Book IV - Chapter XXX - Christian and Anastasia Fan Fiction

CHAPTER XXX

CONVERGENCE

Kiss me hot, heavy, wet & angry with that attitude like you do when your mouth yells; it hates me but your tongue screams it can’t wait for me. Hug me, touch me, submit to me with that insatiable passion like you do when you thought you could leave but the sight of my throbbing rock hard love muscle made you too weak in the knees. Your mind is melting fast, your soul is whispering trust, your eyes are begging please and your anger has turned to lust. Let me undress your body, caress your skin and wetly massage your mind back into making love to me again. I’d rather say I’m sorry and keep my best friend than have this come to an end. Be encouraged but more importantly…be lethal with your make up love.

“Good evening Mrs. Grey,” says Taylor to Ana as he opens the passenger door to the SUV. Holding her right hand and elbow, he helps my wife into the SUV. I hold her left hand and elbow to comfortably situate her next to me. She sits beside me holding her sides, breathing deep.

“Are you alright?” I ask concerned immediately. Taylor gets back into the driver’s seat starts the vehicle and pulls out of the curb. Sawyer and Miss Tiber drive Ana’s car behind us. Ana takes two more deep breaths arching her back to get a comfortable position and finding it difficult, she sits awkwardly slanting to the left.

She holds her index finger up, indicating a minute.

“Ana, please, you’re scaring me,” I say particularly concerned and almost forgotten my anger over the maternity leave, but not completely. I will revisit it once I confirm that she is okay.

“He’s lying on my right side and I can’t sit straight. I have to lean to the left so I can breathe,” she says slowly. Then she puts her hands onto her belly after I shake my head buckle her with a loving smile. “He is in the mood to play today and active. But mommy 's getting a bit tired because the playroom is just too tight,” she smiles. Mommy. She already identifies herself as a different being. She's not just my wife anymore. She's also the 'mommy' of my unborn baby. What does that makes me? Daddy. I'm gonna be a daddy! And soon. Am I even ready? Anxiety hits hard. My doubts of my capacity to be a decent father crawl back up to the surface. I want to be a good dad. A dad to our child Anastasia can be proud of. I can be proud of.

“See!” Anastasia exclaims excitedly, as she grabs my left hand and places on top of her belly on the left side. This life, inside my wife's womb is my child! Mine! 

“Yes!” I exclaim automatically. “He’s playing kickboxing or something!” I mutter when I feel his tiny feet push through Ana’s belly as if he’s racing to get out.

“You stay tucked in there a little while longer Teddy,” I whisper towards her belly. “You’ll be here playing soon enough,” I murmur gently. I surprise myself how natural this comes to me. What feared me a few months ago, this tiny being is no longer a hypothetical person. I want to protect him. Fiercely. He too is mine. My family; embodied in the form of my wife and her very protruding belly. Everything I immeasurably love is right here in my grasp and I’m terrified beyond measure to lose them. I hold her tight wordlessly. What I want to say might hurt her and is still not under my control. I need to rein it in.  

Taylor slows down as the double wrought iron gates open to the driveway lined with trees towards our big house. By the time Taylor drives into the garage, Teddy slows his movements, apparently tired of somersaulting in my wife’s womb. Ana’s face takes the serious, thoughtful look; the look that says she’s getting ready to negotiate and determined to win an argument with me.

“How was your day?” she asks as Taylor turns off the SUV.

“The usual cut and dry…”

“Mergers and acquisitions,” she says smiling, finishing my sentence.

“Just a tad more than but, that sums it just about right.”

“Christian…” she starts.

“After dinner,” I finish it. “Come on; let’s get you inside the house.”

“I was going to help Kate this evening. I think we have to let out my matron of honor dress once more,” she says lowering voice.

“Not tonight,” I say with finality.

“Christian, the tailor is making quite a few dresses for the bridesmaids. I'm growing by the minute and want to be able to fit into mine. With all these bridesmaids, she may not be able to finish mine on time,” she retorts.

“Baby, I can get you the best dressmaker in the country and have her or him make you a dress the day before their wedding if necessary. NOT TONIGHT!” I say, “Tonight, you are mine and only mine. I’m not sharing your with your friend, her wedding plans, my parents, your work or anyone else on earth. Tonight," I emphasize, "you are mine and mine alone.” My words rings with decisiveness and leaves no room for compromise.

“Christian, are you trying to pick a fight with me?” she asks with a sigh. Taylor opens the passenger door and slowly helps her out. I quickly come out of the other door and immediately reach to her elbow and gently turn her around to face me.

“I’m not trying to fight with you Anastasia! I’m trying to fight for you! Don't you understand? For your well-being, for our baby’s well-being and for you time which clearly has been occupied by Kate and Elliot’s wedding preparations and your work. I think I compromised enough.  I want my wife!” I say unequivocally.

She sighs, “yes, sir.” She smirks. I was ready for a fight, but her acquiescence takes me aback. “I’ve only been this busy past three weeks. I have to return the favor to Kate for helping me out with our wedding, and I want to…” but she doesn’t finish her sentence; the smirk on her face goes away replaced with tears in a nanosecond. Talk about mood swings from victorious to sorrowful! I panic. What happened? What did I say to trigger this?

“Ana, what’s wrong?” I say and she’s panicking by now.

“I just need…” she sobs, “just need Gail to fix me some tea… and I’ll be okay,” she sobs louder.

Sawyer and Melissa look at Taylor nervously who nods his head for them to leave. They scatter away like rats out of a sinking ship.

“Ana,” I say tenderly, my voice a whispering caress, trying my best to rein in my control with all my faculties. What has happened to my wife to elicit this reaction? I have to find out.

