There's a small typo in the teaser that I sent out, and it's been fixed for this update. If it caused any inconvenience for you while reading it, I am sorry.

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Taking a Break from Reality

"Ana, you didn't give me enough time to get the sofa-bed ready when you called me earlier this afternoon," Carla pulled out the couch in the living room and started to make a fuss to set it up as a bed.

"Mom," Anastasia whined, completely unaware of Ray's utter look of amusement from the dining room where he and Christian were still chatting about fishing or whatever, while they tidied up.

This was obviously a setup to prank their daughter, and Christian wasn't going to ruin the fun for the parents.

"You can sleep here, but I'm sure Christian won't allow it since your wound isn't fully healed," Carla talked as she peeled off the cloth that was originally for the couch, which didn't fit for the bed.

"Mom," she stomped her foot lightly to get her mom's attention. "No one will sleep on this boneless sofa!"

"Why?" Carla frowned, straightening her back to stare at her daughter.

"Christian has nightmares." Carla watched in absolute amazement and amusement as her daughter struggled to come up with a convincing excuse in hopes it would be enough to dismiss her idea of them sleeping separately, and out of all the excuses she could find, this was what she blurted out.

"Oh, then it's even better that he's occupying such a spacious area."

Anastasia's gaze followed the generic wave of Carla's hand around the living room, still determined to let Christian sleep in her room. Even though she really didn't have to explain herself to her parents. She just never stopped to think for a second, because she would realize that she was an accomplished and independent woman over her mid-twenties. Yet, her brain was caught up in the undying effort to persuade her mother.

"He doesn't have them when he sleeps next to me," Anastasia exclaimed.

Christian silently lifted an eyebrow to himself when he heard that she was going to use him as an excuse. Though, he doubted that he was the only one with night terrors. He still remembered those nights in the hospital when he wasn't able to cuddle with her due to the wires connected to her.

If she truly did have night mares, she had never admit it to anyone; but, if the way she attached herself to him int he middle of the night whenever she felt distressed was any indication, he was very certain that it was a nightmare that was about to invade her sleep and she just never remembered them.

"Really?" Carla was skeptical.

"Yes!"

"Well, one night won't hurt." Just when Anastasia thought she was making progress at persuading her mother. She sighed as she watched her mother returned to unfolding the sheet.

"Christian will be nervous about what we're going to talk about tomorrow, so he's going to be stressed tonight and that means he's definitely going to have one of his worse ones…"

"Stop using that poor boy as an excuse, Annie," Ray chortled as he approached the mother-daughter pair. He had enjoyed this so far but he thought it was probably time to end this.

"I'm going to go look for Christian," Anastasia made a haste retreat to hide her flushing face for being called out.

"You are not sleeping with him," Carla called behind her. "He's not your boyfriend," she added good-humoredly.

"He is now!" Anastasia threw the statement over her shoulder without even thinking of the potential consequences of that declaration. She could hear her parents sniggering at her over-dramatic reaction. "I'm not cleared for sex yet, mom!" She snapped loudly and frustratedly.

She didn't know whether to expect some kind of remark about her attitude or more of their snickers, but from the increased volumes of their laugh, she could only guess it was the latter. Rolling her eyes, she headed for the stairs, studiously ignoring her immature parents only to find Christian hiding his laugh behind a smirk that made him look sinfully hot.

Still, she wanted to knock that bad-boy crooked grin off of his handsome face.

"When you have, get started on curing my baby fever!" Carla giggled as she watched her daughter flung herself into Christian's arms wishing it could swallow her up so she could become invisible.

"This is so embarrassing!" She groaned aloud into his chest.

"Boyfriend, huh?"

"I guess it's official now," she mumbled into his clothes, muffling her voice but he still heard her.

Christian didn't know how to contain his glee when he heard that statement so he did the only thing he could think of, which was to pick her up and carry her up the stairs.

Anastasia would've screamed bloody murder if not for the fact that she actually didn't want her parents to witness this scene, or have their security come running out in their pajamas. She remained quiet, until they were in her bedroom and she was thrown on to the bed with the door closed.

"I'm going to take a quick shower?"

