A/N:
I always respond to all reviews so I'd like to reiterate a point I have made before, if you ask me a question as a guest, I can't answer it, if you ask it with a registered id in a review or send me a PM, I can and will answer it. I will not respond to guests in an author's note however I will make one exception, to guest lauralai55, you couldn't have paid me a higher compliment, thank you. I truly appreciate all reviews and all the support from other writers and readers that have recommended my story. I would also like to give a special shout out to Banners and Mash, make sure to read her stories and if you read no other story, make sure you read The Master's Muse.

Ana's POV

The nurse wakes me up for the routine middle of the night "wake you up and bother you attendance" and is standing there with her hands on her hips looking at Christian with an annoyed expression. She starts to reach for him and I whisper quietly, "Please don't wake him, I don't think he's had more than two hours sleep in the last three days. He isn't bothering me, in fact, I haven't had the nightmare since he's been here and I feel so much better. Please leave him alone, he is helping me."

The nurse harrumphs, thins her lips but gets on with what she has to do, she does jostle him at one point and we both hold our breaths and hear as he tightens his arm around me "Don't touch her, leave her alone," and what sounds very much like a whimper.

She steps back, shakes her head and says quietly "Are your ribs ok? He seems to be holding on very tightly."

While she is right and he is putting a bit of pressure on, I love the feel of his arm and his body heat is keeping me warm so I whisper "It really is fine" and smile at her and she finally leaves me alone. Although not without a scowl and a shake of the head and while I am sure it's against protocol, I really don't care, he makes me feel safe.

I know Taylor is in the room, thankfully he seems asleep but now that I am awake and the new medication hasn't kicked in yet, I take advantage of the fact that I can observe this gorgeous man and wonder about the fact that he is here, lying in my bed. Who would have thought, mousey little Ana cradled in the arms of an Adonis, a gorgeous Greek god albeit with copper hair and perfect teeth and oh my, I can see that amazing tongue peeping through those imminently kissable lips. If it wouldn't wake him, I would just lean over and…. And I really can't think about what it is that is pushing against my right hip, if I move my hand I might be able to touch ….. I can't, imagine if he woke up!

I can feel the heat rising through my body as I imagine his body under the shirt, I can feel the rock hard abs and as I wiggle to try and move my arm, Christian stirs and I stiffen, not wanting to wake him instead a small smile settles on his lips, he shuffles a little, emits a small sigh and then nuzzles his nose closer into my hair, his breath right on my ear and his hand sweeps down my body in a gentle caress before it moves back up and rests just below my breast – damn, so close! I almost don't want to breathe in case he moves but it looks like his hair is tickling his nose, so I use my left hand and thankfully the shoulder doesn't hurt too much and move the hair off his face and then decide that I need to touch him so place my hand on his, laying on my chest. He settles again and his steady breaths and the cute little noises he's making lull me back to sleep with a smile on my face and dreaming of things I've never dreamt before, like licking chocolate cake off of his rock hard abs.

Taylor's POV

Damn nurses, I was deep asleep, the deepest sleep I've had for a while, it seems the Ana affect is to make us all fall asleep, amazing! I keep my eyes apparently shut but I perfected the skill a long time ago to be able to watch without being seen and I can see little miss innocent having a jolly good look at the Boss. If I wasn't supposed to be sleeping, I'd be smiling. I swear she is blushing so I can only imagine what she's thinking and that turns my thoughts to the delectable Gail who I am once again not sleeping next to but if this, whatever it is between these two, works out, hopefully we'll all finally have restful sleeps at home.

The Boss moves, oh please don't wake up, I don't want to pretend to sleep through him discovering her checking him out, thankfully he manages to perfect a grope in his sleep and stays asleep. She's using her left hand even though her arm is still in the sling to brush some hair off his face and I watch that hand hesitate before she lowers it back onto her chest over the Boss's hand with a little "cat's got the cream smile" and soon she is asleep as the drugs kick in and cue sleep for me again.

I'm woken again by my phone vibrating, "Taylor…..Yes Miss Grey I am with Christian…. No you can't speak with him…No, he's sleeping" Oh good lord, how am I going to get Mia off the phone, I am trying to speak as quietly as possible as I don't want to wake the Boss and leave the room but Mia's squeal is loud enough to wake anyone.

Without even holding my phone to my ear I can hear her say "Rubbish Taylor, I just spoke to Mrs Jones and she said that Christian wasn't there so he can't be sleeping and it's nearly 6am and he's always awake at this time"

"Well, he is not at home however he is sleeping and I will get him to call you when he wakes"

"Wait, Taylor … is he sleeping with someone? OMG Taylor you need to tell me…"

"Miss Grey, Mr Grey will call you when he is able, I need to go now" and I hang up. Please, as if I am going to tell Mia anything but now that she is suspicious, I really shouldn't have said as much as I did, the Boss doesn't have a chance.

