Thanks for your reviews! I had a little motivation to get this done. It only took me like two hours or so. Maybe more! I wanted to address how in the last chapter she didn't mention anything about Christian. Well I did that for a reason. That chapter had nothing to do with Ana or Christian. It was specifically about Ana and her mother's relationship. Of course she was thinking of him in other parts of the day but I didn't mention it in the last chapter! I did it on purpose! But anyways here you go!

I was getting tired of this. I wanted to leave and just go home, back with the Grey's. Everything was getting out of hand. Jack was starting to get aggravated; my mom was trying to convince me to stay with her. We searched everywhere and if they didn't find anything in the next hour I was making sure I was leaving, even if it meant running away or jumping out of a moving car. We back at the house; Jack was convinced he had missed something. I pulled my mother aside and brought her up to my old room.

"What is it Ana?"

"I think I have an idea, where the money is."

Her eyes widened in shock. "Where?"

"I opened my locket and there were words written. It said 'My dear precious Ana, everything you could ever want lies within your childhood'."

"Do you have any ideas?"

"Yes…" I said. "But, I will only tell you if your promise not to tell Jack. I don't want him to have any of it. He's selfish and he's arrogant."

"But, I love him." She said in disbelief.

"No. You think you do, but you don't. You only have him around to fill your emptiness. And I don't want him to have any of it. Do you understand?"

I could tell she didn't want to believe me. But she knew I was right. She nodded her head. "So where?"

"Well, it said, everything you could ever want lies within your childhood…" I bit my lip in thought. "My childhood, what was most important to me?"

"Your books." She said. "You always loved to read."

"I already checked my books…" I replied. "That was the first thought that came to my mind…"

"Well it has to be in the house cause this is where you were most of the time." My mom said.

"It wouldn't be at his business building because I hardly spent most of my time over there…" I let the words die at my lips. "Most of my time….i spent most of my time up here…reading." I tilted my head. "Here in my room."

"It's here in your room?" She furrowed her brows. "But where? We already looked."

"Look again." I said.

We scrabbled around and checked my room again. We looked under the bed, in my drawers, in the closet, the floor boards. We checked everywhere. The room wasn't that big and there were only so many places we could look without running out of ideas. I stopped what I was doing and watched my mother. She was so blind out of love. She wanted it so bad she was willing to get it from anyone. I hoped I would never turn out like that. But I knew I wouldn't. I had someone I could love and could love me in return and I knew it would be real, something that would last forever. And I wanted my forever with him. Sure the forever wasn't starting in this moment since I wasn't there with him, but I could feel I'd be by him soon. I knew I would be, because I was going to find that money and get Jack out of my life for good. I think I'll even turn him in to the police. I leaned against the wall and let my head fall back, hearing a hollow sound.

What the…

"Lies within your childhood." I whispered. "The money…." My eyes grew in realization. "Mom, the money, the money is in the wall!" I exclaimed.

The both of us gathered around the wall. We didn't go downstairs to get any tools, not wanting to risk Jack questioning us. We decided to take another route and use our hands and feet. I told her she could do the honors, since she's taller than me and a lot stronger. Counting to three, her foot met the wall and instantly broke through. I could already see something hidden inside.

"One more time." I said. She kicked once again and I saw a black bag appear. I reached in and pulled it out, opening it quickly and revealing green paper. It was the money, we found it, and holy cow, was there a lot. "We cannot tell Jack about this."

"How in the hell are we going to get away with this big black bag than?"

"Easy…tell him I found more books."

"Ana, this isn't a good idea."

"Look, I don't care what it is. Like you said…this money was meant….for me. I don't need to share it with either of you. Don't say anything…."

My words were cut off with the sound of my door slamming opened. It was Jack and he had a devilish smiled on his face. "Ana. I see you found my money." He walked closer and I took steps back. "Hand it over."

"No." I said.

"No?" His smile grew. "I believe you don't have a choice."

"I'm not giving you anything."

"You see Ana, we can do this the easy way or the hard way."

"I guess it will be the hard way."

He looked at my mom. "See I knew it was a good idea to bring her along." He turned back to me. "Something told me we couldn't do this without you. I knew you had to of known something. And would you look at this…" He kept stepping closer and closer. "I was right all along." He reached into his back pocket. "And now since I have the money…" He pulled out something small and black, pressing a button on the side a sharp silver blade came out, "Well, I don't need you anymore." My heart fell to the pit of my stomach and I stopped breathing as he put the knife in my face, trailing it down my cheek and across my neck.

