More on Christian's anger about the surprise pregnancy announcement.

I didn't want to be rude.

Christian

Elliot and I are sweaty pigs from our workout. I'm surprised he even made it but it's been a while since we got together like this on a sunday morning, mostly because we got ourselves steady girlfriends. How the times change…

I waited for Ana last night but she'd fallen asleep with Sloane and I didn't want to disturb her so I worked a little before finally trudging back to my own room. However, earlier this morning, I was able to catch her as she left a note in my room. She was still wearing the dress from last night which fully woke me up and ready for breakfast despite her trying to remind me that Sloane was waiting in her room. I promised her that indulging in my favorite breakfast meal wouldn't take that long. Seconds later I had her sitting on my face as I wrung every ounce of pleasure from her body like desperately needed sustenance for my own. Minutes later, I had a shy and flustered girlfriend doing the walk of shame. Another first, filled with pride.

"Gail, have I told you that you're the third most perfect woman I know." Elliot says in praise.

"Third? I thought I was second." She raises an eyebrow, eyeing him speculatively.

"I got myself a girlfriend. She knocked you down. So as it stands it's Mom, Girlfriend and brother's amazing chef. I'm a lucky SOB." He grins and digs into his omelette.

"Leave her alone," I scold Elliot, taking a sip of my coffee.

"She's a beautiful woman, I have to tell her what she means to me." He reasons and I hear Gail laugh, waving him off.

Last night's news is still running through my brain but before I can say anything Elliot broaches the subject of the press with me, while looking through his phone. He brings up the point that the tabloids and some social media stuff he's seen has been particularly brutal to Ana. I tell him that my lawyers and PR people are working to curb it as best they can. I tell him about my annoyance at a recent article about the men that were pictured with Ana from Friday morning and that I asked Ana to stagger her meetings to keep this from becoming unnecessary fodder. If you don't give the press anything, they eventually starve and die.

"Wait, you texted her that?" His tone radiates increduilty.

"Yeah," I shrug and explain to him that Ana completely understood and will be mindful about it going forward.

"Hold on, you didn't even have a conversation, you texted her that and she's still letting you sleep in her bed?"

What the fuck is this man on about? "What are you getting at?"

"Dude, if I has messaged Kate that, she'd have murdered my ass or have me strung me up by my balls hanging from the space needle."

I roll my eyes, "Ana's mature. She understands what I meant. Besides, Kate's a fucking psycho, I wouldn't expect any less from her."

"You need to stop saying stupid shit about my girlfriend, Christian." He growls, "I've got nothing but respect for yours, the least you can do is extend the same for mine."

The fuck crawled up his ass?

"Oh but you make assumptions about mine?"

"How would you feel if Ana had messaged you something like that demanding that you stagger your meetings with different women who you were meeting in a professional setting or had no choice but to meet? If Kate had texted me that with zero context, it'd piss me the fuck off and we'd have it out."

"As I said, Ana's mature. She gets it. If she didn't, she wouldn't have messaged back saying she understood it." I remind him. "And we went out to dinner that night, she didn't mention it. Not everything has to be World War III."

But as I say the words, an uncomfortable feeling crawls up my spine.

"Why aren't you drinking?"

"I took a painkiller before we left." I ask her why and she tells me that she has a headache.

"Why didn't you tell me? We could've stayed in an–"

"I didn't want to be rude," she says with a small smile and goes back to looking at the menu.

Our conversation was a little subdued but I attributed that to her headache that didn't seem to improve at all. The restaurant also had loud music and a belly dancer performance that didn't help things. But then the food didn't settle with her either. It was just an off night. I shake the thought. Elliot's just starting shit, like he always does.

"I'm surprised Kate has murdered your ass yet given that you've slept with half of Seattle. Chances are you're bound to run into previous conquests. Talk about awkward."

"Yeah we have, she takes it in stride. I've been upfront with her, just as she's been. In fact one of my assistant project managers at Grey Construction had a fling with her last year. The moment she saw him on the job site, she told me about it."

"And that doesn't bother you?"

"Nah, cause we love each other and none of us can change our past. Also, if and whenever we run into an old acquaintance of hers, it doesn't bother me at all because she's told me that I'm the best she's ever had and how much she loves looking at me when I'm naked. So I'm golden." He leans back with a shit eating grin, so sure of himself.

