Christian's POV

"Anastasia, darling…" I start to say as the sun finishes rising and I smooth her hair, from the top of her delectable head and down her tiny body, rhythmically stroking as I try to form my words so that the anger and fear that was leeching out of every pore when I saw her on the chaise, don't become part of what I am about to say.

"Christian, daarrling…" she counters, "Please don't be angry with me, and I know you are because I can feel it, you've just gone all 'angry tense' on me and …. and you just called me Anastasia… I didn't want to wake you, you look like you have been through a worse accident than me, not that your gorgeous features are diminished, you just look like you are carrying all of the world's troubles on your back and since this is all my fault, I didn't want to add to that by waking you up."

Wow she's good, "You say I'm 'angry tense', how does that feel?" I ask, genuinely intrigued and she shrugs and I realise I need to be able to see her face, her eyes tell me more than her words do and so I say my now signature "wait here" and accompany it with a smile so she knows I am continuing last night's joke and walk into my dressing room to find an extra robe and walk back fastening it while she is looking me up and down.

"So you thought you'd hide in that fluffy robe?" is her cheeky question as I walk back to pick her up and shuffle her over so that I can lie face to face with her.

"Ok, I'll modify my question, which you didn't actually let me ask, Ana, darling… better?" and I am rewarded by a raised eyebrow and a small smile, "You've told me why, can you tell me how you managed to make it to this chaise, from that bed without causing yourself any damage, have you hurt yourself and how did you even get out of the apparatus?"

"Are you thinking, 'who am I going to fire for this'?" she unexpectedly asks and I almost gasp, my girl certainly has the gift of observation.

"Um that did cross my mind" I manage to stammer out.

"Well Mr Grey, it will serve you well to remember from this point onwards that not only do I have a good arm but I have excellent core strength and flexibility, albeit hampered by the two small facts of broken ribs and cracked pelvis at the moment but when fit, woe betide any opponent who messes with me and has to contend with my judo moves." I believe her and can't wait until she is fit enough to work with Bastille.

Ana continues, "Anyway, I was able to shuffle myself along so that the thigh area was suspended only and I could then reach and release myself, it took a bit to get to the end of the bed without waking you and sliding down and then I shuffled on my bottom backwards until I reached the chaise and then using my upper body strength, granted with a bit of rib pain, I pulled myself up." I flinched as she mentioned the rib pain, I wonder what she did to her leg having it only partially suspended from the top section but I guess the next medical test will tell us.

"Now, I know you're displeased because I can see it in your eyes and your forehead and your lips, but I didn't want to wake you and it was really early." With that, she leans forward and gently nibbles on my lip, I want to show my displeasure at her lack of self-preservation but the fact that she did it for me; just makes me pull myself into her arms so she doesn't move anymore and give myself over to her and her kisses requesting forgiveness for her actions.

My hands are tangled in her hair and I let her kiss my eyelids and move down towards my ear and then I quickly move my head and catch her full on the lips and as she smiles against my lips, I take the opportunity to deepen the kiss and just as she reciprocates somehow finagling her left hand inside my robe and digging her nails into my back, the door opens and Mom walks in. Unbelievable!

"Oh sorry dear, I assumed you were asleep, I was just going to check Ana.." Mom says looking embarrassed and Ana simply giggles and breaks the tension for all of us, how is that every single time….

Thank goodness that I had thought to put on the robe as it hides my now rapidly reducing earlier response to Ana's nails and I am able to swing myself up and carry Ana back to the bed for Mom to start her examination. As she pokes and prods and checks Ana all over, I mention her nocturnal adventures and Mom gently suggests that next time Ana wakes me as the damage to the pelvis could have been substantial and something about the way she says it makes Ana not look defiant and nod her head suitably chastened. Thank goodness she is going to listen to my mother if she isn't going to listen to me.

"Darling, Elliot called and said that he and Kate are coming home this morning, can we have family dinner here tonight then so that he can bring her back tomorrow night?" as I agree I see Ana looking concerned and then she says quietly, "Do you know where my phone is? I just realised that I turned it off at some point yesterday and I told Kate I'd ring her but I forgot in everything that happened."

I desperately don't want her thinking about yesterday so quickly go out to where I last saw her phone and bring it back to her, turning it on as I come back up the stairs so that by the time I hand it to her, there are a number of message pings and I leave her to listen and walk with Mom to the kitchen to make a cup of coffee.

Elliot's POV

"Mmmhhhmmm, Kate, what are you doing to me?... Oh you can keep doing that!" and I am greeted by the giggling face of Kate as she moves back up my body to my arms. "God you're beautiful. Sassy, beautiful and sexy as hell, what did I do to deserve you? Oh I know, I did my brother a favor…. I might have to do that more often…. Argh, ok, I don't need to anymore, I've got my girl" and I can't help but grin at her and her gorgeous face as I squeeze her tight.

