All characters belong to E. L. James and all mistakes are mine. I did not proofread before posting.
CPOV
Bailey's birthday is tomorrow. I cannot believe it's been a year, already. I am super excited. Ana wanted to have it at Ray's house, then thought maybe we should have it on neutral territory since neither of our parents have seen each other since the fiasco at Divinity on the opening night.
Ana decided to close Divinity for the day and have the party there. Ana has invited her staff, who have children, to attend. I wanted to have Taylor do background checks on them. However, he assured me he had already done one when they interviewed for their jobs at the restaurant.
Elliot finished the expansion of the patio area in time for the party. It was perfect for the party. The patio area will be fitted with a canopy in the shape of a crown with pink and purple streamers.
There will be a bounce house in the shape of a castle, a petting zoo, and I have hired someone to take the older children on a jet ski ride, but not too far out on the water. There will be cotton candy, a miniature rollercoaster, basically a small carnival.
We're still waiting to hear if Heather will take a plea. Her charges are attempted vehicular homicide and attempted homicide. Since they were only attempts, the max she stands to get is thirty years. The least amount of time she could get is ten years. Dad and I have both called in favors to make sure she gets the max.
GPOV
"Gracie, come to bed, honey. We have a big day ahead of us, tomorrow." I hear Carrick say as I'm sitting at my vanity brushing my hair.
"I'm nervous about tomorrow. It's been a while since we've seen Ray and Carla. We have plenty of crow to eat." I say as I remember the disgusting things we said about Ana and to her, that night, in front of her parents.
"I know honey. I'm nervous, too. We were assholes and we deserved what happened to us that night. I just hope Ray and Carla will forgive us." Carrick says and he rubs my shoulders.
"I tried reaching out to Carla a couple of weeks after the incident, but she never answered my call or text. I guess it was too soon to reach out." I say.
"It was sweetheart . It was much too soon. We would have reacted the same if someone were maliciously degrading either one of our children too. In fact, look what we did to Ana when we thought she was mistreating Christian." He says.
"All we can do is have an open and honest discussion with Ray and Carla and hope they are willing to put the past behind us and look towards the future. I'm so glad that Ana decided to give Christian another chance. I truly believe Bailey was the tug boat that guided them back to shore after the storm." Carrick says using his sailing analogy.
"Oh Cary, please don't start your boat analogies." I say giggling.
"Just one more for the road." He says as he pulls me up, pulling off my robe and guiding me to the bed. "How about going down with the ship." He says as we both look down at his very erect penis.
"Nice one," I say as I get on my knees. "I mean the boner."
CPOV
Ana is on top riding me like her life depends on it. Her breasts are bouncing in my face and I reach out and grab one, twisting the nipple causing her to moan. She squeezes my cock with the walls causing me to moan and call out her name.
"Again, Ana." She squeezes again and I know I'm close to blowing my load. She leans closer to me and her nipples graze my chest. I grab her head and smash our lips together. He movements are becoming erratic as I know she's close.
Releasing my mouth, she kisses down my cheek, to my neck, to my chest. She latches onto my nipple and bites it causing me to grab her hips and slam her down on my cock. She begins to bounce harder and faster. "Ana, I"
Shit! I'm going to come. I feel my balls tighten as my breathing becomes louder. I grab her hair as I know I can no longer hang on. She squeezes my cock, one last time, and that's my undoing. I squeeze my eyes shut, and come hard and long yelling her name.
I open my eyes and shoot up in bed as I find Ana between my legs. Smirking, she wipes her mouth as she lays back down on her side of the bed. I'm still catching my breath. "I thought. Holy shit, I thought I was dreaming."
"It's midnight. Happy Birthday, Christian." She says as she passes me a wrapped gift.
"Ana, I didn't want anything. You and Bailey are all I want and all I need for my birthday and every day for the rest of my life." I tell her.
"I knew you'd say that. That's why I didn't ask you."
I open my gift and see she's gotten me season tickets to the Seahawks.
"Ana! This is amazing." Elliot and I were just talking about season tickets a few weeks ago.
