Three weeks had passed since Hope was born, which meant that it was now August and they had officially been in this new home of theirs for an entire year. So much had changed in that year, but most of what had changed seemed to be themselves.

That morning, Jared had gotten up early to continue working on those herbal medicines that had become almost like a full time job to him. After nearly losing Lili and Hope both, overly cautious was an understatement for his world view.

Ian also rose early, left his own bed, and stopped to look down at his now three week old child with a smile, as her health had visibly improved in just the little time since Lili finally got past her anxiety about feeding the child. He then went outside, nodding to where Jared worked away on his medicines, and moved to start breakfast as he waited for Lili to hopefully come out to join them for their meal that day.

Not long passed before Kyle also made his way outside, though his demeanor was definitely more groggy and even somber than the other two men. He sat down near their cooking fire where Ian prepared breakfast, and couldn’t help the heavy sigh as he took the seat.

“Yes dear?” Ian smirked as he allowed only a brief smile back at the younger man, but almost seemed to be in a rather good mood, oddly enough.

Kyle couldn’t help raising an eye at that smile as he glanced questioningly back at Jared, who seemed to be too caught up in his work to have even noticed the conversation. “You’re in an oddly good mood” Kyle pointed out as he warily looked over at Ian.

“Baby’s doing better, we have food, what’s not to be in a good mood about?” Ian responded.

“Um, everything else?” Kyle offered with a shrug.

Ian just scoffed and shook his head, “so you gonna go tinker with the pod again all day today?” he asked Kyle conversationally as he continued to prepare the meal.

“Yes, tinker, that’s what I do” Kyle mumbled, then moved on, “thought about not going out there today, but may as well, I guess” he stated with another shrug.

“Well, what else were you gonna do instead?” Ian continued in the same conversational rather than confrontational manner.

Kyle gave him another questioning look before he had a thought, “I never thought you were the type to keep track of birthdays.”

Ian looked back with creased brow, “were we having different conversations again?”

That was when Kyle returned the questioning look, “I thought that was why you were actually being civil to me today, for some reason.”

After a moment, Ian realized what it was that Kyle was actually talking about, “Oh, that’s right, it is your birthday, isn’t it?” he stated, as though just recalling the fact then, himself.

“Yeah, only my eighteenth” Kyle scoffed with a bit of hurt, but soon looked down again, not pressing the issue. Though his statement did cause Jared to finally look up from his plants as if he was just remembering the importance of the day as well.

“Anything weird happening lately?” Jared asked Kyle as he joined the discussion at last.

“As opposed to all the normal we’re surrounded by?” Kyle scoffed.

“You know what I mean; with your abilities” Jared clarified.

“I think they’ve atrophied, the one whole ability I even had” Kyle added in a mumble.

“Oh, so you can’t read minds and play puppet-master with our brains anymore, then?” Ian put in with a bit of sarcasm.

Kyle scoffed once more, “I haven’t been trying, remember?” he answered with a bit of annoyance, which merely caused Ian to shake his head and turn back to the meal preparation.

“You’d tell me though, if they did change any, right? I mean I know of at least two things I can do, and I’m not that much older than you” Jared unnecessarily reminded.

“Believe me, I’m dying for a useful ability” Kyle returned, “I’d be celebrating that shit.”

“Yeah, mind control and telepathy, so useless” Ian rolled his eyes.

“Correction: A useful ability that everyone around me won’t hate me for using” Kyle returned sarcastically.

Ian allowed a breath as he looked back at Kyle’s sullen demeanor, “such a happy birthday boy, aren’t you?”

“Glad I can amuse you” Kyle mumbled, then added, “I just never thought my eighteenth birthday would suck this much more than my seventeenth did.” Of course, that comment of Kyle’s just caused both men to tense a bit, but neither opened up that debate again, thankfully.

“Well your seventeenth was pretty hard to beat” Ian finally allowed, but he quickly moved on before seeing Kyle’s reaction to that reminder, “maybe you should talk to Will.”

“Who?” Kyle and Jared said in near unison, which did cause a slight crack in Ian’s composure before he responded.

“Ghost” Ian corrected with an awkward smile as he turned to offer them each a bowl of food.

“Ghost’s name is Will?” Kyle asked with a raised brow as he took the food without taking his eyes off of Ian just yet.

“And when did you discover that?” Jared added as he took the food while eyeing Ian with the same curiosity.

“A couple days ago” Ian stated as though to brush it off as he turned away to get his own bowl.

“And?” Jared pressed.

“And what? I just think that if Kyle wants to learn about his powers, he should probably chat with our teleporting, astral projecting oldest E-kid, right?” Ian shrugged, attempting to continue to gloss over the details of he and Will’s recent time spent together.

“I meant, when exactly did you and gh---Will hang out? And why? Doesn’t he usually only show up like moth-man just to warn us someone’s about to die?” Jared continued his questioning.

Ian chuckled awkwardly, “Pretty sure there’s more to him than that.”

“Ian, defender of the unknown, previously known as Ian, I don’t know what it is, so I shall kill it” Kyle stated with his continued sarcasm.

Ian just shook his head, his unease increasing when it came to this particular subject somehow. He took a breath to buy more time to find a response, before finally speaking again, “come on guys, I mean, he saved Lili and Hope both. I guess that earns him some points in my book. And I think it should in yours too.”

Jared and Kyle just exchanged the same look of surprise at Ian’s take on the matter, both having a feeling there was somehow more to it, but not able to place exactly what that more was.

Jared finally looked over at Kyle again, “Maybe you should talk to him; Will” he agreed, which did cause Ian to relax and somehow tense at the same time.

“You got his number?” Kyle retorted wryly.

