A/N: As always, thank you very much for the reviews.

I'm almost finished with the actual move. Thank you for your patience. I will be updating regularly again.

Important: I do not own the Fifty Shades Trilogy or the characters. They belong to the very talented E.L. James.

Christian POV:

Relaxed and refreshed. Definitely not two words I ever thought would be used to describe my state of mind. Yet, as I lay here with my eyes still closed, that is exactly how I feel after a peaceful nights' sleep. I'm afraid that if I open my eyes, I will discover that I'm dreaming and I do not want this moment to end. That is, until I remember the reason why I'm feeling so relaxed and refreshed. Lazily I stretch out and turn onto my back. Fuck, I haven't felt this good in… forever. If I had known that Anastasia was the key to getting a good night's sleep, I would have hunted her down years ago. Grinning like an idiot, I turn to face the reason for my current feeling of contentment. Finding an empty, cold bed, was definitely not what I was expecting. I sit up and look around the room to find it empty as well. My immediate thought is that she woke up feeling overwhelmed and ran.

I jump out of bed to look for her. In the hallway I stop to stare at the scene in front of me. Dressed in only my shirt from last night, she looks stunning. Her hair is again in a messy ponytail and she is dancing to the music from her phone while preparing what smells like a delicious breakfast. 'You've got me under my skin.' How appropriate since that is exactly where she has taken up residence… under my skin.

She takes a bite of whatever she is busy preparing for us and turns around with part of the fork still in her mouth. The sight before me goes straight to my dick, causing an instant throbbing erection. I have to remind myself that the woman in front of me was a virgin less than ten hours ago and we have already made love once and let's not forget the amazing shower sex. But then again, she did have time to recuperate.

Fuck, I have to stop thinking and reminding myself of anything relating to sex and Ana. I will gladly skip breakfast and feast on her. I wonder if she will be up for a morning quickie before breakfast. The breakfast counter or even the dining room table would suffice. I could bend her forward, hands on the…

"Are you planning on standing there all day?" I'm pulled from my inappropriate daydream by Ana who is walking up to me.

"It won't be a problem if you continue doing what you've been doing. I was just standing here and enjoying the show. By the way, nice song." I point to the iPhone on the breakfast counter, staying where I am with my shoulder against the wall and arms crossed. I need to get her further away from the kitchen, which incidentally also means closer to the bedroom.

"You know, I would have thought that you would at least have a docking station for my iPod, but had to settle for listening to the music on my phone since I don't know how your sound system works." Oh yes, the docking station.

"I had a docking station until very recently. It had an encounter with the floor and the floor won. Taylor will get it replaced tomorrow. What's for breakfast?" I ask, but with her practically naked, bare feet and three feet away now, there is no way either of us are going back to the kitchen any time soon. Well, unless it's to fuck her on the kitchen counter or breakfast bar. In order to try and adjust the erection that is throbbing and bordering almost painful, I push of the wall.

"I hope you like pancakes with bacon, peppers, onion and cheese." Finally within arm's reach, I pull her into my arms.

I'm momentarily shocked by just how right this feels. In order to get rid of the feelings that I'm not familiar with, I move onto what I do know… seduction. I pull my shirt to the left and start kissing her from her shoulder, up the side of her neck and to her ear.

"Is anything still on the stove?" It would take about two minutes to take it off and switch off the stove, but I really have other plans.

"No… but breakfast… is… getting cold." I bet I could make her forget about breakfast in three more kisses. First one in her neck and she moans softly. Second one behind her ear and she pushes into me with her hands around my neck. Third one lightly on the lips to keep her wanting more and when she pulls at my hair, I smile in victory.

"Kitchen or bedroom, baby?" I ask against her lips, but don't give her time to actually give me an answer. The question was merely out of courtesy anyway.

I move my hands down to her ass and bend slightly to pick her up. When she wraps her legs around my waist I almost lose all self control. With her feminine heat on my stomach, her hands in my hair, my hands on her naked ass and my tongue in her mouth, I all but run to the bedroom and throw her on the bed. Her hands immediately goes to the hem of my shirt and tries to pull it down to cover herself, but I grab her by the wrist and put both her hands above her head, making the shirt move up even more.

"Don't try and hide from me, baby. You are perfect and have nothing to be self conscious about." I say with a quick kiss on her lips.

