AN - I know in the beginning I said the whole AU would be explained on the way, and it will, but just to head off questions, I've completely written the Russell family out of Harmony. They exist, in as much as they are Simone's family, I suppose, but they aren't, and never were living in Harmony. For more details about why, email me and I'll get into it, but that's all you need to know for the story.

Chapter 22

"Welcome to Harmony, Reese," Pilar, Miguel's mother, greeted him as he and Miguel walked out of their train onto the platform. "It's great to see you again, I hope you'll make yourself at home here for the next couple of weeks." She looked over at her son, Luis, who was clapping his brother on the back, hard enough for his luggage to tumble to the dirty platform. "Luis, stop fooling around and help Reese with his umm..." Pilar looked at the massive amount of loosely packed junk Reese was struggling with and quickly ran through the English for such a large amount of stuff. Nothing came to mind. "With his things. Teresa," she called to her daughter who was standing back and enjoying the spectacle, "show Miguel his new nephew once Luis is done wacking all of the sense out of him."

"Resa, I can't believe you're a mama now!" Miguel shouted at his sister, who winced as Ethan, Jr. began to screech in reaction to all the commotion. "I suppose you'll be actin' all calm instead of the wild woman I left behind."

Teresa grinned and answered, "Not on your life. In fact, let me tell you about some of the going's on around sleepy old Harmony while you were gone..."

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"So wait, my nephew is Kay's nephew since Ethan, your husband, is Kay's brother? So we're like siblings in law or something? And Ethan isn't a Crane, Luis married Beth, Hank married Gwen, Sheridan is dating Noah, and she thinks no one knows, but the whole town does, and all of this is in addition to the madness that is now Kay's family tree?"

"Miguel, you knew about all those weddings as they happened! College isn't exactly a vacuum, you know, and we do have the internet in lil ol' Harmony," Teresa responded to his pretended confusion.

Miguel laughed. "I know, Rese, I just like saying it all at once. It reminds me of that silly soap you, Jess, and Kay, used to watch all the time, what was it called?"

"It still is called Days of Our Lives and it is not stupid. Well, it wasn't stupid until they took off a whole family, Kay, did you know that they totally cut off the Wesley family a few months ago?" she asked her new sister-in-law as the woman joined them at their kitchen table.

"I KNOW! I can't believe it! And now they're trying to ease us Brady and Nicole as a couple. Girl, this is not All My Children, we do not need real married couples to be couples in the soap..."

"I KNOW!" Teresa responded, launching into a tirade about the recent happenings on their favorite teen-age years soap opera.

Miguel, not wanting to admit that he too knew enough about Days to rant on his own, decided to check on Reese. He had introduced his friend to Jess after dinner last night and when he woke up this morning, Pilar told him that Reese had gone straight over the Kay's.

As he walked through his hedge, through Tabitha's yard, and looped around their backyard to the Bennett's front door, Miguel chuckled to himself. Harmony certainly wasn't the typical sleepy backwoods town. He wondered who would open the door when he knocked.

"Miguel! What in the world are you doing at the front door? And ringing the bell?!" Grace Bennett greeted him. "Come on in, silly!"

"Sorry to throw you off, Mrs. Bennett, but I wasn't sure with all the excitement around here recently who would be here and who I might scare by bargin' in like I normally do."

"Well, if you're looking for Reese, he and Jess just left to go on a tour of the 'sites,'" she winked as she said this, "but do come in, there's someone else I'd like you to meet." she finished.

As Miguel stepped into the living room, he was tempted to rub his eyes an blink several times, but he restrained from doing so. "Oh wow," he said, "I knew you were twins, but geez, Mrs. Bennett, how do you even know you're you standing there when you're also sitting on the sofa?"

The woman on the sofa laughed a familiar laugh at that. "You must be Miguel," the woman said, in a voice that was Grace's, but different, too. "I'm Faith Standish, and these two..." she gestured at two men sitting on the other two chairs in the room, "are my husband David Hastings, and our son, John," she finished the introductions.

"It's very nice to meet you all," Miguel said. "I guess Charity has told you that we're renting an apartment together this summer..." he began without thinking, and then winced internally as he realized that he'd just set himself up for an interrogation from Charity's father and older brother.

David stood up to his full 6'2" stature. "Yes, we did hear something like that, boy," he began in a rumbling Australian accent.

From the chair across from Mr. Hastings, Miguel heard what he thought was a snort from John. Mrs. Standish interrupted her husband, "Oh quit that, David, sweetie," she said as she chucked a pillow in his direction, "Let the boy alone."

Miguel noticed something funny about Mrs. Standish's accent, but couldn't place it yet. "Mr. Hastings, we're renting a two bedroom apartment, I met Charity through Kay, who I grew up with, and I have nothing..." Miguel, sure this time that he'd heard a snicker from John stopped short his nervous explanations. Mrs. Standish and Faith were both grinning broadly.

"Oh, Miguel, do not explain yourself to my husband, he's just teasing you. We Brits are a fair bit more liberal when it comes to letting our children go at the proper age."

David, giving up the pretense of the over-protective father, interjected, "You Brits are a might bit more liberal all around, I'm still trying to get this flower child to take my last name and stop having the whole world think we're living in sin and unmarried."

So that was the slight accent he noticed in Mrs. Standish, and also the last name difference both she and Charity had. He was suddenly confused again as he thought about Grace's voice. "Wait, but Mrs. Bennett, you don't have..."

