03
Meeting The Family pt 1

She'd been up and down with herself all afternoon about actually going to meet her birth father and birth mother's families, just because she wasn't exactly sure how well she'd be recieved.

What if her father's other kids, of which there were many, thought she was only 'after the money'?

What if they just didn't like her because they were your average 'spoiled priveleged kids'?

She had a lot of concerns about meeting them, so as she pulled her car to a stop in the driveway of the expansive mansion, she looked at it, looked at the callbox on the gate and thought for a few moments.

Did she actually want to do this?

Her birth mother had said earlier that he hadn't wanted anything to do with her, at first.. And it wasn't as if she were going into this with any sorts of blinders on, she knew what her father did, what he was capable of.

It was dangerous, his lifestyle. And her daughter, not to mention herself, could be caught in the cross hairs. 'But other than you, Cass.. Who has your baby girl really got? Brett's never gonna be a good father, and you'd die before you let the people who took you from your real parents into your baby girls life. So who's that leave you both with?' The answer was plain and simple. It left her with nobody. And she didn't want Chloe growing up the way she had, in that hostile enviorment. It'd been the main reason she'd left Brett when she discovered she was pregnant with Chloe.

It was the main reason that she didn't bother with the calls or cards and letters on holidays for the people she'd originally thought her parents.

'The past, Cass, is just that. The past. He's had at least 90 percent of your supposed 'death' to realize what an idiot he was. What if he really does want to be involved in your life, in his grandkid's life?' she thought to herself as she turned her attention to fixing the little clip in flower in Chloe's head full of dark and curly hair. It amazed her, really, how at only 6 months, Chloe had more hair on her head than she'd had when she was Chloe's age.

"So.. we do this. If we don't like these people, Chloe, we go back to the way things were before. Agreed?" she asked her daughter who only answered with a tug of her hair, pointing to the door of the massive Mediterranean styled mansion.

"Typical gangster house, huh?" she laughed to herself as she got out of the car after turning it off and went around, picking her little girl up out of the passenger seat. Chloe cooed and giggled, excited. The little girl loved dresses and dressing up, and given that today was at least sort of a special occasion, Cassie had taken the time to dress Chloe up a little more, as well as taken more time dressing herself up.

Not much, granted, but a little.

She hadn't even knocked on the door when it was pulled open by her father who smiled and said "They're all in the den right now." as he stepped aside, let her in, took Chloe from her arms, jabbering at the little girl.

Chloe looked at the stranger unamused and a little more than confused. "She's a little iffy about strangers." Cassie said quietly as Sonny nodded and said solemnly in return, "That's probably a family thing." as Cassie shrugged. For the most part, she was wary of nearly everyone, personally.

But she'd been done nearly every sort of wrong one could be done in life, so her own wariness stemmed from personal experiences.

Not some genetic thing, she reminded herself, because for all you know, Cassie, this could be a sick game that psycho artist guy, Franco is playing on everyone, even as she nodded along and managed a small tight smile.

Down the hall in the den, Morgan and Michael talked about this latest thing their father had discovered, apparently Sam's child with him, who would've been named Lila, had she lived, well... She'd lived. She'd been kidnapped by a man who hated and worked for Sonny as some form of IOU when she'd been born, but apparently, according to Franco, Lila was alive and well.

And she was raised by two people right under Sonny's nose for the most part.

"So.. What do you think she'll be like?" Michael asked as Dante said calmly, "I've actually met her. Had to arrest her ex, Brett a few times in the past few months. Brett's not a good guy. And she tries to play tough.."

"But she's afraid of him?" Morgan asked, wondering just how bad this new big sister's life really was. "Didn't you say she interned at the hospital?" he asked Michael who nodded and said quietly, "She does. She's not really much of a talker, I mean I've only seen her with a few people here and there, but she definitely doesn't go out of her way to meet strangers or anything. She kinda reminds me of dad when it comes to that."

Morgan nodded and then said quietly, "I think I've met her a few times, she works a shift here and there at Kelly's. Wonder how Dad took hearing about her ex?" as Dante spoke up again to say that Sonny hadn't taken that well, especially when Dante told him 'off the record' just what his new sister was up against as far as exes went. "He wanted to go and find the guy then. Just glad I could talk him out of it."

The door opened and Cassie walked in after tentatively poking her head in first, almost as if she weren't sure why she were even here to meet everyone. She reminded herself mentally that this was for her daughter, that she held no childish illusions of finally having a family of her own after all this time, but deep down inside of her, something insisted that is exactly what she kind of hoped happened.

Apparently she had 3 brothers and one sister who was also an aunt on her mother's side. That alone sort of had her reeling, made her wonder about the sanity of the rest of the town she lived in. But she kept quiet.

