strangetrip | "No One Told Me Why I'm In Berlin"

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"No One Told Me Why I'm In Berlin" - Tag Peter and Alec

When Liz found out that the new world was actually Earth and Europe, she couldn't quite hold back her excitement. The fact that the year was, according to the people at the desk, 2018 meant she was going to be closer to Peter's time than her own. She would finally be able to experience what his world was like, even just a little bit, and learn more about the internet and scientific advancement and maybe watch a few of Peter's favourite films they couldn't get at the inn.

"I still don't know why I'm here." Alec sat across from the two teenagers on the train heading to Berlin looking appropriately put-out despite not actually feeling that way. The truth was, he had never been to Europe and he had seen that semi-embarrassing video that Peter had of his trip to Germany and maybe, just maybe, he wanted to see it. Though he told himself he was actually just chaperoning because the world could be dangerous and both Liz and Peter were naive and believed the best in people, even when they shouldn't.

Liz was dialing another phone number on the smartphone she had been given. Thankfully she had enough practice with Peter's to be able to use the one she had and not look entirely inept. So far there had been no answer with Maria's house and the number for the Crashdown was out of service. Her home got a busy signal. She also knew it was a possibility everyone had moved or something. Then suddenly her face lit up - the Roswell police department was on the other end.

"Hi, um. Yes. I was wondering if I could speak to Sheriff Valenti please?" A pause. "Sheriff Valenti. Valenti." Another pause as her excitement lessened. "Okay, well, um. Can you at least tell me if there was a record of a Sheriff Valenti on the force?... How can you not know that." She caught herself as the words came out more tense and annoyed. Liz took a breath. "Yes, I'll hold." And hold she did. The more she waited, the more her expression dampened. Finally, there was a voice again. "Oh.. okay. Yes. Thank you. Goodbye."

She hung up. "They, um. They have no record of him working there. So I guess.. this isn't my world."

Alec shrugged, still looking out the window. "This isn't mine either. We can be twinsies, if you want."

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Even though there was grumbling, they found themselves on the streets of Karl-Marx-Allee looking for a place to eat. Alec had asked who was Karl Marx and Liz had answered, giving an explanation that was succinct, but thorough somehow at the same time - she basically gave the same sort of answer she'd give to Michael who would stop listening after a minute or two.

"... Marx is typically cited as one of the principal architects of modern social science." She smiled as she finished.

Alec would never forget that now, but he didn't know how useful knowing about some guy and his way of thinking would help him stay alive back home.

"Why are you two so into all this history stuff anyways? What's the point of a museum? The only time I go to them back home is when I need some cash and there's something expensive on display."

"Because it's interesting," Peter says simply, his lips quirked up into a smile. "And if you study the past, you know how we got where we are now, and can avoid making the same mistakes people made back then without making them yourself."

"The past is done for a reason. I'd rather live in the present and have fun." Plus the past carried with it memories better off forgotten. "From my experience, past or not, people always make the same mistakes."

Liz frowned a little. "I think if people try to learn from the past, there can be change. Berlin is a pretty good example of that, actually." There seemed to be a nice cafe up ahead. Liz glanced at Peter, then to Alec and tentatively asked a question she was sure Peter didn't want to ask. "If you could do anything here in Berlin, what would you like to do?"

Alec glanced to Liz and then to Peter, then paused and then shrugged. "I don't know. I've never been here." And Alec wasn't used to having fun.

Liz rephrased the question for him, like she would with Michael. "What do you do for fun back home?"

"Drink." That much was easy. "Play pool sometimes. Meet women." He winked at Liz who blushed a little.

"You should find other hobbies," Peter says. "We don't know how long we're going to be here. If you want something to do when we go back to the inn, you should figure it out now."

There was no telling when or if the portal was going to bring them back to a place so close to home anytime soon. Already, Peter had about a million things he wanted to print out and a million books he wanted to find. He didn't know when they'd ever have access to them again.

Maybe Alec could figure out something he really liked and bring those things back, too.

"Like what?" Alec looked at both of them for suggestions.

Soon they found themselves sitting at the cafe and were waiting for what they had ordered. Liz had been thinking about what a good hobby would be for Alec, but she didn't know a whole lot about him - not like Peter did.

"You play piano, right?"

The question got a slight surprised expression from Alec. He paused. "...yeah, sure. Sometimes."

Peter remembers the sheet music he found. Was that all that Alec had?

"You should get some more sheet music," he says decisively. "I want you to play for me sometime."

He and Liz are an effective team against Alec.

"I already know of the classics, what else is there?" Alec had a sneaking suspicion Peter was up to something.

Liz just smiled to herself for a moment, then added helpfully. "You could always write your own music."

Off in one of the corners in the cafe, three girls and a guy had their eye on the table

Peter nods enthusiastically at what Liz says. He thinks Alec could compose if he really made an effort.

"Don't you ever get tired of playing the classics?"

"I don't play that often." He was partially being stubborn, but true to some degree.

