A/N: Woohoo! 35th chapter means this is officially the halfway mark of this story! Thanks so much for sticking with it so long. :)

CHAPTER 35-A Family Affair

Quatre knocked on Riley's door thirty minutes later. Riley opened the door and he didn't say anything for a minute.

"Um, is this okay?" she asked. "You didn't say if it was supposed to be formal or not."

"No, it's…great. You look great. Um…you ready?"

"You're sure it's okay? I mean, you're a bit dressier than usual." She bit her lower lip, worried that she'd underdressed.

He was wearing a pink dress shirt, khaki slacks and a purple vest. She hadn't seen that particular outfit before. He always dressed nice, but generally it was still casual.

"Oh this, well, my sisters bought it for me years ago and they kind of expect me to wear it."

She could tell he was uncomfortable. "Do you want to wear that?"

Again, he seemed surprised that she wanted his opinion. "In all honesty…not really."

"Then change. If it's your birthday, you should get to wear what you want."

"But, my sisters…" he broke off, not wanting to say anything against his sisters. They meant well, even if they didn't quite understand him.

"Apparently your sisters need to get it into their heads that you are capable of dressing yourself. And as long as you let them have their way, they'll keep expecting to get it." He was thinking it over, but seemed to balk. He just wasn't the type to make waves if he didn't absolutely have to. "Look, if you want, you can tell them that I bought you whatever you choose to wear and I insisted you wear it. Make me the bad guy, I don't mind. It might even make the story that we're dating more plausible if I'm supposedly controlling your decisions."

He smiled at the suggestion. "Go ahead down to the car and tell Rashid I'll be there in five minutes."

Rashid was a little surprised to see Riley, but he didn't say anything, just nodded when she told him Quatre would be down shortly. He was more surprised when Quatre came out. He wasn't wearing what Rashid had expected. Riley grinned at his outfit. He was wearing black pants and a deep red dress shirt unbuttoned over a white t-shirt. The sleeves were rolled halfway up his forearms.

While it was December, the L4 cluster had been built by people of the Arabian Peninsula and they preferred a warm, desert environment. Their descendants preferred to keep the colony's temperature warm as well, so coats were rarely, if ever, needed.

'Yes,' Riley thought, 'red is definitely his color.'

"Better?" she asked him.

He grinned back at her. "You realize they'll probably hate you over this."

"Like I care. They'd probably hate me anyway because they didn't 'pick me out' for you."

He opened the door for her and she got in. He went to the other side and let himself in as Rashid started the car. They took the drive as time to get their story straight. Quatre knew his sisters would grill them and they needed to know where they'd met, how long they'd been dating, where they went on their first date, and a number of other little details that they'd asked every other girl he'd ever dated. Riley wasn't sure she'd be able to remember it all.

"Look, just stay near me and we'll get through this," he said, seeming a little nervous.

"Having second thoughts?"

"It's just that I don't really get together with my sisters much and usually we end up fighting over something: how I'm running the business, how I need to get married, how I need to name an heir if I'm not going to cooperate…"

Riley was starting to feel bad for Quatre. She'd had no idea his home life was so stressful. "I'm starting to agree with Wufei that you should just blow them off."

"I did that once. It's better to show up and take it."

Riley shrugged and looked out the window as they pulled up a lengthy driveway to a towering house. The lawn was large and there were children of all ages swarming over it, the vast majority of them blonde, playing a number of sports and outdoor games. Quatre took a deep breath and exhaled slowly as Rashid parked. Quatre opened Riley's door and offered her his arm. She took it, giving him a reassuring smile.

As they walked up to the house, an errant soccer ball rolled over to them. Riley automatically put her foot out, letting the ball roll up her leg and she juggled it a few times as she looked over to the group of kids that were waiting for the return of their ball. She noticed a small boy standing near the middle of the impromptu field and, aiming carefully, kicked the ball to him. He grinned hugely at her as he bounced the ball off his chest and took off towards one of the goals, the rest of the kids in pursuit.

Quatre looked at her. "I didn't know you still played."

"Well, not professionally," she joked. "I haven't played in years. But when I did play, it basically became second nature and I've never quite forgotten it."

"So, who was better: you or Duo?" Quatre remembered seeing a photo of the two of them holding soccer trophies.

"He was always faster, but spent his time learning tricks instead of fundamentals, so I guess I was technically better."

They'd walked as they conversed and Quatre was about to open the front door when it burst open. He pulled Riley to the side as a gang of small children ran out, heading towards an empty part of the lawn. One small child ran past without a diaper on, being chased by a harried looking nanny.

"Sorry," he muttered. "With this many kids around, we should just expect that periodically."

She grinned at him. "Just how many kids are here anyway?"

"Well, 29 sisters times an average of four kids makes it somewhere around 116."

"Wow."

"Yeah, well only about half of them are younger than I am. My oldest sister is 30 years older than I am."

"That must be weird."

