A/N: Thank you all for your reviews and support! I appreciate all of you :) I hope you enjoy this next chapter.

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Chapter 27: Figuring It Out

Silence reigned for several long moments after Carrick left the apartment.

Ana had no idea what to say after all that, so she glanced over at Christian, trying to gauge his feelings. His expression gave little away, though Ana could tell he was still pretty upset.

The last thing she expected this morning was for Carrick to come by and apologize for his behavior last night, as well as to offer Christian a job at GEH. And not just his old position as the Director of Marketing, but the CEO! That was a huge role for Christian to fill, and it was definitely a step up from what he was currently doing at Kavanaugh Media. And considering all the crap that happened to him these last few weeks, this sort of career shift would be the perfect opportunity to move on. However, the angry frown hadn't left Christian's face as he turned back toward the kitchen counter, and Ana looked at him with concern.

"…Are you alright Christian?" Ana asked tentatively after a moment when Christian silently continued pulling out the ingredients to make waffles. "I mean, I know you're probably upset at your dad, but…"

"What my dad said doesn't matter," Christian said firmly, not looking up from what he was doing. "I'm not going back to GEH."

Ana grimaced, feeling a bit awkward. "Look, I know your dad's probably not the easiest person in the world to get along with, but he did make the effort to come over here to apologize to you."

"He basically admitted that he had been watching my every move here in New York and was just waiting for the right opportunity to ambush me with this 'offer'," Christian said tersely. "The man will take every opportunity he can to ruin my life."

"He's ruining your life by offering you a CEO job?" Ana asked with amusement, walking into the kitchen and leaning back against the edge of the counter near where Christian was mixing the waffle batter. "Gosh, it must really suck, getting all that money and power."

Christian shot her a smirk. "Don't forget women. So many women…"

"Oh, shut up," Ana smacked him on the arm, rolling her eyes, and Christian chuckled. "Seriously, though… you aren't considering your dad's offer at all?"

Christian's face sobered as he sighed. "Honestly, I don't know. I'm not entirely convinced he's retiring – if you ask me, my mom's putting him up to this, and he's just going along with it until she changes her mind or he can convince her otherwise. I doubt he's going anywhere."

Ana grimaced, still feeling skeptical. "I don't know Christian. Your parents flew all the way from Seattle to New York for this very reason, and your father even came here to your apartment without your mother to tell you about his retirement. It doesn't really sound like he's lying."

Christian frowned at Ana in disbelief. "You actually want me to consider this? You saw the way he was acting toward us at dinner last night – he's not serious about this offer."

"Look, I admit I don't know your father as well as you do," Ana said fairly. "And I'm not exactly his biggest fan after I saw firsthand how he treated you… but I think you'd be crazy to not at least consider this. If he is being sincere about it, it would be an opportunity of a lifetime, wouldn't you agree?"

Christian hesitated, grimacing slightly as he seemed to consider her words. "Yeah, it would be," he admitted. "Back when I was Director of Marketing at GEH, I would dream about everything I could do for the company if only I was in charge. I brought a few ideas I had to my dad. He liked some of them… but more often than not he would shoot them down and call them stupid or terrible. That's what ultimately made me feel like I couldn't succeed anywhere else, and what led me to forge my own path elsewhere."

"Your dad sounds like a pretty rough boss to work for," Ana said sympathetically. "But even so… he does seem to trust your judgment, at least to the extent that he says he wants you to take up the mantle of CEO once he retires. That's worth something, don't you think?"

Christian sighed, clearly tired of talking about this. "Maybe."

"Just promise me you'll at least think about it," Ana said, moving over and wrapping her arms around Christian's waist from the side, causing him to smile as he rested his cheek against the top of her head. "Maybe you could ask Mr. Whalen what he thinks about all of this? He might have some insight on the situation that we may not have yet."

"Yeah, that's a good idea," Christian agreed, looking happy with that plan. He turned in Ana's arms so he was facing her, and he brought his hands up to lightly cup her face before leaning down for a kiss. Ana smiled against his lips, happily kissing him back.

"…I'll talk to Burt tomorrow," Christian whispered after a moment, smiling down at Ana with so much love and tenderness it made her heart pound. "I just want to spend today with my beautiful girlfriend who, tragically, I have not been able to spend nearly as much time with as I would like due to previous unforeseen circumstances. I really need to make it up to her."

