Disclaimer: I own nothing...
A/N: Well, earlier update, so let's press onwards =) I'm enjoying this more because of all your speculating. I'm currently writing chapter 7 so I'm hoping you'll love what's to come!
So without further ado, enjoy and thank you!
Beauty and the Beast – Chapter Three
Grace had watched the surgery of Ana for as much as she could stomach but, she just couldn't continue when her mind was screaming at her – That's your son's girlfriend right there. He lied to you all along. He doesn't even know she's here. No one but you does. That's your son's girlfriend. That's your son's girlfriend. That's your son's girlfriend! The voice was on a vicious loop, tormenting her for being greedy enough to not let Ana out of her sights.
She had a family that needed to know. God, Christian needed to know and yet Grace was compelled to just watch diligently as doctors worked to sew Ana up with the utmost amount of minimal scaring. And yet, it didn't matter how much faith Grace had in the other fellow doctors of the hospital or how the hospital ranked number one for the best in Seattle, she had that seed of doubt buried in her.
Anastasia Steele would still be left with scars on her body.
Wondering to herself, Grace began to mentally note what recovery would be like. Ana would be greeted with more than just this surgery because for now this was all about life saving actions not aesthetic beautification.
In a mad dash, Ana had slipped more into shock and the blood loss finally took its toll listing Ana as unstable and critical. Even without the correct substantiation, Grace knew that if this didn't work and Ana's stats didn't level out, she could well be telling her son his girlfriend was dead and the last words from her mouth was how she had to make him love her. How she felt he couldn't love a monster. How she felt she was a monster.
Her heart broke at the mere thought of it.
The only monster that Grace saw was the monster that did this to Ana. The thought of the person behind this roaming the streets freely made Grace's blood boil. She didn't know Ana but, she knew this woman loved her son. There was no doubt about that. There was no other Christian Trevelyan-Grey. There were no duplicates of the expensive bag with that same 'A' key chain and there was no mistaking the inkling Grace had.
With that thought, she took one last look at the OR she was viewing and decided to leave Ana in the safe hands of two of the best surgeons in the hospital. She excused herself and fled hastily in need of finding sanctuary.
Finding it, she relished the lack of sound. There was no heart monitor going off, no ventilator, no speaking between surgeons as they worked over Ana's body. All the noises that had been a part of her life were no longer that. They were haunting her and she needed a moment to take a step back.
Taking a gulp, Grace looked to Ana's bag. She knew she shouldn't have brought it with her but, in the mad rush of everything; she ended up keeping it with her. Walking over to it, she opened it up and found Ana's phone. Ana's next of kin was her mother so finding that number wasn't hard but, when she unlocked the screen she found what almost amount to fifty phone calls from Christian. That was truth enough.
It didn't take her long before Grace began pacing the doctor's staff room, phone in hand. She had immediately contacted Ana's family the moment she could. She had heard her mother's voice become distraught with the news but, Grace had vowed to be here for their arrival. Grace couldn't leave until her conscience was settled. Between needing to know Ana's survival rate and needing to tell Christian about what had occurred, Grace felt like she was losing her marbles.
Her heart made a dramatic pause before falling into her stomach.
Throwing the phone back into the bag, Grace took a deep breath to gather some sense of serenity before she hit speed dial for her son. She didn't have to wait long for an answer and that both pleased and displeased her.
"What?" Christian barked down the phone as he answered.
"I'm guessing you're still acting out from our chat earlier," Grace remarked. It was a nervous reaction to offer sarcasm in such a dire moment.
There was nonchalant sigh, "Sorry, mom, it's been an awful day. I hate arguing with you and leaving it like that." Christian spoke apologetically but, Grace picked up that more than that was wrong. "I thought you were at work?"
"I am," Grace told him simplistically. She didn't divulge all just yet.
"Is everything okay?"Christian asked with a heightened tone.
Moment of truth dawned upon her and she had to go straight to the matter at hand. "Do you know an Anastasia Steele?" Grace asked and she didn't realise how apparent her anger was. She hadn't entirely noted how much the deceit in her son's dishonestly hit her heart.
Christian's heart stalled its beating – Did he lie or did he tell the truth?
"No," Christian lied and for the first time ever, he regretted it the moment it slipped out of his lips. Clearly he had lied for so long now it was all he knew to do.
"Okay then," Grace sighed, "So I thought you'd like to know that there's another Christian Trevelyan-Grey living in Seattle." She waited and only heard her son's breathing. "Now tell me the truth, Christian," She began, her tone lowering its octave and becoming dangerous and even hinting at daring him to lie to her again, "Do you know an Anastasia Steele?"
There was a moment of silence that lapsed by before Christian uttered anything, "Yes."