"Jack, what the hell are you doing?" Carla yelled. "Stop it!"

"I told you Carla, you and I would have everything." He said, letting the knife rest over my chest. "I never said Ana would be a part of it."

"You fucking bastard! Don't you dare harm her!"

"Oh, I won't harm her." He said, the smile never fading. "No…" He whispered. "I'm going to kill her."

"Why?" I spoke up, finding some courage.

"Because, dear Ana, you are a lose end. You can put an end to me getting what I want and I just can't have that."

"I will not let you hurt her." My mom came up behind him. "You can have it, just leave my daughter alone."

"I already know I'm going to have it." He looked back at her. "But she really needs to go. I'm sorry Carla, I know you love her." Turning back to me he put pressure on my neck with the knife. If I were to breathe, he would cut me and I'd surely be at deaths door. "I truly am sorry Ana, but this is for the best. Would you like me to make it fast or slow? I'll be a gentleman and let you choose." I fought in his grasp, still holding the money. As he asked me stupid questions, my mom reached for the lamp that was on my dresser. She quietly walked over and was ready to strike. "Any last words to your daughter, Carla?"

"Yes." She breathed. "Run?" At that moment she hit him in the back of the head with the lamp, making the light bulb shatter on impact. I ran out of his reaching distance and headed towards the door. I heard a scream and struggled. She said to run…I looked back and saw him on top of her with his hands around her throat. She was grabbing at his face and his hands, anything she could to gain a much needed breath. I looked down and noticed I was still carrying the money. I hurriedly his it in the bathroom and ran back to the room. "Ana…run…" She gagged out when she saw my return. I couldn't leave her like that, to die because she was protecting me.

"You stupid, bitch." Jack said through clenched teeth. He didn't see me because he was too focused on strangling my mother. I maneuvered myself and gave him a swift kick to the side of his face, making him yell and fall to his side. I hurried to help my mom up and get her out of the room. "I shouldn't have taken my time with you." He said through his gritted teeth. He caressed his face and was starting to get up.

"Hurry, come on." I yelled.

"You're not going anywhere." We were almost able to get away, but he grabbed my ankle and yanked me back, making fall to the floor face first. My hands caught some of my fall, but I hit my forehead pretty hard. He dragged me back and my mom reached to grab my hands. "Not with my money."

"Let her go!" My mom yelled, pulling me as much as she can.

"No." He yelled. I could feel her hands slipping and with one more yank I lost her grip and was pulled all the way towards Jack. He flipped me over onto my back and pinned me down. I began to kick at him, doing everything in my power to get away. My mom came closer and tried to pull him off, but he was too strong. He threw his arm back and hit her in the face, knocking her unconscious. She was my only hope out of getting out of this and now…

Well now he had me right where he wanted me. "Ana, Ana, Ana. We could have done this the easy way but you chose otherwise." He gave me a malicious smile. "I never liked you." He stated. I felt the tears begin to form and fall down my pale cheeks. I knew this wasn't going to end well, and see how it's only him in and me…Well I knew I was going to die today. His body felt heavy on mine and as he put his hands around my throat and started to squeeze, I started to fight again, bucking my body and kicking my legs. I had something to live for. I had Christian. I wanted to see him, to be with him, to feel his arms around me, to see the happiness on his face once he knew I was alive and well. That was what I was going to live for. That and I didn't know what he would do to my mom, she was important and she didn't deserve to die by this man's hand. "Give it up, Ana." He said. His hands got tighter and his body became heavier. I was losing all my strength and I could see the edges of my vision become blurry.

Darkness started to cave in and the scenery around me was framed in it. I could no longer breathe and there was some sort of pounding that was in my head. I saw my mother hovering over Jack and after that, everything went completely dark as I fell into death.

Her beauty was amazing, her hair, her smile, but she wasn't smiling, she was crying. I was being cradled in my mother's arms. She had tears in her eyes and she was whispering, "Please be okay, baby. Ana, you have to wake up." She rocked me back and forth as if I were a baby, saying a prayer, hoping I would soon awaken. I came to and finally made movement. "Oh, Ana, I thought you were gone." She clung to me, holding me against her chest and slowly running her hands down the length of my hair. I lifted myself up, forcing her to let me go as I looked around and moved out of her hold. I gasped and put my hand to my mouth when I saw Jack lying in a puddle of his own blood, with a knife in his side.

"Mom, you didn't…."

