AUTHORS NOTE: Apologies for the delay in getting this chapter out as I couldn't seem to get it right. It took me ages to get it to this point and I'm still not 100% happy with it but hopefully it conveys what I want to say.

CHAPTER 34

(CHRISTIAN)

I watch the Cross Industries plane disappearing and I wrap my arm around Ana. Saying goodbye again to Eva was hard for her. I glance at Elliot who is standing on Ana's other side and who has also come to say goodbye to his new sister. He had spent some quality time with Eva and Gideon while Ana and I were in Ohio and he was also sad to see them go.

"So, I can borrow your New York apartment when I want to go to visit Eva and Gideon?" he asks me and I nod.

"Of course you can" I reply absently.

I watch as he looks down at Ana, "I've got to go to work now, are you going to be ok?" he asks her which makes me bristle slightly.

I am suddenly irrationally irritated by his concern, but I don't say anything. This is going to be hard for all of us as the dynamic of our entire family has now changed. Elliot is my brother, always has been and always will be. Ana is my wife and I love them both dearly and Ana will always be my world but now knowing that they actually share a blood link, it is clear Elliot now looks upon Ana and Eva as his little sisters and he has effortlessly adopted the protective big brother role towards them… it throws me, and for some reason puts me on edge. I am uncertain of how I actually feel. All I know is it is my place to protect Ana and keep a check on her wellbeing.

My parents were equally flabbergasted by the news about Elliot, Ana and Eva sharing a father. The thought that it really is such a small world that the woman I fell in love with is actually blood related to my adopted brother, it beggars belief and as both Ana and Eva had both said – you couldn't make it up! I am wondering how Mia is dealing with this, she didn't say much when she was told of this development but she did make all the right noises about how happy she was for Elliot finding out about his biological family. However, I am certain that if she feels her place as Elliot's pampered little sister is being usurped, she will have plenty to say about it.

I feel Ana move away from me and I have to resist the urge to pull her back into my arms as she turns towards Elliot and gives him a hug.

"I'm absolutely fine" Ana assures him as she hugs him and as he pulls away, he grins at her.

"Ava and I will see you both this evening" he says, and I nod in agreement. Elliot is coming for dinner with us, and I am certain that his visits will be more regular now.

"Don't forget mom wants us all for dinner on Sunday" I say and Elliot nods.

"Yeah I know, it's a shame Eva and Gideon had to go home as by rights they should've been there too as they are part of the family" he says.

With that he says his goodbyes to me before glancing at his watch and disappearing off to work. I pull Ana back into my arms.

"Ready to head off to work?" I ask and Ana looks up at me and gives me one of her beautiful smiles as she nods at me.

"I am" she says simply.

As we are making our way back into the city my phone buzzes and I quickly answer it as I see Alex's name on the screen.

"Hello" I say, forgoing my usual telephone greeting of just barking my surname out.

"Hello Christian, I'm just calling to let you know when Betty's funeral is" Alex says.

"Oh right, yes" I say.

"Thursday at 2.30 in the afternoon" he says warily.

"I'll be there" I say firmly and I hear a sigh of relief at the other end of the line.

"Thank you" Alex says.

"No problem" I reply.

I had offered to pay for Betty's funeral but Alex wouldn't hear of it. He had told me that it was already taken care of and whilst I wanted to make a contribution I bowed to his wishes. We had discussed it and I had made it clear to him that I wanted to make some contribution and he had relented and said that I could pay for the memorial to mark the grave. I had immediately agreed but I was also mindful of not going over the top and including him in the final decisions.

We talk for a few moments longer and he tells me that Arnie will be flying out and he was wondering if while everyone was together again if it would be possible for us to make the trip to Detroit so I could pay my respects to Liam and I could show them where Ella was buried.

I immediately agree to that and reiterate my desire to re-bury my biological parents together which Alex also agrees with. Eventually I end the call and turn towards Ana who is sitting silently at my side.

"Alex" I say simply and Ana nods.

"The funeral is on Thursday at 2.30" I say and Ana quickly makes a note of it on her phone and assures me that she will amend her schedule accordingly.

oooOOOooo

My day is the usual mix of meetings and whilst I thrive on it, I am now glad when the day is over and I am heading to Grey Publishing to pick up Ana. When she appears, she looks sad and I wonder what the matter is. I quickly put it down to the fact that it is because Eva has gone home to New York and I make a mental note to arrange a visit to New York so Ana and Eva can be together again.

"Hi" she says as she slides into the car beside me.

