Ch 2 Back then

Left standing in Ana's driveway, Luke spent a good long moment staring at the closed door, then called for his ride and proceeded down the street to complete this first part of his mission in relative privacy.

"Grey," the terse voice answered on the first ring.

"I have delivered the letter and the documents."

"And?"

"She was …surprised."

"But she took them?" the voice insisted.

"She asked me to place them in the glove compartment of her car."

A pause then, more subdued, the voice asked: "Anything else?"

"She asked how long you have known where they were."

"Spit it out Sawyer."

"I told her you have pictures of Teddy."

Sighing, the man stated: "She was angry."

"Yes, sir."

"Does she know how to contact you?"

"Yes, sir."

"Inform me immediately if she calls."

The line had gone dead. Christian Grey didn't do chit-chat. A billionaire before he turned thirty and sole owner of the company he had built from scratch, Grey didn't have to explain himself to anyone, so he didn't, and that went for both his business and his private life. The only exception Luke had ever known to that rule was the woman whose life he had just turned upside down.

He had first met Grey just before the news were about to break that the then young entrepreneur had reached the rank of billionaire. Jason Taylor, the man's CPO and head of his private security detail hired him to run background checks and threat assessments. He had quickly figured out that despite Grey's good looks and tremendous success, his life was strictly regimented and…lonely.

Yes, the man lived in an impressive two-stories penthouse, flew his own helicopter and had just taken delivery of a custom built catamaran, but his weekdays consisted of a six am run, ten hours work, dinner, either alone or business related, and more work. His idea of female companionship involved a string of BDSM relationships, which were a well-kept secret, never to be seen in public or have any contact with his family. He'd never seen him with one of those women, but from the way he behaved at GEH - controlling, commanding, intense, focused, expecting immediate compliance with his orders –it was nothing short of a miracle no one had figured out the young billionaire's secret.

Then his list of non-business related contacts, limited to his parents and his brother and sister, expanded by one name: Anastasia Steele, 21 years old, college student. He was tasked with providing personal protection for the new addition.

Ana was Grey's complete opposite: from a modest background and raised in a small town, whereas the Greys had been part of Seattle high society for several generations, a fresh college graduate looking for her first job while he had just become a billionaire, warm and personable while he was cold and distant, the list of their contrasts went on and on. But the biggest shock was the way Grey interacted with her: attentive, flirting, complimenting his date, his eyes –and his hands- never straying too far from her person. The boss had a girlfriend and he was head over heels and by the way she looked at him she was no less of a goner.

Marriage, followed by a house on the sound and the birth of their son all happened in less than a year.

Grey's life now revolved around two poles: GEH and Ana. And he was just as intense about both. While at GEH he was the uncontested ruler, at home he had to contend with someone who wouldn't back down just because he said so. While she might occasionally be bashful or shy or insecure, Ana was anything but submissive. When Grey's temper or his obsession with her flared, if he barked she giggled, if he glowered she softly whispered, if he frowned she reached out and gently touched him. The beast was, for the most part, tamed and learning the art of compromise.

Until a little after Teddy Grey's second birthday. He and Ana had been at odds with each other for the whole summer over the man's insistence that she should be a stay at home mother. By the end of September Ana was staring out the window of the car in long contemplative silences; Grey was sending long looks her way when he believed she didn't notice…

When the craziness that had been Grey sister's wedding was finally over, Grey was due to travel to Japan for a week and Ana and Teddy were going to spend the week in Montesano at her father's. So him and Taylor jumped at the chance to take some Long overdue R&R. By the time he returned one week later, Grey was holed up in the penthouse at Escala, Ana and Teddy were in Montesano without a security detail and Taylor was too pissed off to do more than bark orders at everyone.

It transpired that on the first day him and Taylor were out of town, Grey had brought Marlene Watkinson, one of his former subs to the penthouse. In an attempt to cover it up, he had ordered his temporary CPO to cut the feed between the motion activated CCTV cameras at the penthouse and the main residence, then collect the woman from the building reception and bring her to the apartment. The woman was to remain at the penthouse overnight. The CPO was to take her to the airport in the morning and put her on a plane to Vegas, then return to the penthouse, replace the CCTV drive and re-establish the feed.

