16

Full name: Luke Anthony Thornton

Born: April 18th, 1997, Cincinnati, Ohio.

Agent ID: 02522

Location: Outpost 13. Twin Operative Compound, New York.

Skills: Weapons, Technology.

Known next of kin: Mark Thornton (father), Amber Thornton (mother), Alexa Thornton (sister)

Physical assessment:

-6'3 in height

-Approximately 195 lbs

-Blonde hair

-Blue eyes

Mental assessment:

-Diagnosed with Anxiety

"Does it tell you all my dirty little secrets?" Luke joked from beside Carmen.

She peered at him over the file and smiled. "Obviously."

Kendra had asked Carmen earlier this morning to help Luke with any coding or hacking advice that she could give him. Luke admitted that he'd been somewhat advanced in Technology, but not nearly as advanced as Carmen was. Now, the two were seated side by side at a computer in the screening room while Luke did coding trials and Carmen watched.

"I thought you didn't want to read our files?" Luke asked as he continued typing.

Carmen shrugged. "Colton told me that I should."

"So you guys are talking now?"

The question had Carmen thinking back to just a hours prior, Carmen had woken up at the same time she was supposed to for training. She walked into the training room five minutes early and got the weights laid out on her own as well as began stretching. Colton strolled into the room moments later with pure shock on his face at the sight of her. He'd genuinely expected her to bail like she had for the past few days. They didn't make any remarks about the fact that she'd actually shown up, on time, and was ready to go. She only said, "Where do you want me to start?" He told her to finish stretching and then they would get back to some conditioning. But when Carmen turned her back to him, she failed to see the pleased half-smile that Colton tried to hide by staring down at his phone.

"Maybe." Carmen looked to the computer screen. "Go back," she directed Luke.

He followed her order while she looked over the coding on the screen. "There's a much easier way of doing that, there's hidden shortcuts in this kind of layout."

She reached forward and began typing a few commands out, backspacing any unnecessary ones. The screen suddenly flashed a green box that read: Trial Complete.

Lukes eyes went wide. "That would have taken me another twenty minutes to finish, and you just did it."

"You did too much. After this command right here." She tapped her finger against the screen. "You can either take the longer way to complete it like you did or you can put what I did, which basically takes a backdoor through the program."

Luke shook his head as he moved the mouse around the screen looking for another trial. "How did you even learn how to do all this?"

Carmen set his file down on the table beside the monitor and tilted the rolling chair back a bit, folding her hands on her stomach. "I was always interested in computers and really anything that had wires and a circuit. When I was little, I used to take apart my parents DVD players just to put it back to together and learn how it worked. I did it with one of Ainsleys laptops and I got grounded for three months." She chuckled at the memory. "By the time I was in seventh grade, my parents found classes that I could take that would teach me about coding, engineering and all that stuff. When I got into high school, I took any computer science class that I could. But at that point I was already better at it than everyone in the class, probably even the teacher. I was pretty much self-taught for most of it. Any opportunity that I had to reprogram or hack something without getting into trouble, I took. Ainsley used to have me hack the schools grading system right before the report cards came out and change her grades. She couldn't keep that a secret to save her life, so a bunch of kids started paying me to do it."

"You never got busted?" Luke asked, fully invested in her story rather than his coding.

Carmen shook her head with a proud grin. "They knew that someone was getting into the school's system and changing grades, but they could never figure out who. They even asked my computer science teacher to help solve it but like I said: I was smarter than most of them and I knew how to cover my tracks so that they couldn't trace it back to me."

Luke let out a light laugh. "I wish I did that when I was in school. It would have made my life a lot easier."

Carmen frowned at the way he said it, was it possible that his father didn't let his abuse stop at just the training? Did he use school performance as an excuse to hit them as well?

"Luke, I want to be fully honest with you so I thought you should know that Alexa told me your story about how you guys got here," Carmen spoke slowly, scared to bring up painful memories of their past.

Lukes fingers paused their typing. "Did she now?"

Carmen nodded as she fidgeted with her fingers, picking at the black polish coating her nails. "I just figured you should know."

"So you know that my father is a massive piece of shit?" Luke leaned back in his seat, meeting Carmens eyes.

She nodded once again.

"And Alexa told you everything?" He may have seemed relaxed to anyone else looking, but Carmen could read the tensing of his shoulders. "Even about herself?"

"Yeah."

"Do you have any change in opinion about her?" Luke asked, a tense tone in his voice. Carmen knew what he was doing, he was trying to detect any sign of prejudiced attitude toward his sister. Carmen instantly shook her head.

"Of course not."

