Two mornings later, at a little before nine am, Jared had entered Kyle’s temporary quarters in the commons hall of the since grounded ship. He approached the bed where the younger teen still slept soundly, giving him a bit of a nudge to try and stir him back to consciousness. Kyle just moaned his disapproval and rolled away from the interruption to his slumber.

“Get up, Kyle.” Jared prodded further.

“Pass” he mumbled into his pillow.

“Get up” Jared repeated, “we need to talk.”

Kyle moaned in further annoyance, still not turning back from his pillow, “really pass.”

Jared sighed in frustration as he took a seat on the mattress behind Kyle, deliberately going out of his way to jostle him further from his sleep, “we can’t stall her for another day. You know that.”

Kyle groaned in further annoyance, “I don’t know anything at this hour. Go away.”

“It’s almost nine” Jared put in with another scowl down at the tangle of brown curls he was still speaking to rather than the other teen’s actual face.

“Go away anyway” he mumbled again.

“I realize that you are probably thrilled to be sleeping in an actual bed, indoors once again, but turn your ass over and talk to me before I have to deliver some Ian-type threats in regards to your backside” Jared told him with some attempt at humor.

Though, that did seem to jar Kyle as he immediately rolled over to look up at the nineteen year old sitting next to him, “what’s that supposed to mean?” he asked a little roughly.

Jared was a little surprised by that reaction, considering Kyle didn’t really say much to any of Ian’s little taunts over the last year. Though, for some reason that one seemed to get to him a lot more than any of the previous jokes had.

Jared just narrowed his eyes, “a joke. It’s only been a few days since you saw Ian. I’m sure you remember those.”

“Well, it wasn’t funny” Kyle muttered as he finally moved to push himself up from the bed, looking more than a little awkward as he cast a sideways glance at Jared and forcibly slid his discarded jeans back up over the boxers he had slept in.

“You really aren’t a morning person, are you?” Jared responded, more than a bit thrown by this sudden touchiness Kyle was displaying.

“Now what bullshit were you saying about stalling...whoever” he shook his head, eyes still turned from Jared as he moved to replace his t-shirt then as well.

Jared just shook his head again before continuing, “Miranda. We have to let her see Lili...and all that’ll mean” he added more quietly, still more than a bit distraught over Miranda’s inevitable reaction to the life the three of them had been living with her only daughter for the last year.

Kyle took a deep breath as he finished dressing, still not turning back toward Jared, “fine, go tell her. Have fun. And good luck” he added with a slight shrug.

Jared scoffed with a smile of disbelief, “pardon?”

“If you’re so eager to tell her, then good luck” Kyle shrugged again.

“Um, Kyle, this involves you too” he reminded the younger teen with a bit of condescension.

Kyle let out another sigh, “like I said, I think I’ll pass. I’ve still got the computers to fix... and all that.”

“I don’t really think ‘passing’ is an option here, Kyle” Jared returned, his voice only raising slightly as he continued disapprovingly looking at the eighteen year old.

“What?” Kyle stated, finally looking back, his own volume coming up slightly, “just cause you can’t wait to throw yourself under the bus, doesn’t mean I have to come with you.”

Another look of disbelief from Jared, “you can’t be serious right now.”

“What? It’s not our kid” Kyle said more quietly, looking away again.

Jared looked up at the ceiling to take a moment to quell any immediate response he was having to Kyle’s attitude, before trying to speak as calmly as he could once more, “I think we both know that this is about a lot more than ‘the kid.’”

Kyle shook his head with his own shaky breath, “is it though?”

“Meaning?” Jared replied, eyes narrowed.

“The kid is the only proof there is that anything at all happened between Lili and any of us. And she’s Ian’s. Can’t we just leave it at that? I mean, Miranda was already pretty aware that Ian fucked everything that moved; she’s hardly gonna be shocked that he managed to impregnate Lili after spending a year with her. Can’t that just be the story?” Kyle asked, almost pleading for Jared’s agreement then.

Jared rubbed his eyes in further disbelief then, trying very hard to keep a hold on his own reaction, “and I guess you’re already forgetting that Tyler overheard your whole commentary about our last year with Lili. We can’t exactly change that, now can we? He could very easily let something slip, and then...”he shook his head, “it’ll be even worse” he stated the obvious.

“But, maybe we can” Kyle suggested, though in a near whisper.

“Maybe we can...what?” Jared asked with further confusion.

“Change the fact that Tyler knows what really happened, for the most part” he had to add.

“What the hell are you talking about, Kyle?” Jared had to get clarification.

“I mean, I could...change it...change what Tyler actually heard, or...thinks he heard” Kyle dared at the same low volume, biting his lip as he warily watched for Jared’s reaction.

Jared let out another sound of disbelief as he looked back up at Kyle, “are you seriously suggesting re-writing his memory?”

