Teddy and Family
Chapter 27
A/N: The guys are hiding out across the street from the Ziegfeld while they await the arrival of the girls. Chris is eyeing the pandemonium outside with trepidation and brooding over what all the fuss over the books are about. You kind of get a window into the past with this one. For the most part. Calm before the chaos continue ;)
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Disclaimer: EL James and sometimes SMeyer (I love to play with her characters but with my AU spin on them from my other story. Sorry folks I don't do Cannon ever. Like, Love it, Hate it…you have been warned ^^) own it all I'm just having fun with the characters, but the OC ones and story ideas are all mine
Chris
I text Jamie to message me when they arrive and to say he was shocked by my request is an understatement.
He called me demanding answers as to why the bloody hell the girls were attending the showing when Ana clearly told off the writer of the book that afternoon. I explained that she was attending as a special guest reviewer for the Seattle Times, because everyone was down with NORO. Her plan was to sneak into the theater and skip the carpet, but the setup canopy for the showing made that next to impossible, so her and Bella would be walking it whether she wished to or not.
I told him that he couldn't miss their screaming red aptly themed ensembles that Alice had designed for her and Bella. More so Ana, but they were both wearing red. Let's just say that after some lengthy colorful swearing, as this was a streaming event being covered exclusively by the TODAY show. He finally agreed to keep an eye out for them.
So by the time this night is over I might be deaf with all of the screaming fans lined up to see the stars of the movie that shall not be named. The plan was to sneak into the theater, but that's impossible the way that have it set up. It's not a red carpet either. Try black. We're watching from across the street for our girls to arrive and then only then are we going to brave stepping outside into fan madness.
"This is tame compared to the premieres that we've attended for my Bella's Singer Saga movie franchise." Edward shrugs next to me, not the least bit deterred by all the commotion happening across from us.
"Those were teenagers. We're talking about obsessed women. Fixated on the idea of a darker fictional version of me, well, us." I mutter under my breath.
"True or that our wives are seen as timid little mice when they are full grown lionesses with very sharp claws."
"Though in truth most of my family were into the scene…" I mutter under my breath.
"Say that again…" Edward's looking at me like I've lost my marbles.
"Look, you can find out what you wish to know using your special quirk. I'm not rehashing it out loud where some fucker with a listening device can record it! And don't glare at me like that I'm good with the weird and you're all family. Secrets to the grave. Do ya want it in blood? You'd probably get a sick thrill out of that…" I hiss at him, not in the mood for this shit today. The zoo across from us is getting worse. Sam's Uncle does have things in hand, but I loathe events like this with a passion and avoid them like the plague.
They closed off the street to regular traffic so that they can keep the chaos at a minimum. The fans are lined up behind barriers on both sides of the street. There's movie propaganda plastered everywhere you look with fans desperately clutching books to be signed. All of them desperate to get up close to their idols.
The NYPD presence is increasing so I know that our wives should be making an appearance very soon, as will the guests of honor. Luke's entrenched over in enemy territory and has been sending us video of the set up. Chandeliers for lighting up the canopy, arrangements of red roses, wall size movie posters. Mostly black and white, not a lot of color, to go with the whole fifty shades of grey theme I guess.
That's where her version of me differs. I am not nor have I ever been as fucked up as she's made the fictional version of me. Yeah, I had birth mom issues and even touch. Then again I had Ana and she went along with me to touch therapy. Yeah, I had nightmares but who wouldn't after surviving the fire and then losing everyone I loved in one shot but for Mia.
My point is that the book feeds off the idea that Book Grey's parents have to be the most clueless people on the planet. For a Lawyer and a Pediatrician they really dropped the ball.
Yeah, I screamed and acted out at first during touch therapy, but Grace and Carrick waited me out and then tried again and again until my mind registered that their touch didn't hurt. After that it was easy to get over my fear. When we started school we were also sat down and were lectured complete with visuals all about strangers and predators. All of these things were important milestone lessons that gave us the foundation to endure our teens.
