Still Tuesday, August 17th

Christian POV

"What was that all about?"

"That woman was being rude so I kind of just ignored her and came in but she followed me."

I pinch the bridge of my nose knowing Olivia has made another blunder. "Yes, Olivia is the new intern and doest seem to realize how things work around here. Andrea will take care of her."

"Is she going to get fired?" She says frowning.

"I don't know. Andrea vouched for her and I trust her so I put her in charge of Olivia."

"Oh. Well, I hope she doesn't get fired. I don't think she was here yesterday, right?"

"No, but I sent out a memo to all employees and she obvi-" I say getting riled up before Ana interrupts me probably sensing my frustration.

"Anyway, I made lunch. I don't really have an appetite today so I made something light but I made plenty." She smiles while holding up the bag she brought with her.

"What did you make?" I ask.

"It's a quinoa chicken salad. It has oranges in it with a citrus dressing. The recipe called for avocados but I'm not a big fan of them." She makes making a face.

"Sounds delicious. Let's go."

"Go where?"

"You'll see." I move the necessary objects and punch in the keypad combination. The wall moves to allow us to get in to the other room.

"Wow."

"When doing the renovations of the building, I knew I was going to be here a lot and decided to build this room. It's also a panic room so only Andrea, Barney, Welch, Taylor, Ros, my family - and now you, know about it."

"I feel special."

"You should because you are." I beam proudly at her before giving her a kiss.

We eat lunch with comfortable chit-chat, mostly me answering questions about how my day has been so far. She tells me that she mostly slept the entire time before waking up to make lunch and come here. I want to ask her more but I understand how hard it must be for people to be constantly asking her 'is she okay'.

"What's going on in that head of yours?" Ana asks me. I guess I was more deeply in thought than I thought.

"Nothing." I smile trying to shake it off but my ever-so-observant wife doesn't believe me. She raises her eyebrow at me. "I'm just thinking about you."

She comes to sit next to me on the loveseat and rests her head on my shoulder taking my hands in hers. I don't know how she knows it but this is exactly the reassurance I needed.

"I'm right here." she says looking at me. I kiss her to lock in on that notion. The kiss starts out slow like usual but heats up quickly. I go to pull away but she moans in protest and puts her hands in my hair pulling me closer, turning me on even more and I push her back gently so I'm laying over her.

"Mr. Grey, your one o'clock was just checked in to the building." Andrea's voice comes through breaking the cloud of lust in the room.

"Do you have to go to that meeting?" She asks biting her lip sensually.

"Unfortunately, I do. It's a conference call with the—"

"You don't need to explain it to me. I'm not the only one that acquires the attention of the Christian Grey.

"No but you are the one that matters the most."

Author's Note:

I know, I know - it's been a fortnight, forever-and-a-day and then some since I've updated any of my stories and this chapter is painfully short. Honestly, life got hard and I didn't have the time nor the right frame of mind(depression, anxiety, etc.) to write. I do have one final semester and another cross country move to prepare for but I really miss writing and interacting with all of you and I will make sure to have a chapter out a week.

That being said, I know this chapter is short and sucky but I will be adding more to it in a few days. I just wanted to get something out there.

Much love

-Ari