"What?" She squeaked, sitting up from her bed within a second as she watched him unbutton his shirt casually and reach for clothes in their overnight bag. "Wait, wait…" she shuffled to place her body in between him and the bag. "What did you just fucking say?"

"I'm going to shower," he repeated nonchalantly. Only risking a brief glance at her so he wouldn't laugh.

She glared at him.

"So, I can come back to ravish you." He finished the rest of his sentence when she was just about to open her mouth to make a comment about the way she was treated earlier.

"What?" That caught her in a dumbfounded state again.

"You could shower with me," he offered. "Since I'm officially your boyfriend now," he said, purposely making her words earlier sounded like they came from an adolescence.

"You got me all excited," she huffed like a spoiled princess with her arms firmly folded before her chest and her lips pouted.

He chuckled at her but resumed picking out whatever he needed for his shower. Before he turned around and sauntered out of the door, he pecked her protruding lips as if she was asking for a kiss.

Anastasia scoffed dissatisfied and threw herself back onto the bed. Deciding that she shouldn't be sulking over something so insignificant, it wasn't like he wasn't coming back to sleep next to her at night anyway. She dragged their duffle bag onto her bed and randomly dug out one of his t-shirts to change into.

When she took off her own clothes and was just in her bra, she looked down to check her healing wound that didn't require a dressing anymore. It was just a gesture out of habit since she was shot but sometimes those casual checkups could also come in handy. For instance, like right now.

"Christian!" Anastasia bolted up from the bed and charged at the shared bathroom. The only other bathroom in the house was attached to her parents' room.

Having heard her frantic holler, he already had the door unlocked but didn't pause from his process of stripping naked. He was pretty confident that she was freaking out over that bullet wound again. Yet, the funny thing was, she used to be so calm about everything and very cynical in regard to their relationship; he had never seen her so clingy, needy, and dependent on him.

Was she holding back all this time or was this the effect of everything that she was put through?

It was even more ironic and paradoxical that she was bolting toward the person with the least medical experience. Yet, whenever something happened, she'd always turn to him first, panicked, nowadays.

"Christian," she busted through the door, tumbling in the obviously expecting it to be locked.

He reached out to steady her and sat her on the marble counter atop of his pile of discarded clothes so her bare thighs wouldn't get cold. He was ready to step into the shower, but figured that she would want him to know what was wrong first, so he locked the door and caged her on the vanity.

"Yeah?" He answered her previous calls. He already knew what she was here for, so he peeled his shirt that was clutched in her hands to partially shield her almost naked body, to check her wound.

"I think I've accidentally torn it or something. I don't even know what I've done, or maybe Taco's paws actually did some damage."

"Taco? When did he get on you?" He asked her, recollecting his interception when the pooch welcomed them to their new apartment before he could lay his paws on her.

"It's been over four weeks now."

"Just over four weeks." He stressed but she studiously ignored him.

"So I thought it should be healed, at least the scab should be strong enough."

"So, you didn't stop him," he finished for her. She nodded.

Christian didn't know when he got this patience of a saint, because he was more than certain that if Anastasia was like this four years ago, he would've lost his shit while they were still in the hospital. And, if he loved her like he did now—unconditionally—he would've felt like shit after losing his shit over her clingy and needy behavior, only to repeat the same when his patience when challenged once again, probably on the next day. It would've become a vicious cycle leading them to an unhealthy relationship.

However, he didn't even think about getting impatient with her over the last four weeks. No matter how ridiculous her demands may be, or how hideous her comments and speech had been, he had treated her with the patience of a saint that he never knew was in him. He didn't think he had ever treated anyone like he had done her.

It really made him ponder her question—was he doing everything, all of this, out of obligation because he felt indebted to her?

"What do you want to do with it?" He found himself asking after reminding her that she should still keep her distance with Taco until she hit the two months mark, which was in a little less than two weeks' time.

Though, he was secretly hoping that she'd be cleared for sex next week when they went back to get rid of the rest of the stitches since she wasn't advised to use absorbable suture as the pulling strength may not be strong enough. The end of next week should mark the sixth week, and he was hoping they'd receive the clearance a few days earlier; because, he couldn't wait any longer.

