A/N: Thank you for all the reviews and support! Here's the next chapter for you.

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Chapter 37: 45 Days

It was finally 5 o'clock on Monday, and Kate and Ana had agreed to meet on the top floor of Grey House a few minutes before their meeting with Christian was set to begin. Ana now sat at the front desk by her computer, waiting for Kate to arrive as Andrea started packing up to leave for the day.

"Working late tonight?" Andrea asked, glancing covertly at Christian's closed office doors. Ana knew what she was implying.

"My roommate's stopping by," she explained, hoping she didn't sound defensive. "She and Mr. Grey have a meeting at 5:15, and I was going to sit in too."

"Mr. Grey doesn't have any meetings at 5:15," Andrea said, frowning. "There was a cancellation, wasn't there?"

"I know there was, and Kate and I filled it last minute," Ana explained. She glanced around the empty foyer before lowering her voice slightly. "Christian wants to invest in my and Kate's new company, and the three of us are meeting tonight to hash out specifics."

Andrea's face fell. "So you're leaving GEH already?" she asked, sounding dejected.

Ana gave her a sympathetic smile. "Not right now - maybe in about a month or two, at the earliest. Christian and I will figure it out tonight, and we'll let you know tomorrow."

Andrea still looked a bit forlorn. "I'm still gonna have to hire a new assistant," she muttered sadly, glancing down at her hands. "Do you have any idea how many girls I had to go through before you came along? The entire HR department probably wanted to strangle me, with all the paperwork they had to do for all of them…"

Ana chuckled. "I'm sure it won't be that bad. Maybe you should try hiring someone on merit rather than social status this time?"

Andrea shot her a commiserating look, and Ana responded with a cheeky smirk. Just then, the elevator doors opened, and out stepped Kate, wearing a very professional burgundy A-line dress, nude heels, and blonde hair up in a ponytail. She looked pretty business-like, carrying a black purse in one hand and a matching leather portfolio tucked in her arm.

"Hey," she smiled at Ana once she approached the desk. If she had seemed nervous about coming into Grey House today, she did a good job of hiding it behind this professional veneer. "Is Christian ready?"

"Yeah, I think he's just finishing up a call," Ana stood up from her seat. "We can head in now probably. You look great, by the way," she added.

"Thanks," Kate grinned.

"…It's you!" Andrea finally spoke up. Ana and Kate turned to her, and she was staring at Kate, clearly surprised and angry at having recognized her. "You're the reporter that got thrown out of here!"

Kate immediately glanced down and away from Andrea, her face turning pink in embarrassment. Ana immediately began to speak in defense of her friend, but, Christian spoke up from the door of his office before she could say anything:

"It's alright, Andrea," he said, striding over to them at the front desk. "Ms. Kavanagh is welcome here again. I know she was in a bit of trouble here once before, but we've resolved our differences. I've already let security know about the situation, and it's fine."

Andrea glanced between Christian and Kate before reluctantly nodding, duly chastised. "Yes sir. My apologies, Ms. Kavanagh."

Kate merely nodded at Andrea, her cheeks still burning red. "Shall we do this?" she asked, turning to Christian and Ana, clearly trying to focus on the meeting at hand.

"Of course, Kate," Christian said, wisely displaying their familiarity for Andrea's benefit. "Let's all go into my office, shall we?" He looked at Ana, who quickly began gathering up her things to go in with them.

"Goodnight Andrea," she said to Andrea, who had stood up with her coat in her hands.

"'Night, Ana," she said, her voice flat. The poor woman was clearly not having a very good night, but Ana did not have time to worry about it as she followed Kate and Christian into his office.

"I'm sorry about that," Christian said sincerely to Kate once Ana closed the office doors behind them. "I let my security team know about your changed status, but I neglected to tell my personal staff. I apologize."

Kate waved her hand as she walked over to the chair in front of Christian's desk. "It's fine, just forget about it," she said dismissively, though Ana could tell she was just trying to hide her embarrassment for the sake of this business meeting. "Can we just move on with this?"

"Of course," Christian said, and he turned to Ana, a smile breaking out across his face. "You ready?"

Ana grinned back. "Let's do it."

For the next hour or so, Kate and Christian talked pretty much one-on-one about his investment with SIBP. A lot of the "business talk" went over Ana's head, but she had heard enough of it working at GEH to understand that Kate knew exactly what she was talking about, and that Christian was not just patronizing her - he was clearly taking her seriously as a business owner. They talked about projections, financials, and marketing, and Kate, as well-prepared as ever, had produced all the necessary documents for Christian from inside her portfolio. Ana couldn't help but be more than a little impressed with her friend.

