Part 21 (Kat's POV):

"Jean-Claude," I ask my husband while he's doing his bench presses, "do you think we can talk?"
"Of course. Anything particular in mind?"
"Yes."
He sits up on the bench and looks me straight in the eyes. oh, how I want to make love to him right now. fast hard love that'll leave us both dripping with sweat and panting. But no... I'm a woman on a mission... a mission to fuck her husband's brains out! No... to find out more about his adoption.
"Baby... do you ever wonder about your real parents?"
"What?"
I surprised him. I can tell from the way his eyes go incredibly wide at my question. I pat his hand... he's clenched it into a fist without realizing it.
"Your real parents... do you ever wonder about them? Think about them?"
"Why?"
"I'm curious. I mean, Rob's adopted too and Carm was asking me how you dealt with it and I realized we never talked about that."
"It's nothing I want to talk about," he says, getting up and going to the leg press.
"Jean-Claude, please... don't shut me out."
He looks at me and walks to the mirror and gently traces the contour of his face.
"I've always wondered, ever since I found out I was adopted... if I know my parents if I came across them in the street. Would I recognize a brother, or a sister? It's been killing me."
"Why haven't you ever told me about this before?"
"Because... I don't know... it's not something I want to talk about, okay? They gave me up! I don't want anything to do with them anymore, all right?"
I don't say anything. I just stand behind him and wrap my arms around his waist.

Later, in the Jacuzzi, I sit, my head nestled in his shoulder. "What if you had a brother? Someone who needed you to stand by his or her side in his or her time of need?"
"But I don't."
"You don't know that baby... you could."
"Kat... I don't have a brother... let it go."
But it's too late. My mind is made up. I'm going to get as much information on his real family as possible. And if Rob is his brother, I want to find out.

"Carm, you have to speak to him. If Rob is willing to get some information on his own, we might not have to hire a private investigator."
"A private investigator? Kat..."
"Fine. if you don't want to know if Rob and Jean-Claude are brothers, that's fine... I'll drop it."
I hear her breathing on the line. She's thinking. I can tell.
"All right. I'm going to Alan's. He says my maid of honor gown is ready for the first tryout."
"Fine," I hear her sigh. "I'll ask."
"Thanks Carm. You know, if you were here right now, I'd kiss you."
"Don't threaten me."
"I love you," I say, stopping myself from dancing around the room.
"Bite me!"
Being the oldest sister rocks!

Part 22 (Carm's POV):

I sat for a minute after I hung up with Kat and thought hard. Rob and I hadn't really talked about him finding his parents. I never really had a reason to bring it up. But now... what if he and JC really were brothers? Didn't he have a right to know?
I sighed and made my way to the weight room. I stood in the doorway and couldn't really move any farther. His muscles bulged as he lifted the weights, sweat glistening on his chest. I could watch him for hours. I had watched him for hours before. It was more than the muscles though. It was everything about him. The whisps of hair plastered to his face with perspiration. The look of exertion on his face as he lifted. All of it. I loved it.
Finally, I walked in and stood behind him, kissing his shoulders. Slowly, he lowered the weight to the floor and turned to me, kissing me. He pulled me into his lap and for a moment all else escaped my thoughts. But, no, I came in here for a reason and THAT wasn't it.
"Robbie?" I said softly, pulling away from him.
"Hum?" he murmured, kissing my shoulder.
"Robbie, I... I wanted to talk to you."
"Okay."
"About your parents."
He stopped. He didn't pull away, he just stopped with his lips against my skin. I could feel his muscles tightening and knew he was thinking about what I had just said. "Robbie?" I said softly. "Say something."
"What do you want me to say?" he finally asked, pulling back. I got off of him and just stared at him.
"I don't know."
"You want me to say how they abandoned me?"
"I-Robbie."
"Or how they didn't love me?"
"You don't know that."
"They gave me away."
"But-haven't you ever wanted to know why? To find them? To find out if you had any family?"
"I do have family. My mom and dad and my grandparents and the rest of the family that took me in."
"What about your other family, though? What if you had a brother? Or a sister out there somewhere? Don't you want to know?"
He looked at me for a few moments, then stood, pacing the floor. I was starting to think this was a bad idea. As he paced, his back was to me and he'd never turned his back to me like that. Maybe I should have left it alone. Maybe.
"What if I did?" he finally asked, turning back to me. I felt my heart stop as he turned back, tears in his eyes.
"Maybe you could find out. Maybe they don't even know about you. Maybe."
"Maybe I'd find them and they wanted nothing to do with me?"
"Robbie, baby, no," I went to him, laying my head against his slick chest. "Don't think like that." I took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "Wouldn't it be nice, though, if they were at our wedding?"
"Baby, I don't know." He wrapped his arms around me and held me tightly. "Maybe... I don't know... but..." he sighed. "You want me to?"
"I'd like it. Yeah."
He was quiet, then, "Let me think about it?" I nodded and squeezed him tighter. "I love you, Robbie."
"I love you too, Carmie." He kissed the top of my head and we stood there for a few minutes. I finally pulled back.
"I need to go and call the caterers. Why don't you finish up here then meet me?"
"Okay." He kissed me again and I left. I watched him for a moment though, from the doorway. He sat for a long while before finally going back to his lifting. If JC wasn't his brother, I'd feel like such a heel for putting him through this, but... what if he was? He'd have at least part of his family, a part that understood how he felt. That would make up for it all, wouldn't it? I certainly hoped so.


