Disclaimer: I don't own Fifty Shades of Grey. All credits to E.L. James
Chapter 1
Christian Grey jogged past Ralph's Grocery and Deli. He had money, lots of it. He wasn't the type of man that had to jog on the street. He could have gone to his fancy gym in his sophisticated condo, but he liked the wind and the smell of the city. "Ouch!" A small framed young woman yelled in pain.
He felt a hit on his chest, "Jesus watch where you're going!" He saw a beautiful girl with her brown hair in a ponytail flat on her ass. Christian's temper cooled as soon as he saw her blue eyes. "I mean, I'm sorry." He helped her up quickly. "I uhhh, I…" Christian Grey was hardly a man at a loss for words. He was a young billionaire, entrepreneur, and CEO of Grey Enterprises Holdings Inc.
She rubbed her ankle feeling the stinging pain. She felt it roll as Christian slammed into her. Her high top Chucks didn't give her much support at all. She tried to stand up, not really looking at him. She didn't have much success. "Great! I'm not only late, but I'm going to have a limp, if I can walk on it." She looked up, "I'm sorry. I didn't see you." She thought his gray eyes were intriguing and striking.
Christian looked at her small frame. She was his type and he had a type. He had secrets too, a lot of them. His life wasn't all roses and flowers. He helped her stand. "You need to be more careful." She looked at him shocked, especially since he ran into her. "I mean it's totally my fault, but I just hope you're okay."
She pulled her hand back quickly. "I'm fine and late for work, thanks to you." Christian watched her walk away. He jogged home, mad. His feet slammed against the hard sidewalk. He took the back elevator up to the top floor of Escala. He walked by Gail with not even a good morning. She was surprised. Usually his mood was light after a run.
He went straight to the shower and stepped under the cold water. He placed his hands flat against the freezing tile. The cold water was the only thing that helped his growing length. She was beautiful and he didn't even get her name. "I'm an idiot." He smiled after he whispered it to himself. He jumped out and called Taylor. "Meet me in my office in 20 minutes.
Christian came out in his suit. "Good morning Gail. I'm sorry for the way I came in. Breakfast looks good. I'll be right back." He saw Taylor standing at attention. It was like he never could let his army days go. "Morning Taylor. How many times do I have to ask you to relax?" Taylor smiled. "I need some help." Christian explained his run in. "Will you get eyes on her?" Taylor smiled wide. "She was hurt, that's all." He nodded and answered quickly with a yes sir. Christian ate his breakfast and went to work.
Christian ran his own company. He went to Harvard for business, not law like his father wanted him to. "Morning Kate! How are you doing this morning?" Kate smiled, she had been out with her sick daughter, Ava.
Kate was a project, but she shouldn't have been. Her father owned Kavanagh Media in Seattle. He disowned her after she got pregnant at 16. It wasn't her fault it was his sick 22 year old intern. She was a single mother with only an associate's degree. Christian liked projects, because he was one himself. "I'm good and Ava is feeling better. Thank you for letting me work from home."
They heard the door open, "Morning Chris!" Christian rolled his eyes. He hated when his older brother called him Chris. "Morning Kate! How's Ava?" Kate answered fine and went back to work. Elliot followed Christian in his office.
Christian sat behind his desk and sighed. "How's your knocked up girlfriend? I'm surprised you haven't been pressured to put a ring on it yet. Oh wait! Mom and dad don't know she's pregnant yet right?"
Elliot laughed and sat down. "You sound like dad, even though you hate him." Elliot had Christian's attention. "You know, I know you can't stand him, but mom misses you." Christian was younger, but he knew things that Elliot didn't. He kept his secrets to himself for the most part. Elliot was a good big brother, but he was naive. He hated what he knew and it ruined his life, why should he hurt the ones he loved with the things he knew.
Christian smiled, "Mom may miss me at family dinner, but I still see her quite often. It's not her fault she's married to an asshole."
