Paige receives a call from Denise, her best friend since childhood, on a late afternoon. Denise's voice is stripped bare with anguish; she relays that her husband Sean has left her and implores Paige to come get her daughter Neecy, whom she "can't stand to look at". Neecy is Paige's godchild, but she hasn't been to visit for four years, using her busy career as an excuse. In truth, she has always been uneasy about the decision Denise made when beginning her domestic life.

In childhood, Paige's mother perpetually asked Paige to look out for Denise, like some sort of guardian. The two friends kept secrets between them - Denise's bruises from where her father beat her; her vaginal bleeding from the way her uncle touched her. Denise was smarter than Paige but constantly received Fs in school, prettier but always self-abasing. As she grew up her litany of problems never ceased, and she would frequently tell Paige how much she wished she had her life.

Paige tries to reason with Denise, telling her what the upheaval would do to her daughter, but Denise insists. Paige wishes it had never happened - the copycat baby program Denise enrolled in was banned by the Supreme Court just months after she underwent the procedure. She doesn't blame Sean for leaving; Denise was volatile and wounded, her situation too complex for the average man to handle. Walking cautiously into her house, Paige heads into the back room and kneels in front of the tearful, cowering Neecy. She can barely look at the girl - her curls, her eyes, everything about her appearance is an exact replica of the childhood Denise she remembers. She understands immediately what Denise wanted - a fresh start, a version of herself that would thrive with the upbringing she deserved. Now that upbringing is upended and Denise can't stand to fail herself again. Paige promises Neecy that everything will be alright, her father will be back and her mother will get better, they'll go away for just a little while.