He had been attending to her needs tirelessly for the past month, and he believed that it was finally time for him to claim his prize. Sometimes, he thought she was also seeking for a release, maybe even more desperate than him.

"Huh?" He looked up to meet her eyes after getting kicked on the thigh.

"Stop staring at my boobs."

"Right, I have all night to do that."

She rolled her eyes. "I asked you if you know where the first aid kit is?"

"Uh, no… I don't."

"Go get it then," she directed him to the correct cabinet verbally. "Maybe I should put a thin gauze over it to protect the wound for the night?"

"Is it open? There's only a small amount of blood visible," he cleaned the injury with a cotton swab gently, and it was only a superficial tear, so there was really nothing to worry about.

"I just fear that one of us will accidentally make it worse at night."

"Then, maybe I should sleep on the sofa-bed?" He suggested and he was serious.

"No!" She shook her head dismissing the idea firmly. "I sleep better with you."

He grinned, but bit back a witty comeback about her finally admitting the truth behind not wanting to sleep apart.

"Do you want to stay here while I shower?" He asked after dressing her would up just like she instructed.

"Sure," she dangled her legs, letting her heels bounce off of the cabinets door beneath her rhythmically.

He leaned over to give her dressing a peck, and then moved up to repeat the move over her mouth and stepped into the shower. He would've pushed her against the wall and kiss her senseless but he feared he might get too lost and actually started to grope chest. Glancing in her direction briefly he saw that she was staring at the floor but once he turned his attention back to himself, he smirked. He could feel her gaze staring at him through the glasses, and he had to distract himself to stop himself from getting a hard-on.

The thoughts regarding the obligation question re-entered his mind. He still couldn't give her an answer just yet, because that question really did make him ponder if he did some of the things due to the subconscious feeling of obligation.

He knew he would've still done the same, but would he be so lenient and forbearing about everything? Would he have gone to the degree that he had?

Maybe he wouldn't have cooked so many meals himself, or live without any help from Gail other than have her run his public errands for him.

Maybe he wouldn't have accepted the condo at Elliott Bay.

Maybe he wouldn't have insisted that she move in with him.

Maybe he would just let her stay with her friends or family and just swing by to check on her every so often just to make sure that she was recovering fine.

And, maybe, he wouldn't push or more like shove them down the path of forging a romantic relationship, and somewhat forced her to reconsider the possibility of them rekindling.

The list was endless… but, did he really feel obliged to take care of her? Was he really doing everything purely out of obligation and for nothing else? Was he still doing that?

Just how much did his love for her played a role in all of his decision making, versus the role played by the guilt he refused to admit he felt? Which one was dominating when he made those choices?

"You need to workout." He had forgot that she was still in here. He had been too engrossed with his self-reflection of the past few weeks. She may be pretending that she had forgotten about the seemingly simple yet very soul-searching question she asked him just yesterday, or was it earlier today? She felt like this day couldn't drag on any longer.

He knew that she was still waiting for an answer from him.

"What?" Having no idea how long he had been under the stream and no recollection of whether he'd use any shower gel. Quickly deciding that he was clean enough, he switched off the water and stepped out into the awaiting towel that she had in her hands.

"You don't look as fit as I remember," she elaborated, poking him on the side and then directly on his bellybutton.

"I am fit!" He defended, she was still the only one who could actually prod him till her heart was content. He twirled around with his towel discarded on the side in the small space—the bathroom was probably one fifth of the size at Escala—flexing all of the muscles visible. "See?" He faced her and performed another round of demonstration.

"Not as toned," she pinched a part of his waist. It still felt hard under her touch but not as hard as she thought would be.

"I have only recovered from that accident and started returning to my full workout routine a month ago."

"Yeah, well… you only stopped working out for what, two weeks?" She moaned in mock complaint.

"Okay, okay, Jesus, woman! I'll hit the gym when we return to Seattle, yeah? I'll spend extra time there before I return to work full-time." He appeased, even though he knew she'd forget about her comment as soon as tomorrow arrived.

"When are you going back full-time?" She asked after being lifted back onto the counter so he could have enough space to dry and get dressed. She really didn't mean anything about his body physique remark, she really couldn't care less how hard his body felt under her touch, because this man had been working out for the longest time, so his shape wouldn't really change all that much if he didn't workout for a while. She commented for the sake of wanting to make a comment about his body shape.