“Baby, look at me,” I whisper but words are a command. She looks up with tears still streaming down her cheeks in large beads. Her chin quivers and she takes in a shaky breath trying but failing to suppress her sobs.

“Talk to me Ana. You are freaking me out. What’s wrong? Did something happen at work?” I am completely in alert mode. We are standing in the middle of the garage among the SUVs and vehicles while Taylor is keeping a safe distance not looking at our direction.

“I don’t know. I had a long day. I’m tired. Mr. Cooper said I look like I’m ready to pop out this baby with a laugh. I’m sure he meant kindly, but it made me realize that I’m fat! I have four more weeks. I’m gonna get fatter.” Then her voice falls into a whisper. “I…” another sob escapes her, “I…”

“You, what baby?” I whisper. “I worry that you won’t like me anymore!” she sobs more. I pull her closer to me and hug her tight. That idiotic fucker made my wife doubt herself!

“I’m crazy about you and there is not a single hair out of place with you. You are perfect! You’ve lost a lot of weight in the beginning of pregnancy and I want you and the baby to be healthy. You’re changing of course, but in a good way. Okay?” I murmur trying to reassure her.

“What if you won’t want me after the baby is born and I’m not as trim as I was? You like stamina, remember?” she asks. I note that Taylor goes crimson but I don’t care.

“Let’s go inside and visit Teddy’s room. Look at the big picture,” I say as I lead her inside. “Taylor, have Gail make Ana some tea,” I order stepping into the big house.

Once we get to Teddy’s room, Ana’s smile is returned. She runs her hand on the crib and touches the baby clothes. Her nerves have been fragile in recent days, but I had not expected this amount of worry from her. I’m so used to seeing my wife strong, negotiating for what she wants and bolder since we have been married. Yet now, she seems so fragile. Her hands run over her belly protectively. She picks up a book from the bookshelf and then sits in the rocking chair.

“Christian…” she says holding the book. I smile and take it from her hand. “Teddy, your daddy is going to read to you now,” she speaks lovingly.

“Goodnight Moon?” I ask raising my eyebrows. “The baby is going to be tired of that book by the time he’s born. We've read it nearly every night past three months,” I say smiling. The fact is, this is one of my favorite times. 

“I think he will adore it!” she murmurs coyly as she pats the chair next to hers.

***** ❦  ♡  ❧ *****

Mrs. Taylor fixed some of Anastasia’s favorite dishes. Filet mignon au poivre, whipped potatoes and asparagus.

“Mrs. Grey, what would you like to drink?” Gail asks.

“Christian is having wine. I’ll pretend I’m having wine as well if you could give me some Perrier, Mrs. Taylor,” Anastasia says. She pours some sparkling water for Ana, then I dismiss her for the rest of the night. We eat in companionable silence, but we can’t ignore elephant in the room.

“Ana, I want you to get on your maternity leave this week, baby,” I say. I hear her fork clattering on her plate loudly.

“I cannot, Christian! I have too much to do, so much to learn before this baby is born,” she retorts exasperated.

“Yes, you can. Look what stress does to you! It’s bad for the baby, it’s bad for you! The SIP can be managed properly even if you aren’t there all the time. Phone, internet, and reliable assistants are what you need to keep the reins tightly in your hands. You don’t need to rush, get stressed or exhausted. Please baby, learn to accept help,” I plead with her.

“I’m trying to impress you that I can do this Christian, and I’m failing. Because you’re already asking me to relegate it to others,” she says as she viciously wipes her eyes with the back of her hands. Just then her Blackberry rings. She takes a deep breath and answers the phone.

“Kate,” she says trying to be as cheerful as possible. “I totally forgot. My schedule has been overwhelming lately,” she says and listens to Kate blabbering on the other end.

“I thought that was tomorrow.” Then I hear Kate’s voice louder. “Ana! You have to get here! I’m sure Christian can handle spending an evening alone. I need your opinion! You’re the matron of honor! My best girl! The tailor is here and so are the caterer with samples, since you are nauseated with a lot of food, I think it’s best that you come and see what will be served! I want everything perfect. I don’t want my matron of honor a.k.a. my best friend throwing up because the smell of food bothered her!” Anastasia rolls her eyes. I extend my hand for her Blackberry. She shakes her head indicating ‘no’.

“Anaaa!” I reprimand her. She thins her lips petulantly and hands the phone.

“Katherine, this is Christian,” I say calmly. “Anastasia will not join you tonight. She’s exhausted.”

“I know she’s tired, but this is important! I can’t reschedule the caterer who is booked months in advance and the tailor is the best and she has too many dresses to fit and we have limited time.”

“I’m sorry for your dilemma Katherine. But, my wife is mine tonight.” 

“Christian Grey! You’ve not met a nearly deranged bride to be. I’m freaking out here. We would not have had these delays if your security guys didn’t insist on vetting everyone that sets foot here. The least you can do is to let,” she says enunciating, “my best friend come.”

“My wife,” I say calmly, “is very pregnant. I think that takes precedence over the caterer and the dressmaker.” I can feel Kate’s chagrin over this remark.

“Oh my God! I’m so sorry Christian! I’m just freaking out. Of course her health takes precedence over it. I just wanted to get these done…”

I don’t want two women balling over.

“Kate, I’m sure whatever you choose for food would be fine.” I’d rather order my wife’s food from elsewhere if it comes to it than sending her to place to place like this.

“What if I bring the dressmaker to your house?”

I walk away with Ana’s phone in my hand far enough after giving a perfunctory smile to my wife.

