AN: So finally time to get Ana and Christian in the same room. As some of you already know, this was a very long chapter and personally I find it difficult to read long chapters on FanFic so I have split it in two: part 1 below and part 2 to be posted immediately after this one.

FSOG characters belong to E L James and this story has starts under similar premises as the ones in DCOliver's Never Look Back (Ana and Christian split up at the same point in their lives, Ana takes Teddy and disappears and at the time the story starts Ana and CG have the same family structure).

Ch26a Family ties

Ignoring the few people scattered around the waiting room, Ana and Dan headed straight for the nurse's station on the left side of the waiting room, while Elliot slowed down and eventually took a seat in a corner of the room. He knew his presence here would upset Christian but he just couldn't leave without knowing if Teddy was really all right.

"Dan and Anabelle Parson", Dan was telling the nurse. "Our son, Edward Parson, has been in an accident and we were told he will be brought here."

"I'm sorry Mr Parson but we don't have anybody by that name in the ER." She replied after a quick glance at her computer screen. "We are expecting an RTA though," she said with some compassion for the dishevelled couple in front of her, the tear tracks fresh on the woman's face. "They should be here any moment."

Blue lights reflecting on the bay windows cast eerie shadows over the room and several gowned and gloved members of staff hurried from the corridor behind the nurse's station towards the side entrance. Frozen in place for a moment, Ana and Dan stepped forward as one when a stretcher, pushed by paramedics and surrounded by two of the gowned people, poked through the doors.

"Eddy!" Ana's voice was a plea more than a shout as she tried to get a glimpse of the patient.

Dan grabbed her arm and stopped her: whoever that was they had long blond hair. It wasn't Eddy.

The group had barely rushed past them, the paramedics spouting a string of information to the attending medical personnel when a second stretcher arrived and his grip tightened on his wife's arm.

"Reported initially unconscious at the scene, GCS 12, BP 120 over…"

The rest was drowned by the sounds of his own heart beat as he caught a glimpse of unruly brown-red hair and the sleeve of a grey suit. Before he could react, Ana had wedged herself between the people surrounding the stretcher and was caressing her son's forehead.

"Eddy, honey, are you OK? Are you in pain?"

The medical personnel were prying Ana away from the stretcher with a gentle but firm: "ma'am you need to step back", then Eddy turned his head towards the commotion: "Mom?" he whispered, and Dan's heart started to beat again and his legs carried him forward.

In a well-practiced manoeuvre one of the paramedics placed himself between Ana and the stretcher and blocked her way. "Ma'am, you have to step back and let the doctors take care of him."

Their eyes following the stretcher as it disappeared behind one of the curtained cubicles, Ana and Dan didn't pay any attention to the other two emergencies arriving through the revolving doors. They turned worried eyes to the paramedic.

"That's our son," Dan said.

"I understand. Why don't you come and have a seat, someone will be with you very shortly," the man tried to sound reassuring.

"Please, is he all right?" Ana asked

"I think so ma'am. He was awake when we arrived and there are no signs of serious injury. His side airbag had deployed so he had some protection from the crash, but you'll have to wait and hear from the doctors, OK?"

Dan frowned. "Our son's car does not have a side airbag," he said. "His name is Parson, Edward Parson."

The paramedic seemed a little unsure then quickly recovered: "Perhaps the police will have more information, sir" he said, nodding towards the nurse's station where two uniformed policemen were talking to the nurse. "If you'll excuse me," and then he was gone.

Troubled and unsure, Dan took Ana's hand and walked to the two uniformed men: "Officers, good evening. My name is Dan Parson. My son, Edward Parson, has been involved in an accident. Dark blue Chevrolet Cavalier sedan."

"Ah yes, lucky young man. I am Brian Campbell and this is Anthony Scavuzzo, we were the officers at the scene. "

"Lucky?" Dan asked. "What happened?"

"Your son would have been involved in a frontal collision with a car driving against traffic, but an eye witness confirms that the car behind him pushed him out of the way. With the side airbag and the reinforced door any injuries should be minimal." Officer Campbell informed them as his colleague was taking a call.

"I don't understand. Our son's car doesn't have a side bag or a reinforced door. Are you sure it's the same person?"

Against the sound of some disturbance behind them, Scavuzzo stepped forward with a frown on his face. "Mr and Mrs Parson, do you know a Brendan D'Amato or a Jason Taylor?"

