posted on 27-Jun-2002 12:34:09 AM by AuroraAngel101
Hi, everybody. Some of you might remember this fic from a while ago, but I've decided to repost it. I recently checked my bmail account and found out that there were a couple of people who (actually) wanted me to continue.

In my opinion, the storyline's really confusing (This was only my second fic, and I kept going back to previous parts to change them). I pretty much got myself lost.

Still, there have been a lot of DA fics out there lately, thanks to wild child uk and littlebit (plus others I've forgotten) and since Return To Where You Were was one of the first (I don't know whether mine was 1st or 2nd, but who really cares, anyway) Da/Roz Xovers on this board, I though I'd give it another shot now that the audience has become more accepting of this category.

Chances are, the reason that I didn't get large amounts of fb the first time was the one I figured all the time. Not because the audience I was aiming for didn't exist yet, but because the storyline was loose and the characterization was bad.

Anyway, I'm going to give it another shot. I haven't written any new parts since I stopped posting months ago, but I could always give it...the ol' college try (?) Is that supposed to mean anything? How 'bout "the ol' Rozwell try"? But I digress...

If I get a certain amount of feedback within a certain amount of time, then I'll consider continuing Return To Where You Were. More likely, this'll be a confirmation of the fic's death instead. Off to greyer zip disks.

I'll post the prologue in a sec. Just give me a moment to review this, make sure I've got the fic in order, and it'll be on its way.

Thanks to you all, especially butterfly_girl and Roswell Slayer, who have fed back to me on occasion. Let's make this another one.

-Cait

[ edited 1 time(s), last at 27-Jun-2002 9:47:48 AM ]
posted on 27-Jun-2002 12:41:16 AM by AuroraAngel101
Disclaimer: I don’t own Roswell or Dark Angel. If I did, Roswell wouldn’t suck this season and Dark Angel wouldn’t have been canceled.
Author’s Notes: Post Busted, post Bag ‘Em.













Tess is back. Haha. Funny. I’m laughing so hard. Excuse me- Tess isn’t back, Tess never left. She just did a sucky job at the whole mind warp thing. Michael went back two weeks ago to the cave to inspect the damage, and the Granolith was still there. Ha friggin’ ha. ‘Scuze my language. So it turns out that Max never even needed to get back home. Which means I never needed to get arrested by those Utah cops for armed robbery. That, by the way, has me really pissed. Right, language. Sorry, I’m trying to work on that.

Anyways, Max started scouting out run down motels and that sort of stuff in hopes that he’d find Tess. The women who, might I add, killed my one of my best friends and planned on turning over the remaining Royal Four to Khivar. I’m still trying to figure out what he sees in her. I suppose I’m being too harsh. He does owe it to his son to save him from a life with a mother who, by my diagnoses, is mentally unstable. Or else really, really smart. Probably the latter.

But to get to the point, Max did find her. And then, because due to my own stupidity I had snuck away from my parents to help Max, Michael, and Maria, who was probably only there to give me emotional support, found Max. With Tess. As in, with Tess. And all of a sudden, I’m getting these feelings that are telling me to run away crying. But I couldn’t. So there I was, standing in the doorway of a motel room with Michael and Maria behind me, listening to a baby crying, and staring right into the eyes of the man under the covers next to the blond who is actually, for some reason unknown to me, looking somewhat regretful that I had to see this.

As I mentioned earlier, there were all the feelings rushing through my head- run, flee, get away from here. But I didn’t. I couldn’t. In the past nine years, I have become so weak, that those who knew me when I was only eight would not be able to recognize my nature. And so I brought all of that up. Everything that I had known before I came to Roswell, I put into effect. Only by using those memories was I able to respond to the situation at all.

I heard the baby crying. I looked and it was waving its little arms around, with its- his scrunched up little face. He was crying. Babies shouldn’t cry. Crying babies need their mothers. So I went and got the baby out of its cheap little Wall Mart crib and carried him over to his mother, gently placing him in her arms. He needed her. He needed his father, too. I told her her son needed her. I left. They all must have been watching me as I picked up the child, expecting me to drop it on the floor out of anger, seeking revenge. But it was only a child. Children shouldn’t suffer for their parents’ mistakes.

