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.

PART 2

Chapter 2 ~ Happy Birthday (2,4K)

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Christian's PoV

As much as I try to, to not make her feel uncomfortable, I cannot take my eyes off of Ana. I am still stunned by her presence, even more, when she fondly smiles to me with that smile that I missed so much while her hand gently caresses my cheek, feeling my growing stubble against her palm.

Once again, I peck her lips, just to feel the nice sensation of her luxurious lips on mine; and finally, I take her in my arms, afraid that she might be a dream and evaporate within seconds. I knew that I was missing her, but now that I have her within my reach, now that I can touch her and be with her, now is the moment I realise how much I have missed her. Just being next to her is something that procures me a sort of happiness nothing or no-one will ever be able to bring me.

With a lot of efforts from my part, I put a little distance between us, just so I don't suffocate my girl; and I look at her as a whole, not just her face, which makes me smile even more. She is wearing a dress. I know that Ana isn't really fond of dresses. Despite the sour memory, I guess she has with them, I know that she doesn't find them practical to move around when she cooks and moves all over the place. But the very rare occasions I saw her in a dress, I did not stop myself from telling her how much I liked seeing her in the attire. So for her to come all the way to the US, and to wear a dress is something really warming me up.

The dress is long and pale beige, and something rather casual; but on Ana, it actually looks a bit fancy. I know how she usually dresses, and this definitely doesn't follow her outfit routine. And she's actually wearing jewellery, loose golden necklaces around her neck, while her hair is wild and free the way I like it. I know she thinks I don't notice those little things she does for me, like letting her hair free, but I do, and I deeply appreciate it.

When she had gone to England, I saw in the first picture that she had sent me that she had radically changed her haircut for something less voluminous and flatter, with a bang. But now, the bang is too long to be worn as such, and her hair is starting to get back some volume, which I like very much.

Still not believing that dream coming true, I kiss again her lips, before letting her know: "You're amazing."

Ana shakes a little her head as if I just said something silly; and here comes another thing I missed about Ana. God, how much I missed her. I hold her tight in my arms, not even afraid that I could crack her bones to hold her tight like that; and Ana happily snuggles against me. I hide my nose in the creek of her neck, relieved that even though she is dressed quite fancy, her cookie smell is still the same and did not leave her while she was abroad.

"To be honest, I am just being selfish. I was simply missing you too much to wait for a whole year to see you again. And honestly, I couldn't miss out your birthday," She dismisses as if she didn't have to take the plane for long hours and risk her life to come and see me.

There's actually something that changed about Ana. I already noticed when I had her over the phone, but I couldn't tell for sure. But now that I have her face to face, I can really assert that she developed a slight British accent in London. I think it's cute, and I'm almost tempted to ask her to say 'schedule', just to tease her; but then she starts explaining to me her master plan to come and surprise me on my birthday:

"At first, I wanted to come to surprise you at your place, and cook your favourite dish with a nice cake at the end. But then, as I had Grace over the phone over the weeks that passed, I thought it would be better for you to see your family all at once. At least for your birthday. So your Mom handled getting everyone here for the weekend, while I contacted Flynn to ask him to force you to take a few days off.

Dad and Lily are the ones who paid for my ticket as their present to you. Carrick came to pick me up at the airport yesterday night, so I slept in your bed without you in it. And let me tell you, it was all cold and not the same without you. Then early this morning, Jose and Elliott proposed to help me with your cake while Carrick and Mia went all over town to pick up everything we needed for dinner. We actually baked the cake at Alicante, thanks to Franc who gave his recommendation about me. I love having a starred Chef as a mentor. Haha.

And when we got back, you were sleeping. So your parents said that they would wait for you to wake up; but after chatting a little with Jack through Skype, I got too impatient to see you."

As soon as she finishes her last sentence, she leans to kiss me and I give it back to her all the while registering everything that she did for me. From the corner of my eyes, I see the tiny suitcase that I hadn't seen earlier for I was too tired; but to be honest, what my brain is really focussing on, is that last name that she used. Jack.

His real name is Jack Hyde. He is a twenty-four years old lawyer working with Franklin in London. You could say that he is Franklin's local ADA. And he is also the guy who got assigned to make sure that the Lamberts settled properly in London. But he is mostly the guy with whom Ana spends most of her free time when she is not with family. I have seen his face on many of the pictures that she sent me, and in all fairness, he seems like a nice young lad. He has black eyes, as dark as his hair, and a skin rather pale.

According to Ana, he is part French, and between him and her Chef, she gets to learn a lot of French, and can actually express herself in French now. According to Ana as well, Jack is the funniest guy in the world. And according to Ana, Jack loves pizza and Supernatural on Monday's night. Anyway, you get the drift. I don't like him. It's even more than I don't like him. I am actually jealous of him. But I never told any of this to Ana. Mostly because I don't know if I am jealous of the time he is spending with Ana, or if I am plainly and simply jealous of him.

Ana brightly smiles at me, before standing up, and proposing me her hand to help me do the same as she says: "We should probably go. I've let you sleep for more than an hour since your family left. They will end up thinking that I killed you and turned you into a pie."

