A.N
You guys are melting me! I can't believe the response of this story! And I know my timeline is a little off but if I put 3 years 9 months then it would have given away the big reveal 😉
And isn't Lily-Rose the cutest? I'm sure she's going to have all the men in her life wrapped around her little finger 😉
Enjoy the chapter! This is the last one for the week so I can do a week of Falling for the Unknown, see you guys soon! And keep reviewing. I love reading your thoughts!
Much Love
K xx
"Stop looking at me like that Taylor." Christian grumbled as he looked to his trusty personal security. He had told him everything.
Taylor couldn't help but laugh as he shook his head. "I'm sorry sir…but I should have known there was something about that little girl when she was in the elevator with us. Now that I know I can certainly see Miss Steele's personality in her." He looked to him. "Along with yours."
"Mine?" Christian asked looking to him.
Taylor nodded. "She has the Grey mischief in her eyes." He gave him a pointed look before smiling. "How would you like to proceed sir? With this new found information…"
"Ana and I have yet to discuss things. I told her I want to be in my daughter's life and if that means relocating here to California then so be it. I'm not missing another second." He told him before he frowned at the stupid look Taylor was giving him. "What?"
"Flynn is not only going to have an absolute filed day with you, but he's also going to be very proud that you have made this mature decision yet pissed that if you relocate here, he's going to lose your custom."
Christian rolled his eyes. "I'm sure he will get over it." He looked to him. "How would you feel about relocating?" He asked curiously. "With the situation with your daughter…"
"Sir, if you were to relocate then please know that I am going nowhere. This wouldn't change anything. I have my scheduled days with my daughter and that won't change no matter what state I'm in. You're stuck with me." He told him with a slight smirk.
Christian couldn't help but feel relieved. He had other security but it was Taylor that he trusted the most, especially with his life. Knowing he would be behind him and relocate made the decision that little bit more easier. For now, he just had to talk to Ana and find out what they were going to do. Putting that thought aside he looked to Taylor. "Now, first things first I need to get this meeting done with Callahan. Once that is done, we will return back up here and as long as Ana is alright with it, I would like to introduce you to Lily-Rose and Luke."
"Do you need any background checks done?"
"Only one but I don't know his surname. Jose. The guy from downstairs…I guess if you do a background check on Ana her mother will come up and you could go from there? But don't look into Ana or her family. I just want to know about this Jose."
Taylor nodded. "I will get right on it sir." Taylor told him. "Is there anything else?"
"Yeah, is there a toy store around?"
Taylor couldn't help but smirk. "I'll look around sir. Call me when you are ready to go down to your meeting. Callahan should be here at five thirty. I spoke to the kitchen and although they don't serve dinner until six, they are more than happy to be able to provide you with some appetisers."
"Good work Taylor. I'll call you when I'm ready. Also, when you find an appropriate toy store let me know. I want to go there whether it's before or after my meeting." He looked to his watch. "So, anything in the next hour will be fine if you find one."
"Very well Mr Grey." Taylor gave a nod before exiting the hotel room and going to his own room.
Christian smiled to himself before he then proceeded to get ready for his meeting. The sooner he got this over and done with then the sooner he would be able to spend time with his daughter. He smiled. His daughter. It felt strange saying it but he wouldn't have it any other way right now.
XOXOX
"I can't believe." Luke commented looking to his sister in disbelief. "I mean what are the odds that this would actually happen?" He shook his head and looked to his niece who was happily colouring at the table in front of them before he looked to Ana once more. "What are you going to tell dad and your mom?"
"The truth." Ana told him looking to him. "I mean for so long…I've hidden Christian's identify from them. Mainly because I didn't want dad hunting him down for knocking up his daughter…but you should have seen them Luke. The way they just…connected. It was like he was never not here."
"Does she understand that he is actually her father? And not just someone she can call dad?"
