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'm borrowing the Fredrik Eklund House in Connecticut. This story has no real event basis. Don't take it seriously.
{Not sure if American jails have jailers or not. Google search didn't help. But my country does}
Chapter 50:
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Christian woke up around 5 am the next morning as he wanted to go jogging. He recalled his behavior from last night and winced. "Why do I always act like a spaz whenever I want to get Ana pregnant?" he muttered to himself.
"Mmm… What are you muttering now?" Ana asked in a sleepily voice, as she squinted at him from under the blanket.
"N-nothing. Just thinking about going for a run. You wanna join me?"
"Not today, baby. I wanna sleep in for a few more hours. I'll join you tomorrow," Ana pouted before hiding under the blanket.
Christian smirked at her behavior before leaving the bed. He changed into a pair of track pants, a t shirt and a pair of running shoes. He took his iPod and phone and left after dropping a kiss on her forehead. He got out the back of the house and decided that he would run around the lake. It was a huge lake, so he calculated that two trips around the lake should be enough exercise for the day. He pulled on his headphones and started his exercise playlist. Christian started running after he was done stretching his muscles. It took him close to 15 minutes to reach the other side of the lake. Glancing back at the house, something caught his eye. He saw someone standing at the attic window. He stopped in his tracks as he tried to see who it could be, but he was too far to see anything clearly. He just saw a human shaped something. Deciding that he wanted to see it from closer proximity, he started running around the lake towards the house. When he finally reached closer to the house, he saw that person move away from the window. Christian frowned, thinking maybe it was someone from the house… though why someone would go into the attic this early in the morning was a mystery to him. Shaking his head, he continued his morning run.
Events from the night before echoed through his head. He didn't even know whether he was ready for another baby, and he had already asked Ana for it. Christian noticed a pattern. Every time his caveman instincts whispered in his ears that he needed to give his mate a baby, he reacted before thinking. His wife had to be a saint to endure his crazy urges. He laughed as he recalled Ana's reaction to having another baby. "God! I love that woman!" Christian muttered with a grin.
.
Ashley, Marie, and Rhea were sharing a room on the first floor. Ashley and Rhea's beds were placed side by side while Marie's bed was facing their beds. Ashley and Rhea were late risers; Marie on the other hand was an early riser. She woke up around 6 am. Stretching her limbs, she turned to her side to face Ashley and Rhea's bed and gasped. She saw that a smoke figure was standing in the space between their beds. "What the fuck!?" Marie exclaimed loudly as she scrambled up on her bed.
Hearing the commotion, Ashley and Rhea woke up and gave Marie a puzzled look. "Marie? What's wrong?" they asked.
"Th-that figure…" Marie panted as she pointed towards the figure.
Ashley and Rhea looked at the direction Marie was pointing but they saw nothing there. "There's nothing, Marie. I think it was a bad dream," Ashley said softly as she climbed down from the bed and approached her panicked friend.
"Bu-but…" Marie stuttered as she saw the figure vanish into thin air.
"Okay. I think…something is wrong here. Yesterday Alex and Ryan were talking about something strange happening in their room as well," Rhea said worriedly.
"Okay, let's get dressed and get out of here. We can make breakfast for everyone," Ashley suggested. Both Marie and Rhea agreed. They showered and changed into jeans shorts with different kinds of crop tops.
The girls decided on chocolate pancakes and started gathering the necessary ingredients. Christian returned from his run and found the girls in the kitchen making breakfast when he went to the kitchen to get some cold water.
"Good morning, ladies," he greeted with a warm smile.
"Good morning, Christian. You do remember that you're on vacation, right?" Ashley asked with a teasing smile.
"So?"
"Vacation means no exercise," Marie stated with a decisive nod.
"I would agree with you… but my trainer would kick my ass when we return," Christian said, rolling his eyes.
"My trainer will do the same but I've decided to work out a little more when we get back. There's no way in hell I'm working out on vacation," Rhea stated with a smirk. Laughing, Christian waved at them and headed for his room.
.
Around 7 am everyone gathered in the dining room. Most of them were still sleepy. "Why did you wake us so early?" Luis demanded as he rubbed his eyes sleepily.
"We're on vacation. We should get to sleep late," whined Ryan.
"Sorry, guys. But we woke up early and couldn't go back to sleep, so we decided to wake you early too," Ashley announced mischievously.
