The usual disclaimers apply to universal and EL James, it's my story, I'm borrowing some of her characters...

I am a hopeless dyslexic too, so be aware.

Chapter 10:

Damn those Lemon Martinis:

A POV:

As we climb into the two SUVs', Taylor driving one and Sawyer the other, we Christian and I get into the one driven by Taylor. Christian looks like he is in deep thought as he sits and stares out of the window. I click my seat belt in place, and stare out of my window and watch his reflection in the darkened window. What could possibly have happened between the house and here? As we drive to the Kavanagh's, I start to think there is something seriously the matter. When suddenly he takes out his phone and reads a text, at last, I start to think he will speak to me at last, but no, this does not prove to be the case, instead his fingers fly across the on screen keyboard and he starts a war of words with someone and I am ignored.

Okay Ana, he is a businessman and he has to work, I think to myself, but still I say nothing. He hasn't as much as looked at me in five minutes, not since he put me in this damned car, but I am not going to start to be a needy bitch. I won't be that's just not who I am. I take out my phone and send him a text.

ANA: Is this how to grab your attention Mr Grey?

CTG: Sorry, something has come up.

ANA: And still you text?

He puts away his phone and turns his head towards me, a smile starts to appear on his face, good he's relaxed enough to smile, he leans towards me and kisses me slowly, I feel light headed and relieved, he's not mad at me.

"I'm sorry Baby, I have had an email which had to be dealt with, and it's now dealt with, I am all yours Ana."

"It speaks. I thought it was my mentioning the ranch in Nevada." I say to Christian in all seriousness.

"Was that for real? Only you didn't mention your mother much and apart from her alerting the press to your name and giving them some back ground, I know nothing about her."

"The memories of her I do have are not the best, they take me to a dark place, a place I don't like to revisit, not if it can be helped. She is where she is, because that's who she is and is doing what comes naturally. She is my past and I want nothing to do with her, she is a thoughtless self centered bitch, who is an old pro, a madam who runs an upscale brothel in the deserts of Nevada."

"So my girlfriend's mother is a chicken rancher then? Ana, don't be surprised if Mom will be asking you for tips on fowl and eggs. Just to let you know she has no idea yet what you actually said to her." Christian grabs my hand as he says that and tries to reassure me, but it's not working.

"Well we can both testify that I am not like my mother, in any way shape or form, and what I do know of her life style, is what I have read on line."

"So that's how you knew the things you did, about parts of my prior lifestyle, by researching what your mother career entailed?"

"That pretty much sums it up, yes, I wasn't totally dumb, I knew men went there for sex, the girls taught me the facts of life and sort of told me stuff, all in perfectly good taste I might add, but seeing my mother hog tied and being whipped was not fun!"

"How dd she allow you to see that Baby?" He asks. I guess the tale will need to be told or he will only fester, he has shared far worse with me. It is only fair I share a little too.

"I wanted to know what she was doing. I was twelve when that happened, and it was the last time I spent with her. I didn't like going to see her at all if it could be helped, but I had to go see her, once or twice a year and for anywhere up to two weeks at a time. A hateful time spent with a hateful woman. My time spent with her was forced upon me; the time spent at that damned chicken ranch was a horrid period in my life, which I hated."

"Why go, I mean sorry did you stop with the girls there, sorry explain, you just caught me unawares Baby!"

"No, but I spent a lot of time there, but she lived off site, as I said I spent most of it at the ranch. In fact, the only time away from the place was my bedtimes, thank god, but I still had to do my homework in her office during the day, because she was there all the time, putting in the hours. So I spent a lot of time with the girls, girls who lived there and worked there, some I might add were putting themselves through college and university by doing that stuff, they helped me with my homework. They were really nice to me, they fussed over me and made sure I was fed and educated, as I said, they were nice."

"Your mother ignored you and let the girls watch you?" I nod my head.

"Yes, she didn't know I was there half the time; she never bothered to check on me, the girls did all that. It got worse when husband number three appeared on the scene; Stephen Morton, he was a nasty piece of work. Anyhow, he thought it would be fun to show me the rooms in the ranch one day and as we went from room to room, I was shocked at what I saw, as you can imagine! Then when I saw my mom, his new wife, was in one of the rooms, I freaked out, because she was being slapped around and all tied up. I panicked, picked up a baseball bat, rushed in and whacked the man so hard, that I really thought I'd killed him. Stephen tried to take the bat off me and he went down too. You see my daddy always taught me, people, men especially, don't mess around with a person wielding a baseball bat, and he said I was never let go and never let them try to take the bat off me in the fight and if I couldn't grab a bat I was to grab whatever I could and swing it hard, because it could be the best weapon in trying to save myself and or others. Morton, he learnt that the hard way that I was taught how to defend myself and all before I could ride a bike. Now, imagine if you can, that twelve year old girl, a girl who was afraid for her life, and because she thought she had coshed and killed two men, she ran. I stole Morton's flashy sports car and drove to my grandparents place."