Maybe this would all work out well for her. She had to hope so, because nothing ever actually seemed to work out well for her until lately.
The questions seemed to start and never end and eventually, after a few minutes, with a rueful smile she held up her hand and said calmly, "One at a time... Please?" as Sonny reminded them that she wasn't quite used to a room full of people.

She wasn't.

Especially noisy ones like these.

Dante smiled and took Chloe as he said "I'm Dante. I mean we've met, but.." as he hugged them both. She nodded and laughing a little said "We have." as she hugged back and then turned to find Michael standing behind her, arms out. "I wanna hold her. How old is she?" he asked as Cassie said with a soft smile,

"She's 6 months old. Her name's Chloe and I call her Clo most of the time." while Michael held the little girl who kept trying to reach for his lip, making him laugh. "Yes, lip. No, you can't have." he told the little girl before handing her back to Cassie who took her.

She wasn't used to anyone holding her little girl other than herself or Maria, her best friend and neighbor. Lulu walked in next and said with a smile, "Sorry I'm late. I'm Lulu, Dante's wife. I'm glad to meet you. We'll have to let Ben and Chloe play together sometimes."

"We will." Cassie promised as she looked around and didn't get much time before her father's girlfriend came over, smiling, cooing at the baby. "Another one to spoil." she said as Cassie shook her head and said "I think she's spoiled enough." as she kissed Chloe's forehead, letting the other woman take her. "This dress is so cute!" Olivia said as she suddenly saw a vision...

The dark haired guy laughed as Cassie groaned and shook her head. "You're gonna ruin her. She's 2, she has working legs." Cassie told the man, (who couldn't be clearly seen by Olivia for once), and the man laughed and said "Doesn't matter. One day she's not gonna want me to carry her around anymore. Going to enjoy it now. Besides, you carry her all the time too."

"That's totally different..." Cassie said as fingers snapped in front of Olivia's face and Olivia looked at Cassie, asked with a curious look, "Are you seeing someone?" which was met with Cassie's hysterical laughter and then a look as if to say "Oh.. You were being serious.' before Cassie finally replied "Nope. Ditched Chloe's dad because he's a bastard and we didn't need that kind of drama in our lives. Not sure I'm ever gonna look again either."

"You'll find someone." Olivia replied confidently. Cassie raised a brow but didn't comment. There was this rumor going around that Olivia had visions or something and for a moment, Cassie got the sneaking suspicion that Olivia might have 'seen something' in her future. But then the more practical side of Cassie's brain kicked in and she reminded herself mentally 'There are no knights in shining armor, girl, only losers in tin foil. Besides, it's highly doubtful she saw anything about your future. Just because she seemed so sure doesn't mean it will happen.'

The door opened one more time and Carly walked in, looking at Sonny and the girl he'd recently discovered was another one of his children, his daughter with Sam, actually. "We really should've seen the resemblance to both of you that night on the boat." Carly remarked as Sonny nodded and said "Should've, but I didn't dare hope. I mean for so long now, I thought she was gone too. Now she's not."

"Take advantage of it, Sonny. Make a relationship with your daughter and her little girl. Don't let her keep you out. Sam told me earlier that Cassie's reluctant to accept all this."

He nodded and said calmly, "Can you blame her? I mean the people who raised her did enough damage." as he watched his second oldest child interacting with her siblings, watched her with his granddaughter.

Carly walked over when the talking died down a bit and said quietly, " You should give both of them a chance. Losing you was really hard on Sam and Sonny.. He didn't take it well either."

Cassie studied the blonde woman and sighing said quietly, "I'll try. I'm just not really used to having so much family. For so long, I've been the only person I trusted, really." as Carly nodded and said "When I first came to town, I felt the same way."

"Interesting." Cassie remarked as she turned to be pulled into a hug by Morgan who said with a smile, "And I'm gonna totally spoil her." as he took Chloe and then said quietly, "And if you need anything, Cass.. I mean it.. Just tell me."

"I think I'll be okay." Cassie said as she sat down and looked around the room trying to figure out whether she could get used to this, or letting her mobster father have such a place in her life, in the life of her child was actually a good idea.

She needs family. I do too, even if I'd never admit it. she thought to herself as she bit her lower lip and listened to them all talking, laughing and talking back when asked questions about her life. She spent about half the afternoon and until almost 9 at night there with her father and her father's family, talking and getting to know them.

By the time she left, she'd pretty much decided that maybe Carly was right in her advice. Everyone in this situation did deserve a chance.
Herself included in that.

She hugged her father goodbye one more time and set off for her grandmother's house, the anxious knot in her stomach subsided only a little.

One side of the family down.. Still another to go.. She wondered how this was going to work as she drove to her grandmother's house.

And she wondered why she got the distinct feeling that she was going to have a very involved family from here on out. She also wondered if that would be a good or a bad thing.

She hadn't had that before, it'd be a huge adjustment.