A/N: Thank you all for your lovely reviews and support :) Hope you enjoy this next chapter.

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Chapter 14: The Aftermath

Muted light filtered into the den as Ana blinked open her eyes. It was clearly morning now, and it took her a moment or two to remember she wasn't in her bed and that she was in her sleeping bag on the floor. Pushing her sleep-tousled hair away from her face, she glanced down to see Ted still in the same position from when he fell asleep, curled up against Ana's side with her arm still wrapped protectively around him. She took stock of everything around them, and knew that the storm was over and the house was intact. The ground they were sleeping on wasn't damp or flooded at least, which was a good sign.

"Good, you're up," Ray now entered the room, having changed into jeans and a work jacket. "I made breakfast."

"Great," Ana said, sitting up in her sleeping bag. "So the power's back on?"

"Yeah, it came back on about an hour or so ago," Ray said. "The water's on too, so a shower this morning isn't out of the question."

"Thank God," Ana muttered, acutely aware she had slept in her clothes last night. "How bad was the storm?"

"No lasting damage, as far as I can tell," Ray said, though he still looked a bit worried. "I haven't had a chance to assess the whole property yet, but I think we're still in one piece. The rest of Easton may not have been so lucky, though."

Ana frowned, feeling a pit of dread settle low in her gut - exactly how bad had this storm been? She tried not to think about it too much as she turned to Ted and gently shook him awake.

"Wake up, sleepyhead," Ana whispered, rubbing his arm, and Ted stirred in his sleep. "C'mon Teddy, Grandpa made us breakfast."

"Mmmmmm," Ted groaned grouchily, rubbing his eye with his tiny knuckles.

"We might be a minute," Ana glanced up at her father, smirking, and he smiled back. Both of them were well aware of how reluctant Ted was to get up in the mornings.

"Take your time," Ray said, turning to walk out of the den. "Pancakes will be there whenever you're ready."

A sleep-tousled Ted suddenly perked up at the word pancakes, and Ana couldn't help but giggle at the sight of him.

"Well, it looks like we're finally up."

After their breakfast, Ana, Ted, and Ray all put on their raincoats and rubber boots and went outside to check out the extent of the storm's damage. The rain had stopped at this point thankfully, but the sky was still overcast and gray; leaves and branches from surrounding trees were scattered all over the yard, and even a few shingles from their carpentry shop's roof had been ripped off and flung about fifty yards away. Aside from that, though, their home was still pretty much intact.

"Looks like we lucked out," Ana said, standing in the yard and gazing around their property, Ted hanging onto her hand.

"But that doesn't look good," Ray muttered, gazing down the road.

Ana and Ted walked over to where Ray was to see what he was looking at: past the valley they could see the main part of Easton looking pretty battered from the storm. Cars and trucks were driving slowly through the streets, floodwaters halfway up their tires, and multiple trees and street signs were knocked over into buildings and roads. It definitely looked as if a huge storm had passed through here only a few hours ago.

"Get in the truck you two," Ray said, making a move toward the driveway where their truck was parked. "We gotta see if everyone in town's okay."

Ana didn't hesitate picking up Ted in her arms and following her father to the truck. They all got inside and Ray backed out of the driveway before heading down the road into town. They had to slow down once they reached the main street since a lot of the road was submerged in about a foot of water.

"Oh my God," Ana muttered, watching the water sloshing around their tires as they drove down the street. Ana had driven this way a million times and never had she seen it like this - people were stepping out of their homes and buildings wearing galoshes and raincoats, trying to assess the damage to their property. A lot of homes had fallen trees on their roofs or heavy branches smashed through their windows, and it looked as if pretty much every building where the water was high had flooded. The whole town looked like it was in complete ruin.

"Jesus," Ray sighed through his nose, which he did whenever he was deeply upset. "This'll take some time to fix up, that's for sure."

"Maybe we can let some people stay at our place until the flooding goes down," Ana suggested, gazing out the windows worriedly. They managed to turn onto a side street that wasn't completely flooded, but suddenly they heard a dog barking loudly nearby.

"Stop the car," Ana said quickly, seeing where the dog was coming from. There was a small crowd of people gathered in the front lawn of Paul Clayton's house, where a large tree had fallen and smashed into his roof, splintered wood sticking out everywhere. Paul's border collie Seager was the dog barking up a storm nearby, facing the part of the house where the tree had fallen.