Luke seemed to relax a bit, releasing a heavy breath. "Good," he said. "I don't mean to sound rude, but I just want my sister to have nothing but a completely accepting environment here. I won't have anyone around her who isn't willing to see her for who she is."

Carmen nodded along to his words. "I understand. But you don't have to worry about that from me."

Luke suddenly smiled and held up his fist. "Then we'll get along just fine."

Carmen couldn't help but smile herself and brought her own fist up to bump against his.

"What are you two doing?" A voice asked from across the room by the door. Luke and Carmen both looked over to see Clayton approaching the table they sat at. Carmens smile fell and she folded her arms over her chest as he halted his steps behind Lukes chair.

"Your mom asked Carmen to help me with my coding," Luke said, looking over his shoulder at his best friend. "She's teaching me some new stuff."

Clayton looked to Carmen. "Really?"

"Yep," Carmen replied. "I'm not as useless as you may think."

"We'll see about that." Clayton flashed her a patronizing smile, one that resulted in Carmen flipping him off.

Luke noticed the gesture and rubbed at his face tiredly. "Why can't we all just be friends?"

"Maybe if she didn't feel the need to make stupid comments," Clayton muttered under his breath.

Carmen shot him an annoyed glare. "How old are you again? 23?"

"Sure am." He shoved his hands into his pockets.

Carmen smiled sweetly. "Could've fooled me. You act 12."

Claytons eyebrows went up and he parted his lips to respond but was interrupted by Coltons voice on the other side of the room. "What are you guys doing in here?"

The three of them looked over to see him approaching from the doorway. "Arguing with your partner. The usual."

Luke stood up and pushed his chair back in, almost anticipating Carmens next comment.

"Colton, would you please put a leash on your brother? He's like a chihuahua, he just never shuts up."

Colton smirked at the insult and Claytons eyes widened. "Listen you a-" Claytons words suddenly halted there as Luke slammed a hand over his mouth.

Clayton continued speaking muffled sentences behind Lukes palm as Luke ushered him out of the room. "Come on, dude. It's not worth the headache you'll have later."

Colton watched his brother and Luke pass with an amused expression. Before passing through the doorway, still unable to speak against Lukes hand and eyes locked on Carmen, Clayton threw up his hand to match Carmens obscene gesture from moments ago. The door slid shut behind them.

Colton looked over at Carmen. "What'd you do to piss him off this time?"

"I breathed," Carmen said curtly, picking up Lukes file once more and pretending to be busy reading it, however her mind was too focused on Coltons eyes staring her down.

Colton was not stupid, he knew that her showing up to training was not a symbol of peace between them. It would take a lot more for Carmen to start fully trusting any of them, and Colton knew that. He recalled how differently everyone reacted to coming here. Before Luke and Alexa showed up, Kendra only ever took in spies with prior training to help advance their talents and to complete missions here. Once Khalilah and Anaya had left, Kendra rarely heard of twin spies coming in. When they'd taken in Luke and Alexa, Colton remembered Luke being more eager than Alexa was. It took a while before she'd warmed up to them. Santana was cautious but she wanted to know everything that she could, Sophie was almost unreadable since she was so shy. But, Alexa helped bring her out of her shell. Ainsley was much like Santana, she knew that she had terms and conditions to being here and she didn't fully trust anyone but she was there for a reason and she wanted to put her skills to use. Colton couldn't say that he didn't understand Carmens reason for being so distant. The situation with Ainsley put aside, she was taken from her normal life and thrown into this one overnight.

"I came in here to tell you that we're leaving," Colton said. This grabbed Carmens attention.

"Where are we going?" She asked, leaning forward in her seat eagerly.

"Grocery shopping."

Her shoulders slumped forward. "Seriously?"

He nodded. "Take it as an opportunity to get out of here for a couple hours. You can pick out any food that you want."

"You guys took my debit card." She threw her hands up. "I can't pay for anything."

Colton knew that this would be an issue, he reached into his back pocket and pulled out a white debit card with Carmens full name written on it. He walked over and held it out to her. "Consider this your first paycheck."

"You guys get paychecks?" She took the card.

Colton resisted the urge to chuckle. "This is a job, you know. We all get paid for training and missions."

Carmen turned the debit card over in her hands as she contemplated her answer as to whether or not she would go with him. Colton huffed out a slow breath and broke the silence once more, "It's your choice, obviously. I think it would be good for you to come with."

"You guys keep throwing that word around." She scoffed, rising from her seat to fully face Colton, who was well aware of the fewer inches of distance between them than Carmen usually allowed.

He tilted his head in question, "What word?"

"Choice," she responded. "As if I really ever had much of one."

