For those who have read my story 'Scars on Fifty's Cupcake' you will notice that the children have the same names in both. This is because I couldn't think of any other names I liked so I chose to use the same names. Please note, however, that the two stories are not related as you will have either already figured out or will figure out later on.
Chapter 1: A Very Happy Family
Christian and Anastasia Grey had everything they could possibly want. They had each other, four wonderful children, external family they adored and who adored them. A lovely home, money, staff, security. They even had immaterial things, happiness, love, passion. They were, putting it simply, a happy couple with a happy family. Three sons and a daughter. Four beautiful children who were happy children and they adored each other.
It was Saturday evening and the young looking couple were curled up on the sofa watching their ten, five and three year old sons playing with their eight year old daughter. Teddy and Phoebe were trying to teach their younger brothers how to do forward rolls on the thick duvet their father had placed down on the floor so if they fell while messing around, they had a soft landing. All four children were giggling, causing Ana to giggle, creating music to Christian's ears. His favourite sound in the entire world was the happy noises his family made, it was much better than his perfect playing on the piano.
"Come on, Nicky!" Teddy said, happily. "Put your head on the floor and roll over it. It's easy." He got on the floor and did another forward roll; while Nick seemed to be getting frustrated he could push his weight over.
"Daddy can do roly polies!" Phoebe squealed excitedly, looking over to her parents cuddled together watching them. She stood up and ran over pulling on Christian's hand. "Daddy, will you do a roly poly?" she asked sweetly giving him her best puppy dog eyes. Those sweet grey eyes that can make him do anything she wanted. The boys stood up and joined in the staring sweetly, even Ana turned to look at him, her blue eyes opened. She knew Christian played with the children when on the floor but she'd never seen him do a roly poly.
"Well, daddy?" she asked giggling. He laughed his carefree laugh that she loved so much, kissed her temple and slid of the sofa to join his children on the floor.
"Ok, daddy will do a roly poly," he said. "Then he will help Nicky and James." He finished, before whispering something in Phoebes ear, causing her to giggle some more. Rolling over on their spacious living room the children burst into more fits of giggles. Phoebe ran over to Ana, still curled up on the sofa admiring her family, and pulled on her hand to get her to join in. Christian was holding Nick and swinging him around before sitting back down and holding him while he done a forward roll.
"Mommy, sing for us!" Phoebe squealed when she pulled Ana onto the blanket. Ana's cheeks went red as she looked over to her husband who was smirking at her. She used to sing for her children when they were toddlers to help them sleep. She never thought she could sing so she only done it when the children were too young to remember.
"Phoebe, mommy can't sing. Get daddy to sing for you." She said gently.
"No, daddy doesn't have a pretty voice like you!" the eight year old said giving her mother the same puppy dog eyes she gave her father not too long ago. Ana sighed and pulled her daughter into her arms.
Christian looked up again when he heard his daughter laughing loudly than she was before and saw that his wife was tickling her. He smiled. Times like this, with his family, were the good times he wouldn't change for anything. Phoebe was begging for mercy in between breaths before Ana finally took pity and stopped. Grinning even wider, Christian whispered in Ted's ear who passed the message onto his other brothers who all grinned and giggled again. Crawling over to his wife and daughter, Christian took them into his arms and started the tickling torture on the pair of them, Ted, Nick and James running over to join in.
"Christian... stop... it!" Ana pleaded.
"Daddy!" Phoebe squealed. Stopping his ticking, he took his family into his arms, as best he could, and held them tight.
"I love you all," he whispered. "Now, mommy, aren't you going to sing our children a song before they go to bed? It is getting toward eight o'clock after all. And it looks like James has already started to fall asleep." He said looking at his now exhausted three year old, who somehow managed to curl up on Ana's lap.
"I suppose so. But you owe me one, Grey," she whispered the last part and he grinned. Stroking her hand through James' soft coppery brown hair, a mixture of his parents, she started to softly sing one of the children's favourite songs from when they were much younger. Christian switched on the iPod station that was in the room and the soft music to Heather Dale's 'One of Us' started to play. Ana started to sing.