I realize now that Max led me on. Maybe on the surface he wanted to be with me, to have a perfect little life with a girl friend, and no suicidal reincarnated pregnant wife to worry about. I guess it must have been the same with me. But deep down, I’m sure that we both knew that it wasn’t what we wanted. We were in love withthe idea of Max & Liz. The Max and Liz before Tess came, before the Destiny crap, when everything was perfect. But after what happened this year, I don’t know how I let myself fall into that again. I should’ve known that I was going to get hurt. But even after Max had that vision in the lake, I still refused to back out. I blame Max for hurting me, but I blame myself for letting myself get hurt. I should have seen it coming.


Liz Parker looked up from her diary, sighing and running her fingers through her hair. Turning her attention to the manuscript on her balcony table next to her, she flipped through a few pages until she found the one she wanted. Turing back to the journal in her lap, she continued writing.

I’ve found away out of it all. It’s the easy way out, but I’ve been through so much lately, I don’t even care anymore. I don’t think anyone will mind anyway. Sure, they’ll feel remorse, and a few people will miss me, but they’ll get over it. Max has Tess. As far as the town knows, she ran away during the last few months of her pregnancy to avoid as much public humiliation as possible. Max has accepted the role of father quite nicely, and although his parents are disappointed in him, their trying to support him emotionally as much as possible. I think it must help that he and Tess got their own apartment.

Maria has Michael. I know she still tries to be there for me, especially after my parents’ death, but she’s got a boyfriend, and Michael seems to take up most of her time these days.

Isabel and Kyle are getting along nicely now, and though I never really expected much from Isabel, I do miss Kyle’s friendship.

My parents are gone. They died in a car accident. Not to sound morbid, and I do love my parents, but it seems ironic that just as my parents die and I can quit sneaking around to be with Max, we find Tess. They passed away a week and a half ago. I miss them.

But I mentioned that I found a way out of it all. I’m not going to kill myself, it that’s what you think. No, that would be a stupid way out. I have different plans. I borrowed Michael’s copy of the Destiny Book translation. It talks a lot about Granolith. Seems there was a way to deactivate it while it was in count down to departure. I figure that must have been what Tess did when we revealed her secrets. She probably mindwarped Max into arguing with an image of her while she deactivated it and fled. My guess is that without Max and the others, Khivar wouldn’t have been so pleased with her. She must have decided she’d be safer on earth. Funny, considering she was dying here. Probably all an act to persuade the others to leave earth with her. Problem is, once the Granolith was deactivated, it can’t be used as a space ship anymore. At least that’s what the text says.

I’ve been trying to remember everything they taught us about machines. It’s hard, but I think I may have found a way to modify the Granolith into a time machine. Hopefully it will be able to take me into the future, not the past. For awhile I thought it would be impossible. Then I thought I was getting ahead of myself. Then I realized I was just as smart as that Serena girl out there. I can get myself out of here, and I will.

The main problem is getting into the pod chamber. I’m no alien. That’s why I’m going tonight. Michael was telling me how he was taking Maria to the pod chamber for a romantic picnic. Bad karma in that place if you ask me, but hey, to each his own. I figure I’ll just wait outside the cave until they come back out. Maria’s got a curfew, so it’ll still be dark. With the distraction I’m setting up before I leave, no one’s going to think to look for me there. But I should go. It’s only an hour until they’ll be leaving the pod chamber, and I still have to drop off my goodbye note at Maria’s.


Liz flipped through her diary for a while, remembering all the good times she’d had. Her eyes caught something on the inside cover, and she held it closer to see. It was something she’d written a long time ago, to remind her of where she was from. Scrawled in handwriting so small it was almost invisible was written:

Liv. X5-469. DOB 2000.

She closed her diary and looked over the edge of the balcony. The last waitresses had just locked up and were walking down the street. They waved at her and she smiled in response. Crawling into her room, she dropped the diary on the floor and went over to her desk. Grabbing a candle, she lowered the blazing wick down to the book and waited until it caught fire with a hiss. Pretty soon the flame had spread to her rug, and with one last look over her shoulder, Liz crawled out the window.

Liz looked wearily down the road. She couldn’t take the car, or the fire would just go to waste. It was going to be a long walk.


At the Granolith Chamber

Liz stood in front of the glowing mystery before her. It was spinning now, and she knew she had to concentrate if she wanted to end up in the right spot. She felt her self swept into the Granolith, but she ignored that. There was only one thought on her mind. Roswell, 2017...














