A/N: If Christian is the way he is because of abuse and Elena, why is Elena the way she is? What happened to Elena? This story is not about Elena, but Ana meets Elena first and then saves both of them. Different circumstances, different events, but the same couple. Hope you like it.

PS: I am still working on Eight months and will update During 8 months soon. This story has already been written up to chapter 9.

Important: I do not own the Fifty Shades Trilogy or the characters. They belong to the very talented E.L. James.

Ana POV:

I'm on my way home for the weekend and nervous as hell. When I phoned Ray to ask him for help on my last project for college, I didn't know it would be this difficult to face him afterwards.

Last week we received our final assignment for college. It's a fifteen page assignment on severe human behaviour. Almost everyone in my class is going for something like abuse or religion, but not Anastasia Steele. No, I just had to go for something sexual. Funny really, that a twenty two year old virgin decided on a sexual assignment for class. When I decided I wanted to write about BDSM and why people get involved in it, I thought it would be fun. Professor Blade made us submit our subject in advance in order to get us to stick to a decision, no matter how difficult we found it to be. When he saw mine, he raised an eyebrow and told me 'Good Luck, Ana. People in this lifestyle do a lot of things, but talking about it is not one of them. If you can find even one person willing to talk to you about it, you would be extremely lucky.' I left class with a vision of my chance to finish my degree with honours slipping away from me.

That's when I decided to call my dad. Yes, I know. What kind of daughter calls her dad with something like this? But in his business, he knows a lot about a lot of people and I thought that maybe, just maybe he knew someone that will be willing to talk to me. He started Steele Security in Seattle when I started college because it would give me a better chance at finding a job in a big city. I could've just moved there on my own after I finish my degree, but my dad rejected that idea before I even completed my sentence.

When he discovered that he could not control his errant daughter, he went for the next best thing… controlling her environment and basically all things around her. Now don't get me wrong, I absolutely adore my dad and love him unconditionally, but his need to protect me sometimes drives me insane. It was bad growing up and escalated drastically when he started the security company. He opened it initially to provide private and corporate security, but he expanded it a year ago to include private investigating as well. With his background and contacts, it was the perfect decision and he is doing much better than he ever hoped for.

I wanted to get a part time job to save for a car and, safe to say that I returned for college at the end of the weekend with a brand new Audi A4. Best in class and Ray was impressed with the safety rating. That was the end of my dreams of a part time job to earn my own money. Just another way that my loving father is controlling me… by watching my credit card transactions for any behaviour that could indicate alcohol or drug abuse.

Ray phoned yesterday and said that he made a deal with one of his clients, Elena Lincoln, to talk to me. I honestly did not think that he would help me with this, being Raymond Steele and all, but he did and now I don't know how to face him.

I get to Seattle later than expected and is relieved to know that Ray is still at some charity event to ensure his staff is doing their jobs. Did I mention that my dad is ultra controlling? Deciding to thank my lucky stars, I go directly to bed and fall into a dreamless sleep, excited to meet Mrs. Lincoln in the morning.

"Morning daddy. Have you lost weight?" I try to get a conversation going to get rid of this nervous tension that took hold of my body at the mere sight of him. Embarrassed are a more accurate description and I want to avoid discussing my reason for meeting Mrs. Lincoln at all cost. I do not want to discuss anything sexual with my dad face to face.

"Hey, Annie. Not recently, but thank you for trying to distract me. I was actually sitting here waiting for you." He answers and this cannot be good.

"Oh, to have breakfast?" I ask casually, but I know better. I start on our regular pancake with bacon breakfast anyway to keep myself busy. Ray's housekeeper only works three days a week and does not come in on weekends at all.

"Annie, distraction is not one of your specialities, but I admire the effort. I want to ask you why. Of all the topics you could have chosen to write about, why did you choose something so…. so… sexual? Honestly, there are many other forms of severe human behaviour to choose from. Couldn't you have asked me to rather help you choose a more appropriate topic?" He gets quiet and I turn around to see him look close to vomiting, "Please tell me it's not something you are… interested in." He finishes and I just laugh. I'm not even thinking about losing my virginity yet, so the thought that I want someone to dominate me in bed is just hilarious.