"Ana you did what?" I didn't know if he was shocked or amused, so I carried on with my escape from the chicken shack.

"I drove off in his car and made my way to Louisiana. Stephen had kindly left the nights takings in the cars glove box, so I wanted for nothing. I had my dress up bag that the girls had given me; you know their wigs, make up and vampy clothes, already in the office? In the commotion, I grabbed that, my books and the keys to his damned baby. In that same confusion they didn't see me leave and I got a good thirty six hours start on them, being as he was concussed in hospital, and my mom thought the girls were looking out for me and they thought I'd gone with Mom, it was easily done. I was nearly at Pappy Steele's place, when the state troopers pulled me over. I don't know why I was driving perfectly fine."

"Ana you drove all the way from Nevada to Louisiana, you were a twelve year old girl?"

"You say that like it can't be done? I told you I went every year to a tough army boot camp with the guys, which started when I was six. Pappy, he taught me to drive when I was about nine, after that I rode around his land helping out all the time. I can ride dirt bikes too, quads and horses."

"Oh, so when Kate calls you Stainless Steele, she wasn't kidding?"

"Nope, she knows me well. Anyway, I told him where I was heading, and he drove the rest of the way and after I explained what I saw to Pappy and the nice sheriff, he loved hearing about my adventures he was so nice, anyway, my Daddy came home from his secret work, shush it's top secret and I can't tell you what he used to do." I pressed my nose and winked. "He and Pappy sent the car back and a cheque to cover the funds I'd borrowed. After that I never went back, and she couldn't come to see me, not if Morton was around, because it turns out he liked his girls barely legal and I was fast approaching that age, my dad found out, he then gave mom an ultimatum, she had to leave Morton or she didn't see me, and she chose him and I went to live with my grandparents all the time with no more mom visits at all."

"Oh hell, so she is still there with Morton?"

"No, no he pissed off the wrong husband and got shot. She, my mother soon hooked up with another man Bob Adams, the idiot golfer, and yet another idiot after him, she's on husband number five and he's a toy boy, Jack something or other. I haven't seen her in years and I haven't missed her at all."

"How long did you live with your grandparents Ana?"

"Umm five nearly six years, until Pappy died and Grammy passed too, I was seventeen when they both left, and with mother knowing where their plantation was, I couldn't be left there alone, so we moved. Dad then came out of the Marines and started a woodworking shop in Montesano, with the money he made from the sale of the plantation."

"Plantation?" Okay, given everything I had just told him, that was what caught his attention?

"It was more like a big farm, but over the years Pappy had given most of it away, especially the smaller farms and to people who had been on the land for generations. In the end there wasn't a lot left of the old place and it had mounting debts. So we moved up to Portland, where my dad had met a woman."

"Is he still with her, the woman?"

"Yes they got married when his service ended. She is great and I consider her my mom, she's called Carrie."

"Oh, okay I get the picture now. I was going to ask you when I took you back home about her, she sold all of the info about you to a local rag."

"Business must be slow again. She is always badgering Dad for money, because she thinks he's a millionaire from selling Pappy's place."

"And he's not?"

"No, comfortable and debt free and as pissed off at me, as you are for not taking his money. I work for what I have. The cars he has tried to get me to buy are endless but I loved Wanda, she was mine and I bought her."

"So, you're very independent then?" Was he seriously asking me that, had he not remembered the clothes rant?

"Christian I am who I am through hard work, and I set myself high work ethics too. Pappy always said a buck foolishly given or earned, is a foolish buck spent by a fool. If you have to work hard to earn that buck, you respect what you do with that buck and think before you spend it on fool hardy things."

"Foolishly given and earned? What did he mean by that?"

"He met many people over the years, who for the want of a better word try to con him. He always said if it smells like a turd chances are it was a turd. He also saw many women throw themselves at daddy for his suppose inheritance. He knew a gold digger when he saw one, Mom however slipped in under the radar when he was stationed near her home. He was best friends with my birth father Frank Lambert, who died in a training accident and somehow they ended up married, then because of her, the Lambert's refused to accept me as his heir, see where I'm going with this?"

"No, not really Baby? Your father, Frank's family do not recognise you because of your mother?"

"Correct, and I don't blame them at all. Carla Mae Wilkes went from one rich bloke to another rich bloke in search of that same easy buck. My father Ray, he fell in love with me and kept his promise to my birth father to look out for me as all good buddies do; he loved me not my mother, as did his parents, my grandparents. To her, he provided her with a roof over her head and she had a live in babysitter to care for me. They never slept together. I know that much and thats why it never bothered him, what she did and hearing about the reports that came to his ears, that she was sleeping her way around town."

"Why did he not just divorce her and way sooner than he did; or were you the reason for him sticking with the arrangement?" I think the man is a quick learner.

