ANA

I walk out of my room and stop in the doorway when I see Elliot sitting at our kitchen bar, wearing only his boxers. He obviously spent the night, but I'm not sure if I'm really comfortable with the way he feels like his home is here. I walk out of my room and into the kitchen without looking at him. Kate has never let anyone spend the night before, but Elliot is here, in our kitchen, in his boxers drinking coffee and reading the paper.

''Morning,'' he says. I don't know why I'm so embarrassed all of a sudden. Where's Kate?

''Good morning,'' I say back still with my head in the fridge. ''Where's Kate?'' I close the door to the fridge and heat up some water. He's looking at me over the paper with a smirk on his face.

''Still asleep,'' he turns the page with his his eyes still on me. ''So… how did the meeting with my mother go?'' He raises an eyebrow looking questioningly at me.

''Ehm…'' I say sitting down on the other end of the kitchen bar, ''she doesn't like me much.'' He frowns looking a bit confused, like he wasn't expecting that to be my answer. ''I didn't get to talk to her much, though'' I say as he nods putting the paper down. ''I probably just need some time with her, get to know her more.''

''She's an amazing mother; you'll love her when you see who she really is. I guess having her baby boy getting married was a shock to her,'' he says dryly, almost like he's jealous of the bond between Christian and their mother.

''You're not close?'' I ask and he frowns again in confusion, ''you and Christian I mean.'' He looks away for a second, before looking back at me.

''It's complicated. I love him, he's my little brother but… it's just complicated.'' When I don't answer he continues talking, looking down at his coffee cup. ''It was hard to adjust after my parents adopted Christian; he got most of the attention from them. And now I understand why, I do but I was only a kid back then… He was 4 when they adopted him, he'd been through much at such a young age,'' I sit quietly listening to Elliot's story. ''He didn't talk… he couldn't. Sometimes he tried but nothing came out, so my mom was by his side all the time when she was home, always scared that something would happen to him and that he couldn't call for help.''

Elliot's not looking at me, so he can't see the shock displayed on my face. ''I was scared of Christian, I didn't understand him, didn't understand what was wrong with him so I tried to stay away. I guess after a while I felt a bit invisible.'' He stands and refills his cup and then he sits down again. ''He used to hit me; he was 4 and weak so it didn't hurt, but it was annoying. And I was 8, I couldn't hit him back no matter how much I wanted to.'' Kate walks out of her bedroom, yawning and Elliot stops talking and opens the paper again. Kate walks over to him and kisses him saying ''good morning, babe.'' She blushes and then kisses him again.

''What were you guys talking about?'' she asks, getting herself a cup of coffee then sitting down beside Elliot.

''Ana's meeting with my mother,'' he says not looking up at me, I guess he doesn't want Kate to know about his fragile relationship with his brother. She doesn't complain about the fact that Elliot is sitting in only his boxers in front of me, it's seems like this is going to be our normal routine with Elliot here.

''How did that go?'' She asks leaning forward in her chair.

''I look forward to spending more time with her, get to know her. It was only a brief time she was there so I didn't really get to talk to her.'' I say carefully while putting my tea cup in the sink. When I sit back down there's a loud knock on our door, so I quickly get up and answer it.

I open the door and look into grey eyes, and I can't help the smile that stretches across my face, no matter how much I don't want to smile.

''Christian,'' I say and he walks us in and then he leans down and kisses me, immediately ruining my good mood at seeing him. I know he only kissed me for show, so as to not make Kate and Elliot suspicious. ''Coffee?'' I ask walking back into the kitchen, I look around and he shakes his head.

''Jesus Elliot,'' he says when he walks into the kitchen. ''Put some fucking clothes on,'' I turn around and see the angry stare he's giving Elliot. I bite my lip to hide my smile. Elliot mutters something under his breath as he stands and walks to Kate's bedroom. I look at Christian and he motions his head towards my bedroom, and I follow him.

When I'm inside and close the door he turns around and traps me against the door. ''How are you feeling?'' he asks looking concerned, which confuses me more each time he acts concerned for me. I can't tell the difference between his emotions and his acting, is this concern real or not?

"I'm okay,'' I say crossing my hand over my torso, he steps back so that I can walk over to my bed and so I sit down. ''I was wondering,'' I pause and he nods for me to continue while he takes a seat in the chair in front of my desk. ''If we were both drunk when… uh… How did you know that we used protection?''

