AN: I'm very happy about your response to Chapter 1, thank you so much!

I'm not interested in medical stuff so I'll be making up a "sickness" in this story so please don't be very critical about this. It's all for the sake of the plot.

Waiting for your reviews!

CHAPTER 2: AN EMERGENCY

"It's time to move on, sweetheart." Anastasia sighed and wondered how many times she needed Kate's pep talks to start dating again. She understood that she was coming from a good place, she just wanted her best friend to be happy. But still, this constant pressure to find her soulmate started to feel a lot like an obligation at that point.

"I know. I swear, I'm not waiting for him to come back. I just don't feel the spark with anyone else."

"Honey, if you refuse to meet men, how would you know if there is a spark or not?"

"I hate it when you make sense." She smiled, listening to Kate's laugh. They were on honeymoon, traveling with the yacht Christian gracefully lent them.

"Say yes to Alexander. It's just a coffee. Don't overthink."

"Ok." She sighed again. She knew that Kate had a point. She wished her a happy honeymoon and finished the call.

7 months was a long time to pine after someone who just saw you as their whore. She knew it. It was just impossible to make her heart accept this. Christian told her long ago that he wouldn't chase anyone who ends their relationship, she knew that he didn't lie. But a small part of her wanted him to come back and try to convince her to continue. In her wildest dreams, he came to her door in the pouring rain, confessing his undying love and kissing her senseless. In her nightmares, he came with her new submissive and introduced Anastasia to her as "number 16". She just never thought that one day she'd open the door and find him on her doorstep, fuming with anger. He shouted and shouted, at some point she briefly thought that he was going to slap her.

Remembering that day was still a sore spot, even after Christian's apology at the wedding. Their dance felt like the long-needed closure, she finally accepted that he was never going to be hers and she would never be what he needed.

She didn't think that she looked any different but she must have, 2 of her coworkers asked her out within the first week. She refused the first one, he wasn't attracted to the childish IT guy at all. But Alexander made her want to say yes. They worked together in the small publishing house, both editors. She enjoyed their talks and she couldn't deny that the tall brunette with green eyes was a good-looking man. Her mother told her the same thing, about love. She wasn't a romantic soul like Ray, she believed that people could choose who to love. Anastasia didn't agree, she wouldn't choose to suffer like this if she had a choice. Her heart still ached, when she saw him, when she heard Elliot talk about him, or when she accidentally saw him on the cover of a magazine.

She took a sip from her wine and looked around her tiny studio apartment, and then, suddenly her sadness turned into anger. He was probably fucking some other submissive in his ivory tower, beating her and having the time of his life. And she deserved more than this. She deserved to be loved.

She took out her phone and quickly replied to Alexander and told him yes. Yes, she would try to date. Yes, she would meet a thousand men if she needed, to find someone that would love her the way she loved them. She would get married before she got 30 and have 2 kids. One girl, one boy.

"This was a bad idea." was her thought, when she noticed that she kept comparing Alexander and Christian for the past twenty minutes. She nodded in the appropriate places to keep the conversation going and answered his questions as much as she could. But it wasn't enough, because Alexander felt "wrong". He didn't raise his eyebrow when she answered him with a joke. He didn't smirk, he just laughed. His laugh sounded wrong. The way he sat and crossed his legs was wrong. She listened to his story about how one of her sisters burned one of his eyebrows when they were kids but started to talk as soon as he finished.

"Alexander, thank you so much for the invite and for the coffee. But I don't think this is going to work." He smiled.

"Yeah, I thought so. You seem so far away."

"I'm sorry."

"It's fine. Thank you for accepting my invitation." She smiled, standing up and gathering her bag. He shook her hand before thanking her again and they separated.

After she went home and tried to drown her sadness in a bottle of wine, Anastasia cried herself to sleep. And after a few hours, she woke up with a horrible pain in her abdomen. She couldn't breathe, it hurt so much and she didn't know what was going on. She called out Kate's name a few times until it occurred to her that she didn't live with Kate anymore. It took an enourmous amount of strength to just pick up her phone from the nightstand and find the number she was searching for.

