Thank you so much for your encouraging responses. Hoping you enjoy this one! This is a Christian POV as well as Ana's, and I'm sorry if its really bad.
Shades of Black and White
Christian POV:
As I watch the elevator doors close on Miss Steele, I hang around senselessly for a second, stunned by what has happened. Her voice and the way she said farewell, 'Mr Grey', it hangs in the air. I cannot believe what has just happened.
She was the one. She was my soul mate. After twenty seven years of waiting, finally, she had arrived. And, to be completely honest, she was nothing like what I was expecting. Then again, was I exactly what she was expecting as well?
At first, when I was younger, I admit that I didn't believe in the concept. It had seemed so... unrealistic, so... impossible. Yet, here it was, having only just happened to me, and showing me otherwise. There had been a long time where I think I had given up on the idea; My parents, everyone else, they had seemed to find theirs. Lately I hadn't been so sure I had one in this world, a soul mate just for me. I was starting to suspect that I was a hopeless cause and I would never find her, not in this life. I had thought that maybe I was destined to live in a colorless world forever.
But, as it turns out, apparently I was wrong.
I feel uneasy at the idea of her driving home to wherever she lives, especially after what has just happened. I had heard by various news broadcasts that operating a vehicle, especially in a sudden change of color state, can make a person more prone to car crashes. Hopefully that is not the state with Miss Steele.
This is so uncharacteristic of me, being so concerned over someone's well-being. I really do have to get my head back into the game.
Miss Steele.
I head over towards the reception desk again where Andrea sits. If anyone knows anything about how my schedule is today, its her. "Andrea, when is my next client?" I ask her.
"Not due until another two hours, Mr Grey."
"Then have Welch on the line for me immediately."
"Yes, Sir."
I need to know more about her, this Miss Steele. No, I don't need to know more. I need to know everything.
I head back into my office, shutting the door securely behind me. I feel hot all of a sudden, like I have just been out on a sudden and spontaneous jog around the block, so I shrug out of my jacket, draping it around the back of my chair while I sit and wait for the call. In order to distract myself, I pull the color chart sheet back out from where I keep it inside my desk drawer, swiveling my chair towards the window.
Even more difficult to swallow than the fact that my soul mate ended up coming into my office today, is that everything is filled with color now. Twenty seven years I have gone by without it and... now, everything is beautiful. I can see everything now. The world no longer seems so dark and bleak. No more coal black surroundings or white as sheet skies.
Orange, I realize, squinting up the sun through the window. The sun is orange and yellow and white; a mixture of all three.
Brunette. She was a brunette. Her hair was brown, in a tight ponytail, loose limp strands tucked in behind her ears. The anorak jacket she was wearing over her white blouse was green. Jade. A milder green. Her skirt was-
My phone buzzes, and then my assistants voice comes on the line. "Mr Welch is on the line for you now, Sir."
"Excellent, Andrea. Put him through."
"Yes, sir."
There is another clicking noise as Welch comes onto the line. "Welch, I need a background check. Preferably immediately."
It takes about half an hour for it all to be faxed through. I send Andrea in to give it to me, and once she leaves me alone with the papers, I lean back in my chair, going through all the information.
Her name is Anastasia Rose Steele. She is twenty two years old this year, having only just graduated with a diploma in English Literature. I have her social security number, her bank account balance, and her current residential address which tells me she lives in Vancouver. I also learn that she is currently employed at a hardware store called Clayton's.
Her biological father and mother divorced when she was around one years old, and then her mother got remarried to a man called Raymond, who is now Anastasia's stepfather. This must have been the man she was talking about, with that story she told me of about how her mother had met her soul mate when she had already been born.
But that is really all I need to know, for now. After all, I gave her my business card.
She'll have to call me to set a time for dinner eventually. I fold up the papers carefully, slipping them into the first drawer of my desk. Already, I seem unable to get her out of my mind, which is both very frustrating and extremely unlike me. Usually I have good grasp on my feelings, knowing when not to get too attached. Maybe it's a foolish soul mate thing?
You meet your soul mate, and then... wham. All other previous thoughts and concerns are erased, to the point where all you can seem to think about is her. It is definitely going to make getting through today a particularly trying one; I have another meeting scheduled in the afternoon, and how the hell am I supposed to properly concentrate when all I can seem to do right now is think about her, replaying our conversations when I had her in here for the interview over and over in my head?