"Before I got to fighting (or when fighting got to me)
I looked to find examples on the field of chivalry
And I saw mighty arms much stronger than my arms could ever be
So I thought perhaps the field was not for me
But still I stayed and watched the fighting 'til one figure stood apart
In armour newly fashioned and a helm more pot than art
But each blow was thrown with honour and a lightness of the heart
So I took that step which soon became a start,"
Standing up with James in her arms she balanced him on one hip, his arms around her neck, and held out her free hand for Phoebe, who took it and let Ana lead her upstairs to bed while she was still singing. Christian followed carrying Nick and holding Teddy's hand.
"'Cause she was not the biggest fighter nor one to raise a fuss
But I remember being proud that she was one of us
And we might never stand together in the shield-wall side by side
But because of her I lift my sword with pride,"
She was ladylike and lively, not the type you would expect
With a braver heart than many and a slot-shot to respect
I guess she'd once decided this was where she'd like to be
And I thought if she could do it, why not me
'Cause she was not the biggest fighter nor one to raise a fuss
But I remember being proud that she was one of us
And we might never stand together in the shield-wall side by side
But because of her I lift my sword with pride"
The iPod was connected to all the stations in the house, Christian somehow managed it, so the music could be heard all the way up the stone staircase to each of the children's bedroom. Placing James on his bed and tucking him in, she continued to sing and led each of her children to their bedroom.
"So now as I gather armour, bits and pieces here and there,
I think about examples: how you act, and what you dare
'Cause you never know who's watching or how far that story goes
And where're that Lady is I hope she knows
'Cause she was not the biggest fighter, nor one to raise a fuss
But I remember being proud that she was one of us
And we might never stand together in the shield-wall side by side
But because of her I lift my sword with pride
We may never stand together in the shield-wall side by side
But because of her I lift my sword with pride!"
Tucking the final child into bed, Ana and Christian watched from the doorway as Teddy fell asleep as she finished her song. Turning to her husband, Ana let out a sigh of relief. "You, Mr. Grey, are still full of surprises." She grinned.
"What do you mean, Mrs. Grey?" he grinned back.
"You told Phoebe to ask me to sing for them didn't you?" he grinned again but said nothing. "Well, you owe me one for that, Grey."
"I would be happy to oblige." Smiling she placed a hand over his, which was skimming her body in his sexual predator way.
"No. I think I will punish you for that and decide not to let you have your wicked way with me, tonight," she said flirtingly. His eyes widened and he started to pout. He had the same effect on her when as she did on him when she bit her lip. "Don't pout. It's childish. I'm going to clean up downstairs." She grinned even wider.
"I will have you, Anastasia. I always do." He whispered. Kissing his cheek, she quickly walked away, but he caught her and carried her to their bedroom. Giggling she started to struggle, slapping his backside from her position over his shoulder, only to receive a sharp, quick slap on hers. Shaking her head, she stopped struggling while waiting for him to put her down. He only did so on their bed.
"Well, Mr Grey. Now that you have me, what are you going to do with me?" she asked.
"I'm going to undress you, very slowly, and then I'm going to take my sweet time making love to you." He replied, seductively, kissing and sucking on her neck. Before she knew it, he had taken her clothes off and was loving her as slowly and as sweetly as possible, savouring her, until they both fell asleep on each other, rather content with life.
... ... ...
Ana woke to someone tugging her hand on Sunday morning. Opening her eyes she saw Teddy standing in front of her with wide blue eyes. He looked scared and worried. Glancing at the digital clock next to her bed she realised it was nearly nine in the morning. Christian was still wrapped around her. Looking back to her son, Ana tried to speak, but due to just waking up her voice sounded croaky.
"What's the matter, Teddy?" she asked.
"You and daddy aren't up yet. You're always up early to eat breakfast with us but you're still in bed. Are you ok?" he asked concerned. Ana smiled, gently. Teddy was such a loving child who always liked to make sure everyone else was ok and had learnt his parent's routines, to a certain extent.
He knew, for example, the exact time they would get up each morning. What time they would wake him and his siblings. What they like to eat for breakfast and the time they eat. When they leave for work, when they get home from work, dinner time, going to their private offices to finish work while he did homework before they finally spent an hour or two with him and his siblings before everyone went off to bed. Because he was so used to this routine, he worried when something is different in it. Like the fact his parents have slept in over an hour later than usual.
"We're fine, Teddy. I guess mommy and daddy were more tired than they realised. Why don't you go get your brothers and sister to wake up daddy?" she suggested and Teddy smiled, running out of the bedroom to find his siblings. Christian didn't stir at all. He must be really tired.
