A/N: Thank you all for your reviews and support! I hope you enjoy this next chapter.

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Chapter 23: Making it Work

Ana felt like she was on cloud nine as she and Christian kissed. As if on instinct, she lifted her hands and tangled her fingers in his hair as his arms tightened around her waist, holding her close. She was so happy he was here - so happy in this moment - that she never wanted it to end.

After what felt like hours, Christian pulled away and rested his forehead against hers, panting slightly. "I've missed you, Ana."

"I've missed you too," Ana said, and she pulled back slightly to look at the helicopter behind him. "Hell of an entrance, Mr. Grey."

He chuckled. "I'm sorry, but I was impatient to get here, and driving would have taken too long. I hope I wasn't interrupting something?"

"Not at all. My dad took Ted fishing on the lake, so I was just home by myself," Ana said, gazing up at him and smiling. "I'd been thinking about you all day, and now here you are. It was like destiny."

Christian grinned widely. "Yes it was. Or maybe just incredibly good timing."

Ana giggled, wrapping her arms more tightly around his neck. "Definitely that too."

Christian chuckled before leaning down and pecking her once again on the lips. "Look, Ana," he began, pulling away slightly as he gazed at her with a more serious expression on his face. "About Sunday…"

Ana felt her heart stutter as her face fell. "No, it's okay Christian. I'm… I'm sorry about what I said to you. It was an overreaction."

"No, it wasn't," Christian stated. "I understand now why you reacted the way you did. I don't ever want you to think that I'm trying to control you or treat you like a submissive - you mean so much more to me than that."

"You don't treat me like a submissive, Christian," Ana insisted. "That's not what upset me. I guess I was just afraid that maybe you wanted a woman who was more submissive to you - someone who was more amenable and willing to agree to everything you said. I do want to be with you, Christian, but sometimes I feel like I have no idea what I'm doing. It frightens me how much I feel for you."

Christian gazed at her imploringly. "Oh Ana…"

He took her face in his hands and pressed his lips to hers, conveying the extent of his feelings for her. Ana kissed him back, her body filling with warm tingles as he did so.

"Ana, you're everything I've ever wanted," he said once he pulled away, gazing into her eyes. "Ever since you and Ted have come into my life, I've never felt happier or more fulfilled. I feel like my life has meaning again, you know?" Christian hesitated, as if searching for the right words to say as he stared deeply into her eyes. "I love you, Ana, and I will do everything in my power to make sure that you always know that."

Ana felt her heart thump loudly in her chest as she stared at Christian, almost unsure of what he had said.

He loves me?

"You love me?" she asked, her eyes filling with tears as she gazed at him, searching his face.

"I do," Christian nodded, his expression filling with so much love and adoration it made Ana's heart soar.

"Christian," Ana practically leapt at him, flinging her arms around his neck and hugging him tightly. Christian laughed as he caught her in his arms, clutching her around her waist as her feet lifted from the ground. "I love you too."

"Really?" Christian set her down and looked into her eyes, the smile on his handsome face practically blinding. "You do?"

"Of course I do," Ana said, feeling emotion clouding her voice as she beamed back at him. "I'm crazy about you, Christian. And to be completely honest, I do love the idea of you, me, and Ted living together in Seattle someday. It's something I would love to share with the both of you, and I don't want you to think I'm afraid of committing to you."

"I don't think that, Ana - I'd love for you and Ted to live with me in Seattle someday too," Christian said sincerely, smiling at her. "I get it though. Ted's about to start school, and you run a business here with your dad… it's not the right time, and I can understand that. When we're ready to take that step together, we'll talk about it and we'll decide together what we're going to do."

Ana couldn't fight the wide smile on her face, relieved that he finally understood. "Thank you, Christian."

She leaned up and kissed him again, her all-consuming love for him filling her heart and making her feel light as air. Christian eagerly kissed her back, and everything was right in the world.

~/~

"Christian."

Ray greeted Christian and Ana with a look of surprise on his face, watching them step out of the pickup truck and walk over to them. Ray and Ted had just come back from fishing on the lake, and Ray was admittedly a little shocked to see Christian in front of him and holding hands with his daughter.

"Hi Ray - Ted," Christian smiled widely at the two of them. Ted bounced excitedly on his toes.

"Cwistan!" he exclaimed happily before running up to him. Christian immediately knelt down and held out his arms just as Ted crashed into his embrace, and Ana and Ray both laughed.

"Good to see you again, Christian," Ray smiled as Christian got back to his feet, lifting up Ted and perching his on his hip. "So you and Ana made up then?"

"Dad," Ana said embarrassedly, her cheeks blushing pink. Christian didn't look embarrassed, however, as he smiled widely over at Ray.

