36 YEARS AND 11 MONTHS AGO….
I sat waiting under the tree for her to leave before I entered the building to go and get my things. I was determined to make a life for myself. In order for me to do that though I had to get as much of my stuff out her house before she destroyed it. I had a friend who lived nearby who said his mother and father would allow me to stay with them in the spare room while this all blew over. They knew what my mother and stepdad were like. I can only come to the conclusion that they had seen it with their own eyes or that my friend Henry had told them. Henry had insisted on coming with me and right now we were trying to perform a stealth mission. BANG BANG BBBBAAAANNNNNNGGGG went the shutter door as the inside door slammed shut and the shutter door hit her in the face. A moment later you saw her fighting with the shutter door to get out of it and locked it before she left for work. Trouble was when she had finished her shift at the local diner and then the pub next door she wouldn't even realise I had gone or even taken any of my stuff. That would happen the next day when she was sober. The stupid cow still insisted on leaving her key in the flower pot on the window sill buried under the door knob. Hank nudged me when he saw her get in to the beaten up Chevy and drove away.
"We have to be quick just in case he turns up looking for her. Only grab what you really need and we will be in and out." I nod in silence.
We moved quickly and silently towards the door, retrieve the key and we are in. I take a look around. Nothing has changed. In the bureau in the living room I find my passport and all my identification. Underneath that though was an intriguing looking document sealed in an envelope with my name on it. I stuff it in my duffle bag and head to my room. Up the stairs and in front of me stood Henry ashen faced with his mouth wide open. I looked to where he was looking. HE was there. The constant source of my torment and abuse for years and the reason mum and I had argued and I had been asked to leave. He laid in a puddle of his own blood.
"Henry what do we do?"
"Where's your room?"
"Next door."
"Ok lets go. We will get your stuff and leave."
"Henry despite everything he is still a human."
"No he's a cockroach and doesn't deserve a thing. Not from you my sweet girl. Lets go and he should be the last of your thoughts now. If she can do that to him think what she will do to us if she finds us in her house."
Henry slowly pulls Trudy's arm making to shut the door leaving it ajar as he had found it. He saw the padlock on Trudy's door. Luckily he had come prepared. He picked the lock with no effort. Trudy made a mental note to ask how he knew how to do that later. They entered the purple room with glow in the dark stars all over the walls and ceiling. The blackout curtains were shut just like they always were. Henry made to open them but Trudy stopped him. She would know.
"What do you need?"
"Just clothes, my journal, my drawing things and shoes. The rest I don't care about. And my photos."
"Where are they all? You get the journal and your personal bits and I'll pack this bag with shoes and clothes. Did you say you had savings?"
"Yes. Its stored here." Trudy picks up her copy of the Time Machine by HG Wells tapping the cover.
"Trudy that's a book how is it there."
Trudy opens the cover to show a hollowed out book. Henry smirks. That's my girl he thinks to himself. He never once lets on his true feelings.
"Have you got everything treac… I mean Trudy?"
Trudy raises her eyebrow.
"Yes Henry now lets get out of here before the psycho comes back and we get caught and end up with the same demise as Stanley."
They leave the room with Henry putting the padlock back on the door in the exact same way she had put it on there.
They managed to get all the things they needed including a mysterious envelope. They left without a hitch.
Trudy was relieved to get back to Henry's and sit down with a cup of tea and her things all stored nicely away upstairs.
The next two weeks went by in a blur. Henry was nothing but a gentleman. They were good friends. After two weeks Trudy found herself with no real prospects and being told she was special but that she wasn't required to pay her way.
Her mum tried to contact her numerous times even turning up at the Voight's house on a few occasions making a scene whilst she was intoxicated. The last time she attacked Henry's mum and it was then that Trudy pressed charges. She had been pushed to the floor in the attack and had fallen six feet down a flight of stairs leading up to the Voight's town house which stretched over three floors.
She ended up in hospital and that was the time she moved out of the Voight's. She had decided she wanted more to her life and that she didn't want the Voight's to have the trouble brought to their door. She had heard having a baby brought more benefits in to the household. So that was what she was going to do. Although during her hospital stay she found out that she had polycystic ovary syndrome which meant she was going to find it hard to conceive a baby but recently the hankering to have something of her own to love was getting too much to bear. She had already secured an apartment. And she had gotten in to the Chicago PD academy. She decided one day when walking past Firehouse 51 on their open days that they hold for the communities that she would sign up but she didn't fancy being in three hundred and fifty degree Celsius fires all day long so went for the next adrenaline rush.
36 YEARS AND 9 MONTHS AGO
She walked to the clinic with her cash in her bag formulating her plan. She was crying and could barely see straight when she walked in to the car park. She sat on a bench close by working up the confidence to walk straight through the door. She saw a ginger haired man walk confidently through the car park on his way in smiling across his face. Boy did Trudy like people watching she had great fun making up little stories in her head about where they had come from and why they were there. Trudy felt an instant spark. Electricity running all over her body. She knew she wanted his sample. She had to have it. Muscular build, auburn hair and the most stunning sapphire blue eyes. He would make the most beautiful babies. She sat crying over the news she had that morning. Her parents or who she thought were her parents were strangers. Taken on by children's services and employed as a couple to foster troubled children or those in need of a forever home.
