For those of you who have read some of my other stories, you know what is coming... a look into the future...
The Hamptons, four years later
"Not so fast, Sam. Your brother can't keep up with you." I call out when I watch my seven and three-year-old sons run around in the backyard of our house in the Hamptons. We arrived yesterday and I'm really looking forward to this summer and of course the birth of our daughter. She is due in about five weeks and Christian was really worried to come here, but I like the idea of at least one of our children being born in New York. I've already called the doctor I was seeing while I was living here and we have booked the family suite at the hospital for a week around Phoebe's due date, so all is set.
I can honestly say that I enjoy being pregnant, which is why I was completely onboard the second Christian brought up that he wanted to try for another baby. He is the most amazing father and he was thrilled when just seven weeks after our wedding I found out that I was expecting Teddy. So, the adoption of Sam was finalized and just two months later Teddy arrived.
I just hope that it will be a little bit easier with Phoebe. With Teddy I was in labor for almost 20 hours and Christian was so worried at one point one of the nurses told him to sit down for a while, because he was about to pass out. Dr. Greene offered me to do a c-section, but I wasn't having it and so I gave birth to my beautiful son just a little after midnight completely exhausted and happier than ever.
Still, after that I didn't even want to think about having another baby for at least a year. Unlike Mia, who is currently pregnant with baby number four. Gideon and Mia have married just three months after Christian and me, and eight months later, she gave birth to Matthew Gideon Cross, followed only fifteen months later by twin girls Brianna and Celina. Now she is five months pregnant again and she already told us that she wants at least two or three more. I would have never figured her for such a super mommy, but she is.
Kate and Elliot had their daughter the weekend after the wedding and last month they had their second child, a son called Colin Alexander. They lived in New York for a while, but Elliot really hated it and Kate wasn't happy either, so they moved back to Seattle and are happier than ever.
And then there was the biggest surprise of them all, which almost led to Gideon beating his best friend half to death. Two years ago, Christian and I were sleeping peacefully in our home in Seattle when Taylor woke us up, saying that Ireland was here to see us. Seeing that it was almost two in the morning had me already on high alert and sure enough when we reached the living room, we found Ireland a crying mess.
It took me almost an hour to get her to talk and she finally confided in me that she was ten weeks pregnant. Seeing that she was already twenty-three at that point made me think that something bad must have happened to her, because otherwise a pregnancy wouldn't have been so upsetting that she would fly down to Seattle in the middle of the night. So, after some more talking she told me that none other than Arnaldo was the father of her baby.
Hearing that Christian got so angry, he had to leave the room. I wasn't happy either, because as much as I wanted to defend him, he was the biggest man whore I had ever known and for him to have sex with the little sister of his best friend, who is twelve years younger than him was just a really shady thing to do. Worse, she told me that the first time they had sex had been a month after I had ended things with him and since then it had happened again some more times, but each time it did happen he would avoid her at all cost afterwards.
Needless to say that the next morning I was on a plane back to New York to confront Arnaldo. Christian wasn't too happy that he couldn't accompany me, but one of us had to stay with the kids and between Gideon and Christian, Arnaldo would have been a dead man.
In hindsight, I should have confronted Arnaldo before talking to Gideon, but I thought we should confront him together. Gideon was so mad that for the first time in my life, I was really afraid of him. It took Sawyer, Angus and Raul holding him back while I jumped on top of Arnaldo to cover him from any more blows to stop Gideon beating him any further.
Thank God, Arnaldo didn't press charges and healed quickly. Turns out that Arnaldo had feelings for Ireland since the first time he laid eyes on her, but always thought he was too old for her. When he found out that she was carrying his child he wanted to marry her right away, but Ireland wouldn't even listen to him. She really let him work for it and in the end; they eloped only two weeks before she gave birth to their daughter Isabella. Now, they are happily married and Ireland told me that they want to try for another baby soon.
