Eddie walked back into the class room, it was obvious to him that no one had done any work in his absence.
"Get back to work" Eddie said as he slammed his door shut. Holly and Aimee looked at one another and then to Eddie.
"Miss Mason wants to see the pair of you and Philip, where is Philip?" Eddie asked, he had a feeling one of them would have done a runner, but didn't think it would have been Phil.
"He ran off" Holly said.
"Well if you see him tell him to go to your Mum's office, you may as well pack your stuff I don't think you will be back"
Rachel was sitting in her office thinking about what to say to the kids, they had of course already heard her and Eddie talking, but they needed to talk about this together. She heard a feeble knock at the door.
"Come in" Rachel called and the 2 girls came walking through.
"Oh Girls, come on and sit down, wait, wheres Philip?"
"He went off in a huff Mum" Holly explained
"You know, I didn't plan on you finding out like this" Rachel said
"Well why didn't you tell us" Aimee asked as she sat on the couch next to Rachel, Holly sat at the other side of her on the couch.
"Because I don't have all the answers for you, I don't know for sure who your father is" Rachel said.
"Can't we do a DNA test and find out" Aimee asked as she heard another knock on her door,
"Who is it?" Rachel called.
"It's Phil"
"OK come on in" Rachel said, and her heart melted for her nephew, she could see he had been crying, this was harder for him than it was for Aimee. Aimee and Holly had always got on so well, and sometimes Rachel felt sorry for Phil, he was often left out, especially when they were younger and the girls would go off and play with dolls, leaving him out, he would go off on his own to read or play computer games.
"Phil love, come on sit down" Phil sat next to Aimee on the couch,
"So, can we get a DNA test" Aimee asked again, she really did want to be Hollys proper sister.
"When you were little, after Rupert died and your Mum made the revelation that you may have been his, she wanted you to be tested, but because you are so closely related to Holly, they may not have been able to tell" Rachel explained.
"I don't get it?" Aimee said.
"Well, because me and your Mum are sisters our DNA is closely linked, that means that no matter who your father is, the 3 of you are already related, so the DNA tests then wouldn't work, but new technology now, I don't know it might be possible"
"I want to find out" Aimee said excitedly
"OK Philip, what about you?" Rachel asked
"Yeah, I mean I guess, but what difference will it make, one potential Dad is dead and the other doesn't care about us"
"I know that" Aimee said, but it means we could be Holly's brother and sister, so I guess that would make Aunt Rachel like our Step Mum, we'd be more like a proper family" she added.
"More like a weird family, I mean my Aunt, being my stepmother, weird" Philip said.
"All that matters, is that the 4 of us is a family, wither we're normal or not, who cares, All that matters is that we love one another" Rachel said, and Aimee smiled, yes, she liked this part of her family.
"You forgot Eddie" Holly said, "isn't he part of our family too now"
They all smiled. "Yeah, I guess he is" Rachel said.
After school that day Rachel called a DNA specialist, to do a test, he agreed that is should be possible, and came to the house to take DNA samples from each of the children, the tests should be back the next week.
A week had passed since Rachel made her rather public revelation about the possible parentage of the twins.
In this week Holly had received her Maths test and as she promised Eddie before the trip she had done a lot better, much to her relief, she didn't want to face either her Mum or Eddie if she had done badly.
Rachel was sitting in her office when her mobile rang, she recognised the number as the DNA clinic, and was sure they would give her the results over the phone.
"Hello Rachel Mason" Rachel said.
"Rachel this is Dr Wilson, I have the DNA results here"
"Oh, fantastic, the kids will be glad"
"They are not quiet what I expected, would it be OK if I met you somewhere to go through them, it is rather exciting if I do say, I have heard of this, but never seen it happen before"
Rachel was confused, what was so exciting, what had he never seen before.
"Yes, you could come to the school, Waterloo Road, in Rochdale"
"Oh yes, I know where it is, will the kids be there?" The Dr asked.
"Yes, I'll get them here, Thanks"
"Thank you, I'll be there in half an hour"
Rachel was confused; she sat in her office trying to contemplate what exactly was going on. She flipped the tanoy on "Could Mr Lawson please come to my office" Rachel said through it and a few moments later, Eddie was sitting in her office, just as confused as Rachel was.
