So this was actually a really hard chapter to write. It took me ages to think about how either of them would react the what happened last chapter. I finally decided to take the suggestion of splitting the POVs so we could see both sides, but that definitely made it harder to get into their mindsets. I actually rewrote the whole thing 3 times before I settled on what I think is a pretty good chapter! I really hope you enjoy!

EPOV

Stepping out of the warm diner into the cold night air felt like a bubble that had enclosed around me had suddenly popped. A light rain had begun to fall, and the icy droplets felt like pin-pricks on my hot face. I stood there on the sidewalk, trying to calm my rapidly beating heart and swallow the aching lump that had formed in my throat. My whole body was shaking, and it felt like pins and needles pricked my skin from head to toe. I clenched my fists a few times to try a quell the trembling that didn't seem to be stopping.

I wanted to look back inside, to see what Bella was doing now that she was alone. But I knew that if I did, I would find it even harder to walk away like she had asked. Before I could cave, I set off at a fast pace to my car. Unfortunately, I found that sitting in my driver's seat provided me an unencumbered view of the front of the diner, even if it was about fifty yards away, and I certainly did find it hard to make my body move so that I could leave.

Tonight had not gone as planned. I had been so nervous when I first walked into the room where the counselling session was about to begin that I thought I was going to throw up. I could barely look in Bella's direction. I spent nearly the entire time practicing how I was going to ask her to go somewhere and talk. When the time came, the conversation went much better than I had anticipated, giving me the boost of confidence I needed to go get the letter I had written out of my car.

And then Alice had to show up and throw me off. Her and goddamn photo album! She always thought she knew what was best and didn't want to take anybody else into consideration. I knew she meant well - at least most of the time - but I was getting pretty sick of her sticking her nose in where it wasn't necessary.

Bella seeing Alice made me even more nervous, and everything I'd wanted to say flew out of my head. I'd tried to stay calm, to remain open and friendly, but I couldn't do much but sit in the awkward silence that settled over us at the diner while I tried to collect my thoughts once again for the required conversation.

When she apologised to me because she thought I'd been offended the last time we'd met, I was dumbfounded. This woman seemed to know exactly what to say and do to rob me of all coherent thought and leave me tongue tied. I'd tried to explain, I really had. But when I couldn't think of any of the many ways I'd rehearsed to break the news to her, it all kind of fell apart from there.

I shouldn't have given her the album straight away. I wish I'd explained everything to her first, let her digest the news and ask questions, before she saw the very real and probably disturbing proof. When she'd asked how the resemblance between her and Maria was possible, I'd tried to begin explaining, but it was quickly evident that she had zoned out as she didn't respond to anything I said at first. I can't imagine the shock of seeing a stranger with your face, only to be told that she was most likely your deceased identical twin.

But at the end of the day, she knew it all now. I had told her. Well, I hadn't told her much, but I hoped the letter I had written would fill in the gaps and give Bella the whole story. I'd included my phone number and other contact information, so she could find me online and be assured I wasn't some psycho making things up to get close to her. I could only hope she actually read it, and that she was willing to talk to me again.

I sat staring at the diner, waiting to see if Bella would come out. I wanted to know she was ok, to see her face and know I hadn't destroyed her by dropping this bombshell on her. After twenty minutes I felt like I was veering into obsessed stalker territory again. So, I started my car and drove away, feeling like a chasm opened up with every yard I put between us.

~oOo~

BPOV

I had a sister. A twin. An identical twin sister. I didn't want to believe it, but I knew that what Edward had told me was the truth. Deep in my bones, I knew it.

As I sat in the diner, still in shock and pouring over the photos in the album, my mind kept drifting to a photograph from my own childhood. It was one of the few I had that my adoptive mother, Renee, took. I was maybe around two, standing in front of the mirror that still hangs in the entrance hallway at home in Forks, staring at myself with both hands reaching out to my reflection. Apparently it had been something I did a lot as a child - playing with the baby in the mirror. Emmett had told me that Renee said she hoped I wasn't going to be one of those 'vain girls'. Something I had spent a lot of my adolescence trying to prove was wrong.

