Sorry the update took too long, but school got in the way and then my WiFi broke. Hope you enjoy the update, and please review.

Chapter 7

Christian POV

I walk into Gym late and see a group off guys right behind the treadmill gasping at someone. Typical perverts. I moved onto the weights to do some sets. When I got up to get some water, I saw the hottest body ever. I realised what they were staring at and for the live of God I wanted to do the same. As the lesson neared its end I saw that the girl carried on running and after coach told us all to make our way back to the changing rooms I saw that she wasn't letting up. As I got up to tell her that we needed to go, one of the jocks, a guy who was gawping at her earlier, walked up and tapped her on the shoulder. I kept in the growl that threatened to leave my throat while they were talking and began to walk back to the changing rooms. Ana was smiling at him, she probably liked him and he definitely wanted into her panties. Trying to forget the scene that just unfolded before my eyes, I went into the changing rooms to get changed back into my black, faded denim jeans and plain white top. But while lacing up my white vans I remembered what happened at the gym. Ana will probably have a boyfriend soon. Someone who she'll love and they'll take care of her.

Once I was finished I made my way to the Cheer practice area to watch Ana's audition. I stealthily made my way to the bleachers and sat on the back row, just in time to catch her being tossed spinning into the air. Wow, she was actually really good. When she did that kick, damn if my jeans didn't become instantly tighter. Who knew Ana was so flexible. Her leg was I the perfect split, she looked so damn hot. I could just imagine all the positions that we cou- I need to stop thinking of her like that. She left me once, what if she does it again?

All thoughts of doubting my trust in Ana flew out the window when she did a series of flips across the court, and once again I could feel the zipper on my trousers. It went like this the whole session. When the end came I knew I had to do something otherwise someone was going to see the tent I'm pitching. Elliot naked. Dad and Elliott naked running around in tutus. Ray's gun collection. Yes, that finally calmed down little grey.

Ana was so caught up in her training that she didn't notice me until I walked down the bleachers. After acknowledging how good she actually was at cheerleading and introducing me to her 'best friend' we all left the facility, me and Ana leading the way Mia and Kate following close behind. Outside we see Ray and I tensed up. What if he tells me to stay away from Ana. That I'd be a bad influence on her. I haven't spoken to him since I stopped getting emails from Ana. He's only seen me stumbling drunk and me facing the repercussions of my drunken proclivities.

"Hi Honey. Christian, I knew you two would get together again." Wow, he actually wants me around his daughter. "I'll be waiting in the car, do any of your friends need a ride home?"

When Ana had turned around to ask us but was cut off by Kate's shriek and launch into Ray's arms. While they talked I said that me and Mia would love to have a ride so we all piled into the car. On the ride down, Kate sat in the front seat while Ana sat in between Mia and I. We all made small talk until we had to say goodbye to Kate as she was dropped off first. We neared Belleview when Mr Steele spoke up, "I'm guessing Ana will be eating at your tonight?" Ray knew everything without even being told; it was what made him a great lawyer.

Mia replied for us, ever bubbly and loud. So Ray parked at Grey house, although before he let us all out he addressed me.

"You'll drop her off right at my doorstep, young man. And even though we are just next door, it best be at a reasonable hour."

"Yes sir." I answered Ana's father's piercing gaze and protective words formally, as I was unsure if I could still call him Ray after everything I had done.

"You know its Ray, always has been for you and nothing will change that. Especially the rough time you've been having lately."

Glad to know I had his approval to hang out with Ana, I lead the way to the house I knocked on the door and waited for it to open. My mom had opened the door which was unusual as Gretchen would normally do it for her.

"Hello kids. You're back soon." She said with a smile that grew wider as she took in my form close to Ana's. "And you've brought a friend?" Her eyes sparkled with hope as her eyes darted between new and Ana. I knew what she was thinking. I've either finally made a friend or that I finally got a girlfriend.

