DISCLAIMER: Fifty shades of Grey or any of its characters do NOT belong to me. I own the plot and more than a few characters though.

*I would like to remind you that this is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to real people or places is accidental; though I did borrow some names and characters from other places that are not mine.

Thanks so much to my awesome Beta, Ninkita

** Lemon alert

Chapter 26

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Christian had to go London the next day, for after the wedding he didn't want to be way from his family. Hope threw a tantrum to go with her dad. Ana felt guilty for keeping them away, so she allowed her to go. That afternoon, Hope and Christian went to London. Ana started the wedding preparations with Sebastian. Including the 6 boys, Christian had 10 groomsmen, which was less then Ana's 17 friends. So, Ana only included the female friends in her bridal party to make it even. Ana's bachelorette party was 3 days later. Christian's bachelor party was scheduled on the same evening too.

Andrea accosted Ana to go shopping for the party and for her honeymoon. All her friends gathered on the island, and after Ana handed Claude the reigns of the school, they went shopping. After 4 hours in the mall, Ana finally settled on a light purple, short, stretchy halter swing dress, hoop earrings in sterling silver, a pair of white fluffy feather suede stiletto heeled ankle strap sandals and silver crystal evening purse. She also bought some unique stuff for her honeymoon.

While Ana was enjoying the preparations for the wedding, on the other side of the ocean, Christian was worried. Hope got high fever on their second day in London. So, Christian was worried about her like any father would be about their sick child. Instead of leaving her with Luke Sawyer, Christian carried Hope to his meeting with the members of his London office. Christian had given her medicine after confirming with his mother and dressed her in a double breast magenta cashmere long coat with leopard-print leggings, matching hat and black knee-high boots. Hope kept her head on her father's shoulder as he carried her to the building.

"This youl oppice too," she asked, sleepily.

"Yes, baby girl. This is daddy's London office," Christian replied.

"It's pletty," Hope mumbled as she took in her surroundings over her father's shoulder.

They reached the conference room where the meeting was going to be held. The people that were waiting for Christian there were thoroughly surprised seeing him carrying a little girl. "Good morning, everyone," Christian greeted like it was normal for him to come to a meeting with a little girl.

"Good morning, Mr. Grey," the man in-charge of the London office shook hands with Christian. "Who do we have here?" he asked, curiously.

"This is my daughter, Hope. Don't mind her. She's not feeling well today," Christian explained.

"No problem, sir. Let us continue."

Hope stayed on her father's lap the whole time and would look up to the people in the room a few times. Half an hour into the meeting, she started wiggling around. Christian loosened his grip to see what she wanted. Hope smiled at her father, and climbed down from his lap. Hope looked around and started walking around the table. Christian realized that her fever must have gone down at the moment and she must be feeling more active. She would stop by each member and peek at the files in front of them. The members were amused by her cuteness, so they would move a bit so that she could see easily.

"Ebely one have papels. I want some," Hope demanded after she was done inspecting. Smirking at the little girl, Christian asked for some blank papers. Soon, Hope was given a few pens and a few blank papers. She climbed onto Christian's lap again and started drawing. Christian focused on the meeting, but kept a close eye on the little one.

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She didn't know what had happened with her in the last 4 days. One moment, she had found a handsome young man to be her next Sub and the next moment, the boy was panicking and hitting her with a fire poker. It was a miracle the she was even alive. Later she learned that the boy had called the police and died from the hit on his head. She hadn't meant to hit him on the head. She was aiming for his back, but he had moved at the last moment. Elena had called Carrick to be her lawyer, but he didn't agree. He was rather rude about it too. Elena didn't know why, though. Usually Grace and Carrick were the first ones who always come to save her. She had tried to call Christian too, but he had hung up as soon as he heard her voice. Elena was sure that new girl of his had poisoned his mind against her.

She still couldn't believe that he was engaged. How did that happen? He used to share every one of his thoughts with her. But he didn't even call her those 6 months she had been in England. She also wondered how Christian met that Anastasia. Ugh! She had so many things to do. She had to remind Christian of his desire for BDSM, but she was stuck in this jail. She had this gut feeling that if she didn't get rid of that Anastasia soon, she would lose Christian forever, and Elena would never let anyone else have him. Christian Grey belonged to her only!

