Carlisle sat in his studio, sometimes, the easiest way to find information, it was through books, and family trees. He kept several family trees around, just to be careful of never coming across anyone from their biological bloodline.
It would be troublesome if someone recognized them as "that man or woman from the old family photos".
Still.
He had traced Jasper Whitlock's family tree, if was an extremely easy feat when one considered how much he had stood out as a human.
But he couldn't for the life of him find something that might lead him to believe Cassandra Miller had been related or even known the people who adopted Jasper.
For what he could find Angélica Whitlock and Einer Whitlock moved to Texas from the latter's hometown in Iceland around 1835. The couple had had six biological kids, four daughters and two sons; Krista, Aurora, Amber, Ingrid, Oleg and Elías.
Jasper was adopted in 1844, had been the youngest by a lot.
But nothing told him how he ended up with the Whitlocks, in Texas.
Was this just some coincidence? But coincidences like these were impossible. It didn't matter how he tried to look at it it was staring him right in the face.
Their striking similarities, the same gestures, same year of birth, same scars…
Jasper and Rosalie...
He had never told anyone about the Hale twins, nor that he watched Rosalie grow from afar, that he was the one who left her those anonymous gifts on her birthdays, hoping that by doing so, he would give her a sliver of happiness, but also a mute apology for letting her brother die.
He had buried those memories to keep himself from thinking about it as much, to avoid Edward from seeing things he shouldn't be seeing. This was his crux to bear and he didn't want people knowing of it.
He can still remember how he would spend hours sitting by their side, watching them sleep, he didn't knew why he had grown so attached to those two in particular, but something about how they were so willing to fight to survive, so small yet so strong…
Rosalie had been quiet, had wielded a strong grip too, she had spent most of her time sleeping, sucking on her brother's cheek or just glaring at anyone who came within view, which was honestly not possible, babies couldn't see that well during their first few days of life.
Her brother had been the complete opposite, he would cry for anything and everything, glare at anyone and everything, it had taken Carlisle quite a while to figure out that the best way to keep him quiet was to pat his stomach, he hadn't done it much though, his skin was way too cold for a baby to be in contact with for prolonged amount of times.
It was an amazing thing to think about though. To imagine that that frail little thing that had cried at the slightest of things and screamed his lungs out whenever someone startled him with even a change in their breathing had grown to become someone like Jasper. He was the most skilled and composed person he had ever met, so quiet and smart…
And still, if Rosalie and Jasper were twins… he could almost see what that would do to Rosalie.
She hadn't been that nice towards Jasper when he first arrived with Alice in 1950. She would take all the chances she could get to remind him how displeased she was with his presence, same as she managed to get into a few arguments with him. She even went as far as striking him once.
Of course Jasper hadn't retaliated against her, in fact, he had had to stop Alice from being the one to retaliate against Rosalie.
If Jasper did end up being Alexander… it would destroy Rosalie, she has always wanted something to connect her to her human life, has always felt strongly for the brother she never met.
If Jasper was that brother… it would destroy her to realize how badly she had treated him initially, that she had badmouthed and even struck the brother she had always wished she could have met, that that link to her human life was the same link she had wanted to leave.
It would break her.
But what were the odds of Jasper and Rosalie being biological twins? That scar across Jasper's torso was the exact same one Little Soldier had had. Conjoined twins were a rare phenomenon, a succesful separation in the 1800's? Even more rare.
But the Hale twins…
They had been an extraordinarily rare case, even up to this day Carlisle had only read about such a case repeating once throughout history, it should be impossible for conjoined twins to be male-female, the medical theory so far was that even if there were to be born a girl and a boy as conjoined twins, it would be suspected that pseudohermaphroditism would be involved, so, theoretically speaking, it was still not quite possible.
It was a mess he really didn't paid much mind to, it wasn't as if he cared about that topic regarding his own children anyways, they were happy and they were healthy, nothing else mattered.
Still.
Back to the point at hand.
He needed to ask Alice, at this point, asking Alice about the birthmark was much more easier than aiming to find answers that weren't in the books.
~
-How do you know about his birthmark?
Carlisle had taken Alice for a walk under the guise that he wanted to speak to her in private, which wasn't really a guise, it was true.
And still, he hadn't quite expected her to be the one to speak before he could, and of course she would know what he was aiming to ask.
She was giving him a confused look, if not a bit curious.
But that question.
It freezes him as he realizes what that means.
-He has it?- He still finds himself asking, Alice frowns at him.
-Yeah, on his left thigh, looks sort of like a star, why?