"Mom, this is Ana – Ray's daughter." I told her. I was wondering how she would react. Ana was the one who fixed, was forced to leave and then cut off all communication with me with my mom left to see my derail into failure.

But where I was expecting her to be wary of Ana, she completely surprised me by submerging Ana into her arms. "Oh dear. We've all missed you so much. And just look at you, you've grown into such a beautiful women." I think she then realised that we were all still technically outside so she invited us all in. She called Gretchen who took our coats and led us all into the front parlour. We sat down on the sofas in front of the fire and Gretchen returned to the kitchen in order to finish our dinner. Hmm, so Mom wasn't cooking today either.

"Ana, dear, when did you return to Seattle and why weren't we told? We'd have loved to see you sooner."

"Sorry, it was only two days ago and we had decided on that day." Ana told my Mother. It was weird who decides to move city's and so it on the very same day. I was going to have to bring that up in our conversation later. We had a lot to discuss.

"Oh, well I hope you're settling in well."

"I am. I already became and official sea lion today!" Ana said brightly. I couldn't help but smile at her enthusiasm. This is where Mia decided to recount the session bit by bit, mentioning Ana's astonishingly high split kick as well as her inane ability to do so many damn flips – in a row! We heard clicking along the hallway and all turned to look at our newest arrival.

A pair of black heels, black stockings, a tight black dress and flaxen blonde hair. "Sorry, the call took a little longer than I expected." She smiled at me, then my mother.

"Its fine. But I would like you to meet Ana, she is Ray's daughter. Ana this is Elena, she's one of my closest friends and a neighbour." I don't like Elena: she always makes me feel uncomfortable, plus she acts differently around me when we're alone.

Ana stood up to greet her, hand outstretched but, the way she was looking at her was far too critical. It crew led me out and I could see Ana visibly shiver. "Hello, dear. How are you?" Her voice was too sickly sweet to be authentic, to be real.

"I'm fine, Elena and you?" Ana asks, ever polite no matter the circumstances.

"Just fine." And with a final smile sat down besides Mom and began talking about some of their charity work.

Then in walked my dad with Elliot, who had a mischievous smirk on his face. I wonder what he did now? Right, he brought three girls into the boathouse during the party last week. He is Seattle's uncrowned, notorious play boy. Dad probably found out and know he is grounded. But Elliott always finds ways around it.

"Hey, Mia, Christian you guys home already?" And then he took in Ana's form. "Hello, who are you?" He asked obviously laying on the patented charm.

"Hi, I'm Ana." She replied oblivious to his charms. I smiled at Elliott's faces when he realised she was paying him little attention.

"She's Ray's daughter." Mia informed him. His face then was even funnier and I could not keep myself from bursting into a fit of laughter. He obviously remembered Ray's gun collection. "She just moved back in with Ray and she's already an honorary sea lion." Mia burst out, happy to be the one talking. I'd just realised, she was quiet when Elena entered the room too, which was really unusual: Mia is never quiet or calm.

"Ana banana, you're really back? You've changed so much but I swear your still the same height!" Elliott jested.

Ana stuck her tongue out at him and said, "I'd say you'd changed but you're just as annoying and ugly as ever." Her voice sickly sweet.

I was in howls of laughter, "So true." I said in between.

"I'm offended Anastasia." He said in a mock haughty voice before sprinting off when he saw Ana leap at him. Ana tackled him to the ground and Mia joined, they both sat on top of him while ordering him to apologize and surrender. Who knew Anna had that sort of speed and strength packed into her little form.

"Christian! Help a brother out, man!" He shouted.

"You brought it on yourself, you know she hates being called that." I said and from the side of my line of sight I saw Mom laughing and Elena with a fake smile on her face. It looked as if she was judging us all.

Ana and Mia started attacking Elliott with the pillows I threw their way. "Ok, Ok, I surre-"

Elliott's sentence was cut off by my Dad walking into the room. "For the love of God Elliott grow up!" He said exasperated at more of Elliott's childish antics. Ana shot up to stand straight. "Hello, and who are you?" My father asked a disapproving tone to his voice.

