Hello, I went back and changed a little of chapter one where Dr Greene is explaining about the mix-up. Originally it sounded like Ana was there to have her eggs taken as well but as you will see in this chapter, that is not the case.

APOV

I want that baby, I want that baby, I want that baby

I cried out, sitting quickly up in bed as the same nightmare ran over and over in my head. I was covered in sweat at the moment, but it couldn't disguise the tears that fell.

I had run out of that room, covered in vomit as I made my way towards the nearest bathroom to clean myself up. I couldn't go back in there, so I called José to come and pick me up and take me to the airport earlier than planned.

Climbing out of bed, I used the bathroom before perching on the window seat. I could hear the waves crashing on the shore, see the porch lights that were lit along the beach. Everything was calm out there compared to the turmoil I felt inside.

I was coming here anyway, coming to Florida to spend a bit of time with my mum but after that day, I had been here longer than I had originally planned.

Hearing a knock on the door, I called out for them to come in, only to see my mum pop her head in moments later.

"Are you alright sweetheart," she asked, coming further into the room.

"I'm fine mum, just another nightmare."

"I wish I could make them go away Ana, all the stress too. You need to keep your blood pressure down or Dr Neil will have you back in the hospital again."

"I think I've spent enough time in the hospital, been a pin cushion long enough mum," I said, smiling as she wrapped her arm around my shoulder and kissed my head.

"They can't take your baby away from you Ana, they have no rights."

"I know, it's just…. I never thought I would have the chance to be a mum. It's supposed to be a happy time and now."

"I know Ana."

I had been through so much to get to this point, spent my life going through test after test. The tests at the clinic I didn't mind, if it got me what I wanted in the end, my baby.

Being diagnosed with cancer when I was ten was a blow to all of my family. Going from being the vibrant happy child to collapsing in the schoolyard shocked everyone. I had so many tests done, spent what felt like years at that point in the hospital and that is where a decision was made to remove my eggs. Freeze them for the future, a future at that point I didn't even know I would have.

Being in that hospital did give me something special though, it gave me my dad.

Ray Steele had been a regular visitor to the hospital where I was, visiting his nephew. He made it his mission to make Thomas smile and in turn me when I had the rare chance to leave my room. When my hair all fell out and my mum shaved all of hers off too, he said we were both beautiful which made my mum smile. It was the first time since she had kissed me goodbye when I was last on my way to school. I didn't realise at the time that something was going on with my mum and Ray, that he was comforting her when she cried as I slept. I slept a lot in those days, not having the energy to do much else. Mum was always there though, she never left my side.

My parents may have drifted apart, even got divorced but Ray Steele would always be my dad.

"What are you thinking about," mum asked, bringing me from my thoughts as she sat on the other end of the window seat.

"Hospitals and dad," I said smiling.

"Have you spoken to him?" she asked.

"Yes, he was ready to go and knock the doors down of the clinic and demand answers. He wants the name of these people if only to tell them to stay away."

"That's your dad for you" she smiled.

"You too."

"Anyone tries to get access to my grandchild and I will be in front of Ray."

"I just want them all to stay away," I said, brushing a tear from my cheek.

"They will honey, they have no choice. Try and get some sleep and then you will be awake when you want to write, not nodding off at your keyboard."

I smiled, looking over to the papers on the desk, the makings of my latest book.

Getting off the window seat, I got back into bed. Mum sat beside me, running her fingers through my hair as I closed my eyes. I remember her doing this when I didn't have any hair, her words and movements sending me off into a dreamless sleep, just like she was doing now.

If I could describe my mum, describe what she means to me, it would be everything. She was mum and dad in those early years before she met Ray after my dad died when I was a day old. Yes, she married again when I was four, but we don't speak about that man, he was not nice. Mum put me before everyone like a parent should. Just like I will with my little one.

…

"Tea," Bob asked, coming out onto the deck.

"Please Bob," I said, smiling to him before going back to my work.

