Christian's POV

I am watching Ana closely as I say these words, "They were able to identify both today and it appears that they were Cecilia and Stephen Morton."

Her expressions go through shock, a second of relief, guilt, anger and ending on sadness just as I think she is going to say something, all those looks disappear to be replaced with abject fear and she reaches for me, her hands almost clawing through the air to reach me. Being on my lap isn't close enough and I know how she feels, I encircle her in my arms, squeezing her against my chest, I don't care about her ribs right now or her pelvis with everything being twisted they must be hurting but the mental anguish is so much more overriding and important to ease. I need to reach through the fear and comfort her.

John Flynn said these might be Ana's reactions and that my meltdown would probably pale into insignificance in comparison to hers as she works through all the scenarios placing herself in Cecilia's position and that more than anything made me realise I have to be here for her. No matter how bad I am for her, no matter if I can no longer sleep with her for fear of hurting her, I have to be here for her and truth be told, I don't want to be anywhere else. I know I can't let her go, it would kill me to see her with anyone else and I know there will be a line of men waiting for me to fuck up so that they can take my place.

"You're safe Ana, you're safe with me." I coo into her ear, well wherever I am, there is a cordon of security so as long as she is with me, she should safe. I let Ana sob into my shirt, the tears soaking through over my heart and I can't bear it, feeling her shaking in my arms. "Baby, I'll keep you safe, I'm not going anywhere. They are gone Ana, they can't hurt you anymore. You don't need to be looking over your shoulder anymore, wondering when he is going to pop up and make your life a misery again."

"Poor C-C-Cecilia," she sobs out and then comes what John said would happen, "It could have been m-m-me."

"Yes but it wasn't because you're safe with me." I say strongly, brooking no argument, there is no way that I want her slipping down that slippery slope. I look over Ana's shoulder and see Taylor hovering, I signal him over and quietly remove my phone from my pocket and press the speed dial for John Flynn and pass the phone to Taylor indicating to walk away and speak to him and he simply nods and makes off out of earshot. "You managed to get away from him all those years ago, you were strong enough to stop him and it was only the legal system that let you down as it has Cecilia. You were always stronger than her. Baby stop, I can't bear it when you cry."

The tears continue and while I'm glad she is still breathing and not shutting down like she has in the past when stressed, I need to calm her down and distract her so I attempt to gently lift her face off my chest but she buries her face in her hands instead mumbling something about a tissue which puts a small smile on my face and I wriggle and reaching into my pocket, I pass her my handkerchief. She wipes her nose and giggle snorts something that sounds like "so genteel" and something that sounds suspiciously like "old man" but at least she sounds like she is calming down and that smart mouth isn't too far away, even if she is still hiccupping and trying to stop the tears.

"Ready?" I ask and she cocks her head to the side, the tears are still sliding down her cheeks, "I think you need a bath, it will relax you, then you can do whatever you want to do, perhaps watch a movie, play some music, give Ray a call." The mention of Ray starts another bout of sobbing and I can't let it spiral but as I start to lift her up to carry her to the bath, the doorbell rings and Ana stiffens in my arms and clings to me and I hate the fact that the fear is probably going to be near the surface for the near future. She doesn't deserve this and selfishly, WE don't deserve this.

I guess as to who it is and turn her so that she can see that it is John Flynn standing there and she relaxes as he walks towards us, his face a calm mask, his voice comforting as he reaches her and I lift her onto the seat, dropping a kiss onto the top of her head, taking a deep breath and savouring her special Ana scent. Gail brings drinks and a pot of tea for Ana who accepts it gratefully and after an initial greeting, I leave John and Ana to chat and taking Taylor with me while Gail pops out for supplies with Sawyer, we adjourn to Kate's room which has now become a makeshift security control room.

It feels like only a few minutes have passed with my head spinning at all the information that has come through but when John walks into to the room to have a quick conversation, I realise that nearly two hours have elapsed and Ana must be feeling exhausted.