Two minutes later, Teddy returned with his brothers, no Phoebe, and they all ran and jumped on the bed telling Christian to wake up. Opening his eyes Christian smiled at the sight of his sons joining them, James being pulled into Ana's arms.
"Who disturbs my slumber?" he whispered like the cave in the Disney film 'Aladdin', one of the children's favourite films.
"We do!" Teddy laughed before turning serious. "Mommy, daddy I don't think Phoebe's well. I went to get her up but she was pale, lying in bed, crying that she didn't feel well." Christian and Ana looked at each other, before Ana moved James off her to check on her daughter. She returned two minutes later looking worried.
"Boys, will you go back downstairs and ask Gail to get you some breakfast, then go and get dressed please? Teddy, hold James' hand. Christian, I think you should come and see Phoebe," she said. They all did so and Christian found his baby girl curled up on bed crying her little eyes out. Kneeling next to her he stroked her cheek and asked gently what the matter was.
"My... tummy... h-hurts," she cried. She looked so cute and innocent like this but it was breaking Christian's heart to see her in pain. Ana knelt down next to him.
"It's ok, baby. Mommy and daddy will look after you," she said gently. Christian felt her forehead; she was really warm so he naturally started to panic.
"I'm going to go call my mother," he said. "Will you stay with her?"
"Of course I will. Go on,"
"Daddy, don't go!" Phoebe pleaded. He kissed her forehead and promised he would be right back. Going back to his room he grabbed his BlackBerry and dialled Grace's number.
"Christian?" she asked, shock and worry clear in her voice. He very rarely called her when he did; it was normally because one of the children was ill. "What's wrong?"
"Phoebe's ill and we're worried about her. She feels really warm and she's crying uncontrollably, complaining about stomach pains." He answered.
"Has she been throwing up?" she asked.
"I don't think so. Are you able to come over and have a look at her, please? I'm really worried."
"Yes. Give me some time shower and get over there. I should be an hour tops." He thanked her and hung up, going back to Phoebe's room. Kneeling down next to Ana he told her that Grace was on her way.
"Christian, she doesn't need to come all the way here. I'm sure we could have managed on our own." Ana scolded as Phoebe suddenly sat up and vomited over the edge of the bed, narrowly missing her parents. Christian felt her forehead and she was getting warmer and ordered Ana to get the thermometer. When she came back the found that her temperature was too high and got Phoebe to settle back down in bed.
As promised, an hour later, Grace turned up and saw to her granddaughter. Ana had gone downstairs to see the boys while Christian stayed with Phoebe. Grace seemed to be worried and that made Christian even more so.
"Mom, what's wrong?"
"I think we should get her to hospital. I think this may be appendicitis." Grace said, professionally. "Pack her a small bag of clothes while I ring for an ambulance. Then go and tell Ana. I'm sure she'll want to know," she said before taking her phone out and phoning for an ambulance. Christian quickly packed Phoebe a bag with clothes, her favourite pyjamas and a couple of her cuddly toys, including her fluffy Erik penguin from her favourite film 'Happy Feet Two'.
Once he'd done this he went downstairs to find his wife and sons laughing at the breakfast bar. Walking up to her, he quietly told her what was happening and she started to worry. "Appendicitis?" she asked. He nodded. "Shall I come with you to the hospital?"
"I think one of us should stay with the boys. I'll go and I'll call you if anything happens." He said kissing her forehead as the ambulance turned up. He led them to Phoebe's room where Grace was trying to calm her down as she was still crying uncontrollably. She turned the paramedics walked in and tried talking to the eight year old while they moved her onto a stretcher to move her to the ambulance to take her to the hospital.
Ten minutes after they turned up the ambulance was driving off again, with Phoebe and Christian inside. Grace said she would follow behind in her car. Ana stayed with her sons and tried to cheer them up.
"Right then, boys. What do you want to do today?"
"Mommy, what's wrong with Phoebe?" Teddy asked. Ana smiled gently.
"She's not feeling very well, so she's gone to stay with people who can look after her. You don't need to worry, Teddy bear, she's going to be fine," she answered. Teddy just nodded and decided not to push the matter.
Teddy had the 'gift of sight'. He observed everything to try and make sense of it and if he thought it wasn't good he would alert his parents. He also saw people's behaviours and feelings of other people, especially his mother and siblings. His father was harder to read. He could see that Ana didn't want to talk about what was happening with Phoebe. "So what shall we do today?" she asked again and Teddy grinned.