Another big surprise was my friend Melody. After her fling with Arnaldo ended after a month or so she was offered the lead role in a big movie, she took it and by the end of the shoot she was crazy in love with her now husband, who is a very famous actor. They live in LA now, but we still call each other at least once a week and meet for girl weekends three or four times each year.
"Mommy, can Teddy and I have some lemonade, please?" Sam asks and when both he and Teddy come running towards me.
"Of course, watch your brother for a moment and neither of you is allowed near the pool, I'll get the lemonade and some watermelon." I know that Sawyer is watching them from his spot on the patio, but Sam loves to be the big brother, so whenever I ask him to watch his brother it makes him happy.
I quickly... well as quickly as I can at the moment ... make my way into the kitchen where I find Christian on the phone.
"No Ros, that's fine ... no, if they want to fuck with us we are out of the deal ... it's their loss not ours... yes, talk to you tomorrow." He hangs up and switches his phone off, which makes me smile.
For the first year we came here he worked from his NYC offices, but all the driving and hours of teleconferences just annoyed him so much, that the next year he cleared his entire schedule and would only talk to Ros once a day to make sure all was running smoothly. As a thank you to her, he gave her six percent of GEH, which might not sound much, but seeing that GEH is a multi-billion dollar company, it is a lot.
To him being here means spending as much quality time with his family as he can, because with his company there are often times where he has to leave the house before the kids are up and arrives home after they are in bed. Therefore, these three months each year are his chance to spend as much time with our children as he possibly can.
"Damn baby, you look hot." He says and squeezes my ass while I'm about to get the lemonade and watermelon from the refrigerator.
"Hot? You think I'm hot? Look at me! I am huge!" I squeak and he laughs.
"Baby, you are not huge, you are carrying my child, that makes you extra hot in my book and right now you are looking mighty fine to me. You are one sexy little mama, Ana Grey." He says and that makes me love him even more.
"Are you horny, husband of mine?" I ask and take the huge watermelon from the refrigerator.
"Ana! Holy fuck! You are not supposed to lift heavy things." He scolds and takes it from me.
"Keep your hair on, it's not that heavy."
"Yes, it is too heavy. Now, sit down and I cut some for you and the boys. No arguing, Mrs. Grey."
"Yes, Sir." I pout and sit down at the kitchen table while Christian takes a big plate, a cutting board and a knife to cut the watermelon. Over the last couple of years, he has developed some basic kitchen skills, mostly because it frustrated him to no end that he couldn't even make something as simple as toast for our boys without nearly destroying the kitchen.
By now, he can make some yummy sandwiches, some easy meals like spaghetti with meatballs and he loves to grill, so every summer we have lots of BBQ's where he and Gideon grill tons of meat and even have contests to see who can eat the most in one sitting. The first time they did that Mia and I nearly puke just watching them eat as if this was their last meal.
"Marc stopped by 30 minutes ago; I've invited him and Tara for a BBQ tomorrow." He tells me and that makes me smile. Marc and Tara are our neighbors, he is a huge number in the IT business, they too like to spend their summers here at the Hamptons, Christian and Marc just clicked, and since then they are friends.
I wouldn't say that he has become the most outgoing person that I know, but for him he has made huge steps and has formed himself a group of guy friends he can really rely on and just like I have my girl weekends he has a couple of guy weekends each year.
I am still involved with different charities, though not to the extend I that I was during my time in New York. However, I am very proud that by now there are Safe Havens in seven different states of the US and three more in third world countries. To me this is just the beginning, one day I would like to have one in each state of the US as well as some more countries in this world where kids are in desperate need of a place like that.
"Are you listening to me, baby?" Christian asks and I look up at him. My husband is so freaking handsome and the older he gets the hotter he becomes. It's a good thing that he is still crazy in love with me, because I would get sick with jealousy if he would even look at all the women who start to drool and swoon the second they see him.
Right now, dressed only in snug jeans and a white t-shirt, which is clinging to him like a second skin, he looks edible. Hmm, maybe we could have a quickie...
