Just an FYI: I switched from third person to first person story telling. Chapters 1 and 2 will remain unchanged.

Enjoy

Sins of the Father

Chapter 3

Making Room

Ana's POV

Christian finally got the all clear from the doctor and we are just waiting for his discharge paperwork. Sasha came through and gave the go ahead to release him into my temporary custody. I explained to him that he would be living with me for a little while and he is pretty much okay with that.

He's been waiting patiently enough so that we can leave but right now he is getting irritable and I know it's because he's sleepy. I caught him nodding out once or twice but he always wakes right up when his head jerks off to the side.

"Finally," I say when Nurse Marshall comes in with the forms.

"I know," she says guiltily handing them to me. "Things move slow as molasses around here. Just keep applying the ointment to his arms twice a day for the next couple of days. And I've put in a prescription for the medicated bath if he needs it."

"It seems to have helped him," I say looking at how much more at ease he is as he lays in his bed rolling his car back and forth next to him in an effort to stay awake.

"Stuff knocks me right out when I'm sore," she says. "Other than needing a few good meals to pick his weight up, he's good to go. And that's a blessing considering how bad it could have been."

"I know."

"Let me know what happens to the little guy, won't you?"

"You know I will," I tell her like I always do.

It's a request she always makes when a kid comes under her care. Try as she might to keep it professional, the kids always get to her.

I turn to Christian who is now sitting up on his bed.

"You ready to go," I ask him and he nods.

I can't help but smile at him as I hold out my hand to him and he takes it.

The early morning is uncharacteristically warm so I crack the car windows and let some of the warm air in as we ride to my apartment. I shift my eyes from what's in front of me on the street as I drive to the review mirror at Christian who is looking all around, taking everything in.

I shake my head at him. He plans on not letting anything get past him.

...

"About time you made it back," Hunter Barrington III, my boyfriend for the past six months opens my door when he hears my keys.

We have been in an official relationship for the past six months though we've dated for a little over a year. He is heir to Barrington Oil based in Leicester, England.

"Hi," I say to him trying not to sound too surprised, but I truly wasn't expecting him to be here, He was leaving my place right after I did to prepare for an early meeting with his management team.

"Hi yourself," he says, leaning in giving me a quick kiss.

"I thought you went home."

"Changed my mind since we were so rudely interrupted last night and that phone call had you running out of here," he says. "I'm starting to think it's not your work calling you out at 2am. Maybe you're cheating on me."

"Nurse Marshall will die when I tell her she's my booty call. But what about you're meeting?"

"I pushed it back until this afternoon. Now we get to sleep in together, after I make you scream the building down that is. By the way, your neighbor still gives me the sexy eye every time I'm stuck riding the lift with her."

I've been meaning to gouge her eyes out for the way she uses them to stare at my man. But with that thick dark brown hair, baby blue eyes, and a smile that makes my heart race, who could blame her? Especially when that British accent out like it does sometimes.

Christian peeks from where he's hiding behind me, getting Hunter's attention. He looks down, noticing the small boy that just ducked back behind me to hide again.

Hunter's eyes shoot back up to mine in question before craning his neck to look around me at Christian again.

"I can explain," I tell him.

"I'm sure you can."

Before I have a chance to say another word, Christian bolts past the both of us running to somewhere in my apartment.

"Christian, wait. It's okay," I call, running after him, but he is quick as lightning and I lose sight of him. "Christian, where are you?"

We look all over my apartment for him. The place is small but I never noticed there are so many cabinets and cornered nooks for a tiny person to hide in.

"Ana, he's in here," Hunter calls for me from my bedroom. "Its okay little guy. No one's going to hurt you. Come on out."

I walk through the bedroom door to see Hunter on his hands and knees talking to Christian from where he is hiding under my bed.

"No," I hear Christian's voice for the first time cry in fear. I rush to them.

"Hunt, let me try to calm him down, okay."

"I didn't mean to scare him," he says, rising to his feet somewhat disturbed by the little boy feeling the need to cower under a bed.

"I know," I say kissing him. "He's just a little shy."

"Shy?"

He looks at the top of my bed at the spot where Christian is hiding underneath. I nod my head as he frowns, not believing me.

"Right," he says as he relents and leaves the room.

I close the door behind him.

"Christian, its okay, its just us now," I tell him gently, as I sit on my bedroom floor. I keep the boundary he's created by not bending down to look at him. "I'm sorry he scared you, but he would never hurt you. I promise you that. No one is ever going to hurt you again."