"Seriously though, I do have to do something for him and it involves you….don't look at me like that!" Well it's now or never, I need to get Kate to sign the NDA otherwise she can't be in my life, I have learned my lesson and I will be looking out for my little brother like I never have before, even to the exclusion of Kate if it's what I have to do to keep him safe.

"You know how there is an absolute fascination with everything he does, including his personal life? Well he needs to guard that personal life and so anyone that comes in contact with him in a personal sense needs to sign an NDA. We all have…" and Kate stares at me.

"You mean even the family?" she says incredulously.

"Yes, all of us and since you want to see Ana and she is most definitely in his personal space, you need to sign it as well…..Don't get mad" I say watching her face go stony. "My brother has had a really tough life and some information came out the other night that none of us knew and a whole lot of stuff about Ana too. He is going to protect Ana with his life, I know him and he will not let anyone near her or anywhere near his personal life who hasn't signed"

"What do you mean… about Ana? Was it about her life before she came to live with me? She never ever spoke about that but I know something happened to her that affected her badly. Is she ok? Well, other than the obvious." Kate's questions come tumbling out of her.

I hold her hand, look at her, and say, pleading with my eyes, "I can't say anything until you sign the NDA and promise not to use any of the information, EVER, can you do that? Please say you can do that" and she nods, completely serious.

"I can do that if it protects Ana, she's like a little sister to me and I have always been sad that she wouldn't let me in. She's such a beautiful person, are you sure your brother isn't going to damage her some way? I know he has something to do with her accident, I just can't figure out what but I agree he does look like he adores her. We all do. I'd do anything for Ana, so where's this NDA?"

I breathe a sigh of relief that I didn't have to choose between Christian and Kate, I show her my phone and tell her to read it all, Christian insists that everyone reads it properly and then show her how to sign so that I can send it back to him and once she has, I wrap my hand around her hair and pull her down to me. "One for the road honey pot?" and she giggles and our departure for Seattle is delayed considerably.

Kate's POV

"Ana, how are you? Why haven't you been answering your phone?... Uh huh, ok….. We are just leaving now and will be in to see you when we get there….. What do you mean you're not at the hospital? Where are you? …. What are you doing there? ….. Oh, really, what? The nurses beat you up? What happened to Christian's magnificent security? ….. Sorry, sorry, ok. I'm SORRY!… Yes, I understand, I'm sorry. We'll see you soon. Ok, love you."

"Gee Elliot, I don't know what your brother has done to Ana but she's all feisty now, well, actually, she wasn't, she just sounded really annoyed with me and hurt on his behalf, I hope he isn't going to change her too much" and his face changes and I wonder what is going on. "Ok buddy, I've signed the NDA, spill please, Ana is too important to me to allow her to be hurt anymore by anyone even your stinking rich brother, something happened on Thursday night and she still sounds like it is too hard to talk"

And then if things weren't weird enough with Ana's phone call, my sexy, suave, comfortable, manly Elliot suddenly buries his head in his hands and looks like he is about to burst into tears and starts talking, "You know the other morning when you thought that I was drunk from a big night out and were about to get mad at me?" and I nod my head then realise he can't see that and give a quick "Uh huh" which seems to keep him going, "Well, I didn't get to bed until about 5am because Dad and I were sitting with Christian's legal team after finding out that …. You have to promise never to tell ANYONE about this" and he looks at me with a tortured look. Damn whatever it is would make a great news story, I know it but I've just signed the NDA and I know that Christian has the power and the money to enforce it.
Elliot continues when I nod "We found out that Christian was the victim of a pedophile when he was 15 and this individual who was a family friend until the other day when it all came out in front of us, has had a really negative impact on his life right until now, actually right until Ana fell into his life. Ana's accident wasn't actually just an accident, she was run off the road."

I gasp "Who, who ran her off the road?" horrified that poor Ana who doesn't have an enemy in the world was subjected to this entire trauma and it wasn't an accident.

Elliot looks up at me and says "It was her step-sister, Cecilia Morton from her mother's third husband which is weird enough but there is a link to Christian. Cecilia was his girlfriend a couple of years ago and she has all sorts of problems but she was stalking Christian when she saw Ana and decided to get rid of her for once and for all. Apparently, she tried to kill Ana when they were in Texas so it has been a long term grudge. Christian is taking it as his fault though because Cecilia was stalking him and she was introduced to him by the pedophile."

"But it's not Christian's fault" I say confused.

