Author's Note: Thanks for the positive feedback, everyone. If this story feels familiar, it's because I started it on Fanfiction before but didn't get very far. I took it down and have started a re-write. Most of it is new, but I'm borrowing some parts of the old story. This chapter is completely new because we needed to see what was going on in Ana's head before the next chapter.

For now, my plan is to post daily until I run out of story. These shorter chapters don't take as long to write, so hopefully, I can keep it going until it's done. I've got enough written to post for the month ahead, but I'm also traveling quite a bit, so it might not always be possible. Anyway, I'll do what I can. Warning, it's going to get very steamy, and you might not all appreciate Ana and Christian's kinks. We have a ways to go before we get to that part, though, but just be warned.

Chapter 3: The Bus Ride

Anastasia wasn't normally a coffee drinker, but she made an exception this morning after a sleepless night, stopping by the Starbucks by her apartment before getting on the bus. Although her mind was racing at the moment, she knew that the day ahead was going to be challenging, and she would need the caffeine. The bus ride was only ten minutes, but that would hopefully be enough time to get her thoughts organized. Her mind was still reeling from everything she'd learned in the past few hours.

She could not get that damn manuscript… or her subsequent conversation with BB… out of her head. Despite the fact that she'd been up past 3:00 a.m. and had only gotten a couple of hours of restless sleep, her mind was running like it was in a marathon. The Grey Wolf… the Dom she had been fantasizing about all these months… was none other than Christian Grey! She felt a little foolish for not realizing it earlier: the play off his last name, the same intense gray eyes, the build of his perfect body from the shape of his shoulders to that tight ass that she'd dreamed of him punishing her for touching without permission. God, how she'd been craving a punishment from him! She'd wanted him to use that whip to stripe her ass, and she'd wanted him to fuck her with that magnificent cock. And he was none other than Christian Grey! How was it possible that the uptight son of a bitch who had almost ended her career was the same man she had been lusting after for months?

She wondered, not for the first time since she'd read the manuscript and made the discovery of his identity, why he had sought her out at Down Under, since BB had confirmed that "the Grey Wolf" most certainly knew who "Princess Rose" was, and he had known her identity from the beginning. She knew that it was not her imagination that for the past few months... she wasn't really sure when it had begun... he had been singling her out at the club, looking for her in the crowd, and locking eyes with her during his scene, when he should have been focused on the sub he was punishing… or pleasuring...? Because, yeah, the Grey Wolf did always seem to lock eyes with Princess Rose just before he turned the pain into pleasure for the sub he had bound in front of him. And the way he had looked at her said clearly that she was the one he really wanted to have under his control. Anastasia shivered at the thought, but then she caught herself. Had he been playing some kind of mind game with her, with no intention of ever taking it any further?

This was one of several questions she hoped to get answered this morning. BB had asked her to meet him for breakfast, along with Christian Grey himself, the Grey Wolf. She'd brought along a copy of the manuscript to give him. She took it out of her bag and flipped through the first few pages again, wondering again what kind of person Leila Williams must actually be. Was she really the submissive that she seemed to be in the first six chapters of the manuscript, or was it all an act, a ploy to get back at Christian for breaking her heart? Was she really more like those nasty whores that Anastasia had overheard in the restroom at Down Under, who had been trained to act submissive by Mistress Elena, but who actually didn't have a submissive bone in their surgically-enhanced bodies?

Anastasia was confused. If those were the kind of women he wanted, then why did he look at her with so much desire in his eyes? And if she was actually what he wanted, then why did he always end up playing with one of those fake sluts, never approaching her? At least she finally understood why BB had been so adamant about refusing to allow her to present herself to the Grey Wolf. It wasn't because, as BB had said, that he was afraid the Grey Wolf would "eat her alive." BB knew damn well that she wanted the Grey Wolf to eat her anyway he wanted to. But BB had known the Grey Wolf's true identity and couldn't reveal that information to her. Now, BB's behavior made sense, but Christian's still did not.

Christian… she had to stop referring to him in her head by his first name. She would never be allowed to call him that. He was Mr. Grey, and he would always be Mr. Grey. Even Leila, the only sub with whom he had ever actually renewed a contract to her knowledge, had never been allowed to call him anything other than Mr. Grey, or Sir. He didn't even allow her to call him Master, because he had insisted that only collared subs should call their Doms Master, and he had refused to collar her because it implied an intimacy that he claimed he never wanted to have with a sub.

