The street was taken in swift stride. Paige was not a happy little lady and there was good reason why. Swishing skirt nipped at her ankles as hurried her way to the market from the WestEnd. A little too warm to be wearing a heavy skirt and button down shirt but she didn't care! Her wardrobe was lacking anyways.

Oliver was walking slowly through the Marketplace, his head down, arms full of groceries and painting supplies. He'd just come from the Vanima Galleries, where he'd discovered that a few more of his pieces had been sold. Combined with the fact that his wedding was now a little more than three weeks away, he was floating on cloud nine.

She was either going to head to work or ..or..Slowing on the sidewalk she spied a somewhat familiar figure who looked to be in his own blissful little world. Swallowing down her nervousness she quickly pushed into her heels in order to catch up. "Ollie?"

He paused, his name on unfamiliar lips catching his attention. He looked up, hawkish blue eyes moving over the crowd before spotting Paige...his sister. "Paige, how nice to see you!" he said, a smile settling on his normally severe features, creeping up into his eyes and lighting them with joy. "I'd hug you properly but," he lifted his laden arms in a shrug.

She slowed once close enough and offered out her hands in offer to lighten his load. She had plum forgot that he didn't know of anything that had been going on so didn't think to hide her wrapped hand. "It's wonderful to see you again! It's been a while. Here! Let me help you!" Her own smile lit up her own eyes. She hadn't expected to see him again..like..ever.

He gladly handed over one of the lighter bags of groceries with a smile that faded into a concerned frown. "What happened to your hand" Nothing serious I hope." She was a musician after all; it would be nearly impossible to play with broken digits.

Her lips slowly parted when he asked but it didn't stop her from taking the bag. She would try for more but it seemed he was treating her dainty. "This is all you are going to give me to carry." It was a tease in attempt to counter his frown. As cheerful as she tried to be his frown wasn't helping and soon she had one of her own. "I don't want to bring my problems to you, Ollie. I haven't seen you in so long and you looked so happy. You look better with a smile on!"

He frowned even more and shook his head. "We're family, Paige. Your problems are my problems. So, what gives" What happened" Are you hugry or thirsty' We could stop somewhere and get a bite."

"I could use a drink." She nodded in agreement. "It is hot out here so some shade would be delightful. So long as I am not pulling you from something of course. We really should exchange information so we can get in touch with each other." Her eyes dipped to the bag in arm then back up. It wasn't her bag so she shouldn't be digging!

It was just groceries - a loaf of bread, some fruit, a box of tea, nothing exciting. Ollie nodded and pointed to a shady spot under one of the trees that lined the edge of the Market. "How about over there and I'll hunt up some lemonade for us?"

She nodded and went over to the designated spot, protectively hugging the bag. "I should probably wait till after you do that before I spill the beans on what has been happening. I don't..I don't think you will like it."

That frown grew far more severe and he set the rest of his bags down next to her. "Okay. I'll be right back." He headed across the crowded plaza with alacrity, his long, stork-like legs eating up the ground. Within minutes he was back, clutching two bottles of lemonade with real bits of strawberries and raspberries floating in the bottom. Holding one out to her, he sat down next to her and nodded. "Spill it," he said with seriousness.

By the time he had returned she had planted her rear on a bench and was protectively keeping watch over the bags. The black skirt fanned from where she sat and nearly ate the bench she was upon. Didn't mean there wasn't room! Ooo fruity lemonade! Reaching out she took it with a cheerful smile. "Thank you!" It was his tone that stole her smile and she looked over to him. "I went. I went to see father a few days after I met you."

She bit her lower lip for a moment before releasing and continuing. "He was furious. Even more so when I spoke your name. He seemed to of thought I was there for money and he.." Details. She should probably go into them but how does one state in a gentle way that she had the crap beat out of her"

His brow raised and he glanced between her face and her hand. "He did that," he stated in a flat, emotionless voice.

His assumption gave her pause. Carefully nodding she steeled herself so not to break into tears. "It was more recent. I was going home after a concert and he was there at the house. He took possession of it after my mother's death and I had no idea. He..he took everything from me that night, Ollie.." Her tone cracked.

He clenched his jaw, teeth clamping down around his anger like a steel bear trap. "Where have you been staying?" Making sure that one of his sisters was all right was far more important that the whys of their father's 'reasoning'. "Are you safe there" Did he..." Did he threaten you?"

She took a sip of her drink to give herself a moment. She didn't like angering or even upsetting Ollie but he needed to know. "I slapped him because he kept repetitively calling my mother a whore and in return he smashed my hand. He took my violin and wouldn't even let me go inside for my personal items." Her back straightened and she dared to look over. "I am staying with someone and I am safe there." She didn't answer the part about the threat. Avoided it even.

