This is a companion piece to my other story Two Are Better Than One. While writing the backstory of these three sisters, it started to get too long to be within my other story so this is a more detailed backstory of how they found each other. You don't have to read TABTO to understand, this could actually be a standalone story.
Katherine sat in the lawyer's office stunned. She was adopted and her parents had never told her. Then again, when would they have? She was practically raised by nannies while her jet-setting parents went wherever they pleased. Their love was given in the form of money and gifts. She gladly took it all, but always longed for a true family. The letter also told her that while they didn't know where her biological parents were, they could tell her where the doctor who delivered her was.
Katherine was standing outside of Dr. Grayson Gilbert's medical practice in Mystic Falls, two hours from her home in Richmond. She had been so determined the entire two hour drive. She finally took a deep breath and entered the doctor's office. She had waited til the end of the business day so as not to interfere with patients. The nurse behind the counter looked up at her and smiled.
"Elena! Dr. Gilbert will be so glad to see you. He's down the hall in his office." She pointed at a door that obviously led to the rest of the office. "By the way, I love the hair." Katherine looked around the waiting room to see that she was the only one there. The nurse must have her confused with this Elena girl. This just got a lot easier.
"Thank you." Katherine smiled at her and walked straight back through the hallways until she found the door marked Grayson Gilbert, M.D. She knocked twice before being called into the office. She poked her head around the door. "Hello, are you busy?"
A dark-haired man in probably his early forties was sitting at a desk with a medical chart in front of him. He looked up when she spoke. "Elena, what are you doing here, honey?"
"I'm sorry to barge in like this. I'm not Elena." She said this name cautiously. "My name is Katherine Pierce. You delivered me a little over sixteen years ago and I was adopted by Maxwell and Maria Pierce in Richmond. My father died about six months ago and my mother died last week. I was at the reading of the will when the lawyer gave me a letter from my parents. They didn't know where my birth parents were but said that you had delivered me. I know it's a long shot but I was hoping you could help me."
Dr. Gilbert set the chart down and just watched her for a few minutes. "May I ask what you're looking for in particular?" He asked slowly and almost nervously.
"I want to find my family. I've always felt alone like a part of me was missing. I know it's a lot to expect of people I've never met, but I was hoping that maybe if I found my birth parents that that hole would possibly be filled a little." Katherine was close to crying now.
"I'm sorry. I don't know where your birth mother would be now. I haven't seen her since that night and had not known her beforehand."
"Oh." Katherine's face fell.
"But I might be able to help you find some family still." Katherine smiled as a single tear fell down her cheek. "Could you give me just a few minutes to make a phone call?"
Katherine nodded. "Sure, I'll just be in the lobby." She gathered her purse and left the office, going back to the waiting room and having a seat.
Several minutes later, Dr. Gilbert came back into the waiting room. "Miss Pierce, if you want to follow me, I think I have some answers for you at my house. My wife and daughter are waiting for us."
Katherine was unsure. Nobody knew where she was. The only reason she wasn't turned over to children's services was because she had paid one of her "nannies" to claim her for a while to delay having to move. Her parents had left her everything and it was more money than she could possibly think to spend in a lifetime. If she could just have a few months, she could petition the court for emancipation. She had her parent's house and the money to financially support herself. But if she wanted to find family, she was going to have to take a risk. She finally nodded her head and followed him out the door.
She followed him through town and a few minutes later pulled into a driveway behind him. She stepped out of her Mercedes Roadster and followed Dr. Gilbert into the house. He turned around to face Katherine. "I should warn you. This is probably going to be an emotional evening."
Before Katherine could question him, her own voice rang from behind the doctor. "Dad, you're home. Mom and I are in the kitchen." Katherine stepped to the side so that Dr. Gilbert was not blocking the other girl from her and was not prepared for what she saw. She was looking directly into her own face. Where her own hair was always curled the girl looking back at her had straight hair. "Dad? Who's this?"
"Why don't we all have a seat at the table?" Grayson offered. Elena and Katherine nodded and followed him to the table joining another woman Katherine assumed to be his wife. The woman glanced from Katherine to Elena to the doctor as the four of them sat down. Elena and Katherine sat across from each other while the adults sat at the heads of the table. "Miranda, Elena, this is Katherine Pierce. Miss Pierce, this is my wife, Miranda, and our daughter, Elena. Katherine came to my office today while trying to search for her biological family. Her adoptive parents have both recently passed away. They directed her to me as I delivered her."
He took a breath before looking to Elena. "The same night I delivered you, Elena, her younger twin sister."
Elena stared at her older sister. "You mean, you gave my twin sister up for adoption? How could you?"
"Elena, honey, we did not put Katherine up for adoption. The truth is a pregnant, teenage runaway showed up at your father's office one night. She was in labor and refused to go to a hospital. Your father delivered you first, Katherine." Miranda smiled at Katherine, making her feel more welcome than she had ever felt with adopted parents. Miranda reached over and took Elena's hand in her own. "A little while later you arrived, Elena."
"The girl was adamant that she could not keep either of you. I called Miranda and asked her for help. The girl asked if we could keep you both. It was easy to say that we had kept a simple, single pregnancy quiet out of fear of losing another baby; but to say that we had kept a twin pregnancy hidden would have been nearly impossible for anyone to believe. So we took one baby and I helped make arrangements for your adoption, Katherine. We had hoped to keep you in touch with each other, but the couple who adopted you insisted that we never contact you again. So after that, we decided that we would wait to tell you when you were eighteen. That would also give us time to find your sister so that when we told you that you were adopted, we could also tell you where your sister was."
Miranda was starting to cry a little. "We had always planned on reuniting you when you were legally able to make your own decisions. We always regretted not being able to keep both of you."
"Hey, what's going on down here?" A boy about Katherine and Elena's age came into the kitchen and looked over at the four of them at the table. "Woah, seriously, what's going on down here?" He looked between Katherine and Elena.
"Is Jeremy adopted too?" Elena blurted out.
"Adopted?!" Jeremy looked from parent to parent. "I'm adopted?"
"No, Jeremy is not adopted. We found out that I was pregnant just days after we brought you home." Miranda explained. "Jeremy, why don't you have a seat and join us?"
Two hours later, Katherine and Elena were still asking questions: questions for each other, questions for Grayson and Miranda. They had ordered pizza and sat talking until it was dark outside. Katherine looked outside and then at the stove clock seeing that it was after eight o'clock.
"I appreciate you telling me everything you know about my birth and for introducing me to my twin sister, but it's a bit of a drive to Richmond. I should probably be heading out." Katherine stood to leave.
Miranda looked at the clock and saw the time. "You're right; it is a long drive and it's late. Why don't you call whoever it is you're staying with that you're staying here for the night? Who are you staying with?" The topic of who Katherine was living with had not yet come up.
"Actually, I'm living by myself. I kind of bribed one of my former nannies to claim me until I can legally emancipate myself." Katherine admitted sheepishly. "But I would love to stay the night if it's no real imposition."
Elena looked over to Katherine. "You should stay."
Katherine nodded, "okay."
If you liked it, please review and let me know. I'll hopefully have another chapter posted by the end of the week.