Ray parked on the side of the road and Ana quickly hopped out, rushing toward the scene. Several people looked over at her when she walked forward, and among them was Greg Clayton, wearing his raincoat and looking utterly devastated.

"Ana! Paul's still in there!" he said frantically, pointing toward where the tree had fallen on the house. "He can't get out - please, we have to call the fire department!"

Ana ran toward where he was pointing, and sure enough the tree had fallen right through the door and front window, blocking every exit. Seager was still barking at something inside the house, and Ana finally noticed Paul inside within the rubble on the ground floor, his red baseball cap and sweatshirt easily visible through the mess.

"Paul, can you hear me?" Ana shouted toward him.

"Ana?" Paul shouted back, turning and squinting through the rubble. "Is that you?"

"Yeah. Are you able to get out of there?"

"No, my foot's stuck under this damn tree."

Ana swallowed, fear settling in the pit of her stomach. "Is your foot broken?"

"I don't think so, I just can't move it," Paul said, grunting as he tried to shift his body. "Is help on the way?"

"Your dad's gonna call the fire department," Ana said, but even as she said it she could hear the resignation in her voice. The nearest fire station was the Kittitas County Fire Department, which was several towns over, and due to the storm last night they were probably swamped dealing with the fallout. Help probably wasn't coming for a long time.

"Is there a tow truck around here we could use?" Ana turned to Greg, who had his cell phone to his ear. "I know Hayden Blake has one, we could ask him to borrow it."

"We could try, but I don't think a standard tow truck would be able to move a tree this big," Greg said, frowning in distress as he looked at his son's smashed house. "I don't know what the hell we're supposed to do."

Ana cast her mind around for something that could help Paul out of his house, and suddenly the answer came to her. "We could use a crane from the jobsite," she said quickly to Greg.

His eyes immediately perked up. "That might work," he said, looking hopeful. "Do you know how to drive one?"

"I've seen Andy at the construction site drive one. I think I could try to figure it out," Ana said.

"That'll have to work," Greg said. "Come on!"

He hurried over to his truck, parked only a few yards away from Ana's red pickup. Ray was standing nearby with Ted in his arms, and Ana quickly promised them she'd be right back before hurrying after Greg toward his car. She hopped into the passenger seat, and they began to drive off toward the jobsite - despite their haste, Greg had to steer carefully through the more flooded areas.

"I've never seen Easton like this before, Ana," Greg said sadly, gazing around at his weather-beaten town around them. "I don't honestly know how we're going to bounce back from all this."

"It may take some time, but I'm sure we'll be okay," Ana said, though she sounded worried as she spoke. "We'll pull together - we always do."

Greg didn't say anything to that, and they were silent as they drove their way to the valley where the construction site was. Ana was relieved to see that the few walls that had been constructed for LCH had stood firm throughout the storm. The excavated land was very muddy and wet, but aside from that the jobsite looked unharmed.

One of the larger cranes was sitting near the highway they were driving on, and Greg pulled over once they were near it. Before either of them could step out of the truck, however, they noticed another car on the highway speeding toward them, heading straight for Easton. Ana and Greg could only watch as the car got closer - for a moment, Ana was afraid it was Leila again, but she soon realized the car wasn't a red Audi. It was a black SUV.

It's Christian.

Ana and Greg finally stepped out of the truck as the black SUV pulled over and stopped on the right shoulder. Three of the car doors opened and out stepped three men - Taylor, Christian, and Elliot.

"Greg, Ana," Christian said as they walked briskly toward the two of them. "I heard the weather report, and I came as soon as I could. Are you all okay?"

"No we're not," Greg said, distressed. "A tree fell on my son's house and he trapped underneath it. The nearest fire department is two towns over, and we need to use one of these cranes to pull the tree off him."

Christian, not missing a beat, turned to Elliot. "Elliot, drive the crane into town with Ana and Greg. Taylor and I will follow in the SUV."

"You got it - c'mon you two," Elliot said, gesturing to Ana and Greg. They quickly followed him toward the crane and got inside, Elliot in the driver seat and Ana and Greg in the bench seat next to him.

"You know how to operate one of these things?" Greg asked him.

"I've been doing this since I was nineteen," Elliot said confidently before starting the ignition. Ana and Greg exchanged a glance, both of them relieved someone with experience was operating the crane.