“Katherine, my wife and I will be occupied most of the night. Alone. We don’t want to be interrupted by you, or the tailor, the butcher, the baker, the candlestick maker!” I say remembering from the Mother Goose story I’ve been reading the baby.

“But…”

“Goodnight to you too, Katherine,” I say hanging up, then turn off my wife’s Blackberry.

“So, where were we?” Anastasia asks startling me since she’s standing inches away from me. 

“You just told my best friend, you and I will be occupied for most part of the night. I’m wondering how you’re intending to occupy me, Mr. Grey,” she murmurs.

“You know me, Mrs. Grey. I never reveal my plans. Come,” I say holding her hand and decidedly walking her to our bedroom.

“Christian, wait,” she says as we step into our bedroom. “We have not resolved the maternity leave issue.”

“What’s there to resolve? You’re leaving this week," I say firmly.

“Christian, don’t be highhanded!” she says putting her hand on her hip.

“Highhanded? You’ve not seen highhanded yet, baby. I’m just a man who is utterly in love,” I whisper caressing her face, “in lust,” I say as I lower her petulant hand from her hip, “with his wife, whose only wish is to keep her safe, healthy,” I whisper caressing her belly with both my hands, “for her, my and our son’s sake. And yet, my lovely, insanely beautiful wife,” I murmur lifting her chin up, “prefer the company of her co-workers, dressmakers and caterers as opposed to her husband who is desperate for her. Am I someone that undesirable to be around?” I ask. 

Her eyes go wide in shock. “Christian, how could you think that? I am trying to make you proud of me by learning the trades of publishing business that I’m to be running, trying to fit into the Grey family by participating and helping out with your brother’s and my best friend’s wedding, and, now you’re not pleased with me…”

“Baby, I’m always pleased with you. Those who matter the most, are right here. You, this little one, and me. Everyone else in our family matter of course. But they’re secondary. Our first obligation is to one another.”

“You were so angry earlier on the phone. Would you have punished me?”

“Nooo! It’s abhorrent to me now. You know that! God, Ana! What am I supposed to do to prove to you that I love you? What you dislike is repulsive to me.” How can I punish my pregnant wife? Even if the idea goes through my head, it later makes me feel like crap.

“I want to work until the baby is born.”

“You leave three weeks before the due date, baby. Take it or leave it,” I say raising my eyebrows.

“Counter proposal, I leave one week before but I work from home to complete my tasks.”

I gaze at my wife for a long minute.

“You should really come and work for me at GEH.”

“I do work for you Mr. Grey.”

“Yes, you do baby. Two weeks, final offer. No more than twenty hours until then,” Even that is stretching it. We have to make it look like she is going to work and carrying on a regular schedule with a decoy.

“Fine!” she huffs acquiescing. “But, I should help Kate!”

“Not tonight, you don’t. Right now, I couldn’t give a flying fuck about Kate or Elliot’s wedding.”

“Yes!” she says then her gaze falls to her protruding belly. “God knows I love this baby, but, I feel like I’m the size of an elephant and that you wouldn’t want me this way,” her voice falls to a whisper. “I have nightmares about it, that you walk away from me because I’m fat.”

“Baby, you’re gorgeous and pregnant, with my child. I can look at you all day in awe.”

“Even when I take up most of the space in the mirror?" she asks turning around looking into the full length mirror.

“I’ll show you, how much I worship you,” I say to her and lift the hem of her dress slowly, adoringly.  My fingers run over her legs as I lift the dress of her body.

Take me to Church - Hozier Cover

“Arms up,” I murmur and she obeys immediately.

“I’ve not look at the full length mirror, other than just glimpses,” she admits.

“Let’s reacquaint you with your body then. Remember Georgia?”

“Christian, in Georgia, I was much much lighter,” she says trying to cover herself with arms.

“Baby, I’m going to make you see what a stunning woman you have become. I will show you what I see in you, how crazy your body drives me.” 

She’s standing before the mirror with her bra and panties on. I unbuckle the clasps of her bra and slowly, reverently drop the straps off her shoulder, then remove the cups caressing her heavy, now much larger breasts. I toss it onto the nearest chair. Then my fingers trail down her arms then up again. I stand behind her and I trail kisses on her shoulders. My eyes close in pleasure; her scent is simply intoxicating. My lips move on a mission and find the crook of her neck. She tilts her head to the side automatically to give me access, her eyes closing in the process.

“Eyes. Open. Now,” I command; she opens them her long lashes sweeping up and down as she blinks. Her hair is up on a chignon which gives me access to the back of her neck. She leans against me, completely mesmerized with our image reflected in the mirror.

“Why didn’t take your clothes off?” she asks in a low voice.

“Because I want you to focus on you, not me. You’re the exquisite specimen.” She sighs. I trail my fingers down on her back and gliding my fingers with just enough pressure to make her aware of my desire, but low enough pressure that she is on full alert to force her mind the feel every stroke. The steady rise of her chest speeds up when I reach her panties. I circuit my thumbs around the waistband and my fingers gently grasp her panties. I slide them down as I lower myself to the ground, lifting her feet up one by one then freeing her from every single stitch.

“Do you remember what I once promised you?” I ask.

“N…no,” she stutters.

“I promised you that I would worship you with my body. How could that change when you are carrying MY child in your body? It only makes me want to love you, revere you, and worship you more. You’re giving me something I thought I would never want or have.”

“But you said, we could have kids before we got married…”

“Yes, I know,” I say with a little chagrin. “I couldn’t even think of children with anyone, but I dared to think of the possibility in the hypothetical with you… Then I knocked you up and here he is,” I murmur with a stupid grin. But my face changes to forlorn, “I love you, Anastasia. You must know that. I will love in any shape and form but at this moment I love you the most I ever loved you. You are my miracle maker. And I love him,” I say kneeling before her as my hands grasp her belly protectively. “This little one is mine and yours, ours. He will tell the whole world with his existence that our love created him.”

