A/N: Please, please, please read and review! All the previous disclaimers still stand, however.
Elizabeth's legs felt unnaturally heavy as she walked away. She was physically weakened from exerting so much force on Jordan's mind but she knew that it had to be done. If she had just walked away without doing anything, he would have continued his game of cat and mouse until she finally broke down and joined him. She had heard enough about the 4400 Center to know it wasn't some place she was ready to go to just yet. She was still learning to settle into her new life in this new time. And as it was, Elizabeth figured Jordan wasn't through with her yet anyway.
She was 19 now but she knew she should have been about 47 years old by now. She should have been married with a few children and a nice house somewhere in the suburbs or some life resembling that anyway. Elizabeth should have been living the life her brother and sister had. Instead, she was only 19 years old, returned to a time and place she didn't completely understand. Elizabeth was lost and scared. She had friends, of course, people that she trusted with her life. But it wasn't the same.
Elizabeth flopped onto the nearest park bench and sighed heavily. The gravity of her memories was too much for her bear some of the time. She vividly recalled the day she had been taken. She had been at home when a strange vision came to her. It wasn't like she had visions all of the time but sometimes she seemed to know what was going to happen before it happened. It was something Elizabeth just sort of came to accept. She had seen her abduction and without hesitation, she ran off to the very dark alley where she would eventually disappear. At the time, she didn't care about the consequences or that she'd be leaving her family behind. She didn't think about how her parents would deal with losing their youngest daughter. She just knew that she had to go.
When she finally returned, about thirty years had passed and she hadn't aged a day. The visions were gone but were replaced by something new. She sensed everything people around her felt and at times it was overwhelming. For a long time, Elizabeth had been utterly confused and had cried herself to sleep almost every night until the government decided to let the returnees go. She just wanted to see her parents again but after being released, she learned that things had changed in ways she could never have predicted.
No one came to pick her up so she had to find her family on her own. She soon learned that her parents had both died. Her father passed away in his sleep 10 years earlier. The doctors said he had a heart attack but it was still a rather peaceful passing. Her mother hadn't been quite as lucky. Her mother died in a car accident. A drunk driver hit her car just four years after Elizabeth had disappeared. It had been quick but not quite so painless. It hurt Elizabeth to know that she wasn't there for them, that she hadn't gotten to truly say goodbye. The only family she had left were her brother and sister.
After some digging and some help from NTAC, she found her older brother, Christopher. He was married and had a family of his own. They lived in San Francisco so Elizabeth rushed off to see them. They met at a diner by the pier. She had gotten to meet his wife but Christopher refused to let his children meet Elizabeth. He thought it might traumatize them. It traumatized Elizabeth instead.
She felt that she had one shot left so she returned to Seattle where her sister had settled. It had been a little difficult but she eventually found her sister. Elizabeth had hoped they could reconnect. They had been close when they were growing up but Jennifer treated Elizabeth as if she was diseased. Jennifer and her husband refused to let Elizabeth anywhere near their home. If Jennifer had any children, Elizabeth never got to find out.
Instead of reuniting with the family that she'd left behind, Elizabeth got a minimum wage job at a bookstore in downtown Seattle. That's where she met her two closest friends, Graceila and Mike. Graceila worked at the same bookstore and had taken Elizabeth under her wing, teaching her about everything that had happened in the past 30 years. It wasn't easy but at least she felt like she was finally up to speed with the world around her to some degree. Mike was Graceila's boyfriend. He got Elizabeth to start singing. He would play different songs for her and let her learn the lyrics.
Once a week, Mike, Elizabeth and their friend, Paulie, would go to the park and perform for whatever spare change they could get from people passing by. She found that she kind of enjoyed it. It was something that she never would have done before but then she wasn't the old Elizabeth anymore either. Plus it was extra money that Elizabeth could use to pay her rent and other bills.
When Graceila got evicted from her apartment about four months after Elizabeth had gotten her own place, Elizabeth willingly opened her door to her new friend. She felt like she needed a roommate and her best friend needed a place to live. It was a no brainer. Taking a roommate meant they could split the bills and the rent which helped them both out a lot. Elizabeth never realized how difficult it was to live in the "real world" until she was forced to do it herself.
Now she wouldn't have traded a single day for what she had. It wasn't what she had expected upon returning but still it felt perfect, like this was the life she was meant to lead. She was single and had a good job and great friends. She had the freedom to make choices that could change her life dramatically or just leave her feeling guilty the next day. She could be herself and not have to be "one of the 4400" around them.
Then today she felt like she hit a bump in the road. Jordan Collier came to see her, making Elizabeth second guess her own choices. She was aware that all he wanted at this point was to see how far she could take her abilities. He wanted to use her to his own advantage. Still, Elizabeth started to wonder if sending Jordan away had been the right decision after all.