AUTHORS NOTE: Apologise for the delay and the incredibly short chapter, real life has got in the way this past week but here is what I have managed to put together.

CHAPTER 35

Elliot smiles in relief at our response. "I was worried in case I came across as not accepting her decision not to meet me" he says and he looks at us questioningly.

I shake my head, "No, you didn't. You laid out the facts and you offered her a solution should she want to change her mind but you certainly weren't forcing the issue" I say and I see the relief fill Elliot's face as he hears my words.

"I agree and I think that is a lovely letter El" Ana says.

Elliot grins at her, "Thanks sis" he mutters and Ana giggles at him.

I take a deep breath, partly because Elliot's flippant comment has irritated me again and partly because as much as I don't want to destroy the happy atmosphere here at the moment, I feel I need to tell Elliot about what Mia has been doing and how she has been behaving.

"Erm… I need to make you aware of something El" I begin carefully and Elliot immediately focusses his full attention on me.

"What?" he asks simply.

"Mia" I reply. Almost immediately Ana reaches and touches my arm shaking her head.

"No, please don't Christian" she says. This makes Elliot glance at Ana questioningly and he cocks his head to one side.

"What's going on?" he asks.

"I have to tell him" I say to Ana, "Especially after my call with her earlier" I add.

"What's all this about?" Elliot asks again a little more forcefully and I turn to look at him.

"It appears that Mia is bent out of shape because she is no longer the centre of your attention. She rang Ana and was quite rude to her, accusing her of taking me away from her and turning me against her and she told Ana she wasn't going to let the same thing happen with you" I say.

I see the surprise on Elliot's face and he looks at Ana, "What did she say to you?" he demands.

Ana shakes her head, "It doesn't matter, she clearly feels pushed out and she is just lashing out" she says.

Elliot shakes his head, "It doesn't give her the right to be rude to you" he says.

I nod, "I agree which is why I called her to find out what is going on" I say.

"And?" Elliot urges.

I sigh, "Well, her issue with me is down to money" I begin bitterly. Elliot's eyes widen and he leans forward and waves his hand urging me to continue.

"It appears she has held a grudge since I cut off the allowance I used to give her. As you know I spoilt her and gave her everything she wanted. I…" I pause and shake my head. "When I met Ana, and saw how she lived, how she survived on practically nothing and how she had no interest in my wealth and actually kicked against it, it made me realise how wrong I was by providing the money to Mia every month. She had her trust fund which mom and dad set up and that should've been enough. But I just encouraged her to be lazier and more entitled. When I stopped it and told her she needed to earn her own money and grow up it appears she believed that Ana had made me do it. Despite the fact she has built a thriving business that she is proud of she has held a silent grudge against her ever since. Twisting the facts to now believe that Ana has turned me against her, which is not true".

I pause and Elliot shakes his head. "Does this have something to do with the fact I cancelled on her? She called me wanting me to go to her office to do something and I blew her off because I was spending time with Eva when you and Ana went to Ohio" he explains and I nod.

"It is, and the fact you blew her off again to come here tonight" I add.

Elliot rolls his eyes, "For fucks sake" he mutters.

"She wants you to build her a cupboard" I say derisively and he stares at me in disbelief.

"A fucking cupboard, this hissy fit is over a fucking cupboard?!" he exclaims.

I nod but Ana looks at us both and shakes her head, "No, it's not" she says and we both stare at her in surprise. "You really don't see it do you? It's not about the cupboard, it's about the fact she feels as though Elliot has pushed her out and she feels side-lined. When she called me, she said that he was her brother first. Now, we all know that is an immature thing to say but it speaks volumes as to how Mia is feeling at the moment. She had your complete attention; she was your baby sister and you both doted on her. Admittedly she loved that role and selfishly used it to her advantage many times but now she has to share you and she feels pushed out" she says.

I let out a loud snort, "Well, she needs to fucking grow up" I snap.

