His blue eyes snapped open, the bed sheets felt as though they were constricting his every movement. It was like being back in that chair with the Archon all over again. Having been relentlessly forced to go against everything Scott believed in. The torture was nothing compared to what would have happened if they had failed though. Forcing himself to sit up quickly he winced, hand going down to hold against his abdomen. The sudden movements caused a sharp pain to shoot throughout his entire body.

The gentle hum of the ship around him soothed his mind. It helped him to ride through the temporary pain he'd caused himself. Scott exhaled slowly while he regathered his bearings. He was okay, he was fine. At least his dad's sleeping quarters were silent. Lexi had tried to insist he stay in the medbay to be monitored, but Scott knew that bed would be needed for someone more urgent. Their people didn't make it out of the war unscathed. It wasn't like he was falling apart or dying, just needed to rest was all. Of course that didn't help Lexi's concerns about any lasting effects from whatever the Archon did, but he'd made promises to check back in with her and have her do all the testing she wanted. Scott already regretted agreeing to that. At least he was alone, or thought he was.

Only the dimmed emergency lights were on overhead, keeping the room mostly in total darkness. He could barely make out the sleeping figure, but he could already tell who it was by the silhouette of her ponytail. Sara sat in the chair across the room from him, slumped over the table and soundly asleep. Usually the slightest noise would have jostled her awake, being the light sleeper that she was, but it seemed as though the day's work of saving the universe had really taken it out of her.

"Hello, Ryder"

The electronic voice seemingly appeared out of nowhere. "SAM… hi" he replied quietly, mumbling out the words in a hush to avoid waking his sister. His hand moved from his abdomen to run over his tired face, removing some of the sleep from his eyes. "How long have I been out?" he asked, unsure of what time it even was.

"A little over eleven hours. Sara gave orders for you to not be disturbed you until you had awoken. Scanning suggests your vitals had spiked, should I contact Dr.T'Perro?"

"Please don't" he grumbled under his breath. The last thing he needed was to be poked and prodded some more. Now more alert he trained his sights on Sara, watching her body rise and fall slowly. "How is she?" he kept his voice to a whisper. A small frown etched his features with the question. They'd spent little time together since he'd come out of the coma. Barely touching base on the clusterfuck of Sara's journey so far. He'd found other ways to source the information, none of it being good.

"Her vitals are reading normal" SAM paused before speaking again, as though they were processing their next "She's as well as one can be."

As surprised as he was to hear a more natural response, Scott didn't feel much comfort by that answer. Realistically though he knew he wouldn't have been comforted by any answer. That was his sister sleeping at the table, his twin. It would have felt like he'd lost part of himself if he'd lost her. Slowly and quietly he shuffled out of the bed, bringing his legs over the edge to plant firmly on the ground. They'd left him to sleep in his clothes from the day before. He could really do with a shower and getting something to eat, but the thought of actually exerting energy to do either of those things put him off making any effort to get further out of the bed.

His hand reached out to scoop up the datapad from the bedside table. It was becoming quite the hobby while he'd been between jobs on the nexus. Catching up with Sara's adventures through the news was really his only way of keeping in the loop. She'd told him some things, but he knew how busy she was. Meridian really was a wonder, so many postings of the war and their new home. With each flick of his wrist a new posting appeared. One more wild than the last. She'd achieved so much already.

Scott continued to browse through the catalogue of first hand accounts and stories. Reading what people had to say about their pathfinder. He stopped about halfway through to find an image of the first broadcast after they'd come out. It looked like it were after he was handed off to Lexi. The image was of the team and Sara rather happily face timing with an Angarian. His eyebrow quirked upwards at the image. Well, this was new.

"Shouldn't you be resting?" a soft voice pulled him from his thoughts. He glanced over to the person in question, eyes readjusting to the darkness. Sara was back upright looking rather tired herself in this light. She had her arms behind her back and stretching out some of the discomfort from sleeping in such a weird position.

"I've had six-hundred years and a coma's worth of rest. I think I'll be good." he quipped back with a small smile. "Besides, I don't have time to sleep. Need to figure out a way to one up all your antics. Maybe I could save two galaxies."

Even in the dark room he could tell she was rolling her eyes. Scott preferred using humor to keep his thoughts and feelings at bay. It helped, just about. Sara slowly pushed herself up from the chair and made her way over to sit on the edge of the bed with Scott. By now the datapad had been switched off and pushed back into it's place on the bedside table. Sara leaned against him, tilting her head to rest on his shoulder. It was a huge comfort for the both of them, even if Scott still had a lot of thoughts to get through with her.

"Can I ask why you were sleeping at the table?" he asked rather casually. Not the first time he'd found her slumped over some kind of work.

