A/N: Thank you all for your continued love and support! 3 I hope you enjoy this next chapter.

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Chapter 6: The Intern

The rest of the weekend was, predictably, a bit rough. Joanie's parents were obviously shocked and upset to learn that their daughter was sexually active and that she had taken a pregnancy test at Ana's apartment that morning. In the end, however, they were grateful to Ana for convincing Joanie to tell them, and the four of them had a nice long conversation about how important honesty and transparency were. Joanie's father was particularly pissed about the whole incident, and it took a long time to reassure him that Joanie and Carson weren't having unprotected sex and that this incident was unlikely to ever happen again. Ana didn't get back to her own place until late on Saturday evening, and by that time she was emotionally exhausted.

Of course, Ana was thankful that Joanie wasn't pregnant, but the whole weekend she couldn't keep her mind off of the idea of a baby. Joanie might have been too young to be pregnant, but Ana was twenty-six – she was at that age where a lot of women began thinking about marriage and children and settling down. She'd always loved kids and, if she were being honest with herself, she sincerely hoped to have them someday. She wasn't sure if Jose was ready to start thinking about their future together, but now may have been time to start broaching the subject with him.

However, getting face-to-face time with her boyfriend was apparently too much to ask: Ana hadn't seen Jose all weekend, even though they were texting all of Sunday. Ana had suggested they grab dinner together somewhere: she wanted to talk to him about her desire to have kids someday, but Jose had already made plans to watch the Yankees game at his friend Dan's house. She decided to just ignore him after that, feeling more than a bit annoyed by his lazy and ambivalent attitude. She hadn't yet told him about what happened with Joanie on Saturday, but if he wasn't going to make the effort to spend time with her, she wouldn't make an effort either.

Needless to say, when Monday finally rolled around, Ana was happy to be going back to work. Focusing on her clients and diving into her work would undoubtedly help distract her from all the uncharitable thoughts currently crowding around inside her head.

Ana arrived at her office early on Monday, but of course Christian was already there: sitting at his desk in his usual charcoal-gray power suit and a cup of coffee in his hand.

"'Morning sunshine," Christian said to Ana as soon as she walked into the office. "Man, who pissed in your Cheerios today?"

Ana frowned, annoyed that he'd noticed how stressed she was even though she had made an effort to wear extra makeup and be more presentable this morning. "I don't know what you're talking about, though it could be the nasty coffee stench filling my office that's bringing down my mood."

"Glad I could help with that," Christian smirked sarcastically, lifting his mug in a mock toast. "But seriously, what happened this weekend? You look like the walking dead today."

"I'm fine," Ana stated, setting her purse on her desk before stifling a yawn. "I'm just a bit tired, that's all. No mystery here, Sherlock."

"Alright," Christian lifted his hand up innocently, turning back to his computer. "I just thought maybe you got into a fight with that 'super-serious' boyfriend of yours and wanted to talk about it. Glad to hear that's not the case."

Ana glared at him. Jose's thoughtless behavior undeniably contributed to her lethargic mood this Monday morning, but Christian didn't need to know about that. "My relationship with Jose is fine, thank you very much," she said rather waspishly as she sat down at her desk. "Not that it's any of your business."

"Never said it was," Christian said smoothly, and Ana ignored him after that.

The two of them were silent for the next twenty minutes or so as Ana powered on her computer and clicked onto her Outlook, reading over several client emails that had come in over the weekend. Even though she had just come back last week, she was already knee deep in several projects for her clients. She was writing up a new marketing plan for one of the Mayo Clinic's outpatient facilities, she was facilitating the creation of a new website for a four-star Michelin restaurant here in New York, and she was also helping advertise a new foundation line for Charlotte Tilbury.

No rest for the wicked, Ana couldn't help but sigh to herself as new emails began popping into her inbox in real time.

Ana was so focused on her work that she didn't initially notice the small group of people that had congregated in front of her office door. She blinked and looked up when she heard a few of her coworkers, including Max, laughing and chatting with each other through the glass wall.

"Something going on out there?" Christian asked, clearly noticing the commotion as well as he looked up from his computer. Without saying a word, Ana got up and walked to the door, and Christian got up to follow.

The small group in front of their office continued to chat and laugh with each other, but a few of them glanced up when Ana and Christian stepped out. Ana noticed that one of the people in the center of the group was a young man whom she had never seen before.

"Ana – Christian," Max smiled at the two of them. "We were just coming over here to see you two. I would like to introduce our new marketing intern, Jack Hyde. Jack, these are two of our marketing agents, Ana and Christian."

Ana smiled politely and walked forward, holding out her hand for him. "It's nice to meet you, Jack."

