A/N: Thank you all for your reviews and support! Here's the next chapter for you.

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Chapter 11: Domestic Bliss

Ana knew that with all the extra security measures Christian had taken to the police station with him was more than sufficient, she couldn't help but feel a bit relieved when he finally came home that evening, safe and sound. Over dinner, he talked to her about Daryl Credd's sentencing, and also about the suspicious man he had encountered while sitting in the station's waiting room. While Ana did think that this guy knowing all about Elliot's attack was a bit strange, she chalked it up to him just being a private investigator who worked with the police or something, and she didn't think too much of it.

Over the course of the next few days, Ana noticed Christian at his piano a lot more than usual. Thankfully, however, it wasn't under the cover of darkness at two o'clock in the morning due to his nightmare-induced insomnia - it was actually because he was teaching Lucia how to play the piano. He insisted that she had a gift, and Ana found herself agreeing with him - she noticed that Lucia was able to pick up on certain concepts like playing a series of notes on the piano much quicker than the average four-year-old. Christian was right, she was definitely going to be a prodigy someday.

The first full song Christian was able to teach her on the piano was Mary Had A Little Lamb. It had taken a few days of practice for her to remember all the notes, but by the end of the week, she was able to play a slow, rather choppy version of it without Christian's assistance. Her little one-fingered piano recital resulted in Christian and Ana - who was sitting beside him and Lucia on the piano bench - applauding excitedly once she was done. The huge smile on Lucia's face showed that this moment was well worth the long days of practice.

"You did an awesome job, Lamb!" Christian praised, and he picked Lucia up off the piano bench beside him and placed her on his lap. "That was amazing!"

Lucia giggled happily as Christian hugged her around the middle, but Ana couldn't help but frown at Christian when she heard the name he had called Lucia.

"Did you just call her Lamb?"

Christian glanced up at Ana, apparently surprised that he had said that out loud. "Oh. Um… yeah I did," he said, sounding almost embarrassed. "I've been teaching her 'Mary Had A Little Lamb', so it's just the nickname I've been calling her when we're at the piano together. I know, it's kind of stupid…"

"No, I like it," Ana said, smiling widely up at him. "It fits her perfectly." She turned to look down at Lucia and playfully tickled her tummy. "Do you like that, sweetie? Are you our cute little Lamb?"

Lucia let out a series of squealing giggles as Ana tickled her, and she tried to squirm away by turning her body into Christian's chest, hiding from Ana's attack. Christian hugged her tightly in a protective manner, laughing along with the girls.

For the rest of the afternoon, the three of them stayed home together, playing and goofing around like the little family they were.

The rest of the week passed by uneventfully enough, and Saturday finally rolled around. Ana woke up that morning feeling an odd combination of excitement and dread - in a couple hours, Gia Matteo was going to come by Escala to go over the plans for their new house on the Sound. While Ana was very excited to finally get the ball rolling with her and Christian's new home project, she was definitely not looking forward to Gia being here and overtly making 'fuck-me' eyes at Christian every time he looked her way. It was annoying as hell, and even though Christian never gave Gia any reason to think that he was responding to her advances, Ana still hated watching it. How would Christian feel if Gia was a male architect making sexual advances toward her? That guy would be gone before any of them could blink, Ana was sure.

Christian and Ana had talked a bit about possibly hiring a different architect - one who wasn't some doe-eyed female drooling all over Christian - but they were kind of stuck with her because she was the best architect in the city. Plus, he and Ana were pretty much finished with the design of the new house, meaning they likely never had to work with Gia ever again after all this.

Ana sighed as she lay in bed, gazing up at the ceiling. It'll all be over soon…

"Nngh," Christian groaned from beside Ana, rousing from his sleep. His arm which he had thrown around her waist shifted slightly, lightly grazing his hand along her hip and causing goosebumps to rise where he touched. "…'Morning, baby."

"Good morning," Ana smiled at her husband. She thought his sleep-rumpled copper hair looked positively adorable.

"What time is it?" he muttered, moving his hand up and rubbing the sleep out of his eyes.

"Almost eight. I've only been up for a few minutes, but I was about to go take a shower soon. Gia's coming at nine o'clock, remember."