“Oh, Christian!” she gasps, her fingers tangle inside my hair. She tries to lean down to my level, “oh, bad idea, bad idea!” she murmurs making me grin.

I quickly stand on my feet and hold her. As I rise to my feet, my eyes focus on the swaying curves of her breasts. They’re more defined, womanly, proud even. Anastasia notices the hunger in my gaze. I caress her breasts with my index fingers gently, feeling, jolting the nipples into perky beads. The pink hue spreading over her flesh eagerly invites me to touch her. I’m hopelessly turned on, seduced and drawn to make love to my wife.

“Do you have any idea how much I want you right now?” I murmur as I squeeze her nipples and pull them. A loud moan escapes her lips as she tilts her head back in an all-consuming pleasure.

“Please, sir! Show me…” she begs, her hands grasping my biceps in desperation. Her breathing increased, her chest is rising and falling in rapid succession. 

“Really? Is it up to you Mrs. Grey?”

“No, sir, but…” she whispers.

“Hush now,” I murmur as circuit around my wife once with a single digit touching her body at all times, appraising her, assessing her reaction. Her entire body stands to attention.

“Maybe I should deprive you of release since you relentlessly negotiated about your maternity leave. What say you to that?”

“Nooo, please Christian!”

“Come,” I take her hand and bring her to our bed.

“Sit,” I order and wordlessly she obeys. I open the drawer next to my bed and take out few items. I place them on the bed. Anastasia’s eyes follow my every move. I undo my tie and lay it on the bed next to the items I chose. I divest my jacket and place it on a chair. Then I quickly unbutton my shirt and put it on top of my jacket. In the next minute, I’m completely naked. Her gaze takes me in and eats me up hungrily.

“See something you like, Mrs. Grey?” I ask.

“Yes,” she says in a breathy voice.

“Yes, what?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Good girl. Now, lay on your back,” I command. She does as she’s told. 

I show her the padded sex position sling to her.

“I will wrap each of these padded cuffs to your ankles and the leather strap goes over your shoulders. This will make it easy to hold the position for you, baby,” I murmur. It opens her legs up without spending much effort, and aides with her belly. “If it gets uncomfortable at any time, you say stop and I’ll stop. No safe words, okay?”

“Yes, sir,” she says in a breathy voice. I wrap the cuffs around her ankles and wrap the sling portion over her shoulders.

“Now, raise your hands above your head,” I instruct her and grab the leather handcuffs. Each handcuff is tied to a long leather strap. I tie each of the ends to the headboard posts.

“Now, keep your knees up, you shouldn’t have to exert any effort. Your shoulders will do all the work,” I order. She does as she’s told and effectively opening up her legs even further apart for my appraisal. I can see her arousal glistening from her sex. I appraise her delicious look with evident lust and barely contained desire.

“You know, Mrs. Grey… When I heard that you wanted to delay your maternity leave, I was angry with you. But we removed the punishment off the table, yet I wanted to teach you a lesson so you remember to communicate with me. Here you are lying bare in all your glory before me,” I murmur taking my tie in my hand and deliberately playing with it. "I should perhaps still render some form of reminder,” I tease.

“No, sir!” she demands.

“Are you really I a position to make that demand, baby?” I ask.

“I’m not, sir, but we compromised.”

“That we did, baby. So maybe, we’ll compromise here as well. A middle ground perhaps. Not what you want all the way. What say you to that?” I lean down as I trail the tail of the tie over her breasts.

“Yes, please,” she whispers.

“Good girl. I’m going to blindfold you with this baby,” I say showing her the navy blue tie. She bites her lower lip.

“Uh, uh, uh…. No biting,” I order as I release her lip from the captivity of her teeth.

 “Yes, sir,” she nods with a smile, her eyes fixed on mine.

I lean down and gently blindfold her with the tie and then turn the music on and set two tracks on repeat. Jace Everett’s “I wanna do bad things with you,” echoes around our room reflecting my sentiment.

Jace Everett – I wanna do bad things with you

I take the flogger with softest of the leather strands and run it over my wife’s breasts languorously.  A shiver runs through her and goose bumps are on the trail of the leather strands. I continue skimming across her belly, over her pubic bone and finally over her sex. Then I slowly circuit the strand around her inner thighs. I lift the flogger up and with a flick of my wrist move it land the strands on her exposed buttocks. The sting of it I know bites her skin slightly. I repeat the process with just enough pressure to excite and arouse her more but not to enough power to hurt. Two of the soft leather strands land on her sex, right on her clit.

“Ah!” she groans.

“Hush baby,” I say as the soft leather rains over her inner thighs waking up all the nerves buried under the adipose tissue, triggering her pleasure sensors.

“You, Anastasia, are so beautiful! You turn me on like no one else can!” I trail the strands over her breasts and flick the strands over her nipples. Because of the sensitivity, she’s completely aroused.

“Please, sir!”

“There. There. There, baby,” I say soothingly. The strands caress her belly once more and land on her sex again three times. Anastasia moans with pleasure tugging on her restraints.

“Christian, I need you inside me! Please!” she begs.

I rub her buttocks and inner thighs gently then slide two digits inside her glistening sex. She groans.

“Baby,” I breathe. “You are so fucking ready.” I slide in and out of her sex, locating her sweet spot and pleasuring her again and again. I toss the flogger onto the floor and I climb onto the bed and between my wife’s legs. Leaning down, I cup one of her breasts and brush my thumb over it with softly. She’s over sensitized and a gentle touch is ready to detonate her around my fingers.