It was a late night at the Grey mansion, and the family was gathered around in the living room. To Grace's surprise, it got easier to get Christian to come into these types of family gatherings after Anastasia. She didn't understand why the couple didn't work, especially considering how hard both of them took the breakup but both of them had their lips sealed tight, they didn't tell her why. Grace Grey enjoyed their brunches and coffee dates with Kate and Anastasia, she couldn't help but think that Anastasia helped Christian to get out of his high walls. They were just chatting about Mia's upcoming opening, the French bakery when Gretchen ran to Grace and told her it was an emergency, handing her the house phone.

"Hello? Okay Ana, try to breathe. Tell me exactly what's wrong. Were you on your period?

Okay, I understand, we'll be there now. Try to be calm, I'm coming."

She quickly threw the phone down and turned to her son's worried face.

"It's Ana, we need to go." She didn't need to say anything else, in a record time, they were in the backseat of Christian's car, his knee jumping up and down, his hands in fists, squeezed tight. She tried to comfort him, telling him that it could be just her appendicitis, and the surgery to fix it was so easy but he was still very nervous.

"You don't know her, mom." He said. "Anastasia will never ask for help or admit she's in pain. If she called someone else and said that it's bad, that means it's not bad. It's something horrible." If it was a lighter time, she would've asked him why he cared so much about someone "he briefly dated" per his previous words but she didn't say anything.

They arrived at her apartment but Anastasia was unable to come and open the door. Christian kept pounding, telling her to open but there was no reply. Grace called her back, "Ana, please honey, you need to open the door. I understand, but we are right here, we'll take you to the hospital. Okay, okay." She turned to Taylor, who was waiting patiently one step back. "Can you break the door? She says she can't make it to the door."

It took him three tries but eventually the lock gave away under his body weight. Christian rushed inside, his mother right behind his back. He felt his heart stop beating for a moment when he saw Anastasia lying on the floor in the corridor. It was obvious that she tried to crawl to the door but couldn't manage. She was whining softly, like a wounded animal, it broke his heart. He rushed to her and kneeled, pulling her hair away from her face. Her beautiful face was so pale, like paper. It was schrunched in pain. Grace tried to figure out what was wrong but the moment she tried to touch Anastasia's stomach, she howled in pain, trying to hold onto Christian. He susshed her, his fingers squeezing her hand tightly. He tried to keep her calm but he wasn't calm at all. Grace couldn't figure out what was wrong. He immediately got up and carried her to the car, held her tightly in his lap, his hands trying to soothe her pain. It didn't work.

Their arrival at the hospital and finding her a doctor in an emergency was like a blur. He was so worried about her that he didn't notice that his dad and sister were there, sitting beside him until Mia rubbed his shoulder. He looked at her, the helplessness in his eyes making her heart ache.

"Christian, she'll be okay." She whispered. Reaching out and squeezing his hand.

"You didn't see her..." He said. His mind was still full of the image of her on the floor, writhing in pain.

"She's a strong woman, son. Your mother will do her best to make her feel okay." Carrick said, his confidence mostly about his wife's expertise in her job.

It took another hour for Grace and the other doctors to leave her room. Christian didn't like the tearstains in his mother's face, it looked like they had bad news. His heart was beating like crazy in his chest, he rubbed his chest to soothe himself. Grace smiled at them sadly. "She's not in pain anymore and she's stabilized."

"But what's wrong?" He was impatient to learn what was wrong to start fixing it. It was obvious from her mother's look that something was seriously wrong. He'd find the best hospitals and best surgeons to make Anastasia okay again.

"I can't tell you that. Anastasia will tell you if she wants. It's nothing life-threatening. She just needs to make some... decisions."

"What the fuck is that supposed to mean?!" He shouted, "Tell me what's wrong!"

