Chapter 32 - Aftermath
"Well" is all Ana manages to say at first when she hands back his phone to Christian. She then moves to sit more comfortably on the couch, with both her legs under her, barefoot, turned towards Christian. "Are you okay, Christian?" She asks sweetly. She is aware that her question sounds absurd the moment it leaves her lips but she does not really know how to start the discussion. After all, she really did not expect that, and it is a lot to take.
Christian looks into her eyes sternly "Am I okay?" he breathes out then answers, smiling sarcastically "No, I am not, Ana." For the very first time, Ana does not like the way he says her name; but she knows that it is his anger talking. He then moves to turn more towards Ana "Can you believe the nerves of these people?" He asks loudly. Of course, this is a rhetorical question, so Ana does not answer. He is quite tense as he goes on, in a hushed voice now, probably for fear to be overheard by the children upstairs "That woman ignored her children from the moment they were born, then she takes the money and runs away when given the opportunity and suddenly, one day, years later, she realizes that they exist and I" he points his finger on himself, insisting on "I", "I have to forget and forgive everything to help her get better?" He pulls at his hair nervously. "Do they expect me to say 'well of course, welcome back Leila, here are your children, welcome back into their lives!' "
"I don't think that's what Leila's husband is looking for, Christian." Ana interjects.
"So what is he looking for, then?" Christian counters. "Tell me Ana." Christian raises his voice on Ana again. Ana understands that Christian is angry right now, and that she is the only person here, so the only person he can take it out on is her. It is painful, but she needs to accept it and not take it personally. Christian then adverts his eyes, but goes on with the same anger "Well, he is lucky this fucking virus is here right now, or I would have flown immediately to tell them to stay the fuck out of my children's lives. She has lost any right to ask for news the day she decided that she preferred my money to her children." Again, Christian focuses on "my" and "her", in case things are not clear enough.
Ana reaches for his hand. At first, she believes that Christian is going to push it away, but he does not. And slowly, he moves his hand in a way that allows her hold it.
"I will press charges. First, she was not allowed to contact me, and I am pretty sure it also means she cannot have someone contact me. And second, that guy, O'Reilly, entered my children's names on a google browser to find pictures. How dare he? Damn right I protect my children's privacy. Tomorrow morning first thing, I call my father to talk to him about this all and see what we can do."
After a moment, when she feels that Christian has calmed down a little, she asks in a low friendly voice "Have you replied yet?"
Christian sighs "No. I wanted to, but no, not yet. The women in my life have too much influence on me I'm afraid." He says enigmatically.
Ana frowns "What does it mean?" She cannot help wondering what woman he is referring to.
"Well, a few years back, after a situation blew out of proportions supposedly because of some email I sent out of anger, leading to a merger being compromised after months of hard work, I promised my second in command Ros that I would never send out emails on the spur of the moment. And for some reason, I just couldn't do it tonight as I heard her voice in my head. Fuck it, Ros would be so proud of me right now." He smiles genuinely, for the first time tonight.
"I cannot wait to meet Ros, I believe she is a pretty special person." Ana adds sincerely.
"That she is." Christian confirms, smirking lightly.
After a few moments, Ana asks hesitantly "Christian, did you know that Leila was married and pregnant again before today?" She is not sure how much Christian wants to share about the situation, at least tonight, but she knows that talking and allowing him to express his feelings is important.
"Yes, Taylor told me a few weeks ago. Honestly, I don't care. All I want is for her to stay away from my children." This time, his tone is less angry. Still firm but definitely less angry. "I guess I will either write back tomorrow saying "Fuck you" but with some diplomacy. Or I won't answer at all. And send a man Taylor knows to explain again to Leila what no contact means. And with a restraining order." Then he adds, staring at Ana "Over my dead body she will have contact with my children ever again." With some determination in his voice.
Ana understands that this reaction is a raw reaction; after all, he just received this email today, it is still quite fresh and sensitive for him. Right now, it feels like a terrible offense to the protective father that he is, and it is impossible for him to analyze the situation with as much hindsight as Ana is capable of, of course. So she will not talk about her feelings about the situation, and will simply be the supportive girlfriend right now.
"Christian, I am here for you whenever you want to talk about it." She smiles and he smiles back. "Or just to hold your hand." She adds, looking at their entwined hands.
