Ir á Brasil Reloaded

by DancingStar01

The team is on vacation and accidentally Lindsay meets a woman who looks like her. Pairing C/L

Title: Ir á Brasil Reloaded
Author: DancingStar
Crossover: PSI Factor/ Ugly Betty/ Victoria's Secret Fashion Show
Rating: 12
Pairing: Connor / Lindsay
Summaries: The team is on vacation and accidentally Lindsay meets a woman who looks like her.
Comments: I know here the events in PSI Factor and Ugly Betty don´t fit together. Otherwise the story wouldn´t work. Sixty Five Roses and then five years later I wrote a similar story before but I like the idea. So I´d like to send greetings to Sixty Five Roses!

Dedicated to Rio de Janeiro

Ir á Brasil - Reloaded

"Too bad that we have to go home today", Peter said and put on his sunglasses. The team stayed since one week for work purposes in Brazil. At home in the northern hemisphere, it was now freezing cold winter while it was nice and warm here in Rio, on the coast of the Atlantic Ocean. The carnival was long gone, but the atmosphere was still very good. People in the city were in high spirits.
"I think we've earned a little vacation," said Mia and put away a box full of folders, "Let's just stay here." She was Peter´s opinion. It was almost as if he had been waiting for someone would suggest this. He wondered, however, Connor thought about it. He knew, Connor wanted to fly home as soon as possible. So they wouldn´t go to the beach, drink cocktails and learn how to dance Samba. Mia seemed to have read his thoughts: "Don´t worry, Peter. I have a feeling that Lindsay can convince him to stay here for another while."
"Does that mean Lindsay already knows that you want to stay longer?... And she tries to persuade Connor?", asked Peter and Mia nodded. Connor and Lindsay were still on the road, because Connor wanted to get lunch for the team.
The sun outside was shining and it was even warmer than in Mobile Lab.
"Have you ever been here before?", asked Lindsay. While she and Connor were walking along a street, she was eating some ice cream. She was dressed very summery, but it was still warm. Lindsay got slight sunburn on her shoulders. Some children played soccer on the beach.
To answer her question, Connor shook his head. The time in Brazil was very nice and in a way, very exotic. He had never been in this country.
They passed a flagpole and Lindsay saw the green and yellow flag of Brazil. "Ordem E Progresso" was written on it and as far as she knew it meant "Order and Progress". All Brazilian people were very proud of it and they love "their" colors green and yellow.
"It´s certainly a very beautiful country, I can imagine to stay here longer", she smiled, "Can´t we stay longer for a couple of days?"
"No, the case is already closed."
"What a pity," Lindsay looked at the ground during the warm wind pulled at her hair, "But no one knows we are here."
"That sounds much more like Peter than you," Connor noted, "Peter asked you to convince me that we stay?"
"Mia," she corrected him and nodded, "Yes, we thought... We realized that we hadn´t been on vacation since a long time..." She very embarrassed he had understand. Fortunately, they had reached the Mobile Lab and when they entered it, Mia asked what was now going on. "Can we stay here now?", she whispered, excited.
"I don´t know," Lindsay replied, "He didn´t say."
Connor put the bags with the food on the table and registered in the corners of his eyes, how Mia and Lindsay gesticulated violently with each other and discussed in whispers. Suddenly he smiled, he thought Lindsay looked very pretty if she tried to enforce against Mia. For one second he imagined what it would be to walk with her on the beach and spend time only with her. Actually, it wasn´t his nature to think about her like that but he couldn´t help. Sometimes he wondered if maybe she was the same and he wanted to ask, but then he didn´t dare.
"All right, we stay until next weekend," Connor said suddenly, he had no idea why he did that. He wondered now how he should explain to the headquarters.
Mia clapped once. "Very nice!", she smiled, "There is a nice bar on the beach and local people call it as a tip. The bar is called "A Freak" and tonight there is a costume party. We´ll meet tonight here... Don´t forget your costumes! "She waved goodbye and left the Mobile Lab. Till tonight she wanted to shower and sleep.
When Connor and Lindsay were alone, she thanked him that he decided to stay and gave them at least another 5 days in Brazil. "I didn´t expect that Mia is staring a party marathon at the same day," he admitted, "Will you go there?"
"Of course. What about you?"
"No, I... I don´t like costume parties."
"You´re a party pooper," she noted, sat down beside him on the table and looked at him.
"I'm not!"
"I bet you don´t even have a costume."
"Not with me, but... I don´t like going to parties, especially costume parties."
"Do it for Mia and Peter. They have been so looking forward", she noted it wouldn´t make any sense to talk about it. Inwardly, she was disappointed because she had hoped she could then spend some time with him, "If you don´t want to come, I won´t force you to do so. But don´t complain afterwards if your holiday in Brazil wasn´t as nice as ours. Then you were waiting to long for the good things in life. And as always, you'll notice it when someone else has it." She put her belongings in a bag. "Excuse me. I have to buy a costume."

