Taylor takes a bullet for Christian

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My cell phone sings out in a chorus of voices “You’ve got mail”. “Now what the fuck?” I blast out, irritated that I’m interrupted….again. I glance to see who’s calling and think,
“shit, it’s the troll bitch” as Ana calls her. What in the hell is she calling for and why am I even entertaining the thought of taking her fucking call as I hit ‘send’ to answer. “Hello, darling. I am surprised that you answered considering your wife damn near broke my jaw bone on Thanksgiving. I still can’t eat a decent meal, but don’t worry, darling, I am not filing charges because I realize that I was wrong. I just didn’t think”….. I interrupt her before she can finish. “Look, Elena. You have got to stay out of my life. What we had when I was younger is. no. more. and you have to understand that. I really thought that I loved you at one point but I was just a kid with raging hormones. You told me that “love is for fools”. Well, since I met Ana, I realize that love is not “for fools”. I finally know what love is and what I felt for you certainly was not love. And it is a good thing that you didn’t file charges because, I am sure that you wouldn’t want “our” story plastered in the papers for everyone to see. But to protect Ana, I wouldn’t give a fucking leap if it was heralded by Gabriel himself. You are like a pit bull. You just won’t let go. What is it that you want, Elena?” There is a brief silence on the phone and finally she says, “I just want you to know that I will always be here for you. Maybe, I was the fool because I know now that I do love you Christian and I always have.” You can’t blame me for that. I can’t turn my feelings off like one would turn off a faucet. Do you really expect me to do that?” Elena, this conversation is over. I love Ana, not you, never have, don’t now and never will. Do you understand that? Leave my wife and me alone. Stay out of our lives. Do you understand that, Elena?” Stay out of our lives.” The phone goes quite and I hear her quietly sobbing. I quickly hang up the phone and call Ana.

She answers on the first ring. “Hi, my husband. You usually text me. Is everything alright?” I catch my breath at the sound of her sweet voice. “Yes, baby. Everything is just fine. I just wanted to let you know how very much I love you and miss you. Now get back to work.” “Christian, what brought this on?” “Nothing, baby, I just needed to tell you that”. Do you love me back?” “Of course I do my bossy, mercurial, sweet 50. Of course I do”. Now I am going to do as you just ordered me to do and that is to “get back to work”. “I love you, the ground you walk on and the air you breathe. See you tonight after work, okay?” I respond with an “I can’t wait” and click off my Blackberry. “That damn Elena. Maybe I will talk to dad about getting a restraining order against her. I really don’t want to do that, though. I know that she loves me and I don’t want to break her like I feel that I did to Leila but I can’t continue to allow her to harass us in this manner. Well, maybe after today’s conversation…… shit, she just doesn’t take no for an answer. Well, let it go, Grey, you have other things to deal with.

I call Mia, then Elliot and let them know what my plan is for a Christmas present for our parents and grandparents. Both of them are elated. Mia, in typical Mia fashion, starts squealing and saying what a wonderful idea it is. Even Elliot seems excited about it. “Great idea, bro”. Let me know when you want to get together. I tell him the same thing that I told Mia. I will give them a call in a few days. Just as I am hanging up, Andrea knocks on my door. I tell her to come in and she gives me the information that I have asked her to obtain for me. I tell her to go ahead and get it ordered but to make sure that it is completed and delivered on Christmas Eve. She says she is on it and exits. I sometimes wonder how I managed to get the staff that I have. Andrea and Roz are both getting huge bonuses because of their loyalty and dedication and for putting up with my “50 shades of fucked upness” I want them to know how much I appreciate them, even though at times, I can be an ogre.

I tell Taylor that I will be ready in about 10 minutes. “Sir”. He starts to head out of my office when Andrea comes running in, almost knocks Taylor on his ass and is totally hysterical, screaming and crying as she is falling to the floor. Taylor and I both try to reach her but Taylor succeeds as he is closest to her, catches her and picks her up and places her on the couch. “What the hell, happened, Andrea?”, I ask. Andrea is just about ready to pass out but manages to breathe into a paper bag that Taylor gets from somewhere, only God knows. The man is incredible. Andrea is finally able to speak and I, by this time, am ready to stroke out myself, knowing that it is something serious. My first thought was that something has happened to Ana. I just about scream at Andrea. Is it Anastasia? The staff and security on my floor, hear the commotion and come running. Is it Anastasia, I yell as I grab her shoulders? She starts shaking her head in the negative and sputters out, “It’s you they are after”. What the fuck is she talking about? Taylor jumps in front of me, almost knocking me on my ass, grabs Andrea up by the shoulders and asks her what she is talking about and who is after the boss? I quickly mull over in my head, “is that what they call me? The boss?” After what seems like an eternity, Andrea starts talking or should I say, rambling about a phone call from some man who said that he is waiting outside for that fucker Grey to come out because he is going to blow his brains from here to hell. Without missing a beat, Taylor orders the security detail to follow him and they are out of the office in a flash. Taylor had brought the SUV up earlier and parked it in my designated parking space.

