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After that, there are two conversations Bella wants to have very possibly more than she has ever wanted a conversation in her life.

One of them is going to have to wait until Charlie gets home, and that will be hours yet. (It's also the one she wants to have the most, but there is very little she can or would do about that, so she is putting it very firmly aside for now. Just because she knows about vampires now doesn't mean Charlie is in any more danger than he has been every other night he's worked. There is no logical reason to try to drag him home now. She can and will wait.)

(She's always known his job was dangerous.)

Prior to Milliways showing up, Bella had just arrived home after dropping Sherlock off; giving him a ride from school when he wants one has become routine.

She jumps right back into her truck and very carefully does not speed on her way to the Stark residence.

The other conversation she wants, she can have right now.

Bella doesn't even remember the drive home, so focused was she on remembering every detail of the conversation with Sherlock until she could pin it all down on paper. (It will occur to her later that she is lucky nothing unexpected happened during the drive; if it had, she would very likely have ended up in an accident.)

It's been a long time since she's recorded a conversation in all its detail instead of counting on the ability she has developed to recall those details when she reads her thoughts on them, but she does so now. It all seems more real once she's written it out, helping her racing thoughts settle enough for her to sort through them more easily.

Sherlock claims to be a clone of Tony Stark. Now to decide whether she believes him.

Most of these are things she has already written about in the past few days, but, with the new information to offer a fresh perspective, she writes them again.

Of the two of them, Tony is the only one for whom the Starks published a birth announcement. Some families can and do get away with hiding the existence of a child. The Starks, however, were too famous: Howard was a well-known physicist and company CEO, and Maria was a social butterfly. They were both smart and would have realized that hiding one child while allowing the other to lead a more ordinary life would be massively complex for people in their situation. If they had intended to do so from the start, then Maria would have given birth in seclusion rather than a hospital, since the latter option would have summarily informed every interested employee that she had given birth to twins. They could not reasonably have bribed or otherwise silenced that many people with any degree of effectiveness. And that is only the first item on a long list of reasons why the idea that they were hiding Sherlock and their deaths set him free, while seemingly the most plausible explanation at hand, makes absolutely no sense at all.

In the end, all the research she has been able to do boils down to three irrefutable facts:

* There is only one birth announcement because only one child was born to Howard and Maria Stark. Sherlock and Tony are not twins.

* Sherlock is physically the same age as Tony - development occurs too rapidly and visibly in adolescence for there to be a substantial difference between them.

* Sherlock and Tony are identical; while Bella has never met Tony, there are enough recent pictures and news clips of him available thanks to his taking over Stark Industries for her to know that for certain.

A fourth fact: Bella has not been able to make these items fit together satisfactorily. If Sherlock's claim is true, then it eliminates the inherent contradictions and creates the perfect fit.

Points against Sherlock's claim being true:

* Science and technology are not yet sufficiently advanced for the creation of a viable human clone.

But what makes her think that is true? The answer: Everyone knows that scientists can't do that yet.

A fifth fact, one that Bella adopted into her way of thinking long ago: "Everyone knows" is never, ever sufficient proof in and of itself. In this case, it is insufficient because "everyone" is not a scientific genius capable of understanding biology and chemistry at the level required for proving that cloning is currently impossible.

Sherlock stated that Tony cloned himself when he was twelve, with equipment he created. If that is true, then "everyone" would certainly not know about it. Tony Stark has repeatedly demonstrated that he is at least as brilliant as his father, whose genius was also thoroughly proven. (Bella found, in the course of her research, statements from a member of Stark Industries' Research and Development department declaring Tony's scientific and engineering aptitude in no uncertain terms.)

There is no reason to believe that a child that brilliant would have been incapable of producing results that adults with vast but still lesser intelligence have not been able to manage. Bella herself knows a thing or two about being advanced beyond one's years - when she had taken up her extensive journaling at thirteen, no one had expected a girl of her age to stick to it. But stick to it she had. Just because common knowledge says a person can't do something doesn't mean they can't. And if the twelve-year-old Tony had indeed invented cloning technology that worked, then clearly he was also able to solve the problem of his clone's being chronologically twelve years younger than he.

