[Hi there my dears* I am so sorry for the long wait! I will try not to let it happen again. sometimes it's hard to juggle everything in one hand -ya know wuddimean!? - anyhow, this is a messy chapter, questions are going to form. it's the Rising action part of the story. I hope you like it, some will probably hate some of it. I'm sorry for not being sorry that some hate it but guess what others will love it and I love you for loving it! in the next few chapters, some of the questions will be answered and there is going to be more dramatic scenes and don't hate me, please. there is probably going to be a flashback chapter *sigh* once again all characters belong to miss E.L. JAMES blah blah blah.
please leave comments, it's my fuel.
I love you guys*
xxx
p.s sorry for this long A.N but if you want to ask some questions or have some ideas you're more than welcome to P.M me I'll read it and respond. You guys are my teachers here and you're forming me.
P.P.S I'm going to put up a poll go vote please and give me some ideas - I might be bored enough to start a Pinterest board but I need to know if you guys are interested first.
enjoy the chapter
lots of love Ashley*]
CHAPTER FIVE
15/01/2012
Anastasia POV
My eyes flutter open to the irritating sunbeam, which is shining through the curtain that isn't closed entirely, that lands directly on my face. To top up my irritation, I really need to pee.
Christian is tangled around me like a vine, I can't complain because he is really warm and I'm cold. I try to get up but just like quicksand, every time I move, Christian holds on tighter.
When I pry his hands off of me is when I realise his hand is under my pyjama top and is resting on my breast. Oh boy. As alluring as this is, this can't be happening.
I immediately feel guilty. God! He's my boss! I push his hand away and crawl out of the bed. After what feels like hours I'm out of the octopus hold Mr Grey has on me.
He moans in his sleep and turns to the other side.
"What am I going to do?" I whisper and walk out of the room.
X x x
I've been wandering around the cold house for the last hour, wishing that it will again be filled with the light that Ray is. In every corner there's a memory, some are good and some of them are sad.
Some of the memories are secrets. Standing in the photo-filled hall I examine the photograph of the smiling household. Ray, Carla and me. I decide that I need to get dressed and wake up sleeping beauty.
After taking a brisk shower I walk into the room where Christian is sleeping. As I open the door I see that the bed is empty. "Mr Grey?" I call out
"Over here Anastasia." I look in the direction of his voice, he's standing in front of the desk examining the photographs on the pin wall.
"I hope you don't mind me asking, but who's this?" he asks me when I stand next to him, pointing at the photograph that my mother took of us at Disneyland in Florida.
I'm standing in the middle, the shortest one between two men, the older one my dad, Ray. I look at the green-eyed man, his features similar to Ray's. Mason.
"That's my brother." I murmur. My vision is clouded with tears, threatening to fall.
"Is this his room?" Christian asks motioning to the room with his left hand.
"Yes." I say turning on my heel, I stop at the door and say: "There are clothes in the dresser, I think it'll fit you."
"ANASTASIA!" Christian's voice echo's after me into the hallway.
"Not now Christian, I'll be fine," I say when I'm in my room, across from the one he's in, and shut the door softly and sink to my knees.
CPOV
Looking at the photograph in my hand after I just witnessed Ana's semi-breakdown I reach for my cell phone on the dresser and dial Welch, who answers immediately.
"Yes Mr Grey, sir," He says. I can tell he has had too much caffeine.
"I need everything you can find on a brother of Anastasia Steele," I whisper.
"Right away sir, I'll contact you as soon as I have the information. Oh, and we have a lead on Elena Lincoln sir." I smile as he says the last part.
"Email me the deeds," I say and hang up.
I look at the photograph one more time before pinning it back onto the wall.
"So you're the brother?" I say to the photo "I'm sorry for almost going at it with your sister on your bed." I say and turn to the dresser. I frown. I'm not wearing his clothes. Luckily I have an overnight bag in my car.
X x x
After getting showering and dressing I walk out of the now creepy room and knock on Ana's door.
"Can I come in?" I ask opening the door anyway. I walk in to see Ana standing in tight jeans and a lacy bra.
"Sorry, I knocked and you didn't answer." Truth be told I didn't give you time to answer, thank god anyway. She's gorgeous.
"I didn't hear you." She says putting a blue shirt on.
"I accidentally ruined the other shirt." She says pointing to a green shirt that is now torn. I'm not going to ask questions.
"Are you hungry?" I ask her and she nods.
"Good, come let's go eat," I say holding out my hand for her, something I won't normally do with my subs. She isn't your sub - Grey! Yet.
When her small hand touches mine, an electric current passes through me again, and the way the both of us looks down at our entwined fingers, I bet that she felt it too. she bites her lip which concludes that I am right.