"Ice cream!" he shouted and Nick and James squealed in agreement. Christian only let the children have ice cream in the evening after dinner and that was only on Friday and Saturday evenings. He wanted them to eat as healthily as possible and decided ice cream wasn't healthy enough to eat all the time. Ana smiled knowing she shouldn't deny her sons this as Phoebe wasn't well and she didn't want to tell them anything.
"If we get ice cream, you must promise not to tell daddy," she whispered as if Christian was still there, listening in. The boys all nodded, even James who appeared to be very intelligent for a three year old. Standing up, Ana started to gather their coats and put them on them before slipping into her new designer black coat Christian bought her for her birthday. She picked up James and put him in one of their strollers; it had two seats in it so she put Nick in next to him. Even though Nick was five years old, he had trouble listening to his parents instructions when they go out so he often gets put in the stroller until he can be trusted. Ana didn't want to deal with bad behaviour so she just put him in until they arrived at the ice cream parlour.
When the boys were sorted, Ana called to Sawyer and alerted him of their plan. He smiled and said he'd follow and get Ryan to take a car and meet them there, in case they want to drive back. It was a long(ish) walk after all.
"Teddy, hold onto the stroller for mommy and don't let go until I tell you and you can have extra sprinkles on your ice cream," Ana told her oldest son who quickly ran up and held onto the pushchair. "Good boy. So are you all ready?" they all nodded and they were off. Teddy watched as Ana's bracelet jingled as she walked. It was the bracelet Christian gave her for her twenty-second birthday, the first birthday she was with him. The kids loved watching it glisten and jingle in the sun in summer. After ten minutes of walking Nick started making noises and screaming that he wanted to walk. Not being able to calm him down, Ana stopped walking and knelt down in front of him, telling Teddy to stay where he was.
"Nick, stop with the crying or you can't have any ice cream topping," she warned. If Christian was there he would say he wouldn't be allowed any ice cream at all if he carried on but Ana's heart would break at the others having ice cream and not him.
"I want to walk!" he said stubbornly. Ana sighed.
"If I let you walk, you must hold onto the stroller and not let go at all, do you understand?" she sounded like a strict mother. But she was really just worried. Christian was the one to do the stern talks, but he was at the hospital with their daughter. Nick just nodded and Ana let him out of the pram. Holding his hand and making him hold onto the bar they continued walking. Ten minutes later, they arrived at the ice cream parlour, but had to wait twenty minutes before it opened for lunch. Not wanting to wait around for twenty minutes, Ana took the boys into the neighbouring toy store, letting them pick out a toy each to give to Phoebe to make her feel better.
Teddy, behaving himself, stayed close to his mother asking to go to different parts of the store so they could look at the different toys. Nick, however, decided to test her patience and kept running off. She was thankful Sawyer had followed them as he carried Nick back every time. After the third time Ana had enough. Kneeling in front of him, she looked into his eyes.
"Nick, if you do not stop running off I will hold onto your hand for the rest of the day or put you back in the stroller, do you understand?" she said. Nick was grinning like an idiot but nodded his head regardless. However, as soon as she stood up again, he ran in the opposite direction. Quickly catching his wrist, she pulled him back and put him in the stroller again. He naturally started crying loudly in the middle of the store but she ignored him and went back to helping Teddy decide between the two cuddly toys he wanted to give his sister; a cuddly 'Mumble' penguin from 'Happy Feet' to go with her Erik penguin and a 'Me-to-You' bear holding a heart with 'special sister' written on it. As they couldn't decide, they decided to get her both.
"Right then, boys, shall we go get ice cream, or do you want to stay longer?" Ana asked checking her watch.
"Stay longer!" Teddy said and pointed to a toy train set. Ana smiled and they wandered over there. "We should get this for daddy," Teddy commented and James laughed in agreement. He was a very smart three year old. Ana laughed.
"Does that mean we should get it for daddy to play with, or get it for daddy to give to Teddy?" she asked wrapping her arms around him and tickled him playfully.
"Both!" Ana just continued to laugh and agreed. Sawyer picked up one of the boxes of the toy train set and watched as he tried to carry that, the two toys Ted picked up for Phoebe, the teddy bear James wanted and the bag full of superhero action figures Nick was getting. Laughing at his struggling she whispered in Teddy's ear.
