Teddy and Family

Chapter 12

A/n:

I love all of your reviews and am overjoyed that you are loving the story.

I just have to respond to a signed review here as well. Because I want to clear up why I wrote Alex and his formula issue, seeing as it upset someone enough to stop reading the last chapter. It's fiction and not meant to be anything but, my nephew had an allergic reaction to his mother's milk similar to Alex and they switched him to formula which helped him...babies do have allergic reactions to mother's milk...Wow, for someone to stop reading because I switched a baby to formula, sorry if that upset you... I personally have dealt with diaper situations such as the one in the last chapter and was going for angst comedy nothing else. It's a one off little situation, Alex is on formula. Don't really have to visit that in my writing again in any other chapters.

Again this is fiction. For fun and entertainment and to keep my sanity while I continue to battle an on and off reoccurring illness. I love writing and sharing it with my readers. You're all fantastic and I love reading your reviews. Thank you for all the favs and follows too!

This chapter runs the gamut of emotions. I never know what's going to come out when I write or which direction it's gonna go. It just does and I'm along for the ride. It's rough. It's late. Errors are all mine.

Cin

Disclaimer: EL James and sometimes SMeyer (I love to play with her characters but with my AU spin on them from my other story. Sorry folks I don't do Cannon ever. Like, Love it, Hate it…you have been warned ^^) own it all I'm just having fun with the characters, but the OC ones and story ideas are all mine.

Ana

Alex glares up at me as he angrily chugs down his bottle. "I know, I know. Mommy's got some damage control to do. He's broken and instinct makes me want him to stay put until he heals, instead of joyriding around the grounds in that chair." I sigh heavily. I know firsthand what he's going through and when he was broken before we were both taking it slow, so he didn't mind as much. Then when he was hovering after the babies were born driving me mad.

"You banned an Alpha male from being able to protect his pride? That's like lighting the fuse to a ticking time bomb. It's no wonder that he lost the plot a few seconds ago." Nessie's not exactly on my side.

More like putting me in my place, and I'm not sure that I like it.

"I live around too many to count. They don't like losing control and being hovered over makes alphas feel weak and vulnerable. Two things they absolutely detest. They're like big cats or wolves, protecting their pride or pack is hardwired into their brains. Christian's also had new members added to his pride and instinct is screaming at him to take care of his own. Now that he's broken that's been taken away and he will rebel every second that you try and force him to heel. Alpha's do not. Heel. They compromise. That chair over in the corner is his way of compromising and none of you seem to be listening. I'm willing to wager that he acquired that chair for you during your recovery as a way of compromising and allowing you mobility rather than bedrest." Wow she's wiser than her years and seems to be drawing from life experience. How boggles the mind she's barely eighteen.

"I'm just following doctor's orders. His mother and Paul have both ordered him to take it easy, stay off his leg, and rest…" I toss back a weak, yes, pathetic defense, even Alex is looking up at me with disgust.

"I expected a far better argument than that from a woman who has been running her very own publishing empire since she was my age." Ness walks over to the chair and takes in the make and model, before turning back to me and snorting. "This isn't a run-of-the-mill electric wheelchair. It's a rolling SUV. It's no wonder that he's telling all of you off if he has that to get around in. Mir has worked her needle medicine on him which will accelerate his healing by half. He doesn't need bedrest or to laze on the couch. He needs to keep his mind sharp and remain active or he will continue to snarl back at anyone like a lion with a thorn in his paw. Just as you yourself hissed and clawed at him when he treated you like glass after your babies were born, only since he's male try ten times worse." She leaves me with that to chew on and heads out to see the progress outside.

"That girl is too smart for her own good. It's all dead on, mind you, but stings just the same." JB puts an arm around my shoulders. "Sweetie, you knew that Chris was gonna blow after three days of captivity. He's not a tiger that can be caged up. Stealing his phone and laptop was cold. Honey, that's his sanity. Yes, he took time off from being head boss, but that doesn't mean that he wants to be completely kept in the dark. GEH was his first baby. He needs to be able to take its pulse while he's on leave. Telling him that he has no choice on something involving his own company made him snap."

"Um, I'm so sorry about Ness. She's very outspoken and tends to call it like it is. We're talking zero filter. She will hand you your tail end without even batting an eyelash. She sees a problem and wants to fix it. You're family, so that just makes her all the more determined to set things right. Don't feel like you're the first to get the Nessie treatment. She does it to royalty, heads of state, world leaders, no one is left out. She does mean well though…" Lori apologizes for Ness handing me my ass and heads outside after her.

