Chapter 14

Carrick sat behind his desk with a glass of Scotch in his hand as he tried to come up with a plan on how to handle the Hyde situation. The fact that the family came back to Bellevue after events like the charity event was working in his favor. Once Elliot and Sawyer came down he would be able to discuss what security measures would have to be put in place; he just hoped that this time the women in his life would not only agree to them, but follow them as well…

Christian buried his head in his hands as the doctor left the crowded waiting room. Taylor stood by the door with the dark haired woman who had been introduced to them simply as Grant. Adam Montague and his wife sat across from him on a couch, while the older man's pseudo-son, Damien and his wife, Savannah sat to their left and the former Corpsman, Marco, and his fiancé, Angelina, sat to his right. "You ok with understanding the medical terminology?" Marc asked.

Christian sighed as he looked up: "I think my mind shut down on the brain and spinal swelling and possible Traumatic Brain Injury."

"Understandable," Marc replied in lightly accented English. "Staci has a serve concussion. Because of the force of the blow there is slight swelling and a minor skull fracture. The force also probably caused the spinal swelling, if not the kicks she received before Luke and Cassie scared off her attacker."

"Which means, what?" Christian wondered with a touch of anger in his voice: "what does it mean other than they don't know when or if she is going to wake up."

"She'll wake up," Karla said simply from her place on Adam's lap.

"No offense but how do you know?"

She sighed and looked over to Angie who shrugged: "Cassie showed us a new sketch she did," she started earning a groan from her husband. "She had never seen you, but she drew you and Staci together and at a very happy time."

"What?" Christian spit out in a cross between confusion and annoyance.

"You wouldn't be the first person she drew without meeting them," Angie put in. "She drew a picture of Luke's later wife, and a child that nobody knew they were supposed to have had."

Christian shook his head: "whatever you need to believe."

"And what do you believe?" Savannah wondered. "Do you believe in her?"

"I believe that she is one of the most stubborn women I have ever met.
I believe that we were supposed to be together.
I believe that she ran away from us because she was afraid of regrets, and now all we have to regret is that time apart.
I believe a hell of a lot of things about Ana, but I don't believe that she'd leave us unfinished."

"You also don't like that we call her Staci," Savanah remarked evenly, trying to keep him focus on Ana, but not on her condition.

"What are you a shrink?"

"LCSW."

"And the difference is?"

"Amount of debt after schooling," she shot back evenly, causing him to smile slightly.

"True. And I have a shrink- on speed dial," he admitted sheepishly. "I'm sure that Taylor already has him en route," Christian added load enough for the man in question to hear.

"He won't be able to fly in till late tomorrow. It was the earliest he could get someone to cover his other patients," Taylor replied.

"Right," Christian sighed as he rose to his feet and started pacing, looking down at his watch: "how much longer till they get her to her room?"

"I'll go find out," Marco said as he went to rise.

"No… don't… I just…" he ran a hand through his hair. "I don't understand any of this!
Why did she leave NY?
Why come here? How did she even meet you people?"

"She left NY because she got tired of her former friend, Kate's, games," Angie replied.

"Former?" Christian asked harshly. "Are you sure you're talking about the same friend that I used to know. She'd never let Ana out of… whatever the hell their co-dependent excuse for a relationship was!"

"She had other friends who helped her get here," Savanah pointed out.

"Went, his fiancé, Cross and his," Christian nodded as he went back to the seat he had vacated. "But what caused the change?"

"She was probably part way out the door when she met us," Karla started, "but I think what did it was when she heard Cassie and I arguing about Adam."

"You didn't tell me this," Adam put in as he looked at his younger wife in surprise.

"You know how Cassie is about you," Karla shrugged as she turned her attention back to Christian. "It was the day after we met her."

"Which was how?"

"She came to our engagement party with my brother," Marc started, adding quickly: "it was just as friends. My brother wanted someone our mother wouldn't complain about.
Ana made a comment about Karla's necklace…"

Christian looked over at the other woman's neck and raised an eyebrow at that: "so that's what they're calling that piece of hardware nowadays."

Marc laughed: "Stac said something along the same lines," he said then sobered a bit: "I was concerned how she knew what it was. Asked if it was because of my brother."

"Was it?'

"Nope. My guess is it was because of you."

Christian smiled slightly: "she was always one for research…"

"Marc thought it would be good for her to spend some time with us," Angie put in. "We hit it off, well, except for when she told Cassie off."

"She did?" Adam asked with a raised eyebrow.

"She wanted to know why roommates turned besties wouldn't/couldn't let us think for ourselves," Karla told her husband as she wrapped her arms around his neck. "Stac said she wished she had had the wherewithal to withstand the criticism like I did.
Cassie actually didn't even realize she was doing it. We had it out and things worked out.
She even apologized to Staci."

"She was Ana then, though," Damien mused.

Savanah nodded: "new start, stronger personality, new name. I can definitely relate to that."

"I'm glad she had people she can count on. I just wish she saw me as one of them," Christian mused.

"From what little she's told us about you- and it never included your name— I think she does," Christian nodded. "How did you two meet?" the blonde wondered, earning a slight laugh from Christian.

Looking down at his folded hands, he smiled: "It became something of a joke between us.
Kate was- thank god- sick with the flu when she was supposed to interview me for the University's paper. Ana came instead.
When she was coming into my office she tripped.
I would say she fell at my feet.
She would reply that that was the only way she was like other women in my life; I would tell her she was right because she was the only one who did that I bothered to pick up."

The women smiled as the men shared amused looks: "and what did she say?" Angie wondered.

"That she stumbled into my life.
I would tease her that she meant stumbled into love with me.
She would tell me that she stumbled into my life and then tumbled head over heels in love with me."

