Chapter 15, Twins Reunited

Courtney DiLaurentis's Perspective

I couldn't believe it. I was finally free! Ali and Jason led me to Jason's car.  I climbed in and admired the interior. I hadn't ridden in a car since..... who knows when. I was looking at everything, determined not to miss any of it.   I was very nervous to see my mom and stepfather-who-thought-he was-my-real-father again. What would I even say? 

          "Ali," I blurted out. "Our dad isn't our real dad." Jason gawked at me and slammed the brakes. Ali turned to me. 

                "I know." Ali admitted, biting her lip.  "I just don't know who, though. How did you find out?" 

Jason spread his hands.  "Time out. What? You aren't my sisters?" Ali huffed.

"Don't be so dramatic, Jason. Just because we don't have the same father, it doesn't mean we're not half-siblings, which we are, through Mom." 

"Then who's your father?"   Jason asked. 

"I don't know." Ali admitted.   "I just found that out while I was stuck in hell. By the way, I'm really sorry for-" I knew what she was going to say.

"I've moved on, Ali, it's okay.  Did A- Mona, tell you?" Ali tensed.

"Yeah, the bitch came to gloat. She wouldn't tell me who he was though. I egged her on because I had no information. I bet she was pissed when she found out that we both escaped.  What are we going to do to her?" Ali grinned. "Should we kill her?" 

"Alison!"  I shouted. Jason looked as if he had no idea what we were going on about. 

"Well, she deserves it!" Ali defended herself. 

"We can't kill her, we'd go to jail. No, I say we  just call the police. They'll take care of it." I said. I could tell Ali didn't exactly like that plan, but she moved on.  

      "Fine. But who's our real father? Do you think we'll have  more brothers or sisters? Mona said you knew who he was." I inhaled deeply.

"We have two sisters. And we know both of them." Ali gasped. 

"Seriously?  Will you stop being so cryptic, Court? Spill already!" Ali said, irritably.

"Our father has lived next door to us all of this time, Ali." I said.  My brother and sister dropped their jaws at the same time. 

"Mr. Hastings?" Jason gasped.

"Spencer and Melissa?" Ali shrieked. Then her eyes went to Jason and widened in alarm.

"Eyes on the road!" Ali yelped. "God, Jason, you're such a bad driver!" 

"You try driving when you get news like this!" Jason retorted. 

"Give me the wheel, then!" Ali demanded.

"Of course not!" Jason exclaimed.

"Well, you just said-" Ali started.

"Guys!" I shouted. "Will you stop arguing? What am I supposed to say when we get home?" Ali looked at me.

"How about 'Hi'?" she suggested.

"Well, duh!" I rolled my eyes. "Besides that!" 

"I'm Courtney! Ali was right and you were wrong, and by the way, Mom lied and Ali and I are the product of an affair. And Ali was right." Ali said, smugly. I rolled my eyes. Ali was no help whatsoever.  Then I looked more closely at Ali.

"Are you wearing my clothes?" I asked.

"I'm you, remember? I have to say, for sneakers, these are comfortable. And they're not even that ugly.""Thanks, Ali," I said dryly. "But seriously, what will happen to us?"

"We could move in with Spencer." Ali suggested.   I made a face.

"Do you think exposing who our real father is will ruin his marriage?" I asked. Ali rolled her eyes.

"Probably, but don't you think they all deserve it? After all, they did cheat. Can anyone forgive cheating?" I shook my head. Would we ruin Spencer's life? She was one of my best friends, I couldn't do that to her. But how was I supposed to live with knowing that my biological father was next door- and that he didn't know me, not really. And that I couldn't  try to get to know him without unveiling everything.  Ali and I were a mistake, weren't we?  My mother  was lucky- we looked more like her. But she couldn't exactly explain our noses, the noses that were, now that I think about it, identical to Spencer's. Now, we were approaching the house. I could see Jenna Cavanaugh's house. Then Spencer's house. And mine, next door. Jason turned to me. 

   "We're here, Courtney. No matter what happens, know Alison and I will be here for you. Right?" Jason said, kicking Ali.

"Ow! Of course I'll be here for my twin, you twit! What the hell was that for?" Ali snapped. 