"Sweet Jesus. Those girls could probably rule the world and we'd be better for it in the end." JB whistled under his breath.

"They do have quite and impact on the world already." Alice is next to come check on me. "Lori and Ness while away at school did more good than most people achieve in a lifetime. Those two are out to save the world not rule it and heaven help anyone who tries to stand in their way. Not unlike you and Christian with all of your foundations that you started when you were teenagers. Nessie likes to tell it like is when she's trying to mediate a problem and it stings a lot to have the issue dissected and analyzed with cool calculated precision. Her father tends to do the exact same thing, thinking that having all the puzzle pieces helps solve the issue at hand." She gently gives my shoulder a squeeze. "Alpha's loath being wrong or told they can't do something and when it goes badly they lash out. Christian blatantly disregarded every single warning and tried to tackle the project anyway and ended up broken. Now he's like a lion licking his battle wounds and you his lioness are only trying to take care of her pride."

"Maybe we are being too careful with Chris, but you have to understand that he just got healed from his last decorating disaster and now he's gone and broken himself again. I'm running on fumes trying to take care our kids and a brooding sulky husband. On top of that it's the Holiday's and I have so much that still needs to be done. I haven't been able to tackle everything, because I just got cleared by my doctor that I can finally have some amount of freedom and that was not even a week ago. I'm not even close to one hundred percent yet and need Chris to at least try to follow doctors' orders for my sanity. Hanna and Andrea are handling most of it for both of us, but Teddy's three and he doesn't understand why we can't bring him to all of his favorite holiday events while his friends and cousins have gotten to go. Frozen Christmas is meant to appease him. The only silver lining to all of this is that we've gotten bigger as a family and that Chris and Edward have called a truce…" Postpartum hormones make me burst into tears and I'm sandwiched between Alice and JB in a hug.

"Sweetie! Delegate!" JB croons.

"Leave Ella's wedding to me." Alice grins.

"You're suppose to be focusing on healing, the babies, Teddy, and Chris. We've taken care of all of the foundations holiday needs. The kids spent a few hours with Charming and Snow buying presents for all of the kids on the list. Charming took the list from Andrea after dealing with the tween wizards and assured her that he'd take care of it for his cousin. Word has it that even Ros was swooning, as well as nearly the entire female staff of Grey House married or not. Barney seemed highly amused by it all and sent me video proof of them swooning over him." Charming and Snow? Well, yeah, it does fit Bella and Edward to a T. Chris and I have gone as the fairy tale couple, as well as other Disney icons for various charitable events and during Halloween throughout the years. Though, JB usually sticks with Adonis and Athena for the two of us.

"Snow and Charming?" Alice giggles at JB.

"Well, you have to admit that it fits them to a T." JB winks at her.

"Jessica and Angela gave them that title back in high school, so it's stuck over the years. Though, no one outside of family would ever dare call him that to his face. Edward detests nicknames. Bella calls him Lion and Logan calls him Eddie. Other than that it's Edward or he bares his teeth at you." Alice warned JB.

"Good to know." JB nods.

"God, they really are alike. Christian tolerates Chris and that's only family and close friends. I can get away with Flyboy and Tiger, but no one else can. JB's family so he gets away with the occasional Adonis, but for the most part it's Chris. Everyone else it's Christian, Grey, or Mr. Grey." I roll my eyes. "We're lucky that Teddy loves his nicknames at least for now. Heaven only knows if he'll tolerate it when he hits his teens, as father and son are so very much alike that it's scary at times."

"I'm leaving of you stocked with my herbal teas and I can easily stop in twice a week to give him more natural healing treatments. There's a tea for him and one for you, which I have told Gail how to prepare. I would offer the same for your brothers that are also healing, but then after listening how the two of them put your child in peril decided that they can make do with modern medicine. Though, I did give Gail a healing tea for I believe his name was Ryan that will speed his healing as well. It will also detox his system to clear it of any residual poison left over from his battle with the thorns." Miranda joins us in the Sun Room.

"Ana. I told you that we've got it all covered, so please quit worrying." Angel shoots me an exasperated look. Great. I've got Angel flustered too.

Before I can say anything a scream echoes around the house. Followed by yowls and howls? Sorry, it's hard to tell, but it's coming from the upstairs.

