The next morning, everyone gathered at the Valenti house.
"So, mind telling us where it is we're going?" Kyle asked, tiredly rubbing his eyes.
"Denver, Colorado." Sierra replied.
"And what's there?" Liz asked.
"An old friend of yours." Sierra said.
"Care to be just a little bit more vague?" Isabel asked. Sierra chuckled softly.
"Come on, let's go." She said. They all piled in a minivan Sierra had told Jim to rent the day earlier with Jim getting behind the wheel and Sierra in the passenger seat. The car had two rows of seats in the back, the second one being a bit bigger then the first. Max and Liz sat comfortably in the first row with Michael, Maria, Isabel and Kyle in the second. "Anyone need to use the potty before we go?" Sierra asked in jest, treating the others like a bunch of little kids.
"Ha ha, very funny." Michael said. Sierra laughed. Jim sighed and shook his head as he drove off. The others dozed in and out of sleep during the long drive as Jim and Sierra stayed wide awake.
"If you want to take a nap or something, I don't mind." Jim said, figuring she was staying awake so he wouldn't feel lonely or anything. Sierra looked at him.
"I'm all right." She told him, but was cut off as she yawned slightly. Jim smirked. Sierra rolled her eyes. "All right, wake me up when we get to Denver." She told him. Jim nodded and Sierra settled into the seat, resting her head against the window as her eyes drifted shut.
Sierra watched silently as the two caskets were lowered into the graves next to each other. She blinked and looked around, observing the others. Her mother and father sat together, clutching each other's hands, as did Max and Liz and Isabel and Jesse. She could tell what was on their minds-what if it had been us?-Sierra sighed and looked over to see Alex standing not to far from her dressed in civilian attire that consisted of a black pair of slacks and a black button down shirt. Sierra stood up from her seat, adjusting her black dress, and walked over to him. He met her eyes as she approached.
"Hey." She said softly. She couldn't think of anything else to say. He didn't respond, his eyes trained on the caskets.
"You should have called me." He said softly. "When Kyle came to your house. You should've called me."
"I'm sorry." She said. Alex turned to her.
"Do you know how sick it was to hear about this just when I got the telegram from my mom telling me to come to the funeral? They were like my aunt and uncle, Sie."
"They were the same for me." Sierra said, feeling a little defensive. "We both grew up with them in our lives. Don't tell me you were closer to them then I was."
"Well obviously you felt like I didn't need to find out, so you felt I wasn't as-"
"Don't blame me." She snapped at him yet keeping her voice low so as not to disturb the other mourners. "There were six other people in the room that night. Anyone of them could have called you up and told you. Why don't you ask why your parents didn't call you instead of making me the bad guy?" She asked. She didn't give him time to respond before she walked over and sat by Jim who was crying. "Grandpa?" She said softly, putting her hand on his shoulder.
"No father should have to bury his son." He muttered softly. Sierra closed her eyes and pulled him into a hug. Jim held her close to him as he sobbed.
"Sierra….Sierra…" Came a distant voice. Sierra opened her eyes and saw Jim slightly shaking her. She blinked and sat up. "We're here." He said. Sierra turned around in her seat, her eyes scanning the back of the van. She saw Kyle sitting in his seat, staring out the window. She nearly let out a relieved sigh. It was just a dream/memory. She was still in the past. She turned back forward and saw that they were in the main town section of Denver, parked by the post office.
"All right, I'm going to go ask for directions." She said, climbing out of the car and walking into the post office. The others stayed in the car, waiting for her to come back.
"So, does anyone have any guesses who this old friend of ours were going to be seeing is?" Maria asked everyone. They all responded with shrugs. A few minutes later, Sierra came out of the post office with a tall man, the others saw it was a mailman.
"You just go down the road and take a left at the fork and go straight for a few mails, can't miss it." He said. Sierra gave him a smile.
"Thank you." She said. The man nodded at walked off. Sierra went and got back in the car.
"Where to?" Jim asked. Sierra relayed the directions and Jim took off. A short while later Sierra looked up.
"Here it is, stop." She said. Jim pulled over. They all looked up and saw a small café with a flickering neon sign that read Agggie's Place.
"Ah, good, we all were starting to get hungry." Kyle said, figuring they were stopping for a bite to eat before they continued on their journey. Everyone got out of the car and walked into the café. A middle aged woman wearing a blue and white waitress' uniform greated them.
"Table for eight?" She asked. Sierra nodded. She grabbed some menus and let them all to a large booth at the back. They all sat down as she handed them their menus. "Enjoy your lunch, your waitress will be here in a second." She said as she went to leave.
"Excuse me?" Sierra called after her, the woman stopped and walked back over.
"Yes?" She asked. Sierra gave her a warm smile.
"I was just wondering is Zana working today?" She asked.
"You friends of Zana?" The woman asked, looking at them all. The others had blank faces, unsure who this person was but Sierra answered for them.
"Yeah." Sierra said. The woman gave a small smile.
"I didn't think the little lamb had any friends." She said. "She's so quiet, keeps to herself a lot."
"That's our Zana, quiet as a church mouse." Sierra said, laughing with the woman.
"Well, she's on her break right now, but I'll tell her to come over here." The woman said.
"Thanks." Sierra said. The woman nodded and walked off to the kitchen. The others all stared at Sierra.
"Who's Zana?" Max asked. "Is she someone we meet in the future?"
"You could say that." Sierra said. A young blonde girl in a waitress uniform matching the woman's came by and brought them some coffee. "What can I get you folks?" She asked. Kyle was about to order some food when Sierra answered.
"We're actually here to meet a friend, can you give us a few more minutes?" She asked. The girl nodded and walked off.
"Hey, I'm hungry." Kyle said, the others nodded in agreement. Sierra rolled her eyes and shook her head.
"Just hang on, will you?" She said. A few minutes later, the door leading to the kitchen opened as a girl with dyed red hair in a bobbed cut with a black bandana tied around her head came out, wearing the same blue and white uniform. Liz, who had just taken a sip of her coffee, nearly choked at the sight of her.
"Liz, you all right?" Maria asked. She followed her friends gaze and gasped. "Oh my god." She whispered.
"What?" Michael asked. He turned around to see what they were looking at, along with Isabel, Max, Kyle and Jim. Sierra also turned but didn't dawn the shocked expressions the others did.
"Is that….?" Isabel began, stunned. The girl's eyes fell on them and she stopped where she stood, her face pale with astonishment.
"It is…." Jim said.
"Tess." Max said, his tone low with hatred.