"Please let me kill her," Jennifer said dryly as she squinted at her friends.
"I'll help," Andrea offered.
"Don't be mean, guys. There was something in our room that scared us and we didn't want to go back there," Marie blurted out, huffing.
"What do you mean?" Luis asked seriously.
"When I woke up today… I saw a s-smoke figure standing between Ashley and Rhea's beds," Marie informed hesitantly. She wasn't sure if her friends would believe her.
"Smoke figure?! I saw one in the kitchen last night too," Owen added as he recalled the event.
"Something is definitely strange here. Yesterday when we went to change and rest a bit, my phone fell on the floor but I had left it in the middle of the bed. Then, Ryan was shoved under the bed when he went to take a nap," Alex told them.
"Um…. I don't know if it's strange… but when I was jogging out this morning…. I saw someone standing in the attic window," Christian informed. "I thought maybe it was someone from the house, though it was strange. Why would someone be in the attic at 5.30 am?" he added with a shrug.
"Maybe this house is haunted?" Jace suggested.
"By what? Didn't you hear Luis say that he's the first owner after this house was re-done? Before him, a couple stayed here for 30 years. If it was haunted, they would've reported it," Jax said logically.
"I agree with Jax. There's no such thing as ghosts. I think there might be some type of gas or electric charge that's causing all of you to have delusions," Elliot stated firmly. He never believed in anything supernatural…. especially after the incident on the island where he got spooked by fake bones.
"Guys, how about this? If this …um…entity is only standing or just being visual, but not harming anyone, I think we should just ignore it. It'll get bored and leave everyone alone," Ana suggested. Everyone looked at each other before nodding their heads in agreement. "Now, we have a cook-out to prepare for. It's only 7.15. Let's watch a movie or take a nap for now. We can head out to the stores around 9 am. Sounds good?"
"Yeah," answered everyone.
After breakfast some stayed in the living room to watch a movie, while others went back to their rooms. Christian needed to check his emails, so he went to the room. Ana followed a few minutes later after she was done helping with the dishes. Climbing on the bed, she snuggled against Christian who was working on his laptop. Looking down at her with a smile, Christian went back to work. Ana had fallen asleep minutes after that.
She suddenly found herself in a dark corridor. Wondering what she was doing there, she started walking ahead. The silence and darkness around her created an eerie environment. All of a sudden, she heard some voices, and one of them seemed to be pleading. It was a woman. Ana followed the voices and soon, she could hear clearly. A man was accusing a woman of being a witch and the woman was crying and pleading, telling him that he was wrong. Ana tried to find the people, but no matter how much she tried, she just couldn't find them.
Christian had just finished working on his emails for the day when he noticed that Ana was thrashing restlessly in her sleep. He stared at her with a frown for a minute before he shook her. Ana startled out of her sleep, gasping loudly. It took her brain a few seconds to catch up with her.
"Are you okay?" Christian asked curiously as he handed her a glass of water.
Sitting up, Ana took the glass and nodded. She was still panting as her heart was still beating fast. "Weird dream," she said after taking a sip.
"We should maybe… get dressed for the day. It's 8.30 am already," Christian informed pointing at the wall clock.
With a nod, Ana washed her face and changed into a pair of denim shorts and a floral crop top with nude strappy low heeled shoes. Christian also changed out of his sweat pants and changed into a pair of low rise skinny jeans and red t-shirt. Taking their phones and wallets, they headed downstairs.
Jax was already in the living room, flipping through the channels with a bored expression. He was wearing a pair of ripped denim jeans with sleeveless black t-shirt that showed off the tattoos on his forearms. "Hey, ready to go?" he asked Christian.
"Yeah, man. Where's Owen?" Christian inquired.
"He's in the kitchen, making a list or something," Jax shrugged.
"Shall we go then… or are we waiting for him?" Christian inquired.
"No. You and Jax are going to Target. Ana and I will go to the farmer's market first, and then to the local grocery store," Owen informed as he joined them.
"We're taking two cars then, huh?" Jax asked.
"Sounds like a plan. Let's go guys," Ana insisted. "We've tons of things to do."
.
.
.