Carmen side-stepped him and headed for the door as Colton peered over his shoulder at her. "You always have a choice, Carmen."

Colton could only see the back of her head, so he couldn't see the look on Carmens face that displayed her lack of belief in that statement.

**

The ride to the grocery store was devastatingly silent. Colton left the radio on a random station that occasionally went out due to satellite interruption and neither of them moved to mess with it. Upon being led down to the garage to get into Coltons black Camaro, Carmen was initially taken back to see the large abundance of different vehicles in the garage located beneath the building.

When they walked into the grocery store, Colton grabbed a cart and told Carmen to grab one for herself as well. She did so reluctantly and Carmen followed closely behind Colton who read from a list on his phone and grabbed items occasionally as they went from aisle to aisle. Carmen realized after a moment that she'd forgotten to grab anything from the aisles that they went through and waited until they reached the produce section to begin grabbing items. She grabbed bananas first and then some green apples.

Carmen thought that Colton was busy getting his own fruits and vegetables when she'd reached over and grabbed a container of strawberries from a display bin when she looked over to see him watching her intently. She gripped the container close to her. "Do you guys have sugar?"

Coltons mouth turned up into a soft smile and he nodded. "We do. I take it you have the same obsession for eating strawberries dipped in sugar like Ainsley does?"

Carmen instantly wanted to throw the strawberries back in the bin but swallowed her pride and nodded. "I didn't think she still liked eating it."

"It's part of the reason that we always keep sugar in the pantry." Colton took an awfully close step to Carmen and reached around her to grab his own container of strawberries. After careful inspection, he tossed them into the cart.

The more that they travelled through the store, Carmen grew more comfortable grabbing ingredients from the shelves and putting them into her cart. Once they approached the self-check out, Carmen handled it on her own, not that she needed any help anyway. She paid with the card that Colton had given her and waited for him to finish. Once he had, the two walked in silence back to the car and began loading the groceries into the trunk.

Carmen felt a question bubble to the surface and broke the silence, "Where are we?"

Colton didn't look up at her as he continued putting the bags in the back. "Monroe. It's about an hour away from the city but it's the closest town to The Compound. So we get all our groceries and gas from here. But The Compound is pretty much in a remote location for the most part. It's not exactly easy to find but even if people do find it, it's highly protected and anyone who even tries to cross our fences would be arrested and put in a federal prison."

"Has that ever happened?"

Colton shook his head. "No. In all the years that it's been there, which is longer than I've been alive, we've never had anyone that we don't want finding it to come across it."

With that, they brought their carts back to the building and then got back into Coltons car to return to The Compound.

His words continued to echo in her mind. Monroe. Carmen recognized these streets as soon as he'd driven them into the town and she couldn't put her finger on why until he'd told her the name. It was because she'd been here before.

Carmen picked at her nail polish anxiously, as if gathering the courage to ask Colton to do this favor for her would be a tolling task. They'd driven in silence for a few minutes before Carmen finally spoke up once more, "Colton?"

"Yeah?"

"I know that you're probably going to say no, but I have a favor to ask."

This question had Colton shifting in the drivers seat, peaking his curiosity.

Carmen sighed. "There's somewhere that I really want to go. It's like ten minutes out of the way but..." She'd looked up and read the hesitation on his face before she even finished her sentence. "I would really appreciate if we could go. I won't be longer than a few minutes." She swallowed hard. "Please?"

Colton remained silent for a few moments. He tried not to let her see the surprise on his face from her plead. He definitely couldn't say that he expected her to say 'Please?' to anything since the fight with Ainsley. But he knew that whatever it was, it had to be important enough for her to ask.

He reached into his back pocket to remove his phone and handed it over to her. "Put the address into the GPS."

She took the phone, and he knew that he didn't need to look at her to see the grateful expression on her face.

For the next several minutes the two of them sat in silence and only listened to the GPS guiding Colton down the streets of Monroe. It wasn't until Carmen directed him to park at the end of a dead end street, that was lined with houses, that the silence was disturbed. Colton threw the car in park and didn't even get a chance to ask Carmen why she wanted to come here before she'd already climbed out of the car and shut the door behind her. Colton switched off the engine and got out of the car in time to see her making her way to a path between houses that led straight into the trees.

He asked no questions and only followed her.

Carmen made her way down the dirt path that she knew would lead her to her destination.

"Carmen, this is private property," Colton said from behind her in a concerned voice.

"Not to me, it's not."

