A/N: What happens in this chapter will blow your minds. You could never guess what is going to happen in this chapter. It's very long, as a result. I hope you all like it very much! And I want to thank every single person who has reviewed this fanfic; bringing me to 142 reviews! Thanks so much! I love you all! Now...onto the story!

Life Adjustment

The morning of my birthday begins like any other day for the past season and a bit. I wake in a cold sweat from a nightmare I can't remember at five in the morning. Unable to get back to sleep, I head to the bathroom to take a steaming hot shower. Fifteen minutes later I get out of the shower and get dressed in my usual getup.

At a quarter to six I take my two regular pills along with one Tylenol pill for my headache; as it works much better than the Advil did. I drown a mug of coffee after slowly eating a bowl of porridge. Then I gather all my papers for work and leave my apartment at six thirty.

I catch a cab so I wouldn't have to breath the harsh city fumes any longer than I had to. The ride doesn't take longer than ten minutes and I arrive at work twenty minutes early. After taking out some money from my wallet, I pay the driver the bare minimum fee he required. He speeds away as I head inside the building with the extra key I had.

No one is inside the building yet, like always. For the next hour before our company really opens, I feed all the animals and give them all a good brushing. They're all happy to see me and as I watch them it strikes me that the animals probably never notice any of the other poor guys that feed them.

Other guys start trickling into the building as the morning goes along. Everyone goes off to their sections to take care of their own animals. Mine are taken care of the best, but that doesn't count for anything other than the happiness of the animal.

Around noon everyone takes a lunch break and the animals are left alone for a while. In the lunch room everyone talks to each other, laughing and making plans for later. They all can't wait for the day to be over. Me, I wish the day had never started. That was I could be back on the Island with Chelsea again.

The rest of the day passes without incident, like it always does. I spend most of my time reading a book next to my animals; just in case they need me. I also do some odd paperwork on my animals as I get them ready to be shipped off to some farm or another.

At the end of the day when I leave, I pass my boss in the hallway. He nods to me and tells me happy birthday as we pass. I nod my head back without saying a word.

I climb into another cab to take me back to my apartment. The ride goes without a hitch and without conversation. Upon arriving, I pay the cab driver again; my funds getting dangerously low. It was a good thing that it was my pay day tomorrow.

The alley to my apartment is dark, as always. My knife is in my boot, like always. But nothing bothers me, like always.

I take my key out of my pocket, not needing the one stashed in the flower pot. I enter the dark room and shut the door behind me. I let out a brief sigh. Another four days of this repetitive schedule before I got to see Chelsea again. It felt like such a long time.

Resigned, I flip the light switch on. At that exact moment, a pair of hands covers my eyes. For a moment I'm shocked and I'm about to turn and smack the person, when I recognize the feel of the hands.

"Guess who?" A soft voice whispers in my ear as soft lips gently kiss my temple.

"Julia?" I guess even though I know that's not who it.

The hands drop from my face. "I can't believe that you thought I was your c-" I cut Chelsea off in the middle of her sentence by crushing my lips against hers. God it was good to see her again.

She giggles as my arms wrap around her. Her touch feels so sweet to me; I realize that I've missed her a whole lot more than I admitted to myself.

"What are you doing here?" I ask her without taking my arms off of her waist.

"I'm not going to miss your birthday." She laughs. "Julia's watching my farm for me." She stands on her toes so that she's leaning against me. Then she kisses me lightly on the lips again. "Happy birthday cowboy."

"Thank you Chelsea." I kiss her again.

"Oh!" She breaks off and takes a long look at me. Almost nervously, she bites her bottom lip. "I have a present for you."

I sigh and shake my head, even though I'm smiling. "You didn't have to get me a present."

"Yes I did." She laughs. "No one pampers you Vaughn. You need a little love in life."

"I've got all that with you." I whisper to her, making both of us blush.

Chelsea squirms her way out of my arms and walks over to the doorway of the bathroom. "There's someone I want you to meet."

She bites her bottom lip again and I take a step forward. "Chelsea, what going on? Without answering me, Chelsea opens to the door to my bathroom.

"Seth, you can come out now." Chelsea says without taking her eyes off of me.

My eyes however, are locked on the man walking out of my bathroom. He's dressed in casual jeans and a white t-shirt with shoes. His hair is a sandy brown, but what catches my attention the most is the man's eyes. They're full of tears and they're amethyst. Just like mine.