The food came and midway through, the three twenty-somethings came over. They spoke German and looked pretty excited.

Alec said something back to them, then looked at Peter and Liz. "They're inviting us to this party tonight. Invite only. Some famous DJ is playing." Alec looked interested. It might have helped both women were hot. So was the guy, but that wasn't his thing.

Peter looks over at Liz, waiting for her reaction. And then he turns back to Alec.

"Is the party before or after dinner?"

He's not sure what he thinks of being invited to an invite-only party. Peter barely managed an invite to other-Liz's house party.

Liz wasn't sure how to reaction. She looked up at the people standing there and had a similar thought to Peter's. When Liz stopped dating Kyle, people sort of stopped inviting her to parties with DJs. She didn't look disinterested - she liked to dance, after all. She looked back at Peter, checking in with him too.

Alec asked a question and they responded. "I hope so. It starts at midnight." He looked at both of them. "Come on. What's the worst thing that can happen? You go and have fun?" God forbid. Alec, though, doubled down. "If we go, I'll do whatever you want tomorrow, too, without complaining." He had complained a lot today.

"Midnight?" Peter repeats, incredulous. "That's late!"

Alec pinched the bridge of his nose. Could Peter be any more dorky? "Alright, fine. I'll tell them you guys are out because you're both kids with curfews and don't like having fun."

He paused just subtly before he opened his mouth to begin talking.

"I like having fun!" Peter protests, offended. He looks at Liz and then at Alec again.

"Look, I'll go with you, but only if you actually promise to do what we say and not complain about it tomorrow. I'm serious. No complaining."

Alec looked at Peter and then - and he could not believe he was doing this - rolled his eyes, but held out his hand to him, pinkie out.

Once that was settled, he looked at the group in front of them. He spoke again and they seemed delighted. There was a series of directions and instructions, to which Alec nodded as he took it in. Then one of the girls pointed to Peter and Liz with an excited expression and Alec grinned despite himself. He looked at them.

"She says you both will need different outfits." He nodded to the girl. "She says they have clothes you can borrow if you want."

Before Peter could object, Alec nodded in the affirmative and agreed back in German. They looked incredibly excited and said one last thing before leaving the table. He looked at the teens. "I told them where we're staying. They're going to leave a package for you guys."

Peter is already regretting this.

"We said nothing about an outfit change," Peter argues. "You don't have any idea what they're going to drop off for us. What if it's something weird?"

And not cool-weird, but weird-weird.

Alec gave Peter a look. "You... don't wear it? They're not going to stand there and force-dress you?" He gave the same 'are you serious?' look before going back to his food.

Liz smiled mostly because watching the two of the was kind of cute. "...Maybe it'll be fun?"

"What if they don't let us in because I'm not wearing their outfit?" Peter sulks.

"I thought I was supposed to be the negative one?" Alec raised his eyebrows a little, talking around the food in his mouth. "Worry about it later, Negative Nancy. I'll get you in either way. Trust me."

Liz reached under the table and lightly placed her hand on Peter's knee. "And since this isn't dinner, you still get to decide what we do for the rest of the day."

"I'm not negative," Peter argues. "I'm just being cautious."

Peter sets his hand on top of Liz's.

"You had anything you wanted to do?" he asks her. They've done a lot of what he wanted to do already.

"Just the Berlin wall." It seemed like an important historical place to go visit. It was also a place Liz never thought she'd visit in her life.

"We should definitely go see the Berlin wall after this," Peter pronounces. He digs out his phone to single-handedly search for public transit routes while eating with the other.

"It's about 15 minutes away by bus, or we can walk it," he pronounces. "It's 3.5 km away."

It was really neat to watch Peter use his phone so easily. At least for Liz - Alec didn't care either way.

When they were finished their food, they decided to take the bus. The wall itself was rather busy with tourists, though not to much as to make it annoying. There was a street performer who was playing guitar - a slow, relaxing sort of melody that neither Alec nor Liz recognized.

The wall itself was just a wall, except for the historical context and the graffiti, but Liz found it incredible to be standing where actual history happened.

Once there was an opening, Liz looked at Peter. "We should take a picture. All three of us."

It's a lot to take in.

The Fall of the Berlin Wall happened a long time before he was born, but he learned all about it in Freshman European History. It fees weird, somehow, to be standing at a landmark of such historical significance. Especially when it wasn't something that happened hundreds of years ago, but just a few decades.

"Yeah," Peter agrees, fishing out his phone. "Alec, you're going to join us, too. No complaints."

Even though technically no complaints day started tomorrow.

"I will take a picture with you in front of a wall, don't worry." As much as Alec understood the significance of the wall, the history of the world always seemed so far removed from his life. He knew all about the strategies and failures of the major wars, but Manticore didn't really discuss things like social impact and the like.

True to his word, Alec stands up near the wall, taking the position behind Liz and Peter - he's the tallest after all - and when Peter took the selfie, he even put his hand around Peter's shoulder and smiled. The smile was genuine, though like always, looked like he was flirting into the phone.

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