Jared scoffed, “no, but you do, if his wall’s not up” he reminded the younger man.

“What, you’re going to call him now?” Ian interrupted as he turned back to them again.

“It was your idea” Kyle stated as he gave Ian another look of confusion.

“Well yeah, but...” Ian began.

“We’re calling someone?” Lili asked hoarsely as she finally stepped out of the shack at the smell of breakfast cooking.

Jared stood as she exited, as if expecting to have to come and assist her in taking a seat, but she seemed to manage on her own as she reached for the bowl Ian slowly offered her. “Yeah we just thought that maybe Kyle should talk to ghost about his powers, considering” Jared offered her that explanation.

“Oh yeah, happy birthday Kyle” Lili added with the tiniest attempt at a smile as she took the bowl.

“Yay one person actually remembered” Kyle replied, casting accusatory looks at his other two companions. He then looked over at Lili, “and apparently his name is Will” he told her as Ian turned away once more.

“Whose name is Will?” she asked as she took a tiny, tentative bite.

“Ghost” Jared offered.

“And when did we find this out?” she asked as she looked between the men curiously.

“Apparently he and Ian are best buddies now” Kyle stated as he shook his head over another bite of his own food.

“Really?” Lili asked with a bit of disbelief as she turned those turquoise eyes to Ian.

Ian just scoffed, “I never said that, he just took me to the ocean so I could catch us a much better quality of food. You’re welcome” he added pointedly, trying to deflect any further inquiries right then.

“So, you guys went to the beach together? Quaint” Kyle snickered.

“Do shut up.” Ian complained as he went back inside then to check on Hope.

“He seems touchy” Kyle added once Ian was back inside.

Lili just sighed heavily at the statement, as she went back to moving the food around in her bowl rather than eating it. Of course, Jared was quick to notice that sullenness taking over in both her voice and her body language, considering how worried he had been about her since that tearful conversation they had shared a few days back.

“It’s not because of you, Lili” Jared assured her firmly, which did cause Kyle to glance between them with another questioning look.

“Right” Lili mumbled as she continued to stir the food around sadly.

“One: It’s only been three weeks, and he knows that. And two: He actually seemed like he was in a pretty good mood this morning. So, stop thinking the worst” Jared told her with that same firm gentleness he seemed to be an expert at anymore.

“I sense I missed something...and I’m not even reading minds” Kyle had to add.

“Please don’t” Lili stated as she set the bowl aside and headed off toward the river alone.

“What’d I say now?” Kyle asked Jared as he just looked sadly after Lili before forcing his attention back to his plants.

Ian finished his breakfast inside while keeping an eye on Hope, while Jared remained silently wrapped up in his plants and Lili remained sitting quietly alone at the river. Kyle just shook his head as he finished his own meal and glanced between his companions. “Yeah, happy birthday to me” he mumbled just barely loud enough for Jared to make out.

“So, are you gonna try to contact him then?” Jared asked as Kyle gathered the bowls.

“Suppose I may as well, since there’s obviously nothing else going on today” Kyle agreed as he cast another glance at Lili.

Jared followed his eyes and scowled a bit, “you can’t honestly be expecting this birthday to go like the last, can you? It has been only three weeks” he repeated.

Kyle just scoffed, “no, I’m not expecting that” Kyle denied as he cast another glance at Lili, “remember, I’m the one who probably wouldn’t have ever even been with her at all if I had known the IUD was gone.”

“Yeah, sure” Jared responded with a lack of belief in the truth to his words.

“Well, I would’ve at least tried to ignore how fucking hot she was for another seventeen years” Kyle insisted, though the way his eyes continued to move over Lili in the distance belied the sincerity of his claim.

Jared just shook his head again, forcing himself not to continue that line of thought, “don’t you have a ghost to call?”

Kyle just shook his head as he pulled his gaze from Lili before closing those blue-gray eyes and attempting to locate ghost’s, or Will’s consciousness, wherever it may be. After a few long moments, he finally seemed to lock on, and only moment’s later, Will had now appeared before them, there outside the shack.

“Wow, eighteen does make a difference” Jared stated quietly, more than a little startled by how quickly Kyle managed to both find and summon him.

“You...wanted me?” Will asked as he surveyed the shack warily, looking for any sign of urgency that would have led to Kyle psychically calling out to him.

“Ok, that is pretty neat” Kyle stated under his breath, glad that his ability seemed to actually do some good for once.

“Something wrong?” Will asked again, as he looked around once more.

That was when Lili heard their voices and turned to note the new arrival. She took a breath and slowly started back toward the shack, moving fast still not something she was ready for just yet.

“Gh—Will?” she greeted him as she neared the young man.

“Lili” he stated as he let his eyes move over her, noting that she at least seemed to be in much better physical condition than when he had last seen her there only a few feet away on the ground, in a pool of her own blood, a mere three weeks ago.

“I wanted to talk to you” she began softly.

“Talk?” he asked with a bit of his own apprehension apparent.

She took a deep breath, trying to figure out where to begin. But her emotional exhaustion of late didn’t allow for much more than just getting immediately to the question on her mind since the day Hope came into the world. “Did you really take my mind from my body and...and get the baby out of me....to save me...us?”

“Only way” was Will’s simple answer.

“I...” she swallowed hard as she looked down, “I guess that means I should...thank you?” she stated, feeling the other men’s eyes on her as she forced the words out.

“Didn’t want another mother to die” was Will’s simple explanation.

Lili’s breath caught at his words, but there wasn’t time for her to offer any further response as Ian had once again stepped outside. Though, he stopped in his tracks when he saw their visitor.

“Ian” Will smiled in greeting as he immediately moved to embrace the older man, placing a long kiss over his lips, while the other three just took in the scene in shocked silence.