Archive of Our Own ^beta

Julie watched the clock in her math class. She meant to use the bathroom at lunch, but she got so caught up talking to Flynn that she forgot. Now, unless she was lucky enough for their teacher to finish the lesson early, all she could do was wait for the bell so she could go during passing period.

She tried to focus on taking notes, tapping her foot to distract herself.

Finally, their teacher released the class to work on a worksheet, and Julie got her chance. With her teacher's permission and the hall pass in her hand, she dashed out of the room.

As she traversed the halls, her pace was as fast as it could be while still being considered 'walking.' If she could have run through the halls, she would have. Not only did she have to go, but she actually did want to finish her worksheet. Less homework to do after school meant more time to practice…

Her path to the bathroom took her past the office. In her rush, she almost missed the man standing by the front door. Almost.

There was a strange look on his face, like he recognized her, even though she was sure they had never met.

The smart thing to do would have been to ignore the stranger and keep going. Julie knew that. But for some reason, she paused, her curiosity getting the better of her.

He took the opportunity to approach her. His smile was disarming as he said, "Hi."

Not knowing what else to do, land not wanting to be rude, Julie responded. "Hi."

"Sorry, do you know Luke? Luke Molina?" The man twisted his wedding ring around his finger. "I'm his dad."

Julie blinked. There was no way Luke Molina, the whitest of white boys, was related to the Latino man in front of her. Unless… "Oh! I didn't know Luke was adopted."

Something like irritation flashed on his face, but it was gone as quickly as it came. "He's not."

Really? "O… kay…"

"I know we don't look like we're related. We get that a lot."

That shouldn't have meant anything to Julie… except it did. She'd heard her parents say the exact same thing to people countless times. She could relate to that experience, having to defend herself against the (common) assumption that she wasn't part of her own family.

Her nod was more than just polite. "Right."

The way he scrutinized her, it felt like he saw right through her. "Do people say the same thing about you and your parents?"

She felt exposed in a way that was entirely too vulnerable for the context. She pointed down the hall, the way she was headed. "It's great to meet you, but I'm just gonna go now—"

"Wait."

She paused.

He shook his head. "I'm sorry. I know you don't know me, and that was probably too personal for me to ask."

She gave him as genuine of a smile as she could. "It's okay." It was strangely comforting, knowing that she had this in common with Luke.

The man shoved his hands in his pockets. "Do you mind if I ask you something else? It's okay if you're not comfortable answering."

Why not? It wasn't like this conversation could get any weirder. "Sure."

"When's your bir—"

"Dad!"

Julie and Mr. Molina turned to see Luke coming down the hallway. As he approached, his dad greeted, "Hola, mijo. I was just getting to know your friend."

Luke glanced between them, something like panic on his face. "Cool. So!" He grabbed his dad by the arm, turning him toward the door. "Doctor's appointment, let's go! Don't want to be late."

Was Luke really that eager to go to the doctor? Or was there something else?

If Mr. Molina thought his son was acting strange, he didn't let on, other than to say, "Woah, slow down!" He turned back, giving her one last smile. "It was nice to meet you, Julie."

She smiled back. "Thanks. You too."

She lingered by the office, watching the Molinas leave. Luke's dad glanced back at her one more time before the front door closed.

Baffled, she continued her trip to the bathroom.

When she replayed the exchange in her head, she got stuck on the same few moments. How did he know about her not looking like her parents? What was he going to ask before Luke interrupted them? And why did Luke want their conversation to end so badly?

She didn't like not knowing the answers.

It wasn't until she left the bathroom that she realized…

It was nice to meet you, Julie.

She didn't remember saying her name.

The car ride to the doctor was painfully awkward. Neither Luke nor his dad said anything for the first five minutes. Dad broke the silence with, "So, are we going to talk about it?"

"The weather?" Luke dodged. "Seems pretty typical for this time of year—"

"The girl who looks like your mom and shares your dead name," Dad said. "She's in your grade, isn't she?"

Dad's observations were followed by silence. Clearly, he'd come to the same conclusion as Luke, and Luke couldn't tell how Dad felt about it. His voice was level, but in that controlled way that meant he was holding back his emotions so as not to take them out on Luke and Carlos. "Are you mad? That I didn't tell you?"

"Of course not. I'm just concerned about why you didn't feel like you could tell me."

"I was scared you wouldn't believe me." He barely believed it himself. "I mean, come on. What would you have done if I came home from school one day and said, 'Oh, by the way, I think the new kid is your real daughter?'"

"Luke, you are my real son, even if we're not related by blood," Dad insisted. "And I might have been more willing to believe you than you think."

