It had been 6 years since DJ's death and much had happened in that time. A couple of weeks after DJ's death, the cops had found his killer. He was killed in the resulting confrontation. Once a year on DJ's birthday, Heather went to his grave to dance on it and leave a brown paper back of her own feces.

9 months after DJ's death, Heather gave birth to a beautiful baby girl she named Hope. Heather knew the name was incredibly cheesy but considering how she found out about being pregnant, the name was also incredibly appropriate.

A couple years ago, Heather had met another man named Vicente. He was a very handsome Hispanic man. He was a couple years older than Heather, but she didn't mind: because of that, he was more willing to settle down than guys Heather's age and was very acceptable of Heather's status as a single parent when they started dating. They'd been married for three years.

It was a Saturday afternoon and Hope walked up to Heather. She had almond shaped eyes like her mother and dark skin like her father. Hope also had long black hair and a round face. "Mommy," Hope began. "I need to ask you something."

"What is it sweetie?" Heather asked.

"Am I adopted?" Hope asked, causing an awkward silence to fall between them.

"What would make you say that?" Heather asked. She did not like where this would lead.

"I don't look anything like daddy," Hope replied, Heather noting that when she said 'daddy', she was talking about Vicente. "I have even darker skin than him, which seems weird. What's even more weird is that my skin looks more like Mama Mary's."

DJ's mother, Heather corrected in her head. As far as Hope knew, 'Mama Mary' was just some woman who babysat her often. Mary was not happy with keeping silent about being Hope's grandmother but understood that Hope needed to be older before finding out about DJ. Looks like that's going to be today.

"So am I adopted?" Hope repeated her question.

"It's a bit more complicated than that Hope," Heather began as she knelt down to be at Hope's eye level. "Before I met the man you know as your father, I was in love with another man named DJ. He cared about me at a time when very few people did and helped me to become a nicer person."

"Why did he have to that?" Hope asked. "You're already nice."

"I wasn't always Hope," Heather clarified. "There was a time when I only cared about myself because I had some very misguided ideas about how I thought the world worked. DJ helped to change that."

"Where is he now?" Hope asked.

"I'll get to that in a minute," Heather said. "Anyway, one day DJ and I decided that we wanted to have a baby, so we called the Stork for one. He took a little bit from DJ and me and mixed it together to make you. That's why your skin is so much darker than mine or Vicente's," Heather explained, playing to her daughter's understanding of where babies came from."

"Unfortunately," Heather continued, "DJ was in a car accident while the Stork was delivering you. He died," Heather said while she put her hand on her forehead and felt some tears being jerked. She didn't feel completely happy with lying about what happened, but Hope was only five and didn't need to be burdened with the more grizzly details of his death (much like how she didn't need to be burdened with the exact nature of sexual reproduction).

"He's in heaven now?" Hope asked.

"Yes," Heather answered. Heather had started going to church for the last couple of years because she felt inclined to reconsider the possibility of the divine after being blessed with Hope. She still wasn't quite sure where she stood in regards to the whole God thing, but if there was a God then there wasn't a doubt in her mind that DJ was in heaven.

"Hope," Heather said while a few tears were coming from her eyes. "Please keep in mind that even though you are technically not Vicente's daughter, he loves you very much. And so do I."

Heather then embraced Hope in a hug. When Heather had found out she was pregnant, she had hoped that the baby would serve as a way to keep DJ's memory alive. And while Heather did still think of DJ from time to time and thought that Hope had done a great job of continuing his legacy, Heather also loved Hope deeply. She had taken DJ's place as the light of Heather's life.

Hope, Heather thought, every time I look at you, I am so glad I decided not to take my own life.

"I love you too mommy," Hope said. They pulled apart and Hope went off to play.

Heather began thinking about how she'd have to contact all of Hope's relatives and make sure they had their stories straight for Hope. She'd also have to call Mary and tell her about how she could now come forward as Hope's grandmother. As these thoughts were going through her head, Heather stood up, turned around and saw Vicente standing nearby.

"How much of that did you hear?" Heather asked.

"Most of it," he answered. "I knew we'd have to talk to her about DJ at some point, but I didn't think it would be this soon."

"What, you thought she'd wait until she was twelve to wonder why she was born with a tan?"

"I was kind of hoping."

There was an awkward silence between the two before Heather spoke up. "Are you okay?" she asked. "I know we haven't talked about DJ in a long time and it's got to be awkward suddenly bringing him up like this."

"I'm fine," Vicente said as he placed his hand on Heather's shoulder. "I know that DJ was a very important part of your life and that the two of you would still be together if it hadn't been for his untimely demise but I have no ill will towards him about that. Because of him, we have an amazing daughter. The world's a little more special with Hope in it."

"So very true," Heather agreed.

…

Author's notes: a big thank you to 100tenmillion for the name Vicente and Hope's description.