"Oh my god, I thought you said you could cook?" Emily Fields barely managed to stifle a giggle as she watched Paige throw a wet dishcloth over a pan that had, just moments ago, gone up in flames.

"I'm a great cook!" Paige argued. "Seriously. I'm so good I should come with a Michelin star!" At that, Emily finally lost it. Removing her hand from her mouth, she let her laughter come tumbling out.

"You set pasta on fire!"

"I'm concussed!" Paige huffed, an adorable pout settling on her lips as she crossed her arms over her chest. She looked like a four year old having a sulk. Emily laughed all the more. "Hey! Have a little compassion why don't ya!" Paige swatted playfully at the other girl's arm.

"Sorry! Sorry…" Emily started to get herself back under control, though the odd chuckle was still escaping from her tightly pressed lips. It took her a minute to sober up, during which time Paige had managed to move the burnt pan off the stove and in to the sink.

"Besides, you're a lousy sous-chef! You're supposed to remind me to put water in to the pan." Paige smirked as Emily cracked up laughing again. If the girl was gorgeous when she was smiling, then she was downright breathtaking when she was laughing.

"Concussion or not. I'm hearing an awful lot of excuses, McCullers." Paige broke out in a genuine smile as Emily used her surname. It was something so simple, yet it was nice to hear someone call her by her proper name. Not Katherine, or Hastings. She was a McCullers. All of the DNA tests and fingerprint analysis in the world couldn't change that.

"Okay. Okay. How about I just order us a pizza? I have a feeling it will be better for Veronica's house insurance payments."

"Good idea." Emily grinned. She followed the other girl in to the lounge, making herself comfortable while Paige picked up the land line to dial for takeout. She typed a familiar number in to the phone, working almost purely on muscle memory. It rang three times before a bored sounding teenager picked up on the other end.

"Dominic's Pizza. How can I help?"

Paige abruptly hung up, bringing the phone down to rest in her lap. She stared at the innocuous device like it was a live serpent, ready to strike at any second. "What's wrong?" Emily probed gently, aware of the complete change in the other girl's demeanor. All of Paige's good humor had vanished from her eyes in the space of a phone call.

"Paige? Talk to me." Emily moved on instinct as she reached over and placed her hand on top of Paige's. Paige hung her head, strands of hair falling over her face from where her bangs hadn't completely grown out yet. She was trembling beneath Emily's touch.

"I rang this place I use all the time. They have the greatest pizza… it's two blocks over from my house." She finally spoke, cluing Emily in on the problem. "My house back in Pittsburgh."
"Here. Let me." Emily snatched the phone from her. If Paige was anything like her sister, then letting her wallow in self pity wouldn't solve anything.

"Thanks." Paige managed a small smile. It wavered as her cell phone began to ring. Shana's name was flashing on the screen. Excusing herself, she went in to the kitchen to answer it. "Hey Gorgeous." She answered with a heavy sigh, a pang of guilt hitting her as she glanced back over her shoulder at Emily.

"Hey. I've been calling you all day." Shana sounded worn out. Paige was willing to bet it had nothing to do with her having just finished with swim practice. Paige had been giving her the run around for days now. "Yeah. Sorry about that. I was at the hospital. Funny story, actually-"

"Jesus, Paige. Can you go a week without hurting yourself?" Shana teased, her amusement lacing her voice. The sound of her smile was enough to get Paige smiling again.
"It wasn't my fault." She protested weakly.
"It never is." Replied Shana. "Are you okay?"

"Been better." Paige let out another sigh. Running her hand through her hair, pushing it back off her face, she leaned back against the same kitchen counter she'd smacked her head off earlier. "I miss you. I miss my Dad… I miss my life."
"So get on your bike and get your ass back up here." Shana suggested, without the slightest hint of amusement.

"It's not that easy." Paige swallowed hard. "Everything's different now. I… I'm not who I thought I was. You can't imagine what that feels like…" Paige rubbed furiously at her eyes, trying to stop the tears that threatened to spill over on to her cheeks. She wasn't a big crier. She never had been. Yet Paige had cried buckets over the last few days.
"No. I can't. And I can't help you if you're a hundred miles away. Just come home. Fuck those people, Paige! They're not your family! Not really. You don't have to stay there!"

Turning back around, to look out through the open kitchen door, her eyes landed on Emily for a moment. Before moving on to a framed picture of Veronica, Spencer and another brunette; probably Melissa. "I think… I think I need to figure out who I am; even if that means staying a little longer."

"Alright." Shana knew better than to argue with her headstrong girlfriend. "Just don't forget where home is, okay?" Paige nodded, before realizing Shana couldn't see her down the phone.
"Okay… I'll see you soon. Okay? I promise. I'll come up just as soon as I can. I love you."

After hanging up the call, Paige waited a minute before heading back in to the lounge. She splashed some cold water on her face, to hide the fact that she'd been crying. If Emily noticed, then she didn't say anything. "Hey, I wasn't sure what you wanted. So I just ordered pepperoni."