The envelope revealed her father was in fact a Robert Platt but her mother was unknown. It transpired that her father had taken Trudy as a young baby and looked after her for twelve months before finally having to give her over in to the care of children's services. After all Trudy's mother could not verify whether Robert was her father and so she was removed. She had been brought up coincidentally by a woman who had the same surname. She decided at that point and after all the abuse she had suffered at the hands of her foster parents that she would adopt her fathers last name and was determined to find him and reach out. It was then that the tears started to flow due to the overwhelming amounts of information she had to retain recently. She was not coping well and the tears began to fall.
The stranger had been inside for forty five minutes when he finally emerged. She smirked at least she knew he was more than a five minute wonder. She wondered what it would be like to be intimate with him. She shook her head. She turned to rise and get off the bench when the most piercing blue eyes looked down at her with an outstretched hand. Trudy refused to take his hand and stood. He lowered it raising an eyebrow at her.
"Are you ok?"
"I'm fine. Why should you care?"
"Because you are a lady and ladies should not be crying in public."
"That's none of your business."
Trudy barged past him and entered the clinic. The auburn haired stranger staring after her as her shapely figure swayed from side to side as she walked. He was trying to determine whether she was doing it on purpose or whether she was just genuinely perfect. He laughed to himself.
"What a woman." He said to himself as he walked away with thoughts of the curvaceous tall slender woman still imprinted on his mind.
As she barged past him she thought to herself that she had to find him again one day.
They both left with smiles etched in to their faces that day never knowing that fate would intervene.
BACK TO THE PRESENT DAY.
Trudy sat staring at her children after shouting at them all to be silent and making them all quiver as they sat wondering what the hell was going on. Kelly and Jess sat proudly staring at their kick ass mother. Stella sat slightly apart from them with Maverick whispering and querying as to what more news could be shared in this family after everything that happened in the last month. No one wanted any more upheaval than had already happened.
At the moment that Trudy proceeded to speak Maggie came rushing in to update Jay and saw the whole family sat there. This seemed to be getting to be a regular occurrence for the family of the emergency services of Chicago.
"I've got some harrowing news. Naomi has had a nasty turn in theatre and she has just lost her fight. They are currently working on her now but she has lost a lot of blood."
Jay crumples, Jess Kelly Stella all burst in to tears and Trudy faints but Mouch catches her and places her gently in to the chair nearby.
Sylvie is the first to her feet. "I NEED MY TWIN BRING HER BACK. Hook me up to whatever machine you need to. Take all my blood if you have to. Give it to her. I don't need it without her."
Everyone sat in shock. Matt pulls Sylvie in to his chest. She fights him and pulls away running to the door of the OR where her twin sister is lying. She waits for her chance. A surgeon is coming to the door to call Maggie back in and she slips through in to the scrub room.
"NAOMI YOU STUBBORN FUCKING BITCH YOU HOLD US ALL TOGETHER. YOU WERE MY EVERYTHING AND NOW I KNOW WHY WE WERE SO CLOSE EVER SINCE THAT FIRST DAY. WE ARE IDENTICAL TWINS. COME BACK TO ME. NOW"
The surgeons all look round to find where the hysterical wailing has come from and who had elicited such a response in Naomi. The surgeons look at each other and nod knowing they have a crazy idea.
"Are you Sylvie Casey?"
"No I am Sylvie Platt McHolland Casey."
"Yes sorry formalities. We have an idea that might help your sister."
"She's my twin not just my sister."
"Have you ever heard of twin links?"
"No why would I have I only found out today I was one of twins. Anyway cut the bull crap and the medical shit and get to the point. What do you need me to do for my twin."
"As you know she has lost a lot of blood but when you came in shouting like that Naomi responded to your presence and she twitched. We need you to scrub in."
"Mrs Casey?"
Sylvie looks on in bewilderment not knowing what they want her to do.
"SCRUB IN SYLVIE." Jay shouts through the door.
Sylvie comes round from her absent moment. Sylvie scrubs in.
"I'm ready where do you need me to be?"
"Can you expose your arm please and sit in the chair."
Sylvie does as she is asked. Sylvie grabs her twins hand and interlocks her finger around Naomi's.
Although Sylvie swear she feels Naomi's hand wrap around hers.
The blood starts flowing from Sylvie directly in to the IV drip that the surgeons had put in. Naomi's vitals started to improve and she seemed to get stronger the more blood that passed through.
The surgeons seeing that Naomi was back on fighting track removed the drips from Naomi and Sylvie. Sylvie sat and refused to leave whilst her sister was on the operating table.
The surgeons had managed to stem the bleed now.
Naomi was beginning to be on the mend. Sylvie went to clean up and get back in to her clothes. She came out of the OR before the doctors. Jay ran to her and hugged her.
"Sylvie is she ok?"
