Ana's POV
Wednesday 22nd June 2011
We are aboard the Grace and in the middle of the Puget Sound. Christian wanted to go further north, as he said it was too close to Cliff's property, which was less than a dot on the horizon. I had to explain that even though he lived along the water's edge, he didn't own a boat. Besides, we were three miles out from land and we would have to be in the middle of the North Pacific Ocean and well on our way to Hawaii, before he felt the amount of safety he was looking for.
He settled eventually. I don't think enough distance is enough for him, but we are far enough removed from the human race as we can practically be, without going to the luxury of purchasing an island. I do think sometimes that he would actually quite enjoy that, a Christian and Ana retreat, where we can just lose ourselves in each other with no-one around, not even security. He would of course, devise some sort of state of the art defence system, to stop anyone from getting in.
He has finally fallen to sleep in my arms, having sobbed himself into exhaustion for the past hour and a half, as I rocked him in my arms. What a fucked up life he has had, and now that he has started to come to terms with all this shit and move forward, his worst nightmare has come back into his life and on top of that Missy Pissy Bitchtroll has gone too far. What the fuck did she think she was doing? Surely she knew she wouldn't get away with it, the girl looks nothing like either of them, but suppose it's the only child she could get her hands on. This just shows how determined she was, because if Linc found out she would be back in hospital. Well he will find out as Christian wants to contact him in the morning, but he is not sure if Linc will even consider talking to him, after breaking up his marriage. The men have not spoken for seven years and I am wondering if it would be best if I call him on my phone, with Christian there, so he can hear. It might be easier talking to someone who was not involved in his divorce.
As Christian is sound asleep, I get up and head out onto the deck. I need some air to clear my head, which is now pounding with a headache. I grab my bag and luckily I have Advil and my pill, which I need to take. Thankfully my handbag is like a walking chemist, otherwise I would have had to get Sawyer to go and fetch them from the apartment, as there is no way I would risk not taking my contraception at the right time.
I sit on deck and watch the twinkling of the lights along the shoreline, and think about how different this is from the other time Christian and I were out on a boat, then it was all love making and happy times. How much has happened in the past month. A new job at SIP, interviewing Christian and our friendship blooming. Fifties and Jack, moving to Royal Crest, then discovering who C was, running to Savannah and making love to Christian for the first time, then the bitch from hell and Christian's confession after the dinner party and the playroom for his birthday. Now all this today, where will it end?
The two people who seem to have a hold over him is Elena and John… Jed, no John, I don't want to call him Jed, I will never want to hear that name again. If I could go back in time and alter history, I would in a heartbeat. If there was only a way to steal HG Wells' time machine and travel back to when Christian was a toddler and warn his birth mother against that man, then his life wouldn't be so shit. Of course it would mean that the likelihood of us meeting would be zero, again, like 'Sliding Doors'. Christian wouldn't be a Dom and the likelihood of him having Grey Enterprises would be slim, and therefore there would be no interview. I would sacrifice not having him in my life, if it meant that he would have a wonderful normal childhood and grow up to be happy and healthy.
I grab a couple of cushions and lay back on the deck, just gazing up at the stars. I wonder if there are any planets up there that have super intelligent life, and if they are watching all this drama unfold. More importantly, what do they make of it all and do they have a hand in the scripts of our lives, can they determine where we will end up?
I can hear footsteps and look over to the steps that lead down into the lounge. I half expect Sawyer to come up, as he has yet to retire, but it's Christian. He looks like he's been emotional again. "I had a nightmare and woke, you weren't there." He comes over to me and sits down beside me.
"I'm sorry, I had a headache and wanted some air. I didn't think you would mind, it's not as if I can go anywhere."
"No, but I forgot I was on board the Grace when I first woke, then noticed the portholes." He pulls a cushion off of the chair and lays down beside me and pulls me into his arms. He needs bodily contact now and I snuggle into his embrace. "I don't know what to do, Ana."
"Maybe I can help, with Elena, that is. I was thinking maybe I could phone Linc in the morning. From what you have said, I doubt he will even entertain a phone call with you, so maybe I can act as middle person."
"I don't want you to get involved."
"I won't be, not really, just a spokesperson. If we go to Grey House in the morning, I can call him and talk to him as we did with Dad, on loud speaker. But you have to keep quiet, Christian, as I doubt he will tolerate you. Remember you made him a cuckold."
"A what? Shit Ana, you gone back to the middle ages."
"Okay, you made him a… blast, I don't know what the equivalent is… It doesn't matter, what does matter is that we get him on our side and tell him what's been happening, then he can take it from there. From what you have told me, he won't take this lightly. He knows that Elena took your innocence at fifteen and Abigail is what… six? So who's to say what she would be capable of doing, even possibly preparing to groom her." I feel Christian react at what I said and as I have my arms wrapped around him, I begin to play with the hair at the nape of his neck, hoping to calm him.
"I don't know if that is a good idea."