My assumption had always been that my yearly birthday blues stemmed from my being adopted. When your birth mother gives you away shortly after you were born, it can be difficult to celebrate the occasion. But I now had to consider if my annual ennui grew from somewhere deeper. Perhaps my subconscious remembered more from before I was born than I gave it credit for? Maybe some part of me had always known that something was missing. Or someone.

Small things throughout my life started to shift and come into a different focus. I suddenly saw the story Dad had told about how I would cry when I saw a lone dolphin as a child in a new light. The dreams I've always had of the twin little girls with long brown hair no longer seemed to be a fantasy for my future, but what should have been my own childhood reality. How close I had instantly felt to Jasper and Rosalie, and even my reaction to Rose and Emmett's news at dinner on Saturday.

"You okay there, hon?" the waitress asked, suddenly coming up from behind me and jolting me from my gnarled thoughts.

"What?" my whole body felt stiff as I turned to look up at her.

"You've been sitting here for half an hour and haven't even touched your food. Something wrong with it?"

I had completely forgotten the sandwich I'd ordered, which sat untouched on the plate beside me. Any traces of hunger I had felt after the meeting were completely gone, replaced by an empty aching in the pit of my stomach. "Oh. No, nothing's wrong with it. It's just…"

The waitress, who's name tag I only just noticed read 'Cathy', gave me a concerned smile. Her eyes darted between my face and the album which was open before me, once again on the wedding photo, and her concerned smile deepened into a concerned frown. "I know this isn't any of my business, and I don't know exactly what you're going through, but I have had my fair share of heartbreaks. Divorce is tough, but trust me, it gets easier."

"Oh… Umm, no… That's not…" I stuttered, bewildered. I could see how she may have come to that conclusion, between the photograph, the fact that I wasn't wearing a wedding ring, and that Edward had left so quickly. But the assumption also made me suddenly incredibly uncomfortable. I'd been dreaming, fantasising, about my birth sister's husband. Every interaction I'd had with him was cast in a new light, and I felt sick again. How could I have been so wrong about everything?

Cathy smiled down at me again, but I could tell her focus had already shifted back to her job. "Do you want me to box that up for you, hon," she asked, pointing at my forgotten sandwich.

I didn't know what I would do with a cold club sandwich, but I knew who would want it. All I wanted to do now was run to the people I knew would be there for me through anything. I knew it was only a matter of time before my shock wore off and I would need their support when I finally did break down.

I nodded and thanked Cathy, who took my plate, before quickly ordering an Uber to take me uptown to my brother and Rose. They would know what to do. And even if they didn't, they would be there to help me figure it out.

~oOo~

EPOV

As I turned the corner onto my parents' street, I could see Alice's yellow Porsche parked on the curb and couldn't suppress my frustrated groan. I was not in the mood to deal with my sister right now. I'd hoped that my directive to go home would mean she would have gone to her own place, and not come here. Alive had obviously come to talk to me about tonight, of that I was sure. If this was simply a social visit to her family, she would have parked in the driveway where my parents could have seen her and gone inside to see them.

As I turned into the driveway, the door on the driver's side opened and Alice got out. With a heaving sigh, I resigned myself to my fate. My sister had always been a busy-body, but lately it seemed to have escalated to a degree I hadn't seen since she was a child and didn't know any better. While I knew her heart was in the right place, it didn't stop the irritation bubbling up inside me.

I could see Alice making her way up the driveway toward me as I parked my car. I took a beat to collect myself before I swung open my door and got out.

"What are you doing here?" I asked as I shut my door, not hiding any of the exasperation in my voice.

Ignoring my question, she asked one of her own. "How did it go?"

"How do you think it went?" I snapped

"Whoa," she said surprised, throwing up her hands. "It can't have been that bad."

"It was entirely that bad!" I shot back. "I can't believe you, Alice. You knew I had a plan, but you just had to meddle some more, because 'Alice Almighty' knows what's best for everyone!" I knew I was being a little unfair, but I was seriously fed up and, after the disaster tonight had turned into, I certainly wasn't in the mood to talk about it in the driveway with my sister.