Grace closed her eyes, massaged her forehead as she sank onto a nearby seat, "How do you know her?" She asked and had to tell him the final part. "I know it was her bag earlier. I have it here with me now so don't even think about lying to me." She also had seen his number in her phone, texts from him, hell her backdrop on her phone was of the pair of them. She had never seen Christian smile quite so hard.
There was a sharp intake of air, "You have it?" Christian asked as though he were a lost child, begging for a way home. "Mom," he managed to say with a tight, pain filled tone, "Why do you have Ana's bag?"
"There was an accident," Grace started to say, hating herself for breaking such heart breaking news to her own son over the phone. "Ana was hurt."
"No," Christian gasped in absolute horror. "You're lying."
Grace didn't even recognise the voice that came down the phone. "I wish I were, Christian. I really wish I was," she spoke with a chaste sob in her voice. "It's her. You know I would never lie to you about anything like this."
Christian felt that comment lance through him. Penetrating his core through and through with its icy coldness. His mother would never lie to him – that was gospel truth – but he chose to lie to her. He didn't deserve honesty so why was she giving him it?
Because she loves you, a voice from beyond beckoned forth at him. She'd never meddle with your heart. She's your mother. She loves you. Like Ana loves you. You stupid fool!
Closing his eyes, Christian admitted his biggest, most heartfelt secret, "I'm in love with her, mom."
"Then I think you need to get to the hospital and prove that," Grace told her son honestly and even though she remembered Ana saying he wouldn't want to see her like she was, Grace felt both parties needed to see one another. Her son had just uttered a sentence so pure and real that Grace knew that Ana would do better if Christian knew. If Ana didn't want him, then that was her decision but, she needed to see him herself. "It's bad."
"What happened to her?" Christian dared to ask his mother and he literally gripped his phone tightly just so that he didn't drop it. "Why do you have her back?"
"She was attacked," Grace breathed out and closed her eyes as she awaited the fallout. "She's in a bad way so I think you need to get here now, Christian." She licked her lips as if to ready for the words to come out easier, "She's in surgery at the moment."
All Grace heard was Christian's sob and she refused to divulge more information just now. She hated that he was sobbing uncontrollably and she wasn't there to help him nor was she there to comfort him. She had to get him to the hospital before she broke down with him. "Get here and I'll tell you everything," Grace instructed her son lightly. "I don't understand why you had to hide her away, Christian. She really loves you. I know that for sure."
"I know she does," Christian sniffed as he tried to calm himself and suddenly he was on his feet. "I'm coming now, mom. Please stay near her. She means more to me than I ever thought. When she left here earlier it was after an argument and seeing her leave killed me. If she dies I don't know how I'll survive. I know she's in good hands with you around." He took a massive gulp of air, "I'm sorry I hid her from you. I will explain everything but, I need to get to her."
"I'll be here waiting," Grace said and just closed her phone and sunk back to the seat she had occupied earlier. She put her head in her hands and didn't move. She felt so caught up in this and Ana, for all intent and purposes, was a stranger. She was like any other patient that she treated but, Grace felt emotional tied to her.
Was Ana both the making and breaking of her son?
"Dr. Grey," a curt voice broke the silence around Grace. "Dr. Grey, your son is here. He's going ballistic." She watched Grace sit up and she gave a sad smile, "You've been in here nearly an hour. We knew we needed to leave you be but, when your son turned up we knew we had to get you."
Standing up, Grace puffed her chest up and smiled, "No, you were right to. I should be working."
"You work hard enough, Dr. Grey. We all knew you were up here, if we needed you we could have paged for you." The nurse held the door open and motioned for Grace to leave first, "He's down at the nurses' station with two men."
She had realised she had sank so far into the abyss of her mind but, apparently she had lost too much time sitting in that room. She had even gone to see how Ana was doing. She had no more to tell her son than she already knew. Walking towards him, she had never felt this nervous before and as he caught sight of her and near enough ran at her, Grace felt a lump form in her throat.
"How is she?" Christian asked, grabbing his mother's arms. "Is she okay?"
Grace didn't speak for a moment. She just stared. She just stared at what her son had become at the hands of a woman. He was in love and it wasn't even a little bit in love. He was head over hills in love and the look in his eyes, that grief, that pain, was so prominent she hoped she never had to finalise to him that Ana wasn't going to make it.
It was the same look she got when she thought about losing her husband. If Carrick died then a part of her would go with him. They were just married by paper, their souls were entwined and he was irreplaceable to her.
"She was when I was last watching her surgery," Grace commented and felt weak suddenly under the watchful gazes of Christian and his henchmen Taylor and Sawyer. She knew these men, spent time with them and here they were with panic and concern laced upon their masculine features. They knew Ana but, she never did and that hurt to know. "Erm, she was attacked with what we can only be glass," she started to speak but, she felt like this was out of body experience. She was telling her son details on a girl he loved and she didn't know who she was. "She's got a lot of facial and chest lacerations. She practically bled out before they got her to the hospital. I was with her until she slipped into unconsciousness and that's when she ended up red lined to the OR."