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After the meeting was over, Christian knelt in front of Hope and asked, "Wanna go to see the London eye?"

Hope beamed at her father excitedly. "Can we?" she asked.

"Of course."

"Let's go!" Hope jumped down from the chair and started running towards the door. "Daddy, come on!" she urged.

Laughing at her eagerness, Christian followed behind her. "You feeling okay now?" he asked.

"I am!"

"Should we have lunch before going to the London eye, or after?" he asked as he took the little girl's hand.

"After... and then we go again," Hope replied with a mischievous smile, making Christian snicker.

They got in the car when Christian's phone rang. It was an unknown, local number. Frowning, he picked up his phone. "Hello?"

"Hello, Mr. C, It's me, Caleb."

"Hey, Caleb. How are you?" Christian asked, smiling.

"I'm good. Hey, mom said that I can get in touch with you since you're in London. I came to London last night. Do you want to get together?" Caleb asked.

"You're in London alone?" Christian frowned. He didn't like that a teen boy was alone in such a big city.

Caleb laughed from the other side of the phone. "I can almost hear the worry-filled thoughts running through your head," he teased. "I'm here to check on my estate. Why don't you join me here? It'll be fun. I would love to show you my estate."

"I'd love that," Christian smiled. "Hope and I are going to the London eye. Wanna join us?"

"It'll take me close to an hour to reach London. Should I just meet you there?" Caleb asked.

"Call me when you arrive. I'll let you know where we are at."

"Sounds good. See you in an hour then," Caleb said before they hung up.

"Cally's gonna come?" Hope asked tilting his head curiously.

"Yes. Caleb's coming with us to the London eye," Christian informed.

"Ale we going to his home?"

"Yes. He invited us to his estate," Christian informed both Hope and Taylor.

"YAY! His home is so big and so pletty," Hope wiggled in her car seat excitedly.

Christian dropped a kiss on her forehead and whispered affectionately, "My silly little one."

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Ana and Sebastian arrived at the island she wanted to get married on. This whole island had nothing but trees and beaches. Ana raised her Aviator sunglasses over her head and looked around. "You know what you want here?" Sebastian asked as his reddish brown eyes took in their surroundings.

"Yeah. I want a huge reception hall in the middle of the island. Something with tables by the sides and a big dance floor in the middle? But I was thinking with pillars?" Ana looked at Sebastian for his thoughts. "Can you envision it?" she asked when he didn't comment immediately.

"How many guests are you thinking?" Sebastian asked instead.

Ana glared at the man and replied petulantly, "Close to seven hundred."

Frowning, Sebastian glanced at her. "Do you even know that many people?" he asked.

"The orphanage alone has close to four hundred children in it. Then there are my guests, Christian's guests, our parent's guests, school's teachers, Dad and Christian's business related guest and so on," Ana rolled her eyes at his foolish question.

Pinching her cheek, he said sternly, "Eye rolling is rude."

"Ouch! Sebastian!" Ana rubbed her cheeks and glared at him.

"So, a ginormous reception hall. What else?" he asked.

"Wedding aisle by the oceanfront, but not on the beach. I want the ocean as the background, but I absolutely don't want the sand," Ana informed excitedly. "I've got pictures of the theme and decoration idea for both the wedding aisle and the reception hall," she said, handing him the pictures.

"How many floors should the reception hall have?" Sebastian asked as he started going through the pictures.

"Three or four floors maybe? We'll need separate rooms for the bride and groom, for guests, a few for the kids and so on...maybe? Can you do some more research on it?"

"Yeah. So the wedding is in 8 days?" Sebastian asked.

"Yeah. Don't forget the catering service," Ana reminded.

"Don't worry. I already contacted them and they'll arrive here the day before the wedding," Sebastian assured.

"And you'll personally make the cake?" Ana asked hopefully.

"You're my own. Of course I'll make the cake with my own hands," Sebastian gave Ana a soft smile.

"It means a lot, Sebastian."

Sebastian didn't reply at first, just patted on her head affectionately. "Yeah I'm that great," he added after a few seconds.

