A/N: Thank you all for your reviews and support! I hope you enjoy this next chapter.
Disclaimer: I own nothing.
Chapter 19: Recovery
The next twenty minutes or so was a strange cacophony of people shouting and police sirens blaring, and blue and red lights flashed throughout the dark countryside as multiple vehicles pulled in. The sun was finally starting to come up on the eastern horizon, and the sky had lightened to an inky blue color as Ana was brought outside by EMTs to be evaluated. She had glimpsed Taylor, Sawyer, and Christian being ushered away by other paramedics who'd arrived at the scene, and Ana suddenly wished she could go with one of them.
"Are you alright ma'am?" one of the EMTs asked Ana as they stepped outside the barn. She was a young black woman with her hair pulled back in a tight bun, and she gazed at Ana with deep concern.
"I think so," Ana said, looking at the chaos around her. Police cars, ambulances, and even a couple fire trucks surrounded the area, their lights flashing while people in uniforms hurried about.
"Come over here. I need to assess you," the woman said, taking Ana by the arm and guiding her toward the ambulance. Ana didn't fight her on it.
"Here we are," the woman helped Ana step up into the back of the vehicle, where there was a gurney and cot for her to sit on. "My name is Michelle, by the way. Can you tell me your first and last name?"
"Anastasia Steele," Ana said.
Michelle gazed at her sympathetically as she took a seat on the bench across from Ana. "I'm so sorry about what you've been through, Anastasia." She put her stethoscope in her ears before placing the drum against Ana's chest, listening to her heartbeat. "Are you feeling dizzy? Nauseous? Lightheaded?"
"No," Ana said truthfully. "Mostly just sore, and I have a few scrapes on my wrists from when I was tied up."
"I can clean and bandage those up for you in a minute," Michelle promised, pulling off her stethoscope and taking a pen light out of her front pocket. She shined the light in Ana's eyes, checking if her pupils were dilated. "Did you sustain any head injuries while you were in the barn?"
"I don't think so."
Ana suddenly heard a small commotion outside the ambulance she was sitting in. She turned and saw several EMTs running by and pushing a gurney containing Jack, who lay still and supine on the stretcher, his leg and shoulder covered with bloody gauze. Ana kept her eyes trained on him as he was brought into a nearby ambulance.
"Is he dead?" Ana couldn't help but ask, her eyes still on Jack and the other EMTs.
"I'm not sure," Michelle said, following her gaze. "From what I heard, he's in critical condition from the bullet wounds."
"He murdered Elena Lincoln," Ana said without thinking, and she turned to look at Michelle, who stared at her in surprise. "And he did it so he could frame Christian Grey. I found out what he did, and that's why he kidnapped me. He doesn't deserve to be saved."
Michelle looked surprised, and for a moment didn't seem to know what to say. "I know this whole situation must be difficult for you to deal with Ms. Steele, but those kinds of accusations need to be taken up with the police. You should be taken to the emergency room as soon as possible so we can make sure you don't have any internal injuries."
"I don't want to be in the same hospital as him," Ana stated. The last thing she wanted right now was to be in the same building as Jack.
"I'm sorry ma'am, but there's nothing we can do about that," Michelle said apologetically. "He'll likely be inside an operating room in a different part of the hospital and under heavy sedation. We also have security personnel at the hospital to make sure he can't get to you."
Ana wasn't happy she had to go to the same hospital they were going to be treating Jack in. She'd rather they just leave him inside the barn to die a slow and painful death, but understood she didn't really have a choice in the matter. "Fine," she said after a moment. "But he better be shipped straight to a jail cell the second he's out of surgery."
"I'm sure he'll be dealt with properly, ma'am. And if you don't have any major injuries, it's likely you won't have to stay at the hospital too long anyway," Michelle assured her. "A few hours at the most."
Here's hoping, Ana thought to herself.
Michelle cleaned and bandaged Ana's scraped wrists before instructing her to buckle in at one of the benches; she then closed the back doors of the ambulance and made her way to the driver's seat. A few more EMTs hopped into the passenger seat before Michelle pulled out of the gravel driveway and onto the road, blaring sirens as she went.
Somehow the media had gotten a tip about the kidnapping, and that the kidnapper and victim were both being transported to this hospital. Ana could see multiple reporters and photographers through the front window of the ambulance as Michelle slowly pulled into Seattle General Hospital toward the emergency room doors. Once she had parked, it took at least ten minutes for the doctors and orderlies to make sure everything was safe and secure before ushering Ana out of the ambulance and into the hospital amid hordes of shouting reporters.