Maybe she would have recognized the voice anyway, but hearing his name spoken out loud made Ana turn her head to look over her shoulder at the people arguing by the curtained cubicles. All the worry, hurt, guilt and shame she had accumulated over the past few hours, days and weeks, came together and coalesced into white hot anger at the sight of the man arguing with the remaining paramedics. She wrenched her hand from Dan's and marched herself to stand less than an arm's length from the man whose betrayal was still painful so many years down the line.

"Taylor! What are you doing here Taylor? Did you run out of gullible young women in Seattle? Looking for somebody new to fool into thinking you are their friend? Or are you here to make sure none of his secrets ever see the light of day?"

During her tirade she had advanced until she stood less than a step away from Taylor, the difference in height between them forcing her to tilt her head up to look at him, but her anger and indignation making her oblivious to the disparity in size, or to the pained look on the man's face.

"Ana." The word escaped his mouth with a gasp.

"How many of them has there been, Jason, before I found out? How many times have you covered for him? Did you and Gail have a good laugh at how naïve I was to believe you were my friends?"

"Never." He said. "I never…covered…there was…nothing to… cover." Jason's words were coming in choked gasps as Dan and the two policemen reached them. "There was…no… aff…fair." He finished, one hand clutching the side of his chest, the other one closed in a tight fist by his side.

"He married her! She was pregnant!" she enunciated each word, in a low menacing voice.

Among arms stretched to drag them apart and voices enticing them to calm down, Jason Taylor let go of his chest and unclenched his fist to instead grab her shoulders and prevent her from being dragged away: "He didn't…he…"

Pink foam appeared between his lips and as he bent forward, the pain finally too much to bear, his mouth was almost by her ear. He managed one more breath: "She isn't…"

The foam bubbling on his lips with each word had now turned dark red and Ana finally registered the look of despair in his eyes as he sank to the floor, blood trickling out of his mouth.

Ana's horrified shout of "Jason!" blended with the paramedic's one of "Get a doctor!" and Elliot and the paramedic found themselves crouching down to Jason Taylor's level while Dan pulled Ana to the side.

Elliot had been observing Ana and Dan from his corner of the room, when Ana suddenly walked away from Dan and the police. Her angry words had reverberated over the mostly empty waiting room and propelled him out of his chair and towards her and Christian's former head of security. The whole exchange had taken less than a minute but he had caught most of Taylor's choked words before the man collapsed in front of him and he instinctively followed down to the floor. Unsure of what to do he stretched a hand towards Taylor when he felt a hand firmly pressing his arm down and a voice by his ear whispering: "You have to step back Mr Grey. Now."

His eyes encountered the face of a young woman, dressed casually, her face locked in a stern expression. "Security." She mouthed.

The curtain of the cubicle had flown open and a doctor was now bending over Taylor firing instructions at the nurse behind the counter "Rhonda, page thoracic and get an OR, punctured lung. We'll meet them there."

Elliot's eyes searched for Ana: Dan was holding her with one arm over her middle, preventing her from getting any closer to the man on the floor. In front of him the curtain to the cubicle was now open and half sitting on the bed was Teddy, watching the commotion, his eyebrows knitted in a frown. Slowly Elliot rose and half turned towards the woman standing beside him.

"We are just two concerned citizens. We need to step back," she instructed.

Elliot moved away as someone was helping Taylor on a stretcher. The voice was again whispering to him: "You cannot get involved Mr Grey. Please step back and come with me."

Elliot's mind restarted to process coherent thoughts and the wider implications of the scene unfolding in the ER dawned on him. The woman was right, he could not allow either the strangers in the ER nor Teddy to identify him as Christian's brother. He turned to walk back to his seat in the corner of the room, but the woman stopped him before he could sit down again: "Mr Grey I have orders to ensure that you return to the hotel immediately."

Anger briefly swelled in him, quickly deflated by the thought of just how many of Christian's wishes he had broken this evening. "I have to know that Teddy will be fine." He pleaded with the woman.

"I understand, sir. I'll make sure we keep you informed. For now I need you to step outside and to the car."

Reluctantly he followed her to the exit and into the darkness outside. She was on the phone, then bright headlights flared almost directly in front of him. His night vision shot, he was barely able to make out the shape of a man walking towards him. As more of the man's body entered the cone of light, Elliot finally recognized Greg McKenzie. If McKenzie was here…he squinted to try and see past the bright light and took a couple of steps forward.

"Mr Grey." McKenzie greeted him.

