A/N: Thank you all so much for your reviews and support! Hope you enjoy this next chapter.

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Chapter 10: A Family Man

The rest of the week at the construction site was extremely busy, but thankfully a majority of the building's foundation and structural frame had been finished at this point. Ana was only required to stay for a few hours every day to oversee whatever the construction guys were working on, she ended up sticking around for most of the day on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, helping Christian and Andy navigate any problems that had arisen. Ana knew she didn't have to do it, but she was honestly happy to help, and on Friday Christian even complimented her on being a huge asset to this project. He told her he wanted to give her some sort of payment for her hard work, and Ana informed him that Greg Clayton was already compensating her for her work here.

"It would be a conflict of interest if you'd pay me yourself, Mr. Grey," Ana informed him with a grin, and Christian smiled. "I'm supposed to be here to keep you in check, remember?"

"Oh I remember," Christian said, a large smile on his handsome face. "Though I hardly think of you as the enemy, Ms. Steele. Honestly, I think the two of us make a pretty good team, wouldn't you say?"

Ana felt a bit surprised by his compliment, but couldn't help but agree with him. She smiled. "I think we do, actually. I can honestly say I didn't expect that to happen when I first met you."

Christian laughed. "I can believe it, but in my line of work I've learned to expect the unexpected. I never expected to meet someone like you, Ana, but I'm actually very glad that I did."

"I'm glad too," Ana said sincerely, smiling up at him. She felt her heart begin to race as his eyes met hers, and her cheeks flushed pink. She couldn't really deny that her feelings for Christian had definitely become very complicated at this point, and she wasn't sure what to do about it. She had told him she didn't date at all, and she wanted to stay true to what she said, but she knew it was going to be a challenge while she worked beside him every single day at the construction site. She was almost glad that this project was going to be ending in a few weeks.

"Mommy!"

Ana turned just in time to see her son come barrelling toward her from across the grass and run smack-dab into her, clutching her tightly around the legs. Christian and Ana both laughed.

"Hey sweetie pie," Ana said fondly, tousling his blonde hair. "Did you and Grandpa have fun fishing today?"

"Yeah! Gwanpa caught a towt!" Ted announced excitedly, bouncing up and down on his little feet.

"He caught a what?"

"A trout," Ray approached them, smiling down at his grandson. "And it actually was pretty big - bigger than I've caught in awhile. I think I'm going to ask my buddy Dan to mount it on the wall for me."

"Did you hear that, buddy? You're Grandpa's good luck charm!" Ana reached down to pick Ted up in her arms, and he giggled happily. "Can you say hi to Christian, Ted?"

"Hi Cwistian," Ted grinned brightly, waving at him, and Christian chuckled.

"Hi Ted. I'm glad you had fun with your grandpa today," he said with a bright grin, and Ted grinned too. Ana couldn't help but smile at the two of them.

"You guys ready to go home?" Ana turned to Ray, and he nodded.

"Yeah, we just got back from fishing to come pick you up," Ray said, turning back toward the truck parked on the side of the road. "Have a good weekend, Christian."

"You too, Ray," Christian said to him.

Ana gave Christian a small smile. "Bye Christian."

He smiled back at her. "Bye Ana."

Ana followed her dad back to the truck with Ted in her arms, feeling Christian's eyes on her as she walked away.

Saturday morning

Ana was making coffee in the kitchen as Ted sat in front of the TV watching his Saturday morning cartoons, clutching his favorite stuffed panda in his arms. Ray was currently working in the carpentry shop next door - it was a gorgeous day out today, with the sky a beautiful clear blue while the sunlight bounced off the sparkling lake to create a shimmery effect. Ana hummed to herself as her coffee brewed.

Her cell phone began to ring, and she checked the caller ID to see it was Christian calling. "Hello?"

"Hi Ana. It's Christian."

"Hi Christian," Ana smiled. "Is everything alright? Is something going on with the construction today?"

"No, the construction is fine," Christian said quickly. "I'm sorry for calling you on a Saturday morning, but I was hoping to get some advice from you."

"Oh," Ana said, slightly surprised. "Okay. What's up?"

"I was wondering if Jay's Diner was a good place to go to for breakfast?"

Ana grinned. Jay's was Easton's most popular breakfast diner, and one of Ana's favorite places to go to in town. "Oh yeah, Jay's is great! Are you thinking of going there this morning?"

"Yeah I am," Christian said. "So would you recommend it?"

"Oh, absolutely. Ted and I like to go there all the time - their food is amazing."

There was a brief pause on the other line. "…In that case, would you and Ted like to join me for breakfast at Jay's this morning?"

Ana didn't say anything for a moment, briefly surprised by his offer. "Oh," she squeaked out. "Really?"