"Thank you, baby. Wait until I tell Elliot." I said grinning like a Cheshire cat.
"Well, they're for you to take Elliot, Carrick, and my dad whenever you all have a testosterone rush." She says giggling.
"Thank you, baby." I say as I place them in my nightstand. "How about you help me with my testosterone rush now." I say as I flip her under me causing her to laugh.
She begins to say something when I latch on to her nipple causing her to moan.
"Happy Birthday, baby."
"Happy Birthday, indeed." I say as I head south under the covers.
APOV
I cannot believe my baby girl is a year old today. Where did that time go? It seems like I just gave birth to her. I'm sort of nervous for this day. Neither of Christian's or my parents have seen each other since the opening night at my restaurant. I just hope everyone can play nice, today.
I already had a talk with dad, and he assured me he'd be on his best behavior. He said he sort of gets it because he would have reacted the same way if he thought someone mistreated me. However, he said he would never have been in the guy's face the way Carrick and Grace were in my face.
Mom, on the other hand, was a harder customer to sell. She's still pissed at the way they treated me. She was not really satisfied with her punch she got in that night. She still wants her pound of flesh. I begged her to be on her best behavior.
I reminded her that these people will also be Bailey's grandparents once Christian and me are married. In fact, I told her that Bailey already calls them grams and gramps. Well, it's not that clear, but the way Bailey says it makes it sound so cute.
I told her to just please remember her granddaughter would be within earshot and would be in the middle of feuding grandparents. I think this caused her to reconsider and decide to at least be cordial to Grace and Carrick.
I better get my day started as it will be a busy one. Christian is already up and he must be in his office. My body is deliciously sore after our early morning tryst. I get out of bed to go to the bathroom and have to sit down as I'm dizzy. I must have gotten up too quickly. I've had this happen before.
I make it to the bathroom. I shower, brush my teeth and get dressed. I go into the birthday girls room and find that she's awake and playing with her doll.
"Good morning, birthday girl." I say as she spots me.
"Mama, ook." She says pointing to her doll. "tiss, mama."
Grabbing her doll, I hug her and kiss her, "good morning baby." I say.
I grab Bailey and smother her faces with kisses. "Happy Birthday, baby girl. Let's get you dressed so you can give daddy his gift."
Once Bailey is dressed, I hand her Christian's gift and she takes off in search of him.
"Dada, are you?" she says making me laugh as she tries to find Christian.
Christian hears her and comes out of his office standing in front of the door.
"Bailey, look." I say pointing at Christian.
"Hi, dada! Hafta Birf da day." She says making Christian and I laugh as she wishes him a Happy Birthday.
"Hi, princess! Happy Birthday to you, too." He says as bends down and picks her up.
She hands him his present and he kisses her cheek. "Thank you, Princess."
"Open it." I tell him. He walks over to the couch and begins opening the present. Once the paper is off there's a plaque with three pictures inside. The first picture is of Bailey when she was a month old. The second picture is of Christian and Bailey asleep on the couch. She was laying on his chest and he was cradling her to him. The third picture is of Christian and Bailey the day he took us out on the Grace.
There's a quote on the plaque that reads "Behind every great daughter is a truly amazing dad." Christian sits there fingering the plaque and the letters. He just sits there admiring it. His silence is deafening. To some, it might seem that he does not like it. However, I know he loves it.
He hugs Bailey and kisses her. He whispers something in her ear and gives her another kiss. He places her on the floor and she takes off as she hears Gail in the kitchen. I walk over, place the present on the coffee table, and sit on his lap. When he turns his head to look at me, I see tears in his eyes as one slides down his cheek.
I gently wipe it away and I cradle his head in my chest. "Oh Christian." I quietly say.
"Thank you, baby. Thank you. For everything. For giving me another chance, for loving me, and most of all for an amazing daughter." He says as he chokes up on the last part.
"I love you, Christian Grey." I say as I pull his face to mine kissing his lips.
"I love you too, baby."
CPOV
I cannot believe I was such a little girl and cried from the gift Bailey gave me. It meant everything to me. I sent Taylor to purchase two more and I'll have the pictures copied and placed in each one.