"That's romantic," Karla gushed as a nurse came into the room.

"I guess," he sighed as he looked at the nurse expectantly: "you can go see her now. Two at a time," she informed them.

"You go with Taylor," Adam told him. "We can all see her later- well, when Taylor's outside the room."

Christian nodded as he rose and headed out the door, unaware of the pointed look that Taylor and Adam shared. Once the two men were gone, Adam sent Grant a look causing the woman to roll her eyes and join the group: "Taylor told me he wants to have security set up here for Staci. He wants people that he can trust. Damien, Grant, I suggested the two of you…"

Carrick turned his glass in his hands as he sat across from Sawyer and waited for his oldest child.
One look at his son-in-law's face let him know that he had been made aware of the situation in CO. by the Grey security machine. "Sorry," Elliot said as he entered the study. "Took longer to get away from the wife than I thought."

"Shut the door and then take a seat," Carrick ordered as he got up and poured his son a drink.

"OK, what's going on that I'm going to need a scotch?" Elliot asked as he plopped down in a chair across from the desk. "And does it have anything to do with Christian?"

"Why would you think it has to do with your brother?" Carrick asked as he brought his son the glass and then took his seat.

"Umm… let me see. You risked Mom's ire by not only taking a phone call, but leaving the table during the keynote speaker's speech. Then we all left when you came back to the table, even though Mom love's the band."

"If you thought something had happened with you brother why the hell it take you so damn long to come down to my office?"

"Just because I recognized that things weren't on the up and up doesn't mean that Mani did.
I figured that you wanted to keep this on the down low… so what happened?"

Carrick exhaled as he looked down at the blotter on his desk: "the call was from Taylor. He and Christian were meeting with friends in CO. One was an old female friend of your brother's," he started as he looked up and at Sawyer: "I'm assuming you know who considering you heard from security?"

"Yeah," Sawyer admitted. "And they didn't go behind Taylor. I recognized the change in protocol and called them on it."

Carrick nodded: "She was attacked outside of the club they had met at."

"Who and why?" Elliot wondered.

"Ana Steele and…"

"WTF?" Elliot muttered. "I thought Christian cut ties with her years ago!"

"They have remained friends over the years."

"Why so she could have a chance to fleece his pockets?"

"Elliot, you may be my brother-in-law, but I won't have you talk about a lady like that in my presence, especially one of Ms. Steele's caliber," Sawyer said through gritted teeth.

"She had everyone fooled! Kate told me what those two had planned…"

"Right, because Ms. Kavanagh was a real reliable source. You don't want to know what security called her—on a good day," he cut him off.

"Knock it off both of you," Carrick cut off. "Elliot, believe me, Ana could've had pretty much whatever she wanted from your brother- even after they broke up.
I can't go into the details because of lawyer/client confidentiality…"

"YOU'RE here attorney?" Elliot demanded. "Does this family not have any sense of loyalty? She crushed him!"

"Carrick, I don't have the confidentiality problem you do," Sawyer said before turning to Elliot and letting him know what he knew: "Your father got involved at Taylor's request- after Ray Steele was almost killed in a car accident."

"Right and when did this supposed accident take place?"

"Count back about seven months from Christopher's birth and I'm sure you can figure it out!"

"Seven months… but that was…"

"Yep."

"So that's where he was!" Elliot said. "Wait, she, what? Walked when he came home to help find his sister?"

"He never told her why he left," Carrick told him. "Kate was there when he got back.
Look, that whole thing has a part in this."

"Oh hell no!"

"Hyde is the one who attacked Ana.
We're still trying to find out how he was released without us being informed."

"This is a freakn' nightmare!" Elliot said as he buried his head in his hands. "Did they catch him?"

"Yes.
A friend of Ana chased him and caught him."

"Hopefully she let him teach Hyde a lesson."

"She didn't have a say.
She's in a coma," Carrick told them. "Your brother lost it and beat Hyde up.
Taylor, ironically, served with one of the club's owners. They're all saying that they didn't see it happen."

"The Boss isn't going to let him make bail," Sawyer observed, not realizing he was acting less like a family member than an employee at the moment. "I think with the pregnancy that Mia will be more amiable to the protocol we'll be putting in place. Mani's the wild card."

"When the hell isn't she?" Elliot wondered. "And should we be worried about Nula, too?"

"I've already spoke to her," Carrick told them. "Nula, like your mother, will follow the instructions she's given. You two just make sure your wives do the same."

"We'll try," Elliot sighed: "that's all I'm promising."

"Speak for yourself," Sawyer told him. "Mia doesn't agree I'm handcuffing to something and locking her in a room."

"Kinky," Elliot muttered automatically, earning a flip of the bird from his brother-in-law as the younger man stood up.

"I'm going back to Mia, now. Can't say I'm looking forward to this conversation, and I, for one, don't plan on telling her who was attacked," he said as he headed to the door.

Once he was gone, Elliot looked at his father: "Dad?"

"Yes, Elliot?"

"Does he blame us- me?"

"For what?"

"For losing Ana a second time?"

Carrick sighed: "I think Christian is more pragmatic than that, Elliot. If he blames anyone, he blames Kate," he answered. "Just… can you try to tone down your hostility towards Ana?" he wondered. "I mean, its one thing to blame her for hurting your brother, but it's an entirely different thing to blame her for things she hasn't done."

"You don't think she had intentions of taking advantage of him?"

"Elliot, Ana is in many ways still that sweet naive girl your brother first brought home a little over ten years ago."

Elliot nodded: "Kate really played me, didn't she?"

"And you moved on. You have a wife and son you love and are happy with."

"And what does Christian have, Dad?"

"A chance, Elliot. Your brother has a chance."