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.

💚 Well, here is the first chapter of part 2. Finally, we are getting there. Now this part will mostly work with Ana and Christian's POV. And I want you to remember a few things whilst you will be reading it:

1. The charters are OOC. And remember that several times throughout part 1 I warned you about certain flaws about certain characters, and they will be enlightened in this part.

2. This second part is going to be longer than the first one. It will also have more angst and be more of a slow burn in some way ...

2. The story is already done and dusted.

3. We never know what happens to a character as long as we're not in their POV

5. Keep the faith, no matter how much you think you know what will happen

PART 2

Chapter 1 ~ Life Goes On (3,9K)

.~°~. .~°~. .~°~.

Christian's PoV

From: Ana Steele-Lambert

Date: 06 February 2014 10:30

Subject: Happy Birthday

I know, you would have liked it better to spend your birthday with me, as you told me last night over the phone, so here is a picture of me sending you lots of kisses. I hope that your day will have plenty of happiness and good news (please tell me that you took at least this day as your day off).

Anyway, when you receive your present, the first thing you do is tell me. No matter the time. I hope you will love it.

I miss you and love you even more

XOXO, Ana

As I re-read the email that Ana sent me for at least the fourth time, I can't help but smile with bittersweetness. As she said, I do wish that I could spend today with her, but I know that it is impossible.

Ana left for England, a little more than four months ago, and saying the I miss her is an understatement. Funnily enough, what I miss the most about her are the little things (despite sleeping with her in my bed). I miss her food, I miss the way she looks at me when I make a romantic gesture toward her, I miss her little chuckle when she tries to hold her laugh, but ultimately fails.

To be honest, if I told Ana to go, it wasn't only to voice what she really wanted; I was also voicing what I wanted. Not that I wanted to be apart from Ana, especially for that long; but I am a man, and well, it is sure easier to keep my hands to myself now she is abroad. I know that the age of consent in our state is seventeen, but the thing is, I also know that the law is bendable. And since Michael can still appeal, I don't want to take any chances for him to use it against her, in case his case goes back to Court. So I just bite my bone, though I have to say that this first time with Ana is really stressing me out. The more it is postponed, the more I feel pressure about being this intimate with Ana.

But it's not like I have to worry about it right away. Her birthday isn't before mid-August and she is not coming back until mid-September, so all is good. And anyway, ever since she left, I have been so busy with work, that I barely had time to think of any of this.

John Flynn wasn't lying when he said that I would sell my soul and life if I started working with him. There are some days when I only leave the office to take a shower and change clothes before coming back and working even more. Out of John and I, I am the only one to have an office. When I signed with him my partnership, I told him that I refused to take any plane to go anywhere, no matter how small the distance could be. And we both agreed that it would be a waste of valuable time for me to drive to wherever a case needed me. So we took an office for both of us, in the town where I live; but I'm the only one using it. John keeps on flying all over the country, going to whichever clients want him to work with them; and I stay in the office, working with the clients from our State, and the two other States neighbouring us.

And it's crazy the number of people that need a lawyer over nothing. This is something that I did not see when I was a lawyer for the DA, is how trivial some cases could get. And what's even crazier is that sometimes, those cases are the one I take the longest to settle. But there are also some cases which are more interesting than the ones I got as an ADA. They are more challenging as a lawyer and I have to admit that I love working on some of them, no matter how bad they can get when you see them on a personal level. But there are also some cases that I don't like working on. Especially the cases that are about abuse, and even more, child abuse. And it seems that John made it his personal mission to give me this kind of cases. When I confronted him about this, telling him that I'd rather him stop sending me cases of abuse, he told me that I should build myself a shield and not let myself get too lost in a case. That work was work, and life was life, and that I shouldn't mix the two of them in any way.

So I just sucked it up, though I have to say that I have fewer cases like that than before. But that doesn't mean I have less work.

I have so much work that I never have time to respond to Ana's weekly emails, resuming me her life. There are some times when I even read her emails days after she sent them. But I still appreciate what she is doing for me. Through those emails, she sends me heaps of pictures of her being the perfect tourist in England. I received selfies of her in front of Big Ben, the Parliament, Buckingham Palace, in the London Eye, in a black cab. She also went to the countryside in Surrey and Kent. And I can tell one thing just by looking at the pictures she sent me: Lily, Franklin and she have grown much closer. They feel like a family in every picture that Ana sent me. Which makes me happy for her. She finally got her family of loving parents, even if Franklin took his sweet ass time to come forward and own up to be a father.