"Oh hell no. But dad, it is something that is becoming more popular as time goes by. I want to be able to handle anything that comes my way when I finally become a Social Worker and in order to help people, I have to know what the hell I'm talking about. I've written about most of the other possibilities over the years, so I thought that this was the obvious choice for this project as I know nothing about it. I'm sorry if it makes you uncomfortable." I say as I dish up our breakfast. Some colour has returned to Ray's face so he would probably enjoy his breakfast, which we eat in silence.

When I finish with the dishes, I'm acutely aware of the time and also of the fact that Ray insisted to drop me off at Esclava, the exclusive chain of salons that Mrs. Lincoln owns and where we will be having our first meeting. She don't have a lot of time available for me today, so Ray arranged another appointment for me with her for next week Saturday, which will be my last weekend I come to Seattle for a visit before I move here permanently. He takes the time to tell me that Elena Lincoln is not a nice person and that if she treats me badly, I must tell him and he will look for someone else to help me.

Outside of the salon, I look at Ray with pleading eyes, begging him to let me go in alone, but he ignores it. As it's the look that gets me anything I want, not that I ask for much anyway, he must be really worried about this meeting, so I relent and walk in when he holds the door open for me. We are greeted by a very friendly red head that introduce herself as Bonnie.

"Bonnie, I'm Raymond Steele and we have an appointment with Mrs. Lincoln. Can we go through?" Ray asks sounding irritated and I give his arm a light squeeze to get him to calm down.

"Mrs. Lincoln is expecting you Mr. Steele. You can go straight through to the back." Bonnie answers and point in the direction which I assume is Elena's office.

Outside the office, I'm told to wait and Ray enters alone. When the door doesn't close properly, I get closer to hear why he needs to talk to her alone.

"Raymond, it's so good to see you again. Where is Anastasia?" I hear an over friendly voice that I assume is Elena Lincoln.

"She's right outside Elena. I wanted to come in to remind you of our discussion during the week. You are to provide her with information for her paper on BDSM, but I feel that I need to warn you one last time. If you try to involve my daughter in any way, any way at all, in your lifestyle, you will get nothing. I will destroy all information I have and you will never know where the man is that you've spent years trying to locate. I'm not joking, Elena. I need you to know that if she is even approached to join your world, I will destroy everything. I leave her in your care for the next two hours and again next Saturday and the only thing I need from you is to provide her with information on the lifestyle… nothing more. Do I make myself clear?" Damn, I'm glad I don't have to see the look that is probably on his face. Serious Ray even gets me to behave and I'm probably the most insubordinate person that ever walked the earth.

"Raymond, there's no need for the dramatics. You've expressed your wishes and I will honour our agreement. I'm fully aware of how protective you are about your daughter and I promise that she will be in no way approached by me or any of my… acquaintances to join our lifestyle. Just remember your part of the agreement. The day she submits her paper is the day you give me everything you have on him… down to the last photo." I hear her voice and damn, she's good. She's not even fazed by his tone. Something tells me that whatever Ray uncovered is very important to her.

When I hear footsteps, I walk away and act startled when my name is called. I walk into the office and Ray introduces me to Elena Lincoln. When she gets a good look at me, she looks shocked for a moment before putting back her impeccable, emotionless mask.

"Mrs. Lincoln, I would like to thank you for assisting me with my project. I'm still shocked that my dad found someone willing to talk with me about BDSM after I've been told that the task could prove impossible." I say sincerely even though I'm aware of why she is helping me. I'm actually pissed with Ray that he resorted to this in order to help me, but also relieved that she will talk with me nonetheless.

"Anastasia, please call me Elena. It will be easier to have this discussion without the formality." She says and Ray excuse himself to go to his office three blocks down the street. I want to go shopping when I'm done here and told him that I would just take a cab home when I'm done.