Ana nodded. "I told her about their similarities. He told her about his brother and sister a little. He's hoping to finish his meeting early so he can come and read her a bedtime story. He then wants us to hang out…get to know each other."
"Can I threaten him?" Luke asked with a smirk.
"No." Ana laughed as she looked to him. "But you will meet formally. He'll probably bring Taylor with him."
"Who's Taylor?"
"His personal security."
"Fancy."
Ana chuckled. "I know, but from what I remember Taylor was a nice guy." She shrugged a little before she looked to Lily-Rose who had got up and ran over to her.
"Mommy look at my picture! Do you think my daddy will like it?" She asked holding the picture to show her mother.
Looking to the picture, Ana smiled. "I think he's going to love it." She told her with a proud smile. "Now what would you like for dinner?"
"Cans we have meatballs with the long pasta?"
"Spaghetti?"
"Yeah that one. And the bread with the cheese on that gives you smelly breath."
Ana laughed. "Cheesy garlic bread?"
Lily-Rose's eyes lit up as she nodded.
Ana looked to Luke. "You okay with that?"
"Sure, you know me. I'll eat anything."
"Mommy can we take daddy to have pancakes in the morning? In our secret place?"
Luke frowned. "What secret place."
Lily-Rose giggled looking to her uncle. "It's mine and mommy's secret." She told him as she climbed onto her mother's lap. "And whens auntie Kate coming back? She been gones forever and I miss her cookies."
Ana poked her tongue out to Luke before holding her daughter close to her. "We can. We will have to swear him to secrecy though." She smiled before laughing. "She'll be back in the next couple of days. I'll make sure to tell her she needs to make a batch for you."
Lily-Rose nodded. "Otay."
Ana smiled. "We shall ask him when he comes by later. Now how about you play with uncle Luke while I get started on dinner?"
"Uncle Luke can we watch Frozen? I'm toos tired to play."
Luke smiled as he took Lily-Rose from Ana and held her close to him as he turned on the television. "Sure, we can…but no going to sleep. Your daddy is going to be coming by later to put you to bed."
"I won't I promise." She told him as she snuggled into his side.
Ana got up, leaving the two of them to it as she made her way over to her kitchen area and began a start on dinner.
Luke smiled down to his niece and held her close as he put the film. As soon as it started Lily-Rose was like a bottle of pop as she started singing along. "Uncle Luke can we build a snowman?" She asked looking to him. "At Chwistmas?"
Luke nodded. "Sure. You'll have to hope we have snow though. We sometimes don't get it."
"Whys not?"
"Because we just don't sometimes. Sometimes it's just not cold enough for us to have snow."
Lily-Rose pouted. "I want snow."
Luke chuckled. "I'm sure we will sort something out for you." He kissed her head before turning his attention to the film. He had seen this film a million times but he'd watch it a million times over just to have moments like this with his niece. He knew it was only a matter of time before she was all grown up.
XOXOX
"Fair play that Callahan is nothing but a complete cock." Christian huffed as they walked into the toy store. Though he soon regretted his choice of words as all eyes were on him and his potty mouth. "Sorry." He apologised before he turned his attention back to Taylor as he walked beside him, turning his tone into a whisper. Normally he wouldn't care who heard his bad language but now that he had a daughter, he knew that he was going to have to watch what he was saying. Last thing he wanted was for Lily-Rose to repeat it. "I mean the cheek of him. He wanted a lower price than he originally agreed too! Does he think I'm stupid? I didn't come to California for him to give me a cheap deal." He huffed with a shake of his head. "If we don't have an answer from him by tomorrow evening then we are pulling out altogether. He's not fucking me around; I haven't got the time for that shit." He huffed shaking his head before he wandered over to the soft toy section. "Now…what do you think Lily-Rose will like?" He asked looking to Taylor. "I mean, what did your daughter like when she was three?"