Carlisle doesn't answer, feeling too bewildered to even remember how to speak, because he has the birthmark.
And God, he was alive , that boy that had haunted him for so long had been right at his side all along, Jasper .
Jasper and Rosalie… it weren't two unrelated people looking alike nor mimicking each other's gestures out of spending too much time around each other.
They were biologically related.
God, how was he even suppose to bring that up? Should he even bring it up? Regardless of all the similarities, the birthmarks, and the scars, he should be 100% sure before he even brought up such a sensitive issue. Unless…
Ah.
He knew what he had to do, but he would need help if he wanted to do this without catching Jasper or Rosalie's attention.
DNA test.
-Carlisle?
Alice's voice caught his attention, she was giving him an odd look.
He knew exactly who would help him get this done.
~
-Do you need something?- Rosalie asks, an irritated look plastered on her face as she glares at Alice.
Alice who has been staring at her for the past hour.
And alright, Alice had a lot of weird habits, and she did got lost in her visions a lot which sometimes led to her staring at the weirdest of things for hours.
But Rosalie could tell from a mile that she was perfectly conscious.
All she got was a shake of the head and a smirk before she was letting herself fall back from armrest and onto the couch, her head landing right on Jasper's lap, he didn't even move aside from lifting the book he was reading out of the way before Alice could crush it.
She sighed, going back to her magazine, and still, she couldn't help but wonder what the hell had happened this morning, ever since Alice came back from her walk with Carlisle she had been acting weird, more than usual, she had asked to braid her hair, and then she had made little braids at the bottom of the back of Jasper's hair, she had disappeared for a while before coming back to just stare.
And she looked like she was seconds from exploding out of excitement, over what? Even Jasper seemed to be at a loss on what had her so excited, at least she wasn't staring at Rosalie anymore, she was now staring at Jasper.
Good, that one at least wouldn't mind getting stared at for hours, at least not if it was Alice the one doing the staring.
Meanwhile, Alice knew she should keep herself calm, to keep her thoughts controlled in case Edward arrived and caught glimpse of her thoughts.
But how was she suppose to keep calm after what Carlisle told her?
That Jasper and Rosalie could be biologically related.
As in, Carlisle had reasons to believe Jasper was Rosalie's twin, same twin that got kidnapped and was thought dead. That twin, he had the birthmark, and the scar from the separation.
She wasn't sure which one was more exciting, that Carlisle had confessed he had been the one to do the surgery, that Rosalie and Jasper might be related, that Rosalie might get the brother she never knew back or that Jasper might finally get his answers regarding his biological family.
Because she knows it still bothered him to not know a thing about the where did he come from, why was he abandoned in the middle of nowhere? Why did they not want him.
That reminder brought to her Rosalie's words regarding her twin brother, he was kidnapped by the maid in charge of them, was thought dead after months of fruitless search. Rosalie would have suffered his same fate had that other maid not come across that other woman.
The idea that Jasper could be him… it pained her, because she knew he's always thought that he was abandoned, that his biological family hadn't wanted him, hadn't cared to leave him in the middle of the forest for any wild animal to kill him, while he wasn't even healed.
That scar he held so much resentment and hatred for… it hadn't been an injury nor even a birth defect.
But the bond he once had with who might have become his best friend much more sooner in life if fate hadn't been so cruel.
She rested her hand on his stomach, she wonders how he might feel if he were to know the truth, she can't see much on what will happen, but she has a feeling it might break him to learn that the true reason he was left in the forest to die wasn't because his parents didn't want him.
But because a cruel woman had separated him from them, all over nothing but hatred and envy, how would he feel like if he knew his parents had spent months looking for him, years mourning him after coming to the terrible assumption that he might have been killed…
She knows he won't hate the idea of being related to Rosalie, his relationship with her had been great these past years, their bond was, as she had predicted, strong.
Emmett had once asked her if she didn't feel jealous over how close Jasper was with Rosalie, but Alice could care less about it, she hadn't even blinked when she had caught them cuddling on the couch once, siblings could cuddle, friends could cuddle, she saw no problem with that, hell, she loved cuddling with anyone she could get her hands on.
Plus, she trusted Jasper and Rosalie, she knew Jasper loved her and only her. And Rosalie, she didn't see Jasper that way.
Point is, no, she didn't mind how close those two were, even less now, because they were siblings, twins!
And she can't help but compare the similarities between them.
Same glares.
Same smug smirks.
Same scowls.
They even made the exact same disgusted faces.
And she can't help but smile, hoping against hope for Carlisle to be right, that would be such an interesting thing, Jasper and Rosalie had been posing as twins since that incident in 1970 with the teacher who recognized him as the same Major Jasper Whitlock from the Civil War and started making dangerous questions regarding whether he was related to him or what.
