A/N: It's Friday and I have a headache. I have a cure in mind for said headache, but I wanted to make sure to post this first, otherwise, who knows what I might let slip in this author's note. Gotta keep my secrets secret after all!

Have a wonderful weekend, my lovely readers, and enjoy the new chapter of The P. Trap!

Chapter 4

Emily sits alone in the booth by the front windows of the pizza parlor. There's a constant rumble of chatter from the after-the-bar crowd filling the space between the walls. Emily can't hear the ruckus or laughter; her head is replaying the last words that Katie had said over and over again. The words that had confirmed their connection, their relationship, their bond. But she's my mother too. But she's my mother too. But she's my mother too.

Shortly after Katie had said those words, she had calmly handed Emily back her phone and stood up from the table. In stunned silence, the burgundy-haired girl had slowly walked outside to the front curb and sat down with her back to the windows. Emily hadn't followed her; she had known that Katie wouldn't go too far.

With a sigh, Emily shakes herself out of the daze that she's in. She looks out the window to make sure Katie is still there. She is, of course she is, so Emily gets up from the table and goes to her.

The door swings shut as Emily carefully approaches the other girl. She doesn't handle crying very well, it makes her uncomfortable and she never knows what to say, so as she gets closer and closer to Katie, she looks and listens for any signs of sobbing.

"Hey." Emily hopes that Katie isn't a total mess.

The girl on the curb slowly turns and looks up at Emily. Her face still holds no real expression, just shock. Before Emily can even think of what to say next, Katie leaps up from her seated position and throws her arms around Emily's neck in a giddy, squealing, high-pitched hug.

"We're sisters!" Katie is now hopping up and down in excitement with her arms still around Emily's neck like a vice.

Emily is now the one wearing the shocked expression due to Katie's over-the-top reaction to the news.

"Sisters! We're sisters. I have a real, true blue sister! Oh My God!" Katie is just about squeezing Emily to death. A few kids walking passed them throw them strange looks.

"Katie. Katie." Emily's eyes are starting to bug-out as Katie's grip tightens. She grabs onto Katie's arms and pries them away. "You're choke...I can't...dying."

The highly excited girl finally notices and unlocks her choke-hold. "Shit. Sorry. Are you okay?"

Emily takes a gulp of much needed air. "My life flashed before my eyes. I should eat less red meat."

"How can you joke at a time like this?" Katie is just about jumping out of her skin. She can't believe that Emily isn't more excited about their discovery.

"My apologies. I haven't had much experience interacting with my twin sister who I was separated from at birth. I guess I don't know the proper etiquette." Emily reaches into the front pocket of her black hoodie and produces her cigarettes. She turns away from Katie.

Katie can tell that Emily does not share her happiness and excitement. The smile slides off her face and is replaced with a look of disappointment as she watches Emily light up. All of a sudden, Katie feels a slight chill in the air as she deflates and hugs herself to warm her arms. Emily had told her to bring a sweater before they left their dorm room, but Katie hadn't listened.

As she blows a cloud of smoke into the clear night sky, Emily glances over at the other girl. Katie looks like her puppy just got drop-kicked into the street and then hit by a car. She knows it's her fault and feels a pang of guilt. "Hey. Listen." Emily takes a step or two closer to where Katie is standing. "I'm a jerk, okay. I don't, I don't deal very well with this kind of...stuff." She motions between the two of them with her cigarette.

"You shouldn't smoke. It's really bad for you." Katie is still upset.

"You sound like my mother." Emily plays back the words that just came out of her mouth. She looks over at Katie. "I mean...you sound like mom." She gives Katie a small nod.

Katie tries to hold back a smile. "I'm cold. Can we go back?"

"Yeah. Let's go." Emily smirks at Katie's grin and shakes her head as they start walking back towards the dorms. "I told you to bring a jacket."

"I know." Katie rolls her eyes.

"I said you'd get cold."

"Yeah, yeah. Now you sound like dad."

They laugh together as they continue on, neither one really knowing where to go from here.

"Are you out of your fucking mind?" Emily cannot believe the ridiculousness of what Katie has just suggested.

"We can do it. I know we can!" Katie tries to back up her idea.

Emily paces back and forth between the beds of their dorm room. "You're nuts."

"No, listen. It's perfect. They don't know that we know about each other. I haven't told anyone. Have you?" Katie gives Emily an accusatory look.

