Disclaimer: I do not own Back to the Future.

September 12, 1987
3:15 PM PST

Jennifer Jane Parker felt excited - as she was at Great America with her close cousin and friend, Sarah Ann Parker. Her minor regret was just the fact that her boyfriend, Martin Seamus McFly was unable to join her. For Marty already had plans to practice with his band mates from The Pinheads, as they had a concert planned in one week.

Nonetheless, she simply felt happy to be bonding with her cousin. Sarah was currently not dating anyone - so, in a sense, it probably was better to not have Marty along. At least, it would actually make Sarah feel a little less uncomfortable about being single.

She smiled, as she and her cousin walked through the snack stands. She had a tough time deciding exactly what she wanted to eat, but sure felt as if she was in the mood for something sweet. The girls had really already been on almost a dozen rides within the past few hours, and decided that it was simply time for a little change of pace.

"Isn't this nice, Jenny?" Sarah asked, excitedly. "I love going on all these rides, and I love all the snacks they have. Most of all, though, I enjoy your company. I just hope enjoying all these snacks doesn't make me put on too much weight. After all, I'd..."

"At least, your mom is actually easy-going about stuff like that," Jennifer pointed out, softly. "It is quite one of the great things about having my own place with Marty. I no longer have to just put up with Mom lecturing me about what I eat, and all that."

"Yeah, I can imagine that being independent is quite nice," Sarah agreed, softly. "I am sure happy for you and Marty. After all, he really seems like a nice guy - and I'm really hoping that I could meet someone like him." Jennifer nodded, as she really understood what her cousin meant. "Psst, Jenny, take a good look over by the cream puff stand!"

Jennifer swallowed, as she glanced at the stand in question. Almost immediately, she had spotted a familiar redhead girl. She tried to think of where she knew the girl, and if it was the same girl that her cousin noticed. She then realized who the girl was.

"Lisa Jung!" Jennifer gasped, quietly. She rather could not tell her cousin just how she knew the girl, but it was during an event that she would sooner forget ever happened - an event that involved a certain Tannen, a time machine, and various universes.

Sarah nodded, just as the redhead girl turned around. Upon noticing the cousins, the redhead's eyes grew wide open. "Jennifer Parker! Sarah Parker! You look familiar!"

"Yeah, that is us!" Jennifer confirmed, smiling. "You must be Lisa Jung!" The redhead nodded, as she continued, "Fancy meeting you here! Say, after Sarah and I just get our own cream puffs, would you mind if we joined you? It's cool to meet you, again!"

"Same here!" Lisa replied, excitedly. "Man, we have so much catching up to do. It's so nice, in fact, being able to run into the two of you. I mean, I rather never dreamed of ever being able to get into contact with you. I mean, I really missed you two - and..."

"Say, Lisa, who are those girls?" asked a girl with short blond hair. She then walked up to the trio, as she added, "Hello, my name is Katie Hawkins. Lisa and I have been best friends for a little over a year, now. We're roommates, in fact - and I'm simply pleased that we met. So, I take it that you girls must be... be a couple of old friends of hers?"

"That is correct," Jennifer replied, nodding. "We were young, back then. Sarah and I were just eight years old, in fact, when we ended up parting ways. Somehow, within about two years, we ended up losing touch. I must say, it's quite an unexpected..."

"... surprise," Lisa finished, smiling. She pointed towards a picnic table, as she added, "Why don't we sit over there? We rather have much catching up to do. I mean, these past few years were not easy for me. My mother died of cancer, and it was just a..."

"I understand how you must feel," Jennifer replied, sympathetically. "There is sure no telling what I would do, if I ever lost my parents. Granted, from time to time, I do find them to be a little annoying - like when my mom lectures me about what I eat. Still, it'll be sad for me, when they die. I know that my parents care about me, and they're..."

"I was so close to my mother," Lisa sighed, as tears filled her eyes. "Even to this day, I just can't stop thinking of how much I... I just felt quite unhappy at the foster home that social services had sent me to, that I had run away to Sunnyside Lake Resort."

"She told me all about that," added Katie. "She hid in a log cabin - where she only had a sleeping bag, a radio, some snacks, and a few grooming supplies. She has dyed her hair, and gotten a job under an alias. By the time she was found, she was already..."

