Wreckage

Nobody heard his heart break.

His knees hit the ground hard beside that grimy silver sheet, sinking into the silt. That well-worn façade he'd so carefully constructed clung to his face even as his heart stuttered in a mute sob.

Tears pinched the corners of his eyes but he blinked them away. Now was not the time to lose it.

He took a breath.

A hand - his he realized - reached out to peel back the rotted edge of the sheet. The divers shouted for him to stop but it was too late as the material slipped between his fingers.

If he'd never seen a dead body before, he might have recoiled like the divers' did, the smell turning their stomachs, but he had seen them before. Just none that he could call family.

Disheveled locks of black hair peeked back at him; hair that very well could have been his if circumstances had been reversed. He choked back a sob and let gravity work as he released the sheet. It settled back over the sight with a sickening wet smack.

There was no doubt in his mind now; he'd finally found him.

His brother; his twin.

His other half.

"Noll..." his name fell thick on his lips.

A frustrated cry bubbled in his throat as he pushed himself back to his feet, nodding at the divers'. They watched him for a long moment, hands over their noses, considering him. He could only imagine what it was they saw:

A clearly distraught teenager, dressed in all black and sporting a stoic, unimpressed expression as he confirmed the identity of his twin's body. If it were up to Gene, he would have never left that sodden patch of silt and grass. He would have bent over his brother's body and happily cried himself into oblivion.

But he couldn't do that.

Instead, he turned away from that vile, lumpy, make-shift casket and faced the growing crowd - because it was what Oliver would do.

When would they figure it out?

In the past, Gene had switched places with Noll countless times. Sometimes just for a few minutes (to fool the school principal and avoid detention) and sometimes for days (just to make things interesting). But in the end he had always looked forward to being himself again.

Was that still true?

He clenched his jaw, shaking the question from his mind.

It didn't matter how he felt. If he was destined to be mistaken for his younger brother for the rest of his life, so be it. Though, for a fleeting moment Gene wondered if he'd ever be completely one twin or if he would always be this strange in-between; never really one twin but not completely the other, eithther.

He ran a deft hand through his hair. It didn't matter, not really. As he moved away he offered one last glance over his shoulder and seethed.

That stupid, idiot scientist.

Luella was closest, beckoning him with her red rimmed violet eyes.

He stepped closer to allow her thin arms to wrap themselves around him. "Oh, Noll..." she hiccuped into his shoulder. Martin threw an arm around his neck and pulled the two closer. Gene reveled in the warmth, breathing in their presence. If he were himself, he would have tried to stop Luella's tears and maybe even shed some of his own. But he was Noll, and Noll was emotionally placid. So he stayed still, arms by his sides, and waited to be released.

His team stood a little ways behind the Davises. They huddled close together with matching grim expressions as news of what happened spread. Gene avoided their eyes.

"Noll?"

He moved swiftly away from his adoptive parents, but not before placing a soft kiss on his mother's cheek. "Lin-"

"Wait!" Luella snatched his hand and cradled it in both of hers. She was trembling, fresh tears making their way down her face.

Gene turned sharply, mentally kicking himself. The kiss. Damn it. That was his thing not Noll's. He swallowed to keep the uncertainty out of his voice. "What? What's wrong?"

She pulled his arms down, forcing him to stoop over until he was eye to eye with her. It was something she used to do when the twins were younger and she'd suspected them of lying. Before they hit their growth spurts she had kneeled down only to do the same thing. It was a proven fact to Gene and Noll that the closer to Luella they were, the harder it was to lie. "Are you..." she squinted, searching his face.

Gene forced himself to look her steady in the eyes and not smile. If the kiss had given him away then he wouldn't stop her from figuring it out, but he wouldn't make it easier either. "Luella?" he asked when she was silent for a while.

"It's..." she started again but shook her head. She dropped his hands and allowed him to stand upright again. "It's nothing."

"Lin," he called. His Chinese assistant had made his way over to the divers giving them instructions on how to handle the body. He paused and nodded his acknowledgment. "Let's go home."

Unfortunately, 'home' for Gene at the moment was a fancy hotel room back in Tokyo.

Luella and Martin were scheduled for a late afternoon flight back to England the following day but Lin and himself had worked to convince them that they would need another few days to property close the office.

Rather unfortunately, after having hearing the news, Mai and Yasu had made plans to throw him a farewell dinner. Gene was pleasantly surprised. Noll was thoroughly annoyed but planned to go along with it anyway.

Tomorrow he would see his parents off and then join the others for the dinner.

Tonight however, was a different story. Gene laid face down on the hard hotel mattress, head buried into the comparatively too-soft pillow. The moment he'd closed the door and sank into the first moment of privacy in weeks he'd expected to dissolve. To wither away like he'd been trying to since his brothers death. Instead he felt... Hot.

Gene pushed himself up and off the bed, tugging at the collar of his shirt. It was like some one had lit a fire beneath him, the flame dancing up over his legs and swallowing his chest.

Sweat dripped down into his eyes. He wiped his face with the back of his hand and grabbed the hotel room key off the bedside table where he'd left it.

He just needed some air, he told himself as he crept past Lin's room. But despite having a perfectly good excuse, Gene still held his breath until he reached the elevator at the end of the hall.

He mashed the button until it dinged and the doors slid open.

"Oh, um... Hi."

This is a three-shot installment in honor of the twins' birthday. This story has nothing to do with my other ongoing fic Beyond Measure.

More to come soon!

ELV