That was all.

Both of them knew that he was only saying that he'd increase his workout time just to placate her petulant little tantrum.

"How are you feeling about the wound?" He needed to get back to work soon, and he knew that. He technically should've been back full-time last week, but he didn't because she wasn't discharged yet, and now he couldn't because she might need someone to take care of her.

"If you really need to start working full-time, which I'm sure you do, then you need to stop worrying about me." That was probably the most selfless thing she had said since she was hospitalized, and she was serious this time; which could only indicate that she had been feigning petulance and selfishness all this time.

"I do also need you there, though." He purposely neglected to remind her that he'd always worry about her because the comment about obligation was still lingering at the back of his mind.

"I am fit to walk around on my own like a completely normal person. I can act like a rich spoiled princess when I need to carry my lunch tray. Some one can carry my stuff around for me if you're afraid that I'd be using my arms."

Christian contemplated. He would've shot the notion down in a heartbeat if he could prolong his partial leave another week, only trouble was, his presence was desperately demanded.

"What if there are days that you don't need to come in? Who's going to take care of you?"

"Then I can go back to my job."

He scowled, not liking the idea.

"I was going to talk to Northwest about my job contract there when I get my stitches removed next week anyway."

The only reason Anastasia was bringing it up now was because she knew that once he was back to work full-time, he would be stuck in his office like he was under house arrest at Grey House. She needed to plan her career in Seattle, knowing that they'd be in the West for a long time, unless he'd be willing to move his headquarters away.

"You're going back to work already?"

"You aren't the multi-millionaire that you once were. Money ain't gonna just appear with a wave of your hand, and people aren't going to provide you the convenience with just a snap of your finger, Grey. You need to get real and accept that you are starting from the beginning again; we both are, but with a lot more resistance this time."

"You do know that we aren't exactly dirt poor. I may not be worth millions right now, but I will be very soon. As the majority shareholder of a multi-million dollar company, you are goin to be richer than me, woman. You need to get real and learn your self-worth." Pun intended, he added after the last bit.

"What makes you think I even consider those 51% mine? They're merely under my name."

"Then, what can I do to change your mind? Marry you?" He kidded lightly. He fully intended to accomplish the latter, but now was definitely not the time.

"Just tell me when you're going back to work. Gail and Sawyer can come over to stay with me while you're gone, to entertain me or to keep me company… however you want to call it. I doubt I will be at home anyway."

"Gail can come over to take care of you and the apartment, and Sawyer will drive you around. Question is," he lifted her off of the vanity, stopping her happy dance as he gathered all of her clothes and used towels in his arms so they could continue this discussion back in her room. "What will you be doing if you're not at home all the time?"

"Networking."

"Where?" He knew better than to ask why because quite frankly, he was also in need of equally intense social networking once he returned to the office. He couldn't be his usual aloof self until he saw it in person that his name was cleared.

"Everywhere, but mainly in the hospitals around." Unlocking the door, she opened it for him much to his displeasure, even though the door was light and she barely used a muscle. "We can't miss any social function in the foreseeable future," she told him, voicing his exact same concern.

"My PR team has already warned me about it."

"That's a lot of cheap wine and barely tolerable dishes coming our way."

Using her right shoulder this time, she pushed the door to her room open for the both of them before he could reach the handle. His expression only softened a tad bit, the difference was almost impossible to notice.

"I won't expect you to make it to every function with me…"

"Don't you worry, Mr Grey. It's only fair," she smirked. Then suddenly, it hit him. "I'm dragging your ass to every single one that I'm going whether you like it or not, so keep your schedule clear for me. You're going to be my date to everything!" He groaned at the thought of not being able to have time for themselves even if it was the weekend. "I have just as many to attend as you, and you're going to meet a lot of people that I'm sure you've known for more than four years."

"Don't remind me," he murmured darkly as he dumped his dirty clothes into the empty duffle bag and draped the wet towel over the back of a chair.

