Fifty Shades at Fault
Chapter 7
By Coincidence
A/N: I apologize for posting late. Sometimes things get in the way. But here you are. I hope you like it. Reviews (even bad ones. But I hope I don't receive many!) are greatly appreciated. Here you go, chapter 7…finally!
Ana collected herself from the shock of a lifetime having bumped into someone so unexpected. "Grace, what are you doing here?"
The look of exhilarated joy shone bright in Grace's kind eyes. She threw her arms around and hugged Ana tightly like she were a long lost friend not a runaway daughter-in-law whom some women might consider the worst possible pond scum. "Oh Ana, it's so good to see you." She pulled back, looked at Ana's delicate condition but said nothing, just smiled wide with elation.
"Thank you. You too." Ana managed to reply sheepishly while stood frozen stiff in one spot pondering over the most natural of questions: What was her mother-in-law doing here?
Needless to say this was a very awkward reunion!
She kept biting her lower lip as Grace looked her over from worried blue eyes to growing belly. There was a squeamish uneasiness that showed on her face and knotted hands. Ana wanted nothing more than to cut the dreaded silence that hung between the two of them with a Ginzu knife. She sighed, glanced downward so not to look Grace in the face and stammered, I, I h-had every intention of calling and telling you about the baby it's just I…"
Grace put her hand up a signal for Ana to halt. "That's okay dear I understand. Look, I'd really like the chance to go somewhere and catch up, maybe over a coffee. Do you have the time?"
The trustful woman standing in front of her (and if one thing Grace is, it's trusting) seemed desperate to talk. Ana, though still reluctant for any 'Grey contact', agreed. She never could deny this lovely lady anything. "Sure. Just let me go tell Trudy I'll be downstairs in the coffee shop." After a few minutes she returned and they headed toward the elevator together. "You can see Teddy then. He's waiting in the lobby with Sawyer. I know he'll be over -the-moon to see you and visa-versa I'm sure." They entered the first one that opened. Ana approached her mother-in-law with a problem that's been heavy on her mine a long while. "Uh, May I ask a favor of you first? I realize you may not want to but Teddy sometimes asks about Christian, a lot actually and I'm running out of excuses. Could you help me? He's still so young I don't think he can handle the truth yet. Sounds selfish I know."
"No, no. I'll be happy too." Grace said excited to be seeing her grandson again. "It doesn't sound selfish, not to me it doesn't."
Ana felt a twinge of relief but not for long. As expected the second Teddy laid eyes on Grace he ran into her arms yelling "Gram Gram." Hugs, kisses and twirls in the air ensued. Ana's eyes began to well up with tears of guilt but held strong not letting a single drop fall onto her cheek. But she faltered. Two tears managed to escape from the corners of her eyes. She felt horrid.
As was prepared for Grace answered Teddy's question regarding Christian. She held the façade by informing him his daddy's been busy out of the country but asks about him everyday. That did the job by satisfying the child's curiosity. She suggested Sawyer take him for ice cream while she talks with his mommy. His face lit up like a Christmas tree. Ice cream, especially chocolate, is his favorite. Grace put him down; the gleeful little boy immediately took hold of Sawyer's hand and both disappeared out the glass doorway. She next went to put a comforting arm around the shoulders of a very stoic Ana and smiled, "Come, lets go sit down."
The smell of freshly brewed coffee alone was enough of an incentive to enter the hospital's bright sunlit coffee shop, the chance to catch up with each other another. They found a nice corner table and Grace helped her pregnant daughter-in-law sit down. A young red-haired waitress promptly came over, "May I get you ladies anything to drink?"
Grace ordered a decaf coffee, while Ana, biting her lip in nervous desperation, not knowing how to go about asking the woman across from her an ever so gnawing question, ordered her usual tea. "Grace," she began as calmly a possible, "it's good to see you but please, tell me, how come you're here in San Luis Obispo, California and not in Seattle, Washington?"
"A group of doctors, pediatricians mostly, from up and down the Pacific coast, I lucky to be one of them, were invited to visit several different hospitals pediatric wards in and about the coastal region. French Hospital happens to be one of them. And believe me, I'm just as surprised as you must be that we ran into each other! Talk about a small world huh? So please, I'm anxious. Tell me all about the baby."
