A/N: Sorry for the lack of updating. I had two sick kids at home, and that is kind of something but here we are with the next update! Let's see how Elliot reacts, shall we? Thank you for all the reviews! So happy with them. Enjoy! X Milou.

Chapter 52: Bro.

"What?!"

Elliot's expression is blank as he looks at Christian. He doesn't move or blink, he just stares at Christian with his mouth slightly open.

"Yeah," Christian mumbles, obviously still not completely over the shock himself.

When Christian came home after visiting his parents, I instantly saw that something bad had happened. He looked pale and absent, and the moment I was within his reach, he crashed against me. While he buried his head in my neck and wrapped his arms around me in a vice grip, he cried. And I let him. I tried to give him the comfort that he needed, even though I didn't know what had happened.

After minutes of hugging me, he pulled away and the look on his face almost broke my heart. He looked lost. Lost and broken.

We went inside and when we sat on the couch, he told me everything. From start to finish. And I couldn't believe my ears. It was as if I was dragged into a horrible drama movie, one you don't want to watch because you can't handle the pain that it will show.

I was shocked, sad and above all angry. I thought that Carrick's behavior was about me and in a way it was because he didn't find me good enough, but now that I realize it is so much deeper, I wish that it was only about me so that Christian wouldn't feel this betrayed. So that he still felt like he knew who he was.

After he told me everything, he asked if it was okay if he went for a run, and I was happy about that. I've learned that he likes to run to process things and give his feelings a place, and I was happy that he spoke to me first before he went away. It showed me that he is really listening to me.

So, I let him and Bobby go while I made lunch. And when Christian came back thirty minutes later, we ate and talked a little more. I let him talk about what he felt in hopes it would help.

We had a long bath after that, and then we just cuddled on the couch while we watched stupid movies. Christian didn't want to talk about it much after lunch because he knew that he would have to tell the whole story again when Elliot and Kate would come over.

And now, we are sitting in the living room and Christian has just told Elliot everything. Everything from why I went to Kirkland to what his dad had done and the shocking news he heard just this morning. And Elliot doesn't respond, at all.

In fact, he looks completely zoned out. He is holding Kate's hand because she took his sometime during Christian's story, but he doesn't even blink or react. It is actually starting to concern me.

"Baby?" Kate tries to get his attention, her voice unsteady. "Are you okay?"

For a moment I think he doesn't even hear Kate but then he shocks all three of us by jumping up and grabbing the first glass he can reach from the table before throwing it against the wall to his right.

"Fucking asshole," he screams before grabbing another glass to throw it away just as hard, now on the floor. "I'll kill him, Chris! I swear I kill him."

Kate and I are watching Elliot in shock. We both have no idea what to do or how to react, but thankfully Christian does. He jumps up and grabs Elliot to prevent him from crashing down the whole house.

"I'll fucking kill him. Our whole life we were wondering what the hell we did to him, only to find out we are not his kids? What the fuck?!" Elliot growls, still trying to get out of Christian's grip.

Christian holds him down with ease, not speaking while he wraps his arms around Elliots in a vice grip. This way, Elliot is not able to grab anything else to throw away.

"Easy, let's go outside for a minute," Christian says as he drags Elliot to the doors that lead to the garden.

When Christian and Elliot have made their way outside, I look at Kate who is still sitting on the couch, shocked.

"Are you okay?" I move over to sit next to her the moment I see the tears form in her eyes.

She barely shakes her head. "I have never seen Elliot act like this."

Out of instinct, I wrap my arm around her shoulder. "Christian will calm him down, don't worry. He just didn't expect this."

"Obviously," a humorless chuckle leaves her throat, "I knew their bond with Carrick was not as close as with their mom, and I've seen plenty during all those years but I never thought that he wasn't their biological father. I mean, it is just weird, isn't it?"

I nod my head in agreement, not knowing what to say to her. On one hand, I understand the choice of conceiving with help from a donor since their wish for a child was apparently that big but then hiding it while Carrick obviously did not treat them as his own is a whole different story.

"Oh God, and what he did to you and Christian," she suddenly says, obviously thinking about what Christian told them about us. "It must be horrible to go through that. I'm so sorry."

She is apologizing to me as if she had something to do with the whole thing and it tells me how much Kate actually cares about Christian. She truly seems like a sister to him and I'm happy he has her.

"We've both been through a hard time, yes. But we have found each other now and that's what matters."

I don't feel like focussing on what happened to Christian and me right now. The fact that Christian and Elliot just found out that their father isn't their real father, is something bigger and that needs the full attention for this moment.

Kate nods her head before we both look out the window and into the garden. Elliot seems to have calmed down a bit. He is sitting on the ground, back towards us with Christian next to him. Both are looking straight ahead, and since their faces are turned from us, I can't tell if they are talking or not.