And so, there was the rub. Christian… Mr. Grey… could never be Anastasia's Dom. She would never sign a contract like the one Leila had signed, the one in Chapter Eight of the manuscript. Anastasia refused to sub for a Dom who refused to even consider the idea of ever being intimate. She knew damn well that even in the lifestyle, fucking could be much more than just fucking. She wanted to be collared, and she wanted a long-term relationship like the one Jose and BB had, like Mistress Laura (The Black Cat) and Thomas (Tom Cat), like Master Damon and Candy, like the White Panther and Bunny all had. She didn't even know all of the real names of her friends from Down Under, but she knew that their relationships were real and long-term.

She remembered clearly the first time she had a serious conversation with Jose about the lifestyle. He had been new in his relationship with BB. Ana had only met BB for the first time a few days before this particular conversation. She'd noticed right away that Jose seemed to come out of his shell in a way she'd never seen him interact with anyone. Normally, Jose was very shy and insecure. He'd suffered a lot of domestic abuse and bullying as a child and teen, and Ana had been there with him through the worst of it. She had been able to comfort him, but she'd felt helpless to do more than that. But BB… he seemed larger than life. Like some kind of real-life superman. It seemed as if his purpose in life was to protect Jose, and Ana was impressed from the beginning by the affection that BB showered on Jose.

But then, she'd seen the marks on Jose's back. Red lines. And she almost panicked. As if Jose hadn't suffered enough abuse in his life, now someone else was hurting him? Oh hell no!

"You don't understand, Ana," Jose had told her adamantly. "I like it. I wouldn't let him do it if I didn't like it. And he doesn't do it to hurt me or manipulate me. It's part of our lifestyle."

"Your lifestyle?" Ana asked confusedly.

"Yeah, don't judge me, OK, but I like it. I feel like I've come home. And BB's my home. My Daddy."

"Your daddy?" Ana asked. "Do you actually call him that? Is that a thing?"

He nodded. "It's a thing, and it's our thing. I'm his little boy. And I've never felt… this. It's like I have this sexy giant who cares for me, like I'm the most important person in the world to him. And I know… even this early on… he will always be there for me. He will always protect me. And I know I'm weak, but whatever. I need him. And I like needing him."

Ana didn't understand at all, but she decided not to judge and to just observe. She was concerned about Jose, and she didn't know BB yet. She wanted to do something to stop it if their relationship was abusive.

It took about a month for her to see enough to not only satisfy her worries but also to make her realize that she wanted a relationship like theirs. The more she learned about BDSM, the more she wanted to learn. She'd only ever known about the sadism, which hadn't sounded appealing to her at the time. But when she learned about subspace, it sounded appealing. Even more appealing was the care and attention that BB showered on Jose. They were, without a doubt, the center of each other's lives. The more she watched their relationship grow into what it was today, the more she wanted something like that.

She also realized through many intimate conversations with Jose that she was also a submissive. And she craved a strong sexy Dominant like BB, except a straight guy. She even learned that certain things she often fantasized about, like public nudity for one, were common in the lifestyle. The more she learned, the more she wanted.

Convincing BB to be her trainer and protector had been challenging, but he'd finally agreed, and he'd been training her for the past several months for the type of relationship that she wanted with a Dom. And that was what she wanted, a relationship, not just an arrangement to be someone's fuck toy. She had friends who enjoyed being fuck toys, but that wasn't want Anastasia wanted.

In fact, she had friends from Down Under who weren't at all interested in the kind of relationship she craved, like Tina (Tinkerbell), Mee-Young (Cherry Blossom), and Beatrice (Queen Bee, her only close friend who was a Dominatrix, and also BB's twin sister). The three of them were, in fact, her closest friends besides Jose and BB, both inside and outside of Down Under. Unlike her, Tina and Mee-Young had no desire to ever be collared. They enjoyed being topped by different Doms when they played. Anastasia knew that she would never be satisfied with random fucks, no matter how enjoyable they were in the moment. There were plenty of Doms at Down Under who had shown interest in her, but none that she was particularly attracted to other than the Grey Wolf. He was the Dom she wanted, even if she couldn't have him.

Anastasia rebuked herself for even considering the thought. Christian Grey could never be her Dom, not just because the man was too cold to ever be intimate with a sub, but because the jackass had almost destroyed her future, and for what? Because he was too full of himself to allow the publication of a simple biography, one that would have painted him in the best light as one of the brightest business leaders in the world? How could she even consider being with anyone that self-absorbed? How could she forget that if it weren't for BB and his good graces, she'd probably be destitute right now, all because of Christian fucking Grey?

Anastasia returned the manuscript to her bag again in time to get off at the bus stop in front of 200 Spring Street. She was meeting BB and Mr. Grey at 8:00 a.m., and she was a few minutes early, but that was good. She squared her shoulders as she entered the building and made her way to the elevator, determined to find out the answers to her burning questions.