Christian groaned deep in his chest, a combination of sleepy and annoyed. "Ugh, I forgot."

Ana sat up in bed and stretched her arms above her head. "I know, but we have to. Come on, we should get up now."

Christian yawned widely before reluctantly sitting up and swinging his legs to the side of the bed. "I'll go wake up Lucia."

…Lucia.

Being reminded of her gave Ana a sudden idea, and she slowly began to smile as her idea took form within her mind.

That might actually work.

"Christian?" Ana asked as Christian was about to step out the bedroom door. He stopped and looked at her.

"What?"

Ana bit her lip. "You know how Gia's always flirting with you and it's really annoying?"

Christian frowned and sighed, clearly not wanting her to mention it. "Baby, I'm sorry - I know it's uncomfortable for the both of us, but Gia's the best architect in the city. We won't have to deal with her for much longer anyway…"

"I know," Ana assured him. "I understand all that, but… I sort of have an idea to make her stop flirting with you, and I was wondering if you'd be interested."

Christian raised his eyebrows, clearly curious as to what she was thinking. A small smile spread across his lips. "What's your plan, baby?"

At nine o'clock on the dot, Gia Matteo stepped out of the elevator and into the Escala penthouse. As was usual for her, she looked utterly immaculate, like she had just stepped off the pages of a high-end fashion magazine. She was wearing a royal blue low-cut button down blouse with a slimming gray pencil skirt and black pumps, her long blonde hair hanging in soft curls around her shoulders. Her deep red lipstick and smoky eyeshadow made it look like she was going out to a classy night club rather than meeting with clients at their home on a Saturday morning.

Ana was the one waiting for Gia in the foyer, hoping the friendly smile on her face hid her true feelings toward the woman sauntering toward her.

"Good morning, Ana," Gia said brightly to Ana, her wide smile on her beautiful face doing a decent job of hiding her true, uncharitable feelings. She moved forward and pecked Ana on the cheek. "Oh, I'm sorry - did I catch you at a bad time?" she asked condescendingly, glancing over Ana's outfit.

"No, not at all," Ana assured her kindly. At all of their previous meetings, Ana had attempted to dress up a little in order to look presentable, but today she had purposefully opted for a casual white and blue striped tank top and black leggings. Next to Gia's sexy ensemble, Ana looked like a simple college girl going to class, and the smug expression on Gia's face as she gave Ana's outfit a onceover was clear as day.

Game on, bitch.

"Let's move into the kitchen, shall we?" Ana suggested sweetly, and she led Gia over to the breakfast bar, where she had cleared a space for them to work. "Can I get you something to drink? Coffee? Water? Juice?"

"Oh, no thank you Ana - I'm good," Gia said in that faux sweet voice she always employed when speaking to Ana in particular. She eased herself onto one of the barstools before glancing around. "Will Christian be joining us today?"

"Oh yeah, he's just upstairs," Ana said, smiling. "He should be down in a minute. Our weekend mornings lately have gotten so busy, you know…"

"Oh please, don't worry about it," Gia said kindly, waving her manicured hand. "I'll just get set up while we wait, is that okay?"

"Sounds great," Ana smiled as she moved toward the espresso machine to make herself a cup of coffee. Her back was to Gia as she worked, and when she discreetly glanced over her shoulder, she noticed Gia hadn't started setting up yet - she was currently adjusting her cleavage inside of her low-cut blouse and straightening her shoulders so her boobs stuck out more; she shot a covert glance over at the staircase leading up to the bedrooms, clearly hoping Christian would walk in and catch of glimpse of her looking all sexy. Ana pressed her lips together before turning back to the coffee machine, trying to contain her anger.

Deep breaths, Ana. She'll get what's coming to her…

Finally, sounds of movement came from the staircase, and Ana and Gia both looked up to see Christian walking around the corner, wearing a black t-shirt and gray sweatpants while carrying a pajama-clad Lucia on his hip.

"Good morning," Christian said brightly, walking into the kitchen. He hoisted Lucia up higher on his hip. "Look who finally woke up."