"What in the world was that?" Amazingly enough it doesn't even phase the babies from their bottles.

"All of you stay put!" Luke's shout echoes over the grumbling coming from upstairs.

"Paul's upstairs taking a shower!" JB ignores the warning and heads to save his man.

"Shower?!" I start giggling and then those giggles turn to howls of laughter. Alex is looking up at me like I've lost my mind.

Angel is also howling with laughter and has to sit down, as she's got Rory.

Gail's howls of laughter are echoing from the kitchen.

Alice and Miranda are looking at us like we've lost our minds.

"The kittens…" I manage to gasp out between hoots, and snorts of laughter.

"And the pups…" Angel barely gets out before laughter overtakes her again.

"Love water…Took bath…with Teddy…" I get out more, but then I'm laughing again.

"Logan…was soaked…" Angel hoots.

"Paul…has…company…" I gasp, eyes streaming with tears.

Alice and Miranda's eyes widen and they start giggling.

Chris hobbles into the Sun Room with a perplexed look on his face that sets us all off even more. "Have all of you lost your minds?"

"Shower…Paul…kittens…pups…" Is all I manage gasping for air and then I'm howling with laughter again.

"Doors…" Chris turns on his heel, phone at his ear. "Andrea? I need you to get a hold of Gwen and arrange for them to design doors for all the showers in Grey Meadows! Why? It's a kitten and pup issue…they love the bath and shower…Andrea? Hello?" Chris gapes at his phone in alarm and you can hear howls of laughter coming from the receiver. "I've broken Ros and Andrea…"

That sets us off even more.

"It's not funny, ladies! You don't have anything vulnerable within reach!" Chris hobbles back to his den muttering under his breath.

"Gail's gonna have my ass! Get back here!" Luke's shout from upstairs is followed by the sound of paws hitting the stairs and happy yips and barks.

"Sucks to be you." JB shouts back. "I've got mine."

"I thought cats hate water! It's in their genetic make!" Paul's not happy in the least. "Keep them out while I raid Chris's closet and get dressed!"

"Next time lock the door." JB calls back and we can hear him heading down the stairs talking to the kittens. "That wasn't a scratching post. Naughty kittens…Let's get you dry, before my honey decides to skin you both alive."

"Scratching post!" We all burst into hilarious laughter again.

After we finally settled down we appeased Paul and Chris with Christmas cookies and fudge and got the babies settled in their swings. That done we set to work on transforming Grey Meadows into a Christmas wonderland. Our furry babies were napping in their playpen tuckered from their water adventure and chase.

I hear several phones ringing throughout the house and groan inwardly dreading to know what call to alarm has happened now. It doesn't take long before Luke and Parker run past us heading for Chris's rehab room. Crap, it's bad. "Anyone who has sensitive hearing I would suggest that you plug your ears or run outside now, it's gonna get really loud in a few seconds." I call out a warning to those not in the know about my man's famous temper.

Angel's got her phone and is looking at something with Alarm. She's texting back at lightning speed.

Crap and double crap! I toss down the natural garland that I was draping across the hearth of the Great room fireplace and dash upstairs to retrieve my phone from its charger. Unlike Chris I can live without my phone on my person at all times. Seriously, I caught him sleeping with it beside his pillow and put my foot down that it has to go off and on the charger at night. If it's an emergency then night security will wake him or us up. Home time is family time and then office time is allowed after the kids are asleep.

"ANA! TURN ON THE FUDGING TV! IT'S ON EVERY FUDGING CHANNEL!" Chris's bellow echoes throughout the manor and right on cue the triplets react to their Daddy's temper by howling in outrage that their snooze in their swings has been disturbed.

I grab the remote for our flat screen and hit on. Then stalk over to the in house intercom to growl at my man. "Chris! You were the one that wanted this state of the art intercom video system installed so use it instead of bellowing like an angry lion! You're terrifying the babies!"

