A/N: Thank you all for your lovely reviews and support! Here's the next chapter for you.

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Chapter 3: The Arrival

~The next day~

Helicopter blades whirred loudly from above, drowning out any other sound as Christian and Taylor flew Charlie Tango through the Cascade Mountains toward their destination. They both wore headsets with large cans on their ears, and Christian flipped a few switches before continuing to guide the helicopter due east. Seattle was long gone behind them.

"Air traffic control, this is Charlie Tango requesting landing at zero-niner-three-zero. Over," Christian spoke into his headset to air traffic control. In the distance far below, he saw a wide expanse of trees and rocky terrain, and in the midst of it was a long winding road leading to a small town he supposed was Easton.

"Roger that - Charlie Tango landing at zero-niner-three-zero. Over," a disembodied voice from air traffic control spoke through Christian's cans.

"There," Taylor pointed out the front window, toward an open space of land near the road. Christian could see the large patch of excavated land on the right side of the valley, with several large trucks and construction equipment parked alongside it. The left side of the valley was open and clear, however, which was where Christian planned to land.

He slowed down the helicopter to a hover before gradually beginning his descent toward the vast expanse of land beneath them. Even though Christian was completely focused on landing the helicopter, he couldn't help but notice the beauty of the mountains all around him. Sometimes he was so used to the city that he forgot how beautiful the rural areas of Washington really were.

They were now hovering about fifteen feet above ground, and below them the grass whipped around wildly by the wind from the helicopter blades. Slowly, gradually, Christian brought Charlie Tango down and landed gently on the ground, finishing with a slight bump.

"Very good, sir," Taylor complimented him on his landing.

"You're acting like I've never done this before," Christian smirked over at him, flipping a few switches on the control board.

"I just know that landing on grass can be a bit trickier than landing on a helipad, sir," Taylor explained, smirking as well. He pulled his cans off while Christian called air traffic control:

"Air traffic control, this is Charlie Tango, just landed at zero-niner-three-zero. Over."

"Roger that. Over."

Christian finally took off his cans, and powered down the helicopter, making sure the gauges and levels were all decent. The helicopter blades continued to spin above them, but Christian knew it was just inertia and that they would slow down after a few minutes.

"Grab our bags - we'll head into town right away," Christian said to Taylor, who obediently unbuckled his seatbelt and got up. "Do you know where Mayor Clayton would be?"

"I'm not sure, but I think those are some of the townspeople out there," Taylor pointed out the right side window.

Christian looked out where Taylor pointed, and sure enough about half a dozen people stood about two hundred yards away next to a couple pickup trucks parked near the empty construction site. Christian knew those people weren't the crew, since Elliot had told him they all cleared out yesterday when the locals wouldn't let them do their job. All the people currently standing there were staring at the helicopter, no doubt watching it as it landed.

"Well, it appears as if we made our grand entrance," Christian said wryly, unbuckling his seatbelt and getting up. Taylor handed him his bag with all his things in it, and Christian pulled out his BlackBerry, checking to see if his phone had any reception out here. "Ready Taylor?"

"Ready when you are, sir," Taylor said, grabbing his own bag.

"Then let's go."

The two of them hopped out of the helicopter and began to walk toward the construction site where the group of people were standing. As they walked forward, Christian could see that most of the people were older or middle-aged men wearing sweatshirts, worker jackets and baseball caps. Standing at the front of the group, however, was one young woman - the only female in the entire group.

Even from the distance, Christian could tell this girl was extremely attractive. Her long chestnut-brown hair had a slight wave to it which fell over her right shoulder, and, even with the tomboy-ish red flannel shirt and blue jeans she wore, her body appeared very lithe and athletic. Christian couldn't help but be surprised that a beautiful young woman like her was out here with all these blue collar men at a construction site.

Christian and Taylor walked closer, and the girl stepped away from her group to approach them. Upon closer inspection, Christian could see this girl's delicate, pixie-like face was highlighted with big blue eyes, a small button nose, and delicate lips, accentuated by a smattering of light freckles along her makeup-free complexion. Christian was floored by how beautiful she was - he had never really considered the "girl next door" type to be all that attractive, but this girl could definitely make him change his mind.