Yeah, our parents were busy, but they found the time to raise and love us. Give us the attention that we needed while focusing on their thriving careers. We had allowances, anything more than that in our preteenager years and we earned it by doing community service and excelling in school.
When we hit our teens we started working afterschool with Ray. Its how we learned how an empire was run and what it took to make it thrive and build something phenomenal.
From Carrick we learned about the legal side of things, well, that and law means hours and I do mean hours of eye crossing research per case. It put all of us off Law school, being gophers and fact checkers for my dad's firm.
From Carla we learned about check and balance and accounting as she was the CFO of Steele Shipping.
From Grace we learned humility, sacrifice, compassion, and how caring is the best medicine of all. We learned that we had a duty to pay it forward and show compassion to those who weren't nearly as fortunate as we were. We learned about grieving and loss too. To this day it astonishes me how my Mom can still be sane doing what she loves to do everyday. I'd just get angry with every loss and that's why Med school was crossed off the list. Defeat and I don't mix.
When we hit our late teens we all were offered internships from like you didn't know already. Ella's company. That's were we all got our first tastes of what we wanted to strive towards career wise.
Barney apprenticed under Fred Wilson her head of IT. He was in geek heaven let me tell you.
Andrea has always been the organization guru of the gang, so she interned as Mac's PA.
Kate and Ethan already had a family gig with the Kavanagh Media Empire.
Hanah was into Publishing just like Ana was and co-interned with Ana as PA's for the head of Mac's publishing section Marisa Ford.
Jose loved to build things and shadowed Elliot and Gwen at Grey Construction and Design. Elliot was just starting to really make his mark in his field and so was Gwen in the field of design.
Paul, well, he volunteered at Seattle Grace. Medicine was all he wanted to do.
Ana couldn't make up her mind so she kinda floated from department to department, IT, Publishing, Mergers, Innovation…the book loving part of her won out in end and she apprenticed under Marisa Ford to learn about the publishing world. It was Marisa who clued us all in about SIP and gave Ana the start of her dream.
Mia took to interning in the hospitality section like a fish to water. She got to be the shadow for some really top chefs every summer.
I wanted to learn every aspect of what it took to be a CEO, so you could say that I floated everywhere in Ella's company. That's why at sixteen when in Econ we were told to create a fantasy corporation and work at trying to make it succeed, as in not be in the Red at the end of the school year, actual profit. I didn't have any problem convincing Grandpa T to let me have the start up for GEH, making a fantasy econ project a reality.
Ros was already working at Ella's company and was our mentor for the project. It didn't hurt that she was our Big Sister of sorts and after we made our first million gave them her notice and turned all of her focus on GEH helping it thrive while we finished our education.
We all did time during the weekend when we didn't have a game or some event at Jason's Weekend Bootcamp when we acted out or bucked against the rules. All and all we were molded into well rounded young adults.
Obviously, the book version of my parents failed miserably in all categories when it came to raising their kids. Book Christian should have gotten some tough, but gentle love at an early age. He should have been hugged and hugged often like I was and shown that touch doesn't hurt if it's given by someone that you can love and trust and been taught about predators.
Sorry about the mental rant, but I loathe the book to infinity. Truth be told, so does John Flynn because it paints him as a charlatan shrink. He's anything but that and has been my sounding board and confidant since I was little. Book Flynn not so much.
Book Ana is nothing like my baby at all. If I were to pull any of that shit with her she'd geld me and have my balls for breakfast. We are and always have been a team. Equal partners all the way for the most part. I'm still the protector and she allows me that vice and she's the nurture always has been. But don't let that fool you, she's an Alpha just as much as I am. Like I said equal partners.
I'd go into all the other characters like Kate is pretty much spot on, as is Elliot in many, many ways. Spoiled Princess Mia has her moments, but she's not nearly as annoying as Book Mia. I mean who is? Though, she's a serial hugger that's spot on. Jose obviously not even close…I could go on but you get the idea.
