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hb-writes · 2 months ago

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Let It Be

Summary: Emma is stressed and needs to vent, but all of her siblings are busy. Christian finds the time anyway.

Characters: Christian Grey & Emmeline Grey (OC)

Fifty Shades Masterlist

Comfy-vember 2024 Masterlist

—

Emma wasn't asleep, but she easily could've slipped into a nap while she lounged on a blanket in her parent's backyard. It was a perfect day—unseasonably warm and sunny for the middle of autumn—and she was grateful that her Chemistry professor had taken pity on them, canceling their afternoon lecture so no one had to stay in a dark auditorium on what would probably be the last nice day until spring.

She usually would have stuck around campus to hang out with her friends, but home had been calling her name, meaning the place where she grew up, and not her apartment in the city or Christian's penthouse. Her parents weren't home from work when she arrived, but Emma didn't mind the time alone—or more accurately, time to be alone in Ryan’s presence. She hadn’t seen him since they arrived, but assumed he was watching over her in some manner.

Emma tried not to think about it. She tried to tune out her security detail's constant presence. Tried to imagine he wasn't pacing the yard or constantly looking over to where she was laying in the sun with headphones shoved deep in her ears, a third Beatles album blasting in her ears as she held her eyes shut, cherishing the feel of the warm sun on her skin. With those things in place, she was just able to imagine she was alone.

Emma jumped when something nudged her bare foot and she opened her eyes to find Christian standing above her. He was dressed as if he had come straight from the office, though he had lost his tie and jacket at some point, his shirt sleeves carefully rolled to the elbow.

"Why are you here?" she asked, pulling an earbud free though the music still loud in one ear as she propped herself up on her elbows.

"I ended my day early."

Emma lifted her sunglasses to study her brother. "The Christian Grey I know doesn't end his days early."

"And yet here I am," Christian offered with a smirk that Emma was certain had reached his eyes even if she couldn't see through the dark tint of his sunglasses.

Emma thought of pushing further, of asking why he was here specifically, but she didn't bother, assuming that he was only here because she was here. Because Ryan had told him, or because Ryan had told Taylor, who then promptly informed Christian.

Emma couldn't properly remember the last time someone hadn't known precisely where she was located, which was part of the reason why she had been laying out in the backyard tuning out the world to Beatles album after Beatles album to begin with.

She lowered her sunglasses. "Well, what did I do wrong now?"

"Something, I'm sure," Christian answered as he glanced around the yard. "Your class was canceled?"

"Yup, Dr. Ellis is my new favorite person," Emma answered. "You should give your employees the rest of the day off. Might improve your approval rating."

"A company can't run if—"

"You're not working and the company seems to be running just fine without you," Emma interrupted before resting her head back on the blanket. "And anyway, I was really referring to your personal employees, ones like Ryan." Emma tilted her head in the general direction of where she assumed her security was standing—or more likely, pacing.

"I already did," Christian answered. "He's inside debriefing with Taylor right now.

"Figured there's no point in making them both work if we're spending time together."

Emma pushed herself up on her elbows again.

"I thought you were busy this weekend."

"I am," he said, "but I could make myself available for a few hours right now. Do you still need to talk?"

A bit of emotion swelled in Emma's chest. She had put the message in the group chat with her siblings, asking if anyone wanted to spend the weekend at their parents' home, or even just visit for a bit.

Emma hadn't expected her sister to be free. She knew Mia was still in California. And Elliot was apparently working out of town, an unfortunate coincidence. Christian had declined, too. He had some charity thing to attend and work meetings, and yet, here he was.

"Come on." Christian held a hand down to his sister to pull her up to her feet. "Let's take a walk."

"How did you know I wanted to talk?" she asked as she stood and slipped into her sandals, her hands still grasped in Christian’s for balance.

"I'm your brother, Em," he answered. “I just know.”

It was that simple, and Emma once again felt the warmth of emotion swell within her as they fell into step.

"So, you want to take out the earbuds and tell me what's—"

Christian stopped himself when Emma held out her free earbud.

"Can we listen to a song first?" she asked. Christian accepted the earbud and Emma fished her phone out of her pocket, the intro of "Let it Be" coming through as Emma hit the button to restart.

They were both quiet for the song's duration, walking side by side for the entire 4 minutes and 3 seconds, and Christian waited while Emma stopped to delicately wrap the cord of her earbuds before stashing it away in her pocket along with her phone.

"I think that's my favorite song," she said. "It calms me."

"Me too," Christian agreed. He had half a mind to once again prompt Emma, to ask her what she wanted to talk about, but she spoke up before he could.

"What's your favorite song?" she asked, as she started walking again.

