A/N: Thank you all for your continued love and support! :) I truly appreciate all of you.

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Chapter 11: Get to Work

Christian slept the whole night through, which was a rarity for him, but he felt his night would have been more restful if his dreams were more pleasant. He had nightmares most nights, and tonight was no different – this time, his dreams were interspersed with dark visions of Ana being dragged away by a faceless man while she cried and reached out for Christian to save her. Christian would try to chase after them, reaching for her hand, but they just kept getting farther and farther away. They ran through random places like dark streets, classrooms, Target stores, restaurants, and hospital emergency rooms, but still Christian could never catch up to them. Suddenly, they were in Escala, and the faceless man dragged Ana outside onto the balcony before throwing her off the ledge, her screaming as she fell.

Christian woke up with a gasp, sitting bolt upright and his heart thundering in his chest. It took him a moment to realize that it had just been a dream, and that he was currently in his childhood bedroom at his parents' house. He took a deep breath as he tried to calm down his heartbeat, but the vision of Ana dying in front of him was still burned into his brain.

Trying to banish those dark thoughts, Christian ran a hand through his sweaty hair, pushing it out of his eyes. He saw it was still dark outside, and he glanced at his clock to see that it was only five-thirty in the morning. With a sigh, he lay back down on the bed and tried to relax, fighting the urge he had to go to Ana's room and peek inside to see if she was okay.

She is okay. She's perfectly safe. Stop being paranoid.

He had to keep repeating that to himself, but he found it difficult to go back to sleep. He ended up laying in bed wide awake for the next hour or so before he finally decided to get up and go down to the kitchen for some coffee.

Christian went downstairs, biting back a yawn as he shuffled into the kitchen. To his surprise, both his parents were already awake and sitting at the breakfast bar in their bathrobes, Carrick typing away on his laptop while Grace read a newspaper. Both of them looked over when Christian entered, and they smiled.

"'Morning," Christian said as he walked over to them.

"'Morning son," Carrick smiled, gesturing to the mug of coffee in front of him. "We made a pot of coffee if you want some, or you can make a fresh cup in the Keurig if you prefer."

"Thanks," Christian said, walking over to the already-made pot of coffee and grabbing a mug. "Are we the only ones up?"

"Yeah, the others are still sleeping," Grace said. "I'm surprised you're up already, darling. I figured you would want to sleep in a bit this morning too."

"I woke up and couldn't get back to sleep," Christian grimaced, bringing his cup of coffee over to the breakfast bar and sitting down. "Too much on my mind, I guess."

"That's understandable," Carrick said, nodding toward his laptop in front of him. "I've actually been doing some research this morning about anything else we can do for Ana from a legal standpoint."

"We already filed the restraining order against Jack yesterday," Christian pointed out, taking a sip of his coffee. "And Jack and Ana aren't married, so it's not as if he can withhold a divorce from her or anything like that. I'm not sure if there's anything else we can do."

Carrick exchanged a look with Grace, his expression grim. "Well, that's the thing," he said, turning back to Christian. "I'm worried there's a decent chance Ana's restraining order against Jack will just be swept under the rug."

Christian froze, staring at his father in disbelief. "You can't be serious."

"I know it was a concern of Ana's that Jack would use his political connections to weasel out of any legal troubles he might be in, and honestly, it's a concern of mine too," Carrick said, typing on his laptop once again. "I just want to make sure all our bases are covered if it does turn out Jack is trying to hush up the restraining order."

Christian felt anger building up inside of him in a sudden crescendo, and he gripped his mug tightly in his hand. "He can't do that," he growled out. "Ana just wants to get away from him – he can't keep her as a prisoner in his house, even if she didn't take out a fucking restraining order! Why would he try to cover it up?"

"Christian," Grace said in a chastising voice, obviously not happy with him swearing so early in the morning.

"It's because he works in the public sphere for a Congressman," Carrick explained patiently to Christian. "And also because it's an election year. Any bad press about the Congressman's campaign team could negatively affect his poll numbers. Hyde would probably do just about anything to hush up any legal trouble he might be in."

"God forbid something makes a politician look bad," Christian bit out sarcastically, rolling his eyes. "What if we got in contact directly with Congressman Malkiewicz and we tell him what Hyde has been doing to his girlfriend?"

