We are getting back on a schedule, all, I promise. I'm just lazy sometimes.

Chapter content warnings: references to teen drinking

Don't forget that you can find me on tumblr: we - are - all - of - legend - now and that my ao3 account is wearealloflegendnow (even though I haven't posted there yet)!

~TLL~

It was so strange, looking into a mirror image of herself. Rose stared at the other girl, picking out differences. Rose was more muscular, but they both had short nails. The girl's hair was shorter, but it was the exact same shade of blonde. Rose had put mascara on this morning, but this girl's eyes were rimmed red.

The other girl took a few steps forward but Rose stayed put. Her fight or flight instinct was trying to kick in and this time it was telling her to flee. Rose forced herself to stand her ground. She was stronger than this – probably stronger than most of the people in the building – but she felt like she was facing down a wild animal.

"My name is Lily," the girl said, when she was right in front of Rose.

They were the exact same height.

"I don't care," Rose said. She looked to Detective Stern. "I'd like to go now, to whatever foster home you're going to put me into. Or back to school. Preferably, I would like to go back to school."

"Let's go back in to the conference room," Detective Stern said. "I was hoping for a few more minutes alone to speak with you about the situation."

Out of the corner of her eye, Rose could see the two parents creeping up.

"You're going to make me go home with them," Rose surmised.

"Legally –"

"Legally my father adopted me," Rose said. She whipped around, pinning her eyes on the parents. "Look, I don't know you. I'm adopted. Legally, properly, adopted, because my father wouldn't do that. I am his daughter. I've never wondered about you. And, if you're in pain, sorry, I really am, you probably don't deserve it, but you are people I never wanted or intended to know."

Detective Stern put her hand on Rose's shoulder and said authoritatively, "Let's go into the conference room and talk about it."

At the same time, the mother stepped forward. "We didn't get to make that choice! Please, please, sit with us. Ten minutes. Please."

Rose looked to Detective Stern, unable to look at the mother's pained expression. Detective Stern's expression told her that whatever she said, wouldn't matter. How close she was to eighteen didn't matter. If Rose wanted to, she probably could kick up enough of a fuss to be put in foster care until the DNA test results proved that she was their daughter but Rose wasn't convinced that foster care would be the best choice for her, and she had to do what was best for her and Nicholas and Kyle. She straightened up and dislodged Detective Stern's hand, trying not to feel like she was giving in.

"Fine. Ten minutes."

Detective Stern let them into the conference room, where a uniformed office lingered in the corner. Rose took a chair and the mother sat directly across from her.

"We're Melinda and Carl," the father said. "And Lily."

"I heard," Rose said curtly, her mind racing as she tried to figure out how to play off this meeting. "So, what do you do? For work or whatever."

"We're both tenured professors," Melina said. "We surrounded Lily with books when she was a baby and even though she's smart as a whip, she couldn't care less about academics."

"I'm an artist," Lily said.

"What do you like?" Carl asked Rose.

"Sports, mostly. Science courses. My brother, Kyle, he's the artistic one in our family. Musically. He plays the piano."

Melinda blinked rapidly but Carl took her comment in stride. Rose studied every reaction that they had, trying to figure them out. She could barely bring herself to look at Lily, whose eyes Rose could feel on her face.

"We were told you play field hockey for your school," Carl said.

"I've also black belts in several martial arts, I'm on the swim team, and a co-ed baseball team. My brothers and I are close enough in age we get to play together."

"That's so many!" Melinda exclaimed. "Why do all that?"

"I enjoy it," Rose said. "My father didn't make me, if that's what you're asking. My parents required us to always have one extra-curricular. I rode horses for a while and then I got quite good at archery the summer after."

Carl and Melinda exchanged a look.

"Were they good parents to you?" Carl asked.

"The best," Rose said. "Even after my mother died and my father was overwhelmed, he was still the best."

"Your mother isn't dead," Lily said. "Not your real one."

"Lily," Melinda chided softly but Rose's temper flared.

"My real mother is dead. The one who raised me. The one who loved me. The one who sang me lullabies in four different languages that I still know every word to! I make her sugar cookie recipe at Christmas to make sure my brothers don't forget it! My real brothers. The ones who I grew up with, the ones who know me. The ones I throw hairbrushes at when they come into my room without knocking and whose homework I help them with because I took their courses two years ago. My brothers who were loved by my mother who adopted all of us with our father who loves us."