"He adopted me when Franks parents declared they had no objections to it, Frank was on my birth certificate even though he died when I was only a week old as he and my mother were married. Therefore Ray had to put up with her or lose me, and he didn't want to risk it. Natural bitch ass mother wins every time over adopted kind caring father. She had nothing to do with me at all. When he went away with his unit, she would drop me off with Pappy and Grammy, and in the end she did what she did best and left us, when I was about four I think? He didn't want a kid, but then again neither did Carla, eventually she gave up most of her rights to see me to Ray, if he agreed to keep me in the divorce, like I was a fudging puppy dawg." He laughed as my slight southern accent came into play again!

"Why Miss Ana, did I hear the southern Belle in there?"

"Fudge off, yes it slips in occasionally, do you want to know all this before we sit down to dinner or not?'Cos y'all can kiss ma southern derrière goodbye if y'all don't wanna, Suga?" He is laughing at me.

"Ana you're killing me, wave to Kate, we're at Kavanagh HQ!" I wave as Kate makes her way to the car in front. Wow, did she really go with that tight red dress? "So why did she still have you twice a year, that confuses me?" Me too Christian, and I will find out the real reason someday I guess?

"I think she still had hopes of the Lambert's accepting me as the heir apparent to Lambert Industries, but they have refused all contact with her and me because of her being my mother. She dragged me to functions they were at all the time, when she did have me, in hopes they'd see me. They never did, and we ended up back in Vegas."

"As in the Texan oil people Ana, you may be related to those Lamberts?"

"Apparently so, my birth father was the second son of four, but the eldest died soon after my father did. I don't know about them because I can't be bothered with them. I'm not their blood, so I don't give a fider-lee-dee, in claiming my stake to their rich Texan Tea. The other two sons' are childless and mindless playboys too, so I guess, I am, in theory the only one of their blood line left."

"Ana that is epic, you should find out once and for all if you have a stake in their company, it's worth billions."

"It's not my epic, they are not my billions and that issue is not my fight, and I'm not interested in them, their money or claiming anything from them ever, quite frankly Christian it's one headache I never want to have. So as you can see, I'm very aware what having easy money means. When I say I work for it I do, I'm frugal or I bloody well was until I met you."

"Don't dredge the dresses and crap up again Miss Ana!"

"Stop with the accent you can't pull it off."

"I'm dating a southern beautiful, heir to an oil company."

"Sorry to disappoint you, you billionaire idiot, but when Ray adopted me it stopped all my claims on their oil and dirty money. I'm sorry to say you're dating a poor, soon to be literary major, who will be earning peanuts as a junior editor of a new e-book company. If that isn't good enough get Taylor to pull over please?"

"Ana I was joking, but if and when the press get hold of this, and they will it will be major news." I hadn't even given that a thought.

"That could be why my fucking mother leaked it. Fucking hell that scheming, fucking two faced harlot of a whore is setting her table out and I am the fucking main course, she is going to fucking ruin me, she is going to use me and make me her fucking meal ticket. I will if I have to, fucking kill her if she ruins us."

"Wow, and I thought you didn't swear Miss Ana? That was very sweary!"

"Christian that isn't even a word, and I'm sorry but I will throw a nickel in the jar, hell it can have ten bucks worth for the next call I make, you may want to close your ears, I may scream so loud I may make them bleed. How far are we from the restaurant Taylor? I don't need long to speak to Carla Mae."

"About ten minutes Miss Steele." He continues to drive and Christian is confused.

"How do I withhold my number on this phone Christian?"

"Ana, leave her be, I can have her watched and really we have the means to silence her." Christian seems to be pleading with me.

"Why can you have Taylor shoot her for me? Sawyer refused to shoot Kate for me this afternoon?"

"Miss Steele, there are always ways to shut someone up, and yes I have many avenues we can pursue, without killing her."

"Really, well good, I mean they'd better be good, because she is like a snake oil sales man, good at peddling bull shit." He laughed at me.

"Ana, please calm down, that was what my text was about, finding out who, what and the where, finding out how we can stop her."

"Christian, I know I am far from calm, and she does this to me., but I guess I will try to calm down. Daddy knows the darkest of her secrets I think? We never talk about her not after the driving incident." I am wrapped in his arms as he tries to calm me down.

"Ana I know little pieces of your life before me. I just didn't read everything about you, which was so very unlike me I can assure you."

"Well I guess you have to be careful of the kooks you let in, you failed miserably Mr Grey, because the kookiest woman ever landed smack dang in your life."

"You did yes, and in it you are. Now we are here. Stay calm there is nothing you have told me that is driving you away from me."

"Not even me not going after my supposed inheritance?"

"No, if anything that makes me love and trust you more. I believe you mean everything you say and I will stop being such an ass with the gift giving, but I will give them, you can bet your sweet ass I will!"

"Heck you learn quick Grey. I need to ring Daddy too, because if he gets wind of Carla Mae there may not be a problem; he has friends in all the right places too." Taylor opened the door when he was convinced it was safe and Christian hopped out holding his hand out for me.

