"Lizzy sweetheart, do you want green beans or mashed potatoes?" asked Ellie.

"I don't care", spat Lizzy.

"Do you want both?" Ellie asked again.

"I said I don't care!" Lizzy raised her voice.

"Okay, okay, I'll just give you mash," said Ellie.

It was clear that something was going on with Lizzy, but Ellie had been unable to find out what. In the past few days she had become withdrawn, barely uttering more than a few words to anyone. Ellie had tried to get Lizzy to talk about it but Lizzy had dodged the subject, reassuring her that she was 'fine' or 'just hadn't had enough coffee'. While Lizzy had not yet opened up completely to Ellie, this new distance was something Ellie hadn't experienced since the early days of the placement. And it was evident that today things were worse.

"Whatever," said Lizzy as she sat down on the table.

Juan and Lita were already seated, talking between them. They were only waiting for Pete now. Lizzy got out her phone. As Ellie finished serving the food, she noticed Lizzy hadn't interacted with her siblings either. Lately, she had barely wanted to spend time with them, choosing instead to be distracted by technology.

"Honey! Dinner's ready!" called Ellie.

Pete promptly joined them at the table, greeting his younger children with a kiss on Lita's forehead and a ruffle of Juan's hair.

"How was everyone's day at school today?" he asked as soon as they finished saying grace.

Lita immediately started telling them all about the gold star she had been given, while Juan chimed in about the new video game that everyone in his class was playing and how much he wanted to get it.

Lizzy, on the other hand, went back to scrolling through her phone. Pete noticed. He had noticed her being on her phone a lot lately.

"Lizzy, sweetheart, why don't you put your phone down? You haven't touched your food," he said.

Lizzy rolled her eyes. She grabbed a fork and took a mouthful, but continued scrolling through her phone.

Ellie was eyeing the situation carefully; she could sense Lizzy's mood but didn't want to undermine Pete.

"You haven't talked about your day, Liz. Did you have a nice one?" asked Pete.

"It was fine," said Lizzy, not looking up from her phone.

"Made any new friends?"

"No."

"Had any exams?"

"No."

"You know, it would help if I didn't feel like I was talking to a broken record," said Pete.

"Lizzy only knows one word!" Lita giggled.

"Hey, can you at least look at me when I talk?" asked Pete.

Lizzy ignored him.

Pete sighed. "Lizzy."

There was no reaction from his eldest daughter.

"Lizzy, put the phone down," said Pete.

Lizzy continued to ignore him.

"Lizzy," said Pete, this time more sternly. "Put down your phone."

"No," said Lizzy.

"Lizzy –"

"Or what?" asked Lizzy, looking at him straight in the eye. "You'll take it off me? You know you're not allowed to touch my property."

Pete was about to reply, but Ellie interjected.

"Lizzy, honey, if something's troubling you, you can tell us, you know?" said Ellie.

Lizzy rolled her eyes. "I'm fine."

"Did something happen in school? Is there anything we can do? You've been a little off the past few days," said Ellie.

"I said I'm fine, can we just drop it?"

"Lizzy—"

"Just leave me the hell alone, okay!?"

"Hey, don't talk to you mom like that!" said Pete.

"She's not my real mom!" Lizzy snapped.

Everyone went quiet for a second as they took in what Lizzy had said.

"Okay, that's it!" said Ellie, standing up. "Lizzy, get in the car right now."

Lizzy frowned. "What!?"

"In the car. Right. Now." said Ellie through gritted teeth.

"Are you crazy!?" Lizzy was in disbelief.

"NOW!" shouted Ellie.

Juan jumped.

"Uh huh…" said Lita.

"UGH! You're SO ANNOYING!" Lizzy shouted as she left the table, headed for the front entrance.

Ellie turned to Pete. "Honey, if I'm not back before bedtime, can you put the kids to bed?"

Pete was confused "Where're you –"

"Is Lizzy okay?" asked Juan before Pete could finish.

"We're just going to go for a little ride," said Ellie.

...

Neither spoke as Ellie rode through town. Lizzy had chosen the back seat so she wouldn't have to be close to Ellie. She had her phone with her and was silently scrolling through it, too angry to actually register any of the content on the screen. She didn't know where they were going, but she figured wherever it was, she could deal with it. As Ellie made an unfamiliar turn, she wondered if this was it, if the Wagners had finally given up on her and were going to put her back into the system, like Caleb had suggested. Suddenly, the car stopped. Ellie killed the engine.

Lizzy looked out the window but the darkness didn't let her see much. It seemed like an open field, maybe some sort of park.