I lift the shirt over her head and kiss my way down, taking one nipple into my mouth. I've removed my hands from hers, but she is keeping her hands above her head without me having to tell her. When my hand runs over her other breast and across her stomach to her sex, I wonder what it would feel like for her to touch me, but push that thought right out of my mind immediately. That is one thing that is definitely out of the question and never going to happen. Reaching her sex, I find her wet and ready for me.

"You are already wet for me, Anastasia. I like that a lot. I like that I have this effect on you." I slip one finger through her folds and she starts to squirm beneath me. I move to the other nipple and wish that I had clamps to enhance the pleasure for her, but that will have to wait until she is comfortable with more than vanilla. Even if vanilla is all I will have with Ana, it will be enough for me.

"Christian… please…" she pleads and starts to push down onto my hand. Last night I wished I could watch her fuck my hand, but I was afraid of breaking through the proof of her innocence.

I insert another finger and bend them to rub against the front wall of her sex. She pushes harder into my hand, her own now gripping onto the sheet. She bites down on her lip and closes her eyes before climaxing. Apart from her muscles contracting, that's her tell that she's about to come. I absolutely love how responsive she is. Normally I would show her how to control her orgasms, but I don't think I will. I love how quickly I can get her to climax.

Before she has time to come down from her climax, I thrust into her and immediately feel at home. This young woman, that I didn't even know exited ten days ago, centres me. She makes me feel strong and weak at the same time. Most importantly, she gives me hope. Hope for something more. Hope for more than a successful business.

Thirty minutes later, we are showered and dressed, finally ready for breakfast. Taylor brought in the new outfit for Anastasia while she was drying her hair, which she very reluctantly accepted. The dark blue jeans, with light blue top bring out the colour of her eyes. With a flinch, Anastasia sits next to me after reheating out breakfast. I fight the urge to smile as she will not join in my joy of knowing that she can feel where I've been.

"I will have to get going soon," she says softly, my fork stopping mid air to look at her. "I have a lunch date with Elena and I also need to see my dad. Afterwards I will have to go to our apartment to get ready for dinner tonight." Her forks drops to her plate in order for her palm to smack her forehead. "Sorry, I should have asked you first. Will it be okay if I still go with Kate for dinner tonight? I never did get to decline the invitation," she carries on nervously and I put down my fork. Right now, lunch with Elena is the least of my concerns.

"Will it be okay if you go with Kate to dinner tonight? No, Ana. It won't be okay. I thought that after last night, you were going to go to dinner with me." I was under the impression that we settled this last night, but apparently I was under the wrong impression.

"Christian, I don't want you to feel obligated to take me with you. This is new for you and I don't want to overwhelm you. I don't mind going with Kate." I take a calming breath and try to sound as calm as possible.

"Thank you, but I would like for you to accompany me to dinner tonight, Ana. We are together and I would like to spend more time with you before you go back to Portland tomorrow. I won't see you for a week." I say, proud of myself for sounding genuinely reasonable. In the back of my mind, I think of how different this would be if Ana was my sub before I could stop myself. Even though I would be able to tell her what I want her to do and she would it without even the slightest hesitation, I don't want that for her and also, if she was a sub, we won't even be having this conversation as no sub ever got the privilege of meeting my family. "I can pick you up from your apartment and drop you again tomorrow morning on my way to work." One more night before a week alone does not sound good at all, but it's better than nothing.

"Of course I will go with you, but I can't stay over here tonight, Christian. We have to leave very early tomorrow morning to get everything done in time before I have to submit my assignment." This conversation is not going the way I thought it would.

"Ana, I would really like to be with you tonight. A week, Ana." I say, unable to keep the whiny tone out of my voice and quite frankly, I don't care.

"You are welcome to stay at our apartment. It's not much at the moment and a lot of boxes are still over the place, but we do have some furniture in the living room and bedrooms, so it's not unliveable."

"I don't care about the apartment, Ana. I simply care about spending time with you before you leave." With a smile from her, we continue our breakfast discussing the rest of our plans for the day. Elliot has been bugging me from early this morning to go for a round of golf or at least to the driving range.

Ana POV:

Three hours later I walk into the restaurant to find Elena already waiting for me. She is shockingly not dressed in black. She is dressed in a beige pants suit with light make up and her sleek bob immaculate like the previous times I saw her. When I get to the table, she picked up on my shock and looks shyly down at her outfit.