Lindsay was amazed when she met Connor in the bar "A Freak" and she wondered where he had found his costume. Very satisfied she got drinks for herself and Mia and when she sat on a bar stool, she had to be careful not to crumple the under skirt of her petticoat dress. Mia noticed how Peter and Connor, who stood on the other side of the bar and also talked, were looking at them. "About what are they talking?", asked Mia and Lindsay admitted she didn´t know: "No idea but if you´re interested, ask them", Lindsay took a sip, she noticed how Connor came over now. "I'll leave you alone," Mia's voice was promising and Connor was a little surprised, why she suddenly left.
"I haven´t believed you would show up here," Lindsay admitted when he stood directly in front of her.
"It´s a little bit strange," he said, "The last time I wore a costume I was a child and it was Halloween."
Lindsay laughed. Even this was hard to believe.
"May I invite you for a cocktail?", he asked suddenly. Again, he hadn´t the faintest idea why he wanted to know this. Since they said goodbye this afternoon and she had harangued about the best time of his life, he had been thinking about it at the hotel. Somehow he couldn´t shake the feeling he needed a special person but he hadn´t to search further: The person was sitting in front of him on a bar stool at this moment and was wearing a black petticoat with white dots.
"I accept the invitation," she smiled and Connor ordered a coconut cocktail for her and himself another drink. Lindsay wondered how he knew her favorite drink. After they clinked glasses and drank some sips (Lindsay thought they´d be a sight for the gods: sitting in their costumes at a bar), a dance competition began. Mia hastened to Lindsay and pulled her with her on the dance floor. Connor lost her out of sight in the crowd. He took the opportunity for a deep breath. He wondered if it was really so hard to say her that he had fallen in love with her a little bit. How would she then react? Most of all he wanted to know immediately and he entered the dance floor to look for her. Finally, he discovered Lindsay a bit off the dance floor. She was alone and looked hurried at her face to realize in a mirror that her hair was not right. He hastened to come to her. "I need to talk to you", he began when he reached her and pulled her away to a location of the bar where they were unobserved. "But...", the blonde woman said, but Connor shook his head.
"I know I was very impossible today", he began, "When did you change your dress?" For some reason she had exchanged her Petticoat for a flamingo costume with huge pink feathers.
"But you're right, Lindsay. Maybe... Maybe I shouldn´t wait any longer," It wasn´t his style to go like a bull at a gate with his confession and he noticed he had surprised her with the kiss so much that she couldn´t hardly move. Then he let her go and walked away. "I love you," he murmured and she swallowed because it sounded very serious. With this confession, Connor decided to leave her alone for now. Surely she wasn´t told that every day, even though she deserved it. He would give her time to think about and talk to her tomorrow...

Next morning they met for breakfast and when Connor sat down next to Lindsay, she looked at him with a look in the eyes, which he couldn´t interpret.
"Good morning," he said to her and smiled at her.
"Where have you been last night? After you invited me for a drink, you disappeared without a trace..."
"Lindsay, I thought...", he began and in that moment, Peter and Mia took their breakfast and left the table, "You saw how I left the bar."
"I didn´t..."
"Okay, whatever," he decided to give in, obviously she was upset because she felt blew off, "What about tonight? We could go out for dinner?", asked Connor and Lindsay wondered why he wanted to go out with her so urgently. But she agreed. Peter and Mia wanted to travel to Pão de Açúcar- the Sugar Loaf Mountain- this evening by cable car and she didn´t want to come along. She was scarred of heights.
"That was a very nice kiss last night," he whispered to her.
"What?" Lindsay was now even more confused and shocked, "Connor, you haven´t kissed me last night ...", she understood immediately, "Maybe you were already so drunk at the party last night you weren´t able to differentiate between me and other women."
"I swear to you she looked like you", Connor had the opinion he should have known, after the woman who looked like Lindsay looked at him confused when he had kissed her so lovingly like never before.
"Sorry, I forgot my room key," said Mia, when she came to the table once more and picked up the keys bunch, "Is there a conflict?", she asked, sitting on a chair. She couldn´t believe it: they were less than one day for vacation in Brazil and Connor and Lindsay began to argue. She had always believed the two were on the same wavelength.
"I'm sorry. I really thought it was you!", argued Connor.
"It´s impossible that a woman looks exactly like me...", Lindsay defiantly crossed her arms over her chest.
"I'm afraid he's telling the truth", said Mia had discovered a stack of magazines, "Lindsay, I didn´t know that you´re a model," Mia told and showed her the magazine. The woman on the cover looked clearly like Lindsay: She had long, blond hair, bright blue eyes but Lindsay couldn´t remember ever having taken this photo.
Lindsay took the magazine from Mia and leafed through it. How she could read at the first two pages, the girl was the Brazilian fashion model Valentina de la Rua.
"Why nobody knew that there is a model which looks exactly like you?", asked Mia
"Here is an interview with Valentina de la Rua. There is written she´s modeling successfully for a short time and last year she ran for the first time for Victoria's Secret. In addition, here is that Valentina is looking forward to the party in the bar "A Freak". That means, she was also at the party and Connor told the truth to you... After all, she looks like you... But how is this possible?"

