A/n

Ok, here's my one-shot. Warning: If you are a fan of a Strong, Independent Ana then this is NOT the story for you. It does briefly mention Christian punishing Ana so if that's a trigger for any of you, please go kindly find yourself another story. It's a little dark at first, but I aimed to show Christian's caring side as a Dom and of course it's HEA in the end (implied) This is also in honor of the new FSoG movie coming out. Who's ready to go a shade darker? (sorry, I simply couldn't resist)

We are Fools-One shot

"I hope she'll be a little fool-that's the best thing a girl can be in this world, a beautiful little fool.

-Daisy Buchanan from The Great Gatsby

Background: Ana and Christian met pretty much the same way, but what happened if Ana signed her name along those dotted line?

Ana was sitting alone on Christian's kitchen counter, darkness settled a calming blanket around her and the only light was the tiny, sliver of moon that graced itself through the clear, open window, falling upon her loose, distressed strands of brown hair that curled itself artfully down her back. Her warm, fuzzy, and oversized sweatshirt hanged right below her bare thighs as her lean legs dangled from the white marble counter top. Christian was watching her behind the wall that led itself into his modern kitchen. She looked beautiful to him, as always, perched like an angel in his kitchen. But he can tell she was sad, his calculating grey eyes attuned to her slightest of movements and the small tremor in her lips, he can tell she was sad by how her shoulders slightly slumped over her back and how her delicate fingers clutched her tea mug a little too tightly.

He was the reason for her sadness. He never meant to hit her that hard; he got lost in the moment and forgot about her. God, he was stupid and an ass. He told himself repeatedly. Christian knew, he knew all too well that he was no good for Ana. He remembered when he first met her, how her giggle would ring through his house and how her cute little nose would scrunch itself up when she laughed. But that all changed, completely, when she so carefully signed her name along the dotted line of his fucking contract. After her first punishment, she seemed to be tiptoeing around him, afraid to awaken the monster that thrived in him, her occasional eye roll adding fuel to its fire. So she stopped, and now looking at her sunken figure in the darkening kitchen, Christian knew, he knew that he was selfish and how wrong it was for him to ever have her. You have to let the poor girl go, you monster, you're destroying her. His subconscious snarled at him and he agreed wholeheartedly with it, but the words couldn't find the courage they needed to make it past his already parted lips, so instead he kept on telling himself just one more day.

"Hey, Sweetie." He spoke, coming out of his hiding spot behind the wall. He wanted to call her sweet heart or love instead but that would be against the rules, so he had to settle on the closet thing, sweetie. His voice, no matter how soft or gentle, startled Ana as she leaped off of the counter, hot tea splashing all over hand and onto the polished wooden floor.

"Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry, sir. I'll clean it up." Ana said rushed as she scrambled to get a paper towel, sad, blue eyes downcast the entire time. Christian quickened his pace, coming to her aid. "hey, hey, hey, sweetie. I'm not mad. I'm sorry I startled you. I'll clean it up." He said as he lifted her back up and settled her back on her usual spot, frowning at how much her body flinched away at his light touch. "Give me your hand." He ordered, ignoring the tea seeping into the expensive floor boards. Ana gingerly reached out her hands and he immediately ran them under cold water as he proceeded to blow on them, his hot breath easing away the numbness caused by the icy water. And it was moment like these that had Ana's heart melting, it was these small, insignificant moment that Ana found her convincing herself to stay, despite the fact that her butt still hurts from the hard smack of the wooden paddle.

Christian finished cleaning up the floor and seated himself besides her, both of them gazing out at Seattle's sleeping skyline, the occasional flicker of light from a sleepless neighbor blinking at them. "You seem sad." Christian decided to break the companionable silence and figure out exactly what went wrong. And as much as he wanted to deny it to himself, he wanted to see Ana happy again, wanted to see the clear artic blue sparkle in her pretty eyes, wanted to hear her girlish giggle fill his empty, giant penthouse, wanted to see the way her nose would bunch itself up when she laughed. Her laugh, god, he missed her laugh. The musical sound becoming so rare as she was always walking on eggshells around him, intimidated.

"I'm ok sir." Ana replied, ignoring his concern and Christian deeply sighed. Any other time, he would be turned on by being called sir, especially with Ana's small voice. But he didn't want to be called sir tonight. No, tonight he simply wanted Ana to feel safe, to feel cared for. It's the least she deserved.

"Ana, forget about the rules tonight. How are you?" Christian asked, a warm hand rubbing soothing circles on her back. Ana wondered, how can a man that was tough as nails touch as light as feathers.