"I know and I'm sorry, but the kids took down the rest of the international slave and drug ring and it's all over the fudging news! Anonymous tip from a trusted SPD source gave them the heads up on their activity near Seattle Center! Mom! Edward, Bella, and Adam are at SPD headquarters and the kids are coloring in the Commissioner's office! Logan and Mom dropped the ball bigtime! The kidnapping contract on Teddy was still in play! Hope happily pointed out the baddies. Teddy recognized them from Emerald City! Adam called in the troops! Edward has more connections than my security team does and I didn't think that was even possible! They have higher clearance than the President! He called off the contract on Teddy and warned that anyone that touches any of us has to answer to them. Shit! We belong to…I don't even wanna know! Plausible deniability! He texted me saying it's been handled and that he helped Ros with a few issues at GEH! She's Team Edward! Thank fudge that we own GEH, because he'd come after us and win! Fudging Heck! Max! What'd ya do turn it up to maximum!" Chris is still hooked to the TEN's machine, but I have no doubt in my mind that if he were mobile he'd be pacing the room and pulling his hair out in frustration.

"Cool it, Chris! Before I sedate your sorry hide!" Paul has a syringe in his hand.

"You're on leave! Ros is acting CEO! Let her handle it! Be thankful that Edward was there to put out the fires at GEH and with SPD! Adam is handling it too! The kids are safe and that's all that matters! Dante can handle the press! He's your cousin for fudge sakes, not your enemy! You always snarl about your adoring female fangirls and should be happy that Edward is taking that honor!" I narrow my eyes and fold my arms at my caged tiger of a husband.

"That's not the point, Anastasia! He's ruling over my turf! My territory! We heard it on the news, Ana! No one called us!" Chris is roaring, not a good sign that he's even close to calming down.

I fold my arms and glower at him.

"Our kids were in the center of a fudging police take down of International Felons and no one called us! Adam! Jason! Logan! Not one call! Jason gave me the heads up about Drone Gate! Adam not even a text! I'm his boss not Edward Fudging Cullen! I pay his ungodly salary! All of their salaries for that matter and out of this universe benefits and not one text to give me a fudging warning?! Mom! Mom! Called me! Adam's fearing for his existence right now for not getting them out of there as soon as Hope pointed out the baddies! I don't care if they wanted to go to the children's museum! International Felons wanted to kidnap our kid!"

The doghouse glare isn't even working not a good sign.

"Deals, Ana! My deals! Nearly a year of pulling teeth and he makes one fudging call and they signed for Ros! I worked my ass off and he brings home the prize!? And he got them all for fifty million less than what they were all demanding! Who does that?! He's a fudging mind bender! He has to be! That's fudging cheating! Jedi fudging mind tricks are bad form! Now, I know why he never loses a fudging deal! He fudging cheats!" He's so adorable when sulks like Teddy. Paul's got that syringe, so he's sitting up with his arms folded across his chest and scowling. Fudging adorable! It's hard to stay mad with him when you just wanna give him a hug and kiss him until our minds shut down.

"What exactly were you gonna do if you got the text, babe? You are broken. Say it with me B.r.o.k.e.n. You can't drive. The guys have been ordered that if they let you leave the house unless it's to go to the Hospital that Ella will shoot them where they won't father children ever. They took point because you can't. Edward saved you, Ros, and the team months and saved us millions. Babe, you use that uncanny ability to read people, so it's not like you don't cheat too. We have a link that we use all the time, so what if he's gifted. It's not against any law to use whatever ability that you have, unless it's for personal gain. Now that's bad form. Going to Vegas and cleaning up would be wrong. Helping Ros deal with those tightwads not in the least. He's family. He was there and pitched in where he saw a need and more than likely felt guilty that his sons caused havoc today. No one is out to dethrone you. The kids needed a distraction while the police descended on the scene and Jim knows that you are under doctors orders to take it easy and knows that Adam is your proxy. I know that it's frustrating being benched. Believe me, babe. I know. But you have to delegate and trust that they've always got our backs. Chris, throwing a tantrum isn't helping you and all it did was terrify our babies." I school my face and tone to that of dealing with Teddy when he's throwing a snit.

"My order has become chaos. I have lost complete control and it is slowly driving me insane. The media is having a field day wondering if GEH is in for a hostile takeover, because of the chatter coming from Grey House about his visit this afternoon. Ros has been putting out fires right and left all evening, because members of our staff can't abide by their iron clad NDA's. Assistant PA's and a few Interns won't be reporting for work in the morning and seeking legal representation. I don't tolerate leaks to the media, period. There are no second chances. Their careers are history. College has been for nothing. I'm a mean SOB when you cross me or threaten what's mine. I may not be at the office, but I am still at the helm and everyone best remember that I don't need to be at Grey House to kick their asses. My office here works just as well as the one on the 40th floor, as was proven the last time I was laid up at home. I still ran GEH. Olivia, Susanna, and Leila will have to search far and wide to find another job without a glowing recommendation from us. Far from it. Their future employers will be well informed of why they were fired from one of the most prestigious companies in the world. No trust from you former employer, being sued by them for breach of contract, and no one will hire you. They will be a message to the rest of the staff that breaking your NDA will ruin their lives as they know it. Your Daddy could be a Governor, Senator, and retired CEO that means jack to me! You break it. I will ruin your life as you know it." Chris is in full CEO mode. It's unnerving how he can go from thermal nuclear to cold as ice in a heartbeat.