That same day, Lindsay was talking to her aunt on the phone and she asked indignantly if she had a twin sister. Her parents had been dead for years and she hoped her aunt knew about it. In retrospect, Lindsay thought the call was a very hasty action: After all Valentina de la Rua was sixteen years younger than Lindsay. She had to get to know these Valentina. But where should she start? Rio de Janeiro was a very big city. Finally she asked Mia if she had an idea. "We could call all model agencies," suggested Mia, "I hope someone will know Valentina de la Rua."
Lindsay nodded and she really couldn´t believe it. She asked Mia for help because in Rio, there were a lot of model agencies. Half of the agencies, however, turned out to be a flop because the people on the phone only spoke Portuguese. So they gave up in the afternoon, when Peter proposed to buy some souvenirs.
Connor noted how depressed Lindsay was and tried to calm her when Peter and Mia walked through the streets and looked at all the souvenir shops.
"It´s unbelievable," Lindsay said, "I have a younger sister in Brazil. But how...?" And her sister was a very pretty, famous fashion model.
"We still don´t know if she´s really your sister."
"How else could this be possible?", she asked. Actually she wasn´t in the mood for shopping and while Peter and Mia now entered another store, she leaned against a half lifted wall. Directly behind this little wall a beach began. Connor also leaned against the wall, turning around when he noticed a crowd had gathered on the beach. "Maybe there is something wrong?" asked Connor and then Lindsay also turned around.
"Don´t worry, everything´s all right," assured now a small, dark-haired woman with glasses and braces. Loaded with coffee mugs and many folders she went past them, "Back there´s just the cover shooting for the next issue of MODE Magazine and..." The woman stopped now and turned around frantically.
"Valentina?", she asked in horror, "How did you get here? You should be on set..." She wondered why Valentina suddenly wore a strapless, rose-colored summer dress.
"You know Valentina de la Rua?", asked Lindsay.
"Yes... My goodness, you look like her... Are you Valentina' s sister?"
"I assume that," Lindsay thought the woman looked very shocked, "Just as I have reacted this morning when I learned of Valentina... My name is Lindsay, that´s Connor."
"I´m Betty, Hi", she smiled and pushed her glasses back on her nose, "Does that mean Valentina doesn´t know she has a sister?"
Betty Suarez watched how Lindsay nodded. At that moment, she had an excellent idea. The shooting for the next MODE cover was in full swing on beach. Valentina de la Rua was the model. So...
"You want to get to know Valentina?", Betty suddenly asked and when Lindsay nodded, she explained it was fantastic. Betty went ahead to the cluster of people which had formed on the beach and Lindsay took a deep breath. They had found Valentina. "Will you come with me?", she wanted to know. Her voice trembled. Connor took her hand gently. "I´m with you."
She ran to catch Betty, which stopped. "How much do you know about Valentina?", she asked.
"She is twenty years old and a model."
"She is Daniel Meade´s girlfriend, he´s the chief editor... By the way I am Daniel's assistant... As I said, Valentina will be MODE´s next cover girl and..." Betty saw how a blonde woman was waving, "Excuse me for a moment. " She stamped through the sand and Connor and Lindsay walked alone. In the crowd they pushed some people aside until they finally saw her. Valentina de la Rua actually looked like Lindsay. Her hair was a bit longer and blonder, but she had the same ice-blue eyes. She knelt in the sand and focused on the photographer with a sexy look in her eyes.
"Here I am again," Betty said to Lindsay and Connor and balanced her coffee mugs through the crowd, "The shooting will be over soon then you can meet Valentina."
'Last picture!", yelled the photographer and Valentina focused for the last time.
Suddenly, a lump formed in Lindsay's throat. All of a sudden she was so terribly nervous. She watched how Valentina got up, wiped the sand from her perfectly shaped legs, went to a dark blond man and took a water bottle. "This is Daniel," Betty told them. She saw how Daniel waved at her, so she apologized at Connor and Lindsay. Previously, she told them they should meet in five minutes. Betty seemed to have a lot of stress, but that didn´t spoil her good mood.
"I don´t know if I should really do this," said Lindsay and looked at him with wide eyes. Connor wondered why she suddenly hesitated. He wasn´t thinking it was luck that they discovered the photo on the magazine and then they met Valentina today at the beach.
"Come, let´s go," Connor said to her and pressed her hand again. She nodded in agreement and when they left the group of people a tall, skinny man with dark curly hair stood before them. Of course, he already noticed Lindsay's similarity to Valentina.
"Who are you?", asked Connor.
"Marc St. James. And this is Amanda, she is Daniel's assistant." Marc took pulled on the arm of another blonde woman.
"I thought Betty is Daniels assistant."
"In her dreams," Marc replied tartly, "What are you doing here?" He still looked at Lindsay from head to toe. "I don´t think it´s your business," Connor wanted to push Marc aside, but he and Amanda still stood in his way. "We had no idea that the little Vally has a sister." Now, Amanda and Marc pushed them back into the crowd.
Meanwhile, Daniel asked what Betty thought about the photos. Betty nodded and then she told Valentina, she wanted to talk to her urgently. It was about her guest.
"I don´t expect anyone," said Valentina and Daniel added they had no secrets. "All right", Betty gave in and Daniel smiled a little bit triumphantly. Then Betty began to talk in Spanish to Valentina. Betty's parents had emigrated many years ago from Mexico to America, so she could speak the language a little bit. And because Valentina's native language was Portuguese which was similar to Spanish, she understood everything Betty told. The assistant of her boyfriend told her that her sister was here and Valentina looked at her surprised.
"I have no sister," Valentina said in English and now even Daniel was surprised. As far as he knew his girlfriend had no siblings. "Betty, where is she?", asked Valentina and Betty pointed to the cluster of people who still had gathered on the beach. Valentina stretched a little bit, but she couldn´t see someone who looked like her. So she decided to take closer a look. She reached for her dress and put it on quickly. If what Betty said was true, she wouldn´t face her sister in a bikini. While Valentina went to the crowd, she could still hear how Daniel asked Betty, how this was possible. Excited, Valentina went to the group of people and then she discovered her. Betty was right, both looked to confusingly similar.
"Are you Valentina?", asked Lindsay.
"Yes," the blonde woman nodded, "And you are...?"
"I'm Lindsay Donner... That´s Connor." She pressed Connors hand.
Valentina saw Connor, she nodded. "This is the man I met at the bar," she recalled, "He was mistaking me for you."
"Now we know why."
Valentina nodded again like frozen. But then she smiled. "I would like to talk to you for a while, but not here," she pointed to the onlookers, "Come visit me," Valentina suggested and handed her a note with her address. Lindsay nodded and Valentina said goodbye with a fabulous smile. They watched her for a long time, watched as Daniel put his arm around Valentina and began questioning her about all sorts of things.
Now Betty came back to them and from the corner of his eye Connor saw, Peter and Mia were now on their way to them. He had to admit he had forgotten the two long ago.
"I'm not sure what I have just seen," said Peter firmly when he and Mia reached them, "Lindsay has a twin sister?"
"You didn´t know?", asked Connor, "After Valentina de la Rua is a famous model, I actually thought you saw her before." Peter shook his head and Mia told him that the photo of Valentina de la Rua was discovered today at breakfast in a magazine. One of Mia's pipe dreams was that Valentina was probably a clone. "Or maybe she´s an alien", Mia smiled, "I don´t know."
"How was it?", asked Betty now and smiled. Lindsay thought it worked out very well. Valentina seemed to be very nice and she even had invited her for a little more personal talk to her apartment.
"Marc told Amanda would be Daniels assistant", Connor remembered now.
"That´s not true. Marc and Amanda are... a little bit strange", admitted Betty, "Don´t listen to them." Then they received Betty´s card. If they needed something, they could call her any time.