Emily stops her pacing. "Yeah, Katie. During the last twenty minutes that we've been side-by-side, I somehow managed to updated my blog. Hey friends, guess what. I have a twin sister that I didn't know existed. Hashtag: WeirdestDayofMyFuckingLife."

"Your pissy attitude is not helping right now."

"Oh I'm sorry. I guess I shouldn't be upset that our parents have been lying to us, both of us, for the last seventeen fucking years!"

"You use the F-word too much. It's boring."

Emily stops pacing, closes her eyes, and takes in a measured breath. As she releases the breath, she tries to calm herself. "Why?"

Katie isn't sure what she's asking.

Emily looks over at her and asks again. "Why do you want to do this?"

"I want to meet mom. I want to see what she's like. I don't know why exactly; I just do. Don't you want to meet dad?" Katie eyes hold more emotion than she's willing to admit.

"They lied to us, Katie."

Katie looks down at her hands that are resting in her lap and nods weakly.

"What they did is really, really fucked up." Emily folds her arms across her chest.

Katie nods again, her head hanging even lower than before.

"I mean, what's even the point? They obviously had their reasons for all of this. Those reasons being unforgiveable on every level."

Katie's shoulders slump as she nods one more time.

Emily sees how upset Katie is and looks up at the ceiling. She lets out another calming breath and looks back at Katie...her sister. Her literal flesh and blood, an identical copy of herself...that was kept from her for all these years. "Why are you just sitting there? Why aren't you angry?"

Katie's head snaps up, her eyes burning with anger. "You want me to be angry? You want me to stomp around and act like a jerk the way you are?" Katie stands and faces Emily. "I am fucking angry, Emily, but I can't help but feel like this whole thing was meant to be. I feel like this is my chance to finally figure out why I've always felt like there was part of me that was missing my whole life. A sister. A mother. So forgive me, Emily, for being happy that I've met you. I'm obviously an idiot for thinking that something good could come from all of this. I guess I should just piss all over this opportunity, like you are, and just fly home tomorrow and forget that you exist."

Emily's indignation slowly fades away as she watches Katie turn away from her again, tears filling her eyes. Emily holds her bottom lip between her teeth and looks down at the floor. "So...how would it work? This whole...switching places thing?"

Katie turns back to Emily with a half-smile on her face. "And she folds at the first sign of tears. You are just like dad." A wicked grin spreads across Katie's face.

Emily looks up at the ceiling again, shaking her head. "I'm already regretting this."

The girls spent the rest of the night formulating their plan. Katie had been wired asking Emily questions about her life at warp speed. On occasion, she would give Emily some information about her day-to-day, but the majority of the conversation had been driven by Katie's questions and excitement.

It was almost four in the morning when Emily had finally called it a day; she hadn't gotten much sleep the night before and could barely keep her eyes open. They had agreed to skip out on all of Sunday's activities in favor of more preparation time before their returns flights that evening.

Katie was awake with the sun the next morning. Emily, in a semi-conscious state, had told Katie that if she didn't let her sleep until at least ten, they would never make their flights because Katie would be dead and Emily would be in jail.

"Okay. It's ten o'clock. Get up." Katie stands over Emily's bed staring down at her. Emily does not stir. Katie had had a feeling that this would be the case. She steps towards her nightstand and retrieves a Starbucks Venti. She carefully removes the lid and sets it to the side. She moves back over to Emily's bed and kneels down. Katie brings the cup of coffee up to Emily's face, which is almost hanging off the side of the bed. She holds the steaming cup only a few inches from Emily's nose and uses her other hand to waft the aroma in her direction.

Emily's nose twitches as the delicious scent of her morning salvation registers in her brain. With her eyes still closed, Emily acknowledges Katie's efforts. "I still have the urge to punch you in the face...but you got me coffee." Emily slowly opens her eyes. "And you waited until ten."

"I did." Katie smiles brightly. "And you promised that you'd get up."

Emily takes in a deep breath and rolls over onto her back. "You better not have some bullshit 6 AM yoga class that you expect for me to go to on your behalf, because it's not gonna happen." Emily pushes herself up and leans against the headboard.

Katie stands, still holding the coffee. "Yoga is on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons from four to five-thirty."

Emily narrows her eyes at her sister.

"But I was already planning on skipping out during my birthday week." Katie hands the coffee to Emily who takes it eagerly.

As Emily sips on her caffeine, Katie busies herself with rifling through her purse and checking her lipstick. "Our appointments are at twelve-thirty. I figured we could go get brunch beforehand."

