Daryl lay in bed that night, listening to the sounds of the house settling around him. The kids were in their rooms, but weren't yet asleep. Carol lay beside him, her nervous energy causing her to flip the pages of a book without really seeing the words.

It had been less than twelve hours since the lab had called with the results. After the shock of the news wore down a bit, they had spoken to Michelle and Aaron again on the phone. From Aaron, they came to know that Michelle was having a rough time reconciling the news of the results and her past life with her adoptive parents. The Dixons had let Mika and Luke know what the results were, but the three siblings had yet to speak on the phone. Daryl was hoping that communication between the three would be coming in short order, but he didn't want to push.

Milton had spoken with both Michelle and Aaron, trying to lend his talents to the woman who no longer had a real sense of identity. Michelle was in the midst of an identity flux, for lack of a better term according to Milton. She wasn't quite Michelle any longer but wasn't Sophia either. She didn't know how to face this lack of firm identity, or how to face her future. Did she live her life as Michelle or as Sophia? The Dixons tried to be supportive, but they were facing their own hesitancy. They were not sure about how they moved on from here. Did they push Michelle to be a part of their lives, or did they give her space? The questions in both households were endless, with no answers in sight.

From beside him, Daryl's cell phone began to ring. He glanced at the clock. It was past ten pm. Kind of late for phone calls, but when he saw Michelle's number, he immediately picked up.

"Hello?"

Michelle was crying, he could tell that immediately.

"Michelle? You ok?"

There was just more crying. He waited, letting her know he was there; waiting for her to be able to speak. Carol was waiting beside him, giving him silent support in handling their upset oldest daughter. That's who she was after all, their daughter.

"I'm here. Sorry, I didn't mean to call sobbing or anything. It's just that I am sitting here, and I don't even know how to handle everything. I knew when I started my search that I would be opening myself up to a possible new normal. But how is any of this normal? In what reality does everything that happened here actually happen?" She let out another sob before continuing. "I knew who I was growing up. I was Michelle Marquand, daughter of Bill and Anna Marquand, sister of Aaron. Now, I'm different. Now I feel like I am two people, and I can't for the life of me figure out how to be two people."

Daryl sighed. He had expected something like this would affect her going forward, but he felt helpless to assist from so far away.

"I don't think something like this would ever be easy to handle. You just need to pick the path that will allow you to be who you wanna be."

"How am I supposed to know who I want to be? It's not like I can separate the two lives now. They are together no matter what."

"Here, think of it this way. Like it or not, there will be two normals for you. You got your before you, and you've got your after you. You just got to figure out which normal you identify enough with to follow. The second you won't ever leave ya; it'll always be there. You just need to do what's best for you without forgetting the other path, cuz the other path made you too."

"It's all so hard. I mean if I look at things objectively, I was effectively bought and sold. My parents died when I was still young. I've got a kick-ass brother, but that's all I've still got. Well, that's not true. I have my name. I am Michelle. But then that's not really true either. I am Sophia too. I always was. I have blood family now. I've got parents that I don't really know, and two younger siblings that I never got to grow up with. Objectively, I know I could have a real family again if I embrace the blood, but to do that, I need to be Sophia, and I'm not sure who she is."

You don't gotta be Sophia. Ya can be Michelle. Just know that whoever Sophia is, that is who you are too. We want you to be part of our lives, part of our family. But if you decided it's too hard to do as Sophia, we would understand. Ya been Michelle almost all your damn life, and that ain't gonna go away overnight. Just know we are here for you always, ok?"

"And Aaron?"

"Aaron will always be your brother. Hell, if he wants, he would be welcome here as family as well. Ya don't have to ditch your life to be a part of ours."

He listened as she tried to get her emotions under control, not quite knowing if he was helping her or not. It's not like this kind of situation could ever come with an instruction manual.

"I think maybe I want to try."

"Try what?"

"Try being family. With Aaron included."

"Alright."

"Alright? That simple?"

"That simple. You be you. That's most important. We will be there for you no matter which you that you decide to be."

"How do I do that though? I mean, Milton is trying to help me too, but I just don't know where to begin."

"Tell you what. You and Aaron come here. Come visit us. Stay awhile. We can try to just be around each other. No pressure though. Maybe that will help ya figure out who and where you need to be."

"I could do that. When?"

"Soon. Now. Whenever possible. Just stay for two weeks. Try things out. Maybe they will end up being too hard to handle, but just maybe they won't be quite as rough as you think they will be. We got a guest room. You can stay there, and Aaron can stay in the study on the hide-a-bed. Just come and meet us."

"I will talk to Aaron, but I think … I think I really want to do that."

"Good. I will call you tomorrow and we will figure things out. Maybe we should have Milton stick around too if he can. He could help if things get too rough for ya."

"I really like him. Did he tell you that I decided to go to school for social work?"

"No, he didn't. That's great!"

"Yeah. I really didn't know what I wanted to do with my life or even if I was ready for college. But now, I am thinking I really want to help people the way that he does."

"He is pretty great. The world could use another person who helps others as much as he does."

There was a brief silence where they weren't quite sure what else to say.

"Daryl?"

"Yeah?"

Can I … do you think it would be ok if I … just wanted to talk to Carol? I don't really have much to say, but right now I just really want to hear her voice. Know that she is as ok with things as you seem to be."

"Sure can. She's right here. Hold on."

Daryl passed the phone to Carol with a quick explanation. For the next half hour, he listened in on the conversation that was at once about nothing and about everything. He knew by the time it was over that Carol and Michelle were on their way to figuring out how to talk to one another. Both women had so much grief to reconcile themselves with. The fact that they seemed ready to face it together gave him a great feeling for the future. A future with their oldest child was now within their reach.