Elliot
I try my best to console her but Kate just was not having it.
"I can't believe this!" she says while scarfing down alcohol and alcohol infused ice cream
"Yeah it was a bit of a shock to all of us but in all honesty they are better together than apart." I tried to have her see it from our perspective. Christian is actually willingly talking to us.
"We are supposed to be like Sex and the City!" she cries out while eating more ice cream.
"Yeah I know you wanted time with your friend but Christian seems had dibs on this time for a lot longer then you have. Ana knows you would probably react this way and that is probably the reason why she told my brother she would only live half here and half there. You cannot be mad that she wants to live with her husband." Really this woman was not picking up what I was putting down.
"Ana would have told me she was married." She cries. She hugs me and now I see what her problem was. She expected to be her friend's confidant.
"Well she and Christian are private people. Plus knowing yourself, do you really think Ana or him would want that spot light?" I reason
She does not answer.
"She really didn't tell anyone?" She says in a small voice
"No not even her father. I know that Jose and Ethan don't know either. You know that Ana was never the partying type and knowing you, you probably forced her to go out more than the one time I saw her with you when she graduated. This would explain why she and my brother didn't date." This is now making way more sense as I talk her through it.
"Oh God I just wanted my friend all to myself" she complained "Now he swoops in and takes over her life though!" Oops she just slipped from understanding friend to angry at my brother.
...
Christian
I wake up to Ana sitting next to me. I am lying down with my head in her lap and she is playing with my hair as she watches TV.
"How is the weather going to be today?" I ask out of curiosity
"The same. Rain with cloud cover." she says with a smile. She looks down at me and kisses my forehead.
"What time is it?" I say looking for the clock... Where is it?
"If you are looking for the demon of a contraption you call a clock it is in the trash can. It made this God awful sound and it fell. But look you got to sleep in some extra time and woke up in a better peaceful way." she said all this while looking for the weather channel.
"You threw my clock on the floor?" I ask incredulously
"Maybe, maybe not. You have no proof" she says while settling in on a channel.
True.
"Well it's officially time for you to go to work. I am sleeping in." She says as she sinks deeper into the bed.
"How are you feeling after yesterday?" I mumble into her neck. I know she didn't like having a fight with her friend and especially over me.
"I feel better. I sent a text to Jason and had him go pick up my boxes from Kate's apartment. I figured that she wouldn't want to see me this morning." she says as she rubs her eyes, probably rubbing away tears.
"Do you want me to stay home today?" I wouldn't mind working from home if it means she was happy.
"No but I will bring you lunch today...and don't worry I will have Gail cook it because I saw your face yesterday when she wasn't the one cooking dinner."
She was right. I pay the staff to do their jobs and if she does it then what am I paying them for?
"Okay" I say. She knows just how to beat me.
Eventually I have to get out of bed and get dressed.
I walk back into the room and see that Ana is asleep. She is holding the remote in her hand and a pillow in the other. I settle her as she should be and then go out to see Gail for breakfast.
"Mrs. Jones" I say as a greeting.
"Hello Sir, what can I make you think morning?" she asks nicely
"Egg white omelet and dry toast will do fine." She goes about making my breakfast and then in no time it is time for me to head out the door.
Life of mergers and acquisitions awaits me at work.
...
"Well hello to you brother." Elliot talks to me over the phone when I step out of my meeting.
"Hello to you, too. Did you talk to Miss. Kavanagh?" I am tired of calling her by her name. She is no longer an informal acquaintance; she is now a formal ex-friend of my wife's.
"She is okay but still got kicked in the ego when your henchmen came and picked up Ana's stuff." he said with some edge in his voice. Sounds like consoling Kavanagh wasn't easy on my brother
"Well from her tone yesterday Ana thought that Kavanagh wouldn't want her there anymore because I brainwashed her or something." I do not like talking about this.
"Well she wants to reconcile with her friend but she does not know how. She seems to hold a major grudge against you Christian." he said as a warning
"Well she can feel bad while I am happy with Ana. She has no right making Ana feel bad about a decision when this has a minimal amount to do with her." I say angrily
"Well she was keeping Ana company while you were not there." he made a quick jab.
