Christian's POV – Sunday 24 July 2011

When Ana whimpers in my ear, "Please take me, take me where I can't remember that I exist, that I can only feel you, please, I want to forget… everything," I know I can finally do something to help Ana, I can't ever make up for all the years that she had to survive by herself, desperately wanting her mother's love but I can fill this moment, distract her body and her brain so that she is brought to the here and now. I can make her forget anything but the present and hopefully the past will recede and stay in the past as much as possible.

I pull her up against me, her legs wrap around mine and I nuzzle the spot behind her ear, even with the water pouring down over us, I can feel her shiver and love the effect I have on her. A feather touch of lips to the shell of her ear and I work my way back to her lips, soft from all the crying, they are pillows that open to allow my entrance and as our tongues dance, I catch the whimpers, each one tearing at me deep inside. Eventually I move up to kiss her eyelids, the saltiness and indication that the droplets are tears, not just the shower water so I continue and then stop and hold her, my lips pressed to her forehead, my hands holding her face, trying to pour all my love into that one perfect pose. Trying to absorb all her pain, I wish I could bear it for her instead.

I drop myself down against the wall while bending my knees and kissing my way along the ridge of her neck, she throws back her head and I chase the water down until I reach her pebbled nipples, begging me to take them into my mouth. I oblige, nipping and then laving them with my tongue, swirling around them and keep going as my hand moves down and I turn her partially sideways, leaning against my thigh. Keeping her nipple in my mouth, suckling to keep the sensation going, I place the heel of my hand against her mound and work my fingers between her sodden sticky lips, leisurely rubbing around her nub, her hips rolling, trying to increase the friction and I smile, oh I am going to show my baby something she couldn't even imagine.

Just as she groans in frustration at me, I move her and stand up straight, smiling down at her, her confusion written all over her face and I ask, "Ready baby?" Not waiting for her to answer, I pick her up and lift her, I see the light go on and she lifts her legs over my shoulders and small smile appears on her face as I lean her up against the wall and she places her hands in my hair.

I nuzzle my face into her bush, kissing her there, gently then harder, using my tongue to separate the lips, moving it up and down between the layers, her moan reverberating through me and then diving in with my tongue, I bury my face going as deep as I can. She's trying not to squirm but when I bring my tongue to the top of her slit, licking hard and pressing down, flicking quickly she starts to shudder and when I move up and place my open mouth over her clit and suck, she's gone. Her hips buck against me and I suck harder then between the "oh god's"," oh Christian's," moans and unintelligible sounds, I hear the giggle start and bubble up through her and know I've taken her higher than she has ever been and lift her off my shoulders and crush her to me, swallowing her giggles, loving the adoration and peace in her eyes.

Ana being Ana though, immediately notices my hardness between us and I know she doesn't like leaving me, so despite the fact that we are both waterlogged, I lean back, sliding her down and gently impaling her, I fill her to the edges and hold her for a second to acclimatise, before she starts to move. Her hands are on my shoulders, her walls squeezing me, she is so tight and is milking me, rhythmically riding me as I hold her butt cheeks, my legs tightening but I hold on until her breath shortens and I use my position to lift and drop her, helping the process and prolonging it so that as her breath shortens and her head flips back then falls forward, I shudder to my release at the same time and just pull her close against my chest as we ride it out together.

If we didn't have Sunday dinner at my parents, postponed from lunch so that we could go visit Carla, I would just wrap Ana up and curl up with her in bed or take her to some higher places in the playroom but we don't have the time. Thankfully, I think the distraction of dinner will work to keep her mind off her mother and so turn off the water and give Ana one last cuddle before wrapping her up in a towel. Having dried her off, I hold her close again and walk her backwards into the bedroom, smiling down at her contented expression while keeping a tight hold, "clumsy" still describes Ana to a T and I'm not risking any more accidents now especially as I know she is still in pain.

Before we leave and while Ana is checking her phone, Taylor calls me into the security room and tells me that the envelope is clear, there are no substances or devices included and asks if I want the contents copied for my purposes and his eyes open wider when I say, "No, not yet, let Ana look at it first and then if she wants me to do anything with the contents, then we'll take copies. I'll ask if she wants to see the documents now or when we return, we should be leaving in a few minutes, if you're ready."

"Ana, baby, the envelope is safe, do you want to open it now before dinner or wait until we return?" I ask as I stride back into the room, wishing desperately that I didn't have to mention it as it may well trigger a return to the tears.

"I want to see it now, otherwise I'll worry all dinner." Is the firm response and I hand her the envelope, sitting down next to her and pulling her into my lap, my lips find the back of her neck and I just hope it's comfort enough.

"Look there are her parent's names, my grandparents, oh, wow, she has a sister and a brother, I never knew that, she never ever mentioned them, in fact, she refused to talk about any family, no matter what I asked and Ray never knew either, who knows if I have cousins and family. Ugh, that's awkward; imagine meeting someone and feeling really comfortable with them and getting along and then discovering you're actually related…." Then as she looks up at me sharply, "Do you know your mother's full name?"

"Baby, I'm pretty sure we're not related, from what I know about my mother's background but true, I know nothing of my father, would you like me to have Welch run extensive searches on them?" I know I am asking but Ana doesn't need to know that I'll do them anyway and she actually snorts at me.

"Ha, like you wouldn't anyway," and I try to look affronted but know I look sheepish instead, and she giggles, "Yes please, I'd appreciate that," she says as she plants a soft kiss on my lips and I decide it can wait until the more important matter of kissing her until she forgets everything but the here and now is effectively performed, I don't want the envelope to drag her back down the rabbit hole.

