Chapter Eleven: A Beautiful Love Story

Christian POV

Early the next morning

I feel something soft and warm on his chest right before the alarm clock beeped. "Ana," I say with a smile. Hmm...She's nibbling on my chin. I open one eye and then the other. Instead of Ana, I see Fi-fi smiling at me.

Okay, that does it!

How many times do I have to teach the darn dog to stay at the foot of the bed?

Yuck! I wipe my chin of dog drool and promptly placed her on the floor just as Ana comes out of the bathroom.

"Oh, Christian, did Fi-fi wake you?" Her eyes dart to my bare chest, and she scoops up the Poodle in her arms. Even though she's still a pup, she's getting too big now for Ana to carry her, I'm thinking.

"Good morning, sweetheart," I smile at her. It's then that I realize that she has shadows under her eyes as though she's had a rough night. I narrow my eyes, worried, as it dawns on me that she's still under the weather. "How are you feeling?"

She lets out a sigh and climbs in bed. The look she gives me says it all. I feel guilty that she's this ill because of me. After all, I was the one that knocked her up, right?

"You want me to get you anything? Some water? Some juice?"

She shakes her head no. Fi-fi climbs in beside her and rests her chin on Ana's arm. "I just want to rest for a few minutes...before work."

"Just take the day off," I suggest, but she glares at me and tells me she can't miss work. I choose to just let it be for now. Something tells me she's not getting up any time soon.

"Can I ask you something?"

"Shoot."

"Can you take Fi-fi out in the yard when you go out for your run?"

Normally I go for a morning run around this time every morning. Sometimes Ana joins me with the dog on her heels.

"Sure," I say, my gaze shifting to the dog. I'm not happy about it, but it's a small sacrifice to pay to make Ana happy. I quickly dress and sit on the edge of the bed to put on my running shoes.

Then, most unexpectedly, as I turn to say something to Ana, Fi-fi comes around and unties my shoelace in one fluid motion. I shake my head and furrow my brow. That's gotta be her sneakiest move ever! And now she even has the nerve to return to lay down beside Ana, looking all cute and innocent.

"You won't believe this, Ana, but that dog of yours just untied my shoe!"

"Who? Fi-fi?"

"Yeah!" I furrow my brow, but Ana lets out a giggle. It's the sweetest sound to me right now considering how sick Ana is feeling right now. And so I re-tie my shoe.

"Come, Fi-fi." Even though Fi-fi is obedience trained, she's never been particularly obedient if you ask me, especially when it's me calling her. Since she won't move, I end up having to scoop her into my arms. "Ana, call me if you need anything," I say before exiting the room.

Afterward, I go into the kitchen and ask Gail to check on Ana in a few. Gail nods, giving me that don't-you-worry look I love. Then, I turn my head, expecting the dog to be right behind me. But no, of course not. I don't have time to play hide-and-seek. I'm a very busy man. I take a deep breath and let it out slowly, reminding myself to be patient. I'm going to be a father, I tell myself. And, as luck would have it, Fi-fi is here for a practice run. I should be thanking my lucky stars.

"Fi-fi!" I call out her name and look everywhere.

I almost give up looking for her when Gail appears with the dog at her heels, smiling. At this point, I'm fuming mad. I lost ten minutes looking for the dog when I could have been out exercising.

I glare at the Poodle before entering the elevator. I no longer care if she comes along, but she gets in the elevator in the nick of time.

"I know your tricks," I say, taking advantage of the fact that there are no witnesses. "You got Ana and Gail wrapped around your little paws, but I know what you're up to. You hear? Let this be the last time I find you sleeping at the head of the bed!"

Fi-fi's ears perk up, and she lets out a bark. I roll my eyes and walk off to the fenced yard with Fi-fi at my heel.

"My grandmother always said you attract more bees with honey than with salt," Gail says with a chuckle when we return from my morning run, "especially when working with dogs."

"I think what we need is a full-time trainer," I say going into the kitchen for a large glass of water. "How's Ana? I hope she can eat a decent breakfast this morning."

"I fixed her some tea. If she can stomach that, then we can think of something more solid."

I shake my head, and I must have looked distraught as Gail gave me a sympathetic look.

"She can't go on like this. It's not good for her or the baby."

"Don't worry, Mr. Grey. Generations of women have gone through exactly the same thing...not eating very much for the first couple of months. But you see, nature has it all worked out. Usually, the body makes up for lost calories in the coming months. In the end, both mothers and babies end up as healthy as pie," she grins at me.


ANA POV

While Christian and Fi-fi are gone, I send a text to Luke and tell him I'm sick.

