Christian's POV
It is heartbreaking to watch Ray and Ana, we all sit quietly looking at the monitor wishing we were anywhere but where we are, watching the only father she has known try to erase the feeling of being unwanted that has pervaded her entire life.
I need to get Ana to bed once she has calmed down, all of this stress is not going to be doing her healing any good. I am more than well aware that she should be hooked up to all the monitors and sleeping, not weeping her heart out. What Mom said to me the first day that Ana was in hospital has stuck with me and tears at me, Mom said, "Love is what will heal her Christian, she is going to need a lot of love and support in her rehabilitation" and all Ana has heard is how her mother really doesn't care for her at all. I know it doesn't matter how much anyone else says they love you, if your natural mother doesn't love you, no other love seems to matter and my heart breaks for her.
We see the nurse hovering unsure of what she should be doing, I go out and tell her to go to her room and I'll call her when Ana is ready. She takes a moment to tell me that Ana should have taken her medication and that she is supposed to take her blood pressure and I say, we'll call you, her blood pressure would be elevated at the moment due to some news she's been told and we'd like to let her calm and with a look of annoyance she walks away.
As I walk past the great room Ray quietly calls out my name and I am straight in and he says quietly "She's asleep now, do you mind carrying her to her room Son, my legs are asleep because of the way she has been lying on me?" and then under his breath he says "I can't believe how badly I failed her, my poor girl" and he looks up at me and says "I'm holding you to your promise Son, I don't know what you did before with your other women but I am assuming from the way everyone was talking that it was what they wanted but if you hurt Ana, you will be dealing with me." He looks at me and I nod, and he continues "I also assume Welch hasn't changed a bit and still has a place in his heart for Ana and will protect her with his life. He was one of her favorites on base; every time he came near she would giggle and his rank didn't matter because he'd be down on the ground playing with her. I'd hope he has her back even if he is an employee of yours, so you have been warned." I nod and say with absolute sincerity "I have no intention of ever hurting Ana, you have my absolute word and the fact that both Taylor and Welch are on my team means that hopefully we can stop any harm ever coming to Ana from any outside source ever again."
I smile for a second at the image of Welch on the ground playing with Ana as a baby and say "You say Welch was on the ground playing with Ana?" and I can see the memory is a happy one for Ray as he says "Everyone loved her on base, I'd completely forgotten that nickname "Little Miss Canny Annie" because she seemed to be able to see right through you and she only smiled at the decent personnel, anyone that didn't have their heart in the right place she wouldn't look at and would hide in my arms. Son, let me say, she has been that way all her life so when I saw her looking at you and feeling safe with you, I decided you were ok. Had I heard everything today but not seen her with you, I would have had my doubts but she trusts you like she's never trusted anybody, even me. She's told you things that she has never told another soul so I have to trust you as well, please don't do anything to break that for me but more importantly for her…. She hasn't had reason to trust for a long time, thanks to you I now know that was right from when she was five… I can't believe it. I thought I was as good a father as I could have been." And he looks distraught so I say as gently as I can "I think you were there when it was most important for you to be there, when she had no-one and was broken and unable to care for herself, from what she told me, it was when she needed you most that you were there. I doubt that she would fault anything you have ever done, as you just said, she doesn't let many people in unless she trusts them and she trusts you."
I pick Ana up as gently as possible and Ray kisses her forehead and relinquishes her and I say, "I'll go put her down, the nurse is itching to do what she has to do and then we'll have a bite to eat, nothing heavy but Mrs Jones has prepared dinner, please stay and eat, she could make you a plate for your room but I think you need to be with the rest of us." And he slowly nods as he jiggles his legs attempting to get feeling back and I walk away with Ana in my arms, my precious bundle so tiny she should be dead weight heavy but it is the cast that seems to be the heaviest part of her except that I know one part is extremely heavy and it is her heart, how am I going to support her so that she gets what she deserves. My girl deserves love and I've never given love, I've never taken love even when it was offered by my family because I know I don't deserve it but Ana deserves it in spades. Can I do this for her?
