Liz is seated at the far end of the couch with one leg tucked under her body while the other one extends under the coffee table.

Max is seated next to Liz with his arm around her shoulder, his dangling hand grazing her cheek. His features soften, as he looks down at her, replacing his usually staunch demeanor.

Nancy hesitates for only a moment before continuing into the room and stopping within a foot of her impervious daughter. The small velvet drawstring jewelry bag lies in the palm of her hand as she extends her arm towards Liz.

Liz closes her eyes and takes a deep breath as she tries to get the knot in her stomach to untie before reaching the item that links her to the past as well as the future.

She's very careful not to touch her mother's hand as she takes possession of the bag and nudges Max to get up. "Let's go."

"Liz," Nancy bites down on her lip as she reaches out to Liz, who just manages to avoid her mother's grasp. "Won't you let me explain?"

"Explain what, Mom? How you've been pushing me away from you for years? Or how you've been keeping me away from my destiny?" Liz shouts and starts to walk away.

"Liz, stop this right now. You're not going anywhere until someone tells me what is going on." Jeff Parker is out of his chair and blocking his daughter's exit.

Nancy Parker lightly touches Max arm and pleads with him silently with her eyes to get Liz to at least hear her out.

"Liz. Why don't we sit back down and listen to what your mother has to say?" Max grasps her hand and steers her back to the couch.

"Yes Nancy. I demand to know what's going on. And, what could all this possibly have to do with that necklace that my father gave you?" He faces his wife with tense hands on his hips.

A very strange silence descends as she takes the chair vacated by her husband. With her back, rod straight, and her hands neatly folded across her lap, Nancy Parker prepares to face her worst fear.

"I don't know where to start." She takes a deep breath as she looks from Liz to her husband.

"The beginning works for me." Jeff chuckles, but there is nothing humorous about the volatility of this situation involving his family.

Nancy's expression is somber as she looks directly at Liz. "Then, I would have to say that it started on the day that you were conceived. It was also the day your grandfather gave me Aisling's necklace asking that I someday give it to my daughter."

"We had gone to the lake-house for a few days as a kind of Second Honeymoon. We had talked about having a baby and thought that it would be as good a time as any to get started.

Within a few days I started having dreams of a beautiful strange place like nothing I had ever seen before.

The dreams evoked feelings inside of me that was hard to explain, feelings of vitality and strength and something else that I couldn't quite place.

I began to worship sleep, because then I would dream and my dreams took me to a happy place, not that I wasn't happy with my life. The dreams offered me something that was just mine, and it felt good.

Within a couple of weeks my pregnancy was confirmed and the dreams became more frequent and more detailed.

As my pregnancy advanced so did the dreams. What started off as miles and miles of beautiful landscapes was now giving way to buildings and finally to people.

The people, humanoid in appearance, were definitely not of this earth.

I wasn't frightened and was even attracted to what I thought was a fantasy world that I had created and, in part, attributed it to the pregnancy, as I did my cravings for strawberries.

I had stopped wearing the necklace by the time you were born so I didn't make the connection until years later-that maybe wearing the necklace contributed to my having the dreams.

Jeff, who had remained standing, moves to sit on the arm of the chair occupied by his wife. "I still don't understand what does all this have to do with this hostility between the two of you."

Nancy reaches over and pats her husband's hand before directing her attention back to Liz. "From the very beginning, I knew you were special. You were such a good baby and you were so smart."

"I started telling you bedtime stories of my special place before you could talk and by the time you were two, you were requesting the stories every night.

So, when you started coming to our room in the middle of the night disturbed by dreams that you were having, I felt responsible and reverted to the traditional children's bedtime stories.

But, you kept having the dreams and your pediatrician suggested that I talk to you about them and that this could possibly dispel your fears.

So we would huddle under the covers and giggle like sisters about our special place and its special people. It was our special time together and we were close.

"I remember that." Jeff smiles, "You two would tickle each other and giggle so much I would have to go sleep in the guest room."

Liz's voice is laced with sarcasm, "I remember it too, but I also remember how abruptly that closeness dissolved."

"What did I do to make you push me away?" Liz isn't able to hold back the tears as she shouts the question at an equally tearful Nancy.

Nancy rushes over to where Liz has turned her tearful face into the crook of Max's arm. "Liz, I never meant to push you away. I just wanted to keep you safe."

She sits down next to her daughter and gently grasps her arm. When Liz turns to see her mother's pleading eyes, she responds by throwing her arms around Nancy's neck and they both dissolve in a crying mass of tangled arms.

Jeff Parker looks at Max and shrugs. Neither one of them is sure of want just happened, but they assume it's a female thing.

Between sobs and hugs Liz asks, "Keep me safe from what, Mom?"