ANA

"How was the run?" I ask with a smirk.

"Emm… yeah…" He stutters.

"It's okay Elliot; he 's your brother you are allowed to talk to him." I chuckle at his sheepish look. "Just jump in the shower as you would after a run before Kate sees you."

"Thanks, Ana," he says running up the stairs.

"Uncle Lelliot, where is you going?" I hear Ray ask.

"Where are you going?" Phoebe corrects.

"Same thing," Ray responds clearly annoyed to be corrected.

"Going for a shower." Elliot finally answers with a laugh.

"Mama," Ray calls running to me. He jumps on the couch and places his head on my lap. "Hair." Is all he says? I chuckle running my fingers through his hair.

Phoebe joins us on the couch picking up the remote control to surf through the kids channels. She has always been the independent one of the two. Since they were babies, were Ray always needed more affection Phoebe was happy to do her own thing.

I know why Christian was here today. Since I arrived in Seattle three weeks ago, he has made various attempts to see the kids and me. He knew where I was for a week and yet made no effort to come to Georgia. All of sudden, I'm suppose to believe he had a change of heart the day I left to see my mother.

The kids know who he is despite having never met him. I made it clear who he was a year ago when they asked, and I felt they were old enough to understand. It was heartbreaking when Phoebe asked why he didn't want them. I was honest and told them he was scared of being a daddy. Surprisingly they understood.

After all these years I'm still finding it difficult to get past his callousness when I last saw him. I feel nothing towards him, but that day remains with me, I don't think I will ever forget it. I gave him a couple of days after he walked out to cool down hoping he'd be more susceptible to the idea of being a father. Boy, was I wrong.

MAY 29TH 2011

I approach the lobby with trepidation and stand there looking in awe at the grand design of the lobby. I've only being through the garage. There are three elevator banks, one clearly marked private. "Hello Miss, can I help you?" An older gentleman is a sharp suit asks kindly.

"Emm… yes, I… I'm here to see Christian Grey." I stutter.

"Is he expecting you?" I shake my head in response. Despite that, he calls the penthouse. "What is your name?"

"Ana…Ana Steele." He hangs up seconds after that.

"I'm sorry, he doesn't want to see you." I nod and turn to leave.

The following day I try again. This time, I see him coming in with Taylor despite calling out several times he completely ignores me and enters the elevator without a single glance my way. It is the same pattern for the following two days. On my fourth attempt, he's clearly had enough and turns his cold glare on me. "Unless you are here to tell me you have aborted it, we have nothing to talk about." He whispers in my ear and stands there waiting for my answer. I can't even look at him as I shake my head. "I don't want the damn child. My life is not conducive to having the damn thing in it, so sign the damn paperwork and leave me the fuck alone. If I see you here again, I will not be held responsible for my actions." He snarls.

"I will just go to your parents." I finally find the courage to utter those few words. The words that reveal just the kind of person I'm dealing with.

"And I will sue you for the paltry sum you have. You will spend the rest of your life paying off your legal fees by the time I'm through with you. Do not fuck with me Anastasia I will destroy you, your precious daddy, your mother and whatever husband she has now. I can't believe one pussy can cause me so much grieve. This is what I get for going after a virgin. They give it up to you, and they think you owe them something. Well, if I do I gave you a check for five million dollars, which should cover it. Hell, you can even get a plastic surgeon to sew it back in place if it makes you fell better." He spits at me with condescension.

"If she comes back here call the cops. She's trespassing." He barks at the lovely gentleman behind the desk.

"Come on young lady lets get you home," he says escorting me out. "Should I call you a cab?" He asks, and I shake my head. "Ana, look at me," he says in a rather stern voice. "He's an asshole and one who has shown you his true character. Please do not come back. Do not come back because he's not worth your time or tears. Dry your eyes and do not shed one more tear over him. Concentrate on your child and do the best for him or her. Hold your head high." I sniff and nod my head.

"Thank you. What is your name?" I ask trying to hold back my tears.

"It's Thomas Efron, but my friends call me Tom." He hands me a card with his number, and I walk away. His advice is probably the best thing to hear, but it is easier said than done.

