Chapter 23

Mani stalked into the playroom at Bellevue and frowned as her sister-in-law laughed at her cell phone before placing it on the table where Christopher sat drawing. "Your brother?" she asked.

"Yeah. He was too distracted to talk," Mia shrugged as she picked up one of the markers and started to doddle.

"By work or that woman who has apparently caught his attention?" she asked.

Mia only rolled her eyes and continued with her doddle: "I doubt that Ana has ever been far from his mind," she commented. "And I don't know what he was distracted by, he said she was sleeping when I asked to talk to her."

Mani huffed as she crossed the room and looked over her son's shoulder and at his drawing: "that for my office?"

"No. Dad's," Christopher replied absentmindedly.

"Oh," Mani sighed, knowing she should have known better. All of her son's pictures where for peopled other than her it seemed. "Think Nula and the others got there? Maybe they were in the middle of discussing PR."

"He didn't say anything," Mia replied evenly, "And Luke hasn't… oh wait they're en route to the hospital now," she amended at the ping of an incoming message.

"Well, good. Maybe someone can talk some sense into him then. We can't live with having people breathing down our necks because he has some fascination with some girl none of us have met…" she said in a rush before heading to the door.

"But the family has met her," Mia called out after her.

"Are you trying to say that I'm not family? Because I sure as hell haven't met this paragon of all things that Christian Grey wants!" she shot back fiercely.

"I just meant that myself, my parents, Luke, and Elliot, as well as my grandparents have met her. She's not some stranger, Mani. And she's not after anything…"

"That's not what I heard from Elliot!"

"Who probably heard it from Kate when she dumped him and wanted to make him angry that Christian was happy with her best friend. We all knew that the one who wanted to get her claws into the Grey family and the status it could get her was Kate and not Ana," Mia said calmly as she put down the marker. "You'd be surprised at how good I became at detecting gold diggers and social climbers over the years, Mani."

"Well you could have been wrong."

"Only was once, and it wasn't with Ana," Mia shot back tensely, causing Mani to turn and stamp out.

Christopher looked over at his aunt: "was it my mom you were wrong about?" he wondered.

"Chris…." Mia sighed.

"It was, wasn't it?"

"Its adult stuff, kiddo. People change from when we first meet them and sometimes it's not for the best."

"Think Uncle Christian's friend did for the best?"

"I don't think she needed to change to be the best for him, but all people change with time. I hope she hasn't changed too much, that's all."

"Do you think she'll like the card I sent with Nana?"

"Yeah."

"Good. I want to make her smile. Maybe if she smiles uncle Christian will too…"

Mia smiled as she leaned over and hugged him: "Uncle Christian will smile because you did something nice for someone else. You make him smile. Remember that, ok?"

"Kay. Who should I make the next picture for?"

"How about you're Mom, I think she'll want one."

Christopher rolled his eyes at his aunt and shook his head: "she saids she does, but only the pictures I make for Aunt Nula are ever at their office. Maybe I'll make one for her, that way my mom can see it too…" he mused and Mia kissed his head, wishing she knew how to make him understand that his mother loved him in the only way she could.

Damien frowned over his coffee cup as he caught the look Savannah had on her face while she looked over their bills for the month. They had brought things with them to take care of from his apartment before they were supposed to have meetings- him for the club and her with Ana for her paper today. "That bad?" he asked.

"We'll manage," she replied as she looked up at him and smiled. "We're going to have to put off the hunt for a new apartment though."

Damien muttered a curse as he crossed his "dad's" kitchen to sit across from her at the eat-in table. "That isn't good."

"Damien, we'll make due," she told him. "It's not like I haven't with less."

"You shouldn't have to. I should be able to provide for my family!"

"You do."

"I lost my job at the motorcycle repair place…"

"Because you took time to take care of family," she reminded.

"I want us in a better place- and no, we are not taking up the offer to move in here," he told her.

"Than what do you suggest? I'm still on a per diem schedule until I can find something more permanent and more in line with my area of expertise that actually pays," she reminded him.

"Grey offered me a job."

"He did? To what?"

"Work as Stac's CPO."

"Which is what, because I can only come up with Chief Petty Officer for that abbreviation."

Damien smirked at her: "wrong branch."

"I know, smartass. So, what does he want you to be doing?"

"Working as her close protection officer."

"So in layman's terms that's what? Bodyguard?" Savanah asked.

"Pretty much."

"What did you tell him?"

"I didn't answer him, he called me out when he heard me talking to dad."

"About what?"

"About whether I could do the job with this," he said lifting his leg to indicate his prosthetic.

"You can and you did. Hell, you managed to help save me with a bullet wound above it!"

"We weren't in time…"

Savanah sighed: "you were in time for Mari. You were in time to keep me alive. Yes, Damien, they tortured me, but they would've done worse if you and the gang hadn't put measures into place to be able to keep us safe. Frankly, what you're saying makes me think you need a session to get past it more than I do right now.
You provide for us in the best way you know how and you manage to keep us safe and make us feel protected- the rest we'll figure out as we go."

Damien exhaled: "you think I should take the job?"