He took a deep breath and closed his eyes. Their - Paige and his - last conversation had ended badly, with him explaining what sort of man Junior was and Paige utterly disbelieving him. "I'm sorry," he whispered and opened his eyes, turning a bit in his seat to look down at her. He snaked a long, strong arm around her shoulders and pulled her close for a brief moment, hugging her tightly. "I know a lawyer, if you....If you want to file charges against him for what he did to you."

She nearly broke down into tears but instead she leaned into the comforting hug. "I'm sorry too. I should of listened to you." She shook her head quickly. "I-I don't have that kind of money, Ollie! I barely have enough to pay for the hospital bills and for food for me and D-" She almost spilled the beans didn't she" He'd probably flip loops if he knew she was shacked up with some guy.

He raised a paint-stained hand and gently stroked her hair, a tiny smile lurking around the corners of his thin-lipped mouth. "I know someone who'll do it for free. She's been itching to stick it to Junior for quite some time now. Her name is Riley Lo and I think she has an office in WestEnd, at that big Japanese-looking building. Do you know it?"

"Yes. At least I think I do. If it is the one I pass by going to work." The attention to her hair made her relax if just a tad and she looked up to him with a bit of a smile. "I really don't know. Do you think I should" Would it even be worth it' I was on his property for both events." The smile dipped in and out.

"It doesn't matter, Paige. He hurt you. He took away your home, all your possessions. He's a fu.....A total ba....Well, he's not a very nice person, is he?" he concluded lamely.

"He is a bastard." She said it for the both of them and it coming from those soft lips had to have some angels falling out of the skies either by having heart failures or rolling in laughter. "He didn't just hurt me. I am not sure I'll even be able to play again.."

"I'll break his f*cking neck!" There. He'd said it, dropped the dreaded f-bomb with his youngest sibling and crowds of people surrounding them. He cleared his throat, fighting the immediate feeling of shame he was experiencing over cursing around a lady. "Please, Paige. Please tell me you'll not only file criminal charges against him, but a civil suit, too. He doesn't have much since Caro sacked him, but he's got to have something socked away. Take him for all he's worth."

"Who..is Caro?" She blinked at him. "Oh! Is that the lady who had.." She reached for her purse to pull out the box with the coppers and ring still inside. "Is she the one who sent these?" Answers of her own to a dreaded fear and she was on pins and needles awaiting the answer. "I don't know Ollie. I really don't. I haven't thought about it until you brought it up." Nevermind the belated giggle that he cursed and then looked sheepish about it.

"Yes, she's one of our thousands of cousins and the CEO of the Guild. She's an amazing woman, Paige. I know you'll like her." He frowned a bit at her hesitation. "Look, even if you don't press charges or file a suit, at least go to see Riley. Maybe she can get your house and your things back. We can't keep letting Junior bully us like this. We have to stand up for ourselves and show him that it's not all right for him to treat his children like common criminals."

She sighed in relief. "I was worried that she was working with father to find me." Because she was down right terrified of the man now. A nod was given to agree with his want. "I will go see her. Will you be so kind as to set up an appointment for me with her?" Biting her lower lip she stopped herself from asking the millions of other questions that wanted to spill.

"Sure, I can do that." He made a mental note to take care of it as soon as he got home. Then he was silent for a while before saying suddenly, "Oh! I nearly forgot. Do you remember Piper" My...well, she's my fiancee, isn't she?" He still had trouble wrapping his mind around that one.

"The woman I met when I met you. Yes. She is quite beautiful and you are quite taken with her." Her eyes shined with her amusement. She didn't miss the adoration that found his eyes when he looked at Piper!

"Well, she'd like you to play at our wedding." Then he frowned, realizing maybe now was not the time to bring up that particular subject. "Do you....Do you think you might be able to?"

"Your wedding.." It ached to know that she wouldn't be able to. No. No she would play! She would find some way. "Yes." She quickly smiled. "I would not pass up such an honor! When is it?"

He grinned hugely and wrapped her in a tight, relieved embrace. "It's on the 27th of this month. You should come for dinner this week and we can discuss it with Piper. I'm sure she has music all picked out. Oh, this will be wonderful, Paige. You'll get to meet the family."

She would find a way so help her...She hugged him back realizing she had little time to fix her hand. "T-This month. Wow! Uhm. D-Do you think I could bring someone with me" To the wedding I mean!" If he would even go! "Dinner this week. I would like that." She frowned and drew back. "I have a question, Ollie. I have heard some unsavory things about the Granger family." Yes, she was speaking as if she wasn't one. She wasn't quite sure she really was.

"What sort of things?" he asked in a carefully neutral voice, filing away her question about whether she could bring someone to the wedding or not to be answered at a later time.

Her head tilted and she tapped the cup to her cheek. Quoting the words that were spoken to her she sighed. "They seem to put the Fun in dysfunctional at times, weavers, painters, actors, spoiled offspring, cousins knowing each other in the biblical sense." She looked over to him to show she wasn't sure how to heed the words. Most families has those sorts, no matter the family.

