My dear little broccolis💚💚💚

💚 So, this story is dedicated to two particular authors with whom I have briefly touched on those issues, and who make amazing stories. paleseptember10 & Krooela. Go check them out, you won't regret it.

💚 Fallen Angel💚

How would have Christian Grey's life turned out if the Greys had intervened when Elena tried to sink her claws into him? Would he still be the same man as we know, or someone completely different ...

‼️Rated M - {Out Of Characters/All Human/Alternate Universe}‼️

‼️Romance/Angst/Drama/Lemons‼️

‼️AS/CG/The Greys/The Steeles/Jack Hyde/Elena Lincoln‼️

💚 READ & REVIEW, DON'T BE A SILENT READER 💚

Chapter 23: The Body of Christ (3,3K)

Christian's Pov

As soon as I hung up with Elliott, I knock on the door and I am greeted by a radiant Ana. She's wearing a green floral dress with a green cardigan over it and wedge heels on her feet. She looks gorgeous and for a moment, I stand here, wondering why am I bothering to get her to my parents when there are so many things much more interesting that we can do together on this sunny day.

So I cup her face with one hand and lean down to kiss her. And as she always does, she eagerly responds, though this time her hands go to my hair. Yes, Ana definitely craves touching me.

In very little time, I tackle her against the nearest wall in her apartment, after slamming the door shut with my foot, and when we break our kiss for her, I lean my forehead against hers. She looks at me with sparkles illuminating her eyes and she whispers, a little bit out of breath,

"Hey, stranger."

"Hey, beauty," I retort, though this doesn't have the effect I had expected. Her smile fades a little and she looks down, breaking our eye contact. But I don't have time to ask about anything. Elliott comes in the corridor and pretends to gag,

"Kids! Keep this sort of behaviour to the bedroom. I can't have my pure eyes witness this kind of debauchery!"

I don't even dignify this with an answer and just take Ana's hand as she blushes and tries to put a bit more distance between us. She shouldn't be embarrassed, she heard him going at it with Kate, so Elliott should stop being an idiot, and Ana shouldn't feel too self-conscious around that hoof.

"We'll see you at Mom and Dad's. Don't make any naughty detours," he says, leaving with Kate and we follow them after Ana has made sure that her locks are secured.

Once we are in my car, I see her admire it and I can't help but be smug about it. I have several just like that because there is nothing better than to drive with the wind in my hair. It gives a sensation of freedom … ineffable.

"I didn't take you as a sports car kind of girl," I tell her, though I make a note in my head that this is definitely what I'm getting her for her birthday.

"What can I say? Don't judge a book by its cover," she jokes and as soon as I start the car, I grab her hand in mine. She smiles at me, setting my heart on fire every time she does so, and I drive us to my parents, all the while letting her know of my plans for her birthday,

"By the way, I need you to take the Friday of your birthday off."

"Er … I don't know if it's possible. I just started working here. It would be bad form for me to take a day off to go on a weekend with my boyfriend."

"That's why I'm telling you now. A month's notice seems good enough, no?"

"But … I don't know Christian. I'm still on probation and I don't want to give them any excuse to not keep me."

I roll my eyes, reminding myself that this is her first full-time job and that she's bound to think that her sneezing can lead to her being fired.

"Please, babe. I really want to take you somewhere for your birthday. You're not going to get in trouble. It's not like you've been a hassle since you started there and they were looking for any excuse to fire you."

She still seems hesitant, so I squeeze her hand and tell her, "Worst case, you can come work for me."

"Nope!" She immediately retorts. "Nope, nope, nope! I'm not fooling around with my boss."

I laugh but make sure to point out, "Don't worry, I'd never fire you. And I'm not fooling around, Ana. This is real … at least to me."

"You can't say things like that whilst driving! I can't kiss you and anyway, you're not allowed to say sweet and melt-worthy things like that when we're on our way to meet your parents."

This makes me roar in laughter, and I use the opportunity of a red light to kiss her, leaving her red and breathless.

During the rest of the way, she tries to get out of me where I want to take her for her birthday, but I have always been good at keeping a secret. It's a well-known fact in our family. I'm the secret keeper. So I just enjoy her trying to guess, though I have to admit I am a bit disappointed by her lack of imagination. The furthest she thinks we're going is New York.

Once we are at my parents' estate, she stops talking and just looks around. We grew up in a big house. Grace always liked having a lot of people in her house, and we often had relatives over weekends. Plus, there's the pool where Carrick and I bonded the most, and Grace's whole garden and … the house is big. Even I, who grew up in it, can realise that it's bigger than the average.

Instead of parking the car in the garage, I leave it in the driveway, so Ana and I can walk a little and she can admire the estate a little bit more. And just as I take her hand in mine, she lets out,

"Oh, I see. You're not just a new rich. You're a proper proper rich. I should have totally played the sugar baby card. Aren't you ancient anyway?"

"If you were my sugar baby, you wouldn't fuss every time I try to pay for a damn fro-yo," I remind her and she laughs, squeezing my hand,

"You're never going to let that go, are you? I'm sorry to tell you, Grey, you're with a girl who enjoys being with you and spoiling you … in fro-you. I still have to pay off my student loan, don't push it."