"So, are you just going to pretend we're not real? When we're sitting right here?"

"Like I said," Rose crossed her arms, knowing that she was more stubborn than this mirror-image, "I never wanted to know you."

"Girls," Melinda said quickly. "We all need some patience, here. Lily, we should be very grateful that Rose has had an amazing family that loves her and who she loves back. Rose, I'm sorry we don't know what to say to you but we're asking for a chance. Our family has missed you and …" Her breath hitched.

Carl smoothly took over. "And we know we're not going to replace the family that you have. We just would like to get to know you and for you to know us."

Rose at back in the chair. There were too many what-ifs in this situation and she dealt better in truths and hard facts.

"What about when my father is cleared and we all find out he didn't know about where I came from? What about when I want to hang out with my brothers? Is that all going to be okay with you?"

A tear leaked from Melinda's eye and it was Carl that answered, "We would like to know them too. Rose, please, we're not trying to replace them. We're just hoping your definition of family could expand to include us."

"My school? My friends?" Rose pushed. "I'm supposed to go to my boyfriend's party tonight with my best friend. How is this supposed to work?"

Lily was shaking her head and Rose glared at her. Lily suddenly wouldn't look back at her but she had a sour expression on her face. Well, let her be sour, Rose decided. Lily seemed like she enjoyed it.

"We'll figure it out," Melinda said, "that's all we can do. One day at a time. You don't know how grateful we are after all of these years that we just know you're safe."

"And as for your party," Carl said, "we'll discuss expectations – I don't know what, um, your father thought but we can talk about what we think and find a compromise."

"Lily can go with you," Melinda decided.

"What?" Lily startled. "Mom, I've never gone to a party."

Never gone to a party? Rose was tempted to laugh at her. What kind of twin was this, that she had nothing in common with? She had read stories in her psychology class about twins who had been separated at birth. They had grown up and had similarities – married wives who had the same names, frequented the same restaurants, and driven the same cars. However, if Rose hadn't been discovered, she was sure that if it hadn't happened, she and Lily Dawson would never have been aware that they existed on the same planet.

"Mel," Carl started.

"She can call Jake. Jake can go. He'll look out for them."

"It will be her first night home. Are we really going to let her go to a party?"

"Actually," Rose interrupted, "It will be my first night away from home. I just want to be able to live my life without whatever this is getting in the way."

Rose could tell that she was slowly crushing the two parents but she had a heart like a steel cage. Very little could get in; very little could get out. She locked herself down. She had to get these two to give her free rein. At one of Brad's big bashes, she could shake Lily. She could get back to the police station and read her file. She could find her brothers. She could call her father. She could figure something out. By the time that she got back, Lily would never even realize that she'd been gone.

Carl tapped his fingers on the table. "Only if Jake is able to go. Lily should have back-up if she's going to be at a party with people that she doesn't know."

Lily didn't look excited about the prospect but Rose had decided, after laying first eyes on her, that she didn't care about Lily's feelings. She did have one question, though, that she needed answered.

"Who the hell is Jake?"

(-.-)

"She's sitting at my dining room table."

"Isn't that what you wanted?" Jake asked, rubbing gel through his hair to get the style he wanted.

"I wanted …" Lily sighed heavily into the phone. "I wanted a sister. It didn't really occur to me that she wouldn't care about us at all. She keeps acting like we bullied her into being here with us but we're her family!"

"Lil, if someone plucked you out of school tomorrow and told you that Carl and Melinda weren't your parents and that you needed to go meet some new family and immediately go home with them, wouldn't you be a little cranky?"

"I don't like it when you make sense," Lily said. Jake could tell when she was sulking.

"It's usually you so you don't have to feel too bad about it," Jake teased, and felt buoyed when she chuckled.

"I just wish she was a little interested in getting to know me. She doesn't have a sister either."

"This party is going to be a good bonding experience," Jake said. "Think of this as getting to know her and her friends. Maybe if you get a peek at her world, you'll understand better."

"I'm just glad that you're going to be there. I couldn't go on my own."

"I'm always here for you, Lily, you know that."

"I know," Lily said. "I have to go, see if I can find some clothes that are party appropriate. I don't even know if I own clothes like that."

"You're beautiful. You'll look beautiful. I'll see you in an hour, okay?"