I stood for a moment to catch my bearings, then I realised where we were, we just steps away from The Metropolitan Museum of Art, at a restaurant called Crown, it actually looked like they had hijacked someone's home and set up a restaurant in it. Had we walked past it that's what I would have thought it was? We're shown to the bar area as we are early, a first for me. I watched everyone mingle and talk, and I sort of felt a little out of my depth, I tried to get the fairies in my brain to give me a pep talk! Okay here I am, watching the beautiful people, the posh people from the right side of the fence, and how I wished I were on the other side just watching instead of actually being here.

"Baby what's the matter?" Christian had his arm wrapped around my waist, holding me close.

"Nothing, honestly, but am I dressed correctly, I knew I should have worn a Kate chosen dress." I am jabbering on about my damned dress. To a man who didn't care what I wore, because he liked everything I did and did not wear!

"Ana stop it please you are perfect." Calming me down worked, I eventually relaxed. "What are you drinking Ana?"

"Would they baulk at me for asking for a Bud? I could do wine too Christian."

"Ana, calm down I'm having a Peroni, if that's what you want you can have that. Mother generally sticks to wine after dad's cocktails, do you want a cocktail?" Christian is being so caring; I'm being a wallflower. Step up or get trodden on Steele!

"Can I have a crisp glass of Riesling? I better stick to what I know, besides we had wine at lunch, and then the cocktails, I highly doubt your mother wants to see Kate and I do our party piece."

"That sounds like fun, what is it exactly?" Christian smiles as he kisses my neck. "The removal of one's clothes Miss Steele?"

"God no Christian, well not me anyway Kate sometimes does, but in that dress she isn't going on any table tonight."

"I had noticed it's a little tight, did you tell her it looked good Anastasia?" Busted, because I think I did!

"Christian I'd had enough when we'd had lunch and said yes to loads of her damned dresses. I'd have said yes to a burlap sack if it got me out of there quickly!"

"Ana, Ana, Ana what am I to do with you? I'm sure Elliot thanks you he hasn't kept his hands of her butt since we got in here!"

"What are you two whispering at over there?" Elliot is torn away from butt hugging for some reason.

"Actually Elliot it was a private conversation." I smiled at Christian as he tried to silence his brother, but he was having none of it.

"Oh, was it sexy stuff little Bro?" Time for shutting the big guy down, gently...

"Actually Elliot it was about my monthly cycle, are you interested in girls monthly's?" I don't know who laughed more Christian, his mother or his father, and yes I said all that aloud again.

"Oh, well whisper away, you have my non attention on the matter." Elliot was as red as Kate's dress, she looked at me and laughed too, she knew I had the dreaded visit the day she left for her father's bedside, luckily for me I'd finished the day before I got sick thank god. Can you imagine what Christian Grey CEO big shot of GEH would have done having to change my tampon?

"Ladies and gentlemen the private room is ready, your security has checked it over, and your drinks will be served from your private bar." Good the room was getting a tad loud with diners with pre show reservations. Hark at Anastasia Steele; I'm now walking with the posh folks on this side of the fence. To reach the private dining room we descend the restaurant's grand marble staircase and enter through a secret bookshelf, behind this unusual and I guess quirky entrance, there is a plush and elegant room, with leather club chairs and a mirrored bar, which is tucked away in a corner of our own private dining space.

"Ana, what do you want to drink dear?" I turn and smile at Grace, I guess the bars open?"I'm having a Hanky Panky, they are very moreish."

"Is that with gin, Martini, Fernet Branca and orange juice?" I say not thinking, just speaking. I best try thinking first in future.

"I believe it is; you do know your cocktails. Should I be worried my son is going to be marrying a drinker?" I'm what; I am doing what, what did Grace just say?

"Mother, please stop drinking, your very merry all ready." He held me again but he was also whispering in my ear. "What she doesn't know is we haven't yet been dating a week; don't worry Baby that is way down the line in, but in our rushed coming together, it could happen as fast as like next week? Now that would seem a correct assumption, given the speed we seem to be going at anyway, but for now Baby it's a not just yet. I love you, and the next week thing was a joke, perhaps the week after would work for you?"

"Christian, don't joke about stuff like that, because that knocked the feet from under me." I round on his face and kiss him. I am relieved it was a joke, but his mother did seem very sure of her facts. I smile and take his word for it.

"Grace no, I am not a drinker, but more of a waiter at a bar in Portland, I think I said earlier? No, that could have been said to Carrick, with the discussion about a Side Car I think?"

"It was; you said it to me as we discussed prohibition Ana. Now beautiful lush of a wife, what's your poison, you said you would like a Hanky Panky, yes?"

"Yes and the real McCoy when we get home, my darling husband!"

"MOTHER..." Both Elliot and Christian shouted out at the same time. "We have sensitive ears, impressionable ears, we need to be deaf!" My god they were like a double act.

