Stef's POV

I'm sitting at dinner, trying to find enough courage to tell my children about Lux. But I can't help but be nervous about their reactions.

Will they think I've been lying to them?

I've told them, time and time again, that omission is the same thing as lying. And I hate myself for hiding Lux from them. But I couldn't understand why I felt the need to hide the fact that I had as stillborn child from them in the first place.

Would they ever trust me again if I tell them the truth?

But at the end of the day, I owe it to Lux to tell them about her.

That must've been the reason why she picked Mike over me. And I hate to even think that she thinks that I'm ashamed of her, because that's absolutely not the case.

I'm ashamed of me, to be honest.

I'm ashamed that Lux has to think that I've been hiding her all this time. The last thing I want her to feel is embarrassed because I felt the need to pretend she didn't exist.

One last look from Lena was all I needed, to force me to say something, "Guys, there's something serious that I'd like to talk to you all about."

I wait for one of them to respond as I steal one more glance at Lena, for the strength.

They all stare at me.

"Are we in trouble?" Mariana asks worriedly.

I smile, "No sweets. No one's in trouble. But… I have to talk to you guys about something important… I…Well, Mike and I…. I guess there's no easy way to say this..."

"What is it?" Brandon asks in an anxious voice.

I take a deep breath and glance at Lena again, before I can answer, "B… Your father and I had another baby…after you," I say nervously and wait for Brandon to continue the conversation.

"What?" he asks angrily.

I glance over at all of my other children's faces and see them all staring at me in confusion and with curiosity. "Fourteen years ago, I had another child….a girl…" I glance again and see that they all are waiting for me to continue, so I do, "…I gave birth to a girl…But the doctor… Well, the doctor told Mike and I that she was a stillborn...That she died during child birth."

"Why didn't you tell me?" Brandon asks. I can tell by the tone in his voice that he's upset with me.

And he has every right to be.

I stare at him for a while and I know that there's no excuse for hiding this from him, "I didn't say anything to anyone because I couldn't deal with it myself…After losing Lux, I couldn't—"

"Lux?" he asks angrily. "That girl who was here the other day?"

"Brandon," Lena intervenes. "Please let your mother finish."

I take another deep breath before I can continue, "Yes, Brandon. The girl that was here the other day is Lux…my daughter… It turns out that she wasn't a stillborn like I thought." I glance around the table and try to read my children's reactions, but the only theme I can read is confusion. "My doctor told me and Mike that she was a stillborn, but it turns out that he…intentionally handed her over to another couple. She was alive and I just found that out yesterday…." I sigh before I continue; "I didn't mean to hide this from you guys. That was not my intention at all."

"So what does this mean?" Jesus asks. "You have another kid out there?"

I glance at his face and then back at Lena's for reassurance, "That's exactly what it means… I have a biological daughter… But I want you all to know this does not change how I feel about any of you. I want you all to know that."

"We know," Callie assures me. I smile at her for being so understanding.

I glance at Mariana, who's sitting directly across from me. I can see the sudden worry in her eyes and I wish that I could reach my hand out for hers, but she has them hiding under the table. "You okay, Sweets?"

She takes a few seconds to answer, which leads me to believe that this is far from okay to her, "…Yeah…I'm fine."

Lux's POV

After dinner, I start to think that Mike doesn't seem as bad as bad as I thought he would be. He talked about his son, Brandon, a lot, and asked a few questions about my school and my life, but I made sure not to tell him too much.

I couldn't get close to him.

That's why I chose to go to home with him in the first place.

It seemed like the easiest decision.

He was single and didn't have anyone else living with him.

He seemed nice enough; even though I knew that "appearances" don't mean much in this world we're living in.

But Stef was different.

And I wasn't sure if it was a good thing or a bad thing.

What I knew, off the bat, was that she was getting attached and I didn't like it.

After listening to the nurse talk about what may have happened, she immediately wanted to take the DNA test.

And after the way she had been acting after… It just didn't seem right to go with her.

The fact that she had such a huge family just added fuel to the fire.

I may not be her daughter, so meeting all of those people would've been pointless.

Mike was the safe choice and I jumped for it.

"Are you hungry?" Mike asked after I sat down on the couch a few seconds after stepping foot into his apartment.

"I just ate," I remind him and stare at him strangely. I can tell that he's nervous by the awkward smile that he has on his face. I kind of want to laugh, but I don't want to seem rude so I try my best not to.