Reaching Target, both men headed for the barbeque section. After differentiating between four different designs of barbeque stoves, they finally decide on a huge one. It was easy to use but had fancy systems as well. Jax was talking to the shop worker when Christian's eyes fell on the backyard furniture section. Walking up to the section, he started looking at different kinds of tables and chairs when he recalled that Luis's house didn't have any furniture outside. They would have to sit on the grass during the cook-out. Disliking the idea of sitting on the grass, Christian pulled out his phone and called Luis.
"Hey, Chris. Did you guys find the stove?" Luis asked.
"Yeah. Hey listen, there's no furniture in your backyard. I was looking at some furniture here. Would you mind if I get some benches or stuff for your backyard? It'd be helpful during the cook-out," Christian explained.
"Oh yeah. I didn't even think about it. Sure, get whatever you want. Just make sure to get something with shade… maybe."
"Sure. See you later," with that Christian hung up. After looking at many different options, he finally decided on a 60" round wooden picnic table set with 5 benches.
"Hey, what're you doing here? I was waiting for you at the cash counter," Jax stated as he finally found his shopping buddy.
"I was looking at some backyard furniture. I called Luis; he said we could get some. I found this table," Christian said pointing at the table, "What do you think?"
"That's an interesting table…. very functional. Look! It also has a hole for those huge umbrellas," Jax pointed out excitedly.
"Luis did say to get shades for the tables," Christian mused.
"I saw some umbrellas over there. Let's get this table and I'll get the umbrellas. Two large patio umbrellas will work wonderfully."
"That's good… but this table sits only 10 people and we're 15 in total," Christian pointed out.
"Maybe… Maybe we can get 3 extra matching benches… or a smaller table. What do you think?" Jax asked confused.
"No. Separate table… I don't like it. I think extra benches would be better."
"Okay. You talk to that shop worker, while I go and get those patio umbrellas," Jax waved and headed in the opposite direction.
Christian waved at the shop worker and told him about his requirements. The shop worker nodded and went at the back to get the stuff they needed. Christian went to the cash counter and waited for the worker and Jax. Jax returned first with the umbrellas. The worker arrived with the table and 8 benches. They paid for their purchases and headed out after being assured that the table and benches would be delivered in 20 minutes.
They headed to the liquor store next. Jax and Christian separated inside the store. Christian got a case of 2010 Leoville Las red wine that held 8 bottles in it. Jax on the other hand got 2 large Heineken beer cases that held 24 bottles each. They paid for their loot and headed home.
.
Ana and Owen headed to the local farmer's market first. They spent an hour there getting fresh vegetables, spices, and lots of fruits. Then they headed to the local grocery store where they bought hotdogs buns, buns for burgers, meat for burgers and hotdogs, charcoal for the stove, more paper plates, disposable paper glasses, ice, and so on. By the time they returned, it was 11 am already. Leaving Owen in the kitchen to put the perishables away, Ana headed out to the backyard. She saw that the others had cleaned the place before setting a large round picnic table with two huge patio umbrellas. They set 8 benches around the table very neatly. They had also set up the barbeque stove. When she stepped closer, she noticed that Christian and Jax had sheepish looks on their faces while the others were laughing at them.
"Hey, what's the joke? I wanna know," Ana pouted.
"Your husband and Jax went to buy barbeque stove. They did buy it, but they forgot to buy charcoal," Jace managed to spit out between his snickers. Others nodded in agreement.
"We… kind of didn't think of it… at all," Christian shrugged at his wife.
Giggling at their expression, Ana assured, "Don't worry. We got the charcoal. So…. I was thinking that today's menu should consist of…. hot dogs, hamburgers, coleslaw, baked bean, and potato salad. For dessert, I was thinking… sweet ice tea and ice cream sandwiches. What do you think?"
"I like it. Hey… we can each make one item of the food. That way everyone can participate in games and only one person won't be stuck doing all the cooking," Andrea pointed out.
"Great idea, Andy! Let's do this, guys," Noah cheered, causing everyone to nod in agreement.
Ana joined her husband and wrapped her arms around his waist. "Hi, baby," she whispered looking up.
"Hi, love. How was the shopping trip?" Christian asked as he wrapped one arm around Ana and tucked her hair behind her ear with another.
"Yeah, it was a success. Owen found everything he wanted for some fancy dinner he wanted to make for us," she snickered. "How was your trip?" she asked with a smirk as she knew that whenever Christian went to a store himself, he tended to turn into a curious kid and ended up buying loads of unnecessary things.