Exactly half an hour later Dr Wilson was sitting in Rachel's office, ready to explain.
"I'll just get the kids" Rachel said walking back over to the tanoy "Could Philip and Aimee Ryan and Holly Mason, please come to my office please" Rachel said.
Soon later the kids were in Rachels office.
"Have you go the results?" Aimee asked excitedly.
Philip looked worried, he didn't know why, but he was sure this was not going to be good news.
The 3 kids were sitting on the couch, with Rachel next to them, the Dr was sitting on one of the chairs across from Rachel's desk, he turned it around to face the kids.
"So, is Holly my sister?" Aimee asked expectantly.
"Well, before I tell you, I just want to explain, that this is not something which happens a lot, you have to understand it is very rare"
"OK, what is it?" Rachel asked.
"Well, as you are aware, I took DNA samples from yourself Rachel, Holly, Philip and Aimee, and what I found out is that Rachel, you are Holly's mother"
"Well, we already knew that" Holly said.
"And Aimee, you and Holly, you have the same father" the Dr explained,
"So we're all brothers and sisters, so cool" Aimee said.
"It's not quiet that simple, Philip, has a different Father from Aimee, and I know, your twins, but can I just say it is possible" The Dr said.
"But, how, we are twins" Aimee said, and Philip finally realised why he always felt like the odd one out in this family.
"It is possible its called bi-paternal twins" the Dr said. He looked at the kids, he was rather excited about this prospect of something so unusual.
"You see Every month a woman's ovary releases one egg that can be fertilized by one sperm. But in this case, a pair of eggs emerged from the ovaries, Sperm, meanwhile, can remain alive and well and viable for up to five days in the reproductive tract. So a woman can have sex with different men within those five days and the sperm "just kind of hang out there waiting for the egg to be released. Do you understand"
Aimee and Philip nodded, they both understood, but were amazed.
"So Holly and Aimee are sisters, and I'm not their brother" Philip said glumly.
"Philip, your still Aimee's twin, and my nephew, these results don't change a thing" Rachel said
"I guess, just makes sense shy I always feel like the odd one out with you all, and now I know why"
The Dr looked at them all "You know, this is all a big deal, a one in a million thing" the Doctor said.
"I don't want to be a one in a million, I just want to be normal" Philip said, as he got up and ran out of the office.
"Well Thank you Dr, for the results" Rachel said, as the Dr left. Aimee and Holly were still sitting, they were happy they were like proper sisters, but they wished Philip was too.
"Right Girls, this is important, I need you to not gloat to Phil, he's upset and I can understand why" Rachel said.
"We won't, hes still my brother" Aimee said.
Later that day, they arrived home, Philip ran up to his room, he just wanted to be left alone, let the happy family spend some time together he thought.
Rachel didn't know what to do for best, she thought maybe he just needed time to himself, but she couldn't just leave him upstairs on his own. She decided to go up and see him.
"Hay Phil, everything allright Love" Rachel said as she opened the door.
He shrugged "I guess"
"Look, those results, they really mean nothing, Aimee is still your sister, no matter what, and I, well I'm still your Aunt, right, that's not changed"
"Your more than an Aunt" Rachel heard a voice coming from the doorway, it was Aimee. She moved over and sat on the bed next to them. "What I mean is, your more like our Mum, when we were little, we used to love coming here to stay"
"Oh, Darling, that means a lot, and you know that the pair of you, your more than just me niece and nephew, I love having you here"
Philip smiled slightly, he was feeling a bit better now, he had just been feeling sorry for himself before.
"It doesn't matter who our biological mum and Dad are really" Aimee said, "I mean, Dad, both of them, they were just sperm donors really, and all Mum ever done for us was give birth"
"Yeah" Philip agreed "She always somehow lets us down, not like you Aunt Rach, and you deserve a better sister than her"
"Well, no matter what, we are a family, no one can ever take that away from us" Rachel told them before, heading off downstairs, and leaving them on their own to talk.