A/N: Thank you for all your reviews and support! A lot of you had some strong opinions about how Ana handled the Leila situation… despite your righteous anger, I hope you all enjoy this next chapter :)

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Chapter 13: Calm Before the Storm

Christian had suggested to Taylor and Gail that they stay behind in Easton with Elliot when Christian went back to Seattle, saving them the headache of packing up their things so soon after arriving. The two of them refused, however, and they insisted on going back with him - while Christian didn't disclose to them the true reason for his sudden departure, he was sure they knew his motivations for wanting to get out of Easton as soon as possible. The thought saddened him a bit, but he also felt a bit grateful his staff were so loyal to him.

His decision to leave Easton wasn't an easy one, but deep down he knew he couldn't stay here any longer, especially if he had to work beside Ana everyday at the jobsite. She was clearly disgusted by the person she realized he had always been, and why shouldn't she be? He had done some horrible shit to women in the past, and it was a fairly recent past too - Leila had made it abundantly clear what kind of a man he really was.

His lawyer had been informed of Leila's NDA violation when she came to Easton, and he suggested to Christian they file a restraining order against her. Christian wanted to find grounds to sue her, but as angry as he was, he knew legally she hadn't done anything that warranted that sort of response. A restraining order would have to suffice for now, but if she stepped out of line again, he knew he would absolutely destroy her.

Leila had pretty much completely ruined his chances with Ana, and for that he wanted to make her pay.

He thought back to his and Ana's conversation on his back porch after Leila had left, and he couldn't help but feel disgusted with himself for lashing out at her the way he did. He had accused her of hiding behind Ted instead of facing her feelings… it was a dick thing to say, and he wished he could take it back. He had said it out of anger, and she was clearly hurt by it. He wished he had never opened his dumb mouth.

He wished he could take this whole fucking day back.

He hated that Ana saw him like this - regardless of all the good times they shared together here in Easton, nothing could erase the view she had of him now, the one that came to light when Leila revealed the truth of his proclivities to her. That was why he couldn't bring himself to stay any longer.

He couldn't bear to face her anymore.

So with a heavy heart, he went over the the Steele's house and said his final goodbye. Ana didn't show her face, but at least he got to say goodbye to Ted, who actually seemed sad to see him go. Christian was going to miss him almost as much as he was Ana.

Christian knew deep down in his heart he would have tried to get over his demons to be a part of Ana and Ted's life, and to be honest that scared the crap out of him. He had no idea if it was even possible to get past all that shit he had to deal with when it came to his birth mother and Elena Lincoln. He never thought he was good enough to have a normal life… at least, not until he met Ana and Ted. With them he felt like a normal guy who could have a normal, happy life with a normal family.

It doesn't matter anymore, anyway.

Christian and Taylor now packed up the SUV with everything they had brought with them to Easton before the two of them and Gail got into the car and drove off. Christian watched the town disappear behind him in the rearview mirror.

~/~

Back in Seattle, it was easy for Christian to fall back into his normal work routine. Christian went to work on Tuesday morning and got a call from his brother telling him he had just arrived in Easton and was ready to work at the jobsite. Christian talked with him for a few minutes about what had already been done there so far and what still needed to be done in the next few weeks. It was strictly a business call, and Christian made sure not to mention Ana by name - Elliot thankfully didn't notice anything was off, and they ended their call with a promise to call again soon.

For the next couple days, Christian threw himself into his work, coming into the office as early as six am and staying well after ten at night. His absence from GEH over the past couple weeks had left a pile of work on his desk over a foot tall that Ros hadn't been able to get through yet, but he was thankful for the distraction. Work kept his mind off of Ana, and staying at the office kept him from going home at night. Escala practically felt like a prison at this point - an eight-and-a-half million dollar penthouse-in-the-sky prison. He dreaded going there since it meant going to sleep for the night, and when he slept he had nightmares.

He'd rather stay at the office and work. Thinking about other things just wasn't an option.