Rolling his eyes as he knew what she was thinking, he replied with a pout, "I'm not THAT bad. The trip was good. I bought that table and benches. Luis didn't have any."
"Aww… that's amazing, baby. So… you just bought the stove and table? Nothing else?" Ana teased. Growling, he started tickling her mercilessly. Her peals of laughter echoed through the backyard causing the others to look at them and smile at the couple.
Owen came out the back door with the ingredients for the food. Marie ran up to him and informed what they had decided. He agreed with the arrangement. "So… did you guys decide yet who is going to make what?" Owen asked.
"I'm making the coleslaw," Ashley said.
"I'll do hot dogs and burgers," Jace said.
"I'll do the baked beans," Rhea said.
"I'll make the potato salad," Noah said.
"I'll make the ice cream sandwiches then," Owen said with a nod.
"I'll make sweet ice tea," Ana said.
"Great. Now, let's cut, mix, and wash whatever we need so that when we start playing games everyone can participate equally," Owen stated taking the lead.
"Sure." Those who had agreed to cook started helping him prepare everything.
The others, who were not cooking, gathered around and started thinking what games they would like to play. "Football is a must. We should play it after all the food is done. Everyone can take part that way," Luis pointed out.
"How about 'tug of war'?" Ryan suggested.
"Whoa… that would be sick. Hell yeah. Let's play that," Alex grinned widely.
"What else?" Luis asked.
"Sack race. I brought the sacks for this game," Marie said excitedly.
"What's a sack race?" Christian asked innocently.
"You're to place both of your legs inside a sack which will reach up to your waist and hop forward from the starting point towards the finish line. The first person to cross the finish line is the winner of the race," Marie explained.
"That sounds fun," Elliot beamed.
"Okay… next," Luis asked.
"3 legged race," Andrea suggested with a sweet smile.
"Yeah. That's a good one," Jax nodded excitedly.
Half an hour later, the food preparations were done. Rhea decided to start first with her baked beans, while the others started getting ready to play tug of war. Without Rhea there, the number of persons was an even 14. Luis drew a line on the middle of the ground, before tying a red thread in the middle of the rope. Handling one end to one team, he kept the other end, while his team joined behind him. Each team had a mix of girls and boys, 7 in total. They named the teams, Teams A and Team B. The members of Team A were Ana, Christian, Alex, Jennifer, Jace, Ryan, and Marie. The members of Team B were Elliot, Andrea, Jax, Ashley, Noah, Luis, and Owen. They set Alex's camcorder on a tripod to record the game.
Rhea whistled to start the game and it started with a bang. Both teams were using their full force. Each team member dug their feet in the ground to get more leverage as they pulled and pulled. After 3 minutes of intense pulling, team A won. Team B couldn't figure out how Team A had won, as Team B had more men than them. Christian on the other hand knew that his Ana had more physical strength than an average human being. He gathered his wife in his arms and kissed her breathless.
"I think there's been cheating," Noah whined as he stomped his feet. Elliot nodded in agreement.
"No, man. We won fare and square. Watch this," Alex stated smugly as he reviewed the recording. Both teams gathered around him and found that he was right. Noah and Elliot still moaned and groaned about it.
Owen went to check on Rhea and sent her to join the others. This time it was decided to have a game of girls vs. boys. Owen stayed in the make-shift kitchen area. Owen blew the whistle and the game of a brutal tug of war started. The girls used all their strength as did the boys. Since Ana was on the girls' team, the girls managed to pull the boys over the middle line along with the rope. Most of the boys fell on top of the girls, making them squeal.
"Move, you heavy baboon," Jennifer pushed Alex off of her, giggling.
"How in the hell did we lose?" Elliot asked in disbelief.
"Oh man! This happens whenever we play girls vs. boys. Somehow the girls always win. That's the reason we had mixed girls and boys in the first game," Ryan informed, getting off of Ashley.
"I wonder why," Christian whispered with a mischievous smile as he placed a kiss on Ana's nose.
Ana giggled and nodded, "Yeah… wonder why that happens… every time," and she wrapped her arms around her husband's neck.
"You're in public, guys," Jace sang with a teasing smile.
"Really? We didn't know," Christian replied before kissing his wife deeply.
"Mmmm… I love you, baby," Ana grinned up at him after they pulled apart.
"You're my sun. The reason for my existence," Christian stated matter-of-factly as he got up and pulled Ana up from the ground.
