I wanted to post this tomorrow morning, but I woke up at 2 a.m. german time and just couldn't go back to sleep, so here it is, part 1 of the epilog...
I've decided to split the epilog into two parts, otherwise it would have been way too long, at least for my liking... and of course it would have taken even longer for me to finish it... so this is Christian's POV and I will try to post Ana's next week...
5 years later - Christian
I have no idea how I ended up like this. I am tackled down to the sofa by one five-year old and four three-year old girls. Phoebe and Ariana each have one of my feet while Katerina and Gracie each hold one of my hands. Rachel is standing on my thighs, one hand gripping my hair to tilt my head in the position she needs to apply her weapon of choice: bright red lipstick!
Oh well, I guess it goes well with the hot pink nail polish her sisters are applying to my toenails and fingernails. I make a mental note to kill Mia for buying make up sets for the girls. It's kid friendly make up, but still my girls don't need to play with make up. Or use it on me... but today is my girls day and this was what they wanted to do. I hope we are done with this before the security or Ana sees me like this. She is at the children's center with Teddy and Jacob; and on her way home she is going to buy burger for dinner. It's a once a month thing Ana introduced about a year ago. I'm not particular fond of having the kids eat fast food, but I guess Ana is right when she says that we can't keep them away from it forever and the more we ban it from their diet the more they are going to eat it once they are older and out with friends.
I look at my girls who turned three last month and my mind automatically drifts back to the day they were born.
Flashback 3 years ago
"Do you want anything else baby?" I ask Ana as I am about to leave the hospital room that has become a second home for us in the last four months.
"No, just ice cream, lots of it." Ana grins and for a moment I can see my happy wife again. She has been miserable for months now, but then again, what does one expect from a woman who is carrying quintuplets.
"Okay, I'll be quick. Jenny will bring Teddy and Rachel later" I blow her a kiss and leave the room.
Fuck, I will never forget the day in Dr. Fisher's office when she told us we are expecting not one but five babies. Ana and I decided to have another baby after our twins turned one and after four months of trying Ana stormed into my study holding a positive test in her hands. We were so happy... well until that day in Dr. Fisher's office. I could tell from the look on her face when she looked at the monitor that something wasn't right. When she said we are expecting multiples I thought so what, we already have twins, so having another set of twins will be great... and then she told us that there are five babies growing inside of my wife.
All I could think of was can Ana even carry five babies and survive it... and what about the babies? There is no way any woman can carry five babies full term, much less so my petite wife.
Ana was absolutely shocked. I know most people will think that this is a blessing. But when you actually face a pregnancy like that with all the risks and the possibility that one or even all babies are not going to make it because of being born premature it's not a blessing, at least until the pregnancy is over and the babies as well as Ana are fine.
Dr. Fisher talked to us for nearly two hours, giving us the time to ask all sort of questions that came to our minds. When she asked us if we would consider to abort one or two of the embryos to give the rest a better chance Ana and I looked at each other and we both knew that we couldn't do that. Not to mention the risk to lose them all during the process, but I don't think I could have looked at my children without questioning myself if we made the wrong choice or how the other two would have turned out.
So, we decided to go through with the pregnancy and I can honestly say that without our family and friends, we wouldn't have made it this far. The moment we told them what was going on the all jumped into action. My mom called a colleague of her's who is a specialist in the field of pregnancies with multiples. Now, Dr. Pierce and Dr. Fisher are Ana's doctors.
Elliot started to make plans for what he calls Operation Baby Suite. We actually had to remove two walls to make enough space for a nursery that can house five babies. Knowing that sooner or later they all need their own rooms, leaving us with zero guest rooms, we decided to build a guest house on our property. It's almost finished by now and the nursery is complete. Kate, Mia and Jenny have spent hours on end decorating it, since Ana is on bed rest for four months now and I spend most of the time in the hospital with her.
Ray moved into our house for the time being. He along with Maria takes care of Rachel and Teddy. Jenny is there most of the time, too. But she moved in with her boyfriend about six months ago and he is the best thing for her. I guess I can openly admit it now, I really like my sister-in-law.
Gail, Sawyer and Taylor have helped us find a nurse and two nannies, who are all going to stay with us once the babies are born and at home with us. I'm glad Ana agreed with me on this. She will probably need some time to recover and even if not, we already have two very active two-year olds, now add five newborns to the mix and there is no way in hell, that we can give them all the time and care they deserve without having professional help.