Elliot's face completely changed. "Why do you hate him so much? I know they aren't our blood, but they raised us Christian. Do you know where we would be without them? Do you even think about it? Adoption isn't the worst thing that could have happened." Elliot stood up to leave. He saw the name Grey on the wall, "If you do hate him so much, why keep his name? Can't your money buy something else?" Elliot walked out. He didn't even say goodbye to Kate.
Elliot and Christian were both adopted. Even though their mother Grace was a well known pediatrician, she couldn't have her own children. It practically drove their father Carrick away until they found adoption as a solution. Grace was a sweet woman, but she had know idea of Carrick's extracurricular activities.
Christian spent the next several hours working hard. He tried to forget what his brother said, plus his mind wandered thinking of the beautiful woman he ran into earlier that morning. "Sir, I have some answers for you." Christian waved Taylor inside and had him sit down.
Taylor passed him a folder. The first thing he noticed was her beautiful pale face with her bright blue eyes and long brown hair on her Seattle driver's license. "Her name is Anastasia Rose Steele. She grew up in Montesano Washington with her parents Ray and Carla Steele. They died when she was 12, in a car accident. She spent the next six years in foster care." Christian ran his finger across her beautiful face. He didn't have to read because Taylor reported it all. "She is 21, a recent graduate of Washington State, and struggling to make rent without having a substantial job. She worked at the store through school." Christian thought about the slight age difference.
Christian thought about actually going to family dinner, but he decided that he needed to check on Miss Steele. "Thank you Taylor." That was his sign that his work was done. He looked at the time and jumped in his car. He pulled into the parking lot of Ralph's. It was only one car and he knew it didn't belong to her. He went inside hoping she was still there. He walked the aisles and saw her at the deli serving someone. He started to go over but stopped. She was taking small broken off pieces of meat. He watched her place them in a bag and stuff it in her purse.
He couldn't understand how tough things must have been for her, but he had an idea. Kate and her daughter were living in poor circumstances. This was different though. Kate was different, he had his reasons for helping her. He decided to help Anastasia Steele too. He picked up several items until his cart was full. He drove to the address on the file that Taylor gave him. He sat in his car and wrote a note.
Miss Steele,
I hope you don't mind, but I took the liberty of finding you to offer my apologies for our run in this morning, although I was the only one running. I came by the store tonight, but you were busy and I didn't want to disturb you for a second time in one day. I picked up a few items to help you feel better. I noticed you were still limping quite a bit, if you need me to take care of any doctor bills please let me know. I'm enclosing my business card with my information. I apologize once again for any inconvenience I may have caused you. Take care of that ankle.
Sincerely,
Christian
Christian sealed the envelope and left everything right outside of her door. He turned to see an older woman open her door. "Who are you?" Christian smiled at the fact she had people to watch out for her, because the building didn't look very safe.
He smiled and waved, "I'm Christian Grey. I ran into Miss Steele this morning. Actually ran into her." He pointed at the bag. "I felt terrible and I purchased some things to help."
The older woman peeked into the bag. "She's a sweet girl. She doesn't have much and still she shares it with me. I thought it was her, she brings my dog meat from the deli each day as a treat." Christian smiled even though he felt dumb thinking Ana was living off scraps. "Her name is Ana. She probably wouldn't care for Miss Steele." Christian asked her name. "My name is Elizabeth Morgan."
Christian left after that and immediately called Taylor. "I need you to look into the building owner and finance of what I sent you." He knew the building needed work and with an older nice lady and the woman of his dreams living there, he wanted to help. He also got on his phone to send Ms. Morgan a little something special.
He arrived at his empty home. Gail and Taylor were married and had a 6 year old daughter and 5 year old son. He worked for Christian as his head of security and she was Christian's housekeeper. He not only paid them a nice salary, he covered their rent in the building. He found his dinner plate in the oven and his salad in the refrigerator. She always left around 2:00 to return home to help the kids with homework and cook dinner. Gail always made sure he had a plate. He sat and enjoyed his meal alone.
