Author's note: Judging by some of the reviews and pm's since my last postings people are concerned that this story is going down the cheating path. Please rest assured that it isn't. Elliott's potential infidelity caused Christian to reflect back to a time when he was faced with a moral dilemma himself and the choices made. More reflections and consequences to come in future chapters.
Christian steps out of the SUV and stands in front of the door to a shop in a small strip mall in Portland Oregon . The sign on the door reads 'Elena's Hair & Beauty'. He briefly closes his eyes and takes a deep breath. "I never wanted to see that bitch again after her actions ten years ago. I was still trying to come to terms with being a father when I ran into her and we went for a drink. I didn't reveal to her of my impending fatherhood, but during our conversation she made it quite clear that she was open to resuming our sexual relationship. Her actions that evening forced me to finally acknowledge she was a pedophile when she seduced me at the age of fifteen. But I need to do this to find out just what her involvement is with trying to ruin Elliott's marriage. And to circumvent any plans she has to do interfere in my life again."
He opens the door and walks in. There are several hair stylists working on clients, but none of them are Elena Lincoln. A teenage boy is sweeping up the hair on the floor. Christian's eyes narrow when he realizes that the boy is wearing a long sleeves shirt, despite the hot day. A woman walks out from a back room and stops short when she recognizes the man who had just entered her salon. The past ten years has not been kind to Elena Lincoln. Her face may be wrinkle free, but show the obvious signs of multiple face lifts. "Hello Elena." Christian says through clenched teeth.
Her eyes light up and she smiles slyly. She extends her arms as she walks across the room. "Christian Grey! Welcome. What brings you here? Is your lovely wife with you?" She is forced to drop her arms when Christian side steps her attempt at an embrace.
"Anastasia and our children are fine. Life has never been better." Christian says and smirks when he hears Elena's sharp intake of breath at the mention of his family. "Marrying Ana and having the children are the best decisions I ever made. They make my life complete."
Elena reaches out with one hand to touch Christian's arm, but he evades her touch once again. "Christian, what can I do for you?"
Christian reaches into his breast pocket of his suit jacket and pulls out several papers. He hands them to Elena. "Care to explain these emails you sent to Tiffany Andrews encouraging her to seduce Elliott?"
"Christian, Tiffany has been a client for a number of years and even when she moved to Seattle a few months ago, she still returns here for her haircuts. On her first visit after moving to Seattle, she was raving about her new boss and how she was attracted to him. She felt that there was a mutual attraction, but he was resisting because he was married, although not happily. She hadn't mentioned where she worked, or the boss' name. I gave her some advice. On her next visit, she thanked me as some of the things I had suggested seemed to be working. I think it was on that visit that she mentioned where she was working. It didn't matter to me. Everyone is free to make their own choices. The choice would be Elliott's whether he would fuck Tiffany or not."
"What were your plans for the photos taken at the hotel room?" Christian asked through clenched teeth.
Elena's eyes gleam as she realizes that Christian is having difficulty keeping his anger under check. She once again reaches out to touch him, but he once again avoids the contact. "Tiffany was concerned that even if she got Elliott into bed, he would somehow manage to keep it secret from his wife. She didn't want to be just a mistress. But if the photos of obvious adultery were made public, a divorce would be a sure thing. It's not like that blond bitch didn't dump him before when he got caught with his pants down. Tiffany would be there to console him and become his next wife."
"Fuck! You are such a FUCKING bitch! I can't believe it took me so long to finally see it. I'm glad I was finally able to so ten years ago." Christian says. Elena is taken aback at the venom in his voice. "DO NOT FUCK with ANYONE in my family. Or you will live to regret it Elena".
"And what will you do? You already forced me into bankruptcy in Seattle and I had to relocate to Portland to try to re-establish myself. But at least I'm stronger than Linc. He committed suicide after you forced him into bankruptcy." Elena hissed. "And after all I did for you. I made you into the man that became a billionaire – at the expense of my marriage. And you use those billions to ruin our lives."
"Elena, you may have staked my first business venture with Linc's money – which I paid back to you tenfold. Long before I became a billionaire, by the way. But Anastasia is the one that made turned this billionaire into a man. Before Ana I was just a shell and only existed. She gave me a reason to finally live." Christian says. "I have to admit, at this point I don't know what I will do. I guess it depends on just what you do. You should certainly understand the concept of punishment."
Christian turned and walked out the door without saying goodbye. When he steps outside, his eyes light up and he smiles his mega-watt smile. Standing beside the SUV is Ana. She walks towards him with open arms. He moves quickly to her and pulls her into an embrace. Ana pulls his mouth down to hers and slips her tongue into his mouth to battle with his. After several minutes, they break apart and both draw deep breaths. "Oh Ana. What you do to me." Christian says as he leans his forehead on hers.
