My dear little broccolis πŸ’šπŸ’šπŸ’š

πŸ’š So remember that this pic is RATED M, and it is not only for the sexy times. Some dark moments will be approached in this story, and they can trigger some people. This is a fair warning to remind you that this story sets place in a dark world, which means it is bound to mountains dark themes.

Love, Mina πŸ’šπŸ’šπŸ’š

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Chapter 53: The Dream (4,2K)

πŸ’š FIRST OF ALL, my thoughts go to everyone across the world. This is a difficult time for us all, and I hope none of you or your closed ones is affected. I am not a doctor, nor a politician but don't fall into panic and just respect the security measures. Be as clean, if not cleaner than usual. Eat healthy food. And look after yourself and your loved ones. Stay indoors as much as possible, until we can do something about this terrible disease that is striking us all. Those are the times to look for one another and not be selfish. I know this sounds corny, but after seeing people buying 15 packs of toilet rolls and fighting for yet another, I just feel that we're missing out on what really matters. This virus doesn't discriminate and doesn't tire. We should fight against it, not against our peers for an extra pack of toilet rolls …

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Christian's PoV

As Christian waited for Mia to come out of the building where she had her late classes, he checked with Ryan over the phone on what happened while he was in Macau. Ryan was quick to tell him that Andrea had a bit of a word with Raymond, sure that Christian had been acting on Raymond's orders. According to Ryan, Raymond did not ask anything about this whole affair to Ryan. In fact, Christian was surprised that Raymond never even tried to talk him out of it.

He wasn't naive enough to think that Raymond didn't have a clear inkling of what was going on between him and Suzannah, especially since Christian never tried to hide the affair. In fact, this was the reason why he did not bother to warn Raymond about Andrea's possible anger before he left, he was perfectly aware of his boss's knowledge concerning his plans for the youngest Mazarati.

But it was true that Raymond seemed to give him more of a free rein ever since the incident concerning Ana and firearms. And though he liked the position, though he liked the power that it was giving him, Christian had to admit that a part of him was apprehensive of what it could mean. If Raymond was retiring himself bit by bit, it would mean that he would ultimately leave his side, and no matter how much he liked the power, Christian wasn't ready for that.

Finally, Mia came out of her building, surrounded by two young men of her age who were animatedly talking to her. She laughed throwing her head back when one of them said something, and he used the occasion to put his hand on her shoulder, before freeing on his steps, his eyes catching the sight of Christian. Christian did not move, keeping his face neutral until Mia saw what had disturbed her comrade and brightly smiled at him. She happily waved at him, and he waved back, watching the two guys hastily say their goodbyes to Mia and leave her side in a hurry.

As she walked to him, he couldn't help but smirk as he asked, "Am I killing your buzz?"

He knew that, without even trying, he had a scary aura around him. Mia told him on a regular basis that he was too stern-looking, and that he ought to smile a bit and buy a pair of jeans, just to prove that he was human.

With a smile she walked side by side with Christian to his car, all the while letting me know, "Not really. Jeremy keeps thinking that if he gives me time, I'll eventually fall for him, but … What can I say, some guys are delusional like that ... Right now, all I can really give my time and effort to is my degree."

This was something he liked very much about Mia, she had her head on her shoulders. She knew what she wanted, and she was not going to let anything get in the way. Though he had to admit, she was always a bit hysterical around the time of exams at the end of a term.

"So, to what do I owe the pleasure?" Mia asked, buckling her belt as Christian started driving away.

"I came to steal a bit of your time. I need your input on something."

"Ooh, you need my opinion. This is going to cost you. I intend to be a very expensive lawyer," She joked, making Christian gently shake his head, repressing a smile, before he clarified,

"Well, I need a feminine point-of-view, more than an opinion."

"Don't worry, Christian. You look good. There is no need for me to give you a makeover. Though … a pair of jeans once in a while wouldn't hurt."