"Aww… why can't you say such romantic things?" Jennifer whined poking her husband, Noah's side.
"Damn… he's good," Jace stated, impressed.
.
After another 3 rounds of tug of war, they decided to take a small break. Noah started making his potato salad while Owen made the ice cream sandwiches to keep in the cooler for later. Ana made and served the sweet ice tea to everyone as they chatted about different things in their lives. Christian learned that Jace was born in a jail.
"Wait…Jail?! What?!" the Grey brothers exclaimed, shocked.
Jace smirked at their reaction. "Don't look so excited. My mom wasn't an inmate or anything. My dad was a jailer…. You know, the head of the prison staff. So, he was on duty for 76 hours straight and my mom was missing him terribly. So, mother dear decided to visit him in jail… never mind that she was 39 weeks pregnant. Anyways, she surprised him, they had dinner that she brought with her and when it was time for her to go back home, her labor started. There was a storm going on outside that day. So, my dad couldn't drive her to the hospital and prison staff wasn't in any way knowledgeable about delivery. My dad called 911. He only managed to inform them that there was an emergency in the jail before the connection was gone due to bad weather. As you can imagine… it caused a huge chaos as they only knew that there was an emergency in the jail. FBA, SWAT, local police, fire department, and paramedics showed up at the same time," Jace smirked sipping his sweet tea. "Clearing that confusion took more than 4 hours. My mom gave birth to me in the jail with the help of the paramedics," he finished with a shrug.
"Holy hell!" Elliot breathed out; his eyes wide in shock.
"Enough of this. Let's play '3 legged race' now. If we take turns, then everyone will be able to play," Rhea pointed out.
"Hey guys… I was thinking…. Since some of us think this house is haunted, don't you think, it would be awesome to play 'hide n seek' at midnight?" Jax said with a smirk.
"3 legged race sounds good for now. And Jax, yes to the 'hide n seek'…. But I have a condition," Andrea stated with her hands on her hips.
"What?" Jax asked warily.
"Karaoke… this evening before dinner. We'll play hide n seek after dinner," Andrea smirked.
"Damn it, Andy! Karaoke?!" Jax whined.
"I like it," Ana stated, throwing a teasing smile at Jax and giving a high five to Andrea.
"You awful, awful, witch! Okay," Jax grumbled.
"You know you never win with these two. Why do you bother?" Jace pointed out with a shake of his head.
"Race, guys! Come on!" Rhea shouted jumping up and down.
"Let's go before she ends up shouting again," Luis stated, getting up from the bench.
They set the camcorder to record again. Deciding that 3 pairs would play at one time, the others left to either to cheer the participants or cook the food. For the first round, they decided to pair up the couples. So, Christian and Ana; Elliot and Andrea; Jennifer and Noah were the first ones on the starting line with their legs strapped together. Jace, who was cooking the hot dogs and hamburgers, whistled and the race started. With arms wrapped around each other, every couple tried their best as they started running. Elliot and Andrea stumbled and fell, but they got up fast and started running again. Ana's leg got wrapped around Christian's causing him to fall forward. Ana pulled him up and they ran again. In the end, Jennifer and Noah won that race.
For the second round, they decided to pair up the ones sharing the same room. So, Marie and Rhea; Luis and Owen; Ryan and Alex were the second ones on the starting line. Ashley had joined Jace to start making coleslaw for lunch. As Jace whistled, the participants started running. Ryan and Alex stumbled and fell. They tried to get up but they kept of stumbling over each other's legs and kept falling down. The others, who were watching the race, started laughed their asses off at these two's misfortune. Marie and Rhea almost reached the finished line when they fell, but they got up and started running again. Luis and Owen kept a steady speed and won the race.
For the third round, Jace and Jax, Ashley and Andrea stood at the starting point, while Owen took Jace's place in the kitchen. This race was brutal. There was no 'three legged race' in the past that the pair of Andrea and Ashley had not won. On the other hand, Jace and Jax were soul brothers. They could copy each other's moves like shadows. So it was a really close call, and they had to look at the recording to find out who won. It was Andrea and Ashley, who won by 3 seconds. After all the running, everyone was hungry.
Everyone took their seats at the table under the patio umbrellas. Ana, Christian, and Noah started helping Owen to bring the food to the table. Jennifer and Jace started bring out the beer from the cooler. Once the food was on the table, everyone sat down and started serving themselves. As everyone was busy eating and drinking in the backyard, no one noticed the eyes that watched them from the attic.
