Holly Radisson, age 18

"I'm Holly..." you began, touching your face in the mirror and watching the girl's reaction as her hands moved slowly, shakingly, over an uncertain face.

Jordan, bless her heart, stood there next to your bed and gave your shoulder a squeeze to provide some sort of comfort. "Yes...it was touch and go for a few hours but they managed to successfully complete the operation." She sighed again and brushed your (now) long brown hair gently. "Apparently, she was involved in an accident with her family at around the same time as your accident and they were lucky in managing to get the two of you here near the same time."

"But I've never heard of anything like this," you protested. "How is it even possible?"

Jordan frowned slightly. "Well, from what I understand, this 'Doctor Kerry' went a little far. He'd been experimenting with but didn't have approval for this kind of surgery. It put the hospital - and us - in a complictated position."

You blinked in confusion. "Complicated? What's going on, J?" you asked.

"You're fine!" she rushed to assure you. "Physically you're doing great. The doctors don't plan to keep you here long. It's all the other stuff." She looked away for a momment and closed her eyes, then turned back to face you. "You see, the hospital declared Steve Meadows dead. All the records show that you're Holly Radisson." Her face reddened in shame. "And I let them convince me to go along with it."

"What?" you almost shouted. "Why? How could you do that?"

She stiffened. "Honestly Steve, I didn't have much choice. You were supposedly dead. I could have tried to raise a stink - but the only way to do that would have brought ALOT of attention. Would you want to spend the rest of our lives as tabloid news? Or even worse, as some kind of 'lab rat' for medical study?" She shook her head. "I didn't like it but they were right. The safest option was to agree that Steve died but Holly lived."

Her explanation only mollified you a little - but the more you thought about it, the more you could see her point.

"And Steve, I did pressure them some. They agreed to a settlement - almost 4 million dollars! Supposedly it's for some questions regarding your treatment."

You laugh bitterly and turned away. "Well, that's actually true, I guess."

She gently grabbed your head and turned it back to face her. "Steve, this is alot to take in. But you're alive! And believe me, that's a miracle. I saw you when they brought you in. I ...I just knew that I had lost you," she said, breaking into sobs.

Her tears immediately calmed you. You pulled her into an embrace, saying "Shh....I'm okay now, it's fine. You're right, I'm alive and healthy and that's what's important. Everything else will sort itself out."

The two of you held each other for a long time until you were interrupted by Doctor Saunders. He introduced himself and gave you a once over. Seemingly satisified with your condition, he gave you a chance to ask him questions. Basically he just reiterated what your sister had already told you, adding in more medical jargon.

He paused when you finished your questions. "Uh, I assume she has explained the legal circumstances?" he asked hesitatingly.

"Yes," you sighed in resignation. "Apparently 'I' am dead, right? So what's supposed to happen now? Who am I? Holly? What about her family?"

Kerry nodded and Jordan looked at you. "Thing is, remember when I said that her family was in the same accident? Well, Holly's parents had divorced so she was with her father at the time and he was in just as bad a shape as you were." You blinked for a few moments before you started to slowly catch on to the implication of what she was implying.

"So...you're saying Pam, my wife, is now...my dad?"

Jordan nodded and gave your shoulder a squeeze. "This is going to be all sorts of weird level shit but she's alive, that's the most important thing. You were kept under for about a week, she was let go about 4 days ago. Technically, as Holly, you are able to make your decision on where you want to live now but the doctors figured it would be best to keep you in her life as much as possible so you can adjust before making changes."

"Makes sense..." you whispered and then looked at your hands again, still trying to get your head around this new change of circumstances. "Does Holly's mom know about this?"

Kerry shook his head. "Technically, Holly being 18, she is an adult so we didn't disclose anything to her. I would recommend against it, as she's...well..not all quite there."

Jordan smiled slightly and nodded. "Get some rest, I'll be here later today to help you."