"Elliot and Christian have always been close," Kate says after a couple of minutes, "at least since Elliot and I started dating."

"Before that as well," I respond. "Christian told me how it always was the two of them. How they always made sure to have a good time together and with their grandparents even though their dad was never around."

Kate nods her head, her eyes still not leaving the two brothers. "When Elliot and I found out I was pregnant, he completely freaked out even though we were trying for a baby. He suddenly was so scared that he would be like his own father. Emotionless, cold and not caring. Only when Ava was born and he held her for the first time, he believed that he could do it. But he couldn't enjoy my pregnancy at all, he was constantly doubting himself. It really broke my heart."

Before I can reply to her, her doors open and Christian and Elliot walk back in. Elliot's eyes are red and I can tell that he cried. Kate notices it too and immediately stands and walks over to him to hug him. Christian moves straight to me and pulls me up before he sits down again with me on his lap, arms wrapped tightly around me and his nose in my neck.

Silence. Nobody speaks. I feel Christian's lips on my neck while he inhales my scent, and all I can do is hold his arms to let him know that I'm here. I want to make him feel better and if this is what helps him, then I'll sit like this for as long as he needs me to.

"We fucking named our business after that fucking asshole," Elliot growls after minutes of silence.

Christian's face shoots up from my neck. "No, we named it after us. Don't go there, Ell."

It sounds as if Christian knows more to that subject than us because he is forceful in his response. It's almost as if he already thought about how the name Grey is suddenly meaning something different now.

"He has no idea what he did to us. Not to speak about mom. How she was always alone with us just because he couldn't handle the fact that we weren't his. Fuck, how did mom react when he said it?"

"She was shocked that he just blurted it out," Christian shrugs, his arms not leaving my waist. "But honestly Ell, she lied too. She saw how he treated us and she didn't do anything about it, even though she knew the reason for his distant behavior towards us."

"Fucking hell, what a damn disaster," Elliot mumbles, "why the fuck can't it ever go normal? Seriously, haven't we all been through enough?" He moves back from Kate and pulls his hair out of frustration.

I hear Christian sign behind me before he pushes me from his lap so he can stand. "You want a beer?"

"Yeah."

"Kate? Ana?" Christian asks.

"Water please," Kate answers before turning her attention back on Elliot.

I stand and walk over to Christian. "I'll help you."

I feel like Kate and Elliot could use a minute alone, and Christian also looks like he could use a minute. My thoughts are confirmed the moment we step into the kitchen and Christian crashes his lips on mine.

He is kissing me with desperation, his arms around me almost making it impossible for me to breath. His tongue moves dominant and strong against mine, not giving me any chance to pull away.

"Fuck, I need to get away from here and be with you all alone," he whispers against my lips, his hot breath giving me goosebumps.

He hasn't told me where he wants to take me, but I am going to pack my suitcase at home after Elliot and Kate have left. I called my work right after Christian hung up this morning, and I managed to get two weeks off. He needs this, and I need it too. We need to focus on us. We deserve that.

"How is Elliot?"

He shakes his head. "He's mad and obviously has questions. Right now, he is ready to change his name and cut all ties."

"And you?"

'I'm mad too. Beyond mad really. I'm surprised that I could keep myself this calm while talking about everything again. But I am realistic as well. For me, Grey is much more than just the name my dad gave me. As for cutting ties, I just don't know right now. I need time to think. I feel like I need to rediscover who I am now that I know he isn't my real father."

My hand finds his cheek on its own accord, stroking the stubble that is there. His eyes close for a moment, enjoying my touch. "Where do you want to go?" I ask him when he opens his eyes.

A small glimmer brightens his eyes as I ask the question. For a moment all the stress and all the shit seems to leave his body. "To the place where it all started," he smiles before he plants a kiss on my nose.

My eyes widen. Oh my God. "Italy?"

"Italy," he confirms, a small smirk on his face when he sees my reaction. "Just you, the sun and the sea. It's what I need right now. Desperately."

"But how?" How on earth did he plan this in just a few hours? And when do we leave? God, he wasn't kidding when he said he wanted to go away.

"I've booked us a flight when you were getting dressed. We leave tomorrow afternoon. I just need to go back there, with you. I don't want to think about all the fucked up things for a while." His anger flows back again and I can feel his arms tense under my hands.

I move my hands up and down his arms to make him a little less tense, but it doesn't seem to work. "Let's go back to Elliot and Kate. I can't wait to go back to Italy with you." I kiss him once before I grab Kate and me a drink and walking back to the living room with Christian right behind me.

I find Kate curled up on Elliot's lap. He is staring in front of him while Kate has buried her face in his neck. They are clearly still not over it and I completely understand.

I hand Kate her water while Christian gives Elliot his beer before we take a seat across from them.

