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The envelope arrives on her doorstep through registered mail as April is on her way out and she signs for the thick envelope with a frown. She can't imagine who would be mailing anything to her, not when she's kept herself so distanced from nearly everyone she has ever met. Her name is on the front, however, and her address in Siren Cove is neatly printed on a white sticker, though under that she can see there are at least three other stickers. Her guess is that each sticker has a previous address written on it and she has to wonder who has been keeping such close tabs on her that they've been able to track her through her last three locations.

She's wanted on charges in at least two states and she makes herself difficult to find for that reason alone. The charges are minor, she doubts she'll ever be interesting enough for any police to follow her across state lines or really pursue her, but she's still done her best to make sure she stays out of jail for that little bit of money she's convinced people to give her. It's not stealing, she thinks, if the person in question wants her to have the cash.

But if the police haven't bothered to find her, she's not sure who has and it isn't until she reaches the boardwalk that she opens the envelope. The return address is a law office in Canada and she wonders if it has something to do with the foster homes as she slips her nail under the flap and opens it.

The contents don't make sense at first. Several legal documents mention Melanie Ross, a name she doesn't recognize, and there's a copy of the woman's will folded carefully around a letter. Whoever she is, she's clearly dead, and April imagines she must be some distant relative, someone she's never even heard of until she opens the letter and sees her name written across the top in a slanting, delicate scrawl.

The letter is from her mother.

Her dead mother.

April scans the will quickly, catches sight of her name, and she feels her stomach turn. There's nothing in the world she wants from this woman with her addictions and her inability to care for her children. The letter makes no mention of the sister April knows she has, the woman somewhere out there in the world who is only a year older than she is, the only decent memory she has of the very brief time she spent in her mother's care. There are other names, though. The names of other women, other places her father had visited.

It reads like some kind of tell-all and the more April reads, the more disgusted she feels until she reaches a familiar name and she feels like her heart stops in her chest. Flynn. Another woman in the long line of women her father had been with, another woman her own mother had apparently kept track of and April shakes her head, torn between fascination at this revelation and disgust at her mother's obsession with the things her philandering father had done.

If this is true, it means part of the family she's told herself she's not looking for is right here in Siren Cove.

April stands up abruptly from the bench and walks down the beach until she's at the guest house on Corrine's property. She doesn't know what she's doing, if she wants to see Corrine or Les and she stands there on the beach for a moment, indecisive in a way she usually isn't. Then she turns abruptly, yanking her sundress over her head as she walks straight into the ocean. She needs to swim. She needs to really be herself for a little while.

[The swimming part is mostly for Les to catch April in her siren form, so everyone else can catch her on the boardwalk with the envelope she doesn't know what to make of. :D]

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It's a good kiss, one she leans into happily and when he rolls off her and pulls away, she thinks she might actually be prepared to tell him what's in the envelope. It means admitting she lied to him the first night they met when she told him both her parents had been dead. It's not impossible for her to pass it off as just not having known -- as had been the case with her father -- but she had lied about her mother. She had said she was dead when she'd known otherwise, but she thinks Les might understand her reasoning.

When he returns and hands her the t-shirt, she smiles and tugs it over her head, dragging her damp hair from the collar before moving up the bed a little to sit beside him. She isn't usually nervous, but now, faced with having to tell someone the truth for the first time in a very long time, she is.

"Thanks for the shirt," she says when he comments on missing his own closet. Then she tucks her legs under her and looks at him, her smile faint. "The first night we met, I told you my parents were dead and... that wasn't strictly the truth. I had no idea about my father, to be honest, I thought it was likely he had died, but I knew my mother was still alive. She had a problem with drugs and when I was two I was taken away from her, so as far as I was concerned, she was dead. She couldn't care for me when I needed her, so I wrote her off." She inclines her head in the direction they'd come from where the envelope lies somewhere on the floor. "I got her will in the mail today. She died three weeks ago."

That night he'd met April at Watersong was right after Corry's kidnapping. He'd been confused and angry and needed a distraction to keep his mind off everything, and April had come along at just the perfect moment. She had said all the right things, kept things low-pressure, teasing and flirting with him, and he'd done the same with her. From the way she had spoken that day, it wouldn't have surprised him had she already left town again.

But the news about her mom does take him aback somewhat.

Because she's being honest with him now even if she hadn't been that first night. There are things in the story Les understands for certain, and he can't find it in himself to be angry over the lie. When she says her mom has died, he feels something closer to sympathy even though April didn't know her. He just knows what it's like to get these papers. Stuff like wills and property and it sorta sucks.

"Wow. Sorry. That's sucks. Did you tell your mom you lived here?" he asks letting his hand cover her arm a little, feeling he should touch her.

She hesitates, then leans against Les, needing the warmth and solidity of him right now, and it makes it a little easier to say what she needs to say when she doesn't have to look at him. Resting against his side, she chews her lower lip briefly, then shakes her head. "No, I haven't seen her or had any contact with her since I was three. For awhile she had supervised visits, but she just stopped coming and I've never wanted to find her. There was several address labels under the one for my current address, which means she's been tracking me."

