A/N: Thank you all for your wonderful reviews and support! I hope you enjoy the epilogue to The Price of Love.

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Epilogue: My Budapest

~2 Years Later~

"Come here, buddy."

Christian picked his son out of his high chair, chuckling as the one-year-old babbled and kicked his little legs in protest. Teddy's chin and bib bore the remains of the spaghettios he had just eaten for dinner, but Christian had grown accustomed to his son's rather reckless eating habits. He simply hoisted his son up on his hip and brought the bib up to wipe Teddy's mouth clean, ignoring how he tried to squirm away from his father's ministrations.

"See buddy? That wasn't so bad," Christian said with a smile, finishing up cleaning Teddy's face before taking his bib off and setting it back on the high chair. "Why must you always make a mess when you eat?"

"Bababababa…" Teddy replied, trying to shove his tiny, sauce-covered fingers into Christian's mouth. Christian pretended to nibble on them, causing Teddy to laugh delightedly.

"You're so silly, Teddy Bear," Christian smiled lovingly at his little boy, removing his hand while reaching for a napkin nearby. After cleaning his son's hands and his own mouth, Christian hoisted him up higher on his hip before walking them over to the balcony in their living room overlooking Anaheim.

"…Look at that, Teddy Bear," Christian said, pointing toward the distance. From where their house stood from a hillside, they were able to see most of the city of Anaheim, and in the far distance was an amusement park with the familiar Mickey Mouse insignia upon the Ferris wheel.

"That's Disneyland, Teddy," Christian said, pointing it out for his son. Teddy lifted his tiny hand and pointed in the same direction as his father, gazing into the distance. "Can you say 'Disneyland'?"

"De de la," Teddy babbled, bringing his hand to his own mouth and giving his dad a wide, happy grin. Christian chuckled.

"Mommy and I are going to take you there next weekend, when Grandma and Grandpa come to visit us," Christian explained. "We're all going to go there together - how does that sound, Teddy Bear?"

Teddy seemed to have lost interest in whatever his dad was talking about, for his tiny face and large blue eyes were now scanning the horizon, searching for something else to look at. Christian only chuckled.

"Fine, be that way," he said amusedly, pressing a kiss to his son's chubby cheek.

"…Hey, I'm home!"

Christian turned at the sound of his wife entering the house through the front door. He grinned. "We're out here, baby."

Ana appeared around the corner, smiling brightly when she laid eyes on the two of them. Today she looked exceptionally pretty in a pale pink patterned summer dress which contrasted with her dark chestnut hair and sun-kissed skin. "Hey, you two - how are my boys doing today?"

"We're great - Teddy just had dinner, and I was showing him where we're all going with Grandma and Grandpa next weekend," Christian said, smiling down at baby Teddy in his arms. "You excited for Disneyland, bud?"

Teddy said nothing, though he brought his tiny hand to his mouth and began sucking on his two middle fingers, slobbering all over them.

"He sounds riveted," Ana giggled, setting her purse down on the nearby coffee table before walking over to take Teddy out of Christian's arms. Teddy giggled happily at now being held by his mother. "Hi, sweetie pie."

"How was work today?" Christian asked, moving toward the kitchen to fix him and his wife their dinner.

"Same old, same old," Ana sighed, toeing out of her shoes while still holding Teddy in her arms and walking barefoot into the kitchen. "Roach and I met with Seralski about his book for the third time, and we've told him - yet again - that the production of Island Rose will be very limited if he wants the more expensive glossy covers. He didn't take it very well."

"Why can't he just go with the matte dustjackets? I think those look perfectly nice, and you've said they're much less expensive," Christian pointed out, plating up some of the pan-seared grilled chicken and cucumber salad he had made for their dinner.

"I know, right? It's so obvious - why couldn't you just be our client?" Ana asked with a humorous smile, and Christian chuckled.

"Sorry, baby, but I've already got a job," Christian said with a wink, bringing the two plates of food over to the breakfast counter. "Wine?"

"Not tonight - I think I'll just go with some sparkling water," Ana said, placing Teddy down in his high chair. "How were the tenants today?"

"Everything's smooth sailing," Christian said with a satisfied grin, moving to the fridge and grabbing a bottle of Perrier. "I spoke with Dietrich today about installing new air conditioning systems in the financial business park, so that's going to get done sometime this week. Also, we're thinking about buying the office park right off of Westchester."

"Oh, near Boscov's?" Ana asked, looking impressed, and Christian nodded. "That's a nice building - I'd assumed it was privately owned."

"It's currently owned by Barker Enterprises, but the lease is almost up, so I think I could convince them to sell," Christian explained. "Grey Proprietors has become extremely profitable within the last year, so acquiring new land shouldn't be too difficult. Hopefully, we'll see within the next couple weeks."

