***WHORP, WHORP, WHORP, WHORP, THOOM!***

A strange noise was suddenly heard from above and then the house briefly shook.

"What was that?" Heather shouted completely baffled. J.T. reappeared back in the living room.

"It sounded like it came from the attic," he offered having been upstairs brushing his teeth. The gears starting turning in Spinelli's head about what might have happened.

"J.T. go check on your brother and then get your dad. I'm going to go up and-," Spinelli began when Heather stepped forward.

"No, I'm going up into the attic first," Heather declared heading out as she tried to start exhibiting some newfound courage in the face of her mom's talk from earlier.

"Heather now's not-,"

"No, I'm going to face my fears and protect you, mom," said Heather trying to sound brave. "But we can still go together," she then amended. The mother and daughter then bravely made their way to the upstairs and pulled down the ladder to the attic and Heather slowly made her way up to the storage area.

The whole place was now filled with displaced dust from whatever had happened. Heather fumbled for the string to the ceiling light and pulled it as a coughing noise could be heard from some unseen occupant in the room. The light turned on illuminating the area as a shadow could be seen amongst the dust.

After a few moments, the dust slowly began to disperse and revealed a massive surprise to Heather. The shadow had resolved itself in the form of a bespectacled young girl in a white and light blue dress with a pink bow around the midsection. The girl was brown haired and had twin tails hanging in front of her shoulders.

The massive surprise was that the girl looked identical to the young girl in the photo Heather had been examining earlier!

"Oh, hello," said the strange occupant. Heather looked at her mom who was now standing behind her but was only staring in complete and total shock at the new arrival in their attic. Completely speechless which was unusual for her.

For the new arrival, she adjusted her glasses nervously with her hand as she tried to make out her surroundings. She didn't recognize the dwelling she was now in as it was not the same one she had departed on her cross temporal journey. This made her a little unsettled, although seeing the same machine amongst the items in the attic that she had used to begin the trip gave her some relief. Though it appeared more weathered after the passage of time.

"Um, hi," said another young voice in the room. The dust settled some more and the tall young girl now began to closely look at the two other individuals in the room whom had come from below.

Seeing the younger girl brought a wave of relief as it was someone she instantly recognized from the clothes alone. It was a good thing her best friend had such a limited wardrobe. Still, something didn't seem quite right. When had the other girl suddenly started sporting freckles on her face and why did she not seem to seem to recognize her.

And who was the older woman? She appeared to be in position of being the girl's mother but she looked nothing like the friend's mom she knew with a taste for vintage clothing and large overdone bouffant hairstyle that made her look something like Peg Bundy from Married with Children. And yet, something about the older woman's appearance and look on her face seemed oddly familiar…

"Spinelli?" asked the new arrival of the young girl her own age, hoping to spur her memory.

"No, I'm Heather," the girl responded bewildered.

Heather? This wasn't good. The plan with her previously untested experiment had been to travel through time, but if she'd somehow crossed into an alternate dimension then there was no telling what might happen next. Gathering up her courage, the tall girl finally finished fidgeting with her glasses and decided to forge ahead.

"My apologies then, perhaps I should introduce myself. My name is-,"

"Gretchen?"

Hearing her name from the older woman whom had been silent to this point caused the new arrival to give pause. On the one hand it was both a relief and surprise to find someone knew her, but it wasn't the person she was expecting at all.

Looking at the mom more closely, Gretchen began. "Why yes, but how did-."

And then after looking the woman in the eye, the pieces all fell into place. And now the unexpected young arrival's jaw dropped.

"Hey mom," said J.T. now appearing up in the attic. "Dad said he's going to look over the house real quick for any damage and then he'll be up and-WHO IS THIS?!"

Not being able to tear her expression from the older woman to look at the newest arrival to the attic Gretchen had to force herself to softly utter her next word in shocked disbelief.

"Spinelli?"

A knowing smile crossed Spinelli's face as she crossed her arms. "Long time no see, Grundler."

Gretchen Grundler suddenly felt a little woozy. The girl she thought was Spinelli wasn't her at all and the woman she didn't recognize at first was in reality the friend she'd known from elementary school!

"Who is this, mom?" J.T. asked again perplexed. He was pretty sure his parents weren't some psychos keeping a young girl trapped in the attic hidden from seeing eyes.

