"You never know how strong you are until being strong is the only choice you have" – Cayla Mills
Christian POV
9:00 am
"We have a few rooms like this, all the same, it's early now so it might just be you two for a while. It's rarely full though so you should always have a spot Mr. Grey. It's early so it will probably just be you for a while. I'll send a nurse in to get you started." Dr. Hamburg says with a smile before leaving the room.
Ana looks around before plopping down in a seat.
I choose to take the seat next to her. "These chair are comfortable."
"Yeah, they are. We should get one for the apartment." That's not a- "Hey, I was just joking."
"You know me so well." I lean over and kiss her.
"I'm learning." She smiles at me.
"Oh my God!" We both turn towards the source of the shriek. It's some short lady with bright red hair; judging by her outfit and unfamiliarity, I assume she must be a new nurse.
"You're Christian Grey! Billionaire CEO Christian Grey! Oh my God! What are you doing here?" She happily skips over to stand in front of me completely ignoring the tray she came in with and Ana.
I resist the urge to roll my eyes, something I picked up from Ana, and pinch the bridge of my nose instead. We've been in this hospital for months with no problems - I guess you have more stability when you're an inpatient.
"Ahem." I hear Ana loud clear her throat behind me.
The nurse finally looks behind me and sees Ana.
"What?" The nurse asks rudely. I turn to Ana to see her reaction. She closes her eyes and takes a big breath before speaking.
"Look. I don't know who you think you are but you have no right to ignore me and then talk to me, a patient, like that. It's obvious you don't value your job, or the job you used to have, enough so you can leave now." Taylor appears at the door as the used-to-be nurse stands with her mouth gaping open and closed.
"Who do you-"
"You won't be able to get another job in this city, but if you still want a chance at getting a job in this state, I suggest you leave now." Ana says with a straight face.
The nurse again looks shocked but soon realizes that Ana is dead serious and then she looks horrified and scurries away quickly without looking back at either of us.
I've never seen this side of Ana and I would be lying if I said that my dick- I look back over at Ana not knowing exactly how to react. Honestly, I want to- but I don't know how she would react. I take the chance and reach for the back of her head to pull her in for a passionate kiss.
"What was that for?"
"I don't know. I kind of like bossy jealous Ana."
"I was not jealous!" She says like its the craziest notion in the world. "I just.. don't like other people looking at whats mine." she smirks. "I'm going to go get another nurse."
Ana comes back in with a different nurse who successfully gets her chemo started without as much as a glance my way. As Ana pulls out her iPad, she insists that I should get some work done as we will be here for a while.
11:30 am
Ana's chemo went on for a little under three hours and I was able to get some work done on my laptop but there are still a few things I need to go in to the office to do with Ros. Thankfully, Ana doesn't mind and says that she feels up to do the tour of the building so now I'm just waiting for her to come back down from the children's ward. I was still on a call when Ana had finished and she wanted to go see someone up in the ward.
"You ready?" Ana comes back looking as beautiful as ever. Just looking at her, you would never know the battle she is going through right now and I commend her strength.
"Earth to Christian?" Ana says jokingly.
"Sorry, I was just thinking about how amazing you are." And like on cue she blushes her beautiful shade of pink. "Do you want to eat first and then do the tour? We can pick up something on the way."
"Okay." We start walking so I text Taylor to meet us at the back entrance since that's how we came in and it provides the most protection from possible paparazzi hanging around.
"Have a taste for anything?" I ask
"Not really but I know I should eat something."
"Pasta?" I ask opening her door.
"Okay."
"Taylor, Mile High."
"Do they have a menu online?" Ana asks.
"Yes, and We own the place so they can make anything you like."I pull up the menu on her phone so she can look it over.
"We should get something for Ros. What does she want?"
How am I supposed to know?
"And don't look at me like that. Call her."
I begrudgingly follow my wife's institutions and dial Ros' number.
"About time you called. You need to get your ass over here and sign some paperwork."
"Well hello to you too Ros. I'm having a good morning as well, thanks for asking." I joke. "Do you want something from Canlis?"
"Canlis? Wait- like you would pick something up for me?"
"Yes."