"Extremely. So then you add in about 50 nieces and nephews times an average of three kids and you get another 150 kids running around. Basically, there are anywhere from 200 to 300 kids under the age of 18 at any given family function. It gets harder to keep track of them all every month."

Just then a man walked through the door. "Yo, Uncle Quatre! How's it going, Sport?" He reached out and ruffled Quatre's hair.

"It's fine, Jamal," Quatre replied through gritted teeth, running his hand through his hair to straighten it back out. The man continued out the door and Quatre caught the weird look Riley gave him. "Jamal is 10 years older than I am and he's been doing that to me since I was 5. He thinks he's being funny." He sighed. "Let's just get this over with."

Riley took his hand as he led her through the door. They'd decided in the car that hand holding would be more convincing than to have Riley just follow him around. He led her through the house, dodging packs of children, until they reached a parlor full of women. Riley half hid herself behind Quatre, squeezing his hand a little as her nerves flared up. The wall of women was very intimidating and she fully understood why Quatre had a hard time standing up to them when they banded together.

He gave her hand a reassuring squeeze and pasted a smile on his face. He was glad he hadn't come alone when he saw the dozen non-related women interspersed with his sisters. They were all suitably attractive, but the predatory gleam in their eyes made him feel like a piece of meat about to be torn apart by a pack of wolves. He suppressed a shudder as one of his sisters stood to greet him.

"Quatre, dear, how are you?" She moved to give him a quick hug.

"Fine, Mirah."

She noticed Riley. "Who's this?"

"This is Miss Logan." He laced his fingers through hers and drew her slowly out from behind him. She stayed close to his side, still nervous, though she wasn't exactly sure why. She didn't really like the way the other women were eyeing her. Some of his sisters gave her a friendly smile, some looked confused and a few looked annoyed. The few non-blondes in the group glared daggers at her.

"How nice," Mirah answered, but Riley could tell her smile was fake.

"Why don't you young people get better acquainted while we supervise the luncheon set-up on the lawn," one of his sisters said, with a wink at Quatre. Riley could tell she was nicer than Mirah and decided she might like that one.

"That's Lilah," Quatre murmured to her.

The army of blondes vacated the room, greeting Quatre as they did so. Some gave Riley curious looks, some ignored her completely, and others introduced themselves, but Riley wasn't sure she'd remember which name went with which face later. They left Riley and Quatre standing in the doorway, being faced down by 12 women in very fashionable dresses.

"Good afternoon," Quatre greeted them.

A scattered number of 'Good Afternoons' was returned. A woman with red hair and very green eyes looked Riley up and down, a sneer barely concealed. As nervous as Quatre's sisters made her, Riley was not about to take that kind of look from a powder-puff on legs. She sized the woman up and smirked, for no reason other than to make the woman wonder what Riley was thinking. In truth, Riley thought that the woman was very pretty, almost too pretty, but her attitude needed adjusting. Riley pegged her as the 2nd richest person in the room, Quatre being the richest, of course.

The woman glared at Riley's smirk. Compared to Heero's glare it was weak sauce, so Riley didn't even blink. "I didn't realize we were supposed to bring our personal assistants. Why don't you be a dear and ask the maid to bring in tea," she said, pretending innocence.

Two of the women in the room gave her a shocked look for her rudeness, while the other nine snickered.

"Felicia, you don't need to be rude," a woman with sandy-blonde hair in a powder blue dress admonished her.

"Marissa please, she's obviously too young for him so she must be a servant. Scamper off, dear, the adults need to talk."

'Crap,' Riley thought. Quatre knew she was older than she looked and she'd gotten so used to being around people that knew that she hadn't thought about how strangers would view her. Quatre was thinking the same thing and expected he would hear at least one comment about robbing the cradle from his sisters.

Quatre glared at Felicia. "Miss Waterford, you will cease the insults immediately or I will have you escorted from the grounds. Miss Logan is here as my personal guest and I will not have you putting on airs at her expense."

Marissa and the other woman who had not liked Felicia's remarks ducked their heads, trying to hide their smiles. Felicia sniffed and rose to her feet, sauntering past Quatre and Riley, intent on voicing a complaint to his sisters. She would not be reduced to associating with what she considered to be common trash. "I guess some guys just need a project," she sneered as she turned down the hall.

"Good riddance to bad rubbish," Marissa muttered.

"Would you and Miss Logan care to join us, Mr. Winner?" the black haired woman who shared Marissa's opinion asked.

"Of course, Miss Giordano. It's nice to see you again. How is your brother?" Quatre led Riley to a loveseat near the two women as he spoke. Sitting next to Riley, he leaned back and casually placed his arm around her shoulder, watching the reaction of the women through the corner of his eye. He never changed his expression, but was pleased to note that the nine women who'd laughed at Felicia's comment were appalled that he was being so familiar with Riley.