"Who's going to marry you? A priest, bishop, minister, rabbi or an officiant?" Sebastian asked smirking.

Ana gaped at him. "Shit! I forgot to discuss that with Christian," she stated sheepishly.

"Do that," Sebastian said smirking. Ana chuckled, thinking what would've happened if Sebastian hadn't reminded about that. "You want to see how I make it all?" Sebastian asked.

"Yeah. I always wondered about it," Ana replied excitedly.

Giving her a small smile, Sebastian led Ana to the center of the island. Looking around for a second, Sebastian stood still for a second and closed his eyes. Ana had a hard time keeping her eyes open when suddenly the air picked up and a tornado started circling the island. Ana only blinked once and then, all of a sudden they were standing inside a huge empty reception hall. It looked just the way she had envisioned it. She turned her head and saw Sebastian was looking at the hall with his glowing red eyes. "Is this what you envisioned?" he asked. His voice didn't have its usual smooth seductiveness; instead it was distorted and growly.

"Yeah. This is perfect," Ana whispered as her hormones started reacting and she started crying. Sebastian's eyes dimmed as he stoically stared at the woman beside him. "It's so beautiful … thank you so much," Ana choked out in between her sobs.

"If I didn't know better, I would think that you were the only one who is overly emotional during pregnancy," Sebastian commented offhandedly, as he handed her a tissue paper.

"You're really rude and mean, for someone who is really sweet," Ana commented as she wiped off her tears.

Rolling his eyes, Sebastian led Ana out of the hall. "Let's find which side you want the wedding aisle," he said as they started looking around the four sides of the island. "We will need a port for the yachts and ferries," he added looking through the check list.

"I'm hungry," Ana stated, pouting a little.

Sebastian frowned at her and said, "You ate a few minutes before coming here, and we haven't been here more than ten minutes."

"It took twenty minutes to come here. I'm eating for three people, so excuse me if I want to eat again," Ana glared at him.

"Brat!" Sebastian muttered as he headed to their speedboat for the food container.

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After spending their day at the London eye, they headed for Caleb's estate. Christian looked out of the window. The greenery seemed almost familiar to Seattle's own, but it was colder. "I'm so ectited, Cally. It's been so long I goned to your estate," Hope exclaimed excitedly at her older brother.

Caleb smiled at the little one. "Yeah. It was 2 years ago if I'm not mistaken."

"How often do you come here?" Christian asked.

"We come to London every vacation we get from school. We stay for a week, and we do surprise visits a few times throughout the year," Caleb replied.

"So the estate always stays well maintained?" Christian asked curiously.

"Yeah. Every one of our estates have tenants. Maintaining the estate and keeping up with the tenants are some of the duties an Earl has to do. So, we do our very best to balance all parts of our lives," Caleb explained. Christian nodded in understanding.

Their car came to a stop in front of a huge cast iron gate. The guard opened the door and let their car through. "Welcome to Jacobson Estate!" Caleb said with a smile. The huge Victorian style manor stood proudly in front of a huge bluebell garden. It was a two storied manor but it was really big. Ten servants, along with an older butler were waiting for them in front of the manor. As soon as the car stopped, the butler opened the door for Caleb.

"Welcome back, my lord," the butler said, bowing a little.

"Henry, this is Christian Grey, my foster father and you know my foster sister, Hope," Caleb introduced.

"It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Mr. Grey. Ms. Steele, oh my! You've grown to be such a beautiful young lady," Henry said taking Hope's hand and placing a kiss on it, making Hope giggle.

"Hello Mistal Henly, How do you do?" Hope greeted, beaming.

Christian smiled down at his daughter before glancing at the garden. "Bluebells. You have these flowers in the school garden too," he commented.

"Yes, Bluebell is my favorite flower. The garden there reminds me of my home here," Caleb explained with a rueful smile.

"How big is this estate?" Christian asked curiously as they headed inside the manor.

"300 acres," Caleb replied. Christian was impressed.

