Chpt. 5 CPOV:

"How are you feeling Ana?" I ask as soon as I walk into our room.

She's kneeling, naked and waiting for me in direct contrast to how she was yesterday when I arrived. When I walked in here then, she was staring at the bed and even though she won't admit it, I know she was thinking about our session the day before. I know she was remembering how she came against me, with my name on her lips. There's no doubt in my mind that she was angry and confused by her reaction. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't just as confused and surprised as she likely was when she screamed my name with her release.

"Fine sir," her response is immediate.

"Did you bring what I asked you to?" I thought about it all night, wondering if she would complete the assignment or if she would refuse to. I know she had her doubts that I would stick to my word and not read what she wrote. I had no intention of reading what she wrote, I just wanted her to get out whatever was bothering her, hoping that by doing so it would help her stay more focused during our training sessions. It wasn't until we walked out last night that I realized part of what was bothering her was that I suspect that bastard left her the night before. I wish she trusted me enough to tell me what was going on. I would have altered our scene yesterday…

"It's on the table sir," she answers and when I look to the table I see a sealed manila envelope lying there.

"Very good, Ana," I praise her surprised that she followed through with assignment. "Any discomfort still from last night's punishment?"

"No, sir."

"Stand," I instruct and the moment she does I step behind her needing to ensure that there were no lasting marks. I didn't hit her hard enough to have broken the skin or left permanent marks, but I needed to make sure. I needed to see that she was okay; I run my hand over her soft skin watching for any indication that she's still uncomfortable. There's no reaction from her confirming what I expected, there were no lasting effects from the punishment. I also note that her body stays relaxed when I touch her; she doesn't flinch or tense at my touch.

"Today's session-"

I'm cut off by the lights blinking three times which indicates I need to contact Mark or Sawyer in their office. Time Out has a system to notify people in these private rooms when there is an issue. It's very rare for anyone to interrupt a session once it's underway unless the dom is ignoring the safe words or the sub is in danger. Considering we haven't even started a scene that's obvious note the case.

"What's going on?" Ana immediately asks, her posture now firm as she looks around.

"I'm not sure, I need to call Mark," I explain.

"Christian?" he answers as soon as I dial his extension.

"Mark, what's going on?" I ask.

"I need to see you and Ms. Steele in my office….now," he says firmly.

"Okay, we'll be over in a minute," I'm confused as to why he suddenly wants to see us.

"Oh and Christian?"

"Yeah?"

"Donaldson is in here, so Ms. Steele should be dressed," he says.

"Understood."

I hang up the phone and run a hand through my hair in part frustration and part confusion.

"Mark and Donaldson want to see us."

"Donaldson is here?"

"It appears that way," I shrug. "You can get dressed before we head to Mark's office."

"They want to see both of us?" she asks as she tugs on her jeans. My eyes follow her long legs, straight to her panty covered sex. Instantly my dick stirs at the memory of holding her on my lap yesterday; I had no intention of making her come, I wanted to ease her into the idea of experiencing pleasure in front of others. I only mean to touch her, to tease her, but when I felt how wet she was I couldn't hold back. I loved how responsive she was to the scene we were watching; I purposely chose that scene for her to watch. I wanted to show her that sometimes there is that connection between a dom and a sub and I knew watching Reynolds and Suzanna together would show her just that.

"Yes," I shake my head when I realize I hadn't answered her question yet.

Ana and I walk side by side to Mark's office; I have no idea what it is they want to talk to us about and why they want to talk to us together. When we arrive I see it's not only Mark and Donaldson in the office but Sawyer is also there. They're seated around a small conference room table where Ana and I take the last two seats which happen to be side by side.

"Thank you both for coming, I apologize for interrupting your training," Mark says formally.

"It's not a problem," I reply.

"Has something changed?" Ana asks.

I look at her and realize she's completely different when she's in here than when she's in our room. Here, I see the confidence she has in herself that isn't always obvious during a scene. I also see the concern in her as she questions why the agent in charge of her mission is at the table with us. She, as well as I, quickly realize this likely has nothing to do with our training and everything to do with mission itself. Which if that's the case, begs the question why I'm here.

