The Grey family have gathered for dinner at Christian and Ana's home for a special dinner on the eve of Christian and Ana renewing their marriage vows. Back in June, during Ana's party for Christian's birthday, he had dropped down on bended knee in front of all the guests to ask Ana to renew their wedding vows. Ten years earlier, during his birthday party, Christian had gone on bended knee with hearts and flowers to propose to Ana, but it had been done in the privacy of one of their many secret places – the boathouse at his parents' home. The original wedding ceremony had taken place on the grounds of the home of Carrick and Grace, but for the renewal of their vows, Christian and Ana decided to have the ceremony at their own home.
"Christian, you want to recreate your wedding ceremony, so Ana is damn well NOT sleeping with you tonight." Kate says to her brother-in-law. "Since the ceremony will be here tomorrow, I will be staying here tonight to be with Ana and you will go home with Elliott."
Everyone at the table is waiting with baited breath to see Christian's reaction to Kate's announcement. They did not have to wait long before Christian went thermonuclear.
"Don't tell me, or Ana, what to do Kate." Christian says as he glares at his sister-in-law. "No one tells me that I cannot sleep with my wife."
"You may be going home with me, bro, but you certainly are not going to sleep with me!" Elliott says, trying to lighten the mood.
Christian turns his glare towards his brother. "FUCK OFF Elliott!" Christian shouts to his brother.
"Daddy! You said a bad word!" Carrick Junior proclaims. The adults snicker at the five year old reprimanding his father.
Christian runs his hands through his hair. "Yes, I did Carrick." He looks around the table at the numerous young children – his own and his nieces and nephews. "I'm sorry children. I do need to be more careful of my language." He smirks as he looks at his brother. "It's just that Auntie Kate and Uncle Lelliott makes me so mad sometimes that I forget."
Christiana climbs down from her chair to walk around the table to her father. With his assistance, she climbs up onto his lap. She pats his cheek with her hand. "It's okay Daddy! Remember that Mommy says that you need to count to ten before you speak. And if you still say Fuck, you have to put fifty dollars into the swear jar." While the adults laugh, Christiana climbs back down from her father's lap and returns to her chair.
Elliott is still laughing when he turns to Ana and asks "How big is this swear jar?"
Ana responds "Just a regular cookie jar." She giggles and adds "But I do need to empty it almost every day." The adults laugh even harder. "Coping Together gets weekly donations courtesy of Christian's potty mouth."
Christian smirks and says "I should just put $500 in the jar each morning."
Elliott is still laughing, but manages to say "That might get you through breakfast. What about the rest of the day?" Everyone laughs even louder. Elliott is not intimidated by Christian's glare "Come on, Bro, you know what you want to tell me."
"Ana, if it costs me fifty dollars for telling Elliott what to do, what will it cost me if I punch him in the nose?" Christian questions with a smile for his wife before turning back to glare at Elliott.
"Truce, Bro!" Elliott says with his hands raised up. "You wouldn't want my handsome face marred with black eyes for the photos tomorrow, now would you?"
Christian gives his brother an evil smile. "Oh I don't know. It might be worth it. And I'm sure Jose could photoshop out the black eyes." Christian taps a finger on his chin and says thoughtfully. "Hmmm, maybe I should ask Jose to photoshop you out completely!"
"Christian!" both Ana and Grace reprimand him.
Christian pouts, knowing the affect that has on Ana. "I'm just saying…"
"That's enough everyone!" Carrick Senior proclaims. "No more fighting you two" he says as he eyes his sons. He stands up and picks up his champagne flute. "Ana, I know I hurt you ten years ago when I insisted that Christian have you sign a pre-nup agreement. Like many other times in Christian's life, he knew better than me when he refused to even consider such a thing. I am forever thankful that you came into my son's life. With your unwavering love, you have managed to make Christian realize that people love him no matter what. And as a result, gave Grace and myself the loving son we always knew was behind Christian's façade." Carrick raises his flute in the air towards his daughter-in-law. "To Ana!" Everyone else raises their glass and toasts Ana as well. As Ana blushes at the words and the attention from everyone at the table, Christian picks up her left hand and kisses her wedding rings.
Teddy stands up. "Mom and Dad." He addresses his parents. They look at each other, questioning each other wondering what Teddy is planning. They shrug to each other and turn to look at their eldest son. Christian draws Ana's chair closer to his and puts his arm around her. They hadn't seen that Phoebe slipped away from the table until she returns to the dining room and hands her brother a loosely wrapped package. Teddy continues "My brothers, sisters and I wanted to give you a gift, but we didn't know what. You both always say that family is the only important thing in life and we need to cherish the time we have together."