I am, I'm too fabu-lous
I'm so fierce that it's so nuts
I live to be model thin
Dress me, I'm your manne-quin

J'adore Vivienne, La Vie et Moi
Gucci, Fendi, Prada et. Valentino, Armani too.
Merde I love them Jimmy Choo

Fashion put it all on me
Do not you want to see these clothes on me
Fashion put it all on me
I am anyone you want me to be (" Fashion "by Lady Gaga)

Actually they wanted to do something else, but because the sun was burning extremely from the sky on this day, they went back to the hotel. While they were eating Brigadeiros, Brazilian sweets, Peter and Mia watched latest Victoria's Secret Fashion Show were Valentina was running on video tape the in the late afternoon of pure interest. She was allowed to finish the show as so called Last Face.
Peter also wondered how it was possible that Lindsay had a twin sister, which she never met. Mia told him then Valentina wasn´t Lindsay's twin sister but she was sixteen years younger.
While Peter and Mia discussed, Lindsay was standing on the balcony and looked down. Here her fear of heights wasn´t so bad, because her room and the balcony were on the second floor of the hotel. She heard how someone pushed the door and entered the balcony. Connor leaned silently next to her on the railing and watched the people walking around on the street. "What do you think about Valentina?", he asked suddenly, very worried.
"She seems to be very nice," she answered honestly. She had met her sister only once and she knew actually nothing about her.
"Nevertheless, we should try to bring a little light on this matter."
"Yes."
"I'll call Anton ask him and to come here," Connor told Lindsay. She listened while he talked to Anton on the phone. Half an hour later he had finished the phone conversation with Anton and told her he would arrive tomorrow evening. Lindsay nodded understandingly.
"Would you also nod if I ask you to go out with me tonight?", he asked, "A driver will pick up in front of the hotel entrance at nine p.m. this evening. I take care of everything else."
Lindsay agreed. Until the time has come, she would talk to Valentina urgently and she decided also to accept their invitation to her home. She remembered the note she had given her.

Valentina lived in a skyscraper in the middle of the city. Lindsay was impressed by Valentina's apartment and at first she asked if she wanted a drink. Lindsay refused politely.
"How long do you live here?", asked Lindsay when she walked into the living room.
"Since about one year," said Valentina, "Since I earn more money I don´t need to send all money home to my mother. What about your family? Where do you live?"
Again Lindsay noted the Brazilian accent in Valentina´s voice and it sounded very likeable.
"In Canada", Lindsay answered and sat on the couch in the living room. The pictures on the wall were Valentina´s large framed magazine covers. On another poster (It was an ad for a perfume) Valentina wore a tight silver dress and Lindsay noted how skinny her sister was.
With a glass of juice in her hand, Valentina sat down next to Lindsay on the couch. "I guess the big questioning starts now," she guessed. Once again, Lindsay stated they looked very similar. "My most important question is, of course," Valentina began, "How all this can be possible..."
"I ask myself since I saw you on the cover of this magazine... Where are you born?", asked Lindsay.
"In São Paulo", Valentina answered, "I lived there with my mother until I was discovered at age 16 at a flea market. My mother and I were very poor", Valentina took a photo album and showed a picture of her mother. Valentina didn´t look a bit like her mother, because her Mom was a dark-skinned Brazilian woman with black curly hair. On the other hand Valentina was a Northern American type.
"First I haven´t worked very much because my English was horrible," Valentina continued, "Last summer I was sent to New York City by my agency. There I applied for Victoria's Secret and since then my career is much better."
"That´s great."
"Yes. Last January I was even photographed in Barbados for the this year's swimwear catalog. This is an honor for me because my best friends Giselle and Alessandra were also there", while Valentina told about the places where she had already been, she stretched for a black folder, opened it and showed Lindsay proudly her photographs. Valentina excitedly told how much she liked her job and Lindsay found it was another similarity.
"What about your father?", Lindsay asked suddenly and Valentina looked at her surprised.
"I don´t know," she admitted, "I never met him."
Lindsay could now imagine why. But she couldn´t remember her father was ever been to Brazil. She also had no idea whether it was true. Lindsay still hoped that their similarity was just a freak of nature.
Valentina spent another hour to show her set card and pictures about the fashion shows, where she had run. After that Valentina showed Lindsay the entire apartment. Lindsay envied her for the over-sized walk-in closet. Valentina owned so many beautiful, expensive clothes.
"This is a very nice dress," Lindsay whispered when she discovered a white dress with lace hem on a hanger.
"I was allowed to keep that dress when I did my first shooting for Dior… Do you like it?", asked Valentina, "May you want to try it on." Now, Valeria took the hanger and held the dress in front of Lindsay. They looked at themselves in the mirror together.
"I can´t wear it."
"Of course you can. Why don´t you keep the dress? It was just a present and I don´t need it", Valentina didn´t mind if Lindsay kept the dress and she knew the dress would be perfect for her, "You are very pretty."
Lindsay looked at Valentina. It was probably for her when she would talk to her own reflection. Gradually Lindsay thought the dress would suit her. Most importantly she was touched that Valentina immediately accepted her as a sister.
"...And Connor would certainly like the dress very much," Valentina now added, smiling. She was not blind after all and had noticed how Connor held Lindsay´s hand.
"How can I understand?"
"I think Connor is very serious with you", she said suddenly in a very quiet voice, "What he said to me at the bar recently was meant for you and it sounded very sincere."
"What did he say?"
Valentina understood. "He should tell you."
"How old is Daniel?", Lindsay suddenly asked to distract from the subject. She knew Valentina since a few hours and it was a matter only between her and Connor.
"Why do you ask?"
"He is a bit too old for you, isn´t he?"
Valentina laughed. "You seem to get used to the big sister-thing... We don´t have much time for each other. Daniel lives in New York and I live in Brazil again. It's some kind of long-distance relationship and of course I know he´s a womanizer. We only see when we go to events together. I make sure he looks good and he introduces me to the designers. One benefits from the other, you know?"
"Yes," Lindsay nodded but Valentina still didn´t seem to have completed with the Connor- topic: "With you and Connor it's different," she said, "I think you should talk to each other..."
"He asked me for a date tonight. I agreed." She thought he had deserved at least a chance.
With this statement, Valentina was finally satisfied. She almost forced Lindsay to wear the dress and accompanied her in person back to her hotel.