One will go in my home office, one on the mantle, and one on my desk at work. Ana captured the two pictures of Bailey and me perfectly. I didn't even know she was snapping pictures. The last picture is of Bailey and I, on the Grace, as the sun was setting. Ana managed to zoom in, with the setting sun in the background, while Bailey gave me a kiss.
I heard my princess calling for me as I was finishing my phone call with dad. It appears Heather was persuaded to take the plea. She pled guilty and will receive the maximum sentence. Sentencing for both Heather and Elena are next week. I will ask Ana if she wants to attend.
Heather will spend the next thirty years in the psych ward at the Women's Prison. Thanks to her constantly asking for her brother, Barney. She's been sending so many letters to Richard Barney that have come back to the warden addressed as 'Return to Sender."
The warden received so many return letters until he had the authorities look into finding him, to make sure he was not a missing person. The authorities revealed to the warden that there was no one in the state of Washington or the surrounding areas with that name and date of birth.
When they showed up at the address on the letters, there was a sweet elderly couple living in the house. They said they would take the letters back to the post office and told them no one lived there by that name.
Heather continued to write and the guards would just give the letters to the warden, where he would just shred them. Taylor and I never asked Luke what he did with Barney or that metal box. One thing we do know? Barney's existence has been wiped clean. There's no birth certificate or even a social security number that relates to him.
I am in my office waiting on Ana and Bailey to get dressed for the party. Taylor and Gail went ahead to make sure everything is in order. My mom is already there, too. Ana knocks on my door and in walks my girls.
"We're ready." Ana says as Bailey makes her way to me and twirls so I can see her outfit.
"Pwetty, dada?"
"You are the prettiest princess ever, Bailey." I said lifting her as I grab my keys.
APOV
Once we make it to the restaurant. My nerves are all over the places as I see Grace and Carrick's car, along with my dad's truck, and mom and Bob's rental car. Christian can sense my nervousness as he grabs my hand and kisses it.
"Relax baby. Everything will be fine." I nod my head.
As we make our way into the restaurant and out onto the deck. I spot Luke and Chloe. She runs to me and places her left hand in my face. "We're engaged!" She shouts.
"Oh, my gosh! Congrats you two." I say as I give her a hug and slug Luke's arm. "Congrats, Lukey." I say giving him a hug.
"Thanks, Banana."
"Yuke!" Bailey shouts and she reaches for him.
"Happy Birthday, munchkin." He says tickling her.
"Happy Birthday, pretty girl." Chloe says and Luke leans down so Chloe can kiss Bailey's cheek.
They take off with her as I take in everything. "Christian, everything is amazing. Thank you."
"Ana, no need to thank me. I plan to give you and Bailey the world." He says as he kisses my temple.
Elliot and Vanessa arrive and find Bailey. He and Vanessa got Bailey a pink convertible Corvette to ride in. Luke and Chloe got her a purple motorcycle, Jason and Gail got her a huge princess castle equipped with table and chairs for her to sit and play in. Where all of this is going, I do not know
"Well, back to the scene of the crime." Elliot says as he comes up behind us and nods to Carrick and Grace walking over to dad. We see them talk and dad nod his head. Ray Steele, always a man of very few words. I think to myself.
Their talk goes on a few more minutes and Carrick extends his hand. My dad takes it and I think we all let out a breath. Next, he hugs Grace. "And then there was one." Elliot says as we see my mom walking towards us.
"This is such a lovely party. Christian, Ana said it's your birthday as well. So Happy Birthday." Mom says.
"Thank you, Carla." He says, quick to get the attention off him.
"Christian and I will go check on the jet ski line." Elliot says sensing my mom wanted to talk to me, alone.
"Oh, honey this is truly a wonderful party. I am so happy for you and Christian. I cannot believe how big Bailey has gotten." She's stalling. Mom always rambles when she's stalling.
"Mom, what's wrong?"
She sighs, "I am trying, Ana. I am, but I cannot stand being in the same vicinity as them. I've been successful at dodging them, but I know sooner or later, I'll have to speak to them."
