Shifting Colours Part 6: Conversations and Investigations
Title: Shifting Colours, part 6
Author: celticlonging
Fandom: Fifty Shades trilogy
Rating: R
Warnings: Mentions of physical and sexual abuse
Word Count: 1827
Inspiration: gehayi and ketmakura’s sporking of Fifty Shades Darker
Summary: Robert has a very revealing conversation with Jason Taylor.
Author’s Note: I don’t own anything from Fifty Shades.
“Hello?”
“Hi, Jay, it’s me.”
“Bob!” Robert’s brother-in-law, Jay Nelson, sounded pleased to hear from him. “How are you? I think Michael’s still in bed; shall I send you a text when he’s awake?”
“I’m calling to talk to you, not Michael.” Robert ran a hand through his black hair. He was standing in the bedroom he’d been allocated. As soon as breakfast had ended he had excused himself as politely as possible, saying he needed to make a few calls.
“Is everything OK?” Jay’s voice was filled with concern.
“No, everything is not OK. The guy we’re investigating just threatened Michael.”
“What?”
“Do not let him out of your sight.” Robert bit out the words. “And if he doesn’t like it, tough.”
“Are you, Kevin and Toby going to be OK?”
“We should be. I’m going to call Leon Blake and tell him about this.”
“Sure. Take care of yourselves. Bye.” With that, Jay hung up.
Robert looked through his phone for Blake’s number. When he had first started volunteering on Agency missions, Blake had given him his number for emergencies. Robert was pretty sure this counted as an emergency.
Someone knocked on the door. “Robert? It’s Carrick; please can we talk?”
Robert walked over to the door and opened it. Before he could open his mouth, Carrick said: “I am so sorry. I swear I did not tell Christian about Michael.”
Robert held the door open so Carrick could walk into the bedroom. “Did you tell Grace about him?” he asked, shutting the door.
“No. I told her you were coming with Kevin and Toby; she knows what you’re doing here. I didn’t tell anyone you have three sons - not Grace, not Elliot, not Mia and certainly not Christian.”
“So how the hell did he find out?” Robert growled.
“I don’t know. He…he told me once that he has any potential employees investigated before he hires them. His bodyguard might know something about that.”
Jason Taylor knew I have three sons. I even told him their names.
“Robert, have you…” Carrick paused; his colours were once again pale orange with anxiety. “Have you noticed anything about Christian that suggests he’s a Compeller?”
“I’m sorry, but yes. I think I have.” As Robert explained what he had seen, he noticed Carrick’s colours slowly change to a miserable dark blue.
“So you think he’s forcing women to find him attractive?”
“I’m not sure if he knows he’s doing it, but he certainly enjoys their reactions.”
“Is he doing the same thing to Ana?” asked Carrick.
“No, and that’s something I don’t understand. Her colours are behaving perfectly normally; if he was compelling her into liking him, her colours might be permanently glazed over. Toby suggested that he might not have to compel her because they’re already in a relationship. You did say you thought it might be serious between them. What I can tell you is that Ana is afraid of him; I saw it at the charity ball and this morning at breakfast.”
I think she can resist him. She either doesn’t want to or is too frightened of him.
Carrick took a deep breath, and then released it. “I don’t know what to do. Christian is my son and I love him, but if you’re implying what I think you are…” He trailed off. “You just told me Ana is afraid of my son - her boyfriend. After what Christian said at breakfast concerning Michael, I’m starting to believe she has reason to be scared of him.” He cleared his throat and abruptly changed the subject. “I’ll leave you to make your other calls.”
Carrick left the bedroom and closed the door behind him. Robert was left with the words he wanted to say to his friend sticking in his throat.
Sighing unhappily, he dialled Leon Blake’s number and held the phone to his ear.
“Leon Blake’s phone, Angel speaking. How may I help?” a female voice said on the other end of the line.
“It’s Robert Mendoza.”
Immediately the voice changed to Gabriel Lucado’s warm tones. “Hey, Bob! How are ya?”
“This isn’t a social call, Gabe. Christian Grey has threatened my youngest son.”
There was a pause. “OK. What did he say?”
“It was at breakfast. Grey asked after my youngest - he even knew Michael’s name. He talked about the kidnapping, and…how it must feel to know your child was in danger.” Robert stopped talking in order to take several deep breaths. “Carrick swears he didn’t tell any of his family about Michael, and he wasn’t lying.”
“All right. I’m gonna talk to Blake and see if we can get some agents to survey your house.”
“Michael isn’t at my house. He’s at his uncle’s place. I’ll give you the address and Jay’s number. It’s…”
Robert dictated Jay’s address and number over the phone to Gabe; he also talked about the evidence he’d seen that pointed towards Christian Grey having a Gift.
“Have you got any stones that might help?”