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Caleb gave Christian a tour of the manor and the surrounding area. Christian was impressed at how well maintained and well taken care of the estate was. They spent that evening playing chess and talking about business. Christian realized that like Kyoya, Caleb was also quite a shrewd businessman. Hope demanded that they play hide and seek after she got bored of watching them playing chess. Her fever hadn't returned again, so she was cheerful like normal. They played hide and seek for an hour after dinner. Around 9 pm, Christian tucked Hope in. Christian and Caleb spent another two hours watching some movie. Around 11 pm, Caleb claimed that he was really sleepy. So, they said 'good night' to each other and retired to their rooms.

The guest room Christian was staying in was a perfect mix of black, white and blue. Christian was amused by the blue. He worked on his laptop for next two hours. Deciding to check on Hope again before going to sleep, Christian went out. He was looking down at his phone as he headed towards Hope's room when he heard the butler's voice.

"Where is Lord Jacobson? Didn't he come here to go to sleep?" It seemed the butler was talking to himself.

Frowning, Christian approached the butler and asked, "Mr. Henry, is everything okay?"

"Mr. Grey, It's just...master had come to sleep 2 hours ago. The servant forgot to give him his milk earlier, so I went to his room. But...his room is empty and so are the other rooms," the older man informed worriedly.

"Is it possible that he might have gone for a walk?"

The butler snorted. "Master doesn't believe in unnecessary workouts. He loves to sleep for as many hours as he can without being called lazy," Henry replied with a slightly amused smile.

Christian chuckled. "Maybe he's in some other room. This is a huge manor, after all," he suggested.

"I'll go look."

"I'll be in Hope's room. Let me know if you find him," Christian told him, and headed to his daughter's room. Hope seemed feverish. Worriedly, Christian sat beside the bed and ran his fingers through her hair, singing softly. The window of the room was open and the curtains were fluttering wildly due to the breeze. Christian decided to close the window as he didn't want Hope's fever to get worse. Walking up to the other side of the bed, Christian stood in front of the window. He grabbed the curtains; when suddenly his eyes were drawn to a place outside. Hope's window had a view of the back garden with tall trees behind the garden. Christian's eyes were on one of those trees.

There was a familiar figure standing there. He had seen this figure before. It was the grim reaper. Christian could make out the flowing fabric and the scythe. Christian didn't make any noise this time as he kept staring at it silently. He blinked and it was gone like before.

This is the second time. Christian thought, frowning. First time could be a mistake, but what about the second time? And there was something strangely common about these two incidents, though I can't seem to figure it out at the moment. He walked back to Hope's bedside after throwing another look out the window. A knock on the door made him turn to look in that direction. Christian recognized Caleb standing against the doorjamb. The hallway was dark and the bedside lamp was cascading mild light in Caleb's direction, making him look really mysterious.

"Hey, where have you been? Henry was looking for you," Christian said in a low voice so that Hope's sleep wouldn't get disturbed.

"He'll be fine. He worries unnecessarily," Caleb whispered back. There was something in his tone that made a shiver go down Christian's back. "Her fever came back?" Caleb asked, glancing at Hope's sleeping form.

"Hmm. It's hard watching her sick," Christian replied as he ran his fingers through Hope's hair before he checked her temperature again.

"Can I ask you something?" Caleb asked.

"Sure."

"Why do you see me? No one else does," Caleb asked, tilting his head curiously.

Christian looked at Caleb and was stunned to see his glowing blue eyes. He wouldn't have been surprised if Caleb had fully entered the room and the light had been reflected to his eyes. But Caleb's face was still hiding in the darkness of the hallway, only his eyes were glowing brightly. "Your eyes?" Christian asked. "And what do you mean?"

Caleb stepped forward and Christian was shocked. Caleb was wearing a black suit, black shirt and a black velvet cloak. The hood of the cloak was pulled back from his head. Christian recognized that cloak. "It was you..." Christian trailed off as understanding dawned on him.

"Don't worry. You're not on the list. I was returning from my job when you saw me," Caleb assured him with a slight smile. "I don't understand, though. A normal human being is not supposed to see grim reapers until it is their time of death, but you saw me twice already." He walked in and sat on the foot of the bed.

"I don't...understand..." Christian was confused and horrified...but mostly confused.

"I was chosen to be a grim reaper at the age of 15. You met Frau, right?" At Christian's nod, Caleb continued, "Well, he's a grim reaper, and he chose me to be his apprentice when he learned about the incident at the school."