"I know," Grace put in, "It's actually pretty funny. When I got my memory back, I remembered that Faith and I used to spend hours laughing at the American accent while we were at college here in the US, and I always had it better than she did. One of the things that made it difficult for me to find my family was that when Sam found me, I just imitated the accent I heard and assumed it was mine, so no one knew my family was British. I always did do a great impersonation of a British accent," she switched to it now, "only, it turned out that it was my natural one."

"We've been living in the US since I graduated from college, which is why my entire family has that atrocious American thing going on," Faith finished lightly.

"Wow," Miguel said, thoughtfully. "Then it really is a miracle that you found each other. How did it happen? One of those services?"

"Oh no," said John, speaking up for the first time, "Kay and Charity did that..." he trailed off at the sharp looks from the rest of his family.

Miguel asked the question they were all dreading. "How'd the manage that if they didn't know the other existed?" Come to think of it, he thought to himself, Kay always has been a little vague about this.

Grace answered quickly, "It was actually a bit parent-trap-ish and dreadfully boring," she said, maintaining her light accent, which Miguel found charming. "They met through their friend, Simone, I think her name is, and Kay found a picture of who she thought was me in Charity's room, and it, of course, turned out to be Faith. Everything kind of happened from there."

"We're spending the summer here to get to know each other since our last visit was so unplanned and sudden," Faith finished.

"Oh, and they do that a lot now," John added. "The whole finishing each other's thoughts thing. They think it's cute. Miguel, tell them that mother's aren't supposed to be cute."

Miguel grinned. "Oh, no buddy, you'll get no help from me there. But hey, dude, you wanna come help me track down Reese and Jessica? I'm not buying this whole tour of Harmony thing for a second, it could be lots more fun, and much safer, than picking with your mother and aunt."

John smiled back and popped up. "Sounds like a plan."

---------------------------------------------------

"Father, I am not here to stay, no need to worry your pretty head about that," Nicholas said as he faced Julian in his study. "You hear that, grandfather?" he said louder.

"Look Fox," Julian began, "No one cares how long you stay here, just as long as you don't bother us with your simpering liberal habits."

"Yes, Nicky," came Alistair's disembodied voice. "You are always welcome here; it is your home too. We just ask that you maintain some sense of decorum rather than ranting about your ideals and getting the servants riled up. Last time, we had five quit on us."

Nicholas winced at the nicknames his family used. He thought instantly of Kay, who had instinctively called him by his full name, one he only preferred because no one in this house called him by it.

"I am not in the mood for rabble rousing, so no need to worry your perfect silvery gray hairs about me," Nicholas shot back. "I'm just getting my things, all of them this time. You won't be hearing from me again," he finished. Ethan being illegitimate doesn't mean that he gets to have all the fun and leave these nuts behind, he thought as he turned to leave the room.

"Oh, just a minute, Nicky," Alistair called. "What do you mean by that? Surely you realize that as heir, you have to reside here once you're done fooling around with that liberal arts education of yours. I will not finance your pursuits without some return indefinitely."

"Oh, come now, Father," Julian said, taking pity on his son, trouble maker that he was. "Surely Fox doesn't have to be trapped here like..."

"He most certainly does have to be. Since I have to travel around handling things in person, we need someone here at the mansion maintaining a base of operations, and that someone will be Nicky once he gets his graduate degree."

Julian gave his son a look that said, "I tried." "Very well," Julian said aloud. "Fox, you should leave behind all non-essentials for the summer so that you can return here in the fall to begin your training."

Nicholas was livid. Once again, his grandfather was casually planning his happiness away. "And what if I choose not to be heir?" he shouted back to his father and omnipresent grandfather.

"Then we will revoke your trust fund..." Alistair began over the intercom.

"I'm living off my grants right now, I haven't touched it for myself in years," Nicholas shot back.

"Oh, but you didn't let me finish," Alistair said snidely. "We will revoke your trust fund and collect the money that you've got tied up in those investments of yours."

"You can't do that! There are a lot of people who depend on those investments!" Nicholas practically screamed.

"Then you better not disappoint them by shirking your familial duties," Alistair replied calmly, infuriating Nicholas more.

"Father, please, there's no need to be so harsh with the boy," Julian interjected. "Fox, it would behoove you to see things your grandfather's way and perhaps attempt a small compromise. Perhaps about beginning in the fall?"

Nicholas looked at his father in astonishment. As he peered closely, he noticed more gray hair and fine lines on his face than had been there last year when Nicholas made his annual visit home. Perhaps, Nicholas thought, losing Ethan had taken its toll on his father. "Very well, Father," he allowed, and then directed his voice upwards so that Alistair could hear him clearly. "Although my teaching assistant-ship is over this summer, I have not finished writing my dissertation. If I can put off returning here permanently until that is finished, I will consider having talks about the terms of my permanent employment with Crane Enterprises."

"Fine," Alistair replied succinctly and disconnected audibly from the mansion speaker system.

"Thank you, Father," said Nicholas.

"You know, son, it isn't too late for us to find allies in all of this in each other," Julian said mysteriously.

"What does that mean?" asked Nicholas, wary of any hidden games his father might be playing.

"I haven't been totally ignoring your investments, Fox," Julian said dryly. "And it occurs to me that I have a hobby that might help you out in this latest venture..."