"Hallelujah! I'll personally see to making their lives a living hell. Their Daddies won't have a chance in hades of saving them either." I back him fully on this because the three in question are all tramps that would give their souls to have my man.

Two of them are daughters of elected officials and one is the daughter of some company CEO that Chris bailed out as a favor to his Dad. Their fathers all but got down and begged for Andrea, Chris, me, and Ros to give them a chance. I left it to them, because GEH was their baby and GP was mine. No way in hell were any of them working for me, but then I didn't have Carrick driving me batty either.

I did shoot down any chance that they had in their heads to lure Chris away from me, by putting the fear of god into them when Barney caught them on CCTV plotting in the breakroom and via their company issued computers and phones. Two of the little hussies dyed their hair my color and started wearing contacts. Andrea and Ros put the fear of god in them during a weekend mandatory team building event and then played out their humiliation on social media. I would have eagerly joined in, but was carrying precious cargo and Chris wouldn't let me out of his sight for five minutes. Not that I was showing at the time, but he was in protective mode major, as were the rest of the men in the family.

"Ana? Did those three tramps do or say anything to you?" Shit! Way too much enthusiasm! Should have skipped the Hallelujah.

"Tramps?!" I hiss, my eyes narrowing to slits at his image. Those little harlots tried something on my man! "Did those hussies put the moves on you, Grey!?"

"Whoa! Down, Tigress!" Chris's eyes widen in alarm. "You own me, baby. No other female exists in my eyes! They were written up a few times for dressing inappropriately by Andrea and Ros. I never noticed nor did I look at them if they were around me! I'm just going by what I've heard and the fact that they've tried to hit on Luke and most of the security staff."

"You never noticed that they were trying to become copies of me?" I snort, rolling my eyes.

"The only pain that I had to ever deal with was scatter brained Olivia and she was mostly Andrea's nightmare. Leila was Ros's headache and Susana was Tobias's problem to deal with. Why the hell would they mirror you anyway? Did they think I wouldn't clue in instantly that they weren't you? Shit? Why didn't you tell me? I could have canned their fake behinds months ago. All it would have taken was a word from you and they would have been history." He's hopelessly clueless when it comes to the female adoration that follows him, but then it's my job to protect him from their amorous advances.

"GEH is your domain. Ultimately it was Andrea and Ros's call and they had their own way of dealing with those three harlots. I knew that Carrick guilt tripped you into hiring them and didn't want you to be at odds again." I shrug.

His dad has caused more than one battle between the two of them regarding his archaic gentleman's agreements with his golf and college cronies. He just has a difficult time saying no, unlike my Daddy who will tell them to leave their crap at home where it belongs. His advice was to cut them off, which they did. Carrick's advice was for them to get a job and even went as far as promising that Chris would welcome them to GEH with open arms, as they were friends of the family. That was not a happy Sunday dinner at Grey Manor and Chris and his Dad were on the outs for months afterwards. Grace came to our place for dinner or to see Teddy because Carrick was banned for basically playing the you-owe-me card, thus guilting Chris into hiring the tramps.

"Carrick will never play that card on me again. He can't. My trust fund, everything, was all Ella. Mom tore a stripe off of him for it. GEH admittance is based on merit, integrity, honor, skill, not because you're a silver spoon in need of a paycheck. That was my one and only favor granted never to happen again. I loathe playing the political game, but I excel at it too. In fact it's time for the three of them to face the fire along with their daughters." Chris is out for blood and I have no doubt in my mind that he'll be shoving this all in Carrick's face when we go for Sunday dinner.