"Great. Do you have his personal number?" Carrick asked glibly. "Even if we could get in contact with the Congressman, I doubt he has the time or energy to listen to random people accusing his campaign manager of possible illegal activity without any concrete proof."

"He should want to know if his own employee is an abusive monster!" Christian said angrily. Before Carrick could respond, however, there was the sound of movement from down the hall, and Ana, Margaret, and Theo all appeared at the base of the staircase, also in their pajamas.

"Oh good, you're all awake," Margaret smiled warmly at the three others at the breakfast bar, clearly not picking up on the serious conversation that had been taking place. Carrick had turned back to his laptop, and Christian avoided eye contact with the others as he looked down at his coffee mug.

"Is there any coffee left?" Theo asked, shuffling over to the coffee machine.

"There should be a little," Grace said. "Feel free to make another pot, Dad. The coffee beans are in the cabinet above the Keurig."

"Thanks darling."

"If you guys are hungry, I can start making breakfast," Ana offered. She looked very cute this morning wearing a t-shirt and shorts, her long chestnut hair pulled into a messy braid over her left shoulder. "How does French toast sound?"

"Ooh, that sounds delicious," Margaret said happily, taking a seat beside Grace. "I can't remember the last time I had French toast."

Christian felt anger and annoyance building inside of him once again. "Don't you think Ana should take a break from cooking for all of us?" he asked before he could stop himself. "I mean, she and Mia already made dinner for all of us last night. Is she expected to cook for us every day while she's staying here?"

There was a rather tense and awkward silence among the group for several protracted seconds after Christian said that. Ana stared at Christian before glancing uneasily toward Grace and Carrick. "I mean… I don't mind making you all breakfast. I'm grateful to you guys for letting me stay here for the time being. And it is my job to cook for all of you…"

"I think Christian is just concerned about you taking on so much after everything that happened yesterday," Margaret said soothingly, giving Ana a gentle smile. "I can help you with breakfast, dear, if you'd like."

Christian still felt angry, however – did no one else here actually give a shit about Ana's well-being? Was she really just an employee in this house? "I'm not hungry," he said petulantly, and he abandoned his cup of coffee on the breakfast bar before stalking away up the stairs. He felt everyone's eyes on him as he left.

He made his way up the stairs toward his bedroom. His phone was still in his room, and he wanted to text Taylor to let him know he was going to head into the office this morning. He had been toying with the idea of taking another day off to spend with Ana, but he had several important meetings on his schedule today that he couldn't put off. And with how he was feeling right now, he figured it was probably for the best that he take a little time away from the others and cool off.

Once he reached the second floor landing, he heard someone hurrying up the stairs after him. "Christian?"

Ana appeared at the top of the stairs, and Christian felt his anger melt away a little bit upon seeing her looking at him with so much concern. "Ana?"

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to upset you down there," she said, a worried frown on her beautiful face as she gazed up at him. "I – I just thought making breakfast for all of you would have been a nice gesture. I didn't think, well…"

"No, Ana," Christian said, shaking his head. He suddenly felt like the biggest piece of shit for storming off the way he did. "I'm not upset at you, I promise. I just don't like the idea of you being treated like my parents' employee while you're staying here. You're going through enough as it is right now, and expecting you to cook our meals for us while you're staying here just feels… wrong."

Ana gave him a small grateful smile. "It's okay, Christian. I love staying here with your family, and I also love cooking. It's not a chore for me to do, I promise. But I appreciate you being so concerned about my well-being."

Christian felt something clench in his heart, but he tried to push the feeling away. "Of course I'm concerned, Ana. I just want to make sure you're comfortable and happy while you're staying here with us. I don't really want to, but I actually have to go into the office today, so I won't be around here in case something happens."

Ana's face fell slightly. "Oh," she said. "Okay. I understand. I'm sure I'll be fine here today with just your family."

"I'll be coming back tonight," Christian assured her, taking a step toward her so they were only a foot apart. "I'll also have some of my security personnel stay here to keep an eye out, and I'll be staying every night here at the Grey Estate with you until you're safe from Jack. I promise I won't be abandoning you in your time of need, Ana."