John assures me that Ana will be fine but most likely will be on edge for the next few days or weeks and that he'd like us both to come to his office during the week but if there are any meltdowns, not to hesitate and call him. He shakes his head as he says, "I've said it before but she's extraordinarily strong you know, most girls her age would be curled up in a ball completely unable to do anything let alone being such a fighter, determined to make the best of everything. She's gone to her room now, she said to tell you that she's going to call Ray as he deserves to know and I suggest that if you can get in there soon, it might be a good idea as speaking to Ray will bring back the older memories. The three sets of memories, the history, the accident and now this will probably collide tearfully." I nod as I was thinking the same thing.

I show John out and then Taylor says, "I think we are safe to go back to Escala." Oh thank goodness, while Kate's apartment is a nice pad, it's not even as big as the security office at Escala and since we've doubled the security at Escala with only trusted staff, I am more than happy to go back. There I have a bath or the shower, either of which will relax Ana and that is my first priority especially given the news that we have garnered in the last two hours and I will have to tell her.

I knock on the bedroom door and hear a muffled "Come in" and I really hope Ana is feeling better, my heart cracks a little every time she cries so I am surprised when I open the door to see Ana sitting on the edge of the bed and smiling at me. It's a beautiful, shy smile and I feel the kaboom in my heart as I reach her and she puts out her hands for me to pull her up. I'm going with the flow because I didn't expect her to be so together and so I pull her up and as she stands, she disentangles her hands and throws her arms around my neck, tangling her hands in my hair, my hands drop automatically to her waist and she pulls my lips down to hers.

Oh….

My brain goes kaboom too…..

Well, that decides that, we are going back to Escala now, I need the shower and quite possibly a cold one since Ana is almost grinding against me and all coherent thought has gone from my brain. I decide that now is a good time to not think, just enjoy.

It takes a few moments to realise that someone is knocking at the bedroom door. Seriously?!

Ana starts giggling and the sound lifts my mood at the interruption immediately. I spin holding her tightly so that I am looking at the door while realising that the giggling is taking on that sound of tiredness when you just can't stop laughing, she really needs some sleep before the events of the last two days end in an unpleasant crash.

"Come in"

Taylor is standing there looking decidedly uncomfortable, "Apologies Sir, Welch is on his way to Escala with some important information, we really should be on our way." I scan his face for other clues but it shows nothing although his body language indicates a repressed snake, he looks like he is about to strike so something has happened.

It takes a minute to grab everything in the room, Ana really hadn't unpacked and Gail had organised all my stuff back to Escala this morning, it was lucky that Ana hadn't noticed that little fact.

Scooping up Ana and passing her crutches to Sawyer we sweep out of Kate's apartment quicker than when we entered and we are headed back to Escala and comfort, where Ana can have a relaxing bath, the thought of which makes me twitch and Ana looks at me concerned, I smile and squeeze her shoulder as my arm is lying across her back and the ready shy smile is back in response. What did I do to deserve her?

I don't care how independent she is, I am carrying her back into Escala and thankfully as Sawyer whisks away the crutches, she growls at him but puts up her arms accepting the lift and I smile into her hair as she good naturedly harrumphs at me.

I place her on the bed and before leaving to join Taylor, I ask whether she would like a bath or a shower and she responds quickly with "Shower please."

"Baby, can I shower with you?" I ask, I don't really have time but I'm reliving the memories of the other day and there's nothing I'd like more than to recreate them for both of us, it would relax us both but Ana shakes her head.

"Ah no, it's shark week." And I have to laugh.

"I don't care, I've done worse, it doesn't worry me." I say, while I won't do blood play in the play room, I don't care where a woman is in her cycle, it doesn't worry me in the least.

But Ana looks at me quite frankly disgusted with a prim look on her face, "Well, it does me and no, you are not sharing the shower, not even the bathroom while I'm in it. If you attempt to come in there, I'll lock you out of it."

"You will do no such thing, what happens if you fall or something happens to you?" I ask exasperated, sometimes Ana drives me crazy but she's staring at me with an obstinate look on her face and I decide, this can be an argument for another day, "Fine, I won't come in but you are not locking the door."

"Thank you Darling," she says drawling the "r" just to make her point and at this point, why stay mad at her when all I want is her to be happy so I pull her back up to her feet and continue what we started earlier but as Ana moans quietly, I break us apart reluctantly.