“Ah!” she moans. I entice, and coax pleasure from her breasts where the effects are felt in her sex. The waves start rolling, her inner tissues start clamping around my fingers. Anastasia arches her back pushes her breasts into my palm and she moans my name in utter ecstasy.

“Hold, and don’t come yet!” I command and moving my fingers just the right amount of pressure so that she can’t reach her peak.

“No… no, sir! I need to!”

“Really, Mrs. Grey? Did I say it was up to you?”

“It’s up to you, sir!”

“That’s much better.”

I continue coaxing her sex, and stimulating her nipples.

“I can’t hold it! Please, Christian!” she begs.

“What do you want, Ana?”

“I want, you, Christian Grey, on me, inside me, all over me!”

Then my face moves closer to hers. I move the tie from over her eyes as I hear the repeated words to “Insatiable”.

I quickly untie her legs freeing the ankles and rub them.

Darren Hayes - Insatiable

“You shall have me baby!” I say, “but first I want your mouth. “I won’t release your arms from the handcuffs right away. I just want you to taste me,” I say, and she licks her lips sensually. Situating her with some pillows, her head is elevated. My cock is her eye level and she looks ravenous.

“I only want you to take in the tip,” I order. But my wife is in a ‘I can-do-whatever-the-hell-I-want’ mood. Her head works her way, and she takes in half of my cock, her tongue and lips expertly fellating and licking along the way.

“Slow, Ana, slow!” I say as I try to regain control of my senses.

“Ffffuuuck!” She’s getting me back. Her tongue skillfully swivels around the crown with enough suction to get the chrome of a car’s bumper.

“That’s enough, baby!” I say and start pulling my cock out of her mouth, but she closes her lips right around my shaft making me grin. I thrust forward gently then withdraw my cock out with a suction of her lips. I languorously move down to her sex and slowly insert the tip of my cock pushing it slowly in and out, but not to the hilt. 

“I want more, Christian! I won’t break!” Anastasia complains and lifts her hips up to meet mine, effectively receiving all of my cock. The pleasure is just too sweet to tease her longer. I still, and savor the moment. Then lowering my body, I capture her nipple within the warm wet captivity of my mouth and suck. I start moving inside her, really moving, harder and faster pounding into her again and again.

“Oh, God! Yes!” she shouts. I know the pleasure is building up in her. Her body is ripe and ready. She clenches deep inside holding my cock like a tight fist, embracing with the sweetest of love. I flex my hips just to prolong the pleasure longer, change the angle of my thrusts but by the time the songs are making their third round since I entered into my wife, I let go, and drill into my wife with renewed determination, making both of us moan, and once Anastasia reaches her peak, her sex starts eliciting all I can give her, I too shout my release in thick spurts deep inside my wife. When we are both breathless and assuaged, I lean down and give her a long and lingering kiss. I pull out then kiss her belly.

I then release her arms from the restraints and walk into the bathroom to clean myself then my wife. I rub the arnica cream I brought from the bathroom onto her wrists, ankles and buttocks with my wife grinning.

“Am I that funny, Mrs. Grey?” I ask.

“Not funny, just pleasing, Mr. Grey. This is the face of a happy wife,” she says.

“I’m glad to hear that wife,” I respond. Finally, I cover her, switch off the music and turn out the dimmed light and I snuggle behind my wife, wrapping my arms around her, pull her to me.

“I love you, Mrs. Grey. Sleep now, baby,” I whisper.

“I love you more, Mr. Grey,” she says drowsily and she can’t even finish the ‘night’ in ‘good night’ because she’s already asleep.

***** ❦  ♡  ❧ *****

It had been uneventful three weeks and Anastasia, true to her promise took her maternity leave two weeks ago not because she really wanted to, but she wasn’t able to find comfort in any one sitting or lying position consequently she was tired all time. To take her mind off, she continued to work from home and help Kate with her wedding preparations. It’s the Rehearsal Dinner tonight for Kate and Elliot. I’m the Best Man and Ana is the Matron of Honor. I have to get ready to leave in about 3 hours and all the security measures have to be examined one last time this evening and put to test. There’s a knock on the door and Taylor comes in.

“We are ready Mr. Grey. Mr. Pella and the team are ready for the final review,” he says clearing his throat. 

"What's wrong?" I ask.

"I better let them explain it, sir," he responds.

“Fine, send them in,” I order then send the e-mail I had composed for Ros including instructions for the next two weeks since I have to plan for the worst case of scenario. Another knock from my door is heard. I look up.

“Sir,” Taylor says as a greeting. The heads of security teams file in consisted of Pella and Decimus, Welch, and Evans who heads Elliot’s security team, O’Neil who heads my mom and dad’s and Citoli who is in charge of Mia’s security team take their place in my office.

“Grey,” says Pella shaking hands.

“Mr. Grey,” resounds around the room as everyone greets me.

Pella looks agitated. I raise my eyebrows to question him. His lips are pursed into a thin line. In fact, all of my security personnel have a similar expression on their faces.

“What the fuck happened?” I ask with heightened alert and agitation.

“I had a run in with our perp.”

“A run in?” I take two long strides, coming face to face with him. The first time I notice his less than impeccable outlook. His tie is loosened and slightly askew, the shoulder of his expensive jacket is torn and he’s dusty like he had rolled around in a wrestling match at a back alley somewhere.

