A/N: I had a guest ask what's up with me and cheating. Well, the answer is this. I've had secondary characters cheat or be cheated on, but I've never and will never have Christian or Ana cheat. The only exception is a small one shot I wrote for fun in which Christian cheated...on a diet. I like drama, but most of all, I like a HEA. Thanks for reading. Enjoy!
"I'm not sure Elliot should be in charge of the grill." Kate's standing at the kitchen window of the Greys' while watching Elliot who took it upon himself to man the grill for the cookout Carrick and Grace organized. "He's been distracted since finding out about Will." An awkward silence falls on the room as Mia walks into the room, joining me and Grace at the table.
"You were talking about me.", Mia murmurs with her eyes shifting between everyone. "It's fine."
"I was only saying Elliot shouldn't be handling the grilling because he's not been himself since you told him about Will cheating."
"I'm just thankful he didn't follow through with his promise to rearrange Will's face." After bringing Grace's new coffee table over the other evening, Mia sat Elliot down to give him the news that she and Will are no more. He immediately guessed Will had done something to ruin things and was told about Will cheating with Rachel.
"It sounded like he had fun with you at the soap box derby.", I say.
"He did. Actually, we both had a wonderful time there. Seeing all the families who had built their cars together brought back memories of when Ethan and I were younger. My dad's work kept occupied a lot of the time, but he would make sure to make time so we could enter local derbies."
"You were in them?", Grace asks as she stands and goes to the counter.
"I was. Boys would take one look at me and think they had the race won, but I'd prove them wrong. It's kind of like Ana beating everyone when it came to go-carts." Grace and Mia both gape in shock. "So Mia, have you heard anything from Will?" Mia grabs a glass from the cupboard and shakes her head. "I won't tell Elliot if you have."
"He's called and texted a few times, but I haven't responded and don't plan on it. I gave him the chance to give me his reason for cheating, and even though it was a very poor excuse, I have nothing else to say to him."
"I'm proud of you sweetheart.", Grace says. "You'll see in the long run what happened was for the best."
"I still can't get over he cheated with Rachel of all people.", Kate mumbles. She cocks her head in my direction. "Can't the slut find a single guy instead of going after the ones who are taken? First she gets with Bryant and then with Will. If I catch her even looking at Elliot, I'll be the one doing the face rearranging." Kate's so absorbed in her ant-Rachel rant that forgets Grace is in the room. It's only when she looks at the counter that she stops. "Sorry Grace. I didn't mean to get so carried away."
"No need to apologize. Only Rachel knows why she is the way she is, and time shouldn't be wasted on thinking about her." The door leading to the outside deck opens and in walks Christian, Carrick, and Elliot. "Are you finished grilling already?" Carrick holds up the large platter of burgers in his hands.
"We are finished and have done an amazing job.", he replies.
"I did an amazing job.", Elliot tells the room. "I was the one who cooked the burgers. Dad and Christian were sitting and doing nothing." Christian takes a swig of his beer before putting his brother in a headlock. "Whoa! Watch the hair!" Christian's intoxicating grin is a far departure from the intensity he's been showing this past week thanks to Will's betrayal and Leila's return.
"Dad and I put our faith in you to do a good job. We were watching every single move you made and were on ready to step in if needed.", Christian teases. He moves behind me and starts massaging my shoulders. "What have you all been doing while we've been on Elliot watch?"
"Just talking.", I shrug.
"What Ana said.", Kate follows with. "It wasn't a very lively conversation, just the usual."
"It was about Will, wasn't it?", Elliot snarls. "Fuck. Can't we have an evening where we don't talk about the bastard?"
"Elliot, please watch your language.", Carrick scolds. He start helping Grace gather things from the fridge. I hear a faint buzzing noise behind me. Christian moves one of his hands and grabs his phone from his pocket. "Is everything ok, son?"
"Uh..yeah. I need to make a call. Excuse me." Turning around, I'm met with him mouthing "be right back." He opens the door and heads outside. I rise to my feet and take the spot at the window where Kate was standing before she shuffled to Elliot. Christian doesn't look very pleased with whatever he's being told during his phone call. I open the door and step out into the backyard. "I'll be there." He ends the call and shoves his phone into his pocket. "I've got to go."
"Go? Where do you have to go that's so important it's taking you away from your family on a Saturday?" He avoids looking me in the eye, a sign I take as him not wanting to tell me. "It's about Leila, isn't it?" Keeping an eye on Leila and finding out what she's up to are things I feel must be done, but I refuse to let her take over my life. "Perfect.", I scoff. "You can't enjoy a nice, relaxing afternoon with your family because you're too hung up on seeing what your ex is doing."