"All families are little dysfunctional," he said quietly, defensively. "And as far as cousins 'knowing each other in the Biblical sense', the two in question are about as related as I am to a cat. They share a last name and their fifteen-times great-grandfathers were brothers. But really, you and..." He looked around the crowd and picked a woman out at random. "You and that woman are probably related, too."

She followed his finger to the woman he was gesturing out. A few nods suggested she understood his point. "Regardless I would still like to meet them for myself." Her words were chosen carefully. "I know I am not one but..They are your family." She smiled to him. "Oh! Do you have a phone or an address I can reach you at?" She was already going through her purse for her cellphone. Of course she had one. With Fiora she had to!

"They're your family, too, Paige. For better or worse, though honestly, most of them are for the better." He dug in his pocket and fished out the mobile that Calypso had given to him months ago. He still wasn't certain how all the bells and whistles functioned, but with Jon and Piper's help, he'd at least figured out how to place and receive calls and how to add people to his list of contacts.

"If they will accept me.." She didn't seem sure and that was because she wasn't. "Do you want my cell and work?" She didn't want to give him the one at the loft or the address. She hadn't exactly asked permission.

"Sure," he said, long fingers poised above the keyboard as he prepared to commit her phone numbers to his mobile's memory. "I don't see why they wouldn't accept you. Whatever you've heard, they're not monsters. They're just people."

"I didn't mean to say that I thought they were!" She shifted nervously and held out her phone to show him her contact information.

He input it into his phone and then slid it back into his pocket. "Just don't make the mistake that so many people do when they learn my last name. I may be a Granger, but I'm nothing like my father. And neither are you."

"You are nothing like him!" Her own phone was lowered, held between her good and bad hand. She had forgotten about her drink that had been placed to the side. "You are a good person, Ollie. Very kind and sweet. I don't think Piper would be with you if you were like our father." She smiled at him. "You positively glow as much as she does when you two are near one another."

He chuckled softly and gave her head a fond pat. "I still cannot believe someone like her would have anything to do with me, let alone agree to be my wife." He, too, had completely forgotten about his drink. He raised it to parched lips and took a long swallow before capping it again and slipping it into one of the bags of groceries at their feet. "I should be getting back to the loft. I have a commission to finish before the wedding."

She nodded and raised to her own feet, helping him collect a few bags while she was at it. "I should probably get back as well. Dean is probably fretting because I've been gone so long." She paled suddenly remembering about the whole plazamates scattered throughout the city and she looked over to him wondering if he had seen those yet. Suddenly very sheepish she was offering the bags over.

"Dean?" he asked with an arched brow. He stood and collected his bags, staring down his nose at her. "Who is Dean?"

"Dean?" She blinked and looked to him as if to say 'how do you know that name"' Opps. A sheepish smile stole her lips. "He is a..uh..my roommate" I am staying at his place I guess you could say." Her expression quickly changed to scold him. "And no I am not sleeping with him! I am the only one who sleeps in the bed." So he better not get any ideas!

"Hmm," he said in a noncommittal sort of way. Either the man was gay or a perfect gentleman, because his youngest sister was awfully pretty. "He's taking care of you?" he asked with a pointed look at her hand.

"We take care of each other." She smiled softly while cupping her hand. "Please don't worry. I will make sure you meet him soon."

He nodded and accepted her explanation. A few months ago, he'd have been all over her for information, but Piper had had a calming effect on him. "Bring him to the wedding," he said. "I assume that's who you were asking about earlier."

"If he will go." She nodded and smiled. "And please tell Piper if she, or you, need any help with anything at all just give me a call! I am sure Ms. Fiora will allow me some personal time to assist you!"

He smiled and hugged her again, taking care not to slam her in the back with the the bags hanging off his arms. "Take care of yourself and promise me that if something like this-" he nodded to her hand, "ever happens again, you will phone me immediately. All right?"

She hugged him as careful as could be and quickly nodded as she stepped back. "Okay but I have no intentions on being near father again unless there are people around. And even then.." She would make sure to have plenty of running room.

He planted a very delicate, very soft kiss against the crown of her head and released her. "That sounds like a plan. I'll phone you later this week to set up dinner, okay?"

She smiled sheepishly to the gesture. It was odd having the affection she never had in life from someone who was ..her brother. "Sounds wonderful. You take care of yourself and that beautiful blushing bride to be of yours." She dipped into a feminine bow before turning gracefully and heading the way she had came.

He watched her go, a complicated expression that was equal parts worry, anger, and joy. When he could no longer see her, he collected his things and headed back to the loft, proud that he'd remembered to ask about Paige playing at the wedding. That was certain to score him points with Ms Davidson. As he walked, he fished his phone out of his pocket again and dialed the number of a certain leggy lawyer. "Mrs Lo. Oliver Granger, here. I was wondering if you might have a moment?"