"Hello Mr Grey. It's me Ana, Ray's daughter." She said with an awkward smile. I stood up to go towards Ana and my dad as did Mia and Elliott. A look passed over his face as recognition took over

"Ana, when did you get here? And how come Ray didn't say anything at brunch last week."

"Umm, it was a little last minute, we decided in the day." She said nervously, while fidgeting. The weird thing wasn't how nervous Ana was but that, my Dad knew something as he nodded in understanding.

"Besides, it's always been Carrick for you Ana, you know that." He smiled and Ana rushed to give him a hug now that she knew they were ok. However, I knew that Dad knew much more about Ana's sudden shift back to Seattle than either of them were letting on when Dad whispered something to Ana. At first her body visibly tensed up before relaxing. I really need to have a talk with her. As soon as dinner was finished I'd drag her with me so we could talk with; no one to overhear, disturb or interrupt us. Soon after we had all sat together again to 'catch-up' as Elliott put it,, Gretchen came I to the room to tell us that dinner was served. So we all congregated to the dining room.

While we ate conversations were aflutter before Elena picked a topic for us all. "So Ana," she began in her cloying voice – how such a nice person like my mother was incognizant to her I'd never know, "Why would you choose to move back to Mr Steele's home after all this time. Did the amenities and luxuries Ray afforded you those of your mother's?" Wow, she was being a bitch.

"Excuse me?" Ana asked ever polite, but internally I could see her fire burning.

"Well, I was just wondering why you would choose to move now, mid-semester of your sophomore year?" Elena's voice was high-handed.

"STOP! Elena you have no right to say something like that to Ana. We have known her longer than we've known you. I have been friends with Ray since we went to Harvard together. I don't know why my wife tolerates you, but, remember that the Steeles have been our friends longer than you have been our acquaintance. There may have been a more pressing matter which called for Ana's moving so you better apologise or leave. NOW." The anger my father just showed in his mini rant forces the rest of us to bow our heads, to avoid being noticed. Elena spewed out an insincere apology and left the house. Grace showed her out mentioning something about a charity dinner.

"I'm sorry Ana, Lord knows what came over her. Please finish your meal, I'm sure you're tired from your first day at school. Christian certainly was after he started two weeks ago" Mom smiled.

With a newfound peace we all finished our meal. Gretchen had taken out Elena's dishes and cutlery and with that she was forgotten. Ana had been roped in to demonstrating her flip sequence from her tryout by Mia and Elliott, though she did swear her revenge on him.

She began in position and began her series of flips on the lawn. She looked amazing and totally in her zone. I could tell how much she enjoyed it by the wide, bright smile splitting her face. We all applauded her before returning to our house for desert. We had ice cream and brownies, the ones that just melted on the tip of your tongue, so I knew Mom had made these.

"Mmmm." Moaned Ana, "This is heavenly, who made it?"

"That would be me, my secret recipe." My mother smiled.

"You need to teach me, I know people who'd kill for a taste of this heaven."

After reassuring Ana that she would, indeed, teach her how to make the brownies conversation returned to the norm; what did you do today?, Have you done your homework? All the day to day small talk, that I knew mattered dearly for my mom. I was just waiting for an opportunity to talk to Ana. However, when ever I would try, or whenever I found an opportunity, someone or something came in my way. At last, there was a lull in the activity so I grabbed onto Ana and announced to the others that we needed to finish some work for English, although Elliott gave me a knowing smirk. I kissed my mother on the cheek and left with Ana, slowing only to inform her that we needed and were going to have that talk.

When we entered my room Ana and I, both, sat on the bed. "Ana, what happened? Why did you suddenly stop replying to me? Why did you abandon me?" I asked, the pure emotion in my voice making it raw.