By Thursday of that week, Christian was completely burnt out. He was running on very little sleep, and had spent an average of about 15 hours a day at the office - he felt completely exhausted, and it really showed: his eyes were tired and bloodshot, and he was more irritable with people than usual. His employees avoided him like the plague, and even Taylor made himself scarce whenever they were at GEH. Only Ros seemed to have the guts to face him and tell him the cold hard truth.

"You look like shit, Grey," Ros told him on Thursday, breezing into his office and settling herself down in a chair in front of his desk. "You need to go home and take a nap or something - you look like you're about to pass out on your keyboard."

"I'm fine, Ros," Christian muttered, idly scratching the side of his unshaven face. "What've we got on the docket today?"

"Just that meeting with Oswell, but Marcus and I have got that covered," Ros said. "Go home, Christian - for your own sake. Get some sleep."

"I'll sleep when I'm dead," Christian mumbled, only half-joking, but Ros didn't seem amused.

"I've never seen you like this before Christian," she said, not an ounce of humor in her voice. "I don't know what the hell you're punishing yourself for, but it needs to stop right now. For the sake of your own sanity, you need to step away from work and just go home - I'm serious. I already had a word with Taylor and he's bringing your car around as we speak."

Christian felt annoyed Ros was taking so many liberties with him, but he felt too tired to argue with her at the moment. He let out an exhausted sigh, rubbing his eyes tiredly. "Fine."

Ros looked a bit surprised he was being so amenable, but she quickly gave him a relieved smile. "Good. Thank you, Christian."

It took Christian only a few minutes to gather up his things, and when he went downstairs into the parking garage, Taylor was waiting for him in the SUV, just like Ros said. The ride back to Escala was completely silent, but Christian didn't mind - he simply leaned his head back on the headrest and closed his eyes, allowing his body to relax for the first time in days.

He honestly hadn't realized how exhausted he was. It was barely one o'clock in the afternoon, and he felt ready for bed.

When they arrived at Escala, Christian's mind was in a fog. All he could think about at the moment was going to sleep, and he hardly noticed as he walked through the great room and Gail took his arm, gently leading him upstairs and into his bedroom. He didn't fight her on it, and after a moment she put a small cup of something in his hand and told him to drink it - he complied, and the sickly minty taste of Nyquil filled his mouth. He grimaced at the flavor while he removed his tie and lay down on top of his comforter, fully clothed. Gail turned off the light and closed the door behind her, and Christian quickly fell into a dreamless sleep.

In what felt like only a moment, Christian woke up, slowly and groggily blinking open his eyes. Out the window he saw that it was raining, and after glancing at the clock on the wall he noticed it was past six o'clock - he had been asleep for over five hours. With a sleepy yawn, Christian pulled himself out of bed and finally stripped out of his work clothes, changing into a white t-shirt and pajama pants before making his way downstairs into the great room.

The penthouse was empty - Gail and Taylor were probably having dinner in their quarters right now. A plate of chicken marsala, green beans, and baby red potatoes sat on the warming tray in the kitchen, and Christian went over to take it, grabbing a bottle of mineral water from the refrigerator as well. He headed back into the great room and turned on the TV to the local news, and he sat down on the couch to start eating - he had spent evenings alone like this many times before in the past, but for some reason today it depressed the hell out of him. He didn't want to think about how he should be in Easton right now, spending time with Ana and Ted and Ray. Focusing on that too much would make him feel worse than he already did.

He finished his food and brought his empty dishes back to the kitchen. He then went over to the decanter on the counter and poured himself a healthy amount of Glenlivet - he rarely drank more than a finger of whiskey most nights, but tonight he felt he could drown himself in the stuff.

Christian brought his glass over to the floor-to-ceiling window in the great room, gazing out over the city of Seattle. Rain was still falling from the dark sky, making the lights of the distant buildings glimmer through the darkness; far away, Christian could just make out the Cascade Mountains along the horizon.

He grimaced to himself as he took a sip of the alcohol, staring out toward the mountains. For the first time in days, he felt as if he was close enough to Ana he could reach out and touch her.