That was the last time I saw or spoke to Christian Grey. I signed the paperwork a week later, tore up the fucking check and left to visit my mom. I had every intention of coming back to Seattle until Bob got me a job with his brother in London. Working in London for six months wasn't an opportunity I could turn down. The day before I left for London I made the decision I was never coming back to Seattle, with that in mind I wrote Kate a letter telling her everything. She couldn't have been more right about Christian.

My dad went to our Seattle apartment and took all my things, luckily for me most were still in boxes, and I didn't have much. Kate told me how she tried to stop my dad from taking my things or leaving the apartment, but in the end, she had no choice but to let him go. It broke dad's heart to see Kate so distraught

Strangely I wouldn't change a thing. If I did I wouldn't have my babies; I have a life I never dreamed of. I wanted to be an editor. Instead, I became a writer, now on her third book. My latest book has been out a week, and it's already on the New York Times best sellers list. When I first got published, I was heavily pregnant, and I didn't want the fame that came with it and therefore published under the name Rose Lambert. With the exception of my parents and publisher, no one knows who Rose Lambert is. I thought my book sales would be paltry because I didn't want to be included in the promotion of the book. Turns out my need to remain anonymous was all the publicity I needed. My Publishers put a brilliant spin on it. About how the story was based on my life and due to signing an NDA I couldn't reveal my identity as it would reveal the identity of the bastard that had left a young girl pregnant. Little did they know how true it all was.

Patrick, Bob's brother, encouraged me to write about my experience with Christian. I cried myself to sleep every night for almost a month, and he couldn't stand to hear it anymore, it broke his heart. Writing became an outlet, soon my crying turned to acceptance, acceptance of what had occurred with Christian. I chalked it up to a huge lesson in life and before I knew it. I had moved on and concentrated on my babies. Except life wouldn't let me forget about Christian Grey, but my encounter with two Greys was a happy occasion after it was all said and done.

NOVEMBER 22ND 2011

"Ana." I turn around to find a shocked pair of eyes staring at my bulging pregnant stomach. I'm surprised she remembers me from our brief meeting.

"Hello Grace," I said just as shocked. "This is my husband, Carrick," she introduces absentmindedly.

"Hello, Mr. Grey." I greet warmly.

"No, it's just Carrick." He looked like he wanted to say more but doesn't.

"Would you like to sit down?" I offered as clearly this was going to be a long conversation. I move up the park bench to give them space to sit.

"Is it Christian's?" Carrick jumped straight in after composing himself.

"Yes," I reply simply.

"Does he know?" This time, it was Grace.

"Yes, he doesn't want them," I say without hesitation or the wretchedness that would have tinged my voice six months ago.

"Them…" Grace mutters with a beaming smile.

"What are you having?" Carrick asks. For the first time, his voice softens.

"I know one is a boy; the other one just won't cooperate," I say with a giggle.

"Why didn't you come to us?" Grace says sadly.

"I signed his NDA. He threatened to come after me, my dad and my mom and her husband. He threw a check at me and told me to leave him the fuck alone." I'm surprised I feel nothing for Christian as I talk about this. "He wanted me to abort it, as he called the babies. When I refused, I saw something…" I stop realizing I'm talking to his parents.

"Please tell me you kept the money for the sake of the babies." Carrick practically begs.

"I couldn't," I say with a sigh. "I'm surprised you don't know," I add.

"What do you mean?" Grace asks.

"I wrote a letter to Kate telling her everything. I know she got it because she left messages begging me to come back and that if you knew you would protect me. Elliot reiterated her point; he told me Christian wouldn't have a leg to stand on if you knew." Their shocked and irate faces say Kate and Elliot didn't tell them.

"Well, that explains their damn right cold behavior towards Christian. Six months and none of them said a word." Grace says shaking her head.

"We will speak to Christian…"

"No, no I do not want him to know where I am. I left Georgia on a military carrier so there no evidence of me leaving. As far as Kate and Elliot are concerned I am somewhere in Europe because if by some miracle Christian attitude changes… well, mine has changed, and I do not want the man I last saw anywhere in my life or my children. He signed away his rights to them, and I'm keeping it that way." I tell a shocked a Carrick and a fuming Grace.

"Yes, Kate informed us a week after they got back from Barbados that you had accepted a job in Europe." Grace lets out a humorless chuckle. "Christian left the table to make a phone call."

