Ana's POV
"What's on your agenda today?" Christian asks me as we sit at the breakfast bar.
"I need to go shopping." It was official this morning, I have out grown all of my clothes. While it isn't work attire, I am wearing a long maxie dress today. Good thing I'm the boss and can't get in trouble for violating my company's dress code.
When I look up from my plate, I see Christian's face twisted in concern. " I wont be able to go with you today. I have meetings back to back all day long. Can you wait until this weekend?"
"I can but, Christian, you don't have to go with me. I'm sure I can go and pick out a few maternity outfits. You know I hate shopping, so I'm only going to buy enough to get me by and the rest I am buying online."
"I'll just have our personal shopper send some over. Choose what you want and then send the rest back."
"I kind of want to do it myself. I feel like it a right of passage or something." I shyly shrug my shoulders, unsure if he'll think me wanting to do this is stupid.
He gives me a understanding smile, "Okay, Baby, just make sure you have Sawyer with you and do not leave his side." He instructs as he stands to put his breakfast dishes in the sink.
"I know, I know! I'll just make him turn around and promise not to peek while I try on my clothes." I giggle when I hear his growl of disapproval.
"Not funny, Anastasia Rose Grey!" He smacks me on my ass lightly as I walk past him. "No man sees what's mine. You'll do well to remember that." He scolds playfully. And while I know he's being playful, I also know the words he spoke were very much the truth. If it's possible the man is even more possessive alpha than he was when we first married.
"I'll call Mia and see if see would like to go with me."
He gives me an 'are you serious' look. "You do realize that by asking Mia to go shopping with you, you are asking for trouble, right?"
"Yes, but, she and Kate also know what I'll need. Thankfully Kate is out of town this week, or I would be dealing with both of them instead of just the one." Just as I finish talking, Sawyer and Taylor walk in, letting us know that it's time to go.
"Sawyer, Anastasia needs to purchase some clothing today. You know that the paparazzi already suspect the pregnancy, so they are probably going to be extra eager to get the first shots, so be extra cautious today."
Of course Sawyer already knows this, but he just keeps a stern face and responds with a simple nod of his head and 'Sir'.
Since today is a rare slow day for me at Gray Publishing, it didn't take me long to finish what I needed to do. After sending Hannah a message, letting her know I'm leaving soon, I call Mia.
"Hey, sweet sister-in-law of mine!" She answers in her ever energetic way.
"Hey, Mia! Are you busy today?"
"Not too busy for you. What's up?" She asks.
"Well, it seems like all of the clothes in my closet are shrinking. I need to go shopping for a few maternity outfits."
"Oh my!" She squeals, "of course I will go with you!"
"Before you get too excited, I only need a few things to get me by, the rest I'm buying online."
"Fine, fine!" She pouts.
An hour later I met Mia on the sidewalk outside of the store. "Look at my babies!" She says as she frames my belly with her hands. If there are any paps around, I'm sure that picture will make them a pretty penny.
"Yeah, they are growing fast. Hence the reason I need new clothes." I tell her as I wrap her in a hug.
"Well, lets get this show on the road then!" She tugs my hand and I follow her in the store. Glancing over at Sawyer, I see he just is hiding a smirk. By now, he is used to Mia's excited personality, but like everyone else, he finds her amusing.
We've been shopping for a while. I have four pair of work slacks, two pair of jeans, and numerous shirts. I say I'm done, but Mia insist I need more. After me basically begging and pleading with her to let me be done, I finally gain the upper hand by agreeing to go with her to look at lingerie.
"Oh, look, Ana! My brother will love this little number." Mia wiggles her eyebrows as she holds up a light blue lacy number.
I scoff, "I can't wear anything that sexy right now!" I give her a sly smile and say, "besides, I don't need something like that for Christian, he already can't keep his hands off of me."
"Gross," She fake gags, "There are some things I don't need to hear about my brother."
"Hey, you started it." I tease.
"Oh, look at that!" Mia's attention is pulled away from the lingerie section when she spots a dress.
She takes off in the direction of the dress, and I hear Sawyer mutter behind me, "I swear she has the damn attention span of a gnat." Causing me to giggle.
"Come on Ana, I'm going to try this on and by the looks of this zipper, I'll need your help."
The individual dressing rooms are inside of a larger, closed off area. The actual dressing rooms are small though, so I stand outside of Mia's door until she needs my help. She and I are in the middle of talking about the new book coming out by one of our favorite authors when I hear it... The voice I haven't heard in years. The voice I could only hope I would never have to hear again.
