March 27, 2019

Kirby hadn't seen Fallon for days. On the other hand, she'd seen a lot of the other Carringtons. Blake had arranged to meet the new, potential Adam, and come home on a sort of emotional high that no one expected. Kirby was sitting in the dining room with Steven and Cristal when he came in, striding up to them with a huge grin on his face.

"It's him!" Blake declared, winding an arm around Cristal as he sank into the chair next to her.

"What?" Steven asked, brow furrowed. "Who?"

"Adam. It's him."

Cristal turned in her chair to stare at him in surprise. "Are you sure? That's incredible."

Blake nodded, relaxing in his chair as his excitement started to level out to something more generally pleased and confident. "Everything lines up. The story, the DNA results-"

Kirby spoke up, though a little hesitantly in her desire to avoid Blake's irritation if she overstepped. "But what about Hank's tests?"

"He was spending a lot of time around us. He could've gathered something from myself or Alexis and made it look legitimate," Blake shrugged, seeming shockingly fine with the idea, particularly given that they now had proof of him stealing from them.

"Does Alexis know?" Cristal asked, taking Blake's hand in both of hers. He shook his head, so she pushed her chair back to try and pull him up. "You should go tell her, then. Come on."

Kirby's attention shifted to Steven as Blake and Cristal left, surprised by his silence after the news broke. He was sort of staring off into space, and her concern led her to lean towards him on her elbows. "Hey."

He looked up, playing it cool. "Yeah?"

"You're not happy," she observed, frowning.

"Uh... Well, the last time we thought Adam had come back, things were a bit better. Not completely, but... they were different, y'know? It's just, I've always had this theory that, when it comes to me and Fallon, maybe we just were never going to be enough, because we could never be Adam. And maybe that's unfair to assume, but if it's true, then that's much worse than me just worrying about it."

Kirby's frown turned empathetic. She definitely understood that feeling; it just hadn't occurred to her that Steven or his sister could feel that way, too. "Does Fallon think that?"

"Probably," Steven shrugged, looking oddly like Blake for not being his son. "I can't tell if it's worse for her because she's a woman, or worse for me because I'm not the man Blake probably imagines he would've made Adam into."

She nodded slowly. "I'm sorry. For all of you. I wonder if this guy knows what he's getting into."

"We're pretty public," Steven pointed out, lifting his eyebrows to work in a little humor he clearly didn't really feel.

"Maybe once you and Sam feel a little more settled and comfortable, you two can finally get some real space. Maybe living outside of the manor again will give you a chance to breathe."

Considering that, he took a moment. "I'd like to. But Sam doesn't want to leave, and I just know that as soon as we do that again, something will go wrong. At least until the stuff with Adam settles, I don't think either of us will be packing our bags."

"Good," Fallon's voice reached them from the doorway. When they looked over, she was leaning against the wall, her arms crossed and a worried look on her face. She must have just gotten home from her Tuesday meetings at CA. Kirby was a bit surprised to find that she looked rather normal despite her noticeable absence up until then.

Steven must have noticed as well, because he sat up straighter when he saw her. "Where've you been?"

"Working," she said, waving a dismissive hand.

"Where?" Steven asked, suddenly reminding Kirby and Fallon that they hadn't shared her new appointment with anyone else.

Fallon cleared her throat. "I was offered a job back at CA."

"Oh."

That uncomfortable piece of information aside, Fallon tried to get back to the topic at hand. "So Adam is official, again?"

"Sure seems that way," Kirby replied, careful not to sound too excited, or worried – or anything, really, as she wasn't sure how Fallon would react.

It was probably for the best that she was careful, of course, because a dark cloud came over the brunette's face. "Well, I can't even say I'm surprised at this point. How long until Dad moves him in?"

"Hours, probably," Steven offered, a commiserating smile on his face.

"This should be interesting," Fallon muttered, before turning and wandering off.

Once she seemed to be out of hearing range, Steven turned to look at Kirby again, his eyes clearly reading her even as she tried to appear nonchalant. "You knew she was working there again," he determined easily. "Why didn't she tell us?"

Kirby shifted uncomfortably in her seat, unsure how much trouble she would be in for telling him. But it was Steven, and Fallon loved Steven more than anyone, right? And vice versa. So if anybody was trustworthy and capable of keeping Fallon's secrets, wasn't it him?

"Umm. Well, Liam offered her a job."

Steven's surprise was obvious, though she thought for a moment that perhaps there was a bit of hope in his eyes as well. "Really? I mean, last I heard they were kind of in a fight."

Kirby shrugged, messing with her hair a bit as she worked to come up with an explanation that wasn't too incriminating for any of them. "Right, well... Sort of? I'm not sure they're past it, really. But the company needed help and I guess he thought she knew it better than anyone else he could reach out to."

