A/N Today marks the 3 year anniversary of the 'Instant Family' movie coming out. I certainly didn't think that 3 years later I'd still be writing fanfics for it. But here we are.

This fanfic has been at least a year in the making. I didn't want to post anything until it was complete. Some of you have read my 'Instant Snapshots' fanfic, which follows and expands on the canon events of the movie. At the time I thought it would be the only fanfic I would write based on the movie, but something about exploring the other side of the coin -the what ifs- highly appealed to me. It started as an idea, and it quickly became a story I'm very fond of. I thought, what better way to mark the anniversary of what is, in my opinion, one of the best movies ever made, than to post it today.

Thank you to Summer who keeps me going in the hardest moments. You're the best thing to have come out of this community, gal.

Music for this chapter: It Don't Matter To The Sun - Rosie Thomas

-A x

Day 1 -Lizzy

"I've got a car seat for Lita if you don't have one," says Lizzy as she lifts up her suitcase to walk down the porch steps.

The first to get out the car is Karen, followed by Sharon. Both of them walk over to the sidewalk to wave over the kids. Lizzy has reached the last step when the back door of the car opens and out comes Carla, looking more or less like she has throughout all their visitations together.

When Lizzy sees her, she can't help it. She drops her bags and shoots off running toward the car, crushing Carla into a tight embrace.

"Mom!"

Carla, her mom. Her forever home. All she has ever wanted since coming into foster care is to be back with her mom, and now that day has finally arrived.

"Hola mi princesa. How are you?" Carla hugs her.

As mother and daughter greet each other, the social workers help the Wagners carry the piles of suitcases to the car trunk.

"Juan, Lita, come greet Mom," Lizzy calls out.

The younger kids slowly walk up to Carla and give her small, timid smiles.

"Well, what do you say?" their sister prompts.

"Hi," come their voices. Carla smiles and pulls both of them into a hug, but Lizzy notices neither of them reciprocate it.

"Aren't you so excited to be going back home?"

The kids shrug.

"Lita," calls out Karen. "Come baby, helps us settle you into the car seat."

"Oh, I can help," says Lizzy, but is immediately cut off by Pete.

"Let me," he says. "Please."

"Sure, go ahead."

Pete walks Lita to the back of the car and Lizzy watches as he buckles the little girl in.

"Everything feel alright, munchkin'?"

"Yup!" says Lita.

"Great. You be a good girl, alright?" His voice sounds strangled, like he's holding back tears.

Lita nods.

"Bye sweetie," he says, pressing a kiss to her forehead. "I love you."

"Bye Daddy," says the little girl.

An uncomfortable feeling settles Lizzy's stomach as she watches the whole exchange. When she looks over to her right, she realizes Carla has seen it too.

"Hey," says Ellie, interrupting her thoughts. "That's most of the suitcases, just yours left, honey." She points at Lizzy's bags. "Need help or shall we say our goodbyes?"

"No, that's alright. Mom can help. You say goodbye."

As she walks to the trunk, she watches Juan reach out to Ellie and give her a hug. Ellie wraps her arms around him and kisses the top of his head, and Juan buries his head on her chest.

When she and Carla are done putting away the last of her bags, she catches sight of what is going on in front of her. Juan is still holding onto Ellie, but now Pete has joined them, both of them stroking Juan's back. As she gets closer, she can see why.

Her little brother is crying.

"It's okay, buddy, it's okay," Ellie is whispering.

"We'll come visit all the time, and you can come visit us too. This is not goodbye forever, pal," Pete tries reassuring the boy.

Lizzy stops dead in her tracks, and the uncomfortable feeling in her stomach returns. It's exactly the same one that she felt the night before, when she saw Juan break down during dinner. She feels as responsible now as she did then.

"Juan," she says, coming closer to him. "It's okay buddy, we'll see them again, I promise. This won't be the last time. It'll be okay. Shall we get in the car now?"

The little boy shakes his head and hugs Ellie harder.

"Hey sweetie, it's okay. Look, your sister will bring you to visit all the time, right Lizzy?"

"Yeah, I will. C'mon Juan, we gotta go."

"No. Please no. Please. I don't wanna go. Please," he pleads.

"It's time buddy," Lizzy says again. "Let's go." She tries to grab his shoulder to pry him away, but he pushes her hand away.

"NO!"

Lizzy is taken aback by his actions. Juan is usually so compliant, so sweet. She was definitely not expecting this.

"I don't want to leave. Please! Please let me stay! Please!" he sobs.

Lizzy has no idea what to do. This behavior is nothing like Juan, she can't believe he's acting up like this. It hurts her to see him in pain, but she's also aware that Carla is watching the whole thing, and she's embarrassed. If only her siblings understood that this is for their benefit. Pete and Ellie are great, but they can't possibly love them the way Carla loves them. The Wagners were just a temporary thing. Carla is forever. This is what is best for them… she's sure of it.

"I'll wait in the car," says Carla. Lizzy nods.

Pete and Ellie embrace Juan between them and start whispering things to him, trying to calm him down. After a while, it finally seems to work.

"I love you buddy. Take care, alright?" says Pete as he hugs Juan goodbye.

"Bye Dad. Love you."

Pete squeezes him hard one last time and then releases him to Ellie. She puts a palm on his back and escorts him to the car.

"Bye sweetie," she says once he's buckled in. "Love you." She kisses the top of his head.

"Love you too, Mom."

Ellie goes over to hug Lita goodbye.

"Bye baby girl, I love you."

"Bye Mommy I love you."

Carla watches the whole exchange, but at Lita's words she looks away. Lizzy notices. She wonders how it must feel like for Carla to hear Juan and Lita call someone else 'Mom'. She hopes Carla understands they don't really mean it, not really. They're just confused right now.

"Right, guess it's just us, huh?" Pete's voice snaps her back to reality.

"Huh, yeah I guess," Lizzy shrugs.

Ellie comes back then and stands beside Pete.

"You've got our phone numbers, right?" she asks.

"Yeah, I do."

"And Karen and Sharon's numbers too, yeah?" adds Pete.

"Yeah," Lizzy smiles.

"You call us if you need anything, okay?" says Ellie.

"Anything at all. And don't let it be too long before we see you all again, alright?"

Lizzy smiles and nods.

"You take care," says Ellie.

"Uh… Thanks."

The silence that follows makes Lizzy feel awkward. She's not sure what to do or how to say goodbye, and it seems that the Wagners are having the same problem.

"Bye," she finally waves rather awkwardly.

"Bye," her foster parents wave back.

She gets in the car as Karen and Sharon go over to talk to Pete and Ellie, the usual formalities. A few minutes later, they get into the car, and start driving away. As Lita waves from the window, Lizzy looks over at Juan. He's started crying again.