The smirk instantly disappeared from Christian's face. His expression was blank. For a minute--that seemed like an eternity--the only thing he could do was stare at her. A million thoughts were running through his head, but none that he wanted to believe were actually true. This had to be a joke. There was no other explaination for it. He couldn't possibly be in the same predicament again. No way in hell. He refused to believe anything until he had some actual proof.

He snapped out of whatever daze he had fallen into and fixed his gaze on her. She watched him cautiously from the chair in front of his desk. His eyes narrowed suspiciously, a chuckle escaping his lips. "What is this? Is this some sort of a sick joke?" He raised his voice with his next words, causing her to jump in fright, "did Sean put you up to this!"

A bewildered expression crossed her face. "What? No! I mean, I don't even know who Sean is. Look, I swear, this isn't a joke. I'm really your daughter. As far as I know anyway." She unzipped her purse to retrieve the birth certificate, but he was already on his feet and heading towards the door.

"All right, that's it. I'm calling security!"

"What!" Her head spun around at the word "security." Jumping up from her chair, she dashed towards him with the birth certificate in her hand. "No! Wait! Don't! Please, just look!" She held up the piece of paper at eye level where he'd see it clearly. "I swear, it's true."

He froze in place when he laid his eyes on the birth certificate, his actual signature scrawled on the line for the father, and a familiar woman's name on the mother's. He snatched the paper from her hands to examine it closer. It was real all right. She was real, and she had the proof. He swallowed the huge lump in his throat. Even though the signature was there as clear as day, he couldn't possibly remember signing it. Suddenly that tugging feeling at his heart made sense. She was the one who had called last night and hung up. Although half of it was starting to make sense, there was a bigger half that still needed to be considered. For instance, recalling back to who Danielle Fuller was, and when exactly this all started.

Amy stood there motionless, watching anxiously as he proceeded to take everything in.

As he gradually lifted his eyes to meet with hers, his heart constricted in his chest. At the same time, his emotions began rising to the surface. Now that he truly had the chance to scrutinize her features, he could see her mother's face in his head, and suddenly, everything began coming back to him. He exhaled sharply, recalling back to what his first initial impression of Amy had been. It made him feel immensely vulgar, even nauseated at the thought of having her in his bed. She was his DAUGHTER! What the hell was the matter with him? If those thoughts had become actions, he could be possibly thrown in jail for molesting his own daughter. His stomach turned the more he thought about it. "Jesus..." Brushing past her, he took one of the plastic cups on his circular table and poured himself a glass of water. He gulped it down instantly, as if trying to cleanse both his body and his mind of the indecent thoughts that still lingered. He trudged back towards his desk, without giving her even one look on his way by.

She swallowed the lump in her throat. After being so quiet for what seemed like forever, she spoke up. "Look, um, if you want me to go...I can go." She held back the tears already welling up in her eyes and began inching towards the door.

His heart constricted in his chest as he watched her inch closer and closer to the door. Her hand was on the knob when finally, he spoke. "Don't go."

She pivoted on her heels and looked over at him, a hint of hope filling her eyes.

He scowled, noticing her eyes looked a bit glossy, as they often did before a person began to cry. "Please...sit down," he told her gently, before he himself dropped back down into his chair. His gaze fixated on the birth certificate that laid on the desk before him.

She was hesitant, but shuffled back to her seat and sat down, placing her purse in the same spot as before. "Honestly, I know that this is probably a shock to you, and you really don't want to deal with me right now. I just wanted to come here and..." Her voice trailed off.

He gently shook his head, raising his eyes to hers. A mixture of fear, pain, and regret filled his gaze. He brought one of his hands up to his forehead and sat back in his chair, feeling a migraine already taking form. "I think you've underestimated yourself, sweetheart. This is more than just a shock." His eyes narrowed on her meek form, "just how long have you known about this?"

Her shoulders rose and fell in a shrug, her eyes falling to her feet. "I...found out on Monday, but I swear, I didn't know who you were until I got the letter in the mail yesterday. I didn't even want to..." Her voice broke with emotion. "I'm sorry. If you never want to see me again, I'll understand."

"I never said that now, did I?" He had to admit, it would be harder to watch her walk out of that door than if he asked her to stay. He pursed his lips and shifted in his chair, staring at her head on. "I'm going to need some time to process this. You can't just show up here like this and expect me to automatically welcome you with open arms. I'm afraid it doesn't work that way. I'm a plastic surgeon sweetheart, and a very busy one at that."

She gently nodded her head as another tear trickled down her cheek.

He had yet to notice the emotional state she had fallen into. The only concern of his at the moment was keeping his guard up. He could not allow himself to get emotional over this, when there were still important factors that needed to be considered. It might have seemed a bit insensitive at the time, but he was not about to give a part of himself to someone else until he had his facts straight.

His voice took on a casual and slightly spiteful tone. "I'll give you credit, it was a very clever idea to come in here today and claim to be my daughter. The birth certificate is a nice touch." He fingered the piece of paper, his eyes scrutinizing his own signature. "Especially one that I don't even remember signing. I'm afraid I'm going to have to speak to your mother about this, and before we even get to the father/daughter bonding, I'm going to have to ask that a DNA test be run. There's no way in hell I'm about to make the same mistake again."

The tears were already on their way down her cheeks. Dipping his chin to study her face closely, a deep scowl crossed his face when he saw the tears rolling down her cheeks. It broke his heart. If this girl was truly his daughter and the DNA test came back positive, he would never forgive himself for hurting her. A pang shot through his heart watching her grieve this way, but he kept his emotions securely stored inside of him. Swallowing the lump in his throat, he dropped his eyes to the desk.