"Mom, please play nice. If not for me, for your only grandchild." I plead.
"I wish I could, but sweetie, I'm your mom. I'm supposed to protect you. Even though you're grown with a child of your own still does not stop me from wanting to rip someone to shreds if they disrespect you."
"I know mom, but they have apologized. I forgave them for me and my peace of mind. They know what they did was wrong and they're really trying to make up for it. I'll have more babies, you know, that will be their grandchildren, too. Will you miss out on events, over the years, simply because you can't forgive them?"
"When did you get to be so wise?" She asks. "Fine, I'll let the grudge go. For Bailey and my future grandchildren."
"Good, because they just finished talking to Bob and they're coming this way." I say as Grace and Carrick approach mom.
"Lovely party, darling. You all really outdid yourself." Grace said.
"Oh, this was all your son's doing. Bailey already has him wrapped around her fingers and toes, along with my dad, Jason, Luke, Elliot, and Bob. They can't seem to say no to her." I say.
"Have you seen the outrageous gifts they've gotten her, so far? I've yet to find out what Christian got her."
"Oh, don't rule out her gramps, here." Grace says staring at Carrick. "He got her a puppy."
"A puppy!"
"Last weekend when she was at the house, we were looking at some cartoon show and a commercial with this cute Yorkie came on. She kept saying 'ooooh pwetty, Gramps'" Grace said.
"Well, Gramps went the next day looking for that puppy. So, you and Christian are the proud owners of a puppy." She says.
"She's just so cute. How can you say no to her?" Carrick asks. I can only laugh at him.
Grace turns to mom and smiles. "Carla, may Carrick and I speak to you a moment, please?"
Mom plasters on her fake smile and says "sure."
I excuse myself and find Christian and Elliot. As we're standing looking at my mom, Grace, and Carrick talking. Elliot says, "You don't think Tyson has any more rounds left in her, do you?"
Christian and I laugh and I tell him mom assured me she'll be on her best behavior. We see them hug and make our way to the main table to sing happy birthday to Bailey. Mia brings out a cake in the design of a princess' tiara.
After we sing happy birthday, Christian asks for everyone's attention. "Ana and I would like to thank you all for coming out to our princesses' first birthday. It means a lot to us that you took time out of your busy schedule to help us celebrate with our baby girl."
"This has been a truly amazing year as we've seen our baby girl grow. I am so incredibly happy to watch over this beautiful little girl and watch her grow. I'm also happy that the love of my love has decided to give me another chance. A few years ago, I messed up. I messed up bad and I was in perpetual darkness."
"Ana, you and Bailey brought the light back into my life. You gave me a pulse and heartbeat again. You gave me a reason for living. I can never thank you enough for your love and your heart. You are my world, my universe, my sun. Without you, I'm only half a man, but with you and our daughter I'm whole."
He grabs my hand and pulls me away from the table. He gets down on one knee and pulls out a red box.
"Anastasia Steele, my soul loved you before I knew you and it will continue to love you until the end of time. Will you do me the honor of marrying me?"
I can't even see him, or anyone anymore as I'm a balling mess. I can't speak, so I just shake my head 'yes.' He places the ring on my finger and everyone erupts into cheers and congratulations.
He takes me in his arms and kisses me. My dad is the first to hug me. He looks me in the eyes and no words need to be spoken as I see the tears glistening. "That's a fine fellow you have there, Annie. He asked me for your hand in marriage all over again, just like the first time." He says as he pats Christian on the back.
Grace and Carrick are next to hug us and congratulate us. Next, is my mom and Bob. Elliot picks me up and squeezes me. Chloe, Vanessa, and I squeal. Luke ruffles my hair as he congratulates me. Mia gives me and Christian a hug.
After the party is over, there's just immediate family left. Christian hired a cleaning crew to take down everything and clean up the restaurant. I notice a horse left as all the animals are gone.
"Christian, there's a horse left."
"Uh, yeah. I know. It's Bailey's horse."
"Bailey's WHAT?! Does Escala have a stable that I don't know about?"
