CPOV
I wake up to my phone blaring on the bedside table, I look at the clock before grabbing it and answering in the most angry voice imaginable. The person on the other end is hysterical before someone else cuts in and explains that the police are already on premises and that Ana has run off, escaped is more like it. I didn't think that she would react that way to the papers we sent over, I thought it would take the stress of making decisions away from her and she could focus on her and her alone.
I run around like a madman trying to get ready, it is nearly four in the morning so nearly seven on the east coast. I call Leila, Taylor, Elliot and Luke; a conference call so we can figure out what to do and where to go from here. This is the last thing I expected ever having to deal with. They all answer with their own pleasantries before I dive in and explain the current situation, then silence.
"Christian, I knew she was sick but this is over the top. I don't know what to recommend other then to look for her and maybe say that the ward she needs to be in should have higher security so it doesn't happen again," Leila says.
"This doesn't sound like Ana, not even when she was really ill all those years ago. What did you do to provoke her?" Elliot growls, he's always been protective over Kitten.
"I did nothing!" I shout.
"Bull fucking shit, Chris. Tell me the truth."
"I had the state of Washington take her rights away and give power over her legal and medical decisions to me, she is sick and hasn't been getting better," I defend my decision.
"It's not what Kate says."
"I don't give a fuck what Katherine says, I am the one here in Seattle with her."
"What have her doctors told you?" Luke asks.
"Beth says she is fine and that she could be released, has been saying that for months. Jackson who is in charge of her program and all of that says that she has been developing personality switches and although she doesn't show them prominently in person that there are emails from her account from twelve different versions of herself."
"So her status is based off of an easily hackable source?" Luke questions my ethics.
"Christian, just find my sister. Do everything you can to make sure she is safe again, I don't like the thought of her being out alone without Hardy or anyone. She will lose herself and I can't handle that," Leila pleads.
"Of course, this stays between us. Taylor I want you to fly out here and help with the investigation."
I hang up without any responses or goodbyes, I go down to the garage and drive like a nut to the clinic which is lit up with police and search teams. Beth is sitting on the front steps with Hardy, her face is tear stained. She probably blames herself which she shouldn't, I can't believe that Ana left Hardy.
The lead investigator walks over to me, the idiot standing in everyone's way as I take the whole scene in. I follow him over to a tent that is set up, it looks like they are peeping to release a statement to the public for any help that they can offer.
"Why don't you send Hardy to try and trace her sent?" I ask.
"We did Mr. Grey, it seems as though she changed into someone else's clothes and shoes because he went to the staff change room and then couldn't continue. Does she have any friends or family in the area that she would run to?" He asks
"Elena Lincoln is a friend of hers, she live in the Pike Market District and she has no family here, neither do I."
"Okay, well we have talked to her therapist Dr. Beth Hart, and I believe that she will be okay because she is not on any medications and there is no worry about self harm or hurting others. We did find the envelope with legal papers stating you as her Power of Attorney, that may have been the trigger. She may believe that you are taking the kids away from her or are committing her into a more secure hospital, if she read this wrong or misinterpreted it she may have come to this conclusion. Running may have been a way out to protect herself."
"Then why didn't she take her service dog?"
"She can mask her scent, when we bring in our dogs it is easy to track Hardy but she is smart and seems to know what to do to evade us."
"Right, so what will the public address say?"
"Just that your wife ran away from a clinic where she was receiving medical care and that she is not in any danger but if anyone has information to call us or the call center we have set up. You are a high profile person Mr. Grey, we do need to rule out kidnapping."
"Of course, whatever you need I will be here."
"Thank you for your cooperation."
I walk back to my car and grab my briefcase, Beth takes me to her office where I switch on my email and begin to copy and paste every email from Ana that I have gotten over the past six months and then ask to print them off which Beth agrees and leaves me be for a while. They were all normal till around december when they started to shift and that is what scared me, I thought I lost Ana for good but I visited her the next day and she seemed fine.
There are so many of these emails mixed in with all her normal and playful ones, those are my favourite and they always come at the worst times possible. I don't know what Beth is talking about when she says Ana is fine, I get these emails every other day now and they scare me, I worry about her health and what could happen to my kids if they ever got an email. Now all emails are filtered through Welch and Barney if any of her alters try and contact the kids, it is for their protection.
The worst one may have been the most terrifying because I was not expecting it, it was dark, morose and not like my Ana. That's when I knew I had to be worried.
From: Anastasia Grey
Subject: Grey Skies
Date: December 13 2021 14:35
To: Christian Grey
You are eating me alive, you are the barbed wire
I want to wrap around my throat as it cuts through
the skin and suffocates me. If we do this it will end
the pain, the pain you and your kind cause us. We
are stronger though. We know your faults, we know
all your secrets. Ana is our friend, our family and you
try to take her away. We have ways to keep her with us
and away from you forever.
