fundays: Thank you for the continuous great feedback.

Guests: Thank you so much, I think Ana should discuss this with someone that can help her both Taylor and Ray are great in this category. I'm glad you're in support of Ana focusing on solving this Jack issue.

Gowildcats: Firstly, love High School Musical so much. Secondly, thank you for the feedback. Glad you like Adam B and badass Steele is in the makings.

camilleW: Thank you sooooo much!

meigs37: As much as I agree, Ana just won't listen to me because I for one am out of there.

joangoldman9: your answer lies in this chapter.

pepe7: Thank so much, exams are finally over! Sorry to make you wait a little for their reunion but the suspense continues.

carlarbaptista: Brigada, espero que você continue a gosta

velosewer: That's true Claire may have a giant clue as to what is happening at SIP and is just ignoring it. Hopefully she'll come through now when it counts the most.

Chapter Four: Strong Woman Steele!

Stephen Morton was my mother's third husband. He was seven years younger than her, a rising European tycoon and had an unrelenting passion for hunting in every single country that allowed it. His favorite prey was deer and sheep, I learnt early on that he didn't like things that were bigger than he was or that fought back. I always thought that should've been enough for my mother. A man that smiles at a camera while holding a deer's head doesn't leave a lot to be desired for. It didn't matter to her, any of it, any of his strange habits.

However, he made me feel uncomfortable. Barely a month into their marriage his 'fatherly' intentions towards me grew too distressing, and I bolted back to Ray.

Four months later they divorced.

Two years later, a long while after he'd returned to Europe re-married they found his body. There was blood splattered against the wall, a gun in his hand and a bullet through his skull. He'd left a letter addressed to my mother. I never asked to read it- she never offered.

We don't talk about husband number three but he springs to mind now because all I want to do is run. Take what Sarah said and take that a step further by fleeing the state. It'd be an end to both him and Jack Hyde. The situation could fix itself sometime in the future- someone else could do something about this.

You could do it, Ana. The vixen purrs. This isn't your fight it shouldn't have to be. Go live with Ray and find a new job. I sigh nodding in agreement, leaving SIP is a given, but could I leave without doing anything about Jack?

I can't run.

I couldn't possibly do that now.

Sarah left never looked back and forever regretted not doing anything for those women; me women! Women before me, women that will come after me. I couldn't possibly go without taking down Jack. How the hell would I even begin to do that?

I feel my mind fog and eyes begin to droop the exertions from the past two days, and sleep deprivation starting to take its tool. Rolling over in bed my blurred gaze lands on my bookshelf. Pride and Prejudice, Moby Dick, Sherlock Holmes…

Sherlock Holmes!

'I should've called the police or filmed it and handed it in or something.' My eyes snap open, "Proof." I shoot up gripping the blanket to keep some semblance of warmth.

"I need to catch him in the act!" I cheer at my own brilliance. "I need to stay working with Jack." I realize with a groan falling back against the pillow with a flop.

Camera, I need a camera and a car. A car, shit, that stupid big cheque. Who needs a car? I can walk or run or… cycle.

Ha, Grey! I'll get a bicycle.

I'm taut, anxious and extremely frightened with the possibilities of the upcoming following weeks. I had a purpose- albeit dangerous and destructive- but a way to distract my mind. With adrenaline coursing through me I knew sleep wouldn't come now. Throwing the covers off I round the bed to switch on the lights, then cross the room to my desk. Crouching underneath I sort through an old school supply box before finding an unused notebook, with pen and paper, I start compiling my list.

To Do:

1. Get over Mr. Christian- insert middle name- Grey.

2. Take down Jack Hyde, and possibly SIP altogether (depending on evidence found).

3. Buy a bicycle and camera.

4. Get a new job!

5. Get over Christian.

6. Start a journal.

7. Go jogging.

8. Have a mantra.

9. See my current friends more often.

10. Get over Christian!

11. Talk to new possible friends.

12. Eat Ana.

13. Get rid of reminders.

14. Start a hobby, like sewing or knitting.

15. GET OVER CHRISTIAN GREY

I underline, highlight and put an innumerable number of exclamation points at number fifteen before I'm satisfied. A number of these is from what I've garnered from years of Kate and my mother's heartbreaks. I've sadly learned a lot and I'm honest enough to admit a few of these are to assist in possibly getting over him. My subconscious rolls her eyes at me, Obviously.

I check the date on my phone before scribbling June 11th at the top of the page. Then the notebook is shut, the lights off. I go back to bed and close my eyes.

"It's time to be a strong woman, Steele."

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$25.68 - $49.96 hourly

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Internal stakeholder teams in order to drive successful launches.

Apply for this position, I click again. This is how I spend my Saturday. I apply to job, after job at different publishing jobs and different companies everywhere. At around 15:00 I remember Adam's warning in my head and get up to eat, there's no food in the fridge or pantry. Of course, I haven't felt the need to do shopping.

Reluctantly I settle on ordering a medium Meat Lovers pizza and move Kate's laptop- which I've been using- to the breakfast counter. I prop my elbow up on the counter and rest my chin in my hand and stare absently at the screen where I just applied for a Barnes and Noble position.

It's Saturday... he seems like the type to go in to work on a Saturday.

I swipe the pad to the search tab, Christian Grey, I type then quickly backspace when my heart gives a painful tug. Grey Enterprise Holdings I type instead. Clicking the link the website I find is paramount to its owner; clean, organized and grey.

"Welcome to Grey Enterprise Holdings a global leading place in communications technologies, eco-manufacturing and next-generation farming solutions. Here we strongly believe that people are paramount to success." I read.

