Summary: It is 2006 and the Steeles face and meet new challenges as their large family grows to adulthood. Remington and Laura's daughters make the decision to marry for love and nothing else.
Disclaimer: This "Remington Steele" story is not-for-profit and is purely for entertainment purposes. The author and this site do not own the characters and are in no way affiliated with "Remington Steele," the actors, their agents, the producers, MTM Productions, the NBC Television Network or any station or network carrying the show in syndication, or anyone in the industry.
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Prologue:
Late spring of the year 2006 and Cassie and Chlöe Steele were excitedly dressing for their senior prom at Hollywood High School. Even though they were now turning eighteen they had done practically no dating and Laura and Remington were very happy that things seemed to be moving slowing on that score. It seemed that there was always a group to do things with since their immediate family and the cousins were all living within a short distance of them. Boys from school had persistently called and Remington had persistently discouraged them at every turn.
"Cassie, how do I look?" Chlöe asked as she twirled in front of her sister in a pale blue strapless formal silk gown that beautifully emphasized her long-stemmed figure.
"I think you look super," Cassie said. "Do you think we look too 'twinny' with identical dresses?"
"No, why shouldn't we dress alike. Anyone who really knows us can tell us apart."
"You mean Gregory and Geoffrey, of course. They never mix us up," Cassie said.
"And we never mix them up either. Funny, isn't it? Geoffrey has slightly sharper cheekbones. I always know when I am lookin' in his face," Chlöe said.
"And I think you enjoy lookin' too."
"Sure. I admit it."
"Girls, Gregory and Geoffrey are here!" Laura called out.
* * * * * *
The dance had gone well right from the limo ride at the start. It was more stimulating than either set of twins could have imagined-the music, the atmosphere, and their youthful passions all combined to take control. As the evening wound down, a series of slow dances proved to be their undoing.
"Cassie, I . . . I don't know how to tell you how I feel right now." Gregory said.
Cassie looked up at the young man she knew so well with his striking dark features and penetrating eyes and she felt herself weaken helplessly against him.
"Greggie . . ."
"Oh, girl, don't do that. Cassie . . ."
Gregory bent to kiss Cassie-first on her forehead and then on her lips. The kiss captured them and Gregory felt his body immediately respond.
"I'm sorry, Cassie. Forgive me. I think that I should find us some punch . . . or something."
Chlöe and Geoffrey were dancing nearby and Chlöe suddenly took Geoffrey's hand and pulled him from the dance floor and backed him into a secluded corner.
"Chlöe, girl, what are you doing?"
Chlöe pushed him against the wall, pulled him down, and kissed him soundly on his mouth. Geoffrey kissed her back so passionately that they forgot where they were for the moment.
"Geoffrey . . . Geoffrey," Chlöe sighed. "Geoffrey, do you care for me?"
"Very much," he replied softly. "I . . . I think we should find Greg and Cassie, don't you?"
"Yes, I guess we should," Chlöe said.
* * * * * *
It was August, 2008 and Cassie and Chlöe Steele were just turning twenty years old. They were stunning young women-tall and shapely with the full hips of their Aunt Harriett and the same black Irish looks-the blue eyes and long ebony hair of their father and his twin sister. They had been in college for two years but still lived at home with no desire to leave and live on campus.
Remington was totally proprietary about his girls. Especially after Joanna had been taken advantage of, he felt that he needed to protect them at all cost from the young men who constantly were calling for them.
The youngest Steele child, Margaret Alessandre, or Maggs, as she was called was just four years old and still quite a handful. Johnny and Ileana had bought a house when he came fully into his trust at the age of twenty-one and Ileana was happily pregnant with their second child. Joanna and George had found an apartment not so very far away from Johnny and Ileana and were finding their life together with their four year old. George had worked full time to take care of his responsibilities and told Joanna that he had no intention of her borrowing against her trust to make things easier for him. He wanted to resume school after she was old enough to fully claim her inheritance and not before. And that is what he did.
Suddenly the Steeles' large house in the Hollywood Hills seemed strangely empty with Johnny and Joanna gone and Cassie and Chlöe becoming their own young women with activities that took them away from home much of the time, even with eight children still living at home. Michael and Harry were in the throes of puberty and Tabby was still carrying some prepubescent baby fat, but she was going to be the same hazel-eyed beauty as her mother. Reade and Rhett were active seven year olds, still needing a lot of monitoring from their parents and older siblings.
Remington and Laura were busy with a missing person case. An inventor and businessman who was the primary stockholder in a company that produced solar-powered hybrid vehicles had vanished and his wife had come to the agency for help in finding him.
"The police think that he has simply left . . . with someone else," Kathleen Windsor said as she explained the situation to Remington and Laura.
Kathleen Windsor was a woman Laura's age, not quite as well preserved, but with a well-toned figure and great legs. Her missing husband was just thirty years old. His photo showed a handsome and fit blond man with the looks of a film star.
