A/N Apologies for the delay in posting. A little jump ahead for this chapter guys, the babies are now six months old.

Christion POV

I look up as Taylor walks straight into my office without knocking. I am instantly on alert; he only ever does this if it's something serious.

'What's wrong?'

He rubs his temples with the tips of his fingers as he answers, 'I just got a call from a buddy of mine, Tommy, over at King County, it seems as though some genius placed Morton and Jose fucking Rodriguez in the same detention unit.'

I am immediately on my feet. 'Fuck. The last thing we need is the two of those bastards getting together before the trials.' Rodriguez's trial is still three months away, but we were told Morton's will be longer due to the crimes he has committed in two separate states, the murder of Ana's mother in Oregon and that whole fucking mess where he attempted to kidnap my wife, shooting Sawyer in the process. I curl my hands into fists as I think about it.

Detective Burke pleaded out two months ago and agreed to testify against Rodriguez to get a reduced sentence. But that fucker Rodriguez refused to cooperate and is still playing the scorned lover card. The bastard even contacted the local newspapers trying to get them to run a story on how Ana used him and jilted him for the billionaire Christian Grey. I made damn sure that article never made it to print.

Taylor grimaced. 'Not going to be an issue, sir.'

'What are you talking about?' I'm confused now, 'do they not realise who the other is? In that case we can just make a few calls and have them separated.'

'Too late for that. It appears Morton and Rodriguez were having a heart to heart about how they ended up in prison awaiting trial, apparently, they had both been pissed because their bail was refused. Well, it seems they figured it all out and Morton, well, let's just say he didn't take it too well that Rodriguez was involved with Ana….'

Son of a bitch. 'What the fuck did Rodriguez say to Morton?' I'm too impatient to let Taylor get through his explanation without interrupting.

Taylor shrugged, 'Tommy didn't go into those specifics, so we may never know now if Rodriguez told Morton the truth or if he told him his made-up bullshit story. You see sir, when I said Morton didn't take the news well, I meant that he went absolutely ballistic. He attacked Rodriguez and shoved him down a metal flight of stairs…Rodriguez is dead sir.'

I slump back down into my chair. Dead. Jose is dead. I'm not sure how I feel about this. Now Ana will never have her day in court and that fucker won't be found guilty for what he did to her. Not that Ana was relishing having to testify against him, she has had more than one nightmare about this in the last few months since the court date was set for his trial.

And what about Morton? He is most certainly fucked now, no two ways about it. There was enough evidence against him already to put him away for a long, long time. Now they will just lock him up and throw away the key. My guess is they won't even need Ana to attend his trial they have so much on him already, which really is a blessing I suppose.

I decide not to tell Ana about this until I get home, I don't want her freaking out about this when I'm not there.

'Hey baby,' I call as I walk in the front door later that evening. She smiles as she meets me with a kiss then turns back around to run into the kitchen. I laugh despite the apprehension I'm feeling about the conversation we need to have tonight.

'Dinner will be ready in about twenty minutes', she calls as I head to my office to put away my briefcase. I decide to change out of my suit as well, I have learned from experience that six-month old babies like nothing better than to make a mess as they would rather explore their food with their chubby little fingers than eat it.

We recently started using highchairs for the twins. We worried at first that it might be a little too soon, but my mother assured us that as they are eating solid foods now and more than able to sit up on their own that it will be fine.

Of course, the boys love them, as I can see when I enter the kitchen a few minutes later now dressed in jeans and a long-sleeved t-shirt. They are sitting in their seats banging their toys loudly on the tabletops as they watch their mothers every move. Every now and then one of the boys will let out a little squeal of excitement, knowing dinner is soon to be in front of them.

Ana smiles over her shoulder at me as I approach her. I wrap my arms around her waist from behind and rest my chin on her shoulder. 'Something smells good.'

'Its nothing fancy, just roast chicken with the trimmings.'

'Well it smells amazing to me,' I kiss her neck and move over to sit by the boys. I lean in to kiss each of them on their pudgy little cheeks, but they are having none of it as they peer around me to see what's holding up their dinner, dribbling copiously onto their bibs in anticipation. I laugh and lean back into my chair.

Ana arrives over with the two little baby bowls of mashed up food for them and CJ emits a high-pitched squeal of excitement. We always feed Teddy and CJ first before we eat our own dinner, it would be impossible otherwise. We spend the next fifteen minutes trying our best to get more food into their mouths that on their faces, hands and/or the furniture and then after we clean them up Gail comes to take them for a while so we can eat our own dinner.

'Here you go,' Ana says cheerfully as she places a plate of food in front of me at the table. After she puts down her own plate, I wrap my arms around her waist and pull her towards me. I plant my face into her chest and just inhale, grinning as I note she smells of baby powder.

She runs her hands through my hair as she cradles me against her, 'I can tell something is up.'

I pull back to look up at her and she leans down to kiss me. 'There is,' I mumble against her lips. 'But it's nothing to worry about, we can talk after dinner and the boys are in bed.'

She pulls back and peers down at me. Whatever expression she sees on my face must reassure her as she just nods once and sits down to eat. I groan as I take my first bite, 'oh baby this is delicious.'

She shrugs but I can also see a sly grin lingering around her lips, 'I got the recipe from that English chef you love so much, Gordon Ramsey.'

I grimace, 'Ramsey? That fucker my mother fancies?' She laughs and nods. I laugh despite myself; she still finds it funny that I got jealous when I thought she liked him too. As it turned out she was just a big fan of his cooking.