"No," Christian let a cry out. "Who-who did it? Who the fuck attacked her?"
"I don't know. I don't know, Christian," Grace admitted and pulled Christian more to the side. "It's done severe damage, Christian. Her mental state was not good before the surgery. We won't know what it will be like when she gets out."
"When will that be?" Christian pressed for answers. "When can I see Ana?"
"I don't know," Grace breathed out exasperatedly. "You're not next of kin or related so her surgeon might not grant you answer."
"I'll buy the fucking hospital to get in there," Christian threatened. "Then they won't move me."
Grace winced at the power her son had. "Look, I will try my hardest but when her parents get here they will be granted
"They live outside Seattle. They might not be here for hours," Christian told his mother. Their families might not know of their child's respective partners but, Ana and Christian knew everything about their other halves families. It wasn't a secret. "Did she recognise you?"
Grace shook her head, "she was barely lucid, Christian. Like I said she had major blood loss working against her. She was hysterical as well. I'm surprised she was able to converse like she did." Grace looked at Christian's grey, tearful eyes, "This is going to be a long process after this."
"Dr. Grey," the doctor working on Ana came towards them, interrupting them. "We've brought up your trauma victim. We thought it would be best if you work with her seeing as she responded
"Is that Ana?" Christian asked and looked to his mother, grabbing her hand to prevent her leaving. "Is Ana your trauma victim?"
"Yes," Grace told her son and looked at her colleague. "George, how is she?"
George gave a sympathetic look, "She's still critical but, she's as stable as she's gonna be after that amount of blood loss. We have her hooked up still to blood. We've gotta monitor the cut on her jugular. It caused massive complications during the surgery. She's going to need more surgery but, for today we aimed for saving her life and patching her up the best we could whilst her body lasted. We lost her four times as it was. I wouldn't risk prolonging the operation longer than necessary."
Feeling Christian go weak, Grace turned to him, "I want you to take a seat, Christian. No amount of money is going to get you down there. Let me go and do my job and I will back with news. As soon as she comes to, then I will be here telling you that." She saw Christian remained unmoved and she looked to Taylor, "Keep him here. I need to go down there."
Christian had never hated seeing his mother walk away from more than he did right now and sinking down to the seat behind him was the only thing he could do.
It felt like an eternity before his mother came back and he just shot up from his seat. His angst was getting the better of him and buried under his shock and grief he could feel the volcanic anger readying to erupt in him.
Whoever did this was as good as dead. That was final. Taylor and Sawyer were practically burning with the same feelings. He no long had workers. Because of Ana he had a bigger family. Sawyer and Ana were best friends and there were no insecurities there. Ana would let Christian have them when her entire devotion weighed entirely on Christian.
He now wished the world had seen how in love they had become over the year.
"How is she?" He repeated his sentence from earlier.
"She's stable," Grace replied simply. "You're allowed down there-"
Christian cut her off with formality, "I want Taylor or Sawyer posted on her door. Whoever did this is out there. I don't want to take chances," Christian stated, wanting one of his two best men watching over Ana.
"One step at a time," Grace soothed and took Christian's hand in hers. "I've gotten it okayed for you to come down and see her quickly. She's under constant monitoring but, you're allowed to see for yourself that she is alive and being looked after."
"Okay," Christian whispered, his adrenaline lost.
Grace just gave him a small smile and then led him back to where she had come from. She took Christian to the door of Ana's ICU room and stopped, stalling him with her. "I'll leave you be," Grace rested a hand on her son's shoulder. "I'll be near but, she's in and out at the moment. She's weak as well. She's fragile."
Nodding, he felt his mother leave him be and he just stood stock still looking in, the lump growing in his throat as his eyes burnt with tears as if they were acid. Christian looked through the glass door at Ana as she slept. His hand came up to press against the glass pane as his eyes trailed over her fragile body. She had a bandage covering her left cheek, one down her neck and her entire chest was little covered, the gown lowered to allow easy access to her injuries. She was covered in tubes and wiring and just swallowed by it all.
This was a sight that was going to haunt him for life and he would never forgive himself for letting her leave the apartment like he had. On a bad note, thinking she was unloved. God, he loved her and if anything, this matter – the one of life and death – only made him realise how much he truly loved her.
And he was scared – how was it possible to love a woman to this extent?
Seeing her eyes open, Christian took a hesitant step forward, his breaths bated, his lips beginning to twist at the sides as he saw her wake up.
The reaction that came from his sweet beguiling girlfriend was one he hadn't anticipated fully.
He was met with absolute devastating fear.