Now with Ana being almost 31 weeks pregnant we both know that it's only a matter of days or weeks before the babies have to be delivered via c-section. The doctors told us once Ana has reached the 30th week of her pregnancy they would have Ana under constant watch so they could deliver the babies when ever neccesary, though week 33 is the date where they have to be delivered. So, two more weeks. Christ, I never thought Ana would make it that far. She can't even get out of bed alone, let alone stand without help. Her belly is huge and by huge I am talking about enormous, gigantic... fuck, I don't even have the right words to describe it. I know she is worried that I won't find her attractive anymore after the babies are born, because as she says her belly will be ruined, but I couldn't care less. All I want is for her and the babies to come out of this alive and healthy. I have told her this over and over, but I guess the one time I've joked about it left her with insecurities. Shit, I could still kick myself for joking that if her belly would look like the one of a ninety year old woman I could still fuck her from behind so I wouldn't have to see it. Yeah, I know, stupid joke. But normally Ana knows I am just joking when I say things like that, I just didn't take her ragging hormones into account and since then I have tried to reassure her, but she doesn't even listen.
I make my way to the nearest ice cream shop and get Ana's favorite, this week it's mint with chocolate sauce, although that can change rather quickly so I might have to make another visit to the shop later. As I arrive back at the hospital and make my way to Ana's room I frown. Taylor is not outside the room. Usually, he is here unless Wellens or one of the other guys stop by to relief him. I open the door and my hearts start to pound. The spot where Ana's bed was is now empty... oh fuck.. no! No no no! I drop the ice cream and run to the nurses room which is also empty and then I see Taylor come running towards me. His face is ashen and I know in this moment what ever happened it's bad.
"Sir, follow me"
"What happened, Taylor?" I ask while we are both running down the hallway and he says nothing.
"Taylor! What happened? Where is my wife, Jason?" I snap and he stops outside the OR.
"She is in there, Sir undergoing emergency c-section. I'm not sure what happened. I've heard Mrs. Grey scream and everything happened so fast" he mutters and I know there is something he isn't telling me.
"What aren't you telling me, Jason?"
"Sir, I... I'm not a doctor and..." in this moment I lose it. My wife...my life is in there in emergency c-section and he is not telling me what happened. I grab him and slam him against the wall.
"Fucking tell me what happened!"
"Please calm down, Sir. You don't want to get removed from the hospital security now" he says and I let go glaring at him.
He sighs and suddenly he punches the wall leaving a dent in it. "I've heard Dr. Pierce say that the have to hurry, because Mrs. Grey... she is losing too much blood and wasn't responding."
"I need to get in there, I promised her ... I ..."
"Sir... Christian, stop! They won't allow you inside. Call your mother, maybe she as a doctor is allowed in or can get information." Taylor looks at me pleadingly, he knows I am about to lose it and other than Ana, my mom is the only person to keep me from destroying the place.
3 Minutes later my mom comes running down the hallway and pulls me into her arms.
"What happened Christian? Did Ana went into labor?" she asks gently.
"I don't know, Mom. I was getting ice cream for her and when I returned she was already in the OR. Taylor heard them say something about her losing too much blood and that she wasn't responding. Can you go inside and look what is happening?"
"No, I can call, but barging in there is not a good idea, there is a large team of nurses, midwives and doctors all trained to give Ana and the babies the best possible care. Let me make the call."
When my Mom ends the call she looks worried and that only fuels my anxiety. I have never felt so helpless in my life and I am almost afraid to hear what she is going to say next.
"Mom, please what is going on?"
"They are delivering the babies as we speak, Ana started to bleed heavily, most likely due to a tear in her uterus. They are going to do everything they can, Christian, but this could mean that they have to remove her uterus, so Ana won't be able to have more children."
I stare at my mother and before I can stop myself the words come out of my mouth.
"Are you kidding me, Mom? Do you honestly think Ana and I would ever try to have a baby again? We had twins the first time and quints the second, there is no way in hell we are trying again. I had the snip two months ago." I damn near scream and my Mom nods.
"I am sorry, Christian. But I need you to stay calm. Once the babies are delivered you can see them and..."
"No! I am not leaving this hallway until I know that my wife is going to be fine!" I know Ana will have my ass for not being with our babies as soon as possible, but I have this terrible feeling in my gut that I might lose my wife and this is the closest I can be to her at the moment.
