AN: Absolutely fascinated by a guest reviewer on the last chapter who can't seem to comprehend that a submissive in private can be an absolutely strong, confident, independent woman in public/professional life and often one is achievable because the other exists. I know FSOG was not a lesson in what BDSM actually is but to be so judgement on someone's kink just because it doesn't match your own. It's actually a little hypocritical when reading FSOG to be judging someone's kink, there are lots of different kinds, it's not all spankings! Yes, this Ana gets off on some humiliation with Christian, in private, in a scene, she is also about to go on an incredible journey that requires her to be stronger and better than ever and if you don't think she can be both submissive with Christian and strong and confident when facing the world, this story is definitely not for you.

Chapter Two

Arriving in Islington Ana was exhausted, she couldn't believe how much work had needed to be done at the constituency office. Between the foodbank which had been extremely busy and then all the emails and letters that had come in while she'd been at conference, she'd barely stopped. Maybe going into the office hadn't been the wisest idea and she should have asked Hannah to bring the correspondence to her house. At least then she could have given that all her focus instead.

She walked through Chapel Market and tried not to get distracted by all the stalls as she made her way to the constituency office to meet with Doug and John. She could easily go from stall to stall browsing, and she didn't have the time to do that right now. John and Doug would be waiting for her as it was, the tube having been a little late and extremely crowded.

John had become Ana's guide ever since she'd crossed the floor of the House of Commons and joined the Labour Party. He'd been her party father, and Ana adored him. Unlike when she had been groomed by the Conservatives he had made it clear to her that she had leadership potential from day one and had made it his job to teach her everything he could about socialism. Ana had become a true socialist in the process, she believed in what their party stood for, she believed in the fair distribution of wealth and ensuring that public services remained the property of the public.

He had guided her for the last two years, supported her and helped her. He'd made the little caterpillar become a beautiful butterfly. Ana loved how often he would tell her he was proud of her, and the way he'd always give her a hug when she'd done a good job of something. John had been an integral part of her becoming a shadow cabinet minister when the UN report had come out stating that there was a child poverty crisis in the UK. He supported her call for a Minister for poverty and had put her forward for the role when Douglas had announced he was going to take them up on their advice. Truth was, Ana knew she wouldn't have been able to do any of it without John by her side as her own personal cheerleader and mentor.

"Hey Ana." John beamed as soon as she walked in through the office door.

"Hi John, Doug, sorry I'm late." Ana smiled as she went over to the table to meet them. They were already hard at work; her train had been delayed so she was a little late getting to the office. Thankfully though she was the last appointment of the day, so she wasn't exactly holding anyone else up.

"Right come on, we've got a couple of hours to go through this before I need to get to Emirate Stadium." Doug explained making Ana laugh, it was no secret that he was a die-hard Arsenal fan and there was a home game today, which explained why the train was so overcrowded as fans began to arrive ahead of the match.

"So, I've had a lot of people questioning how we're going to tackle child hunger." Ana said as she slipped into a chair around the table.

"I think it's definitely the trend since the UN report." John agreed, Ana loved how he would always back her up but if she was wrong in any way it was always discussed in private. It was obvious to Ana he always had her best interest at heart and she adored that. He'd supported her for the last two years in every way he could.

"Well we're going to re-introduce the free school lunches for all children under 7." Doug said that had been something that the Government had cut. "We also will introduce free breakfast for those under 7 and anyone who qualifies for free school meals otherwise."

"We need to be careful." Ana said nervously. "There is a lot of concern about the working poor, they usually aren't entitled to free school lunches, so they would still have to pay for the breakfast, they're the people who need us the most, possibly more than the unemployed."

"That's a very valid point." John agreed, Ana hated disagreeing with Doug as the Leader of the Party but compared to when she had been a Tory, disagreeing with the leader here was expected. Doug wanted to know if you had an opinion and encouraged you to share it with him.

"Ok so where do you think the working poor are struggling the most?" Doug enquired, knowing Ana would already have an idea about this.