He knew every single one of these women, their fathers or brothers being business contacts that he had to maintain for the good of the company. Having heard their charms spoken of on many occasions, he was well aware that their fathers and brothers had encouraged them to pursue him. Many of their fathers had even petitioned him personally in an effort to secure dates with him. He had dated six of them at least once and found them undesirable. Sure they were pretty, but also selfish, rude and condescending. One of them had taken 'vapid' as a compliment.

"So Miss Logan, where are you from?" Marissa asked.

"I grew up on Earth. I've only been on colony for a couple of months."

"What made you come out?" Miss Giordano asked.

She shrugged. "I wanted to see what it was like up here. There's a lot of speculation among those that have never seen a colony for themselves and it's considered an exotic travel destination."

"How quaint," one of the other girls commented.

Miss Giordano rolled her eyes. "Tanya, give it a rest. Felicia's not here for you to impress anymore."

"That's sooo new money, Diane," Tanya retorted.

Diane looked into her lap, a blush forming on her cheeks. Riley didn't like to see the poor girl being picked on.

"Just what do you consider to be 'old money,' Miss Tanya?" she asked innocently, her tone instantly putting Quatre on his guard.

"If you have to ask, you're not."

"Do you consider Pre-Colony new money?"

Quatre hadn't expected Riley to go there, so he gave her just as surprised of a look as the women in the room.

"Excuse me?" Tanya asked, turning a little pale.

Riley smiled sweetly at her. "My great grandfather got his start during what was known then as the California Gold Rush of 1849. He invested wisely and taught his sons to do so as well."

"That doesn't mean that you still benefit, dear," one of the other not-nice women commented snidely.

Riley giggled. "Trust me, I benefit greatly from it."

"I think you're lying," Tanya responded with a huff.

"I'm not here to impress you," Riley responded, looking at her nails and sounding bored. "But I can prove I'm not lying."

Quatre raised his eyebrows. He had no idea how Riley was going to pull this off, but, unlike Angelo, she didn't tend to blow smoke.

One of the girls sneered at her. "Do it, then."

Riley reached into her pocket and pulled out an envelope. "Happy Birthday, Quatre."

Some of the women in the room looked scandalized at her familiarity. He took the envelope, a little confused, and opened it, pouring a small number of coins into his hand.

"Loose change? How pathetic." Tanya's voice was dripping with disdain.

Marissa took one of the coins and gasped. "Oh. My. Gawd. Do you have any idea how much this is worth?"

Diane took the small silver coin from her and looked it over. "Oh wow! Two hundred and fifty years ago this was worth a thirtieth of a credit. Now, in this condition…you could build your own colony and keep it running for about ten years. These were supposedly rounded up and melted down. They're probably the rarest coins you could have." She looked interestedly at the collection of coins, noting that there were some duplicates, but they had different dates.

"I think my net worth just tripled," Quatre murmured in Riley's ear.

"Well, I figured it was something you didn't have yet," she told him, a little shyly. She'd actually planned on giving them to him in the car on the way home as kind of a consolation for having to put up with his sisters all day. But she knew that the other girls were trying to 'rank' her and she had felt intimidated enough to play the ace up her sleeve.

"How do you know they're not fake?" Tanya plied, trying to come up with any reason to discredit Riley. Riley could tell Quatre was trying not to laugh. He knew there wasn't any way they were fake.

"My father's fortune came from dealing in coins. I've been able to tell fakes since I was six," Diane retorted.

A maid entered the room and announced that luncheon on the lawn was ready to be served. Allowing the other women to vacate the room, Quatre held Riley back.

"Where did you get these?"

"The bottom of my purse." She couldn't quite keep herself from grinning. "I actually used cash at the mall that day."

"I can't accept this, it's…" he wasn't sure how to finish that sentence.

"Quatre, it's less than a dollar."

"But you could sell them and be set for several lifetimes."

"I know," she shrugged. "I was curious if they were worth anything and looked them up online. I have more if it makes you feel better."

Quatre just looked at her. "You realize that you really are more financially set than I am, right?"

Riley rolled her eyes at him. "You realize I'm probably the only female at this party not interested in your bank account? At this point those coins are only worth what someone is willing to pay for them. If I end up going back, they'll be of more use to you."

He looked down at the coins in his hand, allowing himself a small smile. "Thank you, Riley."

"You're welcome. Maybe if you make Santa's nice list you'll get paper money for Christmas," she said in a teasing voice.

"You have paper money as well?" He was blinking at her in surprise.

"You're not going to tell me that's worth a fortune, too, are you?" she protested.

"Let's just say that you should probably loan it to a museum for safe keeping."

It was her turn to blink at him in surprise. "Wow. I had no idea."

He chuckled at her. "Apparently."

He slipped the coins back in the envelope and placed it in his pocket before escorting her outside. He saw Rashid and passed him the envelope, asking him to safeguard it until they went home. Rashid placed it securely on his person and acted as though nothing had occurred.