I try my best to calm Andrea down, to no avail. I tell one of the other staff to get Roz in here ASAP, which they do. Roz comes running in, asking what the hell is going on. I try as best as I can to explain to her what happened. I instruct Roz to get Andrea to the ER for treatment for hysteria and to stay with her until I get there. In the meantime, Taylor returns with a report that the coast seems clear but just to make sure, he is going to take the car back down to the garage so that we can leave from there. I tell him no. I am not going to let some bastard run my life. Taylor insists and so do I and since I am “the boss”, he damn well better follow my instructions. He gives me a look that is a little more than his usual impassive look and I glare back at him…NO, Taylor. Let’s go. It is not up for discussion. Taylor grabs his piece out like he is ready for battle and walks ahead of me as we exit the office and then the building. I tell him to “put your damn gun away, Taylor. It was probably just a prank call”. Taylor keeps walking and I am just not in the mood for a fight with my personal security. I decide to let him do his job.

When we exit the building with the other security detail, they are all looking around in different directions as Taylor hustles me toward the SUV. All of a sudden, shots ring out. One of the security guards, yells, “Taylor, gun pointing at Grey from 2nd story, building on the left at 11 o’clock”. Taylor jumps in front of me, pushing me in the SUV, starts shooting in the afore described position and then suddenly goes down. Taylor has just taken bullets intended for me. He disregarded life and limb to protect me. I jump out of the vehicle and pick Taylor up, lay him in the back seat, shout at the security to take care of the situation….I’m taking Taylor to the hospital. They tell me that they are going to call an ambulance. I tell them “no, I don’t have time for a fucking ambulance’. “Not for Taylor, sir. We think he shot the shooter. He is hanging half out of the window”. I don’t take the time to even check, knowing full well that the security was on top of the situation. As we jet away, one lone paparazzi starts snapping pictures. Where in the hell did his ass come from? I am glad that the windows are tinted. I speed to the hospital that is about 3 miles away from GEH and pull into the area that is reserved for rescue squads. I jump out from the driver’s side, open the back door to the SUV, and lay on the ER bell frantically. An orderly comes running out and quickly accesses the situation, sees all of the blood coming from Taylor’s head and runs to get help.

They rush Taylor into an examining room, while asking me how he got injured. I tell them that he took some bullets intended for me. They ask me to step outside while they examine him to find out the extent of his injuries. A nurse starts an IV while a male nurse cuts off his shirt, jacket and pants, to keep from moving him. “Sir, you are going to have to leave”. “Not on your life, I retort in a voice that sounds like it came up from the bowels of hell. I am not leaving him”. The doctor on duty tells them to let me stay. “If I am not mistaken, you are Dr. Grey’s son, Christian….am I right?” I nod and ask him if my mom is on duty. He tells the orderly to check to see if she is in the building and to have her get down here, if she is, STAT.

I look at Taylor and for a minute, have to fight back tears. Please, God. Let Taylor be okay. Just as I say that to myself, mom runs in and Taylor opens his eyes. Oh thank God. They explain the situation to mom before she has a chance to ask. She walks over to me, puts her arm around my waist and tells me that Taylor is just fine. “Our scalps have veins that are very close to the skin and whenever someone receives a head injury, it bleeds profusely. Taylor was just grazed by one bullet enough to scrape the skin. They don’t even have to shave his head or give him stitches. As you can see, he is just fine. As a matter of fact, it looks as though he must have bumped his head on something hard enough to knock him colder than a frosty morn, but it certainly was not a bullet. I think that he probably knocked his head on the door frame when he was trying to push me in the vehicle.

