Enjoy

Sins of the Father

Chapter 7

No Daddies

Ana's POV

"Miss Steele," I hear Nora call for me from the hall and I invite her and Christian into the bedroom.

"Did you enjoy your cookies," I ask Christian. He nods with a big grin on his face, melting my heart.

"I don't know where he put them all," Nora looks at him in amazement and he smiles pleased as punch with himself. "I made sure he saved room for dinner."

"I wouldn't worry too much about that," I laugh at his appetite.

"Mr. Barrington has asked me to prepare something special for tonight, so I'd better get started. Do let me know if you need anything, Miss Steele."

"I will. Thanks, Nora."

"My pleasure," she says to me before turning to Christian, ruffling his hair. "We'll have a few more cookies to eat with our popcorn tonight."

He nods happily about that.

"Popcorn," I ask them.

"We have a movie date tonight," she explains.

"Sounds like fun," I tell the two of them and Christian nods. I can only guess that Hunt must have asked her to look after him for us tonight.

"I'll see you later, Christian," Nora says. He gives her a little goodbye wave.

"Let's go get some fresh air." I lead him to Hunt's private patio, my favorite spot in the hotel. It's where we can be outside without really being outside. Christian seems to like it as well. He takes in the view of Central Park below us and all of the surrounding buildings that are starting to light up as the sun sinks lower in the sky.

Him wandering a bit too close to the edge gets me a little antsy, even though there is a wall that he couldn't possibly climb over without a whole lot of effort.

I fight the urge to restart the conversation we had earlier before we were interrupted by the movers. I am curious to know what Leila told him about his dad, but at the same time, he is having such a good time right now, I don't want to ruin it.

...

"Here you all are," Hunter says, coming out side to join us. I hadn't realized we'd missed him coming home.

"I didn't know you were home. Time got away from me," I get up to greet him with a kiss on the lips. "Hi."

"Hi, yourself," he says when we pull apart, only to grab hold of my waist and pull me into him roughly for a second kiss.

They are only pecks on the lips, but Christian reacts to them by hiding his eyes.

Hunter and I both take notice of how upset they make him.

Its not the usual way that kids cover their face with embarrassment when they see adults show affection. Its something more like a memory of something unpleasant he's hiding away from.

"Hey, buddy," Hunt regards him, bending down to his level once again. Christian peeks at him from between his fingers. "Sorry about all that. I love Ana and I would never do anything to hurt her. I was just happy to see her. But I won't grab her like that again if you don't like it."

Christian nods, taking his hands away from his eyes.

"Superman, huh," Hunt points at his shirt. Christian takes a step back so not to be touched by him. Hunter takes the hint and lowers his hand, inching back a little himself. "I hear you're watching the movie tonight with Nora. I have a feeling you're going to like it. He happens to be my favorite superhero."

Christian smiles at that. Superman must be his favorite too.

"It's all about Wonder Woman," I chime in. They both give me a look reserved for girls that don't know any better, making me laugh.

"What do you think of your room," Hunt asks him.

Christian gives him a bewildered look. He didn't know he had a room.

"Well, let's go see it then," Hunt tells him, getting up to show him.

I linger behind them before Christian takes my hand and tugs me along.

Hunt smiles at me as I eye him. Clearly, it's going to take a lot more than bonding over superheroes for Christian to warm up to him.

The room he has chosen for him is one of the guest rooms down the hall from ours. The king sized bed dominates the room but the rest of the space is made to be more kid friendly with children's books, a corner filled with art supplies, and a desk with laptop, coloring books and crayons.

A large bright blue and yellow toy chest gets Christian's attention and with a little prodding from Hunt, he goes over to explore it.

I try not to laugh as he nearly tumbles over inside it, trying to get some of the contents out. Within seconds the floor is littered with every toy truck, car, and roadmap play mat imaginable.

He excitedly gives each vehicle attention and like he has before, he gets lost in his world of make believe.

I let him know that we'll be in the room he found me in earlier with Nora if he needs me, before we leave him to his play.

"I missed you today," I tell Hunt, walking with him down the hall.

"I missed you too. I barely got any work done thinking of that surprise you have waiting for me."

"I figured as much," I laugh at him. "That's why I mentioned it."

"You do love teasing me."

"Guilty. But you always come out on top in the end."

"How long do you think the little guy will play in there," he asks, grabbing my ass.

"Not long enough," I tell him, swatting his hand away.

"Damn. So much for my preview then."

"You are terrible," I tease him, hoping Nora can keep Christian busy tonight.

"I guarantee it," Hunt tells me of the concern. "He seems like good company for you."

I am amazed at how quickly I've adapted to having him around. Me being a girl who couldn't take care of a potted plant with any type of success most of her life.

"He does make the time fly."

"He's such a cute kid," Hunt says, entering our room and closing the door behind us.