"Wait, this is the girl from the photo," Heather recalled snapping her fingers and pointing at Gretchen. But how?"

"I seem to have overshot by a few years," Gretchen admitted as she finally felt the need to sit down on an old wooden chair in the room to get her bearings. The realization of everything that had happened was beginning to come crashing down on her and it was almost more than she could bear.

"That's an understatement," Spinelli snorted despite everything. "You said you were only going to be gone five minutes."

"And how long has it been?" Gretchen found herself needing to ask but not sure she wanted to know.

"Nearly 30 years," came the confirmation she expected that much more time had passed. Still, best to focus on the positives; at least she was confronted by a friend rather than some complete stranger. And that she'd reappeared at all from the void when could easily have been lost to it.

"Look at you, you're married," Gretchen observed noticing the ring on Spinelli's finger. "And you have two kids."

"Three actually. The third is hopefully still in bed," Spinelli clarified as she got some mild pleasure out of Gretchen's continually surprised reactions to all this.

"Then your spouse?" the new arrival had to ask. "Dare I hope-."

The sound of someone coming up the ladder was heard.

"So what's with the house shaking? You guys aren't doing line dancing up here are you?" joked an older male voice whose head finally poked up from below and saw the new arrival. "Hey, Gretchen!"

"Teej!" said Grundler pleased while using a version of T.J.'s nickname she herself rarely used. Finally she felt her anxiety start to subside. Part of it was seeing another old friend from the past meaning she wouldn't have to explain who she was and what she was doing in their attic. The other was her secret hope that one day Spinelli and T.J. would fully fess up to their feelings and realize they were meant for each other. That it had actually happened was also a source of relief.

Heather and J.T. looked at each other confused at the nickname and silently mouthed "Teej" to each other while wondering what other mysteries from their parents past would be revealed by this new arrival.

"You know this dust probably isn't good for everyone. How about we go downstairs and get you some food. 30 years of not eating probably makes for an empty stomach," T.J. stated already heading down.

Gretchen adjusted her glasses again ready to go into teacher mode. "While for you 30 years of time may have passed, for me it was an instantaneous-,"

*Rumble* *Rumble* *Rumble*

Gretchen's stomach apparently felt otherwise as it started rumbling hungrily. That elicited a laugh from the members of the Detweiler household as Grundler's checks turned red from embarrassment.

Downstairs:

"Time travel?" asked J.T. skeptically with a raised eyebrow. His mom shrugged.

"I wouldn't have thought it was possible either, but we couldn't dissuade her from going through with it," Spinelli revealed, trying to remember back to those days when Gretchen had gathered her friends all together and showed off her machine.

"It was through my ability to open a highly specialized wormhole that would account for both temporal and matter displacement that allowed me to pull it off," Gretchen explained pleased with herself. "If I'd only accounted for the temporal shift I would have moved in time and not space so I would've ended up completely in the void as the Earth and solar system would have moved on without me."

Seeing the confusion on her kids' faces, Spinelli clarified: "In short, you would've been up the creek without a paddle."

"Yes, I believe that's what I just said,"

Spinelli and T.J. both looked at each other realizing how much they'd missed their friend and her unique scientific vernacular.

"So what happens now?" Heather had to ask, finally bringing up the elephant in the room.

"Good question," T.J. agreed. "Not that I don't like having you back, but can you go return the way you came?"

"I don't know," Gretchen had to admit as she ate a bit of her reheated spaghetti and meatballs. "I wasn't really planning for a return trip as I thought I was only going to be gone for five minutes. Not sure how I miscalculated that."

"Well, Galileo is still in the attic if you want to ask him," Spinelli pointed out in reference to Gretchen's palm computer. "But then again, over the years portable technology has really outclassed that thing since you disappeared." Spinelli then held up her smartphone for emphasis; but without doing a demo and teardown, Gretchen could only guess how far things had really come.

"So it may be awhile," figured J.T. He was already a little uneasy since he wasn't used to being outnumbered girls to boys like this at the table. Usually it was evenly split if Sam was asleep or else three boys to two girls. Not that he didn't love his mom and sister, but girls were still a complete mystery to him and not one he was interested in figuring out at this time.