Edward none to gently cuffs me on the back of the head to get my attention off of my mental loathing of what's going to be shown across the street. "Fucking hell! Cullen! Our wives are gonna watch that farce and see Jamie's ass! I think I have a right to silently brood if I want too!" I snarl darkly at him, as I reach back and rub the back of my head where he pulled a 'Jethro Gibb's' on me again.
Fuck that hurt like a bitch! Is he trying to give me a mild concussion!?
"It's all a farce. Fiction. Fueled by a vivid imagination who was out to create a modern day fictional Howard Hughes. She merely took our likenesses, accomplishments, mannerisms, personality traits and flaws. Mine more so than yours, as she included many of my former flaws that Bella so generously included in her trilogy and Ms. James incorporated in her fanfiction. She took pieces of your background and twisted it too. Then melded it all with some of Howard Hughes worst flaws and created her twisted fictional ridiculously flawed male protagonist." Edward goes to cuff me again just to get his point across, but I'm ready for him and avoid the blow.
"Cut it out! I don't need to be rushed off to get a brain scan tonight, because you're taking your mood out on me! Fuck! Stop trying to beat me up!" I snarl under my breath, glaring murderously at him.
"If I were trying to beat you up then you'd be in the intensive care ward." He narrows his eyes so that there is no question that he's the hunter, never prey, and growls in a lethally low tone. "I'll dial it down if you stop brooding over nothing!"
"I brood. It's just one of my quirks when I'm upset about something. I don't do it consciously it just happens! Stop fucking reading my mind! Aren't you breaking the rules or something!?" I steel myself against his Vampiric glare and will my body not to cower or show any weakness. I match his glare with one of my own.
Truth be told he's scary as Fuck!
"That rule is void when permission is given freely." He smirks at me knowing he's got me in checkmate.
"I didn't…well…yeah…I guess I did…" I swear fluently knowing now that he's got permission to run around my head whenever he wants.
"By being related by blood certain rules apply no matter what ones longevity may be." The bastard smirks.
Logan stalks inside and he looks beyond pissed. "Jose's phone was hacked while he was fleeing the crime scene and they got into his Cloud! By that fucking parasite that's been stalking the girls! Your Vegas themed wedding is streaming on TMZ and Youtube! Dante, Barney, Carrie, Chloe, TJ, and Adam are trying to shut it down, but it's going viral! The failsafe activated but the damage was already done. Your weddings plural and everything he had covered about them was compromised!"
"We have an exclusive contract with the Seattle Times and Kavanagh media and they are the only media organization legally authorized to print any photographic or visual material for any members of our family! Bring TMZ down to their knees! Bring them all down to their knees! They crossed the line! I want blood this time! I want to watch them bleed! I want them to come crawling on their knees begging for mercy! I want every last dime that Harvey has! His guy just brought down his bosses parasite kingdom! Hell! That whole LIVE feed today was grounds to bring them down and I only allowed it to continue to keep an eye on Ana!" I keep my tone deadly soft as we're in a public bar, but the orders that I am giving on my phone via text and email are crystal clear. The stalkers of privacy are going down!
"I'm unleashing Rosalie and Jasper on them as we speak." Edward's lightning fast texting on his phone.
"The Commissioner has them leashed, but it's still going to be chaos on that carpet and ETA on the girls is any minute now. Dornan and Johnson are already on the carpet as are the rest of the cast, James, and the director, so the focus is all on them…Luke's taken point at the beginning of the carpet. There is no way they can sneak in, not with the way they've got it set up." Logan is laser focused, like his dad.
"We're gonna cause a riot walking the gauntlet outside to get to the carpet…"
"That's too risky. You're arriving just like the girls. We gotta move."
"Fine with me. I wasn't in the mood to get mauled by crazed fans…" I'm so game for this new plan.