.
After lunch, everyone took a little rest. They spread blankets on the grass and set the patio umbrellas for shade. Soon everyone lay down side by side on the line of blankets, and stared at the sky. "That cloud looks like a llama," Alex stated pointed towards the sky.
"It looks more like a giraffe," Andrea disagreed.
"That one looks like a chicken roast," Jax said with a grin.
"Yeah… it does actually look like that," Christian stated with shake of his head. He turned to his right where Ana was. He found that his wife had a small smile on her lips and her eyes closed as she snuggled against him. He smiled down at his sleeping wife and placed a kiss on her forehead. He went back to watching the clouds as he started daydreaming.
After resting for one hour, everyone got up and started preparing for the next game. "What game are we playing now?" Christian asked.
"Sack race. We can play football next," Ana stated grinning excitedly.
"Sack race it is then," Ryan said with a smile. "Okay …since we're 15, each round will have 5 participants. The winners of those three rounds will take part in another race and the winner of that race will be the main winner of this game. All agreed?"
"Agreed," chorused everyone present.
Andrea, Noah, Marie, Luis, and Ryan were the participants of the first round. Owen whistled and the participants started hopping towards the finish line. Noah fell and started rolling around on the grass as he tried to get up. Marie was the one who fell next because her feet got tangled. It was a really close all between Andrea, Luis, and Ryan, but they were only two hops away from the finish line when Luis and Ryan bumped into each other and fell. Andrea won the race.
Ana, Elliot, Jax, Alex, and Jennifer were the participants of the second round. When Owen whistled, the participants started running. Ana and Elliot bumped into each other and fell hard. They started laughing so hard that they couldn't get up again. The rest of the participants did manage to hop to the finish line without any mishaps. Jax won that race.
Christian, Ashley, Owen, Rhea, and Jace were the participants of the third round. Christian had never played this game, nor had he ever watched anyone play it before today. So, he was rather excited to play it. He had taken notes on every participant who took part in the last two races and was eager to try the method he formulated in his head. As the whistle was blown, all the participants started hopping. Christian kept a steady pace and made sure to stay a little far away from others. Owen and Rhea bumped into each other because one was looking down at her feet while the other was staring hard at the finish line. They fell and started cussing one another. Jace was almost to the finish line when he saw someone standing in the attic window. He stopped short in place as he stared back. Christian won the race by a few seconds against Ashley.
"Why did you stop, dude? You would've won," Christian asked Jace, puzzled.
"The being….ghost or whatever… was observing us," Jace informed everyone seriously, "I saw it standing by the attic window," he added.
"Maybe they were just enjoying the games like we were. Forget about that. I think we should just ignore them as Ana suggested… until they bother us, of course," Jax said patting his step brother's back.
Andrea bit her lower lip worriedly and turned to say something to Ana, when she noticed the silent conversation between Ana and Christian. Andrea frowned, but then shook her head. It was none of her business what the couple discussed between them. "Let's find out who the ultimate winner is, shall we?" Ana exclaimed, diverting everyone's attention. Andrea noticed this fact and frowned a little.
Andrea, Jax, and Christian went to stand on the starting point as others gathered around them. Andrea happened to glance at Christian when she noticed him giving Ana a nod. She saw that Ana stepped away from their friends and headed towards the house… alone. Before Andrea could react, the whistle was blown. She could hardly concentrate on the race with her best friend going inside the haunted house alone.
Christian was also distracted. Even though he knew that his wife was more powerful than a normal human being, he still couldn't help but feel protective about her. Sending her inside the supposed haunted house was not something he wanted to do, but Ana insisted on going inside to investigate. That was another thing they had recently discovered. They could have an entire conversation through their minds if Ana tried hard enough. As Andrea and Christian were not really into the game, Jax won the race.
.
.
.
Ana entered the house through the back door. Determined to find what was causing all this panic in her friends, she searched each nook and cranny of the house, but she came up empty handed. She was about to join the others in the backyard when she realized that she hadn't checked the attic. Excited, she ran up the top floor. The attic door was at the second floor hallway. According to Luis, the door opened to a flight of stairs that led to the attic. He did tell them that he had the attic cleaned as well. So, Ana knew the door would be open. She pulled on the doorknob as hard as she could, but she couldn't open the attic door. It was like something heavy was shoved against the door.
