Chapter 20
We open with Dr. Green being really sassy with Ana. I don’t blame her, though because Ana’s acting like it’s the fault of the contraception and not her own fault for losing track of time. Ana gets a transvaginal ultrasound, and because of this we’re now stuck with the most irritating nickname for Ana and Christian’s unborn child.
The nickname is little blip…because he’s a little blip on the screen. The amount this gets repeated until the end of the book actually rivals how many times Ana has called Christian “my Fifty” throughout the whole series. Here are three examples (and mind you, this is just from one page).
It’s a little blip. There’s a tiny little blip in my belly. Tiny. Wow.
I am too stunned to say anything. The little blip is a baby.
I have a blip, a little blip.
I totally get that she’s shocked and overwhelmed, but this is no different than how Ana normally thinks, so I think I’m allowed to find it more annoying than ever. Seriously, I’ll spare you the pain, but I want you to know how much I will be cringing every time I have to read, “Oh no, little Blip!”
I’m in shock. Overwhelmed. Surely I should be happy. Surely I should be thirty . . . at least.
No, Ana, you should just be at a point where you feel comfortable. And also not married to an emotionally abusive dick who obviously is going to handle this news poorly.
Perhaps I shouldn’t tell Christian. Perhaps I . . . perhaps I should end this. I halt my thoughts on that dark
path, alarmed at the direction they’re taking. Instinctively my hand sweeps down to rest protectively over my belly. No. My little Blip.
This book will talk about sharing toothbrushes, shaving each other’s pubes, anal sex, pulling tampons out of vaginas and yet it can’t talk about abortion? It can’t even mention the word? Jesus fuck. I’m not saying Ana should have one, I’m just saying why is that treated like the dirtiest thing in this book?
Christian sends Ana sweet e-mails, but she’s too worried to respond. Christian knows something is up, and after work in the car he keeps asking Ana what’s wrong, and inside she tells us she knows he’s going to go bat shit when she tells the truth. I don’t even have the energy to pretend to be surprised that their relationship is so unhealthy and Ana doesn’t acknowledge how messed up that is.
Seriously, look how terrible it is! While visiting her father in the hospital, this happens:
“I’ll see you tomorrow, okay?” I kiss him. My subconscious purses her lips. That’s provided Christian hasn’t locked you away . . . or worse.
Why would you ever want to be with someone, let alone be married to them, if you can’t expect them to have your back. Or at least not lock you away…or worse if something bad happens. Yeah, Ana’s assistant moved around some appointments and Ana didn’t bother to check her fucking calendar but shit happens. Christian should understand given all the insane crap that happens to them on a daily basis.
At dinner, Ana tells Christian the news, and of course he reacts like such a terrible shit head. I hate Ana and love to mock her, but this scene enrages me so much I can’t even be funny! Look at this shit!
“Christ, Ana!” He bangs his fist on the table, making me jump, and stands so abruptly he almost knocks the dining chair over. “You have one thing, one thing to remember. Shit! I don’t fucking believe it. How could you be so stupid?”
And this,
“I know the timing’s not very good.”
“Not very good!” he shouts. “We’ve known each other five fucking minutes. I wanted to show you the fucking world and now . . . Fuck. Diapers and vomit and shit!”
I mean, at least he’s finally acknowledging what we’ve been saying all along about how they don’t know each other. But this seems like kind of an idiotic time to make a big deal out of it. Maybe that should have been considered before they got married. Also, who here thinks Christian will actually have anything to do with diapers and vomit and shit? Poor Mrs. Jones will probably have that honor.
At this point, I thought Ana was going to take a stand and point out that he needs to grow the fuck up about this.
Instead, Christian accuses Ana of doing this on purpose, freaks out about being a father and then storms out of the house. Of course, Ana starts to sympathize rather than stick up for herself or recognize his bad behaviour and instead excuses it because poor Fifty is just scared.
After Christian leaves, Mrs. Jones comes in and tells Ana she heard what happened and asks if she can get her anything.
“I’d like a glass of white wine.”
Mrs. Jones pauses for a fraction of a second, and I remember Blip. Now I can’t drink alcohol. Can I?
To be fair, I’m pretty sure a glass of wine here or there might be okay when you’re pregnant, but the general rule of thumb is just not to drink. How is this something that’s managed to escape Ana?
Later that night, Christian comes home wasted. He’s more playful than he was before, but he’s still really annoying. He whines about how Ana won’t want to have sex with him anymore and that she’ll choose the baby over him. Fucking cry me a river, Grey.
Ana “accidentally” unlocks Christian’s Blackberry when it falls out of his pocket. My boyfriend has a Blackberry (fuck if I know why) and you can’t accidentally unlock it. You have to deliberately click buttons and shit. Christian Grey is a super high powered guy who is paranoid (and rightfully so given people like Jack Hyde are out there trying to kill him). So you’re telling me that Ana, who didn’t have e-mail two books ago, could unlock his phone so easily? I don’t buy it. Whatever, the whole point is that she sees a text from Elena/Evil Cougar/Mrs. Robinson which reveals Christian was out drinking with her and talked about Ana being pregnant to her. What a fucking dick move. He ditches Ana to go have a heart to heart with someone else when he hasn’t even talked about the situation with her? Not only that but someone who Ana despises? DICK! And that’s how this chapter ends!