"I have an idea that will work." he texts me. He's being intentionally vague. He must be as worried as me that our communication is compromised. "I will take care of it. I will have to ask the boss for a raise."

It takes me a minute to realize that 'the boss' is Christian and that 'a raise' must mean he's going to tell him the truth.

A great sense of relief floods my system. Even though I'm still worried that Roach could still release the pictures if he suspects that Christian knows, I trust that Luke will know exactly HOW to tell and WHERE to tell him. I can't wait for this mess to be over with. It seems like we can't catch a break. With how I'm feeling, the last thing I need is to stress about this, so I decide to let Luke handle it.

"Sounds good Luke. I don't think I'll be going to the office today. Do what you need to. Thanks." I hit send and set my phone on the nightstand.

I sit up, leaning against the headboard, and close my eyes. My mind begins to wonder how women have been doing this for so long and how they could ever want to go through this more than once. I've been so sick and miserable, I'm surprised Christian hasn't started calling doctors to come to check on me. I seriously thought he was going to drag me to the hospital last night. Being poked with needles is the last thing I want. I feel bad enough at it is.

It isn't long before Christian comes back from his morning run looking all hot and sweaty. In normal circumstances, I would have jumped into his arms, but I'm too sick to move. My stomach feels unbearably hollow and empty. So empty that now I'm throwing up bile. It must be written all over my face because the first thing Christian does is ask if he should be calling the doctor.

"I'll be okay... Gail brought me some tea earlier, and my stomach feels a little better. She's bringing me something to eat in a little bit."

Christian sighs and Fi-fi comes into the room. She jumps on the bed and tries to come to me, but Christian promptly settles her on the foot of the bed. After that, he goes into the closet and brings out a dark leather chest with a large lock. I immediately recognize it as the chest found in the secret room.

" Are you in the mood for a story?" He smirks and places it the chest on the duvet covers, a few inches away from where Fi-fi lays. Much to my surprise, she has fallen asleep. I look up at Christian and nod enthusiastically,

"Alrighty, then. I think you will love this story. It's about a young heiress and her lover, a young German fisherman."

Christian opens the chest and goes on to show me some pictures. "Remember the treasure chest we found when we found Elena?

"Of course," I reply. "You said you were going to pull up the original floor plans...you thought the secret room was not built as a safe for valuables. You thought it was built for a different purpose."

"And it was," Christian smiles rather charmingly. "The secret room was built as a bomb/disaster shelter. Originally it had ventilation which was sealed off when it was remodeled forty years later. It was then used as a safe, and the sliding bookcase was added around the same time. Anyway, it's the love story that makes the story unique."

I lean forward and look at him encouragingly.

"Picture this. It's 1942. They meet as pen-pals, oceans apart. He was in Germany, and she lived here in Seattle.

I smile at him. "I'm loving the story already!" I look at the enormous piles of letters. I look at the dates; they were written over the course of twenty years.

"And I haven't even gotten to the good parts," he smirks. "Anyway, it takes a long time, but eventually our sailor arrives in America. He left everything behind to be with the young heiress who had told him everything about her life except that she came from money," he pauses to show me a few black and white snapshots.

"All of this was inside the chest?"

Christian nods. "This is a picture of their wedding," he says showing me the picture.

"They look so happy."

"Their marriage only lasted three months," Christian said, and I can't help but wonder what kind of love story is this. "Wait, here comes the good part. After the fisherman arrives in Seattle, he asks the father for the daughter's hand in marriage, but he's turned down. It is at this point that he finds out she the sole heiress to a vast fortune. The couple then decided to elope. They had waited ten years to be together, and they had no time to lose."

I flip through the pictures and find the snapshot of a young baby girl dressed like a Disney princess. "Who's this? Is this their baby?"

"So impatient, Ms. Steele," he smirks. "Don't you wanna know what happens three months after they got married?"

"You mean other than them breaking up?"

"Breaking up? I never said they broke up. I said the marriage only lasted three months."

I shake my head, smiling. I'm enjoying the story, and it's taking my mind off my morning sickness. I sigh contentedly. I wonder if he's taking the day off work.

"Okay, Mr. Grey. Duly noted. So they didn't break up. What happened, then?"

"The heiress's family disowned her after eloping, and the fisherman continued being what he always was, a fisherman. One day he ventured out to sea and never returned. It was presumed that he was lost at sea."

I clicked my tongue in disappointment. "I should have known there was no happy ending. Well, she must have loved him dearly to save all these letters and mementos."

"Wait, the story is not over," he tells me, and now I'm more curious than ever. I'm so invested in this story, I want this couple to get their happily ever after. "You want me to keep going?" He asks me, and I nod, turning to my side in a comfortable fetal position. "Five years later the fisherman returns to find his wife living in her parent's mansion and married to another man. She had several children. The eldest, a girl, saves the letters and photographs. In her letters, the heiress identifies her firstborn as the fisherman's daughter."

