„Thank you, Detective McDonell." Ana said and hung up. For a moment she took a deep breath... maybe she should have felt sad... or anything other than relief washing over her at the news she had just received, but there was nothing other than relief.

After a moment she took her phone and called Christian.

„Hey baby, I'm on my way to CP now."

„Great... listen Detective McDonell just called me." She said.

„Please do not tell me that Jose finally managed to convince the shrink that he is insane and cannot be put through a trial." Christian said. To him, a mental facility was not the right place for Jose Rodriguez, no, he wanted him behind bars for good.

„No... Jose is dead."

„Say that again?!"

„He is dead, he was found in his cell an hour ago, he hung himself with his bed sheet." Ana explained.

„Are you alright, baby?" He asked.

„Yes... Christian, does it make me a horrible person if all I can feel upon knowing he took his own life is to feel relief that he cannot hurt me anymore?" She asked and heard him sigh.

„Baby, I'm fucking relieved too. And after what he tried to do to you, you are entitled to feel whatever it is you are feeling right now."

„Maybe... it's just... Hyde is dead, Jose is dead, my mother is behind bars, Hunter is going to be fine... it all just seems too perfect right now."

„And you are waiting for the other shoe to drop?" He asked knowing where she was going with that.

„Yes, I'm just so used to disaster by now..."

„Ana, don't you think we've both been through enough to deserve a little bit of happiness." He asked softly and she smiled.

„You are right... listen, I need to go the bathroom again, I'll see you soon."

„Bye baby." Christian said and they hung up. When Ana left her office she suppressed her sigh when she looked at her temporary assistant. The agency she had contacted to sent someone over definitively had managed to find an immediate replacement, but Dolores was a bit too ancient for her liking. Not that she disliked the woman, but for heavens sake, she was in her early eighties, nearly deaf and even with glasses could barely see... not to mention that she had no idea how to handle a computer, but Ana just couldn't bring herself to fire the old lady and so, for the past three weeks she had handled not just her own work, but the work of her assistant as well.

When she left the bathroom, she stopped and watched as Christian was trying to tell Dolores that he was here to pick her up for lunch.

„You are who?"

„Christian Grey." He said already looking annoyed as hell.

„What?"

„CHRISTIAN GREY!" He yelled at the old lady which had everyone around him turn around to hide their amusement.

„And you are here for a meeting with whom?"

„I'm not here for a meeting I want to pick Ana up for lunch."

„Hannah Bunch? Never heard of her, Mr. Frey." Dolores said and Christian looked so displeased, Ana had to bite her lip so she wouldn't start to giggle.

„I'M HERE TO SEE MISS LAMBERT AND MY NAME IS GREY!" He yelled at her.

„Miss Lambert is having lunch with her boyfriend and your name is not on the calendar for a meeting today. I can schedule you in for a meeting in two weeks Mr. Ray, but I can tell you right now that Miss Lambert is a fiction editor, not Christian books."

„GREY it's GREY and I am Miss Lambert's boyfriend!" Christian was now screaming and Ana couldn't stop to giggle anymore and walked to Dolores' desk.

„Ah, Miss Lambert, this young man wants to sell a Christian book, whom should I refer him to?"

„Dolores, that's Christian, my boyfriend... we'll be leaving for lunch now."

„You are having lunch with a cow?"

„I'll see you soon, Dolores." Ana said and grabbed Christian's hand and headed out with him.

„Dear God, Ana... how can you work with her?"

„Simple, I'm doing her work and mine."

„What... fire her ass."

„I can't... she's like a hundred years old... I would feel horrible to fire her and Hunter will be back in three more weeks."

„Honestly, I feel like the woman has learned her profession while taking notes for Methusalem." He said and Ana giggled.

„I know... but sometimes it is quite amusing to watch people trying to talk to her."

„I couldn't find anything amusing about it." He grumbled which had her giggle even more.

„I found it rather funny." She said and they went to lunch before they went to her next doctor's appointment. She was now seven months along and so far, they had no luck to find out if the baby was a girl or a boy because it always turned its little butt to the camera and whenever they got a picture of the front the baby was covering its privates with his little hands.

When it was more of the same at this appointment both of them were a little disappointed though they had already agreed to have the nursery decorated in neutral colors because they wanted at least two more children and so they wouldn't have to redecorate the nursery each time they had a baby. As for clothes, they had picked a lot of neutral stuff as well as some clothes for boys and girls. Everything that wouldn't be needed now could be used later when they had another baby... unless of course, all of their children had the same sex.

After work Ana headed to her therapist's appointment but after they had talked about how she felt after finding out that Jose was dead for about twenty minutes Ana brought up something else that was on her mind a lot lately.

„Do you think a man who is most definitely an alpha male would feel unmanned if the woman was to propose, Dr. Everton?" She asked and the older woman smiled.

„You want to propose to your boyfriend, Ana?"

„Well, I was hoping he would do it eventually, but I want to marry before my baby is born and so far he hasn't even mentioned a wedding... well, he did say in the beginning that that's what he wants ultimately but he hasn't mentioned it in a while and I'm already seven months along so there isn't much time left."

„And you want to be married before the baby is born?"

„Yes, I mean, I guess I'm a bit old-fashioned, but I want us to be a family and in my picture parents should be married."

