A/N: Thank you all for the wonderful reviews and support! I hope you like this next chapter :)

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Chapter 10: Opportunities

Christian

After over a week's worth of investigation and deferment of his usual work, Christian's security team and certain members of the Seattle PD managed to uncover the truth about Jack Hyde. Apparently, Hyde had been in the process of quitting his job at GEH, and, in an attempt to get revenge on Christian for humiliating him at that meeting several weeks ago, decided to steal classified information from the GEH archives. He was planning to take the information he stole to all of GEH's competitors in order to secure a job for himself at one of their companies, but was thwarted before he had a chance to. Thanks to Anastasia's keen eye and fortunate timing, the authorities were able to find out what Jack had been doing in time and take him into custody along with the evidence.

It was now Friday of the week where everything went down; Christian currently sat in his office at his desk, holding a half-filled tumbler of whiskey in his hand while watching the sun set through his massive floor-to-ceiling windows. The crystal decanter he kept on his coffee table was usually just there for display, but after the week he had just had, Christian felt he needed a drink. He slowly sipped his whiskey as he turned back to his desk and glanced at the file containing Anastasia Steele's background information.

There was a small profile shot of Anastasia at the top of the page, and Christian gazed at it thoughtfully - it was strange, how just one lowly secretarial assistant at a corporation that contained thousands of employees could have made such a difference. She not only uncovered the truth of what Hyde was doing, but she came straight to Christian and Andrea about it the moment she became suspicious. Christian was well aware of the key role Anastasia had played in uncovering Hyde's illegal activities, and that's why Christian had asked her to stop by his office at the end of the day today.

Because true loyalty ought to be rewarded.

There was a light knock on his office door, and Christian looked up to see Anastasia open it and hesitantly walk in. He glanced down at his watch and saw that it was five o'clock on the dot.

"You wanted to see me, sir?" Anastasia asked, sounding slightly nervous.

"Yes, Ms. Steele," Christian said, getting to his feet. He gestured to the chair right in front of his desk. "Please, have a seat."

Anastasia walked forward and sat down in the chair Christian indicated just as he walked around to the front of his desk and leaned back against it, crossing his arms.

"So…" he began after a moment, and he gave her a resigned smile. "What a week, huh?"

Anastasia giggled. "Yeah… what a week," she sighed. Both of them were well aware of the insanity that had ensued with the aftermath of the whole Hyde incident, especially since much of the extra clerical work had been dumped on her and Andrea to sort out.

"I know I've told you several times over the past few days, Anastasia, but thank you so much for everything that you've done for this company," Christian said sincerely. "If not for you, we wouldn't have known what had been going on with Hyde and within our own marketing department."

Anastasia blushed, looking embarrassed. "You don't have to thank me…"

"I do," Christian said firmly. "You helped us uncover the truth of what Hyde was doing. Our internal investigators found that over the last few weeks, Hyde had been stealing a lot of vital information from several key GEH accounts. He tried to stay under the radar by only taking hard copy duplicates and not the digital copies, but we now are able to follow his paper trail of evidence and uncover exactly what he was doing… all thanks to you."

Anastasia blushed and looked down at her hands, not saying anything.

"…Which is why," Christian continued deliberately. "I believe you ought to be rewarded with a promotion."

Anastasia blinked a few times before looking back up at him, frowning. "A promotion?"

Christian smiled. "Yes. I've told you on several occasions that, from the beginning, I have been very impressed with your work here. However, this whole Hyde incident has definitely shown us that you are willing to go the extra mile for our company, and I think a promotion is the proper way to thank you for all your help. And considering your background in publishing, I think a new job either in the marketing or development departments here at GEH would be ideal for you."

Anastasia opened her mouth, but couldn't seem to formulate any words, so Christian continued, "…Now, I realize you are still a recent college graduate, so your work experience is still fairly limited, but I promise you that you will have the best managers and training professionals working with you to prepare you for whatever position you choose to have here."

Anastasia still looked a bit dumbstruck. "Sir, I…"

"I know this may seem a little soon, but you've shown great potential, and this could be a great opportunity in your pursuit for a future career here…"

"Mr. Grey!" Anastasia interrupted him firmly. "I'm sorry, but I can't accept a promotion."