Kate and Christian came to a final decision - GEH would lock in a year-long investment with SIBP. Ana, oddly enough, felt very pleased that Christian's investment had conditions: if the store wasn't making enough money, then he would pull his backing and Ana and Kate would be on their own. He was treating this like he would any other business deal, and nothing could make Ana happier.

She felt like this was his way of telling her he respected her choices as a person. The idea made her practically swoon with glee.

"Thank you for everything, Christian," Kate said gratefully once they wrapped up the meeting. She and Christian stood up from their seats, and Ana had begun gathering up their papers and documents. "If everything goes according to plan, SIBP should be up and running in about two months with your help."

"I'm glad to be of service," Christian smiled politely, and he held out his hand for her to shake, which she did. "You guys have a good plan here - I look forward to see what you make of it."

"Me too," Kate grinned excitedly, hitching her bag up over her shoulder and grabbing her portfolio. She turned to Ana. "Ana, are you gonna be coming home with me or staying with Christian tonight?"

Ana opened her mouth to answer, but Christian spoke up before she could: "She's coming home with me," he said firmly to Kate, a small frown marring his features for some reason.

Ana looked at him and grimaced. "What, so I don't get a say?" she asked sardonically, though a small smile tugged at the corner of her lips. Christian glanced at her with a small smile too.

"I'm sorry, baby - what would you like to do?" he asked, raising an eyebrow at her. Ana giggled.

"Hm… well, I guess I could stay with you tonight," she said, pretending to sound reluctant. She took a step toward him and put her hands on her hips. "But you're cooking dinner."

Christian laughed, "Do you want to get food poisoning or something? Cause that's all you're gonna get if I'm cooking dinner."

"Well, maybe you just want to take care of me when I get sick?" Ana asked suggestively.

"Oh, I'll definitely take care of you, Ms. Steele," Christian practically growled, and Ana bit her lip suggestively.

"Get a room, you two," Kate finally spoke up, and Ana suddenly blinked, surprised - for a moment, she had forgotten anyone else was in the room with them. Kate was smiling at them though, so she didn't seem to be too uncomfortable.

"See you later, Ana," Kate said, turning to walk toward the door. "Goodbye, Christian - thanks again!"

"Bye," Ana and Christian waved goodbye to her as she left.

"I completely forgot she was even here," Christian said as soon as the door closed behind her. Ana couldn't help but laugh.

"Me too. We should really be more discreet about our love around other people," Ana said, and Christian moved forward to wrap his arms around her waist.

"Make me," he smirked before leaning down and capturing her lips with his own in a searing kiss. Ana kissed him back, smiling against his mouth.

"I was hoping to talk to you about something, though," Christian said after a moment, pulling away from her so that he gazed down into her eyes. He looked suddenly serious, and Ana blinked at him, surprised.

"What is it?"

Christian took a deep breath, glancing down at his hands, which were still holding onto Ana's waist. "I was hoping we could maybe start talking about you moving in with me to Escala?" He looked back up into her eyes. "I mean, I know that we've only been together for a few months, but I've been thinking about it a lot lately, and… I kind of want it to happen. Soon."

Ana stared at him, hardly able to believe her ears. He really wants me to move in with him?

"Really?" she finally asked after a moment.

"Yes, really," Christian said, looking earnestly at her. His eyes conveyed his sincerity. "I want you to move in with me - I love it whenever you stay over, I love waking up in the morning with you in my arms, and I would love it even more if I got to come home to you every single night. I've never felt this way about any other woman before in my life, and I honestly do feel like it's the right time for us to try to take that step."

Ana's cheeks went pink as she tried to hold back her smile. Christian was such a sweet, wonderful man, and she almost couldn't believe he used to act so cold and aloof to all of his past girlfriends. They all missed out on the beautiful soul inside.

"I'd love to move in with you, Christian," Ana said quietly, smiling up at him as he heart pounding loudly in her chest. This all felt so surreal, and she honestly hoped she wasn't dreaming.

Christian only stared at her for a moment, clearly stunned, before a huge smile suddenly broke out across his face. "Oh, Ana," he said, grinning happily. He immediately grasped her around the waist and spun her around in the air, burying his face into her collarbone, and Ana giggled excitedly, wrapping her arms around his neck and holding on tight.