He didn't even bother to ask her to elaborate on why she believed the rules didn't apply to her. Carmen couldn't see too well due to the darkness of the night sky, but she allowed her memory to guide her. Once she passed the shrub on the path that was riddled with pink flowers, Carmen knew to take a right. Colton trailed behind her as Carmen veered off the path that led to the woods behind the houses they'd just cut behind. Once they cleared the tree line, Colton finally saw what Carmen was heading towards. A lake.

There was a wooden dock at the lake and Carmen stepped onto it, she went to the very edge of it and rested her arms against the railing. She just alternated between staring at the water and the stars in the sky.

Colton appeared at her side, copying her stance and taking in the sight. He stood just close enough that his shoulder brushed against her own.

"How did you know this was back here?" he finally asked.

Carmen slowly tapped her finger against the wood of the railing. "My dad grew up in Monroe. The house I had you park at, that's the house he grew up in. My grandparents left it to him when they passed, and he left it to my mom when he passed too. So, don't worry, we're not trespassing. When Ainsley and I were kids, my dad used to take us to this lake. It's some of the best memories that I have of when we were a happy family. It reminds me of home, of my life before all of this."

Colton nodded slowly and angled his head in her direction, watching her dark eyes admire the sight and could easily tell by the look on her face that she had more to say.

"I'm not a bad person, you know? I know that I've made mistakes, it's not like this life is one that I would've picked out for myself. But sometimes we don't have another option." She finally met his eyes. "So trust me when I say that it's not fair to act like Ainsley is some saint who could never do any wrong. Just because she ended up being the good guy in your lives doesn't mean that she didn't hurt me beyond words. It doesn't mean that she hasn't made her fair share of mistakes that wound her up where she's at. We're all a product of the bad choices that we've made."

"And the good ones," Colton said softly.

Carmen darted her eyes back to the water. "I know you guys are close with her. I've had to come to terms with that over the past few days. But I am not obligated to forgive her for what she put me and our parents through, especially when she didn't even bother to check to see if any of us were still alive. I'm angry and I have every right to be, so I won't apologize for how I handled the situation about my dad."

Colton finally nodded and stared at the stars, he may have been incredibly mad when Carmen first dropped the bomb on Ainsley about their dad. But he couldn't exactly say that he blamed her anymore, not after the thought that he'd given it. However, deep down, he knew that wasn't the reason that Ainsley and Carmens fighting bothered him so much.

Colton couldn't remember the last time that he planned on being so transparent with someone. But if it could make things better for the Faber twins, then maybe it would be worth it.

Carmen glanced out of the corner of her eye at him and saw him inhaling deeply, clearly gathering the courage to speak. Carmen said her piece, now it was his turn.

"I shouldn't have gotten so mad," Colton admitted with sincerity. "I'm sorry. I don't know exactly how you feel and I shouldn't have said my opinion when it was clearly biased because of how long I've known Ainsley. It's just..." He sighed and looked down at the water beneath them. "I envy you, Carmen."

This had Carmen blinking at him in surprise as she waited for him to elaborate.

"You got separated from your sister and by some miracle, you two find your way back to each other after years. I wish I was in your shoes, but I'm not and I would give anything to see my sister again." There was a pain in his tone that made Carmens heart fill with sadness.

"What?" she whispered.

Carmen could see his jaw tense in the moonlight and Colton stared ahead as he went on, "I had an older sister. Her name was Payton. She was Claytons twin."

Had.

Was.

These words echoed in Carmens head.

"From the get-go, the two of them were inseparable. But then I came along and we became The Three Musketeers." He smiled slightly when he said this, but his smile faded as soon as it came. "But their bond was different than the one they had with me. I could always see that, even when we were kids. It's the bond of a twin, something that I've always seen but will never feel."

He shook his head and Carmen began to remember their conversation that they had back at the hotel in Las Vegas, he told her that he'd always felt like an outsider for not having a twin. It was the first time that Carmen felt like she wasn't as alone as she seemed. However, when he said this, she knew that she didn't return that feeling. Because at the end of the day, Carmen and Ainsley were still twins. She knew exactly what bond he was referring to. It was a bond that Carmen felt everywhere in her body at all points in time. It resided deep in her bones and heart, despite all the animosity between her and her sister. Carmen realized in that moment that she couldn't fully relate to Coltons loneliness, and a part of her felt guilty for it.

"Two years ago, we went on a mission. It was supposed to be quick and easy but things went south." Colton shut his eyes at the memory and a shudder shook his body. "Payton died."

Carmen wanted to speak. She wanted to say anything that she could that may help Colton feel better, but she knew that there weren't enough words in the world that could possibly make a wound like that hurt any less.

