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Waking up at home the next day, Ana tidied up the apartment and, having gone to the store, began to wait for Christian. John's words about rest were true and correct. The girl herself understood that if she continued in this spirit, her heart would fail one day, and it was scary to think what would happen to those she loved and to the city as a whole.
Sitting at her laptop and checking her email, Ana wondered: could she learn magic? The first skirmish with the Academician's men showed the policemen's worthlessness. She needed to be able to cast spells if they wanted to win...
With this question, the girl wrote a letter to Jennifer and agreed to meet her when a week had passed.
At seven o'clock in the evening there was a knock on the door. Ana calmly walked up to the door and opened it. Christian Grey stood on the threshold. He was dressed simply: jeans, a white T-shirt and a leather jacket.
"Hi, I see you're sitting at home. How are you?" Gray asked.
- It's boring. Christian... I... I'd like to apologize for... yesterday's breakdown, - Ana looked down. - You also risked yourself, and the guys... And I...
Christian flicked her on the nose.
"Forgot," Gray smiled and changed the subject. "I brought food. But it needs to be cooked."
He showed Anya the bags of food.
"Let's cook together?" Ana asked. "Or is it not a royal thing to mess around with pots?"
"Are you challenging me again, Miss Steele?" Christian laughed.
"I love doing this," Ana chuckled.
The two of them went into the kitchen and, having taken out all the ingredients, began to cook.
"Pizza?" Ana was amazed when she realized what they were making.
"Are you against it?" Christian was surprised.
— I love pizza. But no one makes pizza better than Madame Jaeger.
Ana kneaded the dough.
"Is this your neighbor?" Gray asked.
- Yes, she and her family came here from Germany before the war, - Ana smiled. - Karla is terribly kind and always feeds me all sorts of delicious food. She says I'm thin.
Gray nodded. The conversation was calm and revolved around abstract topics. When everything was ready, Ana and Christian went into the living room with plates full of food and sat down on the couch. Christian opened a bottle of wine, and the two police officers turned on Futurama and began to eat pizza.
At some point, Anastasia dozed off and snuggled up to Christian. He looked at the girl. In the dream, she was so sweet and young... The man stroked her hair and laid Ana on the sofa. He felt good with her, very good, but he knew that he could not and should not be carried away by her.
His life held too many dark secrets that Miss Steele simply would not understand and would never accept. And there was one circumstance that ruined everything. And this circumstance would never let him be happy.
Suddenly there was a knock on the door. The knock woke Anastasia. After exchanging glances with Christian, the girl went to open the door. Kate was on the threshold.
"Hello," Ana smiled.
- Ana, Jack found something. It turns out the jeep only became invisible to us. But the tire tracks were left on the ground! And they led us to abandoned catacombs. There are underground passages all over Los Angeles, - Kavanagh chattered.
"I'm kind of on vacation..." Ana spread her hands.
"We need you. Roach has officially assigned the investigation to you and Gray," Kate persisted.
"What about Flynn?" Gray asked, appearing behind Anastasia.
"He was so angry! We even had a fight. But he made me promise that I would ask Mr. Gray to look after you," Kate sighed, still addressing Anastasia.
Ana turned to Gray defiantly.
- Well, what? Will you look after me? - the girl asked with a smile in her voice.
"With pleasure," Christian nodded.
- Excellent. The inspection of the catacombs is tomorrow. By the way, Phoebe and Teddy helped Jack, - Kate noted.
Ana's mouth dropped open in surprise. Shouldn't they be at the boarding house?
In the morning, upon arriving at the scene, Anastasia encountered Jack and the children.
"Hello, Miss Steele. We're here..." Phoebe babbled guiltily.
- Why aren't you in class? Why did you run away? - Despite the strict tone, Ana couldn't help but hug the girl.
"We read about Oscar's ball and what happened there and decided we couldn't stay away," Teddy explained.
"They found the catacombs and told me," Jack stood up for both boys.
"Did you thank them for their help?" Ana asked Jack.
Hyde chuckled and handed the children a Snickers bar.
"J-e-ek," Ana said with emphasis. The guy sighed and gave the kids two more Snickers. And then another. And another...
Having finished with the formalities, Ana went with her friends into the catacombs.
Making her way through the narrow corridors of the underground passages, the girl noted that these ruins looked inhabited. Clothes, candles, weapons. Books on black magic and Nazism... All this indicated that this was where the bandits' lair was located.