"Hello Elena. You look stunning. The colour definitely suits you." I say with a kiss to her cheek before taking my seat, proud of myself for managing to do it without a cringe. I won't lie and say that I'm not sore down there, but it's not as sore as it was early this morning.

"Ana, nice to see you. They say a change is as good as a holiday and since I don't have time for a holiday right now, a change seemed like the next best thing. How are you?" she asks, sounding genuinely interested in my well being.

"I'm great actually. This week was certainly very interesting, as was the weekend. I was just telling Kate that I need a very quiet and drama free week in order to recover. For someone who does not live a very exciting or drama filled life, I'm exhausted with the recent events. But at the same time, I'm happy." I tell her, still hoping for a quiet weekend even though I'm thrilled with how things worked out for me.

"Not everyone loves drama and excitement. Did you go to the club last night like you planned?" she asks while we look at the menu. Before I could answer, the waiter arrives and we order drinks. When he leaves, I already decided what I will have for lunch and place the menu to the side.

"Actually, there was a huge and unexpected change in plans. It turned out that I needed to be a member to gain access. Even after I found a member to go with me though, it didn't work out. Not that I'm complaining. I had a lovely evening. My assignment is already done and since it was merely out of curiosity, it doesn't really affect anything." And there is no way that a visit to that club would have been better than the evening I ended up having.

"Christian mentioned yesterday at lunch that he spend some time with you in Portland during the week." She says carefully and I shift in my seat, but it has nothing to do with the tenderness of my lady parts. Discussing Christian with anyone other than my friends makes me feel uncomfortable. He also specifically asked me not to discuss our relationship with other people. Noticing my response she quickly puts my mind at ease, "I don't want to make you uncomfortable, Ana. I simply wanted to mention that it's very unlike him to invest this much time and effort into anything other than work. I also don't want to discuss Christian behind his back, he is a very private person and I know how much he values his privacy, but I need you to know one thing. You bring out emotions in him that he's never felt before and that is great, but I'm concerned about the repercussions should this not work out. You are both new at dating and I'm sure that you realize that dating a man like Christian will be very intense. He is not your average guy next door, Ana. Being with Christian means no privacy, constant paparazzi presence and close personal security. Your life will change the minute the press gets wind of your relationship. Please do not take this the wrong way. I'm not saying this to scare you off, Ana. I'm saying this to prepare you for what's to come. If you feel up to the challenge, you have the opportunity to get to know Christian and probably have a positive effect on his life. But you have to be sure that you will be able to handle what comes with being part of his life. Don't start something that can be heartbreaking in the long run should you decide that his life is not for you. I don't want to see either of you getting hurt." I'm stunned and unsure of how to answer. After a couple of seconds of silence, I pull myself together and respond honestly.

"Elena, I don't feel comfortable discussing my relationship with Christian, but I will tell you this. I know that people see him as a young man that is successful in business and managed to become very successful at a very young age, but that's not what I see. I see a man that has been hurt very badly early in his life. I see a man that has lived a closed off life and refuses to let anyone get close to him. Apart from work and contractual relationships, he has nothing to look forward to. He has a breathtakingly beautiful smile, that is far too rare and it's a damn shame. He makes me feel safe and happy. I'm not expecting a ring and a white dress, I just want to be happy and make him happy as well." I don't want to betray his trust by discussing our relationship, for lack of a better word, but I do want her to understand.

"Protect your heart, Anastasia. Be happy and make him happy, but protect your heart." The waiter, with the worst timing in the world, arrives with our drinks and we place our lunch order. When he leaves, I take a couple of seconds to observe Elena before I broach the topic that has been on my mind since we met.

"Who broke your heart, Elena? Someone must have really betrayed you to make you this cynical when it comes to love and relationships." Judging by the various emotions flashing on her face, she is at war with herself, trying to decide whether to tell me or deny it. I can tell the minute she decides to tell me as the look on her face is sad and defeated.