A couple of weeks after landing in London, Ana started working in a restaurant with a French Chef named Franc. She said that Franklin was more than willing to pay her tuition to go to a French school so she could get a diploma in cooking, but that when she started really looking into it, she decided against it. First of all, because she didn't know French and she didn't want it to be a handicap for the time it would take her to learn properly. Second, because all tuitions in France were of at least two years; and that she told me that two years was too long to stay apart. And though I didn't tell her in case she changed her mind, I completely agree. Two years would be way too fucking long without her by my side.

Ana also calls me every two days, around ten in the morning (my time), and very briefly. It never lasts more than five minutes, but she just wants to know everything is okay for me. That's how sweet she can get. And let's not forget the best thing she does for me, is to send me bi-monthly banamuffins. I don't know how she does it, but she is across the globe, and the muffins are still moist when I eat them. So delicious!

During those four months that she's been in England, Mrs Lincoln and Kate went to visit her. She went to Kent with Mrs Lincoln, because apparently she has family there, and Ana spent the weekend there while Mrs Lincoln spent the week with Ana, and Ana apparently loved that week. She always speaks of Mrs Lincoln as more than a friend, but I don't think she realises it. Personally, I think that Mrs Lincoln is, in Ana's mind and heart, a surrogate grandmother. Well, that's how it looks to me, an outsider in their relationship.

Kate already went twice, and apparently she is planning on going sometimes around May again. And though it was obvious to me before, now it is sure, Kate is definitely Ana's best friend. The smile that I see in the pictures that she sent when she was with Kate is just proof enough. Ana didn't actually really linger on what she did or what she talked about with Kate when she detailed me everything about Mrs Lincoln visit; and I am sure it's because there are things that she'd rather keep with only her friend, which is fine by me. Let's be real, Kate and Ana were meant to be friends.

I have to admit, that it bothers me a little that so many people from Ana's life went to see her, and I can't. I am happy for Ana, don't get me wrong; but it still wounds my ego that this simple thing that is taking the plane, is stopping me from seeing the love of my life. I mean, Mom told me two days ago when I had her on the phone that she was thinking of visiting her as well. She has a medical conference coming up in Switzerland, and since it's only a few hours away from England, she's considering visiting Ana over the weekend that follows.

Mom is actually the reason why I am where I am right now, meaning in front of her house, parked and reading Ana's email before going in. Ever since I started working with John, I did not have anything that could even resemble a social life. I haven't seen my parents, my siblings, my best friend. No one. Not even Elliott, when we live in the same city.

Elliott took over Ana's flat when she left, which surprised me the first because I did not even know that they spoke when I wasn't there. When I asked him if he was sure about it, he assured me that he was, and to be honest, he seemed a little too thrilled to go to Ana's apartment. Maybe it is closer to his new workplace. Or maybe he found himself a girl and needs some personal space. Though I highly doubt that this is the case. Elliott has always been rather shy around girls.

Anyway, Mom called me two days ago, around the time Ana usually calls me and she finally got a hang on me. Of course, she used the opportunity to make me feel bad for not giving news for over four months, and not coming to see her, and … well, basically for being a bad son. And she ended all her speech by asking me to come to spend my birthday weekend home. She even proposed to send Jose to come to pick me up and drive me back to my place if I was too tired to drive. This should tell you how much she wants me to come, she doesn't like me driving for six hours, so what about Jose!

And strangely, John told me to take a few days off … I have no doubts that Mom somehow played a part in this. Which is rather humiliating when at twenty-nine, I still have my mother fussing around me like I am thirteen or something. But I know I won't be able to change Mom, even if I wanted to.

So, here I am, in front of the house, wondering if I should have followed my instincts and stopped at the meadow and slept a little before coming here. Because I know my Mom, and I know she will want to celebrate my birthday. And the thing is, this year, I really don't want to celebrate. I've always been prone to celebrate birthdays, I love actually celebrating one's birth, but this year is just not my year. First of all, I am exhausted beyond measure. Second, I don't feel like celebrating when I can't do it with Ana. Don't get me wrong, I do want to celebrate my birthday with my family, but in my mind and heart, Ana is already a part of my family.