"He still sees us as kids who have to heed to the wishes of their elders. Pandering to his college cronies is just part of being the good son or daughter. The only problem with that is we have never fit the mold of silver spoon kids. We fight for those who can't fight for themselves. We help those who truly need it and we don't ask for anything in return. We take on the 1% who do nothing but make money off those who are just trying to get by. I say give Ethan what you have on the three of them and let them pay for their misdeeds." I do my best to mediate. The fact remains Carrick was duped into that favor by his cronies and the cost was far more than favor granted. In the end it cost him the respect of his family and after the dust settles the careers of his cronies as well.

"Don't worry, baby. They'll get what's coming to them. That's all you need to know. I don't want you anywhere near what's about to blow the State of Washington's political scene sky-high. I'm told that Dad's clear, but if he's not then I'll be there to be the shoulder for Mom to cry on. Ella tells me he is and that's good enough for me. What she doesn't know isn't worth knowing and she has her fingers in every branch around the globe. Then again when Dad gets slammed by this news, he might just lead the charge, one never knows with Carrick Grey." Chris is being cryptic, but it doesn't take a genius to know that those men were involved with those same fiends that Ella and Logan took down.

I'm stunned by this and am staring at him in horror.

"Barney was doing the background checks on the new arrivals at Sanctuary for Averi and discovered some alarming information that he gave Jason to give to the proper authorities. It takes time for the authorities to amass the evidence to take down high powered officials and make sure that they will go down for their crimes instead of getting a slap on the wrist and a fine. Ella's in the know because she took down the ringleaders and because of that their patrons will get what's coming to them too. They're fathers with children, yet they prayed on children to get their rocks off. It's because of Sanctuary that their voices can be heard and they will get their justice, but as I said it takes time and endless work. Flynn, Rhian and their team have been working with the kids and its taken months, but they are finally ready to speak out against the monsters who victimized them. They're wellbeing's and safety came first. There are quite a few social elitists who belong to a dark secret society that are going down, because finally their victims have a voice and the power to have it heard behind them." My god! No wonder he's been stressed out of his mind for months! He's had to hide this from me and it must have been eating him alive!

"ANA!?" Chris's shout echoes from the screen in our room, but I ignore it.

I race out of our room and take the fastest means to get to the rehab room. I'm in excellent health now and I want to know everything that he was shielding from me while I was carrying the babies.

"Ana! It was need to know and you were under doctor's orders no stress!" Luke's chasing after me.

"I'm fine now!" Now I know that it's worse than I even imagined if Luke is giving chase to do damage control! "What the hell did they make him do?! That was a lot more than just Barney digging up evidence, Sawyer! What did Christian sign up for in order to take them down?! It had better not be anything that could have gotten him killed or all of you are fired and I don't give a flying fig if you're family or not! There should have been another way!"

"There really wasn't and after seeing those kids at Sanctuary, nothing could have stopped him from doing everything in his power to bring them all down! Chris is a big boy, highly trained, and a weapon himself. He's also not one to turn a blind eye when he can do something to stop it. Like mother, so like son…." Luke's really not helping matters, try making it worse!

"He's got James Bond envy always has, but never in a million lifetimes did I think that any of you would cave and allow him to live his crazy boyhood fantasy!" I'm so pissed off that instead of opening the doors I take my fury out on them sending them crashing open with a flying kick. "Paul! Samuel! Out! You! Talk! All of it! Now!"

"Anastasia Rose! Enough! I'm fine! They're all going down! It's done!" Christian narrows his eyes at me and the now splintered doors. "So is their sick secret club! You, our blips, and Teddy were safe at home while I made sure that no other child would be subjected to the evil villains! I get that you're pissed, but this was all on me! I came up with the plan and they made sure that everything went off without a glitch. Yes, there are countless things that I can't ever un-see that will haunt me, but it was a necessary price that I will gladly endure if it means that they all pay to the max for their crimes! It sickens me that I've had to do business with them, gone to charitable events, sat at a dinner table across from them! Because they run in the same social circle as our parents! Some were even invited to our wedding! Money doesn't excuse you from preying on innocent kids! It doesn't exonerate you from wrong doing and these creatures, because that's exactly what they are have been doing this for GENERATIONS! Be pissed off all that you want, Ana! Banish my ass to the Boat House for all I care, but I would do it over again a thousand times if the outcome was taking down those elitist monsters and that sickening club of theirs!"

I race over and throw myself into his arms. "I'm not pissed…" I whimper against his shoulder.

"Baby, try that again…" He makes me look at him, by cupping my face in his hands. "Those two doors say otherwise."