"Of course. I am going to call the rest of the family. Gail and Maria can watch Rachel and Teddy so the rest can be here."
"Yes, ask Mia, Kate and Jenny to stay with the babies, please. Taylor, call Jose and Dave, they can stay with the babies, too."
And from this point on all I can do is wait. My Dad, Elliot, Luke, Ray and Patrick arrive after a while and the women along with Jose and Dave who moved back to Seattle a couple of months ago are at the NICU waiting for the babies to arrive there.
I am pacing the hallway like a caged panther praying to god and every higher power there might be not to take my wife away from me. I wouldn't survive it, she is my lifeline and without her I am lost.
After what feels like ages the doors to the OR open and Doctor Pierce comes out.
"How is my wife, are the babies alright? Can I see Ana? Why did it..."
"Mr. Grey, please. Your wife is in recovery, she is going to be fine. She lost a lot of blood, but we were able to save her uterus. Actually, you can be lucky that your wife was pregnant with quintuplets, the extra blood she had in her system to carry the babies saved her life. Your babies are on the NICU already. They are as expected small and light, but I am confident that they are all going to grow into happy healthy babies. Your wife did a perfect job by carrying them as long as she did."
"Can I see my wife?"
"Once she is out of recovery and..."
"Please, I want to see my wife"
"Fine, please follow me. But keep in mind that your wife is very weak at the moment. She needs rest, no stress. We will put her on the ICU for the next couple of days. I know she wanted to see the babies right away, but for now she needs absolute rest." Dr. Pierce says as he leads me to the recovery and when I see Ana tears well up in my eyes. She looks deathly pale, her enormous belly seems to have inflated and she looks so fragile and tiny in the hospital bed. I sit down on the chair Dr. Pierce has brought in for me and take her hand in mine. It's so cold, but I don't care. All I can think of is we made it. The babies are born and Ana is going to be fine.
After a while I see her eyes flutter and then I look into her beautiful blue eyes.
"The babies... ok?"
"Yes, they are fine. You worried us a little."
"I want to see the babies, please." she rasps and I kiss her forehead.
"Not now baby, you need to rest. You can see them soon enough."
"Then you go, please. The babies need you more."
"Baby you need me too." I try to tell her but even after all she went through today she glares at me.
"Either you go or I will!"
"Okay, okay, I'll go, but you have to calm down. I'll send your Dad in to sit with you."
With that she nods weakly and her eyes shut again. "I love you, baby. So so much" I whisper into her ear and kiss her soft lips before leaving the recovery room.
10 minutes later I enter the NICU and it's a little overwhelming to see five incubators and in each of them is one of my children. So tiny and fragile, but all utterly perfect.
"Congratulations, Mr. Grey your children are absolutely adorable. Do you want to know what you got?" The nurse asks and I nod. Ana and I decided not to find out what sex our quints have. We knew this would be our last babies and we wanted it to be a surprise.
"You have one boy and four girls, Mr. Grey." she says and for a second I feel like I am going to faint. I guess if god truly does exist and I believe he does, he is now laughing at me. The guy who saw himself as a misogynist is now father of five girls and two boys. Christ, I am going to die of a heart attack once my girls turn into teenagers.
"Do you have picked names?" the nurse asks and I nod. Ana and I have made a list with five girl and five boy names and we made a list for every possible outcome so I know exactly which names to give them. I step closer to the first incubator where Mia is standing and smile at the tiny little girl inside.
"That's Grace Mia Grey" I say and Mia gasps, but I go on to the next incubator where another girl is lying inside. "And this little lady is Phoebe Patricia Grey" I step closer to the next incubator and see my second son in it. "His name is Jacob Elliot Grey" I watch the nurse as she writes the names down and walk to the next incubator. "This is Katerina Jennifer Grey. And last but not least we have Miss Ariana Carrie Grey."
Ana and I have decided we wanted to give them names that are either names of our family members or variations thereof, I wanted to name one girl after Ana, but she hated the idea just like I didn't want to name one of our children Christian or Christina, but I got Ana to agree on the name Ariana, which at least has Ana in it.
Looking at all my children I feel blessed and I know that this tiny babies will always be loved by everyone who knows them simply because they are adorable. My children will never have to hungry or afraid like I was. I will protect them with all that I have.