"Why don't you help Sawyer carry all those toys?" she said and he ran over to take the cuddly toys of their security member. As she pushed the stroller passed the book area of the shop, Nick tried to reach out and grab one. Realising this is what Nick wanted all along; she knelt down to see what book it was. "Is this what you wanted the whole time?" she asked and he nodded. She sighed. "Why didn't you just tell mommy that you wanted to look at the books? We could have come over here sooner and mommy wouldn't have put you back in the stroller." She said and he shrugged. She looked down at the book he picked up. Roald Dahl's 'Charlie and the Chocolate Factory'. Looking back up she smiled and gave it to Teddy to carry before letting Nick out of the stroller again. "Hold onto the stroller for mommy like you did when we were outside." She said as she walked over to pay for their purchases.
When they finally arrived at the ice cream parlour Ana was relieved to sit down after ordering the boys favourite ice cream. She and Teddy were talking about all the fun things he would be doing in school next week when Christian phoned. She was comforted when he told her Phoebe was going to be fine. Grace had decided to operate and remove her appendix once it was confirmed that was the cause of making her ill. She was now stuck in a hospital bed for at least three days so Grace can keep an eye on her. Phoebe had a habit of being a worst case scenario when it came to being ill. "Would you like to speak to your sons?" Ana asked when they had finished talking. She put Ted on the phone and he and Christian were talking about their solar powered toy plans which Teddy decided would be a new project in Christian's business. Nick talked Christian about his new book and the toys they bought for Phoebe while James just made random noises that most three-year-olds make before the phone was hung up.
The ice cream was finished and the mother and sons went for a quick walk to the park before going home. Ana's feet were aching so they took the car back with Ryan and Sawyer. Christian stayed with their baby girl all day and all night seeing Ana briefly when Gail offered to watch the boys for a few hours. The boys wanted to go see Phoebe as well but Ana decided to leave her to rest and they could go tomorrow. For now, she would go alone.
Seeing Phoebe pale and sleeping in the hospital broke her heart but also gave her a peace of mind. Phoebe was only sleeping and she wasn't in any pain. Christian wrapped his arms around his wife and held her close to his chest, kissing her cheek from behind.
"She's fine baby. She's not in any pain and the operation went well. We just got to wait for her to wake up now."
"I hope it doesn't take too long. I'm going to bring the boys by tomorrow. They have some presents for her," she replied.
"Oh yes, that reminds me. What business took you to town today, Mrs Grey?" he asked, playfully.
"Oh, you know. Daughter was ill, trying to keep sons busy. They wanted to go to the toy store, I just couldn't refuse." She grinned.
"Did that visit include the ice cream parlour?" she giggled and nodded. "I thought the children weren't allowed ice cream if it's not Friday night?"
"They were worried about Phoebe. And that ice cream is good stuff," she turned and kissed him. "Don't go pulling out your hair over a bit of sugar, husband of mine." He wasn't angry at her, she was just reassuring him. Of what, neither were really sure. "I better get home. You look after my only daughter," they kissed before she left. Christian sat by her bed again and took her hand, gently stroking the back of it with his thumb. After some time she opened her eyes, though he could tell she was exhausted.
"Daddy?" she whispered. "Am I ok, now?" he smiled, nodded and let out a sigh of relief. He assured her that she was fine and that she was in the hospital. Although, natural Grey genes meant she wasn't happy about that. "Can I go home? I want to go home and see mommy." Christian just shook his head and said she wasn't well enough to go home just yet. This just made her more upset and she started to cry. "But I want to play hide-and-seek tonight! Teddy said we could and he would let me hide this time!" she cried.
"I know baby, but you're not well enough right now. When you're feeling better you can play hide-and-seek to your heart's content," he tried. She just sat up straight, ignoring the pain in her side.
"I'm feeling better now. Can we go?" he just grinned and made her lay back down. She still felt warm so the doctor wanted to keep her in until the fever had gone down. However, trying to explain that took some time, but he stayed calm. Actually, he had never managed to stay so calm when telling his kids they couldn't do something so he made a mental reminder to tell Ana. When he'd finished explaining everything to her, he realised she had fallen asleep. Am I really that boring? He asked himself but smiled anyway. It was good to see her her resting. She was as stubborn as Ana was.
