DISCLAIMER: Sebastian, Claude, plots and characters of FSOG, Beelzebub, or OHHC are not mine. The plot of this story and more than half the characters are mine!

Thanks so much to my awesome Beta, Ninkita.

PS: I don't know how real estate works ;)

PPS: I'm borrowing the Fredrik Eklund House in Connecticut. This story has no real event basis. Don't take it seriously.

Chapter 49:

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Six months had gone by since Ana's birthday. The vacation home Luis had bought in Connecticut took a lot more time to finish the whole process than he had anticipated. On top of that, it was a hurdle to coordinate all of their vacation time as all of them now had professional lives. Augustus and Alistair, Ana's twins, were now eight months old. Jayden, Andrea's baby, was now six months old. Finally they were at what both Ana and Andrea felt was a safe enough age to leave the kids with their grandparents for a whole week. Christian had bought two new companies and finally was able to breathe when both deals were done. Elliot also managed to finish his pending projects in time. Ryan had a hard time getting the much needed vacation time from the hospital he worked at. The same happened to everyone else. The timing was the problem. But finally, they all managed to coordinate their schedules and carve out the time for the vacation. Ana had chartered a private plane to take them all to Connecticut. Everyone was supposed to gather at the airport sharp at 8 am.

Christian and Ana were the first to arrive at the airport. Taylor got out of the car and started getting their bags out while the couple waited in the car. Ana rested her head on Christian's shoulder as a small smile graced her face.

"These last few months have been too hectic," she moaned tiredly.

"Yeah. This vacation is a welcome relief," Christian chuckled as his fingers brushed Ana's right side where he knew his mark rested. That year, on Valentine's Day, both Christian and Ana had gotten matching tattoos on their right sides with the holy ink Astriel gifted them for Christmas. His tattoo said 'Hers Forever' and her tattoo said 'His forever'. The tattoos were vertically placed and written in fine calligraphy. When Ana had expressed her desire to use the holy ink to do these tattoos, Christian had questioned her. That's when Ana explained to him that this ink was made in heaven, so placing a mark on someone's skin with it would be the ultimate form of protection. That was the reason Astriel had gifted them this ink.

"I love you," Christian said, dropping a kiss on her head.

Ana tilted her head up and smiled up at him. "I love you too, baby," she kissed his lips with a smile.

A knock on the window revealed that while they had been lost in themselves, their friends had arrived. With grins on their faces, Christian and Ana got out of the car and greeted their friends with hugs. It felt natural to Christian to hug everyone. Sometimes he wondered why he had let fear rule his life for so long, but then he consoled himself that at the end he got the happy ending.

"VACATION TIME!" the boys cheered happily. The girls grinned widely at the boys' antics.

"Come on guys! Let's get settled inside," Christian suggested, pointing at the plane.

"Good idea," Jace fist bumped with him before adding his bag in the loading pile.

Soon, everyone was on the plane and started settling down. The 5 hours 30 minute flight from Seattle to Connecticut was filled with chatter, laugher and lots of teasing. "I'm super excited to see your house. Though I hope it has enough room for all of us," Ashley teased Luis as she poked him from the side.

"Puh-lease! My vacation home is so big that we can invite 15 more people to stay with us," Luis said smugly before poking Ashley back.

"Have you stayed there overnight since you bought the house?" Alex inquired curiously.

"Not really. I've only seen the house during the daytime," Luis shrugged.

"Don't worry, guys. I'm sure we will thoroughly taint his new house," Ana teased from her place beside Christian. Christian had his face buried in Ana's hair so that no one could see he that he was snickering.

"Evil woman! I should just ask the pilot to turn the plane around," Luis huffed jokingly as he folded his arms over his chest.

Removing his face from Ana's hair, Christian asked, "Luis, just ignore this adorable woman. Tell us about the house. When was it built?"

"From what I heard…. The original house was built sometime around the 1690s for the mayor of the town, I think. Anyways…the house was burned or something… happened in 1695. The house was rebuilt in the 1730s. The owners of that house sold the house 6 months after buying it. It stayed empty for a few years… then it changed hands a few times before the house was taken down. It was nothing but an empty lot after that. Then around 1980 the plot was bought by a couple and they built another house. The couple stayed there for close to 30 years before selling the house in 2010 to a builder like many others in the area. The house was taken down and rebuilt again to be modernized in 2012 by the builder. I am the first owner after the modernization," Luis informed with a proud grin.

"1695?" Ana mused thoughtfully with a frown.

"What are you thinking about so deeply?" Rhea inquired.