"Christian, I know I need to tell you and I will but I need time. It's a long story, it'll take a long time. But, it's also a painful story so, know that I will tell you but, I can't do it all at once." She stressed to me. It let me know how much whatever happened must of hurt her and if that didn't break the cold rock, which is my heart then I don't know what will.

"Its okay Ana, but, you need to give me something. I need to know, why you stopped talking to me, why you had to come back all of a sudden." I pleaded.

"It all happened because of him, he ruined my life all for his little game. He used my mother, to get close to me and then he did something, it took 3 years of therapy, mental as well as a little physical to get back up to par. It was cheerleading and Kate who actually fixed me."

I didn't want to interrupt her, especially when she had just begun but I needed to know. "Who Ana, who did this to you?" I begged for an answer. I needed to know what and why someone would do this to a little girl, she must have only been seven or eight when the occurrence happened.

She looked up at me with her innocent, clear but glassy blue eyes piercing through me and choked back a sob while she spat out, "Stephen, Stephen fucking Morton."

I felt my heart speed up, he was the one who came to take Ana and her mother away. The relative of Carla's husband. I never liked him upon my first glance at him; the way he looked at Ana was similar to the way Elliott looked at food while hungry, ready to devour her.

"Bob's relative? What did he do Ana?"

"It wasn't much to begin with, just small things," She began, "He would always be there, and became really close to me, I thought he was my friend. For the first few months, he only said a few words to me but he was always there, always watching and He used to support me with Mum and Bob. He was Bob's brother-in-law so he only lives a street away and it wasn't unusual for him to hang around. He changed around my fifth month there, when I started begging my mom to let me go back to Ray but she never budged. Although, Ray did come to visit a lot, on my sixth month there he never came once – he was always too busy and I was arguing. St... Steph...HE then suggested to my mother that I should be penalised for acting up, but I never actually knew that he was the one who suggested that; I just thought that it was Mom and Bob's idea. So I had the computer taken off of me. I did write you letters to but apparently HE never let them get to you. He was controlling my life, bit by bit and Mom and Bob saw no problem with it and I was completely oblivious, thinking he was my friend." At this point I could see the tears rolling down her cheeks, I didn't know how to comfort her so I decided upon stroking her back in my sign of support. And when she smiled at me through her tears I knew it was successful. "Once, when Mom and Bob had to attend an event, HE had to look after me for the weekend - but it was weird because they never normally went for so long - so, like we usually did he took me to visit a fair. Daddy couldn't come down and I was left alone with him for the weekend, which was unusual - the most we spent together was half a day. I was ten and he always tried to get closer to me and unbeknownst to me he did, man I actually thought he was a good guy, my friend. I... I... I trusted him."S

he now begun wringing her hands but I didn't want to interrupt her but I knew I had to.

"You're here, with me. Safe and sound, he can't get you from here." I smiled.

She smiled ruefully and said, "That's what you think." Before continuing "I became unconscious but I next woke in a hospital bed. I had a beaten and bruised body and was in a coma for 2 weeks. My Daddy had saved me. He always did and would. There is more but... I don't think I can get it all out right now."

Her entire body was shaking now but, I could only see red. Who the fuck did he think he was. How can someone do that to someone so small and innocent, so full of good. I was seething. "What happened to him?" I ground out.

"He was arrested, him and his little friend." She shrugged.

I engulfed her in my arms, as she was shaking and I could see her tears rolling uncontrollably down her face. I wasn't going to ask her anything more today. Maybe later but she needed to be cared for and protected right now. I held her close to me, felt her hands upon my chest and released a shuddering breath. "You're okay, you're safe." I repeated my mantra to try and sooth her. When she had finally calmed down I got a damp cloth and wiped away her tears. I then stroked her until she fell asleep, and carried her back to her hero, her carer. But that was all he was because I was now her protector and nothing would stand in the way of that. Never.

So Christian finally found out some of what had happened to Ana. Will this change things, or will it bring them closer? I'm going to start updating a little less, but you'll get one whenever I can post. Hope you enjoyed it xxx