"Vaughn." The man practically breathes out the word as he walks towards me. I know who this man is; I've seen his picture before. But there is no way that he should be alive.

"Dad?" The sounds that comes out of my throat is not my own and doesn't sound like me at all.

"Son." He practically runs over to me to give me a huge hug. I stand there, stiff as a board, as I try to think about how this was possible.

He lets go of me, both our matching eyes searching the other. There was no doubt he was my father. Our looks were way too similar for it to be coincidence. Our eye colour, our square jaw, broad shoulders, even our height.

"You're dead." The two words I just can't seem to get over come tumbling out of my mouth.

"I should be." Is his answer.

"How about you two sit down?" Chelsea suggests. "You probably have a lot to talk about. I'll make dinner." She essentially pushes the both of us onto the couch before heading off to my kitchen to make something out of my few raw ingredients stored in the fridge.

We just sit are stare at each other for a minute. Every so often he would reach out to touch my leg; as if he was scared I was going to vanish at any moment.

"You died." I start again. "In that car accident. The police said that you burned to a crisp."

He shakes his head. "I think it's time you heard the truth Vaughn. Although I've only known myself for a few years now, so you'll have to bear with me."

I nod once, a bit confused. He lets out a deep breath and then begins. "I should start with the part that you know. When I found out Amy, your mother, was pregnant I was scared shitless."

I snort quietly at his language but he doesn't seem to notice. "So I did the only thing that was logical in my irrational mind at the moment. I ran." He pauses and swallows hard; as if he was trying to swallow his grief. "I wish I never had."

"But you did." I grunt out bluntly.

He nods sadly. "It was probably the worst day of my life. I drove to my brother's apartment-"

"You have a brother?" I interrupt; startled by the fact. My mom had never told me that my dad had a brother.

He shakes his head; his eyes filling with tears again. "Not anymore. But we're getting ahead of ourselves. Let me tell the story and then you can question it."

Seth seems to be awaiting my approval, so I give him a curt nod. He nods back and continues. "I drove to my brother's apartment and told him what had happened. He listened to me patiently as I ranted and raved around the room. When I finished he slapped me in the face and told me I was being a fool. I should be celebrating instead of mourning."

He sighs. "He was right of course. Josh was always right about everything. He drove me to a florist and I bought a bouquet of red roses, they were Amy's favourite." A slight smile tugs at his lips at the small detail about my mom. On the other hand; my throat seems to have closed off.

"I wrote a note on this card, to I could practice what I was going to say to her when I saw her. Josh helped me write it while we were in the car." He pauses and rubs both his eyes hard with his hands.

"I need to tell you something about Josh." He looks me straight in the eye. When I don't protest, he continues. "Josh looked a lot like me. We both had amethyst eyes, brown hair and we were both the same height and roughly the same weight."

He lets out a deep breath. "Anyway, while we were driving back to Amy's house," He pauses again to swallow hard. "There was an accident. Josh had looked over at my card for a mere second when it happened. This huge truck crashed into my tiny car. It was a gasoline truck."

Seth seems to be having great difficulty telling the story. He keeps taking pauses but I don't try to rush him. Abruptly there's a crash and I hear Chelsea swearing more colourfully than I knew she could.

"Chelsea are you okay?" I call out to her as I wait for Seth to be ready.

"Uh, yeah. I'm fine." She says this but a mere second later I hear her cuss again. "You sure?" I ask.

"Uh-huh." She calls out. I roll my eyes but don't get up to help because she stopped swearing.

Seth clears his throat a bit and I turn my attention back to him. "Our car tipped onto its side and both my brother and I were knocked out. When I came to, there was an ambulance there and someone was pulling me out of the car. For some reason, I couldn't remember anything. Not my name, what I was doing in the car or anything about my life. It was like I was born in that car accident, if you get what I'm saying."

I get it; but I do not like where this is going, so I just nod with my throat seemingly closed back up.

"The guy that pulled me out of my car tried to get me to remember anything, but I just couldn't. Once I was out of the area of the car, he put me down and went back to the car to rescue my brother. But before he got there, the car suddenly burst into flames. It was because the gasoline truck had spilled and the gas has leaked into my car's engine. Something made it spark and it became an inferno."