The emergency room inside the hospital was chaotic as well. Doctors ran around the place shouting medical orders to each other while machines beeped around them. Ana was ushered to a nearby empty bed in a bay separated from the other beds by blue paper curtains; she sat back on the bed, her head propped up by pillows as she watched various people pass by, wondering if Christian was among them.
After a minute, a nurse came by to give Ana an IV drip and to ask her a few standard questions. She then promised to return in a few minutes with a doctor, and gave Ana a clipboard to fill out with her basic information.
Ana began to fill out the form, but her mind was still on Christian. Was he okay? Did he come to the hospital too? Just as Ana was about to get up and go find someone she could ask, she saw Sawyer appear in the crowd and approach the receptionist desk, clearly trying to get some information.
Smiling in relief, Ana made to call out his name, but someone else beat her to it:
"Luke!"
Sawyer turned when he saw a dark-haired man run out of the crowd toward him, throwing his arms around him in a tight embrace. Sawyer smiled as he hugged him back.
"Boyce," Sawyer said in a voice of immense relief, pulling back slightly to press his forehead against his. "I'm so happy you're here."
"I can't believe you pursued a kidnapper by yourself and exchanged gunfire with him! Don't ever scare me like that again," Boyce insisted, still holding his husband tightly.
Ana couldn't help but smile at their little exchange, but before she could get up and go talk to Sawyer, she heard a familiar voice say her name:
"Ana?" Kate ran around the corner, gazing around and stopping every doctor who passed her by. "Are any of you treating Anastasia Steele? Ana! Ana?!"
"Kate, I'm right here," Ana said from her bed, and Kate whipped around to look at her. "There's no need to shout."
"Ana!" Kate immediately ran to her and threw her arms around her in a big hug. Ana hugged her back, smiling despite herself. "Oh my God, I can't believe you're okay!" Kate pulled away and held Ana's shoulders at arm's length, looking her over. "You are okay, right? You didn't get hurt at all?"
"No, I'm fine," Ana assured her. "My forearms and wrists got scraped up from how I was tied up, but otherwise I'm alright."
"Holy shit, I can't believe you got kidnapped," Kate said in disbelief, shaking her head and perching herself on the edge of the bed. "And right under all of our noses too! I can't imagine how scared you must have been."
Ana grimaced, knowing that she could finally be honest with Kate about what happened. "It was Jack who kidnapped me, Kate."
Kate blinked in surprise. "Jack? You mean your boss, Jack Hyde?"
Ana nodded. "Yeah. I learned a few days ago that Jack had actually been the one behind Elena Lincoln's murder, and he deliberately framed Christian Grey for it. Yesterday he found out what I knew and that I had evidence, so tonight he kidnapped me before trying to kill both me and Christian Grey."
Kate only stared at Ana in surprise. She seemed at a loss for words, which didn't happen very often. "Wow… um… I think you must have hit your head or something, Ana. That sounds completely ridiculous."
Ana frowned, not expecting Kate to respond that way. "But it's true. Why would I lie about that?"
"I mean, your boss being a murderous psychopath?" Kate asked, raising her eyebrows. "I know you never liked the guy, but saying he murdered Elena Lincoln is taking it a bit too far, don't you think? Also you said you had this super-incriminating information about him, but you never even said anything about it to me…"
"It was way too dangerous for me to tell anyone," Ana defended herself. "I couldn't even go to the police with it! The only people I ended up telling was Christian Grey and his personal security. Where do you think I'd been staying at overnight for the past few days?"
Kate was still looking skeptical, even letting out a chuckle while shaking her head. "Okay, now I know you've hit your head. You expect me to believe you've been staying at Christian Grey's house for the past few days? That's completely ridic-"
"Ana!"
Ana and Kate both looked up to see Christian and Taylor walk into the emergency room along with a couple EMTs. Taylor had a bandage on his hand while Christian looked mostly unharmed, though his rumpled clothing and pale face was evidence of what he had been through. His eyes lit up the moment he saw Ana, however, and he hurried over to her.
"Christian," Ana couldn't help but grin widely in relief. She didn't know if Christian would be sent here by the paramedics since he technically hadn't been injured, but she was immensely thankful he was here.
Christian pushed his way past several doctors and nurses to get to Ana, and he wrapped his arms around her in an emotional hug. Ana hugged him back, burying her face in his shirt while his woodsy scent invaded her nostrils, making her heart full.