End of flashback
Two days after they were born Ana refused to stay in bed any longer. She was like a woman on a mission, determined to see her children and hold them in her arms. So the nurse got a wheelchair and the moment she was in the NICU Ana started to cry. I reassured her that even though they were all very petite they were all healthy and strong and Ana finally confessed that she never believed that she and all of the babies would make it. She was crying because she was so happy to see them all alive and because she was still here to see them.
Her recovery took some time, but 8 weeks later when we could take our babies home Ana was back to her old self, which was good, because our home turned into one giant nursery. Actually, at one point I was sure we would drown in shitty diapers and more than once I felt like getting in the car and just keep driving so I wouldn't have to hear one of the babies crying again. But I pulled myself together and by the time I had to go back to GEH I made a decision. Ana needed me more at home than I was needed at Grey House. More so, I didn't want to go back full-time and leave Ana at home with 5 newborns and 2 toddlers. So, I talked to Ros and made her the CEO of GEH. My position now is President of the company.
I work mainly from my study and only go to the office for important meetings. Ana has a strict rule for the kids that they are not to barge into my study or make noise outside of it as long as I am inside and the door is closed which, much to my surprise, really works. I never thought that I would ever step back from my work, but with 7 young kids it was the right thing to do, especially because Ana fired the nurse and both nannies after six months of them staying here with us.
It just didn't work out for us. Each of them had their own opinion on how to take care of the babies and Ana ended up more than once crying herself to sleep feeling completely useless as a mother, because they all kept telling her different things and Ana actually tried to follow through with everything which, of course, was absolutely impossible. One day when the quints had just turned six months Ana finally had enough and fired them all on the spot. And in hindsight, it was the absolute right thing to do. Ana relaxed and with her the babies did. Two weeks after the nannies and the nurse had left, our babies slept all through the night for the first, which was absolutely amazing to us.
So, now it's just us taking care of our kids. Sure, we have the security and Maria, but for most parts it is just us. If we need a babysitter our family is always there to help out and Gail and Taylor love to watch them, too.
"Daddy, pucker your lips, like that" Rachel announces, pulling me back from my thoughts and when I look at her she has her lips puckered in the most dramatic way.
"Darling, do you really think I need this lipstick?" I ask hoping that she will give up, but no, no such luck, so I give in and she applies what feels like the entire lipstick to my lips.
15 minutes later my toenails and fingernails are painted in hot pink, my lips and most likely half of my chin are covered in bright red lipstick and my hair is tucked back with lots of little hair clips with glitter and bows on them. Christ, I hope no one sees me like this.
"Daddy we are thirsty" Ariana says and all her sisters nod in agreement. I look at my watch, Ana should be here any minute now with the boys, so I might as well get the table ready for dinner as today is Maria's day off.
About 2 years ago she and Ray finally opened up about their relationship. My guess is that this started way before he and Carla separated, but I keep my mouth shut. They are happy together and live in a small house down the road, happily together, but not married. I know Ana would love for them to marry, but both of them always say they are happy as it is.
Talking about Carla, I have no idea how she did it, but she landed herself a millionaire who is spoiling her rotten and she is happy as shit with him. He is a pretty decent guy and actually insisted that Carla would contact her kids again. Ana was skeptic at first and I didn't want to have anything to do with that woman ever again, but after a while Ana agreed to meet once. It was fucking awkward. She didn't have any interest in her grandchildren, ignored Jenny and Patrick almost completely and just did a little small talk with Ana while her husband acted like they were his kids and grandchildren. So far we have seen them twice in almost three years and both Ana and I agree that this is as much as we can take when it comes to meeting her mother.
I walk into the kitchen and get five pink Disney Princess cups out of the cupboard careful to pick each with the same princess or else my girls will go into full war mode fighting about who gets which princess cup. Next I open the fridge and get the flavored water out, five different bottles, because while they all want the exact same cup, each of my girls likes a different flavor.
A minute later they are all happily sipping their water, when I hear Ana's voice from the entrance.
"Wait until your father hears what the two of you did today. No cartoons for both of you for the rest of the week!" Oh boy, sounds like our boys misbehaved and Ana had enough. She usually never raises her voice against the kids, but she sounds pissed. I hear footsteps coming closer and turn around when they reach the kitchen only to find Taylor, Wellens, Howard, Ana and they boys gaping at me open-mouthed.