Mas que nada
Black Eyed Peas came to make ya hot-a
We be the party starter
Bubblin 'it up, it's like lava
Like lava, heatin 'like a sun-a
Penetrate through your body armor
Rhythmicly we massage-a
With hip hop mixed up with samba (with Samba)
So yes, yes ya'll (yes ya'll, ya'll)
You know we never stop, we never rest ya'll (rest ya'll, ya'll)
The Black Eyed Peas will keep the funky fresh ya'll (fresh ya'll, ya'll)
And we will not stop until we Get'cha
Till we Get'cha sayin '
Oooooooariá raio
Oba Oba Oba ("Mas que nada" by Sergio Mendes & Black Eyed Peas)

She still quarreled if she really should accept Connors apology and invitation, but after much hesitation, she decided to do. After all, it was very nice he cared much for her and he made the effort and apologized. As announced, outside the hotel a driver was waiting for her, he would bring her to her date. Lindsay had no idea what exactly Connor was planning for tonight, but she hoped she was not too dressed to kill: How Valentina had ordered, her hair fell in curls over her shoulder and she was wearing the pretty white dress.
The driver slowed the car after a fifteen minute drive in front of a skyscraper and told her she should take the elevator to floor 68. The closer the elevator came to the 68 floor, the more excited she became. What was in the 68 floor? Finally the elevator doors opened and Lindsay stepped out. Nervously, she looked around and saw Connor, who was standing at a railing and looked down on the brightly lit city. If she had known they would meet at the top of a skyscraper, she had chosen a warmer dress. She hoped her voice wouldn´t tremble too much, when she welcomed Connor. He tore himself away from the view and took a step toward her. Connor explained he was pleased that she had come.
"It's very beautiful," said Lindsay, "But what are we doing here?"
"I wanted to apologize to you." He hadn´t to ask how the meeting with Valentina worked, he already knew.
"Here on this skyscraper?"
"It should be something special."
She nodded. It was something special and now she noticed they were alone. Connor reached out to her and she put her hand in his. "Of course, the trip isn´t over yet," he said and she wondered what else would come. A walk on the beach would have been very nice, but...
She was almost giddy when he opened a door leading to a viewing platform from which they had a perfect view over the city. Excited, she noted the platform was made out of safety glass. Connor entered the platform first and reached out for her. It almost looked like he was floating in the air.
"Give me your hand," he said quietly to her and she hesitated, "You´re safe, I promise you."
"You knew that I´m afraid of heights," she said and when he shook his head, she knew it was a lie. Nevertheless, she put her hand in his and walked across the platform. The path on the transparent glass plate lasted almost forever and she felt like she was falling every moment into the depths. "I can´t," she told Connor.
"Of course you can. Nothing´s gonna happen," he promised and pulled her to him.
She didn´t mind that he put his arms around her and she returned the gesture. "There is something I would like to discuss with you," he began and she looked at him, "I already wanted to tell you at the costume party. Unfortunately, I've kissed the wrong person then."
"Can we discuss in a different place!?", asked Lindsay and clung more tightly to him. She was nearly dizzy and the queasy feeling in her legs got worse. Because of panic she nearly fainted and registered half how Connor caught her, carried her across the glass platform and then they drove to the ground floor by elevator. The driver of the hotel was still waiting for them and he was shocked when he saw the unconscious woman in Connor's arms.
"She urgently needs fresh air!", Connor yelled, put her in the car and they drove off. Connor hated himself for that stupid idea. He should have known that she lost control because she was scared of heights. While driving through the city cool air flowed to them in the car and luckily Lindsay felt a little better. The driver steered the car along a road next to Ipanema Beach. It was already dark and not many people were on the beach. A beach walk would be a good idea, thought Connor and he asked if they could get out here. Your driver asked them to be careful and Connor helped Lindsay out of the car. She was still trembling as they walked together through the sand. Both didn´t talk to each other, they walked side by side along the beach and enjoyed the cool air which came from the Ocean. Finally, a half hour was over and the driver picked them up. The driver brought them back to the hotel and Connor was disappointed because the evening was a mess. Connor brought Lindsay to her room alone.
"Everything what can go wrong, went wrong, eh?", he wanted to know, "Actually I wanted to apologize to you tonight. Then I scare you so much that almost another apology would be necessary."
"What did you want to say on the platform?", she asked.
"I wanted to tell you what I was going to say to you the other day in this bar. You're right, I shouldn´t wait any longer. Life is too short to let all wonderful things pass by... YOU shouldn´t pass by...", he came one step closer, so he stood right in front of her, "You are the most perfect being in this world... But probably you already know... I love you."
She was so confused she didn´t know what to say. "I ...", she couldn´t say a single word. She never expected he felt the same like she did.
"I would really like to kiss you now," he muttered, "but only in the circumstance that I kiss the right one this time."
"I'm pretty sure I´m the right one," she smiled and felt how he lovingly petted her cheek. He laid his hand in her neck and drew her to him for a very careful kiss. The longer it lasted, the more she relaxed and she forgot how nervous she suddenly was. She was longing for this moment and it was exactly how she ever dreamed about it. Lindsay felt how he pressed her gently against the door of her hotel room and didn´t interrupt his kiss. Finally, he walked away from her and when he looked in her eyes a shiver ran down her back. It was an amazing feeling.
"See you tomorrow?", He asked and she nodded. She wanted to stay with him, but he shouldn´t think she would be too easy.
"See you tomorrow," Lindsay tried to smile and even though he had just passed by her, she still looked very happy, when she entered her room. She entered her hotel room and leaned in the dark against the door. She felt like floating on cloud Number Nine when she pulled a clip out of her blond hair and tried to go to sleep. She believed, however, this was impossible today.

