Phoebe's POV:

"Phoebe are you wearing that?" My mother asked as I walked down into the kitchen in my flannel pajama pants and a navy blue cami.

"I'm not sure what you are asking, yes I am wearing this right now. Do I plan on wearing it all day? No."

"Let me re-phrase my question, is that what you are wearing to go shopping?" She asked and I shook my head as I took a seat at the bar as Mrs. Jones handed me a bowl of cereal.

"Being as I don't plan on shopping, no this is not what I am wearing." I said. It was a mere second later that my dad went to say something when my mother's gentle hand stopped him and she spoke up herself.

"Going shopping isn't an option Phoebe. I suggest if what you are currently in is not what you want to wear out to finish your breakfast and then go change because we are leaving in an hour whether you are dressed in your pajamas or a ball gown." She said as she moved to get up, hoisting Blake onto her hip before she outstretched her free hand to Ryan who happily took it. My dad got up to follow them but lingered for a moment before he just shook his head and walked out of the room, leaving Teddy and I alone being as Mrs. Jones was now off in another part of the house.

"I can't believe you didn't tell." He said, not bothering to look up from his breakfast and I shrugged.

"Either way I was going to get in trouble so there was no need for us both to go down in flames." I said as I pushed my half finished bowl of cereal to the side.

"That was a really nice thing to do." Teddy said and I rolled my eyes.

"Yeah, whatever. Now if you will excuse me I have to go get dressed for a day of shopping with our mother." I spat as Teddy chuckled at my theatrics.

I wasn't thrilled by being forced to go shopping, but in retrospect it was better than being forced to sit with my dad all day. I changed into a pair of jean shorts and a black tank top. It wasn't the most appropriate outfit but I doubted that my parents would say anything about my choice being as they didn't care as long as I went.

When I went back downstairs my mom and dad were speaking in hushed tones in the living room while Teddy chased Blake around and Ryan was probably off reading somewhere.

"Ready?" My mom asked noticing that I had made my way into the room and I nodded as I wrapped my arms around myself in order to distance myself further from the rest of my family.

"As ready as I'm going to be." I mumbled and my mother nodded at my comment and turned to kiss my father goodbye before we both headed towards the front door.

The drive towards Seattle was deadly silent. I took to looking out the side window as I felt my mother gazing at me trying to find something to say. She knew that I was upset but to her there was no reason to be. She insisted that everything that her and dad were doing was to protect me, but she failed to see the flip side of the coin. She always pitched fits with my dad when he insisted on her going places with security but now that it was me, it was a different story? Not to mention that they won't even tell me why they don't want me around Adam and his mom, was there something so terribly wrong with them or were my parents just overreacting again as usual?

I wasn't even sure how I went from sulking in the car to being in front of a rack of dresses that my mother was searching through, trying to get me to something other than whatever.

"What about this one?" She asked holding up a navy blue dress and I just shrugged for what seemed like the millionth time today.

"It's whatever." I commented and my mother slammed the dress back onto the rack as all the sales people quickly cleared out of the area we were in.

"Phoebe Ella Grace Grey, stop with this whole whoa is me act, I am SO over it right now. Your world is not going to end because you are here shopping and you are not allowed to date Adam, there are other boys in the world-"

"But there is only one Adam, mom I think I love him!" I chocked out and she sadly frowned and shook her head.

"You're sixteen Phoebe, you have the rest of your life to find love."

"I don't need the rest of my life to know that what I have with Adam is real, he looks at me like dad looks at you. But because you and dad are so controlling there is no way for me to even explore that relationship, all because of who is adoptive mother is. What is so wrong with her any way? She seemed pretty nice to me." I said and my mother side as she walked over and took a seat in one of the chairs in the room and motioned for me to do the same.

"You know that your father and I love you right Fee?" She asked and I nodded.

"Of course I know that, you both remind me of that every day, no matter how mad I make you." I said and she gave me a sad smile.

"Do you remember Teddy's tenth birthday party?" She asked and I thought for a moment before I nodded.

"Yeah, you and dad rented him that giant bounce house for him and his friends to use." I added and she nodded.

