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I don't own the characters, just using them for my story.

Christian

I took over the steering as Mac went to take down the sails. I enjoy the view as we approach the harbor, the boats lined up by the docks, the buzz of people on the pier, the evening sun gently spreading its warmth on everything. Mac jumps to the dock and fastens the Grace while I take my time reading the message that I just got on my phone. The swarm of butterflies in my stomach take off when I see that the message is from Ana. She's asking how my day was, well I had that long meeting with the morning that went well. I smile at the thought of the lunch we had together, me with a group of more or less scruffy looking men – it was strange, usually everyone who comes to meet with me are always well dressed and well-groomed, but this time few of them had definitely missed the last many appointments to the barber, not even to mention the wrinkles evident on their clothes; they basically looked like they just came directly to the meeting after spending the night or two at the bar. I wish my dinner company will not be so dingy. I type her this, and after pressing send I realize that maybe my message was a bit too vague as I didn't mention who I'll have dinner with. I hope it would be with her.

I read what I wrote again, and hope she doesn't think it's with some other woman, the mere thought of her misunderstanding me like that gives me chills. The message doesn't say that, but implying that I hope to have dinner with someone better… it just doesn't feel right. Actually I'm supposed to meet Grace and Carrick by the seafront restaurant in a few minutes. I better send her an explanation, I start to type but an incoming message from Ana interrupts me. She has seen a magazine? I bet she's seen the tabloids. I answer her that I've seen more than one – I don't want say that it was practically all the tabloids published here. Thank god, the pictures aren't bad, actually they are quite good, she looks beautiful in them and we look good together. In fact the thought of having proof of our connection out in public is exciting and quite comforting – that is if she's not upset about it. Maybe the women always trying to get together with me will finally leave me alone?

I tell Ana she looked lovely in the pictures, because it's the truth. I jump to the pier and say goodbye to Mac "Take good care of her" I say while shaking his hand. I don't realize it, but Mac seems confused about the handshake – I don't usually ever shake his hand. "Of course Mr. Grey, hope you'll take her out again soon" "I hope so too" I mumble to myself walking towards the restaurant, hoping that next time out on the waves Ana will be with me.

I know I was flirting when I typed that she looked lovely in the pictures, I hope she doesn't think it's too much, I think it's the first time I've ever flirted with anyone intentionally. The thought makes me smile, and I notice people looking at me; everyone's smiling today it seems. I suddenly get that excited feeling in the pit of my stomach but I don't know why. I pass a corner and then I see her, she's sitting on a bench by the pier, holding her phone, obviously writing a message. My phone buzzes again, and my heart beats quicker as I read the short mildly flirtatious message from her. She doesn't seem upset about the tabloids, I hope that it's really so.

I look at her; she has a block and a pen beside her on the bench, her bag casually laying by her feet, her hair on a ponytail, the sea breeze playing with it as the sun is making her brown locks look almost golden. She takes my breath away – I just type you look lovely today, as always, and press send. I see the surprise in her eyes as she reads my message, then she looks up as she must have understood that I'm here, those bright blue eyes pinning me in my place. The shock quickly turns to a huge smile on her face – I can't help it I have the same face splitting grin on my face. I walk over to her, she gets up as I approach "Well good afternoon Miss Steele" I say and do a little old-fashioned bow. She picks up on my mood instantly and offers her hand to me saying "Good evening Mr. Grey, it's a pleasure to meet you again" I take her hand and press a kiss on it "Oh, the pleasure is all mine" I say looking straight into her eyes. I feel the electricity between us, but this time I'm not taking any chances, I don't want be in the headlines two days in a row.

"What are you doing here?" she asks. She moves the block and the pen from the bench and waves her hand offering me a seat beside her. "I went for a sail and just got back" "Oh, you have a boat?" "Yes, and I can't wait for you to join me on it" I smile at her when saying this. She looks to me, I think she's lost for words. "I've never been sailing, I wouldn't know what to do". "Don't worry, on my ship you don't have to do anything except enjoy". The thought of her spread out on the bed in my cabin, grasping the sheets, her gorgeous body wringing with pleasure as I touch her, making her come at least once before diving into her, the waves gently rocking the boat as we both reach our climax together - flashes through my mind. She blushes as she gets the double meaning of what I said, I didn't mean it like that originally, but definitely she will enjoy, and it will be my pleasure.

