Happy Thanksgiving all. It's almost 2:00 a.m. here in the U.S. and I just finished cooking some of the sides for Thanksgiving dinner. I hope you all truly have a great Thanksgiving. All characters belong to E. L. James and all mistakes are mine.
"Oh, good I'm not late. I thought I'd missed it. Hi everyone. Elliot, I didn't know you were back from New York." She says removing her shades.
"Akasha, I thought your kind stayed in your coffin until nighttime?" Elliot retorts.
"Miranda, what are you doing here? I told you not to come here, today." I state through clenched teeth.
"I know, but I am going to be Fred's stepmother, soon. So, I should be here."
"My son's name is Franklin." Ana says.
"Oh, Amanda I didn't see you there." Miranda says purposely pronouncing Ana's name incorrectly.
"It's Ana, Morticia. I know you're about a million years old, but her name is Ana." Elliot tells her and I can see he's getting upset. Elliot has never been fond of Miranda and neither has Mia.
"Miranda, dear this is really a family matter." Mom says to her, and shocking me.
"Well, I am marrying Christian," She says looking directly at Ana. "So, I'll officially be family soon enough. I also have some great ideas about boarding schools for Felix? Floyd? I'll get it…"
"Mommy, what's a boarded school?" Frankie asks.
"Something you don't have to worry about, buddy." Ana tells him as she glares at Randi.
"Frankie, come here." Dad says. "See this nice lady here? She's my assistant. She's going to take you into my office and let you watch my television and eat your lunch, ok?'
"Ok, grandpa." His babysitter goes with him as Ana and Elliot take their seat.
"Now, I called us here, today, to work out a visitation schedule between Ana and Christian."
"Visitation? Why aren't we going after full custody? She obviously hid her pregnancy for money. Besides, she's a single mom. The boy will need two parents, not one." Miranda states and you can immediately feel the temperature, in the room, drop.
"Christian, I suggest you muzzle your bitch, or euthanize her. MY son has two parents, you dimwitted cunt. You're obviously in heat, so have your own baby. That's if your uterus isn't plastic too." Ana tells her.
"Honey, you wished you looked this good. I can give you the name of my doctor, so he can help you with that mommy pouch." Randi tells her.
"Miranda, leave! This has nothing to do with you." I stand and grab her arm pulling her towards the door.
"One. More. Word. Just one more and I'm going to dog walk your ass all through this office." Ana says
"Listen, you backwoods hillbilly…" but that's all Miranda manages to get out before Ana's right fist makes contact with her face. Ana's punches surpass the speed of light. Randi has at least a few inches height on Ana, but Ana has managed to get her down and is now on top of her punching her.
"Christian! Stop her…. help me!" Randi cries.
"Talk some shit now, bitch! Come on! Say something else. I'll fuck you up! Fake ass Barbie wannabe bitch!" Ana is not stopping.
"Alright, Ana. I think you've made your point. You don't want to be down there with that mongrel too long, you'll get fleas, or rabies." Elliot says trying to pry Ana off Randi. However, each time he grabs Ana, she grabs Randi's hair and kicks her when she can't punch her.
"Dad, I sure hope your cameras are rolling because I want a play back of this whenever I can get the pit bull to let go." Elliot says.
"Bitch, I'll beat you until I'm tired, take a break and then beat your ass some more." Ana tells her.
"Ana, Anastasia, ANASTASIA!" Dad yells, finally getting Ana to stop.
Elliot is able to pull Ana off Randi and when I look up, both Taylor and Randi's CPO, Higgins are standing there staring. Taylor is holding Higgins back.
"Get off me, Elliot!" Ana says trying to push Elliot off.
"No can do, Banana. I think you've proven your point. Did you hurt yourself? I'm certain hitting all that plastic can't feel too good on your hands." He says.
"Elliot." Dad warns.
"Higgins, help her up." I say to Randi's CPO.
"You can't see any damage. Her face looks like that all the time." Elliot says causing Mia to laugh.
"Mia Grey." Mom says.
"Ana, may I look, at your hands, to see if there is any damage?" Mom asks.
"No." Is all Ana says.
Dad comes back in the room with the first aid kit. "I asked Dani to take Frankie home, if that's ok?"
"Thank you, Carrick." Ana says.
"I'd like to stop by after work, if that's ok."
