Anna returned it eagerly, her toes curling in her boots. Okay, yeah, they needed to get off the streets. Like soon.

"Yes," Altair said, still looking at her and not letting her go anywhere. "I couldn't while you were my apprentice."

Ezio was thinking the same thing, and was already pulling her back towards the hideout. There were plenty of places there where they would be left alone for a while.

"Well, I'm not anymore," Iris pointed out, just a little teasingly. She leaned in and gave him a small kiss of her own.

Anna broke the kiss so that neither of them would run into anything, keeping her hand in his as she moved back to the hideout and shut the door after them.

Altair hummed his approval and kissed her with a little more force, pulling back only when it was necessary to breathe again.

"Exactly," he murmured. "Now I don't have to wait anymore."

As soon as they were in the hideout, Ezio pulled Anna into his room and shut the door. Now nobody would bother them.

"Good," Iris murmured in return, "because I don't want you to."

Altair smirked and very happily continued. That was one wish he would be happy to comply with. Especially since he got to investigate her tattoo in more detail.

---
Iris did indeed wake up the next morning sore in some very new places. But she also couldn't bring herself to mind much when she realized she was still snuggled up to Altair.

Ezio was pleased when he woke up and found Anna still next to him. Even asleep she was beautiful, and he gently brushed some of her hair out of her face.

Altair was already awake, running his fingers up and down her spine lightly. He'd already checked to be sure her neck had kept its mark, and he was feeling decidedly smug as he relaxed there.

Anna shifted a little when he did, but she didn't wake up just yet. She just made a little noise and settled down again closer to him.

"I think a long, hot bath is in order when we go back," Iris murmured softly as she snuggled closer to him. She didn't miss how his fingers brushed her tattoo every so often.

"Mmm." Altair smirked faintly. "There are tubs big enough for two," he murmured into her ear. Because that thought was very appealing.

"I know there are," Iris murmured back. She gave him a kiss. "But that would defeat the purpose of cleaning up and relaxing."

Altair almost pouted. Almost. But not quite.

"You can relax after," he pointed out. But he just settled down again. He figured they still had some time, after all.

In spite of her words, Iris snuggled a little closer and smiled just a little when she caught sight of the bruise she'd left on his neck. She wasn't sure it would show up against his skin.

Altair was content to stay there for a while. After all, there was no mission to get back to, nothing going on, and he very much intended to stay there until he had to move.

Iris stayed snuggled in for a while. The hot bath could wait until later. She was feeling lazy enough not to move for a bit.

Meanwhile, Ezio was lounging about in the same way, more than content to lay with Anna until she woke up.

Anna yawned and stretched, blinking a few times when she noticed she wasn't alone in bed. "Morning," she mumbled, shifting to get more comfortable. "I'm surprised you're not up and finding more buildings to jump off of."

"Buona mattina," Ezio replied softly. He kissed her forehead gently. "I like to think I am allowed to sleep in once or twice, especially when I have a beautiful woman with me." He grinned a bit.

Anna snickered. "Once or twice, huh? Doesn't seem like you're allowing yourself much with that." She stretched again, settling in there. "Besides, I thought you liked your daily dosage of death-defying feats."

"There are days I enjoy laying aside my blade," Ezio replied, letting her settle in. "All the more enjoyable because of their rarity. I was not born to the life of an Assassin, after all. I remember a time when I could be more or less carefree and not execute death-defying feats." He gave her a small, mostly-chaste kiss. "Much like I am right at this moment."

Anna smiled a little and hummed her satisfaction at that. "It's harder when you're not raised to it," she said quietly. "Altair doesn't know the difference. We do. It sort of shifts your perspective of the whole thing, doesn't it?"

"A bit," Ezio admitted. "I've wondered before how much easier it might have been had I been raised to the life."

"Look at Altair if you want to know the answer," Anna grumbled, rolling over onto her back and reaching over to play with the hair at the nape of his neck. "He was raised into it. I mean, even just walking his mannerisms practically scream banked violence and being damn good at what he does." And he still creeped her out, just a little.

"But do you suppose he has the same appreciation for regular people that we do?" Ezio pointed out, letting her play with his hair a bit.

"Not unless you think of people as non-targets or sheep," Anna said with a slightly bitter smile. "Or as obstacles, he's probably had that thought before too. Freaking creepy Arab."

Ezio snorted softly.

"I suppose there is a reason he is an unparalleled Mentor," he commented.

"Yeah, no." Anna shivered briefly, very glad they hadn't ended up in Altair's time instead of the Renaissance, and shifted. And now she wanted to shower. Or take a bath, since they didn't have showers.