“I hadn’t thought of that. Got any suggestions?”
“Well, uh, there’s peridot. It’s supposed to provide protection from bad influences, among other things. Gotta warn you, though, it’s not exactly cheap. A combination of bloodstone and blue quartz might be better: bloodstone is associated with courage, strength and support, and blue quartz is supposed to protect from bad influences as well.”
“I’m not sure I’ve got any of those in my stash. Anyway, the boys would need some too and there has to be a jewellery or gemstone store in Seattle somewhere.”
xxx
“A gemstone store?” Mia’s brow furrowed in concentration. “Oh yeah, there’s Gem Heaven and Raven’s Nest Treasure. I haven’t been in either of them since I was fifteen.”
Everyone was seated around the table for a leisurely lunch. Kevin and Toby kept looking at Grey, their colours showing a mixture of anger, wariness and nervousness. He was completely indifferent to their glares. Ana’s hostility towards Gretchen was still present; whenever the blonde came close to Christian (and she appeared to be going out of her way to do just that), Ana would glower at her.
Kate appeared to be enjoying the meal but she would often look at Ana and Grey. She certainly disliked Grey (smart girl), and was concerned for Ana.
“Christian, would you mind lending Robert your chauffeur for the afternoon?” Carrick’s words were casual, but the small glance he gave Robert told a different story.
“If he doesn’t object,” Robert quickly added.
“He’ll do whatever I tell him to,” Grey replied without looking up from his plate.
xxx
Robert left Gem Heaven with a small paper bag stuffed into his jacket pocket. He manoeuvred through the people walking down the busy street until he came to the car. Jason was in the driver’s seat, nonchalantly looking out of the window. Robert opened the door and got in.
“I need to ask you something, Jason.”
Jason smiled. “I had a feeling this wasn’t just about a ride into town.”
“Did you at any point tell your boss about my youngest son?”
Jason’s colours flared slightly in surprise. He turned his head and looked at Robert. “No,” he replied immediately. “I’m guessing you didn’t mention him either.”
“I didn’t, and neither did my two older sons.”
Jason didn’t say anything for a while. Robert watched his colours; from what he could see of them, he could tell Jason was struggling with something. Eventually, Jason began to speak in his gravelly voice.
“When Grey interviewed me for the job of bodyguard, I didn’t like him at all. There was just something that made my skin crawl. But the job interview went well, and I was willing to put up with the boss from hell as long as I got the money for Sophie’s heart operation.* Of course, I didn’t tell him about Sophie - didn’t trust him in the least. Then one day the hospital called me and said an anonymous donor had given them money and the letter had specifically said it was for Sophie’s operation. I didn’t think what that meant - I was just so relieved we had been given this chance, and so I took it.” He sighed. “She’s still not out of danger yet; she still needs a lot of check-ups and monitoring.”
Robert nodded.
“A week after Sophie’s operation, I stumbled in on Grey beating a naked woman with a riding-crop.”
“What?”
“She was chained to a St. Andrew’s cross. Her back and legs were bruised and she was screaming through the gag. The moment Grey saw me, he unchained her and told her to get out of the room. Then he asked after my daughter, and how her operation went. He said it would be a shame if her treatment stopped that if I told anyone what I had seen, he would see to it that her treatment stopped. This was after he tried to bribe and persuade me to keep my mouth shut.”
He’s not lying.
“And yet here you are, telling me about it.”
Jason smiled bitterly. “Here I am. What did he say to you?”
Robert repeated Grey’s words; when he was finished, Jason said: “Yeah. He threatened your boy just like he did my little girl.”
“Why was he hurting that woman?” Robert forced the words out.
“Because he gets off on it. He likes to hurt women for his own pleasure because he’s a twisted sadist. Grey calls it BDSM, but it’s just an excuse to inflict pain. He threw the girl out a week later.”
“Why would she agree to that?”
“I have no idea. She and the others were probably charmed into agreeing and didn’t realise they were trapped until they signed the contract. He abuses them physically and sexually while making them think that’s what they want. Then he gets tired of them, kicks them out and moves onto the next girl.” Jason rubbed his forehead tiredly. “Miss Steele was different. She broke up with him. And then a week later, they’re back together. I have no idea what he said to her. It's like Grey’s got some kind of mind-control power that makes women do whatever he wants.”
“Do you know if this was before or after he bought the company she works for?” Robert was aware he might be pushing his luck, but this could be very important.
“He bought the company during the break-up period. He keeps telling her he wants her to be safe, and he does it by making sure he’s got every aspect of her existence in his pocket.” Jason’s eyes narrowed. “How do you know he bought SIP? More importantly, Bob,” he said, leaning his elbow on the car door, “who exactly are you?”
*I know that Grey’s money helped get Sophie Taylor a life-saving operation, but I don’t know what said operation was. I decided to go with a heart operation.