The temptation to lean into efficiency,to steer his sister back to the matter at hand, was strong as ever, but Christian allowed himself to let it be. He knew Emma would come out with whatever was concerning her in due time, and it wasn't as if Christian had any place else to be for a few hours, so he pulled out his phone and began searching through his own playlists, needing only a moment before he pressed play on a new rendition of a classical piece that was his current favorite.

"I like it," Emma said. "It's calming."

"It is," Christian echoed.

"Text me the name," Emma said, and Christian nodded as he copied and pasted.

Emma pulled her phone from her pocket and scrolled through her brother's message, a whole list of songs there on her screen.

"They're all calming. You'll like them," he offered. "It'll help with the stress."

"How do you know I’m—?"

"I'm your brother, Em," he answered as he put his phone away. "I just know."

—

Fifty Shades Masterlist

Comfy-vember 2024 Masterlist

#fifty shades trilogy #fifty shades of grey #fifty shades fanfic #christian grey #christian grey fanfic #emmeline grey

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hb-writes · 7 months ago

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Unsure if ur still accepting so if not pls ignore!! But I’m craving the fluffiest of fluff with Christian or Elliot & emmeline….. “Why don’t you say that to my face?” might be fun

Song and Dance

Summary: The security protocols are new, but Emma and Christian find themselves in the same song and dance as always.

Characters: Christian Grey and Emmeline Grey (sister!OC)

Warnings: none

Fifty Shades Masterlist

Emma idly twirled on bare feet as she made her way down the hall, her voice echoing in the relative quiet as she held her phone pressed to an ear. She knew Miss Granger, Escala’s part-time housekeeper, was in the kitchen working on dinner. And she knew that Ryan, too, was somewhere around doing whatever it was that security detail did when she was tucked safely within her brother’s penthouse fortress, but Emma still felt thoroughly alone. And thoroughly safe. Thoroughly at home.

“It’s not even worth asking, Iz,” Emma said. Her college friends didn’t know details but they knew that Emma was under a pseudo sort of lock down because of some vague security threat. “You know how Christian is. He’s being—”

Emma stilled, swallowing down the words as the brother in question suddenly appeared in the open doorway of his home office. Emma had a thought that maybe he’d been there all along, listening and watching as she had mosied down the hall. Her gaze had been focused solely on her feet so Emma couldn't be sure.

“I gotta go,” she sputtered, quickly hanging up and shoving the phone into the pocket of her zip up hoodie. She offered a smile to the brother she’d been about to—rightfully, in Emma’s opinion—insult, but Christian’s face remained neutral.

“Christian, hi. Didn’t know you’d be around tonight.”

Christian arched an eyebrow. Obviously.

Emma had been staying at Escala for about a week and a half now, and during that time, she had largely had the place to herself. Had she known her brother would be visiting, she wouldn’t have been spouting off about him. At least not in the hallway outside his office.

She studied her brother now, wondering how much Christian had heard. How much damage her mouth had caused. More than enough to spoil his mood if it wasn’t already that way, she suspected.

“Complaining about me?” he asked.

Christian’s eyebrow remained slightly arched and Emma bit her lip, considering his tone. She could lie or deflect if she wanted, but they both knew he had heard her say his name.

“Well, whatever it is you were about to say, why don’t you go ahead and say it to my face?”

Emma huffed, shaking her head. “It’s nothing I haven’t said to your face before.”

In fact, a little over a week ago, she had yelled the intended insults directly at him when he’d imposed the new set of security guidelines. It hadn't been unexpected. By now, the back and forth that came after a tightening of her security seemed like little more than tradition. And every time she had complained in recent weeks—to him, to her family or friends or the staff…to anyone who would listen, really—Emma had stuck to the same three adjectives.

Christian still seemed to be waiting for something, for her to deliver those now familiar words, so Emma obliged, her tone sounding thoroughly bored. “You’re insufferable and overprotective and annoying.”

Christian opened his mouth to argue about one or all of the insults, though as far as Emma was concerned, Christian was really and truly each of those things, but she continued before he could get a word out.

“And I understand why. And I agree with you.” This time, at least, Emma added in her head, “but that doesn’t mean I have to be happy about it.”

And even if a part of her knew it was childish, Emma had made sure he knew she wasn’t happy about it. She wasn’t happy that Ryan was once again going everywhere with her. She wasn’t happy about her social life being restricted. She wasn’t happy that her apartment across town had been deemed unsafe under the current circumstances.

Emma had initially been given two far less savory options for housing—her parent’s home or Ana and Christian’s house out by the lake. When she’d balked at the prospect being so far from school, Christian had reluctantly floated the idea of his now mostly vacant penthouse. Escala was the only option that was within the city limits, something Emma felt provided the most freedom while classes were still in session, but freedom was a loose term for what she had negotiated.

Emma knew that her brother was being over the top because circumstance warranted it this time, but she still couldn’t help feeling that the new security protocols were an overbearing restriction. A punishment. Like she was being grounded—allowed school and her part-time work at SIP—and nothing else.

