I originally wrote this story as a Gilmore Girls fanfic (and will keep updating that version to alongside with this). But to be honest: that fandom doesn't have as many active readers as this and as a result I felt I tended to prioritize my Fifty Shades-stories because they rendered more feedback.
I didn't like that, because as much as I love my other stories this one is my baby; my reason for even creating an account – so I changed a few things, wrote a backstory to fit Ana and Christian into the plot and will make a couple of changes along the way.
Both their backgrounds will differ a lot from the original story (all which will be revealed as the story evolves), but all in all they will mostly be the same characters (although maybe a bit tainted by Jess and Rory).

I'm a little unsure whether you're allowed to do this, to post two similar stories in two different fandoms – if anyone's heard of it not being permitted, please let me know!

Disclaimer: The characters belong to E.L James and two pieces of dialogue in the first chapter belongs to Amy Sherman Palladino who created Gilmore Girls.

Anger Management – Chapter 1

Christian

I turn off my computer and lean my head in my hands. Why does the past always have to come back to haunt you in one way or the other?

Is that the price you have to pay for having loved someone – to always have the threat of them coming back to haunt you hanging over your head even long after the love have withered and died?

My past reared it's not-so-ugly face in the form of an email that caused unwelcome scenes from my past to sneak their way into places I've banned them from a long time ago. Did we even ever stand a chance?

"College isn't for me, Ana" I look into her eyes, willing her to understand where I'm coming from. I know college and education is important to her, I just wish she could understand that I don't feel the same way.

"Why not?" She furrows her eyebrows as she looks at me.

I sigh. We've been through this so many times before. "Ask my mother, she could give you a couple of reasons"

Yeah, if my mother ever pulled her head out of the bottle long enough to care; she could probably scrap up a dozen reasons. The same way she scrapped up a dozen reasons to send me to live with her brother and his family in this shitty little town in the middle of nowhere; also known as Stars Hollow in the state of Connecticut.

I scoff. "Better yet – ask your mother. She doesn't know me all that well, but I'm sure she could improvise a few things."

Ana's mother has had it out for me ever since I first set foot in their house. I honestly don't know why. But that's not what is important here – what is important is that everyone but Ana can clearly see that I'm not destined for college.

Ana rolls her eyes, but doesn't say anything. Apparently her mother told her when we started dating that she would give me the benefit of the doubt and Ana believes that to be true. Of course, she hasn't seen the looks Carla's shooting me whenever she thinks no one's looking.

I move closer to her on the couch. "Hey, come on. Stop pouting." I say before I lean in to kiss the corner of her mouth.

I feel her lips twitching into a smile, but she pushes me back. She's not done discussing this yet. I sigh. "This is important Christian." I tilt my head and smirk at her, trying to distract her from her annoying habit of not letting things go. "You have to go to college."

"No" I smirk again. "You have to go to college." I take her hands in mine and start kissing her knuckles as I continue in a playful tone of voice: "You go to college, become the next Christiane Amapour – reporting on world news, and I'll be standing on the side-lines cheering you on – pompoms in hand and all."

She slumps her head to the side and opens her mouth to speak, so I decide to beat her to it. We are done discussing the topic of me going to college. "You know what? I'll help you practice. We can start tomorrow; you'll stand in the middle of the street and I will drive straight at you, screaming in a foreign language"

Ana laughs and shakes her head. Mission accomplished. I move closer again and kiss her and this time she doesn't push me back.

I lean my head back and sigh. As it turned out; I wasn't going to be the one on the side-lines holding the pompoms. Before her first year at Yale came to an end, the struggles to maintain a long-distance relationship and keep up with her studies at the same time got to be too much for her. Or at least that's what she claimed.

An uneasy feeling that I worked so hard to repress starts spreading in my stomach as I remember how her lies unfolded before my eyes about seven months after our breakup.

I had tried so hard to be strong, to give her space. For seven fucking months I sat in my apartment pining for her, hoping she'd come to her senses and call me to take it all back; to say that she missed me too much. I was a zombie; I did nothing but work and pine for seven long fucking months.

Apparently, the break-up wasn't as hard on her as it was on me, because when I finally caved in and drove to her dorm room at Yale to beg her to take me back I saw him dropping her off after what appeared to be a date.

I sat on a bench outside her dorm for two hours after he left, trying to calm myself down. It didn't work very well.

Ana stares at me, stunned, when she opens the door. She's so fucking beautiful it takes my breath away. I quickly retrieve it though, as I remember the reason for her looking so beautiful tonight.

"Had a nice date?" I ask, my voice dripping with sarcasm.

She looks perplexed. "How did…?" She clears her throat. "What are you doing here Christian?"

"Watching your new boyfriend walk you home after what I assume was a lovely date, apparently" I answer and her eyes widen.

"It's not like that, Christian." Her voice sounds beaten.

"No?" Even I can hear the anger seeping through my gritted teeth. "Tell me what it's like then."

She sighs and throws her hands out. "Uncomplicated" She offers and I stare at her incredulously.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

She bows her head down and lets out another sigh. "You and I…it's so intense, so all-consuming. This is not. This is…" She shakes her head again. "Uncomplicated" She repeats the word again.