Blaze
I didn't understand the signature but then I ordered books on her disorder and did my research, she was developing alternate personalities and the one seemed suicidal which was not good. Others were different.
From: Anastasia Grey
Subject: swimming
Date: December 21 2021 10:12
To: Christian Grey
i want a pool a big big big one as big as the ocean so
we can swim in a fake ocean without any fish because
swimming with fish is scary they tell me not to talk to
you because you are a bad guy but they say you can get
anything so i want a pool as big as the ocean with no fish
ana misses you too and they don't want you visiting but
i think you should but no one listens to me and i don't
like that so i am telling you anyway please visit and bring
the pool so we can swim too
sutton
I learned later that this is the personality of a young child, so many personalities to learn about and deal with. Yet when I would visit her she would deny it and Beth never had anything about it in her notes or records. I showed them to Jackson and said that they were definitely a cause for concern but there was nothing to do until she showed them to anyone at the clinic. They needed to witness this for themselves, the emails got worse and I would send them to Jackson, but now they may hold a clue to this whole ordeal. Maybe one of her alternates are in charge of her and this episode. I sort them into each alternate and put them in their own folders from oldest to newest: Blaze, Sutton, Max, Stephanie, Genesis, Sydney, Mal, Jamie, Miller, Byant, Charlotte and Thomas. Beth comes back and looks at my colour coded files and then at me with a look of amusement, I guess this could look funny.
"What is all of this?" Beth asks.
"Every email from her alternates that I have received since december sorted into each of the alternates, I think there might be something here that can tell us where she is and why she left or who left," I explain.
"There are twelve folders."
"Yeah, so?"
"Do any of them hold a narcissistic quality to them?"
"Yes, Mal and Charlotte the red and purple folders. Why?"
"If they were really her alternates they would have showed themselves to someone on staff, especially ones who have narcissistic personalities or qualities."
I'm lost, what is she saying? Is this all fake, is someone who knows what is happening in our family trying to mess with me and my family? I do not like that possibility, and if that is the case I have really fucked up with Ana, no wonder she ran.
Elena rushes into the room, she looks absolutely devastated with what is happening here with Ana. Anastasia and her have really gotten along since they found each other, Elena is her Kitten's shoulder to lean on and I have screwed everything up.
"What's with the looks on your faces?" Elena asks.
"What you did to her emails, can you reverse it and track old ones?" Beth asks Elena.
"Of course, but that would mean I need access to," Elena looks at me, "computer."
"If I give it to you, you can find Ana?" I ask.
"It is a possibility," Elena answers.
"While you do that I am going to read and analyze the printed copies. Christian you should rest, it is really early and it has been a stressful time for you," Beth states.
I go and lay down on the yellow sofa that Ana always sits on when she comes into this room to talk to Beth, I fall asleep quick thinking that Ana is herself and just trying to protect herself from me. I would be okay with that.
I wake to Taylor shaking me, my face is wet and I realize that I was crying in my sleep due to the situation. He sits on the coffee table waiting for me to sit up and really be aware of my surroundings, I sit and look at him. Beth is in the corner on her phone, talking quiet but she does not sound happy. My phone rings I race for it, it's a blocked number but I answer anyway.
"Hello? Anastasia? Kitten is that you?" I question.
"It all started in New York, it seems appropriate for it to end there too," She answers.
"Kitten how did you make it there?"
"I dyed my hair, got on the first available flight and it is much easier then you think. You can't stop me from this, not this time. I can't fight them off anymore Christian."
Beth moves towards me, a look of confusion spreading across her face so I put my phone on speaker and hold it out for everyone to listen in.
"What are you talking about Kitten? What are you planning on doing?"
"Stop calling me that! I am done Christian and if you are not here by sunset tonight you don't get to say goodbye. Meet me where I took your wallet on the day we met, today at sunset."
"Kitten that is across the country, a five hour flight at least."
"You have ten hours, you have time."
She hangs up and I look at Taylor, Beth and Elena. The two woman have moved to the corner and are arguing, but I ignore them. Taylor and I race out to the SUV he brought and hightail it to the airport, buying out the next flight and wait for it in the first class waiting area. Taylor and I aren't saying anything but are emailing everyone we can to set up where she wants to meet, that way if she shows early someone can grab her before she does anything drastic. Kate and Mia will be on standby because she may feel more comfortable having a woman there in this current breakdown. I knew I taught her well when it comes to escaping and running but damn, I must be a really great teacher.
"Christian, you need to be prepared for every possible outcome that we may face when we get to New York," Taylor frowns.
"I know that, I may not want to think or consider them but she is not in the right frame of mind at this moment. She won't kill herself. I swear."