And since he refused to use the Cullen surname Rosalie had offered hers. Esme had been the one to suggest for them to pose as twins, people wouldn't question it due their striking resemblance.
For it to turn out to be truth, it would do nothing but make their lie become the truth, twins.
She reached up to touch his face, grinning over the idea of him and Rosalie being related, two sides of the same coin, she's heard students call them several nicknames throughout the years; "the scary twins", "the ice duo", "creepy Hales" "hot blondies", "the bitch and the psycho", "the ice queen and the knight"...
That last one was Alice's personal favorite, she thought it fit them greatly, even more so now. Siblings.
Jasper grabbed her arm, catching her attention, and as he looked down she caught the question in his gaze.
She shook her head, sitting up and leaning over to press a fluttering kiss against his cheek, this before getting up and leaving the room, she needed to put her emotions under better control.
Jasper for his side watched Alice go with a frown, her giddiness and excitement has been all over the place since this morning, he threw a look at Rosalie.
-What? Don't look at me, I have no idea what's gotten into her.- Rosalie's answer didn't help much and he turned back to look at where Alice had disappeared through.
He wondered what was it that had her in such good humor, he wouldn't mind much if it wasn't for the single fact where it felt like it somehow involved him, had she seen something? What? He isn't planned anything for her, he's pretty sure he isn't forgotten any important date, and if it was some… intimate moment she would have let him know through her emotions.
So what? What had her in such a mood? Was he forgetting something? Was he gonna do something? But he hadn't planned on doing anything, so what is it?
Carlisle was also weird, he's been feeling his impatience, expectation and nerves since this morning.
He scowled, he hated not knowing.
~
99.8%
That's the result of the DNA test Carlisle made for Jasper and Rosalie.
Vampires had little to none DNA, all fluids in their bodies being different variations of venom.
The transformation also messed with their skin, fingernails, hair, fingerprints and just about anything…
But he had also learnt that one could get some DNA from a vampire's hair.
It was hard considering that the older the vampire was the less DNA would linger behind.
Jasper and Rosalie were from the 1800's.
But Carlisle was nothing if not adamant about this working, Alice had gotten him a strand of hair from Jasper and one from Rosalie, all so he could make this work.
Now that it was all done… that he had the results.
He had no idea what to do with that confirmation, Little Soldier, Alexander Hale.
He didn't die.
Somehow, God knows how, he had ended up in Texas, Jasper Whitlock.
It was such a strange concept in itself, to think that those two would end up becoming vampires and reuniting again, with Jasper being 19 and Rosalie 18.
And he can't help but wonder how life might have gone for those two if Jasper had been raised in New York, if Rosalie had had him with her as she grew…
He stared at the paper, should he tell them together? Should he speak with Rosalie first? How did he even bring something like this up? He sighed, dragging a hand down his face, whatever, regardless of how this turned out, they both deserved the truth.
He should start with Rosalie, it was about time he gave her the truth regarding the reason for him to turn her when he had no reason to, if she hated him? Then so be it, he deserved it for the selfishness he had shown at the time, condemning her to such terrible life because of his own selfish desires and guilt.
It was about time the lies ended.
~
Alexander Hale.
That was a name that had hung over Rosalie for a long time, when she turned 10 and she decided to make the question about her scar's origin, she could have never expected it to have such a bizarre origin.
A twin brother.
Conjoined twin brother.
Their parents had decided to separate them, the surgery had been successful, and then one of the maids who looked after them decided to betray them by kidnapping him, she would have done the same to Rosalie hadn't someone caught the maid.
Her brother was never found and the maid refused to speak about his whereabouts, her parents had looked for him for months , but he was never found.
When Rosalie learnt about it, she had cried for hours and had refused to leave her room for over a week, she had been mad at her parents from keeping such a thing from her, at the stupid maid for killing her brother, at just about everyone .
Because she had a brother she never got to meet, she didn't even know how he might have looked like, all she had known about him was that he had been blond, and that he had been much more smaller than her. Nothing else.
Her mother had named him Alexander, stood for warrior, because that's what he had been, he had been much too frail, smaller and had almost died due blood loss during the surgery, but he had survived, he had been growing stronger by the day, like a little warrior who refused to give up.
And then came that evil woman and just put all his struggles to live to an end, as if they didn't matter.
Rosalie had hated her so much she had screamed for five minutes straight infront of where she knew the criminals were kept at. Had screamed at the woman for taking her brother, had ended up crying and begging for her to return him to her, when that would actually never happen.