Ana giggled, somehow falling even more deeply in love with this man. "Yes you do, Mr. Grey. I believe you can start by making me some waffles."

~/~

Despite Carrick's rather unwelcome visit that morning, Ana and Christian still managed to have a wonderful day together, choosing not to talk anymore about his offer for Christian to take over his CEO role. They stayed at his place pretty much the whole day, cooking food, cuddling in front of the TV, and talking about this and that.

And, of course, making love. Many, many times.

Ana couldn't deny that sex with her past boyfriends had been more perfunctory than anything. She always thought that that was just the way having sex in real relationships played out… but that was before she had known how good things could be with Christian.

And oh boy, were things good. Just being with Christian set Ana's body and soul on fire, and she now understood that this was what she had been missing all along in her past relationships. This sort of compatibility – this passion. She knew Christian felt it with her too: he seemed to crave her in a way Ana had never experienced before, shown by the way he took her multiple times in his bed, on his couch, on his kitchen table, and even in his shower. This need they had for each other only seemed to drive their desire to greater heights, and Ana felt like she could never get enough.

Being with each other helped both of them forget about all the ugliness in the world – about two-faced coworkers and unexpected appearances by estranged family members. They could just get wrapped up in each other and not think about anything else… at least for a little while.

As much as Ana would have loved to stay at Christian's apartment and inside their little bubble forever, the following day soon came around, and Ana needed to go to work.

"Christian, I'm totally fine taking a cab to my place," Ana assured him for the millionth time as she slipped on her shoes and grabbed her purse. She was wearing the same dress she had worn to dinner with the Grey's a couple nights ago, which Christian had kindly laundered for her. "I've already told you, I don't want you to have to cut into your workout time."

"And I've already told you, I'll just work out afterwards," Christian smiled amusedly at her. He was wearing his workout clothes, which were basketball shorts, sneakers, and a red Harvard t-shirt that fit his muscular torso just right. He looked far too delicious this early in the morning, and Ana was having a hard time not calling in sick to work and jumping him again. "I want to make sure you get home safe, Ana. Plus I'll get to spend some more time with you before you go to work. It's a win-win."

Ana's heart melted slightly as she walked toward him and leaned up on her tiptoes, kissing him on the lips. "Well, aren't you just the sweetest boyfriend ever?" she smiled up at him, and Christian gazed lovingly back as he wrapped his arms around her waist. "I really wish I could stay here with you again today. So what are you going to do apart from work out this morning?"

"Oh, y'know. Thought I would gaze longingly out the window, watching the clouds drift by as I desperately wait for your return," Christian teased, and Ana bit back a giggle. "Honestly, though, I just plan to run a few errands today before reaching out to Burt about what he knows regarding the GEH situation. Also… I think I want to try Skyping with my brother."

Ana raised her eyebrows in surprise. "Elliot? Have you spoken to him at all recently?"

"Not for months, but after what my parents said at dinner, I feel like I want to talk to him. I want to ask him about his decision to leave GEH and get his contractor license," Christian said. "I never knew that that was something he wanted, and I don't know why he decided to hide it from me. I just want to talk to him and see what he has to say about it."

"I think that's a good idea," Ana smiled at him sincerely. "If you want to wait to talk to him later tonight, I can come over after work and officially meet him. Virtually, at least."

Christian smiled, and Ana could tell he was genuinely pleased with that idea. "I would think after your last experience meeting other members of my family, you'd be running far away in the opposite direction."

"What can I say? I must be crazy in love," Ana shrugged, smirking at him, and Christian leaned down to kiss her again.

"Or maybe just crazy," he said to her fondly before tugging her out the door. "C'mon, let's go or you're going to be late for work."

~/~

Ana wasn't quite sure what she was expecting once she arrived at the office that day, but she was almost surprised at how normal everything looked, considering all the drama that had happened a few days ago. Nadia sat at her receptionist desk as usual, and all the other office workers went about their daily tasks. Jack and Kate were nowhere to be seen, obviously, but apart from that, everything at Kavanaugh Media was just business as usual.

At least on the surface.