"Yes, he is," I tell him. I know this is a segue to the explanation I promised him yesterday. One I know he has been very patiently waiting for.

"He was abused though. Wasn't he?"

"Yes, he was, very badly. We may never know the whole story of what happened to him. What we do know is that his mother died of a drug overdose. He was left alone with her body for God only knows how long before the landlord came looking for her overdo rent. He discovered them about an hour before I was called out to help with Christian at the hospital."

"I can't even comprehend what that must have been like for him. How has he been handling it?"

"He was violent in the hospital when the staff tried to give him care, but I think that was because they had unknowingly hurt him. He hasn't acted out that way since. He doesn't talk much, but I think he is still in shock. He hasn't processed what's happened to him or his mother yet, so his behavior my change once it all begins to sink in. For now, he hates being touched and he is very apprehensive, especially around men. I think it was a man who abused him instead of his mom, but I really don't know what role she played allowing it to happen."

"God, that poor kid. Is that the reason you didn't want him going into the system? You knew the experience would damage him more than what he's already been through?"

"That's a big part of it, yes. Even in the best of foster homes, there are risks to kids as fragile as he is right now."

"I can only imagine having to deal with so much so young. He is no more than a baby and life has already been too much. No kid should have to experience something like that."

"It touched me the same way it has you, but that's not the only reason I took him on. The main reason is because I think I know who his family is. Hunter, I think Christian is named after his father. I think Christian Grey is his father."

"Christian Grey? Ana, please don't tell me that your ex-boyfriend is this kid's father."

I nod my head and bite my lower lip in uncertainty of how to proceed with telling him the rest. How do you tell your current boyfriend that you were moved to take care of your ex's maybe baby without all kinds of red flags waving in front of him?

Hunter knows who Christian is. Their paths cross from time to time since they run in the same business circles. But he has always been mindful to reserve his personal opinion of him around me.

He knows about our relationship and how hurt I was by it. Although, I left out the most intricate details. I try not to even think about them, nevermind giving them a voice.

Still, he has never questioned my feelings for him or my motives for doing my job. I really don't want to give him a reason to start now, but looking at the emotions reflecting in his eyes as he looks at me, tells me I've just failed at not doing that.

"I don't know for certain if he is, Hunt, and won't until he takes a paternity test. But yes, I think he is."

"Why would you jump to that conclusion without anything to back it up? They share the same name obviously, but that is a huge leap to sharing the same blood as father and son."

I take a deep breath, moving to sit on the edge of the bed. He takes up a seat next to me.

"His mother was someone Christian had been involved with. Her name was Leila Williams. She was a problem for me once so I know a lot about her."

"What kind of problem was she for you?"

"She didn't like me dating Christian and she made her feelings known. She wanted him for herself and she was desperate in her attempts to get him back. She cut her wrists and eventually she ended up holding a gun on me in my apartment."

"Bloody hell, Ana," he says, holding my face in his hands as if it just happened yesterday.

"I'm fine," I assure him. "It was a long time ago. I just don't like talking about it. She was just really obsessed with Christian and I was in her way."

"Was she that much of a nut?"

"Yes," I nod with a laugh of his simple but true description of her.

"If that's the case, she could have simply named her son after her obsession. You're taking care of his son for the same reason, so it's not that big of a stretch."

"I'm not obsessed with Christian."

"No, of course not, Sweetheart, that's not what I meant."

"Hunter, Christian being his father is not the only reason I'm taking care of him. It's not as simple as that."

"Who did she put as the father on the birth certificate," he says, clearly not wanting to get into my reasons for doing what I've done right now. He is trying and failing to not be so angry about it.

"Not Christian, but that doesn't mean much coming from her. She was a very manipulative person at the time I think he was conceived. Back then, she was involved with not only Christian but a husband and a lover who she eventually left her husband for."

"She sounds like a despicable woman."

"It wasn't one of the finer moments in her life, that's for sure. She was playing them all for fools before Christian found out and ended things with her."

"Was this while he was seeing you?"

"No, this all happened before he and I met. Her lover, the one she left her husband for, died in a car accident and she became mentally unstable. She came back looking for Christian, but by then he and I were pretty serious. Looking back on it, I think maybe she had found out she was pregnant and couldn't handle it."

"If only she'd said something back then. She could have possibly saved her son and herself a lot of heartache."

"I know," I agree with him. "But looking back on it, I don't know it Christian would have been any better at handling it. I don't know if he will be any better now."

"Are you telling me that after all of this, he may not want his son?"

"I would hope that's not the case, but I can't say for sure."

"Well, what about the other two? I mean, either one of them could be the father."

"He looks just like Christian, though, Hunt," I tell him. I can tell he sees the resemblance too.

"So what now?"