"You know I can't. We are not her family, and I'm not sure this is something she wants to discuss with her ex-boyfriend's family."

"What the fuck are you t-"

"Christian, enough." His rage fit was interrupted by his father, who was hugging Grace to his chest. "Your mother told you, if Anastasia wants you to know, she'll tell you."

He scoffed, turning around to walk up and down the corridor for a while. Moving always made him feel less anxious but it wasn't helpful. His mother was driving him insane with this doctor-patient confidentiality shit. He kept thinking about her words and what they meant but he wasn't very successful. He returned to where his family was when he felt himself calm down.

Three of them were still sitting in front of her room.

"Can I go in?" He asked his mother, still mad at her.

"Yes but keep it short, she needs rest and she's staying here tonight." He just nodded and entered the private room he paid them to put her in. She looked so small in the white hospital bed, and so alone... Her face turned to the door when she heard him. At least she didn't look like she was dying now. He sat down on the chair right next to her bed, holding her hand wordlessly. Which made tears spill down her cheeks.

"Are you in pain?" He asked, eyeing the button that called the nurses.

"Not anymore." She said quietly. He nodded.

"Did mom tell you what's wrong?"

"Yeah."

"And?" She squeezed her eyes shut, more tears slipping down her face to the pillow.

"And... And I think I'm destined to be alone forever." He frowned, not understanding what was she talking about.

"Will you take me back as your whore?" She whispered, making his eyes snap to hers in shock. "You can fuck me like you want and dump me when you are done. It looks like I'm incapable of being anything other than your whore."

"You are not allowed to refer to yourself like this." He tried to be as firm as possible, still shocked and very disturbed to hear how she saw their relationship.

"Do you want to beat me now? You don't need to, you know. I'm being punished enough."

"Punished for what?"

"Daring to exist." She started to play with the blanket absentmindedly, refusing to look in his face. "Did you know that my mother got an abortion? It failed. And the god's punishing me because I exist."

"You are not making a lot of sense." He wondered out loud, how many painkillers they gave her to talk like this. She smiled sadly, squeezing his hand.

"I think I never did." He sighed, it was obvious that he wasn't going to get anything from her tonight. He raised her hand to his face and kissed her knuckles.

"Go to sleep, Miss Steele." She smiled but closed her eyes.

"Yes, sir."

He stayed with her until the morning, sometimes dozing off, sometimes watching her face carefully for a sign of discomfort. He refused to call Kate or Ray, knowing that Anastasia wouldn't want them to worry now. He left her room to talk to her doctor, but sadly, her doctor was as tight-lipped as his mother. He returned to her room, mad as hell that nobody told him anything.

Anastasia was already awake when he entered.

"Christian?" She looked quite surprised to see him there. "I thought you left."

"No." He simply went back to the chair and reached out to hold her hand again.

"How are you feeling?"

"Much better. Thank you for coming yesterday. And for staying with me." He smiled, he could see the gratitude in her eyes. But then again, Anastasia's eyes were always mirrors of her soul.

"I'm glad you feel okay. Now tell me what's wrong." His voice was commanding but he frowned when he saw how quickly tears clouded her eyes.

"It's... It's about my ovaries."

"Is it cancer? Tumor? Do they need to take them out completely?" He stopped when he saw her flinch at the last one.

"I don't want to talk about it, Christian." She said quietly. "Thank you so much for your help. Can you just take me home?"

"I understand this is a private matter." He finally accepted. "But I want you to know that you have no limitations in treatment. I'm here, always. If they want some other surgeon from the end of the world, I'll bring him. If they want bags of cash, I'll bring it. I don't ever want to see you again like yesterday." He bent down and forced her to look into his eyes, to see how serious he was. "Okay?"

She wiped the tears spilling from her cheek with the back of her free hand. "Okay."

Endnotes: I promise this won't be a huge problem, they are going to solve it in the next chapter and we can finally move on to my dearest pregnancy trope.