Still, now that I am here, I guess I will just have to suck it up until tonight when I will be able to hit my pillow. And sleep until death does us part with my bed. That was the deal with Mom. I come, and she lets me sleep as much as I want.

With a heave, I leave my car and direct myself to the front porch where I knock on the door before opening and going in. And before I can fully enter the house, I am attacked by Mom who hugs tight against her, even though she is smaller than me. I let her have it, and apologise when she hugs me even tighter:

"I know, Mom. I haven't been the best of sons, lately. Work has just been ... hectic."

"I know. Ana told me that your new job was really consuming and that you had very little time for yourself," Mom lightly says as she motherly rubs my right arm to silently tell me that it's okay.

We walk further into the house, going automatically to the kitchen when what she just said finally reaches my brain, making me echo with surprise: "Ana told you?"

Mom nods with a little smile before she lets me know: "Yes. She actually calls every two weeks, or so, and gives us news about her life in England as well as asks how we are doing. She sent a cake to Jose for his birthday. And I think she did the same with Elliott."

I let down the information, keeping my emotions to myself and putting my best poker face on as I understand that Ana has been more regular than me to take news of my own family. I didn't even call Jose or Elliott for their birthdays.

I wonder why Ana didn't tell me that she was having regular contacts with my family. Every two weeks or so, Mom said. It's a lot. But then again, knowing Ana, she probably didn't tell me to spare my feelings. So I wouldn't feel guilty of not doing it myself. And knowing where she comes from, family is a bigger deal for her than for me. Not that I don't care about my family, but I think that for Ana it's something more important and more constant than it is for me. Even if it's with my own family.

"Your fiancée is a very nice girl, Christian. You better not be a fool and make her runaway! I like Ana," Mom suddenly says with a very accusatory tone, her eyes scowling at me.

It is true that most of the girls I dated left me because I worked too much and did not give them enough attention. But I know this won't happen with Ana. First of all, she never made a scene because I worked too much. Second, she is different. I feel different about her than about any other girl I have ever been with. Even my first love wasn't that strong.

"She still didn't give me any answer, Mom. I just intend to marry her, she is not my fiancée, yet," I rectify because this is something that actually strikes me from time to time when I have time to think for myself.

When she left, Ana kept the ring, as I asked her to do. But she did not say if she would marry me or not; nor did she wear the ring. And even though, as a lawyer or as a man, I know that marriage is just a piece of paper made to protect in front of the law and God spouses and children; I know that Ana doesn't see marriage that way. For her, it is still that romantic thing with a beautiful gown and tons of flowers, where she will bind herself to someone until death do us part. And I think this is the part scaring her. This kind of commitment is scaring her because of the poor example she had in life. Even though Carla and Michael never married, Michael still had a leash over Carla. So, my hope is that staying with Lily and Franklin who are a happily married couple (despite Lily not being able to have children) will open Ana on the idea that marriage doesn't have to be bad.

Mom pours me a glass of iced tea, rolling her eyes at me as if I just said something; and she reasons: "Of course she didn't give you an answer. Christian, no matter how mature Ana sounds when she talks, she is still a seventeen years old young girl. I know that you don't like thinking about your age difference with her, but it is still here, and you have to take it into consideration.

Getting married at such a young age means giving up on a lot of things. There are many things that she will never be able to experience or even appreciate if she ties herself to you and she knows it. You just have to give her the time she needs for her to come to the conclusion that you are worth it."

I take the glass of iced tea, mumbling like a kid: "You sound like you know that she will say yes. You don't know that. She might not want to spend her forever after with me."

At this, Mom rolls her eyes at me once again, and I can't help but think that I would get grounded when I was young if I rolled my eyes at her.

"Of course I know that she will say yes. I am your mother, I know everything there is to know concerning your wellbeing," She retorts with assurance and I can't help the smile that creeps on my face.