A look of confusion appears on Emily's face. "What appointments?"

"Now don't worry. I found the best salon in Ann Arbor and they could fit us in today, thank God." Katie has seemed to miss the point of Emily's question.

"Katie. What are you talking about?"

Katie looks at Emily from behind her compact. "We talked about this last night and you agreed."

"Katie, what salon? What are you talking about."

Katie snaps her compact shut. "You cannot show up in California looking the way to do. No one would believe that I would willingly do that to my hair."

"What the fuck does that mean?"

"Your hair color is hideous, Emily. I mean, fire engine red with that black streak in the front? You look like a Hot Topic reject from the 90s."

Emily is super offended, but she can't come up with anything to say in her defence. "Well, I'm sure as fuck not changing my hair to your color."

"And what's wrong with my color?"

"It's ugly." Emily knows that it's not her greatest comeback of all time, but she just woke up and she's not at the top of her game.

"Why are you being so difficult? You agreed with me last night."

"I was half-asleep and kind of high and mostly drunk!"

"Regardless. We have to do something. We can't just show up with new and drastically different hairdos. It will raise suspicion."

"Fine." Emily throws the covers off of herself and gets out of bed. She takes another sip of coffee and sets it down on her nightstand, muttering to herself. She grabs her backpack and starts pulling out clothes to wear. After a moment, the muttering stops. Emily quickly turns around to face Katie who is busy looking at her phone.

Emily stands there, staring down at Katie, with a look of horror on her face. She's holding a t-shirt and a pair of jeans in her hands. Katie looks up. "What? What's wrong now?"

"I just realized." Emily looks down at her clothes in her hands. "I'm going to have to wear your clothes." Emily's face shows her shock and disgust.

"Yeah. You're welcome. It will be the best dressed you've ever been in your life. I don't know why you're so fussed about it. I'm the one who's going to suffer."

Emily shakes her head in disbelief and looks back at her jeans and t-shirt. "I've made a huge mistake."

"I don't know where you got this thong, but it's properly cutting me in half!"

"Stop complaining. Your granny panties are making me throw up in my mouth."

"They're not granny panties; they're boy briefs. And I don't understand why we can't wear our own goddamn underwear!"

"Either we're doing this at 100% or we're not doing it at all! And that includes underwear."

A middle-aged woman, washing her hands in the airport restroom, wears a look of confusion and concern as she overhears the conversation coming from the two stalls behind her. As the girls continue to bicker, she quickly dries her hands, grabs the handle of her wheeled suitcase, and hurries out of the restroom.

"I should have never agreed to this."

"Oh stop it. You're going to love California. Our house is gorgeous, the weather is perfect, and since dad owns a vineyard, you'll have access to all the wine you can drink. It's like you'll be on a fucking vacation."

"A fucking vacation, huh? You seem to be dropping the F-bomb a lot today."

"Yeah, well, I'm trying to get into character."

Emily laughs. "Okay. Are you done yet?"

"Yeah, I'm ready. Are you?"

"Not really, but there's nothing I can do about it now, is there?"

"Okay. On the count of three. One, two, three."

The doors to the restroom stalls open in unison. On the left, beat-up Converse and a pair of blue jeans. On the right, black Louboutins and a leopard print skirt. Left, a Misfits t-shirt with the sleeves cut off. Right, a low-cut tanktop with cleavage on full-display.

As the two girls step up to the mirrors over the skins, they take in their new looks and their final compromise that completes their transformations...a toned-down version of Emily's flame-red color and blunt bangs cut asymmetrically, Emily's down to the left and Katie's down to the right.

They stare at their reflections in awe. Neither of them can believe it. They look at each other's through the mirrors with wonderment.

"Wow."

"Holy shit."

They laugh and turn to look at each other.

"You look fierce, by the way." Katie is impressed. "You clean up pretty good."

"Thanks." Emily is unsure. She feels uncomfortable in Katie's clothes. Emily had never been a girly girl, much to her mother's dismay.

Katie can read Emily's discomfort. "Seriously. You look good. I mean, how could you not when you're dressed up as me?" She grins at her sister.

Emily can't help but smile back. "Well, I wish I could say the same for you, but you look like shit."

"Just trying my best to be authentic." Katie primps in the mirror.

"Bitch."

"Slut."

They laugh.

"I can't believe we're doing this." Emily looks at herself in the mirror again.

