The twins left a gaping hole that could never be filled. Everyone wanted to forget them but didn't want them to be forgotten either.
The kids who had been young when they left or had never met them at all heard all kinds of stories so they would feel like they knew them, just like with Darren. It never felt like enough.
Then came the miracle three years after all hope was lost. Shaw was dead. They were coming home.
Adam had the shock of his life when he went to pick up his kids from his mom's house and found her hyperventilating on the floor while Eli was on the phone. He had thought he was calling 911 until Eli said he was on the phone with the twins.
He took over the call and could hardly believe what he was hearing. He managed to keep a hold of himself until after it ended before picking up his son and swinging him around as he laughed in joyful disbelief. They were really coming home!
Coming home and bringing a child no one knew about with them. He found that out a few days later when Sarah asked Erica if she could borrow Eli's old racecar bed. Everyone was incredibly concerned but Sarah sternly told them that Jonas said talking about the boyfriend she had to leave behind only upset Jenna and that no one was allowed to bother her about it.
That was a hard order to follow. Of course no one wanted to upset her but that was a pretty big deal!
They all gave their word though. Jenna's son's father would just have to be the elephant in the room even more than the twins being gone supposedly forever. They were already used to that.
Of course, Adam and Erica ended up talking about it more in depth once they were at home and the kids were asleep. "I can't believe this. Poor Jenna! I know they didn't want her to tell anyone for security reasons but that's total bull! She should have had more than Jonas for support."
"He might be a goofball but he adores Jenna. I'm sure he helped her out as best he could," she pointed out.
That was most likely true but didn't make him feel any better. His baby sister shouldn't have had to deal with ANY of this. She was so young when all of this started and should have been living a carefree life with their family. It was what he had fought so hard for after their dad died and it had all been for naught in her and Jonas's cases but especially hers because she had been away from home longer and was now a single mom.
"Still. She must have had a really hard time," Adam sighed miserably.
"She won't once she's home. There will be plenty of people to help with Wesley then," Erica reassured him as she rubbed his arm.
He supposed that was true. But would it be enough? Only time would tell. His baby sister had always been spoiled, which was part of why he had worried so much when she was on her own, but she had been denied access to the people who usually looked out for her for so long. Was she even still the same person? Who would be coming back on that plane?
The day of, Adam didn't even care which version of Jenna was back. Only that she was. That they both were. He had been less worried about Jonas because he sounded the same as ever in his letters. She hadn't because she had been hiding the fact that she was in vet school and had a kid at the FBI's insistence.
They all dropped the signs they were holding to hug any part of the twins that they could reach. It was surreal seeing them again. Their haircuts were different, they looked older, and they had an adorable chubby-cheeked toddler with them that didn't look anything like Jenna aside from the freckles. Everything had changed but as they talked during the party held at Sarah's house, it was clear that their senses of humor hadn't changed a bit. That much was a relief.
Everyone was a bit cautious asking them things because they didn't want to bring up any sensitive topics and knew they had to tiptoe around the issue of Jenna's baby daddy. But they were all howling with laughter by the time Jonas told a series of stories about his job in Louisiana and Adam felt like things would actually be okay for the first time in three years.
Elephant in the room aside, it was almost like they never left before long. They jumped right back into the swing of things.
Wesley and Kingston got on like a house on fire, Jenna worked at Colton's bakery while waiting for vet school to start up again in the fall, and they were all finally able to have a camping trip with the whole family. Everyone was emotional about that.
The twins had the most ridiculous sense of humor but it had been sorely missed around here. The last four years were beginning to feel like little more than a nightmare now that they were back where they belonged even though things had changed.
When they left, they were still undergrad students. Now Jonas was an adult with a real job (which was weird to think about because he was such a clown) and Jenna was in vet school and a mom.
Adam was able to breathe better having his family whole again but he still worried about them. A lot.
Jonas had to be feeling guilty about his role in all of this even though everyone kept their word and didn't blame him to his face like their mom wanted. And Jenna…who knew what she was feeling.
She acted like she was fine but was she? Was she really? She would never tell. At least not anyone but Jonas, who had been there during the worst of it.
They had always been like that though. Each other's greatest confidantes. They had been together since before they were born, after all. They all knew it was a twin thing but their bond had strengthened by being alone together for so long if that was even possible.