"Mrs. Grey, are you undressing me in that pretty head of yours?" He chuckles and I grin up at him.
"Nope, I was just day dreaming about having a quickie with you, but our boys are waiting for their watermelon and lemonade, so lets go outside." I take the plate with the watermelon while he takes the tray with the lemonade and some glasses and we go outside where our boys are playing with soccer ball.
"Sam, Teddy come here and have some lemonade." I call out and they come running over to the patio.
"Daddy, can we play with the helicopter later?" Sam asks. He shares Christian's passion for flying and when he asked for a toy helicopter for Christmas last year Christian went all out and bought him a model helicopter that cost more than five thousand bucks, so I made it a rule that the boys are only allowed to play with it when Christian is around. Even I have no idea how to handle the remote of that thing and I don't want my boys upset because it crashed.
"Sure thing, Sam, I'll get it." Christian says and takes off; he is just as obsessed with that thing as our boys are. I would have never figured Christian for someone who likes to play, but he is often more excited about new toys our sons get than our boys are.
I listen to the happy chatter of my boys and it takes me back to the first time I've heard my oldest son's beautiful voice.
- Flashback 3 years prior -
"Do you need help getting up, baby?" Christian asks as he steps out of the bathroom with only a towel around his waist.
"Nope, I'm good." I say and awkwardly get out of bed. By now, I am 33 weeks pregnant and I am huge, but I have loved every second of being pregnant so far. Okay, so maybe not the morning sickness I had for about six weeks, but other than that, I feel great. Even more so now, because after what felt like ages, Sam is finally living with us and no one can ever take him away from us.
Christian and I where absolutely devastated when just after we filed the petition to adopt Sam, his biological mother stepped forward. She told the authorities that her then boyfriend took her child away from her and she had been looking for him ever since. To me that could not have been true, because we have done everything we could to find a relative of him or anyone who could tell us his identity.
Because we could not investigate, Gideon had Angus and Raul trying to get more information and in the end it turned out that there never was a boyfriend. His birth mother was a drug addict who was high on crystal meth most of the time. She was the one who hurt him and she was the one who left him to die in a dumpster. She was declared unfit to parent and has to face five years in prison, after she made a deal with the DA to help him catch a drug dealer that was on the run for a long time.
I get so angry just thinking of this woman that I try to avoid it at all cost, but now Sam is officially my son and I will make sure that no one is ever going to hurt him.
I'm so happy that he is now here with us. We are a family!
"Do you need help in the bathroom, baby?" Christian asks and I roll my eyes.
"Sweetie, I'm pregnant not sick and I don't need you to hold my hand while I'm peeing. You are worrying too much." I kiss him and after a quick shower and brushing my teeth I towel dry my hair put it in a messy bun and get dressed before Christian and I make our way to Sam's room to help him get ready for breakfast.
Today Christian has to go back to work after spending the weekend with us and I have planned to take Sam to a toy store. We didn't buy him many toys, so I want him to pick something out that he likes. However, when we step into his room we find his bed empty.
"Check the bathroom." I mutter to Christian and look around Sam's room for any possible hiding spots until I find him hiding in the far corner of his closet.
"Sam, darling why are you hiding?" I ask and sit down on the floor facing him.
"Ana look." I look up at Christian who is holding the little duffel bag Sam always had with him when he came to visit us and it's dripping.
"Why is it so wet?"
"Well, he stuffed it into the toilet and must have tried to flush it."
"Eww, please get it out of here." I squeak and shuffle closer to Sam.
"Sam, why did you do that?" I ask again, full well knowing that I won't get an answer, so I reach out to pick him up, but suddenly he is throwing a huge tantrum, kicking and screaming and Christian quickly picks him up so I'm not getting hurt.