Ana smiled widely at her husband, accepting the sparkling water he handed her. "You know, two years ago when you told me you were going to be a landlord, I have to admit I didn't think it was a good idea."

"I've told you a million times - I'm not a landlord, I buy and sell investment property," Christian corrected her. "It's the same thing I did at GEH, although this is a more hands-on approach since I handle a lot of the day-to-day stuff."

"Like a landlord would do?" Ana asked with a cheeky grin.

"Watch it, woman," Christian said warningly, though he smiled, and Ana giggled, raising her hands in surrender.

"Okay, okay…"

The two of them continued to chat over dinner, talking mostly about work or about Teddy, who was sitting quite happily in his high chair playing with his favorite plastic teething rings. Ana raved about how delicious their dinner was, causing Christian to beam with pride - he had been getting more involved in cooking lately since he was spending a lot of time at home with Teddy now. He technically worked from home too, meaning he was able to be very productive as a property manager, a husband, and as a father.

He honestly couldn't imagine his life being any better than it was right now.

"Thank you for dinner, baby," Ana smiled, getting up from her seat with her empty plate in hand. She walked around the breakfast bar and pressed a kiss to her husband's lips. "It was delicious."

"It's my pleasure, baby," Christian smiled lovingly at his wife, appreciating, not for the first time, how beautiful and sexy she looked with her long chestnut brown locks and gorgeous blue eyes. To him, she looked just as beautiful as she did the day they had met three years ago, when she first walked into Canlis like an angel stepping out of heaven.

"See something you like, Mr. Grey?" Ana asked coyly, looking over her shoulder from where she stood at the kitchen sink and smiling widely. Christian couldn't help but smile back, getting up and walking over to her - he wrapped his arms around her waist, her back to his front, and he tenderly pressed his lips to the side of her head, trailing kisses down to her ear.

"Yes I do, Mrs. Grey," he said softly, and Ana sighed. "You are breathtaking, and you make me so incredibly happy. I love you, baby."

His sweet words caused Ana to turn around in his arms, gazing up at him with profound tenderness and love. Her large blue eyes glimmered slightly with emotion as she leaned up and kissed him on the lips, cupping his face sweetly with her hands. No words needed to be said.

The sound of hard plastic hitting the floor caused Christian and Ana to jump slightly before breaking apart - they looked over at their son who had just thrown his teething ring across the kitchen floor while giggling happily. The two parents couldn't help but laugh.

"I'm sorry, Teddy - Daddy and I promise to pay more attention to you," Ana said jokingly, moving over to her baby's high chair and picking him up. "Right Daddy?"

"I love you to death Teddy, but you're never going to make me stop kissing Mommy," Christian said in a stern voice, walking over to retrieve the teething ring. "Understand, little guy?"

"Mama!" Teddy babbled happily, and the two parents laughed.

"Good boy," Christian nodded.

Later that evening, Christian, Ana and Teddy settled into their nightly routine - the three of them sitting in the living room with the television on, Teddy and Ana on the floor while Teddy played with his toys, and Christian sitting on the couch, usually with his phone or laptop so he could check some emails while his wife and son played nearby. This was his favorite part of the day, where the three of them could just wind down as a family, and Christian couldn't help but smile as he watched the two of them.

"Anything serious happening with work, baby?" Ana asked Christian as she tickled a giggling Teddy's nose with a plushy rhinoceros.

"Nothing too serious… Dietrich's still looking into the square footage of the lot we want to buy," Christian said, scrolling through his inbox while shaking his head. "But other than that…"

He trailed off, frowning when his eyes landed on one particular new email he had gotten within the last hour.

"…Christian? What's wrong?" Ana asked, looking over at her husband with a frown on her face.

"Nothing, it's just…" he hesitated, still staring at the screen. "I got an email from Ros back at GEH."

Ana raised her eyebrows in surprise. "Ros?" she asked skeptically. "That's odd. When was the last time you've heard from her?"

"I don't know - I think it's been months," Christian said, still with his brow furrowed. "We last talked around Christmas, when we gifted her and Gwen that trip to Aspen."

"Well, what does she have to say?" Ana asked. Christian didn't answer immediately as he silently read what Ros had written to him. After a few seconds, Ana looked up at her husband in time to see a smile slowly start to grow on his handsome face.

"Christian? What is it?" Ana asked, looking very curious as to why Christian was smiling. He didn't elaborate, however, and instead pointed to the television, which was currently playing some cartoon show.

"Turn the TV to channel 5," he said urgently. "Hurry!"