He swallows again. "The guy managed to get my brother out, but it was too late. He was dead, and the fire had horribly seared his features, so he was unrecognizable."

His jaw clenches in tune with his blinking eyes. What he's telling me echoes in my head and the ticking of my clock seems to reinforce every single echo.

"For some reason, the ambulance people couldn't tell the difference between us. And I couldn't remember who I was. At the hospital, I got Josh's identity and he got mine. No one could tell the difference."

He takes a deep shuddering breath. "Until a few years back. I got in another car accident. It wasn't as bad, but I was still knocked unconscious." He pauses again to wipe away a tear that beginning to form in the crevice of his eye. "When I awoke that time, I was already in an ambulance. But that time, I remembered who I was."

He shakes his head. "But it was too late. Amy was killed by the cancer she had. I've visited her grave site every day since then."

The tears streak down his face and it's my turn to swallow hard as tears begin to well up in my eyes too. "Ever since I awoke with my memory and found Amy dead, I've been searching for her child. And I hadn't had any luck until a couple days ago."

Seth pauses to glance in the direction of the kitchen where Chelsea was attempting to cook something. "I was sitting in a café, drinking a cup of coffee when this brunette sits down beside me and orders a strawberry milk latte. I began crying, because that was Amy's favourite drink."

He sniffles and we both stare at each other; both silently crying, letting the tears stroke our faces. "She turned to me and handed me a tissue to wipe up my tears. I thanked her and when I threw it out, she couldn't stop staring at me. So I asked her why she was staring."

He smiles slightly. "She told me she was staring at the colour of my eyes. It reminded her of the colour of her boyfriend's eyes. My interest perked automatically. She introduced herself as Chelsea, and told me her boyfriend's name was Vaughn. That was Amy's favourite name."

He swallows again. "We got to talking more and we managed to piece together the puzzle pieces. She told me that today was your birthday and wanted to know if I would be there. I readily agreed. And here we are."

More tears streak down his face. "Vaughn. I can't believe I found you." His words are choked as he gets them out.

"It's not your fault then." I mange to say. "It's not your fault you were gone all those years."

He sighs. "I fell like it is."

I nearly laugh with joy. I had hated my dad all my life because he had abandoned my mom and I, but he hadn't. Without a word I wrap my arms around my dad. "It's not your fault."

Sobs erupt from his throat as we both sit their comforting each other. I bury my head in his shoulder and grip my hands around him, astounded that I had a parent again. Above all odds, my dad was alive.

We let go of each other and stand up off the couch. My dad hugs me one more time and whispers in my ear. "I love you son."

"Me too dad." I tell him. I did love him; I just couldn't say the actual words. Those three words brought me too much pain when I was with Sabrina; I don't know how long it would take me to be able to say them again.

When he lets go of me that time, I glance to the side to see Chelsea leaning against the wall. Her hair was a mess and there was flour all over her, but there was a smile on her face and a glint in her eyes that made her look beautiful.

The she laughs at us. "I'm happy you both finally found each other."

"It wouldn't have been possible without you Chelsea." My dad tells her as he wipes his face free of tears. I follow his example and clear my own face of tears with the sleeve of my shirt.

"Do you guys want supper?" She asks, the smile faltering a bit from her face. She sweeps into the kitchen, leaving Seth and I to follow.

"Tada." She exclaims halfheartedly as she gestures to three plates of black mush on the table.

Oh yeah. I forgot that Chelsea can't cook to save her own skin. She's looking hopefully at me though, and I don't want to upset her.

I sit down at the table. "It looks good. What is it?" Without waiting for an answer, I pick up a spoon and shovel a bit of the charcoaled junk into my mouth.

I have to force myself not to throw up or let any sign of discomfort show on my face. Under the table I use my hidden hand to pound my stomach so that I swallow the mouthful. "It's good." I mutter out.

"You're lying. It looks awful." Her shoulders fall and she looks disappointed.

"No, it's good. Really, it's good." To try and prove myself, I take another bite of the dish.

My dad starts to laugh at me. Without saying anything he takes out his wallet and passes some cash to Chelsea. "You guys go out to dinner. I'll fix something up for myself here."

"You sure?" Chelsea asks as her brow creases.

He nods. "You won't see him for another week. I'll have him all to myself this week. And by the way he kissed you earlier; I think he wants to be with you right now."