"Christian - stop!" Ana laughed after a moment when he still hadn't put her down. "We need to establish some stuff first."

Christian finally placed Ana down onto her feet, though he kept his arms around her. "What do you mean?"

"Well… when exactly did you want me to move in with you?" Ana said, feeling a bit awkward asking that.

"Right away," Christian said immediately. "Now. Tonight. Taylor can get all your things for you at your place, and that way we don't have to waste any time."

Ana couldn't help but let out an incredulous laugh, surprised by his urgency. "Whoa - slow down! What's the rush? I mean, I do want to move in with you, but why so quickly?"

"Well, you agreed to live with me," Christian said, as if it were obvious. "Why wouldn't we just jump right in?"

"Well… there's Kate, for one thing," Ana explained. "I can't just leave her to pay a rent for a place she can't afford all by herself. She and I need to figure out money and my lease and all that stuff. Plus, I just wanna take some time to say goodbye to that place - it was the first apartment I ever paid for by myself, and it means a lot to me."

Christian looked a bit dejected, but he didn't argue any further. He probably figured she made some sense. "So… when do you think you could come move in with me?"

Ana glanced down at her hands, thinking. "Well, there's another thing I wanted to talk to you about…" she looked back up at him. "Kate said that we could get SIBP up and running in about two months…"

"What?" Christian said immediately, cutting her off. "You want to wait two whole months before we move in together? That's way too long!"

"It won't have to be two whole months," Ana said reassuringly. "I was thinking of leaving this job about two weeks before SIBP officially opened for business, and then when we're out in the open with our relationship, we can take that step together."

Christian still looked rather dejected. "But I still have to wait a month and a half for you to come live with me?"

Ana reached up and wrapped her arms around his neck. "It won't be that bad, baby. Kate and I are going to be kept pretty busy with everything - we still have a lot to sort out with the company before we open. Plus, I want to take some time to help Andrea find my replacement here before I leave."

Christian nodded reluctantly, grimacing. "I guess that makes sense. But after all's said and done, you'll still want to move in with me?"

"Absolutely," Ana said with a smile, and Christian beamed.

"I'll be counting down the days," he said before leaning in for a sweet kiss. "Forty-five," he whispered against her lips, and Ana giggled.

"I'll mark the date on your calendar," she said, and Christian laughed.

"I hope you do, Ms. Steele," he said. "I hope you do."

Just like Ana had predicted, the next several weeks practically flew by. Balancing her job at GEH as well as her work starting up SIBP with Kate was getting to be pretty overwhelming, but she knew it was only temporary. She was actually getting more and more excited for when she could finally leave GEH, start dating Christian openly, and begin working as a co-owner of a business instead of just a secretarial assistant. It was all starting to feel so close she could almost taste it.

Ana had begun reading up a lot more on the publishing industry, which was a lot more complicated than what her classes at WSU had previously taught her. In addition to setting up the SIBP website, she found herself having to reach out to local printers, vendors, writers and freelance editors to help out with the whole publication part of the company. It seriously sucked that she had no connections in the publishing world yet, but she figured if she just kept working at it, she would begin making a name for herself, at least in the Seattle area. Her best friend was the picture of perseverance, and so Ana felt confident she could do pretty much anything she set her mind to.

Incidentally, Kate had finally quit her temp job at the appraisal firm so she could put all of her time and effort into starting SIBP. That meant most of the work leading up to their store opening fell onto her, but Ana had to admit Kate was doing a pretty good job handling everything by herself. In two weeks, the contractors from Mezzanine Associates had come in and fixed up the bathrooms and kitchen at the store, which was just in time for when their first shipment of furniture and books came in. Kate managed everything very well, for which Ana was grateful, because that meant her managing the bookstore would be a breeze by comparison.

Ana had finally informed Andrea about her leaving GEH in a month and half, and the two of them had immediately begun searching for her replacement. That meant a ton of extra work between the two of them: they had sent out emails to all qualified candidates, reviewed resumes, did phone screenings, and set up a bunch of interviews. This whole thing was no easy task in addition to all the other work they had to do on a daily basis, and Ana suddenly didn't feel so surprised anymore that Andrea used to simply give the job away to someone with political connections. All of this extra work piled on to their regular work was simply exhausting.