Christian did not answer anything to that, knowing that Mia was mainly teasing him for his constant austere appearance. In fact, Ana also several times had the same comments concerning him, but unlike Ana, she had had the rare occasions of seeing Christian in jeans once in while when abroad. She even had a whole week of him in military trousers when they went to Peru and climbed a mountain.

During the rest of the ride, Mia made yet another joke about how Bastille was still a ghost to her, and she then talked about her student life, and how she was excited about what she was doing during this school year, saying that she was leaning much more than the previous year. She was thinking of planning a weekend in Seattle with Ana, so they could both visit their friend Katherine, which was news to Christian. Though Ana expressed a lot that she was missing her best friend, she never told Christian about going to see her for a weekend.

When he parked in front of the shop he needed to go to, he caught Mia's surprised eyes before she quickly glanced around, trying to see if there was a more suitable shop for him. He smirked, knowing that no one would ever have thought he would go to a shop like that, and went inside with confidence.

As soon as Mia had followed him inside, she asked with a whisper where he could clearly hear excitement and jollity, "Does this mean I am finally going to meet your mystery girl?"

"In a shop?" Christian responded, feigning ignorance, which made Mia roll her eyes and smile even wider.

"Don't be coy with me. We both know that you're didn't bring me here to have my input on a bracelet charm or some stupid earrings."

Christian smirked, watching the man he had met a couple of days ago walk to him with a big fake commercial smile. This was one of the reasons he liked Mia, she was quick to think and guess right, and she didn't hesitate to speak her mind to him.

"Well … she won't really be my girlfriend when you will meet her, now, will she?"

Mia beamed at him, but before she could say anything, the man extended his hand to Christian, shaking it vigorously, showing signs that he was all too happy to have Christian come to him for a business transaction. He took them both to a room behind the register, where Christian was sure very few customers ever went to and revealed the drawing for a ring. Though he kept his face as unreadable as usual, Christian was satisfied to see that what was drawn reflected the ring he had envisioned for Ana, but that did bring him total relief. He turned to Mia who was looking at the drawing as well, and asked,

"So, what do you think?"

The seller, feeling that the sale had very little to do with Christian from that moment on, gave all his attention to Mia, and started to brag about what the ring would be, once created, "As you can tell, this will be a one-of-the-kind ring that no one else will have. The silver of the band would perfectly suit your skin and as for the jewels, β€”"

"My skin? Are you mental? Me, with him?" Mia interrupted, before bursting in laughter, amused by the very idea of her and Christian being together. Christian, on the other hand, was more interested in what Mia had to say about the design of the ring, and so he gently pressed her by refocussing her attention to the drawing.

She took the paper in her hands, her gleeful smile still lingering on her lips and after a few minutes, she told Christian, "Well, … isn't it going to be a bit too big? I mean, she's going to have to wear that every day for the rest of her life. I don't know … it seems a bit too big to me."

"We can have the ring made to the size of your liking. The scale given here is just so you can see the details in their finest," The salesman quickly said, feeling that he was about to lose the deal of his life.

Though he did not say anything, Christian dismissed what he said. He had other plans for the ring and its making, and it did not involve a jewellery shop in New York, no matter how prestigious the shop was. He only went to this particular shop because he knew they had a designer who was famed to reproduce what the customer requested. So if Mia said that the ring was appropriate for a woman, he was going to keep on going for his plan.

He asked for the drawing to be made with a smaller scale, letting the man know that he would come back the next evening to pick up the design, and then the two of them left. Once back in the car, Mia said something that made Christian genuinely laugh at her,

"You do know that getting a smaller ring means it will cost you more, right?"

"I don't really care about that."

"Of course you don't," She said, slightly shaking her head before her observant mind stroke again, "So further Mrs Grey is born in May?"