And she doesn't know why. That's the thing that's bothering her even more than knowing she has family in this town. She doesn't know why her mother would have cared enough to track her. She'd given up her rights to her children in favour of drugs, so why would she try so hard to keep track of the daughter she'd given away?

"She'd been tracking my apparent father, too," she says slowly. "I have no memories of him, he left when I was only a baby, the foster home told me he was dead and I had no reason not to believe them. But he wasn't. He's not. He's... gotten around."

Les just listens as she speaks, overcome with the feeling that he wishes he could make it better somehow, say something to make her laugh or smile. He realizes how much he cares for her even though he's slowly beginning to understand the depth of he's feelings for her whether he admits it or not.

He cares because he is sad that she's sad, that she didn't know her mom and that she went through foster care, knows some of what life's like with an addict. He wishes she didn't have to with it, with crummy parents.

When she gets to end about her dad, he winces wondering what he'd do if he suddenly found out something about his own dad. A man Les never thinks about, ever, but he thinks he would be just as confused as April seems.

"Tracking him? You mean, like, your mom gave you an address to your dad too?" he asks, putting an arm around her shoulder when she leans against him. "What are you gonna do?" He actually gets this feeling in his stomach, a worry, thinking maybe she's saying she has an address and she's going to find her father or something.

"No. No address," she says, shaking her head and she thinks even if her mother somehow had been able to track him that far, had been able to supply April with a place to go looking for him, she probably wouldn't. She has no interest in seeing him and she's fairly certain he would feel the same about her, so it's really a win-win situation if they just continue to avoid one another.

"But she mentioned a few women he's been with. Two he'd had children with." She can't look at him, it's impossible, but finally she feels her gaze drifting over. Tipping her chin up, she looks at Les, her brows drawn together and she looks younger than she usually done. Confused and a little lost.

"I think... she mentioned a woman with the last name Flynn," she says slowly. "I think Corrine might be my half-sister."

Flynn.

It's then Les understands why April is sharing this with him. He doesn't know how to respond to her news straight away. Part of him thinking Corry's already been through enough. Finding the first brother and now this? Now a sister? But he also thinks how strange that April had stumbled into town only to find this strange awkward mess. Something tells him April didn't know, maybe it's the vulnerable almost lost look on face, but he knows she didn't.

At the very least it's awkward. Uncomfortable too once Corry knows. Unless...

"Does Corry know?" he asks sitting up a little straighter to get a better look at April, needing to see her face. He doesn't think Corry knows. She's out of town, and she would've told him. Plus, April says she just got the news today. He sighs a little. "Are you gonna tell her?"

April shakes her head. "You're the first person I've seen," she tells him. "I came here because I wanted to tell you or... maybe her, but instead I went for a swim, which is where you found me. I'm not sure what to do at this point." She's only met Corrine once and she likes her well enough. Their conversation had been pleasant, she seems to care a great deal about Les, but that seems to make it even more awkward and uncomfortable than it might have otherwise been. Without Les, she would have been able to ignore it, but Les and Corrine are close.

She doesn't like not knowing what to do, not when she's spent so much of her life so certain in her decisions. Being able to adapt to any situation is something she's always been good at, but now, for the first time, she doesn't know what to do. She's lying in bed with a man she's been sleeping with regularly, someone she actually cares about even if she doesn't want to think about that. She doesn't do this, she doesn't stay in bed with anyone, but she's here.

"Should I?" she asks. She needs his advice.

It's a good thing Corry doesn't know yet. She's off rehearsing, and he knows she had been excited about the play, and he doesn't think anything should ruin that. Let alone more news about how her father is an asshole. But he knows eventually she will find out, and he isn't sure what her reaction is going to be.

He sighs, rubbing at his forehead for just a second, still attempting to process everything. The longer the news sinks in, the more unpleasant it sounds. He doesn't blame April for telling him, but if it's true advice she needs, he isn't really able to act as an objective party here. Not about Corry.

"Yeah. You should. But I dunno. Corry's my best friend. There isn't much I wouldn't tell her." Now that he knows, he would have to say something even if April decides not to do it. Something like this would be too huge to keep to himself.

"And now that I've told you, one way or the other, she's going to find out," April says. It's not a question and she isn't angry with him or judging the fact that she knows he'll tell her. She's never really experienced that kind of loyalty, she's never known a person who would do anything for her or keep nothing from her and while she can't exactly say that's what she wants, there is a little part of her that respects it. Several months ago she would have thought of such loyalty as a weakness, but Les has made her rethink a lot of things. Most of the time she has no idea how to deal with that.

"I'll tell her," she says. "I won't make you do that." She still has no idea what she feels about it herself, having gone straight into the water and then straight to bed with Les. Both acts had made it easy to forget the reason she'd been on the beach in the first place, but now she's not distracted anymore. Now she has to confront it and she's at a bit of a loss.

"He's a siren," she continues, considering. "I have to believe he's somehow responsible for my being here. It's too great a coincidence otherwise. He's been all over Canada, he's been all over the U.S., it seems impossible that I'd end up in the same town as Corrine just by chance."