[ edited 5 time(s), last at 27-Jun-2002 3:02:38 PM ]
posted on 27-Jun-2002 9:41:25 AM by AuroraAngel101
Thanks to Crazy 4 Max and Orion for their feedback!












Part One


Seconds later, to her at least, she was standing in the middle of the town park- or where the town park should be. Had it been what she had anticipated, Liz would have been at least mildly concerned as to whether or not anyone had seen a woman suddenly appear out of thin air, but she had other things on her mind. Nothing looked the way she had expected it to. All around her was destruction. Chaos is usually a word that is used with destruction, but the scene before her was anything but that. There was hardly anyone about. A few people milling about here and there, but that was it. Still, Liz had the feeling that the town was not at all deserted.

She had left the information in Maria’s note that she planned to ‘arrive,’ so to speak, sometime during the day of October 16, 2017. Although she realized now that it was slightly foolish to expect Maria to be standing there waiting for her, Liz still found herself feeling disappointed. Waving away her sadness, she set off to roam the town.

The first thing she passed was the former site of the Crashdown. That had been where Liz Parker had died. Or, at least, where everybody thought she had died, if everything had gone according to plan. Now in place of the old restaurant stood what looked like a tenant building, and a run down one at that. If it hadn’t been for the street signs, she wouldn’t have ever guessed that it was even in the same town that she had lived in only hours ago.

All around her the town seemed as though it were falling apart. Everything was gray, and the sky itself showed signs of turning anything but its current slate color. All the buildings looked as though they were about to fall apart, and cars were not to be seen at all. Every now and then someone would ride past on a bicycle or motorcycle and give her a strange look, but other than that, Liz saw nobody else. Turning to look at her town from another angle, Liz saw a blond woman hastily walking towards her. She seemed nervous, and kept on looking over her shoulder as she neared the brunette watching her.

Glancing up, the woman seemed to recognize her, but it took Liz a few more seconds. It was Isabel, graying hair and all. She had bags under her eyes, and they reflected the hard times she must have been through. Liz immediately felt remorse for leaving the others just to escape her own problems, but her thoughts were interrupted as Isabel spoke up. “Good. I thought I’d find you here.” Both women looked at each other as the minutes ticked away. One still in her teens, the other nearing her forties, both staring at the other as though she hadn’t seen her teenhood friend in years. For one it was true, for the other, it had only been a matter of hours. The women seemed to come to a truce of sorts as each stepped forward to envelope the other in a loving hug. Then Isabel broke the silence by telling her old friend that it wasn’t safe out on the streets. “You can come to my house.”

Her home as it turned out, was still the one she had grown up in. Now, however, it was subdivided into four tiny apartments. Motioning for Liz to follow her, she led the way into one of the apartments. Before her lay a humble little home, that although reflecting the poor financial situation of the owners’, was also warm and inviting. Isabel had always had a knack at those things, Liz reminded herself. At that moment, Isabel called out to whoever must have been in the only other room in the apartment. “Sweetie, I brought her back. She’s out here with me.” Liz heard the footsteps approaching, sure that she would recognize the owner, but worried as to what might be her relationship towards the person. Noticing the wedding band on Isabel’s finger, she was relieved to be able to narrow down the list.

As the footsteps drew closer and stopped, Liz looked up to see who it was that had married her old friend. Kyle. A Kyle who looked almost exactly like his father, in fact. She was hesitant at first, but when Isabel gave her a slight nudge, she made her way towards her old buddy. Suddenly he rushed forward and swooped her up into a giant bear hug which would have crushed the life out of any human. She wasn’t any human though. He cradled her in his arms as though she were about to disappear, until Isabel finally cleared her throat. Only then did he relinquish his hold on her.

They both took a step back, and Kyle gazed down on the younger girl- once believed to be slightly older than him. “Liz,” he breathed. He said it reverently, as though he were gazing upon Buddha himself. Liz gave a slight smile. “Hi Kyle,” she returned. She supposed she should be as excited as he seemed to be, but Kyle it had been almost twenty years since he had last seen her; for her it had only been about a day.

Turning to include Isabel, she nervously began with a long list of questions. “How are the others?”