I immediately pull her close and devour her. "Hey baby" I say when I eventually pull away. I stroke her hair back off her face and tuck some behind her ear, whilst looking at her carefully.

"What's wrong?" I ask gently.

She shakes her head and smiles at me, albeit weakly. "Nothing, I'm fine" she says but I know that she is fobbing me off and something is amiss.

"Don't lie to me Ana, something is wrong" I say more harshly than I intended to. I see her eyes widen at my tone and I quickly lean down and press another kiss to her lips to take the sting out of my words. "I'm sorry baby, that came out sharper than I meant it to" I whisper, "…but please tell me what's wrong as I hate to see you looking so sad" I add.

Ana sighs and rubs her eyes with her hand. To my horror I see she is trying to hold back tears which are starting to build. I quickly pull her into my lap and wrap my arms tightly around her.

"Talk to me, please" I almost beg her. I feel her sag in my arms and sigh deeply.

"Mia called me today" she says so quietly I almost miss it.

"Mia?" I ask wondering what the hell this has to do with Ana being so down.

"It wasn't very pleasant" she adds after a moment's hesitation.

This immediately puts me on alert and all my previous thoughts about my self-centred sister come to mind, wondering what thoughtless thing she has done this time.

"What do you mean?" I ask as I lift her chin gently so she is looking up at me. I see her swallow deeply; she is clearly having problems with telling me what happened.

I sit and try and be patient while she works herself up to telling me. I watch as she reaches for my hand and places her hands over mine. My arms are wrapped around her and I shift slightly so that she can hold my hand.

"Mia called me and she wasn't happy" Ana begins.

"Ok?" I say now wondering what is wrong with Mia.

Ana sighs again, "Apparently… Mia had asked Elliot to do something for her and he blew her off to spend time with Eva and Gideon while we were in Ohio… and she has asked him again and it seems that he has blown her off again to have dinner with us tonight" she says.

I close my eyes and shake my head. I had a feeling that this might happen. Elliot is still dealing with everything and processing everything that has happened and Mia is too selfish to realise that. All she can see is him picking us over her.

"What did she say to you baby?" I ask trying to rein in my irritation at my spoilt selfish little sister.

Ana hesitates and looks up at me as though she is gaging my mood. When she does that, I know that she thinks I am going to over react to whatever she tells me.

"Tell me" I say firmly.

I watch as she licks her lips nervously. "She said… she said that I wasn't going to steal another brother from her. She said that she had already lost you because you were so obsessed with me and that I had turned you against her and she wasn't going to let me take her other brother away". She stops and the tears she was holding back leak from her eyes and slowly trickle down her face.

I lift my hand and wipe them away with my thumb as I try desperately not to lose it. I am furious with Mia for saying that as it is totally untrue and just spiteful. I am also shocked as Mia may be selfish and thoughtless but she has never been vindictive or spiteful.

Ana looks up at me and lets out a small sob, "I have never known Mia to be so nasty. She has always been self-centred but the way she spoke to me… it was as if she really blamed me for everything that had happened" she says, echoing my own thoughts.

I lean down and kiss her gently before wrapping her in my arms.

"I'll talk to her" I say and immediately Ana pulls away from me and shakes her head frantically.

"No, please don't" she whispers as she places her hands flat on my chest. "That will just make things worse, she will think I have tattled to you and if you go in there it will confirm for her everything she thinks" she says.

"I'm not having her talking to you like that Ana, it was uncalled for… not to mention out of character for Mia" I say.

Ana looks up at me and nods, "That is what upset me most as Mia doesn't talk like that, it was as if she was channelling Kate and…" Ana stops and I can see the realisation dawning on her face. "Do you think Kate has something to do with this?" she asks.

I hadn't thought of that, but Mia is incredibly immature, so if Kate is whispering in her ear and she is believing her. But I quickly dismiss that as Mia knows what Kate did to Elliot. I shake my head.

"I don't think so, she knows why Kate and El separated. She knows everything Kate said about him so I can't see her listening to anything she has to say" I say and Ana nods in agreement with that.

I think for a moment, "Listen, I'll talk to her". I pause and hold up my hand as she opens her mouth to protest once more but she shuts it again and waits, looking at me expectantly. "I won't lose it with her, I won't shout at her, I'll just talk to her and see where she is coming from. I need her to stop thinking that you have turned me against her so that is where I will start".

Ana nods, "I know where that has come from" she says and my eyebrows rise and I wait for her to elaborate.