I raise my eyebrows. "And I'm complicated?" I scoff. "Or is the issue really me not attending a fancy college?"

Ana sighs and in that instant I know that no matter the reason; I'm history.

She didn't stop at that though. That wasn't enough breaking for her. No. She wasn't content only breaking my heart – apparently she needed to rip it out and stomp on the pieces as well.

I guess I was begging for it by sending her an invitation to the launch party my cousin Mia threw when I, after years of hard work, finally started my own company. I should have known better. But I guess the need to show her everything I'd become, everything I'd accomplished, since she last saw me was too over-powering.

Well, at least she waited until everyone had left before she began her torture – I have to give her that.

"I'm glad you came" I can't stop smiling. She's here. After all this time, she's finally come back to me.

"Yeah, me too" She smiles as well and guided by the magnetic pull that always seems to appear whenever she's close, I lean in to kiss her.

Our lips barely touch before Ana suddenly pulls back. "I'm sorry." She practically flies up from her seat and starts pacing.

I close my eyes and take a deep breath before I open them again, fighting to hide my disappointment. "About what?" I stand up as well, watching her nervous pacing.

She stops and throws her hands out. "About coming here like this. I just…I got the invitation and…I don't know." She covers her face with her hands and when she removes them, she's shaking her head from side to side, a sad look on her face that sends not-so-pleasant shivers throughout my body.

"I just wanted to see this…" She gestures to the room we're standing in. "…to see you."She shakes her head again and closes her eyes for a few seconds. "But then…it's not fair to you. I'm such a jerk!"

I move closer and place a hand on her shoulder, trying to calm her down. "You're not making any sense, Ana."

She inhales a deep breath before words come spluttering out of her mouth. "I couldn't even cheat on him the way he cheated on me"

I think this is what it must feel like to be hit by lighting. "Who?" I can hardly form the words. "Who cheated on you?"

Pain starts spreading in my chest. Am I having a heart attack? No. I'm too young.

Ana doesn't answer, but the guilty look on her face says it all.

Oh, God. It isn't a heart attack – it is my heart being ripped out of my chest.

"That guy," It's a wonder the pain doesn't display in my voice. How come I can sound so normal when everything I hoped and wished for are crashing down around me?

She nods and I swallow down the cries of pain that are threatening to make their way up my throat. This isn't supposed to happen. I became everything she wanted. I went to college. I took business-classes and became successful. This is not how this was supposed to go down.

"I thought that was supposed to be uncomplicated" It's hard not to notice the bitterness in my voice and Ana cringes at my words. "Just having fun with no strings attached," I repeat the words she told me.

Ana shrugs. "I'm sorry."

I feel nauseated. She didn't come here because she wanted to be with me – finally after all this time. No. She came here because she wanted to use me. She wanted to use me to get back at her cheating boyfriend. I feel like I might throw up.

What nauseates me the most is the knowledge that I would have let her. I would do anything for her to be mine again, even just for a night.

The nausea gives way for a righteous anger. Of all the people she could have thought of to use for this purpose – she had to go rip my heart out? Wasn't it enough that she already broke it?

"I don't deserve this, Ana."

"No, you don't." Tears start spilling from her eyes. "You don't deserve it." She buries her face in her hands again and sobs. Neither of us says anything for the longest time; we simply stand there in silence until she removes her hands from her face. "I just…" She takes a deep breath and her voice is steadier when she continues. "…I'm in love with him. Despite all the bad he's done." She shakes her head again. "I can't help it. I'm in love with him."

"Love, huh?" I can't believe how calm I sound – I feel anything but. My Ana – the only girl I've ever loved – is in love with someone else, someone else that apparently cheats on her.

"Yeah." The sadness in her voice pains me even more than my crushed hopes. I hate seeing her sad.

"I guess I'd better go." Her eyes are focused on the floor as she speaks.

I nod. "Okay."

No. Don't go. Stay. Stay forever. I don't care if you don't love me anymore. Stay. Please stay. I need you. You're my reason for breathing.

Without uttering any of my pleas, I watch her turn around and leave.

She lingers a moment with her hand on the doorknob. "I'm sorry, Christian, for everything." She whispers before she walks out the door and leaves me alone with the hurt and the pain.

I fall to my knees and let my tears fall freely, hoping it will relieve some of the unbearable pain.

It took time, but I managed to get back on my feet even after that blow. You can't argue with love, right? And she loved the cheating bastard – or at least that's what she claimed.

I slam my fist against the desk. Fuck! I had gotten past all this. I had reconciled with the fact that Ana was nothing but a compulsive liar, destroying every man that dared to love her.

Yeah, Carrick told me how she destroyed Logan – the cheating boyfriend – as well. Of course, he didn't use those words. No. Everyone in that idyllic little small town thinks she's the sweetest angel to ever walk the earth. Even Carrick and Grace have always understood her reasons for breaking up with me. Isn't that just fucking great? Why didn't anyone understand how fucking hurt I was? I guess no one cared; the story of my life.

"Mr. Grey?" Taylor appears at the open door to my office.

"Yes, Taylor?"

"Miss Sparks is in the elevator on her way up." He informs me and I feel a smile forming on my lips. I could really use the distraction right now.