"Everything alright?" I ask and Ana makes a weird grunting noise. "Did you just grunt, Ana?" and with that my wife succumbs to a fit of full-blown laughter.
"Oh my god, I'm sorry... sorry, but I have to take a picture of you" she laughs and snaps a picture with her phone.
"Could you please tell me what the heck is going on here?" I ask her as my patients is wearing thin slowly and Ana shows me the picture on her phone she just took. Well fuck, I'm still full of nail polish, red lipstick and freaking hairclips.
"I guess I am going to wash that stuff off" I mutter and hurry upstairs into our bathroom.
Jesus H. Christ, what is this shit made of? Is that shit permanent, because even after scrubbing at my face like an idiot I can still faintly see the lipstick.
"Hey, here I have nail polish remover" Ana says when she comes in and sits down on the floor where she starts to remove the nail polish from my toenails.
"Remind me to kill Mia, she got each of the girls theses fucking make up sets, Christ, that shit just doesn't come off."
"Use a tissue and some of my make up remover over there" Ana points at a purple bottle and the box of tissues.
"Are the kids alone in the kitchen?" If they are I am sure there won't be any food left for Ana and I.
"No, Wellens and Taylor are watching them." she says and her tone shows me that she is mad.
"Wanna tell me what our boys did?"
"You mean what your sons did?" she snaps and I hide my smirk. Every time our children do something naughty they become automatically my children, not hers.
"Yes, please tell me."
"Fine, we left the center and the paps followed us to KFC. I told Wellens to drive to the drive through, but the line was way to long and inside were only like 3 customers, so we decided to go in. When we wanted to go back to the car there were like ten paps calling out to me to look at them and then it happened. Your son, Jacob, flipped them the bird and to make things even worse your other son told them to fuck off. Can you imagine that? And it made me think, where could our boys have seen and heard that before?" With every word she said Ana has starts to scrub at me toenails harder until I have to take a step back or I might end up with a broken toe.
"Ana, I promise you they didn't hear me tell anyone to fuck off and flipping the bird, that is not my style and you know it." I defend myself.
"But somehow they learned it Christian, do you have any idea how mortifying it was to see my little angels act like that. There was another family on their way to their car and you should have seen the looks they have given me. Our sons are five and three, I don't want them to behave like they are raised by parents who cuss all the time or flip each other off!"
I am pretty sure I know where they boys learned that. Elliot flips people off left and right, while Taylor tells the paps to fuck off so often it has become his trademark line over the years. But I won't tell Ana before I am 100 percent sure, because she is going to kill them first and ask questions later. Damn it, I need to make sure those pictures I am sure the fucking paps have taking won't go online. The last thing I need are pictures of Jacob flipping the paps off all over the internet and newspapers.
"I'll take care of it, baby I promise. How was the class?"
"Perfect, the boys love it." now that I have moved the topic to the dance class Ana gives once a week at the center she seemed much happier. True to my word, I found a way to give Ana the last big dance she was dreaming about. Since Jose was on Dancing with the Stars and I knew they wanted Ana as contestant, but couldn't do it as she has a background as professional dancer I talked to the producers and they agreed to have Ana as guest judge on the show. Since she was already there they also wanted her to do one special performance with Jose and I have to say I never truly understood how talented my wife was until I saw what she could do on the dance floor and how much she glowed while she was dancing.
So, when she came to me 4 months ago and told me that she would like to give dance classes at her child's center I was all for it. She asked the kids if some of them wanted to take the class and funny enough only the boys were all for it. Needless to say that I was less than happy at first. I want my boys to play football or soccer or baseball and not do ballroom dancing, but Ana told me that they are just small boys and with time they will like other things. Secretly, I think that Jacob only went because Teddy wanted to go.
Those two are inseparable. If I didn't know better I would say our boys are the twins and our girls are the quints. Teddy and Jacob both had their own bedroom, but every morning we would find either Teddy in Jacob's bed or the other way around. So, Ana and I asked them if they wanted to sleep in one room together and have the other as their playroom and they both were completely excited.
I wish the girls were that easy, too. Don't get me wrong, I love all my kids more than life itself, but good grief, my girls can drive me insane. Where the boys can happily play with one toy together, the girls need each their own and even if we buy them identical toys they checked if what the others got is better. One time they all wanted the same stupid doll. We took them to the toy store and there were only four of the dolls left. I literally started to sweat because I knew they would throw a fit in the middle of the god damn store. And they did, for about five seconds, because that was how long it took Ana to tell them if they don't behave neither would get anything.