My words are seemingly falling on deaf ears. It feels like I'm almost talking to myself since I can't see that he is even in the room, but I continue right on talking.

"I'll leave you alone if you want me to. I just need to know that you're okay before I go. You're safe here, Christian. No one else will come in here but me, okay, so I don't want you to be scared about that."

I wait for what seems like a lifetime. I was about to keep talking until I hear the sweetest little sound I'd ever heard in my life coming from up under my bed.

"K"

That's all he said, one little letter. It was one little syllable, but it was more than enough for me.

"And I'll leave the lamp on for you, okay?"

I ask another question hoping he'd say it again.

"K"

I smile like a loon. I can't believe that one little phrase would ever make me so happy.

With a promise to check in on him later, I leave him alone.

I find Hunter waiting for me in the kitchen, sitting at the small table sipping a cup of coffee.

"Well," he says. "Who is he?"

"His name is Christian and he's going to be staying with me for a little while."

"Christian? He has the same name as your ex?"

"Yes, but please don't ask me anymore than that right now," I ask, going over to join him.

He slides over the cup of tea he's made for me and I sip it gratefully. He always gets it just the way I like it. He joked once that he couldn't call himself a true Brit if he didn't know how to make a good cup of tea, even though he's lived in New York half his life and prefers coffee.

"Are you adopting him? Is that what this is about?"

"No, its only going to be for a little while. I didn't want to leave him alone."

"Sasha couldn't find him a place?"

"I asked her not to. I wanted to keep him with me. I needed to make sure he was okay personally."

"Because his name is Christian?"

"No, not just because of that." I tell him cautiously, hoping he doesn't take it to mean I'm still hung up on Christian.

He lets out a sigh, rubbing his furrowed forehead with the tips of his fingers so hard their pulling his skin back and forth with them.

"And she agreed? I thought this was against policy or something. What does she have to say about this?"

"The same thing you are thinking right now, but not saying. That I'm too gullible for my own good."

"Sweetie, that's not fair. I don't see you that way and you know that. I just know you. You open your heart wide open to these kids and that's not a bad thing, but I don't want to see you get hurt. What are you planning to do with Christian?"

"I haven't gotten that far yet."

"Aw, Ana."

"I know, okay. Give me a break here, please," I ask him, getting up and taking our empty cups to the sink. "Look, there is a lot going on that I can't talk about right now, but I will. For now, you're going to have to trust me."

"What about us? Can we talk about us?"

"What about us?"

"How are we going to be 'us' with this kid you're taking care of?"

"I didn't think about it affecting us. Why would it?"

"Ana, you've become a parent in the span of a few hours."

"I know, but it should be fine. We'll just have to save our activities for the bedroom."

"Its not just that," he half grins at where my mind went.

"But you're right. My hot, sexy girlfriend who I can't keep my hands off of, just picked up a whole lot of baggage that we must be careful around now. And speaking of baggage, we are due to leave for Singapore in a few days. I'm sure he's not allowed to come with us."

"No, he's not," I whisper, remembering our plans. "Oh God, Hunt, with everything that happened at the hospital, I forgot."

We've been looking forward to this trip since he started negations to take over SingTel Aviation Oil. I feel terrible having to miss it.

"And meeting my parents in London is also out?"

My heart sinks.

He has been wanting me to meet his parents for a while now but our schedules always conflicted. I finally got the time off and we had all planned to meet up in London for a few weeks after we were done in Singapore.

"I messed up. Hunt, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to flake on our plans. You know how much I want to meet your parents and how much I wanted to go to Singapore with you. I've been looking forward to it just as much as you have."

"I know," he says, trying to hide his disappointment but failing. "And I understand how dedicated you are about the kids who need you. That's one of the things I love about you."

"Just because you understand the importance of my work, doesn't mean I should let it take over our lives. I just couldn't help it this time. But I promise, I will make us more of a priority. We won't get pushed in the background. Just please be patient with me."

"That's all I needed to hear," he says taking me in his arms. "But get it through that beautiful brain of yours that I'm not going anywhere. You're stuck with me, even if our plans get pushed to the back burner."

"I feel awful for blowing off your parents. They are going to hate me."

"They already adore you."

"That makes it worse."

I hide my reddened face with the palms of my hands and bury it in the center of his broad chest. His lips pressed into a kiss at my hair.

"They'll understand. We can easily do it another time."

I love him for letting me off the hook so easily.

"I really didn't mean to spring all this on you," I say to him, lifting my head to look at him. "I should have called before I came back home."