"Where are we?" she asked.

"Get out," said Ellie. Lizzy wondered if maybe Ellie was going to ditch her there, but was somewhat relieved to see her get out the car too.

Ellie started walking and Lizzy had no choice but to follow.

"I could call my case worker and tell her you're starving me, you know?" said Lizzy, trying to rile Ellie. "Wouldn't take long for them to come and pick me up."

Ellie was silent.

"If this is some kind of joke, it's not funny," said Lizzy, but was once again met with silence form Ellie.

After a couple minutes, they came to a stop.

Lizzy immediately recognized the location. They were in the county park where the adoption fair had taken place, all those months ago. They were facing the stairs where she and the other teens had hung out for the day. They were in the same spot where she and the Wagners had met, what seemed like a lifetime ago. She was very confused.

"Do you recognize this spot?" asked Ellie.

"Why are we here?"

"Maybe we didn't make it clear enough before. Why do you think we took you in?"

"We're not seriously doing this now," said Lizzy.

"Why did we take you in?" Ellie repeated.

Lizzy refused to answer.

After a moment of silence, Ellie answered the question. "You were what was missing from our lives, Lizzy."

Lizzy sneered. "You know that's bullshit."

Ellie shook her head, convinced Lizzy was reusing an old argument. "I did not take you in to make me feel good about myself Lizzy…."

"No," Lizzy stopped her. "Maybe you took Juan and Lita in because they were what was missing form your lives. But not me. Everyone knows I'm just the extra baggage."

"Oh really? Really?!" asked Ellie.

"Yes really!" Lizzy snapped. She turned to look at Ellie. "I'm just the extra baggage that came with the little cute kids you wanted, and one day you're going to realize that you actually don't want a 15-year-old girl because you'd much rather have little cute kids that you can shape how you want and you're just going to put me back into the system before I can fuck up your life even more!" she shouted.

"Is that seriously what you think!?" asked Ellie.

"It's what always happens!" said Lizzy, this times with tears in her eyes. "You wanna know why? Because news flash: you're not my real mom!"

"For the love of God, Lizzy," Ellie's voice cracked. "Did you see us talking to Juan or Lita during the adoption fair!?"

Lizzy went silent.

"Did you? No! We talked to you" Ellie started crying. "Right here, on this spot. We talked to you. We wanted you. You made us want you. Not Juan, not Lita, you. It just happened that you came with those two beautiful baby angels, and we knew we would love them as much as we love you. But it's been you all along."

Lizzy turned her back to Ellie as she tried to compose herself. Ellie's words were starting to get to her, and she didn't like it.

"And I'm not saying I know everything about you," continue Ellie, "or that I understand what you've been through, but I can tell you that I'm gonna be here for you whenever you decide to tell me, and after that, too. I'm not going anywhere, missy."

Lizzy was trying really hard not break down.

"I know I'll never be your biological mother, but you know what? The love I have for you? It's as real as it gets. So don't give me that bullshit that I'm not your real mom, because this? This is real."

"Stop! Stop it!" Lizzy covered her face and fought back the tears with everything she had.

"Oh, Lizzy." Ellie came up to Lizzy and enveloped her in a hug. She fully expected Lizzy to push her away, but was relieved when that didn't happen. Physical touch like this was almost a no-go between them. "Sweetheart, I'm never going to replace your biological mother. But I love you very, very, very much. And you don't have to do this by yourself anymore. I'm here for you, we're here for you, and that's always going to be the case, okay? Always." said Ellie.

Despite her best efforts, Lizzy couldn't help but let the tears run down her face. Pretty soon after, she started sobbing, causing Ellie to hug her tighter. She let her.

The two stayed like that, Ellie caressing Lizzy's hair and Lizzy crying in her arms, until Lizzy's sobs came to a slow.

"Do you want to talk about what's going, on or do you want to go home?" asked Ellie after some time.

Lizzy shook her head. "I wanna go home."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah."

"Okay. Do you promise you'll at least be off your phone during family meals?"

Lizzy smiled. "Yeah, I promise."

"Okay then. C'mon, let's get some food in you before you call your caseworker," Ellie joked.

Lizzy laughed.

She couldn't tell her what was really going on: that since her visit with Caleb she had been paranoid that he was actually right, that Pete and Ellie didn't want her, only her siblings. That if Pete and Ellie found out about her past, they would abandon her immediately. It didn't matter that she had been told otherwise time after time, because the past had shown her how easy it was for her loved ones to break their promises. But somehow, this time felt different. Only the future could tell what would actually happen, but for now, it seemed that Caleb might be wrong after all.