Christian was so caught up in her looks that he almost missed the cold stare and flat expression on her face as she walked toward them.

"Hell of an entrance," she quipped, stopping in front of them and glancing between the two. "Mind if I ask who you are?"

Christian quickly spoke: "I'm Christian Grey, and this is my head of security, Jason Taylor. I own this land and the building that's being constructed here." He held out his hand for her to shake.

"Yeah, I figured as much," she said wryly as she took his hand in her own, exhibiting a surprisingly firm grip as she shook it. Christian couldn't help but feel how soft and warm her small hand felt in his own, but didn't get a chance to dwell on it when she removed it to shake Taylor's outstretched hand.

"Ana Steele. Local resident," she introduced herself, looking back at Christian and crossing her arms. "Mind if I ask why you think you can build in our town?"

Christian and Taylor glanced at each other, eyebrows raised slightly. This girl was cutting right to the chase. "Well… I bought this land, which means I can build what I want on it. Do you have a problem with that?" Christian asked.

Before Ana could answer, the other men had stepped forward, glaring at Christian and Taylor as they did so. "Yes we do have a problem with that," an old man in a denim jacket said angrily. "We might be a small town, but we'd like to keep it that way - we don't want big companies like you building whatever the hell you want on our land!"

"Sam," Ana said to the old man, and he quieted. She turned back to Christian. "What he means, Mr. Grey, is that we don't like outside businesses building in our town without some sort of regulation in place. Easton has a lot of unused land that people like you try to fight over to buy all the time."

"People like me?" Christian couldn't help but ask.

"Rich-ass city folk," Ana clarified, raising a defiant eyebrow at him. Christian felt a bit taken aback she would say that to his face - normally this sort of attitude would send him into a fit of rage, but Ana saying it almost made him want to laugh. He exchanged another glance with Taylor.

"Look - we're not building a skyscraper out here or anything," Christian said, his CEO persona shining through as he turned back to Ana and the other men. "My brother and I are starting a home building company for people wanting to build new vacation homes out here in the mountains. Aside from constructing our headquarters in this valley, our presence will likely have very little effect on your town's day-to-day lives."

Ana and a few of the men glanced at each other, clearly thinking about what he said. After a moment or two, Ana turned back to him. "Be that as it may, there are zoning ordinances on this valley, meaning only residences are allowed to be built here. If you'd like an exception to be made for your business, you would have to take it directly to our town's mayor, Greg Clayton."

Christian stared at Ana, his annoyance growing as she stared directly back at him. This was her power move, and he had no choice but to play along. "Fair enough, Ms. Steele. Do you know where I can find him?"

"We'll take you to him," Ana nodded toward the other men, and they nodded back before turning to walk back over to their trucks. "Come on - you can ride with me."

Christian exchanged another glance with Taylor, who only shrugged resignedly before following Ana toward her truck. Christian sighed to himself before reluctantly following after them.

The ride into town was extremely awkward. Christian and Taylor had gotten into Ana's car, which was an old rusty red pickup truck. It looked rather cramped, but there was a backseat which was where Taylor could squeeze in while Christian rode shotgun. Ana pulled out of the construction site and drove them down the highway toward Easton. The trip was very bumpy, and it was not helped by the rickety old truck they were riding in, but Ana clearly wasn't bothered by it, so Christian didn't say anything.

"So Ana - what do you do for a living?" Christian asked conversationally after a couple minutes of silence while they drove.

"My father and I run a small carpentry shop over near Lake Easton," Ana said. "Mostly handcrafted furniture, chairs, tables, and shelves. We build things for people all over the state of Washington, and even beyond."

Christian nodded. "Right… and Lake Easton is near the valley where the construction site is, right?"

Ana shot him a glare. "Yeah - so?"

"Just saying that having a big, loud construction site near your place of work could affect your business. It makes sense you would be against me building something there - I would do the same if I were in your shoes," Christian said casually. He knew he was patronizing her, and Ana obviously noticed; she scoffed.

"As if you know the first thing about me," she said. "And for the record, Mr. Grey, none of us here are against new businesses being built in our town - we understand it helps the local economy, and it's nice to have a few new places to go to around here. We just don't like it when rich, well-to-do businessmen like you come barrelling in and acting as if you own the place. This is our town and we set the rules."