"Right."

I nod my head and glance around his apartment in awkwardness. Then I glance at the huge piano in his living room, "Do you play?"

He laughs, "No. Do you?"

"Just a terrible version of "Chopsticks" that I unintentionally memorized when I was younger."

He nods his head.

"So why do you have a piano here if you don't play?" I ask in confusion.

"Oh," he laughs. "Brandon does."

"So, wait…Brandon's your…."

He smiles again, "My son… Yeah. Your brother actually."

"Yeah I met him. He seems nice…" I stare at him and try to find the courage to ask the next question that has been burning a whole in my mind ever since I found out that Stefanie had a wife. "Can I ask you something?"

"Sure. Anything you want," he asks as he takes a seat on the couch directly across from me. "I'm an open book."

"Why…Well…How are you…How did you and Stef have kids if…"

"She's gay?" Mike laughs.

I smile awkwardly, "Yeah. I'm just a little…"

"Confused?" he finishes for me again.

"Basically, yeah."

"I was too," he chuckles and then glances over at me again.

"Well, Stef and I were married for five years, and within that time we had Brandon and you…Then, your mother told me that she was gay."

"So you didn't know?" I ask in disbelief. He had to have known.

"No, I didn't… I loved her a lot, and I thought that she loved me too, but I was blind in that aspect. And I guess…she was too… I've come to accept her for who she is now."

"But she lied to you," I remind him "For five years…"

"Yeah, I know," Mike shrugs. "But she was lying to herself for longer… I like to see her happy, and I know that I could never make her as happy as Lena does."

"Her wife," I remember.

"Yeah."

"Aren't you mad though? I mean… I would be if I was married to a woman who I thought loved me, who I spent so many years with, who I had children with… and then she just left me…"

"I was angry at first… But I've grown to respect her decision now. Her and Lena are both amazing women, have an amazing family, and Stef's happy, which is the most important thing."

"Wow, very insightful," I smile and he gives me a confused expression back.

"I can't tell if you're trying to be a smart-aleck or you really mean that."

"Strangely, I can't either… so I guess we'll just say it's a little bit of both."

Stef's POV

I'm walking up the stairs to Mike's apartment, when I glance down at my watch. It's 10pm.

Maybe they're sleeping? I probably should've waited until tomorrow. But I know I wouldn't have been able to sleep after the conversation I had with Lux earlier. The simple fact that she chose to go home with Mike just proved to me, how badly I had screwing this up already.

The second right before I knocked on the door, I realized how weird it felt to have to visit my daughter at her father's apartment.

Is this how Mike feels when he comes over to pick up B?"

I knock lightly and I wonder if I should've called first, to make sure they were awake.

"Coming," I hear Lux yell. Seconds later she unlocks the door and opens it. Once she sees me, she looks me up and down, "Hey, where's the uniform?"

"Is that all you have to ask?" I question as I wait for her to catch her mistake.

She looks at me in confusion, "Huh?"

I sigh and realize that I have my work cut out for me already, "You just opened the door, without even asking who it was?"

"Okay…" Lux says as she closes the door again, practically on my face.

I'm not even sure how to react to all of this. Did I mess up again? I wonder. I take another deep breath and knock on the door, already accepting the consequence of her ignoring it.

"Who is it?" she asks mockingly.

I can't help but smile a little, after I've realized that my little lecture had backfired on me, "It's Stef."

She opens the door, "Better?"

"Much," I nod.

"So, what's up? You here to see Mike?"

"Um, no I'm here to see you actually," I answer as I glance at her face again and try to read her expression. Normally, I can tell by a person's facial expression whether I should continue talking or not. But I actually have to wait for Lux to nod. "…I wanted to talk with you about what happened earlier today."

"Oh, you don't have to," she tries to assure me. "It's not a big deal, seriously."

"Yeah, well it is to me… I wanted you to know that I didn't not tell my family, because I felt embarrassed by you."

"Okay…"

"And I'm sorry if I made you feel that way."

"You didn't make me feel anyway," she answers casually.

"Let me finish," I stop her. I know that I'm not able to read her facial expressions very well, but I can tell by her voice that she's pretending as if everything is okay.

I can tell that she's pretending, because she's doing the exact thing I that do, when I'm upset and don't want to admit it, which just makes me fear that she's more like me than I would like. "I didn't want to tell my family because I didn't want them to get hurt if…well, if I found out that you..." I cough nervously, not wanting to make her feel uncomfortable by calling her my daughter. "…and I weren't biologically related. That's why I didn't tell Mike. I just wanted to be sure."