"Stupid thing!" Ana grumbled as she kept pulling the door. Finally, she decided to use her power while pulling. Her power burst through while she pulled hard. It worked, but the result was not what she wanted. The door didn't open, but the force of her power shoved her in the opposite wall causing her ankle to twist as she fell. "Ouch," Ana clutched her ankle and closed her eyes tightly as the pain increased.
This was how the others found Ana; sitting on the floor opposite the attic door, clutching her ankle and whimpering in pain. "Ana!" Christian ran towards her and fell in front of her as he took in her pained expression. "What happened?" he exclaimed in panic.
"I fell and twisted my ankle," Ana informed, looking terribly affronted and adorable as she pouted up at him. Christian pulled her tightly to him and kissed her hard while others laughed, covering the mouths.
"What were you doing that caused you to fall?" Luis asked after he managed to cover his smile.
"I was pulling on the attic door to open it," Ana replied, pointing at the offending door.
"Opening the door… by pulling, huh?" Luis asked with a smirk. With an amused smirk, he turned the knob of the attic door and instead of pulling it towards him, he pushed. The door opened up easily. Ana watched in stunned stupefaction as this whole scene played out. The others started laughing again at her reaction.
"I…I…" Ana stuttered in shock.
"We need to elevate and ice your ankle," Christian stated, picking her up bridal-style as he hid his own amused snicker. It was fun watching his always composed wife like this.
"Why were you in the house anyway? Everyone was out there. Your husband was taking part in a race he'd never heard about before," Andrea asked suspiciously.
"My phone was inside the house and I wanted to call the kids to check up on them. That's when I decided that since I was inside already, I'd take a peek inside the attic as well, and see who was there," Ana shrugged with a pout.
"Oh," Andrea muttered. She felt stupid. For a minute there, she had thought that Christian was forcing Ana to do something.
Everyone gathered in the backyard table a few minutes later. Christian had placed Ana's feet on another bench while he iced her ankle, while the others sat around the couple as they made fun of Ana. "This is just like that time when Alex kissed Cassandra," Ryan stated, snickering.
"Ughh… don't remind me of that day," Alex groaned in distress.
"Why? What happened?" Elliot asked curiously.
"So, when we were in college, we all used to do part time jobs for pocket money. Alex was working for a cleaning company and he was given the job to clean a beautiful girl named Cassandra's condo. He had a huge crush on Cassandra, and she was also really friendly with him. We encouraged him to kiss her. So, Alex decided to kiss her when he met her in front of her building. He did manage to kiss her but he was interrupted by another dude. The dude asked him why the hell he was kissing his girlfriend," Ryan and others started laughing uncontrollably after that.
"What happened after that? Come on! Tell me." Elliot asked eagerly.
"I kissed her…. And then I kissed her boyfriend...who, by the way, was tall, handsome, black, and British," Alex replied dryly as he glared at his laughing friends. Elliot also started laughing.
Half an hour later, Ana urged everyone to get back to their games. Each team had seven members with Ana on her foot-rest. Ana called the kids from the bench as she kept an eye on her laughing husband. "Hey mom," Caleb answered the phone.
"Hey, Cally baby. How's it going on the island?" Ana asked with a teasing smile.
"Cally baby? Seriously, mother?" Caleb whined. "I'm a grim reaper on the side. I've a reputation to keep," he pouted, "And my stupid boss will tease me with this name."
"If he does that, send him my way. I'll straighten him up for teasing my baby," Ana stated as the mama bear in her roared.
"Oh, mom," he laughed, "Thanks. Anyways, everything is okay here. Since the school is on vacation, only a select few students are in the dorms. Kyoya took Haruhi back to Tokyo for the vacation. Kids are okay in the manor. We're looking after them with Gramps and Nana. Sebastian is looking after Dusk. By the way, Claude went somewhere and did not inform anyone where he's going. Sebastian is kind of pissed about it but won't say why exactly."
"That's…. I would say that's unlike them, but you and I both know it's not. Though Claude usually tells me where he's going," Ana mused thoughtfully. "I didn't check my voicemail. Maybe he left… something," she sighed, "Don't worry. I'll try to contact him and find out what's going on."