When she lay in her bed, she was thinking about the evening for a long time. She thought about their walk on the beach but also about the kiss on her doorstep. She wasn´t able to sleep: Lindsay had often wondered how it would be if he would kiss her and she had to admit that it exceeded all expectations. It was such a great kiss, that she would preferred to melted in his arms immediately. She regarded she hadn´t invited him for a cup of coffee and she knew, of course, how it would have ended. Anyway, she wouldn´t be alone here and he certainly left her no chance to dream about him: He made her dreams came true.
Restless she rolled around in her bed and breathed out disappointed. Then she heard a knock on the door and she wondered who could be the late visit. It was almost one a.m. in the morning. Because the nights in Brazil were very hot and sticky she didn´t wear more than her lingerie. So she grabbed a bathrobe, put it on and went to the door. Connor was the last person which she now had expected and he looked like he was thinking about tonight just like her. He entered her room, pulled her into his arms. All at once she was awake and returned his deep kiss. Smiling, she registered how he kicked the door with his foot and slowly opened the belt of her bathrobe.
"I shouldn´t have left," he whispered and she shook her head gently. Her bathrobe fell to the ground and now she nestled in his arms. She shuddered when he petted the skin of her bare back and pressed her close to him next. "What did you do to me?", asked Connor. He never before had awakened a woman in the middle of the night to tell her that he wanted her right know. He didn´t notice right away she moved with him to bed and when they landed on it she pressed her left leg against his hip. "Did someone ever tell you how pretty and sexy you are?", he whispered and traced the edge of her black bra.
"Not like you."
"Are you sure you want me at all?"
She nodded frantically and pulled him for another kiss towards her. She wasn´t so sure for a long time and she was eager to show him he was just the perfect match, what she needed.

The next morning he invited her for breakfast in a small street café. Connor and Lindsay enjoyed the time together and while they waited for their coffee was ready, they sat at the bar and wondered what to do today afternoon. Although Lindsay was very tired because she hadn´t slept last night more than four hours, she suggested relaxing on the beach. Today the weather should be great again and she wanted to enjoy the sun and maybe come home tanned. She also expected after last night Connor shouldn´t have problems to go to the beach with her. "Are you sure you want to swim?", he asked when the waiter put down two coffee cups in front of them. Lindsay nodded and laid her hands on his shoulders. "Do you tell me next you don´t have your shorts with you?", she laughed, "Connor, you have to be much more relaxed."
"I am relaxed."
"You´re not," she explained to him and kissed him once more, "I´m sure you won´t need any clothes."
"Even in Brazil not everything is allowed," he laughed and she felt how he put his hands tenderly on her cheek and pushed her blond hair out of her face. At that moment, their cell phones rang. Lindsay sighed, disappointed. "We are never alone, right?", She sounded rebuking, answered the call, however. They talked about one minute on the phone.
"That was Valentina," said Lindsay when the conversation was ended.
"I had Anton on the phone," Connor told, "He arrived sooner than expected."
Lindsay knew what that meant. They breakfasted and then went back to the Mobile Lab hand in hand.

