I've realized that my gaps between chapters are getting longer and longer as time progresses… I'm not sure what it is – probably laziness – but I'm really hoping things will change once school starts up. I'll have Tuesdays and Fridays off and only one class on Thursdays, so I'm hoping that that'll give me more time to write (but honestly it probably means that I'll just end up being lazy on those days).

Disclaimer: Refer to chapter one


Detour

It was late afternoon when Tyrell returned to Ivan's home. Stepping through the threshold, the redhead slowly sauntered towards the back of the estate, picking up Garet's large book on his way. Through a large window the backyard garden was visible, and he could see that Karis was helping her mother with some of the gardening.

"Your dad and Jenna certainly had their share of spats and disputes, that's for sure."

Tyrell jumped at the unexpected voice. Quickly turning around, Ivan smiled back at him, his spectacles hanging from a chain around his neck and his face splotched with grime. Forgetting for a moment that Ivan's mind-reading ability was always active, Tyrell gave the man a questioning look, only for the Jupiter adept to answer his question simply by tapping his head.

"I'm still not really used to that," Tyrell sighed and leaned against the wall. "I kind of wish I could read other people's minds, though."

"You say that now, but it's not as grandiose as the idea presents itself to be," Ivan said plainly. "Well, it did have its moments when I was able to control it. Now I can't go outside for long periods of time; too much noise out there. Heh, Garet used to hate it when I read his mind, so I guess this is kind of like payback for all those times I messed with him."

Tyrell smirked, but his smile dissipated as he thought back on everything Jenna had spoken about with him. She was Matthew's mother, not his, and that was a simple fact. Was Isaac the one that eventually separated Garet and Jenna? That seemed to make the most sense, but then what could have happened to make them split up after Matthew's birth? Tyrell had too many questions that he wanted answered, and he had hardly even scratched the surface of this book yet.

"Was Jenna alright with you asking her about the past?" Ivan inquired.

"Yeah, I don't think she was too affected by it," Tyrell answered, turning to look out the window again. "At least, she seems to have gotten over any sort of feelings she used to have. I could tell that all that stuff used to be painful for her, and she didn't want to talk about it with Matthew around, but she seemed okay, from what I could tell anyway."

"That's good to hear," Ivan sighed in relief, stepping beside the young flame user. "Talking about certain things in the past with her…well, it was almost taboo for a while. The last time I mentioned something like that to her she ended up getting depressed for the rest of the day, possibly even the following couple of days too."

Ivan had mentioned before that this book didn't have a particularly happy ending, and hearing that Jenna had only gotten over her troubles relatively recently made Tyrell question again why his father had left his story for him. What purpose would reaching the final page of the book have? Other than stealing the soarwing and causing that one incident at Patcher's, Tyrell considered his relationship with Garet to be pretty normal for a father and son, so it was hard to imagine what kind of lesson he was supposed to be learning from this. It wasn't a punishment, after all.

"Are you going to join them outside?" Ivan asked as he slowly stepped towards the back door.

Thinking only for a moment, Tyrell shook his head and glanced down at the book in his hand. "Maybe in a little while. I, uh…want to see if I can find the answers to any of my questions."

Giving him a sympathetic smile, Ivan shrugged and continued walking at a regular pace. Taking a moment to skim over a few of the things Jenna had mentioned, Tyrell brought the book over to a sofa and began his search for the answers to his endless questions.

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"Innkeep, another one."

"…I'm going to be honest with you, Garet; as a businessman I'm really grateful for your continued patronage, but as your friend I'm a little concerned about how well you're holding up, specifically your liver…"

Garet grumbled at Patcher's snide remark and brusquely took his mug, flicking a gold coin at the young innkeeper. Having already downed more than a few drinks, the Mars adept did not instantly down this one like he had the first few.

"Not that it's any of my business," Patcher said, leaning casually on the counter, "but shouldn't you two be making up about now? I mean, it's been almost a week since you had your falling out."

Garet's auburn eyes did not meet the younger man's gaze, and he quietly continued to gulp down his drink. He didn't want to admit it, but there was some truth to what Patcher was saying.

Despite knowing that Jenna would need some time to recover from his outburst, Garet was under the impression that she would have apologized within a couple days, or, if nothing else, at least sat him down to talk about it properly. Unfortunately for him, things had not gone so smoothly, as he had hardly seen the brunette at all since his outburst. Once, they had finished work at the same time by pure coincidence, but upon noticing him Jenna was quick to avoid Garet at all costs, and he wasn't particularly concerned with going after her.