"Don't you worry, mom. I'm sure he just wanted a vacation time or maybe he went to hunt. You relax and have fun," Caleb stated with a smile.
"Are you sure?" Ana asked hesitantly.
"Mom, don't worry. Everything is under control," Caleb assured.
"Okay then. Where's Hope? I want to talk to her."
"Hold on. She's in the pool with Gramps and a few others her age," Caleb informed as he started heading towards the basement of the manor where the indoor pool was.
"Alright. Hey, I was thinking we'll have a cookout of our own in our new Seattle house. We didn't get to stay there after the work there was done."
"Sounds good, mom," Caleb said as he reached the indoor pool. "HOPE! MOM'S ON THE PHONE!" he announced loudly.
"Mommy!" Ana could hear her baby's excited exclamation over the phone. "Hey baby," Ana greeted her baby.
"Hi, mommy. How are you? How's daddy? Where's daddy? Can I talk to him?" Hope stated rapidly.
Ana chuckled. "Wow… at least finish talking to mommy first. We're okay and having fun. Are you being a good girl? Are looking after your brothers and sisters? And didn't you talk to daddy this morning?"
"Yes mommy. I'm a good girl. Everyone is good. I love daddy so much. I love you too," Hope replied.
"That's my darling baby. Mommy loves you and everyone. Take care and be good, okay. I'll ask daddy to call you in a few minutes. He's playing football."
"Whoa… tell him good luck for me," Hope grinned.
"Okay, sweetheart. Bye."
"Bye, mommy!"
Ana smiled and hung up. She had talked to a few other kids last night, but hadn't got a chance to talk to Caleb and Hope. She was glad that she had installed a phone connection and panic button in each room. This way she could call to check on everyone and the kids could press the panic button in case of emergency.
The football game ended 60 minutes later. "Ugh...I stink," Rhea complained as she flopped down on the bench.
"So do we. I think we should take a shower and then meet in the living room for the rest of the event," Jace suggested.
"I agree. I've had enough of this simple food. Let me make something fancy for dinner," Owen pleaded from his spot.
"Yeah. I'm also craving his show-off food. But Owen, if you serve us only bite size pieces, I'll drown you in this lake," Luis stated seriously. Owen snickered but nodded in agreement.
They packed up and everyone started taking things inside the house. After they were finished, Christian asked, "What do you have planned for the rest of the night?"
"Karaoke till midnight, with a dinner break. Then midnight hide 'n' seek," Jax rubbed his hands together excitedly.
"Can we at least play 'dumb charades' until sunset? It's only 5 pm. I don't think I can take 7 hours of awful singing," Jennifer begged.
"I like that idea, but please, shower first," Ryan insisted.
"Okay. How about we meet in the living room in 45 minutes?" Marie suggested.
"Alright," everyone agreed, and then dispersed for the time being.
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Ana took a bath instead of a shower as her ankle was still aching. Wrapping a towel around her body, she stood in front of the mirror. She opened the hair from the bun she had put it in before the bath. She hadn't wanted to wet her hair. As the hair fell down her back, she glared at her hair. It was looking really puffy for some unknown reason. She noticed Christian coming out of the shower. Their eyes connected in the mirror.
Slowly, he moved to step behind her, and leaned in, placing one hand on each side of the sink. He bent forward until his lips brushed her ear. "Your hair looks unusually puffy. I can help you flatten it." He said the words lazily, as he pressed his mouth right below her ear.
Ana couldn't stop her body's reaction. She leaned her head to the side, sighing against him.
"Do you want my help?" His voice was impatient now, almost demanding. Ana nodded her head. She felt his hands move across her waist to pull her back against him. "Good," he hissed in her ear.
He didn't say much else after that. The next thing, she knew he was carrying her out of the bathroom and her back hit the mattress. He was on top of her in the next second. After that, Ana was too busy moaning her husband's name to worry about her hair.
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A/N: First of all, I'm sorry for not uploading last week. My mom has severe lumbar disc desiccation and sciatica. Her 1st operation had worsened her situation, and she had to get her 2nd surgery last Saturday night. I've been busy taking care of my mom, as her pain has NOT improved.
I have good news for those who wanted to read the serial killer story of Christian and Ana. I started writing it. It might take a few weeks to finish writing as I'm busy with my mom as she's sure she's gonna die.
Now, I hope you liked this chapter. Leave me a review. Your reviews are my motivation.