"I'm afraid so," Gretchen had to agree. "I need to examine my machine and see if I get it up and running again plus try and recalculate if it's even possible to return home. I don't suppose you could tell me if I already succeeded?" the scientific minded woman asked hopefully.

Spinelli gave her a raised eyebrow in response. "Nice try but you told us not to tell you before you left in case an accident occurred. Something about preserving the integrity of the timeline?"

"Nuts," Grundler admitted in a rare burst of emotion. She'd hoped they'd forgotten and that she could tap her older self's knowledge and resources. Assuming she had made it back.

"So how long?" J.T. further prodded.

"Days, weeks, months, years," Gretchen stated with a shrug of her shoulders. Now that thought caused a concerned expression to cross over Spinelli's face. T.J. for his part wasn't entirely sure the sudden change in his wife's mood.

"Gretchen, we can't have you stay here for that long. I don't think we can hide you for a few days let alone a few months from the neighbors. Forget about years," Spinelli said concerned. "What are you going to do when T.J. and I are at work? I might be able to swing working from home for a little bit but we can't just leave you by yourself when I can't. People would ask questions."

"I just assumed I'd be going back to school like normal," Grundler admitted as she now took a bite of her desert, an ice cream cone. "I wouldn't mind learning some things from this day and age. See how things have come since I was last here."

"I don't know how that would work. You can't just show up out of the blue with no history or family," Spinelli began, seemingly pretending to be ignorant of this whole affair and where it was no leading. Her kids were now completely clueless about the conversation going on.

"Well, I could think of one way," the young girl pointed out while glancing at Spinelli from the corner of her eye in a knowing expression. A wave of dread now passed over the older adult.

"Gretchen, I'm not going to pretend to be your fake mom!"

T.J. burst out into uncontrollable laughter upon hearing that.

Heather immediately perked up upon hearing that. "Oh boy, I always wanted a sister my own age!"

"Wait, we haven't decided anything yet!" Spinelli said trying to put a clamp on this conversation before it spiraled out of control. She then pointed to her husband. "And you, quit laughing dummy. Who do you think would have to be her pretend dad?"

T.J. pondered it for a moment. "I would be proud to have Gretchen as my daughter!" he said, knowing full well that wasn't the response his wife wanted to hear.

"Look at this way, you'd have all the benefits of another child without having to go through the pains of childbir-," began Gretchen before receiving an abrupt glare from Spinelli as she jerked her head towards the two young occupants in the room. That shut her up.

"Where would she sleep?" Spinelli demanded next of her husband. T.J. shrugged.

"You're the one always telling me to clean out the den. I think that could work," he figured lightly. Spinelli briefly scowled at him for turning her own previous suggestions against her.

"Sounds like an open and shut case to me," Gretchen declared finishing her dinner.

"No, it's not," Spinelli said still completely serious. "But it's late, we're tired, we'll discuss this more in the morning," the attorney said taking over the narrative as she'd done many times in the courtroom. "Heather if you promise to not stay up the rest of the night talking to her, we'll let Gretchen sleep in your room on the futon so she's not totally alone tonight in a strange surrounding."

"Yay!" said Heather pleased as her whole expression lit up upon hearing that.

"So you two brush your teeth, go to bed, and let's all let this this evening's excitement out of our systems," Spinelli stated getting up. Heather then led Gretchen upstairs, but before she could leave a look of concern over how her old friend's reaction to her arrival crept into her expression. But then the daughter's excitement helped to push that to the side for now.

T.J. meanwhile was also concerned about Spinelli. She was acting oddly out-of-character towards her best friend and resolved to figure out why.

Later that night:

T.J. and Spinelli were both in bed. T.J. reviewing some notes for the upcoming in-service day at his school, Spinelli a trashy romance novel. Both hadn't really spoken much after making sure their kids and Gretchen were ready for bed.

"Do you want to talk about it?" T.J. finally broached.

"About what?" asked Spinelli in an oddly identical mannerism and behavior as her daughter from their conversation earlier in the day.

"Ash, I know something's upsetting you," T.J. stated, using her first name and on top of that nickname to try and express the seriousness of the conversation. Over the years and after getting married, Spinelli had drifted away from preferring to be called Spinelli and instead had embraced her given name of Ashley. It was given to her by her parents in honor of her ancestor and she'd genuinely come around to accepting it as her own.