"Why do you think the police have given up searching for your husband, Mrs. Windsor?" Remington asked.
"To be honest, I think they are unprepared to face the fact that a woman of in her fifties can keep the interest of a thirty-five year old man. But I can tell you that Richmond and I had no issues of a sexual nature. We were completely compatible in every way."
Laura tried to suppress a smile.
"I have no doubt about the sensuality of the . . . mature woman, Mrs. Windsor. That being the case, we will have to look into other areas to explain your husband's disappearance."
"Our son, Jonathan, will sit down with you and you can go over your husband's daily routine as well as give us a list of all his known associates. That should help us get started," Laura said as she escorted Mrs. Windsor to the outer office.
When she came back into Remington's office, he was smiling.
"And why are you looking like the cat that ate the canary I might ask?" Laura said as she stood with her hands on her hips.
"You know that you look positively smashing today," Remington offered in his most engaging manner.
Laura did look good. She knew it. She was wearing her long chestnut hair down on her shoulders and the soft jade green silk sweater that showed off her full breasts and matching silk shantung skirt that wrapped around her hips, combined with her self-confidence, only heightened her allure.
"Would you think that same thing if you were fifteen or twenty years younger than me, Rem?" She was thinking of their new client, the interesting, but somewhat worn-looking Kathleen Windsor.
"If I saw you, it wouldn't make any difference how old you were, darling. It's all about the chemistry and meeting of . . . minds. And the arse," he added with a descriptive gesture. "It didn't sound as if Kathleen Windsor has any deficits in that area."
"You are incorrigible, Rem."
"Come here, Laura, and I will show you how incorrigible I truly am."
"I don't know if I dare come that close to you today. We have an office full of people."
"Just lock the door and come here, darling. There is nothing more important going on that what I am about to tell you."
Laura stepped back to lock the door and then walked over to Remington who was still seated behind his desk where he drew her down onto his lap.
"See, this is much better . . . for you and for me," Remington said as he pursed his lips to kiss her, gently at first, and then more persuasively.
"Rem . . ."
"You are distracting me so today."
"Then we will have to find time to take care of you, love," Laura whispered, kissing him back.
"Let's leave this case with the others and go home early today. It's all paperwork at this stage . . . and you know my sentiments on that score."
"You know you don't look half bad for fifty-six either. In fact, you are impossibly handsome," Laura said as she brushed his lower lip with the tip of her finger and then loosened his tie and the two top buttons of his pale blue shirt.
"Umm . . ." Remington reached under her sweater to unfasten her bra and then lifted the soft sweater so that he could nuzzle and kiss and suckle Laura's breasts while she ran her fingers through his hair. There were silver strands in addition to the striking band of white that ran through the top but it was still thick and luxuriant. "So, so full. It's like you were still nursing Maggs . . . your lovely nipples. And these hips since the last baby . . . lush, darling."
"Um hum, I'm keeping them just for you," Laura sighed. She had tried to lose that roundness to her figure that the last pregnancy had brought to no avail. Nursing little Maggs till she was nearly three had kept her weight and when she weaned Maggs, she realized that the hips and soft round belly were going to remain a permanent part of her. Remington did not mind it at all, but seemed entranced by it all.
The phone rang and it was Cassie. Remington handled the call as Laura observed.
"So what was that about, Rem?"
"The upshot of it is that they are still up the coast a ways. The Brathwaite boys are with them. Did you know they were going that far away from home-just the four of them?"
"Not really. They said that they all wanted to go on a picnic before the boys went back to university. I just assumed they were going nearby."
"They are halfway to San Francisco, Laura."
"Well, they are close friends, darling. They have always done things together."
"Is that all it is? Do you think anything is going on that we are not aware of?"
"Like?"
"Like our girls bein' involved with those boys. They have grown up into two handsome blokes. When you're nineteen, it seems your cock is achin' all the time, and I dare say they're no different."
"Remy, must you be so graphic?"
"I'm tellin' truth here, Laura. Look at Harry. He's sixteen and hardly knows what to do with himself. He's suddenly got this huge appendage with a mind totally of its own when all it did before was relieve him when he had to piss. He's been havin' unexpected erections and it's drivin' him crazy."
"Really! I'm glad he told you about it."
"Well, it wasn't a conversation I was lookin' to have, Laura. I think we just aren't prepared for our children to grow up."
"What did you tell him?"
"Same thing I told Jonathan and Michael. Do you want me to tell him to find a girl and screw to his hearts content? Not in this day and time. A man has to have some measure of control. Maybe his music will be an outlet till he grows up a bit more."
"So that's why he is practicing every day when he comes in from school?"
"Perhaps. It can't hurt. On the other hand, have you had a serious talk with the girls about their sexuality lately?"