"I have to let Christian know that he possibly has a kid that needs him right now. I called to talk to him earlier about meeting up with him when I get to Seattle to help plan for Kate and his brother Elliot's wedding. I was hoping to leave in a few days if Sasha gives the all clear-"

"Why you? You have a supervisor that is supposed to handle this sort of thing. I get wanting to spare the little boy pain because of the familiarity he brings, but that should be where you draw the line. Its not your job to do the rest. It certainly isn't your job to inform him of his possible parentage. Why not let Sasha deal with him?"

"Because its personal to me," I tell him. His jaw sets and the vein on the side of his neck budges out. A sure sign that he is not happy with me right now. "Hunt, please try and understand where I'm coming from."

"Then explain it to me so that I can. Because right now, all I see is you involving yourself with this kid because you were once involved with his father. I get wanting to help him. I would bend over backwards for the little guy and I don't give a damn who his parents are. But then again, I wasn't engaged to either one of them."

"I know."

"I'm not so sure you do. How would you feel if I dropped in one day with a kid in tow saying "hey love, this one belongs to my ex-fiancé's and I'm just going to keep him for a little bit until I can jet off to talk to her. Really, how would you feel?"

"I would feel awful. I would hate it. I would even ask you not to do it."

"So, you're not going to Seattle to see him?"

"Um, no," I start, but not really wanting to tell him this part. If I could kill Christian Grey and get away with it, I would for coming here like he is.

"What is it?"

"He didn't want to wait that long," I tell him. 'He is on his way here to talk to me."

"You must be joking. He doesn't even know what it's all about and he just hops on his plane. Unless, you asked him to. Did you ask him to?"

"No, that's not how it happened. I'm sorry. I haven't explained it very well. Just hear me out, please."

"I'm listening." He gets up to put distance between us. He is a mixture of hurt and angry at me and I can't blame him.

"His son's life mirrors his own in a lot of ways and I can't say any more than that because it's not my place to. I did that once before and I feel guilty for not handling it better. I hurt a lot of people. People that I care about and they are still hurting because of me. I see all those people in that little boy. They will all be effected by this and I couldn't just leave him and live with myself. But the one thing I don't want to do is hurt you in the process, Hunter. I know that I am asking a lot of you, but please believe that I'm not using this as some reason to see him again. I only want to unite Christian with his true family that I know will love him."

"Sweetheart, I get that part. I do. I even get why you are doing what you're doing. I get you better than I let on. But it is not your job to fix this for everyone. It's not your job to fix this for Christian Grey because I know that reason is somewhere in there, whether you want to admit that to yourself or not. He is the one that hurt you, remember? I won't let you be the one to make this all better for him. He doesn't deserve that much of your loyalty."

"What about the little boy in the next room? Because I want to make it better for him. He deserves it."

"Keeping him in mind, do you think this is the best way to handle things? Put aside the fact that your ex- boyfriend is flying across the country to meet you, which I do still have a problem with, just so we are clear about that fact, but what about that kid in the next room? Do we really want to bring some guy in here that is a card shy of a full deck and say 'hey, here's your daddy' and watch as he carries him off kicking and screaming into the sunset? Knowing how the little guy feels about men, I don't know if any of this is wise."

Before I can answer, I notice the door that was once closed is now cracked open.

"Christian, is that you?"

I hear the sound of his feet running away. I rush out in the hall after him. Hunt is right behind me.

The door to his room is wide open. Its obvious he went under the bed by the way the skirt of the quilt has tucked in after him.

"Christian, what's the matter," I ask him from just inside the doorway. I hope he doesn't think that we were arguing and it scared him.

"I don't want a daddy. No more daddies," we hear him say from his safe place under the bed. The stress in his voice is tearing at my heartstrings.

I go to get closer and try to calm him down, but Hunter stops me by grabbing on to my hand.

"Sweetie, I love you to death for what you are trying to do for him, but you are too close to this," he whispers to me. He motions his head toward the scared little boy under his bed. "We are getting in way over our heads. Let Sasha advise us on this."

"Us? You mean you still want to support me in this," I whisper back to him. "Knowing who his father might be."

He lets out a warm breath that tickles my face. His fingertips sweep my long bangs away from my forehead, replacing them with his lips.

"I understand it a little better now. I can't say I like it. Quite the opposite, actually. But with that being said, I can't think of anything I wouldn't support you in Ana Steele because I love you. I would never leave you alone in this."

I breathe a sigh of relief. I didn't even realize I had been holding my breath this hold time thinking I might lose him.

"I love you too," I tell him. "So much."

He smiles at me, stopping my heart for a moment before he turns toward the bed again.

"Talk to Sasha," he asks of me.

"I will tonight."

Author's Note:

You can find me on Facebook under my name or in the group The Playroom of the FSOG Sisterhood.

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