"Boys, boys, oh my little boys, me, your mother has had a bad few days, so shush... If I want Hanky Panky I will have it, cocktail or sex, now shush."

"All right Grace, have you decided Ana?" Carrick is so funny and very cool headed.

"I think I'd like a Side Car, if they can do me one? It wasn't on the menu."

"Baby, for what I'm paying for this damned night out if you want the whole tram car you can have it. Besides if he doesn't know how to make one you can show him!" Christian is rallying my corner and smiling, the wedding thing has knocked me for six. I watch as the waiter pours my cocktail, I smile and take it from him and down it in one; I nod for another, which I get. This is needed. I take the second and stand by Christian.

"Quite, Kate what's your particular poison?"Carrick asked Kate, as Elliot and Christian were mock stuffing tissue in their ears, oh heck, they are spoiling for a clip around the back of their heads in a minute, as Grace is scowling at them. I wonder if they, Christian and Elliot, have discussed the witch they both screwed?

"I'll have what Grace is having, it sounds like fun. Both the cocktail and the dream..."

"I like that Katherine; you have your daddy's sense of humour! Oh, I'm sorry; I didn't mean to upset you Kate... I blame the drinks!"

"You didn't Grace, I have often been told I have his quirks and sense of humour, it's all right to talk about him, and I'm much stronger than my mother. How was she, she didn't say much when she got back?"

"She is sad, as I would be if I lost my darling Cary. She is angry he worked too hard and too long to enjoy the fruits of his toil, and has decided to come on board the Coping Together board, to give her life some purpose, that's if you and Ethan didn't mind?"

"No, no that's just what she could do with, but who stepped down? I heard places on your charities board are harder than pinning your son Christian down for an interview?"

"Elena Lincoln was de seated, in light of her more recent transgressions, we the board thought it a necessary precaution, you know bad publicity, is just that, bad..."

"I heard she is being framed for the fire, by an ex lover, she tried selling her story to the paper for funds. Being as Christian owns the paper, or as good as, the editor didn't wish to run with it, not just so she could make bail anyway, it seems she has approached many people for backing and all the doors are slamming in her face. We will cover it, but not until it goes to trial anyway." Way to go the mention of her fudging name has caused a very bad atmosphere in here.

"Quite, I believe she will find her name is blackened too much to help get sponsors for my charity, as she did before. Your mother is going to be an asset. Ana's mother has a chicken farm, did you know that Kate? I meant to ask is it a free range healthy chicken place. I like organic where ever possible?"

"Actually Grace it's not got anything to do with chickens, my mother runs and owns an upmarket brothel. As far as I know the chickens all have their own rooms and are given regular state board inspections and mandatory health checks, but as I haven't seen her since I was twelve I wouldn't know!" That lowered the tone right down.

"Ana, your moms a madam of a brothel and I bet, had you stopped with her, the boys would all have been your friends, just to get a free pass to Momma's house?" Way to go Elliot, it seems it can go even lower.

"Are you saying my girlfriends a whore?" Oops, lower still, way to go, a fight would top this night off wonderfully.

"No way Bro, what I'm saying is, they would have... Crap it did sound better in my head that, sorry Banana, I know what I meant it to sound like."

"I know what you mean Elliot, I always wished she ran a sweet shop or a pet store, but alas she didn't. I'd have settled for her being a stay at home Mom, but I didn't get that either, she never stayed at home."

"Ana, what did your father say? I'm sorry, but I really thought she tended chickens, forgive me?"

"Grace of course you're forgiven; hey if Dolly Parton can star in a film about one, I guess I'm fine with one for a distant relative. My father and her divorced when I was about five. I lived with Ray, my father and she saw me twice a year, until I was twelve, then after an incident I didn't have to see her again."

"I believe your father is an ex Marine?" Carrick and the boys were drinking beers and I knew Carrick was just humouring me, I have nothing in common with these people.

"You're never an ex Marine, once you are, you are for life. He runs a woodworking shop, he restores period pieces, and has a contract to do the wood work restoring Portland's oldest house, bringing it back to life and seeing as it's all wood he will be at it a while, he is a master carpenter."

"They work in wood in the Marines?" Grace needs to go on juice I think, unless her mouth to brain filter broken too.

"No, he was a special weapons technician, with special ops and black ops."

"Wow, your Dad was a Navy Seal?" I nodded. Elliot was impressed, even if the others weren't!

"Shush need to know. I think he got the woodworking bug from my grandfather and he passed courses and such, when he was on leave and when he left to look after me, when my grandparents died. We moved up from Louisiana and he started a small cabinetry business and work piled in really quickly, he had a partner called Willard Wood, who died, a while ago, leaving it all to dad, he was a strange old man, but harmless and a good book giver on birthdays and at Christmas."

"Wait-one-god-frick-in-minute, he's Wood and Steele; your dad is that Steele? We tried to get them to work on Christian's place, but they couldn't, because they were snowed under for years." Elliot is my cheer leader.