Because he was dead.
Just for the little detail where he wasn't.
Carlisle had called her to the studio earlier, the others had gone out, and she had no idea what to do with that.
But then he had started talking, telling her things she could have never in a thousand years imagined, and at the same time, something about them just clicked.
And while anger had threatened to overtake her the more he spoke, resentment, hatred, she knew he had turned her because he couldn't bear to see someone so young die such a vile death.
A selfish act was more like it, she had been stupid, she had known he had done so because being alone was starting to drive him mad.
But to know the truth… it was still a selfish driven act, but so much worse.
And at the same time… she had no idea where even the anger was aimed at.
But all her emotions had come to an abrupt halt when he put that paper infront of her, a DNA test.
From her.
And Jasper.
-How…?- Her voice comes out much more weak than she's willing to admit, but she doesn't know what to do, what to even think, because what the hell is this?
-I recognized his scar, and I thought about the similarities between you both, Alice also confirmed that he had the same birthmark. So, I did the test, just to be sure.
Rosalie didn't answer.
She was staring at the piece of paper, Alexander and Jasper were the same.
Jasper was her brother.
Twin brother. Biological twin brother.
And she suddenly feels nauseous.
Sometimes, she will look back at how she used to treat him, and she will feel sick.
But now, with this kind of knowledge, she feels twice as worse.
All the insults she threw at him, the name-calling, the badmouthing, she hadn't cared about ruining his mood, crushing his little smiles with one single comment, not even the hurt look he had given to her when she had slapped him .
As a child, she had craved to have known her brother, to spend time with him, she had wished at every single shooting star and at every single dandelion for her brother to come back to her.
And he did come back to her.
And all she had done was hurt him because she didn't want him around.
But Jasper's never held it against her, he was just that stupidly nice, he's always there comforting her when she needs it, always there watching stupid movies with her when Emmett's absence becomes too noticeable for comfort, he will help her with the cars even though he knows shit about them, he stays with her even when her foul mood drives everyone away.
He was just… there.
She knew he had been adopted as a human, knew one of his older sisters had come across him near the river, that he had been barely alive, she had taken him back to the house and the Whitlocks had saved him, had chose to keep him and raise him as one of their own.
She knew that while he had loved them, he had felt like an outcast, mainly because of the whispers from the people in town, about "the scrawny orphan", the blond hair among red heads hadn't helped much.
She couldn't imagine him being small nor thin enough to be considered scrawny, he was the second tallest in the house, he was lean, but he wasn't scrawny, that was Edward's thing.
Point is, he had grown believing his parents hadn't wanted him, hadn't cared to even leave him somewhere where someone could find him, he was just left there, in the middle of nowhere for a wild animal to come across him and kill him.
And it makes her seethe, to think that bitch had given him to someone to do with him God knows what, for him to end up just being abandoned to his luck, he was a friggin baby, barely a month old.
But at least he didn't die, and she wished her parents were still alive, because her parents had blamed themselves for so long over Alexander's death… they would have loved to see him, to see how grown he was, he hadn't grown into a jerk but into one of those fairy tales guys.
And he was married, to a good woman who was head over heels for him and treated him as nice as he treated her.
He was alive.
-Rosalie?
Carlisle's voice caught her attention, he looked uncertain, his face alone brought back to her her anger.
And at the same time… she had no idea how to really feel, because he was there , he was the reason her mother hadn't died when giving birth, he was the reason Alexander and her didn't grew behind closed doors, because while people were more open minded now, in the past, conjoined twins had been seen as nothing but entertainment, abominations or lab rats.
Those mysterious gifts during her birthdays had always been nice, and if he hadn't turned her… she would have never met Emmett.
And she would have never met her brother.
She wants to hate him, but how can she hate him when it's because of him that she met two of her most favorite people?
Thus, all she finds herself asking is one single thing.
-Does he know?
~
Alice had followed Carlisle's advice, and she had taken Jasper on a walk, had sat him down under a tree on their favorite spot near the river before she decided to show him the copy of the DNA test results Carlisle had given to her earlier.
He had been quiet for quite a while now, just staring at the paper.
She couldn't tell what was going through his head, was he mad? Sad? Happy? She thought he would have been much more happy by these news, he finally knew the truth about his biological parents.
And he had a sister.
Rosalie.
-Jazz? You alright?- She finds herself asking, feeling a bit worried over his silence.
He doesn't answer, all he does is turn to wrap his arms around her, he doesn't said a word, he just clings to her, and she has no idea what she is suppose to do in this situation, so all she does is hold him, was he upset? What? This is the first time in her life she has no idea what he's feeling.
