My dear little broccolis💚💚💚,

💚 So, this is me doing a favour to the same someone who PMed me and asked to upload two of my stories with the FSOG names. I already did it for Forbidden Fruit, and now, here comes the second. The original fic is published under the Mortal Instruments franchise. If you're one of my old readers, well, you already know this story, so only read it if you want to read it with other characters in mind; if you're a new reader, well hang on and let's see how this Ana and Christian work in here.

Chapter 23 ~ The Distress Of A Serial Killer (3,4K)

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Jason's PoV.

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In the dead silence of the night, something tore Jason away from his dreams. At first, he did not pay attention, only shifting a little in his sleep; but then, he realised that it was someone knocking on his door. His first thoughts went to that particular person that was often in his mind. But then, reason came back to him. She was far away, in another State studying medicine.

This had been a topic that would always draw the two of them to argue. She was studying medicine to please her parents, to follow the path of her family with all the nice jobs that her siblings had. But she did not like it one bit. She wanted to become a hairdresser, and in her family, this profession seemed very out of place. But still, more than once, Jason tried to convince her to simply open up to her parents. He knew that they would understand. But of course, she was stubborn, and always claimed that they would be angry at her for dropping out of college, only to do an underpaid job.

There were many other things that they would argue about, like the fact that they were in that place where they were not calling themselves a couple, but would get jealous of them seeing other people or the fact that they always seemed to be at fault in Jason's eyes.

The banging on the door intensified, but Jason decided to ignore it. He was living in a building full of party people and was sure that it was just someone who got the wrong apartment. He did not want to get up for a drunk college boy who would probably vomit on him. The banging would stop soon enough.

And just like he predicted, the banging stopped. Only to be replaced by the buzz of his phone on the wooden nightstand next to his bed. Cursing under his breath, Jason took his phone, turning in his bed so he could lay back down on his back; and as soon as he picked up, Christian's voice echoed on the other end of the phone.

"Man, tell me that you're home and that you just got lazy."

"Give me a second," Jason immediately replied, understanding that his best friend was the one at the door.

He extirpated himself from his covers, quickly wearing his glasses; and then he struggled to his front door, his heart clenched with worry. If he were honest with himself, he was more than surprised to have Christian barging at his door in the middle of the night. It did not seem like the Christian he knew to do so. The first reason was that he did live rather far away from where Jason lived.

Jason had invested a few years ago in this apartment, which was not in their hometown, but still, it was closer to home than where Christian lived. He was only living an hour and a half away from their hometown which lead him to see his family and friends more often than Christian did. And he was also living closer to Leila, who lived in the next town.

The second reason was that Christian was a workaholic in addition to being a lawyer. If he could work instead of uselessly driving for four hours and a half, Christian would do it without hesitation. Everyone who knew Christian knew that. Actually Ana's presence tamed a bit this side of him, making him visit his parents more often.

And this was the third reason why it was shocking to have Christian barge at his door in the middle of the night. Ana. Jason knew how head over the heels his best friend was for the young brunette. Of course, none of them broached the topic of feelings, but that didn't mean that he didn't know. And he knew that Christian would rather be with his girl, rather than spend several hours driving in the middle of the night to talk to him. After all, they were living in the twenty-first century. A call wouldn't have hurt anyone.

So it was with all those questions in mind that Jason opened the door of his apartment to his best friend. And what he saw was far from what he was expecting. He did not know what he was expecting, but he certainly did not expect his best friend to look like he had just been through Hell. His eyes were devastated, his face lavished, and his shoulders supporting all the weight of the world.

Jason had only seen Christian look that beaten down once. It was nine years ago when Jose had been run over by a car and had to spend two weeks in an artificial coma, fighting for his life. Those had been the two most difficult and awful weeks for the Greys, and Jason had seen Christian ready to go on the very dark and terrible path of revenge. His girlfriend of the time was the one who made him see reason and actually set him off on the path of law.

"I need a drink," Christian said before pushing past his friend and making his way to the kitchen.

Jason suspiciously narrowed his eyes at his uncharacteristic statement before following his friend to the kitchen, and there he saw him down what seemed to be a generous glass of Scotch.

"What's wrong, Christian?" He asked concerned, his brown eyes steady on the copper-haired man. Jason was not only concerned by his friend's appearance, but also by his choice of drink. Christian ignored him, and stared at his now empty glass, his gaze clearly lost into space. "Did something happen with Ana?" Jason insisted.

At those words, Christian laughed humorlessly, pouring himself another glass of alcohol under his friend's disbelieving eyes. Jason had never known Christian to be a drinker. Even in their younger years of partying throughout high school. Sure, Christian would have a beer, or a glass of wine while having dinner with company, but it never went further.

Christian actually turned to complete sobriety when he started frequenting Ana, claiming that intoxicated people were making her uncomfortable. Of course, Jason pointed out the fact that Ana started working for Kate as a waitress at a bar, but apparently, she meant that she felt uncomfortable facing people she knew when intoxicated.