Ana shrugged her shoulders and gave a sigh, "Not much to tell really: a little girl due the middle of November. Of course we needn't have to guess who the father is."
"No I suppose not." chuckled Grace.
Their exuberant waitress quickly returned with their order, and set the cups on the table, "Will there be anything else I can get you?" she politely asked. With a 'no' from both she turned to leave them to their visit .
"I must say," Grace continued taking a sip of coffee, "that you look just wonderful! A little tired perhaps but I'm sure pregnancy isn't the only reason why. It must have come as quite a shock to discover you were."
"Lord you have no idea!" Ana exclaimed, rolling her eyes. "Under these delicate circumstances, not the first thing I wanted or needed to hear!"
"I can see your point. It wouldn't have been the easiest thing for me to deal with either! So, other than the obvious how's life treating you?"
"Good! Never better. And you?" Before Ana gave her a chance to reply, her worried eyes searched Grace's in a desperate plea, "I know there's every reason why you should but please, I beg of you, don't hate me for running away like I did."
"I don't hate you." she said kindly taking Ana's hand in hers, "If anything I applaud your courageousness. I admire your tenacity. Not many people would have had the guts to do what you did. No one has ever walked away from…" She knew not to go any further; not wishing to upset Ana by the mere mention of Christian's name.
Relieved, Ana finally took a sip of her tea. "Thank you but I'm neither brave nor strong." she scoffed, "If I am then I wouldn't have fled in the first place. I know it's been three months but I'm sorry, I'm still not able to forgive Christian. Who knows if I ever will? There's a wound in my heart so deep that Grace, it may never heal. He was supposed to be my Fifty and no one else's. I remember someone telling me once I wasn't enough for him that he'd end up finding a woman who was. Silly me didn't listen then and now I wish I had."
"Whoever told you was mistaken. I agree my son's weakness was atrocious and inexcusable. I would have done the same as you had it been Carrick."
"No. You're wrong. Carrick wouldn't have given you any reason to. He, unlike Christian didn't have any fucked-up shit to deal with."
She knew better but Grace could not keep the anguish she felt bottled inside any longer. Her lower lip began to tremble, "He's grown dark again, Ana." she cried, "Mean, cruel, insensitive, short-tempered like before he met you.
Not with me, or with the immediate family, but he is to everyone else. The light you brought to his heart is gone. Oh Ana it's so hard to watch, like reliving all those years him growing up, only much more so. I'm in a quandary. I don't know what to do. Every day he looks more lost. I only hope and pray he doesn't get to the point where he'll choose that sadistic lifestyle again."
"Please Grace stop! Don't tell me any more. I don't want to hear it! Yes, I feel your pain and I know how much you must be hurting, after all, he's your son. But there's nothing I can do. I'm not the one to bring him out of his darkness this time! I'm not the same Ana who first showed Christian he could be loved. That girl is gone! She's moved on, made a new life for her and for Teddy. Believe it or not I'm happy here in California. I can walk down the street without fear of some maniac wanting to harm me, or the paparazzi following my every move. I couldn't do that in Seattle." Ana glanced up to see her friend Trudy waving at her from the hospital lobby. "Look Grace, I've got to go now."
They both rose from the table. Grace gently brushed a few stray strands of hair away from Ana's face. "I think you're wrong Ana. I think you are that same girl. The same girl who fell in love with a man who never thought he deserved it. It's just going to take time for you to realize it. And when you do I hope you come back."
Ana put her arms around Grace and hugged her affectionately. "I love you Grace, I always will. You're like a second mother to me. But, I have a tremendous favor to ask of you. Please don't tell Christian you saw me. I'm sure he's been searching, driving Welch crazy all these past months hoping to find me and knowing him like I do, he'll never stop until he does. To be honest with you I wish he'd stop. Because I don't want to be found."
Grace was taken aback by her bold statement, "Ana, I believe deep down inside your soul there's a feeling that still wants to be. We all dream of that knight-in-shining-armor who comes to our rescue saves from a fateful doom and protects us from evil. That includes you." She notices Trudy growing impatient. "It looks as if your friend needs you so I guess it's time we say goodbye. You have no idea how much I've enjoyed our talk." She kissed Ana's cheek. "I love you too. You are so special to me and always will be. Please give Teddy a kiss for me. Take care of not only yourself now Ana but of my little baby granddaughter. I do hope we get to see each other again." With a heavy heart knowing full well this might be the last time she'd ever see her daughter-in-law, she turned and walked toward the elevators.