Taylor listened to his boss. The meeting had gone completely out of control and after fifteen minutes Christian lost his temper and left Callahan with an ultimatum before they rushed to this store. It closed six thirty so they needed to be quick. At his question he smiled. "All children are different, but from what she had on earlier? With her unicorn headband? I'd say a unicorn teddy would be a good start."
Christian nodded a little before he looked at the selection in front of him. Spotting a white unicorn with a multi coloured horn he picked it up and smiled. He hoped that Lily-Rose would like this. "Okay let's go before I buy the whole store." He headed over to the cash register and paid for the unicorn before the two exited the store and headed back to the hotel, the unicorn teddy tightly in his grasp. It wasn't too big; he was debating whether to buy the bigger one but he didn't want to overwhelm her too much. This is still all new to Lily-Rose to.
Heading into the elevator as they got back to the hotel, he pushed the button for their floor, clinging onto the unicorn as if his life depended on it. As the doors opened, they headed to Ana's room, knocking the door gently he then looked to the time. It was 6.45. He was hoping Lily-Rose was still awake.
"Lily-Rose, brush your teeth please." Ana called through as she opened the door. Seeing Christian she smiled. "Hi…" She looked to Taylor. "Hello Taylor. Nice to see you again."
Taylor gave a nod. "You to Miss Steele."
"It's Ana." She chuckled before she looked to Christian.
"I hope you don't mind…I thought it would be a good idea to introduce Taylor to Luke and Lily-Rose and vice versa?"
Ana nodded. "Sure. Come on in." She gestured for them both to enter.
Stepping inside, Christian looked up as Luke came in with Lily-Rose a small smile tugging his lips as he noticed her pyjamas. Unicorns.
Seeing Christian, Lily-Rose gasped as she grabbed her uncle's hand. "Uncle Luke comes meet my daddy!" She squealed as she dragged him closer to Christian.
Luke chuckled as he let his niece drag him over. Looking to Christian he smiled and held out his hand. "Nice to meet you. Though got to say the fact you're her dad is kinda…spooky. Talk about a small world."
"Very small." Christian chuckled as he shook his head. "This is Jason Taylor. He's my personal security."
Luke nodded and smiled to Taylor. "Nice to meet you."
Taylor gave a nod before looking to down to Lily-Rose who was beaming up to Christian.
Christian smiled down to Lily-Rose as he bent down in front of his daughter. "Hi." He looked to Taylor then back to Lily-Rose. "This is Taylor. He looks after me like Uncle Luke looks after you."
Lily-Rose grinned. "Hi." She smiled back to him before she looked to Taylor and gave him a wave before she looked back to her dad. "I dids you a picture!" She exclaimed as she rushed over to the table and grabbed it before bringing it back over to Christian and passed it to him. "Ands tomorrow mommy said we can take you to our secret place where we haves breakfast. They do the bestest pancakes in the whole wide world." She told him excitedly.
"You did this for me?" He asked her, as she nodded, he couldn't help but smile as he looked down to the picture and then back to his daughter. "I love it thank you. I'm going to put it in a frame and it's going to live on my bedside table in my bedroom so I can look at it every single day." He grinned. "I'm looking forward to that. I love pancakes."
Lily-Rose grinned. "I can makes you more pictures."
"I'd love that." He smiled as he held up the unicorn to her. "I bought you this."
Lily-Rose gasped as she looked at the unicorn wide eyed. "Yous did? It's pretty."
Christian smiled as he passed it to her, grinning as she hugged it tightly to her.
"What do you say Lily-Rose?" Ana asked looking to their daughter.
"Thank you." She whispered with a smile to him. "I love unicorns."
Luke scoffed. "Don't we know it." He shook his head and chuckled. She was unicorn mad!
Ana elbowed her brother before smiling. "Lily-Rose why don't you go and choose a story and get into bed and daddy and I will be there in a second?"
"Otay. Night, night Uncle Luke." She moved over to him and hugged him as he bent down.
"Goodnight pumpkin. See you in the morning." He kissed her head and smiled.