In short: The only argument against Sherlock's claim is that "everyone knows" they couldn't possibly be true, and that is not a valid argument.

But the only evidence in favor of Sherlock's claim is Sherlock's claim. The technology Tony used is gone, but even if it weren't, Bella doubts very much that it had something convenient like "Clone-O-Matic" emblazoned across the side. She wouldn't be able to identify cloning technology for herself, and so whether it was destroyed or not makes no difference to her. As Sherlock pointed out, the only way to prove it worked would be to use it, and his own existence is proof enough that that would be a very irresponsible thing to do.

Tony himself could verify Sherlock's claim, but again Bella's own lack of scientific expertise is a problem. Even if he consented to walk her through the process step-by-step, she wouldn't know if any of it were possible or not. Tony's word alone to back up or contradict Sherlock wouldn't do much for the value of Sherlock's claim either way; if Sherlock is lying, or mentally unstable enough to believe his story to be true when it isn't, then Tony has been enabling him since their parents' deaths and is unlikely to stop just because Bella asks politely.

So she cannot prove Sherlock's claim true or false. What she can do is see for herself that it explains very neatly the things she has been able to prove. It also casts a brand-new light on the issue of Sherlock's identity.

She stares at this conclusion for a while, then drops her pen with a sigh and gets to her feet. She has done what she can with the information at hand; chasing it around any longer will not make her conclusions any more solid or provable, and it's getting late. She'll have to get supper started right now if it's going to be ready when Charlie gets home.

After Bella drops Sherlock off at his house - if that building can reasonably be called a house - she heads right back home.

There, she forces herself to prioritize. It's early enough in the year that there are hours before her sunset curfew, and the Sunnydale library doesn't close early on weekdays. Recording her thoughts and impressions of her first day at a new school is important; the library will still be there in an hour, but her memory will only get muddier as time passes.

So she does that first, making sure to pay the lengthy entry her usual amount of time and attention. She saves Sherlock for last, putting down her questions and ideas. How did he become Sherlock? What is it like to construct an entire persona and wear it convincingly enough to make it real not only for others, but for yourself?

And the focus of today's research: What name was he born with?

(She spends a few minutes, too, being honest with herself about why she wants to know. It isn't because of deeper questions of identity. She wants to know because she wants to know, and the fact that he doesn't want people to know isn't enough to make her hold herself back. That kind of nosiness is not an attractive trait, but Bella's curiosity about everything - herself, other people, the world around her - is so inherently a part of her that she doesn't believe she can change it and still remain Isabella Marie Swan.

And - again, honesty - she doesn't want to change it. She doesn't want to be a person who is polite more than she wants to be a person who is curious, so she is not going to start trying.)

Finally, she finishes, and then and only then does she allow herself to retrieve her laptop, open the archive of her thoughts, and find the entry she wrote when she was thirteen. She had just started keeping the entries regularly, with the specific purpose of holding on to her thoughts, a couple months prior, and had still been experimenting and searching for a format that worked best for her. She had still had a tendency to begin with a summary of her day, which she doesn't do anymore; once she had gained practice in recalling events readily to mind in order to summon the thoughts connected with them, she stopped needing to.

For her purposes now, though, that tendency of her younger self is convenient. She had been meticulous about it, unsure of what was most important and doing her best to capture everything. It had taken hours. The first part of this entry, the important part, is a careful summary of the conversation she had heard Charlie and his friends having, the one that had inspired the entry in the first place. It had been about the Stark boys moving to town in the wake of their parents' deaths, and Charlie had expressed his concern for the boys and his anxiety over the effect of another famous family living in Sunnydale (he had, she gathered, had a bad run-in with the Chandlers just a few days previous).

Except . . . Bella's eyes widen a little as she reads.

Except that isn't what the conversation was about at all.

She reads the entry twice. There is no doubt that she recorded every detail faithfully; she remembers being very strict with herself to avoid cultivating lazy journaling habits. There is no reason why she would have skimped on that effort here. She even wrote down a few remarks verbatim, when she could be sure of them.