Valentina was nervous when she met Anton in the Mobile Lab and he explained the procedure for a hypnosis session. Daniel and Betty had come with Valentina and they listened to the interview. While Anton could affix some pads on Valentina's head, he told Daniel, Betty, Connor and Lindsay they had to wait outside. After Anton had put Valentina under hypnosis, they watched through a glass window how he asked many questions to the blonde fashion model and Valentina answered them. Finally, the interview ended and Anton left the small interrogation room. "She´s telling the truth," said Anton, "She´s telling the truth with every single word."
"So that means we´re not smarter than before," Lindsay was disappointed and Connor looked at her anxiously. Betty also had no idea how it could be that Valentina and Lindsay were so similar, without being twins. Anton decided to take a blood sample from Valentina and analyze it in the laboratory. Then they had at least one answer to if the two were sisters. Valentina had to remove blood and Anton explained to her that she had to wait for the result until tomorrow.
"What do we do until the result will be done?", asked Valentina and Lindsay had an idea.
"You said your mother is still living in São Paulo," Lindsay suggested, "Maybe she can help us."

"You really want to go to São Paulo?", asked Daniel Meade next evening and put his hands on the sides. He was looking desperately. "You know we have only the cover for the next MODE issue," he said during Valentina packed some clothes in a bag, "Your photo gallery in the inner part is still missing."
"Don´t worry," said Valentina, "We are back tomorrow, but I need to know if I'm really Lindsay's sister." They had decided to travel by plane, so they could reach São Paulo in two hours.
"If you go now, then..."
"Daniel!", Betty cried admonishing, "It's about her family!"
"To which I probably don´t belong," Daniel went past them angry and Betty told Valentina in Spanish not to be sad and that Daniel would calm down. But Valentina knew better, she knew it was over.
With her bag in her hand Valentina left. Whether Daniel would remain until her return in her apartment, she didn´t care right now. In front of her house a car was already parking which took her to the airport.

Valentina left São Paulo one year ago and since then, she hadn´t returned. On the way to her mother´s house, they also passed by a very poor neighborhood. Here in the slums Valentina grew up and she never forgot where she came from. With her first big salary, which she earned as a fashion model, she had bought a better apartment for her mother. At least it was a solid stone house with tiles on the roof. Her mother was now living in a very busy pedestrian zone. They watched the last carnival from the balcony when the local Samba schools danced through the city like every year. People wore colorful, slinky costumes with feathers and glittering fabric and Samba was played on huge, loud drums. One Samba school played "Sapo Cai", Valentina´s favorite song. This song always made her dance and because she was Brazilian, she was able to dance Samba very well.
Of course the "show" was larger in Rio de Janeiro and Valentina persuaded her mother to move to Rio, but Bianca Carolina de la Rua preferred to stay in her home town.
Even in the last twilight of the evening the pedestrian zone was busy. Actually Valentina wanted to buy a gossip magazine in a newspaper store, but after the owner of the store asked her for an autograph and took a picture with her it was a present. Meanwhile, Valentina had accustomed, when people asked her for autographs or photos during shopping.
"How far is it to your mother´s house?", asked Lindsay. She was tired and held Connors hand when they walked side by side next to Valentina. Like Daniel and Betty, Mia and Peter remained in Rio. They liked the city at the Sugar Loaf Mountain very much and for his next vacation Peter even planned to make an Amazon tour.
"It's not far away," said Valentina, leafing through the magazine. In the middle section of the magazine in the "Rápido Noticias", the Quick News, she discovered a very interesting article. "Here: Valentina de la Rua has a new boyfriend! The model was discovered yesterday while flirting with an unknown man in a café in Rio de Janeiro. ", She showed them a photo that was taken in a coffee shop and on the picture Connor and Lindsay were kissing. So the Yellow Press hadn´t noticed that she had a sister.
Lindsay took the issue, although she couldn´t understand one single word of what was written in the Portuguese-language newspaper. "Perhaps you are happy about it, but I think it's terrible... How do you endure the paparazzi?", asked Lindsay.
"Your sister is a superstar in Brazil", said Connor, "Maybe the photo was taken by a tourist and sold the picture to a magazine."
"I wish I could explain it to Daniel," said Valentina, "He isn´t very happy since this whole story. He was not even in agreement that we come here", then she discovered her mother's house. With a joyful feeling in her stomach she entered it. She was very happy to see her mother. Valentina and Bianca Carolina hugged and said some things to each other in Portuguese. As Lindsay saw on photos before, Valentina didn´t look a bit similar to her mother.
Then Bianca Carolina noticed the people which came with her daughter and when she saw Lindsay, she looked at her with wide eyes. She asked her daughter how that was possible and Valentina replied she hoped she could tell them. Bianca Carolina asked her daughter and the visit to her small apartment. In the living room they sat on a couch and the older woman began to tell, while Valentina translated for them.
"I was hoping I would never have to tell anyone", Valentina translated, "I got married when I was a young girl and for my husband I moved from Salvador to São Paulo."
Valentina recalled: Her mother was a native of Salvador da Bahia, a city north of Rio.
"My husband was a construction worker," Valentina translated further, "One day he fell from a high scaffolding because he had no safety equipment and he was killed. I had to sell our house and because I had no one where I could live, I found myself one day in the slums. Approximately twenty-one years ago I met a young couple. They told me they tried to have a second child but after a traffic accident the woman couldn´t have babies anymore. They searched desperately for a surrogate mother. Twenty-one years ago surrogate mothers were illegal in Canada that is why the couple secretly came to South America."
Now, Lindsay recalled two weeks in summer, she was allowed to spend with her best friend when she was sixteen.
"The couple chose me as a surrogate mother and they paid good money for it. With the money I spent two weeks in the same beautiful hotel as the couple and I saved some money. When we found out the procedure had worked and I was pregnant, there was a fire in the hotel one evening and the whole building burned down. I couldn´t find the couple in the chaos and I never knew if they had survived. I had no choice but to return to the slums with the baby under my heart and raise it as if it were my own."
Lindsay nodded affected. She hadn´t known about all that but it explained why her parents looked so disappointed for a long time after they returned from a holiday, which they had allegedly spent on the countryside. Of course, William Donner and his wife had survived the fire in the hotel and Lindsay assumed her parents had also lost Bianca Carolina out of sight. But why they hadn´t searched for her? She was, after all, the surrogate mother of their child!
Worried, Connor took Lindsay's hand and Valentina swallowed hard.
"Can you ask your mother why my parents weren´t looking for her?", asked Lindsay.
"Mãe, Por que não olhar para você? O que você acha?"
Bianca Carolina thought, then she replied hesitantly and Valentina translated again: "The newspaper said that a pregnant woman was killed in the fire." Bianca Carolina believed the married couple from Canada probably thought she was dead.
Tears were in Lindsay´s and Valentina's eyes. So it was true: they were sisters and if their parents wouldn´t have lost Bianca Carolina so many years ago, they could have grown up like...
Lindsay thanked for Bianca Carolina's hospitality and for her honesty.
"You will always be my mother," Valentina said in her native language to Bianca Carolina and embraced her, sobbing. She also asked if she could stay here tonight and her mother agreed.
This trip to São Paulo had changed everything and Lindsay still felt like numb, as Connor walked into a small hotel near Bianca Carolina´s apartment. Connor asked Lindsay while ordering a hotel room, if she wanted to spend the night with him, but she refused. Too many thoughts circled her head. So they paid for two hotel rooms.
A little later, Connor asked himself if it was right to leave her alone tonight and he hoped she would be reasonable. He was a little bit disappointed, when he had changed in the bathroom and looked at his reflection. Finally, he heard a noise at the door. When he wanted to see who tried to enter his hotel room, he discovered Lindsay. She hugged him fiercely, began to kiss him. "I missed you," she murmured and they both tumbled across the room to his bed.
When Connor was asleep two hours later, exhausted, she lay in his arms and clung desperately to his naked upper body, listening to his heartbeat. Lindsay asked what would become of Valentina. The truth was much worse and sadder than she had ever expected. Even sadder it was that her parents had died without learning of Valentina. Now that they knew they really were sisters, it was very difficult for her to leave in a few days, knowing her sister would stay in Brazil. Of course Lindsay had already asked her sister if she would visit her in Canada once and Valentina had replied she wanted to do so only if Lindsay would come to New York in November and watched when her sister was becoming an Angel at the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show. This year, Valentina got wings, maybe she was also allowed to wear the famous Fantasy Bra and she wanted to share this important moment with her sister.
Lindsay tried to sleep, but she couldn´t. The thought why this could happen kept her busy all night.