A clatter in the kitchen makes me break apart from Ana as I've never heard Gail drop a pan and her shocked voice has me leaping up, pulling Ana up with me and running into the kitchen where Taylor is standing next to Ray almost holding him up and Gail is worriedly asking him if he is ok. "Ray, please speak to me, are you ok? Is something wrong? What's happened?" and he turns towards Ana, his hands reaching for her.

"Oh Annie, I'm so sorry," he sobs into her hair as he holds her crushed against him and I look at Taylor and he worriedly shrugs, we are all at a loss, I indicate to Taylor to step back a bit.

Under my breath, I breathe, "Do you have any idea what's happened?" and I can't help but hope that whatever news he has, it isn't going to hurt Ana more, I can't bear her having to deal with more bad news.

"Daddy, calm down, what's happened? I texted you earlier and asked you to come over so that I could show you the details that mo….Carla gave me today," and I am not surprised that Ana is starting to cut that tie, using her name instead of Mom so that hopefully she can separate herself from the pain, she continues, "I told you that she'd given me all the family names and I was hoping you could tell me something about them as you might have known them. What's happened?" and her voice is starting to sound panicky as Ray continues to hold her, tears running down his face.

"Annie, can we speak in private please?" Ray finally asks as he brings his voice under control.

"Can Christian come too?"

Ray looks at me and then nods his head, "Sure."

"Let's head into my office, Ray, I'm happy to sit out if you don't want me in there but I'd like to support Ana, she's been through too much today," and he nods his head in agreement.

Closing the door I lean against my desk, Ray has taken Ana over to the couch and is sitting there holding her hand, struggling with his words and then the words spill out shocking me to the core.

"Annie, when you were in the hospital and they were worried you wouldn't survive, they were looking for suitable blood donors. When I gave my sample I was able to organise a sample of your blood and please forgive me but I sent it off to a lab with my DNA sample." He stops and draws a deep breath, "I've always wondered if you were my daughter, biologically, not just as a stepdaughter who I loved with all my heart from the moment I saw you because.." and again he stops and shakes his head, "I, ah… had been with Carla, as had half the base, in the many months that she was on or near the base."

He pauses and then clasping her hand tighter says, "I have had the envelope sitting there for over a month, I didn't want to open it, from the moment I held you in my arms I wished you were mine, dreamed that you were mine and I didn't want that dream shattered irrevocably."

Ana's eyes tear up and she rubs her hand up his arm comfortingly, "You are my father, no matter what any piece of paper says."

A sad smile touches his lips, "Anyway, when you called to say that Carla had given you all the family details, I thought I'd better open that envelope and Annie, I AM your father."

Ana stops for a second, her hand suspended above his arm, her mouth an "oh" and then she shrieks and reaches for him as he folds her into his arms, "Oh Daddy, I am so happy," the tears coursing down her cheeks I know are happy tears and I am so glad that finally Ana has some good news. No, it's excellent news.

When Ana finally calms down, Ray wipes her cheeks and she says, "Why were you upset Daddy, I thought something awful had happened?"

"Annie, I let you be hurt by Carla, I let you down in so many ways and I wonder whether I didn't pay as much attention at times because Carla had made me mad and I was selfishly thinking, "Look I saved you and another man's child and yet you still treat me like shit," and I would leave and go back to base, maybe if I had truly treated you as my daughter, like I thought I did, you might not have been hurt so badly for so long, I am so sorry,"

"Stop it!" And I see feisty angry Ana, the red dots high on her cheeks as she disputes his statement, not recognising her own self-loathing type statements, "You always looked after me and I've always loved you, I'm so happy you're my biological daddy too," and he shakes his head and folds her back in against him for a second before pushing her towards me as I approach.

A smile breaks across Ana's face as I touch her and she fairly jumps up and down, "Ray is my dad" she says like I wasn't even there earlier, like she can't believe it and I hug her with all my might, this was the best possible news and then she bursts into giggles and I know what she's thinking.

"Ray, have you ever been to Detroit?" I ask nonchalantly.

"No Son, never been anywhere near Detroit, why?"

"Well this all makes Welch's job easier, it means you don't need to check out Frank and Daddy, if you've never been to Detroit," and she looks between us, Ray's expression is of utter confusion, and Ana looks at me, "Then you're not my brother," and I crush her to me, while the possibility was tiny, we are finally receiving good news and she doesn't need to know that I will organise a DNA test anyway, the fact that we had similar blood types and it's rare has suddenly made me worry, I will have it fast tracked so that it happens this week.

"I think this calls for a celebration, will you join us at my mom and dad's for dinner?" I ask Ray and Ana chimes in pleading with him to come along and so it is with a grinning Ana and a still somewhat upset looking Ray leaving my office that we head out to the great room to be met by a concerned looking Taylor and Gail.

Ana's grin becomes impossibly bigger as she runs to Gail and hugs her, "Ray is actually my father, he's my father," and Gail's eyes tear up as she hugs her back and looks over Ana's shoulder to Ray.

"Congratulations Ray," Gail chokes out and Taylor claps him on the shoulder as he reaches to shake his hand.

"Explains Ana's tenacity and wonderful character," Taylor says simply and Ray shakes his head.

"Nah, I wasn't there for her when I should have been, that tenacity and character was born out of necessity and was strengthened and tempered in the worst furnace possible and I wasn't there for her," his voice breaks, laced with pain.

"Daddy, the past is done, I don't see it that way, you were always there when you could be and I don't want you sad, I am really happy, really, really, happy, please let's just go and have dinner and celebrate. Please Daddy, too many bad things have happened lately and everything that counterbalances that, everything that is good in my life is standing right here in this room, let's go celebrate."

I wrap my arms around her, feeling her love for all of us in the room and then my heart breaks when I hear her whispered words against my chest, "Now I know that I am at least half good, I can ignore the bad part of me."