"Ana, it's not like that. Baby, I want to be here, but I can't. I have to meet with Welch."
"I'm sure Welch would understand if you held off on meeting with him until later. The guy does have a life too Christian."
"I'd rather meet with him now than later so I can know what I'm dealing with.", he sighs, holding his arms out for me. Seeing that I'm not about to take the embrace, he moves his arms down in defeat.
"What you're dealing with. You can call me emotional or hormonal, whatever, but I'm getting so sick and tired of coming in second place. That's exactly what's going on here. I get you want to get to the bottom of Leila's return, but you're letting her come between us which despite what she may say is what she wants."
"I'll fill you in after I find out more. All right? Don't let my leaving affect you. I want you to go back in there and have a burger or two and enjoy the day with the family. I may not be in there in body, but I'll be in there in spirit." My body gives in and finally allows him to kiss me. "I love you." He bends and kisses my stomach. "And I love you too."
"Ana, sweetheart, are you ok?", my mom asks after opening the door of her and Kate's apartment. Through blurry eyes, I nod and walk into the living room. "Sit down."
"I'm sorry for just showing up. I was on my way home from Carrick and Grace's when I realized I wasn't ready to go home." After Christian left, my efforts to have a nice time were useless. Kate asked me to join her and Elliot for a movie afterwards, but I passed, saying I wanted to go home and rest. I changed my mind halfway there after Christian texted and said he was still with Welch, two hours later.
"It's fine. I haven't been home long myself. I had dinner with Ethan and Max. Those two are the cutest." She sits down on the sofa next to where my body collapsed. "Where's Christian?"
"He had something come up."
"I'm here if you need to talk.", she says in a low voice even though we're the only ones in the apartment. I slump back further on the sofa. "You're worrying me."
"I sometimes feel like Christian doesn't genuinely listen to me. He stands there and nods like what I'm saying is registering, but I don't think it is. I feel like the teacher from Charlie Brown, going wah wah wah." I feel silly with my description, yet my mom appears to be getting it. "I also feel like he's taking advantage of me. I try my best not to feel this way, but those feelings keep creeping up."
"I'm probably the last person who should be giving you relationship advice, but I'm going to tell you one thing I learned from my failure of a marriage with Bob. You can't let your voice be muted. You have to let him know you're as much a part of the marriage as he is, thus you deserve as much of a right to speak your mind. When you feel like he's not paying attention, make it known. Don't let him skirt around the issue." My mom's track record with men may not be the best, but she has a valid point. Christian shouldn't have left today without hearing me out. Instead, he went to see in Welch about Leila. Could there be more to what's going on? Is it possible he still has some sort of feelings for Leila? I've been trying to tell myself it can't be true. What if is? I start feeling sick. "Ana, you're not looking so good."
"Can I...", I stammer. "Would it be ok if I just laid back here and rested my eyes for a while?" She gets up and helps move my legs on to the sofa.
"Rest all you need. I take it Sawyer's in the hallway?"
"With Lewis."
"I'll go and tell him you're going to stay a while." I close my eyes, and the last sound I hear before falling asleep is the door opening.
"Christian, she's sleeping." With my eyes still closed, I hear my mom whispering at the door.
"Which she can do in her own home, in her own bed. I can carry her to the car and then into our place without even waking her up." I slowly raise up from the sofa and get my bearings before standing.
"I'm awake.", I tell them. My mom opens the door a little more, allowing me to see Christian better. "Mom, can you give us a minute?"
"Of course sweetie. I'm going to go to my room and do some reading." She places her hand on mine while moving past me. I take her spot at the door and wave Christian inside.
"I called and texted your phone, but you didn't answer.", he sighs. "Why the fuck didn't you answer?"
"I turned my phone on silent when I got here. I needed some time." I resume my place on the sofa while he towers over me from the floor.
"Time for what?"
"Time to think.", I reply. "Turning my phone on silent might not have been the best thing, but I didn't figure you would call or text me since you were so busy with Welch."
"That's what this is about?", he asks. "You scared the shit out of me because I went to meet with Welch? Perfect."
"I'm sorry for as you put it, "scaring the shit out of you", but you were still able to track my down. You called Sawyer I'm guessing."
"Yeah. I tried you several times until I gave up and called him. He said you were here and had fallen asleep. Leaving you at my parents' wasn't something I wanted to do, but I needed to do it."
