Hello,Nice to be back to post another chapter ;)
The right version this time

Enjoy ;)

Chapter 4
APOV
As always, I chose to stay alone and count to ten to calm myself down. This turn of events was absolutely unexpected, but I've been in many stressful situations by now. Dealing with stress was part of my everyday life. It seemed so odd that Grey wanted me to stay. I was almost dealt with the fact I was coming to see him for the last time.
Then, he hugged me. For the very first time he let me touch him.
On the one hand I didn't expect him to include me in his social life in such a short notice, but on the other hand I knew Christian wasn't doing this only for me, he made a choice and wanted to stick to it.
I knew I could handle Mrs. Grey. I wasn't alone. I didn't look too formal, I thought I was dressed properly for the occasion, creamy sweater and comfortable jeans. I heard the knock on the door and Mr Grey walked in.
"Ready, Anastasia?" I heard he was a bit nervous. I felt it as well.

"Don't be nervous. It'll be alright." I comforted him. It was something he had clearly no idea about.

"Easier said than done. You have no idea. I've never done that before." We were both equally inexperienced in "the dating thing".

"I'll be nice, Sir." His frown made me understand my mistake. "Force of habit." I immediately looked down.

"I'm not worried about you. I'm worried about myself. No offence."

"Well, you didn't lock me in here, so it's not that bad." I wanted to treat it as a joke, but I wasn't entirely sure if I should make joke of it. He was keeping me hidden for months.

"If nothing happened yesterday, I would've gone to see her and left you here for an hour or so. It happened before. A lot of things might've gone in a different way. Anastasia… I want to tell you that you're really important to me and I promise I won't do that ever again. I really want to have you in my life." His tone was very gentle. It happened again I was in his arms.

"Christian, we shouldn't keep your mother waiting. Let's do it." I put on my usual mask. I took his hand and we went to the great room. I wasn't exactly sure what to expect. She was Mrs. Lincoln's friend so I wanted to be careful.
Luckily, I saw an elderly woman with a very kind smile. Totally not like I expected, but that was good.

"Mum, meet Anastasia, my girlfriend. Ana, this is Grace Trevelyan-Grey." We shook hands and all my fears were gone. She was a nice person. First impression is formed after ten seconds. Mine was very positive.

"I'm delighted to meet you, Anastasia. Call me Grace." I saw that her warm reception absolutely surprised Christian.

"Call me Ana, please." She hugged me as if to check if I was real. I liked her very much, but that outburst of emotions was very very kind.

"It's cold outside, maybe we should stay. I'll make us some coffee and Mrs Jones left us something to eat. Mum?" She was looking at me and I could only smile.

"That's a wonderful idea." We went to the kitchen and I took out of the fridge some lasagne. I put into the oven and Christian prepared coffee for Grace and himself and I had tea.

"How did the two of you meet?" I was told to let him speak about these topic and I honestly I was curious what he was going to say about me.

"Anastasia interviewed me for a students' paper a few months ago. It was the worst interview I've ever had." He said and kissed me on the cheek.

"That interview was a total disaster because I found out about it four hours before the meeting." I answered back.

"Ana's roommate was ill and Ana came as a replacement. I think that was a very fortunate day."

"And for me it was one of the most embarrassing days in my life, especially when I fell into his office, literally."

"I thought that was sweet." It was already November. Time passed like crazy. I could barely believe that.

"So, you're a student?"

"Graduated this year. I work as an interpreter." I told her about consecutive interpreting on different sort of conferences. We immediately hit it off.

"You're one interesting individual." We enjoyed lasagne and talked a bit more about the Grey family. I didn't say I knew Elliot but it was fun to hear about him from his mother. Grace was that person who could calm everyone down.

"She's too modest, Mum. She's young but I know that she's learning a lot, but she's very dedicated and ambitious " I loved the fact that he was speaking so fondly of me. I felt a bit uncomfortable, not really used to hearing compliments. I knew Christian wanted to be nice.
We got an official invitation for next week and we thanked for it. She gave me her card.

"If you'd like to go out for coffee, just call me." She winked at me. "You can always surprise me like this Christian."

"I'll walk you, Mum." I waved her goodbye and put the dishes in dishwasher. I felt very good after meeting her. My fear was unwarranted. Christian has always said she was one of the best people he'd known. I felt Christian's arms around me and felt his warmth.

"Grace already adores you. How are you feeling?"