"Christian dear, sorry we're late" Grace calls out walking towards us with Carrick. "That's all right mom" I say standing up and shaking hands with them both. "Ana, you remember my mom Grace and this is my dad Carrick." Grace envelopes Ana in a hug, like she's a long lost friend while Carrick sticks to shaking her hand. I realize the surprised look on Ana's face, well we didn't plan on meeting each other, so for sure she didn't expect to meet most of my family today either. I know this is a spur of the moment kind of thing, but that seems to be how everything happens between us, so I ask Ana to join us for dinner. I see Grace exchanging a look with Carrick, and wonder what it's about. "I'd love to join you for dinner, but I don't think I'm dressed appropriately" she says gazing at her clothing. "Oh don't be silly, you'll do just fine, I told you - you look lovely" I say catching her hand and continue in a softer voice "please join us." She has me begging, what the hell's happening to me? She takes a deep breath, clearly weighing her options, and then she nods "Ok, I'll come".

Anastasia

Christian told me he wanted me to come sailing with him, but I don't know the first thing about sailing. The only boat I've ever set foot in is grandpa's rowing boat, we even went fishing with it once. I was too afraid to touch the fish we caught; so he had to let them off the hook and throw them back into the water, because I felt sorry for causing them pain. Needless to say we didn't go fishing again, just rowing for fun sometimes. What could I possibly do on a sailing boat? I'd probably trip over a line or bump my head on the beam.

Christian says I'd only have to enjoy. Enjoy my time on his boat, now there's a thought, I think of seeing Christian standing there by the steering without a shirt, his strong hands gripping it, his strong hands massaging me, spreading sun lotion on my back, his hands moving up to the clasp of my bikini top, opening it and pulling it off, cupping my breasts with his hands, squeezing... Oh, get a grip Anastasia, he didn't mean it that way, did he? I see Christian's mischievous smirk and I know that he did.

Suddenly I hear a familiar voice, Grace calls out for Christians – oh he's having dinner with his parents. Relief washes through my veins, no other woman to have dinner with then. He shakes their hands, that's odd. Grace hugs me like I'm her dearest friend who she hasn't seen for ages, Carrick is clearly much more formal – but then again I don't remember meeting him in person before. Christian surprises me by asking me to dinner. I look at my shorts and t-shirt – not quite restaurant attire I would say. Christian insists that I come with them, he says I look lovely, and I think my heart is now forever tuned to a new rhythm, beating to happiness instead of sorrow.

We enter the nearby restaurant and are immediately seated by a table near the window, the view is magnificent. The waiters bring us refreshments as we are waiting for our food. I observe Christian with his family, he seems very distant physically but otherwise he seems to have a good relationship with them. Grace and I mostly talk about the shelter and my work there, she seems to be interested in coming to help if medical attention is needed. I wonder if she's for real, or if she's just trying to be polite. She seems like a genuine person, and I remember that Sam always talked very highly of her, so I decide to give her the benefit of the doubt. Carrick is nice also, though much more reserved than Grace. He knew Sam also, of course, it seems that he helped grandpa with some legal issue a long time ago. I don't ask for details, I don't want dwell on the past, I'd rather concentrate on the present.

Christian's the first to mention the subject everyone was avoiding, maybe he didn't mean to do it; but nevertheless he let the cat out of the bag mentioning being at my art exhibition. "Oh right - the exhibition, I'm so sorry I couldn't come" Grace says. "It's alright, you can still visit it, if you are interested" I tell her. Carrick clears his throat "I think you were not missed dear" he says winking his eye at Christian. I feel the blush rising to my cheeks, they must have seen the tabloid as well. "Yeah well, we had a good evening..." Christian says "but then there was a group of paparazzi outside the gallery" I continue his sentence. I hope he'll not tell them that he took me to Escala, for sure they would think there was something more going on. Christian looks at me and squeezes my hand gently as to silently say that he understands, I look at him and quietly mouth thank you.

We talk about the tabloids for a while, everyone agrees that the pictures weren't bad and I'm glad that neither the other tabloids have got my name. I understood from Christian and Carrick that he's had his share of problems with the paparazzi since the bachelor nomination. I'm quite shocked as they tell me that Christian smashed the camera of a paparazzi taking pictures of him in a restaurant. "That's basically why I was at the beach house hiding" Christian says. "And if meeting you just required me losing my temper at a photographer I should have done it sooner" he continues. I have this warmness spreading through my chest hearing his words, even though I'm not sure if anyone was supposed to hear that.

Grace

"That was nice, wasn't it" I say to Carrick as we sit in the car on our way home from dinner with Christian and Ana. "Mm-hm" he just mumbles his answer with a toothpick between his lips, reversing the car out of the parking slot. I'm so happy we bumped into Ana on the dock, she's such a lovely girl and she has a wonderful effect on Christian. She grew up to a remarkable young woman with her heart in the right place, it's amazing really – thinking about her past. It had all the elements for a horrible future but somehow she has managed to make it work. I remember Sam always telling us about what little Ann – as he used to say – had been doing. She was his first and only grandchild and he couldn't have been prouder. She was such a happy child, I remember the day she came over to play with Mia, they played and played as Sam was working, but then she fell of Mia's bike, and I patched her foot, with a Band-Aid with flowers on it. I think it was Christian who helped her in, did he let her touch him then already? They were a happy family until the drunk driver rammed into the car Ana's dad was driving; Sam was a broken man after his son passed away, and things turned to worse for Ana as her mom, Carla, started drinking. Sam often talked about it, trying to get Carla some help – but she didn't want any of it. Oh boy, Ana sure has had her share of heartache, first her dad and within a few years both her grandparents. I didn't ask anything about Sam's death tonight, I didn't want upset her, remembering her reaction to Christian's question on Sunday.