"Where is he? Where is Christian?" Elliot asked.

"Mr Grey is in the car, sir. He asks that you return to the hotel. Dr Trevelyan-Grey is on her way there as well and she is not aware of the accident. She has been informed that Mr Grey had to attend to an urgent business matter. Mr Grey asks that you maintain that cover, sir."

"I have to speak with him." Elliot said and took another step towards the parked cars.

"Sir, respectfully, that is not a good idea." Greg McKenzie informed him.

From the relative privacy of the back seat of the SUV, Christian was watching the interaction between his Head of Personal Security and his brother while finishing the latest in a string of telephone conversations. The last time he had been this angry with Elliot they were both teenagers and it had come to some serious blows, so he was relieved when his brother climbed into the other car and allowed himself to be driven back to the hotel. For the past fifteen minutes he had kept a tight rein on first his anxiety then his anger, while bowing to the need to do some damage control. Every few seconds he had to remind himself that Teddy was fine, will be fine. By the grace of whatever higher divinity had been watching over his son, Jason Taylor had been there and then the airbag and the reinforced door had fulfilled their purpose.

He watched McKenzie disappear through the doors of the ER and popped in his mouth another two of the beta-blockers his doctor had prescribed. He had to remain calm. Another police car pulled to the side of the building and two officers climbed out, the bulk of bullet proof vests distorting their silhouettes. 'Damn guns!' he thought as the screen of his phone lit up and the device vibrated in his hand. Closing his eyes he took a deep breath to help him resume his business persona before answering the phone.

"Grey."

"Mr Grey, I have been unable to reach the president of the board, but as you indicated this was urgent, I have instead reached Mrs Irene Vogt for you. She is the Chief Financial Officer for the board of trustees of the Providence Hospital. " Andreea informed him with her usual efficiency.

Ana and Dan had only had a few moments with Eddy before he was wheeled away to the xray department. All the doctor would tell them for now was that he seemed to have injured his left elbow and that the confusion and apparent loss of memory were probably only temporary and due to the shock of the accident. They were going to do a brain scan just to be sure and the elbow was going to need resetting so the pain medication would prolong the period of confusion, but all in all it looked like he would be fine. A little reassured they had found two seats in the waiting room and called their other children.

Dan finished his call to Nick and let his gaze roam over the waiting room while he was trying to process everything he had witnessed in the past 10-15 minutes: Elliot Grey's verbal attack on his wife, his tale in the car and the unspoken words sounding almost like a coded message between him and Belle, Belle's fury at Jason Taylor and her accusations of betrayal before the man collapsed at their feet…Her use of her previous name at the hotel reception had not gone unnoticed and neither had Elliot Grey's forceful reminder that Eddy was in fact born a Grey. There were other more subtle signs as well: Belle had not batted an eye at the opulence in the hotel lobby, the mention of Eddy having security or the offer to be chauffeured around to wherever she needed to go, while he had had to make an effort to keep focused on the immediate necessities and refrain from asking non-essential questions.

As his mind listed the obvious and not so obvious signs that his wife and son had a foot in a world as alien to him as the surface of the planet Mars, his eyes had taken in the impeccably dressed figure of Greg McKenzie entering the waiting room and walking straight to the two police officers. Then Belle hung up with Emma and turned towards him.

It was the first time their eyes met since leaving the hotel room and a bit of sadness hit him: they might be seated next to each other but something in her eyes was very far away, different. The familiar face of his Annabelle was subtly changed to reflect a kind of self-assurance he was not used to seeing there. She was changing, moving on and he would have to adapt or be left behind.

Two more people entering the ER shook Dan out of his melancholy: these police officers were wearing bullet proof vests over their jackets.

"Belle, who is Jason Taylor?"

The self-assurance vanished from her face to be replaced with a worried look.

"Oh God, Jason! He was standing there arguing with the paramedics and I just lashed out at him! I didn't know he was hurt!"

"They'll take care of him. His injuries are not your fault. But the police had asked about him and now those two are here." He jutted his chin towards the two newcomers.

Concerned Ana answered a little absent minded: "Christian's head of security". Her eyebrows knitted in a frown: "Elliot said Jason had left…" she let her voice trail uncertain of how everything fitted together. She looked at the group of men standing by the counter, one of them the man to whom she had entrusted her letter.

