Sorry for the long wait on this one. Real life can be such a pest. Thanks for your patience and for reading!

-Wrenegade

Chapter 33

Ana PoV

Thanksgiving preparations were going off without a hitch. Apparently once one learns how to run a restaurant, a family gathering for 14 people was simpsville. A call to Grace informed me that her and Carrick's parents always attended Thanksgiving with them and asked if they could join us as well. "Of course," I'd told her. "The more the merrier." I was thankful though, that there weren't any more than the fourteen. Both my parents' parents were already dead, and their siblings were celebrating with their own families. I wanted it to be a formal affair, so I sent out invitations close to Halloween, which would give everyone plenty of time to prepare. Apart from Grace's dinner rolls, and her mother's pie, I was going to make everything myself. My mother and Mrs. Jones offered to come over early and help. I almost told them no, but realized, I'd be stressed out doing it all alone and agreed to have them come over in the morning. Also, I wasn't about to invite the Bhutan family over. Christian and I were all set to go to Paris for Christmas and Bhutan was more than thrilled.

I'd asked him for my new siblings' contact information so I could get in touch with them and possibly get to know them a bit before arriving. That way I could shop for them possibly. His three children were nineteen year old Antoinette, going to University at Oxford for theatre, seventeen year old Andres, who was about to finish his final year of schooling before going to a university in Italy, and twelve year old Audra, who was just trying to be as cool as her older sister. Complete coincidence that my name also started with A. Though Bhutan mentioned that he had a sister named Anne that he spoke very highly of to my biological mother. Maybe that's why she called me Annie girl before she stopped loving me. Anastasia was the name given to me by Miranda and Ray, which they picked because they knew it was close enough to Annie for me to pick it up. Eventually, I just became Ana.

I hadn't divulged to Bhutan fully yet, about what a horrible mother Rebecca was. It wasn't something he needed to be burdened with at the time, if ever. Clearly, she didn't want to be found or at first was too ashamed of getting pregnant or falling into the drug world to even go home or respond to his attempts to contact her. And then the further she fell into Heroine and Meth, the less herself she became. The photos of her as a young bright fifteen year old vs. the mug shots taken of her when she got busted for soliciting once when I was five were quite stark. That was a fun time in my life. She wouldn't tell the officers where she lived, but they kept her in the tank for seventy-two hours. That was 3 days of no food or water for me and Ethan. Shortly after that, she found out she was pregnant with Kate, and life got seemingly impossibly worse.

Anyway, Antoinette looked a lot like me, but was taller and her hair was nearly black. She kept it straight as an arrow and parted down the middle with two braids. She looked like Wednesday Addams, but I didn't tell her that. Her email to me indicated that she was very excited about the possibility of having an older sister, but didn't want to keep her hopes up for me being as cool as I seemed. She did like that I spoke French fluently and wanted to hear me speak it on the phone or something. I suggested we could Skype if she liked, and that way wouldn't have to worry about international charges on her dormitory phone. She also mentioned that she liked the idea that she could look up to me as both a successful business woman and an older sister. I wondered if I was going to end up being her mentor or something, which wasn't altogether displeasing. I was used to being the big sister, caregiver, and even inspiration to Kate and Ethan. Doing it in French wouldn't be much of a difference.

Andres, being the only boy, of course had a reputation to uphold. Too cool for older sisters, type thing. His most oft used phrase in his emails back and forth to me was "whatevs," which I was fairly certain was not used anymore. I mentioned to him that I had a younger brother, Ethan, who was also a middle child and the only boy. He seemed interested in connecting with him, too, even though they weren't related directly. I gave Ethan Andres' info so he could get in touch with him, too. Ethan had said, "Any sibling of yours is a sibling of mine, Ana. Biology be damned." When I relayed that to Andres, he replied with a smiley emoticon. That was all the more emotion I ever got out of him. Even when I told him I spoke Italian, which I thought would interest him considering he was going to college in Italy. But he simply said, "Cool." Andres said he also had an interest in architecture, so I knew he and Ethan or Elliot for that matter would have loads to talk about.