Christian slightly frowned, not denying this fact, but wondering if Mia was just guessing around, or if she had had between the lines. The blonde smiled and explained her trail of thoughts, "Emeralds are for those born in May. And since emerald is the biggest stone on the ring …"

Christian slightly smiled, not saying a word, though Mia had been spot on. As he drove back to their place, he let Mia do most of the talking, which she filled with plenty of talk about the ring and Christian's future wedding. She kept trying to get Christian to say something, but he kept his lips sealed, as he always did when it came to Ana. More than once, he wished that Ana had confided in Mia in the same way she confided in Katherine, just so he could talk to her without having to filter everything he said. In fact, he was really surprised that Mia still did not put two and two together concerning Ana and him. She was the one who was spending the most time with the two of them, and with her usual spirit of deduction, it was a surprise that she still did not catch up on their affair.

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Christian's PoV

"Daddy!" Shouted a little girl of two with a gleeful giggle, jumping in Christian's arms as soon as he put his keys on the table. He crouched to pick her up and kissed her chubby cheek whilst she wrapped her tiny hands around his neck.

"How are you, princess?" He asked, all too interested in what she had to say.

This was his favourite moment of the day, going back home to his children and his wife. His son came into the room, proudly smiling and brandishing a tooth that was missing from his mouth.

"Daddy, daddy! I fell over in the garden, and my tooth fell! Mom said a tooth fairy would come and pick it up! But, you'll help me protect it, right?"

Christian smiled at his son and listened to the whole tale of how brave he had been when his mouth had been bleeding after his tooth fell. The little girl hid her head in her father shoulder when her brother started talking about his he would attack anyone getting in his room.

Though there was a four years gap between the two children, they looked alike very much. They both had the same strawberry-blond hair, though the little boy's hair was shorter but curlier than the little girl's; they both had the same tanned skin, just like their father. But what Christian liked most in his children's features were their eyes. They had inherited their mother's beautiful blue eyes.

Incidentally, just as the little boy was asking his father for backup in order to trap the tooth fairy, their mother came into the room, slightly shaking her head as she reminded her son of the importance of the tooth fairy,

"If you trap the Tooth Fairy, she's never going to bring you presents when your other teeth will fall. I'd be careful if I were you. Upsetting fairies is never a good thing."

"I'm going to get presents?" The little boy marvelled, forgetting all about his plans against the unwanted intruder.

"Yes, I told you already while we were in the garden," His mother patiently reminded him. The little boy stared at his fallen teeth, his brain working fast before he stated,

"I wish more of my teeth had fallen. So I would have more presents."

This made both of his parents laugh at him, but he did not care. He took his sister's hand, and rushed to his room, saying that he needed to put his tooth under a pillow so he could have his present quicker.

Christian stood back up, smiling at the brunette in front of him. She tiptoed and kissed him on the lips, but when she tried to walk away, he kept her in his arms, snuggling his nose in the crook of her neck.

"How are you doing, babe?"

"I'll be better in a few weeks," She joked, just like she had joked twice before when she was nearing the term of her pregnancy.

Christian smiled, kissing her neck and resting her hand on her prominent stomach hiding their future child. A future child who greeted the expecting father by kicking the brunette's stomach, making her and Christian smile, looking down at their intertwined fingers. The child kicked again, just right where Christian's hand was.

Christian woke up with a start, a feeling of loss overwhelming him as soon as he opened his eyes. He reached for Ana, and took her in his arms, trying to get back to this happy feeling that his dream had brought. He had come home really late the night before and found Ana sleeping in his bed, waiting for him.

This was something he liked very much in their relationship. Ana was spending more and more nights at his place, which he was far from complaining. He liked finding her his bed and sleeping with her by his side. In fact, he had noticed that no matter how bad a day could have gone, he always felt more peaceful when he would find Ana waiting for him.