Greg McKenzie was showing the police some papers then fished a phone out of his pocket but he was too far away for Ana and Dan to hear what was said. Then he turned and looked over the room until he found them. With only a brief pause he looked away and finally nodded to a woman stood by the entrance. Dan remembered seeing the young woman talk to Elliot Grey and watched her walk towards the group of men.

She exchanged a few words with McKenzie then turned to stand by the nurse at reception, apparently waiting for 'Rhonda' to finish her telephone conversation. The nurse put the phone down and pursed her lips then waved over one of the orderlies standing by a cart with blood vials. The man pushed the cart into the nurses' station then he and the young woman walked away and turned a corner just past the ambulance entrance.

The Parsons were not left to wonder what was going on for more than a couple of minutes. The young woman returned to the waiting room and this time walked straight to them.

"Mr and Mrs Parson, my name is Elizabeth Baer. A private waiting room has been organized for you. Would you please follow me?"

Dan however had had enough of being a spectator and informed her in a stern voice leaving no room for negotiation: "I know what you are Miss Baer and I am not going anywhere until my son returns."

"I understand Mr Parson. The doctor will be informed of your whereabouts and we will let you know immediately when Mr Parson returns." Betty stood her ground.

Ana had kept quiet looking from Dan to Elizabeth Baer. When she spoke it was a statement rather than a question: "Christian is here."

"Yes ma'am."

It was Dan's turn to look at Ana with an unspoken question. Ana shrugged: "He can't just walk through the doors, somebody might recognize him."

Dan was of two minds on how to handle this: on one hand he wanted to stand his ground for once in this crazy evening, on the other hand Belle's words implied he might have a chance to actually meet the enigma that was Christian Grey. Curiosity won and he stood up, Ana following his lead.

They were led past the ambulance entrance to an empty room with a couple of tables surrounded by several chairs, a couch on the far wall and two armchairs to the left. To the right of the door was another table with a coffee machine, microwave and mini-fridge and above the table two shelves holding cups, tins of coffee and tea and a packet of sugar. A sink by the door completed the look of an ordinary personnel lounge.

Ana walked towards the window at the far end but the darkness outside was impenetrable. She sank into the sofa, her gaze fixed on the door, her heartbeat loud in her ears. Dan had followed her to the window but then retreated to lean against the table with the kitchen gear and Grey's employee took a step back into the corridor and shut the door leaving them alone.

One sharp knock on the door broke the silence then the door opened and Christian Grey stepped inside. He allowed the door to close bind him with a soft click and remained stock still, his gaze locked with the wide blue eyes staring at him from across the room.

Ana's eyes had instantly connected with his and for a brief moment all was well with her world: Christian was here. Then her past and her present mixed in a time vortex occasionally slowing down to show her an image: Christian as her lover, her husband, her occasional Dom, 'no prenup', 'you damn near killed him', the fights, their struggle to make a life together, to find their feet in their unlikely marriage, the world that kept pulling and pushing at them but also her fears, her constant battle to maintain her independence, to not give in to him. His anxiety and his need for control, his enormous success, his competence in all he did as she was still trying to fit into his world and feeling inadequate and insufficient. Teddy, their ray of sunshine, filling their hearts with joy and with a love untainted by the fear that it wouldn't be returned. She cringed at the realization of yet another reason why taking his son away had been so wrong and unforgivable. The image of the ER and then Taylor with the blood pooling on the floor: 'he didn't', 'she isn't', the fragments of words she had not had any time to process. The pain of knowing she had not been enough for him and now the realization that she hadn't really tried. Her constant resistance forcing him in a relationship on her terms when he, more than anybody else, needed the certainty and the stability that come with being in charge. And after all of that he was still here, where she needed him, when she needed him, answering her call.

Christian watched the myriad of expressions flitting through her eyes. That initial moment of recognition when her face had relaxed gave him hope that he was not unwelcome, and from that knowledge he gathered the strength to just stand still and allow her the time she needed to come to terms with his intrusion in her life. Her face finally settled and beyond the sadness in her expression there was a question in her eyes.

"Anastasia." The rasp in his voce betrayed his self-assured appearance and before he lost more of his grip on his own emotions he tore his eyes away from her and to the man stood with his back to the table by the wall. In long strides he took the three steps separating them and stretched out his hand:

"Mr Parson, I am Christian Grey."

Dan automatically took the offered hand and replied: "Dan Parson."

Then Belle's voice pleaded or prayed, more a whisper than a spoken word: "Christian." And it was too much for him to resist.