~/~

Christian had forgotten he left the television on, which was still playing the local news:

"…Unfortunately, it looks like those rainy days aren't coming to an end just yet folks," a young man said to the camera, standing in front of a green screen weather map of the whole state of Washington. "There's going to be another rainstorm coming in from the west tonight and lasting until early tomorrow morning. All of King County will be hit, as well as most of Pierce and Kittitas Counties. Friday afternoon there will be a weather advisory for all of southwest Washington - a cold front coming up from the Pacific Ocean near Portland is going to hit Skamania, Klickitat and Yakima counties in the early afternoon, ending in Kittitas County by late afternoon Friday. This storm is set to bring in strong winds, heavy rains, and cooler temperatures falling to the mid-30s. Residents in those areas are advised not to leave their homes while the weather advisory is in effect. This has been Leonard Cawley with the weather… back to you Melissa."

Ana

Ana was dreading going to the construction site on Tuesday morning. Not only was Christian not going to be there, but his brother Elliot was coming in to take his place - the last thing she felt she needed was a living breathing reminder of Christian every single day at the jobsite. She figured there was no use moping about it though, so she got up early on Tuesday morning and made her way to the construction site like she did every other day.

Elliot Grey was already there when Ana arrived - he was a tall, sandy-haired guy with warm brown eyes, and a frame as fit and muscular as his brother's. Ana knew Elliot and Christian weren't biologically related, but she couldn't help but see quite a few similarities between the two brothers.

"Ah yes, my brother mentioned there was someone helping oversee the construction," Elliot grinned and shook Ana's hand when they were introduced. "Nice to meet you Ana, I'm Elliot - the fun Grey brother."

Ana couldn't help but chuckle at his little joke. "Oh I dunno, Christian wasn't so bad."

"Yeah I guess, when you can look past his whole 'uptight CEO' schtick," Elliot smiled good-naturedly.

"Did he tell you why he had to go back to Seattle so suddenly?" Ana asked, her heart pounding in her throat. She hoped she sounded more curious rather than wary he knew the truth.

"No he didn't, but I assume it was something work-related," Elliot shrugged. "Pretty much his entire life revolves around Grey Enterprise Holdings. I remember he used to work practically 24/7, but it wasn't until last year when he actually started relaxing and spending some time with his family. I'm glad he's finally started to relax a little bit, but I hope he's not reverting back to how things were since before everything happened."

"Before what happened?" Ana asked curiously, and Elliot realized he may have said too much.

"Just… family stuff, you know," he brushed off, smiling slightly. "I probably shouldn't talk about it."

Ana very much wanted to know what had happened to Christian, but at that moment Andy the foreman approached them, ready to fill in Elliot about the construction so far. Ana had no choice but to drop the subject, but she was determined to know what had happened to Christian last year that prompted him to work less.

Later that evening, Ana was at home with Ray and Ted, and after dinner they all went into the living room to watch one of their favorite family sitcoms together. Ana soon excused herself to go to the bathroom, but instead went upstairs into the study, where the family computer was. It was an older PC, but since she and Ray hardly ever went online, it suited them just fine. She powered it on, and clicked onto Google, searching for Christian Grey.

There were a few articles about his title as CEO of GEH, and the philanthropic work he did for third world countries, but the most prominent headline was the very first search result:

ELENA LINCOLN CHARGED WITH MULTIPLE COUNTS OF SEXUAL ASSAULT AGAINST MINORS

Ana felt shocked that this article had come up when researching Christian, especially since it was at the very top of the first page of Google. She immediately clicked into it, and found it was an article written by the Seattle Times last year, detailing all the depraved things this Seattle socialite woman named Elena Lincoln would make young teenage boys do with her, including getting them involved in the BDSM lifestyle.

Christian was named as one of her victims... when he was only fifteen years old.

With her heart lodged in her throat and tears in her eyes, Ana read through the entire article, which talked in-depth about how Christian was taken in by Mrs. Lincoln, a family friend to the Grey's, and she introduced him to the BDSM lifestyle at a very young age. Ana now understood why he had that sexual preference, and she couldn't help but feel heartbroken that this horrible event from his past was now laid out in an article for the whole world to read about.

