A/N: I promised you a surprise when Fifty Shades of Change reached 300 followers. You guys did it! I am humbled and thankful for each and every person that continues to encourage and to support this foray into writing about our favorite Dom and his outspoken unsubmissive. THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU!

In addition to publishing Chapter 15 ahead of schedule, I have another surprise. I am starting a fun little short FSOG FF titled Finders, Keepers. It will be a holiday short story (2-3 chapters). The first chapter is posted. This is my way of saying thank you for including me in your community and being such great supporters to each other. It is rare to find such a positive group. I am honored to be part of it.

I want to give a shout out to a few of you have been so amazing about reaching out, providing your thoughts on FSOC, and lifting me up when I hit a bump. You keep me encouraged and excited on the continual evolution of FSOC.

Krooela, T Traveler, Daytonalay, Snoopylover60, Monica Acevedo, SuzB, CupcakeW, Carol222, Pgstone, Margaret Talai, Pks704, ennaid88, Ethereal 2020, Misssee, and Paleseptember10 this chapter is for you!

As always, the original characters belong to E.L. James. Your follows, favorites

Chapter 15

NSFW

Following our fight (or break up, I'm still not sure if that's what happened), Christian blows up my phone with calls and texts. It takes all of my strength to ignore him. Right now, I need time and space to figure things out. I wander the snowy streets practicing the skills that I learned with Ellen.

Late Sunday night, Margaret calls me in tears. She tells me that she has to place me on administrative leave. Apparently, when one's alleged boyfriend is suing one's employer, one is not welcome at the office. Margaret assures me that I am not being fired. This required time off is only until the lawyers get everything cleared up, she says. She then instructs me to pack up my work laptop and any manuscripts that I have at home. A courier will be dispatched to collect these items ASAP. If I am not fired, why does it feel like it?

Before ending our call, Margaret delivers one, final blow. She recommends that I hire my own attorney. When one's boyfriend is suing one's employer, one needs to provide one's own legal counsel. Now, I am stuck at home 'not fired,' lacking for both work and income. What horrible things did I do in a past life to deserve this karma?

Kate comes home to find me pouring a glass of wine and googling "Seattle attorneys." Once my tears slow, Kate promises that everything I tell her is off the record. I recount everything from what went down at Christian's apartment though Margaret's phone call.

Kate immediately calls in the big guns, Eamon Kavanaugh. Without question, her father drops everything to come right over. More promises are made about keeping everything about Foolish out of the press. After hearing me out, Mr. Kavanaugh begins making calls.

Kate and I both silence our phones after the Grey brothers relentlessly pound us with texts and phone calls. Not that I would ever ask her to choose, but Kate is clearly on Team Steele.

Quickly, two lawyers respond to Eamon Kavanaugh's bat signal and join us. I quickly sign paperwork and write their firm a check for one hundred dollars to cover what feels like a super-discounted retainer fee. Once they are officially my lawyers, I am able to share with them why I need legal counsel. Only, I cannot exactly figure out what I did wrong in all of this. I work for SIP. Christian Grey is suing SIP. My boss advised me to get a lawyer. Here we sit.

I am not sure where Mr. Kavanaugh found my legal team, but they are gangbusters. Within minutes of establishing our attorney-client relationship, they use their contacts to confirm that Christian did file an emergency injunction against both Leila Williams and SIP.

Sterling, the older of the two lawyers, advises me to immediately turn in my resignation at SIP. Regardless of whether or not I have any culpability in the aforementioned LaLa Roberts Shit Show, the wrath of Christian Grey is about to rain down upon SIP. I am advised to sever my connections with my employer effective right this very moment.

Knox, the younger of the two lawyers making house calls, uses my email to whip up the shortest resignation letter of all times.

To: Margaret Dinwiddy

CC: Jerry Roach, Elizabeth Morgan

From: Anastasia Steele

Subject: URGENT and CONFIDENTIAL

Dear Ms. Dinwiddy,

Effective immediately, I tender my resignation from the employment of Seattle Independent Publishing, Incorporated. Any further correspondence should be directed to the offices of my attorneys, Sterling and Knox, P.A. Contact information attached.