One of the passages led Anastasia and her friends into a huge room. Phoebe trembled at the sight of it. Even the most seasoned policemen shuddered - the room housed...
Cannibals' Kitchen.
Blood, bones, pieces of meat that the Academician's Gang members devoured, dancing and praising the Darkness. Kate barely held back the urge to vomit. Ana looked at it all in horror. For a moment she felt sick. Christian was next to her and put his hands on the girl's shoulders.
"Oh, my God..." he whispered, looking at the empty cells.
When everyone was outside, Ana smiled gratefully at Gray. The detectives began to confiscate evidence, and Ana turned to Phoebe and Theodore.
"We'll sort this out with you now," the girl said sternly and turned to Gray. "Chris, will you drop us off at the boarding house?"
An hour later, Ana was sitting in Mrs. Cope's office, angry as hell.
- Why are the kids in the middle of nowhere during classes?! How do you keep an eye on the kids? There's a gang of cannibals operating in the city, and you!.. - Ana looked angrily at the headmistress.
"We keep an eye on them as best we can," Mrs. Cope said, spreading her hands. "Understand, they're not alone. I'm responsible for the entire boarding school. The kids are still on probation, and they're not under as strict supervision as the other students. Ideally, they should be punished for running away, or even expelled altogether... But I wouldn't want to do that, because the kids are very capable. They need to study."
And it is you, Miss Steele, who must explain this, who must influence them. For Phoebe and Teddy, there is no greater authority than you.
Ana nodded.
- Excuse me, I just... Got a little heated up...
"It's okay," the headmistress smiled reassuringly. "It's been worse."
As Ana left the office, she saw Theodore and Phoebe reading something on their tablet.
- What are you doing? - Ana, sitting down next to the children, decided to have an educational conversation. - The headmistress says that you are capable...
"So that's clear," Phoebe smiled.
- ...and you're hanging out God knows where! - Ana raised her voice. - You're running away, skipping classes! Do you even know what's going on in the city right now? That's it, don't leave the boarding school, got it?!
"Miss Steele, you are not our mother to lecture us," Theodore snapped and moved away, expecting a slap on the back of the head. Phoebe looked at her brother and Ana in fear.
The girl froze. All her anger disappeared somewhere - Teddy's words affected Ana like a bucket of ice water.
The girl thought about it. She really wasn't a mother to these children. But she felt responsible for them, she worried about them...
"Let's go," Ana said.
Half an hour later, Anastasia Steele, Teddy and Phoebe were standing in an unfamiliar office, and the owner of the office, an elderly Jewish man with glasses, was looking closely at Ana and the children.
"So, not guardianship, but adoption," he said.
"Yes," Ana nodded.
"You have living space. And you get rations," he continued, typing something into his laptop.
"Enhanced," the girl nodded.
"Does your husband object?" the guardianship authority representative asked.
"I'm not married," Ana smiled wryly.
- So... There are no objections from the children? - the man asked.
"No!" Phoebe screamed.
"We're orphans," Teddy explained, taking Phoebe's hand to comfort her.
"Just don't raise your voice at me, young lady," the elderly Jew remarked, opening the documents.
- I've already had my voice raised. And it ended badly... For me, - the man chuckled. - Sign, children.
Phoebe and Teddy looked at Ana with confusion.
"What does this mean?" Teddy asked.
"I'm adopting you," Ana smiled.
"You're our mom now?" Phoebe asked incredulously.
Ana nodded:
- Yes.
- Mother!
Phoebe and Teddy threw themselves on Anya's neck and hugged her. All three of them cried. From happiness...
"We will always, always obey you now," Teddy assured Anu.
Then all three turned to the man.
"Where should we sign?" Anastasia and the children asked in chorus.
========== Part 9 ==========
- How are you? - Gray looked into Anya's office the next morning.
- It's normal. I became a mother.
Gray looked at the girl in bewilderment.
"I adopted Teddy and Phoebe," Ana smiled, looking at Gray over her laptop. "And you? Any leads?"
"Phew... Miss Steele, you can't scare her like that," Christian scolded Ana.
- No, we haven't found any leads yet, but we're collecting DNA from the items we find. We'll find out which Hollywood celebrities think they're above the law and bust them. Then we'll find the Academician, and I'll have that bastard hanging from a noose in front of the Hollywood sign!