The conversation was about Tony Stark moving to Sunnydale, in the wake of his parents' deaths.

There's no mention of Sherlock, or any other Stark boy by any other name, at all. In fact, one of the verbatim remarks she caught from Charlie was: "I wonder what that boy will do once he realizes that picking up and moving across the country doesn't change the fact that he's got no family left in the world."

No family left in the world. Charlie can be just as sloppy a conversationalist as anyone else, but not that bad. He wouldn't leave an entire person, a twin brother, out of a comment like that.

But there is no hint in the entry at all that Tony Stark came to Sunnydale with anyone except a guardian.

(Little wonder her musings on Tony's situation with Sherlock had felt new. They were new. There is nothing of them in the entry's subsequent reflection on what it would be like to be orphaned.)

It doesn't surprise her that she had forgotten the particulars of the conversation. She hasn't read back this far in the archive in years. Even if she had, the meat of the entry is in her own thoughts, and she knows it wasn't long after that people started talking about "the Stark boys" plural. The human memory is faulty. That's why she writes down everything she can. If people say, over and over, that someone has existed all along, and you have no reason to question that, why wouldn't you overwrite an old memory that says otherwise?

Charlie would have known about Sherlock that night. If he had known, he would have said. If he had said, she would have written it down.

Something is very wrong here.

Bella closes her laptop and hastens to the library.

The Sunnydale library keeps everything. It has an archive of newspapers - not just microfiche, but the papers themselves - dating back to when it was opened. (In the back of her mind, Bella notes that this is an odd and impractical arrangement. Newspapers are bulky and the space in the library is not infinite. How do they keep them all?)

An hour after leaving her house, Bella has all the available newspapers from the week following April 12, 1991 in front of her. (Tony's recent surge in fame made that birthdate easy to find before she left.) The Starks kept their - son? sons? . . . offspring out of the public eye, but they couldn't have hidden the birth. Even if they didn't publicize it, there would be a birth announcement. Everyone, famous or not, does birth announcements.

She flips carefully through several issues of the Sunnydale paper and a couple different nationally distributed papers before she finds it. New York Times, April 15, 1991. Anthony Edward Stark, born three days ago to Howard and Maria Stark.

Only Anthony Edward Stark.

Bella takes the paper up to the copy machine and carefully makes several copies of the page. She tucks them into the notebook she brought with her, sits back down among the stacks, and begins to write.

Bella has remained preoccupied with Sherlock since biology class. There is a great deal about him to be preoccupied about, but she is trying to keep her focus on the mystery that first drew her in: The name he was born with.

She remembers to stop by the computer lab after school to set up her email account, but after that she makes a beeline for the red truck Charlie gave her upon her arrival in Sunnydale.

(Most of the other vehicles in the student parking lot are a little shinier, but Bella doesn't mind about that. The truck was an extremely thoughtful and kind gift, and she's glad to have it.)

She wants to go home, write down her perspectives on the day, reread the entry from back when Charlie first mentioned the Starks in her hearing, and start looking.

Bella Swan's first day at Sunnydale High has been fairly unremarkable so far. She's gotten some attention as a new kid, but not much - Sunnydale isn't as big as Phoenix, but it isn't tiny, either. People move here often enough. It's also the first day of the school year, and students are clearly more interested in catching up on things that happened over the summer and figuring out their schedules. Bella, having never been a new student before, had been uncertain of how much attention she should expect, and this outcome suits her just fine.

(There also haven't been many people making the connection between her last name and their chief of police. Bella is proud of Charlie and the job he does, but to hear him tell it, she's the only one in Sunnydale who is. And she has to admit to herself, in the interest of truth, that she had been apprehensive about the negative social attention that could net her if Charlie isn't exaggerating.

to-hack: prioritize pride in Charlie over social self-interest.

She knows, even if other people don't, that Charlie has done everything he can to address the massive flaws in the Sunnydale police department ever since his promotion. That's an important thing to be proud of.)