We'd been having similar arguments for the last two weeks, ever since I told her about going to the counselling session after seeing Bella. At first she was mad at me for going, and then she was mad at me for leaving. Alice had gone on about how I could have said anything to her about why I'd been at the hospital, but when I asked if she thought I should have lied to Bella, Alice went off on me about that too. She even brushed me off when I tried to explain how I felt like I was about to explode, my anxiety was so high.

Then came her ideas and plans. All the different ways she thought I should talk to Bella about everything. I'd tried to tell her what I was thinking, but she ignored me until the whole conversation dissolved into a fight. I ended up storming out of her apartment and not talking to her for four days. I spent that time really thinking about how I was going to talk to Bella - to tell her the shocking, unbridled truth. In the end I decided that I would have to do it face to face, now that we had actually met in person, but that I would write her a letter that explained everything again, just in case there were things I missed or skipped over.

But was this good enough for Alice? Not at all. She didn't like it much when she didn't have control over things. On Saturday we had all gone to Eleazar and Carmen's for lunch to commemorate Maria's thirtieth birthday, and Alice had revealed that she had put together a beautiful photo album of Marias life to give them. It was only afterwards, once we were back at Mom and Dad's, that she showed me the second album she had made to give to Bella.

I'd been so annoyed that once again she had gone over my head, ignoring me, and done whatever she liked. We'd been in the kitchen and our argument brought Mom and Dad back downstairs to see what was going on. I'd told Alice to leave it alone, and stormed off to my room, leaving her to explain the incident to our parents in some way. But she hadn't left it alone, and her showing up tonight outside the library to force the album on me was the last straw of my patience.

"Are you seriously blaming me for Bella not taking the news well?" she asked, affronted.

"No, I'm blaming you for never listening to me and always thinking you know what's best for everyone! It can't always be your way or nothing," I ranted, my voice getting louder with every word.

"What's going on out here?" My father's voice cut through the tension, breaking both Alice and I out of our defensive stances. Even though his figure was silhouetted by the light coming through the open doorway, it was obvious from his stance that he was concerned but displeased.

Alice smiled up at him. "It's nothing, Dad," she said innocently.

"Yeah, it's nothing," I said sarcastically. "Alice was just leaving anyway."

"Edward…" Alice tried to rebuke me, but I shot her a censuring glare before storming up the last of the driveway towards the house.

"Edward!" She tried again, following after me.

But I quickly whirled back on her, and in a quieter voice so that Dad couldn't hear, I seethed through gritted teeth "Can you, for once, leave me alone when I ask you to." Then charged past my father into the house.

~oOo~

BPOV

The shock I'd been in since the diner, that left me numb almost the entire drive to Emmet and Rose's townhouse, started to wear off only a few minutes away from arriving. A thought popped into my head that I shouldn't turn up unexpectedly after nine at night, and it was enough to jolt me from the fog that had settled over me. I quickly pulled my phone out of my pocket and sent Rose a text.

B: Is it ok if I come over?

I hope she didn't say that it wasn't a good time, or that they were at work. Neither of them usually worked Monday nights, but since being pregnant I knew Rose got very tired and I hadn't thought about the possibility that they would already be in bed. Right as the Uber driver pulled up to the curb at the bottom of their driveway, I got a response.

R: Sure, hon. Everything ok? Just use your key when you get here.

Thank God! I thought, as I jumped out of the car, forgetting the styrofoam container that held the leftover club sandwich on the back seat. Quickly, I made my way up the driveway, but as I fished through my bag for my keys, my hands began to shake. My breathing picked up as my anxiety worsened when I struggled to find the keys. Finally, I found them, and they rattled in my hands as I endeavoured to unlock the door.

The door finally swung open, and the voices of my brother and sister in-law drifted down the stairs from the second floor as I dumped everything in my arms on the floor.

"... can't be her already. She only just messaged," I heard Rose say.

