A/N : Thank you everyone for the overwhelming positive response to my first chapter. Please review /critique as it makes my day and helps me to be a better writer. I will try to post updates to this 1-2 times per week. I have the next few chapters roughly written/planned out so hopefulle I will be able to keep this timeline. In the mean time, here is chapter 2 :) thank you!

Anastasia returned home to a far more chipper Kate than when she had left. The news was blaring in the background and Kate was typing away feverishly at her laptop

"Ah there you are!" Kate greeted her with a broad grin, clearly over wehatever flu virus had been pl;aguing her just this morning. Ana was a little incredulous at the girl's rapid recovery.

"Go on then," Kate closed her lap top and crossed her legs beneath her on the sofa "Tell me everything!"

Ana rolled her eyes at her friend. The girl was insatiable for gossip and she had her eyes set on the enigmatic Christian Grey. She joined her friend on the couch.

"There's really not much to say," Ana shrugged, at a loss for words on how to describe her day. "He was….cool. Very….in command? I don't know…I didn't know anything about him and he knew I hadn't prepped. It was really embarrassing." ANa trailed off, remembering her ineptitude and the way he had stared at her so intently, he'd made her so nervous. Then she remembered the most humiliating part of the entire interview. "And what was with making me ask him if he was gay?!"She snapped, glaring at her friend. Kate guffawed at that, doubling over, looking much younger in her pink bunny pajamas.

"You asked him?!" She giggled. Ana scowled at her. "And? What did he say?"

"He's not." Ana huffed again folding her arms. "Why would you even think he was in the first place?" Kate leaned forward and opened her laptop again, going to a Google image search. She typed in "Christian Grey" and turned the device so Ana could see.

"He's never been photographed with a girlfriend or mystery woman out in public. I just assumed it was a best kept secret."

Ana scrolled through the images of the man she had interviewed earlier that day. He really was ridiculously handsome. He could have his pick of partners…and the way he stood, so confident and sure of himself. He was like Michelangelo's David. She was pulled from her thoughts by the television, as a new story began to play out.

"New information has surfaced today in the investigation surrounding the murder of Melissa Brewster. The 29-year-old Seattle-born marketing executive was found, strangled, and posed in a reclining position on the chaise lounge in the bedroom she shared with husband, Thomas Brewster. Mr. Brewster was initially brought in for questioning by the police, but was not arrested in connection with the death of his wife. The Brewsters made a public appeal earlier today, offering a reward of 100,000 dollars for any information that could lead to an arrest in this case. "

Anastasia found herself listening to the newscast with interest, the image of a pale brunette with long curly hair framing her heart-shaped face took up one side of the television screen. A live-action clip of Thomas Brewster, an oily-looking blonde man who looked like he was in his mid-to-late thirties, the heir to Brewster's Electronics, giving a teary plea for the public's help in catching his wife's killer.

"That's so sad!" She exclaimed, watching the man on the screen as he struggled to keep it together. Kate huffed.

"Sad? I say the bastard did it, himself." She glared at the man, no0t moved by his impassioned pleas. "This Is all a ploy to throw the suspicion off him."

"What?" Ana gaped at her friend. Kate nodded sagely,

"Honestly, Ana, haven't you been following this case on the news? It's all they can talk about. Rumor is Melissa Brewster was going to leave him, she'd caught him cheating- and they have a no-adultery clause in their pre-nup. He would have lost MILLIONS."

Ana shook her head slowly, this was the first she'd even heard about any murder case in Seattle. She'd been so busy with final papers and her thesis that she hadn't been paying much attention to the news.

"That's terrible!" She exclaimed, and Kate nodded her agreement.

"If you ask me, the bastard should have to spend the rest of his life in prison making special friends with his muscle-head cell mate." The strawberry blonde grinned.

"Kate, that is wicked!" Ana admonished, though she didn't disagree, if what Kate said turned out to be true. "Still..." She frowned, "It's horrible, I can't imagine what her family is going through." She shuddered, her empathy kicking in, thinking about what Ray would do if she were hurt or killed, or her mother for that matter… her frown deepended. Sensing the mood shift, Kate immediately switched gears, drawing Ana's attention away from the screen once more.

"True…BUT, you never answered my questions, tell me what you really think of Mr. Christian Billionaire Grey? And please, tell me …do you think he's in to blondes?" She grinned, and it was infectious. Ana smiled back, enjoying the art of indulging Kate's fantasies as to one Mr. Grey's favorite activities and preferences, her earlier ire forgotten.