They drove slowly down the highway, and thankfully there were no other cars on the road other than the SUV behind them where Taylor and Christian were. Elliot drove the crane down the main street into town, and Greg directed down the streets where the flooding was minimal. While Ana was sure the crane was sturdy enough and could have withstood the high flood waters, she was glad they weren't taking the risk of it getting stuck.

They made it back to Paul's house, and at this point a larger crowd had gathered in the yard, people trying to figure out a way to get him out. Everyone quickly moved out of the way as soon as the crane approached, and Ana and Greg quickly hopped out as Elliot pulled up onto the grass.

"Everybody - out of the way!" Christian called authoritatively to the whole crowd, getting out of the SUV and hurrying into the fray. "My brother is going to try to lift the tree up slightly with the crane, so everyone stand at least thirty feet back. Greg and Taylor - you two are going to help me move the rubble aside as Elliot is moving the tree so we can pull Paul out."

The whole crowd of people quickly complied, and Ana made her way over to Ted and Ray, ushering them out of the way as well.

"What the hell's Christian doing here?" Ray asked, frowning over at him.

"Greg and I ran into him at the jobsite," Ana explained. "He said he heard the weather report and came straight here to see if we were alright."

While Ana knew now wasn't the time to think about this, a large part of her couldn't help but be happy Christian was here with them. She had missed him a lot this past week, and seeing him again today, even under these horrible circumstances, made her feel hopeful that everything could go back to normal.

Ana, Ted, Ray, and the rest of the crowd watched with bated breath as Elliot and Christian managed to get the crane rope wrapped a couple times around the tree trunk before Elliot got back in the driver's seat and began slowly hoisting the tree up. Christian, Taylor, Greg, and Easton's resident physician Dr. Perkins began pulling pieces of rubble away from where Paul was, hoping to clear enough of it so they could pull him out safely. Ana simply watched anxiously as the men worked to get Paul out safely.

Finally, after twenty long drawn-out minutes, Elliot had managed to lift the tree up enough so Paul's foot was no longer stuck underneath it, and the other men managed to reach in and help Paul out of the rubble. Once out, Greg and Dr. Perkins pulled each of his arms over their shoulders so he could lean on them as he got to his feet, and Paul had to hop on his good foot as they helped him along. He smiled widely at the crowd of people, and everybody applauded, ecstatic that he was okay.

Ana beamed widely, applauding as well. Christian had literally come in and saved the day, and she couldn't be more grateful for his presence here in Easton after last night's storm. He really was their knight in shining armor.

Christian now stood in front of the crowd, holding his hands up to quiet them all. Everybody settled down enough to look at Christian, waiting for what he was about to say.

"I had heard about what happened here in Easton on the news, but I didn't realize the extent of it until I came back this morning," Christian began. "Now that I'm here, I want to help in any way that I can. FEMA and the state government can only help you guys to a certain extent, which is why I want all of you whose homes or businesses that have been destroyed by the flood waters or damaged by debris to leave your name and phone number with my right hand man over here, Jason Taylor."

Christian gestured to Taylor, who walked up to stand beside him. "We'll bring in water damage restoration specialists and a clean up crew to help get the flood waters out of your homes, and we'll bring in reconstruction teams to rebuild Paul's and anyone else's homes that might have been damaged in the storm. Don't worry about the cost, I'll handle everything - let's just focus on Easton's reconstruction right now. Alright?"

There were several murmurs among the crowd and a smattering of appreciative applause - everyone was gazing at Christian with a mixture of shock and amazement, many of them probably wondering if he was really going to pay for the entire town's disaster recovery. Ana knew that Christian really would do it, and she felt a strong pull in her chest as she gazed at him in wonder. A small crowd of people were now gathering around him, and he facilitated it all while in full CEO mode, wearing his slacks and blue button-down shirt with an open collar and rolled up sleeves. Ana couldn't help but smile, her opinion of him having grown exponentially in just these past few minutes. She had read articles about his philanthropic endeavors, but never had she expected to see him do something like this.

He truly was as good a man as she had always wanted to believe.

"Talk about coming in at the eleventh hour," Ray chuckled, shaking his head incredulously. "Easton sure is lucky to have Christian Grey on our side."

Ana continued to gaze at Christian, her smile not leaving her face. "Yeah, we are."

A/N: Hope you all enjoyed this chapter! Next, we'll see the beginning of Easton's reconstruction.

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