Ana's eyebrows rise and she gives me a knowing look, "And you don't feel the same?" she says simply.

I go to deny it and then I pause, as I remember how I was feeling this morning when El assumed the big brother role with Ana and how it irritated me, not to mention just now when he called Ana 'sis'. Along with all the strange feelings that I can't put my finger on that I have been having since all this came out. I open my mouth again and then close it and Ana grins at me.

"Don't forget that I know you Christian, and I know that all this has unsettled you, it has unsettled you more than you are letting on to me but I can see it in your demeanour. In your case it is because it is a situation that is out of your control and everything that you took as read with your family has been challenged, and that has triggered the issues you have with stability and security. The lines have been blurred and you are having to deal with the change in dynamic within the family… just like Mia is". She pauses and reaches for my hand and squeezes it.

"You have dealt with it very well and I am so proud of you for the way you have handled it as I know it could've totally gone the other way. Especially with all the other changes you have dealt with recently with your own birth family. But that is exactly the same as what is happening to Mia and she is just struggling to deal with the changes and how they affect her and she isn't handling it as well as you have".

I squeeze Ana's hand back and say nothing as she has rendered me speechless. Then she turns to Elliot, "Why don't you call Mia now and invite her over so we can discuss this and sort everything out. You can show her your letter and explain to her why you needed to come here tonight. I really don't want there to be any unpleasantness and festering animosity within the family. There was enough of it with Kate but now she has gone I don't want there to be anything else".

Elliot nods and pulls out his phone, I shift uncomfortably in my seat as I remember my stinging words to Mia earlier. "She may refuse to come" I mutter and I immediately have Elliot and Ana's full attention on me, Elliot pauses and lowers his phone.

"Why?" Ana asks carefully.

"I may have been a little harsh with her when I called her earlier" I say.

Ana gives me a reproachful look and then shakes her head before turning to Elliot once more, "Well just try El" she encourages and Elliot nods and places the call, putting it on speaker so we can all hear.

"Hello". I close my eyes as I hear Mia's voice fill the room.

"Hey sis, I'm with Christian and Ana at the moment and Ana has just ripped me a new one for blowing you off". I see Ana go to refute this but I squeeze her hand and shake my head. I know that isn't entirely true, but it is El's way of making Mia see that Ana isn't her enemy.

"Oh" she says simply.

"Yeah, she kind of made both me and Christian see how everything that has happened has affected you" he says.

"Christian told me very clearly that I don't have any right to feel affected by everything that is going on" she huffs and Elliot glances at me, but Ana immediately steps in.

"Mia, you are on speaker and we can all hear you. I just want to say that of course you have a right to feel affected by this. It is a massive change in the whole dynamic of your family. But what you don't have the right to do is blame people. We are all dealing with this and we are all affected by it in different ways. I am not your enemy Mia; I am not trying to take your brothers away from you. Please come over and let's sort all this out. I don't want there to be any unpleasantness as there was enough of that with Kate".

There is a long silence and then I hear Mia sigh, "Ok" she says simply.

"Ok, good" Ana replies, "Have you eaten? As you are welcome to join us for dinner if you haven't" she adds.

"I'd like that" Mia says quietly, "Thank you" she adds after a moment.

"Alright, well we'll wait for you to arrive then" Ana says.

A short while later Taylor informs us that Mia has arrived and I steel myself for her entrance as I hear her voice when Taylor lets her in.

A moment later the door opens and we all look towards it. Mia stands awkwardly in the doorway and she is fidgeting with her car keys. Ana smiles kindly at her and immediately stands and walks towards her with her arms open.

"Hello Mia" she says kindly and she urges her to come into the room.

Mia bites her lip and looks at Ana sheepishly, "I'm sorry for what I said to you earlier when I called you" she begins.

Ana waves her hand, "No problem" she says simply but Mia shakes her head.

"No, I was rude and out of line. I didn't mean what I said, I was just upset because… I felt as though I was being overlooked and dismissed" she says.