"Childcare." Ana replied quickly. "But not the younger kids because we know there's free childcare for working parents of two- and three-year-olds, no I mean older kids who are in childcare in the morning and afternoons." Ana explained.

"Ok, so do you have any ideas about what we can do about that?" Doug enquired, this was the first time this idea had been bought up but they were still finalising their manifesto for the election.

Ana sat back in her chair and thought for a moment, whatever they came up with had to be fully costed. That was what had been agreed at conference by the national executive. So, in other words, anything that would cost the government money, they had to be able to show where the money was coming from to cover it.

The silence was awkward as they all sat and thought about where they could get money from to cover the cost of free childcare for low-earners. There had to be something they could do, Ana had met so many over the years that claimed that childcare was their biggest cost. The more hours they worked the more childcare they needed and it became a vicious cycle for so many. Ana even knew many people worked and their entire income went on childcare while their spouse's work covered everything else. The frown on her face gave away her frustration to the men in the room.

"What about making it a voluntary scheme for childcare providers." John started. "But if they sign up for it they can have a special charitable status for that part of their business, which would then allow a reduction in utility bills." John said, his eyes glowing as he had his little lightbulb moment.

"So we pass on the cost to the electricity, gas and water providers?" Ana asked, that would make perfect sense, they were already promising to put a cap on what providers could charge consumers so that the cost then couldn't be passed on to other utility customers.

"Exactly, the utility bills for these businesses can be in the thousands, they would save a fortune if they were to take on those in the scheme." John explained excitedly, he loved his little brainwave and Ana couldn't help but giggle.

"I'll have the economist have a look into that, see if it's feasible." Doug smiled, Ana nodded excitedly. This would help many of her own constituents too so it would help secure her seat if they could do something about the cost of childcare for the working poor.

"If need be could it be means-tested?" Ana asked. "So those on the breadline get free childcare while those who earn a little more get a reduction but not completely free?"

"Problem with that is that often means-testing something comes at a huge cost, it would need to have an entire department dedicated to it which would mean needing more civil servants, cost of building space and wages. It would be more expensive to means test than have a higher wage allowance."

"Fair enough." Ana smiled shyly, she could understand that.

"So other than childcare, Ana what else do you think we could do to tackle child poverty?"

"I think we need to bring back the sure start centres that have been closed." Ana replied firmly, this was one of the things she had a whole file on because she had serious concerns about the closures. "There needs to be one in every community just like there was."

"I completely agree, what I'd like to do though is see if we can have them independent of government with the power to raise their own funds from third sector as well as have a subsidy from us. That would take a lot of the pressure off the public purse." Doug explained, he too had been looking into the closure of the sure start centres.

"You know what's got me the most with this?" John started. "That it's now coming out that it has cost the NHS millions in unnecessary doctors appointments and hospital visits. How can they claim closing sure start is saving money when it's cost more to the NHS. Surely, the figures show that the closure has cost more than it's saved."

Ana shook her head softly and shifted in her seat. She was extremely passionate about the re-opening of sure start, because she had been involved in their closures. Ana was aware that no one in the party blamed her for what had happened while she'd been in government, they were all aware how much she'd been used and manipulated, and they'd welcomed her to the Labour Party with open arms. However, it didn't stop the guilt. It didn't stop her stomach from dropping and her heart racing whenever something that had been done while she was in Government was brought up. What she wanted to do was undo all her mistakes though, and if the Labour Party were going to get in then she would be able to undo those mistakes and get things back to what they should have been like.

"Exactly why we'll be reopening them." Doug said giving Ana a reassuring smile, he knew what she was like for blaming herself. It didn't matter how much they discussed that she wasn't to blame he knew she felt guilty whenever things like this came up. "Let's just hope that in little under a year from now the people of this great nation believe we're the right people to fix the country because I don't think we can cope with another five years of austerity. People are dying as a result of the changes and cuts that these bloody Tories have done, and it's got to stop. I can't read about another disabled person dying because they've been declared fit for work." Doug was extremely passionate, his voice raised in both pitch and volume and he became more animated as he spoke. Ana loved how much he cared about people less fortunate than himself, they may as well have been his brothers and sisters the way he spoke about people who had so much less. It was inspiring and refreshing to Ana.