"Things weren't the same after that. Not with my parents, not with me and definitely not with my brother. Clay lost the other half of himself that night. The rest of the team was crushed, especially Ainsley and Santana. After a while, my mom just kept drowning herself in her work, I think it helped keep her mind off of it. But my dad," he trailed off and took a deep breath. "My dad decided that he wasn't going to stay and see any more of his kids die like that. He begged Clay and I to come with him when he left, but we were too committed to this. I've probably only seen him a couple times since he left and that's usually if Clay can convince me to fly out and visit him on the holidays. My dad and I were pretty close, but I just couldn't get over that he left right when we needed him most. I get he was grieving; I know that losing a child can't be easy, but he had two more who needed him and he just took off." Colton looked over to gaze at Carmen. "But all of that has only made me appreciate every moment that I have with my brother now. I guess that when I see that you have a second chance with Ainsley, I get a little jealous because Clay and I will never get that opportunity. That's why I want you to make up with her so badly. This life that we live, it's a dangerous one. Our lives are constantly at risk every day. So, we need to make sure that when we go, we don't have any regrets. And Carmen, I know that if something were to happen to either you or Ainsley, not making peace with each other would be your biggest regret."

His words had gotten through to her, and Carmen nodded slowly. Before she even knew what she was doing, she reached over and placed a hand over his own. "I'm so sorry, Colton."

Colton felt as if bolts of lightning were shooting right through his hands, right where Carmen had let hers fall. He looked down at their hands and he decided to completely hold hers in his by lacing their fingers together and gave her an appreciative smile.

"I can't promise that my forgiveness will come fast." Carmen half-shrugged. "But I can promise not to pick fights with her anymore, I'll try to be civil as long as she tries too. For everyone else's sake, I'll stop fighting with her, but it could take a while before I can move past her running off for five years."

Coltons thumb brushed down her knuckle and the soft movement had captivated her attention completely.

"As long as you try, that's what matters. I know that it'll take time. But trust me, I just want you guys to be able to be in the same room as each other," Colton explained.

Carmen nodded in understanding.

Colton forced a smile. "Well, I guess that means that I should give you this back then." Colton released their hands and dug around in his jacket pocket. He eventually pulled out a rectangular black object, Carmen had to squint to see it properly in the moonlight and then her eyes widened with relief. "My phone!" she exclaimed happily.

Colton handed it to her and Carmen instantly turned the phone on to see that it had been fully charged.

"Is this one of those privileges that you were talking about me earning back?" Carmen cocked an eyebrow at him.

He chuckled and rubbed the back of his neck. "Okay, I'll admit, that probably wasn't the best term to use."

She agreed and watched as her phone started roaming for a signal.

"I want you to feel at home, Carmen," Colton said with such tenderness that she couldn't help but look up at him. "We all do. So, thank you."

"For what?"

"For trying."

Just as Carmen opened her mouth to respond, her phone began buzzing wildly. They both looked down to see several missed calls and texts that had come from her mom throughout the past few days. She frowned. "What am I supposed to tell her?"

Colton shoved his hands in his pockets. "I don't recommend telling her the truth, not yet anyway."

"You think that I should lie?"

Colton didn't respond and Carmen huffed a sigh before she began typing a response to her mothers several texts.

Hey, mom. Sorry I haven't been answering, the hotel I'm staying at for this business trip has no service at all. I might have to extend the trip for a little while longer but I'll call you later tonight. Love you.

Carmen felt guilt in her gut. Not for the white lie that she just fed her mother, but for the fact that her mother was probably having severe anxiety over Carmen being so far and not answering her phone for days. She could only hope that it wasn't enough to send her into an attack that Carmen couldn't have even been there to help her through.

**

"What's the password?" Lukes voice echoed over the intercom at the front gates of The Compound.

After leaving the lake, Colton informed Carmen that they would have to stop to grab pizza on the way home. "It's supposed to be my night to cook dinner, but I'm too lazy to do it." Is what he said to her before asking her to help carry the several boxes of pizza that he ordered back to the car. Carmen couldn't lie when she realized that she'd left the lake feeling like there was a large weight lifted off her shoulders. Colton could feel it too, he could see it in her behavior and how she smiled more when she talked and listened to him speak. The two of them felt a peace flowing between them as they grasped the fact that things may go smoother from here. He told himself that as long as Ainsley and Carmen didn't go for each others throats, everything should be fine. They rolled up to the front gates and Colton rolled down his window to press a button on the intercom to alert everyone inside that someone was waiting at the gate. Carmen asked where the usual guards were that typically let them go to and from The Compound and Colton informed her that they were watching different parts of the property at the moment, that was only seconds before they were greeted with Lukes voice coming over the intercom.