"…Girl, you missed some crazy shit yesterday," Jessica entered the office almost as soon as Ana sat down. She was holding her open laptop, looking at something on the screen as she typed with her other hand. "Did you see the news? Well, of course you didn't, not when you probably spent the whole day naked in bed with your sexy new boy toy…"

"Jess," Ana interrupted her quickly, glancing toward the hallway to ensure no one was around to hear her say that. "I'm glad you're happy for me, but I'd appreciate it if you didn't announce my and Christian's sex life to the entire office. What did I miss yesterday?"

"Oh yeah… Mr. Kavanaugh pretty much did a perp walk out of the building yesterday," Jessica said with excitement, setting her laptop on Ana's desk and turning it so Ana saw the screen. It was the CNN website, and the top of the page was a video of Mr. Kavanaugh surrounded by what looked like lawyers and police officers, all of them moving down the front steps of the building as a group. Tons of photographers and paparazzi pressed around them, lights flashing as cameras clicked rapidly. A big bold headline at the top of the article read:

Eamon Kavanaugh, CEO of Kavanaugh Media, Brought In on Suspicion of Fraud and Embezzlement

"Holy crap," Ana couldn't help but say, eyes wide as she skimmed over the article. Words like 'Katherine Kavanaugh', embezzling funds', 'coercion', and 'fraud' jumped out at her. "Is this real?"

"It is," Jessica said, looking at the screen as well. "You can kind of see in the video here, but there were a ton of us behind the glass doors in the atrium trying to get pictures. It was crazy."

"So he was arrested for what Kate and Jack did?" Ana asked, her eyes still glued to the video.

"Yeah. He apparently knew what they were trying to do – or he allegedly knew, I should say. It's unclear if he actually took an active part in it, but there's evidence suggesting he knew more than he was letting on," Jessica said. "There's a lot of stuff still up in the air, but with Max in charge now, I think everybody's a bit more at ease that the company and our jobs will be okay."

"Wait, Max is the acting CEO now?" Ana asked, eyebrows raised in surprise. She thought for sure she would have heard something about that, but then again, she had been pretty wrapped up in Christian all of yesterday.

"Yeah, there was a mass email sent out yesterday," Jessica explained. "Max went and outlined what our next steps are going to be to keep the company from going under, and it sounds like a pretty solid plan. Also, it helps that he's offering each of us a bonus that's 10% of our annual salary if we sign a form saying we won't quit within the next 6 months."

Ana let out a low whistle. "Smart man. Or smart lawyers, I should say."

"Indeed," Jessica snickered, finally closing her laptop and picking it up. "On an unrelated note, a bunch of us were gonna go out for celebratory drinks after work today. Nadia's coming too, and you're totally free to join us."

Ana smiled apologetically. "Thanks, but I have a prior engagement. You and Nadia go and have fun, though."

Jessica gave her a knowing smirk, and she wiggled her eyebrows as she turned to walk out of her office. "Prior engagement… of course you do, Miss Steele."

"Go back to your desk," Ana snarked, and Jessica stuck her tongue out at her before giggling and walking out of the office. Ana then finally logged onto her computer and opened her email, seeing far too many unread emails pop up in her inbox. Sure enough, several of them were clearly mass emails sent to the whole company. She sighed to herself before clicking on the first one.

~/~

The work day slogged by, but Ana managed to get at least some work done. It was pretty difficult to focus, mainly because of all the work that had piled up over the last few days. Tackling everything was going to take days, and after all the drama that had happened (and would undoubtedly continue to happen) with Kavanaugh, she couldn't really find the motivation to get much done. She wanted to speak to Max about her workload, but he probably had enough on his plate at the moment without her bothering him.

Needless to say, Ana was grateful when five o'clock rolled around and she was able to finally leave the office and head straight to Christian's place. Once at The Avalon, Ana went up by herself to Christian's apartment and knocked on his door.

"Come in!" Christian called from inside, and Ana walked in. She immediately spotted Christian sitting at his kitchen island, facing the door with his laptop open in front of him. He glanced up at Ana with a wide smile.

"Ana," Christian said, and gestured for her to come over to him. "Want to meet my brother?"

"Sure," Ana smiled, realizing he was Skyping Elliot right now. She set her things down before walking over to stand beside him, looking at the screen.