Audra was about the most adorable thing I'd ever seen. The photos that Pierre sent of her had me wanting to pick her up and squeeze her to death. She had big blue eyes like mine, but light brown curly hair. It was in tight ringlets all over her head, much like Curly Sue. In fact, that was her nickname, I learned. She didn't speak English very well, but was pleased when she learned she could communicate with me in French. She was also learning Spanish. I told her I could help her with English and Spanish, as I spoke all three languages, plus more. She was super into performing arts and sent me all kinds of links to videos of her doing various performances. She really wanted to be just like her big sister. "I tried to make my hair like hers, too, but mother won't let me. She's afraid if I straighten the curls that they won't come back," she'd said.

Pierre had offered to invite my siblings to Christmas but I reiterated to him that I wanted it to be just me and Christian at first, and then if the rest of the family, both his and mine, wanted to come meet him, then that was fine. He agreed, realizing it would be a lot to take in with just me there, let alone bringing Kate and Ethan, who of course would want to bring Elliot and Mia. At that point, might as well bring the whole Steele and Grey families. Yeah, too much for an initial visit.

"What's up, Buttercup?" Christian asked one afternoon after I'd gotten done Skyping with Ant. (That was the nickname she told me to use.) He strode to me and kissed me lightly. "How's Antoinette?" He'd gotten used to me emailing or Skyping with her every day. Not as often with the other two, but since Ant and I were much closer in age, we had more to talk about. I could see myself getting really close to her, and I had hopes that it would truly happen.

"Shakespearean lit is kicking her arse," I relayed. "I told her I'd be happy to go over iambic pentameter and some of the classics with her during our stay. That seemed to please her. Helps that I remember literally everything I read, see, and hear. I've read most of his plays and seen a lot on stage; I got this. Also… Buttercup? That's a new one. Shall I call you Westley? Though, you seem more like an Iñigo Montoya type to me. But if that were the case, then I'd have to prepare to die, because I did in fact kill your father. But I only have 5 fingers on my right hand, though. You would make an excellent Dread Pirate Roberts. Oh, but the Man in Black… yes, you're definitely the Man in Black."

"What in the ever loving hell are you talking about? Who the fuck is Westley? And what's an Iñigo Montoya. Why are you preparing to die? Why wouldn't you have five fingers and why would I kill you? Pirates? Men in Black?"

I gaped at him. "You…. How… you've never seen… Oh. My. God! You've never seen The Princess Bride?!"

"The what?" he asked.

"Holy crap on a cracker, we have to fix this right the fuck now. I'll go make the popcorn, you go change into your lounge clothes and get comfy in the theater room. Yes, the theater room. We're not going to watch this movie on the TV in my room, it's far too small for the sheer amount of Epic that we are about to behold."

"Really? Movie night?" he asked, bemused.

"Fuck yes, movie night! In fact, I might even call the siblings and have them join us. It'll be a triple date. Hell, we could order Pizzas, too. Still, go get changed out of your delectable suit before I rip it off of you anyway."

"Any other suit, I'd say rip away, sweetheart, but not this one. This is Dior." I chuckled.

"Be that as it may, we need to watch this film ASAP. I'll call the sibs and order the noms."

"God, I love you, woman," he called out as he sauntered up the stairs. It was all I could do not to follow him and watch as he took off his sport coat, draping it carefully over the chair near the closet, followed by removing each cufflink and setting them on the dresser. Then he'd remove the tie, carefully placing it back on his tie-rack. After that, he'd slowly undo all the buttons on his shirt, pulling it from his trousers and then toss it in the laundry basket. Yes, I knew his routine like the back of my hand. The fact that he never just threw his clothes around the room and instead used the baskets or put them away, was a turn on by itself. Add to that the knowledge that anything he did was sexy, and I had to make sure I was in a different part of the house whenever he was undressing lest we be late for whatever we had planned.

I got a hold of Kate, who thankfully was with Elliot and said she'd call Ethan or Mia to get them all over for movie night. She was just as flabbergasted as me that Christian hadn't seen one of the best movies of all time. Turned out Elliot hadn't seen it either, and if that was the case, chances were Mia was also in the dark to the wonder that is The Princess Bride. I also took everyone's orders for Pizza. Elliot also wanted wings.

Calling up my favorite local place, Pizza Pie, not a chain, I placed the order for two extra cheese pizzas, another one with pineapple and black olive, one garbage pizza, and one "meaty mcmeaterson" It was Pizza Pie's version of the Meat lovers pizza that so many chains had. They had three kinds of wings, and I forgot to ask Elliot what kind he wanted, so I ordered a dozen of all three, with all their optional dipping sauces. It wasn't a big deal, with my appetite alone; we'd polish off 5 pizzas and 3 dozen wings between the six of us easily. Perhaps not all in one sitting, but over the course of the weekend, surely.