Lucia's head was resting sleepily on Christian's shoulder, her long black hair pulled back in a ponytail while her little legs dangled beside Christian's knees.

"Good morning, sweetheart," Ana cooed, walking toward her and Christian. She pecked Christian on the lips before turning toward Lucia and pressing a loving kiss to her cheek, rubbing a hand along her back. Lucia, as tired as she was, only reacted by nuzzling her face deeper into Christian's shoulder, and both he and Ana chuckled as they smiled sweetly at her.

"Come on Lamb, let's get some breakfast for you," Christian smiled, beginning to move toward the kitchen. He finally noticed Gia sitting at the breakfast counter. "Oh - good morning, Ms. Matteo."

Gia didn't respond - she seemed to have become struck dumb the moment she saw Christian walk in carrying a little four-year-old girl on his hip. The expression on her face was priceless, and Ana had to bite back her giggle.

"Um… g-good morning, Christian," she stammered after a moment, blinking bemusedly at him and Lucia. Her smug sexual vixen had completely left the building at this point. "Wh… um…?"

She looked at Lucia, clearly wanting to ask who she was without seeming rude. Christian glanced at Gia and then at Lucia.

"Oh. This is Lucia - she's a foster child Ana and I have been taking care of for the past couple months now," Christian said. He sat down on the far opposite side of the breakfast counter with Lucia on his lap. "Lamb, this is Miss Gia... she's helping us make a house."

Lucia was still a bit shy around strangers, and her only response to being introduced to Gia was to snuggle deeper into Christian's lap. Christian wrapped his arms around her, hugging her tightly, and Gia seemed to be able to do nothing but stare at him in utter surprise.

"Here you are, sweetheart," Ana walked over to Lucia and placed a bowl of strawberry yogurt with granola and a sippy cup in front of her. "And what can I get for you, baby?"

"Whatever you're having, baby," Christian smiled sweetly up at her, and Ana smiled back. She leaned down and kissed him gently on the lips.

"I'm having some coffee right now, but I was just about to make omelets and toast," Ana said, moving over toward the stove and grabbing a nearby frying pan. "Does that sound okay to you?"

"Sounds great, hon," Christian said before taking Lucia's bowl of yogurt and stirring in the granola for her.

Ana turned back to the stove, not before catching a glimpse of the expression on Gia's face. This almost over-the-top portrayal of domesticity between her, Christian and Lucia was obviously the last thing Gia had expected to encounter when coming over this morning. Her plan on seducing Christian today was obviously not going to happen while a small child was in the room who the man himself was too busy doting over.

Too bad, bitch - find your own husband.

Ana was busy cooking breakfast at the stove, and Christian was busy feeding Lucia her yogurt, leaving Gia to sit there in uncomfortable silence as she waited for Ana and Christian to give her their full attention.

"Um... so, Christian," Gia cleared her throat, obviously trying to diffuse the awkwardness with polite small-talk. "Do you have to go into work today?"

"No, my wife and I are both staying home with Lucia today," Christian answered, barely looking up at Gia. "Once we're done looking over the blueprints here, I think she and I going to take Lucia down to the park for a bit."

"Oh," Gia said, as if surprised by that. "Um… that sounds fun." She hesitated a moment before giving him a small, forced smile. "I've never seen you be a dad before, Christian. It's almost odd."

"What's so odd about it?" Christian looked up at Gia, staring at her rather coldly. Gia looked uncomfortable, and stammered a bit:

"I-I just mean that you've always lived this sort of bachelor life, and I've never even seen you with a child before now…"

Christian glared at her. "And yet here I am with Ana fostering a four-year-old girl. Sometimes that's just the way life works - I mean, I'd never considered the possibility of getting married before, but yet I ended up falling in love with the most beautiful woman in the entire world," Christian glanced over at Ana, hoisting Lucia up higher on his lap. "My life has changed a lot within the last few months, Ms. Matteo, and I'd be foolish to pretend like it doesn't have some sort of an effect me."

Ana felt a small, proud smile form on her face as she plated her and Christian's finished omelets.