“Boss”, Taylor says. “Did I nail the fucker”? One of the nurses gasps. Taylor looks and sees everyone standing around, even mom and says, “Sorry”. Did I nail him, sir?” Yes, Taylor. Not only did you “nail” him, but you saved my life”. “Just doing my job, sir”. Oops, wrong thing to say in front of mom. “WHAT?”, mom screams as tears start running down her beautiful face. “I’m fine mom. I will explain later. Now stop crying”, I whisper in her ear. “You are embarrassing me. I am just fine. We will talk later but until then, not a word to anybody, okay? I’m sure that by now, the press has heard something and is trying to find out what happened.” She gives me the Ana Grey eye rolling look. “Oh no, not her too?” I say. She looks at me as if to say, “What in the world are you talking about?” “Nothing”, I say. “Just talking to Christian”. She looks at me with love showing in her eyes and smiles that special smile that I had become so accustomed to as a child. “What?” I ask. She throws her arms around my neck, hugging me tight and whispers in my ear. “When you were just a little boy and you had finally decided to speak, I used to hear you talking to someone or something. I would ask you what you were saying and your words to me in your sweet little voice, were, “Nothing. Just talking to Christian”. It just brought back a flood of memories and reminded me of how much we loved you and still do, my darling. I gently kiss my mother on her forehead. We turn our attention back to Taylor. Taylor motions me to come to the side of the bed. First he asks how Andrea is and then he asks if the would be assassin is dead. I tell him that I am about to go check on Andrea and then I will call and find out the situation at GEH. I want to see about Andrea first though because everyone is going to want to know how the “ice queen” is. Taylor looks at me astonished that I knew what they called her. “Taylor”, I say. “There is almost nothing that goes on in my companies that I don’t know about. I do have to admit that the boss thing threw me. That is one thing I didn’t know about and I have a sneaking suspension that you started that.” Taylor just looks at me, turns his head and tries to hide a smile which in turn makes me smile and cracks mom up. She doesn’t even try to suppress her laughter.

After Taylor is released, he, mom and I make our way to the information desk and find out that Andrea and Roz are still in the treatment room. Andrea has recovered enough to leave; however, Roz tells me that she refuses to leave until she see’s me and “I sure wasn’t going to leave her alone”. Andrea tells them “that he should be here shortly”. The doctor says it is okay for her to stay for another hour or so because he doesn’t want her to go into another panic attack. This last one was pretty severe. Talk about humbling. My staff really does care about me. I had no idea that they felt this way. Andrea’s bonus just doubled. Ana tried to tell me but it was just so hard to accept. Now I know. I brief Roz and Andrea and mom as to what took place at GEH. Roz leaves the examination room quickly. Taylor looks at me; I look back at him and shrug my shoulders. Andrea shoos us out while she gets dressed to leave. I check my Blackberry. 10 calls with messages from the ball crusher. Oh shit. I’d better get back to her. I sure as hell don’t want her calling Ana.

She answers on the first ring and says, “Christian, I want to know what the hell happened at GEH. I heard something on the scanner when I walked into the news room, about there being a shooting at GEH and several people had been taken to the hospital. They didn’t know if there were any fatalities. Are you alright? Wow. Does this mean that Kate is concerned about me too?” Will wonders never cease? I first ascertain that she has not called Ana. She tells me no. With a sigh of relief, I explain to her what happened and promised her the first news release. “As a matter of fact, Kate. Can you meet me at Grey House in about an hour? I will let you give out the press release. My people have been through enough”. “Christian, you would let me do that”? She asks. I come back with “Why not? After all, you are my wife’s best friend.” She agrees and very humbly thanks me. Wow, the bone crusher can be humble. As we prepare to leave, Roz comes hustling up to us to tell us that the only thing that she can tell us is that the shooter is in critical condition. They won’t release any further information. I will send my team of PR people, led by Welch, over later to get what information they can. They will bring back their report directly to Kate and me. No one else.

I get out my blackberry and attempt to call Sawyer when it rings. I look at it, relieved that it is not Ana. I see that it is Elena and quickly click on leave a message which states, “I can’t come to the phone right now”. I click off and call Sawyer, and apprise him of the situation. I ask him if she has left yet. He says to me “Affirmative, Sir.” I can tell by the tone of his voice that she is in the car. I instruct him to take her directly home, no television, and no radio. He is to keep Ana and Gail as isolated as possible. We are on our way home as we speak. Yes sir.”

Look for the rest of the story, next blog post along with another surprise.