Jason knew that Christian had always been rather good with people because he was very observant. And he also knew that Christian was even more observant and concerned when it came to Ana. There were many things that Christian said he suspected about Ana. Like her food deprivation, or her physical abuse, or even her rape. And Jason honestly didn't know how he did it. Because the very few times he saw Ana, he never would have guessed. He just saw her as a rather shy person who wasn't very comfortable at being the centre of attention.

Still, he did see something in her that Christian hadn't seen. How observant herself she was of people. Ana and Jason never had a conversation with just the two of them, and yet, Jason felt like she knew his deepest secrets, the ones he hadn't even told Christian- it made him very uncomfortable. When he saw her not even a month ago to help her with her tax report, he only felt a veil of awkwardness because of the way she looked at him. Especially when she or Christian said certain things or mentioned certain people.

"Did she break up with you?" Jason pried, still trying to know what had put his best friend in such distress, and Christian finally blinked away from whatever thoughts he was lost in, a disbelieving,

"Her legal status did it for her."

"Is she married?!" Jason mused, shocked by his best friend's statement. Despite the fact that Ana seemed rather young to have already tied the knot with someone, this new piece of information did not fit the image Jason had of Ana. For the little he personally knew of her, he could honestly say that she was a good and righteous person. 'Too good for her own good' as Christian would often say it.

"What? NO! Where did that come from?" Christian asked, finally looking at his best friend in the eye, before looking down on his hands with anguish as he continued: "She's freaking seventeen!"

For a while, Jason remained speechless, not sure if he heard all the words properly. After all, Ana couldn't be only seventeen. She had a job, was living on her own, was saving to build her own shop. He did her tax report just last month, and it said that she was twenty. And all of this was without even talking about the person herself. First of all, she didn't look seventeen. And moreover, Ana was so grounded, calm and wise that Jason surprised himself once or twice of thinking of her as the eldest out of the two of them.

"Her tax reports said that she was twenty, Christian. Not seventeen," Jason tried to reason, before focusing on a much bigger problem: "You never asked for her age?"

This was the first thing anyone did before starting a relationship. Just so one could avoid being in that exact situation where the age became a legal issue. And though Jason always admired (though understood) the courage of his friend for holding it off, at this precise moment, it seemed like a benediction. After all, Christian was a lawyer, and those things could get pretty serious, he better than anyone knew it.

"I just figured she was around Mia's age. I mean, she doesn't look seventeen. She doesn't sound seventeen! And I never asked for her birthday because I hate making her talk of her life before the hitchhike. She doesn't like talking about it, and I don't like hearing about it," Christian explained before hiding his face in his hands, looking as helpless as a child.

"What happened?"

"It was … ugly. Plain ugly. We were supposed to go out, and I pulled off more work hours. She seemed fine with it like she always is. But then, she showed up at the office. She never came to the tribunal, Jason. Never. And now, she came, scared out of her mind and asking to talk with me.

I asked for five minutes. Just five little tiny minutes to explain to Franklin that I was off. Five tiny minutes to take my stuff and be there for her. I know Ana, she never would have come to the tribunal if it wasn't important.

But when I got out of the office, she was gone. I went to Kate who told me that she received a text from Ana saying that she was sorry, and her apartment was empty. And a couple of hours later, two police officer came to Franklin to inform him that she was at the Memorial Hospital, because of a panic attack that she had when they caught her in a bus, trying to leave the State."

"Wait a minute, what does Franklin has to do with Ana?" Jason cut him off, surprised by this turn of event.

He knew that Ana had a friendly relationship with Christian's boss, Christian had told him more than once how this was weirding him out. Mostly because it was his boss, and that he knew that Ana never told Franklin that she was with Christian. But still, the fact that Ana was friend with Franklin was not reason enough for the police to contact him if she was in trouble. Jason knew that she had no family, but there were many people that should have been contacted before going to a random friend. Her landlord, her employer, her boyfriend.

"He's her biological father," Christian explained, leaving Jason speechless.

He knew that Christian tried several times to get any information out of Ana so he could try to find him for her, but Ana always kept everything to herself. Christian told Jason many times that he was sure that Ana was scared of looking for her biological father because she was scared of getting rejected by him. She was scared of being an inconvenience more than a daughter, or to ruin a perfect family life that he probably had.

"But … Wait a second … I thought that they were friends and all. Why didn't he recognise her if he knew he was her father?" Jason mused, trying to find any logic in what Christian was telling him.

"Beats me," Christian said, shaking his head before he added: "At first, I thought it was because of his wife. She can't have children, and so I thought that he didn't want to impose her a long lost-child. I mean, it's understandable. Franklin would be trying to spare his wife's feelings, all the while trying to do good by his daughter by being somehow in her life.

But then, Lily showed up at the hospital, worried out of her mind for Ana. She was asking tons of questions to the doctor, and then she bombarded the social worker with even more questions. Bottom line is, Lily knows Ana, and obviously cares for her, which means Franklin had no reason to not recognise her. He had no reason to deny the father she wanted and yearned for.

Have you seen how she looks at Carrick when she comes over? And her father was just right under her nose!"

With despair, Christian buried back his face in his hands while Jason conceded to himself that life was not being very kind to Ana at this moment. He could see where Christian's distress was coming from. It was more than learning about her age, it was also the fact that Ana's little world was crumbling beneath her feet.