I also had them bring out a couple orders of cheesy garlic bread and some 2-liter bottles of soda. Then the guy on the phone tried to upsell me their take and back chocolate chip cookie pizza that we'd throw in the oven mid-way through dinner and it'd be hot and gooey in time for dessert. "Sold! In fact, make it two!" I told him. "You're a hell of a salesman. So what's the damage?"

He gave me the total, which wasn't as much as I anticipated. I guess there was some deal on buy three pies, get two free, so the two cheese pizzas were comped. I also had a suspicion that he wasn't charging me for both cookie pizzas, but it was all good in the hood, so they say. Kate and Elliot arrived then, followed shortly by Ethan and Mia. Christian came down just as the Pizza was arriving. I thanked the driver for being so prompt and gave him an extra tip, asking that he be discreet about where my house is. "No worries, Miss Steele. I won't tell a soul."

"You know that I'll find out one way or another if that's not the case, right?" I replied. "If anytime within the next… month, there's a single reporter, paparazzi or any other stranger on my property, I'll have your job and your next five. Understood?"

He swallowed audibly, seeming good and well frightened that I would make good on that threat. "Yes, Ma'am. Not a soul. On my honor, you have my word; I'll take it to the grave."

"Alright Joey, thanks," I said, my demeanor changing back to the bubbly young woman that had placed the order originally. He looked at me like I was crazy, but was thankful for the business and the large tip. If he indeed kept his trap shut, I'd give him an extra tip later on.

Kate and Mia helped me set up the buffet table that was off to the side in the home theater room and the guys brought in plates, cutlery, cups, and lots of napkins. "So, Mia, are you new to this movie, too?" I asked her.

"I might have seen it when I was a kid, but I can't remember anything about it," she replied.

I shook my head. "Okay, so no, you haven't seen it. This is the kind of movie that sticks with you. You never forget it. It's truly a classic. That being said, there are rules. Rule one: there will be no talking during the film, Rule two: no throwing of popcorn, or any other items. That means you, Elliot. For every transgression, you will pay me five dollars that will become an additional tip for the delivery kid that dropped all this off. I'll bring it back to him in a month, provided he's kept his trap shut about where we live. Treat this room like you would a normal movie theater, and use the same modicum of manners you would there, too. Rule three: Don't stand up in the middle of the room, blocking everyone's view, and above all, Rule four: silence your fucking phones, pagers, blackberries, tablets, laptops, PDAs, any and every piece of technology. For the next two hours, it's radio fucking silence. Got it? Better yet, leave them out in the living room. I don't want any kind of technological disturbances up in here. Capiche?"

"Yes Ma'am, Warden Steele, Ma'am!" Elliot joked, saluting me before stepping out of the room and setting his and Kate's phones on the couch. Ethan and Mia followed suit. I held my hand out for Christian's but he just stared at me.

"Oh don't give me that. You leave your blackberry in the bedroom all the time when we're down here or out in the yard. Cough it up, Mister." He placed his phone in my hand and I put it with the others and mine. "First person that gets up to go check their messages has to pay for the food. All of it. Once the movie is over, all bets are off, feel free to tweet and update and scroll to your heart's content."

We settled in with our plates full of food and I pressed play. "Hey it's the kid from the Wonder Years!" Elliot shouted. I paused the film.

"Rule number one, Elliot? What was it?"

"Wait, you were serious?"

"Dixie chick serious," Kate and I said together, quoting one of our other favorite films.

"This room is sacred. We do not break the rules under any circumstance. Hell, Kate or Mia could be 9 months pregnant, about to pop, break their water, and that baby had better stay in until the movie's over. No fucking joke. Five dollars, Mister. Hand it over." When he realized we weren't going to re-start the film until he paid me, he reluctantly fished out his wallet, found a five dollar bill and handed it to me. I could tell he wanted to throw it at me, but then he remembered rule two, and knew it would only cost him another five dollars. "Now, before I press play again, does anyone need to refill their plates or cups or anything?"