Colton rolled his eyes. "You're a dumbass."

Luke made a sound that resembled a buzzer. "Wrong. Try again later."

"Actually, the password is that we have your pizza in my backseat and I'm totally cool sitting here and eating all of it," Colton warned.

"Damn," Lukes annoyed voice returned. "Fine. Just leave my pizza out of this."

At that moment, Lukes voice disappeared and there was a loud beep sounding from the metal box before the gates began opening. Colton drove through the front gates and up the long road. Carmen glanced out her own mirror to see the gates had closed behind them. When The Compound came into view, Colton took them right up to the front doors which were already opened. The two of them spotted Clayton, Santana and Ainsley waiting for the car to pull up.

Colton parked the car in front of them and opened his car door before raising his hands in question. "You guys couldn't wait for me to bring in the pizza? You're so impatient."

Carmen opened her own door, never removing her eyes from Ainsley. Despite the fact that her sister did not pay her any mind.

"I actually came out to help you carry in groceries," Clayton said in defense as he walked to the back of the car. "They were the impatient ones."

Santana shrugged and headed towards Coltons backseat. "I'm starving."

Carmen helped Santana carry some of the boxes, Ainsley waited until Carmen was inside to relax her shoulders and grab some of the pizza boxes from the back as well while Colton and Clayton came back outside to get more grocery bags from the trunk.

Ainsley didn't look up at either of them as she spoke, "Did you get regular cheese?"

Colton glanced over at her with a confused expression. "No, I went with everyone's usual order. Why? Did you want cheese too?"

Ainsley shook her head and balanced the boxes in her arm before using her waist to shut the car door. "Carmen only eats plain cheese pizza."

This comment had even Clayton stopping in his tracks beside his brother and looking to Ainsley with raised eyebrows. Ainsley looked up at the brothers and blew a strand of hair out of her face.

"What?" she snapped.

Colton smiled. "I'll keep that in mind."

When Ainsley huffed out a breath and went inside, Colton didn't know whether to feel happy at the gesture or not. Surely it meant improvement for the two of them. Right? He wasn't totally sure yet.

But Colton kept his word, tucking this small fact inside an important part of his mind.

Ainsley was right. Colton took notice of every piece of pizza that Carmen had on her plate. She'd grabbed 3 slices of the sausage pizza and when nobody paid too much attention, she'd picked all the pieces of meat off of them and piled them onto the side of her plate. Colton felt a bit of guilt for not checking to see if she would even eat the types of pizza that he'd ordered. He was still getting used to the idea of a new person.

"No!" Sophie passionately exclaimed from beside Colton. "That's a macchiato, not an americano!"

"I know the difference in my espresso drinks, Sophie," Luke said from across the table. Everyone had been sitting at the long table and eating their dinner, everyone except Clayton. He was leaning against the island, holding his plate and eating his pizza. He could sit. But he would have to claim the seat beside Ainsley on one end of the table, or the seat beside Carmen on the other. Clearly, he didn't want to sit beside either of them.

Colton rolled his eyes when his brother made eye contact with him. Stubborn ass.

Colton hadn't been paying attention to the argument taking place between Sophie and Luke, but the sudden outburst had drawn everyone's attention. Alexa looked back and forth between her girlfriend and her brother with wide and confused eyes.

"You're thinking of a cappuccino," Santana said to her sister.

"No," Sophie groaned. "Espresso in water is a macchiato."

"No." A voice to Coltons right grabbed his attention, as well as everyone else in the room. "An americano is espresso with water, a macchiato is a little bit of foamed milk with espresso and a cappuccino is equal amounts of steamed milk with espresso and foam," Carmen explained.

"Oh shit." Luke slapped a hand to his forehead. "That's right. You worked at that barista place before you came here."

Ainsleys eyes shot up from across the table, directly to Carmen. "You still worked at The Java Cooler?"

Carmen held eye contact with her for a brief second before nodding slowly. She had half a mind to ignore her question but all that she could hear in her head were Coltons words from earlier: Try.

The corner of Ainsleys lips turned up and she shook her head before looking back down at her plate to grab another piece of pizza. "I never got what you saw in that place, I hated it there."

"You had a job that didn't involve killing people?" Clayton asked Ainsley.

"Ainsley worked there for a day under the schools work permit before quitting. I guess she can't stay in places for very long before she gets bored," Carmen said it so bluntly that everyone snapped their heads in her direction, but her eyes only went to Colton who was staring at her with a pleading facial expression. Carmen offered an apologetic look and then reverted her eyes back to her sister whose hand was frozen midair as it was about to deliver the pizza to Ainsleys mouth before Carmen made her comment. Her eyes were trained on the table before her, and no one moved.