Christian finally quieted, looking at her with his eyebrows raised. Anastasia went bright red, realizing that she had pretty much just snapped at her boss, but continued to speak, sounding resolute: "I've told you before, sir, but I don't want to work at GEH forever. My dream is to work in publishing someday, and I have to stick by that no matter what - I'm sure a new job here at GEH would be a great opportunity for me, but it would essentially be a career move. And my career isn't here - it's in publishing."

Her voice rose with emotion as she spoke, and Christian couldn't help but allow a smile to slowly spread across his face. Anastasia noticed his change in demeanor and blinked a couple times in confusion.

"What is it?" she asked after a moment.

Christian shook his head, still smiling. "I'm not going to promote you, Anastasia."

She blinked again at him, clearly confused. "You're not?"

"No," Christian said. "You certainly deserve a promotion, though, considering the amazing thing you've done for me and my company. However, I understand your feelings - I wouldn't want you to compromise on your dreams in life, even when you're still trying to figure out exactly what they are."

Anastasia blushed again. "Sir, I don't want you to think that I'm ungrateful or anything…"

"It's okay, Ms. Steele," Christian interrupted gently. "I understand what it's like to have a passion for something. You're willing to do anything and everything to achieve it, and you aren't willing to compromise even a little in your pursuit of your dreams. I know you have a passion for publishing, and it's honestly one of the things I most admire about you."

He hadn't meant to say that last part out loud - it just sort of slipped out, which was odd because it wasn't really Christian's style to be so open and honest with a person. He wasn't about to take it back, however, after seeing the look of pure flattery spread across Anastasia's face.

"Thank you, sir," she said, smiling at him.

Christian smiled back at her before getting to his feet and walking back around his desk. He picked up the packet of papers that was lying on his keyboard and handed it to her: "Since you won't be accepting the promotion, Ms. Steele, then I will have no choice but to reward you with a pay raise, a personal recommendation, and a new company car."

For the second time in under five minutes, Anastasia looked utterly speechless; she slowly took the packet from his hand and glanced over the different pages with wide, shocked eyes. Sure enough, there were documents from payroll indicating a 15% higher salary for Anastasia Rose Steele, a personalized letter of recommendation written and signed by him, Christian Grey, and a GEH form already filled out for a new silver Audi A3.

"Sir, I-I…" she stammered, shaking her head before finally looking up at him. "You…"

"…Planned this from the beginning? Yes," Christian finished for her, grinning brightly. "This reward is real, and it is absolutely mandatory that you accept. I will not take no for an answer."

Anastasia still didn't say anything; however, the wide smile that spread across her face as she continued to look over the papers in her hands spoke volumes. There was silence between them for a few moments before Anastasia's smile soon slowly faded away. After a moment, it turned into a small frown.

Oh no - what's wrong?

"Mr. Grey," Anastasia murmured, shaking her head before looking back up at him, a worried look in her eyes. "I'm sorry, but I can't accept this. I was lucky - it was by a total coincidence that I noticed that file missing down in the archives. It was all just luck… I shouldn't be rewarded for an accident!"

"Ms. Steele," Christian said firmly, and she quieted. "The first thing you should know about me is that I don't believe in luck. You were being observant, and you were in the right place at the right time. That's it… but even if it was just luck, that's not why I'm rewarding you."

Anastasia frowned, confused, and Christian elaborated: "You're being rewarded because of what you did with the information you found out, Anastasia. You could have easily ignored it, or hidden it from your superiors. You could have even assumed I was the one committing those illegal activities…"

"I would never think that," she said immediately, and Christian couldn't help but smile.

"That's exactly what I mean - you trusted me. You trusted that I needed to know what was going on within my own company, and not many employees would do that. The choice that you made took guts, and this is my way of showing you how much I appreciate what you did and the loyalty you've demonstrated."

Anastasia pressed her lips together before glancing back down at the packet of papers in her hands. She didn't say anything, but Christian suspected she was too emotional right now to speak her gratitude in words. Sure enough, when she finally glanced back up at him, her eyes looked glassy with unshed tears.

"Thank you, Mr. Grey," she said sincerely, clearing her throat slightly. "I, um… I know I told you I didn't want to move up the ranks of GEH, but… I think you should know, I really do love working here, and I'm so incredibly grateful you guys hired me a couple months ago. I truly mean that."

Christian smiled; he'd had employees express their gratitude to him from time to time, but it always warmed his heart to hear it. "And we're truly glad to have you, Ms. Steele."