“I’m pretty sure I could do it” Kyle returned, trying not to sound like he was proud of his own growing abilities.

“That is beyond fucked up” was the only response Jared could come up with. He then had to add, “you would do something like that, just to avoid having to tell Miranda that you slept with Lili...I mean, are you really serious right now?”

“Come on Jared. It would make things so much easier, going forward now. Tyler wouldn’t even know I changed anything. And who would it really hurt, I mean, honestly?” Kyle asked as he looked back over at Jared warily.

“If you really don’t think that there’s anything wrong with that suggestion...then you’re a hell lot more like Serena than you thought” Jared told him coolly as he quickly moved to leave the room, not able to deal with any more of that conversation right then.

It was less than an hour after his falling out with Kyle that Jared found himself sitting outside the main entrance they used to access the ship now. He stared up at the gray sky worriedly, trying to figure out how to possibly move forward now. He and Kyle obviously were not seeing eye to eye at the moment, and as worried as he was about what the impulsive teen would actually do on his own; he was also just as worried about the prospect of reuniting either himself or Miranda with Lili at all now. As they needed Will to do that, and right now, the only person who could actually contact Will was Kyle.

As if his own thoughts had made it so, Will then appeared there before him, where he quickly removed his helmet, violently coughing as his lungs readjusted after yet another trip between planets. Jared swallowed a bit as he pushed himself up from the ground to approach the older man, awaiting him to regain his breath long enough to explain his sudden appearance.

“You all right?” Jared asked him with concern once the coughing finally started to subside.

“You’d think it would get easier” Will told him a little breathlessly, finally standing to finish removing the bulky, uncomfortable suit he wore over his much more comfortable animal skins.

“So, did Kyle call you?” Jared asked with surprise once Will finished the task.

“No, Lili sent me” Will answered with a strange combination of sadness and apprehension as he looked over at the man who was literally only a fraction of an inch taller than himself.

“She ok?” was Jared’s first question, always, “and Hope, and Ian?” he then added.

“Yes, all fine...are fine” he corrected his English, “she is just eager to see her mother.”

Jared took a slight breath at how that meeting would actually go, “she is?”

“Why wouldn’t she be?” Will smiled back at him, which simply caused Jared to shake his head again.

“So, why didn’t you bring her with you then?” Jared asked with continued apprehension of his own about that mother-daughter meeting finally happening at last.

“I think...” he began, “she wants her mother to meet Hope before...before she explains all the rest.”

Jared took another ragged breath as he looked back into eyes that were just barely a darker shade of brown than his own, “so, she does wanna explain everything to Miranda, herself, then?”

“She wants to try” Will said softly. He may not fully understand all the reasons why, but he knew that all of his new friends, and lovers, seemed to be very worried about this upcoming reunion with Lili’s mother, and so he sympathized.

After a slight pause, Jared looked back at Will, “well, I’m glad you showed up here again on your own, cause right now, I don’t think I’d have much luck getting Kyle to contact you...or getting him to do much of anything else” Jared added quietly.

Will narrowed his eyes a bit at that, “what happened between you and Kyle?”

Jared hesitated a moment at that particular wording, but moved on, “he and I just aren’t in agreement about how to deal with certain...situations” he decided on.

“Sounds like Kyle” Will stated quietly, sadly, as he looked down in thought, which only caused Jared to suddenly want to ask Will what happened between heand Kyle just then. But Before Jared could, Will spoke again, “I need to see him again anyway.”

“Yeah, sure, he’s in his---” but before Jared could finish the sentence, Will had blinked away yet again.

Moments later, Kyle was in his recently acquired quarters, sitting at the desk in the corner of the small apartment-like cabin, attention glued to his LU, still diligently trying to sort out their computer problem.

Having the sudden feeling he wasn’t alone, he turned to look back at his bed where Will sat at the edge of the mattress, just watching him silently.

“What the?” Kyle shook his head, the small computer easily forgotten, “I didn’t call you.”

“No, you didn’t” Will agreed, sad eyes cast down, “you haven’t spoken to me at all, really, since you were inside me.”

Kyle couldn’t help the blush as he looked away, “must you say it like that?”

“Say what? The truth?”

Kyle let out a slight sound of frustration, still not meeting those gorgeous eyes of Will’s, “you sound like such a girl right now” he mumbled.

Will then let out his own sound of frustration, “girl, boy...you are so caught up on these things” he exclaimed, his own volume raising, as rare as that ever was for him, “you know what I am, Kyle? I’m a human, just like you. That’s all I am. And I’d just like you to acknowledge that that’s what we both are, and treat me like I mean something. Like it meant something. Even if you never want to do it again, then say so. Don’t just pretend it didn’t happen and hope that makes it true. Just say what you fucking feel for once....no matter what that truly is” he added, his voice finally trailing off again, turning his eyes downward then to hide the tears that were fighting to be shed.