"I wouldn't even know what to say to her," Garet sighed, allowing the alcohol-induced buzz to loosen his tongue a bit. "If I apologized, then it would just seem like I was being a wimp about this whole thing. I want things to get better but I still have my pride, y'know?"

Patcher nodded, shutting his eyes as he listened to the redhead. "From what you've told me already, I can't disagree, though you probably could apologize for blowing up at her. That was a little over the top."

"Fair enough, but it's not like that would solve anything," the Mars adept groaned, creating a small flame on his index finger for no apparent reason. "You haven't talked to her at all?"

"Nope. The inn isn't really her kind of place, and I doubt she'd come in here knowing that this is where you spend most of your time off."

The bluntness of his words annoyed the redhead, but Garet knew that he was wording things this way on purpose. Patcher had some good intentions, but his method of doing things tended not to be quite as merciful as one might hope. Since he'd known the innkeeper for such a long time, Garet had grown mostly accustomed to his sharp tongue, though it wasn't the most pleasing thing to hear after he'd had a few drinks.

As Patcher went off to tend to some of the other customers, Garet tapped on his mug, watching the ripples in his ale distort the translucent reflection on its surface. What would be the best way to face Jenna? Though she was clearly avoiding him right now, she would surely stop if he called out to her or made it obvious that he wanted to speak. They were still dating, after all. That was the easy step; the problem would be knowing what to even say. Sure, he could go with what Patcher suggested and apologize for going over the top, but Garet didn't want her to misunderstand and think that he wasn't upset over the whole Isaac ordeal.

"Innkeep, I'll take a drink," a man's voice called from beside Garet. Turning to his side, the Mars adept was met with a simple nod from Kyle. "Evening, Garet. You're looking a bit gloomy."

Garet sighed and straightened his posture as much as he could. "Well, I can't say that things are going so great in my personal life."

"At least it isn't affecting you at work," the older man chuckled, taking a sip of the drink Patcher gave him. "I'm all ears if you want to talk about it. Family troubles?"

He shook his head and downed the rest of his ale, "No, it's nothing to do with them… Heh, I suppose I'm just sort of wondering how Isaac manages to keep causing me problems when he's been gone for a month."

Kyle cocked his head, prompting Garet to continue explaining as another filled mug was brought to him.

"To put it simply, Jen and I are already going through some kind of rough patch. Ever since Isaac ran off, she only ever seems to talk about him. I could relate at first, but it started making me…well, jealous as time went on, and I ended up snapping at her. I feel stupid for getting so mad, but at the same time I don't really think I should have to put up with talk of Isaac all the time…"

It was rather odd explaining to Kyle that his son was partially to blame for all of this, but Garet had no other way of going about it. Taking a swig from his mug, the Mars adept kept his focus away from Kyle as the older man pondered over the presented predicament.

"When did this all happen?" the Venus adept asked after a short while.

"About a week ago, I guess."

"And you haven't spoken since?"

"Not really, no."

"I see… Are you still upset with her?"

"Um…sort of, but I think I'd rather just patch things up now, or at least have some kind of talk with her about it."

Kyle paused for a moment and smiled at Garet from behind his mug. Gently putting it back down, he exhaled refreshingly and signaled Patcher for another drink. "Well, I think you've got your answer right there."

Garet tilted his head, slightly confused by Kyle's vague answer. "A-Answer? But I wasn't asking you any questions."

Sliding a coin to Patcher, Kyle took his new mug and sipped from it. "Maybe not directly, but you were asking yourself what you should do now, weren't you? All I had to do was figure out some of the details and your question came through loud and clear."

"O-Oh, I see," Garet stammered, feeling a little embarrassed that he was so easy to read. "Still, even if you're telling me to talk things out with her, I wouldn't know where to start. Should I apologize to her for losing my temper or ask her what she thinks of what I said or–"

"Why even bring it up?"

Being cut off with such a seemingly obvious question, Garet was dumbfounded for a moment, only able to stare at Kyle in confusion. Why bring it up? How else was he supposed to discuss it with Jenna?!

"Ah, my mistake, perhaps my wording was a bit misleading," the Venus adept corrected himself, taking another sip from his ale. "What I meant was why use that to speak to Jenna when you have an infinite number of other things to talk to her about? You two are in a relationship, aren't you? In that case, it should be quite simple to tell her you want to hang out."