I wonder what is going on between those two, something is going on, but neither of them admits it. Even a blind man sees the energy between them, the glances they give each other when they think no one's watching. Christian acts like he's a smitten schoolboy, it warms my heart to see him like this. I haven't seen him like this ever, when he was in high-school he only studied and worked… The thought hits me like a ton of bricks; it's because of Elena. She took his teenage years from him, she denied him everything a normal teenage boy should have gone through. She broke him so badly that until now, he has isolated himself in work, not letting anyone through that tough CEO exterior. The thought makes my heart ache and my blood boil at the same time, why couldn't he have a normal youth? Why did she steel his teenage years? The poor boy suffered enough in his childhood; with a horrid start to his life, hiding from abusive men visiting his mother who probably was high on crack, selling her body to get money for the next fix. What kind of life was that for a child? The horrible things he must have been through before his mother OD'd, then the four long lonely days being locked in the apartment with his mother's dead body. Elena knew all this and still she chose Christian to abuse, I told her everything about him, how could she do it to him? How could she betray my trust like that? I wipe a tear from my cheek, remembering his past always makes me cry.

Carrick glances at me, keeping his focus on the road "Honey, why are you upset?" "I was just thinking about Christian's past". He pats my knee to comfort me, I know that he shares my pain, I don't have to explain myself to him. "Grace, you have to stop blaming yourself for Elena" "I know, it's just... Seeing him with Anastasia today, he looked so happy, there was joy in his eyes, I have not seen him this relaxed in years" "Well, that's a good thing, isn't it" "Yes it is, but thinking why he couldn't experience happiness before, is what's making me upset" Carrick takes my hand in his and we are both lost in thoughts.

From the moment I saw Christian, the tiny boy, in his rugged and dirty t-shirt, squeezing his blanket to his chest, his grey eyes looking at me in amazement, I knew I will not ever let anyone hurt him again. He was like an injured bird, looking at me with his big eyes, afraid of being hurt again, left on the mercy of strangers. He barely let us touch him then, all he'd known was people hurting him, and it took a long time until he trusted that we would not hurt him. Still the touches between us were limited, no one could go near his torso or he'd panic. We learned to respect his boundaries, and everything was as good as could be expected, he still had many issues but we managed. In his teens he got into a lot of trouble, picking fights, drinking, and skipping classes – we didn't know what to do with him. Then something happened, I now know it was Elena, and he stopped the brawling, he went to his classes, started to get good grades, and it was like he was a totally different person, but in hindsight I see that at the same time he started to accept less and less touches from anyone. We were only shaking hands for years, no hugs, no pats on the back, only handshakes, and after Elena was caught with the Peterson boy, Christian closed off totally. The day following Elena's arrest he told us about his past with her, and after that get together he didn't allow us to touch him at all. It broke my heart, there was nothing I could do to make things better, it was all in the past but for us it was fresh. I wanted to take Christian into my arms, to hold him tight, to protect him from everything, but he just shut me out. It broke my heart to see his pain, the burden of the past that he had been hiding for years. But I respected his limits, I did not touch him, until on Saturday night when we sat for a long time hand in hand. I many times wondered about the mundane details like how he managed his business meetings? For sure he has to have shaken hands then?

I still remember the surprise I felt seeing him with Ana the first time, him sitting so close to her as she laid on the couch, then the next morning she touched him - and he let her, and he didn't as much as flinch as she wiped of the yogurt from the corner of his mouth and then they kissed. I'm so happy for my little broken bird – he's finally finding the happiness he deserves. I just hope both of them understand their feelings for each other soon, with their pasts I suspect it'll be a bumpy road, and hopefully we are all along for the ride.

"She seemed nice" Carrick finally says after parking the car outside our house. "Yes she's nice" I agree with him. "She's good for him, I can feel it." "Yeah, I think so too." "He sure has feelings for her, you know, I recognize the behavior" he says looking at me with a warm smile walking up the stairs to the front door. "What behavior?" I ask stopping outside the door, looking at him questioning, even though I know what he will say. "You know, the same as I had when we first started going out – you had my heart from hello" he says wrapping his arms around me, oh Cary, you are a hopeless romantic at times "and you had mine" I say before I kiss him.