A/N: We're going to be jumping a little bit in time with this chapter. Thanks for reading and enjoy :)
"Do you need me to help?" I grit my teeth and go back to trying the issue at hand, tying my damn shoe. I'm now in my eighth month and finding it even more difficult to do what used to be the simplest things. "Ana, let me." I decide to give up trying and let Christian tie my brown loafer. My heels have been pushed to the back of the closet and been replaced by more comfortable shoes.
"Thank you.", I tell him after he finishes tying the shoe. He starts to raise up but stops at my belly, placing a tender kiss just as Oliver kicks. "He's telling you thank you as well."
"You're both very welcome.", Christian grins. He head to the closet and grabs his own shoes. With us now at the house, we've got more a lot more room. It didn't take long to get adjusted to living here. The entire house is warm and inviting. "I've got a meeting at ten but should be done by eleven. How about I take you to lunch?"
"I like that idea, but I already told Kate, Audrey, and Daniel that I'd have lunch with them. It was Audrey's idea since I'm going to be starting maternity leave soon." During my absence, Kate will be spearheading the office. It was a decision that came after much thought and discussion. I'm confident Kate will done a great job. "But you can take me to dinner tonight?"
"Dinner it is then. You were already asleep last night when I finished working in the study so I didn't get to ask if you had talked to your dad." Seeing that I'm about to stand, he offers me his hands and helps me to my feet.
"I talked to him for a few minutes, but he had to rush off the phone to get his burning pizza out of the oven.", I giggle.
"Burning pizza? That sounds like something I'd do.", Christian smirks.
"If he lived closer, he could have dinner with us or maybe my mom." Christian's brows go up. "I don't mean in a romantic sense. I mean as friends." Part of me is selfish in dreaming about my parents reuniting, but they're both happy in their lives.
"Your dad's happy in Portland. If he's happy, you should be happy for him."
"I am happy for him. Excuse me for being emotional and wanting him here more.", I scoff, stepping out of his arms. I start towards the door, but I'm immediately turned around by Christian. "I'm a mess, aren't I?"
"You're not a mess Mrs. Grey. It's natural to want your dad around especially now that OIiver's on his way." We walk out of the bedroom and downstairs into living room and then to the kitchen where Gail's already placed a large breakfast spread on the table. "I might have sent Gail a quick text when you weren't looking."
"Good because I'm so hungry." I sit down in the chair Christian's pulled out for me, and then I immediately start filling my plate. Christian takes his seat but holds off on getting his food. "You'd better hurry up or I might eat all of it." His mouth curves into a smile while placing some bacon on his plate.
"I needed to take in the beautiful sight of you filling your plate to feed yourself and Oliver."
"Uh...ok. Since you can't have lunch with me, maybe you can see if Mia's free. You were just saying yesterday how you've barely seen her lately." Christian and I aren't the only ones living in a new place. Mia took the big step of moving out on her own when she moved into a small apartment last month. Besides decorating the place, she's been busy with Nicholas who continues to gain support from Mia's loved ones. When Christian and I had dinner with them a few weeks ago, I noticed that Nicholas would hang on to every word Mia was saying.
"I don't know. She might already have plans. I still might call her. If not, I can always call Elliot." I take a bite of my scrambled eggs, and I can't help but look over at Gail with a thumbs up.
"I'm glad you like them.", she laughs. "I could make a sandwich out of them for you to take to work." I'm having breakfast now and will have lunch around noon, but I've been getting hungry around ten.
"Yes please." With an amused look once again on his face, Christian stops eating. "Are you trying to make me feel guilty?"
"No baby. I assure you I'm not. I truly am just happy to see you eating like this."
"You might change your mind after Oliver's born, and the weight is still on. I'm not going to leave the hospital with my prebaby figure."
"You're not.", he gasps, clutching his hand to his chest. I throw a small piece of toast at him in response. "I'm kidding. Ana, I've always loved your body, even more more so now. That love won't change." He brings my hand to his lips. "Each and every single curve is part of the masterpiece before me."
"Do you honestly think I can do this while you're gone?", Kate asks. She's sitting in my office while I go over a few things with her. "What if I somehow make a critical error that causes the entire magazine to shut down? Something tells me I wouldn't have a job."
"You need to stop thinking so negatively. I wasn't sure I could do this at first, but then I told myself that I could. I also had people encouraging me." I point to myself and then to her.
I'm trying to say encouraging you is what I'm doing if you're wondering."
"I gathered that. Your confidence in me means a lot. Quick question. What would happen if an article by some chance weren't done on time? For me as one of the writers, I've always done my best to make sure the work is complete on time, but what if there's a scenario where it can't be avoided? What happens?"
"I've actually never thought of that. You're really asking some challenging things here."
"I want to be as prepared as possible.", she replies as I ponder her question.
"I guess we'd have to come up with something at the last minute or possibly see if one of the existing articles could be stretched to fill the extra space." I smile while Kate writes down my answer on her notepad. My hand goes to rest on my stomach, causing her to look worried.
"You're not going into labor, are you?"
"No." As my due date approaches, it seems everyone around me is on alert. "I'm merely placing my hand on my stomach. I'd let you know if I were in labor."