"Yes we did. You were not quite eight yet and you wanted to go into the bounce house with Teddy and all his friends but your father and I said no. Do you remember what happened?" She asked.

"I went in anyway."

"You did and somehow you ended up being trampled and having a broken arm."

"Dad was furious."

"That he was. Do you know why we told you know that day?" My mom asked and I nodded.

"At first I thought it was just because you didn't want me to have any fun but I realized a few years later that you didn't want me in the bounce house with Teddy and his friends because you were afraid that I was going to get hurt." I said and My mom smiled.

"It wasn't that we weren't going to let you go in the bounce house Fee, we just knew that if you were to go in with the bigger kids you would get hurt and we also knew that you didn't understand that which was why we just said no. This situation with Elena and Adam is sort of like the bounce house. Right now you just think that your father and I are just being mean and saying no because we don't want you to have fun, but we are just trying to protect you." My mom said and I sighed.

"I get that but I'm not seven anymore mom. You and dad can't protect me from everything and at some point you are going to have to let me go out and get hurt so I can learn from my mistakes."

"Yes but this is one mistake you don't need to make. So are you going to keep having a miserable time or are you going to actually enjoy this shopping trip? Regardless we are shopping for dresses for the function next weekend but I think you would have a fun time if you just tried." My mom said leaning towards me and I sighed.

"I guess I can get over myself and have fun, I do like shopping." I said and she smiled.

"Good, now lets go look at these dresses again and this time give me more than a whatever or I am going to whatever you!" My mom joked and I smiled as I got up and followed her over to the rack of dresses again.

"So tell me why we have personal shoppers but we are in the middle of the store picking out our own dresses." I said and my mom smiled.

"Well I'm not suppose to say anything about this but your father and I are thinking of possibly taking the Grace out for two weeks and taking a proper family vacation." My mom said and I stopped shuffling through the dresses to give her a look.

"Dad is letting Teddy and I take two weeks off of school?" I asked and my mom shook her head.

"It would only be one week, the other week would be spring break." She said and I smiled.

"That sounds like a lot of fun, but what does that have to with our personal shoppers?" I asked and she shrugged.

"Well I was thinking that while your father isn't aware we could find you some cute swim suits that will be sure to give your father a heart attack, what do you think?" She asked and I rolled my eyes.

"Are you trying to buy my affection?" I asked and she laughed.

"Is it working?" She asked and I smiled.

"Sort of." I said as I pulled out a silver dress and held it up. "What do you think?" I asked and she looked over and grinned.

"You are going to have to try it on."

Ana's POV:

After our little talk shopping with Phoebe took a rather enjoyable turn. She seemed like she was in a better mood and she even bought some conservative bathing suits to counteract the bikini's that I bought her just to make my husband's blood boil.

"Go straight to your room and hide those purchases." I sternly told Phoebe as we pulled up in front of the house and she nodded as she hopped out of the car and bolted into the house.

When I walked in Christian gave me a look as I walked over and sat down next to him and Ryan who were both on the couch reading.

"Why did Phoebe bolt into her room?" He asked and I shrugged.

"She was fine in the car. I think she wanted me to take a picture of her in the dress for next weekend and send it to Ava for her. She must have gone up to change." I said and Christian nodded as he pulled me into his side.

"It was so much easier when we could just pick out what the kids wore and they were thrilled by what ever we dressed them in." He said and I laughed.

"Well the only child still like that is Blake and even he is starting to become very opinionated about what he wears."

"So what did you end up getting? From the look of my bank statements you two took the credit card for a nice little spin today." Christian joked and I fought the urge to roll my eyes being as he was the one who told me to get Phoebe whatever she wanted and then treat myself to a few nice things as well.

"Well we bought a dress for next weekend and then we decided that we could use a few more items so we went to some other stores to fulfill our needs."

"And what needs are those? I was certain that I was fulfilling every need that you may have Mrs. Grey." Christian purred and I felt myself melt at the sound of his voice.

"Trust me Mr. Grey, you certainly fulfill a lot of my needs but there are a few things that I was able to pick up from the mall." I said as he wrapped his arms around my waist.

"Maybe tonight I can make sure every need is satisfied..."