"That is low Elliot even for you." I hang up and when he calls back I don't answer.
Honestly how dare my brother bring up the fact that I wasn't with Ana physically for years? He didn't know that me and her were different then everyone else's experiences.
I walk over to my next meeting with a very angry expression and continue to carry it with me for a while.
…
"Really, how did you manage to mix up shipments?!" I yell at the team in my office.
"Well sir…." The man mumbles looking through his paper work.
"What is it?" I really don't know how a shipment with instructions to be sent for African relief ended up with my European manufacturing shipments. One was parts and the other was medical supplies and food.
"Sir I believe I punched in the wrong numbers…" he hung his head over the information in his hands.
The other four people in the room including Ros knows I dislike when people make mistakes and this wasn't even a mistake that hurt my company. This was a fuck up that affected people who needed help.
I began pacing and had come to a decision that this guy has to go. His name is Barney. I liked him but I cant tolerate this kind of fuck up.
"Well then you will just that to go…." I began and my sentence and everyone around here knows this is my normal phrase when I am firing someone but this time my sentence was completed by someone at the door.
"Fix it." Ana said while walking fully into my room. She walks in and places the bag of food on my desk and kisses me on the cheek. She then goes to sit on the couch that is hers. She waits to see what I will do.
I look at Barney and see that he looks relieved and hopeful. When he sees he has my attention he looks back down.
"Okay. Fix it and I want you to create a separate system so that this doesn't happen again." I say sternly.
They all file out the room and Ros is wearing a very big grin as she waves hello to Ana and walks through the door.
"That was harsh Grey" she says as she sits there in her usual jeans and oversized sweater.
"That was relief for people Ana." I shook my head and wondered what happened.
She stands up and approaches me with open arms. "You have to understand you employ humans and they make mistakes. He didn't mean it." she hugs me and plays with my hair at the nap of my neck.
Oh that feels so good.
"Okay. I will be nice." I mumble
"Okay good. Now time to eat." She goes to get our food and she sits on my desk Indian style while we eat.
I look at her with more hunger then for food.
I reach for her hips and she giggles.
"Oh it's time to christen this office honey…" I mumble along her neck.
I go into showing her just how much I love her.
…
Ana and I are dressed and fixed correctly before we clean up the mess we made of my desk. As we are picking up the last of the papers my a PR person calls.
"Hello Mr. Grey this is Mrs. Perkins from PR wanting to confirm your statement for the Gala on Saturday." Oh right the charity function my mom plans every year.
"Right I will email you the statement."
I hang up and see Ana looking at me quizzically.
Then my phone rings again.
"Grey" I say
"Mr. Grey this is Andrea just wanting to confirm how many tickets you will need for Saturday's Gala." I guess this is the year to make a statement
"Two for me and my wife." I say.
Ana raises her eye brow and I nod my head to say I will answer in a minute.
"Okay sir" she hangs up.
"Okay Ana I need you to be open minded when I ask this… will you go to a charity Gala with me? The company is a big provider for one of mom's charities and I normally attend to get some good PR and help bring in more donations. Would you mind coming with me? It is black tie though." I hope she wants to.
She thinks it over and nods. "Anything to see you in a tux. Maybe I will call and see if your mom and Mia want to go dress shopping." She fixes my tie.
I nod and smile. I like that she wants to include my family in this too.
"Oh and I am going to have to make a statement about us soon how do you feel about that?" I know Mrs. Perkins wants to get this off her plate too.
"Well I would be fine with that. Just make it small." She nods and brings me to take her to the elevator. Nodding at Andrea as we walk by.
I kiss her good bye and smile as I walk back into my office.
…
Grace
"….are you sure you have the time?" Ana says over the phone. I couldn't be happier about helping her find a dress. My son finally has a date to this for the first year.
"Of course dear me and Mia will meet you tomorrow" I conclude. We hang up after a half hour of catching up and I send a text to Mia about dress shopping tomorrow. She is excited to put it mildly.
Next thing to do is get the guys to spend time like this.