"The allowance you cut when we got together. When you saw how little I survived on and how I managed to always make something out of nothing. How I didn't want your money… you said then that you realised you had spoilt her and the money you were dishing out to her each month was excessive when she already had her generous trust fund from your parents. When you stopped the constant flow of money into her account and told her she had to start working for her money that must have stung and you told her that she needed to start being more prudent… like me. I can imagine that she assumed I had told you to stop giving her money and the resentment has probably grown since then" she says.

I stare at her in surprise, I had never considered that as a possibility. I sigh and rub my hand over my face. A feeling of guilt surges through me at the thought that I may be to blame for the way that Mia is currently feeling. Although whatever I did doesn't condone anything that she has said to Ana today. I decide that I will talk to Elliot about this when he comes tonight as he seems to have been the catalyst for this outburst.

"I have to speak to her" I say and Ana nods.

"I get that, but don't go in there all guns blazing and alienate her even more" she says.

I realise that we are home and we head inside. After we have changed, I go into my study and shut the door. I need to speak to Mia sooner rather than later and now is the perfect opportunity as I have some time before Elliot arrives. I settle myself in my chair behind my desk and pull out my phone.

I take a deep breath and hit the speed dial for Mia's cell phone.

She answers quickly with a bright hello.

"Hello Mia" I say curtly and there is a long silence before she speaks again.

I take the opportunity to speak once more before she responds. "I'm calling because I want to know why you thought it was a good idea to upset my wife?" I say and I pause taking a deep breath as I am getting agitated just thinking about how upset Ana was.

"Oh, so she didn't waste any time tattling to you then" she huffs and I feel my anger growing even more.

"Mia stop being a brat" I snap and the stunned silence spreads out once more. "For your information, I had to practically drag it out of her as she didn't want to tell me because she didn't want to cause any trouble or upset. However, you didn't have any such consideration when you started levelling unfounded and hurtful accusations at my wife. I am calling you to put you straight on a few things and find out why you felt the need to call Ana and hurl abuse at her, this is out of character for you Mia. You are selfish and spoilt but you are not nasty and rude". I stop and wait for her to respond.

"I don't want to lose my other brother as she has already taken you from me" she begins but she doesn't sound as confident in her words now and I sigh.

"Mia what is this about? You never lost me; I have always been here. If you hadn't noticed, I have been here more since I met Ana. If anything she was responsible for me increasing my interaction with my family" I say as I rub my forehead with my fingers.

"You cut me off" she whispers and I stare at the phone.

"Is this about the money I stopped syphoning off to you?" I ask incredulously.

"Yes" she whispers and despite my attempts to stay calm and reasonable I can't help it and my temper peaks.

"So, it has nothing to do with me, just my money?" I ask sardonically.

"No, I didn't mean it like that" she argues, but I know that is exactly what she meant.

"Well enlighten me then" I say and when the silence spreads out once more I know she can't defend what she said.

"Mia, the fact is you are a spoilt brat. Mom and dad treated you like a little princess and I adored you and spoilt you even more. When I was in a position to do so I gave you everything you wanted. That was wrong and I did you no favours by doing it and I saw that when I met Ana and saw how she lived and survived on practically nothing. She wasn't interested in my wealth and actively refused to accept anything from me whereas you took everything I gave and wanted more. She had nothing to do with my decision to stop the money. She didn't even know about it until I had done it" I add and then wait again for her response.

I hear a small sob and I close my eyes, "Don't cry Mia, but Ana isn't your enemy and I won't have you hurting her" I say in a gentler tone.

"I'm sorry, it's just… I feel as though El is pulling away. You married Ana and she became your everything and I felt pushed out. You had always focussed all your attention on me and then it was gone… I was happy for you. Seeing you finding someone, falling in love and being happy. You deserved it but I felt pushed out. Now all this has come out about El being related to Ana and Eva and I feel it happening again, he has blown me off twice now to spend time with his new sisters".

"I can't believe you said that Mia, how selfish can you get?! This has been a life changing event for everyone and El is still processing it and coming to terms with it, instead of being a selfish brat and kicking off because you aren't getting the attention you believe you are entitled to, you should be supporting him and helping him deal with this life changing event" I snap, losing patience with her.

"It affects me too" she retorts.

"How? How exactly does it affect you Mia? I know you believe the world revolves around you but newsflash, it really doesn't. This situation we are currently in affects El and it affects Ana and Eva. As I am married to Ana it affects me by default as it affects Gideon who is married to Eva, but we are not involved and we are certainly not having a tantrum because El, Ana and Eva are focussing on each other as they deal with this new information. El is my brother and as such I am just offering silent support to my wife and my brother as they get their heads around all this - and that is what you should be doing". I pause and let out a loud harsh breath.