Before he met Anastasia, he recalled attending a lot of the events because his mother had helped planned it. He'd avoid the other events that weren't planned by his mother, even if he was a big investor. He'd only showed his face solely to be courteous to Grace. He practically knew every members of authority at every hospital in Seattle from the sheer amount of events he had shown up to, courtesy of his mother.

Now that Christian was dating a high-ranked doctor with perhaps more useful and valuable connections than Grace, he could only imagine how many functions he was going to attend. And, Anastasia would never get involved with the planning, she was merely invited due to her influence and importance.

"Looking forward to them?"

"Only if we get to play during those events," he replied slyly, crawling back to bed and settling next to her, leaning against the headboard.

Anastasia blushed from head to toe at the reminder of what went inside of her pussy during some of the more boring events they had to attend. Especially, ones like Coping Together; that was really purely for establishing social connections with politically important brats, and money donation.

"You're squirming," he teased.

"Stop pointing it out!" She squealed, this time recalling the comment he made about her tit after he licked it when he was changing her dressing.

He was still sporting that silly grin when she shed her bra from underneath the shirt and clambered under the covers, leaving her legs bare.

"Let's just forget about our networking duty for now, yeah? What do you say?" He was quick to pin her against the mattress and hover above her under the thin blanket, and switched off the lights.

"How?" She winked at him salaciously, pulling the cover over their heads so they were shrouded in utter darkness.

She rarely used her blinds because she always liked it when a few speckles of light were let into her room through her window, it prevented her mind from wandering. He just didn't really care as long as she was near.

"However you imagined," he whispered. He knew their lips were dangerously close to one another's, he could feel her breath pant out in between her slightly parted lips.

If he just puckered up his lips, they would touch hers, but he was waiting for her to make the first move; waiting for her to stick her tongue through his parted mouth and down his throat.

"Kiss me, Christian," she whispered coyly.

That would also work. He thought, although he actually wanted her to kiss him first since he had always been the one to initiate a kiss.

He didn't have to be asked twice before he closed the short distance between them. A smirk fought their way over to his lips when he felt an intruder in his mouth, that was her tongue. She didn't waste a breath to take advantage of his unsealed lips and pushed the tip of her tongue through.

That smirk was quickly swallowed by a moan that erupted from deep within his throat. If his vocal cords and other soft tissues were scarred from that forced suicide attempt, then he couldn't feel them right now. All he could focus on was the taste of her lips on his and the way her tongue ruthlessly battled against his.

Biting down on her plum full bottom lip, he allowed his hand to roam her body, reacquainting with her curves. It wasn't lost on him that as soon as he started exploring, her hands left his face and instantly went under his shirt.

He still frowned and paused for a millisecond because he felt her body tense and stiffen when his palm reached her sides. He didn't think her concerns about her weight gain was serious, because as soon as she stopped eating all that much, her weight would drop and those fat hanging above her waist would be a nonissue.

Their tangled limbs and moans had, unbeknown to the couple, drowned out the percussion noises coming from the common area where a liberated giant pooch was doing his best to wreak havoc in this house.

His owners were in for a surprise the next morning, that was for sure.

…

"Where do you think you're going?"

"To the bathroom."

He was met with silence because she had fallen back to sleep.

"Baby," not a minute later, she was shook awake again. She heard herself mumble some kind of incoherent response with her eyes still closed. "I'm going for a run with Taylor and Sawyer," he leaned down to kiss her temple then peppered her face with more kisses before finally claiming her lips.

"A run? Why?" She flipped onto her back and clutched onto his forearms.

"You said I need to workout," he chuckled, throwing her words back in her face. He would've gone for this run regardless of her comments. It wasn't like any of them took the comments seriously. However, Taco also needed to be let out and the house required a thorough clean up to restore it to its initial tidiness.

Thank fuck her parents weren't neat freaks.

"I was a bitch," she snipped, scowling as if she couldn't imagine herself ever making that kind of comment. "Stay," she pleaded.

"I need to let Tucks out, baby," he tried another tactic so he didn't have to reject her directly.

"Okay, make it fast. I wanna cuddle," she ordered sleepily.

"Yes, baby," he chortled against her lips. He knew that she would be out the second he closed the door and make herself believe that she had dreamed about all this. Giving one final tug of her bottom lip, he nibbled on them gently eliciting a moan from her that went straight to his dick, he released it.

