AUTHORS NOTE: A little bit of whimsy in this chapter, just to maintain the needed lightness and to help transition to the next part of the story. I will add that this will be it until the New Year as I just have too much to do in real life but I will be back and this story will be completed!

Merry Christmas to you all x

CHAPTER 148

(MIA)

"Hello, come on in!"

I make my way towards the voices in the hallway and see Gideon, Eva and Jared stepping through the door, followed by Christian and Ana. They are all laughing at something Gideon has said which I didn't catch. I look at dad who has opened the door and is holding his hand out to Gideon.

"Hello Carrick, it's good to see you again" Eva says as she gives him a hug. I smile as I watch dad flush slightly as he returns the hug.

"Mia!" Eva exclaims as she walks towards me her arms outstretched.

"Hi Eva" I say as I return the warm hug.

"So where is this guy then?" Eva asks looking around.

"Not here yet, that's why I came to the door as I thought it might be him arriving".

"I've said he's bottled it and will be a no show, after she told him just how many people are going to be here" Elliot says as he comes up behind me.

I turn and slap him lightly, "Pack it in El, and stop being mean" I say good naturedly as I know he is only joking really.

He makes a huge thing of the slap, making out I've really hurt him and I roll my eyes. Dad closes the door and we all make our way into the large sitting room where mom is sitting chatting with Sadie. I smile as I see that. Mom has really come a long way since everything was pointed out to her and she has made a huge effort to deal with everything that was levelled at her and make things right. She has, with Caroline's help overcome a lot of her jealousy issues and accepted so much and changed how she does things, cutting her hours at the hospital so she is around more. Things are no longer strained and awkward between her and Sadie anymore either, and they chat like old friends now.

Ava looks up from where she is sitting playing and a huge smile fills her face before she leaps to her feet and runs to Gideon. "Uncle Gideon, Aunty Eva!" she shrieks as she hurtles towards them.

Gideon catches her and lifts her up planting a kiss on the top of her head as she wraps her small arms around him. She soon wriggles to be put down and after throwing herself into Eva's arms and then giving Jared a hug, she turns her attention to Christian and Ana and gives them an equally exuberant welcome before she returns to play with her toys.

Meg is sitting with Lucy and they both smile at everyone who has entered the room and the welcome which Ava gave them. Gideon now has his arm around Jared's shoulder and whispers something in his ear to which he nods. He pats his shoulder affectionately and Jared comes in and sits down on the sofa beside Sadie, who greets him warmly.

Before anyone can say anything the doorbell rings and my heart starts beating faster.

"He's here! He's here!" I gabble as I rush towards the door closely followed by dad.

I am shaking as I fumble with the door, "Here let me" dad says kindly and he opens the door to reveal Simon standing looking incredibly nervous. He is clutching two bouquets of flowers and also a bottle of wine, which he thrusts at dad.

"Hello, I'm Simon" he stammers. I rush at him and wrap my arms around his waist. His face breaks into a huge relieved grin and I feel him relax slightly.

"Let the poor man in Mia" dad says as he accepts the wine. "Thank you, and I'm pleased to meet you, I'm Carrick, Mia's father and I've heard a lot about you" dad says as he holds out his hand once more.

Simon steps into the house and accepts the handshake, "I'm pleased to meet you sir, and I've heard a lot about you too… in fact I've heard a lot about the entire family" he says glancing at me with a grin.

Dad laughs, "And you still came?!" he says and Simon laughs at that.

"These are for you Mia" he says as he holds out one of the bouquets for me.

"Thank you, but you didn't have to" I say as I stand on my tiptoes and press a small kiss to his cheek.

As we reach the living room, I feel him stiffen slightly again and take a deep breath before we enter.

Dad is introducing him and giving mom the bottle of wine which he is saying will go wonderfully with the planned dinner. I see El and Christian exchange a knowing look and I pray that they don't act like assholes towards Simon.

Mom comes forward smiling kindly, and Simon hands her the other bouquet.

"These are for you Mrs Grey, thank you for inviting me" he says.

I hear Elliot speak to Christian, "Very smooth" he says quietly and I scowl at him.

After greeting Simon, mom takes my bouquet along with hers and disappears into the kitchen. I grip Simon's hand and lead him into the room, I deliberately don't go to introduce him to Christian or El first. I see the surprise on their faces as I move towards Gideon and Eva instead.

"Simon, this is Gideon and Eva and this is Gideon's son Jared". All the appropriate handshakes and greetings are exchanged as I then introduce him to Sadie and Lucy and explain who they all are, before turning towards my brothers.

I sigh, as I can't avoid my brothers any longer. "This is Ana she is married to Christian and this is Megumi – although everyone calls her Meg and she is married to Elliot… Ava" I pause as she looks up at her name being called and slowly makes her way over, "This is my niece Ava, she is Elliot's daughter" Ava smiles shyly at Simon who says hello to her and she runs to Elliot and grips his leg tightly. "And these, are my brothers Christian and Elliot" I say before giving both of my brothers a warning look.