"Ana, do that again and I don't care how many sharks there are! Here let me help you into the bathroom and then call me if you need anything and call me when you finish, I don't want you hobbling around on a wet floor. Ok?" To which I receive an eye roll and a head nod and I know she won't comply so decide that I'll send Gail up to check at intervals, I dread to think what could happen if her crutches slip on the wet floor.

Making my way to the security office, I wearily brush my hair from my forehead, wishing once again that the Mortons had never been part of anyone's lives let alone ours. I reach the office and am greeted by an agitated Welch and a very quiet Taylor.

"Ok, what's happened?"

Welch starts without any preamble, "I'm glad you're on our side because with your contacts we managed to fast track the autopsy results and it is conclusive that the two bodies are the two Mortons so that at least is one thing, no dummies were planted, no other innocent persons were killed, it's just them so that is something. Good riddance to bad rubbish I say." And I remember that his history with Ana goes back further than all of us and was shaken to the core when he found out what had happened to her.

He continues, "We managed to access the phone tapes and from the intercept of the phone calls that were made out of the prison, we were able to determine that Stephen had been interfered with in the jail and he pleaded with Cecilia to recant her statement so that he could be released as he didn't think he'd be safe in jail. He made his distress obvious saying that his life was at risk and promised that he'd never touch anyone ever again. He said he was sorry and he wanted to see her and really make it up to her and she said ok, she'd love to see him. So it's obvious the girl was still deluded and prepared to see him again. We still haven't determined how it is possible that just Cecilia recanting her statement allowed him to be released. It seems like Ana's evidence was not considered at all, again. What is probably of relevance although we don't know the significance of it yet is that there is a record of a meeting between Mrs Lincoln and Morton last week and whether something was decided at that meeting and he was putting it into action I don't know," he pauses, "Yet."

Welch shrugs his shoulders as I thunder, "What the fuck is going wrong with our justice system? This is not how it operates, what about all the due process? Anyone with even a rudimentary knowledge of our justice system knows this is so fucking wrong. This is insane! Fucking Elena must have something to do with this. Fuck this means that someone in there is in her clutches; she must have something on someone high enough to let Morton out without due process. I take it you are investigating all the staff in any way associated with Morton being released."

Welch nods and then starts describing his understanding of what happened yesterday. "From the security vision we've been able to find so far, we can see that when Morton turned up to see Cecilia he snuck in through the bathroom window so the guard didn't see him but the guard heard a noise and went to investigate and that was when Cecilia ran out the door. The guard hadn't gone far and saw her out of the corner of his eye and chased her, they were gone about five minutes as she struggled and he was about to call the staff but when he said that, she stopped struggling and agreed to go back to the room.

Now, we don't know if she knew Morton was in the bathroom but she didn't say anything about him, it looked like an opportunistic run out the door, maybe she thought she'd meet him or something and didn't want the staff to know about her escape. The guard said she didn't look scared, just determined like she had a plan that she was trying to enact so he doesn't believe that she knew Morton was in the bathroom, or if she did, she didn't think he was a threat to her. So it is possible that if she had spoken to Morton that she believed she was part of a bigger plan.

Anyway, as I told you earlier the guard caught her and brought her back to the room and a little while later while the nurses went in there to do whatever they do with her, they came out saying that she had locked herself in the bathroom, they didn't actually sight her but they said it was her that they spoke to and they told her that they would give her half an hour and then they would come back and they left.

Soon after that there was an explosion in the room and the flames were immediate and fierce, the fire extinguisher did very little and therefore there must have been accelerant spread around the room, the fire department is doing all its testing at the moment and will provide conclusive evidence in their final report."

He pauses for what could only be considered a laboured breath, "The preliminary report was released to me, the worst thing is that it has been determined that Cecilia was naked and so was Morton. The preliminary autopsy report indicated that both had been stabbed and it is inconclusive yet as to whether they died from their stab wounds or burns but either way, it's horrific. It seems like the last thing he did before he stabbed her was to assault her one last time but it seems that she may have had the final revenge, he had a knife in his back and was in the middle of the main room holding his clothes and we can only surmise that she managed that as he was trying to leave after sprinkling the accelerant and stabbing her. He must have thought he'd get rid of her and then disappear while the commotion of the fire occupied everyone and he didn't count on her making it out of the bathroom and stabbing him."