Isabel studied her for a moment, then answered hesitantly. “Kyle and I are married now.” Liz smiled and nodded to show she could tell. “Max- Max and Tess are in New York with Ben now. Benjamin’s my nephew, remember.” Isabel started pacing around the room. “Maria had wanted to meet you, but she went into labor last night. She and Michael are at the hospital now.” Stopping in front of Kyle, she leaned back into his chest and looked Liz straight in the eyes. “I know Maria was your best friend, Liz, but if you really want to help her out, Liz, you’ll just stay away from her. It’s been nearly twenty years that you’ve been gone now. A lot has happened, and none of us are who we were when you left. If you go see her it’ll entirely mess up the balance we have here. She was so upset when you left, and it took forever and Michael to get her over you. Kyle and I will help you relocate, Liz, but just stay away.” Finishing her speech, she ran back into he room from which Kyle had come. Kyle gave Liz a pained look, but followed his wife.

In a few moments, they both came out, Kyle’s arm around his wife, supporting her. “Liz, money’s tight around here, but we can help you out. We’ve got some savings, and that should get you started. Do you have any idea where you’re going to go?”

Liz paused for a moment. “Well, I had originally planned to head off to Seattle, but I had no idea everything was going to be like this,” she said, motioning to a window. “It looks like an atomic bomb hit.”

Isabel coughed, causing Liz to turn her attention from the view outside. Kyle explained. “Actually, it was an electromagnetic pulse.” Liz nodded to show she understood what that was. “The pulse hit June 1, 2009. Caught us all by surprise. Isabel and I were safely inside our house, but Maria and Michael were supposed to be going somewhere on the subways with their youngest at the time. Had us all worried to death.”

“Oh,” Liz gasped, looking rightfully shocked. “Who set it off?”

“We never found out,” Isabel spoke up. “For awhile all foreigners were being prejudiced against, especially Mid Easterners. I don’t think we ever found out who the terrorists were though.”

“Not that it really matters,” Kyle added. “Even if we did know, we’re in no shape to seek revenge. The country’s falling apart.”

“It’s a relief to know that I didn’t cause the end of the world this time,” Liz murmured under her breath.

Isabel, catching what the girl before her had said, reassured her. “No, sweetie, it’s not your fault. None of it is.”

Liz cleared her throat and changed the subject. “How many kids do Maria and Michael have?”

Kyle smiled, put his arm around his wife once more, and informed her, “This will be their ninth. Smirking, he added, “And every time, Maria announces it will be the last.” Isabel giggled, an action that to Liz had always thought seemed unnatural on her, even more so in the world she was living in now. A life with Kyle must have had done wonders for her.

Isabel lowered herself into one of the chairs in the room. The other two followed suit and waited to hear what she had to say. “If you’re going to leave tonight, we really need to get things together. You’ll need some food, some clothes, some money-”

“I’m fine Isabel, but thank you.” Liz interrupted. “I appreciate it and all, but I the only thing I need you to do for me is open the pod chamber. I stored all the money I had withdrawn from my bank account there.”

“That was another thing I wanted to talk to you about.” Kyle mentioned. “The fire was a good idea to make everybody think you had died, but when people found out that your parents bank account had been emptied, there was a lot of talk. A lot of people think you buckled under the deaths of Alex and your parents, set fire to the Crashdown, and just ran away.” He didn't add the fact that not all of that was a lie. Kyle paused, stood up and started pacing. “If anybody who knew you in high school sees you, you’re going to need an alibi.”

“That’s easy,” Liz said. “If anybody asks who I am, I’ll just tell them I’m Liz Parker’s daughter. Liz ran away from Roswell when she found out she was pregnant. She passed away recently, and I came back to find out what I could about her past,” Liz supplied. Isabel and Kyle nodded, and she could tell that they both approved of the idea. Liz took a deep breath and continued. “Isabel, I thought about what you said and I agree with you. it would mess up everybody’s lives for me to be around. I want you to tell Maira that I never showed up. Suggest that I must have made a mistake, or the Granolith broke, but just tell her I didn’t show up.” Isabel, trying not to cry, just nodded.

“Kyle can go with you to the pod chamber. I’ve got to stay here and wait for Michael to call.” She and Liz both stood up and walked towards each other. Pulling the younger girl into an embrace, Isabel whispered into her ear, “I missed you so much Liz. I know we were never close, but you were a really great friend to have.” Giving one more squeeze, she pulled away. “Kyle can take you now,” she said.

“Don’t we need an alien to open the pod chamber?” Liz asked.

