Julie Mayer: Hi, Danielle. I'm really sorry you had to take an extended vacation until your baby was born.Danielle Van de Kamp: Mother is old-fashioned and very concerned about what others think. I really didn't want to have an abortion though I know lots of girls do that and start their lives again pronto. But I wouldn't have felt comfortable doing that.
Austin McCann: Well, nobody consulted me. I might have wanted that child you put up for adoption. I'm not the complete jerk people make me out to be.
Danielle: Austin, I could never see you as a single father. Who would have taken care of the child while you went to work? Your aunt, Edie? You know she can barely take--
Austin: Leave my aunt alone. She's the only one who took me in when I had no where else to go.
Julie: Austin, would you really have tried to take care of the child? I didn't think you had a paternal side to you? Or are you saying that to make us feel a sympathy that you desperately need these days, from anyone who will give it to you?
Danielle: He's lying. He didn't care about me or the child. Otherwise he would have made an effort before my parents took things into their own hands.
Austin: You know, I was almost put up for adoption, myself. I found out by nagging my mom as much as possible until she blew her top and told me, yes, it was what she wanted to do, but circumstances didn't allow her to do it at the time.
Julie: Austin, I didn't know. I'm sorry. That must have made you feel very unwanted even after having been in your home with your mom all through your childhood.
Austin: Well, at least I understood why she didn't love me the way other kids were loved. She loved me just barely enough to not make it obvious. I could never figure that out. I even thought maybe I was really a bad kid and was not easy to love.
Danielle: So what are you saying that you are the way you are because your mom never really had a sincere affection for you? Unfortunately we can't pick our parents. We have to make the best of the life we inherit from them. Don't blame all your problems on what you didn't get as a child in terms of love. Look at me, I received the benefits of a loving home, more or less, and look how I turned out. Not good? Join the club.
Julie: I'm from a broken home, like so many, but I was able to have a good relationship with my mom. But I've always made my own choices too. Both the good ones as well as the bad. I can't let mom take all the credit or all the blame for who I am.
Austin: We should all start life again. Let's imagine that we were born a minute ago and we're in control of all our decisions and how we'll turn out.
Danielle: Dream on, Austin. Leave me in my little, imperfect, crying-feels-better world, anytime.
Julie: You're both looking at it the wrong way. Accept what happened to you. Make the best of what you have or who you've become. Try to enjoy your life while you still can. We're all young. We have so many right decisions we can make from this point on. Maybe we can help each other make better decisions. I'm willing if both of you are.
Danielle: I'll have to ask my mother first. She makes all my decisions these days.
Austin: I like what you said, Julie. I'd like to have at least one friend who I can ask for advice when facing serious decisions. Thanks for wanting to be part of my problems and dreams.
