Sighing he sat back and just shook his head, his mind still ringing with the words of the Social Service worker who had given him the photo. She knew it would cost her, her job if it was ever found out but she had no choice.

She was telling the family.

Pushing himself away from the desk, Fenton got up and walked slowly to the bottom of the stairs. Clearing his voice, he called out loudly, "Joe, son. Can I see you alone for a few moments?"

"Sure Dad!" the voice of his younger son rang out from somewhere upstairs and from how far it sounded, he was sure the blond haired 15-year-old was in his older brother Frank’s room. A few seconds later, he was greeted by sparkling blue eyes and a wide smile as Joe stepped into his father’s office and closed the door.

"Yeah Dad?" the youth wasn’t sure why his father wanted to see him alone but as he hadn’t been up to any mischief recently, he was sure he wasn’t in trouble.

And then his father passed him the photograph and the boy wavered on his feet before sitting down heavily in the large overstuffed chair that his father kept in the corner of his office.

"W-where did you get th-this?" the blond boy stammered as he was unable to take his eyes off the picture.

"So you know who this is?" Fenton said gently trying to keep his own emotions in check although all he wanted to do was shake his son and ask him why he hadn’t told him.

Joe swallowed hard as he was overwhelmed with memories but finally he nodded and stammered, "Y-yes sir."

"Joe?" Fenton pressed wanting to hear it from his son’s own mouth.

"He’s my brother."

* * *

16-year-old Frank Hardy sat across from his parents in the living room and wondered what this was all about. First Joe had been called down to his father’s private office and now the whole family had been summoned downstairs for a family meeting. He glanced at his younger brother who was sullen-faced and refused to meet his eyes and figured it must have been something he had done although he wasn’t aware of anything that Joe had been up to that would warrant a ‘family meeting’.

Not that Joe told him everything but he was usually very open and honest with Frank about everything. Including the bad stuff…well usually anyway.

But Frank wasn’t naive. He knew that his brother did have parts of him that he did not share, most of them surrounding the time prior to his adoption into the Hardy family. Frank had learned very quickly that that was the one area of his life the younger boy would not share with him.

Not that Frank could blame him. He figured whatever placed the youngster into the protective services of the Social Services department, it couldn’t’ have been too great. So he respected that privacy and now just sat and wondered what this was all about.

And then Fenton cleared his voice and started talking, "10 years ago we made a mistake. One that has only now come to the surface…"

Frank tried to think about what had happened 10 years ago and then with shock he realized his father must have been talking about the adoption. Glancing quickly at his brother, he started to protest but his father cut him off, "Frank, give me a moment to explain. Not a mistake in the way you’re thinking. Adopting Joe was one of the best decisions me and your mother have ever made…that and when we decided to start a family together and you were born." Frank blushed although he couldn’t help but notice that Joe didn’t look very reassured. In fact, if anything he looked like he was going to be sick.

Fenton continued, "The mistake is that when we adopted Joey, we never knew that Joey should have been a package deal."

The dark haired teen was confused, what was his father talking about? A package deal?

"Yes, a package deal", Fenton glanced down once more at the old photo in his hand and then passed it to his oldest son, "Joe has a twin brother."

* * *

To say that Frank was speechless couldn’t even come close to how he felt but as he looked down at the photo he knew this was no joke. Staring back at him where two small boys with golden blond hair and vibrant blue eyes – identical to the very detail. Frank had no idea which was one Joe and which one wasn’t.

He heard his mother sobbing in quiet guilt somehow thinking she and Fenton should have known about the other boy and feeling like it was them that had left him behind on purpose. Instead of the system that had never told them about the twin.

"How?" Frank finally asked and turned towards Joe who still hadn’t looked up.

"How what?" Joe mumbled still not looking up.

"How this?" Frank repeated thrusting the photo into the younger boy’s hand, "How come you have a brother and you never once mentioned this to anyone?" Inside Frank felt betrayed, wondering if that was what Joe would do to him someday. Forget about him…after all he seemed to be able to forget about his twin easily enough.

Joe started shaking. Inwardly he was at war fighting between feeling terrified because he had never told and terrified that they had found out. It was a horrible place to be and every part of him wanted to bolt as he could feel the penetrating gaze of his adopted family. Finally, unable to take it any longer and knowing they would not give up without an explanation he just blurted out, "because people don’t want ‘package deals’."

"What?" cried Fenton in outrage, "What are you talking about?"

"This", Joe said standing up and flinging the picture at the man he knew as his father, "you wanted one son. If you knew about…about him you wouldn’t have wanted me and I would have been left to rot in that hell hole of a place!"

No one said anything for a moment, too shocked by Joe’s outrage and his words until finally Laura found her voice to answer. Her tone was cold as she suddenly realized that this child she had loved and known for 10 years was a stranger to her. To talk about his brother…his twin so callously…"Joseph Hardy. We were never given the chance. How dare you insinuate what we would or would not have done!" She was shaking in anger that was now misdirected at Joe, "And he has a name…doesn’t he."

Joe felt like he wanted to throw up. This was a conversation he had never wanted to have in his life, "William…" and then he repeated softly, "my brother’s name is William."

"William", repeated Fenton, "that’s a start. Now all we have to do is find William."