I let myself back into the room and they are both still asleep, it really is a miracle, he hasn't had a night terror, actually, neither has she, and he has slept the whole night since getting here, there wasn't a peep from either of them, thankfully Ana was able to convince the nurse in the middle of the night that she was happy for him to be there.

It is going to be my job to convince this next nurse to come back at the end of her rounds so they get some more but just as I think that, the Boss stirs and I watch to see what happens.

Ana's POV

In my dream I am floating down the road, holding his hand, stopping to give him a passionate kiss while he holds me around the waist and I have my foot kicked up in the universal sign of bliss. I can feel the heat of his arms and his hands are around my back, pulling me into his chest and his kisses start at my ear, across my cheek, on my lips while he slips his tongue in for a small explore, down my throat and stops just above the last opened button of my shirt. His hot breath is moving my shirt in and out while my body moulds itself to him and his hands move down to my bottom and he uses it as a lever to haul me up so that he is standing and I am now towering over him as he buries his face and I giggle with pleasure.

"Anastasia, that is by the best sound to be waken up by, what's so funny?" I hear as a whisper in my ear and I feel his hand brush away my crazy bed hair. I gasp, I can't believe the dream has morphed into real life and I was giggling out loud, oh no, I know I speak in my sleep, what might he have heard… oh no, what did Taylor hear?

I can't tell him what I was dreaming about and even thinking about it makes me blush the colour of a watermelon and he smiles so I go with the earlier dream and say "There might have been chocolate cake involved" and he chuckles. I am however worried about what I might have said, "Did I say anything?" I ask mortified.

He laughs and says "I didn't hear anything" and then shaking his head with amazement, he looks questioningly at me "A first I think, I slept like a log for the first time ever and I didn't wake up at all." He shakes his head as if to clear it and says in a quiet voice, almost to himself, "It's you! I can sleep when I am near you."

Then he seems to remember himself and drags himself up and swings his legs out of bed saying contritely "I'm sorry, I never do this."

"Um what, crawl into hospital beds to sleep with strangers?" I say as an attempt at humour.

He looks sadly down at his hands and at the door through which Taylor has just disappeared, "No, I don't sleep with anyone"

Woah, what does that mean? He said he wasn't gay in that mortifying interview. He kisses like a god, well, I don't know what like, a demon with a heart of gold floating on a cloud of mmmm, not that I have any frame of reference but … he doesn't sleep with anyone. I don't know what my face says but he looks at me sadly and says "We really need to talk."

Christian's POV

"We really need to talk." I say because we can't go any further without her knowing about me and everything I represent.

Despite the gravity of the situation she giggles, she has the most disarming way of doing it when I am at my most serious and I lose complete track of what I was thinking and revel in the sound. "Pray tell, what are you giggling about?" I ask.

She says "You know nothing good ever comes from "We need to talk"" and I don't know what she is talking about, I assume it must be a relationship thing but I've never had one. Obviously my face shows confusion because she says "You've never been told "we need to talk"? Umm, have you ever had a relationship?" And she says it like a joke and when I duck my head she gasps and I know that shit just got real, I guess I might as well start with my disclosures. I really hope that I will hear her giggle again but I resign myself to the fact that I may just have heard it for the last time.

Just as I am about to open my mouth, a doctor walks into the room, nods at me and I move off the edge of the bed, the distance from Ana feeling magnified as she is looking at me with a worried look and it looks like she isn't attending to the doctor at all. "Yes, I feel fine" she snaps at him without looking at him and then she shakes her head and looks away from me and apologises softly to the doctor "Sorry, what did you ask, I was completely distracted."

The doctor smiles and says "Well, you sound like you are on the mend and ready to start fighting the battle to get out of here as soon as possible. First things first, you will be moving off a liquid diet today and " he doesn't manage to get any other words out as Ana excitedly asks if she is allowed to have chocolate cake. I think if she could move both hands easily, she would have been clapping in excitement.

The doctor smiles and says "It's not normally the first thing that patients eat, usually it is soup and soft bread but perhaps a small piece of cake won't be a problem. Why do you have some stashed away?"

At her excited head nod he laughs and she says, "If I am only allowed a little piece perhaps the rest can be shared between you and the nursing staff," and my heart swells at her generosity. Then she seems to remember that I am in the room and that Taylor has come back in as well and says "Although we might need to leave a couple of pieces here" and she tilts her head and smiles towards us.

The doctor says "unless you have the Magic Pudding in there, with the size of these fellows, I'll leave it all for you but thank you."