When it comes to the girls Ana has to be the strict parent. Just looking at all of my Ana mini me's with the brown curls, pouty lips and huge blue or grey eyes makes me want to give them what ever they are asking for. It's not that my boys could get anything from me too, but it's just different with girls. They look at you like you are their own personal hero and our kids are so adorable it makes it hard to say no. Ana tells me it's hard for her too, but she is a lot stricter than I am when it comes to our kids. Where I don't mind them staying up a little longer, Ana is adamant about sending them to bed at the exact same time every day and having them on a perfectly structured schedule.
I have to admit it works. Sure sometimes we have a hard time getting them all to sleep and Ana's rule about having the kids eat what is put in front of them is not a favorite of the kids, but so far we haven't succumb to chaos and for most parts our kids are very well-behaved. I wouldn't admit it out loud, but I am thankful as fuck that our kids aren't anything like Mia's little monsters. She has two more kids Alicia and Brianna, those two girls are something else, which in my mind has a lot to do with my sister's and Luke's parenting style. They believe kids need to find their own rules and should just be treated like tiny grown ups. Call me crazy, but that is not how it works and it shows. Her kids are all over the place, last time we watch them for her Alicia took of her dirty diaper and started to play with her own shit. When I told her no and grabbed her to get her cleaned up and changed she threw a temper tantrum of epic proportions.
When Mia came to pick her kids up I told her she needed to tell Alicia that this wasn't okay, Mia and I locked horns because she wouldn't see my point. I talked to my parents and they see it the same way, but telling Mia that she needs to work on her parenting skills is not as easy as it sounds. Ana thinks it will get better once her kids are in school but I doubt that. Elliot kids on the other hand turned out as quite a surprise, we all thought between Kate and Elliot their kids would be a handful, but Rosalie and Malcolm are both cute as shit and totally well-behaved kids.
And then we have little Elijah Taylor. I know one day that kid is going to end up my son-in-law. He adores all the girls, but from the moment we brought the quints home it was Ariana who became his favorite of the girls. Now, they are best friends and once he is here you find those two playing together while the rest of the kids are playing somewhere else. I am still not sure if I like the idea of my little girl dating Elijah one day, but it's better than her meeting some guy I have to run background checks on.
Once I am looking like my normal self again we all have dinner and while Ana is getting the girls ready for bed I make my way to the room of the boys and find them sitting on their beds. From the way they are not looking at me, they know they are in trouble.
"Ted, Jacob your mother told me what you two did today. Where did you hear those words and saw that gesture?" I ask them and I am greeted with silence.
"Theodore, Jacob, I am serious about this. I don't want my sons to behave the way you did today, and I want to know where you learned that."
Finally Jacob cracks, out of all our kids, he hates it the most when I am mad at them and he always tries to fix things, this boy may look like me, but character wise he is a lot like Ana.
"Toby Powell, daddy, he says and does it alotta timed. And then the others goes away." he tells me wide-eyed and nods his little head as if to agree with himself.
"And who is this Toby?" I've never heard that name before and I know all of my kids friends.
"He's a boy from the center, daddy. Mommy says we are not allowed to play with him or talk with him because he has a potty mouth and mommy doesn't want us to have a potty mouth like him." Teddy explains.
"I see, and why did the two of you decide today that you wanted to use those potty words and this less than appropriate gesture?"
Jacob looks at Teddy and he begins to tell me the whole story. "We don't this papapa ... papsapapsi ... papa..."
"Paparazzi son" I help out trying not to laugh at his word constructions.
"Yes, them. They always yell at mommy and you told us yelling is rude. And one of them said something to mommy and we don't want them to talk like that to our mommy."
"Well, what did the man say, Teddy?"
"He said mommy is wearing nice pants and that her ... umm ... you know I am not allowed to say that word he used, can I daddy?"
"Just tell me what the man said" I tell Teddy but it's Jacob who speaks up first.
"He saided Mommy has a nice ass and he wants to bite it, because it lookted so good. I don't wanna man to bite my mommy, we just wanted to protected mommy."
Well fuck, now I actually want to applaud my boys for protecting their mother, but still I don't like my 5 and 3-year-old sons to act like that.