Elena Lincoln may be in her late forties, but she looks amazing. The only bad features I could find are her cold eyes and clothes that are maybe a size too small. Apart from that, she is impeccably groomed and one can clearly see that she takes her personal appearance very seriously. When she looks me up and down again, I start to follow her gaze to see what may be wrong. I'm dressed in a tight fitting black jean, black heels and a blue shirt that match my eyes. I ensured that my hairs was frizz free and falling nicely down my shoulders and even applied light make up. Finding nothing out of place with my appearance, I look back at her.

"Elena, is something wrong with the way I look? I can't help but notice that you looked shocked when I came in as well." I ask and she seems surprised that I took notice of it. "I'm good at reading people and that's one of the reasons why I decided to become a social worker and help people." I explain and her face is once again void of any emotion.

"Oh no, Ana. In fact, I can't find anything wrong. Your clothes are obviously carefully selected, your hair is in a great condition and your light make up don't hide the fact that you have a natural beauty that most girls dream about. Down to the colour of your beautiful blue eyes, you are perfect." She says with honesty and I blush with the compliment. I don't like to draw attention to myself, but I do like to look presentable at all times. "A damn shame." I hear her say and because I'm sure I was supposed to hear it, I ignore it and we get down to business.

"What would you like your paper to be about, Ana? The topic of BDSM is pretty big. Did you think about what direction you would like to take with your paper?" Elena asks and I start to relax.

"I'm not quite sure yet, but I definitely want to include the reason why people get involved in the lifestyle. I'm not particularly interested in the… sexual side of it and would not feel comfortable to write about that." I'm sure I'm as red as a tomato.

"Ana, the reason for getting involved is different for almost every single person. But first, can I ask why you would want to write about this or even learn more?"

"Severe human behaviour intrigues me, actually, any human behaviour that deviates from the norm seems interesting to me. I decided to become a Social Worker to help people and in order to do that I need to know what I'm talking about. With the popularity of BDSM growing, even though it's still pretty much like a secret society, I'm sure that I will come across it at some point. I'm also interested to know what a person think is lacking in their lives to resort to something like BDSM and escape reality." The last part is out before I could stop it and I curse myself for my brain-to-mouth filter that seems to be out of order at the worst possible times.

Elena seems upset and I feel as if I insulted her. I know she is in the lifestyle and I basically just told her that I think it's because her life is lacking… great! The one person willing to talk to me, and I insult her in the first forty minutes.

"Elena, I'm so sorry if I offended you. I didn't mean that…" I start to ramble but she holds a perfectly manicured hand in the air for me to stop.

"Ana, please. It will take more than that to offend me. I would however ask you to hold your judgement until we finish our meetings as you don't know yet what BDSM is about… apart from what you probably learned from Google. I can assure you, my dear, my life is certainly not lacking in any way." She tells me. There is definitely a story behind that perfect mask and I'm finding myself interested to get behind it, to break through the walls around her and understand this woman better.

"I still apologize for offending you. I did some research on BDSM, but apart from implements, which I'm definitely not interested about, I could not really find much or maybe just don't know where to search or what to search for." That gets me a genuine smile and she looks beautiful with a smile that reaches her eyes… I'm tempted to tell her to do it more often, but luckily my filter kicks in and I bite my tongue.

"Apology accepted so let's continue. As you might know there is a dominant and a submissive person in all BDSM relationships. The dominant like to exercise control over the submissive. For this explanation we would assume that the dominant is male and the submissive is female as that is the most common BDSM relationship. He feels in control and powerful to have a woman submit to him. During sessions or scenes, he is in control of her body, her pleasure and her pain. The limits are discussed in advance and agreed upon. He will not do anything that she is not able or willing to endure. Most dominants give their submissives rules to follow like when to be available, what to dress like, what is not acceptable for him and in some cases even what to eat and when to exercise." She stops and I suppose it is due to the look on my face. She puts her hand on mine while I just gape at her.

"Why would any woman want that? There is no way in hell I would let anyone tell me what to eat. Granted, I'm terrible at following rules that I don't get an opinion in, but damn, that just seems like a horrible arrangement. What happens when a rule is broken?" I ask, even though I saw the torture chamber implements.