"Listen, man," Elliot starts the moment we sit, "I need to talk to him and mom. I have so many questions right now, I can't even think properly and I'm sure you have the same problem. Are you coming with me tomorrow?"

I look at Christian, wondering what he is going to say. I understand that Elliot wants to go to his parents to talk, but I also understand why Christian doesn't. I think that it is the best idea to take some distance to overthink everything, for Christian anyway.

"I'm not going over there again," Christian growls. "At least not anytime soon. I can't. I need to think about everything before I say something I'll regret. I was actually going to ask you if you can manage work without me for two weeks?"

Elliot looks at Christian surprised for just a second before he nods his head. "Sure. You're going away?"

"Yeah, I'm taking Ana to Italy. I need to be with her for a while. We haven't had proper time, you know?"

"Of course you haven't. It's been madness. You should go and enjoy each other," Kate says before looking at Elliot. "Baby, maybe you should think everything over as well so that you don't make reckless decisions? And then when Christian is back, you can go talk to them together."

Elliot looks at Christian, who is slowly nodding his head to show he agrees with Kate. "We need to be the grown-ups here, man, because dad certainly won't be one. He acted like a child this morning. He didn't look at me, he just sat on his chair pouting, like he still didn't see his mistakes. If we go over there tomorrow, I just know it doesn't end well."

It amazes me how good Christian knows himself and his brother and I'm happy he is honest about it as well. The last thing we need right now is a fight.

"Do they know that I know?" Elliot seems to think it over a little bit more, I can tell him really wants to confront his parents but he seems more hesitant.

"Yeah," Christian says, "I would never hide something like this."

Elliot signs before standing from the couch, beer in his hand. "Fine. You're probably right. But we are going to Bellevue first thing when you are back."

"Deal," Christian agrees, relieved that he could convince his brother.

"God, Ana," Elliot then says while he turns to me, "I'm sorry that Carrick treated you like that last Sunday. And for what happened to you as well. We haven't even talked about that because of our fake ass father."

I can't help but giggle, Elliot's face while he says it just makes me laugh. It is probably the tension that is getting too much but thankfully I'm not the only one because Kate laughs as well.

"It's okay, we can talk about that another time. This is more important and has more effect on everyone."

I can't help but notice how Elliot calls him Carrick, while Christian still calls him dad. Elliot is obviously completely done with him.

"Fuck," Elliot suddenly curses, "what the fuck are we going to tell Ava? She adores the fucking dickhead."

Kate frowns and Christian seems to overthink it as well. I actually think that they shouldn't tell her anything, at least not until they know what they want to do but I don't tell them that because it isn't really my business.

"We'll figure it out," Kate says after moments, her hand rubbing Elliot's back as she stands next to him.

"We will," Christian agrees, "we always do."


Kate and Elliot stayed for a little longer, just talking about how Christian had found it out and they shared their thoughts on the whole thing again before they left.

Since it's almost midnight, I've decided to grab my suitcase tomorrow morning, before we go to the airport. Right now, I just want to lay in bed and sleep.

Christian is thinking the same because he is already in bed when I come out of the bathroom. His face is turned towards me and the moment I'm close to the bed, he holds the sheet up and opens his arms so I can cuddle against him.

When I've settled myself against his warm body, my face nuzzled in his chest, I ask him what he and Elliot talked about while they were outside.

As a response, Christian signs before he starts talking, his voice low. "I've never seen Elliot this angry. You know, I always thought that when he brought Kate home, dad changed his behavior towards him, but apparently, I was wrong. Elliot actually seems to hate him, even before he knew about him not being our father. We haven't talked about the reasons for his hate, because the anger overruled, but it shocked me to see how he talked about dad. I just know that after our talk with him, Elliot will never talk to him again and that might make it easier for me as well. But I'm also thinking about Mia. And what about mom? It's all just one fucking big mess."

He sounds exhausted. Who wouldn't be after a day like this?

"Just sleep, okay?" I kiss his chest a couple of times. "Tomorrow we'll fly away from here and maybe everything will be a little more clear when we get back. Try to stop thinking about it for now."

I feel him nod his head before he presses a kiss on the top of mine. "Thank you, Ana. For everything. It would've been hell to find this out without you."

For a moment I think about how he probably would never have found it out if I wasn't back in his life. He went over there to talk about our situation after all. Wouldn't that have been better? Now his whole family is broken, just because Christian got into a fight over me and his dad couldn't keep his secret during said fight.

"I promise I'll try not to think about it if you stop thinking about it as well," he whispers after a short silence. He is so good at reading me, sometimes it scares me.

"I promise," I mumble.

"Good. Let's sleep," he moves his fingers under my chin and lifts my head back so he can kiss me. "Tomorrow I'll take you back to the start."