“When the perp stopped chasing Mrs. Grey I had to ask myself why he would do this from the point of view of an attacker. Think of Mrs. Grey as your most valued possession securely contained and protected within your fort. Finding out the exact location that your prize is only half the battle for the perp, because he would have to have a way to break and bypass all the defenses in place. The visible parts of the outer most layer of this defense system are consisted of your security detail. But the security detail is managed by Welch. That’s the first line to breach; that’s the primary command center. When I realized that, I set a perimeter around his office. It turns out, that was a wise choice because a sniper tried to take me out this afternoon.”

“What the hell?” I shout, horrified. “Are you absolutely sure that it’s not something related to your business?”

“We’re quite sure, sir,” says Welch pointing a spot on his jacket revealing a hole then opens up the flap showing what his life-vest caught.  “Thanks to Mr. Pella’s awareness, we’re both here to report this.” Welch is composed and controlled but still wound up with intense anger.

“Did you call the cops?”

“Of course, not,” Pella says. “Do you think cops who deal with local crimes can handle a hired killer who technically doesn’t exist? This is our problem.” Each face in the room is somber. I pace the room in rapid, angry steps. Then I come back and stop in front of Pella.

“I gather that neither one of you were able to catch him,” I state. It’s not a question.

“I chased him.”

“But you didn’t catch him.” I cross my arms.

“No, but I got the next best thing,” he says.

“Unless you got his personal phone number and a sure date with him, I don’t know any other information that could be beneficial,” I growl.

“I now know who he is!”

“How? Who? Are you absolutely sure?”

“Dead sure,” he says with a serious face. “I have been dividing my time in Welch’s headquarters and my temporary office here in the city. Since Welch has the setup I require, it’s easier to coordinate our efforts in the same location. We,” he says making a gesture between himself and Decimus, “have rules in place that any place I go; we have a security perimeter setup. Sweeping a location is not enough if it’s not secured. I always have eyes on the perimeter especially if I’m going to be somewhere sticking to a routine. And this qualifies for a routine. There are quite a few surveillance cameras which we tapped into and have run some software to determine if anyone stuck out or was compatible with the airport image."

"You used yourself as a bait?" I ask quizzically. 

"Yes, better me than Mrs. Grey. Because, I just didn’t know when he would strike. We have confirmed visuals three times today and had not been hundred percent certain that it was our perp. When a male fitting the descriptions went up to the roof of a building at a convenient distance but at the perfect angle for taking aim at someone, we knew we had to pursue him.” That revelation surprises me. I exhale my frustration finally.

“How did you know that it was the perp?”

“After the first pass, my men informed that a possible suspect crossed the street. I wasn't at Welch's location yet. I conveniently went there late instead of my usual hour. His second pass occurred when I would have normally arrived. My men had followed him with eyes on the sky.”

“What?” I ask. Airplane? Drone? Satellite? He opens his mouth to reply. “Wait, I don’t want to know if it’s not legal.”

“Oh, even if it was legal, I wouldn’t share my security secrets with anyone,” he grins for the first time. His face changes back to somber again. 

“When I had arrived after the second sweep, he appeared again; this time with a guitar case in his hand. To the untrained eye, it’s an ordinary case, but the way he carried it, we knew that it was heavier inside. We also knew that if we spooked him, we would alert him to our presence and our knowledge of him being there. So, we had to be careful in our effort to capture him which we knew would be nearly impossible at the distance he was, or do the next best thing which was to gather enough clues to his identity. We were able to do the latter.”

“Can you catch him?” I look at him square in the eye. The confirmation that the perp did not disappear sinks into the pit of my stomach like a thousand pound anvil. I am bristling with nervous energy because here I am ready to take my wife out to an event where there may be possible security breaches, not to mention my entire family will be participating in it! I can’t stop it or avoid going on with our plans or day to day lives with fear. We have to resolve this and fast.

“That’s why I’m here.”

“Do you have a plan in place to subdue him?”

“He made it very personal when he attempted to eliminate me. I’m not big on forgiving and forgetting. I’ll do more than subdue him. I don’t think he intended to be known or fail in his mission in shooting me. That action just reaffirmed my suspicions of his deep level of involvement in ghost operations. He sees me as a threat to himself and his current mission and my ability to prevent him from achieving that end. I got a good look at him and managed to take possession of his long range rifle which is only made by one man and I know the maker. The alias he used coupled with his description gave me the means to create a composite of him and the former spy we rescued from Siberia was able to identify him with a code name he knew. I have men in the field who had effectively verified one of the aliases with the gun-maker who only makes specialized weapons for covert ops.” I can’t believe what I’m hearing. Why and how would such a man be going after my wife?

“That’s still not a name!” I bark.

“I don’t need a name, Christian! Don’t you get it? His real name which he had not used since he joined the service had been expunged from all records as if he never existed. I need people who can identify the aliases he now uses, the way he moves, the way he thinks, and the way he operates. Those are his trademarks now, those are the things that leave a trail behind. And I have those!”

I run my hand in exasperation.

“Let me see the composite image,” I say and Pella hands me a color image of a man’s face and full body image. So, this is the fucker! The details contain aliases, height, weight, hair color, eye color. I commit the information to my memory.

“Did everyone else see this?” I ask holding the paper to the security detail.

“Yes, sir,” answers Taylor.

“Were you aware of what was happening?”

“I had just been made aware right before coming into your office, sir. Everything must have had happened so rapidly.”

“Tell me again why we’re not contacting the police or the feds?” I ask Welch, Pella and finally I turn to Taylor.

“Profile as high as yours can bring out deep pocketed information seekers who undoubtedly have informants who might jump at the chance to part with this information. Even with the slim possibility that it doesn’t happen doesn't eliminate the fact that it isn’t hard to hack into the Police Department’s records. He is well versed in technology. It wouldn’t surprise me if he already didn’t do that. The way feds are keeping any and all information about him from us even though we’ve submitted the partial print tells me that it would be hard to know what information this perp is capable of reaching. So, we’re on our own,” Pella concludes. Welch and Sawyer are voiceless.