Sincerely,

Anastasia R. Steele

I review Knox's succinct message and hit send. In the span of one day, I have flushed my career down the toilet and broken up (I think?) with my boyfriend. Where are LaLa's magic flying pills when I need them?

After Sterling and Knox promise to contact me with any updates, my new legal team bids us farewell. Mr. Kavanaugh hugs me tightly before following them out.

José and Frederic, via a text from Kate, show up at command central with wine and take-out. Soon after, Elliott begins constantly buzzing our apartment from downstairs. He is desperate to find out why his fiancé is not answering her phone. Kate heads downstairs to handle Elliott.

I simply tell our friends that I lost my job and that Christian and I had a fight. Sensing my unwillingness to discuss further, José busies himself with turning command central back into a dining table while Frederic sets about opening a bottle of wine. I love our friends.

Kate returns quickly with Elliott in tow. What happened to Team Steele? Elliott enters the apartment with hands raised in peace. When he gives me a tight hug, I squeeze him back. Maybe he is partially Team Steele?

After a few glasses of wine, I cave. I make Elliott, Jose, and Frederic pinky-promise the secrecy of what I tell them. Mr. Grey's NDAs have nothing on the sanctity of the pinky promise. Frederic and Jose agree that Christian and I did not break up. Instead, we are 'on a break.'

We learn that after I ignored Christian's calls, he rang Elliott in a panic. When Elliott turned up at the penthouse, Christian's place was crawling with lawyers and other corporate minions seeking to do damage control regarding Foolish. Christian pulled Elliott aside and demanded that his brother come to the apartment to check on me. Elliott readily agreed seeing as he was already on the way to check on Kate's radio silence.

Elliott informs us that Christian is a grade-A, super stalker. Great, another thing I did not know about this jack hole. Christian has his IT guys tracking my cell phone. That is how he knew where to send Elliott. I pop the battery out of my mobile device. Frederic runs out to buy a burner phone for me. Seriously, I have the best friends.

Additionally, Christian has assigned guys to provide me with covert protection. Why do I feel like this is more about reporting back to Christian and less about keeping me safe? I storm downstairs and find Sawyer sitting in a black SUV in front of my building. I shoo him away, threatening to call the police if I see him or any of the other men-in-black following me. I stand on the sidewalk until he relents and drives away. If Christian will not willingly give me space, I will force his hand.

Elliott also tells us that Christian's security is freaking out. Leila Williams is missing. No one has heard from her since she got on the flight from Chicago. Unlike my naïve self, Leila is aware of Christian's stalking abilities. She turned off her cell phone and vacated her last known address. Reynolds is flying to Connecticut to see if he can find Leila hiding out in her hometown.

Leila's NDA is missing from Christian's study at Escala. Taylor is reviewing security footage to see if she might have broken into the penthouse at some point to retrieve the document. Without the signed NDA, the Grey legal team will be hard pressed to stop the publication of Foolish. Leila might be crazy, but she is very cunning.

Two weeks pass. I am not able to keep seeing Ellen since I lost my health insurance with SIP. Needing to work through all of the emotions that are marinating, I practice the Ellen and I were working on. I meditate, journal, and exercise. Between the weather, the paparazzi, and my lack of funds, my workout routine consists of doing youTube yoga in my living room.

Christian's attempts to contact me are thwarted. I refuse to buzz up any delivery people. I create a new gmail account that is in no way associated with any personal details. Lacking internet on my burner phone, I use Kate's college laptop. Other than checking email and creating Pinterest boards for Kate's wedding, my internet footprint is minimal.

Two weeks is enough time for me to work through my own stuff regarding Christian and Foolish. I am fearful of the Leila William's version of Christian Grey, but I am not afraid of Christian. In New York, Leila proved that she lives outside the bounds of reality. Until I hear Christian's internal monologue regarding their relationship, I cannot assume that he was as cold to her as the character she painted in her book. It feels inconceivable that my boyfriend (still not sure if we are together) and Leila's Dom are the same man. Only Christian knows the answer.

