Stephanie is friendly but withdrawn.

The following morning, you, your dad and Dr. Saunders were all gathered in your room, waiting for the orderlies to wheel Stephanie in (the doctors having thought it best not to overwhelm her by meeting the whole family in one go). Both you and your father were on tenterhooks, having incredibly mixed emotions about seeing your mom living and breathing and moving around, being operated by some other person. Though you were aware that it wasn't actually her - the doctors having explained this and the procedure many times - it still felt somewhat like that, and you just had to try your best to keep it together and not fall to pieces when she arrived.

While Dr. Saunders stood there reminding you that Stephanie was just as scared and as fragile as the both of you currently were, and that you owed it to your mother and to her sacrifice to be as accepting as you possibly could towards her, there was a knock on the door, indicating that it was time to bring her in. A moment later, Dr. Kerry stepped inside the room, greeting you both, followed by two orderlies pulling a bed in which sat a rather meek and nervous looking woman. You're heart stopped for a second as soon as you saw her, with every sense and fiber of your being screaming at you that this was her...this was your mother. She was still alive!

"Oh God...Jen!" you heard your father squeak beside you, quietly mouthing your mother's name as his grip on your shoulder tightened - clearly having the same reaction that you'd were.

She didn't say anything back, just sat there looking extremely uncomfortable while the orderlies positioned the bed beside your own, as if all eyes were on her and she didn't quite know why.

After a rather long and awkward pause while you all waited for the orderlies to leave and the door to close behind them, Dr. Kerry finally spoke up, introducing Stephanie and quickly shattering the illusion both you and your father had built. "Mr. Connors, this is Stephanie, Stephanie Burke."

"Hi," she softly replied, her voice mimicking your mother's exactly, just as her face, her body, everything did.

"Uh...Hi, uh Stephanie. It's nice to meet you," your father said a second or two later, snapping from his daze and shuffling towards her slightly to shake her hand. You meanwhile were still in a state of shock, as your brain desperately tried to reject what it was seeing and instead replace it with the truth. Indicating towards you, he then introduced you as well, telling her, "And uh...this, this is my son, Tim."

"Hi, Tim. It's nice to meet you." That voice again! It was just too weird. This was your mom! In every way but her current demeanor - this was her!

With everyone waiting on you to reply, you **** a rather awkward hello, fighting the urge to call her 'mom' before, thankfully, Dr. Kerry and Dr. Saunders took over, helping to ease the difficulty of this incredibly surreal situation.

Most of the conversation from then on dealt with the two doctors filling you all in on Stephanie's condition and how long it would be until she could be discharged - which appeared to quite soon indeed, seeing as the surgery had gone so well (a small bandage on her forehead being the only sign of where the metal had presumably pierced your mother's skull). There was also a great deal of talk about the legal ramifications and the various documents and waivers everyone would have to sign, essentially covering this whole thing up, which everyone had agreed on, even Stephanie - aware that it really was for the best. The matter of living arrangements came up also, with your father (although visibly struggling at times) doing his best to keep it together as he explained how he'd already begun converting his office into a spare room where he could sleep so that she could have his bedroom, as well as offering to get her anything else she might need while she was staying with you. Stephanie seemed extremely grateful for this, yet was clearly still extremely traumatized about what had happened, remaining rather quiet and withdrawn throughout, and not really revealing too much about her own personal life. Not that you could really judge, staying very much in the background yourself as your father and the doctors did most of the talking.

Eventually after a good couple of hours of breaking the ice, Dr. Saunders suggested that you all pick this conversation up later, perhaps in the next couple of days when Tabitha and David are there, feeling that both you and Stephanie could do with some rest. Agreeing with this, your dad said his goodbyes, both to you and to Stephanie, and even though you felt very reticent to let him go and be left alone with her, you knew he had to, no matter how strange or awkward it would be.

For the first wee while you didn't really say much to one another, other than making pointless small talk or trying to divert your attention by seeing what was on the TV. After a couple of hours though you both seemingly realized that things needed to be said, and that you couldn't both just lay there in bed ignoring the elephant in the room and thanking your lucky stars every time a nurse came in to give you yet another distraction.

"I'm really sorry about your mother. I never imagined anything like this would ever happen," she told you, being the first to open up. "I mean, it must be so strange. Seeing me, looking like this!"

"Yeah, you could say that," you replied, stuttering a little awkwardly as you admitted, "I uh...I kind of thought for a minute you were her...you know, when you first came in."

"I know. I could kind of tell." As she said this, she flashed you a sympathetic smile, just like your real mom used to so often do, bringing up that very same feeling again, if only for a moment, that it really was her you were talking to. Not that her smile lasted for long however, as soon her face was overtaken by a look of real sadness and guilt, her voice quivering as she said, "I'm truly sorry. I really am. I can't imagine how hard this must be for you."

Even though you didn't know her, and even though the fact that she wore your mother's face made things doubly awkward, you tried your best to comfort what was obviously a very distressed woman, telling her that, "It's not your fault. You never asked for any of this either." getting the impression that she was somehow blaming herself on some level for what had happened.

"I know. It's just this whole thing is so messed up is all! No offense...but I never imagine I'd get in a fender bender and wake up like this!"

"I guess we've just got to make the best of what we've been given. I know that's what my mom would have wanted."

This fortunately had the effect of putting a smile back on Stephanie's face, as she said of your mom, "She sounded like a great woman."

"Yeah, she was."

Coming out of her shell a little more now, having presumably decided that she could trust you (and that you weren't just some brat kid she'd been stuck with), she then told you, truthfully, "Look, I'm sorry for being so quiet and everything back there. It's just everything is so weird for me right now. It's like my whole life's been turned upside down."

"That's okay. You don't need to explain. And I know we've only really just met and stuff, and I'm just a kid..."

"Well not so much of a kid," she chuckled, interrupting. "Eighteen, that's only six years younger than I am...well, was."

Pausing for a moment, realizing that this was pretty much the first piece of personal info you'd gotten out of her - that she'd been 24 - you then got back on track, reaching out to her and offering an olive branch. "What I'm trying to say is, if you need someone to talk to or anything, I'm here to listen. You're family now...sort of, so I hope we can be friends."

"Thanks. I'm kind of short on friend's right now."

And with that, the two of you had begun a tentative sort of friendship, and although no more was really said about your mother or about any other aspects of the transplant for the rest of the day, you were glad that Stephanie Burke was no longer quite the stranger she had been to begin with, and seemed like a normal, well adjusted person (considering what she'd been through) - even if you basically still knew nothing about her.