"Oh Ana," Christian pulled back slightly so he could cup her face in his hands, pressing his forehead against hers. "I couldn't find you back at the barn and I got worried, but one of the EMTs said you were brought here. I couldn't get here fast enough."
"I'm okay, I promise," Ana assured him, smiling. "I'm glad you're here."
Christian smiled back, but finally seemed to notice they weren't alone. Kate hadn't moved from her spot on the bed, but she had observed the interaction between Christian and Ana with a dumbfounded expression on her face.
"Christian, this is my roommate Kate," Ana introduced, unable to hide the amusement in her voice. "Kate, this is Christian Grey."
Kate blinked a couple times, staring up at Christian. "Um… yeah, I can see that."
"It's nice to meet you Kate. Do you mind giving me and Ana a minute? I'd like to have a private word with her," Christian said to Kate.
"Um… sure," Kate said after a moment's pause, getting up off the bed. She gave Ana a wide-eyed look before shuffling off somewhere else.
Ana couldn't help but giggle watching Kate leave before turning back to Christian. "As much as I love Kate, it's kind of funny seeing her so speechless."
"I'm sure she'll be okay," Christian said, glancing at her distractedly before turning his attention back to Ana. "But are you okay? I was so worried something else had happened to you."
"I'm fine Christian, I promise," Ana reassured him. "What about you though? I wasn't able to check in with you before I was taken away in the ambulance."
"I'm okay," Christian nodded. "I wasn't injured or anything, I was just focused on making sure you were okay. I don't even know where to begin…" he hesitated, his voice wavering slightly, and he grasped both of her hands in his own. "I'm so sorry about all of this, Ana. I can't even tell you how horrible I feel about what Hyde did to you. It's all my fault…"
"What? No," Ana insisted earnestly. "No Christian, you're not at all responsible for what Jack did - don't even think that! He's completely unstable, and he was going to do something like this at some point no matter what. Don't start blaming yourself for the horrible things he's done."
Christian didn't look very reassured. "But the fact that he and I crossed paths as children was what led him to do all of this. If he had never met me, Elena Lincoln wouldn't have been killed, and you wouldn't have been kidnapped tonight."
"Exactly," Ana said firmly. "That was the only reason Jack did any of this: because the two of you were foster children together, and he was jealous of the fact that you were adopted! Jack's completely unhinged, and you are not responsible for his horrible actions."
Christian didn't say anything for a moment, and Ana pulled her hands out of his so she could reach up and cup his face. His eyes met hers, and she stared right back. "What Jack said about you…" she began, and Christian stiffened slightly. "I just want you to know that what he said doesn't change my opinion about you. I know in my heart that you're a good man Christian, and the choices you made in the past don't define who you are. I don't want what Jack said get to you, or make you think I don't still care about you."
"Ana," Christian's eyes were filled with emotion as he brought his hands up to cover hers.
"It's over now," Ana said quietly, still gazing up into his eyes. She felt this was important for him to hear. "Jack's been caught, and he's going to pay for the horrible things he's done. Your name's going to be cleared, and everything's going to be okay now."
Christian lowered his face, and Ana realized he was fighting off tears. Without thinking, Ana pulled him into her arms, and Christian immediately hugged her tightly back, burying his face in her neck. Ana felt his shoulders shaking slightly as he became overwhelmed with emotion, and Ana felt herself tearing up too as she closed her eyes. Happiness, relief, and about a million other emotions raged around inside her mind, and all she and Christian could do was hold each other as they tried to work through their feelings.
The future was unknown, but whatever was going to happen, they could take comfort that the worst was over now.
Ana and Christian were still embracing when they heard a rapid clicking sound from nearby. They both looked up and saw a photographer standing several feet away, holding a large black camera up to his face, the lens pointed straight at Christian and Ana.
"Hey, you're not supposed to be in here!" a nearby nurse shouted at the photographer. "Get out!"
Immediately, the photographer bolted out of there, and Christian and Ana watched him leave before glancing at each other. He had gotten pictures of them, but there wasn't anything either of them could do about it. This story of Jack and the kidnapping was likely going to be all over the news later today anyway, so it wasn't worth it to track him down.
Wordlessly, Christian leaned down to kiss Ana sweetly on the lips, and Ana smiled as she kissed him back. After a few moments he pulled away to wrap his arms around her again in a tight embrace, conveying all the emotions he currently felt. Ana felt it too, and she could only hug Christian back, knowing in her heart that everything would be getting better soon.
A/N: Thank you all for reading! Next chapter, Christian and Ana have a talk and some decisions are made.
Please review and tell me what you think! :)