A Thousand Oceans Wide

"Are you ready?" Bill's doctor asked. Bill gave a nod, smiling widely. He glanced sideways at his brother Tom and then briefly at his mother. "Okay, go ahead."

Bill swallowed slightly, more than excited to finally make a sound. He started slowly with a very careful and tentative sigh of satisfaction. "Ahhh..." And Tom looked at his brother, grinning. He felt extremely happy for Bill. "One, two, three."

Hearing Bill's voice again, Tom nodded his head, smiling crazily to himself. "Amazing," he muttered with arms crossed.

"Oh, that's wonderful!" Simone laughed thankfully, hugging her son tightly from the side. She gave him a peck on his head.

"Good," the doctor smiled, satisfied. He wrote some things on his book as he continued. "Remember, continue taking deep breaths and talk very carefully and as little as possible."

Tapping his way through the speech slowly, Bill gave a laugh full of vibrance. "Okay," Bill said gently. Tom felt extremely proud of his brother.

As soon as the last things were seen to, the twins left the hospital having Tom drive them home.

Back at their house before Bill's grand arrival, Georg and Gustav helped to get everyone to settle down.

"Bill's going to be here in ten minutes. Ten minutes, guys!" Gustav clapped his hands, trying to get everyone to get the last things done.

Everyone was rushing, helping to get the cold food out on the table and making sure the hot ones were still warm. Heidi helped to stir the drinks, hoping it was still sweet and not diluted.

"Tom," Bill asked when they were driving down their street. "Is that David's car?" he asked, spotting his manager's ride outside his house, across the street.

Tom widened his eyes, forgetting that vehicles around their house was an obvious giveaway. "Oh, he wanted to check on you, I think."

"And that's Georg's over there," Bill giggled, pointing to it right in front of David's.

"Don't talk too much, Bill," Tom gave a mock frown, trying to change the subject. "Come on, let's go in. I'm hungry."

Tom parked his car on his front porch and checked his phone. Gustav said they were ready for Bill, and Tom smirked, excited. Bill spontaneously went to open the door, and he went in and inhaled the most wonderful smell. "Why does our home smell like a-"

"Surprise!" Everyone in hiding jumped out and exclaimed in joyous harmony.

"-restaurant," Bill completed, in utter surprise. He was grinning from ear to ear, hands coming up to cover his mouth as he tried not to actually squeal. He did, however, let out a prominent gasp. "Oh my God, you guys!" Bill turned around and saw his brother smiling back at him. "I knew there was something going on!"

"Glad you're better," David pat Bill's back.

"It's good to be back," Bill grinned, clapping his hands, still overwhelmed by this whole surprise. He noticed everyone closest to him was here; Simone, Gordon, Georg, Gustav, some of the other crew members and old friends and of course, Heidi and Tom.

Heidi came forth, carrying the chocolate cake in her hand. It was covered sinfully in thick chocolate frosting and on it was white icing with the words Get Well Soon Bill. She offered a most generous smile as she approached him. People started circling the boy who entered the room and he ended up sitting on the living room couch with the cake before him.

"I'm definitely much better now!" Bill exclaimed, still shaking from the excitement. Everyone laughed, giving random shout-outs to the star of the event. "Thank you so much! I feel extraordinary, just so you know."

"Happy Get Well Soon," Heidi whispered to Bill before going to the back of the crowd. She did feel very out of place here, to be honest, and so she decided she'd stand at the back since her work here was pretty much done. Tom had his eyes on Bill and the cake and how wonderful everything turned out to be. Seeing his brother is such a state of exhilaration put his mind at ease.

Bill cut the cake after everyone sang an impromptu Get Well Soon version of Happy Birthday to him, serving them to everyone. "You're definitely not the party planner, are you?" Bill teased his twin.

Tom rolled his eyes. "Hey, I thought of the idea!" he smiled, taking two servings of cake initially meant for him and Bill. "Heidi planned it. She did the food." When he mentioned Heidi, he wondered where she had disappeared to after bringing out the cake. "Cut your own piece, yeah? I'll give her this."

"You'd better," Bill smirked, licking his thumb and finger when he touched the frosting accidentally. "Plus, tell her the cake is heaven!"

Tom told the guests to enjoy themselves as he passed them, looking around for Heidi. He couldn't find her anywhere in the main room, so he went to the kitchen and there she was.

"Hey," Tom said, smiling a bit. She didn't look too happy to him. However, when she looked up at him, she immediately smiled.

"Hi," she said, her mood appearing to be rather delighted. She rubbed her hands on the apron. "Did Bill like the cake?"

Tom was slightly surprised by her response. It was like as if nothing happened before in between them. "Yeah," Tom muttered. He started to smile a bit more, seeing she actually was smiling. "He said it's like heaven."

Heidi let out a short laugh, shaking her head as she started taking some trays and washing them. "That's good to know."

"Yeah," he said. "But hey, I'll wash those later. Come and eat the cake with us." He looked at the girl, waiting for her gaze to fall on him.

"Nah," Heidi shook her head, half-smiling, eyes fixated on washing the pans. "I stole some of the food just now so I'm not really hungry. Thanks, anyway."

"Well, you've got to try your own cake so... I'll keep it in the chiller for you, then," Tom shrugged, turning to keep her serving. He went back to her and she was quietly washing, humming to some song.

Heidi turned around and looking over her shoulder, she saw Tom eating the cake as he faced her, leaning against the refrigerator. "Why don't you go outside and eat with Bill?" she asked. And suddenly, there was a loud chorus of laughter. She could hear Bill's from among the many voices and she laughed softly to herself.

