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A/N: I am actually shocked at the reaction to this! I hope you'll continue reading this and enjoy what's to come! Thank you as always you are amazing!
Fifty Degrees of Love – Chapter Six
Ana's heart thudded as she heard a key unlock the front door of Escala. He was home. Granted she hadn't had to go long before this happened but, her husband wasn't coming home. Another Christian was. One that was almost like the man she had met but, colder, more vindictive.
She didn't run along and help, she watched Carrick lead Christian off and Grace give her doctoral advice before turning to face Ana. As she came into the kitchen, Grace gave Ana a warm smile, "How you feeling, Sweetie? You're looking a little washed out."
"Is he okay?" Ana pushed her concern away and felt useless that her husband had denied any and all help she offered. So much so she was sent home – after refusing profusely – by her mother and father in-law and told they would bring him home. She had barely slept and she was quite honestly a wreck at the thought of being faced with her husband.
"Carrick's going to get him settled," Grace coerced Ana back into her seat and sat with her. "I know we were brutal last night with forcing you away but, it was for the best. However, now we've worked up how much memory loss he has, I want to know how you are, Ana."
"I'm fine," Ana told Grace and gave a weak smile. "So how bad is it?"
"He doesn't remember you or Kate. He remembers no interview on your first meeting. He doesn't even remember being requested for an interview with Kate in the first place," Grace told Ana and reached over to push her hair out of her face. She was doing it to be both a mother for Ana and to see if she was dealing with the same temperature.
Ever the doctor was Grace Trevelyan-Grey.
"What was his last memory?" Ana asked wearily, speaking as though treading on eggshells.
Grace shrugged, "He says it's still hazy but, he remembers signing a new contract." Grace sat back up and tried to find valuable words for Ana but, she was coming up empty. "He needs to take it day to day. He has no bleeds on his brain, there's a slight fracture but, it's nothing that a little rest will help. He has a prescription but, he wanted to be home." Grace saw Ana look down, "What is it, dear?"
"He won't want me here," Ana fretted and her heart began to gallop. "Where do I go, Grace?"
"Nowhere," Grace fought back.
"But he doesn't want me around remember?" Ana told her mother in-law and tried to calm herself. "He won't get better with me here surely."
"No, you need to give him normalcy Ana. You sticking here is that. You need to keep a normal routine for him. That is the best medicine for him. He knows his job still but, he needs to catch up on his deals and he needs to learn that as much as he fights it," She took a deep breath and gave a smile to Ana, "You are a part of his life now." She offered a bright grin as she ended that, "I hear that's what you told him last night? That you were still his wife and he isn't getting rid of you."
"He told you that?" Ana asked meekly, only looking up a little. "Why?"
"Because, Darling, he was asking all about you," Grace gave a weak smile and even with her professional expertise, she couldn't help but pray that the hope she was feeling was the hope that all this would work before too much damage was done. "Deep down, I am convinced, he knows who you are," She told Ana and prayed that her inkling was right. "I promise to support you both but please, Ana, don't let this ruin your relationship."
"I won't lose him," Ana breathed out and knew that she wouldn't. "This will not destroy us. No matter what he says or does, Grace, I can't afford to do this life without him," She felt like her chosen burden of life was now lifted and given to Grace for help.
"Good," Grace liked Ana's defiance and she knew that would pay homage to the outcome of this.
"He's settled. He wants to see you though, Grace," Carrick said as he came into the room and went over to Ana, giving her a kiss on the cheek, "How you holding up, Ana?"
Ana gave him a smile, "I could be doing a hell of a lot better."
"I bet," Carrick replied, "Grace and I will stay for the night tonight and make sure he's okay."
"No," Ana shook her head and took a deep breath. "He needs normalcy. He needs normal routine and he will get that with me here. You two being here, however nice the thought is, will disrupt routine. I will do as we do when Gail is off for the evening."
"She's right," Grace agreed immediately, knowing that this had to be made as easy for Ana as it was for Christian. Intruding on normal life would ruin Ana so she aided the moment. "His mood swings will be extreme, Ana. You need to remember he has a head injury and he is going to suffer as an effect for a few weeks yet," Grace told Ana honestly. "That is with or without his memory coming back."
"I understand," Ana smiled knowing from common sense that her husband wasn't going to shine through miraculously any moment. "Go and see to him, we know he can get impatient and if he's on bed rest, he'll go against that," Ana joked, trying to make light in this dark moment.
"I'll be back," Grace excused herself and headed out hurriedly.
As Grace disappeared going to Christian's side, Ana received the most sympathetic smile off Carrick and knew that she would be seeing more than just the two she had received today.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Fifty Degrees of Love -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Once she saw Grace and Carrick out, Ana took her nerves and swore them away before making her feet work enough to take her to hers and Christian's bedroom. There she knocked and waited for her husband to call out and he did, as if she were disturbing him in his office.
She headed in and closed the door behind her out of habit, "I'm not staying. I'm just grabbing some clothes and I'll stay in the guest room," She excused her presence and went to the chest of drawers and began to grab clothes. She could feel his eyes on her for a moment before they dropped and looked down, "What are you reading?"
Christian let out a laugh, "Your file." He looked up to see her gawping at him, "I don't understand how you became my female double, Anastasia," Christian asked as he set the file down a little and inspected her. Physically to him, Ana was the perfect sub and that did cause an arousal. Not enough to deem her a wife but, he could imagine all sorts of markings on her body; he could imagine her tied up and at his every sexual threat.
"Hope that's a good read," She asked and as she rummaged clothes fell out and onto the floor. She quickly ducked down to pick them up. She then continued searching her drawers.