She now felt awful for how she treated Christian before he left - he sounded as if he was trying to move on from this horrible event from his past, and she had completely shut him down. Had she been too unreasonable when she told him she didn't want to get involved in whatever he was doing?

Was he right when he said she was just using her son as an excuse to not to be happy?

Ana took a deep breath, trying to keep her emotions in check. She quickly cleared the browser history and turned off the computer, not wanting her father to know what she had been reading about. Quickly wiping her eyes, she got up from her seat and went back downstairs, hoping Ted and Ray didn't notice her absence for too long.

~/~

For the next few days, Ana couldn't help but think about what she had learned about Christian's past. She didn't bring it up with anyone, not even Elliot - she knew he could've probably shed more light on the whole situation, but she was afraid to bring it up. Every passing day made her feel worse and worse, and her lousy mood wasn't helped by the weather, which was consistently rainy and gloomy every day of the week. She normally wouldn't have minded the rain, but working outdoors at a construction site in the mud and water wasn't really an option; the crew ended up not working much over the next few days due to the weather, and on Thursday Elliot announced that he was going to head back Seattle until the rain cleared up. He had work to do at his company back home, and he figured there was no point sticking around here when there was no work to be done anyway.

The rain kept pouring all through Thursday, and by Friday strong winds had also begun to blow through the mountains. Construction was put on hold indefinitely, and Ana and Ray spent all of Friday staying indoors keeping an eye on the weather report. There was a severe weather warning for all of Kittitas County, and it was getting worse and worse as the storm loomed ever closer.

"Mommy," Ted whined, tugging on his mother's pantleg. It was around his bedtime, and he had been cooped up in the house for several days due to the crappy weather, so he was in a pretty grumpy mood.

"I'm sorry sweetie," Ana soothed her son, though she was distracted by the gale pounding against the windows of the house. Outside, she could see the normally-pristine Lake Easton sloshing wildly in the torrential rain, and a bright bolt of lightning struck in the distance.

"That's it," Ray said, turning off the weather report on the TV. "Ana, grab a couple sleeping bags and Teddy's nightlight - we're gonna spend the night in the den."

"Are you sure?" Ana asked, frowning worriedly. The den was the one room in the house away from all windows, so that was the designated space for them to go during severe weather emergencies.

"I would've said the basement, but it could flood with all this rainwater," Ray said, gazing worriedly out the window. "I don't want to take any chances - this is the worst storm I've seen in years."

Ana had rarely heard her father sound this worried, so she quickly complied with gathering their sleeping bags, Ted's nightlight, his stuffed animals, and even some food from the pantry before all of them made their way into the den, which was a small room right off the kitchen that they used mostly for storage. Ted thankfully didn't seem to mind - it was like they were all having a big sleepover together, and he quickly cuddled into his sleeping bag with his favorite stuffed animals surrounding him. Ana got into her own sleeping bag beside him, still in her day clothes, and wrapped a protective arm around her son.

"Try not to worry too much, guys," Ray said assuringly, turning on the lamp beside them on a nearby end table. "We're just doing this as a precaution, okay? Everything will be alright."

Ana glanced down at Ted in her arms, noticing that he was already nodding off. She held him tightly as she rested her cheek on top of his head, closing her eyes. In her mind's eye, she pictured Christian right here with them, protecting her and Ted from the storm. She wondered where he was and if he was okay.

Suddenly, a flash of lightning and crash of thunder came from outside, and the next moment all the lights in the house flickered off, bathing them in darkness.

A/N: Thank you all for reading! Next chapter, we'll get to see the aftermath of the storm.

Quick note: Some of you were making conjectures about Ted's biological father - I just want to clarify that it is NOT going to be Elliot. Ted has blonde hair because his mother had blonde hair, no other reason. Ted's biological father will play no part in this story.

If you liked this chapter, please leave a review and tell me what you thought :)