A bit confused, Ana quickly found the remote and clicked over to channel 5, where a national news broadcast was playing:

"…being sued by seven different women, all of whom claim Ms. Lincoln stole money from them to help her invest in her underground BDSM sex ring," the anchorwoman spoke to the camera. A shot of Elena Lincoln walking down the street wearing a long coat and sunglasses while being accosted by reporters and cameramen filled the left side of the screen. "Ms. Lincoln has reportedly stepped down from her post of CEO of Esclava Salon while she is being brought up on several charges of fraud and extortion. Candace Lane, one of the seven women suing Ms. Lincoln, identified herself in a public statement and claimed that she had been trying to expose Ms. Lincoln and her proclivities in the BDSM world for several years now."

"Oh my God," Ana said, sounding shocked as she stared at the television screen. She turned to look at Christian. "Is this really happening?"

"Ros just emailed me about it," Christian said, looking back to his laptop while the footage of Elena continued to show on the TV. "She said that Elena is on the national news tonight because of the story breaking out about her involvement in BDSM, namely in marketing submissives. She is so screwed."

"But won't this get tied back to you, Christian?" Ana asked, sounding extremely worried. "She was marketing those subs to you, remember - investigators could easily make the connection."

"Ros said that the legal team at GEH are making sure my name doesn't get out in this, although since Elena is pleading innocence in all this, she would be extremely careful not to mention anybody involved, especially since she would risk of implicating herself. And even if my name did get out in relation to this, what's the worst that could happen? All this went down years ago, and since I'm no longer a business mogul in Seattle and I haven't been to the city in years, who's really going to care? Hell, I don't think Elena even knows that I'm living in Anaheim right now. I doubt this would get hurt us in any way, Ana."

"I hope you're right," Ana said seriously, turning back to look at the television. Footage was playing of Elena being accosted by swarms of journalists and news reporters while she tried to walk down the street. She struggled to push her way through the crowd, and though the expression on her heavily Botoxed face was difficult to read, the firm straight line of her mouth indicated her intense discomfort.

"Hmph - good riddance to that old bitch," Ana rolled her eyes in disgust. She then glanced down at Teddy playing nearby and quickly covered her mouth, grimacing. "Oops - I probably shouldn't say that in front of the baby."

Without a word, Christian set his laptop aside and got to his feet, hurrying into the kitchen.

"Christian? What are you doing?" Ana called after him, frowning in confusion.

"Well, since Elena's finally being pulled through the ringer for her crimes, and will most likely be arrested because of them..." Christian began, reappearing with a bottle of champagne clutched in his hand. He held it up for her to see. "...I think we need to celebrate."

Ana blinked at him, an unreadable expression on her face. "Oh, um… Christian, I know you're happy about all this - I am too. But is champagne really necessary?"

"Of course it is, baby. Why wouldn't it be -?" Christian began as he started to walk over to her, but paused as he was about to pass by the coffee table where Ana's purse was sitting. It was open, and Christian saw something sticking out of it that caused him to freeze in his tracks.

He set the bottle of champagne down on the table and reached into the purse just as Ana got to her feet, looking anxious.

"I was going to tell you about that after we put Teddy to bed," she explained rather feebly.

"Is this…?" Christian began, staring at the white plastic stick now clutched in his hand. He looked up at Ana, his expression stunned. "Are we…?"

"Yeah," Ana nodded, her eyes filling up with tears as she smiled. "I just found out today. I have to go to the doctor still, but I took two home tests and they were both positive…"

She didn't get a chance to finish, since Christian immediately rushed forward and hugged Ana tightly around the waist, lifting her up and spinning her around in excitement. Ana laughed, wrapping her arms around his neck as she held on tight.

"We're having another baby!" Christian exclaimed joyfully, finally setting Ana down on her feet and taking her face in his hands, pressing his forehead to hers and smiling widely. "This is fantastic news!"

"You're happy, Mr. Grey?" Ana giggled, giving him a cheeky smile as tears still welled up in her eyes.

"Oh Ana," Christian said sweetly, staring at her in her beautiful blue eyes. "Since the day I met you, you've done nothing but make me happy. You gave me a new home, a new life, a new baby boy, and now you're giving me another beautiful child. You are my everything, Ana, and I love you so much."

"I love you too Christian," Ana said, the tears in her eyes now starting to stream down her face.

Christian leaned forward and kissed her on the lips, wrapping his arms around her waist once again as Ana cupped his face in her hands. In the background, they could hear Teddy still on the floor with his toys and the television playing Elena Lincoln's whole life falling apart.

Everything was as it should be, and it was only going to get better from here on out.

THE END

A/N: Thank you all for sticking with my story to the very end! I know it was a little different than what most of you are used to, but I hope this conclusion was to your satisfaction.

I got a short Christmas story in the works right now, so I hope to see you all soon :)

Lots of love,

StrawPaj