"Of course, Carrick you are always welcome you know that."
"I'm going back to my office. I have some work to finish. Carrick, I'll pay for any damage to your office."
"You most certainly will not. I will see you and my grandson, tonight."
"Mia, are you stopping by with Elliot and Carrick?"
"Of course." She says giving Ana a hug.
~xXx~
As I make my way to the conference room door, I turn to look at Randi. I step closer to her and see her bodyguard stand in front of her.
"Where were you when I was fucking her up?" I ask.
"Look bitch, you may be marrying my son's father, but you stay the fuck away from me and my son. Next time, you'll be dodging bullets and I. Don't. Make. Idle. Threats." I say as I walk into another wall of muscle standing at the door.
"Miss Steele." He says as he smiles and nods moving out of my way.
As I get back to my office, Jose looks up and the look on his face tells me I look like I've been in a fight.
"Ok, well you've either had an afternoon delight, or been in a brawl. You didn't leave the building, so I know it wasn't an afternoon delight, so I'll go with the latter of my statement. I hope you won, but we must do something with this gorgeous mane of yours. Let's see if we can pull it back together for you, shall we?" He says pulling out a bag and following me into my office.
"Well, you don't have a scratch on you. So, I guess that means you had to fuck a bitch…oops, sorry. You had to jack a tramp up." He says combing my hair and fixing it back into the pony tail I had. There's a knock on my door when it opens to reveal Christian.
"Dios Mios, you do love me!" Jose says eyeing Christian and looking towards the ceiling and saying thank you.
"Ana, may I speak to you, please? Please?"
"Jose, please excuse us. Thank you." He closes the door as he takes one more look at Christian.
"Sweet Jesus, there's another one out here." I hear Jose say and I chuckle as I picture Christian's bodyguard glaring at Jose.
"What do you want, Christian?"
"I… I see you received my flowers." He says in a pitiful attempt to make small talk.
When I sit and stare at him, he sits in one of my chairs.
"Ana, look I'm sorry that Randi showed up. I told her not to come here. I told her she did not need to come here. I don't know what she was thinking… why she would…"
"Shouldn't you be home with your fiancé, instead of here with me?"
"Ana." He sighs, "I'm trying. You give me nothing to work with. I'm sorry, I'm so fucking sorry for my behavior those years ago. I was upset with Grace and I took it out on you. I should not have done that. You didn't deserve that."
"I'm sorry for the way I treated you. I am sorry for the awful things I said to you. I did not feel that way, Ana. I am so glad you did not listen to me. I am so grateful that you had Frankie. I can never thank you enough."
"I… I was selfish. I wanted what I wanted, when I wanted it. I wanted to build a life for us. For you and me and when that was threatened, I didn't know what to do. I lashed out after I spoke with mom that day. I just knew she'd influence my dad to go along with her."
"Ana, I've regretted what happened since that day. You will never understand how much regret I've felt since that day. I thought I'd be able to apologize, but when I came to your apartment, your neighbor said you were gone. You didn't come to graduation, and when I went to your house, your dad would not give me any information."
"I looked for you. Once I had the money and resources to look for you, I did but it was like you fell off the face of the earth. It was as if Anastasia Steele never existed."
Yep! Thanks to Ray and his military connections, he was able to make Anastasia Steele vanish. However, I wouldn't dare tell him that.
"Are you done with your soliloquy? The floor is still yours, if you're not finished." I say sitting back and folding my arms.
"Ana, I am just trying…"
"Trying to what Christian? Apologize? Get my sympathy? Is that it? You want my sympathy? Well, I have none. You want sympathy look in the dictionary between shit and syphilis and that's where you'll find my sympathy."
"I want nothing from you, you pansy ass mama's boy. Fuck you and the day I ever met you. Just get to know your son. Build a relationship with him. Forget you ever met me. All I ask is that you do not have him around that bitch of a fiancé of yours. Now, if you're done with this bleeding-heart shit, you can exit stage left, a/k/a get the fuck out of my office."
~xXx~
What the fuck is wrong with her? When did Ana become so stoic? I take one more look at her as she starts going through a file on her desk as if I'm not standing here and I leave. Taylor is waiting for me and we head for the garage.
Once we're back in the car, I notice Taylor glancing at me in the rearview mirror.