I find his explanation alien. He notices my expression and leans forward.

"We're dating a different breed of women, bro. Secure is the new sexy. Trust me. Clingy is so 2008."

I roll my eyes and resolve to change the subject. "Anyway, about this Mia news from last night…"

His reaction is more of a shrug, similar to Ana's from last night, telling me it's none of our business. I'm shocked.

"This coming from, I don't want to knock Kate up before marrying her because that's bad manners?"

"Well, what is the alternative? Telling Mia to have an abortion?" He asks, "just because I don't want to knock Kate up before marriage doesn't mean I can impose that standard on every other person. It doesn't work like that."

"No… but Mia's young. She's got her whole life ahead of her and this restaurant is going to get neglected and–"

"Bro, you just gave her the money and bounced." He starts, "she's been there every step of the way, hounding my crew, watching them like a hawk, I swear to god I know the names of all the damn spices she's used in the different dishes that I could sleepwalk into a grocery store and buy them. Why? Because she wouldn't stop talking about it or shoving whatever concoction she made down my throat for taste tests. She's fucking dedicated. And yeah, this surprise pregnancy is… a surprise but she's an adult who made the decision with the father of her child. It's not our place to say shit when she didn't ask for advice in the first place. Give her a chance."

His acceptance of this situation astounds me. Does he not care? My anger suddenly boils to the surface.

"So what? She's going to be stuck with Kavanagh? What if he fucking ruins her? That demon of a father… some role model they had growing up. A man who's cheated on his wife his entire marriage. I'd advise you to really keep an eye on Kate as well because the apple doesn't fall far from the tree."

It appears I've stunned him into silence because he's just staring at me.

"Apple doesn't fall far from the tree?" He repeats my words slowly, nodding in understanding. "Wow. You must not have any respect for Ana or Sloane then."

"What the fuc–"

"I mean, why would you? Her mother got pregnant as a teenager. She got pregnant as a teenager herself which means Sloane will get pregnant as one too, right? Since the apple doesn't fall far from the tree?" He snarls.

"That is different, Ana is diff–"

"No, Christian… you've said enough." He holds up his hand "I get it, only you're allowed to be the exception, everyone else is just destined to be just like their parents. You have no respect for anyone. You ratted me out to Mom and Dad yesterday. And now I've been summoned to Bellevue this afternoon because they want to talk to me. You think I want to see them crying? Is this what I get for always being there for you?"

When I try to speak again he tells me to shut up. He's on a roll. We haven't had it out like this since I told him about Elena years ago except this is a different brand of anger.

"If Mia's so fucking young to be a mother, then what the hell is Ana? I sincerely hope you didn't say any stupid shit about this to her last night because trust me, she will dump your ass if she hasn't already."

"Ana understands my concerns, I told you, she's mature, she gets it. Mia and Ana are poles apart… Mia will fuck this up. You know how she gets sidetracked." I say in defense.

He has no fucking idea about the wavelength Ana and I are on.

"Wow… I'm sure Mia will be thrilled to know how fucking happy you really are for her." He says with a wry chuckle. "Good luck, Christian. You're gonna need it."

He starts to walk away but then turns around and addresses me one last time.

"Last piece of advice and this is only for Sloane's sake…. WEAR THE FUCKING FRIENDSHIP BRACELET. And while you're at it, learn how to read a fucking room."

I watch him walk away, the neon green bracelet proudly wrapped around his wrist as always. He's fucking reaching and projecting on to me because of his upcoming meeting with Mom and Dad. That's the only explanation.

How dare he insinuate shit about my relationship with Ana? He has no idea of what we have.

My phone beeps and it's a reminder for my schedule for some of the calls I need to make. I go through the list and smirk at the appearance of a familiar name that I haven't spoken to in months. It appears I need her expertise again. And just like that she flies to the top of my call list, my anxiety and tension from this recent exchange disappears immediately.

She picks up on the first ring, like always.

"Ms. Daremy, it's Christian Grey."

She purrs out a laugh, "how could I forget?"

A/N: Did Christian just lose someone on his team?