"Don't cry Mommy!" Christiana says. Tears are flowing down Ana's face. Christian pulls out a handkerchief from his pocket and wipes at the tears. Ana smiles as she sees that Christian's eyes are watery.
Teddy walks over to his parents and hands them the present in his hands. "Mom, Dad. This is from all of us. We all worked on it. Even Jason and Lucas." Christian accepts the parcel from Teddy and hands it to Ana to open it. Ana tears away the paper and both Christian and Ana gasp.
Inside the package is a scrapbook album. In the center insert of the front cover is a copy of the picture taken of the children for the most recent Father's Day. Around the picture, each child has written his or her name. In the case of Jason and Lucas, their handprints were put on the cover and their names written in Phoebe's hand writing. Inside the album are multiple pages for each child showing pictures of each starting with a baby picture, followed by birthday pictures and other events. In between the children's pictures are copies of the family portraits taken by Jose each wedding anniversary.
Christian and Ana look at each other with tears in their eyes. The album is a memory book of their growing family and the love they all share. They both laugh when the get to the back of the album. After the pages of Jason and Lucas is a blank page except for the name 'Lucky' written at the top. Christian rubs his hand over Ana's stomach. Their eyes widen when Ana turns that page and find there are several more blank pages.
At their questioning look, Phoebe says "We wanted to put a page in to have a page ready for Lucky, but then we thought we should put more pages in case you have more children after Lucky." The adults all laugh.
Ana is too choked up to respond. Christian is fighting tears as well, but manages to croak out "Thank you all. As you can tell, your mother and I love the album. We will treasure it forever." He removes his arm from around Ana and stands, opening his arms wide. "Come here kids, I want to give you all a big hug." The children all run to their father and Ana joins her family in a big group hug.
When the group breaks apart, Teddy says "We have also done a digital version, so you will both be able to access it when you're away on business." Teddy clears his throat and continues. "Mom. Dad. On behalf of my brothers and sisters, I want to thank you for everything you have done for us. We know you both have busy jobs which mean long hours and travel, but you have both always been available for us whenever anyone of us has needed you. I like that you want to renew your wedding vows tomorrow and are including us in the ceremony. A lot of our friends are not as fortunate as we are and rarely even see their parents, let alone be included in special occasions." Teddy holds up his wine glass, filled with grape juice, and imitating his grandfather, proposes a toast to his parents. Tears continue to flow down Ana's face and Christian finally gives in and lets his tears flow as well. Looking through her tear filled eyes, Ana sees that all of the adults at the table are wiping at their eyes.
Ana opens her mouth to speak, but finds that her lower lip is quivering and is unable to speak. She bites her lower lip to try to stop the quivering. Christian reaches up to pull her lip from her teeth and leans over to lightly brush his lips against hers. He raises his head and looks around the table at all of his children before settling his eyes on Teddy. Christian stands up and walks over to his eldest son who is still standing. As his father approaches him, Teddy starts to look apprehensive as he is thinks that he has upset his father. When Christian is standing in front of Teddy, he extended his hand for a handshake. Teddy puts his small hand in his father's larger hand and gives his father as firm a handshake as a nine year old boy can do. Teddy relaxes as he sees, not just the smile on his father's lips, but also in his eyes.
"Ted. You are a very mature young man. Your Mother and I are very proud of you. You always take the lead and look after your younger siblings." Christian says to Teddy. Christian reaches into his pocket and pulls out his wallet. He extracts a three fifty dollar bills and sets them on the table. "For the swear jar." He says as he gives Ana a smirk. "Fuck! To Hell with acting mature. I want to give my TeddyBear a big bear hug!" Christian says as he wraps his arms around Teddy to give him a big hug. "I know you're not a little boy anymore, but I'll always remember you as a toddler playing hide and seek in the meadow."
After several minutes, Christian releases Teddy from the bear hug and they both return to their seats. Everyone is still looking at Christian with tears in their eyes. Christian looks around the table, flashing his mega-watt smile. "What? A man isn't allowed to hug his son?"
Christian's smile fades when he sees Grace clutch at Carrick's hand as her eyes fill up with more tears. "Oh fuck! I'm sorry Mom and Dad." He stands and starts to walk towards his parents. "Come here! I got carried away in the moment and didn't think about all the years that I wouldn't allow anyone, even you two, to touch me." As Grace and Carrick approach him, Christian wraps his arms around them both. As the three continue with their group hug, Grace's tears continue to flow as she thinks of all the missed years.
Carrick is the first to pull from the hug and walks over to Ana. He pulls her from her chair to wrap his arms around her. "Ana, thank you once again for giving us the loving son that Christian became after he met you. Grace and I will always be in your debt."
Margaret turns to Kate and questions "Are the Grey family dinners always this emotional?"