"That's great." Paige forced a smile she wasn't really feeling. It was easy to do with Emily around; though that didn't help the ball of of guilt that was growing at the back of her throat with each passing second she spent with the other girl.

Paige had a crush. She wasn't dumb enough not to notice it. Emily had been like a shining beacon in the night, ever since Paige had rolled in to town. Knowing she was attracted to the other swimmer, and wanting to act on those feelings, were two very different things.

Paige was a lot of things, but not a cheater. Emily was her sister's best friend, and she could be Paige's friend too; so long as the youngest twin didn't do anything stupid.

"Everything okay?" Emily picked up on the other girl's unease. Paige brushed it off, insisting she was just fine. Emily gave her a hard, disbelieving, look in return. With her big brown eyes and pouting lips, Paige had never seen someone look quite as kissable as Emily Fields did in that moment.

Clearing her throat, and ripping her attention away from the other girl, Paige picked up the TV remote and forced herself to focus on something else. "So… Netflix?"

"You know, if we were still on rival swim teams, I'd think you were trying to sabotage my game." Paige groaned as she put down the bone of the chicken wing she'd just finished chewing on. Along with the pizza, Emily had ordered a side of sweet-potato wedges, hot 'n spicy chicken wings and garlic dough balls.

Emily had tried to pay the delivery guy, since she was the one who ordered everything, but Paige had flat out refused to let her dip in to her purse. So Paige had slipped the delivery driver twenty dollars, telling him to keep the change.

"Nobody forced you to eat it all!" Emily argued, laughing as Paige made a show of popping open the top button of her jeans and laying her head back against the couch.

"I feel like I'm going to burst! How are you not suffering right now?" Paige shook her head in disbelief. The other swimmer had eaten just as much as her, yet showed no sign of it.
"Hollow legs?" Answered Emily, making the two of them break out in a round of giggling.

It was already dark outside, and the time had passed quicker than Paige had expected it to. Despite having the TV on, there had barely been a minute of silence between them. Emily was easy to talk to, and the girls had enough in common to ensure there was never more than a momentary break in conversation.

"I'm going to have to run twice as long as usual in the morning to burn all this off!" Paige carried on groaning, mostly from the rise it was getting out of Emily.
"Let me guess, you're one of those kind of swimmers." Emily rolled her eyes. "You count every last calorie and carb."
"And you are one of those people who can eat what they want, and still look stunning. Am I right?" Paige meant for the jibe to come across as light and teasing, but she was met with a frown from the other girl. "Em, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to-"

"It's fine." Emily waved her apology off, but still seemed distracted by something. "I am one of those people. I eat tons of junk food and it never really interferes with my timings in the pool… but I wouldn't say I was stunning." She finished with a nervous laugh as she brushed a stray strand of hair back behind her ear. She seemed to do that a lot when she was nervous.

"Are you kidding me?" Paige scoffed, shaking her head in disbelief. She shuffled, almost unconsciously, closer to the other girl, and placed a hand on her thigh. "Describing you as anything less would practically be a criminal offense-"

Paige was cut off as Emily abruptly leaned forward, their lips unexpectedly meeting. The sparks between them as their lips touched were almost tangible. Paige forgot herself a moment, sinking in to the kiss with the kind of reckless abandonment that had her reaching up to tangle her fingers through the other girl's hair.

Emily was the first to come to her senses. Pushing Paige away, she hastily got to her feet. Putting a safer distance between the two of them. Paige just stared up at her, like a deer caught in the headlights of an oncoming freight truck. "I'm sorry…" Emily stammered.

She grabbed her purse up off the couch, mumbled another apology, and then bolted for the door. Paige stared after her, wondering what the hell had just happened. She didn't have long to dwell on it for long as the front door opened again. Paige felt a sigh of relief leave her, thinking Emily had come back to talk; or to kiss some more. Paige found herself not really caring which.

"Em, I- Oh. It's you." She greeted Peter Hastings, her birth father, rather coldly.
"Paige." He returned the greeting with a nod. Placing his briefcase down on the floor, he looked around for any other signs of life in the house.

Paige found her own eyes landing on the takeout boxes and wrappers that littered the expensive looking coffee table. She hastily started tidying up. After all, she hadn't been born in a barn. Peter didn't seem to mind the mess. He was more focused on figuring out whether they were alone.

"Are Spence and Veronica out?" He didn't try to call Veronica her mother. Paige was grudgingly grateful for that.
"Yeah. Spencer's out with Toby, and Veronica said she'd be working late." Paige answered. "Looks like it's just us."
"Yeah. Looks like." Peter rubbed absently at his stubble free chin. Looking at him closely, Paige couldn't deny the similarities between them. They had the same shock of thick dark hair, as well as the same proud jawline.

Peter looked just as frazzled as Paige felt. He took a seat on the chair closet to the door, sitting at an angle to his youngest daughter. The collar of his expensive silk shirt was popped open, with his tie hanging low around his neck. He looked pale and washed out; and nothing like he did in the family photos that were dotted around the house.

