As Teddy blew out the candles on his birthday cake - with Christian's help - I couldn't help but take about a thousand pictures. I just couldn't take my finger off the small button as I watched the two most important men in my life laughing so happily. It was always a novelty for Christian to laugh, but ever since Teddy was born, it was becoming less and less rare to see, much to my delight, and Christian's family. Teddy was a source of love and happiness in so many ways, and as his mother, I couldn't of been more happy than I was, reminiscing about how perfect he was as I choked back tears of happiness at the sight in front of me.
"Daddy!" Teddy squeals in excitement as Christian dips his finger in the icing and lightly taps him on the nose, marking him lightly with the white icing. Teddy instantly smashes both of his hands through his slice of cake and wipes them on Christian's face. I pale as I attempt to gauge Mr. Mercurial's reaction to Teddy's attempt as being as funny as his father. Oh boy, this could go either way.
Much to my relief, Christian laughs out loud as Teddy smushes the cake into his face. Jerking his head away, his laughing subsides into a lop sided grin reflecting what I think is a mix between amusement and pride. "Well at least he doesn't mind sharing." he says to the guests as he uses one of his many handkerchiefs to clean himself.
Kate and Elliot are laughing at Teddy's well timed assault, while Ava sits beside Teddy, helping him to eat the badly smushed mess of cake from the table. Mia is snapping pictures, just as I am, but is only taking what I'm sure are highly flattering shots of Ava and Teddy as they eat cake, and Carrick and Grace are doing what any doting grandparents would do - attempt to clean the mess around them. in the corner of my eye, I see Gail laughing to herself as she sets a tray of tea on the table and runs back for what I presume are more napkins.
Yes, its a fairly funny scene to behold from my perspective, as I stand to the side and watch as what can only be described as family anarchy unfolds, but I love every second of it. Who knew motherhood would be so rewarding? Sure, Grey Publishing was going strong, just on the brink of opening an office in London, and currently had a meeting list with exciting new authors spanning from early June straight through to February, but my family were so much more important. As much as I fought with Christian about wanting to go back to work, Ii had to admit that I missed Teddy desperately the first month I was back. My son and my husband are my universe, and coming home to them at the end of her day could only be described as pure bliss.
There bubble had gained a little, copper haired boy, and soon they would have a little girl to add to it.
"What are you thinking about, Mrs. Grey?" Christian whispers in my ear as he readjusts his collar. To this day, he still makes me blush when he calls me Mrs. Grey. Per my request, I have my team at Grey publishing call me by Ana, so the only real person that calls me by that name is Playful Christian and the security team (but just in Christian's presence). It still gives me shivers every time.
"Just about how perfect you and him are." I answer simply as I skim through the thousands of pictures I've taken of my little boys birthday so far. I'm using the Camera I purchased for my husband on our Honeymoon, but with all of our honeymooner photos saved to our private stash and deleted from the camera's gallery. Oh yes, we had built up quite the private stash of intimate photos since the purchase of this camera. I can't help but smirk at how brave I've gotten. No. How brave he's helped me to be.
"Hm. Hardly perfect baby." Christian playfully winks as he pecks my cheek and stalks off to the kitchen to presumably talk to Taylor who has been slyly helping his wife with the food. I honestly feel bad for those two, they've hardly been back from their honeymoon a few days and Christian puts them straight back to work. I know better than to argue with this though, as ever since Jack Hyde, I have never brushed off, or rolled my eyes at Christian's insistence with security.
I'm almost to the point of shuddering when Mia bounces towards me with her camera. "I have the cutest picture of those two Ana!" she announces as she shows it to me. It is quite cute actually, Teddy and Ava caught mid laughter as teddy puts cake in his hair. Oh what a fun bath night tonight will be, I giggle at the thought of me and Christian trying to wrangle our son for his bath tonight. "I love it, Mia." I whisper as I stare fondly at my little Teddy bear. "I'll blow this one up and frame it for you guys! I know how much you guys like your pictures!"
I know what she means, but my mind flickers to the secret stash, and my cheeks stain pink. I wonder at this point, who the kinkier one in this relationship is? Probably still Christian. I swiftly agree with Mia since my mind is wandering to delicious thoughts of me and my husband alone tonight, and getting farther and farther away from this birthday party.