Christian lifts it to his mouth and kisses it as he keeps his eyes in Ana's "Thank you Ana, your support is important to me. Thank you for taking care of the children tonight, it is too difficult for me to pretend like nothing is happening when they look at me with their innocent and loving eyes."
"They missed their daddy tonight for their bedtime stories, I think it would be great if you could be the one waking them up tomorrow morning." Ana proposes.
"Then I will." Christian replies. Anger has left his eyes now, and all Ana can see is love for his children.
They stare into each other's eyes until it becomes a bit too intense for Ana "You haven't drunk your wine." She notices as she sits straighter.
"Well, like I said, the women in my life have too much influence on me. After all, I preferred drinking your herbal tea." He looks exhausted but his smile is genuine. "Shall we go to bed?" He asks.
"Sure." Ana replies, feeling exhausted herself.
"Shit, I forgot to tell Teddy. You know, he asked me to tell him where I sleep at night." Christian tells Ana.
"I did." She explains. "I said you would sleep in your room tonight."
"And what about you? Where did you tell him you would sleep?" Christian asks.
"I said I did not know." Ana answers.
"I want you with me Ana, please." He then adds shyly "That is, if you want it too."
"Of course Christian." Ana smiles. "It was great falling asleep in your arms yesterday and waking up in your arms this morning." She surprises herself as she reveals so much about how she feels.
"Thanks Ana. I need to hold you in my arms. Your presence calms me. And I definitely need this tonight." He says sincerely.
"And you make me feel safe, Christian, and confident." And it is true; Ana has never felt safer than she does when she is in his arms. "Even when a six year old sneaks in and surprises us in bed together."
Christian smiles widely "Okay, off to bed now, come on." He says as he stands up and extends his hand to her.
This is only the second time that Ana and Christian share a bed for the night, and the first time in his room, and somehow, all this seems so natural and familiar to Ana. It is not long before she hears Christian's breathing slowing down and then being a little louder. Now he is sound asleep as she looks at him in the dark.
Last night, Ana had fallen asleep with her back to Christian's front, surrounded by his arms. And she woke up on her side, facing him. Tonight, they both naturally just laid down facing each other; after a sweet kiss, Christian placed his arm on Ana's waist over the cover. Ana is happy that he feels as much comfort in her arms as she does in his. And there, she slowly joins him in a deep sleep, avoiding thinking about this email. There will be time later to focus more on it and the impact it may have on all of their lives.
The next morning, Ana is awakened by a ray of sun shining between the heavy curtains in Christian's room. She is on her side, facing the window. She remembers where she is, and she smiles widely as she turns on her other side, towards where Christian fell asleep the night before. And there he is, lying on his side, eyes wide awake, propped up on his elbow, hand supporting his head, smiling widely when their eyes meet.
"Good morning sunshine!" He says playfully.
"Mmm Good morning Christian!" Ana says in her raspy morning voice.
And they just stare into each other's eyes for some minutes. When Christian places his other hand palm down on the bed, half way between them, and copies him, placing her hand flat on the sheet, their little fingers barely touching.
After some more minutes of just lying like that in comfortable silence "We should get up." Christian finally says. "I have two children to go wake up." He gently places his hand on Ana's, caressing it, then tenderly caresses her cheek.
As he gets up from bed, Ana cannot help but admire his perfect figure in his pajama pants and white tee shirt. When he turns around, Ana blushes at being caught ogling him like that "See something you like, Miss Steele?" he asks smirking. Before she can answer, he adds in a more serious tone "Thank you Ana. This email really pissed me off yesterday, but having you with me, it really calms me down. I don't know what you are doing to me Ana, but I don't want it to stop." And with that, he is gone to his bathroom.
Ana sighs. She inhales his scent on his pillow one last time before getting up and going to her own room to get ready for the day. "What I am doing to him? Well, that is more what he is doing to me."
Author's note: Sorry for the delay; at first, I was planning to post a longer chapter, then it seemed better to split it into two chapters. So here is the first part. To the guest noticing that this story started almost a year ago, wow, indeed, I had not realized it. I hope you all keep liking this story. At moments, it can feel a little slow, but I want them to build a solid relationship, and with the children involved, and it requires slower every day moments to feel more realistic, in my opinion. But there will also be faster paced chapters, I promise.