A/N: OK, so we're leaving quite early tomorrow. I'll try to update once during my vacation, but I'm not sure if

a) it works

and

b) I'll be able to answer to your reviews as usual.

I still hope you keep on reviewing, because I can still read them and I always grin like an idiot when I read them, because I love that you seem to enjoy the story!

Until then:

Hope you'll like this chap!

xxx

They arrived at an incredibly big, fancy estate, making Miriam explain: "Ina's family is one of the richest in Austria. You see, going after money runs in the family."

Dan chuckled and shook his head: "Please watch your mouth tomorrow at dinner. Some people might find it awfully difficult to tell when you're joking, and the last thing I need is to have Claudia and Otto questioning me years after I married their daughter and we had two kids together."

"See, that's exactly what a marriage imposter would say", Miriam grinned as she unbuckled.

"Only thing is: he actually went through with it", Harvey chuckled as he took Bobby's carrier and they got out of the car

"Well, Harvey, I hope you are not planning on leaving my little sister at the altar", Dan said as he lead them upstairs to the entrance.

"I sure as hell am not", Harvey smirked and put a hand on his fiancee's shoulder "Your sister is the real deal."

"Well, let's see what you'll say after the holidays", Miriam laughed as Dan opened the door.

They had barely entered the hallway, when Ina appeared, carrying a baby on her arm.

"There you are", she greeted her husband, giving him a little peck and handing over Desiree so she could greet Miriam properly: "Welcome, Amy. I'm glad you could come this year."

"I do have to make up for the last few times, right?", Miriam sighed and gave her sister in law a kiss on the cheek.

"Nonsense, you know that you can come and go here whenever you like. Nandl is already looking forward to seeing his favourite aunt again", Ina said, holding her hands.

"Well, I'm looking forward to seeing Ferdinand as well. He must have grown quite a bit in the past year and a half! And hello, Desiree", she said, turning towards Dan and lightly touching the baby's chubby hands "lovely to meet you. I'm your auntie Miriam."

"That's the thing about children", Ina sighed and pushed some strands of her light brown hair out of her face "they can't always stay small. Now, you must be Harvey."

"I am", Harvey said with his most charming smile "Pleasure to meet you."

"I'm Ina – welcome to our home", Ina said and smiled as well "Dan will show you to your room in a second, but I think you might want to go to the living room first. What about that dog of yours? Do you want us to let him roam through the garden a little?"

"That'd be great", Miriam smiled.

"Is Mum already here?", Miriam wondered while they all followed Ina, with Dan gushing to his youngest child quietly.

"No, Livy called. There's a lot of traffic, so we'll probably have to postpone lunch a little", Ina sighed "I already told the staff."

Staff?, Harvey mouthed to his fiancee, quite amused, which made Miriam nod while biting her lip

She opened the door towards the living room and let them in, only to have Miriam almost fall to the ground because a little boy came rushing to hug her with such a force that it needed Harvey's quick reflexes to keept his fiancee from stumbling: "Tante Mimi!", Ferdinand greeted his aunt enthusiastically.

"Well, now", Miriam laughed "Hello, honey. Long time no see!"

"Spielst du Lego mit mir?"*, the kid asked, looking up while still holding onto her.

"Sure, kiddo, but later, all right?", Miriam smiled "I first have to change so Grandma won't complain about my appearence."

"Ferdinand", Dan said "What did I tell you yesterday?"

"Sorry, Papa", the kid said in adorably childish sounding English "I will speak English now, OK?"

"OK", Dan grinned and ruffled his son's hair "Now, why don't you let go of Mimi?"

"I like Mimi", the five-year-old said.

"Well, I like you, too, but there's someone else I like very much and I want you to meet him. Maybe the two of you can be friends, huh?", Miriam grinned as she freed herself from his little hands and took Ferdinand up on her arm "Ferdinand Harolds, meet Harvey."

"Hello there", Harvey said while leaning forwards and stretched out his hand "Nice to meet you, Ferdinand."

"You talk funny", the kid said, eyeing the lawyer's hand suspiciously. Miriam laughed and put him down again.

"He sounds a little like Grandma, doesn't he?", Dan chuckled while Ina had gone out of sight to put Desiree in her playcorner "Now, why don't you take Mimi and Harvey to the sofa while I go to the kitchen and get us an aperitif."

"Can I have lemonade?", Ferdinand asked, tucking his father's sleeve.

As it turned out, the living room was seperated into two parts with two separate entrances as well as a winter garden connected to it on one side. They followed the kid around a few shelves, between which he had played with his lego bricks, to reach a more open area with a big sofa, some armchairs, some instruments – including a piano – and a few plants. While Desiree was laying beneath a play bar and having fun with the mobile above her head, Ferdinand felt very important taking Miriam's hand and leading her towards the people on the sofa.