"Who me?" Ana giggles. She then rolls her eyes while biting her lip. Christian laughs and swats her ass. They get into the SUV.
"Home Mr. Grey?" Taylor asks from the driver's seat.
"First, drive around to the back of this building." Christian says. Ana raises an eyebrow. "I want to check something. Hopefully it won't take too long."
Taylor drives around to the alley at the back of the building. Christian sits in the vehicle staring at the service entrance to Elena's salon. A few minutes later he sees the boy from the salon come through the door with a bag of garbage for the dumpster. Christian steps out of the SUV and approaches the boy.
"Hello. I'm Christian Grey." Christian extends his hand and the boy takes it to shake.
"I'm Andrew Downing." he tells Christian. He tries to pull his hand away from Christian's. Instead of releasing his hand, Christian uses his other hand to grip Andrew's arm and pull up his shirt sleeve. Andrew pulls away with a frightened look in his eyes.
"Andrew. You don't need to be afraid of me." Christian softly says. "I recognize the signs. Those are handcuff marks, right? That's why you're wearing a long sleeved shirt in the heat. Would I see welts and other marks on your back and chest if you removed your shirt? Did Elena Lincoln do this to you?"
Andrew closes his eyes, but refuses to say anything. Christian continues "You wonder why I recognize the signs? I was in a similar relationship with Elena at one time. It started when I was only fifteen. How old are you?"
"Fifteen." Andrew says quietly. "But our relationship is consensual." he says defiantly.
Christian briefly closes his eyes. He opens his eyes and stares into Andrew's eyes. "I thought that too at the time, as well as a number of years after that. But it is not right. Elena is a predator and her having sex with someone your age is statutory rape."
"I don't care. Elena gives me a reason to live." Andrew says.
"Well Andrew. I'm not your parent, so I can't tell you how to live your life. But I hope that you will eventually see the wrong of this. It took the unconditional love of a woman and impending fatherhood for me to finally acknowledge that my earlier relationship with Elena was wrong." Christian told him. He pulls a pen and a case out of his jacket pocket and extracts a business card. He writes his personal cell phone number on the back and hands it to Andrew. "Here is my card with my personal cell number. Do not show it to Elena. Contact me anytime, day or night, when the need arises."
Christian is relieved when Andrew takes the card and puts it into his wallet. Without saying goodbye, Andrew turns and goes back inside the building. Christian takes a couple of steps towards the SUV before turning quickly and heading to an isolated spot. He bends over, holding his tie to his chest and throws up. Ana quickly jumps out of the SUV to run over to her husband. By the time Ana reaches Christian, he is standing upright and wiping his mouth with his handkerchief. He steps away from the area and Ana pulls him into her arms. She leads him back to the SUV. Taylor is standing at the side of the vehicle with a water bottle. Ana takes it from him and hands it to Christian. He takes some water and rinses his mouth out. Ana reaches up to kiss her husband.
"Jason, please take us home now." Ana says once she and Christian are back in the vehicle. She pulls Christian into her arms for the trip back to Seattle. In the ten years that she has known Christian, she has never seen him like this. In all his fifty shades, he has many moods and has been known to switch from one to another in the blink of an eye. But Ana has never seen him this quiet and morose. She is not sure whether to be concerned as to what he will do next. She is well versed in how to deal with his anger and control. But now he looks like a broken man.
All that she can think to do, is what she has always done: show him her unconditional love and support. She continues to keep her arms wrapped around him, much like she does with any of the children when they are upset, hurt or not feeling well. She is relieved when he snuggles up to her, leaning his head on her shoulder. A short time later, she realizes he has fallen asleep. She is surprised that he stayed asleep for the remainder of the trip back to Seattle. Even the motion of the car stopping in front of the house did not wake him. Christian only awakes when she jostles him awake. Even then he tries to snuggle up back in her arms. He only comes fully awake when she is able to extract herself from his arms. It was as if the absence of her nurturing body triggered him awake.
"We're home, Baby. Come, let's get you to bed." Ana says softly to him. She helps him out of the car, and he tries to lean on her for support. Taylor helps support him on the other side. As they approach the front door, it is opened by Gail with a surprised look on her face. She has never seen her employer in this condition.
Hearing the car arrive home, the children had gathered in the front foyer to welcome their parents home. Their eyes grow huge when they see their father being supported by their mother and Taylor. Christian sees the sea of grey and blue eyes staring at him. He closes his eyes briefly and when he opens them, he stands upright. Ana and Taylor drop their hold on him. Christian bends down onto his knees and gathers his children into his arms. Ana stands by, with tears coming down her face. She looks at Gail and sees the tears flowing down her face. When Ana looks at Taylor, she was sure there are tears in his eyes as well.
