Unfortunately, timeline wise, it pretty much has to be in S9... it's either that or I wait until S10... or some other future season. Which, I suppose is an option, and maybe one I'll end up using if I sit around stewing over this long enough. It works best though in S9.

The main thing is that regardless of where I set it, whether I use that opening or not, I still have to deal with the events of S8 and S9 and how they fit into that 'verse... so even if I ditch that idea, I'm still left with the same problem.