As I walk past Gail, she sees I have Ana and dashes back up the stairs to raise the nurse who then comes bustling into the room after me, with her help Ana is connected back to all the monitors and her leg is suspended and supported again. I promise that if Ana wakes I will give her the painkillers but I am unwilling to wake her given what she has just gone through and the nurse stays while I bolt downstairs to have some dinner quickly. As requested, Ray is sitting with Welch and Taylor chatting quietly and I nod at them, eat my plateful and excuse myself, I want to be in the room when Ana wakes so grab my computer and set myself up to work dismissing the nurse with an assurance that if anything further is required that I will call her.
Grace's POV
Oh, I need to sit down, Carrick's phone call has made it all very real and scary, Elena is in custody but so are Ana's mother and her former step-father who is the father of the girl who ran her off the road. Poor Ana, how must she be feeling? However, I am worried, Carrick has something else he needs to discuss with me and he didn't want to do it over the phone and wants to wait for the end of the shift and tell me at home, knowing that, I am struggling to concentrate on my work and the children need my attention. Come on Grace, shake it off and look after the little ones, life will go on for me but these children need your full attention for the next hour and then it's home time.
A text from Christian says "Mom, can you come around in the morning? Ana is sleeping and seems ok, senior nurse Melanie will send you a separate text with any questions/opinions" and at least that seems to be working well, I can't believe that those two nurses attacked Ana last night. According to Carrick, Elena was behind that, I can't believe that woman was my "friend" for so many years, and I really do question my judgement now, even though John Flynn says I shouldn't, that that is how pedophiles work but I still feel like an idiot, especially as her true colours are now showing and she is pure evil.
I manage to concentrate and have never been happier to have a work week finished in my life. Checking in with Ana tomorrow will be a pleasure, I can't believe the change in my hard working son, Christian, despite all his distress at the revelations he looks at peace when with Ana and I will be forever grateful that Ana has come into his life. Now to get her healthy and able to be active, the places that they can go, the things they can do, oh, I can see it all and I wish my boy the greatest happiness, he has the ability to give love even though he doesn't think so but more importantly, I hope he will learn to accept the love he so richly deserves.
Deciding I need to concentrate on my driving, I try to clear my mind and think about the ball that is coming, again, my thoughts go back to Elena and how I am further in the lurch now that she is no longer part of the organising committee and the girls have been dismissed, I look forward to passing that responsibility onto Mia now that she is back. Oh lord, that makes me think about the fact that my beautiful daughter could have fallen prey to Elena as a young girl and my heart clenches. The talons of that woman have touched our family so deeply and my mind wanders again so that I almost don't see the red traffic light and have to slam on my brakes. The screech of the wheels of the car behind me further pull my thoughts to the present as I wait for the thump of the car into the rear but thankfully, they managed to stop in time and all is fine. Ok, concentrate Grace or you'll be in ER or of no use to anybody and I manage to simply stare at the road for the rest of the trip, counting the road signs, counting the cars, looking at licence plates, anything to not think about my family and the turmoil it is in.
Driving up towards the house, I have never been more glad to see Carrick standing there waiting for me and I decide that tomorrow, Carrick can drive us both to see Christian and Ana as I don't trust myself at all.
"Darling, you look exhausted, come inside" and I revel in the feeling of his arms around me, the security he provides me and the love I know he is trying to transmit in that hug and kiss he holds for longer than normal and it takes everything I have to not break down in tears on him again. There have been too many tears in the last two days for all of us.
With a drink and a tray of nibbles, we take ourselves out to the dock to enjoy the setting sun, sitting as the children used to with our feet dangling in the water, quietly enjoying the wine until Carrick says "Gracie, you need to promise me that you will listen to everything I have to say before leaping to any conclusions." And my heart lurches, what has happened now? I nod just so that Carrick will continue "Remember all those years ago when you saw Christian and knew that you had to look after him? That he had to come home with us as soon as it could be organised?" At my nod, Carrick continues "Well, I had the same situation happen today." He pauses as if he is grappling with his words and getting them right. "The reason that Elena is in custody at the moment and not out on bail is because a minor was at the scene today and was able to conclusively provide photographic and sound evidence that proved that Elena was abusing children. The boy is Macy Dwyer and …" and I gasp, "Oh no, Macy? Oh mmmy God, Carrick, I fed him to her" and I break down into the sobs that I have managed to keep at bay for the last couple of hours and Carrick collects me in his arms and tries to soothe me.
