The sound of soft breathing came from the girl beside of her. Holly J turned onto her right side to look at her, Fiona's dark curls fallen in front of her angelic sleeping face. Seeing her best friend so vulnerable, clutching that horrible stuffed pig to her chest, made her heart ache. She wished desperately that she could take back what she said before. In that moment she desired to be in Fiona's arms instead, her fingers gliding across her skin-she longed to kiss her once again, this time the one initiating the contact. She wanted to tell Fiona how she'd thought about her every single day she was away and how she was beginning to fall for her, too. But as she lay there, gazing adoringly at the brunette's sleeping form, all she could do was clutch her chest. Her heart pounded loudly and it felt as if the vital organ was about to explode and seep out of her chest. She couldn't just keep laying here staring at her like this.

Slowly Holly J climbed out of bed, careful not to move too quickly or make too much noise. She didn't want to wake Fiona, who had fallen asleep during their movie marathon. Slipping out of the room, she hurriedly grabbed the robe hanging on the back of the door and slid it over her. She walked into the living room, which was deserted, and wandered around the family home. There were photographs of the Coyne family framed and hung on the wall nearby. One of the photos was of Fiona and Declan as children, dressed to the nines in their parents oversized clothes. They looked precocious; Declan in his shirt and tie that hung to his ankles and Fiona in the floral dress and high heels. She brought her finger to the glass and smiled, wondering what it would've been like to know the Coynes when they were all children.

"I love that picture." A voice called out from behind her. Declan stepped forward, placing his hands on her shoulders. He looked at the picture just as she did, but he saw something different in it. He saw a memory. "Fi and I used to put on these plays for our parents. They could get pretty elaborate, especially at family events, when we'd get all the Coyne children involved. We did an entire production of West Side Story circa Christmas 2002. This picture was taken when Fiona and I were acting out the closing scene of Breakfast at Tiffany's." He chuckled.

Holly J spun around to look at him, her eyes glimmering in the light. "Fiona's favorite movie." She said quietly. Declan reached slowly for her hand and in the moment, she didn't pull away. As her heart was aching from her feelings for Fiona, his touch was comforting. His fingers encircled hers and their eyes met, neither saying a word. Leaning forward, Declan brought his lips to Holly J's forehead. He pulled away to see the strange look on her face.

"Don't worry, HJ. I'm not going to kiss you." Declan promised, squeezing her hand before letting it drop down. "What's going on with you and my sister? You've both been acting unusual ever since I've been around you. Are you guys having a fight?"

Smiling uncertainly, Holly J managed a shrug. She wasn't sure if she could call it a fight, but things were definitely different between them and both of them had been on edge ever since Declan was around. His presence changed their dynamic. It always had. "It's complicated. Girl stuff. It'll be alright." She assured him, although she wasn't sure that it would be.

Declan didn't believe her. Asking her to follow him, he led her over to the oversize leather armchair and gestured for her to sit down. Holly J complied, looking warily up at him as he took a seat on the nearby ottoman. "I know that you and I have history, Holly J. But that doesn't mean you can't open up to me about stuff. You say it's girl stuff, that's fine, I can listen to girl stuff. I won't die or even be annoyed by it. I grew up with Fiona. I'm used to girl stuff. Just tell me what's wrong so I can fix it. I don't want you guys to spend the entire time in New York together being weird and snapping at each other. So what is it?"

Damn him for being so understanding and easy to talk to. Declan had things so easy and it never took much for him to have Holly J in the palm of his hand. "You can't tell her I told you." She precluded darkly, causing him to nod in agreement. She cleared her throat. "Okay. Well, Fiona is in love with me."

"Oh. I should've seen that one coming." Declan murmured, furrowing his brow and turning away. He looked back up at Holly J. "For the record, I don't blame her. But I don't get it. I thought she had a thing with this Imogen girl. Did she come onto you or something?"

Holly J shook her head. The first part was easy to admit. This would be much more difficult. "She didn't. I mean, she did, a long time ago, but...yesterday morning we were having a talk about Yale. I told her that while I was there, I started hooking up with someone. A girl. Then I made a joke about missing my chance with Fiona. Only it wasn't really a joke. And she kissed me."

Declan seemed surprised. He just stared at her for a moment, as if trying to register the information. A hand ran through his hair and he narrowed his eyes. "Wow. Okay. And? Is that all there is, or is there more?"

"There's more. Right after we kissed, Imogen came by. They were talking and I heard them and it really seemed like there was something between them. I was jealous, but then I thought maybe Imogen deserved a chance. So later, when Fiona brought up the kiss, I told her I wanted to forget all about it." She paused, feeling Declan's gaze on her. "I wish I could."

Scooting the ottoman closer, Declan's hand moved on top of Holly J's. He licked his lips and his facial expression turned serious. "Are you in love with my sister?" His tone wasn't accusatory, his voice was soft and gentle.

She couldn't meet his eyes, fearing what she would see in them. "I think I'm starting to be." Holly J was barely audible when she admitted this. Declan clasped her hand more tightly, forcing her to look up at him in alarm. "What?"

