Kent knew better than to expect everything would be all hunky-dory after finally being out of the camp and then the hospitals. He knew why he hadn't been allowed to go straight home as soon as he'd been freed: he'd not in been in good physical or mental condition; if he'd died on the trip back to Pelican Town that'd look bad for the Republic's military and medical complex. And if he'd snapped and hurt someone-several some ones-due to a flashback and not having the tools to manage it... or even something as simple as a medical bracelet or necklet saying he had PTSD... well, that too wouldn't look good for them. So, he did understand why they'd kept him as long as they did, giving him time to regain at least some of his physical health and getting some of his balance back.
He just wasn't sure how the kids would react to him coming back-Sam was almost an adult now, had been stepping up and parenting Vincent even though it wasn't his responsibility. It was his and Jodi's-and never mind it was his choice to join the military when he did, knowing the pair of them hadn't taken the chance to get neutered. It would've been an insult to Jodi, true, if the idea hadn't come from to begin with0and that wasn't something he'd ever wanted to do.
(He knew she might want more children someday, and it was one of those talks they'd shelved for after he came back from his last assignment-but he'd never expected to take so long. And he didn't think it was right for a child to have to have to parent the other children, or to have to manage their parents' health conditions either. Maybe he should be writing this down, it could make their serious talks a lot easier if he had a way to see an end point - and thus not throw himself into the ocean in order to get away from an emotionally open conversation...)
That, however, was going for something to do after he'd been back for a few days. After he saw how Jodi and the kids were doing - he knew better than to force himself into their lives again; it was better to ease into it and let Sam and Vincent dictate a lot of how their relationships went now. In a lot of ways, he was a stranger to them; almost as much as the town was a stranger and he was a stranger to himself.
Though he didn't know it at the time, one of the things that'd help him in his eventual recovery of his stability was the new-ish farm up on the mountain, just below where Robin and Demetrius lived. It was nerve-wracking at the time, going up there to thank the new farmer for befriending Jodi and the kids and giving them something to look forward to while he was... in the hospital, and otherwise away. Otherwise occupied, for want of a better way to put it.
("Keo's grandfather used to work that land up there," Jodi had written in one of the last letters he'd gotten before he'd been released. "Last spring, she came up here, something about not being able to work for Joja anymore. She's got a kind of... high strung look to her, I suppose, but she's gotten calmer as she's settled into life here. She says Sam's welcome to work there if he needs extra money, same with Marnie and Shane; the implication being they're willing to teach him skills beyond sweeping and stocking shelves. The kind of skills that might help him if he chooses to move to Zuzu City or further abroad, a kind of... leg up, I suppose. I can't argue with that, I'm just sad he's growing up so fast! He'll be 18 in 4 months!" And that had been over a year ago; now Vincent was 7, Sam was 19, he'd missed so much and he had to stop thinking about this when there was nothing, nothing, he could do to change it.)
The talk with Keo had gone well enough, at least. He thought he might be able to do some work there too, some day; Robin was the master carpenter, yes, but she sometimes hired out to the villagers as well when the job was big enough - and if the conditions of the goats was any indication, there would be more work there soon. Probably by winter at the latest.
It was Willy, however, who was the first one who'd given him work to do while here. Admittedly, Kent was drawing both a pension now and disability for what he'd gone through. He still needed something to do to keep himself busy; he didn't feel right just sitting around and watching TV or listening to the radio while Jodi and Sam did all the work and the townsfolk taught Vincent. (It was something to keep in mind, he told himself, something to thank Penny for when he had enough money stashed away or something to actually give her. Something she'd like or could use, that'd be understood as a "thank you for the hard work you do teaching Vincent". He had an idea he was probably overthinking this. It was the small things tripping him up now.)
Willy had enough work for others, even if it wasn't full-time, and Kent was willing to take him up on it. It was something to keep him busy - something Willy was kind enough to not mention. There was always plenty of work in a small community like this in any case, especially when the Mayor was too busy trying to keep his not-secret relationship secret (how did he not know everyone knew? Kent had been back for only a couple of weeks at this point and he already knew Lewis was having sex with Marnie, and the lack of keeping their relationship aboveboard was killing it), and how he was more focused on keeping himself Mayor of a little bump in the road town instead of fixing things that actually needed fixing... Kent probably should do something about that, but for the time being he was tired. And the work he did with-for-Willy was all he could handle at the moment.
Maybe he'd be able to get the energy to do more in the future, but he wouldn't hold his breath: between the fishing and getting to know his family and neighbors again-he had more to do for now. He wasn't going to push himself too hard, wasn't going to make himself end up like some of the others who'd flamed out already and had ended up in the hospitals again because they pushed themselves too hard.
