light as a feather

“Good, I was hoping you would say that.” Will smiled over at her for a moment. “Well my family has a cabin couple towns away or we could go to London. Anywhere really.”

“I’d go anywhere with you.” She admitted.

“Great.” She nodded, moving to the kitchen to boil the kettle. “What do you take in it?” Gosh, she should know her sister’s tea preferences. “Eh…” Alice shrugged one shoulder as she prepared the tea. “You know… As well as you can be when your ex-kinda-almost gets murdered and your whole family are chill just living in murderville.” She sighed a little and looked back at her, “Sorry. I’m a bit of a mess right now. Don’t really have the energy to hide it, you know?”

Vivienne looked back at her and nodded. “Yeah... uh...” God, that was awkward, she really didn’t know what to say. It was strange because she barely knew this woman and they were meant to be related. Vivi loved her family but she wondered what it would have been like growing up with the Hayes. They all seemed super tight. “Don’t worry, you don’t have to pretend or anything... uh... I mean, I can just leave if you want?”

Ruth raised a brow at how the other had posed the question, though it was a question she’d gotten her entire life. “I am yeah, my twin is….” She spotted her sister behind the counter before pointing her out. “Over there.”

“That sounded stupid, sorry.” She made a face at herself, laughing at her stupidity. “I just... I dunno, I found out I have a twin... recently... I guess I’ve just had twins on the brain lately.”

“Tea?” She offered, “I have some apple juice and Sprite too.” Alice had been raised to always offer guests a drink when they first arrived at her home. Didn’t matter how long it had been since her parents had died, that was still engrained into her. “How are things?” It felt awkward making small talk, but then again, this whole situation was still a little awkward.

Vivienne really found this whole thing so damn awkward. It was a mess, honestly. “Tea’s great.” She said with a little nod and doing her best to work up a smile. “Thanks.” She lanced around a little before she shrugged and turned back to Alice. “Oh... you know... can’t complain.” She probably could considering the short leash her parents had been trying to keep her on. She knew they were worried but it’s not like she was going to backslide. “You?”

Will reached out and took her hand, smiling over at her for a moment. “I’ve got you. Promise.” 

Vivi smiled back, feeling her cheeks heat up just slightly. He really was more than she’d expected. “Okay. I trust you.”

Alice sighed, looking down at her oversized jumper and leggings. Her hair was pulled back into a messy bun and if the sting in her eyes was any indication of how they looked, it was no wonder Vivienne questioned if this was a bad time. “Hi, Vivienne.” She smiled briefly at her newest sibling, grateful that she confirmed who she was. “No, no. You can absolutely come in.” Alice stepped back to let her in. “Do you, um… want a drink?”

“Oh.. only if you’re having something.” She said, not wanting to have Alice go to any fuss. She still couldn’t really wrap her head around the fact she was adopted, let alone a twin and had this whole biological family. She moved inside and glanced around before turning a little awkwardly back to Alice with a slight smile.

“Hi, is... this a bad time?” She asked a few moments after the door opened, before she paused awkwardly. “Oh! It’s... um. It’s Vivienne...” Not Aria. Just in case.

“Wow..I was not expecting that answer. But umm–are you okay now? Do you take medication or anything like that for the hemophilia? My sister was sent here with some of her cop buddies to help try and get the serial killers caught. My siblings and I joined her after. I always hoped we would go back home but she fell in love with a local woman. Brooke Ford.”

“Yeah....” Vivienne made a face. She didn’t like thinking about all of that but it happened and she couldn’t really run from it. Though it seemed her parents could drag her from it. She nodded. “Yeah, I’m.. alright. I just... I have to be really careful, y’know. About getting hurt. I think the doctors are gonna try me on a new med.” She shrugged. Her whole life had been medicine and doctors and she was just sick to death of it. “Ah. Yeah, I think I saw her... the blonde woman?” She nodded. “Do you still wanna go home?” She wondered.

“We can only ever be grateful for Google Maps.” Savannah laughed, but it faded into a sigh. This girl had come here with her family and Savannah was here to find hers. “That must be nice… Are there many of you?” She asked curiously. “I-…” Her words halted for a moment as she registered her words, “What do you mean? Did something happen?” Not once since coming here had Savannah bothered to pick up a newspaper.

“Oh yeah, there has been plenty of crazy shit that has happened.” He frowned a little bit. There had been a lot since Annie went missing and then found dead. He leaned against his car, looking over at her for a moment, there was a smile that rested on his lips. “I’m glad that you do. Told you, you can see the whole town and everything just seems normal.”