A/N: Thank you all for your reviews and support! I hope you enjoy this next chapter.

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Chapter 7: Research

Ana could only sit still in her chair, the realization of what she had just agreed to do suddenly dawning on her.

Oh my God, am I actually staying here overnight? I barely even know this man!

Signing a non-disclosure agreement to ensure she didn't go around telling people about what she had found made sense, although she wished that didn't have to be the case. Ana knew she would never go around telling people such sensitive information, NDA or not, but Mr. Grey needed that reassurance in the form of writing. If staying here overnight helped him trust her, she supposed she could do that.

"You can take the large guest bedroom," Mr. Grey now said, and Ana looked up at him. He wasn't looking at her as he typed something on his computer. "It's down the hall, to your right."

"Um," Ana hesitated, suddenly realizing a few problems. "I-I have a roommate, and she'd probably be worried if I didn't come home tonight. Also, I don't have anything here. Like a change of clothes, or toiletries…"

"My housekeeper Gail can provide you with anything you need," Mr. Grey said, scratching his chin. "And just tell your roommate that you're crashing at a friend's house tonight. Have you eaten dinner yet?"

Ana shook her head.

"Head down to the kitchen, Gail can make you something," Mr. Grey said, checking the time on his watch and frowning when he saw how late it was. "Better late than never, I suppose."

Despite the hour, Ana didn't feel particularly hungry, but decided not to say anything. She got to her feet and hesitantly slipped her satchel off her shoulder, setting it down on his desk.

"The emails," she said when Mr. Grey looked at it, and she gestured at it awkwardly. "In case you wanted to read them tonight."

Mr. Grey nodded. "I probably will. Thanks."

He didn't say anything else as he continued to type on his computer, not looking up at her, and Ana took that as a dismissal. She turned and headed toward the door, but stopped right before opening it, turning back around to look at Mr. Grey.

"Thank you Mr. Grey," she said sincerely, and Mr. Grey looked up at her again. "For your hospitality. And for, you know… hearing me out. I was starting to think that no one would believe me."

Particularly after her visit to the police station, Ana felt that there was no one she could trust to see the evidence she found about her boss and Elizabeth. Coming here to Mr. Grey's home hadn't been what she initially planned - it was a desperate attempt to have someone believe her story. Thankfully, Mr. Taylor and Mr. Grey were willing to hear her out.

Mr. Grey gazed at her for a moment before clearing his throat. "You're welcome, Anastasia. And thank you for… for not believing what everyone else has been saying about me."

Ana felt a bit surprised, but couldn't help but give him a small smile. It was strange to think that the rest of the world assumed Mr. Grey was a blood-thirsty murderer, but she felt perfectly comfortable staying here in his apartment. "Of course. Have a good night, Mr. Grey."

Without waiting for a response, Ana opened the door and stepped out, closing it quietly behind her.

Mr. Grey wasn't quite what Ana had expected. When she saw pictures of him on the news, she, like Claire and Hannah, thought he was rather handsome, though she believed him to be a murderer like everyone else. Today, when she saw him face-to-face for the first time, she couldn't help but think he looked pretty rugged, his scruffy beard making him even more handsome than in his pictures. He had been very rude to her when she first arrived at Escala, though she supposed that was understandable considering everything he'd been through in the last week. Ana couldn't imagine what it must have been like for him… to have his name and face plastered all over the news, people everywhere assuming he had murdered an innocent woman in cold blood. Being slandered so publicly like that, yet knowing he was innocent, must have been absolute hell.

Mr. Grey was being framed, and Ana hoped she would be able to help prove his innocence to the world while exposing Jack and Elizabeth for the treacherous murderers they were.

"Excuse me, are you Ms. Steele?"

Ana turned around and noticed a pretty middle-aged blonde woman approaching her, smiling kindly. Ana smiled back.

"Yeah I am," she said, feeling almost nervous. "But please, call me Ana."

"Ana. I'm Gail Jones, Mr. Grey's housekeeper," Gail smiled, reaching out to shake Ana's hand. "Just let me know if there's anything you need."

"Um…" Ana hesitated. "Mr. Grey actually invited me to stay the night in one of the guest rooms. He mentioned there was one down the hall?"

"Oh," Gail said, sounding rather surprised, but recovered rather quickly. "Of course. There's the large guest room down the hall to your right, but I'm afraid it's not prepared yet. Have you eaten yet?"

"No, I haven't," Ana said.

"Come down to the kitchen with me and I can whip up something for you," Gail said, motioning down the steps into the great room. Ana followed her.

"It's been such an eventful night, I don't know how much of an appetite I have," Ana smiled ruefully, walking into the kitchen with Gail and taking a seat at the breakfast counter.