Wait. That meant he had thought about it before. "Did you know? Before you met Julie?"

After a pause, Dad said, "I suspected. Your mother and I both did."

Of course they did. His mom was the most observant person he'd ever met (even more than Ms. Harrison, who had eyes in the back of her head). As for Dad, he lost track of things easily, especially since Mom, but he wasn't oblivious. One look at them was all it took to know they weren't related.

Dad continued. "But even if there was some sort of switch, we didn't want to disrupt your life by seeking out another family."

They knew. Or, at least, they thought about it. They knew there was the potential that Luke had another family, and they didn't give him the chance to meet them. "You kept them from me?" he seethed.

"We never looked for them," Dad explained. "By the time we were seriously discussing it, you were already telling us you were a boy. We had no way of knowing if the other family would let you be yourself, and we didn't want to take that risk. The last thing we wanted was for them to take you away from us and force you to be someone you're not."

Luke's transition was something he'd never had to struggle with. All he remembered was telling his parents he was a boy and them treating him like one, simple as that. If there was any adjustment period for them, he was never aware of it. His classmates accepted it without question, too. The hardest part was getting his teacher on board, but that problem was solved when he went to the next grade.

Now, his peers only knew him as Luke and had no idea that hadn't always been the case.

Would it have been that easy if another set of parents was involved?

The fight left Luke. "You were—trying to protect me?"

"Always."

They rode in silence again. When it became clear that neither of them were going to say anything else, Luke turned up the radio and got absorbed in the music.

When the commercials came on, Dad turned down the radio, "You know, sometimes I do regret not seeking out the other family."

The image of Julie flashed in Luke's mind, and he tried not to let that sting. Of course meeting Julie made Dad wish he had gotten to know her sooner. "Because you missed out on the chance to have a perfect daughter?"

"Oh, mijo, there's no such thing." He sighed. "But no, it's not about Julie. I regret it because knowing your other parents might have made it easier for you when we lost your mother."

Luke smothered the pang of grief. Maybe it would have made it easier, but… "I doubt it."

There was another pause in the conversation, and Luke considered changing the radio station. But before he could, Dad said, "Do you want to know them?"

Luke couldn't suppress the doubt that surfaced at the question. "Yeah, but I don't think they want to know me."

"What makes you say that?"

"After having Julie as a daughter, I'll just be a disappointment."

They stopped at a red light, and Dad applied the brakes a little harder than necessary. "Luke, listen to me. You are not a disappointment. And anyone who thinks you are doesn't deserve to have you in their life."

"You don't get it!" Luke cried. "Julie's so amazing. Perfect grades, voice of an angel. She knows how to stand up for herself, and she's so freaking loyal. She's fearless. And when she smiles, it lights up the whole room."

When Luke looked over, Dad was (poorly) suppressing a smile. "Those are the kinds of things you say about someone you have a crush on."

"What? No! I just—" Shoot. His sputtering wasn't helping. "I can admire someone without having a crush on them. Besides, everything I like about her—" He stopped.

"Yes?"

Luke sighed. "Everything I like about her, she got from Mom."

It was so hard to talk to Julie sometimes. The conversation would start out normal, but somewhere along the way, something shifted, and he would have to remind himself that she wasn't his mom. How could she be so much like someone she had never met? Were genetics really that powerful?

"I miss her so much. And then Julie waltzes into my life like it's nothing! She doesn't even know how similar to Mom she is, and she never will. It's not fair!"

Dad waited patiently to make sure he had said everything he needed to say, "How long have you been carrying this?"

"Since the beginning of the semester," Luke admitted.

"Mijo, that was weeks ago." He sighed. "I wish you would have talked to me."

"I wasn't ready. I didn't even know if we really were switched at birth."

"Even so, I want you to feel like you can talk to me about your grief." He reached over and laid a hand on Luke's forearm. "You don't have to carry it alone."

Luke's eyes watered. "I know. I'm sorry."

Dad took his hand back to steer into the parking lot. "Listen. It's up to you whether you want to meet your re- your biological parents. And you don't have to decide right away. But you should stop hiding it from Julie." As he parked, he said, "She deserves to make that choice for herself."

They got out of the car. "What do I even say?"

"If you ask me, start with, 'I think we might have been switched at birth.' Be direct, answer her questions, and deal with the fallout."

"What makes you think there will be fallout?"

Dad pulled him into a side hug. "You kept a secret from Rose Molina's daughter. There will be fallout."

Yeah, the grief hurt, but Luke couldn't help but laugh, anyway.