"It's nice to meet you too," Jack smiled brightly, shaking Ana's hand before shaking Christian's. Now that she was a bit closer to him, Ana noticed that Jack was very young, maybe only twenty or twenty-one, which made sense if he was an intern. He was a very handsome and put-together young man in a pressed button-down shirt and trousers, and he had a wide charming smile that clearly was what seemed to draw everyone to him.

"So how long are you interning here at Kavanaugh Media, Jack?" Christian asked, assessing the younger man.

"Only for the summer," Jack explained. "I'm going to be a senior at Cornell this fall, but I was lucky enough to meet Max here at a job fair back in February and snag a marketing internship with him for the summer."

"I was going to send out a mass email to the whole team later today. Some of us were planning to go out for drinks at Vibracós after work today to welcome Jack to the team," Max said to Ana and Christian. "If you're free, you two are welcome to come."

"Yeah, that sounds like fun," Ana grinned. A drink after work today sounded like just what she needed, and she could invite Jose since she knew he got off at four on Mondays.

"Great. What about you Christian?" Max said, glancing at Christian who was standing beside Ana. She felt her mood plummet immediately, though she tried to school her features.

Please say no please say no please say no...

"Yeah, sure. I can stop by," Christian smiled casually.

Dammit, Ana silently cursed.

"Excellent. This is sure to be a lot of fun," Max smiled brightly, clapping a hand to Jack's shoulder. "C'mon Jack, there's a few other people in the department I'd like you to meet before I show you to your office."

"Wow, I get my own office?" Jack asked, his eyes lighting up with genuine delight. "Look at that, I'm moving up the corporate ladder already!"

The others laughed, and Ana couldn't help but smile too as Max began to lead Jack down the hallway, the two of them chatting like old friends.

"He seems nice," Christian remarked, also watching Max and Jack walking away.

"Yeah," Ana said, and the two of them turned around to head back into their office. "Although I find it odd that Max is organizing an after-work group outing to welcome an intern when nobody did anything like that when Kate Kavanaugh joined the team."

"Yes, very odd indeed," Christian smirked as he sat back down beside his desk. "I almost wonder if anyone would have gone out for happy hour if it was Kate we were welcoming."

"I definitely wouldn't have," Ana stated, but then she suddenly groaned. "Oh God, you're going to invite her out tonight, aren't you?"

"Why would I do that, knowing how much it would annoy you?" Christian asked, leaning back in his chair as he grinned at her devilishly. Ana rolled her eyes.

"You're hilarious," she said glibly, picking her cell phone up off her desk and pulling up Jose's contact. "My boyfriend should be free to come tonight though."

"Excellent, I'm looking forward to meeting him," Christian smirked, lifting his mug of coffee to his lips. "I have many, many questions."

"I'm sure you do," Ana said, rolling her eyes. She quickly shot a text to Jose, letting him know about happy hour tonight, before setting her phone back down next to her keyboard. "Do you ever take an opportunity to not get more involved in my life?"

"It's what office mates do," Christian responded easily, shooting her a grin. "Feel free to return the favor and ask me any awkward, intrusive questions you'd like."

Ana let out a snort. "Don't tempt me."

"Seriously," Christian said with a surprising level of sincerity. "I'm an open book. Ask me anything you'd like."

Ana looked up at him and met his eyes. That was a mistake, however, since his handsome face and his earnest expression immediately caused her words to die in her throat. She usually spent her day trying to avoid Christian since he was constantly annoying her, but damn him – his runway model good looks caused her mind to blank out and distract her from what she wanted to ask.

Focus, Ana.

"Ana?" Christian prodded her, raising an eyebrow.

Ana shook her head before turning back to her computer. "I need to get back to work, but how about I probe you at happy hour tonight? That way I can think of something for you that's extra embarrassing."

Christian chuckled, turning back to his own computer. "I look forward to it, Steele."

~/~

The rest of the day went by relatively quickly, though it was obvious everyone in the department was eager for the work day to be over so they could go out for drinks. Ana had had a few phone calls with several of her clients today, and she scheduled some meetings with them for later in the week, and by four o'clock she was pretty much done. Nadia and Jessica met Ana at her office door so the three of them could head over to the bar together; thankfully, Vibracós was only a few blocks away from the Kavanaugh Media building, so they decided to just walk there.

"Hey Ana, is Jose coming out tonight?" Nadia asked, texting on her phone. "I think my boyfriend is going to stop by too, I know that he and Jose might wanna hang out."

"He said he could come by," Ana said, remembering Jose's text from earlier that afternoon. "He said he needed to swing by my place after work first to grab his Nintendo Switch."

Nadia laughed at that. "Michael has a Switch too. Gotta love our man boys."

Ana simply smiled, trying to hide the fact she was still feeling a bit annoyed at Jose. She wasn't about to complain about him at a work outing, however.