I find it strange sometimes to class writing as work. I never thought you were supposed to get as much pleasure and enjoyment out of a job, but I do. Taking my mind to a different place, letting the words free as they flow over the page, that's my work and it's what I love to do.

I started writing my first book when I was eleven. It was something that I had done on one of the many occasions I was stuck in a hospital bed, picking pen and paper up when I had the energy to write. I wrote about my time in there, about the people who I had met. It wasn't a book to scare children about being in hospital, it was my experiences, informing children in a child's own words of what might be to come. It was my story, of my survival, right up to describing what it felt like to be told I was in remission. Dad helped me publish it through a friend, printing only enough copies for the family. It didn't stay in the family though as my own doctor asked if he could read it and then asked if we could print some more.

I don't know how many copies were originally printed, how many children who faced the same fate as me had read it. If it had just helped one child's journey be just that little bit easier, then its job is done.

"Here Ana" Bob said, coming out and placing my tea down before taking a seat himself. "How is your next best seller doing."

"Wonderful, when I can concentrate on it" I laughed, sadly.

"It will come, Ana. Get out, take a walk, you might find all the inspiration you need."

"She can after I have done this" mum said, bringing the blood pressure monitor out.

"Mum, I'm having my tea, see," I said picking my cup up to show her.

"You know what Dr Neil said. The only reason he let you leave the hospital was if we agreed to monitor you and log your blood pressure while you are here."

"I know mum," I said, offering her my arm.

Landing here, I was a mess. I think I had cried all the way to Florida and I wasn't much better when I got hold of my mum. We never arrived at my mum and Bobs house that night or the night after as I spent them in hospital attached to monitors and a drip.

My blood pressure had shot up. Add to that being pregnant, the constant morning sickness I had been having and all my previous medical problems and I was told I would not be going anywhere until my blood pressure was under control. That's when I told my parents what had happened back in Seattle to bring on such an episode. Dr Greene did call while I was in the hospital, earning an earful from my mum.

"Your BP is fine," mum told me, logging the readings down. "Keep it down."

"I will as long as I stay away from stress."

"Stay here then. I know you were only coming for a couple of weeks but stay a while longer."

"Yes stay," Bob said, agreeing with mum.

"I don't want to impose, and you were supposed to go travelling yourself when I was due to leave."

"Ana, we can cancel, postpone our trip or you can have the house to yourself. Just no parties if we do go" she said making me laugh.

"When have I ever had a party, that you haven't thrown yourselves. I never even went to a party as a teenager."

"Didn't you go to José's sixteenth birthday?" Bob asked.

"Yes, I was there, but it doesn't count. His family threw the party, but José and I left and had our own" I said, thinking of my friend.

I met José through Ray as he was good friends with his dad. He had been staying at Ray's as his parents had to travel for a family funeral, so he came with him to the hospital to see Thomas. Thomas was sleeping at the time, so he ended up spending his time with the quiet girl who took a monitor where ever she went and had no hair.

José is three years younger than me, having just turned twenty. If I could call anyone my best friend, it would be him.

"I still can't believe he ditched his own sixteenth," Bob said.

"I can" my mum and I said, together.

"José wanted his best friend at his party and the only way at the time to do that was for Ana to be away from all those people, especially his mum who had just started with a cold" My mum told Bob. "José likes parties about as much as Ana anyway, so it was no loss to him."

"We don't need to worry about coming home to a wrecked house then," Bob said, laughing when I stuck my tongue out to him.

"Stay here Ana. You always say you can write anywhere as long as it's quiet. You might hear the waves on the shore and the gulls, but you will get some peace here."

"My doctor's appointments."

"Can be done here. I'm sure Dr Neil can continue to liaise with your doctor in Seattle. Going back there now will only give you more stress, stress you don't need."

"Ok, for a little while," I told her, before getting to my feet. "I'm going to take a walk, enjoy some of this peace and hopefully get my mind working on my book."