"Anastasia, this lifestyle is not for everyone. You will have a better understanding of it all by the time we are done. To answer your question… if a rule is broken, the submissive is punished. There are several forms of punishment and it is also determined in advance. There are soft limits, things that one of the parties is apprehensive about, and hard limits, things that one of the parties will absolutely not do or allow. The limits are not only used to list punishments, but most of the things that gets listed there normally relates to punishment in one way or the other. The lightest form of punishment is spanking and the most severe is being beaten with a cane. The dominant chooses the form of punishment that he thinks is best suited for the transgression." I must have that look again, because her eyes soften, as well as her tone. "Ana, don't look so shocked. I told you, it's not for everyone and some woman crave the pain which is why they are in the lifestyle to begin with."

"So what is in it for the submissive? The relationship seems far from equal to me?" Downright unfair balance of power if you ask me.

"Again, a submissive is in it for several reasons. It can be that they have a stressful job and like the freedom that comes with a BDSM scene. They don't have to make any choices, no decisions and get to experience pleasure beyond their wildest dreams. That is what it is mainly about, sexual experimentation and pleasure. Normal vanilla sex can't possibly be as fulfilling and pleasurable as a BDSM scene. Some submissives also crave the pain as I said earlier. There are some that is actually just in it for the pain and don't get sexual with the dominant at all. It's rare, but there are cases like that. People use different forms of coping mechanisms to survive everyday life, Ana. Some use control, some pain, some escape in the ecstasy of pleasure and some likes to be bound."

We take a break for tea and I tell her about my mother and how I became a Steele and how I grew up. She is shocked that my mother would choose another man over Ray Steele and I tend to agree. Ray is attractive, well taken care of and likes to take care of the people in his life… apart from being a wonderful father. She seems to understand when I tell her that my mother, Carla, is on her forth marriage. We talk about my need to help people in need. Elena in turn tells me that she is divorced, don't have many close friends and no children. Apart from a handful of friends, she chose to spend as much time at the salons as possible. She has a silent partner, but he is not involved at all. Not surprisingly, she doesn't have a boyfriend. She is also not shy about the fact that she is a Dominant. I guess not many men would put up with being beaten by their girlfriends during sex. But I ask why anyway, just to see what her reaction is.

"Love is for fools, Anastasia. I know it sounds harsh and all girls dream about meeting their 'Prince Charming', but it's better to learn it early in life and spare yourself a lot of heartache. I learned that the hard way and I won't lie to anyone. It's better to have never loved at all, than to have loved and get your heart shattered." Her voice is harsh, but what gets to me is the hurt visible in her eyes for a second when her mask slips again. She was hurt and I really want to help her, but she thinks her life is not lacking so who am I do disagree. Whatever happened must have been really bad for her to still feel that hurt after all this time.

"Maybe, I'm not really the best person to comment on that subject either." I tell her and it's true. I've never been in love and have never been on more than two dates with the same guy.

"Let me guess… never been in love and waiting for Mr. Right?" I can't help but smile shyly.

"Almost. I'm not exactly waiting for Mr. Right, I just haven't found anyone yet that I want to spend a lot of time with."

"Anastasia, let me give you another lesson for today. There is no Mr. Right. There is a Mr. Right Now, but no Mr. Right and no Prince Charming. No matter how perfect a guy is, he will break your heart in the end." Her voice and eyes soften again and she continues in a gentle voice, "This is the longest conversation I've ever had with anyone apart from Grace and Christian. I like you and I can tell you honestly, I don't like a lot of people. You come across as shy, naïve and innocent, but you are definitely strong, confident and sure of what you want in life. It's rare to find a person with all those qualities, but here you are. And beautiful too." I can tell that she is truly sincere and I feel sorry for her. I have Ray, Kate, Jose, Jackson, Maya and several other people in my life, but she seems to have less than a handful she can confide in. It must be pretty lonely.