"Sam, stop! Look at me, Sam. I'll put you down, but I need you to calm down, buddy." Christian is trying to talk to Sam, but he is not having it and Christian has no choice but to put him down again, because otherwise both of them would have ended up hurt. We watch as Sam grabs the soaked duffel bag and takes it to the bathroom again, where he tries to force it down the toilet and it occurs to me that because it is Monday, he thinks that he has to leave again.
"Sam, stop this right now!" I snap and he spins around and stares at me wide eyed. I pick him up and help him to wash his hands before I sit down with him on his bed.
"Sam, you are not going back to Safe Haven. We talked about this remember? We are a family now. This is your home now, I'm your mommy, Christian is your daddy and you are our son. No one is ever going to take you away from here. Do you understand that, darling?"
I look at him as he stares first at me, then at Christian and back to me. We have tried to explain this situation to him, but he is so young and of course, because he doesn't talk it's hard to know if he really understands that this is his home now.
"Me home?"
I gasp and at first I think that I have just imagined hearing Sam's beautiful voice, but when I look up at Christian and see the tears gleaming in his eyes I know that this really just happened.
"Yes darling, this is your home. Here with us. You don't have to hide or put your stuff away, because no one is going to take you away from here. We won't ever let that happen." I explain while tears are running down my face, Sam reaches up touches my cheek only to look confused at the tears on his little fingers.
"Mommy is crying because she is happy, Sam. Happy that you are here with us and that you talked to us. We like to hear you talk." Christian jumps in, because I am too emotional to talk.
Sam looks as if he is concentrating hard, he touches my cheek again and then his cheek so my tears are on his face.
"Me happy and hungy!" He says with a big smile and rubs his belly, which makes Christian and I laugh.
- End of Flashback -
And from that moment on we did everything to encourage Sam to talk, we also had a speech therapist work with Sam, and it worked better than we ever expected, within a year he started to speak so much that sometimes we had to ask him to slow down so we could keep up with his chatter. Still, to this day seeing him happy and talking so animated makes me smile, knowing that he has come a long way from the boy he was when I first saw him.
Christian - 5 weeks later
"Don't worry, Mr. Grey, your wife will be just fine, she just needs some rest and tomorrow she will be fine." The nurse assures me and leaves the hospital suite Ana and I will be staying at for the next couple of days.
Ana is sleeping, completely out of it and our beautiful baby girl is sleeping in my arms. Looking at them both makes me take a deep breath and thank the heavens that the both made it. Everything started out normal, Ana woke up in the middle of the night with contractions, we went to the hospital once they started to come in every seven minutes, but after five hours all of the sudden Phoebe's heart rate started to drop dramatically with every contraction.
Before I could even begin to comprehend what was going they weren't able to find any heartbeat at all and Ana got so hysterical that they had to sedate her, before they even arrived at the OR. I wasn't allowed inside and nearly went insane outside waiting for any news on my wife and daughter. Thank God for Mia, she dropped everything and came to the hospital to wait until Phoebe was born and when she saw me pacing outside the OR she calmed me down at least to the point where I could think straight again.
After what felt like ages, I was finally allowed to come in and meet my daughter while Ana was still in the surgery. I was never in my life so torn, on one hand I wanted to hold my daughter in my arms, and on the other hand I wanted to demand answers of what was going on with my wife, but they refused to tell me anything and only told me that I would have to wait for Dr. Bowers to come out and talk to me.
So, I sat down and just held my beautiful daughter in my arms and that was a completely new experience. I love my boys with all my heart, but holding my daughter for the first time was just different. She has huge blue eyes, the are so huge it's almost unreal and just looking into them I know that this little girl is going to give me a run for my money one day. She will be just like her mother, I know it.
When Dr. Bowers came to talk to me, she explained to me that there were several complications that all occurred at once and if we would decide to have another child it has to be a scheduled c-section. To me all that was important in that moment was to know that Ana would be fine.