Her small hand fits in mine perfectly.
So I do what feels normal, I pull her close to me and hug her. Her left-hand rests on my buttocks, which sends all of the right feelings to the right place at the wrong erection grinds into the pants zipper.
I need to adjust…
I look down at the blue eyed goddess and place a small kiss on her lips.
When I pull away from her, her teeth once again sinks into her bottom lip. I narrow my eyes and push her into the wall, crashing into the dressing table.
My mouth is on hers in a flash, our teeth clashes causing her to moan. I press my body onto hers and grab her hands pinning them to the wall above her head. I press my tongue into her mouth and our tongues begin to waltz around.
"You don't know what it does to me when you bite your lip, Anastasia," I whisper when I pull away from her for air.
She moans and bites her lip again.
"Do you want to play, Anastasia?" I ask her, my voice is husky.
She nods, "depends on what the game is, Mr Grey." She says seductively. Well, knock me over with a feather. My girl truly is a goddess. My girl? Really Grey, get a grip.
"You're going to be the death of me Anastasia. But I will not touch you until it is in black and white." I say making her frown. Good, it means that the others are faithful.
"Let's go eat so I can take you to see your father," I say letting her go.
X X X
APOV
We end up going to IHOP where the waitress is flirty and ignores me completely.
"Can you tell me about your father?" Christian ask me when the waitress leaves after setting our drinks.
"Ray? He's a simple man, loves fishing, the mariners and his family. He's my rock. He's compassionate and poetic even though he argues that he isn't. He's a man of little words yet he's talkative. He has a great temper but he keeps it under control." I say
"That all sounded like facts, tell me about him," he says sipping his coffee.
"What would you like to know?" I ask him dipping a tea bag into the cup of warm water and fish it out with the spoon.
"I want to see him through your eyes." He says. I look at him, his grey eyes are fixed on me.
"Well, Ray taught me how to be brave, but sometimes I forget how, he was the one who gave me a reason in life. I was bullied as a young child and he gave me my first actual book.
He told me that whenever I needed to escape, I should read. He told me that the only way I can slay my enemy is to grow powerful with knowledge.
He used to sneak me out of the house at four in the morning to go buy ice cream sundaes when I had a nightmare.
Ray and I have no secrets, or so I thought. we often confide in each other.
After I graduated I learned about his illness. Only because it's life-threatening now.
I'm starting to lose my edge, my armour is pierced and I'm having a difficult time holding the pieces together.
Ray is an extraordinary man and no one will ever see him the way that I see him." I say looking at my fingers that are playing with the mug.
"I'm sorry," I say when a tear trails down my cheek. Christian reaches for my face and caresses the tears away.
"It's going to be fine, I promise." He says and I lean into his hand.
I cup his hand with mine and bring it to my lips and kiss the palm of his hand.
"Thank you," I say and let go of his hand.
X X X
After breakfast and a round of rock, paper, scissors Christian leads me out of the restaurant after he paid. He places his huge hand on the small of my back sending shivers down my spine.
"Thanks for breakfast," I tell him as we walk out of the building and the tarmac starts crunching under my converse chucks. "I just wish you would've let me treated you to our lovely breakfast." Christian stops in his tracks and takes my hand.
"You did treat me," he says kissing my knuckles and pull me to the car after him.
He helps me into the car and walks around the front of the car to his side in a speed walk. When he climb in he looks at me.
"Where to madam?" he asks.
"Before heading to the hospital, there's something I need to do first if you don't mind," I say and he pinches his brows together. I give him the directions and he drives to our destination.
X X X
When we enter the Ward that Ray is admitted in, a man dressed in a black hoody stands in front of the reception desk. He motions to the rooms and as we close in I can hear the nurse's heated hushed tone. I clutch the handbag closer to me.
"I already told you, sir, you cannot go in there it isn't visiting hour yet. I can't help you, you're not the patient's direct family, I'm sorry." The nurse says.
The dark woman sees me and nods "yes can I help you?" she asks with a smile ignoring the man.
"I'm here to see my father," I say.
"Good, good." She says turning to a clipboard and hands it to me.
"I need you to fill out your information and the patient's name and room number." She says with a smile. I take the board and start filling it in.
"Oh and your companion? Is he family of the patient?" she asks. I open my mouth to answer her but Christian speaks first. "Yes, father of my bride." He says pulling me close to him. "Unless, you don't want me there, honey." He speaks into my ear. "Of course, sweetie," I say sweetly.
"Of course, Mr and Mrs…"
"Taylor," Christian says. The person standing next to us scoffs and turns on his heel and exit down the hall.