"It will be a best seller, just like the last one and the one before that."

"I hope so," I told her, stepping down onto the beach.

When my mum and Bob said they were moving from rainy Washington to sunny Florida, I thought they were mad. My mum always hated the sun, spent more time in the shade in fact. I don't think that has changed much, the shade part but she does love the sun now.

I walked to the water's edge, stepping in as it lapped at my feet. The beach was quiet at this time of the morning, apart from a few joggers who passed me. I had no energy for running unless it meant protecting my little one.

As I walked into the water until it covered my ankles, I brought my hand down to my stomach. I had a little bump now that was starting to grow, a little one that once upon a time I never thought I would have.

I had thought about being in that room at the hospital often in the days that I had been here, trying to blank out that cruel woman's words. I can understand the struggle of trying to conceive as the baby I now carried was not my first try. I can understand her anger at the mix-up that had happened, but what I struggle to understand is why she turned on me. I was a victim too, no not a victim, an innocent in the mix-up, just like all the others in that room. I can't be a victim as I will not regret my child.

The man, the one with the beautiful grey eyes. From the little that I did take in while I sat there so numb, he was the donor, the father of my child.

Father of my child was not something I thought about when I was going through the procedure and having the embryos put back. The donor who helped me conceive my child was nameless, faceless, that's how it should've been. Although I don't know his name, he did have a face, one that looked as terrified as mine.

Making my way back to the house, I took my laptop back to my room. I had the door open to my own deck, letting the breeze come through but instead of getting straight back to work, I called my friend.

"Hey Ana, how are you doing."

"Melting in this heat."

"That's Florida for you. How are you and that little one really doing?"

"We're fine. Mum said BP is normal."

"Good, I'm glad you called as I was about to call you. I have news which better not put your blood pressure up."

"What," I asked, worried that it was something bad.

"Calm yourself woman, nothing like that. I've been asked to exhibit my photos at Portland Place in August."

"Oh, my god" I squealed, hearing my mother come running.

"Don't do that to me Anastasia Steele" she said, seeing my laughter instead of my tears.

"Sorry mum, José's got news."

"What," she asked, as I put her on speaker.

Hearing my best friend's news, my mum was as happy as I was. José was an amazing photographer. Like writing for me, photography is something he has loved doing since he was a child. It's high time he got the recognition he deserves.

"Will you come?" he asked me.

"Of course, I will. I wouldn't miss it for the world."

"I wanted to ask you about the photos I took of you. Do you mind if I display them in the collection?"

"Of course, I don't mind. You can't see my face anyway... Has anyone contacted you."

"Contact, no Ana. No one has contacted me, and I wouldn't give anyone information on your whereabouts if they did." I did wonder if anyone had paid any attention to the crying woman who had ran from the building. "Stop worrying, I know you. How long are you staying there."

"I don't know. Mum wants me to stay here longer."

"Are you?" he asked.

"I'm thinking about it."

"Do it, Ana. You don't need to rush back here for anything. I'm going to suggest something if you're staying down there for a while."

"What's that."

"My show will be running for a month, come towards the end. Fewer people to be around then, less chance of you catching a….cold."

"OK. If I stay in Florida for a while, I should be back well before your show even starts, never mind ends."

"Take your time. Relax and enjoy being pregnant."

"Easier said than done," I told him.

"I know but stress won't do that bambino any good."

I spoke to Jose for a while longer before getting down to some work. I have to be back in Seattle in August as I have a meeting with my publisher. Before that, I need to get as much of this book finished as I can.

My mind had other ideas though as it keeps wondering to grey eyes and the child that I carried. Will this little one look like him or me, I had six months until I found out. Six months to decide what I do next.

Thank you for reading and thank you to those who have reviewed, followed and favourited this story.

We are back to Christian next chapter as he tries to figure out, for a man who never wanted a child, why he is so intent on finding Ana.

Until next time, take care.

Caroline.