Chapter One

"I'm home!"

The door slammed shut following that announcement.

Thud. "OW!"

"Get off me dumbass! I know you love me and all, but could you try not to break all my bones when I get in?" a girl's infuriated voice shrieked.

"Kids! Quit the noise!" A woman's voice yelled irritably from the other room.

"Sorry mom!" This time it was a boy's voice yelling out that apology.

Brody Valentini grinned down at his fuming elder sister, before pushing himself up. Mission of the day: annoy Courtney. Status: complete. Such was the life of a younger brother. Sometimes there were moments when he felt that his sole purpose in life was to be the bane of her existence, much to her dismay.

"Hi Court. Need any help?" he smirked, offering his hand to pull her up.

She growled under her breath, slapping his hand away. "I wouldn't be in this position at all if it wasn't for you, loser."

"Now, now, that's not nice," he said in a mock-reprimanding tone, waggling his finger at her as she got up and brushed her hands against the seat of her jeans.

"I've never claimed to be nice," she shrugged, making a show of shouldering her bag, which had fallen when he'd tackled her. He watched, distracted, wondering what was on her mind. She didn't let him wonder for too long, kicking him in the shin before dashing away into the next room.

"OW! Why, you! COURT! Come back here!" He followed her trail, and almost ran smack into his mom. Now that he was taller than she was, he really needed to watch where he was going. It was just that, sometimes, he tended to forget, especially when he was in a hurry.

She didn't look to pleased to see him. He took a step backwards warily, eyeing the pissed off look on her face.

"Brody, when I said I wanted peace and quiet, I meant it. Could you just give me that and try not to annoy Courtney? You know she gets loud when she's pissed," she said tiredly, running her hand through her long blonde hair.

He nodded silently. What else could he do? She was laying on the guilt trip, and it never failed. He loved his mother, more than anything in the world. After his dad had passed away five years ago, she had been their rock. She'd been so strong, coping with the grief, and managing to be there for all of them at the same time, and that in itself wasn't a very easy task, seeing how there were, in total, eight of them. Put all of them together in a room and they could annoy each other to death. He could remember her breaking down into tears when everything had threatened to overwhelm her, but each time, she'd pushed it back, and he appreciated that.

"I'll go make peace now," he beamed down at her, showing that he really meant it.

"Good boy," she smiled approvingly. It meant the world to him when she did that. So he was a mother's boy, he didn't care. He slung an arm around her shoulders and squeezed her tightly before going off in search of Courtney.

He found her in Lisa's bedroom, sprawled comfortably all over the bed. She was humming a song off key, eyes closed and head bobbing to the beat. She seemed to be lost in her own world, not even registering Lisa's presence in the room.

Lisa, her silver eyes glimmering with amusement, glanced up and noticed him outside. She grinned in place of a greeting, rolling her eyes at Courtney's antics.

He took that as an invitation to enter the room. "Now I know your singing isn't really that bad," he commented, smirking as Courtney's eyes flew open with surprise.

"You!" she snarled, then reverted to muttering under her breath. From time to time, she shot him death glares.

Lisa laughed out loud, scratching her head. "You two..." she sighed. "Be nice Brody."

"I'm always nice!" he protested, but his protests fell on deaf ears. He turned to his other sister, the one who'd been acting like a retard just moments before. "Courtney..."

She sat up, terror splaying all over her face. "What are you planning now? Go away! If you're planning on tackling me again..."

"Too bad," he shrugged, before launching himself onto the bed and grabbing her in a tight bear hug.

She shrieked with laughter, trying to push him away, but failing miserably. He was already so much stronger than she was, and in her current state, weakened from her giggling fit, she was in no position to fight him. She resigned herself to her fate of being hugged to death.

"Yes Brody, I love you, do you think you could let go now?" Courtney dead-panned, her eyes locking with Lisa's.

Lisa merely shook her head, smiling. This was nothing new to her. After their dad's passing, Brody and Courtney had only become closer. Their personalities were similar, quirky and a little mad, but complicated and intense at the same time. They understood and related to each other. Brody never bothered to annoy any of the other siblings. For him, Courtney was IT, just like Logan, their elder brother, was IT for Lisa. Being identical twins, Lisa could tell and identify what Courtney was feeling most of the time, but they were also two separate people. She didn't always get why Court was feeling what she felt. She never understood how majority of the people they met assumed that they were a clone of the other, feeling the same things, doing the same things, acting like the other one. What did they expect? For them to dress alike too? Ew.

"So, what do you guys think about mom getting remarried?" Brody spoke up pensively after a moment of silence.