"I'll make you something light, then," Gail offered, opening the fridge. "How about some fruit salad? I think we have some already made."

"That sounds great. Thank you Gail," Ana smiled gratefully.

"You're very welcome, dear."

Gail filled a small bowl with fruit salad before setting it in front of Ana and leaving the kitchen. Ana popped a few pieces of fruit into her mouth, enjoying the delicious sweet taste of pineapple, mango, and watermelon; there was even a subtle note of fresh mint in there. She was enjoying her fruit salad until she pulled out her phone and noticed a text from Kate.

Kate: Hey, u coming home? Its getting late.

Crap, Ana had forgotten to text her roommate. What should she say? Mr. Grey had told her to tell her she was staying over at a friend's house, so Ana supposed that was the best way to navigate this.

Ana: Sorry, forgot to mention im staying at Claire's tonight. I'll see u tomorrow.

Hopefully that would keep Kate satisfied. Ana really wasn't in the mood to get the third degree from the tenacious Miss Kavanagh.

Ana finished up her fruit salad just as Gail walked back into the kitchen, holding a small stack of towels in her hands. "Your room is all ready for you, Ms. Steele. There are some pajamas on the bed, and toiletries in the en suite. Let me know if there's anything else you need."

"Thank you Gail," Ana said gratefully, but a moment later an idea suddenly came to her, and she quickly spoke up. "Actually," she said, getting to her feet. "There are a few more things I might need, if it won't be too much trouble?"

'Of course not," Gail said kindly. "What do you need?"

"Let's see," Ana said, thinking. "Some paper and pencils… post-it notes, thumbtacks, pens, markers, and tape. Oh! And string."

Gail blinked, staring at Ana in obvious surprise. "Um," she said after a moment, letting out a small chuckle. "I'll, uh… I'll see what I can do."

"Thank you so much," Ana said with a smile.

Gail turned and walked back down the hallway, and Ana went to place her empty bowl into the sink before heading toward her guest room, her mind filled with ideas.

~The next morning~

Christian hardly slept last night. All the Scotch he had downed after dinner didn't seem to help at all, especially after that Anastasia girl had showed up at his door and practically turned his world upside-down. He'd managed to get a couple hours of sleep in the early pre-dawn hours, but when he finally woke up, a part of him almost wondered if he'd dreamt up what happened last night. It was possible his exhausted, alcohol-stupored brain had concocted the image of a beautiful young woman coming to his home and solving all his problems.

If only.

Anastasia was real, however, and she was here in Escala right now. Regardless of the hope she offered him with those emails she found, he was reluctant to allow himself to feel too hopeful. There was still a long way to go before his name could be cleared.

Christian rubbed his tired eyes before glancing at his digital clock, noticing it was a little after six. He wanted to work out in the fitness room this morning, so he got out of bed and changed into basketball shorts and a t-shirt, texting Taylor to let him know what he was doing.

About an hour later, he had finished his workout and showered, changing into jeans and a long-sleeve black shirt. He went down to the kitchen to see Gail cooking up breakfast and Taylor having a cup of coffee while reading a newspaper.

"Good morning, Mr. Grey," Gail said kindly when she noticed Christian approaching. "Would you like your usual egg-white omelet?"

"Yes, thank you Gail," Christian said. "And could you get me some coffee too?"

"Of course."

"Mr. Grey, I wanted to get in touch with Welch right away this morning," Taylor said, setting down his newspaper. "We should let him know about the information Ms. Steele has brought us. Did you read through those emails?"

"Most of them, yeah," Christian let out a tired yawn, trying to wake himself up more. Gail set a cup of black coffee on the breakfast counter in front of him. "I think Anastasia's suspicions were correct about her boss. This Jack Hyde guy seems to have it out for me, and it appears as if he knew Elena and had been the one to plant Elizabeth as a potential submissive."

"Do you think there's enough evidence in the emails to prove your innocence?" Taylor asked, eyebrows raised hopefully.

"Not yet, but it's something to go off of," Christian said. "I'll send them to Welch when we call him today, and I'll be sure to loop in my dad too. Is Anastasia up yet?"

"I was just about to call her down," Gail said, making her way toward the hallway.

"That's okay, Gail. I'll grab her," Christian said, getting to his feet and grabbing his coffee mug. "You can finish up breakfast."

"Yes sir."

Christian made his way down the hallway toward the large room where Anastasia was staying. He knocked on the closed door.

"Come in!" her voice sounded from inside the room.

Christian opened the door and immediately froze upon seeing what was inside.

What the actual hell…!?

Anastasia, wearing a robe Christian recognized as one his subs often used after a playroom session, stood barefoot at the opposite side of the room facing what used to be a bare wall. Now it was covered with random post-it notes and pieces of paper, all of them were posted to the wall in a random formation by tape or thumbtacks, with multiple criss-crossing pieces of string connecting them. Everything was covered with scribbled notes, and Christian saw the desk nearby littered with crumpled pieces of paper and uncapped pens.