Anastasia got to her feet, and Christian moved around his desk so he could shake her hand in a gesture of professionalism. When he held his hand out for her to take, however, she immediately bypassed it and made a sudden bold move by throwing her arms around his neck and hugging him tightly.

Christian froze for a second, surprised by her action, before slowly hugging her back. He wasn't really sure what to do - he'd always maintained a pretty strict 'no-touch' policy while at work, mainly because he'd always been a bit uncomfortable by anyone touching chest and torso, no matter who they were. But, strangely enough, Anastasia hugging him didn't feel uncomfortable… it felt rather nice. The moment lingered on for several seconds, where neither of them made a move to let go, and Christian actually had this weird, inexplicable desire to never let her go.

What the hell is happening?

Before Christian could expand on his strange thoughts, the doors to his office suddenly burst open, effectively ending the moment. He and Anastasia jumped apart just as Leila came striding into the room, not aware of anything else going on as she spoke:

"Ugh - Christian, baby, I've had the worst day," she pouted, tossing her purse onto a nearby chair and walking toward him. "Can we go to Tribbiétta for dinner tonight? I definitely need a drink…"

She didn't seem to notice Anastasia, who was quickly gathering up her packet of papers before saying a polite goodbye to Christian and moving toward the exit.

Leila walked up to Christian and he greeted her with a small peck on the lips, but Christian's eyes couldn't help but move up toward Anastasia, who had finally reached his office doors. He could've sworn he saw her covertly glance at him and Leila before slipping out and closing the door quietly behind her.

Ana

Ana walked out of Mr. Grey's office and headed over to her desk, feeling heartily embarrassed - what on earth had possessed her to do that? She had practically tackled her boss in a bear hug without even asking if he was okay with it! She was just feeling so grateful to him and GEH for everything that they've done for her, and she just couldn't help herself.

And the worst part was that her feelings about it all were really confusing.

Ana couldn't deny how much she had enjoyed hugging Mr. Grey; she had noticed even on her first day how attractive the guy was, and even though he was way out of her league, she couldn't help but think about how exhilarating it was to be in close proximity to him. Hugging him only brought out those weird, exhilarating feelings she had experienced when meeting him her first day, but it was somehow more pronounced now. By hugging him, she had been able to wrap her arms around his strong frame, feel his torso pressed up against her chest, and smell his delicious body wash emanating off his skin…

Ana blushed and mentally chastised herself for those thoughts. It was just a stupid hug, Ana - stop analyzing it!

Luckily, Leila had barged in before it became too weird, and Ana knew she ought to be grateful; it was awkward for Leila to see them like that, but not as awkward as it could have been. Leila hadn't seemed to notice anything was amiss, either, so that was good…

Andrea suddenly appeared around the corner and smiled when she noticed Ana. "Hi, Ana. Did you finish your talk with Mr. Grey?"

Ana smiled back, thankful for the distraction from her confusing thoughts. "Yeah, I did. He just wanted to thank me for helping out with the whole Hyde incident and everything."

"Yeah, I know," Andrea said eagerly. "And he gave you the perks, right?"

Ana stared at her, her heart pounding in her throat. "What?"

"Your rewards for helping the company. Didn't he give you a raise and a company car or something?" Andrea insisted, and Ana relaxed slightly.

"Oh - yeah, he did," Ana picked up the packet of papers she received from Mr. Grey and handed them to her. "How did you know?"

"He ran his choices by me yesterday," Andrea said, taking the papers and looking over them with a smile on her face. "He wanted to be absolutely sure that what you received from him and the company was sufficient. I offered to present them to you myself, but Mr. Grey insisted on doing it today at five o'clock."

Ana couldn't help but smile slightly. "Really?"

Andrea nodded. "Yeah. He said that it was important to him that he was the one to give you your reward. He was very adamant," Andrea looked back up at at Ana and smiled. "I know I've told you this before, Ana, but Mr. Grey is very happy that you're here. We all are."

Ana blushed, smiling slightly. "And I'm very happy to be here."

And she was - despite the fact that Ana had dreams that went beyond GEH, she was so incredibly thankful to this job and this company for giving her a chance and hiring her. And a part of her was also grateful that the promotion Mr. Grey had offered her wasn't real… because that meant working somewhere in the building that wasn't near where he was, and that thought alone was an oddly depressing one.

A/N: The feelings between CG and Ana are finally beginning to form - you're welcome! Lol I hope you all liked this chapter. Please leave a review and tell me what you think! :)

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