Guess the seduction backfired.

"I love you," he whispered before pulling away completely. He doubted that she had actually heard him, but that didn't matter, they would have a lot more opportunities to come.

What was more important at the moment was to clear up the mess that Taylor found in the common space this morning when he got up to get a drink of water. Or when Sawyer found the St. Bernard snuggled up in a corner with some empty sausage wrapper next to his paws and another bag of snack in his mouth as he glared at the man. The both of them left Christian a text not daring to imaging what state their boss might be in since the both of them got up at different hours extremely early in the morning.

They weren't completely off duty since they were guests in Ray's house and had to be at least cautious of their surroundings. Besides, years of military experience moulded them into light sleepers whenever they weren't at home in their own bed. They would've gotten up to put Taco on a leash but they allowed their laziness to take over.

They were human after all.

…

Waking up to an empty bed almost made Anastasia believed that she had imagined last night, of them making out like teenagers under the covers in her parents' house.

However, in the rare occasion that she had actually got out of bed before her parents, she was more in shock to find three shirtless men and her pup in the living room, cleaning.

Well, only the men. The pup was messing things up behind them.

Standing atop the turn at the staircase, she darted her eyes to her parents' door and she'd bet that they were awake but just not planning on getting up in the next hour or so until they had to for food or bathroom. She was the same before Taco, because she would study in her bed until she had to get out.

"What a sight for sore eyes," she giggled after taking in the scene she was witnessing. Taco bounded to her the moment she made a noise. He ran up the stairs and nearly knocked her off balance when he shoved his head beneath her hand demanding his morning ruffle, accidentally pushing her legs in the process. "You act like you've been a good boy, Tucks," she chided but still made a slight fuss of him.

All three men stopped. Two blushed and looked away, resuming their work. The other one just straightened his back, smirked and winked at his girl.

"Eyes on me, lady," he feigned sternness even though he knew she would only check him out. "Come over here and take a look at your lovely pup's handiwork," he beckoned her over. The three of them were almost done with mopping out the stains and removing the shards of glass, but they still hadn't got the chance to replace everything that was destroyed.

"We should've tied him to something in the garden," she mused aloud as she surveyed the crime scene. "I think he ate our breakfast. At least from the looks of it, I need to make a trip to the grocery store before we have breakfast this morning."

The three men shared a look and all glanced at Sawyer, silently agreeing that he'd be the one to chauffeur her or her and Christian around.

"Let me make a list," she sighed in defeat as she went to look for a pen and piece of sticky-note, on her way across the room, she spied Taco following her and threw him a stinky eye but the pooch was still shamelessly following her and wagging his tail. As if he wasn't the one that spent all night tearing the house down. That dog just never slept a wink as far as she could recall. He only napped around her while snoring like she had ten dogs in the room.

…

Breakfast was an eventful affair with an undercurrent flowing between the couple. Christian didn't give too much thought about what was ahead of them but Anastasia's antsy feeling, and it was rubbing off on him ever since she took her plate and curled up next to him.

The family ate a casual brunch around the TV, another rare occurrence. Anastasia wondered if it had been too long since they hosted a house full of guests, because she couldn't remember the last time her parents allowed them to not dine around the table properly.

"What was it that you two have to discuss?" Ray begun, as well as his daughter's nightmare.

"You two drove all the way over for a talk?" Carla still found it hard to believe even though she had suspected the topic already.

"Yes," Christian spoke to spare his girl as much discomfort as possible. "About the kid that she told you over the phone."

Thank you so much for the views and reviews!

I used this semi-unannounced extended break to finish the story. It is finished now with roughly 295k words and 55 chapters (excluding the A/Ns and including the Xmas outtake). There will be more outtakes in the future to tie up some loose ends, so stay tuned after the story is concluded.

I'm not trying to be a tease, but if I come up with something, there might be a Valentine's Day special. Like a glimpse into their near future.

Teaser? You're getting an update either tomorrow or the day after, so your choice. I will be updating regularly, it is a promise now!

Share the link for me if you like my story and please leave a review, too!

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