She hasn't been wandering the halls alone and awkward, either. She has been to Sunnydale before on previous visits to Charlie, after all, and he'd made a habit of scheduling things for her to do during the day while he was at work. She'd been less interested in scheduled activities the past couple of summers, but she still sees a few familiar faces in the hallways, and their owners recognize her too. In English class, just before lunch, she runs into Jessica Stanley. She and Jessica hadn't exactly been friends last year, but they'd met through a mutual friend (who has moved away since; Bella reminds herself to reply to Angela's last email soon) and liked each other well enough; Bella had noted that Jessica had an excellent ear for gossip and an equally good knack for acquiring and remembering same.

Jessica invites Bella to join her and her friends for lunch. Bella is glad to accept, pleased both for the chance to turn acquaintance into a new friendship and to avoid the classic high school movie image of gripping her lunch tray and looking awkwardly for a place to sit.

Jessica's friends are friendly and welcoming, and Jessica's ability to gossip is exactly as Bella remembers it to be. Bella has never judged this negatively, and doesn't do it now; gossip is information, and sitting with Jessica ensures that Bella will be the best-informed new student in Sunnydale High by the end of lunch.

Six months pass between the first time Bella Swan suggests moving to Sunnydale to live with her father and the day both her parents finally say yes.

She doesn't blame them for this. Part of the reason why Renée took Bella with her when she left Charlie to begin with was how dangerous Sunnydale was. Or at least, that's why Charlie didn't protest when she took Bella, and why he's never tried to get custody.

Bella loves Renée more than anyone else in the world - that's why she wanted to move in the first place, after all - but she tries not to deceive herself about her mother's level of awareness. Renée likes for the world to be a nicer place than it is. The kind of self-delusion required for the belief is something Bella does not and never could want for herself, but it doesn't make her love Renée any less. To the contrary - Bella concluded some time ago that it was one of the things about Renée she loves the most.

(It's not necessary to hold others to the standards you set for yourself. Everyone is different. That's the entire point.)

It's easier to convince Renée that Bella moving is for the best, especially with Phil's team proving itself to be championship material - if not this year, then definitely next. Either way, his team is likely to make it to the postseason, which takes place after the school year starts, and having to stay home with Bella means that Renée will miss any number of games that will be important to Phil. That makes them important to Renée, and that in turn makes them important to Bella. She knows how much Renée wants this marriage to work, and in the end she is able to make Renée understand that she is sincere in wanting to do her part, as Renée's daughter, to help.

Charlie is the harder sell. He's Sunnydale's chief of police. He knows firsthand just how wrong Renée can be sometimes about the world being a nice place. Bella doesn't even bring the idea up with him until the middle of her summer visit, when he's had long enough to remember just how much he enjoys having her in the house; even with that on her side, she has to keep working on him over the phone after she's gone back home.

When he finally starts talking about how the same rules he uses for Bella's visits apply year-round, no questions, no exceptions, she knows she's won.

Charlie's Sunnydale rules are easy to follow. The most important one is this: Curfew is sunset. If Bella is stuck away from home at sunset, she is to call Charlie so he can pick her up, or make arrangements to stay with a friend. She is not to avoid calling him for fear of getting in trouble, because she will not get in trouble unless she does not call.

That rule has always been in place. When Bella was thirteen and entering the inevitable throes of adolescent rebellion, she'd complained about how strict and unfair it was, and her friends' parents didn't, etc. Charlie had sat her down and explained, with a terrifying seriousness she had never seen from him before, that a lot of people died in Sunnydale, and most of those people died between sunset and sunrise. If Bella wanted to think he was unfair, that was fine. He'd rather she be angry at him than dead.

Bella has seen the numbers for herself since then. She looked up statistics once, as part of analyzing her life and self in Sunnydale, and saw that it wasn't just Charlie's cop paranoia at work. The death rate in Sunnydale is high and the number of night deaths versus daytime deaths is unbalanced to the point of parody. She's followed Charlie's rules carefully during every visit ever since. She's not stupid, and she doesn't want to die.

Charlie knows both these things about her. Toward the end of the summer, he says yes too, and after that, all that's left for Bella to do is pack.