I even feel absurdly anxious, wondering if and when she will follow through and call. I never get anxious, not for anyone. I've never liked waiting for someone to return a call either, though. At least that trait within me hasn't changed.
But I can't escape the one little reality. I have some definite loose ends to tie up, hopefully this evening. There is someone else in the mix, someone else involved that I also need to be concerned about. I don't even know where I will start with having the conversation I need with Leila, but having spent time with her for the last three months due to our contractual agreement, I know how she is. Leila is prone to overreaction and is very sensitive.
If there is one thing I know that will transpire out of the conversation I know we must have tonight, it is that there will be tears. And a lot of them.
000
When I get home, she's there, always on time. Leila knows I'm not very good at the whole waiting game. If there is one thing I can rely on when it comes to her, it is that she is always punctual and early.
She stands from the couch once she hears me get in, her hands folded out in front of her, her head low towards the ground, her shining brown hair falling in her face. She doesn't dare look me in the eyes. Just how I like it.
"Would you like me to wait in the playroom, sir?"
"No, that won't be necessary. Not tonight," I tell her sternly. "But what I would like is for you to take a seat and be mindful of keeping your hands to yourself."
I have never been particularly good with heart-to-hearts. My approach has always been that similar to business meetings, so I try to conduct it in that way. People have always commented that I don't seem to have a heart, that I am cold and aloof in the most inappropriate of times. And perhaps they are right on that?
She sits down on the couch, head still low, a surge of pleasure racing through me with how obedient she is. I leave her hanging for a moment as I undo my tie, stripping it free from my collar. I had tried rehearsing mentally what I was going to say in my head all day, yet right now, in the moment, my mind is blank and I have no idea what to say.
I sigh loudly as I sit next to her. How am I even meant to say this without sounding like a hardhearted bastard?
"I know we agreed on a six month trial for you to be my Submissive, but I am afraid we can no longer do that," I begin, deciding to say whatever comes to mind, regardless of how wrong it sounds. "We can no longer do this anymore. I'm sorry." My tone comes out wrong; I hardly sound sorry in the slightest. "It's been... a good three months with you but... this just cannot go on any longer."
Her body stiffens as she lifts her head slowly to look at me with her dark brown eyes. Brown. Her eyes are brown. It is funny how things seem so different once you are able to see color.
"I met my soul mate today. I can see everything clearly now."
"Your... your soul mate?" Her voice is small, hurt. "But I am your soul mate?"
"No, you're not. We both know that." Surely, she has to know that? She must have known it ever since we agreed to this. I am not her soul mate, and she isn't mine. Otherwise, if she had been, if we had been, we would have seen things far differently than what we had. "I think we both knew that, even while we agreed to undertake this together. We both knew it and still, we decided to take the risk." I hesitate, watching her face carefully. She's crying, I realize. Softly, quietly. Her body trembles as tears start trickling down her face. "That is why we can no longer resume with what we are doing, Leila. I'm afraid that our contractual agreement will need to be called off early. I hope you can understand?"
I peer down at my hands, tapping the tips of my fingers together as I steeple them, because it suddenly becomes too painful to have to endure watching her cry. They were wrong after all, I guess. I am not completely heartless and devoid of anything.
"We both knew that there was always a likelihood of something like this happening, because when we met... still we were colorblind. We knew it would happen, either with you eventually meeting yours, or me with mine. We can't resume this any longer, because... I can't see anyone else. I'm not capable of it, as you know. It's just... her now. It can only ever be her now."
"Who is she?" she whispers tonelessly.
"It doesn't matter."
"Yes, it does," Leila insists desperately. "I need to know what her name is."
I can't see why it would hurt if she knew. There would be no harm in her knowing.
"Anastasia," I confess uncertainly after a second. "Her name is Anastasia Steele." She starts crying again, but this time, her cries are louder. It makes my heart clench in pity for her. "We both know this is how the world works," I continue softly, trying to make her feel better. "It has absolutely no reflection on you whatsoever. I just... I can't resist this, and you know that. It isn't the way this thing works. It would cause more... pain in the long run if we tried to continue with this when she is out there for me now. I can't try to resist or forget about her because..." I tap a finger against my temple meaningfully, "She is deeply ingrained within here now, in my head. My priorities have shifted and all I can see is her now."