"Yes we did. I wanted to tell her how sorry I was for how we left things, and I just couldn't wait to see her again. So I flew my helicopter out here as quickly as I could so she and I could talk things out."

"Christian, my dad doesn't need to know every detail of our relationship," Ana turned to Christian, giving him a pointed look.

"Well, he asked," Christian said defensively, and Ana rolled her eyes.

"I wanna hel-wih-copper!" Ted suddenly exclaimed loudly, and the adults all couldn't help but laugh.

"You want a helicopter?" Christian asked him, and Ted nodded enthusiastically. "Well, I'm sorry I can't give you mine, but I can show it to you if you'd like?"

"Yeah!" Ted squealed happily.

Christian chuckled. "Well, come on then - let's go."

He, Ted, Ana, and Ray all made their way over to the pickup truck so they could head out to the valley where Christian's helicopter was. As they walked along, Ray fell in step beside his daughter and placed his arm around her shoulders, giving her a side hug and shoulder squeeze. Ana giggled.

"Feel better now, sweetheart?" he asked, and Ana smiled sincerely.

"I do," she said, and Ray knew she was telling the truth. He nodded.

"Good."

~/~

The look of awe and excitement on Ted's face when he got an up-close look at Christian's helicopter was adorable, and Ana couldn't help but smile as Christian let Ted look all around the helicopter and inside the cockpit. Even her father looked impressed as Christian began to explain to him all the training he had to take when first starting to learn how to fly Charlie Tango.

Ana grinned as she watched her father and boyfriend bond over Christian's helicopter. She enjoyed seeing her two favorite guys in the world getting along so well.

Ted suddenly ran past her, giggling excitedly as he pretended to be an airplane.

Make that my three favorite guys in the world, Ana grinned as she watched her son goofing around. Ted suddenly spun around and ran toward his mother, and she knelt down before scooping him up in her arms, causing him to squeal happily.

The four of them spent about an hour by Charlie Tango before they all walked over to the newly-constructed Luxury Country Homes building nearby. Christian, Ray, and Ana all began talking about when the business was going to open, and Christian explained that Elliot had finally found the crew he wanted working at LCH. Later in the week he was going to ship the new furniture, desks, and shelving here so it could be fully furnished. Ana couldn't help but look at the LCH building with a smile on her face - even now, after all was said and done, she felt incredibly proud that she had helped build this place.

"It's getting close to dinnertime," Ray noted after they had been talking awhile, and he checked his watch. "We should probably head back soon. I'm sorry, Christian - were you going to head back to Seattle this evening?"

"Actually no - I was going to stay in Easton for the night," Christian said, looking a bit embarrassed. "All my luggage is back inside the helicopter… I'd hoped to spend a bit more time with Ana and the rest of you guys today. In fact, I rented out the same Airbnb I had stayed in during my time here, but just for tonight."

"We actually have a spare bedroom in our house. You could've just asked to spend the night with us," Ray insisted.

"Oh no, Ray. I couldn't impose upon you like that…" Christian said politely.

"Oh please, it wouldn't be an imposition. And it's better than you spending all that extra money on a rental home you're only using for one night."

"Christian's a billionaire, Dad - I doubt him spending money for one night in a rental home is going to break him," Ana said amusedly to her father before turning to Christian. "You can stay at the rental home tonight if you'd like, but would you like to come over to our place for dinner at least?"

"I'd love to Ana," Christian smiled at her. "But I was kind of hoping I could take all you guys out for dinner tonight. My treat."

"That's very kind of you son, but the only restaurants you're gonna find out here are breakfast diners and dive bars," Ray smirked. "You can have dinner with us - I'm gonna fire up the grill and cook up some hamburgers, and Ana's gonna make her famous potato salad. What do you say?"

"Sounds great - thank you Ray," Christian grinned, glancing over at Ana beside him. Ana put her arm around his waist, and Christian wrapped his arm around her shoulders before kissing her sweetly on the forehead.

"Let's go, lovebirds," Ray smirked at them, and Ana and Christian laughed before following him over to Ted so they could head back to the house.

~Christian~

The relief Christian had felt upon seeing Ana as soon as he stepped off the helicopter was overwhelming, and he was even happier when she ran up to him, threw her arms around him, and kissed him right there in the middle of the field. A part of him had been concerned she didn't want anything to do with him after their fight back at Escala, but as soon as she reciprocated his proclamation of love, suddenly everything felt right in the world. Christian didn't know what he had done right in his life to deserve a girl like Ana, but he was damn sure he would do everything in his power to keep her with him as long as she'd let him.