"It was long ago, Ana. I was very young, naïve and trusting. Like all young girls in love, I thought that he was the one. Everyone thought that we would get married. My parents loved and adored him. That's until he pulled the rug out from under me and shattered my heart. He broke my spirit and ruined my life. I thought that I was coping with what he did to me, but I'm not. The physical scars could not be seen days after that night, but the emotional scars never healed. I started to look for him a couple of years ago and soon I will have his whereabouts. I don't know what to do when I finally know where to find him, but I do know that I cannot go on without facing what happened. I have a lot of sins of my own to pay for, but my life would have been very different if not for him. I'm not making excuses for my actions, but he has to take responsibility for his part in how my life turned out." She finally stops and a single tear falls down her cheek before she could catch it. Knowing that this is a no-nonsense, hard woman that rarely shows any emotion, my heart is bleeding for her. "I'm not a good person, Ana. I've done things in my life that I've recently started to regret. I can try to reason that what I did was to help others, but in the end, it was really to make myself feel better over what happened to me. I don't know how to make things better. How do you change your life when you're halfway through it already? How do you say sorry when you know that sorry change absolutely nothing?" She shakes her head and pats my hand, "But enough about that depressing story, tell me about your plans for the week. I know your graduation is on Thursday." Talk about a change in topic.

"Uhm… yes. I submit my assignment tomorrow. On Wednesday, Kate and I promised our friend Jose to pose for a couple of casual shots to test his new camera that his dad bought for him. On Thursday we have our graduation and on Friday we will be moving to Seattle. It's kind of a hectic week filled with mixed emotions. We are excited to finally move to Seattle, but sad to leave Portland. Maya will be moving into the apartment with me and Kate. Jose is staying in Portland to pursue a career as a photographer and after we graduate, he will also be able to teach photography. Jackson will also be moving to Seattle, but he will move back home. There might be something going on between him and Maya, but they haven't said anything yet." I stop talking the minute that I realize that I'm telling her stuff that she definitely has no interest in, but she is listening attentively.

"You studied to become a Social Worker, what about your friends?" she asks, taking another sip of her wine.

"Kate studied to be a reporter. She will be taking a vacation first and will start working when she gets back. Her father is the CEO of Kavanagh media so finding a job won't be a problem for her. Maya wants to go into public relations. That girl has the ability to make you look at crap and see it as gold. She can spin any story to make it come across the way she wants it. She applied for a couple of intern positions, but has not heard anything yet. Jose, like I said, he is a photographer and will pursue a career in Portland. And finally there is Jackson. He is two years older than the rest of us. He just completed his degree and will start as an architect at his father's company here in Seattle next week. Although he would prefer not to work for his dad, at the moment he doesn't really have a choice." I explain in short what makes up our close circle of friends, signalling for the waiter to come and take our lunch order.

After the heavy breakfast, that my poor system is not used to, I order the Rory salad and Elena decides to join me. Twenty minutes later the salad arrives and just as I thought, it is delicious. The chicken is tender and the bacon nice and crispy. It's placed on top of lettuce, tomato and avocado and topped with grated cheddar cheese. I'm will definitely come back for this salad.

When my phone vibrates on the table, I quickly grab it when I see Christian's name. I open the text and can't help but smile.

"Are you done yet?"

"Not yet. Busy with my salad."

I reply quickly, but don't even bother to put my phone down as I know he will send another text.

"I will understand if you need to go, Ana." Elena says and I look up from my salad.

"I'm sorry for being rude, but if I don't respond, I'm sure he will just call. And no, I don't need to go." I take another bite and point to my plate with my fork, "This is a really great salad."

"I have to agree with you. I'm not a big fan of meat in salads, but this combination somehow seems to work." Before I can respond, there is a new text from Christian.

"Are you done yet?" I frown, thinking that he might have accidently re-send his previous text.

"You already asked me that." I reply and this time, his response is instant.

"Yes, I did. I just didn't like your answer. I'm hoping for a different response this time."

I smile, but put the phone aside to talk some more with Elena. Phones at the table are very rude and my mother did raise me better than that. Being done with our salads, the waiter clears the table and then serves us the cappuccino we ordered to complete our lunch.

"Anastasia, this was really a very nice and relaxing lunch. Thank you for inviting me. We should do it again." Elena says, taking me a bit by surprise. I thought that she accepted my invitation to be polite, but then I remember that she does not have many friends.

"Thank you for joining me. It was a nice lunch. How about we do it again next Saturday?"