"Well, isn't this sweet." Elena sneers from behind me. She must have been in a dressing room. I know Sawyer is standing just outside of the dressing area, so I know there is no way she would have gotten past him.
I turn to look at her, and I must say that I am completely stunned speechless for a second. That's because she looks different. The only way you would ever know it was Elena is because of her hair, eyes, and voice. She looks like a walking, talking poster of what happens when plastic surgery goes bad.
Without speaking to her, I quickly turn to knock on Mia's door. "Come on Mia, we need to leave. Now!"
"I know, I heard. I'm hurrying." I hear the slight panic in her voice.
"What's the rush? I just want to catch up with you girls. We're old friends who haven't seen each other in a while. This calls for a little chat." Her voice seems closer this time, but I don't dare turn back to her. I can feel my breathing speed up. I don't want her anywhere near me. My hands start to shake, and my palms are becoming sweaty. I could scream for Sawyer, but that would bring the attention of the entire store, and that's the last thing Christian and I need because this confrontation would be in the gossip rags before the hour is up.
Mia comes flying out of her dressing room, and grabs my hand. "Come on Ana."
With the sudden movement, and my nerve already being frazzled, I almost loose my balance. I tighten my grip on Mia to keep from falling, and cradle my belly with my other hand thinking I could protect the babies in case I do fall. Elena's eyes fall to where my hand is on my belly, and I see in her eyes the moment she realizes I'm pregnant.
She lets out an evil laugh, "Oh, you have got to be kidding me! You somehow convinced Christian to knock you up? Stupid, stupid boy. He knows he should never be a father."
I lose what little hold I had on my emotions. My husband has worked too hard to overcome his insecurities about being a father. I will not let her talk about him this way.
"You shut your damn mouth! You do not know my husband!" I sneer.
"Oh, I see you're still the same little naïve little girl." She steps closer to me, and Mia pulls me back, not letting her get too close. "You seemed to have forgotten that I've known your husband for a long, long time."
"Ana, come on!" Mia tugs on my hand again. "SAWYER! SAWYER COME QUICK!" Mia yells, not caring in the least about alerting the rest of the store.
It takes less than two seconds and Sawyer is barreling into the room. When he sees that I'm fine, he scans the area, trying to figure out the threat. The moment he sees Elena, "oh, fuck no!" falls from his lip. He rushes to me and propels me forward with his hand on my back.
Just as we are almost out of sight, I hear Elena call my name. And stupid me, I turn to her. She is sporting, or trying to sport a conniving smile. "I'm sure it wont be too much longer and Christian will be needing my services. Be sure to tell him that I have the perfect girl for him. Petite and brunette with a high tolerance for pain; just the way he likes them. Let him know my number hasn't changed. I'm sure he remembers it."
I want to throw up.
"Ana, don't listen to that shit she said back there!" Mia pleads with me as we get back to the house. After Elena pulled her mess, we left from the store without even purchasing the clothes I had picked out. We were supposed to go out to lunch after shopping, but I needed to go home. I just want to be home. I am trying to keep my calm on the outside, but inside I am seconds away from having a panic attack.
I know the things she said aren't true. I know Christian would never betray me or our marriage. I think the only reason I'm letting it bother me so bad is because it was her saying it.
"I'm okay, Mia." I try to give her a convincing smile, but I know she isn't buying it. "I'm just going go lie down for a little while. Reynolds can drive you back to your car. I know you probably need to get home to your family." She agrees, and we say our goodbyes, I turn to make my way up to the bedroom.
"Ana, I'm going to call Taylor and inform him of what happened. You know he will tell Mr. Gray." Sawyer says.
"Do you have to?" I question even though I already know the answer. I just don't want Christian knowing the hurtful things she said about him.
He gives me a sad smile, "You know I have to, Ana."
"I know," I respond quietly before heading up the stairs.
I need to pee before lying down, so I bypass the bed and head to the bathroom. When I pull down my panties, something catches my eye. The sight of bright red against the stark white has me feeling light headed. NO! This can't be happening!
Christian's POV
I'm pissed. Seriously fucking pissed. Taylor just pulled me out of a meeting and informed me of the situation with that bitch. I tried calling Ana, but she never picked up, so I called Sawyer and he informed me that she was in our bed, taking a nap. At least I know she's resting until I can get home. There is no way I'm staying at the office. I need to be with her. I just need to take a minute to calm myself, so I don't stress her out even more.