"Bella?" Emmett called out.

As I came up the stairs, my brother came into view and I could no longer hold in the emotions that had been building up inside me like a pressure cooker. Throwing myself at him, I burst into tears, which quickly turned into hysterical, hiccupping sobs. I couldn't really hear either of them over my bawling and the blood pumping in my ears, but I knew they were frantically questioning me. Not that I was currently able to respond. I don't know how long I cried for, but as my deep sobs turned into tearful whimpers, I became aware that I had been moved to the sofa. One of them, probably Rose, was stroking my hair, while the other held my hand, rubbing their thumb over my knuckles.

"Bella, honey, what do you mean 'it's real'?" Rose asked gently. "What's real? What's going on?" She tried to keep her voice calm and comforting, like she would with a distressed patient at work, but I could hear the dread underneath.

I hadn't even been aware that I had been whispering anything between shaky breaths and whimpers. Trying to get control over myself was harder than it should have been, and even though my breathing had begun to even out, the tears still fell uncontrollably.

"I didn't want to believe him when he told me, but I know that it's real," I said breathily, through shaking lips. Turning my head up, I looked directly into Rose's worried eyes with my glassy ones. "I know it's real."

This time it was Emmett that asked. "Who told you what, Bells? What's real?"

"Edward," I said in a hushed voice, answering the first question I could deal with.

Emmett's brow furrowed in confusion. "Who is Edward?"

But my mind had already moved on to answer their more pressing question, and as the words slipped out, the tears that had momentarily calmed began to fall swiftly again. "He tracked me down to tell me I have a twin."

As they erupted into an astonished inquisition, I subsided into sobs once more. It didn't take as long to calm myself this time. When I did I noticed that Emmett was no longer sitting with us but pacing back and forwards in front of the sofa, cracking his knuckles in a manner very like our dad.

"I'm sorry," I hiccupped, sitting up and wiping my cheeks. Instantly, I gained their attention and Emmett whirled back to face Rose and I. "I'm such a mess."

"Honey," Rose said, taking my hand and squeezing it. "What do you mean, you have a twin?"

Stealing myself by taking a deep breath, I looked between both of them before concentrating on my hands that were nervously picking at the skin around my nail. "Edward tracked me down at the group meeting after he saw me because I am identical to his wife, and he wanted to know if I'd been adopted, too. We were born on the same day, at the same hospital, so how could we not be twins?"

"Oh God," Rose whispered as her hand covered her mouth.

Emmett, ever the detective, was focused on another aspect of my story. "Back up. Who the hell is Edward?" he asked, perplexed, coming to sit by his wife so he could watch me more closely.

"He's my twin, Maria's husband," I answered Emmett, but then turned to Rose apprehensively. "Hospital Hottie," I admitted to her, barely above a whisper.

Rose's eyes bugged out of her head as she gasped, but my brother only looked more confused. "What's Hospital Hottie?" he inquired, looking between Rose and I.

I tried to form the words to explain, but all I could do was gap like a fish, as I was abruptly tongue tied. Rose, instead, turned to her husband to clarify. "Months ago, we saw this guy checking Bella out at the hospital, and it sort of became an inside joke."

It sounded so simple when she said it. Of course, I hadn't told Rose anything about my constant dreams and fantasies I'd been having since that day, so to her it was that simple.

A dark look settled over Emmett's face. "So, what you're saying is a guy saw you at the hospital, then tracked you down months later to tell you that you're identical to his wife?" He asked tightly. "You need to tell me everything you know about this Edward so I can beat the living shit out of him."

"Emmett!" Rose shot at my brother in warning.

"What?" he threw back at her. "This guy sounds like a psycho stalker!"

"I believe him, Em," I said with more force in my voice. "And even if I hadn't, he gave me an album with pictures as proof that she was real. Ones that couldn't be faked," I quickly added, knowing what he would try to argue.

Still in his Detective Swan mode, Emmett looked more serious than I'd seen him in a long time. "Do you still have it?"