„Have you mentioned that to him?"

„No."

„Why?"

„Well, if I was to mention it he would probably feel pressured to propose and I don't want him to do something he doesn't truly want to do right now."

„But wouldn't you proposing to him be the very same thing?"

„Maybe... but we love each other, we live together, we are having a baby, have already agreed to have more children in the future, so marriage is the one thing that's missing and it's not like he hasn't proposed to me before."

„Right, he did propose to you before you went to New York, right?"

„Yes... do you think it is possible that he doesn't want to propose because he is afraid things will turn to shit again?"

„Ana, I truly feel that the relationship you are having now with him is quite different from the one you were having before. There is much more understanding and communication now. If you want to propose I say go for it... though maybe with your boyfriend being an alpha male it would be wiser to hint him in the right direction so he feels like he is the one who came up with the idea to propose." Dr. Everton said with a wink.

Ana thought about how to do just that in the following days but short of leaving bridal magazines out she couldn't come up with anything and doing that just felt wrong to her. So, in the end, she decided to just talk about it to Christian. Because it was the weekend they had taken the Grace out to go sailing and Christian had just put the anker down so they could just lay on board for a while and enjoy the sun for a bit when Ana decided that now was the perfect time to ask.

„Can I ask you something?"

„You can ask me everything you want, baby." He said and smiled at her.

„Ok... so... forget it... nevermind." She said feeling like a coward and he sat up to gaze at her.

„What is it, baby?"

„Nothing." She muttered frustrated with herself that she was too much of a coward to just ask him why he hadn't proposed to her so far.

„Are you sure?"

„Yes... no... urgh..." She muttered frustrated and he chuckled.

„It's not funny." She pouted.

„I guess then I have to take your mind off of things." He said and carried her to the bedroom of The Grace.

„Aren't we going back to Seattle?" Ana asked when she stood next to Christian in the early evening while he was behind the wheel of the boat.

„No." He said giving her his ‚I'm having a big secret smile.'

„Then where are we going?" She asked but he just continued to smile.

When they reached a small dock Ana was surprised to find Ray standing there waiting for them and even more surprising was that her father wasn't wearing his trademark outfit consisting of jeans, a flannel shirt and work boots but instead he was wearing black pants, leather shoes and a white button-down shirt.

„You take it from here, Ray... see you in a bit, baby." Christian said pressed a quick kiss to Ana's lips and left her with her father.

„What is going on, Dad?"

„Far be it from me to ruin the surprise for you, Annie." He said and led her to a small cottage that reminded her of the one in Cornwall Christian had bought to her as a present.

„Go upstairs, there is a bedroom at the end of the hallway, everything you'll need to change is up there." Her father said and she went upstairs to the bedroom where she found a beautiful knee length sapphire blue cocktail dress with silver heels and matching jewelry. On the vanity by the window were even the make-up items she liked to use and a curling iron, so she did get dressed, did her make-up and hair and went back downstairs.

„Dad, what is going on."

„You'll see, come on, Annie." He said and they left the cottage and walked down a small path to what seemed to be a restaurant that had a beautiful pavilion that was decorated with lights and flowers just outside.

As they walked closer Ana noticed the people in the pavilion and then realized that it were Christian's parents, Elliot and Kate, Mia and Gideon, Ireland and her fiance Eric, Arnaldo and his wife along with her friends Marissa, Lola and Nadya from New York, even Hunter was there though leaning against the wooden railing of the pavilion with Grace and Carrick by his side and in the middle of the pavilion was Christian who had changed into black suit and white shirt.

When they reached him Ray smiled at Christian. „Go ahead, son." He said and Ana looked around still confused about what was happening because the one thing that should have been obvious to her by now had completely left her mind at this moment.

Christian smiled at Ana who still looked around completely unaware of what he had planned for her.

„Ana, the day we first met, I knew I had to make you a part of my life. No matter what I tried, I simply couldn't stay away. Back then I was convinced that I didn't have a heart and couldn't love. But meeting you showed me that I not only had a heart but that in that heart was more love to give than I ever thought possible. And even when we were apart for four years your love was the light that kept guiding me through the darkness until eventual I found my way out of it. Just like our ways have been destined to lead us back together. You are everything I could have ever hoped for and more. You are beautiful, bright, kind, so very strong and full of love... enough love to hold on to me even when at the very beginning I didn't know how to love you back... which made you give me even more of your love... and that is how I knew that there will never be any other woman for me. You are it for me, Ana, mine and that is why I brought you here to ask you something surrounded by our family and friends." He said and got a small velvet box from his pocket before he went down on one knee and took her hand in his.

„Anastasia Rose Lambert, will you marry me?" He asked and Ana, who was already crying, couldn't do more than nod.

„Yes?" He asked still smiling up at her.

„Yes!" She got out and he got up to lift her off her feet and kiss her before he took her hand and put the beautiful, vintage engagement ring with an oval shaped diamond on her finger, while all of their family and friends were cheering and applauding.

„Mine forever." He whispered against her lips.

„Yes, yours, forever." She whispered back more happy than she ever thought she could be...

I've just started a new short story called Secrets, Scandals and Love if you like stories set in the 19th century check it out :)