Disclaimer: I don't own it!

A/N: This chapter is kind of long, but very important. Enjoy!

On the way to the his apartment, Paul glanced at Lizzy frequently, worried. She'd sounded extremely upset on the phone, and she hadn't uttered so much as a "hello" to him when she got into the car. She kept her gaze out the window, or down at her hands. She looked lost, and maybe a bit angry. Paul could see every emotion she was feeling in her cobalt blue eyes, which were somewhat bloodshot; obviously, she had been crying. He wondered what or who had made her this troubled. She had said to him that her parents had told her something…

Whatever it was, Paul hoped he could help her. It nearly killed him inside whenever she came running to him in tears, and that had happened quite a few times throughout the years that they had known each other. Lizzy always returned the favor when Paul went to her for advice or to vent about some asshole at school who'd made fun of him. This occasion felt different, though. A bigger problem, that most likely couldn't be solved by ranting over a pint of ice cream, which was usually Lizzy's solution, and the reason why his freezer was almost always stocked with that particular dessert food.

The two teenagers walked up to the apartment; Lizzy ambling in a trance-like state, numb from the new revelation in her life. Paul kept a wary eye on her, staying in step beside his best friend. When the front door was unlocked, Paul pushed it open, flicking the light on. Lizzy followed him in, and collapsed onto the couch, holding her messenger bag tightly to her chest. She was staring ahead as Paul took a seat next to her, a questioning expression on his face.

"Lizzy, tell me what's going on," he said softly. "What did your parents tell you?"

She heaved a sigh, her eyes suddenly watering again with tears. "I'm not their daughter, Paul," she confessed, voice quavering. "They adopted me."

Paul blinked, a wave of shock coming over him. He didn't quite know what to say to that. He wrung his hands awkwardly, struggling to come up with the right words to say. He was just as surprised as she was. "How could they hide it from you for this long?"

"I don't know," she answered, throwing her hands up in the air. "But they had some nerve to lie to me for the past fifteen years. They adopted me when I was two, because my parents couldn't support me financially."

"Ironic."

"Yeah, tell me about it," Lizzy agreed. "My parents give me up because they're poor, I'm raised by wealthy people…and I don't even care about how much money I have anyway. I'd rather have less money--I'd be happier."

"I'm pretty sure your parents were just doing what they thought was best at the time," Paul reasoned. "I don't think they could foresee that you'd hate living with the Harrisons."

"I know. I'm not mad at my parents. I'm pissed at the people who've been lying to me." Lizzy said, sitting back, resting her head on the back cushion of the shabby couch. She closed her eyes, and let the tears come again, until she was crying quietly. Paul immediately reacted; he was used to comforting his friend. He put an arm around Lizzy, encouraging her to lean her head on his shoulder, which she did.

"You know it's gonna be…all right.

You know it's gonna be…all right…"

Paul reassured her, letting his friend cry on his shoulder.

"Look at this way, Liz. You told me last night that you felt like you didn't belong with them anymore. That you were different, and you couldn't connect with them. You being adopted--it makes a lot of sense. Clearly, you belong somewhere else. And maybe, you can figure out where this 'somewhere else' is."

Once she had composed herself, Lizzy pulled the oversized envelope out of her bag and set it in her lap. "They gave this to me. They said everything in it was from my parents, who they haven't wrote to in like twelve years. Evidently, my family sent me things on my birthdays." She placed the package in between the two of them. "I wanted to open it…but…I figured I needed you with me when I did." Lizzy looked at the envelope intently, biting the nail on her index finger; a nervous habit that her adoptive parents despised.

"Do you want to open it now? We don't have to--you can wait…"

"No," Lizzy said. "I think I can do it now."

The teenager picked up the package, and taking a deep breath, tore the top off. The envelope was practically overflowing with stuff. Lots of papers, a small box, another envelope, and a few other objects. Lizzy got off the couch and seated herself on the floor to spread the items out onto the carpet. Paul got up as well, sitting down across from her. The two of them were more than eager to piece together the young girl's past.

The very first thing that caught Lizzy's eye was a photograph of a young couple, which she guessed to be her parents. She held it in her hands, trying to take every inch of it in. Her mother was a beautiful woman with long, blond hair, fair skin, and striking, azure eyes identical to hers. She had her arm around the waist of a handsome young man whom Lizzy presumed was her father. He was comparatively tall, had brown eyes, and the same chocolate colored hair Lizzy had. Smiling, Lizzy turned the picture over, to see that someone had written on the back.

Lucy and Jude Feeny circa 1966

"Lucy and Jude…my parents." Lizzy said, handing the photo to Paul, who examined it.

"Yep, I definitely see the resemblance," he agreed. "You have your mom's eyes and your dad's smile." He put the picture down as Lizzy picked up another one, flipping it over to the back first, where everyone's names were written in the order where they were standing.