"I wanted him to come and build me a new cupboard for my office" she whines and I roll my eyes.

"And that is obviously far more important than El finding out about his birth family" I retort. "Get a fucking grip Mia".

"But" she says and I lose it.

"Just shut the fuck up Mia as there is nothing you can say which can justify how you are behaving. You want a fucking cupboard?! Seriously?! Do you hear yourself; you are sulking because you want a fucking cupboard! At this moment I am ashamed to call you my sister Mia as you are more selfish than I even thought. I am hanging up now because I am so angry with you and before you decide to put this on Ana, I will tell you straight, this is on you Mia. Every last little bit of it is on you!" I end the call and throw my phone on the table and take a deep steadying breath while running my hands through my hair.

A moment later there is a knock at the door and when Ana appears I smile at her, "Hi baby" I say. Just the sight of her calms me significantly.

"El and Ava are here" she says as she looks at me carefully.

I stand up and pick up my phone pushing it into my jeans pocket. "I'm coming" I say.

We head out to the sitting room where Elliot and Ava are waiting. Ava spots me and her face breaks into a massive smile as she runs to me screaming out my name. Just seeing my small niece improves my mood dramatically and I bend and scoop her up into my arms. I feel her small arms slide around my neck and she presses a slobbery kiss to my cheek. As quickly as she came, she is eager to get away and is wriggling to escape from my arms. I drop her back to the floor holding her until she is steady and then she runs off to the box of toys we keep here for her.

Elliot watches her go and then turns towards us, "Thanks for having us tonight as I have something I want to share with you and get your opinion on" he says warily.

"Oh?" I ask wondering what has happened now.

"Yeah, I decided to write to my birth mother" he says.

Ana looks up at me, "I think El wants us to read the letter he wrote and see if we can add anything and give our opinion on it" she says.

"Alright" I say, and I gesture towards the sofa which we all wordlessly move towards. Elliot moves and sits down and Ana takes a seat beside me opposite him. I watch as he pulls a crumpled piece of paper from his pocket and offers it to me.

"This is just a rough draft" he explains as I take it from him.

I nod and unfold the paper and begin to read. Ana leans in and I move slightly so she can also read it.

Hello Sadie,

Thank you for taking the time to write to me and explain everything. It was never my intention to cause any issues for you and your family and I accept your decision not to meet me.

I would like to take this opportunity to explain everything from my perspective. Partly for selfish reasons to see if it will change your mind about meeting me, but also so you know what became of me when you gave me up for adoption. I also want to make you aware of the astonishing developments which have resulted from the information you gave me regarding my biological father.

I was adopted by a good family in Detroit. My mom is a doctor, and my dad is a lawyer and I had every opportunity growing up as a result of their successful careers. I am divorced and I have a daughter who I have sole custody of. So, you have a granddaughter. I have an adopted brother and sister who are both younger than me and this is where it gets interesting. My adopted brother is the businessman Christian Grey, so upon reading that I am certain you now realise that his wife Ana is one of my half sisters as it has already been established that her biological father is Frank Lambert. It was an incredible set of circumstances and we were all surprised when these revelations came to light. After having seen the way Frank behaved towards Ana and Eva I have made the decision not to approach him or make any contact with him as a relationship with him does not interest me and after the way he has behaved towards my sisters it is clear I do not want him in my or my daughter's life. I can appreciate that hearing this may put you off even more. Knowing who my brother is does make the possibility of media intrusion greater but he also has the resources to help us meet in secret if that is something you would like to do? I would like to say that Ana and Eva managed to keep their connection from the media until Frank approached them and announced it, so I would just like to leave that detail with you.

I hold no grudge or animosity against you. That decision you made all those years ago gave me a wonderful life and I will always be grateful to you for that selfless decision. I appreciate that it was probably one of the hardest things you have done and I just want to thank you for doing it as you gave me exactly what you intended for me – a good life.

Thank you for taking the time to read this and I promise you that I won't make any further contact with you. However, if you decide that you would like to meet me please don't hesitate and contact Miranda at Finding Family who will act as intermediary in that instance.

Thank you once again and please rest assured that whatever you decide to do is fine by me.

Goodbye and thank you for what you did for me.

Elliot

I look up and see Elliot watching me intently. I pass the letter back to him and he takes it from me without a word.

"That was lovely, I'm sure she will appreciate that" Ana says before I can say anything.

I see the relief on Elliot's face as he hears that, "So it sounds ok?" he asks.

"It does" I say simply.