Disclaimer: Nope. Not mine.

Chapter Summary: Happiness is all relative. Three father-daughter conversations not seen in the episode. A post-ep for "Truly Content."

Coda: Season Seven

A story by Ryeloza

Three: Content

Julie counted the number of rings she heard from her mother's end of the phone, so certain by number six that her mother wasn't going to answer that she actually jumped when Mike picked up and said, "Hello?"

"Oh. Mike. Hi." She tried to readjust, but she felt off-kilter by the unexpectedness of her stepfather's voice. "Is Mom there?"

"She's in the shower. You want me to have her call you back?"

"Yes…No…" Julie sighed, and decided to just get everything off her chest now. It had taken her three days to calm down enough to call. "You moved."

"Yeah."

"No, I mean, you moved and you didn't tell me."

Mike chuckled. "What do you mean? Your mom called you." There was a long pause, and then he said slowly, "Your mom called you, right?"

"Well, she called to tell me not to call the home phone for awhile because there were 'technical difficulties.' I figured she just dropped the cordless in the tub again or something. But a couple days ago I forgot and called home and surprise! Some woman who is definitely not my mom answered the phone."

There was a long, blustery sigh from Mike's end. Julie just rolled her eyes. "What's going on? Did you guys sell the house without telling me?"

"No. No, Julie, we're just renting it. We've been having some…money trouble lately. We had to move into a smaller place for awhile."

"Oh well, thanks for letting me know," she snapped bitingly. Technically she knew that this wasn't Mike's fault; it wasn't his responsibility to let her know, and there was no way he could have predicted that her mother would choose to keep her in the dark. But given the year she'd had, she felt she had the right to a little bitterness. "And don't worry. When I get married, I'll make sure to call."

"Come on, Julie. Cut your mom a little slack. She's been under a lot of stress lately."

"She's not the only one."

Mike paused for a brief moment, and then said, "Are you doing okay? I know…I mean, I know I'm not your dad, but—"

"You're the closest thing I have now? Yeah." Julie shut her eyes for a second and bit back a sigh. None of this was Mike's fault; none of it. "I'm sorry. I've just been having a really hard time since Dad…"

"Of course you have. No one expects this to be easy for you."

Julie swallowed hard and fought back tears. It had been a long time since she'd spoken of her dad to anyone besides her brother; somehow reminiscing with an eight-year-old wasn't quite the same. "My dad always knew how to make me laugh, you know? And I miss that. Mom's world always revolves around her, and Dad, I mean, he wasn't much better, but at least he tried to make me laugh."

"Well, honey, I'm not…I'm not really a funny guy, and I'm certainly not your dad, but if you ever need to talk, you can call me. I can be a good listener. And," his voice dropped to a conspiratorial whisper, "I do know your mom. And you know as well as I do that Susan isn't easy to explain to someone who doesn't know her."

Julie laughed, actually, truly laughed, and for one short moment, she finally felt a little better.

Celia Solis was sitting in the bushes in her front yard. She'd been there for quite awhile, quietly playing with her doll and watching the neighborhood. She did that a lot—watching. No one paid much attention to her because she was so quiet, but she saw everything.

That day she'd seen the ice cream truck drive by twice. She'd seen Parker Scavo try to kiss a girl right on the lips. She'd seen Mrs. McCluskey smack someone with an umbrella. She'd seen Mr. Hunter talking to her daddy and whatever he said had made her daddy really mad. He'd stormed in the house and then out of the house, and now he was on his way back across the street with that angry look still on his face. Celia didn't care. Sometimes he got mad; sometimes he yelled; but it wasn't anything to be scared of.

"Daddy!" she called as he started up the porch steps. He paused, looking around with a scowl on his face, and then glanced down. From where she sat, Celia grinned up at him and gave a little wave. "Hi!"

"What are you doing?"

Celia shrugged. "What are you doing? You're in a bad mood."

"Yeah, I am."

"Well why?"

"Because."

"Because why?"

Her dad sighed loudly and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Because I got some bad news and it made me upset."

"Oh." Celia wrinkled her nose. "Mommy forgots to pack my show and tell yesterday and then I wasn't 'llowed to share and I didn't think that was fair 'cause I was gonna stand up and show the class how I can burp the ABCs like Juanita showed me but the teacher said that wasn't 'ppropriate so I couldn't. And I was really mad too, but then Juanita let me show all her friends after school and they're big kids so it wasn't so bad after all."

Her dad stared at her with a strange expression. Celia couldn't tell if he was going to laugh or cry, so she stood up and reached out to hug his legs. It always helped when someone hugged her when she was upset. "Maybe it's not as bad as you think it is, Daddy."

With a sigh, her dad bent down and hooked his hands under her armpits, hoisting her up into his arms and hugging her properly. "You know how much I love you, my little sunshine?"

Celia grinned and gave him a kiss on the cheek. "I love you too, Daddy."

"What're you doing?" Penny slung her arms over the side of the crib and glanced down at her sister, mimicking her father's pose. Paige was asleep; as far as Penny could tell, there was nothing particularly exciting or unusual about this, but the way her father was staring made it seem otherwise. "Dad?" she prompted.

"Just thinking."

"About what?"

Her dad gave her a sidelong glance that Penny met with a big grin and was happy to see reflected back at her. Lately, he'd been so upset that the whole house felt like it was under a dark cloud. Usually he was the one laughing or joking or just being goofy; it balanced her mother's more acidic humor and without it their home felt completely different. Teasingly, he reached out and tugged her ponytail. Penny rolled her eyes—the affection made her feel both comfortingly at home and much too childish all at once. "About you kids," he said. "And how much I love you guys."

"Even the twins?"

"Yes, even the twins," he chuckled. "You're all growing up so well, and I'm just so proud of you. You've been such a good big sister, taking care of the baby, helping out your mom…" He trailed off, his eyes suddenly watery despite his smile, and Penny looked away, acutely embarrassed. It was weird to see her dad all emotional.

"It's no big deal," she lied. Truthfully, everything had been a lot more stressful since Paige was born. Her parents were tired and crabby, the twins and Parker were gone as much as possible to avoid the craziness, and the baby woke her up almost every night with her crying. Penny felt a little lost in the chaos, too young to hang out with her brothers and too old to be at home with her parents and the baby. It felt like it would be years before Paige was actually what Penny had always imagined a little sister to be.

"So you doing okay, Penny?" Her dad ran a hand over the back of her head and Penny bit her lip. "I know we've been a little preoccupied with the baby."

She nodded, not willing to share how she really felt. She didn't really want to worry her parents anymore than they already were. In a halfhearted effort to convince him, she added, "Sure. I'm fine."

"Really? Because it's a big adjustment having a new baby in the family."

"I know."

"Your mom and I have been having a hard time too, so if you—"

"Dad! I know."

For a second, he studied her like he didn't really believe her, but Penny kept her gaze focused, unwilling to back down. To her surprise, her dad cracked a hint of a smile and then leaned down to kiss her forehead. "God, sweetie, you are so much like your mom sometimes it's a little scary."

Penny shrugged. Usually her mom said she was like her dad, so she wasn't sure what to make of the idea. She actually wasn't so sure she wanted to be like either of them.

"It's okay to let go sometimes, Penny Lyn," he said seriously, and then he brushed the tip of her nose with his finger. "Your mom and I will love you no matter what."

"I know," she agreed. "I mean, you've never given up on the twins, and I can't do much worse than they have."

Her dad laughed. The sound was so welcome that nothing else really seemed to matter.