"I thought you were sticking around?" Christian asked as she reached for the door handle. "Doesn't seem that way considering you've practically taken a lot of your clothes. What happened to being here?"
Ana turned, biting the inside of her lip, "I didn't think you would appreciate sharing a bed with me and I would rather you stayed in our room right now than myself." She put her clothes on top of the wardrobe and she grabbed some more, nervously grabbing at garments, "With Taylor being in the hospital and Gail staying with him you'll have to put up with my cooking."
"Do I like you cooking?" Christian inquired, curious to how good of a wife she was because right now he couldn't see why he would choose her. He couldn't explain it but, there was something to Ana that just bugged him too much. Something that, admittedly, scared him about her power over him.
"Usually," Ana shrugged at him, her back still facing him.
Christian cleared his throat, "What's on the menu then?"
"Mac and cheese," She offered a smile, more for herself and continued her job of getting clothes to last a week. She could get others soon but she wanted to feel like she had a room in this house. "Or a stir fry," She spoke up, hoping it would trigger at least something.
"I want to know something," Christian asked as he sat up entirely, throwing the duvet off his lap, sending the file flip flopping with his action.
"What's that?" Ana asked as she turned around to face him, grabbing the clothes and readying to take off in a matter of flight rather than fight for the moment. She knew when she got her bearings together on who she was living with, she would be able to give him tenacity and disobedience – his wife – but for now she was nervous as hell to who she was living with.
"And what's wrong with my apartment?" He asked her, his eyes trained on her for the moment, "What isn't normal about it?"
"It was renovated," Ana mumbled at him. She didn't want to flood him with information and she didn't want to creep back into the abyss of what happened. Why should she have to relive the past alone?
Closing her file, Christian took in a deep breath, "And why was that?" He saw her hesitate, her arms closing in tighter onto her clothes in her arms. "Well?" He asked and still no reaction as her hand turned the handle so he got himself up and stalked up to her, "Why the fuck is my apartment no longer like it was? My bedroom was never here! Why is it?"
"You did it because of something that happened," Ana tried to beat around the bush enough that she could just flee and make up her battle plans.
Getting closer, Christian became domineering to her, tentatively he touched her hair, opening up her neck to vulnerability as though he were going to feed off her. He watched her eyes close and she quaked on the spot, "Why?" He asked her and she shook her head as though afraid of saying, "What the fuck was worth me changing my apartment for the likes of you?" He was reaching the end of his tether with her, "SPEAK!" He bellowed at her and she jumped back away from him.
With wild eyes, she answered him, "Because I killed someone in there!" She shouted at him and took in a shuddering breath. Closing her eyes, Ana tried to calm herself before seeing herself out of the room, leaving Christian frozen to the spot.
Hurryingly, she got to the guest room and closed herself away.
Christian however didn't get back into bed. He left the bedroom and went exploring. What he found only continually displeased him. "Anastasia!" Christian bellowed at the top of his lungs, exacerbating his headache tenfold. "Anastasia get here right this fucking moment!" He felt tricked and angered. He was walking around Escala, not feeling like he was home until he found the playroom. Excitedly, he was happy when found one thing in place and imagined doing the unimaginable to Ana.
After all, why have a room like this and wife and not join them together?
Now the dream was shattered as he saw walls lined with books and his prized piano in the corner, an armchair turned from the room to face it. He was angered that the walls were no longer red and all of his instruments were gone.
"What's wrong?" Ana's voice came suddenly as she rushed towards him. She then stopped, her eyes going wide and she knew what was to come. "Oh," She let fall from her lips and rolled her eyes as they watered. She had been dreading this.
"Where's the playroom?" Christian asked as he came to stand in the room that sat the grand piano and the walls smothered in books again. He turned to face Ana, "What did you do?" He approached her at a startling speed that made Ana hunch up ready for impact, but Christian just grabbed her and threw her into the ghost of the playroom.
Ana hit the armchair she had sat in so often to listen to Christian play and she turned to look at him. "I didn't do this," she replied to him, replied to his anger. "You did this. You didn't want that life anymore. You did this nearly two years ago. It nearly destroyed us."
"Bullshit," he answered her as he stalked over to one of the book shelves and plucked a book from its spot. Promptly, he opened it and began ripping pages so fast Ana was unable to sop his destruction of one of her greatest loves. He grabbed a few more books to destroy, ignoring her fight against him.
When fighting him was futile, Ana took a deep breath before using his own medicine on him and yelling back at him. "Stop that, Christian! Don't do that!" she fought with him, "Please, Christian, stop!"
He did stop when he turned to face her, the tattered book in his hands, his face full of thunder, "What use are these to me?" He asked waving a book in her face. "Well?" He beckoned an answer from her and he gave a twisted laugh, "Like you, they are nothing to me."
"Don't say that," Ana bit back at him, her lips pursing with her own anger to his words. "You love me, you bastard! There isn't any doubt about that. I made you into the version of you, you always wanted to be!"
"I found that highly doubtful," He told her and chuckled menacingly. "All I can see you for is my destruction, Anastasia. Evidently," He rose his hands up at the room, "You killed a precious part of me and clearly I married a weakling!"
"It's not true," Ana cried as Christian threw the book in his hand and marched from the room, palms twitching, his breath heated. Now she felt like a weakling. Last night when she had ambushed him in the hospital and told him as it was she had been forthright and strong.
Ana gave into her heavy body and fell against the book pages that now lined the floor.
Even with the pain mounting onto her, she knew she just couldn't give up.
Her love for her husband had to keep her fighting.