Ana walks over to stand behind Christian and caresses his shoulders. "Why are you crying, Daddy?" Christiana asks. Ana kneels down to join in on the family group hug and to give extra moral support to Christian.
Christian sits down on the floor in the middle of the foyer and gathers Christiana onto his lap. "Well, Sweetie, Daddy had a really shi… bad day. But things are much better now that I'm in the arms of my loving children and wife."
Carrick joins his twin on their father's lap. He smiles and reaches under Christian's suit jacket to try to tickle his father. "Would Tickle Monster help, Daddy?" he asks. Before Christian can respond, all the children jump on their father to tickle him, knocking him off balance so that he is lying on his back.
When Christian sees Ana start to smirk and about to join in, he starts tickling everyone until he is able to regain his balance. Between laughs, Christian says "Yes, I think it would. But first, Mommy and I need to change out of our work clothes. And I believe Mrs. Taylor has dinner almost ready. Go get ready for dinner. After dinner, we'll play Tickle Monster." He stands up and takes Ana by the hand and heads upstairs.
As soon as their bedroom door is closed, Christian gathers Ana into his arms. "Thank you Ana for being with me today. I am so glad I had your support." He gives her a deep kiss. "I love you, my dearest Anastasia." Christian closes his eyes and leans his head on Ana's shoulder. "It made me sick when I saw the handcuff marks on that boy's wrists. That bitch is ruining another fifteen year old boy's life. He's just six years older than Teddy. She has to be stopped."
Ana strokes Christian's hair. "I love you too, my darling Christian. We'll do whatever we can." She tells him.
He lifts his head and looks her in the eye. "Yes, we will." He vows. He cups Ana's face in his hands, gray eyes holding blue eyes. "You realize that will probably mean that I will need to reveal my secrets – at least to the police. If it goes to court, it will be public. Are you prepared for the publicity? And the affect it will have on our family?"
Ana continues the eye contact and cups Christian's face in her hands. "Yes I do. I'm with you every step of the way. The children are young enough that I don't think they'll understand most of what will be in the news. We have to take that Bitch Troll down. I knew we should have done it ten years ago."
"Oh, Ana. I love it when you get riled up." Christian smirks. He runs his hands down her body to cup her ass and draw her closer to his body. "It makes me hard."
"Mr. Grey! Anything I do makes you hard." Ana smiles. "Let's shower to wash away the dirt and filth we encountered today so we can enjoy family time." As she walks to the bathroom, she wiggles her ass more than usual and throws a come hither look over her shoulder to her husband. Christian smiles as he removes his suit jacket and tie before following his wife to the bathroom.
They both strip off their clothes and step into the shower. As Christian washes Ana, he runs his hand over her sex and inserts a finger into her vagina. At her gasp, he inserts a second finger and strokes her. "You're always so ready for me, Ana." He says as he turns her around and pushes her towards the shower wall.
She raises both hands to the wall to support herself and pushes her ass back to rub against Christian's erection. "And you're always so ready for me, Christian." She says as he thrusts into her. "Fuck me hard!"
Christian grabs Ana by the waist and pushes her against the wall of the shower. He enters her from behind and then pulls out and thrusts into her a couple more times. "Oh fuck." Christian shouts as he thrusts one more time, sending them both over the edge. Ana turns around to face Christian, pulling his mouth down to hers for a quick, hard, kiss. They resume washing each other before rinsing off. Christian shuts off the water and steps out of the shower and wraps a towel around his waist. He grabs another towel and wraps it around Ana.
They dry themselves off and return to the bedroom to dress. Christian dresses in black jeans and a white t-shirt with the saying 'Tickle Monster' on the front. Ana dresses in blue jeans and a sapphire blue t-shirt saying 'Mrs. Tickle Monster' on the front. The t-shirts had been gifts from Santa Claus the previous Christmas. Neither bother with socks or shoes. They walk hand in hand downstairs to join their children at the dinner table.
At the dinner table, Christian helps Jason eat while Ana does the same with Lucas. The other four children eagerly eat their dinner as they know that they will get to play Tickle Monster with Daddy after dinner. From the time they were able to feed themselves, the children were taught to eat everything on their plate.
During dinner, Christian and Ana listen to the children's stories of what they did during the day. Despite their busy schedule, both Ana and Christian try to be home for dinnertime with the children. They try to juggle their out of town business trips so that at least of them is home for dinner. On the rare times that both parents are together on an extended trip, arrangements are made for a video call so that the children can update their parents on their day's activities.