"'Rich, well-to-do businessmen'?" Christian repeated, glancing over at her with a raised eyebrow. "As if you know the first thing about me, Ms. Steele."

He mimicked her flippant tone of voice, and Ana didn't respond, though Christian saw her press her lips together in annoyance. Christian felt a bit smug, though honestly he didn't know what he was feeling toward Ana at the moment - he was annoyed yet also intrigued by her... Ana was unlike anyone he had ever met before, and he didn't quite know what to make of his interactions with her. She was intelligent and strong-willed, unafraid to talk back to him. But she was also sexy as hell and seemed completely oblivious to the effect she was having on him.

Pull yourself together, Grey - she's only a girl.

Ana finally pulled into the parking lot of an old brick building that had "Easton City Hall" written above the doors. She parked her truck near the front, and they all got out and walked together toward the building, which had a very 1960's decrepit sort of feel to it.

Christian was used to his lavish office at GEH and luxurious penthouse apartment, so being in this dusty cramped building with wood paneled walls and mustard-colored carpeting felt especially uninviting. He didn't say anything, however, as he and Taylor followed Ana down one of the hallways. She knocked on the last door.

An older gentleman with gray hair and glasses answered. He smiled widely upon seeing Ana, and greeted her with a friendly hug. "Ana, it's great to see you!" He pulled away from her and glanced over at Christian and Taylor. "And who are these gentlemen?"

"Greg, this is Christian Grey and Jason Taylor. Mr. Grey owns the property being built down in the valley," Ana explained to him.

"Oh yes, of course!" Mr. Clayton turned and smiled at Christian. "I received a call from your office yesterday, Mr. Grey, about your upcoming visit. Please, do come in."

Christian and Taylor both followed Mr. Clayton into his office, and Ana trailed in after them, much to Christian's surprise. He had assumed she wouldn't want to stick around for these business talks, but if Mr. Clayton wouldn't say anything, neither would he.

"I do apologize for all this ridiculousness, Mr. Grey," Mr. Clayton said without preamble. "I'm sure you have already figured out that the people in this town are incredibly protective of this land. Due to some past circumstances where businessmen tried to commercialize the areas around Easton, we're all very wary of strangers coming in to build here."

"As you should be," Christian agreed politely. "I know it seems strange that someone like me is coming into your town so suddenly to build a business, but I'm actually doing this for my brother. He's an architect looking to start a new company that builds vacation homes up in the mountains, and since I work in mergers and acquisitions, I promised I'd help him. We're having difficulties, though, since the people here keep harassing my crew and claiming we can't build in the valley since it's a nature preserve…"

"Seriously?" Ana asked angrily, and Christian and Taylor turned to her, though she looked at Clayton. "Goddammit, I bet it was Sam who said that."

"You're probably right," Mr. Clayton agreed, his expression forlorn. "Once again, I apologize, Mr. Grey. You and your brother are perfectly within your legal rights to build in the valley. However, I think it would put the people's minds at ease if one of our own was working together with you and supervising the work being done. Do you think that would be acceptable?"

Christian grimaced. He heartily disliked the idea of being supervised by one of these townspeople as if he was an errant child running amok, but considering how far they were willing to go to protect their own land, Christian supposed he could put up with a babysitter. However, that probably meant he or Elliot would have to be in Easton during the whole construction time, which would likely take weeks.

"...I suppose we could do that," he agreed reluctantly after a moment.

"Wonderful," Mr. Clayton exclaimed, reaching forward to shake Christian's hand. "Then we have a deal!"

"I think that's a great idea Greg," Ana said, nodding at him, and Mr. Clayton smiled at her.

"I'm glad you think so Ana, because I was going to ask if you could be the one to supervise Mr. Grey."

Christian and Ana stood completely silent, staring at Mr. Clayton. After a moment, Christian glanced over at Ana.

Hm, maybe this whole supervising thing wasn't such a bad idea after all.

A/N: I had to do a ton of research about helicopters and air traffic control lingo so Christian could sound believable when flying Charlie Tango. I actually learned quite a bit lol.

Hope you all liked that chapter! If you did, leave a review :)