After spending a wonderful afternoon with Ana, Ray, and Ted, the four of them went back to the house for dinner, and Christian opted to help out Ray on the back patio grilling hamburgers. Both of them were drinking beer and talking about the Mariners, and inside Ana was setting the table in the dining room while Ted played with his toy cars on the kitchen floor.

Christian watched his beautiful girlfriend through the patio door, enjoying the domesticity of having dinner with her, her father and her son. There was no security, no GEH, and no work whatsoever - it was wonderful.

"You really love her, don't you?" Ray asked, noticing the smile on Christian's face as he gazed at Ana through the window.

"I do," Christian smiled, turning back to Ray. "I wouldn't be here right now if I didn't. I made sure to tell her I loved her as soon as I got here."

"I'm glad," Ray chuckled, flipping a couple of the hamburgers as they sizzled on the grill. "She loves you too, y'know. I can see it in her eyes."

"Really?" Christian asked before glancing back over at Ana, grinning happily. "She means the world to me, Ray - she and Ted both. It would kill me if anything happened to either of them."

"I'm glad to hear that from you, son. I really enjoy seeing my little girl this happy, and if you don't mind my saying so, I hope that someday down the line you'll make an honest woman out of her."

Christian looked over at Ray, a little surprised. While he had no doubt in his mind he wanted to marry Ana someday, he wasn't sure if it was something he should be discussing with her father like this. "I hope so too, Ray. But that's probably something Ana and I should talk about first."

"Understandable," Ray nodded with a smile. "Burgers are ready if you want to grab me a plate to put them on."

Christian hurried inside to get a plate, and he saw that Ana had finished the rest of the meal. He helped Ray get all the burgers plated up before bringing it in the dining room where Ana and Ted were waiting.

The four of them had a wonderful meal where they all talked and laughed while eating their delicious dinner of burgers, potato salad, coleslaw, fruit salad, and chips. Christian couldn't remember the last time he had had so much fun at a dinner, except for maybe those summer barbecues he and his family had had when he was a kid. Christian realized he hadn't introduced Ana and Ted to his parents yet, and he resolved himself to do so the next time they came to visit him in Seattle.

Dinner commenced for several hours, with it eventually ending with a dessert of rocky road ice cream. It was past Ted's bedtime at this point, and he was practically nodding off into his bowl, much to everyone's amusement. Ana walked over to pick him up in her arms so she could take him to bed.

"I should probably head back to my place," Christian said reluctantly, getting to his feet as well and stretching his back after having to sit down for so long.

"Just wait a few more minutes and I'll walk over with you," Ana said to Christian before heading down the hall carrying a sleeping Ted in her arms. Christian went to put his shoes on while Ray finished cleaning up everyone's empty ice cream bowls.

After a few minutes, Ana walked back out to put her shoes on as well. "Alright, let's go."

"If I don't see you again tomorrow, Christian, goodbye," Ray said, walking over to shake Christian's hand. He brought his other hand up to grasp his arm. "We're glad you came to Easton today."

"I am too," Christian grinned. "Bye Ray."

Christian and Ana then made their way out the front door and began walking together to the house next door. The sun had gone down at this point, making the sky a dark inky blue; out here and away from the city lights, Christian could see every single star in the night sky.

"I was wondering if you would like to go somewhere with me and Ted tomorrow morning," Ana suddenly said, and Christian looked over at her. "I understand if you have to leave early for Seattle, but this shouldn't take more than half an hour or so."

"Okay," Christian said, feeling curious. "Where are we going exactly?"

"You'll see," Ana said simply, a small smirk on her face, and Christian chuckled.

"Okay then, Ms. Steele."

They had arrived at Christian's porch, and they both stopped before entering the front door. Ana turned to Christian. "I should probably head back. If we're going to be up early, I have to be there to wake up Ted and get him ready in the morning."

Christian felt his spirits sink, having hoped he could have spent at least tonight with Ana before he had to head back. "Oh. Okay."

Ana gazed at him for a moment before grinning. "I can't sleep over… but I could probably spend an hour or two here tonight. If you'd like."

Christian stared at her for a moment or two before suddenly grinning, his heartbeat pounding as his arousal immediately spiked. "Oh baby, I love you."

Ana giggled and squealed as Christian suddenly grasped her around the waist and kissed her fiercely, lifting her up in his arms as he did so. She immediately wrapped her legs around his waist, clinging to him tightly as she kissed him back, tangling her fingers in his hair. Christian blindly reached for the door handle and pushed it open, stumbling into the house with his girl in his arms before shutting the door behind them.

A/N: Hope you all enjoyed that! Next chapter Ana takes Christian and Ted somewhere before Christian has to leave. Christian then plans Ana and Ted's next visit to Seattle.

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