"It was just horrible, because I've never felt that useless toward Ana in our whole relationship.

When we got to the hospital, Ana was still out. And when the doctor came out of her room to tell us that she was good to go in the morning, the police Officer went in her room. I don't know what he told her, but he stayed an awful long time in that room, with the social worker that didn't leave Ana's side ever since she woke up.

Her mother was called and she and Franklin argued a lot. About his parenthood, about Ana's childhood, about the fact that she didn't do a single thing to take Ana out of this nightmare. She accused him of not recognising her, he accused her of running off pregnant without telling him about it. She accused him of never accepting Ana, he accused her of knowing all along and just standing by.

In the end, Lily had to intervene to calm Franklin down.

And then, the officer came out of Ana's room, saying that he was keeping her stepfather in detention and that Ana had pressed charges against him for rape and child abuse."

At those words, Christian gripped his hair with desperation.

Jason helplessly watched his best friend, not sure of what he could do to help him feel better. He recalled the first time Christian mentioned Ana and how his best friend was persuaded that the brunette he just took out for dinner, had been abused back home. And then, one night, he called in the middle of the night saying that she finally opened up to him.

And now he was understanding at least one emotion out of Christian: Confusion. Though Christian never told Jason anything more ever since Ana opened up to him, he knew that Christian was doing his best to convince Ana to press charges. And she always refused. Until this day, when a police officer managed in a few moments with her to do what Christian hadn't been able to do in months.

"Is Franklin going to represent Ana? I mean, he's her father after all. This is the least he can do," Jason asked, and Christian finally looked up at him, his eyes still as desperate as when he knocked on the door.

"No. He asked me to do so. He actually asked the officer to not take her statement and wait for him to be back in her hometown to do so."

"Why? What does that change if she presses charge in her hometown?"

"Because if he is prosecuted there, he will have to comply with the law of her State," Christian explained but Jason still did not see what difference that made; and so Christian continued: "They have the death penalty in her former State. And rape on a child is a one-way ticket to the needle.

"Oh," Jason said, finally seeing the logic behind all those manipulations. "Are you going to take her case?"

Christian seemed to hesitate, making Jason frown. He mostly asked the question to hear Christian say the words, because he never thought for a second that Christian would refuse to help Ana at the moment she most needed his help.

"I don't know, Jason. Franklin asked me to do it, not Ana. She doesn't want to see me. She refused to see me. I asked the social worker to see her, and she said that Ana did not want to see me. She lies to my face about her age, and when she refuses to explain and excludes me like it's my fault!"

Jason remained silent, trying to find the right words, before he said with reason: "She never lied, Christian. You said so yourself, you never asked for her age. She didn't tell you her age, because you never asked, it's not the same."

"Nevertheless, that doesn't change the fact that she is seventeen and that I feel like a creep. I feel like a creep for falling in love with a seventeen years old girl!"

"Do you think you could win the case," Jason dismissed as if nothing, looking at his best friend straight in the eyes; and Christian answered with a confused assurance.

"Yes. I could win her case and make sure that he would get the maximal penalty, all the while having her to the stand only once. I know which questions to ask, and which topics avoid so she wouldn't be too traumatised."

"Then you don't really need me to know what to do. We both know that you will take her case whatever I tell you."

Christian stared at Jason as if Jason had suddenly grown pig ears before he reminded him: "Didn't you hear me when I told you that I am in love with a seven—"

"Age is just a number, Christian," Jason cut him off. "You didn't fall in love with her age, did you? You fell in love with whatever of herself that make you smile when you think of her, and turned you into that complete cheesy guy when it comes to her. You fell in love with that wonderful person she is to you, not her age. So why do you focus so much on it."

"Because like Franklin-slash-her-father pointed out so wisely earlier today, she is jailbait," Christian snapped with temper, losing Jason once again in the maze of his brain.

Jason was very well aware that Ana was the main and only reason why Christian decided to go to the gym or to jog in the mornings. He knew that, like any other men in that given situation, he never tried to push Ana, but that didn't mean that he wasn't affected by her body. Especially since she was Christian's type. Petite, big eyes, long hair.

"But … I thought that you never had —"

"We didn't. Of course, we didn't! I'd never push her into something she's not ready for. But that doesn't mean that I don't want to and that my thoughts of her are all pure."

"But no matter what, you would have waited for her to give you the go? No matter if it were a month or a year?"

"Of course," Christian exclaimed as if this was the most obvious thing in the world- an emotion that Jason mimicked when he said,

"So? Where's your problem? You love the girl, Christian. Just tell her, and suck it up for a year. I mean, can you picture yourself in life without Ana?"

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💚Your thoughts and opinions are always welcomed💚

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💚 So this is the reaction you all wanted. I hope you enjoyed reading it. It's been coming since chapter one, and now, here it is. Hihi

~ Anyway, question times:

1. What do you think of Christian's trail of thoughts?
2. What did you think of Jason?
3. Why did Franklin ask Christian to take Ana's case?
4. What was your favourite part?

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

Love, Mina 💚💚💚