Yes, Christian was a dick to me when he got back from Germany. I do sort of understand why, though. Suddenly, his actions had the potential to ruin tens of thousands of lives. If GEH goes under, so do the jobs that he works so hard to protect. The average man would crack under such pressure. Christian needed to take control and do what he does best – lead his troops into battle. He and I will have to work on being on the same side for future wars.

I am still unsure of so many things, but after two weeks I have no doubt about the most important thing. Being apart from Christian is the hardest, most heartbreaking thing that I have ever had to do. The time was necessary. Now, I am ready to see him. That is if he still wants to see me.

Last night, I put the battery back in my phone. After composing at least 97 different versions of the message, I sent Christian a short text.

A – I miss you.

C – Can I see you?

A – Dinner at my place tomorrow night?

C – Absolutely. What time?

A – How about seven?

C – Any time works for me. What can I bring?

A – Wine

C – Of course. Thank you for inviting me. I miss you so much.

A – See you tomorrow

C – Sweet dreams

OK, well that interaction seems promising. Christian and I have a long road to travel before our relationship is mended. This feels like the right first step on the journey. I have to keep reminding myself that I invited him over to talk. I will not let us get caught up in sniffing each other before we are ready.

Today is the day. I get to see Christian for the first time in 15 days. I clean the apartment from top to bottom. I do several yoga videos. I prep for the dinner. I shower and pick out an outfit that gives off a 'communication not fornication' vibe. I write down bullet points for things that I hope to discuss with Christian.

I am in the process of searching the internet for positive talking techniques for couples when I hear the rattle of Kate's keys in the front door. She rarely stops home during her work day so I am doubly surprised when an out-of-breath Kate appears.

"Ana, thank heavens you are here," she pants. Where else would I be? I haven't left our nest in days.

"Have you seen the news?"

Before I can respond, Frederic barrels through the front door. He and Kate make knowing eye contact.

"Has she seen the pictures?"

Kate shakes her head no. She reaches into her Louis Vuitton bag for her phone. She scrolls to find what she is looking for and hands it to me.

I turn my back to their stares to focus on the Seattle Nooz article in front of me. When finished, I place her phone down. I feel broken and dirty. This has to be rock bottom. I shake my head back and forth trying to ward of the tears. This cannot be happening.

Sterling and Knox make another house call. They set about making contact with both the Seattle Nooz as well as Christian's legal camp. After today, I imagine Christian's legal team is morphing into a finely-tuned battalion. My attorneys file injunctions and cease and desist orders on my behalf. They also file emergency motions in conjunction with Christian's lawyers. After leaving to attend a briefing with Team Grey at Escala, Sterling and Knox return to my apartment confident that the entire Seattle Nooz website will be shut down before close-of-business. Unfortunately, close-of-business proves to be too late. Several national news sites pick up the story by lunch time.

By the time TMZ runs the story, I have come to understand that my life will never be the same. I will probably never get another job in publishing. My parents are furious with Christian and me. Our landlord has called to say that if the hundreds of paparazzi that are swarming the sidewalk in front of our building persist, he will be forced to terminate our lease. He is getting too many complaints from the other tenants.

Seattle Nooz Website

Breaking News

Faithful Seattle readers, it has been several weeks since our local billionaire bachelor-in-residence, Christian Grey, and his current plaything, Anastasia Steele, have been spotted out in public. Just when we thought that Mr. Grey might be back on the dating market, breaking news proves otherwise.

It seems that Seattle's most gossiped about couple has been too busy behind closed doors to make appearances in front of them. Seattle Nooz has exclusively obtained steamy pictures of the couple acting out our wildest fantasies. Scroll through the photos below to see Ms. Steele's smoking hot curves tangled with Mr. Grey's god-like physique. Yowsers!

Ms. Steele might want us to think that she is the quiet, studious type, but one look at these NSFW pictures and you will see Christian Grey's current love interest is more Play Bunny than book worm. Take our poll and vote for which of these too-hot-for-print photos is your favorite. Will it be Ms. Steele wrapped in black pearls and little else or will it be the rear-view of her brandishing a riding crop while a shirtless Mr. Grey kneels in submission?