When I hand her the clipboard she tells us we have half an hour to see my dad and we walk off to his room.
"Really?" I say when we're out of the nurse's earshot, turning to face Christian.
"What?" he asks with a shrug.
"Taylor? Wait until he hears of this." I say and start walking again.
"She was going to throw me out like 'Hoody.'" He says after me.
"Mphf. That's unlikely, just drop your name and there is no limit for 'the Christian Grey'" I say and walk into my father's room.
"Hit it you pansy!" daddy exclaims, his voice is hoarse and sounds sore.
"YES!" he screams throwing a fist in the air. His eye catches the movement by the door and he pulls out the earphones when he sees me.
"Annie!" He says smiling from ear to ear. "I was wondering when I'm going to see you again." He says as I sit down next to him, I lean over to hug him.
"I missed you, daddy," I say with my head pressed into his neck.
"I missed you too sweetheart." He says patting my back.
"I want you to meet someone Daddy," I say standing up again and beckon Christian to come closer.
"This is Christian Grey," I say when Christian walks deeper into the room.
"Your boss?" he asks me.
"One and the same," I say.
He frowns. "The workaholic?" he whispers but Christian can clearly hear him.
"Now daddy, I never said that," I say making big eyes at my father.
"Well, an old man can still put two and two together," He tells me.
"Daddy."
"I'm sorry Mr Grey," he says looking at the copper haired man standing next to me.
"Christian, please," Christian says holding out his hand to my father and they share a firm handshake.
"We brought you something daddy," I say sitting down next to him.
"Something sweet?" he asks and I nod.
"Oh Goodie, that fat nurse outside shouldn't see, though, she steals my sweets," Ray says pouting.
"It's your favourite," I say pulling the box of pastries out of my bag. His eyes light up when he catches a whiff.
"Mm, Apple pecan pie." He says as I hand the box to him along with a plastic fork.
"So, did you see, the mariners won!" Ray says while he fidgets with the box, opening the lid.
"I figured that much, hearing your excitement," I say motioning to the TV above the bed.
"So Christian, baseball or football?" Ray asks Christian and stuffs his mouth with a fork full of pie.
"Both, sir," Christian says. "I actually have private box seats at a few stadiums," he says matter of fact.
"'course you do," ray nods.
"You should use them sometime. We can make an outing of it." Christian says painting a picture in our heads. Wow, I can see why he chose his profession.
"If I get out of here, I might just take you up on that." Ray laughs.
"You will get out of here Mr Steele," Christian says.
"Sheesh Annie, ya failed to mention he's such an optimist." Ray laughs again, but this time he fails to cover his true emotions.
The next half hour flies quickly. I never stop holding Ray's hand that he's not using to eat the pie, we talk about random stuff, hobbies and bucket lists.
Christian promises Ray a trip to his house in Aspen, where they will spend the entire weekend on his yacht, fishing. I must say the boys clicked well today. All I can do is watch them with a smile.
When we say our goodbyes Ray's eyes are teary. I leave my dad with a kiss on his forehead.
"I love you, daddy, see you in two weekends," I say at the door.
X X X
We're halfway home and Christian hasn't spoken a single word to me. He's allowing me to think. Which I'm grateful for. He turns the radio down.
"What happened to Ray?" he asks me.
"He was in a car accident three months ago and was in a coma for two months," I say looking at him but not really seeing him.
"Why is he still in the hospital?" he asks me.
"He's on a wait list, for organs and they have to monitor him daily," I tell him.
"What organs?" why is he so curious all of a sudden?
"Heart and left lung," I whisper.
"Why isn't he in Seattle with you?"
"Where are all these questions coming from?"
"I'm worried."
"Don't be."
"Anastasia, I've tried not to, it isn't exactly something I can prevent."
"I was in Afghanistan when he was admitted to the hospital in Montesano, I tried to get him to Seattle, but the doctors don't want to allow it and I don't really have the money for it either," I say looking out of the window.
"I'll have him moved here," Christian says and my eyes shoots to him.
"Christian- I get cut off by him
"Don't," he says, his knuckles are white around the steering wheel.
"Don't what?"
"Don't fight it, will it hurt to just accept it and say thank you?"
"Thank you, but you don't have to do this."
"I want to."
"It's a lot."
"Ana, it's nothing. Everything I've done for you and will do for you, it isn't even a drop in the ocean compared to what I make in a minute."
"The only way I'll accept it is if I can pay you back."
"Fine, then consider this a loan." He mutters.
"Thank you," I say. "For everything."
The rest of the way home is silent. Every now and then Christian will look my way. But I think it's when the lyrics of the songs slip out of my mouth. Embarrassed I turn away from his glance and look at the city that we are approaching and I realise that soft Grey I got to know yesterday will disappear in a few minutes.