"Okay."

Jake slid his phone back in his pocket and grabbed his favourite red leather jacket from his bed, sliding it over his shoulders. He thudded down the stairs, nearly tripping as his father's voice caught him off guard.

"Jakey! Where are you headed to?"

"I told you and Mom. Trixie, Spud, and I are hitting up a party with Lily."

Jonathan leant against the wall, his back to the front door, effectively trapping Jake.

"You didn't say party, you said 'hang out'." Jonathan used air quotes and Jake refrained from rolling his eyes.

"I have to go, Dad."

"To a party?"

Jake nodded. "Her twin sister, they just found her. She's been missing for almost eighteen years. She wants to go to this party with her friends tonight but Carl and Melinda will only let her go if she goes with Lily and Lily will only go if I go. And, I'm taking Trixie and Spud because buddy system, right? Everything is better in groups."

Jake could tell that he'd hit on enough buzz words because Jonathan smiled and his shoulders relaxed. "You'll be safe?"

"Very," Jake promised.

"But don't forget the most important rule."

"Call you if there's trouble. Waking you up is better than driving drunk with someone or passing out in an alley."

Jonathan ruffled Jake's hair and Jake resisted the urge to run to a mirror, to make sure that his carefully gelled hair hadn't turned into a bird's nest.

"That's my boy. You have fun tonight, okay, Jakey?"

"I will."

"Say hi to Lily for me."

"Will do!"

"And, Jake?"

Jake paused, his hand on the doorknob. "Yeah, Dad?"

"I love you."

Jake looked over his shoulder. "I love you too."

He flung open the front door where Trixie and Spud were already waiting. Trixie had a backpack slung over one shoulder and Jake knew exactly what was in it. She shifted the bag and held it out to him; Jake didn't need ear of the dragon to hear the distinctive clink of bottles.

"You take it," Trixie said.

"What, are you trying to pretend you're weak now?" Jake teased.

"No," Trixie said, her hands on her hips as she explained, "the pretty one doesn't have to carry things."

Jake met her eyes and almost at the same moment, they were instructing Spud to take the bag. Spud took it from Trixie's hand and slung it over both of his shoulders, watching the cars whiz by.

"Are we taking a taxi?" he asked.

"We'll walk to Lily's, probably cab from there."

"Do we even know where this party is?"

Again, Jake shrugged and began walking. "It's a friend of Rose's so some rich private school kid. Maybe their parents will have good liquor to steal."

"Is Rose anything like Lily?" Trixie asked. "Because this could end up being the most boring party since seventh grade."

Spud scoffed. "Rose got invited to a party. Of course, she's nothing like Lily."

"Be nice," Jake warned. "I mean it. Lily is going through a lot right now and she's going to need our support."

Jake could tell that Trixie was on the verge of a comment that would be too far. He opened his mouth to fire at her first when Spud stepped between them and changed the subject, slightly.

"I'm surprised that Lily's parents are letting Rose out," he said. "If I hadn't seen my kid in, like, eighteen years, I don't think I'd let it out of my sight."

"Carl and Melinda are built different," Jake said, and it was true.

Despite being scholars, they supported every step of Lily's art. They were open about topics that most parents pussy-footed around. They weren't pushovers but everything and anything was up for debate and, as long as Jake had known Lily, they'd never told her 'no, absolutely not' on anything. Not like Jake's own parents were so fond of doing.

They stopped in front of Lily's and Jake sent her a text say they were there. He gazed up at the windows while Trixie and Spud amused themselves with guessing what Rose would be like. Jake tried to tune out their childish and slightly mean conversation but he was thinking about Rose too. He had a lot of sympathy for her but he was worried about Lily because of her. Lily very easily got inside of her own head and since meeting Rose hadn't gone exactly to plan, Jake hoped she wasn't spiraling.

Lily: Coming now

Jake rounded on his friends. "You will be nice to Lily tonight."

"We will be nice to Lily," they droned, although their eye rolls didn't exactly give Jake confidence in them.

"And we have to keep an eye on her tonight. She doesn't normally go to parties and it's important that she's with us and not hiding in the bathroom."

"We'll babysit her when needed," Trixie promised.

Spud nodded toward the steps and the front door opened. Jake held his breath, waiting for his first real glimpse of Lily's twin. And, then, there they both were.