As the evening is closing in on us and the sun twinkles brilliantly over the lake, we're all settled in the family room and we've done presents - and boy, have we done presents - and eaten cake, I can see Teddy growing more and more sleepy and cranky. Ava is not far behind Teddy, crawling into Grace's lap as she sucks her thumb. Teddy sees this and follows suit with Carrick, something the grandparents don't mind in the slightest. I offer Kate the use of our spare crib - even though Ava is a little passed that - if they wanted to put Ava down for a nap and have a drink, but they insist on keeping her schedule, and soon leave with an out for the count Ava. Kate and I exchange a quick hug, keeping in mind Ava in her arms, and Elliot and Christian exchange a quick word before Gail shows them out.
"I'll put him to bed dad." Christian announces as he notices Teddy is completely conked out. I spy the cake in his hair and the frosting on his face and frown. "Christian, attempt to clean his hair with the baby wipes as best you can when you put him down!" I say with a slight laugh as Christian picks him up and makes a face as he feels the cake on his head. Christian nods and tiptoes off to his bedroom while I'm left alone with Carrick, Grace and Mia. I'm still a little surprised by Ethan skipping out on the birthday party, but Mia and Ethan have been on and off for a while now, and it seems that for the moment, they're off. If I had to make any guesses, they'd be back together by tomorrow afternoon. They never can stay too far apart.
"Thank you so much for Teddy's present," I finally say to Carrick and Grace after a welcome sip of tea. "Now I can't tell Christian he can't bring Teddy to work." I laugh at the sheer perfection of their gift; A Ted Baker suit complete with shoes and tie, that matches one of Christian's regular suits to a tee. Of course, I'm sure they knew Teddy wouldn't of been impressed with the suit, so they also opted for a second train for Teddy's new train set which he spent the entire day fiddling with.
"Oh I'm just glad it fit!" Grace announces as she nibbles on a piece of shortbread. Carrick is smiling to himself as he sips his own coffee. "Do you think Christian will be bringing Teddy to work tomorrow?"
Giggling, I answer, "Oh Grace, I don't think anything could stop him. Anyway I think that would work out for the best tomorrow, I have an appointment tomorrow to check on this little ones progress." I gently caress my stomach and smile, knowing she's probably asleep.
"Oh, oh!" Mia pipes up as her attention is finally ripped from her phone, "Do you know if its a boy or a girl yet? If its a girl you could name it Natalie! I love that name!" Mia practically squeals as she puts her phone away.
"Nope, me and Christian want to be surprised." I smile apologetically as I see her face fall and return to her phone. Most likely texting Ethan as is the normal when they're 'off'.
"Well, weither its a boy or a girl, Teddy will make a fantastic big brother." Carrick adds on a laugh. "Hes exactly like Christian!"
I smile and heartily agree because its so true. Teddy has been so protective of me since explaining that he will be a big brother soon and will have to take care of his new brother or sister soon. He seems excited for his new responsibility but who knows if he actually understands.
Christian eventually rejoins us and I can see on his face that hes exhausted. I'm not too far behind him actually, and clearly its evident on our faces, as Carrick and Grace say their good nights and drag a highly reluctant Mia with them. We see them to the door and watch their car disappear from view out the front gate, before we practically jog bag to the family area and practically collapse on the couch. "Thank god for Gail." I whisper into Christian's neck as I close my eyes, thanking the lord that we can afford the help as I see that she's cleaned the kitchen and picked up all the wrapping paper and toys from the family room. Less for me to do tomorrow, thank god its Saturday night.
I'm struggling to pull my eyes open so we can go to bed but I feel his lips on my forehead and his arms come around me, pulling me into his lap. I sigh happily as I feel his lips kiss my nose, and then my lips gently. I sit up and kiss him more heartily, throwing my arms around his neck and pulling him closer. As per the norm, he puts one hand in my lower back, and the other flat on my stomach just how I like it. Gently he strokes my stomach and hums in appreciation. "Is Pheobe asleep?" he softly murmurs against my lips as he opts to kiss my neck while I muster up an answer out of my incoherent haze. "Mhmmm." Is all I can muster as I bite my lip to hold back a loud moan as he moves down to the top of my breasts, his teeth skimming the whole way.
