As Tina and Mercedes lamented the fact that they still hadn't been able to pry some information about his new mystery boyfriend out of Kurt, Rachel's mind was elsewhere. According to her dads, she had a brother. A real, living brother – a twin, no less. They had told her about this a week ago, and it was still at the forefront of her mind.

"What do you think he's like, Rachel?" Tina asked her, shaking her out of her thoughts.

Still, she replied without thinking. "He must be a singer, I think. He's probably rather short, with dark hair and a lot of talent."

Tina hummed appreciatively and Mercedes seemed to approve as well. "Damn girl, you've really given this a lot of thought, haven't you? But that does seem like the kind of guy Kurt would go for."

"Huh?" Rachel blinked. Of course – she hadn't told anyone about her amazing new discovery yet. Nobody knew about her brother, and somehow, the other girls had mistaken her description of her brother for her description of Kurt's boyfriend. "Oh, yeah. I know."

Tina and Mercedes continued trying to figure out a plan to find out whom Kurt was hiding from them, and Rachel's mind went straight back to her twin. Apparently, her fathers had been shocked when Shelby had told them that she was having twins, and Rachel could understand that only too well. They had often told her that they hadn't expected to find someone who would be their surrogate, and when they'd found one, they weren't getting one, but two babies.

It was too bad they'd only wanted one child, preferably a girl. So, when a boy and a girl had been born, the two twins had immediately been split up – Rachel had gone home with her dads, and her brother had been put up for adoption, since Shelby couldn't take care of him.

Rachel sighed heavily. Even though she couldn't remember it at all, she felt pain consuming her from the inside at the thought of being torn away from someone she'd spent nine months in the womb with. It was probably a good thing her dads were clearing out a room for her therapist again – she already felt traumatised.

"Are you okay?" Tina asked concernedly, probably wondering why Rachel wasn't talking.

"I'm fine," she replied airily. "I'm fine."

"You're not saying much," Mercedes observed.

"I'll be singing an extremely difficult song in Glee tomorrow," she explained. Well, it was true. She'd be singing about the emotional trauma she was dealing with after learning she had a brother, and then explain the whole matter to the group, who would be all ears and extremely proud of how she dealt with it. She had no doubt about it. "I don't want to strain my voice too much."

Mercedes just shrugged and continued talking. Rachel thought she heard something about romantic serenades, but then, the memory of the talk with her dads consumed her again. A few years ago, they had tried to get in touch with their son, and had found that after Shelby had named him ('Blaine'), he'd been adopted fairly quickly. They had mentioned something about his adoptive parents not wanting his biological parents anywhere near him before he turned eighteen, but Rachel didn't quite know the gist of it. They'd gotten a small photograph of the boy, and that was it. From what Rachel could see, the two of them really looked alike, even though the boy in the picture was only twelve.

Not that it mattered much; she didn't even know where he lived and knowing her luck, she would never find him.

Then, all of a sudden, the door of the Lima Bean opened and in walked a boy who looked around their age and – no, that couldn't be. Still, Rachel used her spot at the table nearest to the register to her advantage as she leant closer to hear what he'd say.

His voice was obviously that of a singer, and Rachel almost started squealing when he said his name was Blaine. Oh, imagine if she hadn't known about her brother before coming here! No, imagine the amount of times she must've already seen this boy without realising who he was! Would her dads have realised it?

The boy looked exactly like a slightly older version of the boy in the photo and his name was Blaine. That was all the proof Rachel needed, and as soon as he sat down – with two cups of coffee; obviously, he was meeting someone – she got up to march to his table.

"Rachel? Where are you going?" Mercedes asked. Oh, right. She'd almost forgotten about the other two girls.

"I'm just – going to – " she said, before shaking her head determinedly. "I'll explain later. Now, I have to go."

Well aware that Tina and Mercedes were still watching her curiously, she walked over to the boy's table and coughed loudly, startling him.

"Are you Blaine?" she asked, seeing no need to beat around the bush. When he nodded hesitantly, she stood straight and announced, "I'm Rachel Berry. I'm your sister."

"Sorry – what?" the boy asked, and it was clear that he'd never been told by his 'parents' that he was actually adopted and had a twin sister.

"I'm your sister," she repeated. "Your twin sister."

The boy laughed nervously. "Look, if you're here to prank me because one of my friends put you up to this – I'm not falling for it. I don't have a sister. I'm an only child."

Rachel nodded empathically. "That's what I always thought as well, but then my dads told me that I have a twin brother. You." She cursed herself for not bringing the small photograph – surely Blaine would believe her then.

"Look – Rachel?" he started. "I don't really have time for this, I'm meeting my boyfriend here in a few minutes and I just – I'm not in the mood for this, alright?"

"I'm not crazy!" Rachel exclaimed. "It's the truth. You know, our mom – "

"I know my mom," Blaine said sharply. "And she's not your mother as well." Before Rachel could respond, there was someone else standing at Blaine's table and giving the boy sitting there a brief hug.

"Hey, you," the newcomer greeted him breathily. "What's – Rachel?"

"Kurt?" Rachel exclaimed, gaping. By now, Mercedes and Tina were approaching as well. "What are you – why are you – "

"Is this him, Kurt?" Tina asked excitedly, looking Blaine up and down.

"Kurt? You know this girl?" Blaine asked, and Kurt seemed momentarily overwhelmed.

"Okay – Rachel, I have no idea what you're trying to ask, so I'm not even going to attempt to respond. Yes, Tina, this is him, and unfortunately, I do, Blaine. I mean," he quickly said when Rachel glared at him, "I've told you about New Directions, right? Well, this is Tina, that's Mercedes, and you've already met Rachel."

"He's still my brother!" Rachel protested, and four pairs of eyes landed on her.

"Since when do you have a brother?" Mercedes asked, and Kurt looked at Blaine oddly.

"You never told me you had a sister."

"Because I don't!" Blaine insisted. "I just sat here, and suddenly, she comes running up to me, claiming she's my sister! I've never seen her before in my life!"

"That because we were separated at birth," Rachel explained.

"Rachel, no offense, but don't you think that sounds a little insane?" Tina asked carefully. "I mean, things like that don't really happen, right?"

"Well, my dads wanted only one child, so obviously, the other one was put up for adoption," Rachel argued.

"Anyone can claim that," Kurt said. "I could go up to at least five people here and claim I'm related to them."

"You do look alike a little," Tina conceded, "but that's hardly any proof. Like Kurt said, not everyone who looks alike is related."

"Let's get out of here," Mercedes decided. "A little retail therapy might do you good, Rachel. And you'd better give us all the details later, Kurt."

With Tina's help, Mercedes managed to drag Rachel out of the Lima Bean, leaving two slightly stunned boys in their wake.