"You'd better although I'm kind of prepared to help in the event that you were in labor. By that, I mean I'm prepared to get Sawyer to take you to the hospital while I call Christian." She takes a glimpse at her watch. "It's almost noon. Have you decided where you want to have lunch?"
"I don't know. How about you, Audrey, or Daniel pick a place?"
"The lunch is for you so you should get the honor of deciding where to go." On cue, Audrey opens the door and walks into the office with Daniel behind her. "I asked Ana where she'd like to have lunch."
"Yes Ana. Where would you like to have lunch?", Audrey asks.
"And I told Kate one of you should pick.", I tell them.
"I call we get burgers.", Daniel says.
"You don't call anything. This is Ana's decision, meaning she gets to choose what kind of a place we go to. Ana, take all the time you need." Three sets of eyes stare as I try to think of where I'd like to go. Daniel mouths burgers, but is caught and then scowled at by Audrey.
"It hasn't been too long since I had my egg sandwich, but I'd kind of like to have more breakfast. How would you guys feel about going to IHOP? I want pancakes."
"Pancakes for lunch?", Kate asks, narrowing her eyes.
"I can choose another place if you'd like. I just thought IHOP would be good since I could get my pancakes, and you all could order whatever you want. Daniel, they even have burgers."
"And damn good ones.", he nods.
"IHOP it is.", Audrey giggles.
"Ana, we're going to miss you in the office.", Daniel sighs after taking the last bite of his burger. "It's going to be weird."
"It might be odd not having me around every day, but we'll still see each other. All of you are more than welcome to come visit the house. We can also get together for lunches. It's not like I'm going far away."
"We'll keep you up to date on the latest office happenings.", Audrey says. She kisses Daniel's cheek and places a few of her fries on his plate.
"You know it's love when fries are shared.", Kate teases. "Elliot and I were here a few nights ago. He had a late night so we decided to come here and get some food. We were seated not far from this table when we saw Bryant. He was on a date. Before you ask how I know, it's because I went over and said hello. Yes, I went over and was able to be nice to the guy who once broke your heart."
"Kate, I came to the realization a long time ago that Bryant didn't break my heart. He hurt me and left me a mess, but he didn't break my heart. In order for that to happen, he would have had to have my heart which he didn't. Christian had my heart even before we met."
"Can you repeat that? I'd like to write it down to use in the future for when I'm in the dog house with Audrey?", Daniel asks.
"Nice try.", Audrey snaps at him. "Ana, that's sweet. Now then, Kate, if you weren't rude to Bryant, what happened?"
"I'm not going to be his best friend and hang out with him, but too much has taken place to hold hostility over him. Ana's moved on and is happier than ever so I said hello to him. Elliot was just as shocked as you guys, but I was cordial. Bryant said hello in repsonse and introduced me to Lauren. She seemed very nice while talking to us. After she got up to go to the restroom, Bryant explained that he met Lauren through a friend, and they've been seeing each other for a few weeks."
"Good for him.", I say with full honesty. "Bryant deserves to find love."
"I agree." Kate looks at her plate and then at us. "I can't eat the rest of my pancakes. Who wants them?" Daniel seems ready to raise his hand, but I beat him to it. "Here you go." She takes her fork and lays the last two pancakes on my plate. "Are you sure you can eat all of that?"
"Have you seen me eat lately?"
"How was your day Mrs. Grey?", Christian asks after he arrives home from work.
"It was fine, but wouldn't you rather catch up on our days later? You just got home." He sets his things down on the floor and entangles me in his arms.
"I'd rather catch up now. How was lunch?"
"It was so good. I ate too much and felt miserable most of the afternoon." Panic spread on his face. "It was only because I couldn't say no to more pancakes. You resembled Kate there for a minute."
"What?" He guides me back into the living room where he sits down, bringing down on his lap. "How in the hell did I resemble Kate?"
"I moved my hand to my stomach this morning, and she got worried that I was in labor. The two of you had similiar facial expressions. That's what I meant."
"Why didn't you just say that in the first place?", he chuckles. I shrug and consider moving. "Where do you think you're going?"
"Am I not hurting you by sitting like this?"
"You're not hurting me. While you had lunch with everyone, I had a last minute conference call with some clients in London. Can you believe they're wanting me to travel there for a meeting?
"When would you have to go?", I ask.
"Next week. It would be for only two or three days, but it doesn't matter. There's no way in hell I'm leaving you when you're this close to giving birth. I asked them to come here, but their entire setup is in London."
"I highly doubt I'm going in labor any time soon. If anything, I'll probably go past my due date."
"Maybe but maybe not. That's not a chance I'm willing to take.", he says while I look down at the floor. "Ana, it's ok."
"Are you sure?"
"I'm one hundred and ten percent sure. I know we said we were going out to dinner, but how about we just stay in and order some takeout?"
"Are you ashamed to be seen with me?", I murmur.
"I'm only asking because you look exhausted.
"I might be a little tired." I debate whether or not we should stay in or go out. The answer soon comes to me. "You drive a hard bargain, but I'll agree to your terms Mr. Grey."
"Shall we seal the deal with a kiss?", he smirks.
"Oh we'd better.", I giggle before clamping my lips on to his.