"Nothing much, just… Hey Andy, what was the most significant event around the 1690s?" Ana asked

"Battle of the Boyne," Andrea answered simply.

Ana rolled her eyes at her friend. "…. in American history," she huffed.

"Um…. In 1690, King William's war started. In 1691, William Penn made Delaware a separate government from Pennsylvania, Maryland was declared a Royal province, and Plymouth Colony became part of Massachusetts. In 1692, William III ascended the throne, Pennsylvania was named a royal colony, and… of course the most tragic one. The Salem Witchcraft trials, where 20 persons were executed before the trials ended," Andrea told them, clearly excited that she still remembered everything she had learned in history lessons in college.

"Our own walking, talking history book," Jennifer said with a teasing smile.

"Please… if I hadn't memorized these things, some of you would've never passed," Andrea poked her tongue out at her friends.

"I'm not ashamed to say that I was one of those weak in history," Jax confessed with a chuckle. "I mean I still don't understand the importance of learning about things that happened centuries ago. How does that knowledge help us in our day to day life?" he grumbled.

"I agree, brother," Jace nodded in agreement.

"I agree with these two knucklehead too," Marie said with a shrug.

The stewardess arrived with champagne and cheesy breadsticks. Everyone took a flute and continued to chat as they sipped and nibbled on food.

By the time their plane landed in Bradley international airport, it was 2 pm. Christian had rented three large SUVs for the duration of their stay. After gathering their cars and deciding who will drive, everyone got inside the cars. It was decided that Luis's car would lead, even though he had put the address in the GPS of all three cars.

It took close to an hour to reach the house. It was a beautiful two-storey house, but it was huge in size, with a three car garage. They stopped in front of the house and stared at it mesmerized. Luis unlocked the door with a huge grin on his face as he pushed the door open.

"Welcome," he said proudly.

"Give me the keys. I'll park the cars. BOYS, TAKE THE BAGS INSIDE!" Alex ordered.

The boys took the bags inside the house while the girls got the grocery bags from the car and headed for the kitchen. They had stopped on their way to the house to get basic groceries as there would be nothing to eat at the house otherwise. They had bought meat, eggs, and veggies that would last at least 2 days.

"I'm so excited," Jennifer squealed. "It has been years since we went on a vacation last."

"Yeah….it was after we graduated from college when we last went on a vacation," Ana said with a smile. "Life has been so busy," she chuckled.

"Whoa! This. Is. Beautiful," Jennifer breathed out as they entered the kitchen. It was a lovely modern stainless steel kitchen with black marble countertops and white cabinets. The pantry was just off the kitchen and was absolutely empty.

"Thank God you suggested that we stop at the grocery store. There's absolutely nothing in this pantry," Marie said to Ana as she peeked at the pantry.

"Oh wow! They did an amazing job with this place," Elliot stated as he entered the kitchen and started looking around. "I'm really impressed."

"It is a beautiful house, isn't it?" Andrea smiled at her fiancé.

"It is," Elliot agreed.

Soon, everyone gathered in the kitchen and started discussing what to do first. Since they had just arrived after a long fight, everyone was tired and was in no mood to cook anything for lunch. Luis informed that he had the nearest pizza place and Chinese place's numbers, so they could order the food to be delivered. Everyone agreed with him. Andrea was the one who had urged them to buy water bottles along with paper plates, bowls, and glasses when they had gone grocery shopping. Everyone was happy that at least someone thought about it. Luis placed the food order after everyone decided what they wanted to eat.

"The food will be here in 30 minutes. Let me give you guys a tour and get the rooms assigned," Luis suggested.

There were 3 bedrooms on the first floor and 4 bedrooms on the second floor including the master bedroom. Each bedroom had their individual attached full baths. Luis had it arranged it that way because he knew that when his friends would stay over, sharing bathrooms would be out of the question. On the first floor, one bedroom was bigger than the other two and it was able to comfortably contain 3 single beds in it with space to move around. Luis assigned that room to Ashley, Marie, and Rhea. The second room was assigned to Jace and Jax; and the last room on the first floor was given to Ryan and Alex.

On the second floor, the first room was assigned to Christian and Ana. The room was really cozy with the window facing the lake. Elliot and Andrea were given the second room, Noah and Jennifer were given the third bedroom, and Luis and Owen were in the fourth bedroom.

Ana showered, while Christian checked his emails. He smiled at his wife as she got out of the bathroom. "You look beautiful, love," he said with a smile.