"Maybe it is," Ashley forced herself to admit as she closed her paperback and stared at the far wall where the dresser was and atop were family photos of them and the kids.

"I know it's not because of adding another member to the household. And you would never turn away a friend in need either. I also can't imagine you having issues with Gretchen herself. You two were best friends in elementary school. She's a good kid, I realize that now having kids of my own," T.J. said showing how much he had grown to understand his wife and best friend from over the years.

"And so lies the problem," Ash continued, a little ashamed. "It's not who Gretchen is, it's what she might represent." Ashley now picked up a family photo of just Heather and herself that was on her nightstand.

Rather than say anything, her husband waited patiently for his wife to compose her thoughts.

"I never really told you much about this, but when I was younger Gretchen started hanging out more with my mom and myself," Ashley began thinking back to those days. "And it got to the point where my parents really bonded with her and said things like 'why can't you be more like Gretchen', 'Gretchen's so cool' etc. And this went on for a little while. Not that any of that was in any way Gretchen's fault. It got to the point I started having nightmares and began doubting in myself about who I was, did I matter, was I a disappointment, did anyone even like me for me at all.

"So eventually I had to have a heart to heart with my parents and they apologized for their behavior and said it was never their intention to upset me and they loved me for who I was. But still their attitude got to me in ways I didn't quite recognize at the time and largely buried. But now that Gretchen's back and I'm the adult…"

"You're worried you might unintentionally do the same thing to Heather," T.J. concluded. Ashley nodded trying not tear up.

"Heather's a good kid. I love her so much and I can't imagine having anyone but her as my daughter," Ashley began. "But unlike me in those days she lacks…lacks…" Ash faltered trying to find the right word for her attitude and behavior in those days.

"Self-confidence?" her husband offered as a polite term as his wife grinned slightly at him for the diplomatic approach.

"I think she has it in her, she just needs to realize it herself. But then if I start to see in Gretchen what my parents saw in her and start acting the same. And even with me being who I was becoming upset by it, now I think it would devastate Heather," Ashley finally said, letting it all out as she pulled her legs underneath the comforter up to her face and laid her chin on it, looking forlorn. "I couldn't do that to her, I just couldn't."

"And you won't," T.J. declared wrapping his arm around Ashley's shoulder and bringing him close to her.

"And how do you know that?"

"Because I think you're a good mom, Spinelli. And I wouldn't want anyone else raising kids with together,"

Ashley choked up on hearing that. "When did you become such a softie?"

"I've been secretly reading your romance novels when you weren't looking," T.J. teased as Spinelli laughed at that and gave him a kiss on the cheek.

"Then I guess there's nothing to be worried about then," said Ashley smoothing out her legs and the sheets as she felt a wave of calm and purpose come over her.

"I do think having Gretchen as her friend will help Heather come out of her shell," her husband admitted.

"I could see that," the wife agreed from her own experience being friends with the budding scientist.

"Truth be told I'm also a little relieved regarding this new arrival to the family," T.J. began with a little mirth behind his expression.

"How so?" asked Ashley suspiciously.

"I don't think I could take another nine months of your mood swings and crankiness maxed up to eleven," T.J. laughed hysterically which earned him a good natured pillow to the face.

Next morning:

The family was eating breakfast except for Sam who was staring at the new arrival suspiciously as if she was some hidden fiend in disguise. If only he'd thought to wear his cape to the table to combat this evil, instead he'd been careless.

"So after some talk last night, your father and I decided that we will allow Gretchen to stay with us however long that takes," Ashley began as Heather looked pleased while J.T. could only mutter about having another girl in the house. But he still gave Gretchen a friendly smile.

Gretchen was very much relieved by this turn of events. Ashley for her part took her hand in hers.

"I'm sorry for how I behaved last night, came you forgive me?" Ashley pleaded. Gretchen nodded her head, happy to make amends with her best friend.

"Of course, Spinelli," promised Gretchen. The use of their mom's maiden name still threw off the kids.

"It's actually Ashley now," Ashley pointed out as a sign of how the times hand changed over the years. She then took a sip of her coffee.