I laugh with her, walking her to the front door and we barely have time to knock that Grace opens the door and happily greets us. Well, Ana. It seems she has forgotten she has a son.

"Welcome, Ana. How are you doing? How was the drive here? I hope Christian didn't drive too fast. He tends to forget about speed limits when he is in one of those," she says, pointing to my car with her chin.

I roll my eyes and see my Ana disappear. She blushes, and any quip or joke she could have easily made about my driving never makes it to her mouth. Instead, she presents the bouquet of flowers she had insisted on bringing (mostly because I refused she brought anything else) and she says,

"Thank you, Dr Trevelyan. It was a nice drive. Your son cares very much about his safety, no matter how fast he can go."

I give a smug smirk at Mom because she always finds a way to admonish me when I drive a sports car. But the proof is in the pudding. Ana said I still drove safely.

"Oh, thank you, Ana, they're lovely. And please, call me Grace. I'm not in practice, right now."

She then beckons us to follow her to the garden where Carrick is heating up his barbecue and as I wrap my hand around Ana's waist, I smirk at the fact that Elliott still isn't here. He left before us, but as Mom said, I definitely forgot about the speed limits.

"Carrick, Ana and Christian have arrived."

Carrick smiles at us and leaves his grill before coming to us and gently squeezing my arm as he always does when we see each other. "How are you, son?"

"I'm good. Dad, meet my girlfriend, Anastasia Rose Steele. Ana, this is my dad, Carrick."

They shake hands and Carrick jokes, "So she gets her full name introduction, and I just get 'Dad'. And there I thought I had brownie points for making your favourite grill."

I laugh, though this whole introduction was more an inside joke between Ana and me. And she got it if the way she briefly squinted her eyes at me is any indication. Still, I don't lose focus of what has just been said,

"My father makes the best grills in the world. The way he marinates his meat …" I finish by doing a chef kiss because there are no words and Ana politely smiles as Grace tells us to sit. She brought drinks and asks Ana if she's more red or white after she poured me her homemade iced tea.

"Neither. I'll go with the iced tea as well, thank you."

This is something I have noticed with Ana, she never drinks alcohol around me. And I know she drinks, so this is mostly something due to me. I never actually asked her why, because I don't mind not being the only person sober, but maybe I should. I shouldn't stop her from having fun, especially if I'm around to stop her from having too much fun.

Grace looks from her to me, probably understanding why Ana refused alcohol, and after serving Ana, she goes back to the house, quickly followed by Carrick. As soon as we're alone, I bring my hand to her face, playing with the only loose strand of hair she let out of her elaborated bun and I tell her,

"My parents don't bite, babe. You can be your usual self."

"Says the guy who freezes at the mere mention of my Dad."

"That's different. Your Dad is a scary dude, and he doesn't like me. I think that the only reason I am still alive is because you intervened in my favour."

She chuckles and I grab her chin to plant one quick kiss on her lips. I'm so glad she decided to not wear any lipstick because that means I can steal as many kisses as I want and no one would even know about it.

"I'm just … I don't want your parents to have the wrong impression of me. You, guys obviously have a very strong connection and so I want them to like me."

"I'm pretty sure they already do. I never brought a girl home and Grace … she worried that some things of my past may be the reason behind it."

She doesn't pressure me to tell her about it, and I'm grateful. I don't want to talk about Elena, especially not today. So I give her a teasing smile and lead her toward the territory she loves, analysing people,

"So? How is it obvious that we have a strong connection?"

"Your Mom served you your ice tea without even asking, your Dad touched your arm and you didn't flinch, and though she didn't ask about you when she greeted us, she still knew you were doing good just by this little look you two exchanged. Your parents obviously love you, and that means that they expect a lot from the person who's currently in your life, IE, me."

If I ever wanted to lie or cheat in my relationship, I clearly chose the wrong girl. She notices the smallest things. I didn't even notice that Grace didn't ask about me. I just know that she knows I'm good and happy. I don't need to tell her that.

But I am spared from going further into that topic by Elliott who comes into the garden and puts his hand on his heart in faux chock, "Oh, my! Who is that dear brother of mine? I had no idea that you were bringing home a guest!"

Kate rolls her eyes behind him and smacks him behind the head as she sits in front of us and says, "We saw you pass by us on the road. I see that Ana isn't the only one who likes to speed." She then squints her eyes at me, "You better not get in an accident with my bestie in the car with you, because I'd never forgive you." She then pauses and adds, "Actually, don't get in an accident period. It would be too much hassle at work to explain this."

I laugh with her and sense that Ana is a little bit tense. I don't know if it's Elliott's goofiness or the presence of her best friend, but I'll take it. Grace and Carrick come back and I'm pretty sure that Dad had a conversation with Mom because she's no longer on Ana's back.

As he grills his perfect meat, we all have drinks and talk about various things. The weather, Kate and Elliott's upcoming vacation and comes Mom and Dad's silver anniversary. They want to do a little something, and I just nod at that, earning an eyebrow raised by Ana. She's definitely unto me.