"Oh dang it, I forgot we're having dinner with him tonight," Courtney groaned, flopping backwards onto the bed again.

"She reminded us this morning, dork," Lisa teased, kicking her twin's foot lightly.

"Hey, I can't help it that my day was SO eventful that I just...forgot!" Courtney protested indignantly, kicking back.

"I can't believe the two of you are turning 20 soon," Brody muttered under his breath, rubbing his forehead tiredly. That earned him a smack on the arm. "COURT! Stop abusing me already!"

"You asked for it." The said twin stuck her tongue out, before ruffling his hair affectionately.

"She's being mysterious about this guy though. I mean, isn't it mandatory to get your kids to meet your man before agreeing to marry him? Sure, we've already approved of him, but marrying him? What makes her so confident we'll like him? She must've thought about that, because it'd be so unlike her NOT to." Lisa flicked her finger against her pursed out bottom lip repeatedly.

"Stop. My head hurts from all those big words," Courtney moaned in mock agony, curling into a foetal position on the bed.

"Shut up Court," Lisa growled, though not unkindly. For all their being identical by way of looks, they were somewhat different people personality-wise. Similar in certain ways, but different in others. Courtney was dramatic, tempestuous, crazy but she knew how to cheer people up. Lisa was a little shy, more thoughtful, but also had some of that Italian flair for drama. She had her Drama Queen moments too, though not as frequently as Courtney did. However, both twins were level-headed, and knew better than to simply dive into doing stupid things that would result in harsh consequences. Their mom had made sure of that, after they'd gotten thrown into one too many tight spots back when they were kids.

"I dunno. Mom knows what she's doing, I guess. Besides, she's happy. I haven't seen her this happy in a long time. I figure, if a man can make her glow like this, he's got to be something good, you know?" Brody said softly, his blue-green eyes roving from one sister to the other.

"Well," Courtney paused, before continuing, "Mom deserves this happiness. Even if all of us end up not liking the guy, most of us are old enough to take care of ourselves and the younger kids, so it'll be straight anyhow."

"Not that that'll happen, us not liking him I mean. Mom knows us too well. She wouldn't go for a guy she thought we'd disapprove of," Lisa finished Courtney's train of thought with a firm note.

Brody nodded, reassured. Nothing else was said about the subject. When the order to get dressed came from the lower floor, they moved to their respective bedrooms.

--

"This is some posh place," Ryan, four years younger than Brody, whistled with awe as they arrived at the restaurant.

They were led to their table by the maitre'd, where the guys, feeling self-conscious, did the gentlemanly thing by pulling out the chairs for the ladies and seating them before settling down themselves. Waiters whisked the table napkins off their plates, snapping them open efficiently and setting them onto their laps with a flourish. It was like a dance, a really well executed dance. Menus were placed in their hands and the waiters left them quietly to give them time to decide.

"I feel so out of place," Lisa muttered to Courtney, who murmured in agreement. She glanced around at the other patrons of the restaurant, taking note of the glamorous women in their expensive designer dresses and jewelry, and the men in their well-pressed suits and perfectly styled hair. Maybe she was being paranoid, but she was sure that some of the other customers were looking at them and their street brandname clothes with disdain.

Courtney observed every face around the table in turn, not caring about the other patrons. Let them look if they wanted to, nosy prats. Wearing Chanel and Dior didn't put them above the rest of society, no matter how much they would've liked that to be true. Instead, she watched her own family. She saw her mother's apprehensive, yet happy face. She saw Brody smile slightly as Ryan started regaling him with another story from school. She saw her elder brothers, Jeremy and Logan, tug at the stiff collars of their white shirts and the knots of their ties. Both of them almost never put on suits, not even in the course of business, but having never eaten at such a high-class place, they'd taken their suits out for the first time in months. They looked really good dressed in their shirts, ties, slacks and matching coats, earning some interested glances from the younger female customers. Jessica, one of the younger twins, started to fuss, being restless and hungry, so she pulled her closer and distracted her with a little story involving Amelie, a make-believe girl they'd created. Jessica's twin, Sasha, was playing with a spoon, watching the light reflected off the metal surface with fascination.

Where was he?

"Sorry I'm late. Ez got stuck in traffic, so we left later than I'd expected," a man's voice apologized, sounding sincerely abashed. The voice sounded as if it was coming from directly behind her, so she turned in her seat, her attention diverted from Jessica for a moment.