"He did what?" Carrick bellows as though he didn't hear a word Grace said concentrating solely on my comment about Christian signing his rights away. "Grace the boy signed away any rights to the children."

"I heard." she says with a sigh.

"There is a forty-five-page legal document stating Christian Grey is in no way responsible for my children," I emphasise.

"Forty-five pages." Carrick mutters. "Is there any way I can see it.

"Yes, we just have to walk across the road. Being this pregnant with twins, I can't go far." I joke as Carrick helps me up. We make the short walk to my home in Noting Hill.

"Ana, who lives here?" Grace asks looking around the foyer.

"At the moment, it's just the housekeeper and me. My parents do come to visit a lot. They will be here next month till the babies arrive." I inform them.

"What do you do? Carrick asks.

"I work for Patrick Adams…" God I remember when he gave me this place, I damn near collapsed in shock.

"The philanthropist," Grace says in awe.

"Yep, I also have a writing gig. The two combined keeps me in a relatively comfortable lifestyle." Since I don't have to pay rent.

"I'd say," Carrick says with a chuckle.

"Both jobs I can do from home. Organizing Patrick's life doesn't take up much time, leaving me time to write for the magazine." That is until I get published which should be any day.

"There you go." I hand him my copy of the document.

"Good lord," he mutters just looking at the size of it.

"Would you like something to drink? I think I have coffee somewhere." I say heading for the kitchen.

"No dear, you sit down I will get Carrick a cup. You just tell me where everything is." I do as she says. God knows my feet are killing me.

We chat for almost two hours before Carrick comes out looking grim. "I never thought one of my children could be so cold and heartless. Grace… even if the children are dying and his blood or some part of him could save them, he doesn't want to know." Grace's sharp intake of breath is heartbreaking. "He wants nothing to do with children come hell or high water." Carrick sits down with his head bowed.

"I knew he was cold when it came to business, but to do this to a young girl is heartbreaking," Grace says wiping her tears and stares at the floor.

"We are so sorry." Carrick finally says. "How am I going to keep quiet when I see him?" Carrick ponders out loud. I feel terrible for putting them in this position. The man I saw will not care what his parents say he will take everything I have for telling this family.

"I'm sorry," I whisper.

Grace turns her angry glare on me. "Don't you dare apologize, you have done nothing wrong. Accidents happen and to think he would do this to you… after what his birth mother went through is despicable. She was left on her own after her high school boyfriend got her pregnant and walked away leaving her and Christian to be abused by a pimp."

After learning about Christian's mother, the minuscule part of me that still felt something for Christian Grey died a quick death as I realized just how cold-hearted he really was. Grace and Carrick kept their word and said nothing to Christian. Elliot and Kate, on the other hand, were not so lucky. Grace and Carrick came back after the New Year and stayed until after I had the twins. Somehow they managed to keep my location from Kate and Elliot; they didn't have Christian's resources to track Carrick and Grace. That was the very reason I didn't want them saying anything to him because he will follow them right to me. He will find me and take everything for breaking his precious NDA. I'm sure Carrick and Grace will not see me thrown out on the streets but that meant Christian would most likely pull further away from his family, and despite my lack of feelings for him, I didn't want that for him and his family.

"What are you daydreaming about?" Kate asks looking flustered.

"When Grace and Carrick first saw me in London," I tell her with a smirk knowing what happened to her and Elliot after they came back to Seattle. "Why are you looking so rattled?"

"I'm praying my roast chicken comes out cooked… on the inside." She says and I can't help but laugh. Since Ava arrived almost three years ago, Kate has been learning to cook with varying degrees of success.

"Kate, all you have to do is cook it at the right temperature keep it covered till it's cooked and then take the cover off and let the skin go crispy and voila you have yourself a perfectly roasted chicken."

"Easy for you to say. You are like Martha Steward in the kitchen." I chuckle at her annoyed look.

"Hey, baby," Elliot says coming down from his shower.

"Hey, how is Ava?" Kate asks with a smile.

"Sound asleep," he says going up to Kate and rubbing her stomach. "I hope this little guy is just as easy. How is the food coming along I'm starving." He says just as the doorbell goes indicating our first guest as arrived.