Her bottom lip trembled as she sniffled deeply. One of her small hands came up to wipe the tears from her eyes with the tips of her fingers. She gradually nodded her head. "Okay." She took in a deep breath to calm herself before her emotions faded away and all that filled her eyes was vexation. Crossing her arms firmly over her chest, she narrowed her eyes on the man. "But if you don't plan on accepting me back into your life when the test comes back positive, the least you can do is carve yourself off my face. I might not look that much like you, but I can still see some of your features in me. I don't want to be reminded of you everytime I look in the mirror. If you're not going to make an attempt at being my father, I deserve this."

Her words felt like almost a stab to the heart. His eyes trailed over her facial features, noticing that although there were very few, she did have similar features to him. Her eyebrows for one thing were broad and seemed to slope down on the ends the way his did, her lips had that same full and alluring quality as his own, her ears seemed to stick out as his tended to do, and even the broadness of her forehead appeared identical to his. There had been a similar case in which a female wanted him to carve off the remains of her abusive father from her face. He had not been the best judge of character at that time, but now that he was on the receiving end of the situation, he was kicking himself for his past mistakes. He sighed woefully, but gently nodded his head at her request. "Fair enough. The DNA test can be done at Dade County. I'll schedule the appointment as soon as this weekend, if not tomorrow. And together, the two of us will go down there and put a lid on all this drama."

She sighed irritably, crossing one leg over the other. "Fine." With a roll of her eyes, she turned her head to look at something else other than his face.

A long moment of silence passed between them.

Christian stopped to wonder exactly what was going on in her head. From what he could tell, she had a sensitive and fragile soul, but one that she rarely seemed to show. She was cloaking her emotions with vexation, much in the same way that he tended to do. If she was really his daughter--which he was almost sure of--she sure inherited more than a few physical features. He couldn't hold back the smirk that crept across his face. "If any kind of a DNA test is going to be done, I'm going to need to get your contact information before we do anything. To notify you of the results." He averted his eyes to the evaluation sheet before him, taking the cap off his pen and looking up at her expectantly.

She scowled warily, but proceeded to give him her address and phone number. "That's my cell phone number. I'm not about to give you my home phone number for obvious reasons. I'm sure you can understand that I'm adopted. After all, I don't really know if I have any real parents yet, do I? At least not until this stupid DNA test is done."

He pursed his lips, a smile playing at the corners of his mouth. Things were getting more interesting by the minute. The more she spoke, the more he could see a part of himself within her. As interesting as he found this information, it still didn't stop the immense feeling of guilt that loomed over his head. "All in good time, sweetheart." He set his pen down and leaned a little closer to her. "And just to let you know, if the DNA test comes back negative...we can pretend this little misunderstanding never happened and both move on with our lives. Sound good to you?" A pang shot through his heart, the mere thought of it too heartbreaking to consider.

She was hesitant but firmly nodded her head. "Yeah." She forced a small smile.

There was a knock on the door just then that startled both of them. He turned his head and told the person on the opposite side of the door they could come in. The door opened and Sean stepped inside.

"Our five o' clock just arrived."

He looked from Sean to Amy then back at Sean. "I'll be there in a minute."

Sean's eyes shifted from his colleague to the young woman across from him. "I'm sorry, I wasn't aware you were in a meeting."

Amy's brows furrowed inquisitively at the man who stood before her, as if trying to figure out exactly who he was, besides being his partner. Christian looked from Sean to Amy, "that's all right. We're just about done here anyway. Aren't we?"

She dropped her gaze to her lap, nodding her head gently. "Yeah." A scowl crossed her face as she reached for her purse and pushed up to her feet. She froze when he rose to his feet and offered to escort her out. She hesitated but accepted. Her eyes met with Sean's as she shuffled past him. He sent her a friendly smile just before Christian lead her out of his office.

Christian stole a quick glance at his partner before turning to Amy. "I'll give you call either tomorrow or later tonight, and I'll let you know what time the appointment is. Then from there, we can arrange some kind of meeting."

Her shoulders rose and fell in a shrug, a weary sigh escaping her. "Okay...I guess." She slipped the strap of her purse onto her shoulder just as Sean stepped towards them. Her eyes shifted between the two men, as if deciding on what to do next.

A bewildered expression appeared on Christian's face, wondering why on earth she was still standing there. He exchanged a look with Sean before turning his attention back on her. His brows arched expectantly. "Was there anything else I could help you with?"

"Um..." Her eyes drifted towards Sean who shared the same expression with Christian. "No. Sorry." She tucked a few loose strands of hair behind her ear before turning on her heels and starting off in the opposite direction.

Sean's brow furrowed inquisitively, turning his head to look at his expressionless and somewhat guilt-stricken partner. "Who was that, Christian?"

He sighed deeply, his heart constricting in his chest as he watched the young girl depart. His head throbbed as he tried mercifully to gain control of both his thoughts and emotions. Now was not the time to contemplate exactly what his life would be like if that test came back positive. Part of him was resisting the events to come, while another part was genuinely on the verge of embracing what could become his new destiny.

He turned his head to meet Sean's gaze, not knowing exactly how to begin to explain what he had just plowed into. "Long story. I'm still figuring out what the hell just happened. As soon as I do, I guarantee you'll be the first one to know." He exhaled sharply, "now it's time we help some real patients. Let's go." Before Sean could protest, he whirled around on his heels and headed towards his colleague's office.