Chapter 13

11.55am. Monday, June 29th

"Thank you for stepping in," said Christian. "I appreciate it's been some time since you were here."

"I'll do my best, Mr. Grey and thank you for asking me. Where do you want me to start?

"With something familiar. Have H.R. finalized the personnel transfer files for Venture Sengkang?"

"We have. I'll get them right up."

Christian exhaled. "Finally, something's coming together."

"May I ask a question, Mr. Grey?"

"Go ahead."

"Is Andrea well enough for me to speak to? You know, to ask questions of?"

"She's just had a baby, Olivia; she's not critically ill."

"I know, but… For her not to step in, well…that's odd. I just wondered if she really was sick, rather than just on leave?"

"No, as far as I know she's fine, if a little moody," he added, perturbed by the memory of Andrea persistently yelling 'no' at him when he'd called at their apartment on Friday. "Being a new parent is hard. It feels like someone's dropped a bomb on your life. She might be a little tetchy, but that's understandable. At least the reason why she's not getting enough sleep is a better one than me calling at 3am, demanding she come into work."

Olivia paled. "Will you need me to do that?"

Christian wrinkled his nose. "Not on a regular basis, I value my bed too much these days. But I can't tell you how things are going to be in the next couple of weeks. I could need people to pull some all-nighters, depending how much gets done between now and Singapore."

"As I said, I'll do my best."

"I know you will. You've worked for me before and you know what I expect."

"Yes, Mr. Grey."

"Then let's get to it. Beth?"

"Yes sir?"

"You get through this, and at the end of your internship I will personally call the CEO of any company you want to work for and demand they give you a job."

"Thank you." Beth looked abashed.

"Any company you fancy working for?"

"Um…GEH?" Beth squeaked.

"Well, you're in luck. We're hiring."

"Big time, if my desk in H.R. is any reflection," commented Olivia.

Christian appraised Beth. "After Ros has left, Tom will need a P.A. Do you fancy taking a shot at it?"

Beth's eyes bugged. "Yes!" She said with a gasp. "But what about here? Andrea won't be back until September."

"Let's deal with that on the other side of Singapore. OK. Let's go. We have half the planet to buy up."

The phone rang. "Mr. Grey's office, Olivia Lucas speaking." Olivia listened, her eyes growing wide in alarm. "One moment please." She snapped the phone onto mute. "It's Astrid, your child-minder. Teddy's in the E.R." She held the phone out to him and un-muted the call. Christian grabbed it.

"Astrid, what happened?" He was instantly anxious and as he listened he ran his fingers through his hair. "And have you called Ana…? Oh." He sounded even more concerned and furrowed his brow. "Yes, call Prescott. I'll be down there as soon as I can." Christian reached over the desk, cancelled the call and dialed another number. "Dr. Trevelyan please? Tell her it's Christian." He waited for a moment; in front of him both women busied themselves with tasks. "Mom? Teddy's in the ER there, can you get down to see him? Astrid suspects a broken arm. I'm on my way now. Ana's not in the office and Astrid says her cell's diverted to Hannah. I don't know what's going on, so I'll call Hannah from the car and see if I can pick up Ana en route. We'll see you soon." Christian cancelled that call and dialed a third number. "Taylor? I need to go to the Children's Hospital, right now. I'll meet you out front." He handed the phone back to Olivia. "Take messages. Don't ask people to call my cell. I'll be back as soon as I can."

"Is he alright?" Olivia asked.

"He will be."

Olivia dared to be bold and asked another question. "What happened?"

Christian gave a pained half-smile. "He jumped off a chair, pretending to fly." His shoulders sank. "My little boy and his obsession with flying." He made for the elevator. "You have the bridge, Number One." He called back.

Olivia blushed. "You remembered?"

Christian grinned. "You'd be surprised what I hear out here." He said with a smirk as the elevator doors closed.

Back behind the desk Olivia turned to Beth, grabbed the mouse mat and fanned herself with it. "Oh, he's still gorgeous after all these years. And he knows I'm a Star Trek fan? Holy hell! Andrea can go fuck herself if she thinks she's getting this seat back. I am super-gluing my butt to it."

"She might not come back."

Olivia gave an indignant scoff. "Hell will freeze over before Andrea Parker quits this job."

"What, you mean she really does like working for him?"

"Don't you?"

"Not really."

"But you said you want to work for GEH?"

"I do. But not for him, he's… weird."

"What do you mean weird?"

Beth shrugged. "I don't know." She gave a little shudder. "Him and his wife, they're…too perfect, too brilliant, too rich, too… everything! And they're so… together, constantly touching and kissing and… argh! It's…nauseating."

Olivia threw up her hands. "Hello? They're married, they're in love. They're supposed to do that?"

"Yes, but they act like they just met."

Olivia sighed. "I was here the day they met, he was at his Iceman worst back then. I was doing your job with Andrea. He really didn't want to give the interview and he griped at her all morning. But from the moment Anastasia Steele left his office he was…different. He accompanied her to the elevator. I remember that so clearly because it wasn't something he did and then he was really quiet and preoccupied for several days after that. We barely saw him and he barely said anything. And then one day, a few weeks later, he told Andrea to get him another ticket for something and said that she was going with him. Andrea's chin nearly hit the desk. It was the first time he'd ever been to anything with anyone and she was stunned. He was a changed man from the moment he met her." Olivia laughed. "That's not to say he didn't get worse before he got better. With Miss Steele as she was then, she seemed to know how to press his buttons. He went ballistic down the phone to her, regularly."

"I hear you say that and I think that's wrong. He's a control freak. The level of oversight he wants on this Singapore deal is insane. He probably controls his wife, too. Bet he dictates what she has to wear each day."

Olivia didn't think much of this suggestion. "You don't know her if you think anyone can control Ana Grey. I think he fell for her precisely because she didn't take any of his crap. He's so different now to what he was. I wouldn't have dared ask him a personal question before. And the little quip to me? That's so special."

Beth stared at Olivia. "You're all deluded, every one of you. OK, so he's ethical in his business dealings and at best he's an amazing philanthropist. But I've seen him on his bad days. He can be a total asshole and because he's not butt ugly, you all let him get away with it. But Tom Clarke's a good guy."

Olivia raised her eyebrows. "Oh, really?" She grinned and Beth went a delicate shade of pink.

"Mr. Grey's not all that."

"To a lot of us, he is."

"There'll be something in the woodshed. There always is."

Olivia looked at her and rolled her eyes. "Dream on."