Author: celticlonging
Fandom: Fifty Shades trilogy
Rating: R
Warnings: Mentions of physical and sexual abuse
Word Count: 1827
Inspiration: gehayi and ketmakura’s sporking of Fifty Shades Darker
Summary: Robert has a very revealing conversation with Jason Taylor.
Author’s Note: I don’t own anything from Fifty Shades.
“Hello?”
“Hi, Jay, it’s me.”
“Bob!” Robert’s brother-in-law, Jay Nelson, sounded pleased to hear from him. “How are you? I think Michael’s still in bed; shall I send you a text when he’s awake?”
“I’m calling to talk to you, not Michael.” Robert ran a hand through his black hair. He was standing in the bedroom he’d been allocated. As soon as breakfast had ended he had excused himself as politely as possible, saying he needed to make a few calls.
“Is everything OK?” Jay’s voice was filled with concern.
“No, everything is not OK. The guy we’re investigating just threatened Michael.”
“What?”
“Do not let him out of your sight.” Robert bit out the words. “And if he doesn’t like it, tough.”
“Are you, Kevin and Toby going to be OK?”
“We should be. I’m going to call Leon Blake and tell him about this.”
“Sure. Take care of yourselves. Bye.” With that, Jay hung up.
Robert looked through his phone for Blake’s number. When he had first started volunteering on Agency missions, Blake had given him his number for emergencies. Robert was pretty sure this counted as an emergency.
Someone knocked on the door. “Robert? It’s Carrick; please can we talk?”
Robert walked over to the door and opened it. Before he could open his mouth, Carrick said: “I am so sorry. I swear I did not tell Christian about Michael.”
Robert held the door open so Carrick could walk into the bedroom. “Did you tell Grace about him?” he asked, shutting the door.
“No. I told her you were coming with Kevin and Toby; she knows what you’re doing here. I didn’t tell anyone you have three sons - not Grace, not Elliot, not Mia and certainly not Christian.”
“So how the hell did he find out?” Robert growled.
“I don’t know. He…he told me once that he has any potential employees investigated before he hires them. His bodyguard might know something about that.”
Jason Taylor knew I have three sons. I even told him their names.
“Robert, have you…” Carrick paused; his colours were once again pale orange with anxiety. “Have you noticed anything about Christian that suggests he’s a Compeller?”
“I’m sorry, but yes. I think I have.” As Robert explained what he had seen, he noticed Carrick’s colours slowly change to a miserable dark blue.
“So you think he’s forcing women to find him attractive?”
“I’m not sure if he knows he’s doing it, but he certainly enjoys their reactions.”
“Is he doing the same thing to Ana?” asked Carrick.
“No, and that’s something I don’t understand. Her colours are behaving perfectly normally; if he was compelling her into liking him, her colours might be permanently glazed over. Toby suggested that he might not have to compel her because they’re already in a relationship. You did say you thought it might be serious between them. What I can tell you is that Ana is afraid of him; I saw it at the charity ball and this morning at breakfast.”
I think she can resist him. She either doesn’t want to or is too frightened of him.
Carrick took a deep breath, and then released it. “I don’t know what to do. Christian is my son and I love him, but if you’re implying what I think you are…” He trailed off. “You just told me Ana is afraid of my son - her boyfriend. After what Christian said at breakfast concerning Michael, I’m starting to believe she has reason to be scared of him.” He cleared his throat and abruptly changed the subject. “I’ll leave you to make your other calls.”
Carrick left the bedroom and closed the door behind him. Robert was left with the words he wanted to say to his friend sticking in his throat.
Sighing unhappily, he dialled Leon Blake’s number and held the phone to his ear.
“Leon Blake’s phone, Angel speaking. How may I help?” a female voice said on the other end of the line.
“It’s Robert Mendoza.”
Immediately the voice changed to Gabriel Lucado’s warm tones. “Hey, Bob! How are ya?”
“This isn’t a social call, Gabe. Christian Grey has threatened my youngest son.”
There was a pause. “OK. What did he say?”
“It was at breakfast. Grey asked after my youngest - he even knew Michael’s name. He talked about the kidnapping, and…how it must feel to know your child was in danger.” Robert stopped talking in order to take several deep breaths. “Carrick swears he didn’t tell any of his family about Michael, and he wasn’t lying.”
“All right. I’m gonna talk to Blake and see if we can get some agents to survey your house.”
“Michael isn’t at my house. He’s at his uncle’s place. I’ll give you the address and Jay’s number. It’s…”
Robert dictated Jay’s address and number over the phone to Gabe; he also talked about the evidence he’d seen that pointed towards Christian Grey having a Gift.
“Have you got any stones that might help?”
“I hadn’t thought of that. Got any suggestions?”