"I….I didn't mean to…he was…was trying to kill you and I didn't know what to do. I couldn't let him do it." Her bloodied hands began to shake as she brought them to her mouth to try and hold back her cries.

"What are we going to do?" I asked.

"I don't know, Ana." She began to sob. "We need to call the police."

"I agree, but what about you?"

"I don't care about me anymore. Lately I've been making selfish decisions and one of them almost got you killed. I'm done. I made the right choice by killing him. It meant you got to live. A choice like that is worth anything that might happen to me. I don't know what I would have done if he were to succeed."

"What…about the money?"

She walked over to me on her knees and caressed my face in her hands. "That money is yours. Take it and live for yourself. I love you so much Ana and I am so sorry for everything." I didn't know what to say. She had finally become the mother I always wanted. It happened under terrible circumstances but it happened and I couldn't thank her enough for saving my life. I wrapped my arms around her in a huge hug. I held her tight as she and I cried together.

The cops came in a matter of minutes when my mother made the call. We told them the situation, about how Jack was trying to kill me and my mom killed him to save me. They asked what we were doing in the house and my mom told them they were trying to look for money her ex-husband had accumulated. She mentioned that she never found it and that Jack went as far as making holes in the wall. They asked for our names and wondered why mine sounded so familiar to them. My mom and I had to go down to the station for further questioning, it was difficult to remain calm, seeing as I had a black bag filled with money. Before we called them, I went to the car and grabbed some of my books, placing them on top of the money just in case they decided to be nosy. The bag wasn't big, but it was exactly small either. We were there for a few hours being question and what not. The cops finally figured out who I was once they ran my named in the system and a missing person came up. I told them not to call the Grey's, that I wanted my return to be a surprise. They went to clear my name in the reports so that I was no longer missing and asked me what happened, telling them I just went away with my mother for a while. I didn't want her in anymore trouble then she already was. They eventually let me go, after giving me the biggest lecture about having to tell them where I'm going and gave me a ride back to the Grey's estate. Mom had to stay there as they asked more and more questions to decide what they should do with her.

I sat in the cop car with a bag full of money and books. It wasn't the most comfortable ride, but it was I was able to manage. When we pulled up to the house and I was able to walk out, I felt like I could breathe again. I didn't know if I should be relieved that they didn't ask what was in the bag or worried, but I quickly brushed it off after watching him drive off.

I looked up and the house and let all the memories rush back to me. I didn't realize how much I really missed them until I was here, at the front door, getting ready to ring the bell and watch it open. I took a deep breath and straightened myself out. I tried to smooth out my long wavy hair and I pulled up my fitting dark jeans and my white V neck. I have never felt so nervous in my life and I didn't even know why. I knew these people. I loved them. They cared for me when I had nobody and I loved them, very much. I loved Grace's overbearing mother feel, I loved Carrick laid back vibe, Elliot's humor and jokes, Mia's love for shopping and gossip, and Christian love for me. I missed them all and everything about them, that why I didn't waste another second and rang the doorbell. I turned to look at the sky, the North Star shining bright. I looked out at the yard and noticed Grace wasn't here and neither was Carrick. I guess the world doesn't stop once one person has vanished. I smiled to myself and….

The door swung open and as I turned there was a sharp gasp.

I looked into those beautiful stormy gray eyes and smiled. He was so beautiful, like a God. He looked even more handsome than he did before, his tousled copper hair, his eyes, and his strong jaw. He would always be perfect to me and I loved him. "Hi, Christian."

"Ana…" He whispered. He just stared at me in amazement as if I wasn't here and it was nothing but a dream. I smiled and touched his cheek with my fingers, letting him know that I was real and that I wasn't going anywhere. He closed his eyes at the touch and I swear I saw his bottom lip tremble. He lunged forward and circled his arms around me, lifting me into the air and twirling me around. Once he set me down he caressed my head with one hand and pulled me into a kiss. It was hard filled with desire, longing, and pent of passion. I missed this, his lips and the simple touch of his hands. His tongue forcefully snaked through my lips and when our tongues danced together in unison, I felt everything that was right. I felt the fireworks explode all around us and the electricity that sent every nerve frantically running through my body, not knowing what to do with the strong messages my lips were sending to my brain and vice versa. This was perfect, Christian is perfect, we, together, are perfect and I wouldn't want it any other way.

Christian and I were together and I wouldn't let anything get in the way of my happiness, nor his. He was my happiness and as his lips caressed mine and his hands made me feel warm, I knew there was nothing more truer.

There you have it. They are reunited! Please review!