- As for the last one... I don't know, - Ana thought. - Maybe he has a motive and accomplices. Yes, he is in charge of everything, but to carry out all these affairs in different countries... There is clearly a ramified criminal network here. A whole web...
If only we knew what we were up against. And by the way… I liked it with pizza that time. What are you doing tonight?
- Ana... - Gray was confused. - You don't know me at all. I... I have... a difficult character... and a past.
- I'm not a sugar either. But... I'm drawn to you, - the girl was no longer able to hide her feelings.
"There's something you should know…" Christian began haltingly. "My family…"
Suddenly Kate burst into the office.
"Ana, Jack is under attack!" Kavanagh shouted.
Anastasia and Gray looked at each other in horror.
An hour later, Ana was in the room where Jack Hyde lay unconscious in a hospital bed.
"Is he alive?" the girl asked Dr. Flynn.
- Yes. But he's in a coma. Multiple wounds, internal bleeding... Moderate condition. We're doing everything we can to ensure your assistant survives. The attack took place in a gateway not far from your station. He was clearly heading towards you, Miss Steele. And yes: when Mr. Hyde was found, there was a phone near his body. Perhaps he was able to film something, - Flynn suggested. - I only told you and Leila, Mr. Hyde's fiancée, about the attack.
"I called Roach and asked for security," Christian said as he entered the room.
Ana nodded. The doctor handed her Jack's phone. Ana looked at her friend.
"Please, wake up..." the girl whispered and left the room.
Once outside, Ana leaned against the wall, exhausted, and sobbed. Christian hugged her.
"It's okay, go, I'll get home," Ana assured. But Christian didn't pull away, he only hugged her tighter.
The girl listened to her feelings. Calm, cozy, safe... She felt so calm only in Ray's arms.
"I won't leave you alone. Not today… Let's go to my place," the man suggested, stroking Anastasia's black hair.
The girl nodded.
Dressed in a white bathrobe, Ana sat by the fireplace with her hair wet, holding a glass of wine. Christian was cooking, and delicious aromas were coming from the kitchen.
Gray's apartment was huge, with a sense of grandeur and chic. Like his office, the apartment was dominated by white. The walls were decorated with reproductions of famous paintings. Floor-to-ceiling windows provided a bird's eye view of the evening city of angels.
Christian came out of the kitchen with two plates of lasagna and a bottle of cola. Ana and Gray sat down by the fireplace and ate in silence. Christian knew perfectly well that now was not the time for serious conversations.
After dinner, he cleared away the dishes and got ready to go to bed.
"Good night, Ana," Christian looked at the girl with a warmth that was unusual for him.
"Chris," Ana called out to Gray.
He turned around.
"Thank you," the girl smiled.
Gray nodded and left.
That night Ana spent without sleep. The girl simply lay on the couch in Gray's living room and dozed. Closer to dawn, she heard quiet moans from Christian's room. Quietly getting up, she went to his room and lay down in his bed. Closing her eyes, Ana finally fell asleep, snuggled up to Gray.
In the morning, Christian woke up first. Seeing Anastasia sleeping, he couldn't help but smile. The girl realized that he was feeling bad and that he was having nightmares again, and came to him. An amazing girl... Brave and so vulnerable. He stroked her cheek.
If at first Christian just wanted to fuck her and beat the crap out of her, now he wanted to take care of her and be her protection and support.
But he was afraid... Afraid of getting carried away, afraid that he would hurt her with his past and his secrets. After the death of his parents, Christian swore to himself that he would never have anything serious with women. But he broke this oath three times, and all three times it ended badly.
Could he try again? With Miss Anastasia Steele, a police captain, a beautiful girl and just a good person?
Ana tossed and turned sleepily and opened her eyes.
"Hello," the girl said.
"Good morning," Christian whispered to her and kissed her cheek. "Let's get something to eat and then head to the station. Taylor and Welch found something on Jack's phone. It's very important."
Ana quickly stood up and ran to the shower. Could they finally have a lead?
Having quickly washed herself, Ana got dressed. Christian had already prepared scrambled eggs and coffee. The colleagues ate together - silently and quickly.
"Thank you for not leaving me yesterday," Ana said warmly as she washed the dishes.
- And thank you for being with me at night. But... - Christian looked down.
"...you're not the one I need?" Ana finished her sentence ironically.
Instead of answering, Gray stepped towards her, took her face in his hands and gently kissed her cheek.