"I'm way passed pissed and heading towards scared out of my mind!" I burst into tears and pound my fists against his chest. This is too much for a postpartum hormonal female to handle. "You can't risk your life like this! We need you alive! I can't live in a world without you in it! I won't!" I sob against his shoulder.

"Jason was with me the entire time. I wasn't wearing anything that they could have detected. I wore a pair of high-tech spy glasses, took measures to conceal my identity…I was observing behind one way glass…while that was happening Barney was able to help them get the information they needed from their tech…I was wearing Kevlar. My pen was a Taser. Oh, and I was wearing a signet ring with enough knockout juice to take a few down if I had to…" he's crooning and rocking me to calm me down.

"That has Ella written all over it…" I sniffle and he chuckles and kisses the top of my head.

"Yeah, pretty much." He cuddles me closer. "Though, they always referred to their boss as ma'am while I was around and they never had her on speaker. One of them was talking to her while they were gearing me up and I did catch the voice on the other end of the call…they sounded familiar, but I couldn't match a face to the voice…I had dreams for weeks after that and started seeing Flynn again. Jason knew that I needed to detox my mind and Flynn was a safe means for me to vent about what I'd seen. I was not bringing that home to you or Teddy. I think the reason why I was so pissed with her was because the second I heard her voice I knew that she was the ma'am at the other end of that call…"

"She was juggling a lot of balls at once, so it was better that you didn't know. Did all of this go down before or after you hired the bimbettes?" I sniffle up at him.

"A month or so after and before you start…the three of them were not members of their parents' sick club…I don't think they trusted the little gossips to keep their mouths shut. The entrance fee was steep just too observe 1.5 million cash and then to join 5 million a month. I doubt their daddies would have shelled out that much cash. Maybe they got the idea that they had a chance from overhearing their parents talking. I was playing the role of filthy rich, bored unhappy husband in need of some entertainment, with a preference for watching…when in truth I wanted to end them all." I look into his eyes and I see so much mirrored in them. At first there's a haunted look in his eyes, then it changed to relief that he can finally confide in me what's been eating him up inside, and now he's pleading with me to let this go.

"Escala…" It hits me that those nights when he had to work late and crashed at the penthouse were when he was playing this role to get the bad guys. "Those times when you stayed there instead of coming home to the Meadows…then afterwards you'd have nightmares for days and wouldn't talk to me about them. Your moods were hyper mercurial too…"

"It was killing me that I was hiding it from you and my nightmares were that you'd take Teddy and leave before I could explain…that's why I was working so much at home…guilt…playing that role made me feel dirty…I took a dozen showers just to feel clean and I had Jason destroy the clothes that I had worn. Looking at them made me physically ill…"

"I'd geld you if you ever strayed, babe. Not leave you. We're stuck with each other for life." I rub noses with him to assure him that we're good. It's been our thing since we were little and kisses were taboo, but Eskimo kisses were acceptable.

"Good to know, baby. Though, I still plan on having Marcus give me a vasectomy…"

"You're still experiencing the joys of labor, flyboy. That's set in stone. It should be a requirement for all expecting fathers, so that they can share in the experience and truly understand what their wives or girlfriends are enduring to bring their kids into this world." He's still set on taking the knife, but I still plan on him experiencing the joys of labor when he's fully healed. He was scheduled to experience it this week, all three of the guys were, but it's been put on hold for now.

"Anastasia, you forget that I share your pain when you wish me to and that I have gotten a taste of labor when you were trying to have Ted naturally, before the emergency C section that…nearly costed you your life…Going through that twice is my limit…it's never happening again…you're done risking your life…we'll adopt if we want more. I'm getting it done. And that my love is nonnegotiable." He kisses my nose.

"Fine. Elliot and Ethan can endure it together. I was just saving you the grief of the two of them calling you out for not doing it." I wrap my arms around his neck and give him the doe eyes.

"You're right they'd never let me hear the end of it. Fine. I'll do it. I know what I'm in for, but those two clowns won't last to active labor. We did wear the belly when the three of you were carrying our first bundles of joy, so this time around it's only fair that we up the ante and share in labor too. I can endure a hell of a lot pain wise having endured more than anyone can imagine after the fire, but Elliot and Ethan when it comes to pain are little pussies…I will expect a choice push present afterwards though." Christian seals the deal with a kiss.