After making plans for lunch next Saturday, I pay the bill and grab my phone and bag. I'm busy sending a text to Christian, hopefully the response he was looking for earlier, when I bump into someone outside the restaurant. I grab onto the person's arm in order to stop myself from falling, feeling the now-familiar spark at the same time that his phone beeps to signal the new text. Looking up, I can't help but smile.

"You were ignoring my text and I thought I would come and ensure that you were okay." He says, not looking all too happy right now. Is he angry because I failed to answer his text the second it was received? I stare at him and yes, I do believe that Mr. Grey is less than impressed with my lack of urgency towards his text and suddenly, I'm not all that happy to see him.

"I've never done anything like this before and I will fuck up some times, but… just have faith in me and patience and I'm sure I will get there." His words from last night come back to me.

I bite my tongue and stop myself from snatching my hand away from his arm. I should however warn him that those words will not always be enough to stop me from putting him in his place in cases like this. I can just imagine the result should I ever be late for an appointment.

"I apologize for making you worry. It is rude to be on your phone when in company of others and since we were just about finished, I thought I would wait until I got out here. If you check your phone, you will see my response." I say remorsefully when ever fibre of my body wants to retaliate against the look in his eyes.

"Good. If you're finished, let's go." Go? Go where?

"Christian, weren't we going to meet up at my apartment at six?" I ask carefully. I don't want to make him any more upset than what he seems to be.

"We were and still are, but if you remember correctly, Taylor dropped you off and I thought it would be the gentlemanly thing to do to see you back to your apartment in order for you to get your car." He takes my hand and pulls me to follow him to his car. Definitely not one of his many SUV's. I actually like this one. It is a lot more suitable for his age, even though I do understand the need for the SUV's.

Before I could reach for the door handle on the passenger door, he spins me around and against the car. I try not to lean on it too much in order to avoid causing scratches to what must be a very expensive car.

"I'm sorry, Anastasia. I'm naturally inclined to jump to my own conclusions. When you didn't answer my text as quickly as the other's, I thought that Elena said something that made you not want to be with me anymore." He says with his forehead against mine and I can see the insecurity in his eyes. I know he is adopted, but I wonder if he had to deal with a lot of loss and rejection.

"I'm not really the kind of person to discuss my private life with anyone, but we did discuss our… relationship?... well, sort off." I say, completely ignoring the part where Elena has damning information on him. Information that he seems to think will make me push him out of my life.

"Relationship? Sort of?" He frowns and pulls away. "I was under the impression that we were together and that would constitute a relationship. Granted, I'm new at this, but that is what I thought. Are you not sure that you want a relationship with me?" the insecurity is now being overshadowed with hurt and I reach up to put my hand on his cheek. He immediately relaxes and places his hand over mine.

"I'm sorry if I made it sound as if I didn't want a relationship with you, because I do. The sort of part was not for the relationship part, it was for the discussion part. We sort of discussed our relationship." I explain and he opens the door for me. Apparently the conversation is over.

"So, our relationship was sort discussed at lunch. What part exactly?" Christian asks as he pulls out of the parking area.

"Elena simply explained that she does not want to see either of us getting hurt. That a relationship with you will come with various complications and inconveniences like a loss of privacy. She said that if I'm not prepared to accept that as part of a life with you, that I should not drag this out." I see his hands gripping the steering wheel so hard that his knuckles are turning white and I'm scared he will break the steering wheel. "But, she said that if I'm prepared to accept what comes with being in your life, that I will get the opportunity to get to know you and bring something positive into your life. She mentioned that it's not like you to invest this much time and energy into anything other than work." I give him the basics of what she said and at least his grip has started to relax.

"And what did you say to that?" he asks, not taking his eyes of the road.

"I explained to her that I'm not comfortable discussing my relationship with you with anyone else, but I did tell her that I just want to be happy and I would like to see you happy as well." I give him some time to process this and then decide to lighten the mood. "I also said that you have a beautiful smile that is too rare. I like to see you smiling." My reward is a sincere smile. One hand comes down to take my hand from my lap and rest it on his thigh. We drive in silence for about a block. My hand on his thigh, covered by his own, intimate and comfortable. That is until everything suddenly hits me.

Holy freaking cow… I'm in a relationship. I'm in a relationship and it's with Christian Grey.

A/N: Please review if you have a moment.