"Thank you, honey. I feel better now that I'm no longer smelling like the airport," Ana said, snickering. "Go and take a shower. I'll put your clothes out for you," she offered. With a nod, Christian closed the laptop and went to take a shower himself. Ana changed into a faded purple backless skater dress with grey low heeled espadrilles. She had blow-dried her hair in the bathroom, so she just curled the ends of her hair to style it. She applied light makeup and only wore medium size hoops and her wedding rings as accessories. Christian came out of the bathroom and changed into a pair of jeans and purple long sleeved polo shirt.

"Looking handsome," Ana commented with a smirk as she ogled her husband.

"Of course I am. Only the best for my wife," Christian joked, wrapping his arms around Ana and placing his lips against hers.

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In one of the bedrooms on the first floor, Ryan was taking a shower while Alex was waiting for his turn as he played games on his phone. He was really focused on the game so when the door made a creaking noise, he almost jumped out of his skin. After laughing at his over-reaction, he turned to look at the bedroom door and found that the door was closed. Alex frowned because he clearly remembered that the door had been left open on Ryan's request. Ryan was claustrophobic and couldn't stay in closed rooms, and all his friends knew that. That's why whoever shared the room with Ryan made sure that the door of the room was always left open.

Alex placed his phone on the bed and walked up to the door. Cautiously he opened the door and peeked out of the room. The hallway was empty. There was no one there. "Maybe it was just a breeze," he mumbled with a shrug. The sound of something falling on the floor made him turn around. He was shocked. His phone, which he had placed in the middle of the bed, was now on the floor. "What the hell?" he muttered.

"What happened?" Ryan inquired as he stepped out of the bathroom on hearing the sound of something falling. "Did you lose a game?" he asked with a smirk.

"I didn't throw it there," Alex stated as he knelt down and picked up his phone. Since it had a steel body, the phone was not broken.

"Maybe your phone is fed up with you, so he decided to try suicide," Ryan joked.

"Ha. Ha. Very funny," Alex said dryly. He placed his phone on the bed again and went to shower and change.

Ryan was tired from the flight, and he had just finished with an 80 hour rotation the day before. He hadn't got enough sleep, so he called out to Alex to wake him up when it was time to eat. It wasn't long before he fell asleep. Alex came out of the bathroom 10/12 minutes later and was surprised to find Ryan had disappeared from the bed. He frowned, before calling for Ryan. A muffled thump made Alex jump. Muttered profanities could be heard from under the bed. Curiously, Alex bent down and was startled to find Ryan under the bed, rubbing his forehead.

"What are you doing under there?" Alex asked, bewildered.

"What am I doing here? You're the one who placed me here," Ryan grumbled as he crawled out from under the bed.

"I did no such thing. In fact, I just came out from the shower," Alex exclaimed.

"Really?! Then how did I end up down there?" Ryan scowled at his friend.

"Ryan, I really didn't do it. I swear," Alex insisted.

"Guys…everything okay here?" Rhea inquired as she walked inside the room. "I heard arguments."

"Alex thought it would be funny to shove me under the bed while I napped," Ryan pouted.

"I swear I did not do it," Alex huffed.

"We're on vacation, guys. Take a chill pill," Rhea rolled her eyes at her friends' antics. "Luis texted me. The food is here," she informed. Both boys calmed down and headed for the living room where the others also started gathering.

"This house is beautiful, Luis. Does it have an attic?" Marie asked.

"Yeah. It's empty though. I had it cleaned before we arrived," Luis shrugged as he bit into his slice of pizza.

"Anyways, forget about the house. I know it's beautiful and all. Now, what should we do today? Can we play a game or something?" Owen asked.

"Let's binge watch some funny show. Everyone is tired from travelling. We can play games tomorrow. There is a lake behind the house. We can go swimming there," Luis offered.

"I think Luis is right. We all had to work until the last moment. Let's just rest today," Jennifer stated as she cuddled with Noah.

"Alright then. Rest it is. What should we watch though?" Owen asked.

"How about 'The Big Bang Theory'?" Ana suggested.

"Love it, but no. How about 'New Girl'?" Ashley suggested.

"Modern Family."

"How I Met Your Mother."

"Once Upon A Time."

"Young Sheldon."

"Raising Hope."

Everyone started throwing suggestions left and right. Finally, they settled on 'White Collar'. Owen went to the kitchen and got popcorn for everyone. They all took their places on the two sectionals. Some of them removed the coffee table from the middle and settled on the floor. Soon, everyone was so lost in the show that they didn't realize that a few extra pairs of eyes were watching them.