"So you don't want me or this anymore?"
"It has nothing to do with me not wanting you anymore," I explain to her with irritation. "It is just how this world has been, for a very long time. No one else exists for me now, and I can't... want or be with anyone else but her. Do you understand?"
She starts crying again tragically and deciding I can't take it, I move closer to where she sits, wrapping my arms around her. I end up holding her until she feels better, with her head resting in my lap, stroking her hair.
"What can she give you that I can't?" she asks brokenly after a long time, her cries muffled in the fabric of my trousers.
"Color. She has given me... color."
Leila has always been so fragile, so sensitive. I just hope that she will find her very own soul mate shortly before worst comes to worse, and it ends up killing her.
ANA POV:
When I get safely home, I step inside, hearing the TV going off in the living room as I hang my jacket up on the clothes rack. I am dying to fill Kate in and finally reveal to her what has happened, yet I can't help taking my time, stepping slowly around the apartment in wonder.
I take it all in with literal brand new eyes.
The walls are a soft yellow, the ceilings the same.
"I'm back!" I call out to her excitedly, carrying the tape recorder and piece of paper with her questions with me. I find Kate in the living room, still huddled in her blanket from earlier, a mug of store-brought soup in her hand. Even Kate appears amazingly different with color. Her hair is blonde, just as I had always originally suspected it was, but it is a yellow-white.
"How did it go?" she asks with interest, watching me carefully. She seems so much sicker now that I can see her in color; Her nose is rimmed red, her skin pale. "Did everything go all right?"
"Better than all right. He answered all the questions you wanted answered, and tried to be as thorough with it as much as he possibly could."
"Awesome, Ana. Thank you so much!" She sits up as I hand the recorder to her, placing her hot mug of soup carefully onto a coaster on the coffee table. "So how was he like?"
I feel like laughing out loud in glee and shouting at the top of my lungs. I can see color now! I can see you are swathed in a pink blanket, that your eyes are blue like the sky, Kate! Also, I met my soul mate and he is the very same man you sent me off to interview!
"Well, he was very... young," I say, deciding to prolong it so that I can experience Kate's reaction better.
"Yeah, which we already established by Google Images when I showed you a picture of him, Ana?" She rolls her eyes at me with a laugh. "But how was he as a person? Was he arrogant? Full of himself?" Kate is hanging onto my every word and I decide now is a better time than any.
"Well, he was... wearing a blue suit and a white shirt," I mutter under my breath, anxious to watch her reaction.
It seems to go completely past Kate for a second as she shrugs. "Yeah, but... so he wasn't horrible or conceited at all? He wasn't-" She stops talking as she suddenly makes the mental connection with my words. Her face goes ashen as she makes a loud outburst of noise, failing her hands. "Holy shit, Ana. Are you saying what I think you are saying to me?"
"Yes, I am saying exactly what you think," I confess to her, grinning. "I met my soul mate and, what's more... I am not colorblind anymore! I see everything now!"
"Oh, my God," she laughs with a squeal of excitement. "How exciting for you! I am so jealous! Who is the lucky guy? Where did it happen?"
"What do you mean, 'who is the lucky guy?'" I laugh nervously. "It was Christian Grey. As it turns out, the guy I went to interview for you was my soul mate!" I am so thrilled that my voice keeps wavering and sounding funny. "I wasn't expecting it at all, but... it just happened!"
"Wow. So what happens now that you two are, you know... destined?"
I shove a hand into my side skirt pocket, pulling out the business card he gave me. "He gave me his number on his business card and invited me out for dinner, Kate. I just have to call him to pick a time and date so that we can both go out together."
"Wow. But that's good, right?" She scrutinizes my face closely. Maybe I am not being as excited as I should be? "So why aren't you happy?"
"I am happy. He just... he admitted to me that he is seeing someone at the moment," I explain, disappointed. "We can't go out tonight because he is apparently ending things with her." I force a smile onto my face, breathing in deeply. "But other than that, everything's great. I can see what color your hair is now! And your eyes!"
Hope you enjoyed this one? Sorry if it was done badly. Thank you all for being so kind. I haven't written fanfiction before, certainly not a Fifty Shades fanfiction, so it's so encouraging how kind you all are. Christian and Ana will have their date next chapter :-)