"What is it, Taylor?"
"Sir, I don't know what Miss Devereaux is up to, but I feel that Miss Steel and young Mister Steele need a CPO."
"I agree, Taylor. However, Ana cannot stand the sight of me. There's no way I'll convince her to have a CPO."
"Perhaps, you don't have to convince her."
"That's an excellent idea, Taylor. To Bellevue, please."
"Uh, sir shouldn't you go see how Miss Devereaux is feeling?" He asks with about as much concern as watching paint dry.
"She'll survive. I have other important things to take care of, first." He nods as he enters the expressway to my parents' house.
~xXx~
So, this bitch thinks she can come in and turn everyone against me, huh? Oh, I'll show her and that little brat. No one gets the best of me and lives to tell about it. There will be hell to pay.
Babe, you're right BOTH must go- R
The response is immediate.
I told you. Even with one of them out of the picture, you'll still have no peace. You get your life and peace of mind back with BOTH gone- B
I agree. Let's get this plan started- R
Agreed- B
I can't help but smile as I know she won't see it coming. I'll pay her a visit next week and make nice with her. I'm going to love watching her pain and heartache before I take her life.
Ugh! I think the bitch broke my fucking nose. I'll need to call Dr. Storm to have it looked at and see if he needs to do anything to it. I guess I'm stuck in this house, for a while until my face heals. That's fine though, it gives me more time to get my plan together.
~xXx~
Entering my parents' house, I find them in the kitchen.
"Dad, I need you to convince Ana to let me get her and Frankie a CPO."
"What? Why?"
"Can I speak to you in your office?" I ask glancing at my mom.
"Uh, sure." He says.
As we enter his office, he pours us both some scotch.
"Now, why would you think Ana and Frankie need CPO's?"
"Well, dad I don't have full evidence, yet. However, Randi's up to something. She has no clue that Taylor placed a tracker in her phone. She's either been giving her CPO the slip, or her CPO has been letting her go off on her on."
"There is a log of daily activity, that each CPO must sign. They must account for their whereabouts even though they let Taylor know. Welch and Taylor have noticed some inconsistencies with Higgins' daily log."
"Have you asked Randi and Higgins?" He asks.
I roll my eyes knowing he's going into lawyer mode.
"No, dad. We want to wait until we have evidence of what's going on. Taylor just hired another guy who will do covert surveillance on them. He'll get pictures and maybe even some video or sound." I tell him.
"I see. So, you think Randi could possibly retaliate for the ass whipping she received today." He says trying, but failing to hold in his laughter.
"Dad, I usually expect this behavior from Elliot. Not you."
"I know son, but did…."
He's interrupted by my idiot brother coming into dad's office.
"You still have not learned to knock." I say.
"You still have a stick up your butt." He retorts.
"You ready to go next door, old man?" Elliot asks making me aware that I'm not welcomed at Ana's house.
"Yes, sure." Dad says downing the last of his scotch.
"Christian shouldn't you be home making sure Hannibal Lector is ok? After that ass whipping, I'm sure she's not."
"Shut up, El."
"I mean did you see Ana? I swear I blinked and she was beating the hell out of Randi. All that damn money spent on plastic surgery gone down the drain. Ana fucked her up. She was all… Christian help me, get her off me." He mimics Randi while he and dad burst into another round of laughs.
"If you're going to be that big of a bitch, you should know how to fight so you won't get your ass beat. You need to get her in the gym with Claude, man and quick!"
"I'm leaving." I say leaving them to act like immature children.
I'm heading towards the front door when mom enters the foyer.
"C-Christian? May I speak with you for a moment, please?"
"Mom, I just want to go home. This day has been unbearably long." I sigh.
"Please, it will only take a minute. I… there are some things I need to say to you. Please?" Our relationship has practically been nonexistent since that fateful day before graduation.
"Fine, I say." As we walk towards the living room. Why do I feel this talk will drain all my energy? I text Taylor that I'll be a few more minutes as we sit on the couch.
Akasha is the vampire in the movie Queen of the Damned starring the late Aaliyah. It's an adaptation of Anne Rice's third novel The Vampire Chronicles.
That quote about shit and syphilis comes from one of my favorite movies, Major Payne staring Damon Wayans.
Hannibal Lector is the character in the moving Silence of the Lambs.