"Yes and no," Donaldson answers. "We met with Simpson a little while ago and we no longer feel he is the right person for the mission. Unfortunately despite extensive training with both Mark and Sawyer here, they do not believe he is going to be able to pass as a dominant at the resort. Simpson was in agreement of this himself and had raised this concern with me yesterday. We all then met to discuss what our next option would be."

"Christian, we were hoping you could summarize how your sessions have been going with Ms. Steele," Sawyer asks.

"They're going well," I pause trying to put into words what I'm thinking. It's hard to try to remain removed from the situation, to pretend I don't know Ana nearly as well as I once did. "She's been exposed to different aspects of our lifestyle and just last night had a sort of pretest by going into the main room to observe scenes."

"And? How did she do there?" Donaldson asks.

"She did very well," I explain. "When she had questions about a particular scene she followed my directives and asked the questions privately. Other than a handful of us, no one in the room knew she was an FBI agent. I think some may have suspected she was new to the lifestyle but I think that will diminish as she's exposed to the main room a little more."

"And Ms. Steele, how do you feel the sessions are going with Mr. Grey?" Sawyer asks Ana.

"As he said, I've been exposed to more aspects of the lifestyle than I have previously been. The scenes have been more intense than they previously were with Simpson. I feel more comfortable with different aspects of the lifestyle than I was before," she explains.

"What concerns do you still have about going undercover as a sub?" Mark speaks up.

"I still struggle…" she pauses for a moment. "With some of the more submissive parts of the lifestyle."

I hold back the chuckle knowing how right she is; her eyes give so much away of what she's thinking during a session.

"Meaning?" Donaldson asks.

"I'm not naturally a submissive person, so this is an area I struggle with," she says more clearly.

"According to the personality testing, you have submissive tendencies," Donaldson explains.

"It's something we've discussed," Mark says glancing at both Donaldson and Ana. "I think the issue is Ana fails to embrace her inner submissive; I think she's in there but-"

"She doesn't have an inner submissive," I laugh at the thought. "Ana is not a naturally submissive person."

This earns me a glare from Ana who obviously thinks I'm ruining her mission. But before she can argue, I hold up my hand to cut her off letting her know I'm not finished.

"I've known Ana a long time and trust me when I say she is right that's she not a submissive person," I explain. "But, based on our sessions together I think there are aspects of the lifestyle that she…that she can adapt to. She may not be a perfect sub if one even exists, but with the right dom she can be the sub you need to for this mission. With someone she trusts, she'll be submissive in a scene. If it's with someone she doesn't trust, you're not going to get her submission during the scene. Rest assured though even if it's given, that submission is limited and restricted only to the scene. She's not and will never be the type who will engage in 24/7 power exchange. If you're looking for that on this mission-"

"We're not," Donaldson interrupts.

"Good, " I suspected this given our training but I wouldn't be surprised if they were trying something like that. "As I said if you need Ana to be submissive during a scene, with the right dom I don't think it'll be an issue."

"As we saw with Simpson, the right dom is key," Mark says. "Ms. Steele never submitted to him."

"What do you think the issue was with Simpson?" Donaldson asks.

"I think…I was too nervous with him," she answers honestly. "I couldn't separate the guy I knew as a coworker with the guy who was trying to order me around."

"Which is what we were saying before asking you both to join us," Sawyer says. "Mark and I have watched the recordings of Ms. Steele and Simpson together as well as Ms. Steele and Mr. Grey together. The differences are night and day…"

I don't listen to the rest of what is said, I only focus on that they watched me and Ana in a scene. I don't know why but the thought of them seeing her, especially when she came in my arms, angers me to no end. I see red thinking of them watching her like that. It makes no sense because I know within the next day or two she's going to have to scene with me in the main room to get her prepared for having a scene when she goes undercover…

Who the fuck is she going undercover with now? Simpson is out which leaves?

"There isn't enough time to train someone new to have them ready to go undercover with A..Ms. Steele unless you're willing to delay the mission," I point out.

"You're right there isn't," Donaldson agrees. "Unless the person who goes with Ms. Steele is already trained as a dominant."

"I don't understand, if we had an agent who was trained as a dominant why wouldn't they have been the first choice for the mission?" Ana asks before I can voice the same thought.

"We don't have an agent that is trained as a dominant," Donaldson says.