"You needed to do it?", I snarl. "Your definition of needing has got to be different than mine. For me, if someone is so keen on being there for his family, he'll do whatever he needs to make it happen even if it requires him to put off work."
"He found some things..." He stops himself from continuing.
"Did you love her? Leila. Did you love her?"
"No. You're the only woman who I've ever loved, the only one I've ever been in love with you. Why would you ask me that?"
"Let's say you didn't have real love for her but something close to it. Maybe those feelings returned when she did. I need you to look me in the eye and tell me. Do you have feelings for her?" He squats down in front of me, placing a hand on each of my knees.
"It's you, always has and always will be. Why don't we go somewhere else to talk about this?" He nods towards my mom's room.
"Ok." I take his hand and let him help me up. We leave the apartment without a single word. As the elevator door opens for us, I release his hand from mine and step inside on the wall opposite of him. We arrive on the first floor and head out of the building into the slightly cool evening. I relent and take his jacket.
"Leila came from a family which was really screwed up. Her dad was a drunk who ran her mother off, leaving Leila there to basically raise herself. I didn't love her, but I sympathized with her a little more than I did with other subs. The others all came from normal families and got into the lifestyle out of curiosity, but Leila did it as a way of getting her demons out. Somewhere along the way, she started feeling more for me, but I didn't feel the same. I ended the contract which didn't go over well at first, but I assumed she eventually got over it."
"Only now you're thinking your assumption was wrong. She never got over you. She still wants you. That's why she's back. She's in Seattle to try to get you back even though you have a wife and baby on the way.", I mutter while steadying my breathing. Seeing that I'm wobbling, he walks me to the SUV where Taylor is waiting. I slide inside and wait for Christian to get in on the other side. "What did you and Welch have to discuss that was so important?" Taylor gets in and starts to turn the ignition. "Don't leave Taylor. Stay." He glances in the rearview mirror and sees Christian nodding.
"The reading of Elena's will was yesterday afternoon. I knew she had one but had no idea when the reading would be held. Welch was the one who found out that it was yesterday. He did some digging and found out that Elena's entire estate was given to one person."
"A relative, right?", I ask.
"No. Leila. Since I had transferred to the salons to Elena, those are now Leila's as well as Elena's house and cars."
"Leila said Elena called her before her death to apologize. Maybe leaving Leila her estate was Elena's way of saying she was sorry. Leila could have known she was needed for the reading of the will which is why she returned to Seattle although I think there's more going on."
"There is.", he mutters. "Reynolds followed Leila to Elena's lawyer's office where the reading was held. He sat and waited for her to leave. She made a fast pit stop at the hotel where changed before leaving once again."
"Where was her new guy?"
"According to Reynolds Erickson left the hotel earlier in the morning. Here's where things get more interesting. Leila went to Paseo where she was joined by a guest." Christian's hand searches for mine, telling me I'm not going to like hearing the identity of Leila's guest. "Rachel. She and Leila sat down at the same damn table where they had acted like old friends." I get away from his clasp and jump out of the SUV to head back to the apartment building. Christian's pounding the pavement behind me. "Ana, hold up." I hear him but refuse to turn around. Before I can place my hand on the door of the building, he spins me around. "Stop. You getting stressed like this isn't good for you or the baby."
"I wouldn't be so stressed if your former sub hadn't blown into town seeking some sort of revenge along with the girl who has made it her mission to ruin me. Don't you dare stand there and say they're not plotting. I find it hard to believe they would just be old buds catching up."
"I wasn't about to say that. I don't know how they're aquainted, but I do know they've got something up their sleeves. How about you go and say goodbye to you mom and then we head home? My eyes dart between him and the building and then back to him. "I really hope you're not planning on staying here tonight. You belong in the home you share with me, your husband."
"That's kind of ironic considering you belonged with me today but decided to go meet with Welch. You could have held off on meeting with him until later. You didn't.", I murmur. "I'm going to surprise you by going inside to say goodbye to my mom, and then I'm going to come to into the SUV and go to our home because I know where my priorities lie. Once we're home, I'm going straight to bed. A little warning, don't try to cuddle or sweet talk me. I'm not in the mood."
"But I can still sleep in our bedroom?"
"Yes. You can sleep in our bedroom. No touching though. All we're going to do is sleep. Got it?"
"Yeah. I got it." Even not being in his arms is going to be difficult, but I need to show him he can't take advantage of me.
"Good."