"Oh," said Gretchen surprised before a mischievous smile crossed her face. "Or should I be calling you 'mom' instead?"

Hearing that nearly caused Ashley to do a spit take, but instead she just coughed on her coffee as it threatened to go down her windpipe.

"One thing at a time," T.J. butted it in trying to cover for his wife while she regained her compose.

"Okay, 'dad'," Gretchen said next. "Still, I'll be amazed if you pull this off without anyone realizing the truth."

"Adoption won't be easy, especially without having to lie about you which we won't do. But instead maybe stretch the truth a little given how you arrived here. Fortunately my years in law and the professional and personal contacts I have will hopefully make things work out," Ashley said, already formulating plans in her mind. "But I guess I do need to ask: are you sure you don't want us to try and find your parents and see if they'll take you in?"

Gretchen shook her head. "We were never really close. If I had a choice, I'd rather stay with you and T.J."

"Well, okay, but let us know if you change your mind," T.J. made her promise. He didn't really know much about Gretchen's home life because she'd never really spoken much about it, which perhaps lent more to the statement she had just made. But both Ashley and T.J. silently resolved to not just let the matter drop and would bring it up again in the future as circumstances allowed.

"So she'll be going to school with us then?" asked Heather hopeful. She was really looking forward to having a sister she could show around.

"In a few days when we get the paperwork worked out. But remember, you can't tell anyone the truth about who she is or where she came from," Ashley made her kids promise as both nodded their heads.

"Like they'd believe us anyway," J.T. muttered.

Sam perked up at that. "My next adventure. 'Pajama Sam: The Monster who came through Time to commit her next Crime!'"

That elicited a laugh from the rest of the members of the table to Sam's confusion.

And so as time rolled on, Gretchen Grundler began re-attending Third Grade Elementary with her newfound siblings as she continued to work on her time machine. But as time went on, the family of five quickly found themselves getting used to being a family of six. While as a child Ashley Spinelli didn't fully recognize what her parents saw so appealing in Gretchen as a daughter, as a mom it totally made sense. She was helpful, friendly, reliable, not much prone to being a troublemaker, the list went on. But she never let those thoughts overwhelm her the way it had her parents so Heather never felt the same sense of abandonment she had.

Ashley's parents had also remembered that lesson as they were super happy to having another grandchild to dote on, especially one they had fond memories of years prior. But they too kept things in check.

As for their close friends from elementary school, they were ecstatic to see the return of their old friend from the past whom was also pleased and surprised to see how their lives had come since they'd last seen each other. There she was treated as an equal like in the old days, the living arrangement as the Detweiler's new daughter left unspoken.

And so thoughts of Gretchen returning home remained slowly subsided. She liked her new life, she liked her new family, she couldn't imagine anything else or going back to how things were. T.J., Ashley, J.T., Heather, and yes eventually Sam, all accepted her as one of their own. A found family that was somehow greater than before. And so Gretchen slowly stopped working on the machine and eventually stopped altogether. The time travelling accident had given her new purpose. She was finally home.

But it still wasn't completely smooth sailing…

Parent Teacher Conference:

"You know, I'm amazed at how well Gretchen has integrated into your family," Gretchen's teacher declared to Spinelli. "Heather and J.T. treat her just like a sister and her classmates also have taken quite a liking to her in such a short while."

"I'm sensing a 'but' coming on," Ashley deduced drawing on knowledge from years of being an attorney. The teacher nodded.

"It's really more of your relationship with her," the teacher began, a little uncomfortable to be bringing the subject up. "It almost seems like you two have known each other much longer than you've been together. Like years, even. And then there's the fact that times when you are not happy with her, you'll call her 'Grundler' which I gather was her original surname before you adopted her. And that you two then sometimes behave like old friends arguing rather than mother and daughter."

Ashley began to sink lower in her chair upon hearing this. She also wished T.J. was here to support her, but he had his own parent-teacher conferences to set up at his own school to be around.

"But there's the really puzzling part," the teacher wrapped up.

"Which is?" the mom had to ask reluctantly, not sure she wanted to know.

"How come she will sometimes refer to you by your maiden name of Spinelli?"

Ashley Funicello Spinelli Detweiler fully sank into her chair and put her hand over her face mortified.

*Ring*

The bell for Recess rang.

Fin.