"Great. Loved every minute of it." I turned to see him better and to look him straight in the eye.

"I've missed you like this. And you're still mine for the rest of the day."

"Yes I am. Tomorrow I'm seeing my sister."

"Right. You mentioned her. Sorry." He pushed me to the wall and kissed passionately. It felt similarly to our first kiss. It was very possessive and spontaneous. Probably because we had no idea what was happening to us at that point. We needed to talk about what happened between us yesterday. We needed to communicate with one another to avoid misunderstandings whenever possible. "I'll drive you there tomorrow evening, so don't worry about time."

"I think we should talk." We went to the great room and sat on the sofa. I wasn't exactly sure what I wanted to say.

"Ana, I'm really happy you told me about your feelings. I really appreciate your honesty and the fact you made up your mind. I want you to know I'm grateful you made that decision. These past months with you were the best. I really loved spending time with you. That was why I wanted no expiration date. I wanted to keep you forever, for the lack of better way to put it. I didn't want to let you go. I knew I'd have to though. You gave me more than I hoped. I saw you were really trying to be what I wanted." I wasn't saying anything. I was waiting, lost in my own thoughts
"You gave me all of you. I want you to know that I appreciate and admire all of it."

"I did that before it was too late. Christian, I did it for you. I wanted to be the person you wanted. The thing is that there were moments when I was beginning to lose myself."

" I know. I understand how you feel. I should've…" I immediately had to stop him.

"Just stop. What's done is done. I don't think it's a bad thing in the end. You know that the events of yesterday changed everything, don't you? We won't be the same people, neither of us. I know one thing that concludes both of us. We both want more, just in two absolutely different ways." That was when I got it. I saw his hesitation.

"Oh, please it's obvious you wanted to have more and more power over me. I get it. I've known you for a while. You had moments of doubts as well. The moment when Mrs. Lincoln was here was a reminder for you. You were harsh to me although I did nothing really wrong. You wanted to prove the point you had no feelings to me. I was really conflicted inside that day."

"Anastasia, you were always more than enough. I want you to know that." He took my hands and held them firmly. I knew what was coming. He was struggling to remain in control and he wanted to be sure I didn't touch him.

"I know. You're worried about tearing up the contract, aren't you?" I asked in a low voice.

"Partly, yes." He stifled laugh. "It's been a while since I was so much out of control." I wanted to reassure him that I wasn't going anywhere.

"How about we make one including all the necessary adjustments if that's to make you feel better. We have enough time to negotiate it." He let my hands go and asked me to follow him to his study.
I curled in his lap and I was thinking why weren't we so open before. Maybe because I wasn't intimidated by him anymore. I knew I could trust him with everything and that was exactly what I was going to do.

"No dates, no contact limits. I want to see you as often as possible " These were mostly weekends.

"You know that will mean that I'm going to call you more often?" He nodded.

"That's exactly the point. I want to hear more often from you. I want to include you in all relevant events. Time for me to be seen with a woman. We'll start with my family, but I'm going to take you elsewhere. I want everyone to know that you're mine."

"You do know that sounds possessive?" but not in a bad way.

"I do. All the rules stand." I immediately stood up.

"No fucking way." I turned to look at him and noticed he was mocking me.

"Only the majority. Because of the social element, you're released from the NDA, however you are to remain about certain aspects of it. I want to give you the comfort that you don't have to lie about with whom you spend your time. Besides, I'd like to meet them as well. I want you to always speak up your mind. Unless of course we're in the scene. Then, you know how it is."

I nodded. I was still standing. I wasn't sure what to do with myself.

"I'm so happy you chose to give us one more chance. I won't let you down, Ana" We both wanted more and we were both going to give more and get even more than that in return.

"I have something for you, if you'd like to accept it, I would be really grateful." I was curious what was it now. " I wanted to give it to you if you signed the revised contract as my sub. But now I want you to have it even more. He took out a box and I was really curious at what was inside.

"Come." I sat and he put a delicate necklace on me. It felt odd but I liked the fact that it wasn't anything big. "Do you like it?" I nodded.

"I'm happy I can have all of you to myself this evening. But how about staying in my room today?"

"Sure, not that not going to playroom has ever stopped you." I loved Christian, but at the same time I knew he was right. Some things were very difficult to change. He gave me one look and I understood what was coming.

"Actually, you're right. Why should I stop myself?"

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