"Then you should've called me and had a go at me instead as I was the one who blew you off" Elliot says.

Mia nods, "I know, I realise that now" she says.

Ana turns and glares at Elliot and holds up her hand, "Look let's forget about who said what and draw a line. Mia has apologised and admitted what she said was uncalled for. I don't know about anyone else but I am ready for something to eat. Let's eat and then we can talk properly and clear the air" she says.

Mia smiles at her and nods and we all troop out and Ana goes to tell Gail we are ready for dinner now.

oooOOOooo

"Thank you, Gail" I say as she places a large dish on the table in front of us. She smiles politely and leaves us to it.

The silence that has descended is slightly uncomfortable and after we have all helped ourselves to the food Elliot looks around.

"So…" he begins.

I watch as he fumbles in his pocket and pulls out the now crumpled sheet of paper. "I needed to talk to Ana and Christian as I wanted their opinion on this" he says as he passes the letter for his mother to Mia.

Mia takes the letter and begins to read; we see the compassion in her eyes and as she looks up, I also see some tears.

"She doesn't want to meet you?" she asks and Elliot shakes his head.

"No, and I'm ok with that" he says, slightly abruptly.

Mia bites her lip. "This is lovely El, but…" she pauses.

"What?" he asks.

She nods her head towards me, "Disclosing who your brother is… is that wise? I mean if she changes her mind and decides to meet you after all… you'll never know if it was because you changed her mind or because of Christian and everything he has?" she says carefully.

Elliot shakes his head, "I don't think so, I mean it was because of Christian and Gideon that she shied away. She knows about Ana and Eva as she mentioned them when she wrote to me, if anything it might put her off even more" he says.

"Oh" Mia says. "I didn't realise that" she adds.

"No, and I know I haven't really discussed this with you. I am sorry I blew you off twice Mia, but I had just discovered that I had two more sisters and as one of them lives in New York it seemed the perfect opportunity to spend some quality time with her while she was here in Seattle. Christian and Ana had to go to Ohio as well so…" he fades off and shrugs. Mia nods in agreement.

"I realise that now, but you never explained anything to me. I had no idea that you had discovered that Ana and Eva were your half-sisters at that point in time and all I saw was you blowing me off to spend time with someone who was essentially a stranger and who was Ana's family not yours" she says.

Elliot nods sadly, "I know and I'm sorry Mia. I was still processing everything and I decided that I wasn't going to announce it until I had everything straight in my own mind. But I hope now that I have, you understand a bit better".

Mia nods and Elliot smiles at her kindly.

"It is just strange, everything has changed. Everything that I took as read is… different now" Mia says carefully.

Ana reaches for her, "I know, this has been a huge thing for all of us and while we were busy dealing with it and the ramifications of what these revelations meant for us, we failed to see how it would also affect the wider family and for my part in that I apologise".

Mia squeezes Ana's hand, "You have nothing to apologise for Ana, you have done nothing wrong" she says firmly.

I lick my lips and lean forward, "I apologise for what I said to you earlier… I was angry" I say.

Mia waves her hand, "You have no need to apologise either Christian, you were protecting Ana and I deserved everything you said to me. I was rude and I said some cruel things to Ana, none of which were true and I just want you all to know I regret everything I said" she says simply.

The atmosphere seems to lift now that everyone has aired their views and Mia is now fully aware of everything that has been going on.

"So…" Mia starts warily.

She pauses and looks at Elliot, "Will you let me know what happens? If you get any reply to your letter from your birth mother?" she asks.

Elliot smiles kindly, "Of course I will" he replies.

Mia then turns her attention to Ana, "If it's alright with you… and Eva of course, I'd like to get to know Eva… I mean it's a bit tenuous, but… If she is El's sister and your sister… it kind of makes her my sister too… doesn't it?"

Ana's face breaks into a massive smile and she nods kindly at Mia, "Of course it does, and the next time Eva and Gideon visit we will make a point of all going and doing something together… all sisters together!" She says.