Uncle Max Carrigan, Lucy and Lizzy, Jude, Uncle JoJo, Aunt Sadie, and Aunt Prudence

Two weeks after Lizzy's birth

Lizzy stared at the photo, seeing the young man who shared the same deep blue eyes. According to the message on the back, he was her Uncle Max; to Lizzy, he seemed like the rebellious type. There was just something about him that made him come across that way. She saw herself as an infant, in the arms of her mother, her father's arm wrapped around her shoulder. On the end was her Aunt Prudence, a pretty, Asian young woman with long, black hair and dimples in her cheeks. Lizzy paused when she saw the two people standing in the middle next to Jude.

"No way." she said, stunned.

"What?"

"Paul, you're not going to believe this…"

"What?" he asked again.

"Sadie and JoJo--from the concert we went to last night--are my relatives. Obviously, they're not blood related, but they're my aunt and uncle." She gave the picture to Paul.

"That's just…weird that we'd end up at their concert like that."

"Maybe it was fate."

"I'll say," he agreed. "What else is there?"

Lizzy scanned the objects laid out in between them. There was an envelope that had been yellowed with age, a pile of papers, a small, white box, and a lumpy looking gift wrapped in brown paper. She debated for a moment, then took the box. She lifted the top off, and pushed back the small piece of tissue paper to discover a gorgeous necklace. Lizzy actually gasped when she laid eyes on it. There was a strawberry pendant about the size of a quarter on a silver chain. The strawberry was in vivid color, and had an L inscribed in the center in silver. Taking it from the box, Lizzy saw a note on a little piece of paper set in the bottom. The handwriting was different than the one that was on the back of the pictures; it was kind of messy and slanted.

Happy Sixteenth Birthday, Lizzy!

Love, Mum and Dad

"My parents sent this to me last year," Lizzy stated to Paul. She leaned over, giving it to him. "Can you put it on me?"

"Yeah," Paul replied. Lizzy turned around, brushing her hair out of the way. He hooked the clasp together, and she turned back to face him, grinning. "Looks good on you."

"Thanks," she said, picking the pile of papers off the carpet. "Okay…let's see what we have here." Lizzy went through the stack, surprised and delighted at what she found. They were various drawings, all dated and signed by her father. They were amazing--some realistic portraits of her family members and even Lizzy herself, others were random abstract drawings that were really creative and well done. Without saying anything, she let Paul have a look at them. She watched him, his smile growing wider as he went through the drawings.

"And now we know where you get your artistic talent from." he smirked. Lizzy nodded in agreement, realizing how true Mr. and Mrs. Harrison had been when they said she was so much like her parents. Fervently, she took the oddly-shaped gift wrapped in plain, brown paper, and opened it. Two items were in there, folded up as tightly as possible. Lizzy unfolded a shirt that must've belonged to her mother; it was pale yellow with flowing sleeves, and carried the scent of daisies, which was coincidentally her favorite flower and something she drew all the time. Somehow, she must have remembered it subconsciously from her mother. The second article was a hat, that she assumed was her father's, for it carried the distinct smell of charcoal (a medium he must've used a lot for his drawings), and cigarettes. Lizzy put the hat on and held the shirt up in front of her for her friend to see.

"Very cool." he remarked, as she found yet another note, this time written in the same handwriting that was on the back of the pictures.

Lizzy,

We wanted you to have something that belonged to each of us, so that you'll remember your parents.

Love, Mom and Dad

Lizzy kept the hat on and the shirt in her lap while she grabbed the last item, which was an envelope that had aged a bit. Her name was written on the front of it in Jude's handwriting. Curious, Lizzy tore it open and pulled out a couple sheets of paper; a lengthy letter written by her father. She shifted her position, so she was sitting with her back against the couch, and looked up at Paul.

"Want me to read it out loud?" she questioned. "It's from my dad."

"Only if you want to."

Lizzy nodded, and started reading the letter aloud.

"August 26, 1968.

Dearest Lizzy,

I wanted to write this letter to you to make sure that you knew where you came from. I want you to remember that, no matter whose last name you have, or wherever you end up, you will always be our little girl. I want to tell you the story of how your mother and I met, and how our family came together. Not all of us are related by blood; that never made a difference to any of us, and your aunts and uncles love you just the same. I trust that Margaret and Charlie Harrison will give you this letter when they think the time is right for you to know who you really are.

I was born in Liverpool, England. My mother, Martha--your grandmother--was born and raised in Liverpool as well, and met my father, Wes, while he was stationed there. He was an American soldier fighting in World War II. They never married, and he left while my mother was pregnant with me. Unfortunately, he didn't know I existed until a number of years later, when I traveled to the States to find him.

