CARRICK

I sit at my desk staring at the file in a trance. What transpired today has left me… I can't put into words to how I feel. "Knock, knock." I look up to find Grace staring at me with a smile. "You can't wrap your head around it can you." She says with a chuckle.

"Can you believe it?" I ask looking back at the file.

"So… that is the file…" she trails off.

"Yep." I open it and close it again just to make sure the paperwork is really there because this just can't be possible. "It's a class action suit. By my calculation… Teddy's first birthday isn't for another year. The case isn't due in court for another eight months meaning four months later we lose the case. We would have spent two years on this and would have lost because we focused on what they wanted us to focus on. It hasn't happened, and I'm pissed." I run my fingers through my hair and because of that I understand ana's behavior towards me.

"Now through some fantasy like sequence of events, you know what you were never meant to know and would win the case." Grace laughs.

"Win, dear we will more than win. This will not see a courtroom, they will settle." My elation is quickly dampened when I recall Ana's cold attitude towards me. "She hates me, and the funny thing is I would have pushed Christian to get a prenup." I sigh.

"Carrick, you would have at a time when we all thought the boy was naïve when it came to women. At a time when we all thought she was his first. A time when Elliot teased him about being a virgin. I always thought there was a girl or boy behind his change, it was so dramatic there had to be someone behind it. As the months went by and he didn't bring anyone home, I just chalked it down to Flynn, but now I know I was right. They may not have, but there was a girl. The repercussions are just so great, Elliot looked at Kate in a way I had never seen him look at a girl even before Christian and Ana revealed they were together with a child in their dreams. Mia seems to have found a reliable man in Ethan. They are not here…" she giggles. "The siblings fell for the siblings. Go talk to them later this evening… I'm sure this is nothing. It hasn't happened, and as long as you don't bring it up, it would not be an issue going forward." Grace comes around the desk and sits on my lap. I feel her elation that the turn of events. "He looked so happy I can finally stop worrying about him so much." She adds her face in the crook of my neck.

CHRISTIAN

"Can I." She nods frantically, and I can't help my chuckle. It's been so long since I actually had any sort of female contact that I need to pace myself or else it will be over before we start. "We are going to do things a little differently. I'm going to make love to you, and then much later I can fuck you." She giggles nervously as I unbutton her shirt. I lean down and suck on her bottom lip, she moans into my mouth. I take her shirt off and wrap my arms around her as we kiss passionately; her tongue massages mine in a frenzied attack. Before I know it her bra is off, her skirt is pooled at her feet, and I'm crawling on the bed as she shuffles backward. I settle between her legs then quickly remember I don't have condoms. "Fuck, I don't have any condoms." I groan loudly.

"I'm on the pill… I know how you hate those fuckers." I can't help the belly laugh that leaves me.

"I do indeed." I purr kissing down her body to the promise land. She is already wet and glistening. "Ana, baby… what a sight." I moan. My lips descend on her lapping up her juices. With my face buried between her legs my fingers went to work on her nipples, she arches her back in response. I wrap my mouth around her clit and suck on it as though my survival was dependent on it. She whimpers in response, fingers threading through my hair as she pulls seeking some solace from the intense pleasure. I have dreamt about this for a year, an entire year of waking up to find my bed empty. I am in no mood to take it easy on her, I know what I can do to Ana's body, and I am going to do it. Just when she thinks it was too much, my fingers join the party. I insert one gently running the pad over her spot before adding another and pumping into her. She gets louder and louder much to my delight. Her hips move frantically trying to seek some relief from my ministrations, yeah… not today. I pin her down with my forearm and carry on, I flick my tongue rapidly over her clit before I resume sucking, her juices soak my fingers. I can tell she is close as her walls clamp down around my fingers, within seconds she lets out a loud guttural moan followed by a series of whimpers.

I settle back between her legs, my cock lined up with her pussy ready to take her. She looks a little apprehensive. At that moment I feel ashamed for the way I took her virginity, even though it was a dream I knew I would have had I met her a year ago. "We can stop if you want?" I offer though my cock would most likely fall off. She looks indignant at the suggestion, and I have to fight to keep the smile off my face.

"Like fuck, we will." She snarls. I smiled and slowly push myself in, she lets out a yelp when I break her hymen. I kiss her closed eyelids whispering sorry as I can tell she is in some pain, but it soon passes, and she looks at me with what I know is love. "Oh." She whimpers as she has clearly become accustomed to my cock sheathed in her warmth.

"I know," I growl. Ana moves with me, and we settle into a nice comfortable cadence. Frankly, I need it slow or else I'm done. After a short period I pick up the pace a notch, and she meets the pace with ease. Picking up the pace again we find our perfect rhythm, our bodies slapping together, her moans mixed in with mine. Soon I can feel her walls tightening again and slow down much to her annoyance.