"Who was she?" asked Trudy, "Seems like a nice enough person."
Ana felt a huge lump form in her throat. "She is, in every way. She's my… a dear old friend whom I'm going to miss very much."
…
A few weeks later
Taylor and Gail
Christian comes storming out of the bedroom this Wednesday morning impeccably dressed as always in a signature white linen shirt, gray designer suit and today sporting a dark blue tie. He is stern faced as is now normal, bitter and mad-at-the-world. His Blackberry lately takes the blunt of his ire. "Barton!" he growls, "Get in here now!
"Barton's not here sir." Says Connor, one of his other security guards.
He grumbled, "For fuck sakes why?"
"He got a call that his wife's been rushed to the hospital. She's about to give birth. But I was able to find a replacement."
"That quickly huh" Well send him up."
"Yes sir. And sir, there's a woman here about the housekeepers position."
Christian stood looking out at the Seattle skyline, his voice reeked of annoyance, "Oh, alright. Send her up too!"
Suddenly two, both familiar to his ears voices rang free, "You're a sight for sore eyes Mr. Grey."
"Do you still eat egg white omelets and love macaroni and cheese?"
Jason? Gail? His eyes widened, afraid of the possibility his mind was out to deceive him. What would he say if he turned around to discover they were not figments of his imagination but two real honest to goodness living breathing human beings standing there in the foyer all smiles waiting to receive and dole out handshakes and hugs? Would he treat them like he would a member of the family with warmth and sincerity or like everybody else he happens to meet with a brash insensitivity so customary for a cold-hearted asshole he's let himself become?
"What are you two doing here?" he sneered harshly.
"We hear you're looking for a bodyguard and housekeeper and we'd like to apply for the positions."
"Oh yeah? You want me to just hire you back just like that huh? Why? So you can abandon me all over again? How stupid do you think I am? Leave my sight now!"
"But, but sir, Mr. Grey…"
"I said leave, NOW! And don't ever come back!"
Though they deserved every bit of his wrath for deserting him like they did Christian thought twice about being that abrupt with The Taylor's.
"Good you're both in position. Eyes downward Jason, remember?"
" Y-yes."
"Yes what?"
"Y-yes sir?"
Christian immediately detested 'The Dominate' idea. What a horrific notion! Though it did make him almost crack a smile to imagine a strong viral ex-Marine like Jason reduced to a lowly obedient submissive. No! Never! Not anyone ever again. He was finished with that lifestyle for good.
He turned swiftly relieved in one manner to find his sanity intact. His body stiffened; dark gray eyes pooled with tears. They were the first tears he's felt like shedding in ages. "Jason, Gail. Is that really you?" he softly whispered.
"Yes indeed." Jason replied, "I hear you're looking for a bodyguard and a housekeeper. My wife and I would like to apply for the jobs if that'd be okay with you Mr. Grey. We're very reliable sir."
It's been some time since the sight of someone touched his heart. It mannered little to him now they had run out on him months ago, he was overjoyed they decided to return. The staunch businessman remained but his fierceness disappeared. Christian walked over, held his hand out to Jason. "Welcome back." He turned to address Gail and lost it. His arms wrapped tightly around her in a hug. "God I've missed you two."
Gail began to cry, "No Mr. Grey, not half as much as we have you. Leaving was the worst decision we've ever made. I do hope you forgive us."
"So Mr. Grey, may we have the jobs sir?" asked Jason."
It's been ages too since a smile, even the slightest crack replaced that stern seemingly chiseled frown. Today was certainly a triumph. "Only if you drive me to work today, Taylor and she fixes Mac and cheese for dinner."
"You got it boss! I'll get the car. The Audi SUV sir?"
"Yes, that will be perfect. Oh Taylor, it's good to have you back. You can't begin to imagine the imbeciles I've had to hire to replace you. And Gail, you can never be replaced as well. You have no idea the inept idiots I've ended up firing because they can't live up to your standards." He began to chuckle, a sound not heard out of him in a long time as well. "At least now I can eat a decent meal. My mother will be thrilled!"