“Well, uh, there’s peridot. It’s supposed to provide protection from bad influences, among other things. Gotta warn you, though, it’s not exactly cheap. A combination of bloodstone and blue quartz might be better: bloodstone is associated with courage, strength and support, and blue quartz is supposed to protect from bad influences as well.”
“I’m not sure I’ve got any of those in my stash. Anyway, the boys would need some too and there has to be a jewellery or gemstone store in Seattle somewhere.”
xxx
“A gemstone store?” Mia’s brow furrowed in concentration. “Oh yeah, there’s Gem Heaven and Raven’s Nest Treasure. I haven’t been in either of them since I was fifteen.”
Everyone was seated around the table for a leisurely lunch. Kevin and Toby kept looking at Grey, their colours showing a mixture of anger, wariness and nervousness. He was completely indifferent to their glares. Ana’s hostility towards Gretchen was still present; whenever the blonde came close to Christian (and she appeared to be going out of her way to do just that), Ana would glower at her.
Kate appeared to be enjoying the meal but she would often look at Ana and Grey. She certainly disliked Grey (smart girl), and was concerned for Ana.
“Christian, would you mind lending Robert your chauffeur for the afternoon?” Carrick’s words were casual, but the small glance he gave Robert told a different story.
“If he doesn’t object,” Robert quickly added.
“He’ll do whatever I tell him to,” Grey replied without looking up from his plate.
xxx
Robert left Gem Heaven with a small paper bag stuffed into his jacket pocket. He manoeuvred through the people walking down the busy street until he came to the car. Jason was in the driver’s seat, nonchalantly looking out of the window. Robert opened the door and got in.
“I need to ask you something, Jason.”
Jason smiled. “I had a feeling this wasn’t just about a ride into town.”
“Did you at any point tell your boss about my youngest son?”
Jason’s colours flared slightly in surprise. He turned his head and looked at Robert. “No,” he replied immediately. “I’m guessing you didn’t mention him either.”
“I didn’t, and neither did my two older sons.”
Jason didn’t say anything for a while. Robert watched his colours; from what he could see of them, he could tell Jason was struggling with something. Eventually, Jason began to speak in his gravelly voice.
“When Grey interviewed me for the job of bodyguard, I didn’t like him at all. There was just something that made my skin crawl. But the job interview went well, and I was willing to put up with the boss from hell as long as I got the money for Sophie’s heart operation.* Of course, I didn’t tell him about Sophie - didn’t trust him in the least. Then one day the hospital called me and said an anonymous donor had given them money and the letter had specifically said it was for Sophie’s operation. I didn’t think what that meant - I was just so relieved we had been given this chance, and so I took it.” He sighed. “She’s still not out of danger yet; she still needs a lot of check-ups and monitoring.”
Robert nodded.
“A week after Sophie’s operation, I stumbled in on Grey beating a naked woman with a riding-crop.”
“What?”
“She was chained to a St. Andrew’s cross. Her back and legs were bruised and she was screaming through the gag. The moment Grey saw me, he unchained her and told her to get out of the room. Then he asked after my daughter, and how her operation went. He said it would be a shame if her treatment stopped that if I told anyone what I had seen, he would see to it that her treatment stopped. This was after he tried to bribe and persuade me to keep my mouth shut.”
He’s not lying.
“And yet here you are, telling me about it.”
Jason smiled bitterly. “Here I am. What did he say to you?”
Robert repeated Grey’s words; when he was finished, Jason said: “Yeah. He threatened your boy just like he did my little girl.”
“Why was he hurting that woman?” Robert forced the words out.
“Because he gets off on it. He likes to hurt women for his own pleasure because he’s a twisted sadist. Grey calls it BDSM, but it’s just an excuse to inflict pain. He threw the girl out a week later.”
“Why would she agree to that?”
“I have no idea. She and the others were probably charmed into agreeing and didn’t realise they were trapped until they signed the contract. He abuses them physically and sexually while making them think that’s what they want. Then he gets tired of them, kicks them out and moves onto the next girl.” Jason rubbed his forehead tiredly. “Miss Steele was different. She broke up with him. And then a week later, they’re back together. I have no idea what he said to her. It's like Grey’s got some kind of mind-control power that makes women do whatever he wants.”
“Do you know if this was before or after he bought the company she works for?” Robert was aware he might be pushing his luck, but this could be very important.
“He bought the company during the break-up period. He keeps telling her he wants her to be safe, and he does it by making sure he’s got every aspect of her existence in his pocket.” Jason’s eyes narrowed. “How do you know he bought SIP? More importantly, Bob,” he said, leaning his elbow on the car door, “who exactly are you?”
*I know that Grey’s money helped get Sophie Taylor a life-saving operation, but I don’t know what said operation was. I decided to go with a heart operation.