"Well, when you put it in those kinds of terms, it sounds easy, but the fact is that her first assumption is going to be that I want to talk things over, which I do."

"True, but that's only because you're making it the focus of why you want to meet with her. Tell me, what seems more appealing to you: having a good time with your girlfriend or having a tense conversation with the hopes of clearing up a misunderstanding?"

"…Obviously the first thing, but –"

"No buts. Your main objective is to have a good time with Jenna. The secondary component is to sort out your situation with her. Why? Because I'd be extremely surprised to find out that she would rather do things the other way around."

As much sense as Kyle seemed to be making (as far as Garet's lightly inebriated mind could tell, anyway), the redhead was still at a loss for how he was supposed to start a conversation with Jenna in the first place. Considering that the outburst had gotten them into this situation, Garet couldn't wrap his head around the idea of talking and hanging out with her as if none of it had happened, only to try sneaking it into the conversation at some later time.

"I'm no mind reader, but judging from the look on your face you're still confused," Kyle chuckled breathily. "Listen, Garet, if you're still confused, then it means you haven't been listening to what I'm saying. You're too focused on solving the issue with Jenna that you're making it priority number one when it should be coming second to spending quality time with her. You had your first fight and it probably won't be your last; are you going to treat every argument like it's some kind of impossible puzzle? There are times when solving the issue at hand will come before everything else, but for something like this you just have to keep moving and let things resolve on their own."

He was already confused before, but now he was completely stumped. Kyle tended to speak in metaphors, so understanding this direct advice should have been a breeze by comparison. Instead, Garet could feel a headache coming on from all the things the older man was telling him. Was he really supposed to just act like it didn't happen and hand out with Jenna normally?

"Well, that's all the advice I can give you for tonight," Kyle said, placing his empty mug on the counter and standing up. Patting Garet on the shoulder, he uttered only a simple "Good luck" as he exited the building.

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"I remember thinking at the time 'I don't have a clue what Isaac's dad is talking about!'" Tyrell mumbled aloud. "The funny thing is that I still wonder if I fully understand what Kyle said to me that evening. Even as I write this, I am older than he was when he gave me that advice, yet I still find this to be one of his more difficult tips to take in."

Tyrell lolled his head back and stared up at the ceiling. It seemed that he was very much like his father at that age, minus the angst and love issues. As a third party, understanding Kyle's logic was a bit easier; however, he, much like Garet, was unable to completely understand the concept.

"Ignore the immediate problem and focus on the bigger picture," Tyrell muttered to himself. "Even still, Dad would've had to take care of the little things if he wanted to move on."

"Tyrell?" a girl's voice came from the back door.

Glancing over to the source, the Mars adept smiled towards his dirt-covered friend. "Hey, Karis, what's up?"

"Nothing," she said with a shrug, sauntering over towards him. "You were gone when I woke up, so I was just a bit surprised to see you here now. Where'd you head off to?"

"Just to Matthew's. I wanted to ask Jenna about something."

"Jenna?"

Tyrell nodded. Karis cocked her head to the side in confusion, but quickly noticed the book sitting on his lap. Following her gaze, he also glanced down at the book before turning his attention back to her.

"Is that the book your dad left for you?" she asked, leaning closer so she could skim over some of the content.

"Yeah," Tyrell answered plainly. "Ivan said there was something that my dad wants me to take away from reading about his life, though I've only ended up with more questions than answers."

"You can't be so impatient. Look, you're still nowhere near even halfway and you're expecting answers to come flying out? Have you even read a book before?"

"Okay, okay, geez, calm yourself already. I just…I didn't even realize how much I didn't know until I started reading this."

A silence ensued as Tyrell's words sank in. He had never been the philosophical type; heck, calling him a thinker would be an overstatement, but he was trying his best to find every bit of meaning in his father's words. Sighing, the redhead ran a hand through his hair and slumped down a bit.

"Hey," he spoke quietly, keeping his gaze down at the pages, "hypothetically, if you and I ever got in a fight and stopped talking to each other for a while, how would you want to make up?"

Karis hopped back a bit, causing him to look up at her madly blushing face. Had he said something embarrassing? He didn't think that there was any sort of way to interpret his words in a misleading fashion. Tyrell had to stop himself from chuckling, as all the descriptions of Jenna's younger self made her seem an awful lot like Karis.

