CHAPTER 27 - Just a little tenderness
The atmosphere during dinner is exactly what Christian had been missing this past week. Teddy and even Phoebe, who is usually less talkative, go into all the details of their life in Bellevue while their father was away for work. Christian cannot help smiling as he listens to all the happy and bubbly chit chat going on.
The meal simply consists in a vegetarian salad, which, as usual, is delicious, with some fruit smoothie for dessert. Compared to all the industrial sandwiches and canned food that Christian and Sawyer had for the past week, this is heaven on a plate.
Ana is particularly chatty tonight as well, and if possible, it is as if her bond with the children has grown stronger after this past week. Christian can't help thinking that this is the family life that he wants, for him, for his children, and for Ana. If he could just bottle up this moment, he would. And hopefully, there will be so much more to come.
After dinner, the four of them play a game called Ticket to ride. Each child teams up with the adult of the opposite sex, and this is all fun and laughter for over one hour. Then it is time for the children to go to bed, with two chapters of Harry Potter read by Christian.
The two adults are now comfortably sitting on the couch with Ana snuggled on Christian's side with Christian's arm around her shoulders. Christian's barefoot legs are on the coffee table, with a cushion beneath it. Ana's legs are folded on her side. His tie is off and the first two buttons of his shirt are undone. Their legs are covered by a grey plaid. They are both sipping their herbal tea in comfortable silence.
Ana is the one breaking the silence "Christian, did you manage to fix the situation? Is everything okay now?" She places her mug on the table then quickly moves back into position, placing her hand on Christian's chest, relishing in his scent. Christian moves her a little so he can also place his mug on the table, then he sits back with his hand on Ana's hip under the cover.
"Well, when we left on Sunday, Sawyer and I directly drove to GEH for a crisis meeting with Ros and Welch and Barney, our security advisors. We have been hacked; at first, we thought that someone had accessed our servers from inside GEH but apparently it was done remotely, from Eastern Europe, we don't know exactly where, it was impossible to track. Luckily Barney managed to protect the most sensitive data before it was accessed. He and his team of IT wizards have been working hard since then to rebuild the whole system with additional security." Christian looks towards Ana, searching her eyes before going on "We spent the night at the office, and drove in the morning to Puget Sound, to the shipyard." Ana places her head back on his shoulder. "Once again, some of our workers caught this damn virus and once again the authorities wanted to shut it down as a cluster. As a result, we will split the shifts so that less workers are there at the same time; that's all I could get out of it." Christian closes his eyes, suddenly tensed which seems to get better when Ana grabs his hand below the cover to play with his fingers. "That evening, we came back to GEH for some video calls with China and India on the situation there. I managed to secure the delivery of masks and other material for my employees and for my mother's hospital. Then we had to isolate ourselves so we drove to the marina; for the next four days, we stayed on the Grace, in dock."
"On your boat, here, in Seattle?" Ana interrupts.
Christian nods "Yes, my mother said that we had to stay away for four to five days with regular checks and temperature reading. It seems it is the incubation period for this thing."
"So this whole time, you were just a few miles away?" she says quietly.
"Yes. Ironic, isn't it? Because it was as if I were extremely far away. Far away from us." Christian smiles lightly.
Ana goes on "Why not in your apartment in Escala? That's where you stayed that other time, right?"
"Well, I don't feel comfortable there anymore." Christian answers.
"Oh" is all Ana manages to say as she is deep in thought.
"I think I will sell it as soon as possible once this is all over. It is time to move on." Christian answers her unspoken question.
Ana does not say anything but Christian knows that she agrees. He could not help noticing her reaction last Sunday when he explained Escala was where he met his "friends". He did not do it for her per se, he really felt that this page needed to be turned. But knowing that it pleased Ana was an added bonus.
"So what about you? How did your week go?" Christian moves on from this sensitive topic.
"Well, didn't you hear at dinner? You had a detailed formal report of everything." Ana says, teasingly.
"Well, I want to hear it from your point of view." He answers.
"Okay. This was a very productive week actually. I had been a little behind with the cleaning that previous week, in particular with the ironing, but I managed to have everything cleaned and ironed by Wednesday evening." Ana explains.
"Less distraction?" Christian asks teasingly.
"I guess so, yes." She smiles "I also tend to clean when I need to think. And I had a lot to think about this week."
Christian does not say anything, instead, he kisses her temple sweetly.
Ana goes on "It also helped that the children were extremely well-behaved this week. I had expected some fuss from Teddy in particular about your departure, but in the end, they were as usual, and very focused on their work. I think the memory of a very nice weekend spent together and the fact that they could talk to you every day did help."
"It really helped me as well." Christian says sincerely "For the first time in my life, I felt lonely. Not whole. I missed the three of you, so much." He intertwines his fingers with hers over the cover, looking at it tenderly "And I was not sure if, when I would come back, things would be the same with you. It scared me."
"Oh Christian, I'm sor…" Ana begins, letting go of Christian's hand.
"No Ana, no need to say anything, I totally understand where you came from. I was just scared that my poor attitude back then would cost me the best thing that happened in my life, with my children." Christian takes Ana's hand back in his, caressing it slowly "My mother was right. She tried to tell me that going out with random women was immature. I did not want to listen to her, I even got pissed each time she talked about it. But she was so right, I was a fool."
"You were hurt, Christian. And lost. I understand that. It is just difficult to imagine you with another woman. Other women." Ana says the end with obvious disdain.