"But wait...what happened after the fisherman returned? Why did it take him five years to come back?"

"According to the letters, he was stuck on a desert island out in the Pacific. The heiress married a man of her social standing but was unhappy in her marriage. However, she didn't leave her second husband." He pauses to retrieve one of the letters. "Listen to what the fisherman wrote:

Dear Eloise:

I love you. I think of you every single minute of my day. And I understand the predicament you're in. You have little ones to think about. Rest assured, I will wait for you to be free again. I will always be here, love, Albert."

"So he waits on the sidelines for her... because he doesn't want to break up their family? How noble!"

Christian smiles. "Yep. He waits another five years and then she's free. And yes, there's a happy ending, but it takes twenty years. They are finally together after a lifetime of waiting."

I left out a sigh of relief. "Wow. That's quite a story. For a minute there I thought Eloise's father had hired some hitman to get rid of the fisherman...or that he had locked him up in the secret room only to be discovered by his daughter man years later."

Christian lets out a chuckle. "Well, look who's got an overactive imagination! You really ought to try your hand at writing fictional stories."

I smile. "I'm amazed you took the time to piece this whole story together." He must have devoted countless hours going through all the pictures and bits of history. "You're a hopeless romantic, Christian Grey."

"It's you, Ana. I've become this hopeless romantic because of you," he says with a boyish grin and with a roll of the eyes as if he couldn't help himself.

"Hey, being a romantic is not a bad quality," I say, and he gives me a look that tells me he's not so sure about that. "How did the trunk end up in Escala? It wasn't around back then, was it?"

"You're right, Escala wasn't built until much later. I had Welch and Barney look through the previous owners of the penthouse. It seems that a woman lived here and had the remodel done so the hidden room would be a safe for valuables. "

"I bet she was the couple's daughter."

"She was. From what I'm told, she moved to a warmer climate to be closer to her family. I'm guessing the trunk was left by mistake. I have Welch trying to track down the family. I'm sure they'd like this back." Christian explains, and I smile at him.

"And to think, you used to say you didn't have a heart. I'd say you have a bigger heart than anyone I know," I say to him as I slowly move towards him and give him a kiss.

Right then, Gail knocks on their door, she's bringing me a cup of tea, jello and saltine crackers. I thank her profusely while Christian removes the chest and memorabilia off the bed and places it all back inside the chest. Fi-fi opens one eye with all the commotion and then goes right back to sleep.

After having a few sips of my tea, I start eating the jello as Gail and Christian await my reaction. I know they want to see me eat and reassure themselves I'm going to be okay. So I eat even though I don't feel like it.

"Mr. Grey and Ms. Steele let me know if you need anything else," Gail says before she exits the room and, since I'm feeling a little better, we go back to our previous conversation.

"That is a lovely love story. Thanks for telling me," I tell him while I finish up a pack of crackers.

"I thought you would like it. Besides, I thought the fisherman and I have a lot in common," he winks at me.

"It sounds like you've given the story a great deal of thought."

He nods. "I think it's helped me become more patient. Still, I love you too much to wait 20 years," he tells me with a thin smile.

I take a few sips of my tea and look into his eyes. I realize that deep down, he's feeling insecure about us. I love him so much. I can't bear the thought of him feeling like this about us. "And I'm not asking you to wait, Christian,...I love you too much for that. So let's not wait any more than we have to and get married," I say rather casually, surprising myself. "It doesn't have to be a big affair, just a small gathering, friends and family only would be best," I tell him with a smirk and his eyes widened unexpectedly in response.

"Anastasia Steele," he says grinning, "just so we're clear, are you asking me to marry you?"

"YES!" I reply, putting the tray down on one side of the bed and snuggle close to him. In response, he strokes my chin and looks into my eyes.

"Are you sure about this?" He asks in a playful tone. "Are you saying you decided to marry me sometime between last night and after you got sick this morning?" I shrug, smiling. After a moment, he asks, "Well then, are you marrying me because of the baby?"

"No, silly. I'm marrying you because I love you. Although I suspect that people will talk."

"So let them talk. It's none of their business."

I let out a chuckle and Christian gives me a bewildered look.

"What's so funny?"

"It's just that question..." I pause for effect. "It's usually the guys asking the girl that question and not the other way around," I say pecking his lips. "Christian Grey, I'm marrying you because I want to be with you for the rest of our lives. I didn't plan this out, you know, otherwise, I would have planned a romantic dinner..."

"Sh-sh," he whispers. "This is the best news you could have given me."