Wow. Amazingly enough, Christian Grey has hit a new low. He’s not even a dick anymore. He’s the pimple on the mole of his dick.
…Which, incidentally, is still larger than most guys actual dicks. Go figure.
oh my god this book is actually worse than i already thought it was. ana has more than one thing to remember, she has a fucking job! She kind of has a life outside of christian (much emphasis on the kind of). And i bet in the future he is going to use this to prove how he has to be control of her life because she couldnt even remember her birth control!
I would also never want to be married to someone who can say things like “we’ve known each other for five minutes” when unsure how to handle a situation we had to face together. Shouldn’t this have been something to think about before the wedding?? And “I wanted to show you the world”. I literally hate him
Oh dood. I didn’t really think about it until you pointed it out in your comment. But “I wanted to show you the world”… that is the most horrible thing I think I have ever read Christian say. Inferring she didn’t exist until he met her? And by being pregnant she’s suddenly unseeable?! God this book!
I think he didn’t mean that he wanted to show her to the world but that he wanted to take her everywhere and when you’re pregnant you can’t really travel and when you have a baby/young child you can’t really travel too much either. That’s actually the one bit I can understand he’s disappointed about, but there’s such a huge difference to expressing a reason why you’re sad and being an emotionally abusive douche!
To scummy, ^ oh my god yes! One thing to remember?! Totally implying he remembers everything else important for her. HATE!!
This is where I almost gave up on the book (even though its so close to over-THANK GOODNESS). This is also where I almost gave up some of my friends for defending Christian’s reaction. If they couldn’t see just how unhealthy this relationship is and how unsexy “Fifty” really is then it was time for everyone to say “Laters baby.”
How could they defend it?! How is anything that just happened in that chapter defendable? I mean I might let the rest of the books slide (that’s a huge “might”) but this part is a deal breaker!
Yeah, wait, how did they defend it?! Did they take on Ana’s role of finding a way to sympathize with him and make it about his tortured past?
So, as a total joke/social experiment I posted as Ana on a pregnancy board all about my husband and his reaction to the pregnancy, etc.
Everyone told me to leave him, get counselling, some told me to get a restraining order.
That’s brilliant! Oh my god I want to do so many social experiments with this book!
I guess everything Christian does is excusable, though, because he’s hot and rich and has a tragic background.
can you link us to this? this sounds brilliant/slightly macabre
Why is it that our world has come to this? Creepy stalking, abusive behavior, and general douchebaggery are not acceptable, I don’t care how rich or hot the guy is!
I must say, I really enjoyed the Pokemon reference. Ana really is as useful as a Magikarp, which is to say not at all! Unfortunately for her, I don’t see her evolving anytime soon… or ever.
Ha! I just like to imagine Ana sort of flopping about uselessly. Sadly you’re right, I don’t think she’ll ever evolve into something more.
This chapter made me so angry! I’m so glad that I’m not alone in being so throughly disgusted and horrified by Christian Grey in this chapter. How could anyone pretend that he’s a good person after reading this scene?
Plus, you’d like of thing Grey wouldn’t react this way. I mean with his sexual appetite, I refuse to believe that Ana’s is the first accident he’s had to deal with. If EL James was a good writer or even a halfway decent one, I would have expected for Ana to pop the news all terrified- and have Grey take it rather well. Just have him continue eating and be like “Oh Ana. There’s ways that can be fixed. Don’t worry about it.” That way Ana can be horrified, you get the drama and argument over whether or not to keep the baby. And Christian looks more cold and emotionally distant to the idea of parenthood rather than abusive. But then again, from an author that won’t even mention abortion by name, that was about as likely as me eating my own foot.
Plus, you’d kind of think Grey wouldn’t react this way.*
Man what a typo.
It’s okay, justified anger makes typing hard. I have to edit my posts quite a bit because of this.
Yeah, your version of events would have been a lot more interesting. It’s also an actual problem couples face when one wants to keep the baby and the other doesn’t. Neither of them would have to be vilified but it would create an interesting tension and perhaps a more interesting/satisfying resolution. Too much to expect from this series, sadly.
Best. GIF. Ever.
What game is that from? The only pokemon games I ever liked were the main series games (Yellow, Silver, Sapphire, Firered, etc.), but if there’s a game out there with live 3D battling, I want it.
It’s from Pokemon Stadium 2 on the N64.
Thanks, Matt When I saw it I just knew it would come in handy for this series!
Man I can’t stand when people use their past as an excuse for their shitty behaviour. My boyfriend has a tragic past too and is the sweetest, nicest person in the world who would never treat me like THAT. I can’t even..
Great point. So many people who come from that kind of past make active, conscious decisions to NOT ever let anyone go through what they went through. And honestly, I’m sick to death of hearing how “bad” his past was when we have been told his mom was killed when he was four and then he was adopted by this super-rich, erudite family who loved him and took such great care of him. And yet, when he was a teenager, he was so out of control and angry and fucked up in the head that Evil Cougar had to “save” him from himself? WTF?
Look, my dad was an abusive ass and my mom left him when I was 7. You know much of my time with him I remember from before I was 7? Almost none. When you are that young, your mind protects you by blocking that shit out, particularly if you have a warm family to love you and take care of you later. This whole premise of “Grey was abused the first 4 years of his life, so he became a monster who let a rich woman dom him and make him more of a monster” is just such total bullshit. I can’t even.