I laugh with her, swiftly checking the time and seeing that I slept for most of the day. I went to bed shortly before two, and it is largely past seven. But then, I whiplash my head back to Ana and focus on something far more interesting than time. Something that is shining on her hand. Something that I haven't seen ever since I proposed to her in the car that I now gave Jose. The ring. And it is on her ring finger, the size apparently perfect, as if it was made for her.

With expectation, I look up to Ana, hoping that she will confirm what my eyes are seeing; and she chuckles a little, her cheeks getting pinker by the second as she tries to say as if nothing: "Yes. It is what you think. now, can we not linger on that, right now, and go to your birthday?"

I know that I am supposed to get up, so we can go see my family and appreciate this day, all together; but … all I manage to do is pull Ana back in my arms and kiss her senseless. It should probably be forbidden to love some as much as I love Ana. She gives me back my kiss; and just as she starts to melt into my embrace, a part of what she said just fully hits my brain. My family is already at Alicante. Which means that we're alone, after such a long time of being apart.

In a swift movement. I make her roll so she's laying on her back, and just as I hover over her and start nibbling her sensitive spot in her neck, all thoughts of being reasonable until her eighteenth birthday gone by the window; she pushes me off with an unknown force and gets up at a lightning speed as she states, out of breath and her cheeks still pink:

"I barely slept this night so you could have the best cake of your life! So no matter how much I love you, and how much I missed you, I want to see you eat that cake tonight! So get ready!"

Then she leaves the room, her head high as she says that she will be waiting for me upstairs.

After she closes the door, I let myself fall back on the bed, trying to find the will to be presentable around her; and once my boner is gone, I quickly drop by the bathroom and have a swift cold shower, just for good measures. I consider not taking the time to shave my stubble, but then think better about it and do my best to be quick about it.

Once I am cleaned and dressed up, I join her downstairs and find her texting to someone before she looks up and appreciatively smiles to me. "Kate wishes you a happy birthday. She also said that it's not because I am not home, that you can't drop by every once in a while and pretend to have a drink and socialise."

I laugh with her and bend to kiss my fiancé (how I love that word), though I notice that I have to bend less than usual for she is wearing heels.

"Do you want to walk, or take the car?" I ask her since the restaurant isn't that far.

"Let's walk. Like that, I will have you a tiny bit more all to myself."

I can't help but smile with her, and we leave the house, walking through the streets of my childhood town like the happy couple we are.

"I might come back in a couple of months. But I will come back home. Kate says that one of the shipowners back in town is selling their business and that it could make a cute shop for me. She will check it out for me, but where she says it is placed, is a very good area to open a bakery. I will have no competition nearby and will have only residences or offices around me. So it's good to start making myself a name," Ana lets me know, and I feel happy for her. Though I have to admit the main thing that I kept in mind was the fact that she would soon be coming back.

I take her ringed hand in mine, just to have the sensation of her ring caressing my skin, and ask her:

"But you will only be checking the place if you come back, right?"

"Yes. I might stay a week because I would need a contractor to rebuild the place as I want it to conform to legislation, but I don't mind having to stay here for a week. Though I might have to ask Dad to tag along so he could help me see through all the papers and stuff. There are things that even Kate doesn't know."

I don't propose myself to do it for her because let's be honest, I might have been a bad son lately, but I was actually a crappy boyfriend to Ana ever since she left. Ana did everything to make steps toward me. She was the one making the calls, she was the one sending pictures and emails, she was the one sending banamuffins to keep my sweet tooth; and now, she's the one organising my surprise birthday party with my Mom. And I did nothing.

I have to be honest, I wouldn't even have called if she didn't. This is how much I let work consume me. I just didn't see it, because I am used to working a lot. After all, I have always known myself to be a workaholic. But now … I have Ana. I have that woman I care so much about, and my job simply made me neglect her. And I think that this is worst than being a bad boyfriend. Being a bad boyfriend means you're still trying, you're just not good at what you're doing. Neglecting your girlfriend, your fiancé nonetheless is simply worst, because … it's as if she doesn't matter to you anymore.

And no matter what, no matter how much I love my job, Ana is more important. Always will be. And I have to make sure that she knows it.

As we are entering the restaurant, and the maitre d'hotel comes to us, I take Ana by the waist to bring her closer to me and let her know: "Though I deeply appreciate everything you did for my birthday, you didn't have to get through all that trouble for me. Just seeing you for even an hour would have been plenty enough for me."

Ana looks at me, with her blue eyes apparently lost for a moment before she assures me: "But … I wanted to do it. I wanted you to have this perfect birthday."

"Well, don't make it too perfect, or I will have high expectations for the next ones," I whisper in her ear as we reach our table where my family already is.

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💚Your thoughts and opinions are always welcomed💚

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Oooooh Finally, she said yes and they are fiancés. So cute.

~ Anyway, question times:

1. What did you think of the new character introduced? Know that two others are about to come ... Wanna guess who?

2. What do you think will be Ana's present to Christian? Beside the cake

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 💚💚💚