"I'm not so sure now," Christian admitted. Ana reached out to him, but Gray pulled away.
"Let's talk about this later, okay?" he asked.
Ana nodded.
Kate, Ana, Jose, Christian, and Roach were gathered in Barney the Sysadmin's office. Barney, a cute guy who looked like Tom Holland, was quickly transferring something from Jack's phone to his laptop.
"It's good that your guys have sorted everything into folders... However, Leila's daddy is quite interesting. Light, and she does such things... With dildos and all sorts of vibrators, cool," Barney giggled.
"Fuck, Barney, be serious," Kate raged at the guy.
"And you can't joke..." Barney feigned surprise, spreading his hands, but seeing Kate's threatening look, he suddenly became serious. "Okay, I transferred the folder with the evidence to the laptop. Now we'll see who he filmed there."
The guy clicked the mouse and a video appeared on the monitor.
In the gateway stood a fat, unkempt man and a young red-haired girl. In the girl, Ana recognized Emma Stone, but in her interlocutor...
- Weinstein?! What? Isn't he rotting in prison? Did we miss his escape? - Jose was amazed.
"I'm going to make a request for Harvey's background. We need to find out why he's free," Kavanagh began texting someone.
Ana noticed a bracelet on Emma's hand in the form of a golden snake with emerald eyes. Jose noticed it too and immediately opened the catalog of stolen items on his iPhone:
— The bracelet was stolen from the Mit-Gala Museum.
"Thanks, Google," Gray chuckled.
Meanwhile, Barney turned on the sound on the video.
"Everything is going according to plan. The Light Ones don't even know what awaits them. It will all start on Halloween. Everyone will be distracted by the holiday, and we will start robbing and killing under the guise of prominent Light Ones," Stone giggled maliciously.
- They will be accused of all mortal sins. There will be scandals and chaos. The Light Ones will have to use magic against people to defend themselves. And during all this, the Academician will come to the forefront and announce that the Dark Ones will protect people. These stupid idiots will trust him, and then... They will become our slaves, - Weinstein, with an equally malicious grin, described plans for the future.
"And we will establish our own order," Emma Stone licked her lips in anticipation. "Slave auctions, concentration camps for the light, mass executions... We will take power into our own hands!"
"But you know, there's someone who can stop us," Weinstein cut his accomplice off. "Anastasia Steele. The cop girl. The academic wants to kill her personally. But I found out that she has friends: Jack Hyde, Katherine Kavanagh, and Jose Rodriguez. The academic will pay $10 million for each of their heads. The hunt is on..."
Weistein chuckled.
That's where the video ended. Ana was shocked.
"We need to arrest Stone," Roach decided. "They're going to go on a rampage on Halloween! We've got to get there first!"
"And we must learn magic!" Ana put in her two cents. "Other methods are powerless against magicians. I asked Jennifer to help."
Christian froze when he heard this. No, Ana couldn't become Light. Then she would become another pawn on the chessboard of the eternal war between Darkness and Light.
"Ana…" Gray began.
- Later, Christian... Later! - Ana ran out somewhere.
Christian clenched his teeth. Make her his, tell her everything, and come what may. He cares about Ana, he needs her. Yes, there is a chance that the girl will not accept all this, will reject him... But even if so, she will be alive. But he must protect her.
And come what may.
At the end of the working day, Christian left the station with Ana.
"Ana... Are you sure you want to do magic?" Gray asked.
- Yes, I want to. To protect you and my loved ones.
The girl shrugged:
- If we don't stop the Academician, who knows what will happen...
"If something happens to you..." Christian walked up to her and looked into her eyes. Her grey eyes met her brown ones...
"...I can't bear it if you die," Gray whispered into Ana's parted lips.
The girl took a step towards him and, wrapping her arms around his neck, kissed him. Tenderly and passionately… Christian responded to the kiss, putting all his tenderness and anxiety into it.
"I'm resilient," Steele smiled cheerfully. "And you, too, Major."
- Ana, you don't know me... I...
Gray again did not find the strength in himself to begin to open up to her.
"I see that you want to tell me something. Start with something harmless," Ana suggested, her voice tinged with a slight, barely noticeable mockery.
"A challenge again?" Gray felt that he was beginning to like Anastasia's defiance.
"Yes," Ana nodded and kissed Christian on the lips.
"Okay," Gray gave in. "Let's go to my place."