The man was tall, broad-shouldered, with dark hair slightly greying at his temples. He looked to be in his early fifties, and for a man of that age, he was pretty fit. Try as hard as she might, she couldn't spot any beginnings of a beer gut. She didn't quite know whether to think of that as a good, or bad thing. Good, being that he didn't drink or cared to keep himself in good shape. Bad, being that he was vain and worked out to look good. Which was it? She shook away those thoughts and focused her attention on what was happening then. The man had seated himself, along with the other younger man who'd come with him. His son, she presumed.

Her mom was starting to make introductions, and he was smiling and greeting each of them in turn. When it came to her turn, he faced her fully and her silver eyes widened. She knew this man!

She smiled politely as he did, not bothering to say anything as her mom moved on to Jessica and Sasha. The younger twins seemed to like him well enough, and that was the most important hurdle cleared. After all, they were the youngest, and the only ones among them who actually needed a father figure. The rest of them were big enough to hold their own, and so set in their ways that having a new father figure wasn't going to have much on an effect on them if they chose not to allow that.

Back to the man. How did her mom ever manage to meet him? Already, heads were turning all around the restaurant, trying to steal glimpses of him and his son.

Alex Whitton, and his son, Ezra. Both of them were practically Melbourne royalty, of the Hollywood fame. Alex was a legend, what with all the acclaim accorded to him in his acting prime. Even to this day, people still knew who he was, which was saying something, as he rarely ever took on new projects. Ez, a younger, boyish version of his father, was living up to his father's reputation, having critics rave about his stellar performances on the big screen. Being 25, that was a pretty big achievement, knowing how harsh critics could be.

Neither of them seemed as discomforted as Courtney felt. She knew she wasn't the only one too. The rest of her siblings, excluding Jess and Sash, who were too young to understand the significance of this new development, had expressions on their faces that mirrored her own feelings. All the questions of when, how, since whens rushed through her mind. Her eyes darted from her mom to Alex, and took note that they were lost in a world of their own for the moment, before moving on to Ez. As if he'd sensed her watching him, he turned slightly and his aquamarine eyes met hers.

Her eyes widened slightly as his lips curled upwards. That movie star profile she'd caught sight of too many times on the cover pages of magazines was directly across the table from her. She'd never thought she'd ever be that close to him, and now he was going to be her future stepbrother?! It was all too mind-blowing.

"How's it going?"

Ookay. So that question had definitely been directed towards her. Now, if only she could be sure she could answer without squeaking...

"Good. All this is a bit of a shock, really," she said honestly, her eyes darting towards her mom and his dad again.

He laughed. "She never mentioned us?"

"We knew she was dating someone, but somehow this scene never came to mind," she smiled wryly.

"Yeah, like when we told her we were okay with her dating again, and that got her all glowy, we figured the guy had to be something awesome," Lisa continued.

"So you never bugged her about him?" His gorgeous eyes twinkled.

"Pretty much."

"You're Courtney, and you're Lisa, right?" When they nodded in affirmation, he grinned at the younger, blonde set of twins. "Must be nice to have two sets in the family."

"People always say that," Jeremy, the eldest Valentini, ruffled Jess' hair. She swatted his hand away, wrinkling her nose up at him.

"So what's the order? You're the eldest, I'm assuming?"

"Good guess. After me, there's Logan, then Court and Lis, Brody, Ryan, Jess and Sash."

Courtney and Lisa exchanged looks of surprise. It looked as if things weren't going to be as awkward as they'd expected. Their mom and Alex seemed to be blissfully oblivious to their surroundings, Ez was going out of his way to put them at ease despite his heartthrob status, Ryan hadn't shifted into the annoying half of his personality they jokingly referred to as Kitty, and the youngest two weren't fussing. All in all, things were going good. Maybe it was fate. Maybe this was really meant to be. Who would've guessed?

--

"Hey, I had a great time. I was kinda expecting things to get a little weird, you know? You guys are great though," Ez grinned genuinely, draping his arm around Courtney's shoulders.

"Right back at you," she retorted with a smile. He really was great, with his easy familiarity, even if this was the first time they'd met.

"Hey, you." He singled Lisa out, hugging her as well. She smiled cheerily, blushing slightly. That was Lisa. It took a while for her to lose her shyness sometimes, and it looked as if it was going to be one of those times, with Ez. Good-looking guys were her downfall.

"Looking forward to the time you guys move in after the wedding, Jer. It'll be chaotic."

"Bet on it," Jeremy laughed, shaking his head.

"We've got a big enough house anyway. Lord knows it needs more people to fill it with noise. In my opinion anyway."

Brody rolled his eyes. "Yeah. Should've heard mom today."

"Kids! Quit the noise!" Logan smirked, doing a pretty accurate imitation of their mother's yells.