"Did the wife put you up to this? Oh! Is she coming to the office? I rea-"
"Ros do you want something or not?"
"Okay, okay! Can you just get me some artichoke and salsa dip with tortillas."
"Fine. I'll be in in a few hours." I hang up.
"Do you know what you want?" Ana asks me.
"Yes, I'm getting the chicken dumpling soup."
"Mmm that does sound good. I'm sure its not as good as mine but you don't know any better yet. I'll call ahead."
"I'll do it." I say. Being the owner has its perks and when they know it is you, it gets you want faster and quicker. I get connected directly to the chef and get a guarantee that my food will be done within the half hour. I also make sure that my private room is clear.
We make it to the Mile High and quickly get through to my private room. I could tell that the few people we did interact with were surprised to see me with someone, let alone a woman, on my arm but smartly none of them commented.
….
We ate our food mostly in comfortable silence with little conversation in between bites. We got Ros' order to-go and now we are in the elevator. I'm holding Ana's hand and she rests her head on my chest.
"You tired?"
"No." She yawns and then pouts.
"Okay, how about when I'm working, you can take a nap and then do the tour before we go home."
She thinks it over for a bit and then nods her head yes.
We get to the bottom floor and it seems the vultures still haven't caught sight of us which is a good thing. I want the world to know that she's mine but that's not the same as having people harassing her and possibly damaging her recovery; at the moment, I think that the two are mutually exclusive.
I gently nudge Ana who has started to doze of next to me as we approach the building.
She perks up a bit and starts to fix herself up.
"How do I look?"
"Beautiful as always."
"Well.. of course." she blushes. "But do I look like the CEO's wife?"
"Being the CEO's wife, you could be wearing a paper sack and no one would dare question you."
"You are no help.. Okay, I'm ready." she smiles but I can tell she's nervous.
I give her a kiss to try to calm her down and get out of the car. I tap on the window in a way of asking is Ana ready to come out; she taps back.
I open the door and take Ana by the hand. I walk in and see everyone staring but I ignore them and keep walking to the executive elevator. This elevator gets you straight to the 31st floor where my and Ros' offices are along with our assistants.
Once on my floor, I go over to Andreas desk so I can introduce them.
"Andrea." She looks up stunned. "This is my wife Anastasia. She is to be granted access to whatever she want whenever she wants it. Is that clear?"
"Yes, sir." She says professionally but Ive know Andrea long enough to know that she is stunned.
"It's nice to meet you Andrea." Ana says.
"Likewise Mrs. Grey."
"We'll be in my office. Move any of my meeting to a conference room as my wife will be staying here with me."
"Yes, sir."
We bypass my office and head straight in to the adjoining bedroom through one of the walls.
"You have a bedroom here?" Ana looks at me skeptically.
"When I first started the company, I barely left the building trying to get everything up and running so when finalizing construction I had Elliot put this in here. The kitchen is stocked with some things and there's a full bathroom. It is also a safe room for security purposes."
"Wow."
"You can stay in here or come out in the office. I've moved all meeting to the conference room so you can relax."
"I think I'll take a nap. Once you finish we can take a tour on our way out."
"Sounds like a plan. I had a few things delivered in your size in the drawer. You can press this button when you wake or if you don't remember you can always just call and I'll help."
"Okay."
"I love you." She says walking up to me.
"I love you too." I kiss her gently.
I go out to my office closing the wall behind me. Not a few minutes later, Ros comes through the door unannounced.
"Where's my food Grey?"
"Well good afternoon to you too Ros." I say while handing over her meal.
She continues standing looking around.
"Ros?"
"Hmm?"
"What are you still doing here?"
"Well, where's the wife?"
"I don't recall you ever offering me lunch out of the blue."
"Perhaps I was feeling nice."
"Pfft. Yeah right."
"She's taking a nap. I'll bring her by later when I give her a tour."
"Good! You can sign some of these documents then. Bye."
3:30 pm
Anastasia POV
I stretch waking up from a much needed nap; I hate that I always feel so tired. I decide to freshen up a bit before going out there again. I'm still really nervous. I like to think I don't care what other people think of me and on some level I don't but on another level, I do want people to like me.
I spend a lot of time in the mirror fixing my wig and makeup to make sure I look normal.