Kyle answered her question after giving his wife a peck on the cheek and ushering his friend out the door. “A few months after you left we discovered that when Evans healed me, he changed me, as Isabel says Ava told you.” He smiled. “I’ve got powers now. Another year and I was just as powerful as the rest of them. It comes in handy, you know. Among other things, I can open the cave now.”

“Ever try using your powers on the bills?” Liz asked jokingly. Did this mean that she had been changed too? Another year and she would have powers like the rest of them? This was unbelievable. Damn Max Evans! She had enough problems as it was.

“Me, Isabel, and Michael have never used them that way,” Kyle responded. “But the way Max and Tess are living in New York, it seems highly unlikely that they haven’t.”

“What do you mean?”

“Big house, car for every person in the family, lots of property- you get the picture. You have to be rolling in dough to afford that these days. Usually only people working on the black market and stuff like that have that much money.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah, well, Max and Tess never were the virtuous types. They deserve each other.” Kyle stopped abruptly, fearful that what he had said would upset Liz. He looked over at her, but she was nodding in agreement.

“Let’s just get to the cave so that I can get out of here,” she said as they climbed into the car.

The trip was quiet one, both passengers thinking to themselves. Kyle must have been one of the few to be able to afford gas in Roswell, because they had only passed one other car during the entire trip.

At one point Liz interrupted the silence. “Did you ever consider joining the force?”

Kyle paused, figuring out how to phrase his answer. “I was a police officer for a while, but after the pulse everything changed. The police weren’t trying to help people anymore. They were using their position as an opportunity to take advantage of others. After that I quit. I own a garage in Albuquerque now, and I’m making about what I used to. The people who can afford cars can afford high prices.”

“Good for you, Kyle.”

A half hour later, they arrived at the cave. Liz watched in wonder as Kyle placed his hand on the wall of the rock formation and the door to the chamber opened, just as it had for Max and the others. Once inside, Liz reached into one of the top corners of an upper pod and pulled out an envelope stuffed with bills. Kyle looked impressed. “I can’t believe we never noticed that,” he remarked.

“Maybe you just didn’t want to,” Liz said. Taking one last look around the chamber, she added, “Here’s one place that hasn’t changed,” before following Kyle outside. They got in the truck and sat there for awhile, saying nothing.

After a few minutes Kyle started the car. “There’s something I want you to see before you go.”

On the way to the mystery destination, Liz turned to her old friend. “Did Amy and your dad ever get hitched?”

“Yeah,” Kyle chuckled. “Eloped, actually. Then they called from Vegas and told all of us to come down- Maria, Isabel, Max, me, and Tess. I could have expected it from Amy, but it was so unlike my dad. Amy was good for him though.” He sobered. “He passed away three months ago from a heart attack. Amy’s living with Maria right now.” Liz squeezed his hand, offering a warm smile.

Trying to change the subject out of respect for Kyle, she asked, “What’s been going on with the aliens?”

Kyle rolled his eyes good naturedly and replied. “We had some trouble the year after you left, but the ‘Mighty Four,’ with the help of yours truly, managed to save the day. We haven't had any trouble since then with either the Skins or the FBI. Guess after the SU was dissembled they just forgot about us, and the others managed to eventually lose contact with their planet." Kyle seemed happy to report that information; he had probably been worried that he would lose Isabel at any second.

“ Max and Tess formed some kind of bond after Benjamin was born, and they were able to kill Khivar. It was all over so fast,” he recollected. “I don’t think they even knew what was happening, Khivar ambushed them when they were walking down the street one night with the baby, and then he was just gone. Like ‘poof.’ Isabel and I had been waiting for them at a restaurant nearby with Maria and Michael, and we saw the whole thing. The three of us ran up and saw the skins attacking. I’d never been so scared before in my life,” he confessed. “The whole thing was so surreal, it must sound like some cheesy sci-fi plot to you.”

"The story of our lives," Liz admitted, earning a smirk from Kyle.

“Khivar had been killed by Max and Tess, but his little lackeys were waiting for us. Isabel took out Nicholas herself,” he told her proudly. “I even got a few in the back with the power blasts Michael had been teaching me to control.” Kyle started chuckling and Liz asked him what was so funny. “I was just remembering how Maria was complaining that she was the only one without powers. Michael was terrified she was going to throw herself in front of a car to get Max to heal her.”