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It was after 6.30 pm when Owen went to the kitchen to prepare dinner for everyone. He started singing softly to himself as he placed the water to boil. He decided to make beef lasagna for dinner. He was lost in the familiar motions of cooking when he felt a cold breathe against his neck. It felt like someone was standing very close to him. Frowning, he placed the knife down and turned around. The kitchen was empty. He could hear everyone else was still in the living room watching the last episode of White Collar, season 1. Shaking his head, he went back to work on the food.

"Hey Owen, you need help?" Ana asked as she entered the kitchen with empty popcorn bowls.

"I've no idea what to make for dessert. Any ideas?" Owen inquired.

"We bought ice cream when we went grocery shopping. Why don't we have that as dessert?" Ana suggested as she started making more popcorn.

"Not a bad idea. You know what? I would like to make some fancy food for everyone, so we'll need to go to the grocery store tomorrow. After all, we just bought the basics, right?"

"Yeah. Sounds good, Chef Owen. Why don't you make a list? You and I can go tomorrow and get the stuff," Ana suggested.

"Great idea."

When the popcorn was done, Ana left with the bowls. Owen didn't notice that Ana had left, so he continued to talk. "So, how's my niece? She goes to pre-school now, doesn't she?" he asked without turning. He didn't get any answer from Ana, but he could hear her breathing. "I bet she has some amusing stories to share," he laughed. When he still didn't get any answers, he turned around. He only saw that there was some female-shaped black smoke right behind him. He gasped loudly as he was not expecting that, when the smoke disappeared. He placed his hand over his fast beating heart and kept panting.

"Everyone is ruining their dinner with popcorn, but it's no fun watching shows without popcorn," Ana re-entered the kitchen only to find Owen with a shocked look on his face. "Owen, are you okay? What's wrong?" she placed her hand on his shoulder causing him to jump. "Hey. It's me. It's okay. Calm down. What's going on?" Ana asked as her maternal instincts rose.

"Huh…I saw something strange," Owen muttered absentmindedly as he looked around the kitchen.

"Saw what?"

"I didn't notice when you left, so…. I kept talking. I could hear someone breathing. I thought you were still here. When I turned around… I saw a smoke figure… right behind me," he said, fear evident in his eyes.

"Owen, honey… maybe you're exhausted and your brain is playing games with you," Ana suggested because she wanted to give her friend a scientific explanation.

"Ana, I swear I'm telling the truth. I saw a smoke figure here," Owen insisted.

"Okay I believe you. How about we wait and see if you see this figure again, then we can take some action. I'll also help you with the dinner, okay?" Ana offered.

"Yeah… Thanks Ana," Owen sighed in relief. They worked side by side in silence and soon the lasagna was ready to be put in the oven. Ana started washing the used utensils when Owen left the kitchen. Pausing what she was doing, Ana turned around to see Owen's retreating figure.

"Did he really see something?" Ana asked herself before shaking her head and going back to work.

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By the time, they finished watching the 4th season of White Collar, it was 10 pm. They had had their dinner in front of the TV. Everyone decided to stop watching the show for now and to chat. They spent the next hour and half chatting about funny things that happened in their work places.

"Trust me… I've never been THAT bored in a meeting before," Luis said rolling his eyes. "So, I spent the whole two hours making paper planes under the table," he started snickering.

"I wonder what your assistant thought when she had to clean that up," Andrea said, smirking at her friend.

"The other day, a patient came. She had her young son with her. When the doctor was giving her a physical exam, the kid ran out of the room. I had to spend the next three hours looking for that kid," Ryan rolled his eyes. "When I finally returned the kid to his mom, he said that he was just checking what kinds of diseases a hospital has," he stated dryly causing everyone to laugh.

"I recently bought two new companies and one of those companies was causing more trouble than necessary. The CEO was a greedy asshole. Every meeting with that guy was tense. I had to physically stop my COO from hitting him. One day, Hope arrived at the office from her school to surprise me," Christian said with an amused smile on his face. "Andrea told her that I was in a meeting and she didn't know for how long. So, my Princess decided that she wanted to keep me company. How she knew which conference room we were in, I've no idea, but she opened the door and said, 'Sorry I'm late,' like she was supposed to be there."

"Yeah…she insisted that I tell her where you were otherwise she would flood our floor…again," Andrea informed with a smirk.

"So, she dragged an empty chair to my side and sat down. She took the presentation file and started turning the pages. Thinking that she would busy herself, I tried to concentrate on the meeting. Suddenly, she was like, 'mmhmm' every few second as she looked at the file. It was the cutest thing ever. The CEO of that company almost melted on the spot," Christian snickered.