"The vice-principal incident?" Christian asked to be clear.

"Yeah."

"But...weren't you...like 10 at the time of the incident?"

"Yes. But Frau was asked to choose an apprentice by his seniors, five years later. So, he was looking through human records when he found mine, and contacted me. I...was curious about the job so...I asked for two things before I consider the job."

"What were they?" Christian asked curiously.

"First thing was that I wanted to discuss it with my brothers and mom. The second thing was that I wanted to see him do the job first-hand. Frau agreed and took me to see how to reap a human soul. Truth to be told, I was terrified. But then, I thought about the pros and cons. Grim Reapers are divine beings that have supernatural abilities. They basically decide whether a person will live or die after watching their life records. I knew this power would not only help me with the reaping job, but also, in my prefect job. I'll be able to see the records of the accused before punishing them. That way I won't harm any innocent person. So, after informing mom and my brothers about this job, I went to get trained to be a Grim Reaper," Caleb explained the whole matter.

"I..." Christian sighed. "I really don't know how I feel about it. I mean ... you're a teenager. This is the time for you to enjoy life ... not take lives," he got up from his chair and started pacing back and forth. "And supernatural is real? I mean ... what the hell?" he kept muttering to himself.

"Mr. C," Caleb called in a calm tone. "There are a lot of things that are real in this world. Supernatural beings, multiple dimensions and so on," he informed. "When you decided to be a part of mom's life, you unknowingly decided to be a part of all this too," he added.

"What do you mean?" Christian asked.

"Did mom tell you about the Castigator family history?" Caleb asked instead.

"No..." Christian trailed off, wondering why they were talking about the family history all of a sudden.

"Will you love mom if she suddenly loses a hand or feet or... maybe gained a few limbs?" Caleb asked as he walked to the window and leaned against the wall beside it.

Christian snickered. "I don't know how someone gains 'a few limbs' but ... yes. I'll always love her, and will never leave her. That won't ever change. Why do you ask?"

"The family history is something that will either horrify you or change your view of the world. Just remember your love for her when she finally tells you," Caleb gave him a warm smile. "It's late. I should go to sleep. You should go to sleep too. That armchair is a foldable armchair bed," he pointed at the armchair at the corner.

"Sure. Thanks."

"The closet has extra blankets. Goodnight then," Caleb headed out but stopped by the door.

"What if she was a monster? Will you still love her?" Caleb asked before leaving the room.

"As long as she's Ana, I will love her," Christian replied, like it was the most obvious answer to Caleb's question.

"Mr. C, there has to be something very special about you. No normal person can mate with the descendant of Castigators. Not only that, you've seen the Grim Reaper twice, and neither time were you on the to-die list. You should consider that," he said to the older man.

"I will. Goodnight, Caleb," Christian whispered as he pulled the armchair beside the bed. Nodding, Caleb left the room.

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Ana was laying down on her bed, staring at the picture on her nightstand. It was the picture they had taken during the gala. As she stared at the picture, she felt like her heart wanted to tear through her chest and come out of it as she recalled that wretched night. Even though Christian had forgiven her, Ana couldn't forgive herself. She knew how protective Christian was about the kids, and she had still accused him of risking her children's safety. Her heart ached when she recalled those 7 days she lived thinking he would never forgive her and that she had lost him. No one knew what she had been going through from inside. She had to be strong in front of the children, but in the dark of night, she had cried herself to sleep.

After a few days though, she had to get away from her family so that she could properly mourn losing her love. If she didn't have so many lives depending upon her, she might also have thought about killing herself. She had sat by the window of the hotel room and thought of the moments she had spent with Christian. She had felt guilty about leaving Hope and the kids behind, but she knew she had to gather herself first. If it wasn't for their families, they might still have been separated from each other, trying to think of ways to talk to the other. She thought a million words won't be enough to bring him back, and neither would a million tears. All she knew was that she was lost without him.

As she lay on the bed, she could feel the chill creeping in; only the warmth of his body would be able to keep it off. A tear rolled down her cheek as she wrapped her arms around her body and wished they were his arms. Her phone rang, making her gasp in surprise. "Hey," she answered with a trembling voice.