I grabbed another slice of pizza while everyone decided and then pressed play again. Halfway through the movie, Mia leaned over and tapped me on the shoulder. "I should have gone before, but I have to pee," she whispered. "I hate to make you pause this, but I don't want to miss anything."

"No worries, I'll pause after this scene," I assured her. It was the scene where Buttercup has been kidnapped by Vezzini and he is about to be challenged by the Man in Black to drink iocane tainted wine. I hit pause just after Westley assured buttercup that he'd built up a resistance to Iocane powder. "Alright, pee break," I said to everyone. "Fill up your plates, relieve the bladder, refill your cups, do what you need to do. But, Rule 4 is still in effect. No checking phones until the film is over."

Elliot was complaining to Kate about my strict rules, when Elliot interjected. "Dude, I once forgot to turn off my phone, and Ana revoked my theater privileges for six months. Rightfully so. The rules in this room are not to be messed with. There's nothing worse than being in a theater with people who are eating loudly, making messes, talking to each other, or diddling around on their phones. Movies are meant to be watched and enjoyed. If you don't have the attention span to sit and enjoy a film, then you should stick with television and out of this room."

"Do all of you feel this way?" Christian asked, aiming his query at Kate. She nodded fervently.

"We're not a religious family, but this room is like our sacred temple. We do not break the rules. Not ever. And when one is broken, the consequences are severe. We have to enforce the rules otherwise chaos would reign in here, and that just simply isn't acceptable. Movies are a way of life to the Steele family. I guess you guys weren't raised to appreciate film the way we were, but we really do see films as adventures or ways to escape reality for a while. Same for books. Why do you think we have such an extensive library here? Books and movies. That's what we're all about. Oh and Food. Always food."

I couldn't have said it better myself. Kate knew exactly how to describe the way this room is for us. It's not just another room in the house that happens to have a big screen that we watch movies on. This is our church, our respite, our great escape from the world out there. Especially when we're showing a film that half the viewers haven't seen, the sanctity of the theater must be upheld at all costs. The world could be crashing down around us, and we wouldn't even know, nor care until the credits were rolling.

Christian PoV

I knew Ana liked movies a lot, but I had no idea it was that much. Nor did I know that the rest of her family seemed to have an equal obsession with Cinema. It was really like a religion to them, as Kate had said. I'd kind of always considered TV and movies to be a waste of time. Perhaps I needed to expand my horizons in that area. This film so far was pretty damn good. I was starting to understand Ana's references from earlier, at least. I should show her my fencing skills some time.

The Buttercup character bothered me, though. She was such a stereotypical damsel in distress. Couldn't do anything for herself in the fire-swamp. Westley was nearly killed by the ROUS, and by the fire, and by the lightning sand, yet he saved her at every turn. Perhaps that was how Ana saw me. That I saved her. If I was her Man in Black, then she was my Woman in Black. There was no Buttercup and Westley here. Elliot could be Fezzig though. God knew he was big enough. As the movie progressed, I found many parallels in our lives to the characters and scenes in this film. Nothing that translated exactly, of course, but quite a few similiarities. Vezzini reminded me of Elena, for some reason. Prince Humperdink was definitely Jack Hyde.

By the end of the movie, I felt as though I understood why Ana loved this film so much. As the grandfather mentioned in the beginning, the book had everything. Giants, pirates, sword fights, revenge, chases, escapes, and true love. That was what I took from it, anyway. True love was unlike any other thing in this world, and not enough people get to experience it. I was lucky enough to be one of those few. Ana was my true love. True as the sun during the day and the moon at night. She was my universe, my sun and stars, my everything. In that last scene, she was the Buttercup to my Westley, and I'm quite certain that all of our kisses have blown that one out of the water.

"Well? What did you all think?" Ana asked once the credits began rolling.

"I thought it was amazing," Mia said, wiping tears away from her cheeks. "How have I gone my entire life without seeing this movie? I feel like my whole childhood has been a lie! I mean, there were moments in high school and even in Cookery school where people would quote this movie in every day conversation and I always felt like I was being left out. I never understood. I had a chef professor who would use the word inconceivable all the time and one day someone said back, 'you keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.' The rest of the class erupted in laughter and I was left completely confused. Now I get it! Now I get everything. Thank you Ana, for inviting me over to watch this and for sharing this moment with all of us. It was truly a spectacular film. I hope I can come back and watch more movies here."