"I don't want to wake her.." he mumbles between kisses, "but what I want to do to you next always does." he quickly picks me up and twirls me around once, making me giggle in anticipation. I can hardly wait to have my husband all to myself in our bed, as I'm sure is a mutual feeling at this point. he only gets 3 steps in before I hear the familiar clearing of Taylor's throat. I practically grown as Christian quickly sets me down and turns to Taylor. "Yes?" he practically barks. Poor Taylor.
"Sir, could you come with me for a moment to the security room?" He softly begs. I can tell theirs something up just by Taylor's tone, and I know Christian can too as he gives me a quick peck on the cheek and strides off to the room.
Sighing, I decide that this delay in our evening will give me a chance to check my work emails, as laptops, tablets and phones are on lock down - per my request - on Sunday's, as they're our family days. Firstly, I see one two emails from Hannah with a quick run down of my weeks most important meetings, including one with a new author that's quite promising - a Lisa Quinn, who has sent quite a promising manuscript that I couldn't put down when I received it. Definitely a first for me since working here. I type a quick thank you to Hannah and pull out my tablet, adding the changes Hannah's made to my calender, and Bookmark Lisa's meeting. The second email is about a request for time off all next week. I readily approve of it, as she's just sent me my entire schedule, and she's been a fantastic assistant since starting.
The next email is from Jacob McGuire - a lovely man who I've found more than suitable to manage the new Grey Publishing branch in London. Christian nearly ripped me a new one when he found I interviewed a man for the job, but quickly bit his tongue when I told him he was very much so gay, and had a husband and two daughters. I find his sense of humor and work ethnic to be exactly what Grey publishing needs in its second office, and considering the current email I'm reading has a total of eight paragraphs - one about the property contracts of the new building, and the other seven about wanting to meet up for drinks as soon as I'm in London after Pheobe's birth, how his girls are doing and asking me to get him a few Ralph Lauren Polo's for cheap in a store near me - hes clearly not in the business of trying to keep our relationship strictly professional. Something I'm immensely happy with, even if Christian isn't.
I'm smiling at a little inside joke he's included near the bottom when Christian looks as pale as a ghost. I quickly shut my laptop and leap up to get to him. "Christian, whats wrong?" I cautiously whisper.
"Ana, would you go up to our room and stayed there if I told you I needed to take care of something by myself?" He answers me just as cautiously.
I watch him for a moment, his face as impassive as ever. "If you told me exactly what you were doing, then yes."
"I can't."
"Then no."
Christian's face drops and he sighs deeply, running his fingers throw his hair. "Can you promise to be open minded?"
"About what?" I'm starting to get a little annoyed at his vagueness.
"About this."
"Christian, it doesn't need to be this difficult."
"Just.. please Ana." he's begging now. "Please just know I'm not doing this to hurt you, I'm doing this because I think something is generally wrong, and I can't go to sleep tonight, or ever, if I didn't try to help, but I know it'll hurt you either way and I just.. " Christian paces the family room, shaking his head vigorously as he finally comes to a stop in front of the fire place, facing away from me as he leans against the the marble frame.
I remain quiet as I see hes struggling to explain himself. "I just need to find out whats wrong, and try to fix it. I need to help."
I try to make sense of what he could possibly be talking about. Its obviously something I'm going to hate, obviously something he knows will upset me, but he feels some obligation to help, so I relent and walk up behind him, gently stroking his back. I place my cheek where I was stroking and snake my arms around him, hugging him from behind. "I'll try to be as understanding and patient with me as possible then Christian." I finally state.
I feel his shoulders sag and I feel him turn towards me. He still looks scared, but takes my hand with determination anyway, and leads me to the front door, where Taylor is waiting. Chrstian stiffly nods to Taylor, holding my hand in a firm grip. I want to tell him to ease up but as the door opens, my own hand turns into a vice grip.
Because standing there in our doorway, is Elena Lincoln.
"What the fuck are you doing here?" I say after a few moments silence. Christian looks at me with alarm, as I never curse. Clearly he knows this is not going to go well.
After a few more moments of silence, she speaks up. "I just need to speak to Christian." she whispers brokenly, and its at that moment that I finally look at her. Her eyes are puffy, and her cheeks are stained with tears. She's crying. I try hard to keep hostile, but I then see her clothes. Her once probably gorgeous white pantsuit is ripped and torn in all sorts of places, and I can see her holding her right wrist. I think I can see blood on it.
