Harper Beakerman sat at her kitchen table, sipping coffee and enjoying a nice, calm moment in her day. They're rare enough right now, she thought. Zeke had left for his job at Evolution Robotics about fifteen minutes before, and their son was still asleep, nestled in his bed with the big teddy bear Alex and Justin had given him. Sometimes it was hard to believe that they'd been married now for almost a year and a half - or that they had a three-month old baby.

She hadn't expected to get pregnant quite so soon after getting married, but it had worked out. And Matthew was a little angel - or at least, now that he wasn't waking up every two hours or so during the night, he was. Harper smiled a little. Never thought that I'd be this grateful for coffee.

She got up and walked over to the coffee maker, then refilled her cup slowly, taking her time, stretching a little as she did. She filled the cup to about three-quarters, added a little sugar and cream - just enough to soften the taste, since she was still working on losing her pregnancy weight - and picked up the spoon to stir just as her phone rang. Taking both cup and spoon with her, she stepped back to the table, then looked down at the phone, blinked when she saw it was Alex calling.

At seven-twenty on a Tuesday morning? I hope nothing's wrong…. She reached for the phone with the hand that was holding the spoon, picked up the call with her pinkie, then hit speaker. "Hi, Alex," she said, sitting down and giving her coffee another stir. "How are you?"

"Oh, I'm okay," Alex replied, keeping her voice low, since Lexie and Justin were both still asleep. She sat down on the edge of the futon, looking down at Justin as she asked, "How're things there?"

"Now that I'm getting some sleep again, they're great. Zeke started back to work a couple of weeks ago. I'm trying to do some designs, but it's been hard with all the interruptions." She laughed a little, took a sip of her coffee. "Getting to sleep five hours in a row feels like luxury now. I wouldn't trade it, though. Matthew is such a little cutie."

She paused a moment, but Alex didn't say anything, and after a moment of silence, Harper asked, "So… not that I'm not glad you called, but isn't your family visiting this week? I thought you'd be busy with them."

"Actually, that's kind of why I'm calling." Alex pulled her legs up onto the futon, sitting cross-legged, glided her fingers across the pad in a figure-eight. "Lexie and I were talking last night, and guess what came up?"

Harper swallowed the mouthful of coffee she'd taken while Alex was speaking, then said, "What?"

"Ohh… just the little fact that you and Lexie dated." Harper blinked and almost dropped her cup, quickly set it down on the table, then picked up the phone and thumbed it off of speaker. Not that there was any actual reason to, but… it just felt more private that way.

"She told you that?" Oh my God, I'm blushing. Why am I blushing? I -

"Yes, she did," Alex said, her tone sugary-sweet as she leaned over on one arm. Behind her, Justin stirred a little, but she ignored it. "And that's all she'll tell me. She says that since it involves you, she doesn't feel like she can just tell me everything. So… I know it was before you dated Zeke, so that would mean you thought she was me when you were dating her?"

"Well, uh… yeah." If she'd been blushing before, Harper was sure she was beet-red now. She turned in her chair, the cup of coffee forgotten, said, "Justin had gone off to college, and then it seemed like you were avoiding me for a few months… and then you started coming around again, and you seemed so down…."

Alex frowned, thinking. That must've been right after Lexie was... born? Created? Whatever. "Uh-huh. And… after you knew that wasn't really me, you never bothered telling me because…?" She shook her head and flipped a palm up, even though Harper couldn't see.

"Well, honestly… at first, I didn't know how much you knew. And then..." Harper took a lock of her own hair, twisted it around her finger nervously. "It was... really awkward. I didn't know how you'd feel about it, and if you already knew, I didn't need to tell you and didn't want to bring it back up, but if you didn't..." She stopped, then just said, "Awkward."

"Yeah... you know what feels awkward? Discovering that your best friend has had sex with you, and you didn't know!" Harper cringed from the phone at Alex's volume, while Justin blinked his eyes, woken up by it.

Lexie came out of the bedroom, wearing one of Justin's work shirts as a cover-up. She looked at Alex, muttered, "Geeze, over-dramatic much?" as Justin tried to sit up, then discovered he was still cuffed to the futon's armrest.

If this keeps up, we're going to have to get some cuffs with longer chains, he thought, sighing a little. Normally, a trip to the 'adult toy store' with Alex would be fun, but under the circumstances...

