Disclaimer: As always, I don't own anything except my original characters.

A/N: Thank you so much for reading and reviewing!!!

Uncertain, Lizzy looked at her parents' expressions as they led her to the dining room table to talk. The seventeen-year-old had no clue what they had to tell her that was so important. She hadn't had one of these discussions with them where they actually sat down and had a civil, serious conversation in awhile. Lizzy didn't think that she'd seen her father this stern or her mother so on the edge of some kind of breakdown before. It made her nervous. What the hell was going on? What was it that they should've told her a long time ago?

She took a seat the table across from them, still studying them closely. Her parents kept sharing these odd glances, like they were about to tell her something horrible. For the life of her, Lizzy couldn't even guess what it was. And she wasn't so sure that she wanted to know in the first place.

"Elizabeth," Mr. Harrison said quietly, "There isn't any easy way to tell you this. We know that keeping it from you for this long wasn't the best decision we made."

"What is it?" Lizzy prompted. She wanted to get it over with quick--like ripping off a band aid really fast. Mrs. Harrison stared at Mr. Harrison, reluctant to enlighten Lizzy with the secret she and her husband had been keeping from the teenager for almost half of her life.

"We…" Mrs. Harrison broke off, attempting to control her emotions. "We adopted you, Elizabeth."

Lizzy simply stared at them, the news not processing in her mind. She didn't think she had heard them right. What had they just said? She was adopted? Meaning, the two people sitting in front of her were not her real parents? She couldn't find the right words or emotions to even begin to react to that.

When Lizzy didn't answer, Mr. Harrison said, "You're so much like them. Your real parents, I mean. We see that now, and you should've known about this much sooner."

Lizzy was gawking at her parents--although, she didn't know if she could call them her parents anymore. "You lied to me this whole time?" she managed to say after a few moments.

"It was a mistake," Mrs. Harrison said firmly. "We're so sorry, Elizabeth."

The teenager was on the verge of pulling her hair out. "You know, the two of you are such hypocrites. I lie about being somewhere else, and you're ready to ground me. And now I find out you've been lying to me for my entire life! Ugh! I can't believe this!"

"We're sorry, honey--" Lizzy cut off Mrs. Harrison before she could go any further.

"Sorry doesn't exactly make everything all right," The seventeen-year-old snapped. "And please, don't 'honey' me, either. I'm not your kid…apparently."

That really struck a chord with Mrs. Harrison. She started crying again, and seeing his wife's response, Mr. Harrison tried to offer the distressed teenager an explanation. "Not biologically," he said. "but we did raise you, Elizabeth. We took you in as our own since you were two-years-old. We gave you everything you could possibly want. We gave you a roof over your head, a good education…"

"Yeah, you're wealthy and you bought me everything you thought I'd need," Lizzy replied indignantly, "But money can't buy love."

"What are you trying to say?" Mr. Harrison said loudly. What was she implying? Of course they loved her. They had enough sympathy to take her in; wasn't that love? Needless to say, they did try to steer her away from hippie culture she'd been brought up in and had influenced her even now. Mr. Harrison wasn't going to deny that to himself--he just didn't want to admit it aloud to Lizzy.

"Forget it," Lizzy answered, standing. "I don't want to…I just…I can't handle this right now." She plopped back down into her chair and put her face into her hands, attempting to make some sense of it all. Just then, Mrs. Harrison shuffled in--neither Lizzy nor Mr. Harrison had noticed that she had left--carrying a large brown, bulky envelope with the teenager's name written on the front of it. It was surprising that the thing even closed; it was filled to capacity and maybe a little beyond that.

"Your parents gave you up for financial reasons," she said, setting the envelope on the table near Lizzy. "We kept in touch with them for the first three years. And then, for whatever reason, we stopped writing…but they sent small gifts on some of your birthdays, and wrote a few letters addressed to you. I saved everything to give to you some day, and I guess…today's that day."

"Anything you want to know about your family is in there," Mr. Harrison told her. "That is, if you want to know."

Lizzy stared at the package, lifting her head from her hands. Without a word, she took it and disappeared upstairs to her room. Once inside, she dropped her bag onto the floor, tossed the oversized envelope onto her bed, and sat down next to it. She pulled her knees up to her chest and sat in silence for well over fifteen minutes in order to sort out her thoughts. She hadn't had the best day so far. Arguing with her parents, and then discovering that she wasn't even their child. She felt like her whole life was a lie. What's worse was that her true parents were alive, and she had never known about them. Never seen a picture, never heard their names…nothing. She didn't remember anything, either.

Trying to deal with the new information was not going so well for Lizzy. It was hard to think that she hadn't been born Elizabeth Julia Harrison. Hell, she probably wasn't even born in the state of Florida. And who knew where her real family lived? Lizzy sighed, glancing at the package addressed to her. She was pretty sure that she wanted to know where she had come from, and who her parents were--or are, since, according to Mrs. Harrison, they were still alive. Lizzy picked up the envelope carefully, and was about to tear it open, but she stopped. She wanted Paul with her when she opened it. She needed to tell him, and she needed his emotional support. This was quite an unpredictable twist in her life, and she had to have her best friend by her side.

Her hands were shaking as she picked up the phone on her bedside table and dialed Paul's number. His mother was at work, so Lizzy knew that she wouldn't pick up. However, she silently prayed that her friend would answer. The answering machine clicked on, and Lizzy left a message, still hoping Paul would get to the phone.

"Paul, it's Lizzy," she said, and suddenly found that she could no longer contain her emotions. Her voice began to break as she talked. "Please pick up…I need you. My parents …they told me something, and I just need to come over to your place to get away. Please…I'm freaking out over here. I dunno what else to fucking do."

"Liz?" Paul asked, finally picking up the phone. Concern was very evident in his voice. "What's wrong? What's going on?"

"I'll explain later," she said, drying her tears. "Can I…can I come over?"

"Of course," he replied. "Are you okay to drive? I have my mom's car--she took the bus to work. I can come pick you up if you want."

"Sure. Thank you, Paul."

"No problem. See you in a few."

Lizzy hung up, breathing a slight sigh of relief. It was always good to know that Paul was there when she needed him most. Miserably, Lizzy picked herself up off the bed and grabbed her messenger bag. She left the sketchbook in there, and tucked the envelope inside as well, along with a change of clothes and pair of pajamas. She had a feeling that she was going to be staying with Paul for awhile, considering she didn't want to talk to Mr. and Mrs. Harrison. Sliding her bag over her head, Lizzy went downstairs to wait for Paul.

"Where are you going?" Mr. Harrison inquired.

"Nowhere." Lizzy said stubbornly, turning the door handle. She didn't say another word as she walked out, closing the door in his face.