"Ugh, you're both freaking perfect." I groan while scrolling through the website. A few minutes later I'm called down to the front to fetch the pizza and when the aroma hits my nostrils I'm surprised with how hungry I am. Ascending the stairs, I think back to his words from so long ago.

"'We offer a great internship.'" I snort chuckling. "As if." Imagine if I worked there now, after we just separated. The walk up proves too long and by the time I'm back in front of the laptop I'm on the fourth slice.

Looking to become part of something great, apply now. I stop mid-bite and scroll down. Applications now closed for internship.

The disappointment is devastating. The desperation to want to work just in the same building as him, to breathe the same air again. Of course we'd never see each other let alone speak. The founder of the company would be too busy to even meet his lowly interns, so I would blend in silently- "Wow, I'm actually a considering becoming a stalker." I murmur closing the laptop too hard and dropping the unfinished slice back into the box.

The void is ever present. I kneed over the counter and wrap an arm around my mid- section. It's all I can do to keep together as its cuts into me. With an irritated grunt I straighten up and turn to go back to bed, when my eye catches the cheque. Number 3 buy a bicycle and camera. With a last glance at my bed, I grab the envelope, my apartment keys, and phone, stuff them into my bag and waltz out the apartment.

That's when I see Chloe. I'm stunned by her presence and I think of our weird, abrupt encounter only days ago. She hasn't seen me yet, still locking the door behind her and I want to bolt but I haven't locked my door either.

I turn the key locking it into place. "Hey Ana."

I turn and smile, "Hi."

"Chloe." She encourages chuckling. "Huh? Oh no, sorry I remember."

"How are you?" I'm prepared for this. I know how to respond, seem interested and then we'll go our separate ways. We walk down the hall together and make idle chat while trekking down the stairs. I find out that little girl that opened the door for me was her sister.

"She 'ran away' from home, again." Chloe continues using her fingers to emphasis her point. "I'm pretty sure she just likes hanging out at my place, because this is her 5th time 'running away' this month."

I realize very soon that I can't treat Chloe like Claire. She doesn't take murmurs of answers or small signs of interest. She's attentive and waits and watches. Before I've realized I've lost control, she's accompanied me to cash the cheque and we're at the bicycle store.

"You shouldn't be that surprised at how much you got for it Ana. The way you're describing it, that car was vintage gold." Chloe says while frowning at a giant mountain bike.

"Yeah, I guess, just wasn't expecting so much." Chloe nods and we maneuver through bike after bike. I thought Chloe's company would be gritting and overwhelming, but she's like a balm to me currently.

"This one's really beautiful and it has a basket where you can put your groceries." I turn from the pink and purple little's girl bike I was admiring and freeze.

It's grey.

In fact it's a replica of his eyes when he's happy and boyish. It's… "It's perfect." I breathe, and it was. I reach for the tag, Road lite 60cm frame, with carbon wheels. Which made absolute no sense to me, to me it looked like a bike. A bike with a black seat and matching black wheels, handles that turned inward and an attached white, lined basket at its front.

Christia-

"Ana?"

I drop the tag and turn to Chloe. "Yeah, this is definitely the one."

She smiles. "I knew it. You had this energy around you that I knew meant you loved it, your aura is so easy to read."

"Aura?" I finally ask while the customer assistant rings up the bike.

"Are you kidding? You don't believe in auras- zodiac signs?- well, what about crystals? But you must believe in at least one." I shake my head bemused as I sign for the bike delivery and Chloe dives into a rant that quickly rids me of thoughts of him. Though, I know they'll never be gone always at the back of my mind. Always there, as she accompanies me to buy the camera as well.

"So you took the rose?" I've drifted again, and I have no idea what she's said. By now we're making the journey back up the stairs home and its just past sunset. "What? I'm sorry Chloe." She must be tired of me.

"Its cool, I asked if you took the rose."

"Oh." I pause. "Oh."

"That was what you call my mumbo jumbo working its magic." She raises her eyebrows watching my facial expression. "I didn't call it mumbo jumbo it's just no-" I begin to argue.

"I had to test you somehow." She sees my confusion. "When you came to my door that day you were a wreck- I'm sorry to say. I needed to know if you really wanted to it to be over with this guy. Did you take the rose or throw it away."

I sigh and murmur, "It's on my bedside."

She hops up to two stairs giving me grim smile. "It's okay dude, love is hard." I stop at the bottom of the last staircase and so does she. "You seem to understand a lot about this, are you experienced in the dating world?" I ask kicking the first step with my sneakers.

Her eyebrows draw together and her nose scrunches up. "I've actually been in love with the same guy for 7 years." She sighs- a huge, sorrowful sigh. "You're the third person I've ever told that too, so lips sealed if you ever meet a Tobias."

I nod starting up the stairs again, she follows close behind. "We met in college and I guess I just lost my chance."

"Why haven't you done anything about it?" She does that facial expression again. "Same reason you haven't confronted your ex. I'm so fucking scared of everything that could possibly go wrong."

We walk silently after that, when we reach our doors I tuck my hands into my hoodie pockets and turn to her. "How come you came with me today? Where were you headed?"

Chloe pauses. "I don't know." She shrugs, then smiles widely. "I guess the universe wanted me to accompany you."

"Your mumbo- jumbo then."

"Results are result,""She waves me inside. "See you, Steele."

Once again feedback is amazing and I appreciate every single one of you. Now I know you all want Christian soon, but Ana is my number one priority so please be patient.

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