"It's only for a week. It'll be fine. We'll switch back before anyone has time to figure it out. Trust me. We'll book our one-way flights for Sunday of next week and it will be over."

Emily nods. "And then what?"

Katie catches her eye in the mirror. "We'll figure it out. We're almost eighteen. They won't be able to keep us apart now that we've found each other. We don't even have to tell them, if we don't want to."

Emily nods again. She's unsure, maybe even a bit scared, but she doesn't want Katie to see it. "Yeah. It's just a week. I'll hang out with dad, see what he's like. You'll meet mom, good luck with that." Emily can't hold back her sarcasm.

"Jenna sounds amazing from what you've told me."

"Yeah, if a career-obsessed, social-climbing event planner is your idea of amazing." Emily looks at Katie's blank expression and shrugs.

Katie checks the time on Emily's leather cuff watch that she is now wearing. "Shit. We need to go." Katie swings Emily's backpack over her shoulder and heads for the door.

Emily grabs Katie's makeup case and over-sized purse by the handles; her giant suitcase had to be checked due to its size, and proceeds to the exit.

Katie holds open the door and looks back at Emily. "What are you doing? That is not how you carry a Louis Vuitton." Katie lets the door shut and goes to Emily. She grabs her purse from Emily's hand and brings the handles up to the crook of her arm. She then positions Emily's hand with her palm facing up. "There." She steps back and gives Emily a once over, shaking her head. "It's as if you've never carried a purse before."

"I can fit everything I need in my pockets."

"Not in that outfit, honey. Remember. You're Katie Fitch now. Don't embarrass me. Let's go."

Emily rolls her eyes as Katie opens the door for her. Emily wobbles a bit in Katie's heels, but makes it through the door nonetheless. Now it's Katie's turn to roll her eyes as the door shuts behind them.

The girls stand facing each other at the gate for Emily's flight to California. The other passengers are boarding as the twins say their goodbyes.

"So remember. Gina, our housekeeper, is picking you up. She'll be waiting at the baggage claim."

Emily nods and repeats back. "She's blonde with short wavy hair and kind of dresses like a hippy."

"Right. But seriously, the second she see me, I mean, you, she'll be smiling and waving like a lunatic. You will not be able to miss her."

"Okay." Emily takes a breath. "You will not have a problem with Teddy either. He's going to be in uniform and literally holding a sign that has Ms. Murphy written on it. He takes his job very seriously."

Katie is grinning from ear-to-ear. "I can't believe you have your own towncar. That is so cool!"

"It's more like a police escort, but yes." Emily glances over her shoulder; the line of passengers is almost to the end. "Okay. I better go."

Katie claps her hands in excitement. "You'll do great, Em-er, uh, I mean, Katie." She gives Emily a conspiratorial wink.

"Thanks, Emily." Emily smiles, but her expression quickly changes. "Uh, there is one thing that I need to tell you." Emily is having a hard time looking Katie in the eye. She already knows that she's waited too long to tell Katie that she's gay, but it's now or never if this is going to work.

Katie doesn't notice Emily's apprehension, because she's too busy looking over her shoulder at a couple of ladies in line at the gate. "Oh my God. Watch out for those two, yeah."

Emily glances over to see who Katie is referring to. She sees two ladies holding hands as they wait in line.

"They'll probably try to gay you up on the flight. If you're sitting next to them, ask to change your seat." Katie looks back at Emily who's still looking at the couple. "Anyway, what did you want to tell me?"

Emily turns back to face Katie, a cheerful smile on her face. "I just wanted to tell you...to have a great flight."

"Aw, thanks, sis!" Katie gives Emily a quick hug. "You too."

It might be embarrassing to admit, but I totally made myself laugh out loud when I was writing the dialogue about the underwear...and then the bit with the lady who's over-hearing it all! Ha! Oh man, at least I can entertain myself, right?

As for the twins' hairdos, I did my best to describe their Series 3 hairstyles...if I did that poorly, now you know...so you'll at least have a mental picture to keep in mind going forward.

Speaking of going forward, for those of you who might be wondering, I have not given up on Ink. I will not give up on Ink. There is more Ink to come, I promise. *smiles in a please don't be mad at me sort of way*

Okay...the switch is complete! Emily is on her way to California. Katie is on her way to New York City. I cannot wait to see what happens next. What about you? Just type a little something in that box below and I'll give you a big, sloppy, internet kiss...on the mouth.