"Guys, be nice" I say as Simon steps forward.

"Mia, I'm insulted I'm always nice" Elliot says with a grin as he wraps his arm around Ava protectively and I hear Christian let out a small snort. Both Ana and Meg roll their eyes and Eva giggles. I glance at Gideon who is smiling and shaking his head in amusement. Christian is the first to recover and remember his manners as he steps forward with his hand outstretched.

"He's also always an idiot, but you'll get used to it. Hello I'm pleased to meet you Simon, how is your father?" He says with a wicked grin.

I feel Simon relax and I am also relieved that they haven't done anything too stupid. "He's very well thank you and he asked me to pass on his best wishes to you…" he pauses and looks around, "To you all" he adds.

Everyone sits down and I ask Simon if he wants a drink, he shakes his head and so I sit down beside him slipping my hand into his once more.

I watch as he chats amiably with my family and everyone seems to be getting along well.

"Ok if everyone wants to come through as dinner is ready now" mom says as she appears in the doorway.

We all make our way through and as we do so I squeeze Simon's hand, he looks down at me and smiles.

"Are you ok?" I ask and he nods.

"I am, I was really scared at the prospect of meeting everyone, but everyone seems to be very nice… very welcoming" he says.

"They are, I was just scared my brothers would act like assholes and scare you away" I say.

Simon shakes his head, "Not going to happen" he says.

oooOOOooo

(CHRISTIAN)

We are all gathered around the table and I keep looking at Simon and Mia. Naturally, I'd had Welch do a full background check on him and he is squeaky clean with not even a driving ticket. I have a lot of time for his dad as well, so it appears he inherited his father's sense of morality and honesty. Mia is looking at him the way I look at Ana and the way El looks at Meg. I am naturally very protective of Mia but I'm not about to shit all over her relationship when I can't find anything wrong with this guy. I look to my side at Elliot and see he is also watching the couple closely.

"She could do far worse" I whisper to him and he nods.

"And you found nothing on him at all?" he asks.

I shake my head, "Nope, clean as a whistle".

"If he hurts her though" Elliot says and I nod.

"Goes without saying bro… If he hurts her then all bets are off and you will need to get in line" I whisper.

We return to the conversation where Mia is telling the story of how they met at the mayor's daughter's wedding. Apparently, he had stepped back and knocked her as she was carrying a tray of hors d'oeuvre.

"What the hell are hors d'oeuvre?" Elliot asks and Mia rolls her eyes.

I turn to him, "Appetisers" I say.

"Oh" Elliot replies. "So, what happened, did you send them flying?" he adds with a grin.

Mia shakes her head and Simon answers.

"No, she was very professional. She sort of spun on the spot and saved the entire tray. I was mortified that I'd nearly caused her to drop them and I couldn't stop apologising. After I made sure she was ok, she smiled at me and that was it… I was a goner and I made every possible excuse to go to her and speak to her after that. I am really surprised she didn't think I was some kind of creepy stalker the way I kept following her around. In the end I plucked up the courage to ask her for her number and I asked her out".

I watch as Mia covers his hand with hers and he responds by holding her hand and giving it a squeeze.

"So, how long have you been seeing each other then?" Eva asks.

"About two weeks" Mia says.

Simon smiles at her, "17 days" he says. "We talked on the phone for about a week before we went on our first date, but it's been 17 days since that first official date as our schedules kept clashing a bit, but after that first date we didn't look back and now we make sure to keep our schedules in tandem and make time for each other".

"Jeez they are giving me diabetes" Elliot murmurs and I stifle a snort at that.

Before I can tell El to shut up though I see Meg dig him in the ribs at that remark and he returns his attention to his plate.

"How long are you guys in Seattle for?" Mia asks looking towards Gideon and Eva once more.

"Just a flying visit I'm afraid, we arrived Friday night and are flying back later today as Jared has school tomorrow" Gideon replies.

Eva grins, "We had to come though, there was no way I was missing out on meeting Mia's new guy!"

"You know you are always welcome here" Carrick says kindly.

Simon looks between everyone, "I'm sorry if this sounds rude but just how is everyone related here?" he asks. "Mia tried to explain it to me, but I got a bit lost" he says ruefully.

Much to my surprise mom leans forward.

"Carrick and I couldn't have children so we adopted Elliot, Christian and Mia. Christian married Ana and Elliot is now married to Meg" she pauses and Simon nods.

"A few months ago, out of the blue, Ana got an email stating that someone believed they were related to her – that she was their sister. That person was Eva, and it transpired that Eva and Ana shared a biological father… and after further investigation it also transpired that he was, quite coincidentally, Elliot's biological father as well… it really is a small world". Mom pauses again.