"Yeah, I mean…" Christian cleared his throat, sounding almost nervous. "If you two weren't already doing something today, I thought it might be a fun thing to do with you guys. But if you didn't want to…"

"No!" Ana said quickly. "I mean yes, Ted and I would be happy to join you for breakfast at Jay's. I think we both would really enjoy it - thank you for thinking of us."

"Of course," Christian said, and Ana could hear him smiling. "Would you and Ted like to meet me at my house in half an hour?"

"Sure," Ana smiled. "See you then."

"See you then."

Ana hung up the phone before walking over to the living room where Ted was sitting. "Hey, Teddy - guess where we're going for breakfast this morning? Jay's Diner!"

"YAY!" Ted immediately jumped up from where he was sitting and bolted toward his mother, practically slamming into her waist as he hugged her tightly. Ana laughed at his enthusiasm.

"C'mon buddy, let's go get dressed. We're going to be leaving in a half an hour."

Ted quickly ran up toward his room, and Ana followed, smiling to herself as she went.

Ana, Christian, and Ted currently sat together at one of Jay's signature red booths, perusing their menus as their waitress went to grab their drinks.

"I can't decide what to get - all this looks good," Christian said, his eyes scanning his entire menu. Ana thought he looked very ruggedly handsome today in blue jeans, a brown long sleeve t-shirt with the sleeves rolled up, and a baseball cap.

"Really? 'Cause I thought all this greasy diner food would be too simple for your sophisticated Seattle palette," Ana teased him.

"You're never going to let me live that down, are you?" Christian asked, smirking at her.

"Never," Ana smirked right back. "But if you want a recommendation, I'd go with the corned beef hash skillet with eggs and toast - it's their best meal."

"Noted," Christian nodded.

"… Here we are," their waitress, Gabbie, arrived with a tray balancing two coffees and a glass of milk for Ted. "Have you decided on what you'd like to eat yet?"

"Yes. Teddy here would like the waffle with maple syrup," Ana smiled down at her son, and he bounced excitedly in his seat. The adults all chuckled. "And I'll have the corned beef skillet with eggs and toast."

"I'll have the same," Christian said, handing his menu back to Gabbie. She smiled before collecting all their menus and walking away.

"You know, this place is pretty nice," Christian noted, leaning his elbows on the Formica table and glancing around the diner. It was decently crowded this morning, but since Easton was so small it only ended up being about half-full. "I'm glad you recommended it."

"So if I said this place was horrible, you wouldn't have gone?" Ana asked, raising an amused eyebrow.

"Of course not," Christian said insistently. "I very much value your opinion, Ana. In all things."

Ana felt herself blush, but she couldn't help but smirk at him all the same. "I'm not sure if you're making fun of me or not, Christian, but I'll take the compliment anyway."

Christian chuckled, shaking his head. "Whatever you want, Ms. Steele."

The two of them fell into amicable silence for a few minutes afterward, and they watched Ted grab some of the crayons sitting in a cup nearby and begin coloring on his paper placemat. Christian suggested Ted draw a car, and Ted eagerly complied, drawing what appeared to be a square blob with four other circular blobs attached to it. Ana and Christian couldn't help but laugh as they watched him, occasionally smiling at each other as they did so.

Gabbie finally arrived with their food, and they all began to dig in. Christian groaned when he tasted the corned beef hash skillet.

"Oh my God - this is amazing," he moaned, his mouth full of the greasy breakfast dish. Ana smiled as she took her own bite.

"Told you," she said, chewing her delicious mouthful of potatoes, corned beef, eggs, peppers and onions. She then set her own fork down to help Ted cut into his waffle.

"Hey, so I was thinking…" Christian said as he chewed another mouthful of corned beef hash. "Since it's such a nice day out today, after breakfast did you guys want to go for a walk around Lake Easton?"

"Sounds like fun," Ana smiled, glancing down at Ted. "Wanna go for a walk with Christian, Ted?"

With his mouth full of syrupy waffle, Ted nodded enthusiastically, and Ana and Christian both chuckled.

"Sounds like a plan."

Ana and Christian continued to make pleasant small talk as they ate their breakfast, and Ted was relatively quiet as he chowed down on his waffle. Once the check came, Christian and Ana argued over who would pick it up, but Christian eventually won when he insisted he had invited them out for breakfast in the first place. Ana reluctantly complied, though promised she'd pay for the next meal they had together.

They left the diner in Christian's SUV and drove back to his rental house. Once there, they all made their way toward the lake's edge, beginning their walk around it - at this point in the day, a few clouds had appeared in the sky, protecting them from the sun's glare. Ana pointed out a few of the mountains and visible landmarks for Christian to see, and he listened attentively while Ted ran ahead of the adults to play with various rocks and sticks he found on the ground.