Welch finishes and we sit there gobsmacked, he looks worn out, the preliminary reports are sitting in front of him but I feel sick just listening to him. No wonder Ana was so frightened of Morton, she had intuitively perceived his extreme evil because no-one other than someone completely evil could do what he had done through his life and then stab his own daughter after doing what he'd done and leave her to be burned alive. Who on earth would do this?"

I groan, "What a fucking mess! Did he decide to do it himself? What link did Elena have to this? Did she convince him to do it so that one more piece of incriminating evidence was removed from her rap sheet? Did he ask her to help him get out so that he could do this to HIS daughter? What sort of fucking awful excuse of a human being was he? What is our risk? What is the risk to Macy who is the only one left that is incriminating Elena? We really have to double security everywhere until we can answer some of these questions."

Both Welch and Taylor nod as I say, "Only the most trusted with Ana and I. Thankfully Ana won't be starting work, if at all, for another two weeks so hopefully it will be easy to keep her safe, Sawyer needs to be with her at all times that she is not with me. We have to clear this up as soon as possible and we need to inveigle ourselves into the system to figure out what Elena is doing."

Again, they both nod and I thank them and leave the room, my head is starting to throb, I can't fucking believe she was close to me for all those years and I didn't see how fucking rotten she was. Ana got one glimpse at her and knew, I know who the better judge of character is, so what the hell is she doing with me?

What am I going to tell Ana that isn't going to make her fear more for her life and what do I do about letting her see her own mother? What if somewhere in all of this, Morton spoke to Carla and Carla is of the same idea as him, is Carla a risk to Ana? I know that Ana doesn't like the fact that Carla is dealing with the addiction treatment alone however we have managed to convince her that it is a month long exclusion type therapy where the patient is not allowed any outside access. We need to ensure that Elena's reach hasn't extended to Carla and that there is definitely no outside contact during this month and then I need to speak to John to see if we can extend it somehow to allow Ana to be mentally ready to face it all.

Now all I want to do is hold my amazing girl, battered, bruised, damaged beyond repair in some areas but so full of love when she would be forgiven for not trusting anyone anymore at all. And beyond all other miracles she loves me!

I walk into our bedroom, "our bedroom", and allow myself a small smile… small things… small things make the awful big things in our life a little more bearable.

My stomach grumbles and we all really need to eat as it is dinnertime but right now, I need to hold Ana so I slide into bed and wrap my arms around her, pulling her in close and just absorbing her goodness, I can feel my heart rate slow and I just wish I could take her somewhere safe, just the two of us so that we could enjoy some time together without all these evil remnants of our past but we will need to solve what has happened and I need to get back to work.

Oh but I don't want to think about that and my stomach is rumbling so I need to wake up Ana and I decide I might as well make it enjoyable. I start with kissing her hair, moving it gently out of the way and nibbling on her earlobe before moving my lips down the column of her gorgeous neck and back up as she squirms in my arms, opening her eyes a crack and giggling.

"Hi Gorgeous, it's time for dinner."

"Is everything ok? What did Welch need to tell you? Does he know what happened?" And I really don't want to tell her, the whole idea of telling her what happened to Cecilia horrifies me as I don't want her to have that mental image.

"He only had some preliminary reports that he wanted to share with us." I say hoping that will be enough to placate her and she cocks her eyebrow, ah well, I tried, "Morton was evil to the end by the sounds of it and Cecilia was able to stop him running away and so she triumphed in the end."

Ana looks at me like she is trying to determine whether I am telling the truth and thankfully it looks like she decides that right now, she doesn't want to know but then she says, "Do you think I am fragile Christian?"

"Like a beautiful flower with a couple of crushed petals"

"Well think again Christian, I am more like a cactus with a couple of pricks bent out of shape" and she grins at me as I gasp – game on my girl, I think I am about to have some fun. With her GPA, and love of puns, I'm sure she's talking dirty now!