"Now, more importantly, we need to start to get you moving or you will seize up. The physiotherapist will be in a bit later to start exercising with you, you need to take it slow but make sure you move. Your shoulder should be able to come out of the sling today and that will help but I don't want you putting pressure on your left arm as you move out of bed, no lunging for things." He laughs "Like after a piece of cake that might fall off your plate, no big hugs basically no big moves at all. Remember also, and I know you won't be able to miss it, but you have broken ribs and a punctured lung. The lung appears to be healing and your lung capacity seems to be increasing which is good but your ribs will be hurting for weeks and possibly months, so be very careful with any movements. There's no sign of the pulmonary embolism so I think we can start reducing those drugs so that the rest of the wounds will heal faster as well. The nurse will be coming in soon to replace the dressings and we need a scan on the cast leg to ensure that there is no infection in there as well."

He pauses and looks at her "However, given what you have gone through, I think you are an amazing young woman to be sitting here, not in tears, not whinging and not even taking the pain medication you should be taking, ready to take it all on. Young lady the world is your oyster and I hope it opens up for you as soon as we can get you out of here. You don't deserve to be in here" and she drops her head shyly and blushes a pretty pink.

And I couldn't agree more, it's a pity my fucked up life has put her here but I will do everything to give her exactly what he said she deserves.

The doctor gives her a smile, a pat on the shoulder, a nod to us and is out the door.

"So are you going to sit there or are you going to get my cake?" Ana asks cheekily and then adds a dig at my response last night, "because you know, I could always shuffle on my bottom but you were pretty clear last night…."

I can't resist and with a smile I go to the fridge and grab the cake, Taylor has magicked up some forks from somewhere and I walk over to her and before I give her the fork, I lean forward and kiss her gently on the lips, I think it startles her, it certainly startles Taylor but then I whisper in her ear "I agree, you are truly amazing" and she blushes that delicious shade of pink again – I like seeing the color in her cheeks.

"Now, in your dream that had you giggling, you were doing something with this chocolate cake, do you want to recreate it?" and the blush goes from pink to puce and Taylor coughs and removes himself from the room, his shoulders shaking. I have never seen him lose it like that and am struggling with a straight face myself, and while I'd love to know, I take pity on her as she actually looks mortified and say, "Sorry, here taste this, Mrs Jones makes the best chocolate cake" and she hurriedly takes the mouthful. As she swallows, the look on her face is exquisite, her eyes shut, her mouth a perfect O and I am sure the answering grin on my face makes me look like an idiot but I don't care, my girl likes chocolate cake… oh, my girl…..actually, that feels right. There are so many other things that I'd like to do to her to recreate that look but as I am thinking that I hear her whisper.

Ana's POV

I am aware that the door is opening but the feel of the chocolate on my tongue, the cake just melts into a world of gooey chocolate goodness, stealing all my capabilities with it and all I can think is "Oh the only way this cake could be better would be if I was eating it off Christian's rock hard abs" and then I hear the roar of laughter and open my eyes. Did I just say that out loud? Oh please, could it be any more embarrassing? Apparently yes because Taylor had just walked in the room when I said it and twice in the space of a few minutes I see him trying to contain his laughter but this time I am looking at him and can see the light dancing in his eyes as well. Admirably, he brings himself under control unlike Christian who has a beautiful belly laugh going on despite trying to calm down as he looks at my once again bright red face, I smile ruefully at him. He is gorgeous when he laughs and I don't think he does it often so this time I don't mind being the butt of the joke but there's no way I am ever going to live it down. I try to move it along by saying "Umm, excuse me, too much laughing…. do I only get one mouthful of the most divine chocolate cake I have ever tasted?"

Christian can finally manage a sentence and squeaks out "Oh baby, it's on me if you want to waste the cake but I'd rather just feed you," and pops another forkful into my mouth.

He hacks off a hunk for Taylor who also brought in coffee for them and who then asks what he could get me, he apologises for not asking earlier and I know it was because he was making a quick exit so I didn't see him laughing so I raise my eyebrow at him and say, "Thank you, I'd like a tea with the bag out, English Breakfast Tea if they have it."

He looks confused and says questioningly, "Basically a cup of hot water with the teabag on the side?" and when I nod he smiles and walks out.

Christian is looking at me and I feel I have to explain my drink choice, "I like it black and weak" and I think he is going to make a joke but he lets it go.

He does however say, "I think you've had enough cake because it was only supposed to be a small piece of cake" and when I pout playfully, he gives me one forkful more, pops the rest in his mouth and all I can think of is that if I want more, I need to get to that mouth. The thought makes me giggle again and his eyes sparkle as he looks at me. He stands to put the plate on the top of the fridge and then saunters back towards me with a grin on his face, he reaches for my face and then I know he can read my mind because he slowly lowers his lips to mine and very gently forces his still chocolately tongue into my mouth. I can feel his smile against my lips and I can't help but giggle again and he pulls away with a "Happy?"