Apparently buying that story completely, Steven nodded his understanding. "Makes sense. I wasn't involved much, but it always seemed like she put in the most work at CA. Not that anyone seemed to notice."

"I'm sure she would appreciate you saying so."

"I think she would rather hear it from Dad."

When Fallon came back downstairs for dinner that night, the table had an extra setting prepared. So Adam was showing up mere hours after the announcement of his legitimacy. Concerned and unimpressed, Fallon immediately knew she was going to make it her mission to play protector for her family. And she also knew that it was not going to go over well. Not in the slightest.

Still, she strode towards the kitchen, eyes open for someone she didn't recognize. She didn't expect to run into them straight away.

The man came around the corner carrying a couple of glasses, setting them out on the table before he noticed her. When he did, he stopped short, a smile coming over his face that Fallon instantly knew she couldn't trust.

"You must be Fallon," he said, far too casual and informal for her to even want to take him seriously. When he stepped around the table to offer a hand in greeting, she just stared down at the hand instead of taking it. That just made him smile more. He dropped his hand back to his side. "I'm Adam. Well, I've just found out that I am."

She lifted an eyebrow, taking a moment to consider how she wanted to handle this. But then, "And how did you find out who you were?"

"Well, like I told your- our father, my adoptive mother told me on her deathbed." He hurried to explain when she looked exceptionally unconvinced. "She overdosed a few months ago. After that, I started looking into where I came from, and a woman named-"

"Ada?"

"Right," he nodded. "She told me she could arrange for a DNA test if Blake wanted to meet."

"Of course she did," Fallon nodded, stepping to the side with the intention of walking around him and towards the kitchen.

But he stuck a hand out right as she brushed past him, catching her arm and making her jerk to a stop in her surprise. When she looked at him, Fallon was completely put off by how close he was standing – and worse, how close his face was to hers.

"I know it might take some time for you to warm up to me, Fallon. But we're family. Eventually you'll see that."

She narrowed her eyes, getting in one last jab before yanking her arm away. "There is a difference between being genetically similar, and actually being a family. We Carringtons don't really do family."

Then she stormed into the kitchen, ready to tell her father off. But as soon as she saw how happy Blake was, she found that she couldn't do it. The moment she made any claims against this new Adam, Fallon knew she would be in for it. Until she could actually prove anything, it wasn't worth starting a fight. But that didn't mean she had to be super nice to the guy, either.

Sam walked over to her, standing close enough that they could speak under their breath about it. "You meet him?" He asked.

Fallon nodded. "What does Steven think?"

Sam shrugged. "He looked really confused when he saw him, actually. But he didn't explain."

She let out a quiet hmm but could only come up with, "Well, I'll ask him about it later if we don't have a knock-down, drag-out fight during dinner." His concern led her to lift her hand, patting his upper arm gently. "Don't worry too much, okay? You're more family to us than this guy ever could be."

Though he looked bolstered by her assurances, he still reached out to pick up a glass of wine where it sat on the opposite counter, ready to be taken out to the dining table. Anders passed him a disapproving look, but he just frowned apologetically in return.

There was a bit more milling about, but everyone eventually made it to the table, with Adam sitting himself in Fallon's usual chair without asking. She bit back her disapproval, instead sitting opposite her father at the other end of the table, in both a power play as well as a pointed choice that she hoped would be noticed by Blake. Of course, as she predicted, he seemed oblivious. He was too busy talking to Adam about his entire life, apparently, and Fallon found herself listening intently even though she didn't engage.

By the time they started cleaning up, she was more than ready to go upstairs and let Liam know she'd been right all along. It would be easier to tell him via text than at the office the next morning, and he had told her to let him know if anything changed with Adam. What kind of debt was her father in for Ada bringing him home, she wondered?

Fallon pushed her chair back and went upstairs without preamble, only stopping when she reached the door to her room because she heard footsteps behind her.

"Sorry," Adam said once she looked over at him. "I don't remember which room I'm supposed to be using."

Fallon could only assume he was being put up in the guest room, once used for the original Cristal's sister when she had come to visit. She pointed a couple of doors down from her own, silently watching him as he nodded his thanks and walked past to let himself inside. She waited until his door closed before she opened her own and went in, closing and locking her door behind her.

Once she flopped onto her bed, she lifted her phone above her face to type out a quick, vague text to Liam: I was right. He's staying.

She set her phone down to get ready for bed and prepare her outfit for the next morning, as she felt sure that she would be kept awake with her thoughts and theories about Adam, Ada and Michael. After showering, drying her hair most of the way, and then putting in overnight rollers, she pulled on pajamas and finished up her nighttime bathroom routine.

By the time she made it back out and slipped beneath the covers, a reply was waiting for her.

Of course you were. You're always right. Let's talk about it tomorrow?