"Gracie, I said hear me out" I hear him say in my hair but I have to tell him "Cary, I specifically asked Elena to help Macy because he was an older child but with similar issues to Christian and because she seemed to get along with Christian when no-one else had, I thought … I thought…. I thought she'd be able to help. Oh my god, what have I done? What have I done?" and I feel him shaking under me. Finally Carrick says "Ok, I did not know that but darling, will you now listen to me?" and I pull back from him to give him my attention but he pulls me back into his arms and then pulls me into his lap so that our faces are level and he is looking at me expectantly and then takes a deep breath and says with a rush "I want to foster Macy, we can give him the stable life he desperately needs and the right sort of love to get him back on track. I am sure Christian will help as well, he was distraught watching the sting happen and seeing Macy involved, he was extremely angry that the police had the information the yesterday and didn't act on it, allowing Macy to go through hell today as well. I think we can do this, do you?"
It's the least I can do, to attempt restitution and try to salvage what I have done and as I am wondering if there are others, Carrick breaks into my thoughts, as if he knows, "Christian has his head of security looking through all the children that have had anything to do with Elena to see if there is any further evidence, at this point it doesn't look like it. Darling, it's not your fault." I just can't stop shaking though and I know I am going into something akin to a state of shock, this last 5 days have just been too much for me to bear and Carrick gathers me up and carries me back to the house, up to our room and lays me down gently on the bed saying quietly, "Don't move, I'll be back in a second" and runs into our bathroom.
I can't stop the shivering and he comes back and helps me undress while stripping off himself and then wraps himself around me trying to transmit his body warmth to me until my trembling calms and then he lifts me again and carries me to the now full bath, softly scented with a gardenia scent and climbs in still holding me. We haven't spoken but we don't need to, all these years he has always known what to do and I am so grateful I met him all those years before, my own saviour and he's doing it again. His gentle ministrations finally relax me enough to enjoy the bath and I snuggle up to him and reward him with his favorite bathtime pleasures, my husband is my best friend and I am so glad that we stand shoulder to shoulder, I finally leave the bath prepared to face the world again and having agreed to fostering Macy although I know it will be a difficult task for us. Who knows what effect it will have on Christian but I know he will put all his resources into helping Macy.
Elliot's POV
Finally it's Friday and I can go see my girl, I haven't seen her in …. wow, just 2 days, I don't know what Kate is doing to me, I can't get her out of my head and here I am driving to Portland to go out with her and her friends and then tomorrow bring her back to Seattle to spend the weekend with me. Just thinking about her is making me smile, sexy as all get out and with a fiery temper to match but gorgeous, just simply gorgeous and I can't wait to see her again. I wonder if that fucker Jose is going to be there, Kate says he's decent and that it was really strange to see him act like that and that he has a "thing" for Ana, well that "thing" better not come close to her now. I've never seen my brother acting so normal and so in love, who knew. Oh my god, who knew the reason he was like he was all came down to a massive bloody secret, Christian isn't gay, he's just one kinky bastard fucked up by a family friend at age 15 when I should have been protecting him.
"Hey Christian, how you doin?" I say as he answers the phone quietly with "Hold a sec" and I wait until he is back on the line with a "How are you Elliot? Sorry, I was in the room with Ana and I didn't want to wake her" and I am in awe at the caring tone in his voice, there is no evidence at all of his usual brusque tone and I wonder if he even knows what day it is as I am sure he has been too wrapped up in Ana. "All good here, bro. It's Friday night so I am on the way to Portland to spend tonight with Kate and then bring her home tomorrow, when's a good time to come into the hospital and see Ana" and there's a small silence on the other end of the phone and then he says "Ana's not in hospital anymore, she's here with me, so give me a call before you want to come over to see if she is awake or not". "Woah, really? You managed to get her out already?" I say, amazed that he managed to do that when she was obviously in need of the specialised treatment and then my heart sinks when he says "I had to get her out of there, Elena organised a couple of nurses to beat her up last night and I am not risking her where I can't see her" and all I can whisper is "Shit is Ana ok?" and it's a tired "Yeah, nah, actually they made it worse but thankfully not so bad that they wouldn't let her out under Mom's care so I have some nurses here, Ray is staying as well and Mom will drop in tomorrow morning."
