"Are you ready Baby?" Roger asked standing outside the DCF office.
"Yeah, I think so. What do you think she'll be like?" she asked looking up at him.
"It doesn't matter. We'll love her anyway." he said kissing her head before opening the door for her.
"I know." she said looking up at him as he held her hand tight. "Hi, I'm Charlene Spade. I'm here to see an Angela Benett please." she said stepping up to the desk.
"Miss Spade, Mr. Davis I'm Angela. It's so nice to meet you. Are you ready to meet Michelle?" she asked shaking their hands.
"Yes we are." Roger said before Charlie had the chance. "Sorry." he said as Angela laughed.
"That's OK. I understand." she said leading them to a room where they saw a young girl sitting anxious. "Michelle, I would like you to meet Charlene and Roger. Charlene and Roger, this is Michelle." she said making the introductions.
"Hi Michelle." Charlie said as tears sprung to hers and Roger's eyes. When the girl stood up, she looked just like Mandy. She was petite like her and they had the same eyes and eyes.
"Hi Michelle." he said quietly being taken by surprise.
"Hi." she said smiling at her.
"I'll leave you all to talk." Angela said leaving the room.
"Why did you give me up?" Michelle asked right away.
"Well sweetie, I was 16 when I had you and I couldn't take care of you. I wanted what was best for you." Charlie told her squeezing Roger's hand.
"What was my dad like?" she asked sitting down.
"Your dad was someone I dated in high school. When I told him I was pregnant with you, he broke up with me. I haven't spoken to him since." she told her as Roger squeezed her hand.
"So how long have you two been together?" Michelle asked at them.
"A year and a half. We work together. I manage a club in the Village and Roger's band plays there a coupld of nights a week." Charlie told her as Roger held her hand.
"Was it love at first sight?" she asked as Charlie and Roger looked at each other and laughed.
"Not exactly. Your mom has really bad taste in music and thought she could tell me what music to play. We kind of fought for a few weeks before we actually kissed." Roger told her smiling at Charlie.
"You did?" she asked laughing.
"Yeah, we were fighting over the songs he was gonna sing and he sung the Motley Crue song Don't Go Away Mad and dedicated it to me. I ran outside after his set and yelled at him and we kind of kissed." she said laughing with her.
"I love that song." she said smiling at them.
"Yeah, you know why I yelled at him." she said smiling at her daughter.
"Then what did you do?" she asked leaning forward.
"We didn't talk for a while and then he just came into my office and asked me out. And we've been together and fighting ever since." she told her as Michelle sat back.
"That's funny. So when are you guys getting married?" she asked smiling at her.
"My sister had a baby boy during the summer and I just asked her." he told her smiling.
"That's romantic." she said smiling at them.
"OK, enough about us. Tell us about yourself. What have you been up to these past 13 and a half years?" Charlie asked smiling at her daughter.
"Well the parents who adopted me were really nice to me, but they had to go out of town because my grandpa had a heart attack and I was staying with my friend Jenny. They got into a car accident and there was no one who could take care of me, so DCF had to take me and I told them I was adopted, so they found you and you know the rest." she said looking up at them.
"Do you want to live with us sweetie?" Charlie asked looking at her.
"Yeah, I do. I like you guys, and you are my mom." she said as Charlie looked up at Roger.
"Well, I'm game if you girls are." Roger said smiling at them.
"Can I?" Michelle asked smiling at Charlie.
"Of course." Charlie said as tears came to her eyes.
"OK, well let's talk to Angela and see what we need to do." he said putting his arm around her.
"I would love that." Michelle said getting up to hug Charlie.
"Me too sweetie." Charlie said smiling up at Roger who was smiling down at her.
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"OK, that's your room for now. We're moving into a bigger place soon but for right now you're gonna sleep in there and me and Roger are gonna sleep on the pull out couch." Charlie told her as they toured the apartment.
"I feel bad for taking your room from you." Michelle said as Roger and Charlie put her stuff in her room.
"Don't worry sweetie. It's temporary. We're gonna get a two bedroom apartment so we can all have our own room. Except Roger, he has to share a room with me." Charlie said laughing as Roger wrapped his arm around her waist.
"Um, yeah. Can we talk about this? You guys always kissing all over each other is kind of gross." Michelle said smiling at them cautiously.
"You're right. We're just not used to having a teenager around. We're sorry." Roger said standing up straight.
"Why don't we all go out to the Life Cafe to welcome Michelle home?" Charlie suggested looking up at Roger.
"OK, you can meet everyone else." Roger said as they started to leave the apartment.
"Who's everyone?" Michelle asked as they left the building.
"Well there's the camera man at the club, Mark. He was also Roger's roommate before we got together and then there's his other roommate Collins and Maureen and Joanne. You'll like them. They are really nice." Charlie told her as they approached the cafe. "Are you ready sweetie?" Charlie asked putting her arm around Michelle's shoulder.
"Yeah, I'm ready." she said as Roger opened the door. As they walked into the cafe, Mark and every one was sitting at the middle table. "Hi everyone." Charlie said standing at the head of the table.
"Mandy?" Mark asked quietly taking one look at Michelle.
"Guys, this is my daughter Michelle. Michelle this is the guys." she said not hearing what Mark said.
"Hi Michelle. You look just like your mom." Collins said getting up to shake Michelle's hand.
"Thank you. It's nice to meet you too." she said as they sat down and began to eat.
"Rog, can I talk to you outside for a minute?" Mark asked getting up and grabbing Roger's arm.
"I'll be right back Baby." he said leaning over to kiss Charlie before leaving with Mark. "What's the matter Mark?" he asked standing outside.
"Don't you see something strange about Michelle?" he asked looking up at him.
"I know, but she's Charlie's daughter. What am I supposed to do? Tell her, sorry Baby, we can't raise your daughter because she looks just like I always imagined mine and Mandy's daughter would look? You're kidding, right?" he asked taking a cigarette out of his pocket.
"I thought you quit?" Mark asked as Roger lit it.
"Yeah well seeing Michelle last week kind of threw me off the wagon. I don't know what to do Mark. I've been having dreams about Mandy and what our daughter would be like now. I haven't thought about them in over 10 years." he told him running his fingers through his hair.
"So what are you gonna do?" Mark asked looking up at him.
"I'm gonna marry the woman I love and help her raise her teenaged daughter. What do you think I'm gonna do? Freak out because her teenaged daughter just happens to look how I imagined my daughter would look? She's not mine and Mandy's daughter, she's Charlie's daughter." he asked throwing his cigarette out into the street.
"Just be careful Roger. You know how you get when you're reminded of Mandy." Mark warned as Roger opened the door to go back inside.
"I'm fine Mark. I'm over Mandy. I'm moving on with Charlie and Michelle." he insisted as Mark followed him.
"I hope you know what you're doing." Mark said as Roger turned around.
"Mark, there's nothing to know. I'm gonna marry Charlie and raise Michelle with her. That's it." he told him going back to the table.