"Ew Gross get a room!" Phoebe said as she bounded back into the room only to stop short and shield her eyes.

"And then the fun ends." I said as I pulled away from Christian and he smirked.

"We will pick this up later." He whispered causing butterflies to awake in my stomach. "So what does this dress look like?" Christian asked and Phoebe shrugged.

"I don't know, you are going to have to wait and see." She said in a playful tone that Christian smirked at.

"I guess I will. Do I at least get to know what color mask I need to get you?" He asked and Phoebe shook her head.

"Nope, mom and I already bought me a mask. But good try." Phoebe said and Christian smirked as he wrapped an arm around my waist and pulled me into his side.

"You two seemed to think of everything. Well then in that case what would my lovely ladies like to do for the rest of the day?" Christian asked as Teddy walked into the room texting someone.

"Hey Teddy I'll race you to the meadow." Phoebe said and Teddy looked up and smirked.

"You're on." He said and at that Phoebe took off with Teddy hot on her tail.

"She seems like her old self." Christian whispered as Ryan got off the couch in order to follow his older siblings outside.

"She does doesn't she?" I asked and he nodded.

"What did you do? This wasn't something that a little shopping fixed, what is your secret?" He asked and I shrugged.

"I just talked to her and whatever I said clicked with her, but I wouldn't be too sure that it is a permanent fix. She is still going to be upset at times and she is going to make sure that we know we ruined her life." I said with a slight giggle before I decided to take our conversation to a more serious place. "Christian, she said something today that scares me." I said and Christian tucked a piece of hair behind my ear and gave me a gentle smile.

"What did she say that has you worried?" He asked and I sighed.

"She said that she loves Adam and that he is in love with her. She said that he looks at her the same way you look at me, and I know the way you look at me Christian." I said and Christian let out a small laugh.

"He's a teenage boy Ana, of course he is going to look at her the way I look at you, but nothing is going to happen, I can assure you of that-"

"Christian he isn't just a teenage boy, he is Elena's teenage boy. I'm worried."

"Don't worry Ana, I will make sure that nothing happens to our baby girl." Christian said as he rubbed my arms trying to comfort me.

"But for how long are you going to be able to protect her?" I asked as I took his hand and we walked towards the back windows so we could keep an eye on our kids, not that they weren't being watched by security already.

"As long as I need to Ana-"

"She's sixteen Christian eventually she isn't going to want us to protect her-"

"She won't have a choice Ana!" Christian barked and I turned to watch Phoebe gently toss Blake into the air and then catch him before she placed him on her hip and started to chase after Teddy who had Ryan on his back.

"Phoebe will always have a choice Christian and what I am worried about is that we have sheltered her so much that she isn't going to know which choice to choose."

"You knew." Christian whispered into my ear as he wrapped his arms around my waist and stood with his chest to my back.

"I also was older than she is now and I was able to make choices for myself from the time I was twelve. Maybe we have sheltered her too much, I mean she went to Elena for comfort, her vision of reality is somewhat clouded." I said and Christian sighed.

"Elena can fool people Ana-"

"Christian you aren't taking this seriously. I am telling you that our little girl is in grave danger of being completely dependent on someone to protect her and you are making excuses." I bit, immediately regretting it as I felt Christian tense behind me.

"I don't understand why this makes you upset?" He finally said and I sighed.

"It makes me upset because us protecting her might be what gets her hurt and I really don't want that."

"Then what do you suggest?" Christian asked and I shrugged.

"I don't know, maybe we let her date Adam."

"Are you insane?" Christian asked and I turned to face him.

"You and I both know she is going to do it either way. At least if we let her we can make sure that there is no Elena, I mean Adam seems like a good kid-"

"Good kid or not he is not getting any where near our family until he is FAR away from Elena."

"Christian-"

"No, that is a hard limit Ana, we are done talking about this." Christian bellowed but I was far from dropping the subject.

"So that's it? You call out hard limit and the conversation is suppose to be over? Christian you were Adam at one point, what is so wrong with us letting our daughter date him?" I asked and Christian clenched his jaw shut as she lightly shook his twitching palms, trying to remain calm at least for a few more seconds.