"I like you too, Elena. You're not afraid to speak your mind. I do think that you have limited people in your life because you don't or can't open up to people. I can see in your eyes that you've been hurt pretty badly before and I think that whatever happened to you drove you to BDSM. No feelings, no romantic involvement, no commitment and therefore no fear of getting hurt. I can see I struck a nerve and I would just like to say that I will give you my number before I leave. You don't have to feel obligated to use it, but if you ever just need to talk or grab some lunch, I will be there for you. I'm told I'm a good listener and I always try my best not to judge… even though my brain-to-mouth filter sometimes seems to be out of order." I joke to lighten the mood and I'm relieved when she actually laughs. She really should do that more often. It changes her look completely from Ice Queen to Beauty Queen. Before we get to discuss anything more, there is a knock on the door and it opens before Elena even gets up from her chair.

Christian POV:

Frustrated and pissed is how I would describe my mood as I go over to see Elena personally. It's been months since I ended the contract with Susannah and I told her two weeks ago already that I'm ready for a new sub. She has never taken this long to deliver and I want to know what the hell the problem is. Surely there is no shortage of petite brunettes in Seattle and if there is one that I'm not aware of, she should just look elsewhere. I simply cannot go on for much longer without some sexual relieve and anything other than a contracted sub is simply out of the question.

When I get to Esclava I'm told by Bonnie that Elena is not available at the moment, but shouldn't be much longer. After I give her a death glare, I simply stroll past her to Elena's office. I'm an owner as well and nobody is going to tell Christian Grey that they are not available… especially not in the mood I'm in currently. Not even dismissing an executive yesterday made me feel better and going on like this is not even a possibility.

I'm stopped however when I hear a woman's voice inside that I've never heard before. It sounds like music to my ears and I have to slap myself mentally. Obviously I'm on the verge of losing my fucking mind without a way to relieve my stress and take control. With at least a courtesy knock on the door, I simply walk in. I don't feel like I'm in control of anything right now, but I will never let anyone see it… not even Elena and some stranger. I begin talking immediately to let her visitor know that she has been dismissed.

"Elena, it's been two weeks. What the fuck could be taking this long?" I ask and Elena jumps up and looks like she has been caught doing something she shouldn't have.

"Christian, dear. This is an unexpected surprise." She touches my arm and lean in for a kiss on the cheek.

"Elena…" Surprising, she cuts me off and point towards the lady in her office.

"Christian, I'm unfortunately in the middle of something and would love to discuss this with you later. I could stop by Escala on my way home." I look at her… utterly shocked. What the fuck is this? Piss of Christian Grey day?

My mood improves however when I turn to look into the most beautiful blue eyes. I let my eyes flow longingly down her body and she will do just fine. In fact, she is just perfect. Brunette, petite and stunningly beautiful. Elena must be busy with an interview for my new sub and I feel as if a weight is lifted from my shoulders… or at least it will be soon.

"Elena, aren't you going to introduce me?" I ask and am again shocked by the look on Elena's face. She looks reluctant to introduce me to my next sub and my suspicion is confirmed when she finally introduces us.

"Christian, this is Anastasia Steele. Anastasia, this is my business partner, Christian Grey." I frown. Not her friend. Not a dominant looking for a submissive. Her business partner? She has never introduced me as her business partner. In fact, Elena loves to make sure people know she is friends with me and my family. She's definitely up to something.

"Ms. Steele, nice to meet you." I say absentmindedly, but when her small hand touches mine, I'm brought back to the present by the electricity that I feel at the contact. In that brief moment, I can picture her in my playroom while I have my wicked way with her delectable body. I blink and pull my hand back. When my eyes meet hers, I know she felt it too and when I glance at Elena, she almost looks… afraid? "Ms. Steele, please would you excuse us? I won't be long." I say, but don't look at her. I'm trying my best here to control my urge to drag her to my playroom and fuck her senseless and if I look into her eyes now, I'm a goner.

"Take your time. I'll be in front with Bonnie." She replies and walks out of the room. The moment the door closes, I pounce.

"Tell me, Elena. Why do I get the feeling that you were trying to hide Ms. Steele from me? Then you introduced me, clearly reluctantly I might add, as your business partner? What the hell is going on here?" She sits down, but her face shows no emotion.

A/N: I will update again very soon. I just want to see the response to this story to see if anyone will even read it.