A little playful smirk appears on his mouth ''I saw a condom wrapper lying beside the bed… So unless we blew balloons with it, I'm pretty sure that we used it as how it is supposed to be used.'' He folds his hands in his lap and suddenly gets a serious look on his face. ''How… how are you feeling?''

''How I'm feeling?'' I ask and he nods ''okay I guess.''

''No but really Ana, how are you doing. Are you happy?'' He frowns while still maintaining the serious expression on his face.

''I'm not all that happy with the situation,'' I say carefully because I'm not really sure of the nature behind his question, ''but I guess it could've been worse. We'll make it work for 6 month, right?'' I ask and his expression doesn't change a bit.

''Do you… would it maybe be good for you to see someone?'' He asks, and I'm actually shocked. What does he mean by 'see someone'? Does that mean that He wants me to find a boyfriend or date someone while I'm married to him? He sees the confused look on my face 'Would you like to go to therapy to talk to someone you trust about all this?''

''I'm not insane,'' I say defensively.

''Of course you aren't, that's not the reason people goes to psychiatrists… But you're young Ana, you're about to start your life and begin to understand how this world truly works. And you have gotten into this situation that is rather strange, so maybe it would be good for you to see someone.''

''Do you?'' I ask, ''see someone I mean.''

''I do,'' he says but leaves it at that. ''I know a few good psychiatrist you could talk to, maybe woman if you prefer.'' I'm surprised but I find myself nodding, because maybe it would help, maybe I need to complain to someone about how confused I am about this whole thing. ''Good,'' he says ''I'll make an appointment for the first week you move in.'' He says tapping on his phone. ''I'm hungry,'' he says when he looks up from his phone. ''When's your dad, coming here?'' he asks apprehensively.

Shit, I totally forgot about that. I look down on my clock and sigh.

''An hour.''


CHRISTIAN

''Let's sit in the bar, until your dad gets here,'' I says leading Ana over to the bar. We sit down, and I order for both of us. ''Have you thought about what you want to do with you room?''

''Yes, sort of… I was thinking about going to IKEA to look for inspiration, so I'll at least know what I need." She says and my eyes widen, resulting in me tipping my wine glass and spilling it, without noticing.

''IKEA? Really?'' I say wiping up the wine I spilled. ''Ana…'' I sigh ''why would you want your furniture from IKEA?''

''They have nice stuff there and it is all fairly inexpensive.'' Inexpensive? They have crap that breaks after a few weeks, and uncomfortable couches and beds, and that's not something I want at Escala.

''Money's not a problem; you can have anything you want from anywhere. I would import shit from whatever country you want, and all you want to do is go to IKEA?'' All I want to do is buy her whatever she wants; money isn't a problem, I don't even think about the cost.

''I don't want furniture that I'll be nervous sitting on because of the price. I can barely walk on your floor for fear of ruining it, because it looks really expensive.'' I frown at her; I really don't understand her arguments on this at all. ''Okay then. I'll just stick to the bed that's already there. Forget about the other furniture, it's not really necessary,'' she says turning her legs on the other side of the barstool looking away from me.

''Ana,'' I sigh ''don't be…''

''Immature?'' she finishes. That was what I was going to say, without thinking, but now thinking over how she reacted when I called her stubborn maybe it's a good idea to just keep my mouth shut. ''I don't know who's right in this argument Christian or who is being more immature. But just because I don't want extremely expensive things in my room, then I'm immature? I don't want to spend your money! I don't even like the idea that you have so much money, it's really sickening.''

''Sickening? What are you talking about? What's wrong with having money? Isn't that what everyone wants?''

''It depends on what you're spending it on,'' she says gulping down her wine in one sip. ''Give me a budget.''

''What?'' What's she getting at?

''Give me a budget. I'll spend it all, but it's up to me how I use it. If I want to buy inexpensive furniture, and donate rest of the money to some organization, then that's what I'll do.'' I look at her, still confused. ''I'm tired of you thinking you own me. I married you, okay? We're married yes, but this is a time where woman are independent, we don't need to rely on our husbands to do everything for us.'' She looks really pissed, and I look down on my watch, anxious that her father will walk in on this fight. ''I'm not going to sit around in your apartment day in and day out waiting for you to ignore me when you get home. I will not stand in the kitchen and cook for you, when you'll like. I will not…''

I lean forward and kiss her. I kiss her long and hard. She looks hot when she's pissed, and I'm not going to try and deny that she's hot. In addition to her sexiness, I also saw a man walking in here that I think might be her father. But what surprises me the most, is that Ana's kissing me back. She's not pushing me away or yelling at me some more. She opens her mouth and invites me in, and I oblige with what she wants.