"Oh my god." I whisper, Christian looking down at me and then following my eye to her wrist. "Taylor get Amelie and tell her to bring her first aid kit." Christian orders as he leads Elena inside and shuts the door. Amelie is our newest edition to the live-in house staff, and while shes merely a pediatrician Christian hired after we found out Teddy had asthma shortly after his birth, that wasn't stopping him tonight.
He leads Elena to sit on the large chocolate brown L-shaped couch in our family room, as she sits and chokes back a sob as she asks him something. He quickly nods and walks out to the kitchen. I'm awkwardly left alone with the bitch troll. Injured and crying or not, she was still a trampy pedophile to me. But still, watching her cradle her wrist to her chest and quietly sob, it made me empathetic and more than a little sad.
"Is it bad?" I ask as she continues to stroke her wrist. She looks up cautiously, and tries to gauge if I'm angry or not, but my face conveys nothing but sympathy, and I can see a little tension leave her then and there. "Its not as bad now. I think its just sore from being twisted behind my back so fast."
What?
Amelie comes barreling down the stairs with Taylor calmly walking behind her. She's in a tank and shorts with a flowery Kimono gown over it, not the overly smart dressed doctor she usually is during the days shes here. Its strange to see honestly. She quickly introduces herself to Elena, which she does right back, and she gets to examining her wrist. Without an X-Ray, Amelie can only deduce that her wrist is sprained, but can't be sure. Christian comes back in with a glass of water and comes to hold my hand. I can tell by the look on his face that he thinks I'm going to rip my hand away, but surprisingly enough to the both of us, I let him, and we sit down on the opposite L-shaped couch, directly in front of her and Amelie. He pulls me close and strokes my stomach, something he knows well calms my nerves.
When Amelie finishes cleaning the blood off her wrist and begins to bind her wrist, she asks, "I don't see any cuts on your arm, where do you think this bloods from?"
"Here." Elena whispers and uses her other hand to push some hair over her shoulder, revealing a short but deep cut at the side of her next, up near her jaw line. I feel Christian's hand come to a stop for a second on my stomach, and then goes back to a softer rhythm.
Amelie puts some disinfectant on a fresh cotton ball and gently blots are the cut. "Its not deep enough to need stitches, but you will need to clean it regularly and change to fresh bandages." she instructs as she places a large bandage over the cut. By the time Amelie is finished and we've said our thank you's before she retires once again to bed, Elena looks much better, although tired. I can tell the many rips in her clothes haven't gone unnoticed by Christian, so I decide to help him out. "Elena, I'll get you a spare change of clothes." I announce as I excuse myself, gently letting go of Christian's hand, silently letting him know I'm not angry, to both of our surprise.
I scurry up the stairs, adamant to not leave them alone too long. I quickly peek in at Teddy and smile softly at his sleeping form. My baby is all tuckered out from his birthday, and the first of many to come. I'm so happy today went relatively perfect, up until about 10 minutes ago. I do need to learn to trust Christian more, after all he's given me everything, and he was so scared to tell me she was here. Sighing, I decide to be as open minded as possible. Something bad clearly happened, and I need to keep my less than admirable thoughts to myself for now.
Going through my closet, I find a chunky long sleeved sweater and a plain brown pair of sweats. I don't need her to look any more pretty than she usually does around my husband.
Quietly padding down the hall, I stop dead in my tracks as I hear Christian interrupt something she was saying to speak over her.
"No! No, you need to listen Elena. Ana is not happy about you being here, even if she's tolerating this right now. I want to help you, I really do, but you asking to stay here is not a possibility. Ana would die before she let that happen."
I smile slightly as I crouch near the stairs.
"Christian I have no choice! Linc's out and he's only interested in killing me! I have no where to go!"
My smile is wiped from my face as I pale at the thought. Both Jack and Linc were sent to jail just before Teddy's birth, and if Linc is out, whats to say Jack isn't? I stand up straight and have to hold myself against the wall for a minute. What if he comes after me again? or Christian? Or Teddy? Oh my god Teddy. The thought makes me want to cry.
Suddenly I'm barreling down the stairs, so much so that I instantly stop Christian and Elena's conversation, and all eyes are on me. "Ana!" Christian roars. "Don't run down the fucking stairs! You could hurt Pheobe if you fucking fall!"