Lily-Rose looked to Taylor and waved. "Night, night!" She beamed at him before she ran down to her room.
Christian smiled as he watched her before looking to Taylor. "You can retire for the night."
Taylor nodded. "Very well sir. You know the drill." He told him before saying goodbye to Ana and Luke before leaving the suite.
"Well I'll leave you two to it." Luke commented as he grabbed a beet from the fridge and a packet of chips from the cupboard. "I have a game I want to watch. See you guys tomorrow." He waved as he headed to his room.
Ana rolled her eyes. "Goodnight." She watched him go before she then looked to Christian and smiled. "She's been very excited."
"I have to." He admitted with a chuckle.
"How did your meeting go?"
Christian groaned. "It could have gone better. I walked away after fifteen minutes. Guy thought he could be a cheap skate. He has until tomorrow to give me a decent offer or I'll be pulling out completely." He told her with a shrug.
"Mommy! Daddy! I's ready!" Lily-Rose called.
Ana couldn't help but laugh before she shook her head. "Follow me." She mused to Christian as she made her way down to Lily-Rose's room.
Following Ana, Christian couldn't help but look at all the pictures on the wall before he smiled to himself. He was hoping he'd be able to get copies, especially of ones of Lily-Rose as a baby. As they entered Lily-Rose's room he couldn't help but smile. It was a simple light pink room. Bed, wardrobe, corner for toys, a little book corner, but her bed was covered in teddy's and he couldn't help but smile to himself.
"What book have you got baby?" Ana asked as she headed over.
"Monkey Puzzle!" She beamed holding the book up.
Ana smiled. It was one of her favourites. Looking to Christian she smiled. "She's all yours. I'll be next door if you need anything." She happily told him as she let them be. She thought it would be important for them to have quality time together.
Christian smiled and nodded as he made his way over to his daughter. Getting on the floor next to her bed he took the book and smiled. "Now this looks like a good book."
"It's one of my favourites!" She told him as she snuggled down into the bed, holding her new unicorn close to her as she looked to her father, waiting for him to start her story.
Opening the book, he then looked to Lily-Rose, seeing she was comfortable he then happily began the story.
Ana could hear them through the wall. Smiling to herself she changed into a pair of comfy clothes. Plonking herself down on her bed she grabbed her laptop and went through her emails. Since Jose's little stunt earlier she had fallen behind slightly, but was going to try and catch up best she could while Christian was with Lily-Rose. She had managed to rearrange her schedule for tomorrow so she could spend time with Lily-Rose and Christian. After they had been for pancakes, she was going to take them to the beach. Lily-Rose loved the beach and had been asking to go for a couple of days now. Luke always ended up with a weird rash when they went to the beach so Luke tried to avoid it, as much as he loved his niece, the rash was too irritable for him.
"Come little monkey, come, come, come. It's time I take you home to…. mom." Christian finished closing the book. Looking to his daughter he smiled seeing she was fast asleep. Pressing a soft kiss to her forehead he quietly got up from the floor and put her book back on the shelf before he quietly left her room, leaving her door slightly ajar, not sure if she had it shut tight or not. Going to Ana's room he gave a gentle knock as he poked his head in. "Hey…"
Looking up from her laptop, Ana smiled. "Hey. She asleep?"
"Out like a light." He confirmed with a smile. "Thank you for letting me do this."
"You don't need to thank me." Ana told him as she put her laptop aside and got up. "Like I said. You're her dad. I'm never going to stop you being there for her." She smiled. "How about a glass of wine?" She suggested as she made her way back to the living area and kitchen.
Christian nodded and smiled. "Glass of wine sounds good. Does she sleep all night?" He asked curiously to her.