She squints her eyes at me, and I can tell that something I said struck a nerve.

"If you don't think that you weren't my birth mom, then why would you go through all of this? I'm not forcing you to do anything. I was trying to get emancipated today, remember?"

"I know that."

"Then, why'd you do it?"

"Because… I was scared." I glance back up Lux, and I know that it's too late to take back what I said. But it was the truth and I knew that she deserved at least that. "…I was scared that I was going to find out that you weren't my daughter."

"Stephanie…Stef, I still might not be," she answers sternly.

I stare at her for a long time and I can't believe that she really thinks that. She can't think that what she saying is true. After everything that's happened, does she really still think that she's not our kid?

"Do you really believe that or is that what you're telling yourself?"

"Excuse me?"

"I was telling myself the same thing you're thinking, because I was scared of finding out that you weren't. It was my way of protecting myself and preparing myself for anything. I didn't want to lose you a second time... which is exactly what would've happened if you got emancipated today… Look, I know that you're my daughter. You may not know it yet, but I do." She rolls her eyes and I could tell that she wants to slam the door on me, by the way her grip is tensing up on the edge of the door. "And you don't have to take my word for it… If I were in your position, I probably wouldn't either. But I needed you to know that I told my family about you, because I don't want you to think that I'm ashamed of you, because I'm not ashamed of you…I'm ashamed of me. I'm ashamed that I didn't recognize you as my daughter the second that I laid eyes on you. I'm ashamed that I hid the fact that I had this gut feeling that you were my daughter after we left the hospital, and I didn't say anything to you. I didn't say anything to Mike or my family because I was scared to find out you weren't. I'm ashamed that I was scared of all of that in the first place. It had absolutely nothing to do with you and everything to do with me. Understand?" By the time I'm finished I could feel the tears welling up in my eyes, and I'm just hoping that she doesn't see them too. The fact that she's not even staring at me anymore just might help me.

"…I guess I realized that you never asked for any of this either. And I didn't really expect you to tell your family," Lux admits.

"What do you mean?" I ask in confusion.

"Well, I was kinda thankful that you didn't tell your family…Up until now anyway… There's still a chance that this could be a big misunderstanding, and it all just seemed a lot…easier, I guess, if no one knew about me. Look, I'm sure that you're a terrific mom and you have a terrific family, but I have to be practical here. I mean, my entire life I've assumed that my parents gave me up because they didn't want me, and I've been on my own for 14 years now, taking care of myself… just a little over 24 hours ago, I find out that my parents may not have been the people who I thought they were… And all of a sudden, they're both hovering over me, completely ruining my chances of getting emancipated, something that I've been banking on for years now… And why? Because some crappy doctor intentionally messed up the paperwork 14 years ago?"

I take a step closer to her, and I'm happy that she doesn't back away from me, but upset that she glances down at the ground to keep from looking back at my face. I'm not sure if this is a victory or a huge step back, "Look, I know that this is a lot to take in, and I'm sorry that all of this had to happen so abruptly, but I can't change anything now… And I certainly can't go on with my life pretending as if yesterday didn't happen, as if I never met you. Because it did happen, and I'm glad that it did… Now I'm sorry that you think I ruined your plans today, but I'm not sorry for doing it. This is overwhelming for all of us, but I think that you came back to us for a reason, Lux. I know that this isn't easy for you and it's not easy for any of us, but you are my daughter, whether you choose to acknowledge it or not. You are. And I couldn't just sign a piece of paper and risk not seeing you again. That's not the type of family you have, and I'm sorry that you had to think that all this time. Maybe, you need the proof to really believe it, and that's okay with me. But just know that after you tomorrow, you have a family that wants you, Lux. And that's not going to change."

She stares back at me for a long time and I can tell that she heard me, by the glistening look in her eyes, but rather than accept my words she tries to remain hard as a rock, "You know what? I'm actually kind of tired and it's pretty late..."

I don't move in inch.

"I have school in the morning so…"

"Yeah, sure," I try to offer a smile and pretend that I'm okay with her lack of emotion toward all of this. "I'll see you tomorrow then?"

"Yeah," she says causally as she closes the door.

"And Lux…Happy Birthday," I mumble at the door and just hope that she heard me.