"Well then, let's go, we've got a lot of explaining to do." My mouth was dry. What to do. What to say. How to act. Will they be happy to see me? 

Shaking, I climbed out of the car. I walked up the driveway I started to think I'd never even see again. Was I going to be treated like a freak? Ali strutted up the driveway as if the world had to bow down to her. I wished I felt as confident as Ali looked. But then again, looks can be deceiving. Shaking, I opened the door. 

      "Jason? Courtney?" My mother called. "Where have you been?" 

"Mom!" Alison called. "We've got a surprise for you. It's a big one! Come see!"  

"All right, I'm coming," My mother said, as footsteps made their way toward us. Then there was a scream.

"Alison!" my mother  shrieked, and ran to hug me. I hugged her back, but quickly let go.

"Courtney." I tell her.

"What?" she asked, confused.

"Not Alison. That's Alison. I'm Courtney. Can't you see I'm Courtney?" I wailed. My own mother couldn't tell her daughters apart. 

"Yeah, Mom. She's Courtney. I'm Alison. We're telling the truth. We stopped switching a long time ago." Ali said, crossing her arms. My mom's eyes filled with tears. 

"You weren't lying? You didn't kill her? You were Alison all along." she stuttered. Ali's eyes were hard as rocks.

"I would never." Ali hissed. "Never!"  Steam might have been coming out of Ali's ears, she was that mad. Maybe, because she knew that, once upon a time, she wouldn't have hesitated. But times change. My mother sobbed. And she should. She put an innocent daughter in a mental hospital. 

"Why did you run away, Courtney? And, thank god you did, but why did you finally choose to come back?" my mom cried.

"I didn't run away. I escaped. A crazy girl and a guy she hired kidnapped me. She lives right up the street, so you might want to call the police. I bet she'll try again."

"Someone kidnapped you?" my mother cried even harder. "Why?"

"She didn't like me." Ali said. "So she thought kidnapping Courtney and holding her hostage, then tricking you into sending me to the nuthouse was perfect revenge. Can you call the cops now? Then Courtney and I have another matter to discuss with you." my mom nodded and grabbed the phone. I couldn't hear what she said. It was too much for me. I collapsed, shaking and crying, on top of my twin.  Ali didn't shake me off, like I expected her to. She held my hand, which was what I had really missed. The closeness. Jason was sitting on my other  side, and he kept saying that everything was going to be okay. I wish I could believe you. It was going to be a long time before I was okay. Before I knew it, Mona's house of cards collapsed ridiculously fast. 

Her notes were discovered on a burner phone. Her lair (and B) were found. B (Or Brayden Bennett) was taken away to await his trial in jail. Mona was sent to the Preserve at Addison Stevens, because she was declared insane. Life (should, but that won't happen, because we still need to speak to my mother about us) was supposed to go back to normal. My legal father had been thrilled to see  me, and had been very upset about what had happened.  It pained me. This was the man who had taken us sledding and loved us our whole lives. In reality, he was our father, but not our biological one. Spencer, Hanna, Emily, and Aria still didn't know I was back. They probably had thought that somebody died. 

For the first time in a very long time, I slept in my own room, in my own bed. It was so strange, to feel safe. But I still had so many things to do. See my friends. Talk to my mother about my biological father. If she refused, go straight over to Spencer's. I'm sure they'd be very interested. I woke up this morning, hungry, for the first time since I had been home. Ali was downstairs, listening to her headphones. She had an angry look on her face as she whipped through Vogue. Elle, Cosmo , Glamour, Teen Vogue, and Seventeen lay on the counter.  I looked outside. Then I started laughing. Flashback to the girls in my backyard. Only this time, they were together. And they didn't want the flag. They wanted to sneak into our house. Probably to see Ali. I was sure they didn't know about my return. I gently tapped Ali. 

"Ali." I said, softly. Ali angrily whipped her head up, but her expression softened.

"You're up. What's going on?" Ali asked.

"They're outside. Can you believe it? It's like the time capsule flag all over again."  I laughed.

"Should I tell them it's a bad time?" Ali asked, standing up.

"No," I said. "I want to go talk to them." Ali looked startled.

"All right. Let's go then." Ali said.

And just as I had done years ago, I pushed open the door to talk to them.