"What is so wrong is that I WAS ADAM. Do you not remember how fucked up I was when we first met? You couldn't even touch me and then what I wanted to do to you, Phoebe is not getting involved with that, EVER!" Christian said as she ran a hand through his hair trying to calm down.

"It might be too late." I whispered as I turned back towards the window as Christian retreated to his office.

Christian's POV:

Ana's words echoed in my mind as I paced the floor of my office. It wasn't too late, was it? I mean Phoebe barely knew Adam, but then again I barely knew Ana when we started getting serious. Stop it, push those thoughts from your mind. This could not be happening, it just couldn't. How had I turned into this helpless person who was made to sit back and watch as their daughter walked down a dangerous path? What was I suppose to do? Was there anything that I could do?

I was too busy running offense with Elena to realize that my daughter was already gone. Adam had Phoebe from the moment those two laid eyes on each other. The only hope I had was Adam not wanting to be with Elena.

I walked over to my desk and took a seat as I punched in the number on the telephone so I could get a hold of my dad. By now he must have found a way to get Adam out of Elena's care, he had to of.

The phone rang until the answering machine picked up. I didn't bother with leaving a message, instead I slammed my phone down on my desk and roughly ran a hand through my hair.

I felt so out of control in this entire situation. Ana wanted me to do something that I was dead set against but at the same time I wasn't seeing another way to rectify this situation, at least not at this moment.

Phoebe wanted nothing more than a little freedom and I was not about to give that to her, but at the same time she was going to eventually grow up and receive all the freedom she wanted so why not teach her how to use that freedom now when I still had some control? The problem was, I didn't have control, at least not as much as I would have liked. I was at a loss for what to do. It seemed like I had finally come to a point where no matter what path I choose I was going to be wrong in one way or another.

I found myself pacing the floor of my office again when Ana knocked on the door and then walked inside shutting the large wooden door behind her.

"I talked to Gail and she is starting dinner, it should be done in about an hour. What is on your mind?" Ana asked as I stopped in front of her.

"Everything Ana. I feel like I am completely losing control of my life and you know how much I hate that. It seems like just yesterday that Phoebe and Teddy were listening to what I had to say and today those two are wild unruly teenagers." I said and Ana nodded.

"It must have been all those Disney movies that we let them watch when they were younger." Ana joked and I shook my head not finding her humor appropriate at this moment.

"Seriously Ana I feel like there is someone ripping my control away from me these days. I dread having to come home because I know that when I do something else will have changed and there will be even less control in my life."

"Christian that comes with our kids growing up-"

"It's not just that Ana." I said and she moved closer.

"What else is it?" She asked tentatively as if dreading my answer.

"It's not you baby if that's what you are thinking, it's just that with Elena coming back into our lives there have been days where I can't escape thoughts from back then, it's all just so confusing."

"Is there anything I can do to help?" Ana asked and I shook my head not wanting to tell her that there was one major thing she could do to help.

"Christian, I've changed a lot since back then, I can endure a lot more too." Ana said, clearly being able to read my mind.

"That wouldn't help Ana, that would just help me cope, not actually let me get to what is really bothering me." I said knowing that sex would just be a way out of having to deal with everything.

"Well someone has been paying attention in therapy." Ana said and I cracked a smile.

"It's about time huh?" I countered and she nodded as she pulled me into a hug and rested her head on my chest.

"Have you thought about what I said?" She asked and I sighed as she looked up at me.

"Yes I have." I replied hoping that she would just drop it, knowing that she wouldn't because if she did she wouldn't be the Ana that I married.

"And?" She pushed moving so that she was only an arms length away from me at the moment.

"I need some more time to think about everything. You're right though, we need to give our kids more controlled freedom, I just have to find a way to accept it."

"I know how hard this must be for you." Ana said and I smirked.

"Really?" I asked and she nodded.

"Yes really. But I am proud of you for pushing your need for control aside for what is going to benefit our kids the most. You have always been an amazing father and I knew that you would be." She said and I smiled.

"Even when I flipped out the first time you told me about Teddy?" I asked and she giggled, god how I loved that sound.

"Okay so maybe not right at that moment, but I always had hope for you, for us."

"Me too Ana, me too."