Chapter 3: The Way We Use to Be

Christian left work around six and when he got home he didn't see his wife so he went to the bedroom only to find his wife in the closet sorting through her new clothes. "You went shopping today?" Christian asks Leila.

"Yeah I even ordered you a few new dress shirts," Leila says with a smile as she kisses Christian.

"Elliot asked me if we would go out Friday and I said we would," Christian says.

"Is she going to be there?"

"Yes I think Kate invited her."

"Well then I don't want to go. Christian we just got back to a good place in our relationship and now she comes back and I won't do it."

"Don't do this Leila don't play the victim card because it is getting old."

"No I'm not going."

"Yes you are my brother invited us out and we are going and that is final," Christian says as he walked out of the closet.

"Fine but expect me to be nice to your whore," Leila yells.

"Don't you ever call Ana a whore?"

"That's what she is sleeping with a married man."

"What about you Leila you get pregnant by one of our body guards and try and pass it off as mine but wait you get an abortion then tell everyone that you had a miscarriage. Then you black mail me into staying into this relationship so what does that make you Leila," Christian says as he leaves to go to his home office. Christian walks to his office and goes straight to the bourbon. He downs a couple of glasses and thinks about what Elliot said over lunch. He did love Ana but it wasn't easy for him to leave his wife. He had his image to think about. He just can't divorce Leila and jump into a relationship with her why couldn't she just understand that. He hears his phone ringing and sees that it's Elliot. "Hey Elliot what do you want?" Christian says as he answers the phone.

"What has you so mad."

"It's nothing so what time do you want to meet up Friday so I can call Jake and make sure the vip room will be empty."

"So Leila is letting you go out?"

"Yes and she is coming so what time?"

"Kate wants to go out around 9," Elliot says

"Alright I will call Jake and have him make sure food and champagne is ready for us when we get there."

"Thanks bro."

"No problem," Christian says as he hangs up and calls Jake to let him know about Friday. As he is walking into his bathroom he sees Leila at the vanity doing her hair.

"Kate texted me told me that they want to go around 9 Friday," Leila says

"I know Elliot just told me and I called Jake and made sure he had everything ready for all of us when we get there Friday,"

"Great, Christian I am sorry about what I said earlier I know we got passed it but you have to look at it from my point of view. You committed to me and now that she is back and is going to be hanging out with your family it's a slap in my face. I love you and I don't want you to feel trapped in our marriage," Leila says

"Leila it's too late for that because I am trapped in this sham of a marriage and I don't love you and I promise you this that if you so much as breathe wrong in Ana's direction I will divorce you," Christian says to Leila.

"When I said till death do us part I meant it Christian and if you divorce me the whole world will know what you did and how do you think Ana be able to look at you knowing what you did," Leila says. Christian walks past her and gets ready for bed.

Time jump to Friday

On Friday Ana finishes her work around 5:30 and goes to talk to Natalie. "Natalie do you want to meet me at my place before we go out tonight?" Ana asks her.

"Yeah I can't believe I am partying with the Grey's" Natalie says

"It should be fun," Ana says as she grabs her things and leaves. "We are meeting at the mile high club at 9 Natalie," Ana tells as she is walking out of the building with Natalie.

"I will be at you place at 8 then so we can drink a little before."

"See you then," Ana says as she gets into her car and drives away. As soon as she walks into her apartment Darcy is waiting for her by the door so she changes her clothes into her work out clothes to go for a run with Darcy. She puts Darcy on the leash and they run for about 45 minutes. When she gets back to her apartment she gives Darcy some more food and water before she gets in the shower. By the time she gets out of the shower she sees that it is seven so she blow dries her hair and then goes into her closet and decides on a black crop top and black pants that she hasn't worn in forever paired with gold shoes and a gold necklace. She puts on minimal make up and she decides to braid a little bit of her hair and have the rest in soft waves. When she is finished getting ready she eats a sandwich before Natalie gets to her place. Natalie gets to her place ten minutes late.

"Sorry I'm late I had a hard time deciding what to wear," Natalie says

"No big deal." Ana says as she grabs two glasses and pours them both some wine.

"Tell me about growing up here. What was it like growing up with the Grey's?" Natalie asks as she takes the glass from Ana.

"Is this and interview?" Ana says.

"No I'm just curious. Please Ana I want to know," Natalie says.