"Really Ana; your father's the owner of Wood and Steele?" Christian really needs it seems, to read my report.

"Hu yes, did I not say that Christian?"

"No Baby, you just said he'd kick my ass if I did something to hurt you."

"Well he would do that too, and build you a custom casket." Everyone laughed, including Grace.

"Would you like to order your now?" The waiter asked as he approached the bar where we had gathered.

"Yes please young man, I need food to sober my wife up a little, Grace go easy on those please?"

"I will, I am hungry though Cary."

"Well that's settled yes can my family be seated? Ana, Baby sit by me please?" Christian walked me to our table, and as he did he whispered in my ear again, and just the nearness of him to my ear made me shiver. "We it seems need to talk; your father owns a large part of Portland Miss Steele."

"He does? No, you're mistaken; he has a shop with a large warehouse come workshop thing at the back of it, and our home there, so why did you think that?"

"Because Ana, I have been trying to buy it for over eight months, but he is refusing to sell it."

"So, you knew who I was before, you came to Kate's?"

"No, I went to your apartment to see Kate, as I said I didn't read you're report. I am not at the point in starting any hostile talks with your father either. Ros has been dealing with his property manager."

"Right, hold the boat Grey, because my father has not got a property manager, because he hasn't anything to manage, he doesn't own any property other than the ones I told you about, and don't you think I'd know if he had?"

"Ana, keep calm I'm just saying, that the owner of the large part of Portland I want, is co-owner of Wood and Steele, I didn't equate you or your father Ray, to be the one in the Steele of Wood and Steele."

"Christian can you order for me, anything will do I just need to make a quick phone call, my father wouldn't lie to me, ever."

"Okay, Ana I'm sorry."

"Sorry for what Christian, you haven't done anything yet." I dialled my father and he answered the phone straight away.

"Hello Pumpkin, what can I do for you?"

"Hello Daddy you're on speaker phone, so that Christian can hear this, and his dad, Carrick Grey too, so do not cuss, there's a lady present and Kate!"

"Har har Stainless hil-ari-i-you-ass... Hi, Papa Ray how's Carrie?"

"Fine Princess, just fine, we we're sorry to hear 'bout ole Henry."

"Mom got the flowers and thanks, listen I'm hogging the phone and this is serious!"

"Annie, you were asking the questions?"

"Well it's best I just come out with it. Do you have a property manager?"

"What would I want one of those for Annie, I can manage the store and the factory?"

"Well do you own any land or buildings other than the ones I know about?"

"Annie, what's this all about, you know what I have and what I ain't got, where's this all going Annie?"

"Do you know Christian Grey, or have you had contact with him in the past year?"

"Again no; other than the chat the other day, what's all this about?"

"Apparently Wood and Steele own a prime piece of real estate in Portland, and Christian has been trying to buy it for the last eight months?"

"News to me Annie, perhaps it was Willard's? I haven't even gotten around to his stuff yet, he left everything to me for some dang reason. I will get your mamma to look through the box of crap paperwork his nephew sent around."

"What nephew Daddy?"

"Hold up there Annie, let me get his card, it's on Mamma's pin board somewhere. Here it is Jason T Buford, Real Estate Agent Seattle. He works outta Kent Clark's office in Renton, is that any help, I have a mobile number?" My father rattled of the number as Christian made a note of it.

"Mr Steele, Christian Grey here."

"Umm, brave boyfriend of my only and best beloved daughter, what can I do for you, are you cancelling our Saturday play date?"

"No Sir, it's come to my attention Wood and Steele own a very large plot of land and I have been asking to buy it for eight months, I wasn't aware you owned it until ten minutes ago. My second in command here at Grey Enterprise Holdings has been trying without much luck to purchase the land and the buildings."

"As I said Son, I didn't know we did own it, I know Willard was an ornery ole coot, but we got on just fine, he funded the expansion and liked getting his hands in with the wood. He died here at home with Carrie looking out for him. He left me the business, and that was all I thought he had done for me, his lawyers have been asking me to go in to see them for months now, but I'm too busy for all that legal stuff."

"Excuse me Mr Steele, I'm my son's private attorney, Carrick Grey. Could it be possible he left you his entire estate, or the business his estate?"

"Sure, anything's possible; he had a fondness for me, Annie and Carrie. He said he had no family he cared to remember. So it's possible Mr Grey he did leave me more. Can't say I want nor need it, my company is doing well enough."

"Its Carrick and yes it seems you may in fact be the owner of some very valuable land, could you perhaps drive across to see Christian on Wednesday, or he could come to you?"

"No, I can come to you I have to drop some boxes at Kate and Annie's new place, so I will call in then, any time suit you?"

"Just call any time, my son's headquarters are at Grey House, it is pretty darned big building you can't miss it."

"We did a little of the wood work in the building, before your son bought it Carrick. I will see you both Wednesday. Annie I will see you Saturday with your fella!"

