When Steve had left, he hadn't seen Megan in a while, but could at least place enough details to guess she, or he, was the mustached man, maybe a few years older, holding the book. There was a woman with her, or him, whatever he absolutely had never seen before, with long dark hair, big red lips, and a baby resting on her very ample chest. It couldn't be Alan, could it?
"Sorry, all the painkillers still have me a bit loopy, who's here?" Steve asked, although admittedly it was less of a clever lie than he'd have liked.
"Oh don't pretend you don't even recognize your own sister," said Tanya. "We couldn't wait to introduce little Alana to her new cousin!"
'Well,' thought Steve. 'That's the kids accounted for at least.' He still didn't know who this other woman was, but if everyone was here, and the book...
"Could you hand me that? There was something in it I was considering as a middle name for little Joan here- John, I mean."
"Oh, well sure," said Mark, handing it over.
Steve grabbed the book. Hopefully this would at least get everyone back as a proper family again.
One bright flash later, Steve felt quite a bit better, if a bit dizzy from suddenly standing. No more pain killers, no more baby bump, but glancing down, he was clearly still a woman, maybe 23 years old, and still named Stephanie from the nametag on the nurse's scrubs he was now wearing. He glanced around to see how everyone else had ended up and... didn't recognize everyone.
Standing by a nurse's station, he didn't see his wife, his children, the other temporary family members he'd seemed to have picked up, or anyone who looked like them with a different gender or age. In fact, Steve didn't recognize anyone he'd been brought past on the way in... unless... wait, one of the other nurses at the station could have been the sister of one of those doctor's who'd... delivered the baby. Steve shuddered a bit at the memory. And that orderly walking by could have maybe been the father of a little girl she'd passed in the waiting room... had the book changed the entire hospital!?
"Hey, are you OK?"
"Yeah, sorry, just a bit distracted today."
Steve took a deep breath. So... the book effected everyone who was in the building with it... that meant the rest of the family could be anyone in here. But it had to have some sort of limits, or rules, didn't it? Maybe that last change took enough out of it he could actually read it safely? Or maybe there was some extra clue back where Steve had found it? Or some expert who knew more about it? This here was a big mess, but first thing's first...