I look down at the beautiful girl in my arms. I tuck a strand of her hair behind her ear. She mumbles in her sleep and curls into my stomach, gripping tightly to my shirt. God, I love her so much. My feelings from before claw at the surface. Keep it together, Grey. I close my eyes and lean my head back. She's here. She's safe. You will get to the bottom of this. Everything's going to be okay. She loves you. She was tricked. She thought it was you. Thought who was me? I look back down at Anastasia. Who did what to her? She starts to cry out in her sleep and I run my hands through her hair. What nightmares is she having? I know all too well how dark and twisted memories will haunt you. Especially in your dreams.

My phone vibrates in the seat next to me and I see it's my mother calling. "Mom."

"Hey baby, where are you?"

"Not far. Maybe another half hour?"

"Okay sweetheart. Well I'm here waiting for you. Your father wanted to come but I made him stay home. How is she?" Her voice is soft and sweet and it warms me.

"She's…I don't know mom. I just don't know." A sob escapes my throat.

"Shh…my sweet boy. It's going to be okay. Just come home and we'll sort everything out. Okay?"

I sigh. "Okay. We won't be long."

"Alright sweetheart. See you soon."

"And mom?"

"Yes Christian?"

"I…I love you."

There is a long pause before she answers. "I love you too Christian. Very much." Her voice quivers slightly, but she quickly recovers. "Goodbye."

I put the phone back in the seat and look back down at the wonder that is Anastasia Steele. What has she done to me? I smile and run my finger over her swollen lip. Her eyebrows furrow and then relax. I chuckle. Well, whatever it is, I will forever be thankful for.

I lay Anastasia in our bed and pull the blanket over her. Mom takes my place beside the bed and tries to wake her. She resists but eventually I see those big blue eyes flutter to life and I see panic written across her face. Before I have a chance, my mother runs her hand down Ana's face and coos softly to her.

"There there. You're home. It's me Grace. I just need to look you over sweetheart. Then you can go back to sleep."

"Christian? Where's Christian?" She shouts as she starts to sit up.

"I'm right here baby. Let her look you over baby. Then you can sleep some more." I coax.

She hesitates, but eventually lays back down. "You'll stay?"

"Yes baby. I'm not going anywhere. I'm just going to come sit down here at the end of the bed so I'm out of the way. Is that okay?" I point to the foot of the bed.

She nods and looks back at my mother. She is now Dr. Grace Trevelyan-Grey, not my mother. She flashes a light into Ana's eyes and proceeds to check out her vitals. Smiling, she asks Ana to sit up and she checks her body over. She seems satisfied with what she sees and moves on to Ana's feet. "I just want to look at these bruises on your feet. Is that okay?"

Ana nods and closes her eyes. My mother gasps. "Christian, you didn't tell me she had rope burns." She makes quick work of applying a cream and wrapping Ana's ankles up. "Ana, I just put some ointment on those burns and I'll leave it here for you to apply every night after your bath and again in the morning before you head out. Understand?" She nods and my mom continues. "I'll also leave some bandages for you. Once the burns start healing you won't need to use them anymore. I'll come by in a few days to see how they are coming along. Now, the last thing. I just want to look at your lip. Is that alright?"

Ana lifts her fingers to her now trembling lip and covers it defensively. She shakes her head and my mom sighs. "Ana, I need to look at it. I promise it won't hurt. I'll be quick."

She pokes her head around my mother and looks into my eyes. "Christian?"

"Baby, she needs to look at it. Please. Then you can sleep some more." I plead. She bows her head but nods. I know why she doesn't want anyone to look at it. She doesn't want us to ask her what happened to her and how she got hurt. Besides her ankles and her lip, she's perfectly fine. Physically. I can't imagine the emotional or metal toll this has taken on her.

My mom finishes up and lets Ana roll back over to sleep. She's asleep within minutes and I cover her up with the blanket. I switch the light off and lean over to kiss the top of her head. "Christian." I hear whisper in her sleep. I walk out into the hallway where my mother is waiting and crack the door. I place my finger over my lip and motion to my office. I lead her to the couch and we sit.

"Well?"

"She's fine Christian. Her ankles will heal and so will her lip. It is severely bruised though, and it will take longer to heal. Her cut isn't too deep but I imagine it will open up and bleed from time to time. It's nothing to worry about. Just clean it and hold some gauze on it when that does happen. Just to help absorb the blood. You know you can give her something for the pain, if she complains."

"Okay…"

"Christian, if I may, what happened to her? Why does she have bite marks on her lip?"

"I don't know mom." I pause. God, I just don't know. I have no idea what happened to her and she hasn't wanted to talk about it. My mind counts the many possibilities of what could have happened to her. I run my hands through my hair. "I found her tied up. The room was trashed. Honestly I have no idea what happened. She hasn't said. I don't want to push her into telling me though." I explain, voiding certain details that my mother doesn't need to know.

"Have you talked to Flynn? Maybe he could get her to talk?"

"No. Not yet. I don't want to involve him just yet."

"But Christian, can you imagine what she is going through mentally? She needs to talk to someone."

"And she will, when she is ready!" I snap. I sigh. 'I'm sorry. I didn't mean to yell at you."

"I was just trying to help Christian." She takes my hand in hers. "Both of you need to talk to someone. Not just her."

"I'm fine." I lie.

"Bullshit Christian. I can see the anger in your eyes. And the pain is written across your face every time you look at her."

I'm in shock. Is it that obvious? I get up and start pacing around the room. Her eyes follow me and I can feel them burning into the back of my neck.

"Christian? It's okay to be upset. Talk to me."

"What am I supposed to say? My fiancé was foolishly lured into her room under the pretense that it was me waiting for her? That whoever it was, tied her up and did god knows what to her? That she has these burns and this bite on her lip but no other physical damage? So if hurting her wasn't his game then what was? What the fuck did he do to her mom? Why did he do it? If it's because of me…."

"Enough!" She rises and strides over to my side and looks me dead in the eyes. "Don't you dare blame yourself Christian! No one is at fault here." Her gentle hand caresses my face and wipes away a tear I didn't know was forming. Her sweet gesture is my undoing and I collapse into her, a river of tears damping her blouse. I bury my face deep into her shoulder and heave body wrenching sobs. She wraps her arms around me and coos softly in my ear.

We stand like this for what feels like eternity before I pull myself away from her. We walk to the couch together and sit down. She hands me a tissue and I take it gratefully. "I'm sorry mom." I glance guiltily in her eyes. I see my pain reflected in them.

"For what Christian?"

"I was out of line, yelling at you like that."

She holds up her hand to stop me. "Christian, you have yelled at me before and said far worse things. Believe me, this was nothing." She runs her hands through her hair just as I'm about to do the same. She smirks at me. "You are my son in more ways than you will ever know."

I pull her towards me and hug her with everything I have. "I love you so much. You do know that?" I whisper in her ear.

"I know Christian. I know."

"Am I interrupting?" I look up and see Ana has woken up and is standing in the doorway, her eyes red. I sigh. I know she's been crying. I wonder how long she was standing there. "No, not at all."

My mother rises and I follow, striding over to this beautiful girl. She wraps her arms around my waist and I run my hands through her hair. "Christian?"

"Yes sweetheart?"

"I'm ready to talk now."