A handsome blonde guy was on the screen, sitting in what looked like a spacious living room. He grinned when he saw Ana appear, and they waved at each other.

"Hi Elliot, it's nice to meet you," Ana smiled as Christian slid his arm around her waist.

"It's nice to meet you too, Ana," Elliot said with a smirk. "Christian and I were just talking about how pleasant he was to you when you guys first met. Isn't that right, Chris?"

Christian chuckled embarrassedly as Ana quirked an eyebrow at him. "Zip it, Elliot."

"Truthfully, Ana, I don't blame you for despising him so much – most people get that vibe from him," Elliot said conspiratorially, though Ana could tell he was just teasing. She grinned.

"Well, to be fair, I wasn't exactly very nice to him either," Ana said truthfully, looking over at Christian with a small smile. The warm look in his eyes told her that he held no resentment toward her whatsoever, and he leaned over to press a sweet kiss to her lips.

"Don't be ridiculous. You've always been perfect," Christian said fondly, and Ana squinched her eyes at him.

"Tone down the lovey-dovey stuff, guys. I'm getting nauseous over here," Elliot said, pretending to retch. Ana and Christian looked at him with an amused grin.

"Suck it up, Lelliot," Christian teased, pulling Ana closer to his side, and she giggled.

"Seriously, though, Christian – I'm happy for you," Elliot said truthfully. "You seem a lot more at peace now, with your new job and with Ana. I'm glad stuff seemed to have worked out for you."

Christian's smile faded slightly. "Thanks, Elliot. And I'm happy for you too… y'know, for getting your contractor license and leaving GEH."

"Thanks bro. It's something that I'd been wanting to do for awhile, but I didn't really think it was an option until you decided to leave. I appreciate you taking the leap first so I felt a little less pressure when I did it."

Christian smirked in amusement. "Don't mention it."

"Although I also heard about Dad's offer to you, to take over his role as CEO," Elliot went on, his tone more serious. "What do you plan on doing?"

Christian sighed. "I honestly don't know yet. Ana wants me to consider it at the very least, but obviously I feel kind of reluctant."

"I understand. This is a pretty important decision," Elliot agreed. "I'll support you whatever you decide, and I'm sure Mia, Mom, and Dad will too."

Christian looked skeptical. "You really think Dad will support me if I choose to not take over GEH? I have a hard time believing that."

"I think you'd be surprised," Elliot said fairly, shrugging. "I mean, I know Dad has always been a bit cold to us, but in the past month or so he's been getting better. He's not giving me the silent treatment anymore, and last week he even asked me what I'm doing with my new contractor business."

Christian blinked, frowning. He was obviously trying to reconcile the father he'd always known to this man who was now apparently trying to reconnect with his estranged children. "So he's been like this for a month? Did something happen?"

Elliot shook his head. "Not that I know of. We would've heard something, wouldn't we?"

"I don't know. I haven't been in contact with Dad for months," Christian said. "Are you sure something didn't happen?"

Elliot blinked, and his face changed slightly as something seemed to dawn on him. "Y'know, I did see something last week, but I didn't think much of it at the time. Mom, Dad and I had gone out for lunch – that was when Dad asked me about my contractor business – and at one point he reached into his suit pocket for his phone. It was barely a glimpse, but I saw a prescription pill bottle in his pocket. I didn't say anything because it was none of my business, but I'm pretty sure the label on the bottle said 'beta blockers'. At the time I just assumed he took them to deal with stress, but what if…?"

He paused, and Christian and Ana were silent as they seemed to absorb that information. Ana was no doctor, but even she knew that beta blockers were usually taken by people who had heart problems.

Was something going on with Carrick?

"I have to go, Elliot," Christian suddenly said, and without waiting for a response, he ended the call.

"Christian?" Ana said, her eyes wide as Christian got to his feet and walked over to the front door. He grabbed his coat. "What are you doing?"

"I'm paying my dad a visit," Christian said firmly, pulling his coat on before grabbing his keys. "Come on."

Pressing her lips together, Ana hurriedly gathered her own things before following him out the door.

A/N: Oh boy. What's gonna happen now?

Please review! Next chapter, Christian confronts his father again.