"I wanted to apologise. For last night, and this morning. I'm a lawyer, and I know more than anyone that first impressions count. I think we can both agree that I blew mine last night." He offered her the same kind of fatherly smile that Paige was used to seeing on her father's face.

"You have no reason to forgive me, but I'd like to state my case. If I may?" He waited for Paige to nod before he reached in to his inside coat pocket and pulled out his wallet. Flipping through, he came to one of the little plastic card holders near the back. He handed it over to Paige for a closer look.

Instead of a credit card, there was an old faded picture inside the plastic holder. It was of Peter Hastings, when he was a much younger man. The lines around his eyes weren't as deeply engraved, and he looked completely carefree; holding two young babies on his lap.

Paige couldn't figure out which of the two girls was her. Neither infant in the photo looked like the baby pictures of Paige in the McCullers' family photo album. That was because neither of the babies in that picture were of Paige; at least not the real one.

"This one's you." Peter pointed out the smaller girl on the left, seemingly aware that Paige was scanning the photo for something familiar. "You were so tiny. This was the first photo we took after you came home from the hospital. You had to stay in a month, because you were so much smaller than Spence. The doctor's didn't think you'd make it… but I knew better. From the moment I first laid eyes on you, I knew you were a fighter."

Paige felt her eyes well up, though it wasn't because of Peter's heartfelt words. Staring at her own baby picture, so very different from the ones she'd grown up seeing, somehow made the situation she was in feel all the more real. Looking at the photo of her and Spencer, Paige was suddenly struck with the crashing realization that her life could have been so very different.

"I'm not asking for your forgiveness." Peter repeated, breaking her out of her own thoughts. "I'm just asking for a chance. This whole situation has been hard on everybody. This family has almost been ripped apart time and time again, first when we lost you and now again that you're back. We need to work together, give each other time and-"

"We only met this morning." Paige interrupts his monologue. "If Veronica, or anyone else, asks. That's what I'll say." Paige handed his wallet back over, eager to end their father-daughter bonding time. "I don't know those kids in that photo, or their father; but I'm willing to make the effort to get to know them… As long as they're willing to get to know me. I'm not Kathryn. Not anymore."

"I understand." Peter nodded along as he put his wallet back away. Some of the weariness that had been weighing him down seemed to have been lifted from his shoulders. "Thank you… Paige."

Paige had kept to herself for the rest of the night, hiding out in her bedroom. She'd put some of her books up on a shelf and had her own clothes in the dresser and the closet. It was starting to look and feel like her own room.

Veronica and Spencer had both dropped by her room to check in with her. Veronica had insisted on taking her temperature and generally fussing over her. Spencer hadn't mentioned anything about Emily when she came by, so Paige guessed the other girl hadn't called her about what had happened between her and Paige earlier in the evening.

Paige was counting her blessings. For all Emily had been the one to kiss her, Paige got the feeling that she'd end up bearing the brunt of Spencer's wrath if she ever found out that something had happened between her best friend and her twin.

Paige found herself wandering downstairs for a glass of hot milk in the early hours of the morning. She was having trouble switching off to go to sleep. Emily and their kiss had been playing over and over in her head, as though on a endless loop.

From the start, Paige had assumed that Emily was straight. Now she was wondering if that assumption might have been way off base. Was Emily gay? Or was she just curious? Paige had met her fair share of curious straight girls who just wanted to know what it was like kissing another girl.

Paige was still musing about the other girl when she heard a rattling at the back door. Fearing that they might be about to be burglarized, Paige grabbed the nearest heavy object she could find. It turned out to be a frying pan. She held it up in both hands, like she was getting ready to swing a baseball bat. The rattling abruptly stopped, followed by the click of the lock. Paige felt her palms growing hot and sweaty as she waited for the door to lurch open.

It seemed to take an eternity for the door to open, and for a figure to step inside. They noticed Paige at the same time as she reared the pan back, getting ready to swing. "What the hell?" An indignant voice came from the figure as it reached in to its purse. "I've got mace!"

"Whoa! Whoa!" Paige hastily dropped the frying pan, letting it clatter to the tiled floor with a bang. "Easy!" Paige took a step back, stepping in to the moonlight streaming in through the kitchen window. The figure followed her, the light revealing a dark haired young woman. Paige had seen the face that was staring at her countless times over the week she'd been staying with the Hastings.

"Easy. You're Melissa, right? I'm Paige. I'm your…" The word 'sister' lodged in her throat. It didn't matter though. Melissa instantly dropped the canister she was holding, which was indeed a can of mace. Her features instantly softened. Stepping forward, she threw her arms around Paige without warning, and pulled the younger girl in close. Paige's first instinct was to rear back, but the sink at her back was blocking her.

Instead of fighting it, Paige went with the hug. She found it surprisingly easy to let herself sink in to her sister's embrace. Though Melissa's picture hadn't incited any kind of reaction from her, meeting the girl in question had a strange effect on Paige. She felt oddly comforted by the other girl; like they shared an unspoken affinity. "…Sister." Paige finally finished, feeling her eyes welling up with red hot tears. "I'm your sister."