"I'd also like us to think about something with the cost of school uniform. They're getting more and more expensive every year, we've got constituency offices getting people to donate the ones that have been outgrown to pass on but is there anything we can do to reduce the cost?" Ana was very passionate about this when one of her own constituents had sat in her office and broken down about the cost of her children's school uniform. That was what triggered her own office to do a handy-me-over school uniform rack, they charged a pound an item but all the money did was go towards new socks for the poorest families.

"We could cap the prices or cap the profit margin." John suggested.

"We could also stop insisting that children wear the school logo…"

"No, I thought about that, I'm worried it would lead to bullying, kids from the poorer backgrounds in uniforms without school logos will single them out and increase the risk of bullying." Ana replied firmly, it had been something she'd spoken to parents about, hanging outside local schools and asking them what they thought of the cost of school uniform.

"Ok… then we'll look at capping the cost." Doug smiled, he loved how much Ana had dedicated herself to trying to make lives easier for families, she was so passionate, he'd seen the tears she'd shed, the sleepless nights she'd had, persuading her over to the Labour Party had most certainly been the right move.

"Anything else Ana?" John asked.

"No. I think that's everything for now." Ana sighed, she wished she could have a magic wand sometimes and just fix it all for everyone, though she knew there would be years of hard work before people stopped feeling the harsh pinch of austerity.

"Ok, let's get out of here." John beamed, he was so happy with Ana and how much hard work she'd done. As she stood he jumped up and gave her a tight hug. He loved her as though she was his own daughter, she had allowed him to father her and be there for her and guide her without any hesitation or suspicion. He loved her heart and her passion and she made him so proud.

"Thanks John." Ana smiled as she returned his warm embrace.

"I think this could be our year you know." He told her excitedly. She could only hope that he was right.

Ana helped Doug and John return the office to the way it should have been, returning the chairs to their rightful places and putting away all the files. She felt heavy now, as she always did when discussing how they wanted to help people. The worst was always accepting that as things stood that they were powerless to do anything unless the people of the country voted for them.

"The manifesto should be finalised in the next couple of weeks, the NEC are going to send everything we've gathered today to the economist to see what they predict our loss and gain ratio is. I will not stand up and promise things we haven't fully costed." Doug explained, it had been a big problem at the last election, that the Labour Party had promised all sorts of things, but the Conservatives had always bitten back with the question about affordability without causing another recession. Ana thought it was extremely clever how Doug was ensuring everything that was being promised that would cost money would have an explanation as to how the country would afford to pay for it.

They walked out into the hustle and bustle of Chapel Market, some stallholders were starting to shut down while others continued to trade. With it being a Saturday afternoon with a football match happening locally, the market was full of people of all ages. She always loved coming to Islington and to see the market alive like this, real people working hard to make ends meet.

"Oh smell that!" Doug exclaimed as he hunted for his keys in his pocket to lock the office door. "Proper British fish and chips."

"That sounds good around now." John exclaimed practically salivating at the thought. Ana had to laugh, men and their stomachs!

"Join us Ana?" Doug asked, the fish and chip shop was only a couple of doors away and Ana saw the police protection officers who protected Doug coming over to join them.

"No, I'm going home. See you on Wednesday." Ana chuckled before turning on her heels and walking towards the tube station, Gail would be making dinner for her and Christian and she wanted a hot bath and to put her feet up in front of the TV with him and relax.

As she walked she watched a group of teenagers admiring some costume jewellery at one of the stalls and wondered if she should go have a look for something for herself, she loved fake jewellery to improve some of her blander outfits without it costing a fortune. She was shaken out of her thoughts by a distant rumble, she stopped and looked at the sky as loads of people stopped and look around. Thunder? It didn't look like a storm. Like everyone else she shook the thought aside and took a step off the pavement to go and have a look at the jewellery. Suddenly, a deafening explosion filled her ears and she was flying, weightless for a moment, like a snowflake in a snowstorm.