The thing is, Mia is organising this epic get together with friends and family with the theme of silver. But so far, I'm the only one who knows about this. The invitations are supposed to be sent next week. We just need an excuse to keep them in Seattle the first week of January.

"How did you meet?" Ana asks, and just like every time she's asked, grace looks at Carrick with hearts in her eyes. Maybe one day, I will get that as well. Preferably with Ana.

"Well, I had just passed the bar and I went to celebrate with friends," Carrick says, though it's no surprise, he's always the one telling the story. "And I saw this gorgeous girl at the bar who seemed to get unwanted attention. So I went there, put my arm on her waist, planted a kiss on her forehead and apologised for being late. Five years later, she was walking down the aisle to me."

I witness Ana's eyes turn into hearts as well, as she melts on the spot and I glance at Elliott who rolls his eyes. It is a cute story, but we have heard it so many times that it has lost all its appeal now.

Still, Grace turns to Ana and asks us, "How about you? How did you meet?"

Ana shrugged, "Nothing as cute. He made me spill my drink on me and then refused to leave me alone."

"I should have. I was accused of being a serial killer the second I started talking to her."

Everyone laughed around the table, though Mom took the time to say that it was indeed a meet-cute in her books.

The conversation then turned around to work, and Ana loved hearing stories about Grace's and Carrick's jobs. She asked many questions, especially to Carrick who did notice it, though he didn't comment. Everyone praises her when they learn that she's had a double major and that's when carrick's interest in her reaches his peek,

"Criminology? That's … unusual."

"Maybe. But that's what I wanted to study."

He nods, and I know that right now, it's the lawyer talking to my girlfriend, not my father. "And did you stop your studies, or …"

"In some ways I did. But I am writing a thesis for research purposes," she says, and I'm pretty sure but Dad and I noticed her slight hesitation.

I know what her thesis is about, and I know that she wants to present it when she'll get to enter the FBI, but not everyone knows that. And I know she doesn't like to advertise her dream job to people she barely knows.

Carrick longly looks at her before leaving his lawyer persona and asking completely different, "What do your parents do?"

"My Dad was in the army his whole life. He taught me everything I know. But he's retired now. So he travels the world now that I'm a big girl who can fend for herself."

I take a sip of my tea, idly wondering if she's blatantly lying or if she doesn't know what her Dad really does of his retirement.

"We thank him for his service," Mom says, before asking the question I never dared ask, "How about your mother?"

I see her crack her knuckles beneath the table, though her smile stays the same as she says, "She lives in Georgia. She translates children's books into Spanish and Arabic."

I can see that Grace wants to ask more about Ana's parents, but I know doesn't like talking about them. So I get up and present my hand to Ana, as I let everyone know, "I want to show Ana around before dessert."

Then, I take her inside the house and show her the various rooms. Each of my parents' studies, the library, the living room, the kitchen, the dining room, the guest room. As we get upstairs so I can show her my room, i ask, "So? Less stressed or shall I pretend I have an emergency at work and we need to leave?"

"I would never ask you to do that! And your family is lovely."

I smile, opening the door to my room and she asks, "So, what did you plan for your parent's anniversary?"

"God, you really do notice everything. If you can't make it as a profiler, you should definitely try to be a shrink."

She looks at me and nods in defeat as she understands that I won't say anything more than that I am planning something. Then she looks around at the room that witnessed my adolescence and life as a young adult. Grace kept it exactly how it was.

"So … you were a troubled teen?"

I stare at her, wondering how she could know that just by looking at my room. She shrugs and says, "There's no picture of you in your early teens," as she shows the wall of pictures. All the big moments of my life are there, many shared with my family, or Eric.

"And usually that means a big change or a period of time we want to forget about. You were already adopted, and your grandparents are still alive, so no big death and therefore no big change. And since you're clearly loved by your family, I'd say you wanted to forget those troubling years. I guess you were an angry teenager."

I look at her, all my walls up and ready to be defended, but when she turns to look at me, there is no judgement in her eyes. Just facts. So I let out a deep breath and admit,

"I was. Angry and resentful against the whole wide world. I'm lucky my parents still love me because many would have given up."

She keeps looking at me, her big blue eyes full of empathy before she slowly walks toward me and raises her hand to my cheek. I lean into it, closing my eyes and I feel her lips on mine. It's not a passionate kiss. It's not even a lustful kiss. It's a kiss to show me that she's here with me and that I'm not alone.

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💚Your thoughts and opinions are always welcomed💚

💚Okay, Ana finally met the Greys and it seems that it went well. What do you think Carrick and Grace thought of Ana?

💚 And Christian is letting Ana in more and more. Do you think he will ever tell her about Elena?

💚 And what do you think Christian has planned for Ana's Bday? If you can guess, you get a teaser ^^

💚Well, let me know what you thought of this chapter. What was your favourite part? What do you think will happen next?

💚 E L James owns the names of the characters from the Fifty Shades franchise, Everything else is mine (including the mistakes and grammar errors).

Love, Mina 💚💚💚