"Yes apparently me being there and giving her blood directly from me to her helped her vitals. Jay can you let go of me I feel a bit dizzy."
Jay helped Sylvie to the chair and she collapsed.
Maggie seeing this shouted for someone to get her a sugary cup of tea and a biscuit.
"Jay."
"Will is she ok?"
"We have stemmed the bleed and she is now doing a lot better. It's still early days."
"Thank you brother. You need to rest. Please get some sleep and food."
"I will Jay. You make sure you do as well."
Trudy stands. Mouch looks and he knows exactly what she was going to do.
"While everyone is here we need to speak. I have some news. Our family is going to be extended. There are a few things you ought to know. So here goes. It all starts thirty-six years and nine months ago. At the age of fifteen and after having receiving a diagnosis of having polycystic ovary syndrome and having saved money I entered the building of the sperm bank and insemination clinic. As I was building up the confidence to enter the clinic I saw an amazingly muscular auburn haired man entering the building. I decided in that moment when I saw him smiling which reached his beautiful sapphire blue eyes that I had to have that sample. He left the building forty-five minutes later and showing compassion when he saw me crying he came to investigate to see whether I was ok. After basically telling him I was fine and shrugging him off I entered the clinic hell bent on a mission. I saw the deposit samples sat on the side and I saw the recent one. I knew it was the right one as it was still warm. I mounted my plan. I went to the water dispenser to grab a drink whilst I was filling in the form. The receptionist seeing me upset and dropping the water hurried to get towels and when she was gone I grabbed the sample. Well shortly after the nurse came in to the room who was tasked with inseminating me. She asked for the sample I had been given. I handed it over. She did the deed for me. Whilst she was inseminating me I laid back and thought of the ginger haired man who had been plaguing my thoughts. After that I had to wait for twenty minutes with my legs in the air. Anyway four weeks later I had to perform a pregnancy test. By this point I had my own apartment and had started my training at the academy. I did my test and it instantly came up with a positive result. It was then I reached out to Henry. He helped me get doctors and medical insurance. He insisted on paying for everything. I went to see my obgyn consultant two weeks after that appointment for my booking. Six weeks later it was revealed I was having identical twins. At this point the hospital referred me to children's services on account of me being fifteen and lying about my age at the clinic. They became involved and told me I needed support. They came to visit my apartment which the Voight's had helped me to lease. At my twenty week scan I found out I was having identical twin girls. Children's services seemed to leave me alone when they saw that I had everything for my girls and had provided them with everything right down to the new stroller. At thirty-eight weeks I was taken in to the hospital for a planned caesarean section. When the girls were born they were amazing. Beautiful I had never seen anything like it. When they were thirty-five minutes old children services came in to the room brandishing a section forty-seven. It meant they had been to court in my absence and removed the girls from my care. The girls were separated at birth and adopted by different families."
"BUUU.."
"I wasn't done talking Kelly."
"Sorry mom."
"I went back to the academy and cleared my apartment of everything other than what I had given children's services for the girls. They were both given their blankets I'd made them with their names on. They never knew a thing. It wasn't until the girls had joined the military and the ambulance service that they became known to me again. After that I followed their careers and never let them out of my sight. The girls are Sylvie and Naomi. They are identical twins. Their biological father is Randall. Randall only found out today. He overheard me telling Isaac that he was going to become a nephew and his Auntie or Uncle is going to be younger than him. Randall passed out and it was then that I knew I had to be honest with him as when it was found that Naomi needed blood it came out that she had a rare blood type and the only people who could supply it could be one of three people. Myself, Randall or Sylvie. It transpires that the best match was Sylvie. It was then that Randall figured out that the girls were his and he came to find me. He heard me talking to Isaac about my pregnancy and fainted. So Stella I am going to tell you one thing. Don't ever go to sleep on an argument. Kelly meant no harm by doing what he did. Just forgive him. I waited thirty years for my knight in shining armour to come back in to my life. I had always known where he was and what he was doing but I was too scared to tell him. Seriously just go and sort it out. Get a room somewhere and thrash it out. Do whatever you young kids do. Jess and Maverick you both need to be back upstairs on the ward looking after those grandkids of mine. Now if you don't mind you can all go back to what you were doing."
Kelly, Jess, Stella, Sylvie, Matt and Jay all ran to Trudy and enveloped her in a massive hug.
"Anything you need Mom we have your back whether that's a babysitter or clothes for the baby. Any of it. Who's going to tell Naomi about her being a twin and Mouch being her dad?"
"Too late Jess. Sylvie has already gone in to see her."
They all smiled. The only thing that was missing were the BIA. Where the hell had they gone?!
Maverick looked at the door expectantly. Waiting for someone or something to tell him it had all been finished.
He wasn't expecting what he saw next. None of them were.
Three figures walked in followed by a group of others.
"What the fuck are they doing here and how are they here?" Jess shouted.
"I don't know baby but I am going to find out."
Trudy glared at Hank as he stepped forward to say something and when Trudy shook her head he knew now wasn't the right time. He knew he had to support her to deal with the three figures walking in.