I then go to the wall-door combo. I didn't really way attention before and there are a lot of different button on this wall. There's even a screen. I click on one button and suddenly I some speakers come on playing what sounds like Christians voice.
"I don't want to hear it." he says sharply.
I guess that's Christian's office. I don't want to ease drop so I click the button I though I used to turn the speaker on but instead it cracks the door open. I try to stay silent so that maybe I don't interrupt whatever he is doing right now but I guess it doesn't work. Christian pushes the door open.
"Hey baby."
"Hi, I'm sorry. The buttons- and you wer-"
"Hey, don't worry about it." He kisses me. He then runs one of is hands through his hair.
"What's wrong?"
"My dad is out there."
"Oh.. What does he want?" Carrick didn't talk much when we had the family over for dinner but that makes me just as nervous.
"He want to talk. How are you feeling?"
"Im up to it if thats what your asking. And I'm feeling a lot better after my nap." I say making my way to the door. Christian comes out after me and locks it.
"Hello Mr. Grey."
"Please, Anastasia. Call me Carrick. I'm glad your both here."
"What do you want Dad?" Christian says rudely. I give him a pointed stare.
"Well, I wanted to talk to you guys."
"Why don't we talk over here." I start moving towards the couches stationed to the side of the room.
"I wanted to say I'm sorry for not speaking up before. Your mother and I had a long talk last night and I just wanted to let you know that I support you guys. The lawyer side of me can't do anything as you are already married and may not agree with your choices but the father side of me is really proud of you for finding what looks like true love and I'm happy that you're happy. Ana," he turns towards me, "I can see that you make m son truly happy and I want to thank you for that. He's changed in the past few months and I can now see that's thanks to you. I know that I've hurt you but I do hope to get to know you."
I'm stunned. "That is definitely not what I thought you were going to say. I'm shocked but I'm also really glad you told me and now I have a better understanding of where we stand. I look forward to getting to know you as well.. and the rest of your family."
"Thank you for understanding Anastasia. My wife- she- I think she will come around but it might take some time." He looks over at Christian who hasn't said anything yet. "Son?"
"Thanks for being the bigger person and coming here. Ana is the main reason for my changes in the recent months and it means a lot that you care enough to give us a try."
"Will I see you two at brunch this week?"
Christian looks over at me but I just look down. I feel a little more comfortable knowing where I stand with Carrick but I also know where I stand with Mrs. Grey and it is not a good place.
"We will let you know dad."
"I understand.. I think I'm going to go back to the office for a while. Are you two heading out?"
"Yes, I was gonna give Ana a tour first though. I'll call you sometime during the week."
"Alright. Have a good night you two." He says and then walks away.
Christian and I just look at each other.
"That was unexpected." Christian says.
"Yeah.."
"Are you ready for the tour?"
"I guess so."
First we make a stop at Andrea's desk where Christian tells her that his work day is done for today. We make our way down a small hallway and walk right in to another office.
"Oh my God! You're real!" A tall redhead shrieks.
"Ros, this is my wife Anastasia. Anastasia, this is Ros."
"The infamous Ros! It's great to finally meet you." I hold out my hand for her to shake but she instead pulls me in to a fierce hug. She pulls back and look me up and down.
"You know if you ever get tired of pretty boy over there-"
"Don't even finish that sentence Ros or both Gwen and I will have you on your ass."
"You get the gist." She laughs and playfully winks at me.
"Did you like your lunch."
"It was delicious thank you Anastasia."
"Please, call me Ana."
"Okay, that's enough chit chat, we have a whole building to go through."
"Fine, fine, Mr. Grumpy pants. I'll see you around Ana."
"Bye Ros." I laugh as Christian ushers me out of her office.
"I like her." I say to Christian as we make our way to the elevator. "She's got spunk."
We don't tour the entire building, just some of the important ones and ones he thought I would enjoy. I felt like I was an animal in a zoo. Everyone was looking at us but Christian held my hand the entire time which calmed me a bit.
Now we're in the car headed back home. I can't wait to just soak in a bath and go back to sleep.
Hope everyone is having a great holiday! Thanks for reading! Please review, comment, ask questions, etc.