"Um, I guess I've been better." Ana whispered, blue eyes risking a quick sneak peek at the guy who had her hurting and loving all at the same time and he offered her another encouraging smile, but that's all she said.

Christian sighed and Ana studied how his soft lips parted as he spoke. "Ana, look, I'm sorry that I went a little too far on your punishment. I know I did, I can tell by how you were reacting afterwards. But next time, please safe word. I won't think any less of you if you do, and I will always, always stop if you say them, alright?" Christian voice was gentle and sweet, so unlike his usual cold, hard dominant tone and Ana tried to muster a small smile at him, but her lips failed to twitch up.

"Speak to me." Christian ordered. Bossy Christian was never far away, but Ana liked this one much better than the Dom.

"Um, I'm ok, really. I am…just weak…and…um… a cry baby." Ana stuttered, knotting her skinny fingers in her lap as eyes stared at everything but Christian. She tried so, so hard to keep quiet during the punishment, to not give him the satisfaction but anguished tears still escaped her metallic blue eyes. Her eyes always turning that deep shade of blue whenever she was sad, and these days, Christian couldn't spot any trace of the other clear ocean blue. Christian shakes his head, trying to rid the images of Ana's tear stained face as she lies, body gone limp, on his bench. He already provided her with aftercare that was foreign to even his best of subs after the worst of punishment. Ana's skin still tickled at the memory of his touch lightly rubbing arnica cream over her and the hot bath afterwards. He also carried her to bed, in her own room, and even lied down with her, shushing and calming her and slipping out once he thought she had finally fell asleep to his hushing tone. But, as always, he found her up, in the middle of the night, thinking whatever that brain of hers thought.

Christian felts his walled off heart hit with a heavy thud as it dropped to the bottom of his stomach. Is that how she felt? That she thinks she's weak and a baby?

"Ana. Listen to me." Christian said as he turned his body towards her, dark grey eyes staring straight into her soul, slowly peeling off all the layers she learned to so carefully put on to protect her fragile heart. "Ana, you are anything but weak. You hear me? And if I ever hear you put yourself down like that again, I won't hesitate to drag you into my playroom and personally punish you until you couldn't sit for a week. Is that clear?" Christian asked, vehement dripping from every word that shocked even himself.

Ana shyly nodded, still staring down at her feet with fluffy bunny socks on them, clearly now a little scared. Christian sighed for the umpteenth time this night as he wrapped his arm securely around her shoulders.

"I didn't mean to scare you. I just hate how you always talk down on yourself. You are anything but weak ok? you are my intelligent, strong, beautiful, and brave girl, ok?" He whispered in her ear, kissing the side of her head and Ana's heart fluttered despite her will. He called me his girl.

"Does your butt still hurt?" Christian asked gently and Ana gave another little nod.

"Well, I suppose sitting on this hard counter isn't helping anything. How about you sit on my lap instead?" Christian asked as Ana blinked at him in shock. I can't possibly stand to see her in more pain.

"Um, I'm ok. The Advil helped." Ana replied but Christian just shakes his head at his stubborn girl.

"I can tell by the way you're sitting that you're uncomfortable. Come on, don't be stubborn. Our session is over, please just be yourself. There won't be any more punishment or pain this weekend, ok? You have my promise on that." He said, helping her into his lap and gently tucking her head under his chin, petting the mass of soft brunette hair. He rocked her back and forth, sitting on the counter like that, rubbing her back and whispering sweet things in her ears.

He felt a wet spot on his shirt and looked down to see silent tears streaking down Ana's pretty face once again.

"Sweetie, what's wrong? Talk to me." Christian ordered, strong hands never letting go but the only reply to his request was a little sniffle and he tightened his hold. Sometimes you just need to be held and he understood that. He would hold her as long as she needed it if she would only smile again.

"Sorry…" her voice cracked and Christian heart ripped. "I…can't…seem to stop…crying." Ana finally got out and Christian kept on rubbing circles on her back. "shhh…it's ok. If you need to cry, you need to cry…I've got you…I'm right here. You go right ahead and cry if you need to…I've got you." He whispered quietly in her ear. Were all these tears simply from punishment or something else? Christian needed to find out.

"You're...*sniff*...so...sweet." Ana choked out, small voice straining and Christian's heart strained as well as he internally kicked himself for causing her this much pain.

"Why are you so sad?" He asked, again.

Ana shrugged. "I don't really know. I guess you're confusing me; you can be so cruel the one moment but so kind the next." She sniffled and Christian rubbed her back some more.