"Uncle Jason? Aunt Josie?", the kid said and nudged his uncle's leg carefully, making Ina, who was sitting across of them in an armchair chuckle lightly.

"Well now", the woman named Josie said and got up "I'll be damned."

"Josie!", Ina said "Language."

"Sorry, Ferdi", the English woman winked at the kid "you didn't hear that."

"Miriam", the man on the sofa sighed as he got up. Jason Harolds was a little younger than Mike, or so Harvey vaguely remembered, and yet his blond hair was already glistering with some white strands. He had the same green eyes as Kurt, and even though he seemed to look at Miriam directly, Harvey felt that something was off.

"Jason", Miriam smiled and hugged her younger brother tightly before greeting Josie the same way "How long have the two of you been here for, already? I thought you'd not even be there for lunch!"

"Well, so did we, but Josie could take her vacation a little earlier, so we arrived here two days ago", Jason said and gestured for her to sit next to him.

"Hold on a second, Jason", Josie said to her husband "Amy, don't you want to introduce us to that man lurking over your shoulder?"

"No need for that", Harvey said with his most charming smile "My name's Harvey Specter. And I never lurk."

"Oh, he's a charmer", Josie told her husband sassily "Emma will love him."

"My wife and my mother oftentimes do not see eye to eye, so please, excuse her", Jason said, stretching out his hand which Harvey shook politely "Mimi's mentioned you, I think. You're in for a tough time, Harvey."

"Or so I've been told", Harvey grinned.

"I'm sure he can handle it", Miriam smiled and put her hand on her fiance's arm "Now, if you'll excuse me, I'd quickly go and change."

"I don't get why you always want to please Emma", Josie sighed and pushed her strikingly blue hair out of her face "I gave up on that a long time ago."

"It's OK", Ina said to Miriam quickly "They should have brought up your luggage by now. I'll take you to your room, if the rest of you don't mind looking after the kids?"

"Of course not", Josie shrugged and got up to join Ferdinand, who was playing with Desiree, while Ina smiled and led Miriam away.

"So what is that thing going on between Emma and Miriam?", Harvey asked his fiancee's brothers a few minutes later. Dan had returned and fixed each of them a drink, and the lawyer had to admit: The Scotch wasn't too bad.

"Oh", Dan sighed "That's just one of Mimi's little quirks."

"You see, Harvey", Jason said and put his glass down carefully "When I was a teenager – Daniel had already moved out – and Miriam was… 17? 18? She and our mother had an incredibly big fight because she had this thing for oversized sweaters and ripped jeans and Mum just couldn't have it, so she had thrown out most of her stuff."

"Knowing Miriam I'm pretty sure she took it badly", Harvey said.

"One would think she would have made a point of wearing exactly what our mother did not want her to wear", Jason shrugged "Especially nowadays. But she was a lot younger, back then, and a bit more impressionable."

"And at some point the nagging just was too much – especially after she went away to study subjects our mother did not approve of. So Mimi decided to at least make a point of wearing what Mum would deem proper", Dan added "Or maybe that's just what I understood from what she told me. Oh, excuse me, I think I just heard the bell - I should get the door for the rest of the clan. Another thing Mum doesn't like is being greeted by the staff."

And with that he disappeared.

"Listen, Harvey", Jason said quietly, while Desiree was giggling in the background at the funny faces Josie and Ferdinand pulled to amuse the baby "You should be careful, today. Once you are accepted in this family, you're a part of it forever, but that can go either very quickly or very, very slowly. I've known Josephine for three years now and only now, after we got married, she's slowly being accepted. Now, Dan and Ina seem friendly enough, and they are, but they are also constantly looking out for Miriam, and our father is as well. They will not just give her to anyone."

"So you're saying I should stay on my toes?", Harvey said.

"You should show them how much you care about her", Jason said and took his glass to take a sip of his drink.

"Tante Mimi!", Ferdinand said and knocked on her door "Mama said I should fetch you!"

"Oh, hello, kiddo", she opened the door for him and put in her earrings "are they here already?"

"Yes", the child said.

"Now, what do you think? Will I do?", she said and adjusted her dark green, silken dress.

"You's pretty", the boy said after taking a moment to think.

"Well then", she said and stretched out her hand "will you take me downstairs, honey?"

The kid nodded and led her to the living room, chatting about how he had played with Auntie Josie and Desiree and wondering what the Christkind would bring him for Christmas in German before he remembered he was supposed to be speaking English now.

As they arrived at the living room, Miriam only now realised how many people they were as chattering echoed from the walls.