"Logannnnn..." Their mother had snuck up on them and overheard the last part of their conversation.

He waved sheepishly like a little schoolboy who'd been caught with his hand in the forbidden cookie jar. "Hi, mom. Sorry mom."

"Kids, we should do this again some other time, in a less formal place I'm thinking. I'd like to get to know each of you," Alex appeared at her side, curling his hand around her waist.

Watching her mom turn to smile at him happily, Courtney decided she definitely approved. After all, who was she to stand in the way of love? He did seem to be a nice person, and somehow their mom had been the one he'd fallen for. She'd always prided herself on being a good judge of character, and all her instincts were telling her that she could trust this man, so she'd go along with that. For now.

The two men accompanied them to their cars. Jeremy and Logan had taken their cars and driven the family to the restaurant, so they were parked not too far from each other. As they started getting into the vehicles, Courtney grinned at Ez again and waved crazily.

He laughed. "You're either really happy to get away from me, or food just gets you high," he guessed, chucking her chin playfully.

"Whichever you prefer," she retorted, laughing.

"Come here, you," he chuckled, surprising her with a massive hug. He let her go, observing her ever-restless family. Jeremy and Logan were conversing with his dad, Jess and Sash were screaming bloody murder as Ryan teased them, Brody and Lisa were exchanging painful expressions and begging Mrs. Valentini to just get the goodbyes over with so they could leave. "You know, I'm going to like having you guys around."

"You may not be saying that once you've had us around for two months. I swear, sometimes we just drive mom up the wall," Courtney warned him, wiggling her eyebrows. It was true. There were times when they just had these moments where everyone just started acting up. Anyone would think it was "Valentini-PMS Day" or something. Jessica and Sasha would get loud, Jeremy and Logan would hide themselves away in their studio, not returning until peace had returned, Brody would brood in his room, Lisa would blast her stereo system with her rarely-listened-to emo collection, and she'd hide up on the roof, sometimes with her guitar, just keeping to herself and staying away from the noise.

"Oh I'm sure. I'd just get into my car and escape somewhere and let you guys get it over with before I return," Ez said breezily, cocking his head slightly to one side. "No worries."

She snickered, remembering the one time Aunt Nat had been present when one of those moments had started. She didn't know who had been more frazzled in the end, her mom or her aunt. It had been a pretty funny picture. "Uh huh, you'd be smart to disappear before it all starts though, because mom would just rope you in to help her deal with us."

He gasped with mock-horror. "No way!"

"Okay, shut up. You're starting to scare me," she commented, shoving him away slightly and bursting into laughter when he put on a hurt expression.

"Hey Ez, come on, we're leaving," Alex called with perfect timing, in Courtney's opinion. It was a little scary how Ez was so similar in personality to Brody and herself, that conversation had been proof of that. Ez was cool and all, and she liked him, but she still needed time to get used to the whole "Ezra Whitton is going to be my new stepbrother" idea. It wasn't as if she had anything against him being famous, or that she'd expected him to be completely different because of that very fame, it was just that the whole thing was still kinda unbelievable, even after being around him throughout dinner for a whole two hours.

"That's me. I'm gonna go. See you soon?" he remarked, making it sound like a question.

"Yeah, definitely."

"Okay then, bye guys! Bye Kristina," he said to her mom, giving her a brief hug before loping off after his dad, who'd already finished with the goodbyes and was waiting for him.

"Mom, they're alright," Courtney said to her, watching as both guys waved before making their way towards the restaurant again. She guessed they'd used valet parking.

"Court, you don't know how much that means to me to hear you say that," her mom sighed, eyes glimmering slightly with what looked like unshed tears, as she hugged her daughter tightly, lovingly.

"As long as he treats you right," Brody added, butting into their mother-daughter bonding session.

"Yes boss," Kristina saluted him smartly, sliding easily into the front passenger seat.

Logan laughed out loud before starting the car. The rest of the ride home was spent ragging Lisa on her bouts of shyness with Ez. Something along the lines of this:

"Haha, and how funny was it when she turned all red..." Brody snickered.

"Shut up. I did not!"

"Oh yes missy, you so did."

"MOM! Are you helping them?" Lisa cried indignantly.

"Go mom! You're the coolest," Courtney cheered.

"I know," Kristina laughed. "Now, back to the topic..."

"HAHA!" Logan snorted.

"Yeah, and then when we were leaving and he gave her a hug, she..."

"Someone...kill me now," Lisa begged, blushing furiously as she recalled that particular moment.

"No way! We're having too much fun here," Brody teased, laughing manically.