Ana found out. She had been at the penthouse in the morning and forgot her tablet. En route to Montesano the following day, she asked to stop by the penthouse. Leaving Teddy in the car with his CPO she went upstairs with her detail. The man suggested that instead of searching the vast apartment they could watch the CCTV footage from when she had been there the previous day. Within minutes they had located the device on the kitchen counter but since it wasn't there anymore they kept watching. Cue video footage of Marlene Watkinson arriving, escorted by Grey's CPO. Then Grey entering the living room and the woman dropping to her knees, head bowed in submission. They watched Grey, his face set in stone, address the woman kneeling at his feet and the woman stand and scurry up the stairs, never once making eye contact. At that point Ana asked for the drive with the CCTV recording and left the security room.

Unaware of Grey's previous orders, her current bodyguard replaced the drive with a new one and re-established the CCTV feed to the residence. They had actual video recording of Ana standing in the open door to the upstairs bedroom from which, about half an hour after she stormed out of the penthouse, Grey's CPO fetched Marlene…

As far as he knew, Ana never returned to Seattle.

As for the tablet: Grey had found it when he was there in the afternoon and took it with him. For whatever reason he still had it the next morning, he handed it to Teddy's CPO, who was just coming on duty, then left for Japan. The CPO proceeded to detail the car for the trip to Montesano, so he placed the tablet in the glove compartment and forgot all about it until they unloaded the car at her father's house.

That same evening Grey recalled her and Teddy's security detail back from Montesano and cut short his trip. He had been back in Seattle since Tuesday night, and was staying at the penthouse.

Taylor had also returned early. Alerted by the man left in charge in his absence that Grey had recalled Ana and Teddy's detail he had been back since Tuesday morning. Pissed off at the multiple security breaches, he didn't address any of them other than in the line of duty.

As for himself, since Taylor had decreed that 'Ana and Teddy are safe in her father's house', he was reassigned to share security duties with Taylor at Escala.

The first month, Grey spent most of his days mopping around, constantly changing his mind about what he wanted to do and ending up not doing much of anything. But by the end of November he was going to work more regularly, had resumed seeing his shrink and was even hitting the gym for more than just twenty minutes of staring at the equipment.

On December 2nd he was on duty at the penthouse when the building concierge called to let him know Ana's father had left a package. Grey was in his study, so that's where he took the large envelope.

"Sir, there's a package for you, from Mr Steele."

Practically flying out of his chair Grey snatched the envelope out of his hand. As he ripped it open, Ana's wedding and engagement rings, her wrist watch, three smaller envelopes, two credit cards and an usb stick with a note taped to it spilled on the desk.

Grey fell back in his chair. His jaw clenching with an audible crunch, he extracted the remaining papers from the larger envelope and feverishly flipped through the pages. When he reached the last one, the document dropped off his hands. The script at the top of the paper was large enough to be read upside down: 'Superior court of Washington.' A little to the right, bold letters spelled 'Temporary order.'

His hand trembling, Grey pulled the USB closer and fumbled to free the note attached to it. His lips moved. The elevator pinged. From across the desk a faint whisper reached him: 'find them.'

"Sir?" he asked, unsure of what he'd heard. Then "Mr Grey?" When nothing happened he cleared his throat. "Mr Grey, sir, is there…"

In an unnatural twist, Grey craned his neck and angled his face upward. His blank expression was unsettling enough, but the look in his eyes…an odd mixture of fear and confusion. Then he blinked. A slow motion that sent shivers down his spine. A hand landed on his shoulder making him almost jump out of his skin.

"Fuck!" Sawyer blew, his chest rising and falling as he reacquainted himself with his present day surroundings. By now back in his hotel room, he yanked his tie loose and took off his jacket. That was then, this is now, he reminded himself.

He didn't get to read that damn note until later that evening: one line, in Ray Steele's handwriting 'I'll keep them away from you, or die trying'. The USB was a copy of the footage of Grey with his sub, from the moment he arrived at the penthouse to the moment when he exited the sub's bedroom, one hour later.