"W-W-Why? Where d-did that come from?" she stammered, acting as though he had asked her something much more personal and forward.

"Um…curiosity, I guess. I'm just trying to understand something that's in the book is all."

Hearing those words, the ponytailed adept sighed and the blush mostly faded from her cheeks. Keeping a slight distance between them, she pondered over the question for a while before shrugging at him.

"I dunno, it would depend what the fight was about."

"Hmm," he mused, reading over Kyle's confusing words again. "How about… Would you want to sit down and try to work it out, or would you rather we kind of pretended it didn't happen and maybe bring it up once things had fizzled out a bit?"

Again, Karis took a moment to ponder the question, but was a bit quicker to answer this time. "It still kind of depends on the situation… I guess if the fight had put me in an uncomfortable place, then I'd want to wait it out, but if there was some kind of misunderstanding, then I'd want to work it out."

"…Makes sense," Tyrell mumbled and looked back down at the book. "My dad's case is sort of a mix of both… So, what did he end up doing…?"

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"A-A trip?"

"Um…yeah, like, a little vacation or something. Not for long or anything, maybe just a couple of days… I just figured we haven't really done anything fun or memorable in the last little while."

Jenna gave Garet a skeptical look, her arms crossed tightly in front of her. He was simply glad he'd managed to catch her after work. Though Kyle's words were still tying his brain in knots, Garet thought it would be best to take the man's advice as best as he could understand it. After making sure to talk to Jenna, he had blurted out the first thing that he could think of.

"I…um…I don't know, Garet. I'm afraid that I might…make you mad again…"

"Jen, trust me, if I thought that was going to happen, I wouldn't have suggested this." To reiterate, he hadn't thought this plan through at all; there was a perfectly good chance she might make him mad again.

The brunette softened her gaze, slightly relaxing her tense muscles as she did so. "A-Are you sure? I…I want to, but it's so soon after…that whole thing… I–"

"I get it, you're afraid that something bad might happen, but I promise that this will be something good for us. Really, I just want to put the bad stuff behind us and keep moving forward with you…"

Though still unsure of how she felt, Jenna smiled and gingerly stepped a bit closer to him. "You stole that line from a book or something, didn't you?"

Garet smirked in return. "Oh, you know that's impossible since I don't like reading."

Both of them laughed and without warning, Garet felt Jenna's arms squeeze around his torso. The warmth from her body flowed into his, and he gladly held her back, feeling as though he had accomplished something great. It only took a few words and a laugh, and the two of them were back to normal just like that.

"I'm…I'm so happy, Garet," Jenna mumbled into his chest, tickling him with her breaths. "I really, really wanted to talk to you again…but I was scared you might still be mad at me. I don't even know what I did with myself this past week; all I know is that I wanted us to go back to normal so badly it hurt."

His heart pumped just a little faster, and the redhead unconsciously squeezed onto her a bit tighter. Maybe their fight had been superficial. No, he knew that his feelings at that time were genuine, but right now he wanted nothing more than to stay like this. It didn't matter if they didn't solve their problems right away; this was enough for him. Whether he had followed Kyle's advice properly or not, it didn't matter anymore.

The snow began to fall lightly around them, leaving cold kisses on their skin as it melted from their collective warmth. Lifting her chin to meet his eyes, Jenna smiled genuinely at Garet.

"So," she began, playing with the folds on the back of his jacket, "where and when did you want to take this trip?"

Giving her only a sheepish chuckle and a quick peck on the lips, Garet answered, "I don't know, but I'll be happy as long as you're there with me."

Jenna giggled and pecked him back. "Heehee, you stole that from a book too."

"Heh, don't you remember? I don't read those things."


Shortest chapter yet took me the longest time to write… Not that I'm unhappy with how it turned out, but these latest few chapters I've been writing for all my stories have been shorter than usual for some reason. Maybe I'm too busy… Ah well, at least I'm satisfied with all the content, even if I'm disappointed in the length.

Next chapter will probably have the first real time skip. I haven't decided exactly what will happen, but I don't think I have enough content to write about at their current ages to get out an entire chapter, meaning that the skip might happen mid-chapter.

Thanks to Renuarb for reviewing! It's nice to see that I'm doing well enough on this to get people to check out WiH as well :)

Thanks for reading and please review!

GengaJupite