"I'm sorry, maybe I should go see Flynn for a bipolar disorder." He joked and Christian Trevelyan Grey wasn't a man that does jokes, but he would do anything, anything right now to hear Ana's giggle.

Ana lips twitched up. "Perhaps that wouldn't be a bad idea." She responded wryly, wiping her tears with the back of her hand.

"Well, tell you what. How about we only have the nice Christian out from now on. Would you like that?" Christian asked, using his big, warm hand to help her wipe away the last of the salty tracks along her soft cheeks.

"I guess...that...would be...nice." Ana stuttered and Christian heart squeezed in his chest. What had he done? The girl was practically terrified of him.

"Ok, no more Dom, rules, or punishment from this point on. You can roll your eyes at me all you want." He lightly teased and finally, finally Ana giggled. The soft sound traveling past his eardrums and into his heart once again as he felt a warm feeling spread through his chest.
And then she rolled her eyes at him as she giggled some more and Christian smiled, genuinely, for the first time in a long, long time.

"There, isn't that much better." He said, still smiling from face to face as he watched the sadness dissipate from her blue eyes and the baby blue returned once again.

"What do you want to do? I am at your request for the next 24 hours, whatever you want." The irony wasn't lost in Christian that he was basically willingly submitting himself. Another first, Ms. Steele. It was only Saturday night and if he had it his way, Ana will be staying with him a lot more than just the weekends from now on. And if she asked for the moon or sun, he'd probably go find the best astronomer and demand he find a way to tie the moon into a big balloon so he could gift it to her.

"Doesn't matter." Ana giggled as she chewed on her bottom lip and Christian felt his heart soar. He gently freed her lip from her assaulting teeth. "Tell me, I can tell you want to do something." He bossed, but there was now a playful edge to his voice and Ana giggled some more.

"well…" she begun and Christian gave her a soft squeeze of the hands, urging her to go on. Whatever she wanted, if it was in his power, he would do it for her smile. "You…um…have…that really cool…motorbike…in…your garage." Ana stammered, he wouldn't do it, he was too big of a safety freak.

Christian chuckled, the deep sound reverberating through his lungs. "You want me to take you motor biking?" he asked, cocking a perfectly sculpted eyebrow at her.

"Well…it seems so…cool." Ana spoke, voice just above a whisper.

Of course, his first reaction was NO! No way in hell was he taking her motor biking, he could get her into an accident or killed, but when he glanced into her big blue eyes shining with so much hope, he didn't have it in his heart to say no.

"Scoot, go change into jeans." He commanded and Ana jumped up, clasping her hands as if a little kid going to see Disney world for the first time.

"Wait, you're serious?" she exclaimed as she ran up the stairs, taking the steps two at a time and returning back with a cute jean-cladded bottom and a white t-shirt.

Christian pulled out two leather jackets, slipping one on himself and one on Ana. His jacket was a little bit too big on her but hanged tight in all the right places. He scanned her over once and couldn't stop his smile at how adorable she looked.

"There, now you're all set." He said, interlacing their hands as he walked her towards the elevator and they both rode down. Christian brought their interlaced hands up to his mouth and lightly kissed each of her knuckles and Seattle's light-lit sky didn't stand a chance against Ana's warm smile. Christian felts his heart leap and crack at the same time, he never saw her this happy, this whole time, he has been only focused on himself.

Christian's prized motorbike was a Japanese speed bike, a raven polished black with leather seats. Carrick had got it for him when he first gotten into Harvard. Christian hoisted Ana up onto the back seat as he settled himself in front of her. He felt delicate fingers gingerly wrap around his waist and he pulled her tighter against him so her head was pressed up against his back, and he felt un characteristically ok with that.

"ready?" he shouted as he felt Ana's nod behind his back. He lightly pressed the gas pedal as the engine roared to life and they eased out into the cool Seattle night.

They went on a discreet road and Christian shouted. "I am going to speed up, ok?"

"Yes!" Ana shouted back, her voice echoing his own joy.

Christian pressed down on the gas pedal and they sped out into the distance, leaving the night far, far behind them.

Ana felt Christian's tense muscle twitch underneath her fingertips as they concentrated on the twist and turns of the road.

"Woooooo~~~~~" Ana screamed as the wind whipped pass her face, tangling into her hair and scattering away all of her pain into the pale, moon-lit sky.

Very few cars passed them but the ones that did shot quizzical looks at the two idiots letting out hoops and hollers as the continued down the winding road, all of their worries leaving them.

"Love was for fools." Christian thought.

"But aren't we all beautiful, little fools on this journey called life?" And for once, Christian was happy being the fool he was.