By Kristen Gupton-Williams

Cid looked over to Vincent and asked, "Where is Jaras?"

"He’s on his way back to Mideel as we speak." Vincent replied, staring down at the table’s surface.

"Oh," Cid raised his eyebrows, not having expected that news, "why’s he doing that?"

"I just don’t think he’s cut out for any other life than mild mannered book dealer at this point." Vincent smiled faintly.

"Isn’t that a little dangerous, considering that at some point someone is bound to recognize him for who he is?" Cid leaned closer to Vincent.

"He’s aware of that danger and it is a risk he was willing to face." The pain of this answer was obvious within Vincent.

"I see." Cid settled back in his seat and looked over at Tifa who was still absorbed in the infant. "So what do you think of the kid?"

Tifa looked up with a broad grin on her lips. "Oh Cid, he’s absolutely beautiful. Looks like you’ve been doing a great job."

Not accustomed to such praise, Cid blushed the faintest bit at her words. He just stared as Tifa continued to hold the baby, seeing what a natural she was at mothering. For maybe just the shortest moment, he considered giving her the child to raise but the idea of losing his son was too terrifying to seriously consider. To damned bad she’s married to Vincent, he thought to himself.

Tifa looked up seeing the odd expression on Cid’s face. "What’s wrong?"

"Nothing." Cid snapped himself out of the state he’d gotten into. "Just makes me think how much I miss Shera, that’s all."

"Oh," Tifa frowned, empathetic to his sadness. "Speaking of which, wasn’t her mother going to come by for a while?"

Cid scoffed. "Yeah, she did and just about drove me fucking nuts. I know she was trying to be helpful but she’s a horrendous pain in the ass."

Everyone fell silent for a moment, not quite certain how to respond to Cid’s last statement. Finally Vincent broke the silence. "Anyone else hungry?"

Tifa and Cid both looked over to him apparently amused. They nodded in unison.

***

Jaras remained locked in his room for the duration of the flight, reading. When he felt the airship come to its rest in Mideel he immediately picked up his few belongings and made his way off the ship. Once on the ground he began to walk for town without looking back at the ship.

As he made his way through the streets towards his bookstore and his tiny apartment above it, he received friendly nods and greetings from those he passed, all of them wondering where he had been for the past several weeks.

When he finally got to his store he was pleased to see the open sign in the window and his young employee dutifully behind the counter. He looked up to see that his boss had returned and smiled. "I was starting to wonder if you were ever coming back."

Jaras returned his smile and shrugged. "There were times that I wondered the same thing. How were things while I was away?"

"Good." The boy handed some ledgers over to Jaras. "Sales were pretty steady."

He flipped through the books, not really paying much attention to the numbers, knowing that the boy was honest as could be. "Excellent. Well, since you’ve had to keep this place up by yourself all this time I think I owe you a vacation. Take the next two weeks off and I’ll bring your paycheck over to your house."

The boy beamed with gratitude. "Wow, thank you Mr. Ross!"

"Think nothing of it, you’ve earned it." Jaras looked at the clock on the wall and saw that it was closing time for the day. He walked over and turned the sign in the window to closed and then looked back over at the boy. "Go ahead and go home now, I’ll close up."

"Okay." The boy picked up his pack and headed for the door.

Just before he left, Jaras addressed him one last time. "Can you do me a favor and tell Brandon that I’m back on your way home?"

"Sure thing." The boy flashed him a smile as he pushed the door open. "Glad you’re back, bye."

Now alone, Jaras made his way to his desk in back and collapsed before his pile of ledgers, smiling to himself as he gratefully got back to the monotonous work that he had so missed.

***

Quigley had practically become a hermit in the ASRIO lab, his only contact with others being Porter’s accompaniment and Tseng’s daily visits. During Tseng’s third such visit he entered the lab, finding Quigley and Porter both anxiously hovering over an analysis machine as a graph became visible on it’s screen.

"What’s going on, Gentlemen?" Tseng asked as he neared them.

Porter turned around acknowledging Tseng’s presence while Quigley didn’t move in the least. The former Turk took the few limping steps toward the older man. "We’re waiting on the analysis of the material we replicated from the hair sample. If things go well, we will find some normal DNA."

The significance of this didn’t go unnoticed by Tseng. His eyes went wide in amazement and his voice became hushed. "How long until you know?"

Porter looked back over his shoulder at where Quigley stood anxiously. "A few minutes."

"Mind if I stay until you find out?" Tseng asked, not wanting to be in the way.

"Absolutely not." Porter motioned to a chair. "Have a seat."