"Not since they started college. They usually say whatever is on their minds. I explained to them that they should not give it up till they know that they are ready to . . . not to be pressured. I just don't want them to be like I was at that age . . . going on sex binges, trying to find out what it was about."
"And gettin' no satisfaction," Remington said wryly.
"I could fake it pretty well . . . enough for those selfish bozos I was dealing with anyway."
"If I had been with you back then, there would've been no fakin."
Laura looked at him with raised eyebrows.
"You're pretty sure of yourself, Mr. Steele."
"There would have been no need for fakin.' Those blokes just didn't know what to do for you."
"I guess they didn't, Remington Steele."
"If I had been with you, there would never have been another bloke in your life from that day to this. I would have known even then that you were the one for me. Wouldn't you have known?"
"Yes," Laura said softly as she loosened his belt and trousers and got astride him in his office chair.
* * * * * *
A day at a secluded beach a hundred miles north of Los Angeles was proving to be a turning point for Cassie and Chlöe Steele. They had both decided that they were not going to let Gregory and Geoffrey Brathwaite go back to college without having them first.
"I love Geoffrey, Cassie, and I know you love Gregory."
"I really do. I think he knows it too. He just doesn't want to make the first move."
"You know what happened prom night. I saw you and Gregory too. Don't act like you've forgotten what happened that night."
"I haven't forgotten," Chlöe said softly.
"I am going to kiss him again today. I have to. I can't let him get away from me without letting him know how I feel."
"I'm not about to let Gregory go either," Cassie said. "And I don't care how far it goes. We've been taking birth control pills, so we're safe on that score."
Twins often have a peculiar ability to be totally candid with each other and this was the case with Cassie and Chlöe as well as the Brathwaite boys.
They had gone swimming in the water in the secluded cove and then sat down on the wet sand to eat the picnic lunch they had brought along. As the sun began to set, the boys set a fire and the girls made S'Mores over the fire.
"Geoffrey, man, come, let's find some more wood."
The two young men walked a little ways, picking up pieces of driftwood as they went.
"Gregory, I am about at the end of my tether with Chlöe. She is the one for me, and I know she wants me too."
"I don't know what to do with myself. I want Cassie like a man wants a woman . . . not like it was when we were fifteen or sixteen, man. And she keeps givin' me those looks. God, I'm achin' for her. You know what I mean?"
"Don't talk about achin', Geoffrey. Goin' out with those girls at school was okay, but I just didn't want to have sex just to have something to do . . . just so you could say you did it."
"And it wasn't like you had anything in common with those girls I'm glad we didn't do it. You didn't do it and not tell me, man, did you?"
"No, I didn't. I came pretty close a couple of times, but I couldn't get Chlöe out of my mind. But if we make this move now, Gregory, it's serious. We'd better try to keep this situation in check, man."
The boys walked back to the fire where the girls had turned on music on the portable CD player. It was only natural that they began to dance together around the fire. When Geoffrey took Chlöe in his arms and Gregory took Cassie, it was all over. Suddenly both couples began to kiss passionately, unable to dance anymore.
Gregory drew Cassie away from the firelight to a spot on the sand and they lay down together. They ignored Geoffrey and Chlöe who were in the same situation on the other side of the fire. Soon the four young people were completely undone and beyond the point of no return.
Afterward they lay on the sand in the firelight as dusk turned to dark, realizing that things had forever changed for them. They took the girls into the surf to ease their aching bottoms. They were all naked, but it didn't matter. They knew who belonged to whom and there was no question of that. Finally they pulled their shorts and tee shirts on, gathered up their things and drove back to the city.
They didn't want to part, so Chlöe suggested they go to Laura's old loft. Their parents kept it as a guest house for clients who needed a place to stay. They were still so heated up that they could not part.
When they got into the loft, Geoffrey led Chlöe up to the bed and they sat down together.
"I think we have opened up a real situation here, Chlöe. I am in love with you and we're in no position to get married."
"How long have you loved me?"
"As long as I can remember, Chlöe. As long as I can remember."
Geoffrey caught Chlöe up into his arms and kissed her over and over, so intoxicated with her that he could only whisper her name over and over as they caressed each other.
Down in the living room area Gregory and Cassie were sitting close together on the sofa. They had necked and petted in the back seat of the car all the way back to Los Angeles.
"I'm sorry I hurt you, Cassie. I didn't intend to take liberties with you. I just lost control completely."
"I wanted you to do it. I love you, Gregory. Do you love me?"
"Yes. I always have. I just didn't know if you felt the same way."
"Why did you think I flirted shamelessly with you?"
Cassie moved closer to Gregory and put her arms around his waist.
"I just don't know what we can do. We're only twenty. We're in college and we have a long ways to go. How are we going to be able to be apart? I can't think straight when I'm around you."
"Neither can I."
Gregory kissed Cassie hard upon the mouth and gathered her
up onto his lap searching for the feel of her young body against
his again.