post trial.

If anyone has the balls to lie to Congress, it's Graves. He'd do what it took to survive. Always a loophole or way to escape for a man like him.

He was gonna fly home today. Anna was too busy trying to make dinner and make sure her son Tommy was asleep. His little hat sticks to his head, tiny cat ears at the top. He looked so much like Anna, she wondered if his biological father's DNA did any work.

If anyone had the heart to raise a son that wasn't his, she was surprised it was Graves.

When Phillip comes home, Tommy’s crying stops. He loosens his tie and takes the boy into his arms, the baby chewing on his mittens.

He speaks so softly to him, its almost unrecognizable from him. “Heya bud…”

“He saw you on the TV earlier and got excited.” Anna says quietly, turning her cheek reluctantly as Graves comes and leans in for a kiss.

“Did he now?" Phillip's lips form into a toothy grin. "You see daddy win?” He coos to Tommy, patting Phillip's cheek with his tiny hands.

“...Don’t do that.” Anna says a bit too harshly.

He tilts his head, still bouncing little Tommy in his arms.

“Do what?”

“Call yourself his father.” She says, looking at her son in his arms, not wanting to admit how nice the sight was.

“I’m the closest thing this boy’s gon’ get to one, Annie. Might as well make it official.” He declares, and he braces for her to tell him she never agreed to anything like that again- but that never came. He finally wore her down in that argument.

She doesn’t yell this time. Good. He takes it as it closer to her eventual acceptance to his proposal of adopting the boy and giving him his last name. Tommy Graves did have a nice ring to it.

That's how you won with his Annie, you wore her down until she relented. It's how he fought, and how he hunted and how he loved.

He'd convinced her to do so much already, all thanks to the bundle of joy.

Join his Company? Why for the benefits and the financial protection for her son of course!

Move in with him? It's a much better home compared to the apartment she was staying in! Safer too.

Marry him? It's only the natural thing, right? Didn't she want her son to have a father figure? To have someone take care of her?

He was doing this all for her. Why couldn't she accept that?

"I'll go fix you a plate then." She mumbles,

"That'd be nice, baby. Thank you."

Anna would never say it to his face, but he's got this dad thing way more down than she ever could. A year ago this would've been her perfect life. But playing house with Phillip after everything he'd done felt like a mockery of the woman she used to be. Of the very foundation of love itself.

And yet she still makes him dinner. Still lives in his arguably nicer place, let's him try to earn her forgiveness with pretty things and let's him hold her son.

Because despite everything he's done… even though her autonomy and mind feels like a puppet on a string,

hes still right. This is a good life for her son, for her.

And as much as she wants to keep fighting it, she knows eventually she'll cave and just accept his proposal, and he can have what he wants:

His Annie. A family.

Because everything he wanted, he managed to make it what she wanted, too.

"...I love you." Those blue eyes look up at her so sweetly as she places his dinner at the table, Tommy in his highchair and Anna sitting across from him, sighing.

"I know." She replies, worn down by all of this.

Eventually, he'd get her to say it back.