Ana also had the unfortunate task of telling her work friends about her upcoming departure. It was during one of their usual lunch outings at the deli across the street from Grey House, and all of them seemed rather upset at the news - Dahlia most of all, since she and Ana had probably gotten the closest over her time at GEH. However, it was Josh who insisted they all send her off with a goodbye celebration:

"Come on, you can't just leave without all of us doing something together," Josh insisted. "We all need to hang out for a night, just the four of us, one last time."

"I'm busy pretty all the time," Ana grimaced. "Between work and starting up the store, I don't know when I would even find time to hang out with anybody."

"Well, can we at least throw you a goodbye party?" Dahlia asked, sounding hopeful.

"Andrea said she was working with HR to throw a party for me," Ana said. "But you guys could get involved if you want."

"Totally - I want it to be perfect for you," Dahlia insisted excitedly, and Ana couldn't help but smile at her.

"I'm not disappearing off the face of the earth, guys," she said. "I'll only be working down the road, about ten minutes away. You can come visit me any time you want, and I'll be over at GEH a lot because -"

Ana quickly cut herself off, before she revealed too much about her relationship with Christian.

"Because why?" Helena asked.

" …Because I'll miss you guys too much," she said, quickly saving face. "I wouldn't be able to stay away for too long."

Her friends all smiled and awwed, thankfully not noticing anything suspicious as they finished up their lunches, chatting easily about Ana's last days at GEH and her new job as an entrepreneur. She found it easy to talk about it with them, and she excitedly recounted everything she and Kate had planned out for when they were going to start up SIBP.

Pretty soon, the four of them finished up their lunches and began making their way back to Grey House. Dahlia and Helena walked side-by-side, leaving Ana to trail along behind them with Josh.

"So, one last shot..." he said, and Ana looked up at him, confused. "Do you want to go out for a drink with me?"

Ana smiled sadly at him and shook her head. "No."

"Darn," he said, grimacing slightly. His expression was good-humored, though. "Still seeing the choir boy, then?"

"Yes," Ana smiled, rolling her eyes. "And even if I wasn't… I still would be."

She hoped he understood what she meant, and thankfully he got the message. "Alright," he chuckled, raising his hands in surrender. "A guy can take a hint."

"Good."

Josh smiled at her. "Good luck with the whole bookstore publishing company, Ana. I know you'll do great."

"Thanks Josh," Ana smiled.

And with that, the two of them followed Dahlia and Helena back to Grey House, chatting amicably with one another while never breaching the subject of going out for drinks again. And Ana was happy with that.

~/~

Later that evening, the elevator to Escala dinged open, and Ana stepped into the foyer of the penthouse suite. She looked exhausted, and she felt even more so - the last few weeks had been exhausting, so much so that she and Christian had hardly been able to spend any time together outside of work. Tonight was the first night in weeks she had a chance to stay over, and needless to say, Ana was happy for an excuse to just stay in and relax with her man.

Running a company is hard work.

"There you are," Christian smiled, walking toward her from the kitchen. "You're late, I was starting to get worried."

He moved toward her, and Ana immediately wrapped her arms around his waist, nestling her face against his shirt collar and inhaling his clean, manly cologne. She closed her eyes, wanting to bathe in the scent.

Christian chuckled, wrapping his arms around her. "Tired, baby?"

Ana nodded against his chest before lifting her face up to look at him. "These last few weeks have been so exhausting - I don't know how you do this type of work all the time!"

"Practice. And delegating work to my employees."

Ana smirked and shook her head. "Figures," she murmured, and Christian smiled.

"Come on, baby," he said, taking her hands and tugging her toward the kitchen. "Let's have dinner. The sooner we eat, the sooner we can have a bath, and then afterward we can lay in bed and just watch TV. How's that sound?"

Ana smiled. After the hectic few weeks she just had, that sounded absolutely heavenly. "I knew there was a reason I loved you, Mr. Grey."

Christian smiled at her before letting go of her hands and gently cupping her face. He kissed her softly and sweetly on the lips, conveying his deep love and adoration for her.

"I love you too, Ms. Steele," he murmured, taking her hands once again. "Now allow me take care of you."

And she did.

A/N: Sorry this chapter was rather short, but I hope you liked it anyway! I know a lot of you don't want me to be ending this fic, but it was always going to come to this point :( I've been following the outline I wrote for this story since the beginning, and I'm not going to change it now. Rest assured, you won't be disappointed with the ending when it does eventually come :)

Please review! And if you want to follow my pinterest board for this story, the link is www dot pinterest dot com/strawpaj/inalienable-circumstances/