"I thought you just said you did?" I ask.

"No, what I said was the only possible way to keep this mission on the timeframe we set was to send someone with Ms. Steele who was trained as a dominant," Donaldson repeats.

"I don't understand," Ana says.

"Me either," I agree. "You want to send someone who is already a trained dominant undercover with Ana in less than a week and you expect her to submit to him during a scene? If she doesn't trust the person she isn't going to submit during the scene. She can't fake her submission."

"Agreed," Mark adds.

"We can't delay the mission, there are too many lives at stake," Donaldson pauses. "People are going missing from this resort at an increasing rate over the last month. We need to get agents on site so we can determine the best way to breach it. Simpson and Steele were charged with going in and getting a layout of the land. Everyone who has gone missing as come to the resort alone; someone is taking advantage of this knowing that they could be missing for days and no one would notice until they didn't come home on their scheduled day. Simpson and Steel were being sent in as a committed couple to minimize the risk to them. They were being given a week to gather the necessary information and then we would pull them out. The plan was the day they get pulled out, we would go in using the information they provided us."

"With Simpson out of the picture who is going with me?" Ana asks the frustration in her voice clear.

"We've spent the morning obtaining the appropriate clearances and approvals to send Mr. Grey in with you," Donaldson announces and I swear you could hear a pin drop in the room.

"What?!" Ana and I say together.

"It was obvious from the scenes we saw that you two could easily pass as a dom and sub at the resort," Sawyer explains.

"While for obvious reasons I did not view the recordings, I trust both Mark and Sawyer's opinion," Donaldson says. "You were right Mr. Grey, we don't have time to train another dominant to go in with Ms. Steele. Even if we had someone already trained as a dominant, you yourself said that if she doesn't trust that person she isn't going to submit to him during a scene. She already does this with you and you're trained as a dominant. Your impeccable service record and the high clearance level you held while in the service made the approval to bring you on as a contractor with the FBI significantly easier than it would have been for anyone else."

"You want to send us undercover together?" Ana asks still in obvious shock.

"Affirmative," Donaldson nods.

"When do you need a response by?" I ask.

"Immediately," he responds.

"I'll give you my answer within the hour," I stand ending the conversation. "Ms. Steele and I need to discuss a few things and I need to figure out coverage for my business if this is something I'm going to even consider."

"We understand Mr. Grey," Donaldson stands and offers his hand. "We appreciate you considering this request and the obstacles you're going to need to work through to make this happen."

"When would we leave if I were to agree to this?" I ask.

"Monday," Donaldson says.

"I thought we had another week?" Ana sounds as surprised as I am.

"You did, but we contacted the resort and told them that due to a change in work schedule you were now able to arrive sooner," Donaldson explains. "They had an opening and for an extra charge that was enormous they changed the reservation."

"Monday," I repeat.

"Yes, I know it's short notice, but the reality is people are going missing and if we can get in there earlier we need to take it," he says.

"It gives you a few days to review anything that you haven't already been over, but to be honest Christian I don't think there's much left," Mark says. "You've made more progress in a matter of days that I did in a month. Anything Ms. Steele hasn't been exposed to, you can focus on this weekend. We both know you couldn't possibly cover everything even if you had another week, so there will probably be a few tools that she sees for the first time while there."

"This will also give you a chance to read through the case file and the view the evidence we have," Donaldson adds.

"I'll be back," I shake my head confused at how this all came about and even more confused that I'm actually considering it. Ana looks at me questioningly, unsure if she should come with me. I nod to her indicating for her to come with me so we can talk.

"We'll be back shortly," Ana adds and follows me out.

Neither of us say a word as we walk back to the room; I'm still trying to process everything that just happened and figure out how the hell I just got roped into going on an undercover assignment for the fucking FBI.

"Grab your purse," I tell Ana as I grab my coat.

"We're leaving?" she asks.

"I'm not going to have this conversation here where they can hear every word we say," I glare at the spot I know the cameras are.

She looks up, surprised but grabs her purse and follows me out. I lead her to my car and then start driving; without even planning on it we end up outside the building where Grey Software Developing is housed. Parking the car, I take her hand and we walk in; I nod to the security guard before heading to my office.