Carmen adjusted in her seat and cleared her throat. "I'm sorry, that was unnecessary."

The comment had stunned everyone in the room, but the apology had shocked everyone including Clayton who coughed as he choked on his drink.

Luke looked over his shoulder at his best friend who was struggling to catch his breath. "Anyone know CPR?"

"Shut up," Clayton said between coughing fits. When he finally stopped coughing, he cleared his throat and Ainsley lowered her pizza back to her plate before abruptly standing.

"I'm not really hungry. Sorry, Colton."

"It's fine, Ainsley," Colton replied with a sad voice that grabbed Carmens attention and she took a deep breath as Ainsley threw out her plate and stormed out of the room.

The only thing that broke the silence in the room was Claytons voice, and Carmen had never been more glad to hear it considering it broke the tension. "I'm bringing food to Mom and then I'm going to bed."

Once Clayton had gathered a plate of the pizza that he knew his mother would eat along with a glass of water, he walked out of the room and Carmen lowered her head.

"I really am sorry," she said softly. "I don't want to make anyone uncomfortable, it's just that it's still hard for me. But I'm trying." She looked up to meet Coltons gaze, knowing that the last word had meant something to the both of them.

Colton nodded and reached forward, taking Carmens hand in his own. "That's all we can ask, Carmen." He looked around the table, "Right?"

"Of course," Alexa agreed.

Sophie and Santana nodded, Santana more reluctantly than her sister.

Luke shrugged. "It's all good, Carmen. Seriously. I get it."

Carmen forced an appreciative smile and couldn't help but stare down at the hand that Colton still didn't remove from Carmens grasp.

He brushed a thumb down the back of her hand and Carmen had to fight to contain the breath that she almost sucked in at the gesture as a small part of her stomach swirled in response.

**

Ainsley had seen a lot of shit, done a lot of shit, in her lifetime. But she'd never done a single thing without reason. Even though that small part of her that craved destruction and violence wanted her to do the most outrageous things just because she knew she could. She only ever let that part of her take over a few times in her past, and it hasn't happened since she joined the Twin Operative. But it was there. Ainsley knew that part of her was capable of doing the most sinister things which included destroying anyone who dared touch a hair on Carmens head, even her family that she found here. She never thought that part of herself would ever surface for those she cared about most. But when Kendra first brought up eliminating Carmen all those months ago, she could only see red, and she fought those violent parts that told her to kill anyone involved in even suggesting that.

The part of herself that she kept buried could do damage to anyone... anyone except Carmen.

That side of Ainsley went completely to rest when her sister was near. Only because Ainsley knew that she could and would never harm her sister. Aside from their parents, Carmen was the only person who could make the storms inside Ainsley subside. No matter how angry Carmen made Ainsley with her confession of their father.

When Ainsley saw Carmen again, she felt that internal storm finally go quiet for the first time in years. It was a temporary peace that she didn't know she needed.

As Ainsley stood leaning against the dresser in her room, turning the pocketknife with the red handle over in her hands, she wished that Carmen could just move on with the past. Ainsley did not believe in second chances until now. The fact that they'd gotten one should've been enough to make Carmen jump with joy, right?

Ainsley opened the knife and ran her finger across the semi-dull edge of the blade at the same time that a knock sounded from her bedroom door.

She didn't need to respond because she knew the door would open anyway, and Luke stepped in. He shut the door and leaned against it. Ainsley suddenly felt the rooms temperature raise, or maybe that was just her body.

She had been expecting him. Ainsley stared at her ceiling for an hour after dinner before giving up and deciding that she needed something to take her mind off the emotions she was currently feeling, and only Luke allowed her that release. He knew that as soon as he'd gotten the text from Ainsley to come to her room 10 minutes ago that a distraction was exactly what she was looking for. It wasn't the first time and deep down, aside from the sadness that their one-night stands brought him, he hoped that it wasn't the last.

Luke watched Ainsley examine the knife closely, clearly having a lot on her mind. "I hope you didn't decide to try out knife-play," he joked and walked over to her bed, sitting on the end and leaning forward to rest his elbows on his knees. "That might be where I draw the line."

Ainsley smiled and shook her head. "I'm not into that."

"How are you holding up? We haven't had a chance to talk."

She took a deep breath and stared hard at the metal in her hands. Luke and Ainsley may have had sex plenty of times, but they were still close nevertheless. It was only a couple years ago when Luke was her only shoulder to lean on during possibly one of the hardest losses that she'd ever endured. They were still friends. No matter how badly Luke wanted them to be something more.