Anastasia glanced toward the doorway and smiled. "Good morning, Mr. Grey."

Christian opened and closed his mouth, no sound coming out for a moment or two. "What?" he sputtered out finally. "What do you mean 'good morning'? What the hell did you do to my wall?!"

"Don't worry, it's only temporary," Anastasia said dismissively, crossing her arms as she examined the wall thoughtfully. "I didn't get much sleep last night, so I've been up for the past couple hours working on it."

Christian could only stand frozen in the doorway for a few moments before hesitantly moving forward, staring at the wall of papers and post-it notes. He realized she had essentially mapped out the whole murder case as she understood it so far… four post-it notes were placed in different areas on the wall, each one labeled with a different name: Jack Hyde, Elizabeth Morgan(?), Christian Grey, and Elena Lincoln. Multiple scribbled notes and strings connected the names, and Christian could only stare over it all.

"This is… wow," he finally said bemusedly, reading over all the notes she had written. "Your boss and Elizabeth used to date?" he asked, looking at one note Anastasia pinned up beside the string she connected the two names with.

"Yeah they did, from what I've heard around the office," Anastasia said. "She started working in HR about a month ago, and everyone started gossiping and saying she was getting special treatment because of her past relationship with the boss. It's possible they're still together, considering the fact they teamed up to kill Elena Lincoln and ruin your life."

"And you put a question mark on the note between myself and Jack Hyde," Christian said, pointing.

"Yeah," Ana said, looking where he was pointing. "I'm not entirely sure what his connection to you is, or why he's so obsessed with you, so I just put a question mark there. Do you have any idea?"

"No," Christian shook his head, gazing at the post-it with Jack Hyde's name. "Until last night, I've never heard his name before."

"That's unfortunate," Anastasia grimaced, staring at the post-it note as well. "Why do you think he has it out for you then?"

"I don't know," Christian said thoughtfully, and he glanced over at Anastasia with a wry grin. "Any theories, Rizzoli?"

Anastasia snorted. "Am I supposed to know who that is?"

"She was a TV detective, from Rizzoli & Isles."

"Very funny. I think the most obvious answer would be Jack's jealous of your wealth, although I don't see how taking your money would lead to him killing Elena Lincoln," Ana looked thoughtful. "And in addition to that, I don't know why he specifically targeted Mrs. Lincoln."

Christian cleared his throat. "Elena was actually the one who introduced me to Elizabeth, so I'm guessing Jack was the one who brought Elizabeth to her."

"Really?" Anastasia said, raising her eyebrows in surprise. She quickly reached over to move a piece of string so it connected between Elena and Jack. "That might actually be helpful. So Jack befriended Elena Lincoln so she would introduce Elizabeth to you, and you would subsequently trust Elizabeth enough to allow her into your home?"

Christian felt a pit form in his stomach. "From the sound of it, yes."

"If you don't mind me asking…" Ana said hesitantly, looking over at him. "Was your relationship with Elizabeth… you know… romantic?"

Christian clenched his jaw, deciding not to tell Ana the full extent of his relationship with her. "We were intimate, yes."

She looked at him sympathetically. "I'm sorry."

Christian didn't say anything for a moment before clearing his throat. "Yeah, well… it is what it is. I actually came up here to let you know breakfast is ready, so once you're done here, get dressed and come downstairs so we can discuss the case more."

"'Get dressed'?" Anastasia asked skeptically, gesturing to the robe she was wearing. "This is the only clean outfit I have. The dress I wore last night got rained on."

Her robe only went down to her mid-thigh, and Christian could see it gaping open slightly at the chest, revealing a low-cut white tank top underneath. He had a sudden urge to take her in his arms, rip off her robe, and bury his face in her cleavage, kissing and nipping the soft skin of her breasts as she moaned in pleasure, running her fingers through his hair and gripping him tightly…

Focus Grey

Christian walked over to the closet door and opened it, revealing multiple garment bags hanging there. Ana looked shocked as she stared at them. "My sister Mia keeps a few extra outfits in this guest room when she stays over. You're free to take anything you need, you're just about her size."

Ana blinked before letting out an incredulous chuckle. "Wow. Thank you Mr. Grey."

"You're welcome. Come downstairs once you're ready," Christian said, making his way to the door. He stopped and turned to look back at her. "And Ana?"

"Yes?" she looked at him expectantly.

"Call me Christian."

A/N: I'd like to see an entire series of Christian and Ana as detectives :) lol

Hope you all enjoyed that chapter! Next up, Ana and Christian continue their investigation into Jack Hyde.