Mindlessly, he caressed her skin, when he realised that his hand was on her flat stomach, immediately taking him back to his unaccomplished dream. He could still remember every single detail of it as if it was a memory and not a dream. He remembered that both children had a simple when they smiled, a dimple that they probably had inherited from Ana's mother. He remembered how the little girl's face lit up with delight when she saw him. He remembered Ana's happy smile while listening to their son wonder how many presents he could get with more fallen teeth. And most importantly he remembered how fulfilled her felt with his family.

And now that the dream was gone, and that his hand was lazily resting on Ana's stomach, all he could think about was getting her pregnant with that boy he saw in his dream. The little boy with strawberry-blond curls and bright blue eyes. Without even realising it, a strong urge of desire coursed through him, and he gently laid Ana on her back, slowly but passionately kissing his way down on her.

He felt Ana stir beneath him, but it was only when his mouth came in contact with her most intimate spot that she woke up, letting out a moan of pleasure that encouraged Christian even more. While his hands stimulated her breast, Christian's tongue kept on pleasuring Ana, making her breath more and more shallow by the second, and just before she was about to climax, he stopped his ministrations and crawled back up to bury himself inside her.

Ana let out a little yelp satisfaction, opening her blue eyes, obvious pleasure written in them. After going in and out for a few times, Christian stopped to swing her legs above his shoulders; and when he ploughed back into her, it was as if he knocked out all the air of her lungs. She planted her nails in his forearms, tearing the skin as her inner walls spasmed around Christian's member. He could tell that he had hit the infamous G-spot, and the faster he was going, the closer he was bringing Ana to an orgasm.

And finally, she let out a scream of infinite bliss, her whole body tensing up beneath Christian, triggering his own climax as sweat was trickling down his spine.

Still buried inside her, Christian helped Ana's leg off his shoulders before collapsing on top of her, though he made sure not to shush her under his weight. He mindlessly caressed her hair, kissing her shoulder as a dreamy smile was spread on his girl's lips.

As the two recovered their breath, he let himself wonder. Would she get pregnant right away? Would they first have a boy just like in his dream? How long would he have to wait until he could feel his child kick Ana's tender stomach?

It was only when the brunette got up to go to the bathroom that Christian came back to the reality that Ana could not possibly be pregnant. She was on the pill, and she was really careful about taking it. A cold chill swept through him as disappointment dawned on him, and he got up, put on his trousers and went downstairs, sure that he would not be able to find sleep again.

As he sat down the couch, it occurred to him for the first time in his life that he wished that he had a TV, just so he could numb his mind on something. Clenching his jaw, he closed his eyes, reminding himself than in less than a month, all those worries would be over, and he would be able to make his dream come true.

"Are you okay?" Ana's voice asked from behind him. Christian opened his eyes, only to see a naked Ana coming to sit on his laps, worry on her face.

He tried to smile to her, but the disappointment he felt a few minutes ago was still strong, enabling him to pretend as if nothing happened. Ana furrowed her brows, bringing her small hand to his face, and she inquired,

"Why aren't you in bed?"

"Just a dream I need to shake off," He dismissed, mostly because he felt weak to have been impacted so much by a simple dream. And if there was one thing he did not like to be, especially in front of Ana, it was weak.

"You want to talk about it? Sometimes talking about nightmares can help you purge away the bad feeling they give you," She wisely said, and there were so much worry and honesty in her voice that Christian did not feel like shutting her out.

"It wasn't a nightmare. It was just a very good dream," He let her know, hoping that she would drop the issue. She smiled, waiting expectantly for him to continue, and so he added, "I dreamt of our kids."

He didn't really know what he had expected her to do, but he knew that he had expected a reaction. Instead, Ana closed her face, not showing a single emotion, and ever so slightly raising her eyebrows, as if waiting for Christian to elaborate his dream, which he did,

"We had two. A boy, and a girl. And you were expecting the third one."

He waited for her to say something, his hand having subconsciously take residence on her waist, but for a long moment, Ana did not say a word, simply starring in Christian's eyes. When finally she spoke, she shook her head, as if talking to a child and said with a small smile,

"And you're all shaken up for that? It's just a dream, Christian. See? I'm not pregnant."