"Christian." She warns.

"I'm not ready for this to end, and you are too early." She still doesn't look happy and starts to top from the bottom moving at her own pace. "Fuck," I growl matching her pace. We are right back to that perfect rhythm. "Oh… god." I moan into her neck. Thrusting in and out of her with sheer delight. She wraps her legs around my waist, and I sink deeper into her. "Jesus." I find myself whimpering.

"Christian." She cries fingers digging into my shoulder blades as I continue to thrust. She starts to shudder; her head thrown back, mouth wide open as she tries to contain her release. I continue to thrust into her prolonging her orgasm and soon find I'm in the same predicament for lack of a better word. My back locks and I feel a wave of pure pleasure course down my spine. My cock develops a life of its own pumping spurts of semen into her. When my body finally remembers the ability to move I collapse on her with a loud roar.

"Oh god… Ana." I roll over on my side and pull her to me. "God, I love you." She freezes in my arms.

"Ana… I… I…" Well, shit.

"It's okay, you'd done nothing but said it in dreams for a year, you… we are bound to slip up." Except…

"I didn't slip up. I love you." She snuggles into my chest, and I feel her smiling against my skin.

"I love you too." She finally says looking up at me contentedly.

I wake up with a start and before the usual feeling of disappointment can take over I feel her move beside me. It wasn't a dream; my smile has the ability to split my face in half. I check my phone for the time and see several missed calls, most business related and a message from my father, he was on his way over. I groaned and slumped back on the mattress. "What's wrong?" Ana's sleep-tinged voice asked.

"My father is on his way over."

"Right…" It was bad enough having Elena call her a gold digger and every derogatory name she could think of, but for my father to think the same... being on the outside, I could see just how distrustful he was of Ana from the get go. The whole getting a prenup to protect us both was bullshit. He believed Ana was after my money despite the change she brought in me. My father didn't like the fact that she came from a blue collared background and not from a well-known family. I know Ana let it go somewhat after Mia and the incident with Hyde, but she was never the same way with my dad as she was with the rest of the family. It's silly to hold something that has not yet occurred against someone, but if Kate had got the flu, it would have been our lives. The thought makes me shiver, that life was just too full of problems and fraught with danger.

"Are you hungry?" I ask, and she just breaks into a fit of giggles.

"No, Christian I'm not we had a late lunch not that long ago." She's still giggling.

"Yeah, but I wore you out," I argue.

"I know where the kitchen is." The rearranges her pillow and goes back to sleep.

I reluctantly get dressed and make my way to my office. While I wait for my father I answer a few emails, it is, after all a weekday. Fuck, am I glad I skipped work today. A knock on the door interrupts me. "Come in."

"Hey, son."

"Dad, so are you going to win the case?" I ask with a smug smile.

"They will settle, by settle I mean give the clients what they are asking for." He sounds smug as fuck. "This is the oddest thing I have ever heard of and yet how else am I about to settle a case that would have taken a year possibly more." He shakes is head in disbelief.

"Is Ana still here?"

"Yeah, she's asleep," I tell him.

"She's not very fond of me is she?" He asks sadly.

"I know it's all sorts of weird and unfair to judge based on something you haven't…"

"But I would have, and I understand." He admits. "I would have been suspicious of her from the get go because she's not from money. Rather hypocritical of me, I've lost count of the number of times I told you and your siblings that money wasn't the be all and end all and that it was the character of a person. I would have lost sight of that the moment I saw her and I did when we walked in, and you two started talking. I immediately started working out how she could have possibly conned you into all this. I came to apologize to her, but I get the distinct feeling my apology will never change how she views me." I don't know whether to be angry or accept the fact that he admits he was wrong. Do I tell Ana that his behavior was not just in our dreams but in life as well? Without knowing a thing about her he judged her, he judged her for that very reason, she didn't have a known name.

"Give her time, Ana is a very forgiving person, believe me, if we had met a year ago, I would sitting here wondering why she was still with me because trust me in our first few months together I put that girl through hell and for some reason she stayed with me." He nods although I don't think he believes me.

"You just met." Elliot barks in surprise.

"Yeah, but I've known her for a year. Know everything about her, and she knows me, really knows me. She is the reason I am the man I am today. I know the girl Elliot. I know her favorite food is a cheeseburger with fries. Her favorite color is gray only after she met me, before that she never had one." I say proudly.

"There are a few other Grey's you know." He wiggles his eyebrows.

"It's because of my eyes you dimwit." I chuckle.

"Hell, I know more about Kate than you do."

"About that… could you help a brother out?" He wraps his arms around my shoulder.

"Yeah, I'd be more than happy… nah, that's not going to happen." I say laughing.