However, what I found was hardly what I expected. He worked at Princeton University, but not as a professor, as I'd originally thought. He was just a maintenance worker, and our meeting was not spectacular. He was married and had a couple of kids; I knew that he wouldn't want much to do with me, but I figured it was good to at least let him know that he'd fathered another son.

Anyway, while at Princeton, I met your uncle Max, a wild, rebellious college student. He's an interesting person, Max. He loves you a lot, Lizzy; you always seem to make him smile. Max invited me for Thanksgiving dinner, which was a holiday completely foreign to me, if you can believe that. On the way to Max's home, he picked up his sister, Lucy, from school. That's when we first met, and suddenly I found myself taken by her.

Max ended up dropping out of Princeton, and he and I went to New York City, while Lucy stayed behind, much to my displeasure. Max and I became roommates with your aunt Sadie, who was the landlady of an apartment in Greenwich Village. Soon after, JoJo joined us as both a roommate and Sadie's guitar player for her band. You loved watching him play, Lizzy; he said he'd teach you someday, but obviously never got the chance.

Prudence also shared the apartment, and we all quickly became good friends. Lucy came to stay with us after the death of her boyfriend, who had been killed while fighting in Vietnam. Even though I was overjoyed to see her, she unfortunately brought bad news along. Since Max had dropped out of school, the army was quick to draft him, and he was forced to be recruited.

Meanwhile, your mother and I were forgetting about past relationships and falling in love. Honestly, I'd never been so in love with someone in my life, and I still feel that way about your mother. The two of us are inseparable now, Lizzy.

The entire group of us was then swept up in the carefree, crazy, drug-induced attitude of the sixties. Before Max was sent off to war, we ended up in the middle of nowhere and none of us really cared. We were enjoying ourselves, living in the moment. Nevertheless, when we returned to New York and Max left, things started changing. It was inevitable; the era in which we lived was all about change.

It turned out Sadie had signed with a record label and had plans to go solo, which made JoJo angry and split up their band, as well as their own relationship. Your mother was increasingly worried--as we all were--about Max's safety over in Vietnam. She joined an anti-war group and started participating in demonstrations; I saw less and less of her. Things went progressively downhill from there. Lucy left me after a fight we had. I went to this protest that she had been telling me about in an attempt to see her, because of course, I still loved her. I ended up getting beaten up by the bloody cops and sent to jail, where I was deported back to Liverpool because I didn't have a visa.

I missed your mother terribly in the time that was gone. After awhile, I realized I needed to get back to her. I couldn't go on knowing that she was so far away and I still loved her very much. I returned to the States legally this time, and found that Max was back and in one piece, Sadie and JoJo were together again, and ultimately, Lucy was still very much in love with me as well.

Your mother and I married a short while after that, and before we knew it, Lucy was pregnant with you. The day you were born was one of the best days of my entire life, Lizzy. And I'm not just saying that; it's true. It was hard for me and your mum to give you up, but we couldn't make it work any longer. You were two-years-old and we were struggling to make ends meet. Placing you up for adoption was something we thought would in the end be the most beneficial for you. And you are our first priority. I just want you to know that we love you, and we always will no matter what. I hope you can understand the reasons behind our decision, and that it did hurt each and every one of us to see you leave.

When I went back to see you mother in New York again, I sang her a song on the rooftop of Sadie's record company so she could find me. From the day you were born, I sang that same song to you every night, before you went to sleep. I've written the lyrics below, so that maybe you'll remember. And maybe someday, if you want to, you'll find your way back to us.

There's nothing you can do that can't be done

Nothing you can sing that can't be sung

Nothing you can say but you can learn how to play the game

It's easy.

There's nothing you can make that can't be made

No one you can save that can't be saved

Nothing you can do but you can learn how to be you in time.

It's easy.

All you need is love

All you need is love

All you need is love, love

Love is all you need.

There's nothing you can know that isn't known
Nothing you can see that isn't shown
No where you can be that isn't where you're meant to be
It's easy

All you need is love
All you need is love
All you need is love, love
Love is all you need

P.S. -- I love you."

Lizzy had tears streaming down her face by the time she reached the end. She was left partially speechless, although she had come upon another revelation about where she had really come from.

"That's quite a history." Paul observed.

"Paul," Lizzy said slowly, a smile spreading across her face, "Remember the song I was humming last night?"

"Yeah."

"This song is the one I picked up from my dreams! My dreams were pieces of memories, Paul. Those people must be my family, and the guy singing the melody of the song was my father!"

"Why doesn't anything this cool ever happen to me?" Paul wondered aloud.

"All you need is love

All you need is love

All you need is love, love

Love is all you need…"

Lizzy sang, the words flowing beautifully and correctly in her gorgeous voice. She did remember, like her Jude had meant for her to. That night, as Lizzy slept peacefully in one of Paul's sleeping bags, the people in her dreams had distinct features to their faces, and the familiar song now carried lyrics.