"Bye Daddy and don't forget the boxes of paperwork. Love to Mamma, see you soon!" I put my phone back in my purse.

"Well is that business call over, because Mom and Kate are on their fourth Hanky Panky, and are eating bread sticks?"

"Sorry Elliot, it had to be done, I knew Dad didn't know anything." I gave Christian the look.

"It's fine Banana." He waved for the waiter, as Christian was sat grinning again. I sipped my drink as he ordered for us and he ordered damned champagne too. Does he want a drunken Kate dancing on the bar?

"Grace, I've ordered for you okay?" Poor Carrick is fussing over Grace, I now see where Christian gets his caring side from, that little thing he didn't think he could do, and he has been very well covertly trained in. His dad is the best. He's now making Grace have a glass of water; Elliot is just happy stroking Kate's blonde curls and getting sloppy kisses.

"Yes dear, did you get the thingy sorted out?" Wow, his mom is sqwiffy drunk. I may be the sensible one tonight, I'm glad I am the sober girlfriend; Kate and his mom are nearly asleep. Good thing really, if they had music she'd be up there, dancing for drinks.

"Anastasia Steele I fudging love you, so fudging much right now." She's hilarious and happy, good for Kate, I'm wondering where the hell this land is and why Dad hasn't bothered with the paperwork?

"Just my luck, right now I'm gutted. I thought you loved me all the time, and see I'm pouting?"Elliot pulls the pouty face, I grin at Christian, which earns me a kiss. We are a happy half and half drunken rabble tonight, Kate, Elliot and Grace are drunk, whilst Carrick, Christian and I are playing catch up.

"That project is going to bring hundreds of jobs to Portland and buildings to a derelict waterfront too, and an affordable housing scheme. If this comes to fruition, your father will be indeed very wealthy."

"Christian, he is already wealthy. Not in your way wealthy, but he has enough that it pays the bills and makes a living doing what he does best. He has me, Carrie and he buddies and right now is thinking of ways to keep you entertained on Saturday."

"Will you come to Seattle on Wednesday, and have dinner with me or lunch even, with your father?"

"Paff, given the speed of this amazing coupling, that in four days could be nursing broken hearts and may be looking for rebound guys or gals?"

"Ana don't even joke about that, that my sweet and precious Ana is never happening. Now our starters are here, and none too soon. Mom and Kate really hit those cocktails hard."

During dinner the conversation flowed from the red dress Kate was almost wearing, to Elliot and Christian's golf date on Thursday. Grace had got a second wind and after drinking more water seemed to sober up a little and joined in the party. Me? I looked around the grandness of the place and noticed the emptiness too, if this was what having money did for you, then no thanks, they only had themselves for company, they were in their own bubble and security watched their every move. I liked the chatter in the main bar, the people moving in and about the place, the hustle and bustle and the fun. Like the last time we went out for a meal, the fun we had singing and the fun we had in the, wait... We had a balcony to our selves, cornered off with security, how did I not see that? This I have to change! Christian excused himself, after giving and leaving me with a cheek kiss and an I love you, which was whispered into my ear, lord it was sweet this love thing, this I don't want to change.

"Ana, are you all right dear, I am so sorry I don't know what got into me?" Perhaps, it was the pitcher of Hanky Pankies and no food Grace? "I must seem to be a drunken lush, and for that I apologise. It's been a busy week. I just don't know what to do for the best? Give me a child with measles and I can alleviate their discomfort, a weary child with a cough or cold I can help sooth it away, the boy suffering with a broken leg or arm from a fall, I can fix them. A child who has been beaten by their parent, I can try to save them, but how, how do I fix my beautiful boys?" Oh poor Grace.

"They are healing I think, they just need more time, I guess they too feel badly for the pain this has caused you? Christian, he is managing the best he can and to be honest with you, from hearing what Elliot said, it was a job perk to him, but he is hurting for Christian, more than himself."

"Thank you for making him tell me, that can't have been easy for you hearing it all?"

"I heard what I wanted too, at the time. I have no need to know the nitty gritty of his past. When he told me he lost it at fifteen, I was very jealous of the Goth, rebel chick he lost it to, but when he told me she was an older neighbour and a friend of his mother I felt as you did when he couldn't or wouldn't admonish her or her actions, it sickened me. I saw how she had controlled him, how she still controls him, but believe it or not he is getting there. I see the occasional flicker of that Christian returning, but most of the time he's the kind caring Christian who made me all better after I got sick. That's the man I see, the other Christian, he's there and I don't think he will ever lose that part of himself, but if he only uses that in work and with the making of his gazillions, then I'm happy for that too. It gives him an edge and a control, and it's a control he needs."

"Smart, beautiful and loving, what more could a mother ask for in a wife for her son. Now I need more food I think I'm back. Never have a Lemon Martini made by Cary; they are lethal. Here's my boy what's the matter?"