"Remember she used to apply her baby makeup on our faces before announcing 'cute' in her baby babble," Jace stated with a fond smile.

"Yeah. Remember the white dress I got her from Italy? She used wear that dress every time I visited to show me," Jax said with a smile.

"I wonder if she is as cute in her classes as well," Jennifer wondered.

"Um…. My daughter is….an unique piece. She told her classmate that humanitarians eat humans like vegetarians eat vegetables," Ana stated dryly, causing everyone to burst into laughter.

"You know I forgot to tell you about this. One day I asked her what she learned in school that day. She replied 'dragons'. I was a little confused, so I asked, 'your class learned about dragons?' She replied, 'I was learning about dragons. I don't know what the others were doing,'" Christian said, chuckling.

"Damn! That girl is awesome," Alex grinned.

"Okay, let's focus here for a moment. What's our plan for tomorrow?"

"How about a cook out?" Jace suggested. "There's a beautiful lake behind the house, we can go swimming, play some sports, get some sun. We should take photos too. This place is too beautiful."

"I agree with Jace," Noah raised his hand. Soon, everyone agreed with the plan.

"Ana and I will need to go to the grocery store tomorrow morning first. We only got the basics covered. If I'm cooking, I'll need ingredients for that," Owen spoke up.

"Great. You can get the stuff for our cookout too," Jennifer pointed out.

"Um… guys, all that is good, but I don't think I have a barbeque stove in this house," Luis informed sheepishly.

"Christian and I can go to the nearest Target to get one," Jax offered, "If it's alright with you, Christian."

"Yeah, I'm good with that plan," Christian nodded.

"Great. So, we're spending the day at the lake side tomorrow. Hey, don't forget to get marshmallows," Marie insisted with a grin.

"It's 11.45 pm, guys. Let's go to sleep," Elliot suggested yawning loudly. Everyone agreed with Elliot and retired to their rooms.

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Noah came out of the shower to find Jennifer standing by the window. With a smile, Noah threw the towel on the bed and approached his wife. With a smile he wrapped his arms around Jennifer. "Mmmm, I'm really glad we came here. We've been too busy at work to spend time with each other," he stated nuzzling his nose against her hair.

"Noah! What are you doing?" Jennifer's familiar voice called him…from behind.

Noah pulled back with a frown, wondering, 'Why is Jennifer's voice coming from behind me?'

"NOAH!?" Jennifer's angry tone made him turn around. Noah couldn't stop the gasp that escaped him. There she was…his wife…standing by the bedroom door with a water bottle in her hand.

"How?! What?!" Noah started stuttering.

"Honey, are you okay? What's going on?" Jennifer placed the water bottle on the bedside table and came to her husband. Holding his face in her hands, she asked, "What's going on, Noah?"

"I… I just came out of the shower. You… you were standing here… by the window. I hugged you from behind and then….you called me…from behind me," he managed to inform her as he pointed at the empty space by the window.

"Honey, I think you're too tired from the travel and that's why you're imagining things. Let's go to sleep. You'll feel better in the morning," Jennifer tried to console her husband.

"No, Jenny… I'm telling you the truth… I swear," Noah was sweating excessively and he felt like his heart was going to burst out of his chest.

"Noah, I believe you. Calm down, baby. Sit here," Jennifer pushed him down on the bed and got the water bottle. "Here, drink this," she handed him the bottle. After consoling him for another few minutes, Jennifer managed to get Noah in the bed.

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Suddenly, a realization dawned on Christian. He wanted to have another baby. The thought came to him in the middle of that night. He sat up on the bed so fast that he almost knocked Ana off of the bed. He loved pregnant Ana. She was adorable. He wanted to have her that way again. Christian nudged Ana until she sleepily opened her eyes to look at him.

"What's up?" Ana asked as she stared up at him curiously. "You ok, baby?"

He nodded his head before he blurted out, "I think we should have another baby."

She sat up slowly and stared at him, her hand dropping to the side as she finally squinted a bit at the clock on the wall. It was 2.15 am. "Right now?"

Christian stared back at her blankly, before he started to fidget. "Well… not this exact second," he muttered.

Ana merely nodded at him without giving him an answer. Christian could see that she was half asleep. She moved to lie down again. Christian swallowed, reaching for her hand. "I love you," he told her, and he felt like someone had cracked open his chest.

Ana pulled him down to lie on the bed again before she moved towards him. She brushed her hair out of her eyes before placed soft kisses on his lips. "I know. I love you too, Christian. Now…. Please go back to sleep."

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A/N: So…. Can you guess what's going on with this house? Let me know in a review. J