Taylor is back with my tea and watches intrigued as I pop the teabag into the cup and almost immediately fish it out again, I am glad I have both hands again. The ability to use both hands reminds me that I'd like to remove the makeup that Kate put on me last night because I am sure it is smeared and messy from sleeping in, belatedly I realise I probably have panda eyes and must look like a mess, god what must Christian think of me?… although his opinion doesn't seem too bad, he certainly hasn't left me alone.

Christian is looking at me closely and says, "Which bit of today are you worried about?" and at my confused look, he says "It looks like you are worrying about something."

The look of relief on his face relaxes it completely when I say "I want a mirror. Actually, I don't want a mirror, I just want to clean my face, I probably have panda eyes and smudged makeup all over my face. I never wear it and if Kate makes me up I usually wash it off before going to sleep and I was just too tired last night after you all left that I forgot and couldn't get rid of it anyway."

Christian's POV

Oh thank God, she's worried about the makeup. "Don't worry about the makeup, I am sure the nurses can help with that when they come back in. More importantly, what sort of soup would you like for lunch?"

Very cutely she says "Does your Mrs Jones make soup too? I'm sure you mentioned that last night but I had no concept of her abilities, that chocolate cake though…" and she blushes the lightest pink, that memory will stick with all of us for a while.

"She makes a beautiful chicken soup, a pumpkin soup or a mushroom soup or anything you want. Which one would you like?" I ask her.

Again my heart swells as she asks, "What's your favourite? She might as well make something that everyone likes, I'm happy to eat anything, I'm sure I'll be starving by lunchtime although I am happy to eat whatever the hospital provides."

Not only is she beautiful even with the smudged makeup and crazy bed hair but she has already twice today considered other people when something has been offered to her, I can't lose her. Damn that brings me back to the fact that we are going to need to talk.

"Ok, what about an order of chicken noodle soup?" I say.

Sshe smiles at me with a "that would be wonderful, it's what I always make when Ray isn't well" and Taylor walks out to organise it with Mrs Jones.

"Do you cook?" I ask and she says "Yes I had to learn over the years, there are only so many things you can eat out of packets before your body doesn't work and it's amazing the types of meals you can pull together from scraps" and she smiles sadly.

My heart clenches but I need to know, "When did you start to cook?"

She tilts her head to the side as if working backwards and says matter-of-factly "Probably since I was 6 or 7, I wanted to have breakfast and if I didn't make it, I didn't get it"

Oh God, that means that Carla hasn't ever really looked after her daughter and I just need to know but just as I open my mouth to ask her, the nurse walks in and starts checking Ana over saying the physiotherapist is running about half an hour late and is there anything that Ana would like and she shyly asks for something to make herself look more presentable and the nurse nods and is back with some wipes and a mirror and then walks out.

"Would you let me help you?" I ask and she stares at me incredulously "I can take off makeup" I say haughtily.

And she says with a grin "Ok we really DO need to talk. You don't sleep with anyone, you've never had a relationship and you know how to take off makeup… are you a drag queen at night?" cocking her head cutely to the side as she pretends to look me up and down to measure me up for a drag queen, "I know" she giggles, "Lady GreyGrey or Crystal Chiming Balls" and for the third time in one morning Taylor is trying not to laugh and even under my attempted icy stare can't help the smirk.

Taylor attempts to divert the situation by grabbing her bag and giving it to her so that she can find a hairbrush and when she does, I put out my hand and say "Allow me? You'll just hurt yourself twisting" I saw her grimace just looking in her bag and I can brush hair. She hesitantly puts it in my hand and that cheeky smile won't leave her face, I make quick work of brushing and then braiding her hair so it will stay tidier and more controllable and she sounds so surprised when she says thank you. Oh if she only knew why I can braid hair, she would suddenly find the ability to walk and would be out the door, I am sure of it.

"So now will you trust me with your face?" I ask and she nods silently "Good, relax" and her lips lift in a smile as she closes her eyes and I'd happily kiss off any remnants of the lip gloss but restrain myself and quickly wipe down her face, exposing her beautiful skin. I am so glad the airbag did its job but I can see there is a bit of bruising on her cheek and along her jaw. When I touch it gently with my fingertips, she doesn't say anything, it is only the sudden stop in her breathing that alerts me. "Is it sore?"

She whispers, "Only a little, it'll be fine," and while I'd like to kiss it better, I say to Taylor "We need to bring the Arnica cream" and realise it will actually help with her leg and side as well, "Maybe we can get a big tub of it somewhere".

I stand there looking at her and then I hear a "Can I open my eyes yet?"

I decide that her smart mouth deserves a reason to giggle again so I say "No" and then don't say or do anything.

"Ok…" she says eventually "Please tell me you aren't going to redo my makeup." and Taylor outright guffaws and hurriedly walks out the room as she opens one eye carefully and starts giggling at the look on my face.