Christian kisses her temple again "Shush darling. Don't even think about it. I'm all yours now and for as long as you want me, hopefully for a lifetime."
Surprisingly, Ana starts laughing "Darling? Is this my new nickname?" she searches Christian's eyes.
"I don't know, it just left my mouth without any processing. Don't you like it?" he asks, amused.
"Can I be honest with you?" Ana asks.
"Sure." Christian answers, a little less confident now.
"I love it. I'm your darling, and you are mine." She says with this amazing smile that Christian loves so much.
"That I am." Christian bends down a little and kisses her sweetly.
When they stop, Ana places her head back on Christian's shoulder. After a minute, she asks "Christian, darling, I have to ask; why did you not call me at all this week. Or even just send me a message. I thought you were trying to avoid me. Or worse I thought you were forgetting me."
"Oh no Ana, I was not avoiding you, and even less forgetting you. It's just… well, you asked for some time. And Kate and Elliot said that I should stick to the minimum contact with you, to give you time to breathe and think, and decide what you wanted."
"Okay, I see, but you could have sent me just a message to say hello or goodnight, you know." She says firmly.
Christian replies "I know now; I'm sorry. You can't imagine how much I wanted to call you like every minute."
"So did I. It is frightening how much I missed you." Ana confirms, which warms Christian's heart.
"So, tell me, when did you miss me more?" Christian asks playfully.
"Well, I'd say in the morning; I love that you are the first person I see in the morning." Ana answers after thinking for a minute.
Christian smiles. "For me, it is our herbal tea moment. I love that you are the last person I see in the evening."
"I missed the touch of your hand." Ana adds, while playing with Christian's hand again.
"I missed your smile. And your lips." Christian goes on in a deep voice.
"Well, I am here right now." She answers, knowing full well the impact of this unspoken invitation.
"Yes you are." Christian takes it as a permission to do what he has been dying to do for the past five days. He slowly moves Ana down so that she is now lying on the couch, and he shifts so that he is on his side next to her, his back against the back of the couch. And there, in the perfect position, he starts kissing her. Slowly at first, but with some intensity, so that she can feel how much this means to him, being here, with her, after a week apart. Ana seems as eager as him, and she kisses him back with everything she has in her.
After a few minutes of intense kissing, as they are catching their breath, Ana says "Christian, I think I am ready."
"Ready?" Christian asks, unsure.
"Yes." She simply replies, with some intensity in her beautiful eyes.
"For what?"
"For sex." Ana says shyly.
"No." Christian says firmly.
"No?" Ana is taken aback. "Don't you want to?"
"Oh God yes, I do. You can't imagine how much I want to share this intimacy with you. But no. Not yet. I don't want you to think that you are ready. I want you to be sure that you are." He gently moves a lock of hair from Ana's cheek, putting it back behind her ear. "We are not in a hurry, Ana, we have plenty of time. Don't do it just because you think that is what I want. We will do it because we both want it, when it is time." He kisses her sweetly "What do you think about it?"
"I love this idea." She kisses him the same way he just did. "Thank you Christian."
"No, thank you for trusting me." He answers staring into her eyes to make her see that he is sincere. Then he moves away, slowly, sitting back on the couch. "Ana, tomorrow, I will spend the whole day with the children, I missed them so much. If you want, you can take the day off, just for you, and do whatever you want."
"Great, I want to go shopping, then go to a bar and then a club. Oh, wait…" She says, smirking.
Christian smiles back "Good one. But I'm serious, you deserve that time off work."
She answers more seriously now "Christian, I would not want to do it anyway. I'd rather stay home with you and the children, and spend the day with the three of you. Spending time with you and the children is not work."
Christian can't help smiling "I'm glad you feel like it. Sometimes, I realize that entering a relationship with me means entering a relationship with three human beings. You are so young. It could be overwhelming. It could make you leave."
"Christian, I love your children. They would never be a reason for me to go away." She sweetly places her hand on Christian's cheek.
"Good." He says "I hope there will never be a reason for you to leave me." He takes her hand and kisses it.
Ana goes on "The only thing that makes me uncomfortable with regards to the children is when and how we will tell them that we are in a relationship. I don't want them to discover it without us explaining it to them first."
"I know. Do you want us to tell them tomorrow?" Christian asks, hopeful. For him, there is no reason not to tell the children as soon as possible, he knows that they both love Ana and would be thrilled about it.
"I don't know. I mean, what if they get attached and for some reason, we split."
"We won't split Ana, don't you feel this thing between us? Don't you realize that this is once in a lifetime thing?"
"I do feel it." She confirms.
"Besides, the children are already attached to you. And so am I. There is no way back." Christian says firmly. "We can tell the children whenever you feel like it; I would not mind telling them tomorrow, but I leave it up to you, you are the expert in child psychology."
"I will think about it. I'll let you know when and how I think is adequate."
Ana sits back against Christian and yawns.
"We should go to sleep, you are obviously exhausted. Come on." Christian proposes, and Ana immediately stands up. They walk upstairs, hand in hand.
Once upstairs, Ana says "Christian, I want to fall asleep in your arms."
"Okay. You don't know how much I would love that too." Christian says enthusiastically "Where would you be more comfortable, my room or yours?"
"Mine." She answers after a moment.
"Okay, lead the way, darling." And with that, they enter Ana's room hand in hand.