“Welch?”

“I hate to agree but our hands are tied, sir.”

 “All the security is in place. I have placed a number of security details in the wait, ballroom staff as well as those who will be dressed like guests. Should we detect a security breach, we will remove you and Mrs. Grey from the scene,” Pella explains.

“What about my family?”

Evans, Citoli and O’Neill, after looking at one another turn to Citoli to speak for the group.

“We each have an evacuation plan, sir. We are not taking any chances.”

“Let’s fucking get this bastard then!” I say. We’re going to leave in less than 2 hours.

“Mr. Grey, we will leave as if everything is normal,” Taylor says. “We will have vehicles ahead of us leading the way and behind us. Also a decoy will leave before us going to a different location just to confuse any eyes that may be observing.” I nod. When I get my hands on that fucker, I will beat him to a pulp.

“Welch and I will meet you at the location, Grey. We will leave after we speak to the rest of the security detail,” adds Pella before turning to face Taylor.

“Taylor, if I could use your office to change into a less conspicuous suit, one that is not ripped,” Pella’s veiled request is actually a demand of a man who is used to giving orders.

“Of course, sir.”

“See you in a few hours, sir,” Welch takes his leave and the rest of the group nod and leaves my office.

***** ❦  ♡  ❧ *****

To my relief nothing out of the ordinary happens at the Rehearsal dinner. But Anastasia gets short of breath and has excuse herself to sit down often because she’s only a week away from the delivery now. To my personal delight, she leans on me often, needing my help and support which I’m beyond happy to provide. She even wanted to leave early to rest so she wouldn’t be as exhausted for the wedding ceremony to fulfill her duties as the Matron of Honor. My mother and sister try their best to honor Kate since it’s the rehearsal for Kate's special day, but neither women of my family could hide their excitement of soon becoming a grandmother and an aunt. I think my wife also excused herself to divert the attention back to Katherine in her absence, but staying long enough to fulfill her duties. 

A few minutes into the drive to home, she’s having difficulty keeping her eyes open. I hold her tight with her head on my lap rubbing her hair and caressing her shoulders. As soon as Taylor pulls into the garage he opens the door and I make every effort to not to wake my wife up. I gently exit the SUV and pull my pregnant wife into my arms and carry her into our bedroom. I put her on top of our bed trying not to wake her but she manages to open her eyes slightly.

“Hi! You carried me in,” she murmurs. “I’m quite heavy now.” Her voice is chagrined.

“With our child. You’re giving me a miracle,” I murmur. I help her get ready to go to bed and slipping into my black pajama bottoms, I spoon my wife in our bed, worry lacing my mind like a suffocating noose, I fall into a restless sleep.

***** ❦  ♡  ❧ *****

“Please join me in congratulating Mr. and Mrs. Elliot Grey and put your hands together for their first dance as husband and wife!” the Master of the Ceremony announces. Leonard Cohen’s ‘Dance me to the end of love’ echoes around the ballroom among whistles and applauds.

Dance me to the End of Love - Leonard Cohen

“Mrs. Grey, would you do me the honor of dancing with me?” I ask leaning down.

“Absolutely, sir. Just don’t tell my husband! He would be maddeningly jealous,” she says batting her eyelashes.

“Is that so? If you weren’t so pregnant…” I say shaking my head. She has her way of distracting me from the cares of the world. I spin my wife around the room dancing. Once the song is over, I take her to our table only to be intercepted by my dad who wants to have the next dance with Ana. As soon as my dad gently leads Ana to the dance floor, my mother approaches.

“Sweetheart, is everything okay?”

“Yes, mom. Why wouldn’t it be?” I ask.

“You and Katherine seem to be avoiding talking to each other,” she asks quizzically. Oh, that. Katherine didn’t want the added security my men provided at the last minute, she also told me that she didn’t appreciate having the backgrounds checked of her family friends invited to her wedding.

“I mean, I love Ana like a sister, Christian! But this is overstepping into our personal affair! You don’t like it when others nose into your life! This is my wedding and I am beyond pissed that you are trying to take control over it by exerting your security people and your oversized Rambos into giving the third degree to my family’s close friends!” she accosted me after she arrived to the ballroom.

“I’m sorry to have to do this Katherine. If any one of your friends or relatives were treated with anything less than respect, I will immediately dismiss that person."

"Well, no. But that's not the point!" She waves her index finger at me.

"Unless your finger is injured, Katherine, I wouldn't advise you waving it at me. You are now marrying into the Grey family. Our family has friends and foes. The security is not an excess but a vital necessity. You will get used to it.” I explained calmly.

“Elliot," she calls out, slightly raising her voice getting his attention when he was talking to a wedding guest. When he comes near us with all smiles, she demands, "Please tell your brother that I don’t want to get used to his ways! I’m marrying Elliot Grey, not Christian Grey! And Ana may overlook and deal with your overbearing personality, but I won’t have it!” she hisses.

"What is going on here, Kate?" Elliot asks confused.

"I don't want his security detail here. Period! My parents are quite upset!"

“If that’s how you feel Katherine, my wife and I will be scarce as soon as our duties are completed,” I say nonchalantly.

“What? Noo!! I’m sorry, I didn’t mean that! I’m just stressed with the last minute additions, Christian! It is stressful enough already without your men adding inconvenience to my guests!”

“Kate, Kate, calm down baby!” Elliot tries to soothe her. She closes her eyes and takes a deep breath. Her mother and father come to her side who have been eyeing the exchange between us.

