Christian glanced at Lewis in confusion 'what the hell has happened between the two of you?' he sighed 'You've never tried raising a child genius who wastes it all on drugs. She doesn't need the drugs, she's not an addict, and she uses it to cope. You know what I mean by self-harming?' Christian nodded grimly and Lewis continued. 'It's the same as that, the cutting, the tattoo's, she does it all for some 'coping' thing, I don't know. I've never understood it to be honest; she's only used the drugs when she's depressed'. Lewis looked both annoyed and disheartened 'I can't go around running after her anymore, I'm too sick'. He glanced over his father and saw the pain behind his eyes and the premature wrinkles on his face. Christian made a split second decision and nodded 'I'll take her in, where's she gone?'. Lewis looked surprised 'you don't know her, in all fairness son, she's not the easiest kid in the world' there was a pause and he sighed 'It's fine. She's my sister. I'll take her in; I just need to find her'
Christian left the house minutes later, nodding to Taylor who was standing beside the car still, watching the house intently 'Taylor, which way did she go?' he pointed down the road and was in the car before Christian was. 'She can't have gone far, she only passed a few minutes ago'.
It took them nearly half an hour before they found her, sitting on a low wall in a narrow street between two sets of houses in the quiet suburb. Christian abruptly asked Taylor to pull over and he hurried across the street into the narrow street, 'Ivy?' she glanced up from the floor and he saw the dark look in her red eyes, the tear stains on her cheeks and the light trail of smoke from her hand.
She saw where his eye line was and shook her head 'It's just a cigarette, it's nothing illegal'. Christian half rolled his eyes 'yes well actually you're under 18 so…never mind' Christian sat down opposite her, eyeing her warily 'you're not easy to track down Ivy' she took a long drag of the cigarette 'that's why my Dad gave up tracking me down- 'our´ Dad, I should say'. She sighed and fiddled with her hair idly, looking at anywhere but Christian, who sat back against the railings opposite. 'I want you to come and live with me' Ivy looked up slightly, an eyebrow raised 'look, I get that you think you owe me something because we're related, but you never even knew I existed until a few hours ago. Anyway, you're a Grey, you've got a few siblings already haven't you?' He blinked 'how do you know that?'.
Ivy shrugged 'I read the papers and watch the news, the Grey's are pretty big in Seattle, we get a lot of City news out here- it's not like anything happens around here'. There was a pause and she laughed slightly 'well, the only idle gossip anyone ever has is about me to be honest'. Christian cocked his head to one side, questioning her 'don't pretend you don't know about my drug convictions, I saw the way you looked at my wrist and the crooks of my arms- no one does that unless they have a reason'. He didn't much know what to say and they sat in silence for a little bit, as Ivy slowly finished the cigarette 'you weren't even aware your father was alive until today, you don't want to look after me. And anyway, I can look after myself'. Christian saw the pain and anger in her eyes, behind the casual tone of her voice. 'Look, please? Will you at least consider it? Living with me- just give it a try?'.
There was a long pause where Ivy looked at him impassively but she shook her head, shrugging 'I'll consider it I guess'. Christian stood up when she got to her feet 'you'll come back with me to Seattle?' she shook her head 'No. I said I'd consider it, I didn't say yes did I?'. Without another word she started to walk down the other way on the little street. She only stopped when Christian began shouting her name loudly and she heard heavy footsteps behind her. He was looking annoyed and a little dejected, holding out a business card to her 'contact me, when you change your mind'. Ivy took the card and narrowed her eyes ''when' I change my mind?' she looked a little amused and Christian sighed. 'You can't just wonder the streets around here all night' 'I'm not a feral cat Christian'. He looked distinctly uncomfortable and looked over her again 'you want my address?' 'what for?' 'In case you change your mind?'. Ivy responded with only a shrug.
On the drive back to his father's house Christian began to fill Taylor in on the events he had missed, thinking it was only fair. Taylor listened and only occasionally offered anything in the way of a question or a quick 'Uhuh' to what his boss was saying. It wasn't that Taylor didn't want to know, it was more that Christian was more exercising his mind from the events that had happened, rather than starting a conversation.
Christian knocked awkwardly on the Van Ransburg door and waited for Lewis to open the door 'Oh, Christian…what happened?' 'She won't come with me at the moment; she said she'd consider it…I don't even know where she is right now to be honest…'. Lewis glanced at his watch 'she'll be back later' what followed was a long pause and Christian took out another business card 'take this, contact me anytime. I'll speak to the hospital tomorrow about what we're going to do…I have to head back to Seattle now though. I have business tomorrow morning'. Lewis took the card and glanced over it, looking at Christian with an unreadable expression 'you're a good man, I'm glad you made something of yourself…hopefully one day I can say that about my other child'.
The drive home seemed to take hours for Christian. He called his mother on the way and told her what had happened, for some reason Grace seemed to think that he would appreciate a Grey family meal cooked by Mia was going to make him feel better. Admittedly Mia's cooking was incredible, but that wasn't really the point.
It was ten O'clock when Christian was sitting quietly at the end of the table, not really listening to the conversation Elliot was having with Carrick on the table and he was moving the food idly around. At this moment his Blackberry buzzed and he saw the text come up:
Ivy came back, had a huge argument. She packed her stuff and left a few hours ago, I assume she's going to make her way to you sometime soon. If she does- then good luck. Lewis
He blinked in confusion and amazement at the message and sighed, glancing out the window. Grace followed his eye line to the torrential rain beating down 'everything okay?'. He was about to speak when the cell phone rang, 'ESCALA' coming up on the screen. It was the number from the front desk and he answered quickly. 'Mr Grey?' 'yes?' 'there's been a girl sitting on the area outside the apartment block for nearly an hour now, we had someone go out and speak to her, she said she was waiting for you, Sir. Did you want me to call up to your security? I believe Jason is in?'. There was a stunned pause from Christian 'five foot five, long black hair, fringe, very pale, very thin?' 'that sounds like her Sir'.
He hung up quickly and stood up, grabbing his jacket from the back of his chair 'Christian?' 'it's Ivy, she's here, in Seattle. I have to go'. He didn't give them another word or glance before he swept from the room and out of the front door, running from it to his car, the torrential rain beating down on him.
A.N- thanks for all your reviews and favourites etc. i'll try and kee the updates coming relatively quick but I am doing two stories at once so give me a bit of leeway :)