Kate responds with a laugh "Only the ones that someone doesn't storm out of."
"Don't worry, Lelliott. Kate doesn't need to know." Christian says to his brother. "I just need to go for a drive to clear my head." Despite Christian's protests, Kate managed to get her way and Elliott dragged Christian home with him and Kate will be spending the night with Ana in an attempt that the 'bride and groom' not see one another prior to the vow renewal ceremony the following day. "Just give me the keys to your fucking car."
"Kate will kill me. I'm under specific orders to keep you here." Elliott smirks at his brother. "To quote Kate: 'Even if I have to handcuff you to the fucking guest bed.'"
Christian looks at his brother. "You know damn well that if anyone handcuffs me to anything, it would only be Ana." Christian gives his brother a smirk. "I didn't know you switched teams!"
"Fuck off!" Elliott replies. "Here are the keys. And it's not a 'fucking' car. Trust me, the Ferrari is too confining for fucking." Elliott smiles as he says "It's a wonder I didn't get a speeding ticket driving Kate back home that evening."
As Christian takes the keys from his brother he laughs. "You need an R8 then, bro. Ana and I have never had a problem." Before Elliott has a chance to respond, Christian is out the door and getting into his brother's car.
As Christian speeds down the road, he knows his destination. He just hopes that Ana can evade her keeper Kate. Christian admits to himself that he has to give Kate credit in her determination to keep him and Ana apart. Even after ten years, he is still thankful that Kate was too sick to interview him that fateful day and coerced Ana in going in her place. He tells himself that he is also thankful that Kate had gone a vacation with her parents shortly after graduation and wasn't in Seattle to protect Ana from his evil advances. He laughs out loud as he realizes that Ana was the one that ensnared him rather than the other way around.
Christian pulls up to the gate of his home and enters his code into the security panel. Once the gates swing open, he drives through. Instead of following the main driveway up to the house, he turns onto the service road and circles around the property. As he is about to pass the back of the Taylors' house, he sees Jason standing in the middle of the road. Christian stops the car and opens the window, waiting for Jason to come over to him. Christian was tempted to floor the car once Jason stepped back off the road, but he appreciated that even at 1:00 am, his Head of Security was still on the job ensuring that the individual who had entered the special security code at the gate was indeed Christian Grey.
"Hi Boss." Taylor says to Christian once he is beside the car. "You must be slipping. Or Elliott isn't as easily intimated by you anymore. It took you longer to get his car keys than thought it would. I expected your arrival an hour ago."
Christian laughed. "Am I that predictable? I just hope Ana hasn't gone to sleep."
Taylor grinned. "She's in the kitchen having a cup of tea with Gail." At Christian's look of surprise and hesitation, Taylor laughed. "Don't worry, Kate went to bed an hour ago when she couldn't keep her eyes open any longer." Taylor smirked. "Now, I'm just speculating, but I thought it strange when Ana asked Gail about sleeping pills."
Christian laughs. "That's my Ana!" he says proudly. "Thanks Jason." Before he takes the car out of park, he pulls out his phone to send a text message.
Boat house - 2 minutes
Christian pockets the phone and flashes Taylor his famous mega-watt smile. "Bye Jason. Pass along my thanks to Gail. See you in the morning. It's going to be a great day." Christian closes the window and puts the car into motion to continue on to the boat house.
Christian parks the car and steps out. He looks at the building and smiles. When commissioning Elliott to build the boat house, he had his brother duplicate the boat house on their parents' estate, including the upstairs storage room. The upper room in his parents' boat house held special memories for him and Ana. Over the years, it served as their special retreat for various special events they attended, as well as family get-togethers. But the most special time was ten years ago, during his birthday party, when Christian gave Ana hearts and flowers for the first time and a proper marriage proposal. Christian smiles to himself as he thinks of one change he requested for the boat house at his property. A Murphy bed was built into one of the walls of the upstairs room.
Christian whistles as he walks up to the side door. He is startled when he realizes the door is slightly ajar. "Fuck! This door should at least be closed, if not locked. I'll need to mention it to Taylor….but not tonight, or tomorrow. There's more important things to focus on."
Christian opens the door and proceeds on into the boat house. He stops short. There are lit candles on each step leading up the 'storage' room. Looking up the stairs he sees there are more shimmering lights. His heart starts beating faster as he proceeds to the stairs. He admits to himself what he hopes is waiting for him upstairs, but he also acknowledges that there could be danger. Christian reaches into his pocket and wraps his hand around his phone in preparation to press the panic button to signal Taylor. Halfway up the flight of stairs, Christian releases his grip on his phone. His look of apprehension is replaced by his mega-watt, panty melting smile.
"You're late, Mr. Grey!"