"How in the fuck did this happen, Taylor?" I ask him once I'm calmed down enough to talk. Knowing Ana is safe at home eases my mind a little.
"Sir, we believe Mrs. Lincoln was already in a dressing room, and went unnoticed until she approached Ana. Sawyer did check the dressing area when they first arrived at the store, but stood just outside as Ana and your sister changed, allowing them some privacy."
Fuck! I want to be pissed at Sawyer, but I can't. He has been by Ana's side for the last 6 years, and I know he did everything he was supposed to do in order to protect her. However, now the question is, what do I do about that bitch? If she thinks I've gone soft over the years and she is not going to get retribution, she has another fucking thing coming. I am going to show her what happens when you mess with a man's reason for breathing.
"I want you to pull up everything that Elena has been up to in the last few years since we have taken her off of our radar." I had men keeping tabs on her for a few years after Ana and I were married, but after so much time of nothing but radio silence from her, we stopped. Now I could kick my own ass for not continuing. "I need to know if today was planned on her part, or if it just happened to be some fucked up accident."
"I'll call Welch, and get him started on it." He says. He starts to say something else, but he's cut off by his phone ringing.
The longer he talks to whomever is on the phone, the more evident it becomes that something is wrong. What that something is, I cant tell by the one word answers on his end.
After ending the call, he turns to me with a pale face, "Mr. Gray, we need to go, now."
"What's happened?" The panic in my chest is rising with rapid speed.
"We need to get to the house. Gail has called an ambulance for Ana. She started bleeding-" Before he can finish, I am running for the elevators.
When I rush past Andrea, I don't even take the time to tell her to cancel all my meetings. I stab at the 'down' button for the elevator over and over again, knowing that it's not going to make the doors open any faster. Deciding that I don't want to wait any longer, I rush the stairs, descending them three at a time. I don't even have to look back to know that Taylor is hot on my heels.
As we rush through the thick Seattle traffic, all I can think about is my wife and our children. Children that Ana has longed for.. Children that I haven't even seen, but I know without a shadow of a doubt I love more than life. I can not loose my wife! I can not loose our children! I swear that if anything happens to any of them, I will kill Elena.
"What the fuck, Taylor, cant you go any fucking faster?!" I shout when he slows for yet another slow ass car. It seems like it's taking forever, but I know he is cutting the driving time in half.
When we pull into the driveway, I see the paramedics loading Ana into the back of the ambulance. I open the door and jump out at a full run before Taylor can stop the car.
"Ana!" I call out.
She turns her head towards me and I can see her eyes are red and puffy. She's been crying, and it kills me that I wasn't here for her.
"Chr-Christian." She sobs. "Th-the babies." The agony in her voice almost brings me to my knees.
I go to jump into the back of the ambulance only to be stopped by a paramedic. "I'm sorry, Sir, but you can't get in. We need room to work with the patient."
"That is my wife and children, I'm getting in the back of that ambulance whether you like it or not." I keep my eyes on Ana the whole time. Her scared eyes hold my gaze and I can see her mentally begging me to come to her. "Look, I promise to stay out of your way, I just need to get to my wife. She needs me," I plead.
"Fine, but you will need to sit on the bench, near her head." I can tell he's still hesitant, but he agrees.
I don't waste anymore time getting to Ana. When I sit down, she turns to me and it takes all the strength I have not to loose what little control I have on my emotions.
"What's happening? Did they tell you anything?" She asks.
"No, baby, they didn't tell me anything. Just lay back and rest." I give her a gentle kiss. He lips are swollen and soft from crying.
"I'm so sc-scared, Christian." Her chin wobbles as tears begin to stream down her face again.
"I'm here now. I have you, Ana. Are you hurting anywhere? Any cramping?" I question.
She shakes her head, "No. I went to use the bathroom, and that's when I saw the bl-blood."
"Shh, it's going to be okay, baby." Please let it be okay.
"I'm so sorry." She covers her face with her hands.
I pull her hands away, "Ana, baby, look at me." When I get her eyes, I tell her, "This is not your fault. You have done nothing but protect our babies."
"Do you know?" She asks, and I know she is talking about the shit that went down with Elena.
"Yes, I know." I tell her, and the rage that had dissipated starts to once again burn in my gut. The bitch is as good as dead...
I hope you enjoyed chapter 9. I already have a good start on the next chapter, so I hope I have it out soon-ish.
Sorry for any mistakes I didn't catch.