"I know I made the right choice," Ainsley began, still not turning to look at him. "I don't regret bringing Carmen here, but sometimes I feel like it's biting me in the ass."

Luke watched carefully as she finally closed the pocket knife and laid it on top of her dresser to look him in the eyes. "Siblings fight. You can't say that you didn't expect at least her to be a little mad when she got here. She doesn't necessarily need to go about it in the way that she did." He shrugged. "But what did you expect?"

"Tact," Ainsley said with the roll of her eyes.

Luke smirked. "From a Faber? Come on now."

Ainsley bit back the words she wanted to say next for that remark. She didn't want to hear this. Carmen broke the news about their father to Ainsley in a brutal way. She did it because she was angry.

The thing about Ainsley and Carmen was that when they were growing up, each one clung to one parent most of the time. It's not that either twin loved the other parent more, it's simply that they either got along with the other parent better or had more in common with them. Ainsley observed from a young age that Carmen clung to their mother a lot of the time. She assumed that it was because of how similar they were. So, Ainsley turned to their father, who had taught Ainsley so much of what she knows today. They were always two peas in a pod. She believed that deep down, her father knew that she could never live a basic life like Carmen and her mother wanted. Ainsley needed more, she needed to taste the danger, the rush of being alive everyday just to get out of bed in the morning. That had become her way of life. It was built into her, and she didn't know why, but Ainsley was a risk taker. Her father knew that. Carmen was no stranger to the fact that Ainsley was so close to their father, which is why it enraged Ainsley so much that Carmen would expose his death like that out of spite.

"I know that you're pissed, Ainsley," Luke continued. "But I think that you should talk to her."

Ainsley slowly shook her head and pushed her shoulders back. A slight smile crept across her face as she slowly pushed off the dresser and made her way over to Luke. "I don't want to talk about that anymore."

She pressed both knees into the mattress on either side of him and sat on his lap, straddling him. She wrapped her arms around his neck and smiled wickedly as she leaned into him to whisper in his ear, "We don't have to talk at all, actually."

Luke closed his eyes and his mouth twitched up when Ainsley's lips dropped from his ear to kiss the spot under his jaw that only she knew about. She knew that this was the equivalent to a switch for him.

Lukes hands grasped under Ainsley's thighs, urging her closer against him as she pressed a couple soft kisses to that spot before Luke tilted his head back to give her full access to his neck. Ainsley lingered there for a few moments before pulling back and pressing a kiss to Lukes mouth. Luke kissed her back and pressed a hand to the small of her back.

They both knew that they were taking their time, which was unusual for them.

Luke tugged at the bottom of Ainsley's top, an indication to take it off. Ainsley broke the kiss long enough to lift the shirt up and over her head, she tossed it across the room and soon her bra followed behind. Ainsley's top half of her body was left exposed to Luke.

He grabbed a hold of Ainsley's waist and flipped them both over. Ainsley was now laying on the bed with Luke hovering above her. Their mouths found each other again and after a few minutes of this, both of their clothes had completely disappeared off their bodies and ended up on the floor while they gave themselves to each other.

When all was said and done, they hadn't been laying side by side of each other for very long before Luke decided to stand up and begin putting his clothes back on. Whenever they ended up doing this in Luke's room, he dreaded whenever she said that she was leaving. His least favorite part about waking up the next morning was realizing that she'd slipped away in the middle of the night when he slept. So now anytime that they'd repeated their cycle in Ainsleys room he always managed to leave before Ainsley could ask him to go.

He had pulled his shirt over his head and looked over his shoulder to see Ainsley watching him closely, he knew that she wouldn't ask him to stay no matter how badly he wished she would. But sometimes he would catch her eyes staring at him in a longing way. And sometimes he felt a flare of hope that maybe, somewhere down in the deep storm that Ainsley had brewing in her at all times, she'd wanted to ask him to stay.

"You know," he began. "I never really knew what you looked like with black hair until Carmen showed up."

Ainsley had kept her hair dyed a multitude of colors, and her hair was blue when she'd met the team at 16 years old. She never let it grow out to her natural dark hair color, which just so happened to be her favorite color, and it was a miracle that her hair was not damaged beyond repair from the years of coloring it.

"I can't even imagine myself with black hair anymore," she admitted with a smirk.

Luke reached to the ground to grab his jacket and threw her a wink before heading to the door. "I like your pink hair the most."

Ainsley stared at his back before he walked out of her room, shutting the door behind him. She stared at the wood of the door in silence for several seconds, her mind replaying that wink and the grin on his face when he'd said it.

When Ainsley rolled over to go to sleep that night, she did so knowing that her favorite color had now changed to pink.