He took a shower and sat with his computer while overlooking the city lights. He heard his phone and answered it seeing it was Elliot. "Chris, I thought dropping by would be enough of a hint. I thought you would come to dinner. Anyway, I proposed to Gia tonight. I wish my brother was there. I guess because we aren't blood, you don't care about me either." Christian couldn't get a word in to explain and Elliot hung up. He threw the phone across the room. Elliot had know idea how much he cared about him and loved him.
Christian funded his entire business when their father wouldn't. Carrick Grey had money, but everything came with a cost. When Elliot chose football over academics and blew out his knee, Carrick told him to find his own way. Elliot was always good with his hands, so even with a plan to do landscaping and eventually build houses, Carrick wouldn't help. Elliot couldn't get a loan and Christian was in school finding his own way. He went to Elena Lincoln because her husband left her Lincoln Timber before he died. He begged her for a chance. She was his mother's best friend. Christian knew the truth and knew Elena owed him at least that. She gave Christian money to start it all. Elliot would never take it from him, so he paid someone to approach him with a plan.
He heard his phone ringing and jumped up. He knew it was Elliot since he didn't respond, "What!" He heard silence and then a shaky voice. He looked at the phone, not really recognizing the number. "I'm sorry, hello."
The voice on the other end was sweet. "Is this Christian Grey?" He immediately regretted his angry tone when he answered the phone. "This is Ana. You ran into me today." She looked down at his sweet note and bag of items and giggled. Christian felt shock go straight to his pants. "The bag was sweet. I just took a bath and soaked my ankle with the lavender epsom salt. You must have put in some time tracking me down. I hope I didn't interrupt your busy schedule and cause Grey Enterprise to be on hold."
Christian smiled, "You knew who I was?" Ana laughed saying she actually stocked the People magazine at the store a week before. "Why didn't you say anything? Nevermind, I guess I wasn't the friendliest person to run into."
He started to apologize again, but she cut him off. "Please, I'm fine, don't apologize again." She sat on her couch. "That was extra sweet of you to send Ms. Morgan some groceries. I went to drop off some extra deli meat for her dog and she told me she met you. She had no idea you were so important."
Christian found her easy to talk to. She knew who he was and didn't really care about his money. That was different from other women. Christian had plenty of women. He always had the looks and charm. "Well, since you already have the jump on me. I think it's only fair if you tell me about yourself." Christian didn't want to lie. "But, I did some research on you already." He told her about having Taylor give him information. He paused after admitting what he read in her file.
He heard a loud sigh, "That's shocking, but you didn't tell him to time my bathroom breaks." Christian held his breath waiting after the silence. "My passion has always been reading English Lit. I wanted to get into publishing, but no luck. At this point I just need a job."
Christian had recently come across SIP and his number two Roz, thought it would be a good break for money. "What if I…" she stopped him. That wasn't her way. "There's nothing wrong with a little help. I had help. I didn't build everything alone." Christian had to kick himself, because he was alone. "What if we met just so that I could be a person to help you?"
Ana wasn't used to getting help, she lost her trust when her parents died. She took a chance. "Ok Christian, I will take the help." Christian smiled. "Are you smiling?" Christian laughed. "Just an interview. I mean it. If I can't get it on my own. I don't want it." Christian agreed to it. Ana took another chance. Guys didn't like her like that. "Instead of taking you up on a visit to the doctor, how about something else?" Christian told her to name it. "Dinner and not out at a fancy five star restaurant."
Christian was happy, "Wow! Ana Steele. You're just inviting yourself over to my place."
She shook her head realizing she was inviting herself to his home. "Don't even think about it Christian Grey. I'm not that type of girl. This was a mistake."
Christian stopped her fast. His tone was strong and serious. "Ana, I was just joking. I don't think you are. I would love to have dinner with you. You're definitely a fresh breath of air for me. Please, give me a date and time and I would be happy to have you over."
Ana smiled, "Friday at 6:00. I'm off from work." Ana looked at the time. "Speaking of work, I better get to bed and you should too." She didn't want to say goodnight and Christian didn't either, but it was time. "Goodnight Christian Grey."