As promised the next day, the boys went to visit their sister once they'd finished school. She was so happy when Teddy gave her the cuddly toys and tried to jump up to hug him but Christian held her back. She was so restless and bored, being confined to bed. She decided that her father couldn't stay much longer.
"Daddy, you smell. You should go home," she said grinning and her mother and brothers burst into laughter.
"She's got you there Christian," Ana said. "Why don't you go home, shower, get changed and come back tomorrow after work and I'll stay here?" he didn't like that idea, but thought it may be good to spend some time with his sons since he hadn't seen them in over twenty-four hours.
"Ok, I will, but you, young lady, are not to get out of bed. I will know," he said directly to Phoebe, tapping her nose with his index finger before kissing her forehead. She rolled her eyes causing Ana to laugh and Christian trying to look unimpressed but his smile couldn't hold itself back. He shook his head a bid farewell to his wife before leaving his girls alone.
... ... ...
Thursday afternoon, Grace had declared Phoebe well enough to go home, but she still needed to rest. Ana decided to take the day off work to stay with her, with James. They sat in her bedroom, watching her favourite Disney movies while playing with each other's hair, Barbie and princess dolls. James just sat on the bed his eyes fixed on the small flat screen TV Christian had installed. He didn't normally let his children have TV's in their bedroom at such a young age, but he had this one put up so Phoebe wouldn't be bored lying in bed all day.
Teddy and Nick arrived home from school around three thirty and Ted went to his room to do his little bit of homework, while Nick went to sit with Phoebe, Ana and James. When Ted was finished with his math questions he also joined them, just as Ana was putting one of Phoebe's favourite movies on; 'Happy Feet'. They all sat or lay down on the bed squashed closely together, laughing like the happy family they were. When 'Happy Feet' finished Ana put the 'Happy Feet Two' DVD on, Phoebe's favourite film of all time. Just as she hit the 'play' button, there was a knock at the door and Christian poked his head in.
"Excuse me, have you seen my wife, sons and daughter?" he asked jokily. They all looked up and Nick jumped off the bed to hug his father. He looked at the TV screen and then to his daughter. "Again?" he asked and she nodded happily.
"Erik is so cute, daddy!" she said.
"Would you like to join us daddy?" Ana asked, laughing. Christian just nodded and walked over to slide onto the bed, moving Phoebe so he could sit behind her and had her sit between his legs. Ana snuggled up next to him, James in her lap with Teddy and Nick lying on their tummy's on top of the duvet while they all watched Erik slip and land head first in the ice. The boys started laughing when he started to pee and couldn't stop but Phoebe just quoted Bo saying; "It's not funny!"
When the song 'Bridge of Light' came on, Ana started to sing quietly to her babies.
"That's when you can build a bridge of light,
That's what turns the wrong so right
That's when you can't give up the fight
That's when love turns night time into day,
That's when loneliness goes away,
That's why you gotta be strong tonight,
Only love can build us a bridge of light."
Phoebe smiled at her mommy and leaned up to kiss her cheek. She loved listening to her sing and decided to join in. Christian smiled and closed his eyes listening to his girls singing, beautifully. Even the boys turned to watch them as they sang together. When they finished they just giggled and continued to watch the movie. By the end of it, Phoebe was falling asleep against Christian's chest and Gail knocked on the door to alert them dinner was ready.
"Phoebe, baby. Come on, let's go and eat dinner then you can come back up to bed," Christian said. Phoebe nodded and he carried her down to the dining room. He sat her in her chair, next to him, and they ate Gail's delicious macaroni and cheese. The conversation was light and Phoebe picked at her food, still feeling a little ill. She hadn't eaten much since she went to hospital and Christian was starting to worry. "Phoebe, will you just eat your dinner and stop picking at it?" he snapped, immediately regretting it when he saw her tear up. "I'm sorry baby. Are you not hungry? You haven't eaten much."
"My tummy still hurts." She said quietly. He took her fork and split her food up into two portions, telling her to eat the smaller one and he'd say no more. She attempted the smaller portion and he was pleased to see she ate all of it. He smiled at her and she gave him one of her famous, everyday, bright grins, before yawning. When everyone had finished dinner, Christian scooped his little girl into his arms and carried her back up to her bedroom, putting her into bed. After putting on one of her CD's that he and Ana had made of Ana singing softly, he kissed her forehead and she drifted off into a peaceful sleep.