“Is everything alright?” asks her mother concerned.

“Yes, mom. Everything is fine,” she smiles back at her mother brightly, then taking Elliot's arm, moves away, leaving me standing with her parents.

“I’ll ask her to dance mom. She’s upset about the additional security I had to take on board last minute.” I explain.

“Oh, Christian, you know this is Kate’s day. You don’t need to be so paranoid about security. Jake Hyde is in prison for many years to come. Ana is safe, we all are! I’m sure you wouldn’t be too pleased if someone else had brought a small army of their security personnel to your wedding. You know Kate’s parents have means to provide proper security. This is insulting to them,” Mom berates me, eyeing less than happy Kavanagh patriarch.

“No, mom, we are not safe at the moment.” My voice is barely a whisper. “We have one other threat that we had not been able to identify fully and I have to be vigilant until the perp and the person or persons orchestrating this are caught. Until then, I will offend anyone’s sensibilities to keep my family safe and intact!” My mother gives me a perfunctory smile, not fully comprehending how grave the situation can be if I lighten up.

“At least explain it to Kate so her day is not ruined. She’ll understand. She’s family now,” my mom says softly, giving me a light kiss on my cheek.  I walk to the dance floor and tap my brother on the shoulder.

“May I cut in to dance with my new sister?” I ask. My brother makes a showy bow, then says, “I’ve got my eyes on you little bro!” then grins and gives Katherine a loud kiss.

“Christian,” she greets me coldly. I put one arm above her waist and clasp her hand with the other hand.

“Katherine,” I respond just a degree or two warmer. “You look very beautiful. My brother is a lucky man,” I compliment her.

“As am I,” she says with a quizzical smile. “Christian, I know you’re not dancing with me to compliment me. So, what’s up?” she gets to the point immediately. Yes, she will make a great journalist someday.

“I wanted apologize for any inconvenience the additional security may have caused to your family’s existing security detail.”

“It’s more than an inconvenience. It’s an insult to my parents as if they can’t provide the adequate safety for the likes of you. Can’t you see how arrogant and self-important this is?” she asks exasperated. “It’s my wedding Christian. MY parents are paying for it! Not you! I know you love Ana, and I’m so sorry that she had endured what she did with Hyde, but he’s behind bars now. It’s over! You don’t need to give into paranoia,” she says self-righteously.  

“Do you love my brother?” I ask her.

“What sort of question is that? I love him more than anyone I know, more than myself,” she responds offended.

“That’s how I would describe what I feel for Ana and yet it’s still not adequate enough description for me. I love her so much that existing in a world without her would be maddening. Yes, Hyde is in prison but we have detected a different, more dangerous threat. I wish I could say that he is only an armed lunatic and that in itself is bad enough, but he’s not. He’s a professional, killing is his profession. He’s relentless, unshakable so far and has even pursued us to New York, easily getting into a high profile event only billionaires allowed to enter and just took shots at two of my high level security advisers only yesterday. Now tell me, would you not take every precaution to protect the one person you love? Protect the safety of your entire family?” I just realize that we stopped dancing. Kate’s speechless and her mouth is agape.

Living in a World Without You

“What? I…” she clears her throat. “I..." clears throat again. "I had no idea. Is Ana… Are we…” she blinks a few times. “Who is exactly in danger? Ana? You? All of us?”

“I don’t know exactly, but my security advisers think that it’s mostly myself and Ana but we don’t want to take chances by relaxing security for the rest of my family until this blows over.” Ana and my dad walk towards us. The song they have been dancing must have been over.

“I had the pleasure of dancing three dances with lovely Ana,” my dad says, "but I think she would like to sit down now."

“Someone has been somersaulting with the music,” Ana adds smiling then she takes in the matching somber expressions on both of our faces then her face falls with worry.

“What’s wrong?” she asks.

“Did you know what was happening Ana? Why wouldn't you tell me about it? I was berating you Ana! I’m so sorry for ranting at you earlier for the security around!” Kate says in a fast pace holding Ana’s hands looking at her confused face.

“What?” Ana asks.

“I had no idea there were death threats or that Christian’s security personnel was shot at yesterday! Here I was being selfish at the inconvenience of the added security because they were under the wedding planner’s way!”

I could kill Kate for this! She fucking can't keep her mouth shut!

“What? Who got shot, where? And who is…” she looks up at me disappointed. “You tell Kate that I am danger, or you’re in danger, and our security was shot at?” Her look says it all. ‘Why wouldn't you tell me?’ Disappointment and hurt is written all over her face.

“You didn’t know!” Kate is horrified as her hand flies to her mouth. “Why wouldn’t you tell her? She has a right to know if her life is in danger!”

“Perhaps, we can discuss this some other time,” my father says as he takes Kate’s arm. Luckily, everyone seems to be dancing with the loud music and live band and we look like we’re having a lively family chatter.

Anastasia holds her back in pain. A trickle of water drips between her legs and puddles at her feet.

“My water broke!” Her voice is anxious, worried and her face is crumpled with pain.

“That’s exactly why she wasn’t told!” I hiss at Kate as I sweep my wife off her feet.

“Taylor!” I shout and before the word is out of my mouth, Taylor and Melissa are already with me. “Sawyer is bringing the SUV around,” he says. Mom, Mia and dad rush behind me.

“What’s wrong?” Mia asks.

“Show time!” Melissa answers.

“What?” Then the realization must have dawned on all of them. Excitement brews.

“The baby’s coming?”

“Yes!” I say as Taylor and Melissa parts the dancing crowd towards the exit. The baby is coming at the middle of fucking wedding!

End of Book IV

I already wrote Book V - Chapter I. I haven't edited it yet.