And it worries her, because if she had known he would react like this… she would have told him much more slower, something to lessen the blow.
But she had honestly thought he would have been happier.
Why-
-Thank you.
That caught her attention, her thoughts coming to an abrupt halt. What?
-For what? I'm not the one who discovered it, Carlisle was.- She said as he pulled back to meet her gaze.
Ah.
He wasn't sad, not even mad.
She isn't seen that soft look on his face since she first heard him tell her he loved her.
He looked… happy, but much more than that, she couldn't quite explain it, but it made her relax, because he wasn't upset.
-No, but you were the one who brought me here.
She was the root of how he finally got the closure he's craved for for years.
All his life Jasper thought he had been a mistake, that his parents had hated him, hadn't wanted him at all so as to leave him in the middle of nowhere for the wild animals to kill him.
It wasn't.
It filled him with bitterness the sole idea of knowing that all along, a woman with a cold heart had been the one to blame for it all. He knew about Rosalie's twin, he knew how much her parents had suffered, how much had they blamed themselves, they had spent months looking for him before assuming he was dead.
They had loved him, they had wanted him.
And that knowledge made such a weight lift off of his shoulders.
And he had a sister , Rosalie.
That was… an interesting thought, he had loved her dearly, she could be a bit of a bitch sometimes, but there was no denying the kind heart she had, her loyalty, stubbornness and courage were also reasons on the why he had liked her since day one.
Even when she kept hating on him, he had admired how she was willing to stand her ground against someone stronger than her without an ounce of fear, all so as to protect those she cared about.
Alice had told him she would become a good friend to him, reason he had kept insisting on being stubborn, refusing to give her the pleasure of walking over him or showing her just how much her words alone affected him, he had liked the idea of such stubborn and loyal woman being his friend.
She had given him the same impression Peter had done, someone's who's loyalty was hard to win, but once won, they would stand by your side even in hell.
And right had he been.
Point is, the idea of being biologically related to her… he doesn't know how to describe it. All he knows is that it fills him with pride and happiness.
He never even stopped to wonder if he might have had biological siblings, but now he knows, he knows Rosalie had had two younger brothers, twins; Oliver and Harrison.
He had had two younger brothers.
And he wished he could have met them, he had been the youngest among six, always wished he could have had a little sibling.
He had had two little brothers.
And a twin sister.
And he couldn't help but smile, another reason for him to be glad to have taken Alice's hand at that diner all those years ago.
She had led him to answers he thought he would never get.
~
Rosalie had never known an hour could feel as eternal as the one she had to wait for Jasper to come back.
She knew Alice would tell him, Carlisle had told her he had spoken with Alice, had even given her a copy from the DNA test results.
Still.
It felt like an eternal hour in which she had to restrain herself from just hunting him down, she shouldn't look for him, Carlisle had said that it would be best to give him time to digest it. To not force it.
But Christ, it's been over an hour.
She knew it was stupid to be so impatient and eager to see him when she had known him for decades, it wasn't as if she was meeting him for the first time.
But knowing who he was sure made it feel like it.
Because that brother she had cried for because she never met him, same one she had wished at wells, dandelions and shooting stars to bring back to her was alive.
He was alive.
She knew he didn't mind her touching him.
So the moment she saw him emerge from among the trees, the moment she forgot about everything else as she left the porch, lunging at him without hesitation.
She threw her arms around him, almost bringing them both to the ground, but he kept them balanced, he stiffened for a moment, no doubt surprised over the unexpected gesture.
But she didn't care, she could care less about her pride and her image and just about everything, because this was her brother, the one she had thought dead for so long.
She tightened her arms around him.
Meanwhile, Jasper wasn't quite sure what to do with this situation, of all things possible, he could have never expected Rosalie to hug him so casually when she wasn't even feeling upset.
He wouldn't lie, he had been excited to see her, but he had expected her to be her usual self, it wasn't as if they were meeting for the first time.
Finding out both of them were biological twins was nothing but an extra addition of truth to what had been a facade all these years.
He didn't think she would mind it much.
He had been wrong.
He could feel her turmoil of emotions; relief, pain, joy, happiness, sadness…
She didn't seem as disappointed as he had expected her to be, to know he was that brother she had missed for so long…
But she was happy.
And that was enough for him to wrap his arms around her, his sister, his twin.
The family he had always thought hated him, she liked him.
And for the first time since he arrived at the Cullens, it felt like a little part of him had finally settled.
Like this place could genuinely become his home too and not just the house he lived at.