Tom licked the fork and looked out of the kitchen. Bill was being a very good party host. "It's okay," Tom laughed a bit. "I've got the rest of the night to hear him talk, so."

The blonde-haired girl nodded, continuing to wash and soon, she was done. She removed her apron and went to take some juice from the front. Tom followed her mindlessly. She realized he was following her as he got a drink as well. Wordlessly, she went behind, and Tom once again followed her.

"Are you following me?" Heidi asked suddenly, frowning a bit as she smiled. She leaned against the counter, sipping her drink.

"I was just thinking about things," Tom said. He paused for a while before continuing. "I actually talked about it last night-"

"You talked about it? With who?" Heidi asked, eyes widened in question. She couldn't believe he told it to someone. "Did you tell Bill? Tom, I told you not to tell anyone-"

"Why can't Bill know?" Tom frowned. "He's my brother and I share things with him."

Heidi shook her head, feeling her cheeks burn knowing Bill knew as well. "What did he say?" she asked, not looking at Tom, the cup held at her lips.

"He said..." Tom trailed off. He wasn't going to say exactly what Bill wrote about, so he sort of summarized things for her. "He said I should tell you the truth, which is different from the truth you know."

Crossing her arms, Heidi shook her head. "What truth?" she asked, confused. There was only ever one truth and that was Markus was her child, not her brother.

"That I'm not the person you think I am," Tom said. "That's the truth." He thought about it for a long while last night. He thought about it all the time this morning and now, he had finally found the chance to say it. "Brigette and Johanna, they... They just read things on the internet and-"

"And what difference does it make?" Heidi asked. "What are you trying to tell me?"

"That I'm different," Tom answered simply. "We've grown apart, and it was my fault but now, you see, we found each other again. It's... I don't know how I should put this but it's like everything's meant to be-"

"Nothing's meant to be, Tom!" Heidi shook her head, cutting his sentence short. "I don't know what you do out there, and neither of us can assure the both of us you'll be who you claim you are. It's not easy, okay?" The girl groaned slightly, her smile having disappeared a while back when Tom brought up this topic again. "And I told you, I never want to talk about this again! Why can't you just understand that?"

Without another glance or another word, Heidi left the house. She put her cup down, turned on her heels and headed for the front door, brushing past the people she didn't feel comfortable with. Bill caught sight of the girl snaking through the little crowd in a hurry, wiping her eyes.

"Heidi," Tom frowned sadly, calling after the girl once. He went after her, trying to not make it look so obvious something was wrong. He tried not to ruin the whole thing for Bill, at least.

"Heidi?" Bill asked, standing up. He couldn't shout because his throat annoyed him a little. He saw that Tom was chasing after her, but the older twin stopped when he reached the door, watching her disappear down the street.

Everyone turned to look at Tom standing at the door, a mere few noticing the blonde girl had just left the house in a hurry. Bill assured everyone that everything was fine, and they all continued doing what they were doing.

"What just happened?" Bill asked, pulling Tom outside. He closed the door so that no one would creep up on them. "What did you say to her?"

"Bill, stop talking so loudly," Tom told his brother. "You're still recovering-"

"God, Tom," Bill shook his head. "Can you just answer me for once?"

"She didn't let me talk," Tom said, shaking his head. His eyes were closed as he tried to regain his composure. "She hates me now. I totally blew it." Tom still felt the rejection, and Heidi's words kept replaying in his head. He contained too much inside he wanted to let it all out. The past week of late nights spent on random thoughts drove him crazy. Ever since he got back, the only girl he pretty much hung out with was Heidi, pathetic or not, so it was inevitable he thought of her.

"No, you didn't," Bill assured him, patting his back. "Tom, what did you say to her?"

"Heidi, she's being unreasonable," Tom claimed. "She didn't let me explain myself like you said I should. She totally cut me off, and she said doesn't want to hear a single word about it."

"You tried to talk to her about the both of you?" Bill asked.

"She brought you up when I haven't even mentioned your name, Bill," Tom said. "She seems to be really wanting to keep this from you, and I don't know why."

Bill shook his head, confused. "But, but I didn't do anything. Did you try and ask her why?"

"She brushed me off. The more I try to talk about us, the more she's giving me this... this sense that everything is becoming worse. She's paranoid and I don't know why. It's not like it's life and death or anything!" Tom shook his head, trying not laugh at the absurdity of it all. "It's either a yes or a no."

"Yeah," Bill raised his eyebrows. He tried to be careful with his words. "And she said no... right? Give her time. Maybe she's scared."

"Bill," Tom sighed. "Stop talking so much." He could hear the strain in Bill's voice.

Bill shook his head, stroking his own neck. He had to get used to it. "Then talk to me," he said, crossing his arms.

"There's nothing to talk about. She doesn't want to talk about it so I'm dropping this, period," Tom shrugged, crossing his arms as well. He bit his lips together, staring out over the front garden. "I'll just forget it. No big deal."

"You're lying, Tom," Bill narrowed his gaze, shaking his head at his twin. They're twins. He knows what the other is thinking.

"Why do you think I am?" Tom frowned. "Oh, just... Get back in and enjoy your party. I'm taking a drive."

"Tomi," Bill groaned. "Tom, don't go."

Sniffling a bit, Tom turned away from Bill and jogged briefly down the front porch. He then entered his Cadillac, driving out in the opposite direction from where Heidi disappeared down.