"Christian, come on you have…"

"If I tell you, Ana tells Kate. You don't think Kate hasn't called hounding Ana for information." I huff.

"When you put it like that." He mumbles defeated. "Ana never has to know." He says as though it's the best idea he's ever had.

"Ana and I don't have any secrets. Sorry E, can't help you there."

"You really are going to propose after three days." He still looks surprised.

"I want her as my wife, she is Mrs. Grey to me and has been for a long time. I want to actually experience our honeymoon. I want Teddy and Phoebe here like yesterday. We already have our home, and I'm ready to fill it."

"Wait, the house on the sound is the home in your dreams. Of course, it is why else would you buy it. I'm beginning to think everything you've done in the last year was all due to your dreams."

"In my personal life, but not in business, I wasn't given that advantage. No stock market tips to be shared here."

"Sure, like you need more money." He retorts with a snort. "Come on let's get back, Kate and I have dinner plans." He says salaciously. We get off the elevator and hear the ladies talking before we walk through the double doors.

"Come on Ana help us out here. We girls need to stick together." Mia says.

"I will tell you this much Mia… if you want things to run smoothly with you and Ethan, I suggest you start showing him you are not just the girl who shops with her brother's credit card and expects everything to be handed to her on a platter. Ethan is looking for the girl he would marry and right now, he finds it hard to take you seriously."

"Amen, if that doesn't light a fire under her ass nothing will," Elliot whispers. I'm glad Ana was the one that told her because if I had, she would not have believed me.

"Hello, ladies." Elliot and I make our presence known. "Hey baby, I give Ana a quick kiss though I want to do so much more." The look in her eyes tells me we are on the same wavelength.

"Oh, Christian, it looks exactly the same. This is our home." She sings as she runs from one end to the other. "Ooh, the meadow." She races to the kitchen and comes to a complete stop in front of the glass door. The backyard is covered in lights and every flower known to man. I have a hundred times the amount of flowers I had in the boathouse covering the back porch all the way to the meadow and beyond. It's a sea of flowers as far as the naked eye can see.

"Hearts and flowers," I whisper in her ear. She knows what's coming; surprising her is going to be a task of epic proportions. I get down on one knee and hold out the exact same ring. "Ana, I will…"

"Yes." She blurts out.

"Goddamn it woman, let me ask first." I huff while she giggles.

"I will be the husband you didn't dream off, that guy in your dreams was a chump and an idiot. I will never give you a reason to shed a sad tear. I will never give you a reason to ever doubt my love, loyalty, and devotion to you and our children. I will love you till my dying breath even if you refuse to obey me." She giggles through her tears. "Anastasia Rose Steele, will you do me the honor of becoming my wife? You can answer now."

"Yes, god yes." I stand and put the ring on her finger before kissing her like my life depends on it. "As if there was any other answer." She breathes.

"I love you so much." I find myself on the verge of tears.

"I love you too." She let her tears fall freely.

Since Ana had no idea, my dad was quite sorry for suspecting her to be a gold-digger. She was apprehensive about revealing the news to our family, but much to her surprise dad was the first to embrace us and congratulate us on the news. We got married a month later, it was a family affair with a few friends. All told it was just under fifty people at our wedding.

"We spent an additional two weeks on our honeymoon. The press release of our marriage caused a storm back home. The press I now believe will be keeping a rather close eye on us. Kate told us the consensus among the media was that we had hidden our relationship from them, and they couldn't believe we pulled it off. Elena finally cornered Grace at the hospital of all places wanting to know what they were thinking allowing me to marry a nobody, and why we were giving her the cold shoulder. Mom slapped the shit out of her and called Elena a pedophile in front of some of the hospital staff. By the time Ana and I got back to Seattle, Elena Lincoln had sold up and left Seattle in disgrace.

"Okay, mom and dad would you like to know the sex of the baby?"

"Yes." Ana and I answer in unison.

"You are having a boy." Dr. Green says with a smile. I release the breath I've been holding since we arrived.

"That is wonderful." I force out past the lump in my throat. Ana is too stunned to speak.

"I feared his time was past." She whispers on the ride home.

"I feared the same," I confess. We were meant to have Teddy months ago, a part of me believed his time had come and gone, and she was most likely pregnant with Phoebe. I would not have loved her any less, but I am glad to know will have both of the children we saw in our dreams and hopefully one or two more. "I can't thank you enough for waiting for me," I tell her.

"Sure, like I was ever going to love another." She giggles.

An unknown figure sat on their wall unseen and watched the two as they kissed and declared their love for each other before entering their home. He knew their life was going to be one fairy tales are made of. They'd have three more children, twin boys and the last a little girl that would run rings around her father.

Seventy years down the line he'd be there to welcome the two just a week apart onto the next stage of their lives because death was not the end.