"... eighteen years old," finished Lisa, "which meant that they could not place me back in another foster home. I stayed at a group home for two months, until they found an apartment for me - where Katie was my roommate. We did became very close friends, and we share a lot of the same tastes. Katie's mother is still alive, but she was not..."

"My mom has schizophrenia," Katie explained, softly. "I was seven years old, when I was first sent to a foster home - and I had stayed there for a little over two years. I then was returned to my mother. Then, at twelve, I ended up back in foster care."

"Wow!" Jennifer breathed, stunned. "I... I'm not sure of what to make of that. What was your relationship with your mother like? After all, if you returned to her for three years, social services must not think she is entirely bad. Then again, I don't want..."

"My mother and I are very close!" replied Katie. "It was so painful for me, when I was not allowed to have contact with her for over three years. Ultimately, all of my foster homes turned out to be a... Well, I rather ended up not being happy there. After the honeymoon period would wear off, I would end up being lectured for this or that."

"Man, that's not good!" Jennifer replied, sympathetically. Granted, her mother would sometimes lectured he - but she never felt unloved by them, or that she was a major disappointment to them. "I guess you were made to feel like the... black sheep?"

"Yeah, pretty much," Katie replied, sadly. "I was often made to feel as if I was a bad girl - and, at one home, my foster parents even said to me that I 'walked out of their hearts'. That hurt me, deeply. I felt resentful that I couldn't stay with my mother."

"Yeah, I'll bet," Jennifer replied, as she patted Katie's arm. "Well, it looks as if you and Lisa sure had similar experiences. If you weren't happy at any of your foster homes, I seriously think social services needs to do a better job at making sure that their clients are happy. I would like to become a child psychologist, someday. I would like to..."

"She never ran away, though," commented Lisa. "I'm sure she really was tempted to, however. The thing is, her foster parents usually blew hot and cold. Sometimes, they would act loving - but, at other times, they would berate her. I can imagine that..."

"Well, it is probably best to leave the past behind us," suggested Katie. "It feels good to be able to see or talk to my mother whenever I'd like to. Say, would you girls really like some cream puffs. Since you've really been nice to us, I figured that I'd treat."

"We'll each buy you each one," added Lisa, smiling, "so that you each have two cream puffs. By the way, I simply think we should exchange addresses and phone numbers - so that we never lose touch. Well, I'm so happy that we managed to reunite here."

"Right, same here," Jennifer replied, smiling. "Well, are you sure that you don't quite mind buying us cream puffs?" Lisa and Katie nodded, as they began to head towards the cream puff stand. To Sarah, she added, "Makes me realize just how lucky I am. I would hate to have been in their shoes. I'll never complain about my mother, again!"

"Well, your mother just isn't perfect," Sarah replied, softly, "and neither is mine. And neither are we. We're all flawed individuals. Anyway, yeah, I never stopped thinking about Lisa. If we never lost contact with her, we might even been able to help her."

"I feel the same way," Jennifer agreed, sighing. "Still, would we have been able to do anything? Well, I hope to prevent future children from meeting the very same fate as Lisa and Katie. If they say that they are unhappy with their foster homes, I could..."

"We are back!" Lisa announced, as she and Katie say back down. "We told you about us? Why don't you tell us about yourselves? What were your lives like, since we..."

"I live in Hill Valley," Jennifer explained, "and Sarah recently moved to the outskirts of town. She spent ten years in Elmdale, which neighbours Hill Valley. They're very close to near Sacramento, just a half-hour drive away. I have a boyfriend, named Marty."

"I don't have a boyfriend, yet," Sarah added, sighing. "I see why Jennifer likes Marty, though. I really do hope that I, one day, find a boy like him. I still live with my mother, while Jenn and Marty recently moved into an apartment together. It feels like a..."

"Well, we should maybe plan a trip to Hill Valley," Lisa suggested, smiling. "I do have a crush on this one boy, and he seems to like me. I simply don't want to force anything, though. But, even if he doesn't feel that way about me, it's rather nice to know that I have Katie - and the two of you. I'm very glad that you two never forgot about me."

Jennifer just smiled back at Lisa. Indeed, she was a lot like the Lisa she met during the great chase. The main difference was, this Lisa simply still lived in the 1980s. All things considered, she felt relieved to know that her childhood friend's life was looking up.