"We'll you weren't expecting me to still be here. How is the little guy, by the way? I think I scared the hell out of him."

"No, he's just-" I try to find the right word to describe him.

"Shy."

"Pretty much," I laugh.

Hunter looks past me and I turn to see what has caught his eye. Christian is standing awkwardly in the doorway studying him, readying himself to bolt at the slightest wrong move he makes.

"Hi, there," Hunt says, softer than I have ever heard him speak. Except for the times he would hold me when I cried about being homesick and missing the people I left in Seattle. He keeps a safe distance but bends his six feet one inch, two hundred pound of solid muscle frame down to kid level. "You're Christian right, I'm Hunter. My friends call me Hunt."

Christian frowns in thought at his name and Hunt laughs a little, knowing exactly what his little mind is thinking.

"I know," Hunt says still amused and giving him a warm smile. "It's kind of a silly name. I don't even like to Hunt." Christian still wears his same expression but his body is a lot less guarded as he considers the gentle giant more easily. "Do you need help with something?"

Christian nods and does something with his hand that I can't see from my vantage point.

"Right through there," I here Hunt say to him, pointing at the bathroom door and Christian runs off full speed to use it.

"How did you know he needed to go? He didn't say anything."

"He pointed to his pee pee hole."

"His what," I laugh. I've never heard him call it that before. "Is that a British thing?"

"It's more of a guy thing."

"Clearly," I say to him before going to knock on the bathroom door to check on Christian. "Do you need any help in there?"

"No," he quickly says back to me.

"Umm, don't forget to wash your hands."

"K"

I turn back to Hunt grinning at me. I wonder at his dreamy expression.

"What," I squeak out to him a little embarrassed at the moment but not knowing why. He just shakes his head, refusing to answer.

"Where are you going to sleep," he asks me instead.

"The couch is good enough."

He sighs.

"For now, maybe. But you need something more permanent. Why don't you move in with me?"

"I can't do that. I shouldn't put you out because of a decision I made."

"You're not putting me out and your decisions affect me as well. Besides, I'm thinking of the little guy in there. The way he keeps running around in here, he's libel to fly right off your balcony."

I cringe at the thought, but I know he's right.

My apartment is not the safest most kid proofed place to stay. If I was looking to be a foster parent, I would surely fail inspection because of this place.

"Okay." I bite my lip in guilt at intruding on his place with a five year old no less. "But only until I can get in contact with Christian's next of kin."

…

I say good night to Hunt with the arrangements of me moving in tomorrow being made by him.

Making sure my apartment is locked up tight, including my balcony window, I go in to check on Christian.

He is curled up on the far side of my bed fast asleep. His small frame looks even smaller with my full sized bed spread nearly swallowing him up.

Gently, I sit down on the bed to watch him. Gone is his usual guarded expression. He looks nothing but peaceful as I lightly brush his hair off his face.

"Mommy," he whispers still deep in sleep and I freeze for fear of waking him up.

He turns over to cuddle next to me, wrapping his little arm around my waist. I wait until I'm sure he is deep sleeping again before I slide down to lay next to him.

"Your mommy loves you," I whisper to him, hoping it gives him some comfort.

I can't imagine how hard it must be for him to have his life altered so drastically in such a short time.

I can't even imagine the abuse he must have suffered and judging from his fading bruises, he had been suffering from it for a long time.

Despite all of that, he still calls out for his mom when he sleeps. It is such a testament to a child's ability to love.

My mind can't help but think of his father. Christian rarely talked about his biological mother. And the few times he did, he refused to call her anything but the crack whore. If it wasn't for the picture I saw of her pinned to a corkboard in his childhood bedroom with her name on the back, I would never have known what her name truly was.

Still, I can't help but wonder if he called out to her when he was first adopted by the Greys. If Grace had to comfort him in his sleep the way I am comforting his son.

I dread the disappointment he is sure to face when he wakes up and the realty that his mom is gone confronts him once again.

My own reality of what I've just gotten myself into where he is concerned is starting to sink in.

I have no clue what I'm doing, or what I will do if things don't go well with his father.

Christian could easily deny him. He is the king of denial when it comes to anything he doesn't want to deal with.

He could refuse to even take the paternity test.

He never made it a secret that he didn't want kids. What if he just refuses to acknowledge his kid all together. Then where will he be? Stuck in some system that may do him more harm. My mind races with all of the possible scenarios in uniting father and son.

None of them are good.

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