"I'm going to talk to him."

"Viv, you can't!" Ana squealed, trying to giggle quietly. She knew that the pair of them being upgraded to first class on their flight had been a grievous mistake on the part of the airline. Ana was trying to behave herself, but her best friend was apparently less concerned. Ana silently blamed the three glasses of complimentary champagne she had already managed to drink.

"Why not? I just want to ask if it's really him and then we can tell everyone we were on the same flight as millionaire Christian Grey."

"Only a millionaire? I thought you'd aim higher. Billionaire at the very least."

"Give him time."

"You have no shame! You can't just go up to someone in first class and demand an autograph."

"I'm not going to demand an autograph." Vivienne corrected her, pulling out her compact and fluffing up her hair, blowing herself a kiss. "I'm going to seduce him." Ana groaned and put her head in her hands, still trying not to laugh too loudly. She was paranoid about the flight attendants giving them the side-eye when they walked past. It was pretty obvious that neither of them belonged in first class, they looked like the students they were even if Vivienne preferred to pretend that she wasn't. "The art student and the billionaire. Sounds like a romance novel."

"Sounds like delusion." Ana muttered, earning herself a sharp glare from her friend.

"Ana, that's not the positive attitude I'm looking for. Please be more supportive."

"I'm pretty sure it's not even him."

"If not then I can date his lookalike and that will be an equally good story." Vivienne insisted, finally standing up. "Wish me luck!" She marched over. Ana hid her face in her hands, not wanting to be guilty by association. Finding that wasn't enough, she got up, refusing to look over, shielding her eyes as she darted into the bathroom. When she came back Vivienne was back in her seat and Ana grinned smugly at the indication that her friend had failed.

"Rejected? It's not him and it's actually a paper salesman?"

"Quite the opposite actually, it is him and we're going to dinner when we land." Vivienne looked over and smiled at him and he smiled back. Ana turned scarlet.

"You are unbelievable."

"Unbelievably good, yes."

Ana woke up breathless and sheened with a layer of sweat and cursing Vivienne for having turned such a happy memory into a nightmare. She was on the sofa, she had fallen asleep watching Fatal Attraction. She often wondered if it said something about her that her favourite film was about such a twisted romance. Could it even be called a romance? It was the ending gunshot that had woken her up. Usually that dream went on for a lot longer. She thought about going into the bedroom but that would mean waking Michael up and that would probably mean talking to him. She missed living alone.

She pulled the blanket from the top of the couch down and spread it over herself before she put the film back to the beginning and switched the light off. She found it comforting to fall asleep to the sound of voices even if in two hours or so the same gunshot would jolt her awake. It was probably for the best, once she had one dream about Vivienne she tended to have them for the rest of the night.

Vivienne had wandered off, likely to ensure her makeup was perfect, leaving Ana stuck at the luggage carousel with Christian Grey. Vivienne had found him again when she got off the plane and started talking to him – Ana couldn't bring herself to mind, Vivienne was a true romantic and for the entire spring break they'd been away for she had neglected her desire to find a holiday romance in lieu of keeping Ana company.

"I feel like I should apologise on behalf of her…" Ana said as soon as Vivienne was far enough away that she couldn't hear.

"Oh no, not at all, I'm very pleased she came over to talk to me. She's very…" Christian trailed off, searching for a word. Ana was often similarly lost for words when trying to describe Vivienne. "Enigmatic? In a very charming way. She's not my usual type but there's something very compelling about her confidence." Ana knew exactly what he meant, it was one of the reasons she had been so drawn to Vivienne on her first day of school. An had been quiet and bookish and Vivienne had marched over to her and asked what she was reading and made sure Ana had someone to sit with at lunch. They'd been inseparable ever since.

"She'll be pleased to hear that." Ana glanced at the carousel right on time. "Oh there are our cases!" She looked around for Vivienne who had disappeared. "Do you mind giving me a hand? Hers is the purple one next to my blue one if you don't mind grabbing it."

"Of course not." Christian assured her. He was very friendly and well-spoken, not to mention very attractive. Ana was pleased for her friend. She really hoped this worked out for her; she wouldn't mind having someone like Christian around frequently. The pair stepped forward and Ana grabbed her bag and watched Christian take Vivienne's. He gave her a smiled as she placed her case on the floor and handed Vivienne's to her. It was a duffel bag so Ana took it with both arms, marvelling at how light Vivienne had managed to pack for once. Wait, this was wrong. Vivienne had been back by this point, Ana hadn't taken her bag, she had offered to take it from Christian herself and he had insisted on carrying it to the cab while Vivienne praised what a gentleman he was. Where was she?

Ana looked down and saw she was no longer holding the bag but a baby, tiny, sleeping, and wrapped in a soft pink blanket.

"I don't think she's coming home." Ana looked up and saw she was still with Christian but they were in his living room, not the airport, sitting on the couch. She couldn't see very well and as she felt a trickle down her face she realised her sight was blurred with tears. "What do I do, Ana?"

He sounded so small, so lost.

Ana woke with a jolt, sitting straight up, struggling to find breath, filled with the urge to call Christian and make sure he was okay even though what she was remembering was three years ago. As she reached for her phone to check the time she realised she was shaking badly. Just after six am. Ana was still tired but she didn't fancy attempting sleep again, instead she got up and went into the kitchen to put the kettle on. She needed tea. Usually she would put music on, rarely able to motivate herself for even the simplest of tasks without some kind of backing track, but she didn't want to wake Michael up, she knew it was his day off and she wanted him to have a lie in. She returned to her makeshift bed to drink it and switched the TV on, flipping through channels before just deciding to watch the local news. They were doing a piece about Christian which he hadn't bothered to tell her about, but that was probably because he did so many he thought she wouldn't be interested in all of them. He was wrong. He was wearing the tie that she had given him two Christmases ago.

AS 6.38: Saw you on the news. I like your tie. Remind me which excellent friend gave that to you?

She knew he'd be up by now, Evie never slept longer than half six which was good because Christian needed to be heading to work by eight and he liked to be the one to give her breakfast and get her dressed. She could picture exactly where he would be having spent many nights there over the past three years, he'd be at his coffee machine cursing it for never working properly, trying to get a straight answer out of Evie as to what she wanted to eat. His phone would be beside him and he would drop everything to reply to her because he always did.

CG 6.41: I believe it was you. Sorry I forgot to tell you it was on.

AS 6.45: Well thankfully my psychic abilities kicked in and I was watching anyway ;) Say good morning to Evie for me!

CG 6.46: She says good morning back.

Ana didn't text a reply because she knew he'd be sitting down to eat with his daughter now and he didn't like checking his phone too much when he was around her. He liked to be present. Ana thought it was amazingly commendable of him to be so entirely dedicated to his daughter. She would text him again later in the day, before midday if there was a crisis or slight after if there wasn't so as to catch him on his lunch break.

A while later she crept into the bedroom to get dressed and put on a little makeup. As she often did when she stood in front of the bathroom mirror she wondered if she should get her hair cut short. It would look nice around chin length, she thought, but she changed her mind so often about hairstyles that cutting it short seemed destined to be something she regretted days later.

She manged her whole morning routine without waking Michael and she snuck to her car. When she arrived at her gallery it took ten minutes of sitting in there before she could force herself to go in.

AN: I'm so overwhelmed by the positive response to this story, this is my first shot at writing anything really so thank you to all who have followed, favourited, and reviewed already, I hope I can keep your interest! I've loved reading your comments so far and if you do have a minute to spare please drop me a couple of lines about what you think and know I'm always happy to answer questions!