jQuery Positioning and Animation
<p>So I have a piece of code: </p>

<pre><code>jQuery.fn.center = function(parent) {
parent = this.parent();
this.css({
"position": "absolute",
"top": ((($(parent).height() - this.outerHeight()) / 2) + $(parent).scrollTop() + "px"),
"left": ((($(parent).width() - this.outerWidth()) / 2) + $(parent).scrollLeft() + "px")
});
return this;
}
</code></pre>

<p>This code grabs an element and moves it to the center of the parent. Works nicely. There are a couple of things I would like it to do aside of what it's doing. </p>

<ol>
<li><p>I need it to float above all other elements in that parent. A z index more or less. I tried to apply a z-index, but it didn't seem to work. I dunno if I may have been doing it wrong, or if there is a better way. </p></li>
<li><p>I need it to move back to the position it was in. The way this works, is the block is gonna be positioned on the page (via CSS), and when the user clicks, it moves it to the center of the page, as the code is already doing. Is there any way that, if a user clicks an exit button, I can program said button to move it back to where it originally was? i don't know if I can pass variables around in jQuery. </p></li>
<li><p>This option is more for aesthetics, and i don't deem it necessary, but would like it if you have a little extra time. I would like the block to slide from it's position to the center of the page, and back, as opposed to just popping there. As I stated, this is just aesthetics and i really don't need that to happen.  </p></li>
</ol>

<p>Much appreciated to anyone that can help me out.</p>