Ana pulled my sister into her arms. "Mia, you are more than welcome to join us for movie night, any time. We try to have it once a week, usually on Thursdays, but it doesn't always happen, and hasn't for a while lately. We've all been a bit busy. But do you all agree that we should resume weekly movie nights? If you have other friends that you want to invite, that's fine. As long as they obey the rules, of course."

"Yeah, about the rules," Elliot stated. "I get why they're there, and at first, I thought it was a bit ridiculous, but then I thought about all the times I've been at a theater and someone has gotten up in the middle of the movie and walked across the aisle, totally interrupting my connection with what was on screen, or someone in the row in front of me looking at their phone. It's rude and it totally messes with the whole experience. From now on, I will be a follower and enforcer of the Movie Rules. Scout's honor." He put three fingers against his forehead. Thankfully for him, he actually was a boyscout, so his honor could be upheld.

"Christian? What did you think?" Kate asked. "Was the movie all you expected it to be?"

"And more," I replied. "But Ana, you're not Buttercup. First of all, you'd never treat a farm boy the way she did Westley at first, you wouldn't be so helpless in the fireswamp or anywhere else, and you'd never ever ever marry prince humperdink to think you were saving my life. You'd just shoot him with an arrow instead."

She laughed. "Yes I would. I guess I'm more the man in black than anything. But so are you, Christian. I guess we can both be that for Halloween."

"Halloween!" Mia exclaimed. "It's in like two days!" More like a week, but Mia was prone to exaggeration. "What are we doing? Partying? giving out candy? I can't imagine there are many kids in this neighborhood, the houses are so sparse, too. What should we do? We could have a horror movie marathon here, or we could host something at Mammaw's. But we'd probably have had to advertise it already by now. It's only a week away."

"I know!" Ana replied. "Let's have a swing dance night at Mammaw's. We'll remove all the tables and chairs so most of the floor can be a dance floor. I think if we advertise it on Facebook, Twitter, and the website, enough people will see it that we'd have a good turnout. We can have the theme be 'Famous stars of the 50s. Dress as your favorite character from TV or a movie that came out in the 50s or was set in that decade.' What do you think?"

Mia pulled Ana in for a hug. "There are reasons you and I are business partners. That is an amazing idea! Let's go start planning. Ethan, get on the websites and start tweeting, will you?" And the rest of the evening was spent planning out the Mammaw's Halloween bash, the first annual one at that. The event description on Facebook went into detail on what would qualify one for the costume contest and what food items would be available It was going to be an all you can eat for $10 admission. 18+ age requirement, as we figured some attendees might take liberties with 50s garb and come dressed scantily-clad, despite our warnings to the contrary.

"You could give candy out earlier," Kate suggested. "A lot of businesses in that area do a candy give away during the day or in early afternoon. Someone could do that until say 8 o clock, then have the doors open for the adult party at 9 or 10. Most halloween parties don't kick off until then, anyway."

"Wonderful idea, Kate," I complimented. "This way, Mammaw's will be catering to all ages."

Then it was settled. By morning, the tweets had been sent, the event created on Facebook, and emails sent to those patrons that signed up for Mammaw's newsletter and other updates. By afternoon, the Facebook event already had 75 confirmed attendees and many comments from parents that were excited about Mammaw's participating in the trick-or-treat event that the other businesses did.

It was amazing what the six of us could come up with when we put our heads together. It often felt like we were meant to be family. While Ana, Ethan, and Kate were always siblings, biologically that is, Elliot, Mia and I were brought together by sheer happenstance. Any couple could have adopted any of us, but it just so happened to be Carrick and Grace. And they just so happened to move to Seattle where the Steeles also just so happened to move.

Fate. That's what it had to be. If I believed in nothing else, Fate had to be the singular thing that kept me grounded and my eyes on the future. Ana and the rest of the Steeles were my fate. Now we just had to see where the Bhutan family fit into all this. Ana was starting to get close to her half-siblings, especially the eldest, Antoinette. I wanted to encourage her to keep building that relationship, but what if it all came crashing down. What if the Bhutans were really some French crime family that have a lot of carefully constructed shell corporations and business fronts to hide their shady dealings? There simply had to be more to them than met the eye. I just couldn't accept that they were real, honest, good, upstanding people. That just didn't happen in our lives. It just didn't.