"How was it in São Paulo?", Peter asked the next afternoon, when Connor, Lindsay and Valentina returned. He feared something had happen because the faces of Lindsay and Valentina spoke volumes. Connor told Peter and Mia in a quiet moment, what had happened and what Bianca Carolina had been told. Peter understood. Now they wouldn´t need Anton's blood test...
Valentina sat on the stairs to the Mobile Lab and talked on the phone to Daniel, who was already back in New York, and told him the entire story, crying. She apologized she flew without him to São Paulo and she wanted very much that he was now with her. But unfortunately this was a luxury they both couldn´t afford because of their jobs. For the first time she wished she could be like her sister.
The mood was depressed until the evening when Peter and Mia wanted to go out. They asked if Lindsay, Connor and Valentina wanted to come along, but they weren´t in the mood.

On their last day in Rio Connor and Lindsay could be persuaded to spend some time together with Peter, Mia and Valentina. They were amazed about how quickly they had accustomed, that Valentina was constantly asked for autographs.
On a sunny day Valentina took them to her favorite place in the city and how Lindsay should realize this was the first thing she didn´t share with her sister.
"You don´t need to be afraid. We are with you and it´s all fine", Connor grabbed Lindsay's left hand, Valentina took her right hand. Connor, Valentina, Peter and Mia walked step by step with her to the railing, which comprehended the observation deck below the Christ the Redeemer Statue in Rio de Janeiro on the mountain called Cocrovardo. Next to the Sugar Loaf Mountain, which they could see in some distance, the Statue of Christ the Redeemer was one of the famous sightings in Rio.
"I can´t," Lindsay's voice was trembling, "I... uh..."
"You can," Valentina agreed. She wondered if her sister wasn´t sometimes fed up because she couldn´t enjoy all the beautiful views.
"We're almost there," Connor told her, "Just one more step and you can grab the railing and hold it." He felt how her hand trembled when was holding on his hand. Then he laid her hand gently on the railing and noticed she had closed her eyes. "Open your eyes," Connor's voice was very gentle. His hand rested still on her waist.
"No, that's impossible," Lindsay frantically shook her head.
"Then you wouldn´t like to spend our honeymoon in Rio?", asked Connor and Lindsay opened her eyes surprised and looked at him. "Of course we don´t need to decide immediately," he reassured her. Connor knew it was too early to ask the question with the famous four words and he didn´t want to overwhelm. More surprised he was when her eyes became suddenly soft and answered smiling at him: "I'd like to come back here with you..."

Everyone here is on fire
Get up and join in the fun
Dance with a stranger, romance and danger
Magic could happen for real, in Rio
All by it self (it self)
You can't see it coming
You can't find it anywhere else (anywhere else)

Here everybody loves samba (I like the Samba)
Rhythm you feel in you heart (I'm the Samba master)
Beauty and Love, what more could you want
Everything can be for real, in Rio
Here's something else (something else)
You just feel it happening
You won't find it anywhere else

Fin