“I tried” Connor simply shrugged back at Brie before he too got up to leave the room.

“I guess they both deal with it like males after all” Brie sighed at her daughter, who was still sitting at the table with tears in her eyes. “Meaning, not dealing with it at all” she added, making some tiny attempt at bonding with her daughter,

“Can I go to my room now?” Star whispered.

“At least you ask” Brie returned, causing Star to begin to get up from her seat, “that wasn’t a yes” she raised her voice slightly to cow the girl back into her seat.

“Mom, please” Star complained as she wiped away a streak of eyeliner that her tears had managed to displace.

“If Sky won’t talk about it, I guess I have to ask you” Brie replied.

Star just scoffed, “I already told you...more than he wanted me to. And now he hates me. So, can I please just go?” Star whispered sadly, her tears continuing to slip down her cheeks in black streams.

“He’s your brother. He’ll get over it” Brie assured, only to easily note the way Star flinched at the statement. Brie shook her head, “why do you do that?” she couldn’t stop herself from asking the young girl.

“Do what?” Star returned in the same tearful whisper.

“Every time I say that you and Sky are...” she just shook her head, not sure if she wanted to open up that Pandora’s Box after all.

“Can I go yet?” Star asked again.

“What really happened that day, Star?” Brie pressed.

“I already told you. Some asshole had Sky up against the wall, ripping at the back of his pants, trying to...” she shook her head with another sniffle, “then I showed up and he took off” she finished as quickly as she could.

Brie swallowed hard as she thought on her daughter’s words, “any idea what brought that on?”

Star just glared back at her with a near growl, “un-fucking-believable!”

“Language!” her mother scolded again, “and what do you mean, unbelievable?”

Star just shook her head with further disbelief, before she glared back at the older woman, “you’re a scientist, right?”

“Yes...” Brie stammered, more than a little wary of the sudden question.

“Fine, let’s do an experiment. We’ll try it again, only slightly different” Star began with a thinly veiled sarcasm. She then put a different tone on her voice and spoke again, “hey mom, today some prick who weighs twice as much as me; he grabbed me under the bridge, slammed me, face first into a wall, and then started ripping my clothes off......is this where you fucking ask me what brought that on?!” she spat the words back in her mother’s face, her point clear, as she too rushed from the room in a rage.

Only, when Star hurried from the dining room, her wrist was quickly caught as she passed the doorway. Obviously having been standing there, listening to she and Brie’s quarrel, Sky now pulled her around the doorway with him. That was when he also moved to wrap her in his arms, there out of their mother’s sight. Sky then placed a long kiss over her lips, holding her tightly as their tongues moved against one another’s. When he finally looked into her shocked face again, his own tears were apparent, as he simply gazed at her with what was almost gratitude. He then mouthed the words ‘I love you’ before releasing her from his embrace lest their tender encounter be discovered. He then headed back up the stairs once more, only allowing a sad smile back over his shoulder at her.

That night, when Brie crawled into bed with Connor, who was still busy working on something on his tablet, she sighed heavily as she looked up at the ceiling above them.

“I think Star is even more pissed off at us than Sky. How crazy is that?” she attempted conversationally.

“I’m pretty sure you know why everything that affects him affects her just as deeply” Connor stated distractedly, his eyes still on the tablet.

“Are we back in scientist mode again now?” Brie asked as she looked over at him.

“I tried parent mode earlier. Didn’t go great” he stated sarcastically, eyes still on the screen.

“But we have to keep trying” Brie told him as she turned to her side, placing her hand over his tablet to garner his attention.

“I’m sure they’ll be fine” he stated with annoyance as he relinquished the tablet and moved to pick up his phone instead then.

“They’re obviously not fucking fine, Connor” Brie pointed out the obvious. “I seriously think that the reason they’re like this now; it’s because of your frigging scientist mode” she returned with slight sarcasm, “they’re teenagers, they’re going through the most significant changes ever since we...ever since they came to be. We need to be parents for them. We want them to be normal, so we’ve obviously gotta give them a normal life, somehow. And that means, parent-mode. That means acting like we actually care about them the way parents should” Brie insisted.

Connor just shook his head, “If you really wanted to be a parent, I think you didn’t need to get the lab involved.”

“Whether I wanted to be a parent or not, we are now, and we have to act like it. I mean, it’s bad enough they question the truth about everything we ever tell them. They don’t trust us. We have to make them believe we are telling them the truth, undoubtedly. Otherwise...” she shook her head, “they’re gonna go looking for answers...and that could get really, really bad.”

Connor was quiet a long time before sighing, “I guess we have to test every theory; including your current one. So, where do you recommend we begin with this parenting shit?”