''Okay,'' I whisper against her mouth as I pull away. ''You can go to IKEA… do you want me to come?'' She nods her head, before we break apart. The man I thought might be her dad wasn't her dad. He sat down at another table where a woman and a child were waiting for him. Ana looks away, flushed.

''I… I need to go to the bathroom…'' she says looking around for the sign, she points at it, not looking at me ''I... I'll be… there'' she says jumping of the stool, and practically running towards the bedroom.

I lean back in my chair pick up my glass of wine and can't help the smirk that's creeping its way on my lips. My lips on her lips, god this is all messing with my head. But that was one hell of a kiss, the best I've ever had, granted I haven't had that many since I never kissed any of my subs, but kissing Ana is definitely something I would do again, it's worth the confusion I feel after.

''Mr. Grey?'' I turn around a see a man looking questioningly at me. He has gray hair, and would look really intimidating if I didn't deal with guys like him all the time.

''Christian Grey,'' I exchange my hand to him, and he grips it tightly as he shakes my hand, with a hard look in his eyes.

''Raymond Steele,'' he says looking around the room for Ana. ''Where's my daughter?'' He has a harsh tone to his voice. ''May I have a seat?'' He asks and I nod as he sits down where Ana sat. ''I just want to say this before I get to know you better.'' He says as he orders a beer. ''If you ever hurt her, even the tiniest bit, I'll come after you. I don't care how rich you are or how many security monkeys you have, no one, and I mean no one messes with my little girl… She's been through much…'' he says taking a swig out of his beer. ''She didn't have it easy growing up, and she doesn't deserve more pain, she's already been through enough.''

''I…'' I say a little stunned. ''I understand your concerns, I don't intend on hurting your daughter, sir.'' Ana didn't have it easy growing up, what does that mean? Was she bullied a lot? Did she have problems at home, maybe an ex boyfriend.

''Call me Ray,'' he says with a laugh and pat me on my back. I look behind him and see Ana running towards us full speed.

''Daddy!'' She squeals and gives him a loud smack of her lips on his cheek. ''When, did you get here?'' She asks, and the happiness shining through her is something I've never seen before. She looks so young and free, and beautiful. I want to see that look more often on her face, she's so beautiful. I can't help but smile with them. ''Oh dad,'' she says ''this is Christian,'' she says standing beside me and I wrap my arm around her waist of pure perfection.

''Yes, we've met,'' he says with a genuine smile ''looks like a good guy, Annie'' he says and Ana beams at her father. I can't help that light feeling in my chest at her smile right now directed at me, like she isn't ashamed of me. God, what's happening to me?


''So dad, what have you been up to lately?'' Ana asks, when the waitress leaves with our empty desert plates. ''Have you found someone?'' She asks smiling at him.

''You know, same ole same ole'' he says chuckling. ''Annie you'll always be my number one girl.''

''I better be,'' she says playfully ''but I don't want you to get lonely, I haven't been visiting much and I don't want you to sit in that house all alone.'' She looks sad for a moment, before her smile returns. But this time it isn't her real smile, it's the polite smile she always plasters on her face, I've noticed.

''I'm not alone all the time Ana, and if I find someone I'll find someone, but I'm not looking,'' he says smiling reassuringly at her, then at me. ''And I am happy, my daughter is graduating college, she's married, though you're way too young, but you found a great guy Annie,'' he says looking first at her then at me. ''And it's way too soon to be thinking about this, but maybe I'll get a grandchild in a few years and…''

That's where my hearing stops; I can't make out anything else he's saying. Grandchildren? Children! No way, I don't want them! I'm not planning on them at all, and Ana and I aren't really married. Legally we are, but neither one of us thinks we're husband and wife. He should not be hoping for a grandchild, at least not from me.

Jesus this is too much, ''excuse me…'' I say getting up from my chair. ''I have a meeting in half an hour, so I need to get going.'' I say, total lie but it was the best I could come up with. ''You'll both be fine, right? I can send Taylor back for you.'' I say looking down at Ana.

''No need, we can take a cab… or did you drive here, daddy?'' She asks sweetly, and he nods at her. ''We'll be fine'' she smiles up at me.

''Good,' I say leaning down kissing her lightly on her mouth, then I turn to Ray and shakes his hand. ''See you tomorrow, at the graduation.'' I say then I text Taylor and tell him that I'm ready to head back to the hotel.