Three hundred and fifty miles away, Harper was still trying to stammer out her reply. "Well, it - she wasn't really you, and, umm -"

"Yeah, but you thought she was me when you were doing it! And how could you -"

"Alex!" Harper spoke quietly, not wanting to wake Matthew up, but her tone was emphatic. "How could I? You of all people would ask me that? You married your brother! I don't think you've got any room to -"

"No, no, that's not what I was going to say!" Alex protested. Justin cleared his throat, not wanting to interrupt, but wanting to get uncuffed. Alex ignored him, getting up and walking into the kitchen, then saying quietly. "It's just... it's... who broke up with whom?"

"What?" Harper shook her head.

Lexie came over to the futon, sat down beside Justin. "Okay," he said to her. "First, what the hell is going on? Second, please uncuff me."

Smiling, Lexie held up the handcuff key - then dropped it into the breast pocket of the shirt she was wearing. Justin eyed the pocket, his face slowly turning purple, Lexie's grin growing as it did. Just when he started to reach for the pocket, she said, "I dated Harper. Alex just found out."

"You heard me," Alex was saying on the phone. "Did you break up with me, or did I break up with you?"

In her kitchen, Harper blinked. "Does it matter? It -"

"Yes," Alex sighed out, then said, "I know it shouldn't, but it does. Maybe it's the stupid hormones or something, but... please, just tell me."

Justin shook his head at Lexie, blinking in disbelief, his hand stopped halfway to her. "You dated Harper? Dated dated?"

"Yeeeeaaaaah..." Lexie shook her head, then lifted her hands, palms up. "Why does everyone think this is a big deal?"

"Honestly," Harper said into the phone, "We didn't every really 'break up'. I mean... we didn't really talk about it, but I wasn't ever into it as much as you - as she was, and then Zeke asked me out, and I told Lexie he had, and she just hugged me and told me to go for it. And that was it. We did it for... two months or so, maybe. It..."

"Are you honestly asking that question," Justin asked, "or are you just trying for a reaction?"

Lexie tilted her head, considering that question, then said, "Can't it be both?"

Harper paused, took a breath, then said, "Look - you know I love you like a sister. You're my best friend. Both my best friends, with you and Lexie. She was hurting, and she needed somebody, and I was lonely too, and things happened. It wasn't ever a big romance thing, it was just... comfort. And I'm sorry I never told you," she said then, "but..." Harper waved her hand in the air, said, "there's not really a good way to say, 'hey, did you know that I dated your twin, only I thought it was you?'"

"I don't know... maybe just like that? So I don't feel like an idiot when I find out?"

On the futon, Lexie rolled her eyes, said, "I guess I'm going to have to take care of this if we're ever going to have breakfast." Looking at Justin, she pointed to the pocket. He didn't move, and after a second, she sighed, fished out the key herself, then tossed it at him lightly. "Here. Make pancakes. I'll calm down Alex."

As Justin fumbled for the key and released himself, Lexie walked up to Alex and snatched the phone from her hand, then ducked away before Alex could grab it back. "Harper!" she said into it as she did. "It's Lexie. How're you?" She ducked away from another grab, not missing a beat. "How's Matthew?"

"Great now that he's not waking up every two hours," Harper answered. "Umm... is Alex really upset?"

"Honestly, I think it's just the hormones." Lexie jumped up, landing with her butt on the breakfast bar, used her free hand to swivel around and dropped down on the other side from Alex.

"Lexie! Give me back my phone!" Alex yelled as she ran around the counter, but Lexie ran into the bedroom, still talking, while behind them Justin shook his head and sighed.

"We'll talk to you later. I think I can handle it from here."

Harper opened her mouth to protest - but even as she did, she heard Matthew start crying. Quickly, she said, "Okay, talk to you soon. Bye," then hung up quickly.

Hearing the disconnect, Lexie kept a straight face as she hopped up onto the bed, standing on it to keep away from Alex, and said, "Oh, I love you too, sweetums." Alex jumped up after Lexie, and she ran for the end of the bed, jumped down, finished by making a big kiss into the phone, then stopped and held it back out to Alex.

Alex snatched it away, held it up to her ear. "Harper! You -" She pulled the phone back down from her ear, looked at it, then at Lexie, who was starting to laugh.

"You are getting way too uptight out here - you're getting as easy to prank as Justin!"

For a moment, Alex just stared at Lexie, seething, and then she turned away from her, stomping her foot as she said, "Ahh! Mrr! Gah! Lexie!" She stopped then, realizing what she'd just done, and Alex and Lexie stared at each other for a good two seconds - and then both burst out laughing.