"No it's not but Christian always thinks the worst of himself when something bad happens to someone close to him so he is shouldering the blame. I don't think he is looking after Ana like he is out of guilt though, I've never seen him like this, he doesn't know it but it looks like he is in love and it is changing him for the better, it's really nice to watch actually." And he has a happy look on his face, thankfully replacing the tortured look of earlier. I have a feeling he isn't telling me everything but what he has said so far is shocking enough. No wonder Ana kept to herself all the time and didn't really want to get out there and socialise.

"There's a lot more that relates to Ana's step-father, Cecilia's father. Back when she lived with them, he attempted to rape and then he beat Ana up, this was after Cecilia had tried to stab her a few months earlier, I think and that was when she moved back to live with Ray. I don't know how much Ana would like you to know, I'd say none of it but the problem is that her whole family story is going to be played out in the courts very soon because you see yesterday there were some really heavy developments. Yesterday, Christian's security team managed to set up a sting so that the pedophile was caught with a young fourteen year old boy who was being abused .." my hand flies up to my mouth as I struggle to breathe.

"Oh god Elliot, this is getting worse and worse and I feel you aren't even telling me everything" and he nods.

"It does, at the time thankfully, the police arrived and arrested her" and I nearly fall off my seat.

"Her? The pedophile is a her?" I screech at him.

"Yes, it's a "her" and there's a whole 'nother story there, let me finish this one and then I can tell you about her. Anyway, when they came to arrest her, they found two people visiting her who were also taken into custody for other reasons, any guesses who they were?" and I just can't possibly think who so just shake my head and he continues "Well, they were Carla, Ana's mum and Stephen Morton who was Carla's third husband and Cecilia's father"

"Oh my God! What were they doing there? Why was her mother with husband number 3, as Ana used to call him, in the few times she spoke about her life, even the mention of him used to make her shudder?" I croak out, I can't believe what Elliot is telling me.

"It's a sordid mess, trust me. The link is the pedophile, they all know her for some reason and when I tell you the charges, you'll understand why they were all taken into custody. Carla has been abusing drugs since Ana was around the age of 5 and it appears that she bought them from an undercover cop the other day so that's why she was arrested. Morton was taken in for an even worse reason, apparently Morton is a rather evil fellow and had been abusing his daughter from a young age and she provided information about that in the psychiatric facility which should be enough to convict him. That and the evidence she provided in relation to his abuse on Ana all those years ago for which he was never charged should ensure that he goes away for a while. In addition, when Cecilia was Christian's girlfriend, Stephen Morton attempted some sort of attack on Christian's company and as a condition of his parole, he was supposed to stay out of Seattle, however he has recently been living there. The most disgusting part of it all, the bit that has upset Christian and apparently all of his security team is that Carla has spent the last few days sleeping with Morton and taking drugs with him instead of going in to see Ana, never mind the fact that she is married to someone else, she just hasn't bothered with Ana at all. Unfortunately they had to tell all this to Ana and Ray who is staying with them so that they understood why Carla had been taken into custody and it has obviously shattered Ana."

"Oh honey, what an awful situation for Ana and for poor Ray" I whisper as I try to grasp the enormity of it, I always felt that Ana's mom didn't really seem to care for her but the depth of the deceit and the lack of care and love for Ana is just unfathomable. No wonder Ana kept to herself, she obviously couldn't trust anyone if the one person that should have been looking out for her all her life, just didn't care. Elliot bundles me up in his arms as my tears start to fall and holds me tight, I am so grateful for him; I need to feel wanted because that whole story has just left me feeling cold and sad, so sad for Ana.

"I thought I should tell you all that so that while I know you'll be there for Ana, you could perhaps go easy on Christian as he is a shattered man. It's been revelation after revelation for him and everybody actually, Ray didn't know about how long Carla had been taking drugs and nothing at all about the time in Texas, Ana hadn't just not told you, she hadn't told anyone until she told Christian, and she told him everything, he only relayed a very small part to me. We didn't know about Christian's early years before his adoption and he told us about them and then about the pedophile. Oh that's right, you wanted to know about her." And I nod but to be honest, I don't know if I want to know, what he has told me so far is making me feel ill.

"Actually, do you mind, can we not talk about her, I'd really like to leave so that I can get to Ana and give her a hug." I say tearfully and he kisses me gently and nods, lifting me up to my feet and steadies me as my knees buckle.

"One more thing, Christian doesn't want anyone talking about all this to Ana because she really needs to speak to a professional about all the underlying issues she has and which would have been exacerbated by the last couple of days. Having said that he thinks if you are there and keeping her company, she won't have time to just sit and think about her situation, so he really does want you there. Not only that he is also putting every bit of every relevant team he has whether it is security or legal or health on fixing the current and past situations for Ana. Believe me when I say he will move heaven and earth for her, I think last night was the first time he slept since the accident other than a few hours grabbed here and there because he knew she was safe. Trust me, if anything can be done, Christian will do it. Ok?"