"You're joking, right?" is all Jewel can say when I drop this bomb on her. When she sees I'm as serious as our Grandpa Joe's third heart attack she asks, "What made you change your mind?" She packs her duffel bag with the contents on the bed as I continue to pace the room and think of something to say. The truth is, I have the world's worst poker face and Jewel can smell a lie all the way on Saturn.

"I miss Jane," I tell her with complete vulnerability.

Jewel turns to me and her compassion lasts two seconds. "She's alive in this timeline, Bronwyn. Why don't you put your big girl pants on and call her?"

"I can't," I say as I hold back tears. "We're not just broken up, we're shattered beyond repair. The only way to fix things is to truly start over."

"Well, I guess you're a certified expert in making people feel like crap," Jewel mocks. "At least you're good at something."

I get why Jewel is mad at me, I really do. I just wish I could tell her that I was only trying to protect her. I love my sister more than anything and the last thing I want is for her to be locked up in a mental institution. I'm starting to think though that Jewel is the sanest person I've ever met and it's everyone else that's crazy.

There's a moment of silence as Jewel finishes packing her gear, which looks like it's enough for a colony to survive a 300 year voyage through the Orion's Belt.  When Jewel realizes she may actually need a co-pilot simply because she isn't Inspector Gadget with multiple limbs, she agrees to let me tag along under the conditions that she confiscates the mysterious letter I retrieved earlier tonight and that if we survive the trip we must agree to never speak to one another again.

"How do you suggest we pull that off?" I ask both heartbroken and stunned once I realize Jewel's not joking about the permanent estrangement. For the record, I know our relationship has experienced some serious ups and downs, but I never imagined a world where we would be cut off completely.

This is when Jewel reminds me that Paul's disappearance occurred at the same time as our first serious fight about our mother. We almost stopped speaking but decided to make amends. Jewel proposes in this altered version of reality that we never reconcile.

"I just think we'll both be better off if we lead separate lives," Jewel admits wholeheartedly. This is when I realize this condition has nothing to do with the rules of time travel. The truth is, I've caused Jewel too much pain and she wants me out of her life.

"How will we know to stay away from one another?" I challenge. Perhaps playing along with these shenanigans is the best case scenario.

Jewel rolls up her sleeve where a bunch of numbers are messily tattooed on her arm. She explains the numbers are instructions in morse code for her future self in the altered timeline. She reaches into her drawer and takes out a tattoo machine offering to do the same for me because let's face it, time travel doesn't come with an instruction manual and our altered selves will need some guidance.

Jewel can immediately tell I'm skeptical because (a.) I hate needles and (b.) I'm beginning to think this is all a bad idea. "You have to keep your eye on the prize," Jewel tells me while putting the mysterious letters in the duffel bag. "This is your chance to make things right with Jane and my opportunity to save Paul. Everything else is gravy."

"I'll comply with everything under one condition," I say with utmost certainty. Jewel isn't pleased that I put myself back in the negotiating seat but is intrigued so she hears me out.

"I just want us to have fun," I confess as if I've ripped my entire heart open. "I know we'll have no memory of this once everything's said and done, but let's enjoy tonight as if we'll remember it forever."

Jewel takes a moment to let my words sink in. Finally she smiles and nods before asking, "Now how do we handle dad?"