"Goodnight, my little princess."
When he went back downstairs, he thought he'd set up the train set Teddy had bought for them to play with while Ana put James and Nick to bed. It was seven thirty and Ted went to bed at eight. Eight thirty if he was lucky.
"You two look like your having fun," Ana said as she walked back in and sat on the sofa, picking up her sketch pad.
Ana had started drawing not long after Teddy was born, when she was on maternity leave and didn't have anything to do and couldn't read because she would get distracted too easily. One day she picked up her notepad and a pencil and decided to try doodling to help pass time when her son was napping. Somehow, though, she managed to draw an accurate picture of her sleeping baby and therefore, started to draw most evenings to remember these happy memories. There were some of her drawings hung up in Christian's office, mainly an individual picture of their four beautiful children.
Once she finished sharpening her pencil, she continued the drawing she had started the night before of her eldest son and her husband on the floor playing with the toy train set. They were busy finishing laying the tracks down before the trains could be out.
"Where does this piece go Teddy?" Christian asked holding up a curvy piece of track. Ted pointed to the spot in front of him and Christian leaned forward to put it down. Once Ted had put the final track piece down, Christian got out two trains. A blue and a green one. Teddy took the blue one and attached it to the track and Christian done the same with the green one. Ana laughed as they started driving their trains around picking up 'passengers' from the platforms and racing each other around. It reminded her of a father and son playing cars together on a TV programme she'd once watched, except this father and son had trains. Christian had his train get up close to Teddy's train and start going "choo-choo!" causing him to laugh. Looking at the clock Ana realised it was eight forty-five. Way passed Teddy's bedtime.
"Boys, I think it's time for bed now. It's eight forty-five." They looked at her as if she'd grown another head.
"Mommy!" they both moaned. She had to laugh at her husband, but her heart broke when she looked at Ted. He really didn't want to go to bed, but he had school in the morning. She knew she was going to be the bad guy in this situation and Christian was having far too much fun playing with his son's toys. Maybe she could persuade him to play with their own toys in bed tonight?
"Yes, Teddy. It's getting late and you have school tomorrow. You've been playing with daddy for over an hour. You can play again tomorrow. Now pack it up please." She said. Teddy looked at his dad for help but Ana shot him a warning look. "Don't look at daddy as he's not going to help you. The only thing he will help you with is packing up the train set." Christian checked his watch and agreed with Ana.
"Come on, Ted. Let's go to bed. How about we leave it set up so it's ready when you get home from school?" Teddy just nodded in agreement and kissed his parents goodnight before leaving the room. Christian said he'd be up shortly to tuck him in properly. "Now, mommy. Do I have to go to bed too?" he asked seductively. Ana grinned.
"Only if you have some toys to play with, sir." She replied. He grinned.
"I'm sure I can sort something out. But first I think we should make sure all our children are in bed asleep. Then we can really have playtime." He teased, kissing her forehead.
Ten minutes later, the children had been checked on and the young couple were in their bedroom engaging in some rather explicit playtime. Ana's back arched as her husband teased her down there with his tongue and fingers and she gasped begging for mercy and begging for him to love her in their favourite way in the whole world. Him being buried inside her.
"I love you so much, Mrs Grey." He whispered to her. They were tangled together, her cheek resting on his chest.
"I love you too, Christian. More than you'll ever know," she whispered back.
"Don't ever leave me," she looked up to him.
"Never," she promised and kissed him. Soon they were lost in each other. She didn't know that one day, that promise would be broken. And that day would be arriving quicker than anybody realised.
... ... ...
Christian and Ana kept Phoebe at home on Friday but on Saturday morning she was up and jumping on them to get out of bed as if she was never ill in the first place.
"Come on mommy, daddy! Get up!" she squealed as her brothers walked in to join in the waking of their parents.
"Your children want you, Mr Grey," Ana mumbled sleepily.
"Before eight on a Saturday, they are your children, Mrs Grey." He replied.
"You said to me once you function on less sleep than I do, therefore right now, they're your children while I sleep," she giggled causing him to wrap his arms around her and tickle her.
"Really Mrs Grey? Hey kids?" he looked at his children. "Want to help daddy torture mommy?" he joked. The boys quite happily jumped on top of them and started their strange tickling. Phoebe just sat on the bed, arms crossed looking at her father with a stern look on her face, although it was a playful look.