"Uh, about that. I sort of bought a house for us."
I'm just standing and staring at him, speechless.
"Baby, Bailey needs a house. She needs a yard to run around. Her dog that dad bought her needs a yard." He says as he looks over at Carrick who smiles.
"Christian Grey, what am I going to do with you? A house, huh? Can we go see it, tomorrow?"
"Of course." He says.
Dad already left. Mom and Bob left to go back to their hotel room. Luke and Chloe went home to celebrate their engagement, again.
Christian takes Bailey from me. Elliot and Vanessa give her a kiss goodnight, as well as Grace and Carrick. Mia left to go on a date.
As we're walking towards the parking lot, I slow down as everything starts spinning. I hear Elliot yell and someone catch me before I pass out.
When I come too, I'm in a hospital room. "What happened?" I ask.
"Baby, shit you scared me. Are you alright?"
"I'm fine. I just got dizzy and blacked out. I just realized I have not eaten all day. I guess I was so excited over Bailey's party, that I forgot to eat. I'm so sorry for causing all this fuss."
"Nonsense. I'm just glad you're ok. We need to get you home and get you fed."
Grace comes into the room and walks to the bed. "Darling girl, you scared us. Are you alright?"
"I'm sorry Grace, in all of the excitement today, I forgot to eat. I skipped breakfast, lunch, and dinner."
"Oh, Ana. Please don't do that to us, again. I'm just glad it's nothing serious." She says squeezing my hand.
Carrick, Elliot, and Val come into the room.
"Sweetheart, are you ok?" Carrick asks.
"I am. I forgot to eat today with all the chaos going on with Bailey's big day. I'm so sorry for all this fuss and for having you all out this late."
"Don't you dare apologize to us. We are fine. We wanted to make sure you're fine." Carrick says.
"Where's Bailey?" I ask.
"I had Taylor and Gail come and get her." Christian says as the doctor enters the room.
"Dr. Trevelyan, how are you doing? I didn't know you were here."
"Hi, Lance. Ana is my daughter. We were all together when she passed out. This is the rest of my family. You know my husband, these are my two sons, and that is my son, Elliot's girlfriend, Vanessa."
"Nice to meet you all. Nice to see you again, Mr. Grey."
"Miss Steele, how are you feeling?" He asks.
"Hungry. Today was my daughter's birthday and I forgot to eat amongst all the chaos."
"I understand as I'm a parent, myself, and have sometimes missed a meal or two during a child's party. I hope missing meals was not part of your first pregnancy, Miss Steele. If that's the case, we'll have to keep you the next eight months to make sure you and the little one are getting your nourishment."
"What!" Grace gasps as she begins to cry.
"Holy shit!" Elliot says as he starts smiling.
"Uh, doctor can you give us that again?" Christian asks.
"According to Miss Steele's blood work, she's four weeks pregnant." I think I'm still in shock as the doctor's voice sounds muffled. Pregnant! Four weeks. I look at Christian as he and I both connect the dots.
"Our first date!" We both say.
"This is absolutely wonderful." Grace says and she hugs me.
The doctor releases me and we say our good byes. Christian is unusually quiet. Is he unhappy about the pregnancy?
We make it back to Escala without a word said. He had Gail prepare me something to eat. Once I've eaten. We look in on Bailey and go to our room. We take a quick shower and crawl into bed.
"Ana, are you ok? You've been quiet. Are you upset about the pregnancy?"
"No, I wanted to ask you the same thing."
"Ana, I'm the happiest man alive right now. You and Bailey have given me so much and now, you're giving me another baby." He says resting his hand on my stomach. "I love you so much."
He leans down and kisses my stomach, "I love you, too little one."
Now, to plan a quick walk down the aisle, I think to myself.
I am a paralegal, at a law firm, and I did a year in law school. I got sick and had to drop out. I am in the process of trying to go back to law school, though. I do not live in WA, but I researched Heather's charges under the state of WA and they were light, barely any time at all. So, I made up the max and minimum amount of time Heather could get ;-)
The quote on the plaque I got online.
