The Detective left quickly, and without anyone else knowing what the hell was going on. Michael was pretty sure that he and the rest of the teens should leave, but he didn't know if he should still be polite about it (like he usually was with Paul) or to just get the heck out of dodge.

Of course, the whole problem really just boiled down to this new stupid revelation. Michael wasn't sure what the heck it was about. Was Paul still Paul? Was he still Jeremy's dad, the guy who cracked bad dad jokes and loved his son like nothing else?

Because that really didn't fit with how Michael had been imagining this Joe Trancer guy. 

Eventually, after a few moments of silence, Paul stood up, looking around at his visitors. "I-er, I think you all should go home now," he announced, solving Michael's problem. "You all do have school tomorrow."

No one refuted it, and they all quietly filtered out the door. Michael wasn't surprised why Jeremy followed them, catching up to Michael and walking by his side. Michael had kind of figured that Jeremy would want to get away from all of this, and he had no objection.

But Paul didn't let them leave just yet.

"Son... Jeremy, can I... talk to you?" Paul called out. "Please?"

Jeremy paused, and Michael did as well, watching Jenna, Martha and Jared walk off while trying very hard not to seem like they were looking back at them. The door swung shut behind the three teens and they were gone.

Michael looked back to see Paul glancing over at him, but Paul didn't say anything. Good, because Michael wasn't going to leave anyway. It was kind of his fault for dragging Jeremy into this anyway.

"Jeremy, uh, I just wanted you to know..." Paul seemed to hesitate here. Jeremy didn't say anything. Michael saw that he didn't react at all. "I just wanted to say that the creation of the SQUIP was,is, a great regret to me, especially seeing the damage it did to you. I know this might not seem like much of an apologize, but I really am truly and deeply sorry. I never meant to-"

"Why didn't you tell me?" Jeremy mumbled. He didn't seem to care too much for the apology.

Once again, Paul hesitated, not seeming to know what to say. Michael had only seen Paul like this once before, like soft and gentle. but also very, very unsure: in the hospital when Jeremy was still healing. It was supposed to be a private moment, but Michael had caught the end of it anyway. It had been full of apologizes back then, but not once did Paul give any hint of creating the chaos. Michael was a little impressed that Paul kept it so well hidden for so long.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Jeremy demanded again. This time, Paul answered.

"I didn't think you'd want to know," Paul replied quickly. "I mean, you didn't seem to be in too much of a position to learn about some secrets of your dad..."

"But why was it secret in the first place?!" Jeremy asked. "I thought you were just some technician or something! Why didn't you tell me all this?"

Paul looked uncomfortable. "Well, I was... I was a little embarrassed... And I know that sounds bad, but-."

"Sounds bad??" Jeremy cried. "How... why... you were embarrassed?! Seriously? You lied to me for years because you were embarrassed?!"

"I-."

Jeremy didn't stick around to hear the rest of the sentence. Turning on his heel, he marched out of the house. leaving Michael and Paul. Though not for long, Michael was right on his heels.

"Wait, Michael-!"

Paul called out to Michael, and for a fraction of a second, Michael hesitated. It was just long enough to hear: "Watch out for him" before the door shut. Nobody bothered to open it again.

Jenna, Jared and Martha were long gone, but Michael spotted Jeremy standing under a pole, waiting for him. Despite the heavy weight settling on Michael's shoulders, it gave him a nice feeling to see that Jeremy had stuck around for him. It shouldn't surprise him, considering that after the SQUIP incident, Jeremy had promised that he would absolutely stick around for Michael now. Jeremy wasn't going to leave Michael alone ever again, Jeremy had said.

It was nice to see that even with his feelings in a mess, Jeremy was sticking to that.

Michael quickly met up, and they started off to Michael's house, neither of them bothering to speak a word.