His words seemed to reassure Ana as she smiled up at him, her beautiful blue eyes glimmering with some unnamed emotion. "Thank you, Christian. I know I can trust you." Her cheeks blushed pink as she glanced down. "Y'know I… I'd thought about running away from Jack to your grandparents' house so many times in the past, but I could never bring myself to do it until the other night. I didn't know you were still there, of course… but at the same time, I feel like I did know. It was like my heart and mind knew you were there to help me when I needed you most."

Ana looked a bit embarrassed to admit that to him, but Christian felt his heart lodge in his throat with a powerful emotion. The trust this beautiful yet damaged woman was putting in him both humbled and exhilarated him, and without a word he brought his hand to her chin and lifted her face to his. He pressed his lips to hers, firmly and sweetly, conveying everything he felt for her, and Ana hesitated only a moment before kissing him back.

After several long, wonderful moments, Christian finally pulled away. "Thank you, Ana," he said quietly, and Ana smiled softly at him. "That really means a lot. I always want you to feel safe with me."

"I do, Christian," she said, her voice also quiet as she gazed up at him. "Thank you."

When Christian went back to his bedroom to change for work, his mind was clearer than it had been all morning. Kissing Ana was apparently good for soothing his psyche, and he didn't mind one bit.

"Goddammit."

Just when Jack thought he had gotten a breakthrough finding out the neighbor's name was Trevelyan, he hit yet another roadblock. He had run a cursory background check, but there was very little to know about these people – they lived in Seattle their whole lives, they had one daughter who also lived in Seattle, and they were currently retired. He knew he could probably learn more about them with a more thorough background check, but he couldn't exactly get his employers in DC to look into these people for him. He had to use what little resources he had.

It's probably all for nothing anyway, Jack scoffed to himself as he stood at the wet bar and poured a few fingers of whiskey into his favorite lowball glass. If Ana was with the Trevelyan's, it was likely they simply took her to a women's shelter where she could remain anonymous. A million background checks on them likely wouldn't get him any closer to finding Ana.

Jack shuffled into the living room and sunk down into one of the armchairs, sighing in exhaustion as he closed his eyes. He hardly got any sleep last night, and he doubted he would rest easy until he finally found Ana; he downed half of the whiskey in his glass, not caring that it wasn't even noon yet.

He couldn't just give up. His entire political career depended on him finding Ana and persuading her to come back and drop the restraining order. They could work this out, he knew they could – what they had going on for the past three years had been good. There had been some rough patches, of course, like in any relationship, but they could always pull through. She just needed a reminder of how good things used to be between them.

I have to find her.

Jack downed the rest of his whiskey before closing his eyes with a sigh, leaning his head back against the armchair. The effects of the alcohol were starting to hit him, and he felt the typical floatiness and warmth that accompanied his first drink of the day. Perhaps he could get a little nap in before resuming his search for Ana.

Just as he was drifting off, his phone buzzed with a notification. Blinking open his eyes, he reached for it and checked to see if it was anything important.

It was an automated email alerting him of a background check that had been conducted on him, and suddenly Jack was wide awake. Background checks were almost always conducted anonymously, but with Jack being so closely associated with a high-ranking political figure, he needed to know who was trying to get more information on him. It was usually political rivals or campaign donors who ran these background checks, and he almost never did anything with this information other than mentally file it away for later and use it as leverage if necessary.

After glancing over this new email, however, Jack felt confused. This background check was apparently run by the IT department at a corporation called Grey Enterprise Holdings, LLC. Why the hell would this company be looking into him? He had heard a little bit about GEH since it was a large Seattle-based business, but it had never participated in politics or accepted any money from political donors. There was never any money to be made from this company, so it went largely ignored by people in the political sphere.

Why is someone at GEH running a background check on me?

Jack Googled "Grey Enterprise Holdings" on his phone and scrolled through the top results. There were links to the company website and a few pages of the higher level executives. Jack navigated onto the team page on their website to see if there was a person whom he may have known.

Jack glanced over multiple professional-looking headshots of the top executives at the company. At the very top of the page was the CEO, a handsome-looking fucker in his late twenties. Underneath his headshot was his title and name:

Chief Executive Officer
Christian Trevelyan Grey

Jack could only stare at the name for several long moments before realization began to dawn on him. Slowly, he began to smile.

It appeared as if the Trevelyan name was going to be useful to him after all.

A/N: Oh boy. So Jack knows about Christian now – what do you think is going to happen next?

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