"All we need to do is say enough for him to take the bait and agree to sort her out. We can offer him your office and Andrea can contact Elena to come over, she will jump at the chance, thinking she is going to meet with you, despite the restraining order. We can be in Taylor's office, and watch Linc take her down from some sort of bugging device that I am sure Taylor has laying around."
"That man has all kinds of gadgets, I am sure he has a spare camera he can set up. Lucky for us, that is one room that hasn't got CCTV, I won't allow my private meetings to be filmed."
"Glad to hear it Mr Grey, or I would have never pulled my skirt up for you," I smile and he pulls me tight against him. I don't think he is the mood for love making, too much has happened tonight to be able to drown out the nightmares in his head.
We lay there for another half an hour, gazing at the stars in silence. "I wish Jed is as easy to sort out as Elena," he sighs.
"Wait until after Linc sorts out Elena, then phone your dad and see what he says."
"Yeah, you're right." He gets up and grabs my hand, "Let's go to bed, babe, we have a stressful day ahead of us tomorrow and we need sleep."
Thursday 23rd June 2011
Christian's POV
"Hi, is that Eric Lincoln?" Ana asks. We are sitting in the middle of my office and it's nearly ten. I have told her what to say, in order to get Linc's back up.
"Yes, I'm Mr Lincoln, how can I help?" This is his business number, so he is initially thinking she wants to place an order.
"My name is Anastasia Steele and I am phoning you on a rather delicate matter." He is silent, Ana needs to go on, so I nudge her. "Mr Lincoln, I am Christian Grey's girlfriend and it has recently come to light that Elena Lincoln, your ex-wife, is using one of your brother's children to get back at Christian."
"What? Is this some kind of sick joke? Who put you up to this, did Grey tell you to ring me?"
"No, well yes, but not as a joke, this is serious Mr Lincoln. Elena attacked me last week and Christian has broken all ties with her, including selling Esclava. She is angry and to get her revenge she sent pictures of your niece, Abigail, to Christian telling him she was their love child. She denies having been injured and says she was in California, giving birth to their daughter. It was only that Abigail looks nothing like either that we did a reverse image search on Google, and found her to be Sam's and Gloria's little girl." There is more silence and I hear what I assume a fist hit the desk.
"That bitch! Is there nothing she wouldn't do."
"Sir, is she on speaking terms with Gloria?"
"Erh? Yeah, I didn't want Gloria to stay in touch, but they had a good friendship before yourboyfriend wrecked my life." I flinch and notice Ana's reaction to my shudder. She grabs my hand and holds it in hers, stroking the back of my knuckles with her thumb.
"If we hadn't discovered who she was, was there a chance she would have borrowed Abigail, in order to bring her to Christian? Would Abigail be up to playing games and pretend to be Elena's daughter. I cannot see why she would use a child she knew if she wasn't intent on doing that, she could have just picked out some random kid's photos from the net, if it was only going to go as far as emails."
"I'll fucking kill her!" He is now storming about the place, this is exactly where we wanted him. Worked up and angry.
"Mr Lincoln, I have an idea. If we were to ask Elena down for a meeting at Grey House, she will assume that she is meeting up with Christian. We have a restraining order out on her and we cannot come into contact with her, but I am assuming you can?"
"Yes. She never renewed the restraining order, as I had no intention in contacting her after we divorced. We had both moved on with our lives."
"So, if we get Andrea, Christian's personal assistant, to contact her with a view of having a meeting this morning, and request that she bring Abigail with her, then when she gets here, she will be confronted with you."
"I don't want Abigail to be part of this. I don't want her to see."
"Well, she can come into the room, so you can see she is well and then you can ask someone to look after her, while you talk to Elena. Maybe bring a close trustworthy friend? If we don't do it this way, it's only her word against ours and she may try something else."
"I could tell Gloria after Elena has taken her? She will be livid and would want to get her daughter back."
Bitchtroll's POV :)
I have just left Gloria's house and have Abigail sitting in the back of my car. Parking at Grey house, I take a deep breath and turn to talk to Abigail. "Now, remember Abby, we are playing pretends and I am your mommy. Mr Grey is your daddy, can you remember that? If you are good, I will buy you an ice-cream afterwards."
"Yes, mommy," she giggles.
We make our way into the building and the receptionist on the ground floor allows us to go to the top floor. As we reach the CEO's receptionist, she looks up and frowns. I know she doesn't like me, but she is under the impression that I am her bosses daughter's mother, she should have more respect for me. If Abby wasn't here, I would be putting her into her place, but I have to act the doting mother to this little brat.
The place seems empty and I am told to take a seat, whilst Andrea goes into Christian's office. She usually phones, but she has taken it upon herself to tell him in person. I look down at Abby and force a smile, she looks up at me and winks, she thinks this is all a game. She sees the pander painting on the wall and points to it. "Look mommy, that's a panda, isn't it." She smiles and I am thankful she is a good actress.
Andrea comes back and tells me to go in. I grab Abby's hand and we walk into Christian's office, but I stumble back as I see Linc standing there, anger sprawled across his face.
The bastard!