"Were you missing me like I was missing you?" asked Christian from the other side of the phone as he noticed the trembling in her voice.

"Yeah. How did you know?" she asked softly as she wiped off her tears.

"Ana, baby, you resonate through my heart, like I do in yours. Of course I knew," Christian replied like he was stating a fact as he stood by the window on the other side of the world, staring at a picture of the young brunette that had his heart.

Ana giggled, "You're so corny."

"Are you laughing at me, Ms. Steele?" Christian threatened mockingly.

"Oh yeah. What are you going to do about it?" she teased.

"When I'm done with you, Ms. Steele, you'll be a wet mess," his voice took a seductive tone as he went to the armchair bed and lay down.

"I can't wait, baby," Ana said breathlessly. "How was your day? Did Hope's fever lessen?" she asked.

"Hope's fever lessened a few hours after breakfast. We went to the London eye. Caleb joined us there. He insisted that we come to his estate. We arrived here in the afternoon, he showed us around the estate," Christian trailed off.

"Is everything okay?" Ana asked noticing the silence.

"I ... I saw that reaper again tonight," he started, "Caleb told me the truth," he added after a few seconds.

"How are you taking it?" Ana asked softly.

"I ... I don't know, Ana. All my life, I never thought about supernatural stuff like other kids do. For me, it was all black, white and various shades of grays. I didn't for a minute think that there might be some other colors in life too," He sighed. "He hinted that I should start to believe in the supernatural if I want to endure the secret you are about to tell me," he added silently, "and I've been wondering what could be more puzzling and mind boggling than Grim reapers." He let out a rueful chuckle.

"Vampires are real," Ana blurted out. "If it helps," she added sheepishly.

"Wait ... WHAT ?!" Christian sat up on the bed, startled. "I think there's something wrong with the connection," he said after glancing at his phone. "I heard you say that Vampires are real," he clarified.

Ana rolled her eyes. "Nothing is wrong with your connection. I did say that," she pouted.

"Uh...I…um..." he started stammering. "How's that possible?" he finally managed to say.

"Truth is stranger than fiction, my love," Ana replied with a smirk. "It's because while fiction is obliged to stick to possibilities, truth is not," she added.

"Mark Twain? Seriously?!" Christian rolled his eyes.

"You're officially going to be a part of Castigators in a few days. You better start believing that quote if you want to be sane," Ana joked.

"So ... did you meet any Vampires?" Christian asked snickering.

"No, but there's a family in London. The family consists of six brothers, and their father. All of them are vampires. In fact, the fourth son, Kanato is Bill's childhood friend. Bill's been persuading him to join our school," Ana informed.

"Y-you're not joking?" Christian asked, surprised.

"No."

"Ana, I don't think your secret can scare me more than the possibilities that are running through my head," his voice was dry.

"You'll be fine. You might take some time to digest...but you'll be fine," Ana said confidently.

"Glad that you think so," Christian stated as he flopped back on the bed. "Hope's fever spiked after dinner. So, I'm staying in her room on a folding armchair," he stated trying to change the subject.

"Let's hope she gets well soon. She would be so upset if she was sick during the wedding. When are you guys coming back?"

"Our flight will leave tomorrow after lunch."

"Okay. Bring Caleb with you, will you? You guys need to go for your tux fitting the day after tomorrow, and I have a dress fitting. We need the whole bridal party available that day. Elliot and Andrea have scheduled our bachelor and bachelorette party that evening too," Ana informed as she yawned.

"Okay then. You should go to sleep now. You must be tired. What did you do today?" Christian asked.

"Sebastian and I went to the island and started on the venue preparation," Ana informed vaguely.

"You should really go to sleep then," he insisted.

"Yeah. Talk to you later, babe. Goodnight."

"Goodnight, Love." They hung up with soft smiles on their faces.

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A/N: The grim reaper mystery is out of the bag. What did you think about it? How many of you guessed it was Caleb? Anyways, the wedding events will start from the next chapter. Leave a review.

And Thanks to all of you for your encouraging reviews. I never got more than 40 reviews in a story before but this story already reached 408! I'm so excited and grateful.