After dinner once we have cleaned the kitchen, we play with the boys for a while until they start to get tired. Then we bathe them and dress them in their sleeping rompers. Ana still nurses them before they go to sleep, we find they rest better after they have this comfort from their mother, so she sits in the rocking chair in the nursery and I place CJ in her arms. I then sit on the plush rug on the floor in front of her with Teddy contentedly rolling around on the rug beside me while he waits to be nursed. Once both boys are nursed they snuggle with their mother for cuddles in the rocking chair while I read to them, we are reading The Little Prince at the moment, not that they understand any of it but we wanted to get them used to books early.

As they start to nod off, we place them into their cribs and turn on the night lights. We leave the door slightly open and creep down the hall so as not to wake them.

Gail, saint that she is, has the fire going in the sitting room for us, so I pour us a glass of wine each. I worried about Ana drinking wine as she is still nursing but my mother assured us that it is fine to drink a glass at night after they are fed as Ana wont nurse them again until tomorrow and the wine will be gone from her system by then.

We make small talk for a few minutes, mostly about Ray who is coming for a visit this weekend. Ana still grumbles that she doesn't see him enough, but I think he doesn't want to feel like a burden. We will need to reassure him that he is more than welcome to call and visit anytime. But before long things get serious and I know Ana is expecting me to tell her what has been on my mind since I came home.

She pulls her feet up under her on the couch as she turns towards me and gives me that look that clearly says, 'spill the beans, Grey'. I'm sitting on the couch beside her, but I lean forward with my elbows on my knees holding my wine glass by the tips of my fingers.

I take a deep breath and tell Ana the whole sorry mess of a story. I leave nothing out, knowing that if she finds out I kept anything from her she will be pissed with me. When I'm done I lean back into the sofa and take a long drink from my wine, I don't say any more but I watch as Ana stares into the fire and then down at her half empty wine glass, watching the contents swirl around the glass as she rocks it gently.

Finally, after I can take the suspense no longer, I break first. I reach across to still her hand, still swirling the wine in her glass, 'Ana? Baby tell me what you're thinking. Please.'

'I…I'm not sure. I guess I feel guilty?' Her answer sounds more like a question.

'Guilty? What have you got to possibly feel guilty about? You were the victim of those two animals.' She flinches when I say victim.

'Well, the first thing I felt when you said Jose was dead was relief…doesn't that make me a bad person? She looks up to me with large pleading eyes, begging me to understand.

'If it makes you a bad person then I'm the fucking devil himself because I'm more than glad that son of a bitch is dead!' I blurt out how I'm really feeling without thinking and Ana's face twists into a frown.

'You're not the devil,' she says quietly, 'just human, and we were both angry with Jose, and M…M…Morton for what they did to us…and my mother.' I hate that she still stutters over that fucker's name.

I take her glass and place both of them on the table beside the sofa and pull her into my arms. She comes willingly but I can feel the stress and tension in her almost rigid body. 'What happens now?' she mumbles against my chest.

'I'm not sure about the legal side of things, Taylor and Welch are looking into what it means for the trials. But it looks as though the Jose problem is gone away, you won't need to testify,' I feel the some of the tension leave her.

'And, the….the other…?' she asks hesitantly.

'I honestly don't know yet baby, but you can be sure we will fight tooth and nail to keep you away from that trial. If you have to testify, we can insist you do so through a video recording. If you don't want to be in that courtroom, I will do whatever it takes to keep you out of there.' There is silence for a long minute but them I'm alarmed when I hear her sniffling, 'don't cry sweetheart, I'll fix this I swear.'

She shakes her head against me, 'I know you will Christian. I…I'm just sorry I'm so weak! I sh….should be able to do this.' She is crying openly now and my gut twists at each sob she makes. Trust Ana to find a way to blame herself for this.

I gather her up and stand with her in my arms and she wraps her arms around my neck. 'Bath?' I ask quietly and she nods against my shoulder. I carry her to our bathroom and sit her on the edge of the bathtub while I run the water. I put in some of her favourite jasmine bath oils. While the bath is running, I kneel in front of her and take her face in my hands, she is still crying.

'Listen to me Ana. I have said this to you before and I will keep saying it until you believe me, none of this is your fault. You have not done anything to deserve what those two scumbags did to you. And if you need time to recover from this and if you feel you can't face him in a courtroom full of people then nobody is going to judge you for that. Do you hear me?' I am only repeating what her therapist has been telling her all along, she is not to push herself without being ready as it won't do her any good in her long-term healing.

She nods a little and sniffles. Then she fingers my shirt, 'sorry I ruined your shirt,' she whispers.

I roll my eyes, 'fuck the shirt Ana, I've got others.'

She giggles, 'don't let Grace hear you cussing.'

I smile despite the situation, its true my mother has been on the warpath lately with myself and Elliott trying to cure us of our 'potty mouths' as she calls them. I have been able to avoid cussing in front of her for the most part, but Elliott is a lost cause. She is terrified Ava's first word is going to be 'dickhead'.

I lean over and turn off the water and help Ana in after she has tied her hair up to avoid getting it wet. I get in and sit behind her as we relax into the hot water. I grab a sponge and start methodically washing Ana's back and arms. 'Feel better?' I ask.

'Yes, thank you.'

We stay in the water for a while, not talking much, just absorbing what has happened today. When we are suitably wrinkly, and the water starts to cool we get out and we dry ourselves off. We get into bed where I make love to my wife and try my very best to take the events of today off her mind. I think I do a decent job as once we are finished Ana is asleep in minutes, curled up against me in the bed.

I watch her as she sleeps, and I can't help but think I'm the luckiest son of a bitch who ever lived to have had Ana come into my life. The circumstances were shit and we both had a ton of baggage, but we made it work and we prove it is worth it everyday with the life we lead with our two little boys. I watch her until I fall asleep, thanking whoever saw fit to put Ana in my path that night.

A/N Not much left in this story now. I'm thinking one more chapter (possibly with Rays visit if anyone's interested in reading that) and an epilogue. Thanks for reading xxx