Simon looks at me and Elliot, "That must have been a bit weird for you both, your brother turned out to be your wife's brother as well?" he says.

Elliot nods, "It was, we got over it though" he says with a grin.

Mom continues with the explanation of the family tree, "This is Sadie, she is Elliot's birth mom and she came to live in Seattle a while ago, and this is Elliot's sister Lucy who is Sadie's daughter from another relationship".

Simon nods, "I… I saw the interview Elliot and Lucy gave on TV, I'm glad you are both safe now" he says politely.

Sadie smiles kindly at him and thanks him for his concern.

I watch and notice Jared is talking to Lucy and they are whispering furiously. Gideon also notices this and watches the two closely.

"How are you doing now Jared?" Mia asks and the whispering stops.

Jared looks at Mia and smiles, "I'm ok, I was just telling Lucy that I'll be glad when my uncle's trials are over" he says.

Gideon lifts his wine glass to his lips and drains it, "We all will" he says as he places it back down on the table.

Simon looks at Jared carefully and I can see he has questions but is too polite to ask; Mia also notices this and quickly explains.

"Jared is Gideon's son from a previous relationship. Gideon had no idea that he existed until recently. Jared's birth mom put him up for adoption and his adoptive parents died recently which led him to seek out his biological family and he found Gideon".

Jared clears his throat, "My uncle… my adoptive dad's brother, he was responsible for their deaths… that is what the trial is about… he was also abusive to me… and we have strong reason to believe he wanted to kill me too… I believe that had I not made the decision to look for dad then I wouldn't be here now… Uncle Phil planned to kill me".

"Oh my god, that's terrible" Simon gasps but Jared just shrugs.

"It is what it is, it's been a hell of a ride recently but when the trials are over it will be a great relief".

I lean forward, "My security men are testifying at the trial for your aunt and uncle so hopefully what Barnett told them will help secure a conviction for your uncle".

Jared nods, "I hope so" he says.

"Have you heard anything more from your other uncle?" Elliot asks.

Jared nods, "Uncle Patrick phoned again after all that stuff with Corrine. He saw it and he made contact again… although it was more to ask questions about dad, so I think it was financially motivated. Mom always said Uncle Patrick only showed up when he needed money and now he is aware of who dad is… well it was inevitable".

"Will you pursue a relationship with him?" I ask.

Jared shakes his head, "No, he didn't care… when we spoke before he practically abdicated any sort of responsibility for me and made it clear he didn't care, he was relieved that I was with my birth family and said that I was better off with them so this renewed interest in me is only because of dad and I'm not interested in pursuing any sort of relationship with him as I barely know him. I only saw him a handful of times when I was growing up" he pauses and looks at Gideon, "I know my dad better than Uncle Patrick" he says.

"As it should be" Eva says smiling kindly at him.

"Just so you know, Ana and I will be coming to Chicago when you get the date for the trial" I say and Gideon just smiles gratefully at me.

Eva grins at that, "That's great, thanks Christian" she says and Jared nods his head.

"Thank you" he says quietly.

oooOOOooo

After lunch nobody seems to be in any rush to go and we all settle down in mom and dads comfortable sitting room to chat. I make my way over to the piano and sit down, running my hands over the keys I check it is in tune before starting to play.

I perceive movement next to me and see Lucy has joined me so I shuffle over to allow her to sit down next to me and much to my surprise she starts to play along on the upper scale of the piano. She smiles at me and as the piece comes to an end, she thanks me for allowing her to join me.

"You play well" I say and she flushes slightly.

"I learnt when I was younger and we had a piano back…" she fades off as she glances at Sadie who is watching with tears in her eyes.

"You enjoy playing?" I ask and she nods but doesn't say anything.

I rifle through the stack of sheet music looking for something else to play, when Elliot appears beside us.

"I can play too" he says and Lucy goes to give way to him but I reach out and stop her from moving.

"No he can't, his idea of playing is a two fingered hammering of the keys and he only knows one tune" I say.

"I am the master of chopsticks" Elliot says with a grin.

Everyone is laughing now and Lucy looks at me and then Elliot, "Why don't we all play then? I know chopsticks, it will be interesting to see if we can do it with three people rather than a duet" she says.

I sigh but this moment reminds me of when El and I were children and he came and asked me to teach him to play something when he had seen me playing the piano and I had taught him Chopsticks.

Ava comes up and is watching us with avid interest, "Daddy play it!" she demands and El looks at me.

"I can't disappoint my public" he says with a shrug.

"Alright, but don't bang on the keys" I say in warning.

Everyone gathers around as Lucy, El and I play a frenzied version of Chopsticks and as it comes to an end everyone claps.

Elliot bows theatrically which makes everyone laugh even more.