"If you love her, you have to tell her. Holly J...I'm not going to pretend this isn't weird to me. I mean, I was in love with you for years. I'll probably always love you. But that doesn't mean I don't want you to be happy. And you know how close I am with Fi, how much I love her. If you guys love each other, you should be together. You have to tell her how you feel, before it's too late." Declan dropped her hand and stood up, pushing the ottoman back where he'd gotten it. "She's a great girl, Holly J. Don't break her heart." And with a turn of his heel, he made his way back to his bedroom, leaving the redhead there alone to think about what he had told her.

Getting advice from her ex boyfriend about his sister was beyond weird, but Holly J couldn't help but think how much he cared for her was really sweet. She hadn't expected such a calm reaction from him. She expected him to be angry, hurt, confused. But Declan seemed to understand and he was letting this all go way too easily. It was unlike him. What bothered her the most about what Declan had told her was how right he had been.

Closing the door, Declan allowed himself to crumble. He had put on a smooth front with Holly J, but what she'd told him had completely destroyed his last hope that they would get back together someday. Naively he had believed that someday, somehow they could reunite. But now that his sister was involved, he couldn't touch the situation. He would never do anything to hurt Fiona and now that he knew about the feelings she had for Holly J, he had to abandon his own. He had wondered when it was going to come down to this. Declan and Fiona had always been close growing up, and competitive in a lot of ways. She was frequently jealous of his girlfriends and now he realized it was probably for different reasons than he originally thought. When he found out that his sister preferred the fairer sex, his thoughts had immediately wandered to the possible future situation of he and Fiona falling for the same girl. Little did he know, that had already happened.

His words to Holly J were straightforward. He'd told her to go for it, but that was the last thing he wanted. He was in such turmoil about this already and he'd just found out. His stomach felt like it was bubbling up and he felt sick. Desperate to do something, he grabbed the book on his bedside table and thrust it across the room. It landed with a loud thud after hitting the wall. He took the envelope that had been sitting underneath the book and held it in his hands. Inside was a letter he had written to Holly J that he had been planning on slipping it under her pillow tonight. Angrily, Declan's fingers clasped the edges and he tore it down the middle, then again and again until the tiny scraps of paper littered his floor.

Why, out of all the people in the entire world, did Fiona have to fall for the one girl he loved? It wasn't fair. There were plenty of other people out there for both of them. But both Coynes had fallen for the same girl - Holly J Sinclair.

He tried to recall anything that would have been a sign as to Fiona's feelings, and upon doing so, remembered how jealous she had been in the past when it came to Holly J. He had assumed then that it had to do with Fiona's issues with sharing her brother, but maybe it had been her own feelings for Holly J that had caused her to be so unhappy with the situation. Did his sister's feelings for his (ex) girlfriend really reach that far back? She had acted like she hated Holly J, but maybe that had all been a front for something she was trying her best not to feel.

In his reminiscence, Declan replayed Fiona's coming out in his mind. It had been about a year ago over video chat. He was still at Vanderbilt Prep, finishing up his senior year. He had been doing some web surfing, forgetting that he was signed on skype until he heard the familiar sound of an incoming call.

"Fi? Hey, how are you?" He asked jovially. Immediately he noticed her distressed expression. He could read her emotions easily, as she had the same giveaways as he himself did. That was one benefit of being twins.

Fiona looked at him with desperation in her blue eyes. "I need to tell you something."

Declan remembered being worried as to what it was she was going to tell him. The last time she had gone so serious on him was when she had tried to tell him about what was happening with Bobby. He had been a total jerk about that, automatically dismissing her claims. He vowed this time to listen to whatever the problem was and do his best to help his sister.

"You can tell me anything."

"I've had a huge revelation. I don't want to date boys anymore, Declan. I like girls. More than I should. And I'm going to date them now, instead."

"What? Is this because of what Bobby did to you? Because not all guys are-"

"No, Declan." Tears were running down her cheeks and Declan could feel his heart breaking at the sight. "I never felt anything with a guy. Every guy I ever kissed...I felt nothing. And when I kissed-" She paused before quickly regaining her composure. "Her, it felt like the sky was going to fall down on me. I've never felt like that before." He listened in disbelief of her words. He hadn't expected anything like this. After the long silence, Fiona continued on, trying to get him to say something. "I'm a lesbian. I just want you to accept me, Declan, this is who I've always been. I'm still the same Fiona."

"Does mom know?" was all he could think of to say.

Fiona nodded. "I already told her."

"Who did you kiss?" Declan was curious. She immediately clammed up though, not looking at the camera. Obviously she wasn't ready to tell him. "It's okay, you don't have to tell me. Fiona, you honestly can't think this would change how I feel about you. I love you. You're my sister, no matter who you like." He assured her.

If he had known Holly J was the girl that she'd kissed, he would've reacted a lot differently. It was probably better he hadn't known then. Declan put his head in his hands, wondering what was going to happen over the next few weeks the three teenagers would be spending together in such close quarters. He wondered if Holly J had woken Fiona up yet and told her how she felt. They could be doing anything right now, just behind that wall.