Anastasia Rose Steele was 21 years old, finishing up her final semester at Washington University. She has been born to a woman named Carla and another man but was adopted by one Raymond Steele at the age of three. She lived with her mother briefly in Las Vegas as a teen before moving back in with Steele until she turned 18. She lived with one roommate, female, Katherine Kavanagh, also a senior at Washington University. No arrests or psychiatric problems on file. She had exemplary grades and was in the process of applying for positions in publishing after graduation. Currently she worked part-time at one, Clayton's Hardware store in Portland. She was not active on social media, she was a registered independent, she was not a member of any public organizations, she did not own a passport, she had never been married… and she was absolutely perfect.

The background check had come in and it ticked off every imaginary check box Christian had created. He needed to have her. She was not in the scene, but he had a gut feeling that she would love it, and he felt this indescribable need to have her- tied up and writhing beneath him.

He had work to do. He was supposed to be reading through some contract negotiations on a new supplier for electronic components that would be needed in his latest clean-water project. But he decided to take the day…he felt an indescribable need to stock up on some hardware supplies.

If Taylor thought Christian's request to go to a very specific Clayton's in the middle of the afternoon on a Tuesday was odd, he did not show it. The man dropped him off at the front of the store. He told him to circle the block a couple of times before coming back. Taylor drove off with a curt "yes Sir." And Christian turned to enter the rather comely looking little shop.

There she was. She was standing at the register, distracted by something, her hair pulled up into a messy knot at the crown of her head, wearing coveralls and looking absolutely fucking adorable. Adorably fuckable? Christian grinned at that thought.

She looked up from what she was doing and he could swear he thought he saw her gasp when she saw him. He was fairly confident from her bewildered expression that she liked what she saw.

He sauntered over to her, smirking at her in what he was pretty sure was a sultry (if not a little cocky) manner,

"Miss Steele. I thought that was you. What a pleasant surprise." He grinned lasciviously at her. Yep. He'd definitely heard a sharp intake of breath that time.

"M-Mr Grey!" She all but squeaked, her cheeks heating up prettily.

"I was in the area on business." He answered her unasked question, "And I remembered I needed to pick up a few things.

"O-Okay." She stuttered back by way of reply. Okay… if she were his, that would be a very…inadequate answer..His palm twitched and he grinned lazily at her. Soon.

When it became clear that he was expecting more, she added "C-can I help you find what you're looking for?" He grinned again.

"Yes, please, Miss Steele."

Anastasia watched the impossibly sexy man saunter back out of the hardware store to an awaiting car, the bag of random binding tools slung over his shoulder in a care-free manner. His butt looked so good in jeans…it made Ana blush just thinking about it. She had to swallow hard several times to calm herself. She felt like she had too much saliva in her mouth. He'd given her his number! Granted…it was for a perfectly legitimate professional reason…and Kate would be thrilled…but in this moment, she, Anastasia Steele, had Christian Grey's personal cell phone number at her disposal. She was giddy. And it was new…and exciting…and, if she was completely honest with herself, terrifying.

Ana decided to distract herself by re-stocking near the back of the store. The distraction worked and the time passed more quickly. She had almost forgotten about her encounter with the devastatingly handsome CEO, when she turned back down the aisle where she'd shown him the cable ties, and nearly ran into a man, a devastatingly handsome man with an all-too-familiar physique, who happened to be perusing the very same stock of cable ties from before. She squeaked again in what she was sure was a very unflattering way, and felt the heat begin to rise in her cheeks.

"Mr Grey?" The figure straightened up and turned to her, piercing grey eyes staring at her inquisitively. It was not Christian Grey. Ana felt her heart sink at the realization, but this man was almost identical. Same beautiful grey eyes, same coppery brown hair, same features, though this man's jaw was covered by a rather thick beard that Ana thought obscured the beauty beneath to an extent.

"Oh! Excuse me, Sir." She blushed deeper as he continued to stare at her. "I-I thought you were someone else." He smiled at her easily then, taking her in.

"That's quite alright." He chuckled, and Ana was caught off guard by the melodic lilt of his laugh.

"A-Are you finding everything okay?" She asked, embarrassed. He nodded

"Yes, thank you. Just picking up a few things." He waved a packet of medium-sized cable ties in front of her. Even his voice was similar, albeit a little more melodic and familiar than Christian's overly formal way of speaking. He watched her, and for her part she could do nothing but stand there, stupidly.

"Right…uh…well…please let me know if I can help you find anything!" She managed to excuse herself, flushing horribly as she rushed back to the register. What was wrong with her? First Christian, and then the innocent customer who resembled Christian- she was so flustered she didn't know what she could do to compose herself, so she asked Paul Clayton to man the register while she went into the backroom until she got her hormones under control, for fear that she would begin seeing Christian in every man with whom she came in contact. She felt ridiculous. She felt giddy. She felt like she was on the cusp of something, though she was not entirely sure what that might be. She decided then and there that she would tell Kate about the phone number, and the offered photo shoot. She wanted to see Christian Grey again, and she had a feeling he might want to see her, too.