"We need to go, and we need to go now. Elena managed to get bail. She boarded a flight here two hours ago. I slipped up; I didn't close all her doors. She is coming here for Ana, she wants her power back." Way to fucking go paedo whore!

"How do you know all this surely the police would tell you as a common courtesy?" Carrick asks his worried son.

"She reached out to an old friend, and they warned me as soon as they got my number, Taylor, Sawyer have the cars brought around front please?"

"Sir, we have plenty of time, and Sir, I have taken the liberty of having the food delivered when it is ready and I have paid the bill and left a large gratuity."

"Thanks Taylor, she reached out to Susannah. She has Leila with her; she posted the fucking bail. Have everything I own of hers and take back everything we can and evict her." I heard him mention two girls. I watch and I listen and I know not to piss this Christian off with the whys and who's, not yet anyway. He smiles as he helps me to my feet with a kiss.

"I'm sorry Baby, I ruined our night out."

"Paff, Kate is dead to the world and see, her heads in the soup almost, your mother said she got her second wind and yet is now struggling to put her arms in the coat your fathers holding up for her, I think the cocktails were what did this night wrong Mr Grey!"

"Ana, my wonderful Ana you amaze me, you love me and understand me better than I know myself. How did I land you?"

"I would say kinda like this?" I tripped and he caught me. "You still got a catchers grip Christian. Now, why are we panicking?"

"Ana, she is coming after you. They both are, and Leila is a little unbalanced."

"She was one of the others?"

"The last long term other yes. She wanted the more I didn't know existed until I had you in my arms like this!" A kiss from his soft lips and I felt a salty wetness mixed in with the beer lingering on his tongue. I looked up and he was crying. "Ana you are my more..."

"In one week I am your more, really? How long were you with her?"

"Eighteen months, the longest I have kept a submissive."

"If I were to leave you now after one week, would you be upset?"

"That's a rhetorical question right? You're not leaving me are you?"

"If I was, how would you feel, how do you feel right now?"

"Lost, afraid and nervous, but you're not leaving me are you?"

"No, I don't think I'm ever leaving you. So can you imagine what this Leila girl is feeling, after loving you for eighteen whole months, seeing you more giving you more and knowing the more she did to please you, and I bet she did didn't she, because I would give you more too?"

"She did, and I brushed her aside. Elena was meant to get her help and for my shame I didn't check in on her. I wasn't a very caring man until I met you. Come, we have to go, Taylor is here."

He takes me to the car where Sawyer and Taylor are scanning the road and the walkway. Even on her supper charged broomstick, she won't get here that quickly, even if there was a way for her to bend the space time continuum, and get here faster than a speeding bullet. Oops wrong choice of words there Ana! I chastise myself and watch as Carrick lifts a sleepy Grace into the car in front. Elliot has already buckled his girl in the back and is getting in with Luke up front. I am placed in the back as Christian joins me. Wow, it's been a funny old day. Truth and lies are ousted and my pour damned feet are sore, Mr Choo your shoes, they hurt my feet...

We head to Kate's first to drop off Elliot and Kate, Elliot is stopping in case she turns up there, to offer up her condolences. Christian thinks she has the brass balls to do so. Who am I to even second guess his thinking; when I don't know enough of this and his ex's? I think the object she wants is here holding me so damned close I can't breathe. When we get to Christian's I see three bodies I have never seen before. Okay maybe this shit is a little more real than I at first thought?

"Ana, let me introduce Phillips, Jefferson and this is Samantha Prescott, she is to be your personal security Ana, Luke and Ryan will be your drivers and security too, Prescott will escort you to places he cannot."

"Oh... Okay... You think I needed a protection officer, why and what for, just to see me safe into and out of the crapper. Heck, you're being serious Christian aren't you? Have you a gym here?"

"Yes in the basement why?"

"Why? Taylor, Sawyer, Ryan and Reynolds, get dressed for the gym in ten minutes, Samantha, Phillips and you Jefferson, you lot hold the fort. Christian you need to see I am not a mild mannered little girl and the sooner you realise this better, you will know me. What are you four still standing around for, change now..."

"Sir...?" Oops, I stepped on Taylor's ego, tough...

"Do as she says, this could be fun, Ana are you sure, they are well trained men and you..."

"...Get fudging changed now Grey, your ass if the first to fall." I march up stairs shower the crap from my body and change, god I love Mrs Lloyd, my kits all spring fresh again. I pass Christian laughing. "Are you coming sweet cheeks or are you just standing there looking pretty? Do you think you know me, better than I know myself?"

C POV:

Ordering my staff around calling me, me sweet cheeks, saying I'm stood looking pretty, how dare she, god she's fucking hot when she loses her temper, but hey, you Miss Steele have a war on your hands, and as they have told me we have a couple of hours to spare. I need a shower I have a raging hard on, which these days is a fucking common occurrence. This should be good; I change and join them in the gym... Fuck my ass is going to be sore in the morning...

There she bows hurricane Ana... Thanks for the support ... Lol xxx Laters Readers...