"Okay, Teddy, Jacob I'll let you off the hook with a warning this time. I understand that you wanted to protect mommy, but there are different ways to act. In case of the paparazzi just ignore them. I know it's hard sometimes, but by acknowledging them you two only make them want to get more pictures."
"But what if that man comes again and bites mommy" Jacob seems close to tears thinking about this and I make a mental note to hunt this asshole down and make sure he won't sell a single pictures in this state ever again.
"It's okay, buddy, no one is going to bite your mommy. I promise you, do you think I would allow someone to bite mommy?" I ask as I put him in my lap.
"No, but what if you are not wif mommy when the man wanna bite her?"
"Then Taylor or Wellens or Howard are with mommy, do you think they let anyone bite your mommy?"
They both shake their heads, so I think we are safe for now. "So, no more saying bad words or showing someone the middle finger, alright?"
"Promise, daddy, don't be mad."
"I'm not, now come on, you two need to brush your teeth and get your pj's on."
An hour later all the kids are tucked in, Ana and I have read them their bed time stories and kissed them goodnight. I don't know about other parents, but there are days where I love my kids even more when they are sound asleep.
"How about a glass of wine, Mr. Grey?"
"Yes, please, Mrs. Grey" I sigh. Man, sometimes I feel old these days. Who would have thought, that having 7 kids could be more challenging than being the CEO of a multi-billion dollar company... or maybe I am just getting old.
I follow Ana downstairs and open a bottle of wine while sitting on the sofa in the living room.
"So, did the boys tell you where they learned the f-word and how to flip the bird?" Ana asks and cuddles into my side.
"Yes, a boy from the center Toby Powell."
"Oh no, not again."
"Such a trouble maker?"
"No, well yes, but it's not his fault, he is a clever kid, it's just the circumstances he lives in. He is 7 and his mom just turned 21, her parents are both drinking too much and she works three jobs to meet months end. The boy hangs out with older kids and has anger issues. That is why I told Teddy and Jacob to stay away from him. I tried to offer his mom help, you know the foundation could probably help her, but she declined. I guess she got disappointed too often to think someone is actually going to help her."
"What about his dad?" I ask and Ana sighs deeply. "He left his mom when she found out that she was pregnant. They were kids both 14 and probably had no clue about contraception... he never met his dad."
"Talk to her again, maybe she just needs to see that you are not giving up on her that easily."
"Yes, maybe. So, how was your girls day, I mean aside from getting a nice make over" Ana giggles.
"It was good, I successfully managed to make lunch, well only sandwiches and some cut fruit, but the kitchen is not destroyed and I am rather proud of myself." I smirk. Over the years I tried to learn at least the easy things, like fixing a sandwich that is edible or cook some pasta for the kids. It just didn't sit well with me that I wasn't able to prepare a simple meal for my kids. So, Ana and Gail taught me a couple of things. It took me a while, but now I can fix a simple meal without the fear that eating it is going to kill my kids.
"I am proud of you, Mr. Grey" she giggles and leans in to kiss me. "Let's have seven more kids" she teases and I nearly choke on my wine.
"Do you regret it... that I got the snip?" I ask and she snorts.
"Be real, Christian. I had twins in my first pregnancy and quintuplets in my second. Can you imagine what would have happened if we tried again. No, I will be forever thankful that all of our kids are happy and healthy, and that they still have a mom to be there for them. Sometimes I think it's sad that we won't have another baby in the house, but then I think about endless nights without sleep, countless dirty diapers and gallons of vomit and I am just happy that our kids are now all out of their diapers and able to tell us what they want and need."
"Yes, me too. Though I bet there will come a time where we both will wish we had never taught them how to talk" I joke.
"Maybe we should stop talking, too... can you think of something we could do with less talking" she purrs and her fingers trail down my stomach. Our relationship has changed so much over the years, we have grown stronger and learned how to trust the other blind, we have become a team, parents... a family, but the one thing that, thank god, hasn't changed is that we still can't get enough of each other. Hell, I will never get tired of making love to my wife, because even when we just have a quick fuck it is more fulfilling than anything I have experienced before I've met Ana.
She is not just my wife, she is my love, my life, my more...forever.
I am thinking about doing some one-shots for this story once I have some of my other stories finished, so if you have any suggestions just leave me a review with what you want to see as a one shot :-)