"When I moved back with my dad Ray when I was twelve and we lived in Montesano until I turned 15 when his carpenter business started growing. So we moved to Bellevue and we became neighbors with the Grey's. I didn't actually talk to any of them until Mia and I were paired together for an English project and I went to her house to work on it and from then on Mia and I became friends. Over time I started to hang out with Christian. We became inseparable and when he went to Harvard it was hard on both of us. Then he decided college wasn't for him so he came back home to start his company and my dad gave him the loan to start it but that is a different story. Anyways up until two years ago we were all good friends." Ana says finishing her wine.

"So what happened?" Natalie asks.

"We all just went our separate ways," Ana says quickly and Natalie realizes it is time to end this conversation.

"So our taxi will be here in fifteen minutes how about we take a couple of shots to get us really started," Natalie says grabbing a bottle of vodka from her bag and pouring them each shots.

"Okay but only two, you know how much of light weight I am," Ana says. Ana takes the first shot and then the second one chasing it with lemonade while Natalie takes three shots. The taxi shows up on time and the girls head off to the Mile High Club.

Christian and Leila showed up at the club 10 minutes early because Christian want to make sure everything was as it was supposed to be for when everyone arrived. Christian had to admit that Leila looked nice in her dress. It was an off white dress that went a little below her knees and hugged her body and her shoes were black heels that made her legs look long. The next to arrive was Mia with her new guy of the week Kevin and Christian was not too happy about that and he made sure the guy knew he didn't like him. Christian wasn't happy with the way Mia was dressed either she was in a black dress that was too low cut and short for his taste. "Who let you out of the house like that," Christian said to Mia.

"I'm 24 Christian not 13 I can dress how I want," Mia said annoyed.

"Mia what the hell are you wearing," Elliot said as he walked up to them.

"As I was telling Christian I am 24 and I can wear whatever I want to and guys please be nice to Kevin I like this one and I don't want you two running him off," Mia says glaring at her brothers. Ana and Natalie showed up as Mia was talking. "Oh my God Ana you look HOT," Mia says as she hugs Ana.

"Thanks Mia you look great too," Ana says to Mia.

Christian opens the bottle of champagne and says a toast. "To old friends, to new friends and making memories." Everyone raises their glass of champagne except Kate who has a glass of water and they drink. Everyone takes a sip from their glass. Everyone sits down talking with one another.

The whole group had been drinking for a while when Mia spoke up "let's play a game? We ask anyone a question and if they don't answer then they have to take a shot. I'll start Natalie is there anyone in your group of friends that you would consider having sex with?"

"Yes!" Natalie says without hesitating.

"Who wouldn't you sleep with in our group of friends is the better question." Ana says

"Alright Ana who did you give your v card to?" Kate asks

Ana is surprised by the question and everyone looks at her waiting for her to say or do something. "He was a random guy that is not important it didn't mean anything." Ana says and then takes a sip of her drink. She looks up at Christian as Mia is answering the question Natalie asked her and she can see the pain in his eyes but she doesn't care because that is how she felt he meant nothing to her. The game keeps going until Natalie hears a song and drags Ana to the dance floor. Mia and Kate follow them. As they are dancing a guy comes up behind Ana and starts dancing with her. Christian watches Ana and this guy and he is enraged that any other guy would touch her. He then scolds himself because he knows he has no right to be jealous. The girls come back up without Ana as she is talking to guy that had his hands all over her after about 10 minutes she goes back up to the lounge area.

"So did you get his number Ana?" Natalie asks.

"No you know I'm not looking for anything right now." Ana says annoyed. Leila yawns and Kate suggests that since she is getting tired that she just goes home with Leila so Elliot can have some time with his brother and have sometime down time. Elliot tries to leave with Kate but she forces him to stay and have fun so instead he walks Kate out to their and Christian follows them. As soon as her brothers leave Mia decides to order a round of shots. The girls down the shots and order another round of drinks. Mia gets up to sit beside Ana and hugs her.

"You know we all thought you would end up with Christian" Mia slurs as soon as she says that Christian and Elliot walk back into the room. Ana looks at Christian then turns to Mia to give her a hug.

"Mia we wouldn't have worked out because he is a control freak." Ana says to Mia. Ana gets up and walks away after saying that she needed to go to the restroom. Christian then got up and followed saying that he had to go talk to someone.

"Ana wait," Christian says and Ana turns around.

"What do you want?" Ana says

"I want to apologize for what Mia said."

"It's okay Christian I'm okay really you are going to have to believe me when I say that," Ana says.

"I do believe you Ana. I just want to go back to the way things were before everything happened. Is that too much to ask for," Christian says pleading with her.

"I don't think it will ever be the same," Ana says and leaves him standing there alone.