"Pretty much." Ana replied grabbing a bottle of wine from the fridge and two glasses. "When the whole thing happened with Jose, she did go through a phase of waking up from nightmares, but now that really happens. She wakes up about six but she'll come and climb into bed with me and she'll fall asleep for another hour or so. I'm pretty lucky, she started sleeping through the night when she was about four months old. I was worried at first but my health visitor said not to knock it." She laughed and poor a glass of wine for Christian and handed it to him. "She loves to just cuddle up." She told him. "Earlier she happily watched a film with Luke and didn't move an inch. She's so laid back."
"I can't wait to spend more time with her."
Ana smiled. "Neither can she. I was thinking tomorrow when we have finished breakfast, that we go to the beach? She's been dying to go for the last couple of days."
Christian nodded taking a sip of his wine. "That sounds good to me. Will Luke be joining us too?"
Ana shook her head. "No, it'll be just us. Luke only watches her when I'm working really. Normally if we go out, he does come with us but he has like an allergic reaction to the sand so I'll just give him the day off tomorrow." She smiled. "What about Taylor?"
"He'll be with us, but to be honest, you probably won't even notice him. He's very discreet. I just have to give him a run down of where we are going just so he can do safety checks and such."
Ana raised an eyebrow. "Safety checks at the beach?"
"Well not so much at the beach but he'll be keeping a very close eye on things." He shrugged. "It's…a strange but needed precaution that we've had to implement."
"How come?" Ana asked curiously as she sipped her own wine before she moved over to the sofa and sat herself down.
Sitting down next to her he sighed. "A crazed…fan…if that's what you want to call them, shot me."
Ana's mouth dropped as she looked to him gobsmacked. "W. ?"
Christian sighed. "It was about two years ago; Taylor and I were at a deli grabbing some lunch. This woman had been…stalking me. She was writing letters to me and sending them to the office where I work. She had even turned up a few times but she was always turned away. Anyway, we didn't take her seriously. She turned up at the deli, she followed us, screaming saying that if he can't have me then no one can and then she pulled out a gun and shot me. She shot Taylor in the leg before shooting me. Since then we have taken extra precaution wherever we go." He explained softly to her.
Ana looked to him completely shocked. "Well…you're both okay now so I'm guessing you made a full recovery."
"It was a long one." He admitted to her. "Taylor had months of physical therapy. He tries not to show it too much but sometimes he walks with a limp, but that only tends to be when we are working long days and his leg gets tired. He wanted to resign, but I wasn't having any of it. He's been with me from the very start, I wasn't going to lose him over one mistake."
"And you?" She asked looking to him.
"Well I no longer have my appendix and my brother had to donate a chunk of his liver to me. It was touch and go for a while but as you can see, I made a full recovery."
"That's scary…" Ana breathed before she frowned. "What about the woman who shot you?"
"She's in a mental health facility. She won't be getting out for a very long time and even then, she's not allowed anywhere near me." He shrugged a little as he looked to her. He could see the fear all over her face. Moving his hand to her free one he gave it a gentle squeeze. "I don't want you to worry about safety. You are going to be safe and Lily-Rose is going to be safe. I won't let anything happen to either of you, I promise."
Ana looked to him and gave a little nod. She was worried, she wasn't going to deny it, but she knew that Christian would keep his word and keep them both safe.
"I really missed you." Christian whispered as he looked to her. "We both made mistakes…but I would like us to really give it a go…I haven't been able to stop thinking about you. Even after all this time…you consume me."
"You consume me." Ana whispered looking to him. "I mean I'm pretty much reminded of you every day when I look at Lily-Rose, but I think even if I didn't have her…I wouldn't be able to stop thinking about you."
"I really want to kiss you…"
"Then kiss me." Ana responded looking to him.
Christian wasted no time as he put the glass of wine down on the coffee table in front of them along with Ana's before he cupped her face and pressed his lips to hers. He had dreamt of this moment happening again for a long time and now it was finally happening. He had the woman who meant more to him in one night than anyone else meant in the years he had known them, finally back in his arms and he had no intention of letting her go.