Part 23 (Kat's POV):

A MONTH LATER

Carm gets to my house at ten in the morning. I'm just lounging around the house. I've been to the gym today already and I'll go back later. Right now, I have something else on my mind.
"How's it going?" I ask her when I open the door.
"I'm stressed, I'm on edge and Robbie's starting to get on my nerves!"
"Ah yes, pre-wedding jitters. I remember them."
"I'm not jittery. I want to marry him just so I can make his goddamn life perfectly miserable."
I laugh and put my arms around her. I remember feeling that way about Jean-Claude before the wedding too. We walk to the living room together and sit down on the couch.
"Any word on Mom?" I ask carefully.
"Dad's says he's forcing her to come but..." "I know."
I hope the old biddy comes through for Carm on this one. The last thing my sister needs is for my mother not to show up. I eye the large manila envelope Carm's been clutching in her hand since her arrival.
"Is this it?" I ask.
"Oh yeah... the PI's report."
"Did you look at it?"
"No. It got to the house right after Rob left."
"Are you sure you want to open it before he gets there?"
"Yeah. I called him. He says it's okay. After all, he says I'm more interested in finding out about his parents than he is."
"Did you tell him why?"
"That I thought he might be JC's brother? I'm not crazy yet. Does Jean-Claude know?"
"I told him Rob was looking for his family, yeah."
"How did he react?"
"He didn't."
I remember the blank look in his face when I told him. "I hope he finds them," Jean-Claude had said, looking away from me.
"Doesn't that make you curious about finding your parents?"
"No."
His very curt response had ended the conversation.
"Big sis?" Carm asks me.
"Yeah," I jerk back to reality. "I'm sorry. I lost track for a moment."
"Are you okay?"
"Yeah... open the envelope already. I can't wait."
Carm's fingers quickly tear open the envelope and she turns it over. The papers fall in her lap and my heart almost stops beating. Carm looks at me.
"Kat... why is this so important to you?"
"I... I don't know... don't you wanna know if the Muscles from Brussels and the Whole F'ing Show are brothers? Aren't you curious?"
"Of course I am. But Kat... what else?"
I don't say anything but she looks at me and I see her eyes move to my stomach. Her eyes go wide. She knows.

Part 24 (Carm's POV):

I just look at her. What else can I do? She's not... I mean, she couldn't be. Could she? "You're not," I say to her, shock still there.
"Yup," she says.
"Have you told him?"
"Nope."
"Don't you think that's a good idea?"
"I want to find out first. Whether the baby has an uncle or not."
"Of course he'll have an uncle."
"I mean a real one." She sighs and I just shake my head. She knows I can't stand kids. They're nasty. They stink. They throw up all over the place. And they scream at the top of their lungs. When I want all of that, I'll just go to an ECW arena. I sigh and shrug.
"Fine. Tell him when you're ready. Now." I hold up the envelope. "Are we ready to find out?" She nods and I shakily turn the envelope upright. Yes, I wanted to know, and so did Robbie, but... now that it's in my hand. I'm almost scared to find out. Just in case we're wrong.
I close my eyes and take a deep breath, letting it out slowly, then carefully I open it. I'm shaky as I take out the papers and start to flip through them. I read all about his parents, their reasons for giving him up and move on to the siblings section, unsure. I close my eyes again then open them.
I stare at the page in shock, as if I hadn't been expecting this. I hear Kat asking me what it is, what's wrong and I just shove the papers in her hands. I can't say anything, I can barely even think. I just give her the papers and let her make the next move.

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