Without a doubt, the man must be responsible for Bach and April and who knows maybe even Corry converging on Siren Cove all at once and finding each other. Les has lived here too long to wonder about coincendences. Not when he's seen power and influence used for gain by plenty that live here. And he feels bad for April being forced to deal with a family all of the sudden, but he can't help the sinking feeling about what Corry will say and whether this is the beginning of something greater. If Corry's dad is even around or worse has dragged all of them here for a purpose.

"Corry doesn't talk about him. Her mom or dad really." He shrugs not wanting to get into it. But maybe April needs to know Corry isn't exactly close to the man either. If that eases some concern about telling her. "Her parents sucked. My mom drank. We spent all our time together, but really we just didn't wanna go home," Les says with a weary smile. "It's not like she needs someone to explain her dad is a fraud. She even found some dude a few weeks ago. She thought he was her brother too. Bach or something."

He says Bach and April feels like she's been punched in the stomach. For a long moment she simply sits there with her legs still tucked under her body, the warmth of Les against her growing more distant by the moment. She hasn't felt this helpless, this out of her element in her entire life, not even in the foster system, and all she wants to do is curl herself closer to Les and forget any of this is happening.

Her stomach turns and for a second she feels sick and she's sure her face has gone pale. The only thing she can think is that she's so grateful Bach had been off his game when they'd met because if he hadn't been, she knows what she would have done in order to get information out of him.

"Bach," she repeats finally, her voice weak. "He... I..." She's never before been at a loss for words, but now she has no idea what to say. "He's related to me?"

It's easy to see his statement about Bach gets to April. Obvious especially to Les because of how put together she always seems, even around him, down to the nice dresses and high heels. She's affectionate towards him, but he wouldn't describe her as overtly emotional. Though right now she looks completely thrown, almost stunned, and his instinct is too pull her closer, put his arm around her.

"Hey, it's okay," he says even though all of it pretty much blows. He doesn't know this Bach guy, but he knows Corry and April weren't out looking for two brand new siblings. "She didn't really tell me much about him. And I didn't ask. She just said she found him...."

"He's..." April laughs again, a dry, humourless sound and she doesn't know if this is the sort of conversation she wants to have with anyone, let alone Les, but this news makes her feel sick and she has no idea what to do with it. She's so relieved they haven't actually done anything and she shifts on the bed, letting herself just enjoy the feeling of Les' arm around her. It's probably not normal to discuss the potential sexual partners a person has had with the person they're currently sleeping with, but she needs to explain her reaction.

"I met him before I met you and he... we flirted. Fairly extensively," she admits and the words taste sour in her mouth. She's related to this man who has flirted with her, who's called her beautiful and put his arm around her in a far more than simply friendly manner. As recent as that birthday party she attended, she'd made suggestions about seeing him naked and all she can do now is be relieved nothing have ever come of it. "Jesus."

His hand pauses for a second as he rubs her arm in comfort, but he recovers a moment later. Obviously he knows this thing between them isn't exclusive or anything, and he doesn't know if he even needs it to be, but it's different to hear it out of her mouth. It's definitely different for it to be the man Corry told Les she believes is her brother, and now April is telling him the same thing. Is there even anything to say to that? They sit there for a few seconds in silence because that is a ton of new information to take in all at once.

April is Corry's sister. Half-sister. Whatever. They're related. That's...a lot. He shakes his head after a moment. "Wow," he says, not knowing any other words to describe his overall reaction. "If you want me to be there when you talk to Corry, you can use my place. I don't know if that helps."

It isn't Bach's fault, but there's a big part of April that wonders if she'll even be able to look at him again after this. "Nothing ever came of it," she says and she's not sure if she wants to assure Les that she isn't sleeping with Bach because she's related to him or because she doesn't want Les to be hurt. There's no reason for her to think he might be, they haven't made any attempts to make this exclusive and April isn't even sure if she wants that, but she doesn't want Les to feel jealous. She tells herself he wouldn't anyway, that he probably has his own list of other women who are interested in him and she tries to tell herself she doesn't feel any jealousy when she thinks like that.

"I... I don't know what I want to do," she answers and it's one of the most honest things she's said to him. "I'll have to think about it. It's such an incredible mess." She's been happy without family, perfectly content to leave that entire life behind when she'd left Canada. Her foster parents had never really been family anyway, not with six other kids to look after in each home she'd gone through. She barely even knows Corrine.

Incredible mess, that it is. Something inside of Les wants very badly to pick up the phone and hear Corry's voice, to tell her what he knows. He doesn't enjoy keeping things from her, especially now when it finally feels like they are in a good place with her coming home and how close they are now. Maybe even closer than before she left. If there's anything that's always been true, it's been the Corry and him surrounded by incredible messes. Before it was her mom, his mom. Things hardly ever change, do they?

But as much as he wants to tell Corry now, he also thinks maybe this news is something between April and her. They share a father, they're related. Les is just around to pick up the pieces. If he even can.

He lets his arm hug around April's shoulders. "Corry's gone for a few more days anyway. It's not like you can tell her right now. So there's time to figure it out," he says.

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