Once everyone has finished eating, Carrick and Christiana clear the table and take the dirty dishes to the kitchen. They know to put what can be placed in the dishwasher and what needs to be placed at the sink for Teddy and Phoebe to wash by hand. Christian cleans up Jason and Lucas while Ana supervises the dish cleaning. When Ana believed that Teddy was old enough to start doing chores around the house, she fought with Christian to instil a sense of duty in Teddy. Christian was insistent that Gail Taylor and others were available to do such chores. Ana put her foot down that even though Teddy was born with a silver spoon in his mouth, he needed to know how to clean it and not expect others follow him around cleaning up after him. As usual, when it came to the home and children, Christian caved in to Ana's wishes. Over the years, Christian had learned when to pick his battles with Ana, just as she did with Christian. And it always equalled out in the bedroom or playroom.
Once the dining room and kitchen were cleaned up, Ana and the older children join Christian and the youngest twins in the Family Room. Christian was sitting on the floor playing with the twin boys. Carrick and Christiana ran to their father and started tickling him. He let them push him over onto his back and all six children join in the attack. Ana stands at the doorway watching them, tears forming in her eyes. She remembers the time when Christian could not tolerate anyone, even her or Grace, to touch him on the chest. But now he welcomes the intimate touching from his family, especially her and the children. Christian looks across the room and locks eye contact with Ana. He sees her glistening eyes, smiles and blows her a kiss.
Christian manages to thwart the children's attacks to stand up and then starts chasing them around the room. He picks up Teddy and carries him to a sofa before dropping him on the cushions and starts tickling him. As the other children try to come to Teddy's defense, Christian does the same to them. The louder the children scream with joy, the more Christian laughs. Christian whispers something to the children and they laugh. Before Ana realizes the reason for Christian's smirk, she is attacked by six sets of hands tickling her and pulling her to the couch. She pulls Christian down onto the couch with her for the children to continue tickling both parents.
Several minutes later, Phoebe yells "Grandma. Grandpa." and runs over to hug Grace and Carrick. They had been standing the doorway for several minutes watching the family play. Like Ana, there are tears in their eyes watching their son enjoying, welcoming and encouraging the touch of his wife and children.
Christian stands and pulls Ana to her feet before going over to hug both of his parents. He beams as he says "You want to join us and play Tickle Monster?"
Both Grace and Carrick laugh but decline. Carrick says "I don't think I have the energy." They are swarmed by their grandchildren.
"Oh. I didn't realize it was so late. Bedtime for Jason and Lucas." Ana announces. "Grace would you like to help me?" Ana knows that Christian had asked his parents over this evening to discuss some legalities with his father concerning what he has found out the past couple days concerning the smear campaign on Elliott that she and Christian had managed to circumvent a couple of days ago. She is sure that Christian will also want to talk to his father about what can be done about Bitch Troll.
"I'd love to." Grace replies. She takes both grandsons by their hands and takes them to Christian and Carrick Senior for goodnight hugs and kisses before heading upstairs.
"Teddy, Phoebe, Carrick and Christiana. You have thirty minutes to straighten up this room and watch some television before heading upstairs to get yourselves ready for bed." Ana tells her oldest children. "Daddy and Grandpa have some business they need to discuss. Best to say goodnight to them now so you don't disturb them later." Ana kisses Christian before leaving the room to join Grace upstairs.
Christian and Carrick Senior hug and kiss the children goodnight before heading to Christian's study.
Upstairs, Grace and Ana get Jason and Lucas ready for bed. Grace asks if she could read the bedtime story. By the time she finishes, the two boys are both asleep. Ana ensures the baby monitor is on and the two women quietly leave the room.
As the step out into the hallway, Christiana and Carrick come out of their bedrooms looking for their mother and grandmother to say goodnight. Grace asks if they want a bedtime story and they happily agree. They head into the room Christiana shares with Phoebe. Grace sits between the twins on Christiana's bed and reads from their current book. When she sees Carrick's eyes starting to close, she finishes the chapter and closes the book. "Bedtime for my darling grandchildren." Grace says. After kissing and hugging Ana and Grace, Christiana crawls under the covers. Ana turns on Phoebe's bedside lamp. Grace takes Carrick by the hand and walks him to the room he now shares with Teddy. Carrick hugs and kisses Ana and Grace before crawling into his bed. Ana turns on Teddy's bedside lamp and leaves the room with Grace.
The two women head downstairs. "What would you like to drink, Grace?" Ana asks.
"Whatever you're having, my dear." Grace says. They head to the kitchen and Ana pulls a bottle of wine from the wine cooler and pours two glasses. "I think we'll need this." Ana says. Grace looks at her with an arched brow.
"You won't believe the day we had." Ana replies. "Come on. Let's go see what our men have been up to."