She showed her flat stomach, oblivious to the fact that at this very moment, Christian would have gladly given anything he owned just to have it filled with life. With a small sigh, he kissed her jaw all the way to her ear, before he murmured to her,

"I wish you were."

"Don't be ridiculous, I'm on the pill. And anyway β€”" She stopped herself, but Christian, who knew what she was about to say, finished her sentence for her,

"β€” And your father doesn't know about us."

She didn't retreat anything to that, simply nodding and taking Christian's hand as she asked him to come to bed with her. He didn't argue, following her back upstairs, though he knew that he would not be able to go back to sleep. Once in bed, Ana snuggled in his arms and asked,

"So … What are the plans for Valentine's Day?"

Christian internally cursed, not much because of the change of topic, (they had already had this conversation several times and knew that they both wanted children, and both had the same views concerning parenthood) but because he had completely forgotten that the fourteenth of February was Valentine's Day. It was only in a couple of days, and he had other plans that he would not be able to cancel for that day.

"I am afraid that we won't be spending the day together," He let her know. He felt her still immediately and could tell that, had she not been tightly wrapped in his arms, she would have turned her back on him.

"Going to spend the day with Suzannah?" She tightly asked, making Christian repress a chuckle.

In his haste to get rid of Suzannah and strike Andrea where he knew it would hurt the most, he had forgotten to let Ana know that he had terminated his relationship with the young Mazarati just before going to Macau. It broke the young woman's heart when he told her in very crude and harsh words that he had no interest in her and simply stayed with her out of boredom, but it did what Christian had wanted, it struck a chord in Andrea, and showed him that Christian, unlike Raymond, had no limits.

"I got rid of Suzannah before going to Macau. She was no longer of any use for me," He let the brunette know, and just by the way her body shifted, Christian could tell she was conflicted. She was partly happy that Suzannah was no longer in the picture but also feeling bad for the girl.

"Then why aren't we going to spend Valentine's Day together? There are no good reasons to spend Valentine's Day away from your girlfriend, Christian. As far as I know, only a funeral will be an acceptable excuse for not spending time with me," She accused, feeling completely in her rights.

"Well … you could still come with me to Vegas."

"You're going to spend Valentine's Day in Vegas?!" She asked, sitting up with indignation.

"No. I'm going to be the best man to a friend who happens to be getting married in Vegas, on the fourteenth," He clarified, and though he couldn't clearly see her face, he could tell that she had deflated, seeing no reason why she should object.

"Oh … Well … that is a pretty good excuse."

"But as I said, you are more than welcome to be my date," He repeated himself, a part of him hoping that she would refuse. No matter his respect for Raymond, having Ana in Sin City whilst having the ring he would propose with was a temptation he was no sure to come out off as triumphant.

"No, thank you. You will make it up to me in Italy," She said with a smile in her tone before retaking her place in Christian's arms.

He watched her fall back asleep while thinking of how Italy was going to change everything for him. If everything went according to plan, he would have the ring once he would get back with Ana to the US, and in a month, they would be engaged.

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‼️PLEASE DON'T BE A SILENT READER AND LEAVE A REVIEW

IT REALLY DOES HELP‼️

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πŸ’šYour thoughts and opinions are always welcomedπŸ’š

~ Anyway, question time:

πŸ’šSo Christian got a ring ... or will get a ring, what do you think about it?

πŸ’š What do you think of Mia in this chapter? And Christian's decision to ask for her input?

πŸ’š And what do you think of the dream and Ana's reaction to it? What about Christian's?

πŸ’š What do you think will happen next?

πŸ’šWhat was your favourite part?

Anyway, E L James owns the names of the characters from the Fifty Shades franchise, everything else is mine.

Love, MinaπŸ’šπŸ’šπŸ’š