I come to a halt at the end and huff at him in a moment of annoyance. "Oh Christian its fine! She's safe here!" I point to my swollen stomach and hold his hand over it. Will he ever stop worrying?
We're about to move back to the couch when I catch Elena's shocked expression at my swollen stomach, obviously only noticing it now. Thats right, Christian cut all contact with Elena after that night at the bar, and he never actually told her I was pregnant. Surely she heard about Teddy from those gossipy Seattle news websites though?
"You're pregnant?" Elena whispers as she stares wide eyed up at me.
I'd love every second of this moment if she wasn't cradling a sprained wrist and just stopped crying. "Yes." is all I manage. I'm sure by Christian's expression he was expecting more of my smart mouth tonight.
"Wow.." Elena whispered, sitting back in the couch and looking up to Elena. "I figured you and Ana decided not to have kids after your night at the bar with me, but I guess I was wrong.." she says in pure disbelief. "You'll make a great father."
Both of us tense ever so slightly. She obviously didn't hear of Teddy. It definitely makes me feel better that she hasn't been keeping tabs on my family.
"Actually." Christian whispers as he turns to face her with the clothes I've brought down for her. "I've been a very happy father for three years. Three years today as a matter of fact."
That, stops Elena in her tracks. She slowly takes the clothes from Christian and sets them in her lap, staring intently at the white sweater, picking at a piece of lint. Surely its not that interesting. "Oh.." she whispers.
All I can gauge is that Elena is surely realizing that Christian has well and truly slipped from her fingers. I definitely feel satisfaction and victory from that little 'oh', but its once again dampened by the fact that shes cradling a sprained wrist.
She stands quietly with the clothes in her hands. "Thank you Ana for these clothes. I'll have them dry cleaned and sent back to you. I'll be staying at a hotel tonight and you wont have to hear from me again." she says with misery heavy in her voice.
I can tell Christian wants to tell her to stay, but is refraining for my sake. I immensely appreciate him letting her walk out, but as she approaches the front door, I see the cuts on her back, and the small splatters of blood and something overtakes me.
"Wait! Elena!" I step forward in front of Christian. "Please.. please stay here for tonight. We have a few spare bedrooms."
Both Elena and Christian look at me with alarm and disbelief. Elena's hand slips from the door handle as she turns to me. "What?"
"Its.." I swallow as I stroke my stomach, knowing that if I let her to roam around Seattle, she could well be killed, and it would be my fault. "Its fine, we have so much space and a full security team. You should stay." I say finally. My voice unwavering. No trace of uncertainty.
Christian steps up behind me and rubs my back in appreciation. "You heard her. Please Elena, we can discuss this in the morning and you're hurt, please go sleep it off. Breakfast is at 10." Christian says finally, leaving no room for argument.
Elena lets a small smile grace her lips and she nods her appreciation. "Thank you.. thank you both so much." That is probably the most genuine thing I've ever heard that woman say.
But still, this doesn't by any stretch of the imagination mean I'm her friend, or ever will. This is for the sake of me and Christian being able to sleep at night. Nothing more. I look up to Christian and give him a quick kiss on the cheek and whispers in his ear. "Give her the bedroom at the end of the hall, the farthest away from Teddy." I pull away giving him no chance to reply. I know he knows whats I'm implying. He looks appalled but wisely holds the tongue. I know she never would, but I'm not taking any chances. Not with my special baby boy.
"Elena come with me, I'll show you to the guest room." Christian states as he motions for her to follow him.
I, however, stay on the couch and awkwardly fiddle with my phone for a few moments, disinterestedly scrolling through my calender. Then I quickly throw in on the couch and bury my face in my hands.
Just what the hell have I allowed?
A/N: I recently got into 50 shades! I'm not proud, but I got all three of the books read in 4 days. I AM NOT PROUD!
I wanted to write a story that takes place immediately after the Epilogue, and wanted to throw Elena back into the mix for fun. Life finally seemed so perfect, but now theirs the problem with Linc being out of jail and trying to hurt Elena! Is Jack out too? who knows!
See you next time! ;v; and for those interested, I'm not abandoning my other story The Summer Job, I'm just taking a mini break from it!