The three women finally arrived at Vibracós, which was a small yet lively hole-in-the-wall tequila bar with a smoky atmosphere and loud music playing throughout the place. Ana had been here a few times before, and she really liked it; she, Nadia, and Jessica all made their way to the bar to order their drinks, and they greeted a few of their coworkers who had already arrived.

"Oh look – Max is already here with Jack," Jessica nodded a little ways down the bar, and Ana looked over. Sure enough, there was Max standing and chatting with the new intern Jack, who was standing beside a beautiful young woman in a cute black a-line dress.

"Want to go say hi?" Nadia asked.

"That would probably be the polite thing to do," Ana said, accepting her vodka soda from the bartender. "Let's go."

The three women walked over to Max and Jack, who looked up from their conversation to smile at them.

"Ladies, I'm glad you could make it," Max said jovially.

"Yeah, of course," Nadia smiled at him. "How are you guys doing?"

"We're great," Jack grinned. "My first day practically flew by – everyone's been so nice!"

"He really hasn't stopped talking about how great everyone's been today," the girl beside him laughed, smiling lovingly at him. "It's gotten a bit annoying, actually."

The other laughed as well. "Guys, I don't think I've introduced you to my fiance yet," Jack said, looking to the woman beside him. "Leila, these are a few of my new coworkers… um, I'm sorry, I don't remember all your names yet. You'll have to forgive me."

Ana, Nadia, and Jessica all smiled and assured him it was okay before introducing themselves to Leila, shaking her hand. Leila smiled widely as she greeted them; Ana couldn't deny her initial surprise that Leila was Jack's fiance when seeing how young they both were, but it was obvious they were both quite mature for their age. Ana found that she really liked Leila and Jack as they all made small talk with each other.

"…Christian, there you are," Max grinned at someone who walked up behind Ana, and she instinctively felt her mood plummet. "I was wondering where you were with our drinks."

"Sorry, the bar was really busy," Christian apologized, handing Max his bottle of Red Stripe beer while holding a rum and coke in his other hand. "And the bartender kept prioritizing the ladies' drinks for some reason."

He gave Ana a pointed look when he said that, and Ana merely sipped her vodka soda, smirking at him over the rim of her glass. The other chuckled as they turned back to their conversation, and Ana stepped away from the group to head over to the front doors so she could see when Jose came in. She noticed Christian following her.

"So Ana, where's this boyfriend of yours?" Christian asked, as if reading her mind. "Is he ditching you tonight?"

Ana stopped and shot him a glare. "No. Where's your date?" she deflected. "Did Miss Katharine Kavanaugh realize she can do better than the likes of you?"

"Not necessarily," Christian said coolly. "I would have invited her, if she had bothered to show up for work today,"

Ana blinked, momentarily appalled. "Seriously? She skipped out on work today when she was just hired barely a week ago?"

Christian shrugged, lifting his drink to his lips. "Perks of being the boss's daughter, I suppose."

"Man, why can't my dad run a multi-million dollar corporation? I can set my own schedule every damn day," Ana said, rolling her eyes. Christian coughed into his drink, causing Ana to give him an odd look. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing," Christian said quickly, clearing his throat while bringing his glass down. "It's probably a good thing I didn't invite her out tonight."

"Well, what's stopping you from inviting any of your other 'flavors of the week' out tonight?" Ana asked, looking at him with a quirked eyebrow. "I assume guys like you have a little black book they keep on hand at all times."

Christian smirked back at her, an amused and almost challenging look in his eyes. "Even if I did, Miss Steele, it would be highly inappropriate for me to invite one of my hook-ups to a work outing, wouldn't it? People might assume she's my girlfriend."

"God forbid," Ana snorted. "Having a girl who you'd have to see more than once and take on dates and stuff? Who on earth would want something like that?"

"Who indeed," Christian said smoothly. "I'm flattered that you think there's a woman out there who would want to commit to me, Steele."

"Oh please, I said no such thing," Ana frowned at him in annoyance. "What girl would want to commit to you?"

Christian smiled down at her before taking a step closer. Ana was momentarily surprised by his proximity, and couldn't seem to form any words as she watched him lean down close to her ear. Her heart instinctively began thrumming loudly inside her ribcage.

"…Maybe I just can't be tamed," he whispered, his warm breath caressing her skin and his clean, manly scent enveloping her senses.

Ana blinked, unable to form any words, as Christian straightened up and took a step back. The effortlessly cool expression on his face didn't waver as he nodded toward the front doors.

"Go wait for your boyfriend," he said. "I'm sure he'll be here any minute."

He shot her a smirk before walking back over to the others, and Ana simply watched him, momentarily forgetting about Jose.

A/N: And the tension continues to build… ;)

If you liked this chapter, please review! Next chapter, Ana finally confronts her boyfriend.