Liz laughed. “That does sound like Maria.” More thoughtfully she added, “I miss her.”

Fifteen minutes later they were standing in the parking lot of the hospital that Liz recognized as the one her grandmother had passed away in. “What are we doing here?”

“You’ll see.”

He led her into the building, and stopping at the front desk, he asked, “Guerin?”

“Maternity, third floor. Room 208,” she responded after a moment.

“Thanks,” Kyle said before motioning for Liz to follow him. Walking up the stairs to the third floor, Kyle started to talk. “Look, I know that you’re trying to play a hard front, kinda like Guerin used to, but I can see through you. I know you care about Maria and everybody else, and I think that you should at least see how she’s doing. I agree with Isabel that walking into everybody’s lives now would completely screw things up, but you should at least be able to get a glanced at their lives. Maria told us what you did for us all, and I think after all the shit you’ve been through with Tess and everything else that you deserve this.” He took a deep breath; what he had just said had been said in Maria-style, with no pauses for air. Smiling, he gently pushed her towards the end of the hall.

“Go on, okay? I’ll be waiting for you downstairs.” Liz nodded wordlessly, and started walking away from Kyle. It seemed as though hours had passed before she found herself in front of room 208.

There was a window in the door. Hesitantly, Liz leaned forward, bringing her face to the glass. She gasped with delight. Inside there was a woman playing with a chubby little baby boy in her lap, with other children gathered around her in hospital gowns. Every few seconds someone would start giggling, and the rest would join in.

All of the children were beautiful, some drawing more from Maria’s looks than Michael’s, some resembling their father more than their mother. A few had golden halos, the others had rich brown locks. All of the children appeared as though they could have had a career in modeling, had they been born a decade earlier. Liz had the feeling that modeling wasn’t quite as achievable a goal as it had been before the pulse. Taking one more gaze at the family minus the father, Liz turned to leave. She was disappointed that she had missed Michael, but Kyle was waiting downstairs and she didn’t want to get caught.

Walking down the hallway, Liz started to panic as she saw the man heading the opposite way down the hall. Michael hadn’t changed a bit, she noticed. Sure, there were a few extra lines on his forehead, and his hair had some gray whisps in places, but she would have recognized him anywhere. And she knew that he would recognize her if he saw her. Ducking her head and hurrying on, she past him without incident. She was only a few yards from the door to the stairwell when she heard Michael’s voice call out. “Liz?” Ignoring it, she opened the door and hurried down the stairs. Once she reached the front desk on the first floor, Kyle rushed over to her.

“Did Guerin see you? He came in, but I couldn’t stall him for very long. He just wanted to get to Maria.”

“Everything's fine, Kyle,” she answered. “He thought he saw me, but I didn’t turn around.” Kyle nodded and they walked out into the parking lot. “I’m guessing there’s nothing different about a half alien pregnancy from a human pregnancy?” she asked. If Maria had given birth in a hospital, she was pretty certain it meant no green slime.

“Yeah. It’s fine.” He paused for a second, then continued walking towards the car. “Same with Isabel. No complications if the mother’s the alien.”

Liz smiled at her friend. “You have kids?”

“We had a kid. He was playing with some friends when one of the post-pulse riots started. They were trampled to death.” Kyle said no more and climbed into the truck, leaving Liz standing in the parking lot. A few moments later she got in as well. “I’m taking you to the bus stop. It costs a fair amount, but it’s not even possible to walk to Seattle from here. It’s the only way you’ll be able to get there.” Liz nodded silently.

“You know,” she began after awhile, interrupting the silence that had fallen over the cab, “I never would have thought anything like this would have happened. Especially after the Glember-Martin transactions. That and with the stock market constantly rising, the economy was doing so well.”

“Yeah,” her friend remarked, “But you know what they say- it can only go so far. And as for the Glember-Mar-” Kyle froze mid-sentence. Pulling the car over to the side of the road, he turned to look her straight in the eyes. “What are you talking about Liz? The Glember-Martin thing didn’t even happen until 2007. You were still gone.” Liz looked out the window and he continued. “What’s going on Liz? We’re not going anywhere until you tell me.”

“Kyle,” Liz started, “I wasn’t born in 1983. The Parkers adopted me.”

“What do you mean? What does that have to do with this?”

“I- I was born in the year 2000, Kyle.”

“What?”