"It's up to you. Take, don't, but don't not take it because you think you're limited. The only thing limiting you is your mind," she replied as Mari came bounding into the kitchen and launched herself into her father's lap.

"Look at the cards that we made for Aunt Staci!" she chirped.

"WE?" Damien questioned as he looked at his daughter's art work.

"Well, Grandpa had to help me get Travis and Marina's handprints, but we did and I wrote their names and drew the other picture on theirs and I wrote my own message so that when you see Aunt Staci you can give it to her."

"Well, your dad has to go soon to talk with her friend, so I'm sure he'll take them with him," Savanah said as she started to pack up their bank statements and check books.

"Why?"

"Why what?" Damien asked his daughter.

"Why just you?"

"Because I have to talk to her friend about taking a job he offered me."

"Doing what?"

"Taking care of Staci."

"Good, you're good at taking care of people Daddy," she told him as she wrapped her arms tightly around his neck and kissed his cheek, causing him to beam at her- his little doll had him solidly wrapped around his finger and he would do whatever he could to live up to the expectations that shown through her eyes showing him how much she believed in him, and maybe for now it was enough, because he wasn't certain how much he believed in himself…

Kate couldn't believe she was stuck on a plane with Carla whatever-the-hell-her-last-name-was-this-week to go see Ana who had somehow gotten herself attacked one week after arriving in CO. Frankly, she could've cared less that Ana was in the hospital- if she was too stupid to watch her surroundings and take care of herself then, she supposed, she deserved it. But Elena was adamant that she go and when she had told her parents they had insisted that "a friend be there for her and her mother as she got back on her feet." So now she was stuck.
For once she wished her father's thoughts on her not receiving special treatment at KE extended to this- but he felt that Ana was family. As if!

All Kate wanted was to get back to her life before all this started.
When she was only the daughter of Kenneth and Leslie Kavanagh.
When she didn't know she was the result of a mix up at a sperm lab- although it could be worse her father could've actually slept with that evil Bitch, she shuddered at the thought.
No, she wanted to be theirs- both of theirs- biologically just like Ethan.
To be the perfect daughter she once imagined herself to be before the truth that Elena was her biological mother hit her in the face.
Before she allowed herself to be molded and corrupted into someone she didn't recognize.

But it was too late.
There was no turning back now or getting out of whatever Elena had planned for her- or was there?

The Greys, Luke, Flynn, and Nula sat chauffeured car and discussed what needed to be taken care of at the hospital once they arrived there. "Are you sure I shouldn't just go to the hotel? I've already spoken to Ros and we're going with the normal PR spiel," Nula said hesitantly.

"Don't be silly, Dear," Grace said breezily. "Whatever we discuss will help you to know who bad things are."

"If you think so," she sighed as Carrick broke in: "Most of what we discuss, as what is discussed with John will be confidential."

"And hopefully in private," the psychiatrist put in.

"We're all aware of client and patient confidentiality, I don't think that will be a problem," Grace pointed out.

"What about NDAs?" Sawyer wondered. "I don't think that Taylor got any in the rush and aftermath?"

"I seriously don't understand why my son uses those!" Carrick huffed. "They're barely worth the paper they're written on."

"But for the staff and maybe even her friends…"

"Her friends won't be a problem," Carrick reminded. "Hospital staff… I'm not sure."

"From a PR standpoint, if they feel compelled not to talk to the media it could deficiently be beneficial," Nula pointed out.

"Then we'll get them- Grace they could reveal non-medical information without them and you and I both know it!" he said, reminding all of them of the problems caused by a money seeking staff member who wasn't on their granddaughter's team but her managed to get a picture of Elliot breaking down in the hall with a grief stricken Christian next to him to Seattle Noze.

"I want to make sure she's getting the care she needs," Grace commented.

"We're going to have to figure out security arrangements, especially if Christian has to leave the hospital at any time. Prescott will be with Dr. T, Reynolds with you, Carrick, and Ryan with Nula. I'm technically not on duty, but I can relieve Taylor to stay with Ana," Sawyer remarked.

"No. If Christian leaves, Taylor needs to stay. He's the alternate on her POAs. If for some reason she can't make a decision for herself one of them has to be there."

"Great, sounds like I pull Christian duty then," Luke muttered, causing all of the others to laugh. They all knew he hated when he had to protect his brother-in-law, which wasn't as much now that he was Taylor's second in command as one would think. It was just awkward for both of them, especially since Taylor rarely was not with Christian.

"We'll need to make sure that the hospital knows that her mother and Kate are not to have a say in her medical care- and if it can be avoided they are not to see her."

"Carla's going to put up a stink.
Kate knows and she might set it up as a media stunt," Sawyer pointed out.

"Guess I know my main point of contention," Nula remarked as they pulled up at the entrance to the hospital. "Let's hope that's all the drama we run into."

"Had to go and jinx it, didn't you?" Sawyer asked her as he made a couple of plains clothes detectives going into the hospital.

"You're not superstitious are you?" she asked with a laugh.

"With these two, you're going to learn not to tempt fate," he replied evenly as he helped her out of the car and onto the sidewalk and they all headed into the hospital and to whatever tempted fate had waiting for them.