I know that she can't know for sure that Ana would agree to marry me, but it is still reassuring to have someone to be so sure of something that seems so simple. After all, I know that Ana loves me. And I have the luck to be her first love, which means that if I keep that love intact, she will never have the material to compare me to someone else. And as petty as it sounds, it is fine by me. I know the kind of soul Ana has, and I know that she could do better than me in the blink of an eye. She is attractive, nice and loveable. So for me to be her first love and to keep it that way is the only defence that I have.

"Where is Carrick?" I ask, looking around, in the hope to change the topic. As much as I like my mother's confidence, I still rather not talk so much about my love life with her. First of all, because Mom can get a bit obsessed sometimes, second, because I'd rather not have reminders of how much I miss Ana.

And also, I am curious. Carrick hasn't been working on weekends ever since Jose's coma, he lets that ungrateful task to the partner with whom he owns his veterinarian cabinet. Of course, sometimes, they trade, but those times are rather rare, and I don't think Carrick would have agreed to work the Saturday of my birthday when I am supposed to come. As a matter of fact, the house is actually very quiet for a Saturday afternoon.

"Actually, where is everyone?" I know that Mia and Elliott flew back to our parental home for the weekend since they sent me texts, but they are nowhere to be seen.

"The kids are with Carrick. They went to pick up your birthday present and settle a few things that needed to be done before tonight," Mom tells me, with a bright smile that I don't like. It means that she planned a little party amongst ourselves when I specifically told her that I just wanted to sleep.

I roll my eyes because I knew that Mom wouldn't resist doing something for my birthday. I just knew it. And of course, I get slapped behind my head for having rolled my eyes. Double standards is something parents seem to live by.

"But I told you I didn't want to do anything for my birthday, Mom. I just want to sleep," I whine like a baby, and sounding a lot like Mia when she wants something from her father. Thank God she is not here to make fun of me and call me a baby girl like I always do when she uses that tone.

"Well, go ahead. I'll send Mia to wake you up when it will be time to eat," Mom tells me, pointing upstairs with her hand; and when I see that she's being serious, I simply rush to my bedroom, not needing her to repeat to me any word. Sleep just sounds heavenly, right now.

As soon as my head hits the pillow, I am fast asleep, welcoming Morpheus with opened arms and a big smile. And my last thoughts before drifting to sleep is that it had been months since I actually took a nap. Last time I did was when I was with Ana at Disney before we came back to my parents' house.

After what seems like a microsecond, I hear someone opening my door, and by the few tiny steps made, I can tell that it's a girl. I growl, rolling on my stomach and hiding my face under the pillow as I warn her with a very unwelcoming voice: "It's my birthday, Mia. I can totally tell you to fuck off. Let me sleep in peace!"

I hear a little chuckle before the door closes and tiny other steps are made toward the bed, making me growl even more. That girl always had the thing to annoy me when I least wanted it. Ever since she was a toddler. She can be one annoying baby sister.

I feel the bed dipping next to me, and I clutch the pillow, ready to throw it in her face if she tries to scream in my ear or touch me in any annoying way. But then, she simply says: "I can leave you alone if you want. And come back when you will be less moody."

At the sound of this voice, I snap my eyes open and throw the pillow away from my face to see if my ears are deceiving me. But no. It is really Ana, sitting in the bed next to me, and smiling with all her heart. Ana. For several long minutes, I stay completely inept, too stunned by her presence next to me.

What is Ana doing in my bed, in my parents' house, in the US? She is supposed to be in London! I even received an email from her this morning with her birthday wishes, stating that she also wished to be by my side today. She isn't supposed to be here, in my bed, smiling to me with a humongous smile. She just isn't supposed to be here.

"Say something," She pleads with her beautiful voice, breaking that long silence that I imposed on us; and all I can do is caress her beautiful face with love before cupping it and telling her:

"I love you."

Then, I kiss her as she straddles my laps and gives me back my kiss, making up for all those months we spent apart.

.~°~. .~°~. .~°~.

💚Your thoughts and opinions are always welcomed💚

.

Oooooh, That part two is starting pretty well, I think. Unless this is a dream ...

~ Anyway, question times:

1. What did you think of this little moment between mother and son?

2. What do you think of Christian's lifestyle?

3. What do you think will happen next?

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 💚💚💚