“What did Izzy want?”

Emma shook her head, grateful that he’d decided on dropping the argument before it truly had a chance to get started. “Nothing,” she offered. “She just wants me to come with her for Spring Break. A group of people are going, and I was supposed to…it doesn’t matter.”

A few of her classmates had been talking about the trip for close to a month now, but Emma had been non-committal since Christian’s various decrees and restrictions had come down.

Something softened in Christian just a bit at his sister's admission. Emma’s Spring Break hadn’t been a thought on his mind, and she hadn’t mentioned it even though her break was a few days away.

For something like this, Christian had come to expect a fight. And sure, they had rowed when the security changes were first implemented, but Emma had been reasonably agreeable to it since then, if not a little distant from him.

“Em, I’m sorry. I know you want to go, but—”

“I don’t." Emma shook her head. "Not really, I mean…”

Somewhere over the last week, Emma had realized how tired she was. And she had realized it was kind of nice to have Ryan driving her to and fro so she could use the time in the car to rest or study. It was kind of nice to not have the capability to schedule plans that would interfere with school work. It was kind of nice not having to clean her apartment or cook for herself. She had been able to focus on her midterms and her work responsibilities, and now all she wanted was a break.

A proper break. She knew a road trip down to Mexico with her friends would be fun, but it would also be a week of little sleep and way too much drinking, something which Emma didn’t want just now.

“It’s been sort of nice being…home,” she said, stumbling on the word. Escala wasn’t home technically, and it felt empty without Ana and Christian there, but there was something comforting about being back in her brother’s apartment. “...Even if I am being held here against my will.”

“You’re not being—”

“I am,” she answered, “or I basically was, at least. Elliot threatened to drag me here himself if I didn’t comply.”

Christian snorted. He hadn’t realized their brother had intervened, but he wasn’t surprised. Elliot and Kate had accepted their security detail without complaint. As had their parents and Mia. It was only Emma who had fought him, scrambling for whatever scraps of freedom she could hold to in the battle.

Christian wasn’t surprised by her fighting him. He supposed it was just his and Emma’s usual song and dance, especially when it came to security. He had expected her pushback, had planned for it, knowing that she would resist staying with him or their parents. He had appeared reluctant to offer Escala, but she had ultimately ended up where Christian expected her to be. Where he knew she would be safe and least likely to fight him. Less likely to resist and rebel and put herself at unnecessary risk.

Part of him wondered how much of her fight was for show, just like his initial reluctance to allow her staying at Escala was a show. How much of it was them holding onto tradition, holding on to Emma’s childhood even now that she was legally an adult? And as much as Emma’s continual resistance tried Christian’s patience, he knew that if she stopped, he’d probably miss their song and dance…just a little bit.

“I thought maybe I could just stay with you at the lake house during break next week…?”

“Really?” Christian asked, arms folded over his chest as he leaned against the doorframe. “You want to stay with your insufferable, overprotective, annoying—”

“Actually,” she interrupted. “I want to visit with Ana and the baby.” Emma had barely seen her sister-in-law since she was still working from home a few days a week and barely physically present at the office. “But I guess that means I’ll have to deal with you, too.” Emma rolled her eyes, the left side of her mouth tugging up into a smirk she couldn’t help.

Christian hummed. “I guess we’ll have to see how that option fits in the security plans. Escala is the designated hostage facility. The lake house is supposed to be for—”

“Oh, shut up,” Emma answered, shoving her brother’s shoulder hard enough that he had to uncross his ankles and ease off the frame to keep his balance. “Can I stay with you or not? And if you say no, realize I’ll just call Ana and—”

Christian pulled her in for a hug before she could finish her threat. “Of course you’re welcome to stay. Ana and Teddy will love having you. You don’t have to ask.”

“Good,” Emma hummed. “Glad that’s settled.” She glanced into her brother’s office as she eased out of his hug. “So what are you doing here anyway?”

“Just some accounting,” Christian said as he retreated to his desk, meeting Emma’s eye as he sat back down at his laptop. “I had a few things to take care of here and it presented the perfect opportunity to make sure you’re actually behaving yourself.”

Christian eyebrows raised in such a way that usually indicated he knew his sister was doing exactly the opposite of behaving herself.

Emma rolled her eyes as she crossed her arms and leaned against the doorframe, taking up the spot Christian had just vacated. “You really are insufferable. You know that, right?”

Christian couldn’t help that the corner of his mouth tugged into a smirk, his face the exact mirror of his sister’s.

Oh yes, Christian would miss the day his sister stopped “fighting” with him.

He would miss their song and dance.

And so would she.

Fifty Shades Masterlist

#fifty shades of grey #fifty shades trilogy #christian grey #emmeline grey #life in the shade #sister!fic #thanks for the request!

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