He sounds exhausted and I say, "Have you had any sleep in the last few days? You sound like shit" and he says something that nearly has me running off the road "I'll sleep tonight. Elena, Stephen Morton and Ana's mum were all arrested today" and at my expletive he says "Yep, they got them today, Dad and the rest of the team are working on making sure they don't get out again but poor Ana is shattered that her mother didn't bother coming to see her but spent the day with Morton and worse, we had to tell Ray as well – the whole fucked up mess is out in the open now for everyone to pick at." He pauses for a second and then says "Sorry to do this to you but can you make sure that Kate doesn't know about it until I can get her to sign an NDA, I don't need any of this shit in the newspaper. If you want to tell her tonight I will email you a copy of the NDA and she can electronically sign it and you can send it back but don't talk about it otherwise because it will kill Ana and ruin me." And quite frankly while I already adore Kate, I have to look after my brother and his guardian angel Ana, there is no way I want to let him down again. "Sure bro, send it down and I can get Kate to sign it. Alright sleep tight and I'll see you sometime tomorrow" and as go to I sign off feeling so much lighter that Elena is in custody and can't hurt him anymore, well not at the moment anyway, I hear him say quietly as he hangs up "Look after yourself Lelliot, be safe" and the tears in my eyes make the road harder to see so I slow down. The events of the week playing on my mind until I reach the outskirts of Portland where I start concentrating on the weekend ahead…now for some fun with my girl!
Kate's POV
"Hey Jose, yes I know you want to come out and party with me but my boyfriend is coming up from Seattle and …. Yes, well, what are you going to do about Ana? Are you going to go see her? No, I can't drive you, I am going with Elliot…. Where did I meet him? Well, you know when you were being an ass in the hospital waiting room and you left, well he came in and heard you and looked after me, he's Christian's brother….. So, no I don't think you are welcome to hitch a ride with him back to Seattle… Ok, goodbye, see you round" Grr, he is annoying me now, I wish Ana was here so I could grumble to her, it's been empty here without her, she doesn't say much, she's not noisy and lets me do whatever I like but she's always been here for me and now I am really missing her and I must admit, I am really missing her cooking but it's her, her goodness, that I am missing.
I hope she's ok, I have left a dozen messages for her but they all go through to voicemail, Elliot says that Christian told him that she's fine but sleeping and I hope that she'll be happier tomorrow when I see her and that she's not in so much pain. I'd love to know what's going on, I know something is being kept from me and the way that Christian bought me a replacement car without any question means that money really isn't important to him or he is hiding something but Ana says to trust him. I think there's something strange about him but if Ana says he's fine, I am going to have to believe her, I'd like to see her get some loving, speaking of which I'd better go get myself ready for my amazing lover boy. I can't wait to have his arms around me, his body pushed up against mine against the wall oh and wherever else he wants to take me, I'd be happy to get take out and keep him home tonight … or maybe a little reunion and then we can hit the bar and dance the night away… hmm delicious, I'd better get ready.
Aiming for delicious and to make sure Elliot remembers exactly why he has driven to Portland, I pluck, peel, scrub and am waiting in my tiny camisole, tight shorts, and high heels, my hair piled high with tendrils hanging down softly around my face leaning casually against the kitchen bar when he rings the doorbell and peers in. The huge grin and low wolf whistle mean I have hit the mark and it takes a second for my brain to ignore the "play it cool" soundtrack that was running in my mind and I launch myself at him to be caught in mid air, my legs are around his waist and my hands are in his hair and he turns and steadies us against the wall, his hands running all over me as I groan against his lips and his tongue dives in and drives me crazy. As I come up for air I realise I am now sitting on the breakfast bar, Elliot's hands are doing things that I didn't think were possible and the noise I hear is a combination of his groans of pleasure and a high keening sound from my throat and then I'm gone, his mouth swallows the screams until I shudder forward into his arms and I clock the satisfied grin on this face as I collapse onto his chest.