Joe panicked, "Find William…what do you mean?"

"What do I mean? I mean just what I said. We need to find your brother. He’s your family. You need to be together," Frank couldn’t believe what was happening even as he listened to his father’s even voice. Was he suggesting they were going to adopt this William person as well? Or maybe the family that William was living with would want Joe?

Frank was very confused. In a matter of 10 minutes his whole world had shattered and the younger brother he loved and cherished as a best friend and confident was a traitor. A traitor to his own mirror image.

Joe blanched, "You can’t."

"What do you mean we can’t?" Laura asked wondering how they could have raised someone this uncaring. This was his own brother they were talking about…not some distant cousin.

Vibrant blue eyes darted from one member to the other, beseeching them to believe him, "No, I mean…" Joe stopped as he saw the resolve in his parents eyes and the hurt in Frank’s. He had never meant to hurt them in any way. And in fact he felt his silence, a heavy weight for him to bear the last 10 years, was all he could do to protect them. But he had no way of making them understand that. Oh, the Social Worker who placed him with the Hardy’s understood…but then again he had been there.

There was nothing Joe could say so he shut his mouth and just shook his head mutely. All he could do was hope that they weren’t able to find his brother…as bizarre a request as that might seem.

* * *

Frank Hardy lay on his back and stared at the ceiling. His mind was whirling as he tried to make himself believe it was true. Joe had a twin brother….William.

A soft knock on the door broke his thoughts and he knew it was Joe without even asking. Although he was a bit surprised that his brother had knocked on the door…that was new. But then again it would seem that there was a lot about the boy that was new.

"Come in", he was curious to see what Joe would say for himself and a moment later he was rewarded as an exhausted looking teen sat awkwardly on the edge of his bed.

"Are you going to say anything?" Joe asked quietly.

"Like what?" Frank asked although he did have a million questions.

"Like about William", Joe’s voice was soft and Frank turned his head to watch him carefully.

"Okay what about William?"

"Well William is…" Joe faltered not really sure what to say about the brother he hadn’t seen in a long time.

"William is what?" Frank was losing his patience. He just could not figure out Joe for the life of him. What was he being so evasive for?

"Frank", Joe decided to lay it out as best he could, "I don’t’ want Dad to find William."

"Why not?" Frank asked shocked by this but then again seeing that Joe had never mentioned this brother before, he realized he shouldn’t be so surprised.

"Because…" Joe began feeling some of the old anxieties coming back, "Frank. It’s really hard to explain."

"Joe what’s wrong? Just spit it out!" Frank was getting frustrated by his brother’s evasiveness.

Joe opened his mouth but before he could say anything there was another knock on Frank’s room door and this time it was their Dad.

"Guess what boys! I got great news!" Fenton was exuberant and he stared Joe right in the face as he said the next part, excited to see the boy’s reaction, "I found William!"

Joe’s hands flew to his mouth as he barely made it to the bathroom before throwing up everything he had eaten that day.

* * *

"Are you sure he’s okay?" Laura asked after finding out that Joe had been sick. Her original anger was replaced with concern as she did truly love her younger son in spit of the shock induced doubts that had crossed her mind briefly during the family meeting.

"Yeah", Fenton said before grabbing her in a tight hug, "Frank’s with him. I think he was just overwhelmed when I told him that I found his twin brother and we were all going to see him tomorrow!"

"What luck!’ Laura murmured as her husband nibbled gently on her neck, "Finding him so easily."

"Yeah…luck for us…not so good luck for him, " Fenton released his wife and ran a hand through his dark hair, "Imagine… for the past 10 years he has been still living in that orphanage while Joe has been living here with us. Poor William."

"Yes poor William", Laura agreed and then she turned to her husband with huge blue eyes, "We need to adopt him Fenton!"

Fenton looked at her seriously, "Are you sure Laura? Another boy around the house? A teenaged one at that. One who is probably going to have some issues." He wanted to lay it out to his wife that if they adopted William it wasn’t going to be as smooth as when they did Joe. Joe was only 5 and in no way had the amount of baggage a 15-year-old teenager would.

Laura nodded emphatically, "I understand that but, Fenton, this is Joe’s brother. His twin brother. Twins. That’s something special. They have this bond…we can’t not. There’s no choice!"

Fenton agreed with her. The idea had visited him the second he found out that Joe had a twin brother. Laura was right. They were twins. They had a bond.

* * *

Joe didn’t sleep very well that night. He tossed and turned and had nightmares that brought everyone to his room. Frank offered to knock him out but that wasn’t looked on too fondly so instead he crawled into his younger brother’s bed and stayed with him the rest of the night. Just like he did when Joe was much younger and had nightmares.

And as in the past, with his older brother sleeping next to him, the younger boy went into a dreamless sleep.

* * *

William Doe sat on the bench and waited. The hardness of it did not really bother him as over the past 15 years, he had spent a lot of time sitting on hard benches.

His brother was coming to see him.

He was neither excited nor nervous about the reunion. However he was curious.

Curious about the family that Joey had been living with since leaving the hall.

William wondered if Joey still looked like him. If so, that would be a gas.

His wondering was interrupted as the door opened and for the first time in 10 years, Joseph and William Doe were reunited. And no one could tell them apart.