"Mr. Grey!" Andrea greets me as soon as we step off the elevator. "I thought you were gone for the day."

"I am…I was," I stutter. "I just needed to grab a few things."

I lead Ana into my office, closing and locking the door behind us ensuring that no one will interrupt us. We both sit on the small couch, but neither of us say anything for several minutes. Could I do this? I could. I could arrange for Roz to cover my appointments and have Andrea push a few things back. It's only a week that I would be taking off.

But doing this with Ana? That's an entirely different question. One I don't know the answer to. Everything Mark, Sawyer and even Donaldson made perfect sense. It makes sense for Ana to go undercover with someone she has already successfully had sceened with. But…

"You have a beautiful office Christian," Ana says looking out the window that overlooks the city.

"Thank you," I sigh. "Be honest with me Ana…what are you thinking?"

"I have no fucking idea," she sits back and looks at me.

"I'm going to leave this up to you," I decide suddenly. "If you want to do this, I'll rearrange everything right now and do this with you. If you think you can't do it, I'll tell them my answer is no and I'll tell them the reasons are my own and have nothing to do with you. Nothing you say in here gets back to them."

"I can't make that decision for you," she argues.

"I won't do this if it hurts you," I counter. "I've…I've hurt you enough, I won't hurt you anymore."

"Do you remember Kate?" Ana asks after several minutes of silence.

"Of course," Kate was Ana's best friend. They were glued at the hip; we would double date with her and Elliot many times.

"She's one of the girls that went missing," Ana's voice is barely a whisper.

"WHAT!? What the fuck was she doing there?"

"She had some serious bad luck with men," she sighs. "We lost touch for a few years, but she found me on facebook one day and we started chatting. She had hooked up with some guy who was into BDSM and apparently they hit it off. Of course what she didn't know at the time was that he was married."

"Ouch."

"She broke it off as soon as she learned that, but she was hooked on the lifestyle," Ana explains.

"Really? I can't see Kate as a sub," that surprises me. She was way too strong headed to be a sub.

"She wasn't the sub," Ana giggles knowing I'm right. "She was…a domme I think is the term…a female dominant?"

"I see," well that makes more sense given the Kate I remember.

"Somehow I guess she found out about this resort," she continues. "She never mentioned it to me, she just said she was going away for a week on vacation. It wasn't until she didn't return at the end of the week that I got concerned. I spoke with her parents and they reported her missing. I guess the local police flagged it in the system and the FBI picked up on it. Shortly after she disappeared I was asked to help on the case, strictly analyzing the financial statements of this resort to see if we could figure out if there was something illegal going on. When they told me what type of resort it was I immediately knew…I knew that's where Kate had gone."

"Did you confirm that she had gone there?"

"I did," she says. "I hacked into her email account and found confirmation of her reservation. Of course they say she never arrived, but the FBI has pictures of her nearby on the day she was scheduled to arrive."

"Fuck Ana."

"I never wanted to go undercover Christian," she pauses blinking away the tears. "If it wasn't for Kate I wouldn't even be considering doing this. But…I have to do something."

"I understand," it all makes sense now. I knew there had to be another reason that Ana was pushing to go undercover so badly.

"During a briefing on the case, Donaldson mentioned they were going to send agents in undercover," she explains. "I spoke with my supervisor, learned the risks were minimal and put in a request for consideration. I was shocked when they selected me and still am. But if it means I can find out what happened to Kate I'm going to do whatever it takes."

"If I…if we do this Ana, I have one request," I say after a few minutes of silence.

"What?" she asks.

"You let me explain what happened 10 years ago-"

"No," she interrupts quickly.

"Ana, we can't go there, acting like we're a couple with this hanging over us. Hell, I don't know how you've managed to push it out of our scenes for this long, but it we don't address it soon it's going to impact the mission. I won't go undercover with you without you knowing what happened."

"I don't want to know," she argues.

"Why the fuck not?"

"Why not?!" she glares at me. "Why the fuck do you think I want to sit and listen to you tell me how you fell in love, or I guess thought you fell in love with some girl while we were apart? How you made love to her and then managed to get her pregnant? How happy you were with her and how the two of you are raising your child together? What the fuck makes you think I want to hear about that?"

"There was never another woman."