"Daddy shouldn't torture mommy. Daddy should go and make breakfast," she said. Christian burst into laughter.
"I can tell your feeling better." He said, stopping his tickling torture on Ana and got out of bed. Picking up his daughter he ran down to the kitchen, Teddy and Nick following laughing. Gail was already cooking pancakes and smiled when she saw her employer and his children running around. When he settled Phoebe into a chair, he picked up Nick and settled him onto his own chair. Teddy climbed up onto his chair and Christian turned to find Ana carrying James and putting him in his highchair.
"Here you go kids," Gail said placing a plate of freshly cooked pancakes in front of each of them before putting out plate of fruit and chocolate chips. Christian put banana on Phoebe's plate, she always had a banana with her pancakes, Strawberries on Teddy and Nick's plates and a few chocolate chips on James' plate. He poured some syrup on his own pancake and saw Ana just eating some fruit on its own.
"Don't want any pancake, Mrs Grey?" he asked. She shook her head and claimed she didn't feel like eating pancake. When they all finished, Ana had decided to take Phoebe out for the day and give the boys some time to hang out.
"Where are you going to go?" Christian asked.
"I don't know yet, Christian. Stop worrying, nothing is going to happen. I'll have Sawyer and Marx with me. I'm thinking maybe the ice cream parlour to have the ice cream she missed out on last week."
"Just, make sure Sawyer and Marx stay nearby at all times, Ana. And ring me when you get there. You know how I worry."
"I know." She kissed him and slipped her coat on before getting Phoebe ready.
... ... ...
When mother and daughter arrived at the ice cream parlour they had already gone round to as many shops as Phoebe could drag Ana in to. Ana smiled as she watched Sawyer and Marx struggle to carry all Phoebe's shopping bags full of clothes and toys. She had insisted on buying Christian a new tie and bought each of the boys a thank you present for the ones they bought her when she was in the hospital. Teddy was bought a solar powered helicopter to match Christians one Ana had bought him, Nick the whole Roald Dahl collection and James had a new teddy bear.
"So, Phoebe, what do you want on your ice cream?"
"Chocolate!" the eight year old said happily. Ana ordered chocolate ice cream with chocolate chips and Phoebe quite happily ate it all. When she finished Ana took her hand and they went for a walk in the park. Sawyer and Marx quickly took the shopping bags back to the car, leaving Ana and Phoebe alone for no more than two minutes. However it was two minutes too long.
Before anyone knew what was happening a gunshot replaced the peace and quiet of the park. Phoebe looked up and saw a grey haired man with dark eyes tuck the gun away and run in the opposite direction before she felt her mother pull her hand down to the floor. Looking down at her, Phoebe saw that Ana was bleeding in the chest really bad.
"Mommy?" she asked. Ana smiled at her weakly and Phoebe realised that she had, in fact, been shot. "Mommy!" she screamed this time.
"Phoebe," Ana whispered. Sawyer and Marx appeared behind Phoebe taking in the situation. Sawyer looked at Marx and Marx took out his phone to ring Taylor. Sawyer knelt down next to Phoebe. "Sawyer, look after her." Ana barely whispered. " I love you, baby." A tear slipped down her cheek and she closed her eyes. She let out one last breath before she went completely limp. Phoebe put her head on Ana's chest.
"Mommy, come on. Get up!" she cried. As Sawyer picked up the little girl, it only caused her to scream out and fight against him.
"Sawyer. Taylor and Mr Grey are on the way and I've called the police." Marx said. Sawyer just nodded and pulled Phoebe close, wrapping his arms tightly around her.
"Go and search the area for the murderer!" he ordered. He looked at his friend and boss. After what felt like a lifetime, the police arrived closely followed by Taylor and Christian. Taking one look at his wife Christian fell to his knees and took his daughter into his arms, squeezing her tighter than necessary.
"Ana." He cried. Looking at Sawyer he stood up, Phoebe still in his arms. "What happened?!" he snapped.
Sorry but it was long enough as it was.
If I get a good response to this story I will update it. I already have a few chapters written out but I will only upload one a week so I can (hopefully) stick to a time frame so you're not waiting forever for a new chapter.
Please review and let me know what you think as I'm not sure if I should continue this one or not.
Also, if anyone can think of a better title, let me know as I'm not very good with coming up with them