I pointed to the stairs that lead down to the first floor. "It's in my bag by the door."

Emmett turned and rushed down, coming back up only seconds later carrying all my stuff, and placed everything next to me on the sofa. It wasn't hard to find the album, as I had hastily shoved it into the top of my tote bag as I left the diner. With trembling hands, I handed the album over to Emmett.

With expressions that I'm sure mirrored mine as I first looked at the photographs of Maria, they flipped through the album. Just like me, they paused longer on the wedding photo, and Rose's eyes darted up to look at me with concern before they continued to turn the pages. At the last page, Emmett pulled out the envelope that I hadn't been brave enough to open yet, and asked with his eyes if he could read what was inside it, to which I gave a small nod.

Slipping the letter out and unfolding it, both he and Rose began to quickly read. I watched their faces carefully, nervously chewing on my lip. At similar times their eyes grew wide, their eyebrows rose, and their mouths popped open. A few times Rose gasped, her eyes shooting up to me, and each time I met them with worry. While I knew the basics of what could be in there, from both what Edward had told me tonight and what he'd shared at the first meeting he'd come to, I didn't know the detailed version which I'm sure was illustrated in the letter.

"Have you read this?" Rose asked, though I think she already knew that I hadn't. I shook my head anyway.

"I couldn't. Not yet," I muttered. Rose took my hand once more, a look of understanding crossing her features.

Emmet jumped up from the couch. "I'm going to call my buddy down at the station and ask him to do some digging. We need to know if this is the truth," he said, grabbing his phone off the coffee table as he headed for the stairs that lead up to the third floor. We could hear him greeting his colleague as he disappeared upstairs, before a door closing muffled the conversation.

Turning my tear-filled eyes back to Rose, I grabbed both her hands. "I know it's real, Rose. I can feel it." I sounded like I was pleading with her to believe me.

"I know, Bella," she said as she pulled me into a firm hug, her voice full of emotions. "Trust me, I know how strong the bond between twins can be. You just know. Emmett might not trust that, but I do."

I started crying again, from both a combination of confusion, relief, and grief. Rose quietly stroked my hair and rubbed my back while I wept. When I had finally calmed down once more, she loosened her strong hold around me, stroking her hands down my arms as if she hoped to ward off the shivers that had begun to wrack my body.

"Here's what we're going to do," she said, going into caretaker mode. "You're going to stay here tonight, cause you're in no state to go home and be in that apartment by yourself. Then tomorrow I'm going to drive you to school. What time do you actually need to be there?"

"Jasper and I usually get there just before eight."

"No, I mean what's the time that you actually need to be there for? When does your first class start?"

"Oh, um, nine-thirty?" It came out like a question, even though Rose had no idea what my class roster was like.

"Okay, so I'll get you there before that. You've been through the wringer tonight, so you need to have as much rest as you can get right now. After school, you can come back here, but if you'd rather go home can you send me a message, so I know where you are and how you're going?" She waited until I nodded in response. "Good. I'm here for you, Honey. All you have to do is call, and I'll come running."

Before Emmett had even come back downstairs, Rose dashed up and came back with something I could wear to bed. I was quiet as I followed her back down to the first floor where the guest bedroom was now located. She left me after one last embrace, whispering in my ear that it was all going to be okay.

Thankfully, there was a spare toothbrush in the small ensuite, as well as a face cleanser, which I quickly used to scrub away as much of the evening as I could. After greedily drinking three glasses of water from the glass left on the bedside table and downing a couple Advil I found in the medicine cabinet, I collapsed on the bed and curled up into a tight ball, hugging my knees to my chest.

My whole body ached from my wracking sobs, and my head continued to pound. My eyes felt like sandpaper, yet tears still leaked from the corners, running down my cheeks and soaking into the pillow. Despite all this, it didn't take long for my exhaustion to take hold, and to slip into the darkest oblivion.

Boy, oh boy! I hope you enjoyed the back and forth between Edward and Bella. I don't know how often I'll do that, but I liked how it gave an onsite into what they both went through, at the same time.