Livy, Emma and Kurt, who had just arrived from Munich had brought Edith and Mike with them, and Miriam rolled her eyes as she noticed Harvey sitting next to his associate, probably talking about the merger.

"There she is!", her father's voice pulled her out of her thoughts "My lovely daughter."

He put an arm around her and gave her a little kiss on the temple.

"Hello Paps", she smiled and wrapped his arms around him, not quite ready to let go "Where's Mum?"

"Over there, gushing over beautiful little Desiree. Now, why don't you properly introduce me to your fiance?", he said quietly.

"Hush now. You don't want Mum's fury come crashing down on the three of us, do you?", she laughed and gave Harvey, with whom she had just managed to have eye contact, a little nod to indicate that he should come over.

"Well, I'm quite certain she would be angry at me and you, but she has been going on over Harvey the last few weeks and I think she might be filing a divorce soon, just so she can marry him herself", Kurt chuckled "Hello, Harvey, nice to finally meet you in person."

"It's a pleasure, Kurt", Harvey said with a smile and put an arm around Miriam, after shaking hands, holding his drink in the other hand.

"Did Dan fetch the bar?", Miriam asked with a pointed look at his drink.

"Yeah, do you want me to…?", Harvey asked but she shook her head: "No, it's quite all right. I'll get one myself – and I'll check in on Grammy and Mike, if you don't mind."

She gave him a quick kiss and off she went.

"Well, that is quite cheeky of her. Poor fella, to be left alone for questioning", Kurt joked.

"I hope you won't be too hard on me", Harvey smirked.

"As long as my daughter remains as content as she seems, I see no reason to come after you, lad", Kurt said "Now, I take it this is your first time in Austria?"

"Yes, sir", Harvey said politely.

"Miriam and Daniel should take you to the city, then. Vienna's very beautiful. And there's a lot of culture, usually you cannot walk around downtown without passing a handful of street musicians. Do you listen to classical music?", Kurt asked, eyeing him intently

"I'd be lying if I said yes", Harvey shrugged "I'm more into oldschool classics, if I may say so."

"Ah, well", Kurt said "You know, Emma makes me go to the opera at least once a month. You get used to it – but luckily for you, I guess Miriam is not such a big fan of Vivaldi and friends either."

"No, I don't think so. She mentioned you taught her how to play the piano, though."

"And the guitar. I had a band in the seventies, actually, that's how I got to know Emma. She was minding the bar at a place we used to play. You know, after she came from the U.S. and just needed the money. But those were different times…"

Harvey nodded politely and thought of his own father and his band, while he took another sip of his drink.

Meanwhile, Miriam had greeted the rest of the newly arrived and was glad to see her grandmother rejoicing.

"Did everything work out with the flight?", Miriam asked Mike as she sat down next to him, both of them watching their beloved Grammy, who was just now meeting Ferdinand, carefully.

"Hello Mickey, how are you doing?", Mike said, mockingly, before answering her question "Yes, she slept through most of it."

"Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't know you had a thing for chit chat now", she grinned "Were my parents all right?"

"Emma was… you know, sweet but nagging, as ever. Grammy and she got into a little argument over dinner and I think we can thank Kurt that it did not end with shattered plates."

"They do have a weird dynamic, haven't they?", Miriam sighed.

"You know, sometimes it reminds me of you and your mum", Mike said, earning a death stare from his cousin.

"I don't know that and I despise any notion otherwise", Miriam said sternly before they broke into laughter.

"Well, Harvey and Kurt seem to get along quite well?", Mike said a moment later.

"You know them, he will proabably get torn apart while we eat. Either that or it will end with another fight in which I am the bad one", Miriam sighed "And yet I love Christmas."

"Cheers", Mike said and they clinked glasses, just when Ina came in from the hallway, asking everyone to move over to the dining room.

*Spielst du Lego mit mir? - Will you play lego with me?"

So, how about this one?

Brenda: Luckily (for Mike) I think the family will have a lot of different things to discuss ;) I'm glad you like Dan, though, and hope you'll like the rest of the family as well. Next chapter, things are going to get a little more crazy. I'm glad that I seem to portrait them nicely - thanks a lot for that great compliment!

Guest: Well, it's only the day before and I still need to split it into two chapters, because there's so many things I need to put into them - I'm sorry if sometimes Bobby gets a little lost, please just assume he's in the garden or chilling somewhere. You know, like dogs do :D But with so many characters being introduced, I have to cut back somewhere.

Azul: Thanks, that's so cute! Yeah, I was trying to give them a few moments alone and - exactly as you said - point out some differences they still have even though they kind of became a little more similar over the time :)

By the way, I forgot to mention: You beautiful, lovely, awesome people managed to review over 100 times! That's incredible! I'm at a loss for words!

LOTS OF LOVE TO ALL OF YOU!