The moment she woke up all she asked was if Phoebe is okay and when I confirmed that for her she was out like a light again and has only been awake for a few more minutes about thirty minutes ago to hold her daughter before she was out of it again. I've called our family and friends to tell them that they can come and meet Phoebe tomorrow or even a day later, depending how Ana is feeling, because I want Ana to have some time with our little girl, where she is not half-asleep, before anyone else sees Phoebe.
My parents arrived at the Hamptons three days ago and Carla is also there, so Sam and Teddy will be fine spending some time with their grandparents, while I will be staying here with Ana and Phoebe until I can take them home. Looking at my little girl makes me smile. Fuck, I was so freaked out about having a girl and now I would take ten more of her in a heartbeat.
"You have your daddy already wrapped around your tiny little finger, yes you have." I croon and Phoebe looks up at me. "Are you laughing at me Phoebe Ireland Grey? Because I think you do." I chuckle and lean down to kiss her little face. Man, why do babies smell so good? If I could bottle this scent, I would take it with me everywhere I go.
If someone had told me years ago that I would end up happily married to the love of my life and that we would have three kids, I would have told that person to fuck off and get a reality check. Now, I can't imagine my life without Ana and our kids. I was miserable for so many years, that I didn't even allow myself to hope for a different life until I met Ana. Man, I really did fuck up back then and I never would have thought that she could ever forgive me, but she has and now we are here with our third child. Sometimes it seems all like a dream, too good to be true... but it is.
In addition to my life with my family, I even managed to make some friends along the way, which I also never thought would happen. But Ana always pushed me to just try to make some friends and not always see the worst in people. Sure, I still run background checks on everyone we meet, but in my position I have to be careful whom I allow into my life and more so into the life of my wife and children.
I'm no way near the control freak that I used to be and funny enough, by giving up some control and just allowing things to happen naturally I learned to be at ease and how to act my age for a change. I still struggle from time to time, especially when it comes to the safety of my wife and kids, but as Ana assures me that is a healthy kind of control freakery that comes with wanting to keep the people that I love safe.
Even thinking about that makes me smirk; her psychology classes that she took while she went back to college in New York sure came handy being married to a guy like me. So when she told me that she wanted to go back to college to take more classes to make a degree in psychology and I helped her to make it happen even with two kids and her charity engagements.
At first, the jealous part of me wasn't happy to see her go back to college where she would have to sit in classes with tons of fuckers who had all the time in the world to ogle my wife, but the more rational part of me knew that keeping her from doing it was just wrong. Ana is like a sponge when it comes to education. If something peaks her interest she wants to learn more about it and educate herself until she is satisfied with the knowledge about certain things. It's something I admire in my wife and that is why we found a way for her to attend classes at college even with two children and her social and charity engagements.
She is knowledgeable in so many things that I often find myself asking her advise when I want to invest in new charity project, because even if she is not familiar with the topic it takes her about a day or two of research and she is a pro on what I asked for her opinion.
I hate to admit, but the few years we spent apart were the best thing for Ana. She has become such a strong, self-confident person in such a short amount of time and where I intimidated her before she is now not afraid to call bullshit when she doesn't agree with something I am telling her. Our biggest fight has been her driving by herself. I wanted Sawyer to drive her wherever she wants or needs to go and she wasn't having it. I told her point blank that she was not driving a fucking a car, low and behold two days later I got a call from Sawyer telling me that Ana had just bought herself a motorbike and I riding it through the city.
I nearly lost my mind that day, but she made her point and now I gladly let her drive her car when she feels like it and in turn she sold the motorbike so I wouldn't die of an heart attack imagining all the ways she could get herself killed while riding that damned thing. To show her that I am really okay with her driving herself I even bought her the DB-9 she dreamt of having for a long while. She loves to take it out for a drive every now and then, but to my surprise often prefers Sawyer driving her, because it is more relaxed and she can ride in the back with our kids.
I actually liked her DB-9 so much that I got one for myself. It's fun to drive and I know my wife enjoys to watch me drive it or to be more precisely it turns her on, so that's just all the more reason to drive the car.