"Of course," Gia said, and Ana could practically hear how forced her smile was. "That's wonderful for you, Christian. And once you and Anastasia move into this new house, you two can start filling it with real children!"

She was obviously just trying to lighten the mood, since Christian was acting so cold to her, but her statement seemed to have had the opposite effect on him. "'Real children'?" Christian repeated with a frown, and Gia's smile faded. "So you're saying Lucia's not a real child?"

"Oh… no Christian! I-I just meant…" Gia stammered, her face going red. "I meant… you know… biological children. Starting a family and everything…"

Christian still stared at her impassively. "Ms. Matteo, you do realize I was once a foster child, right?"

Ana had to stifle a laugh at that one - she had finally finished plating up her and Christian's omelets, and she took them in her hands before turning around in time to see Gia's pale, sickly face after what Christian said to her. It was time to finally put this blonde bimbo out of her misery.

"Breakfast is ready," she said brightly, placing Christian's food in front of him before sitting down beside him with her own plate. "Sorry for keeping you waiting, Gia. Are you ready to go over the house plans now?

"Oh, of course!" Gia said quickly, clearly grateful to Ana for changing the subject. "I have the blueprints right here, Mrs. Grey, if you'll allow me…"

She pulled the rolled-up blueprints out of her bag, and for the next hour and a half or so, Ana and Gia went over the updated plans for the new house on the Sound. Christian mostly stayed out of the discussion - he asked a question here or there, but he mostly occupied himself with Lucia. He had found a pad of paper and some crayons for her to color with, and had made up a game for her by asking her to help them draw a picture of what she wanted their new house to look like. Needless to say, Lucia had a great time drawing her interpretation of what a house looked like - a red box with a bunch of blue and green squiggles around it.

Finally, around eleven o'clock, they wrapped up the meeting, and Gia seemed thoroughly relieved to be getting out of there. She said a polite goodbye to the both of them before walking toward the elevator, her arms full with her things.

Once she was gone, Ana turned to look at Christian, one eyebrow raised as she gazed at him. Christian turned to Ana, trying but failing to hide his amusement.

"What?" he asked after a moment, a smile spreading across his face.

Ana shook her head, biting back her own smirk. "You don't think you overdid it a little bit there, Grey? I told you Gia would be turned off by you acting all domestic and stuff. You didn't have to go and jump down her throat with that whole foster child thing."

Christian's smile faded into a scowl. "She didn't have to say anything about it, and then she went ahead to say foster children weren't real." His scowl deepened, and he shook his head. "That woman has been getting on my last nerve for the past few weeks now, and that was just the last straw. If Lucia wasn't here, I would've really torn her a new one."

"I'd pay to see that," Ana said amusedly. "But she's gone now, baby, and we probably won't have to deal with her again. Let's just try to take comfort in remembering that."

Christian smiled. "I will."

Ana smiled back before taking their empty breakfast plates over to the sink. "…So you said you wanted to take Lucia to the park this afternoon?"

"Yeah. I mean, it's a nice day out, and I found this park a few blocks away I think Lucia would like. What do you think, Lamb?" he asked Lucia still sitting on his lap.

"Yeah!" she said brightly, and Ana and Christian both laughed.

"Sounds like fun. As long as there aren't any single mothers there who start hitting on you around Lucia, I think it'll be fine," Ana joked.

Christian looked at her, confused. "Why would single mothers hit on me? I thought women were turned off by domesticity."

"No - Gia was turned off by you acting all domestic because she just wanted to have sex with you. Most women think fathers to young children are very attractive," Ana explained.

Christian looked utterly flabbergasted, so much so that Ana had to bite back a giggle. "You women are so weird."

Ana rolled her eyes, amused. "Yes, we really are."

A/N: Hope you all liked this chapter! If you did, please review :)

I'm so excited so many of you enjoyed my little Christmas oneshot Love on Michigan Ave! :) I've gotten a lot of requests to continue it, but I'm most likely not going to - I always intended it to be a oneshot, and I am perfectly happy with the way I ended it (#sorrynotsorry! lol)

Anyway, if you'd like to follow my pinterest board for This Life of Ours, the link is www dot pinterest dot com/strawpaj/this-life-of-ours/