"Well Christian, I have to say that today's actually turning out to be a lot of fun," Ana smiled after a couple minutes of amicable silence. She and Christian meandered together several yards behind Ted, keeping an eye on him as they walked. "Why are you doing all this?"

"What do you mean?" Christian asked questioningly.

"Well, first you treated us to breakfast, and now you're taking us on a nice nature walk around the lake," Ana said, gesturing around them. "It's all very nice, but you don't have to do any of this for us. So why are you doing it?"

Christian was silent for a moment or two, as if contemplating his answer. "Because… I like you," he finally admitted, hesitating briefly as he spoke.

Ana didn't know what to say, and she felt momentarily stunned by his admission, her heart pounding in her chest. Did he just admit he had feelings for her? Ana felt a blush rise to her cheeks as she struggled to find the words to answer him. "Oh," she squeaked out.

"I'm sorry," Christian chuckled embarrassedly, scratching the back of his neck. "I understand you don't want to get involved with anyone because of Ted, and I respect your decision. But I just wanted you to know how much I enjoy spending time with both of you. I've never met anyone like you before, Ana - I think you're smart and funny and sweet, and extremely competent at everything you do. I can honestly understand why that Paul Clayton guy is practically falling over himself just to get near you."

Ana giggled, feeling embarrassed but also pleased by his compliment. "That's really sweet of you, Christian, but I'm not really sure how to respond to that."

"Don't worry about it," Christian said kindly. "Let's just enjoy our day out today, alright?"

Ana looked over at Christian, and saw he was smiling sincerely at her, a certain emotion in his gray eyes Ana was sure reflected her own. She couldn't deny having feelings for Christian as well, but for some reason couldn't bring herself to tell him. Was she afraid of what she felt for him? Or had it just been so long since she had been in this position with a guy before that she didn't know what to say?

"Mommy!"

Ana looked over to see Ted had found an acorn by one of the big trees, his little hands and forearms covered in dirt as he ran up to proudly display what he found. Ana and Christian both laughed, and asked if he had found anything else; Ted continued to run around the forested area finding other rocks and twigs to collect. Ana and Christian simply engaged him with his little game, neither of them bringing up what Christian had confessed to her earlier.

After about an hour or so, they had made it around the entire lake and were now back at Ana's house. More clouds had begun to appear at this point, and the sky was now overcast and gray, threatening to rain at any moment. Ana, Christian, and Ted all walked up to the house, and Ray opened the front door for them, smiling when he saw his grandson.

"Hey there, champ," he said as Ted rushed toward him. "Did you have fun today with Mommy and Christian?"

Ted didn't answer as he bolted past his grandpa and into the house, and the adults all chuckled incredulously.

"We did have fun," Ana said. "I'm going to walk Christian back to his place now though - I'll be back in a minute."

"Sure thing, sweetheart. See you Christian," Ray waved at them.

"Bye Ray," Christian waved back.

Ana and Christian walked together across the yard toward his rental house, neither of them saying a word - Ana wasn't really sure if there was anything to say at all at this point. Suddenly, however, Ana felt a few droplets of water hit her from above, and the next second rain began to pour from the sky, soaking them almost immediately. Ana raised her hands to her head, desperate to cover herself from the downpour.

"C'mon," Christian quickly grabbed one of her hands and pulled her across the yard toward his house. Instead of going inside, however, he pulled her toward the back, where there was an awning covering most of the wooden deck. Soon, they were underneath the awning and out of the rain.

"Whew," Ana panted once they stopped, and she gazed out toward the lake. "Glad it didn't start raining during our walk. Looks like we just missed it."

Christian didn't say anything, and Ana looked over to see he was standing beside her, gazing down at her with an unreadable expression on his face. His copper red hair was dark and wet from the rain, and his gray eyes met hers with an intense expression Ana had never seen in him before.

It made her heart race.

Without thinking, Ana leaned up and kissed him right on the lips. She didn't know what had prompted her to do it, but it felt right for some reason; Christian immediately kissed her back, wrapping his arms around her waist and holding her close. Ana instinctively reached up to tangle her fingers in his wet hair, and their tongues began to tangle in a sensuous dance as they explored each other's mouths. It was heavenly, and Ana couldn't remember anyone's lips ever feeling this amazing.

She knew she had to get back Ted and her dad soon, but for one blissful moment, Ana could allow herself get lost in Christian and this amazing, all-consuming kiss.

A/N: Yay, I hope you all enjoyed that! :) Next chapter, we'll get to see the aftermath.

Please review and tell me what you think!