Hearing a small knock on the door, I put Phoebe down into her bassinet and open the door to find Taylor who gives me an apologetic look.
"Please excuse me for interrupting you, Sir, but umm... the rest of the security and I, we are a little worried how Mrs. Grey is doing." He says and it makes me smile. My security guys were a bunch of bad asses when I hired them, but somehow Ana managed to wrap them all around her finger and now they are putty in her hands.
"She is going to be fine, Jason. Just exhausted from all that has happened today and all the meds they had to give her made her pretty tired."
"Good, and congratulations, Sir." He says and I roll my eyes.
"Jason, it's Christian, how many times do I have to tell you that?"
"Congratulations, Christian." He says and goes back to the chair facing the door of the suite, so I close the door and see that Ana is trying to get up.
"Baby, what are you doing?"
"I need to pee." She mumbles still half asleep.
"No, lay back down, it just feels like you have to, you have a catheter."
"Eww, like a bag with my pee in it is hanging on the side of the bed?" She murmurs with her face scrunched up.
"Yes, just like that." I chuckle.
"Not funny, Christian. How is Phoebe?" She asks and her eyes start to flutter again.
"She is fine, sleeping right over there in her bassinet."
"K, love you." She whispers through a yawn and is asleep again.
"And, I love you baby, more than you will ever know." I whisper back and kiss her forehead, which even in her sleep brings a smile to her beautiful face.
The next day Ana is doing a lot better, but is walking slightly hunched because of the c-section wound. Our family stopped by to meet Phoebe a little earlier and Ireland started to cry like a baby when we finally revealed the name of our daughter.
With Teddy, we named him Theodore Carrick, so it was only my family. So now, with our daughter we wanted to have Ana's family in the name. I liked Carla, but Ana told me how much her mother dislikes her name and that she jokingly threatened to disown Ana if she would ever name a daughter of hers after her mother. So, that left us with Katherine or Ireland and we both liked Ireland better as a middle name for our daughter.
My highlight of the day though was when a nurse came in and asked Ana if she had passed gas already. Apparently, she is not allowed to have solid foods, until that happens and I couldn't help but laugh seeing Ana's face when the nurse asked her that question. I must be something related to the c-section, because I am almost sure that she wasn't asked for that after she had Teddy.
About thirty minutes later Ana told me with the biggest smile on her face that she had just successfully passed gas and that I should get her a huge chicken sandwich. She seemed so proud of herself that I nearly rolled on the floor laughing.
Of course, I asked her doctor if a chicken sandwich was okay, and she told me that chicken was okay, but I should get one on full grain bread. The moment I handed Ana her sandwich she damn near swallowed it in one huge bite.
"I love this picture." Ana says and looks at the picture I have taken earlier on her phone. It's of Sam and Teddy with Phoebe lying in between them.
"We need to get a photographer to our place, so we can take tons of pictures of them together. Then we can also take our first family portrait with Phoebe in it."
"Sounds like a great plan to me, babe. After all, this might be our last baby." She says and my face falls.
"I thought, maybe in two or three years..."
She stops me by holding up one hand. "We can agree to keep our options open, but Christian, for the last time, you do not ask a woman who just gave birth less than 24 hours ago to have another child." She scolds me and I laugh.
"I know baby, but I can't help it, I love seeing you heavy with my child and expending our family."
"Maybe in two or three years, but for now I am happy with our three little angels and being married to the most wonderful husband in the world..."
"Me too, baby. I love you so, so much."
The End
So, this was it, the last chapter of Broken. I want to thank all of you for reading/following/reviewing and sending me PM's to talk about this story and FSOG in general... without all of your support writing this story wouldn't have been half the fun it was... with that being said, I would like to ask all of you not to unfollow until tomorrow, so you can get the alert for the little surprise that I am going to post either tonight or tomorrow, which I know some of you are really looking forward to...