“Well, the whole point of taking them in and raising them was to convince them that they shouldn’t ever...” she shook her head again, “every time we say they’re brother and sister, they cringe. That’s a bit more than worrying. That’s the one thing that we absolutely have to make sure they believe, if nothing else. We just have to.”

The following weekend, Brie returned from her errands and, upon entering the house, called up the stairs to Sky and Star, “hey you two, get down here, I’ve got something important to tell you.”

Several minutes later, the two grudgingly joined her in the dining room, both looking a little flushed. Brie narrowed her eyes at their silence before gesturing to the table for them to take seats.

“Now we have to eat lunch down here too?” Sky asked, referring to the afternoon hour.

“Would you two sit?” she told them as she attempted a smile before moving to dig through her bag.

They both sighed and sat, giving their mother a questioning look as she searched for whatever it was she was searching for in that bag. Finally, a moment later, she turned back to them, clutching a manila envelope in her hands and wearing a nervous smile.

“You’re giving us back to the adoption agency?" Sky hazarded a guess.

“Funny” she shook her head over at him before taking a seat at the foot of the table and gingerly setting the envelope in the middle of it.

“Is it going to explode?” Star added to the awkward silence.

Brie just shook her head with another laugh to hide her unease, “listen I know things haven’t exactly been great between me and your dad and you guys. And I’m sorry for that. Nobody ever gave us an instruction manual on how to be parents” she attempted another smile. She then took a deep breath, “so believe me when I say, I’m terrified to share this with you.”

That particular statement did do well to garner the complete attention of both teens, wondering if they’d finally be getting some truth out of this woman, after over a decade of vague answers and half-truths and avoidance of all kinds.

Brie took another breath, “now, I’m not gonna actually show you what’s in this envelope, but I’m going to tell you, and let you two decide what you want to do with it.”

“Is it money for our own place?” Sky asked hopefully just to cut the tension in the room.

Brie scowled slightly before continuing with the same wariness, “basically what’s in here,” she gestured to the envelope again, “is the records the adoption agency finally released to us.”

They both narrowed their eyes at that, as they were not even fully convinced there even was an adoption agency at this point.

“What kind of records?” Star asked, her voice breaking slightly.

“Well, it’s your birth certificates” Brie offered, watching for that cringe again, “which basically means, the names of your real parents are in here.”

“Our real parents?” Sky repeated with the same stammer in his voice as he took a breath.

“Yes, so if, when you’re older, and let me stress that; if you two ever wanna really know where you came from...well, it’s all here for you” she allowed a slight breath as the two both seemed frozen in place right then, “so, I’m gonna put this in the safe, in dad’s office, the combination is your birthday. I’m hoping you never feel the urge to use this information to...to leave us” she attempted, “but you should still be allowed to see it, when you’re both ready” she finished with another nervous smile as she gathered the envelope into her hands again, and moved off toward the office at the other side of the adjoining living room.

That was when Sky’s and Star’s eyes met once again, across the table, both nearly hyperventilating then, as a million horrible thoughts begun tearing through their brains again. After several long moments of both trying to fight off an all-out anxiety attack, Sky was the first to speak, “I don’t know. I mean, I don’t buy it.” he denied, his breath still coming in short gasps.

“Sky...”

“It can’t be true...it just can’t” his voice broke as he retreated from the room once more, but this time it wasn’t in anger. This time it was in abject terror, crippling shame, and heartbreaking despair.

The house was dreadfully silent that night as Sky and Star had both spent the rest of the afternoon and evening locked in their rooms, their bodies both wracked with sobs for more hours than either could count. When Brie finally called up the stairs for them to come to dinner, Star forced herself to wipe away the tears from her red and puffy cheeks, her head pounding from crying for hours on end.

She forced her feet to carry her down to the dining room, though didn’t honestly know if she could ever make herself eat again. She simply sat at the table, numb, her eyes glazed over as though she were not even present in her own body anymore.

“Have you been crying?” Brie asked worriedly.

“Doesn’t matter” Star whispered, still just sitting, staring blankly at Sky’s still empty chair, not even going through the motions of pretending to eat this time.

“What’s wrong now?” Brie attempted.

“And where’s your brother?” Connor added, though the question just caused her to bite back another sob.

“Star?” Brie looked over at her with what almost looked like sincere worry that time.

“I’ll go get him” she whispered as she pushed herself up from the chair again, heading back upstairs with the same numbness permeating her entire frame.

When she reached Sky’s bedroom door, she stopped outside trying to steel herself into having to lay her eyes on him again right then. Finally, after another moment, she went to knock on the door, receiving no response.

“Come on, Sky, it’s me” she sniffled against the door, not sure that that would even be enough to make him reply, all things considered.

After another moment, she called on whatever strength she even had left, which was barely any, and pushed his door open. Inside, she found him laying atop the bed, eyes closed, his breath shallow, fresh blood dripping from his wrist.