I look at him, burning the memory of him in his calm state into my brain.
"You're wearing your own clothes," I state.
"Yes, I wasn't going to wear something of your brother's." he says still looking at the road.
"Where did you get the change of clothes?"
"In a carry-on bag, in my car. Why am I explaining myself to you, Anastasia?" He yells
"I was just asking, I didn't mean to offend you in a way." I murmur.
"If you have to know, I was on my way to New York for a meeting when they cancelled, then I got the call from you after dinner with a friend." He says in a defensive tone. Which means he's lying about something.
What are you hiding Mr Grey? I decide to drop it. For now.
We arrive at Escala after fifteen long minutes, Christian is grumpy and his 'Fuckyoumeter' is revved into the red. When he parks the car, he jumps out and takes long strides toward the elevator.
"Are you mad at me?" I ask him when I stand in the elevator next to him. He doesn't answer.
"What happened in the car just now?" I ask him again, and he's still ignoring me. God this man is bipolar.
I shake my head and push myself close to the cold elevator wall. Just what I expected. Welcome back, Mr Grey. Let's all take a bow for a great performance.
When the elevator pings open, Taylor waits for us. "Mr Grey." He greets our boss and he gives me the stink eye. What did I do?
"Steele, my office, now." He says when our boss walks off into his apartment.
I walk to his office after him and close the door when I enter.
"Take a seat." He says when I turn to face him.
"I'd rather stand," I say.
"Have it your way." He mutters.
"We lost track of Mia when was the last time you heard of her?" he asks me. My stomach sinks.
"She messaged me yesterday," I say. Taylor nods. I walk over and take a seat.
"I have to go after her Jason," I say after a while of silence while he's typing frantically on his laptop.
"Can't risk that."
"If anyone can find her, it's me," I say standing up in a fast motion sending the chair to fall to the ground.
"Anastasia, please, I won't handle it well if you're going to throw a tantrum. And pick up my chair."
"I'm not 'throwing a tantrum' and the chair was an accident. Give me a chance J." I say.
"Fine," he says.
"Thank you," I say and walk to the door after picking up the chair I knocked over.
I practically run to my room, nearly knocking Samantha over on my way. She yells something after me but I ignore her anyway. I close the door and lock it and move to my bed. I lift the mattress up and open the secret compartment in the base.
Mia POV
Nowadays my agenda isn't as luxurious as it used to be. The always poised Mia is long gone, and out came the gremlin. It started about two weeks after I came home from Paris.
Christian, my overprotective brother, invited me to dinner one night to inform me that I will have a Close Personal Officer.
In other words, a bodyguard. Or in my case, a babysitter.
My family thinks that I don't know what they're thinking.
But I do, they think that I'm incapable of being a grown-up and looking after myself. To be honest that's the reason I went to Paris. To prove a point. Unfortunately, I didn't know that I came back at the wrong time.
"Anastasia Steele," Christian said as he pours us some wine into our glasses.
"Christian, I do not need a babysitter," I told him, I didn't like the way he treated me like I was some stupid little kid who knew nothing.
"Seeing that you're fighting it proves that you do need one." He said examining the wine bottle. I looked away from him, my eyes landed on a man's eyes who was sitting alone in a corner.
He wore a black hoody and a scarf that covered his mouth. He was watching us and it was obvious.
I slowly started recognising his eyes, the longer I stared at him. I saw him in Paris and on the plane.
I made nothing of it that night but I accepted the CPO also known as "Mia's babysitter". I didn't tell Christian about it, I let him believe that he won an argument but in reality, my paranoia grew.
A few weeks have gone by and I must admit, I actually like Anastasia, the CPO, she's a really pleasant person. I will also admit to the fact that I've been hard on her. I became unbearable, I looked for ways to deceive her and started to blackmail her when the threats started so she'll stay silent.
I feel bad about it because I know that in other circumstances she and I would've been great friends.
I look down at my plum nails that's digging into the skin on my knees, an action of anxiety, I close my eyes and pray that everything is going to be alright. Christian is going to kill me and fire Ana.
"Hey lady, we're here." The taxi driver shouts from the front seat.
"Yeah, thanks," I say giving him the money for the drive. "Keep the change," I say as I climb out. As the cab pulls away, I cling to my bag and start walking to the building that's towering over me. Standing at the door that is being held open for me, I take a deep breath and walk into the building.
"Hi, how can I help you?" I get greeted by the blonde woman at the reception table.
"Hi, I'm," I say turning my head to look behind me "I'm here to see-
"Amelia," the voice says from the elevator. My stomach drops and I turn around.