Chelsea grins as I blush violently. I stand up and then push the chair back in. Seth waves us out of the door, not taking any sort of excuse.

We get outside and Chelsea hails us a taxi. We get in and she snuggles up to me as close as she can in a car seat.

"My cooking was bad, wasn't it?" She asks quietly.

"I thought I was going to throw up." I admit to her; which makes both of us crack up.

After a minute, I kiss her gently on her forehead; letting my lips linger there for a moment. "Thank you Chelsea."

She blushes. "You're welcome. So you understand what I said yesterday now?"

I chuckle as I remember what she said. "You may not be able to rewrite the past, but maybe you can find a different point of view."

"Yes, I get it now." I kiss her nose lightly. She meant looking at the story from my dad's point of view; which clears up the story a lot. As I had learned.

We get to the restaurant and are ushered inside. There weren't very many other people there, so we got served right away. We're both given glasses of red wine as we wait for our meal.

"Hey Vaughn," Chelsea starts as she waits for me to look at her. "Do you think you'll ever get married?"

I let out a deep sigh after nearly choking on my wine. "I don't know Chelsea. Why?"

"It's just that Julia's wedding was so beautiful and-" She rattles off a couple other things but I just stare at her with my eyebrows raised; waiting for the real answer.

Chelsea sighs. "I want to get married." She answers softly.

Then she looks down at her plate, like she's embarrassed. Shyly, she looks back up at me. "I'd like to have kids." She admits softly.

This time I do choke on my wine. I cover it quickly with a cough though, so she doesn't notice. My ears are flaming red though.

"I-I'm not t-trying to p-push anything onto y-you. I-I-I j-just thought you sh-sh-should know." Chelsea proceeds to blush and look back down at her plate.

Even though I was shocked at first, it wears off the second she becomes embarrassed. The corners of my lips twitch upwards as I look at her. Actually, if I thought about it hard; I kind of wanted kids too. Even though my past had been messed up, maybe I could change that for someone else.

Without a word, I reach my arm across the table to lift her head up so that she looked into my eyes. "I'm glad you told me." I tell her.

Her face brightens instantly. "Thanks for not freaking out."

I smile back and lean over the table to kiss her gently on the lips. Unfortunately for me, our meal happens to come right at that moment.

We begin to eat, both of us gazing at the other across the table. We're happy just to sit there without pointless small talk. I'm drinking in her image more than anything.

Her comment before had transported me back to thoughts I'd had during the Starry Night Festival. I'd wondered who would walk her down the isle when she got married. If I did marry her, would my dad walk her down the isle now?

I find myself staring at her without even noticing it until she blushes and looks down. I snap out of my daze and quickly finish my meal; keeping the staring to a minimum.

We get up after we're finished eating; I've already forgotten what I'd put into my mouth. Chelsea uses the money my dad gave her to pay our bill, and then we walk out of the restaurant hand in hand.

Neither of us calls a cab. We both want to spend as much time together as possible. It seems this is always how we spend out last few moments together. Always yearning for more time.

We're nearing my apartment when a thought pops into my mind. It might be because my entire life had changed that day, because it was my birthday, or because of Chelsea. Maybe all three.

I slip my hand out of Chelsea's and stop in my tracks. As she turns to look at me in confusion, I kneel down on one knee. Her hand flies to her mouth as her eyes widen in shock.

"Chelsea." I start. "Will you, will you-"

I pause again and place my hands near my boot. Then I look back to her. "Will you wait for me as I tighten my boot?"

Her hand leaves her mouth and goes to her hips as she glares at me. I rise to my feet laughing my head off. The moment I start to laugh she loses her pissed off look and moves to hug me.

"You know I can't stay mad at you when you laugh." She moans unhappily even as she smiles.

I just continue to chuckle. I hadn't played a practical joke in years; and that had been fun.

"That was mean." Chelsea pouts.

I take her chin in my hands and guide her lips to mine. I kiss her powerfully, trying to convey all my love for her in that single kiss. My hands grip her back as I pull her close to me. Her hands tangle into the mess of silver hair on my head as she kisses me back.

I break off the kiss without completely removing my lips from hers. "Can you forgive me?"

"For what?" She mumbles back, her eyes shining.

We both grin and I lean in to kiss her again.

So...did you expect it? *laughs* I am AWESOME! hahahaha just kidding. That was conceded, wasn't it? Review and tell me what you thought!