"Someone was hogging the bed… that and I didn't want you to wake up alone"

Scott reached out to take a hold of her hand, giving it an appreciative squeeze between the two of them. They'd been through a lot together even before joining the initiative. Having been practically inseparable as children, as adults though, he was still trying to figure out where he fit in her life. He worried about missing out on key parts of Sara's life. Scott wished he could be reassured by this moment simply sitting with his sister, but Sara was still keeping things from him and it killed him a little on the inside.

"Were you ever going to tell me you died? I would have made you a get well soon card, or maybe have tied a balloon to your leg"

She didn't answer or make any attempt to move, possibly to process what he'd just asked or to think of her reasoning behind it all. Either way Scott slowly felt more and more bothered by her silence.

Finally Sara pulled her head away, but kept a tight grip around his hand. She gave him a remorseful glance when her eyes found his. He kept his face hardened, not wanting to give away any hint of how hurt he had been to find this out from anyone but her. The last thing Scott wanted to do was wake their mom up to tell her he was all she had left. He just couldn't bring himself do it, he won't.

"I thought we weren't keeping secrets anymore" he spoke more seriously, no humor in his voice.

"It's not something I could really tell you over vidcom, I was waiting for the right moment for it all." She let out a small and weary sigh. "Besides I shouldn't have to defend this. You saw what the Archon was capable of firsthand. It was either temporary death, or something a whole lot worse at his hands."

Finding the right moment seemed like a long shot, but still his features softened to her words. Sara had enough on her plate and he was letting this hurt get the better of him. They were both alive when they probably shouldn't have been. She'd done the impossible and he was still griping over the smaller problems on the whole scale of things. Scott was beginning to realize how selfish it might have been to want a bigger role in her life. Was it really too much to ask for?

"Still, you should have told me" he leaned over a fraction to nudge her affectionately, subtly letting her know he wasn't angry for the choices she'd made. He didn't need to outright say the words. Maybe if he'd been in that position himself his own choices wouldn't have been much different. "So SAM really did stop your heart and bring you back, huh."

"Affirmative." The voice of the AI spoke up again, something Scott was still getting used to. He was always there, lingering in the background ready to assist.

"Think you can turn that into a cool party trick for me?" He smiled some more when Sara scoffed at his words with a shake of her head. She smiled too though, they were out of the red zone. Scott gave her a thin smile back.

"Don't get cocky, the last thing I need is to kick your ass back into shape" she smiled to her words as Scott feigned some indignance in response.

"Those are some fighting words coming from someone who's never bested me in a game of soccer."

"We were kids! Plus I've been practicing recently with Liam, so bring it jerk."

"Liam, huh? Cool. If I'm being honest, I was expecting something more alien sounding."

"What? No! …no. That- that's not the same person."

Sara threw out a rather confused look until it clicked. As soon as she'd realized who he meant, her cheeks quickly flushed red. Stumbling over her words as she was suddenly put on the spot. Scott found her reaction highly amusing. It was always good fun to get Sara squirming on certain topics. He couldn't really say he'd been surprised she'd been drawn to a new species. She'd always had such a wanderlust for the Protheans, she must have been like a child in a candy store with a whole new galaxy to explore.

"His name is Jaal" she spoke a little more shyly, a rather fond smile etching her lips at the thought of him. Scott had tilted his head to watch her curiously. This was certainly a whole lot different to any past romances she'd mentioned. He saw the light in her eyes which made him glad she'd not been so alone this whole time.

"You really like him, don't you?"

"I love him Scott."

"Well shit, no chance I can scare him away?"

"Definitely not."

"You know it's my job to intimidate him a little."

"Yeeeaaah good luck with that."

They both broke out into a smile at one another. Scott was genuinely happy for her, why wouldn't he be? Sara seemed happy with this guy and that's all that mattered to him. So long as he took care of her Scott would keep himself out of it. He didn't make a habit of getting involved in his sister's love life, just as she'd stay out of his. They talked about those sort of things occasionally, but there wasn't much to tell. They'd been more dedicated to their work to really take on a full blown romance. At least for Scott that was the case. Didn't stop him from playing the field, he'd just never found anyone worth sticking around for.

"Scott?"

Pulling himself out of his thoughts his blue eyes rested on her own blue hues. Sara's had been a shade lighter than his own, more like their mothers. Her expression had dropped back to something more neutral once she'd caught his attention.

"Since we're on the whole not keeping secrets thing… There's something else you should know about. Something to do with unlocking dads files in the archives."

His own reaction went from curiosity to something more concerned. The last time Sara had come to him about dad's secrets they'd found out their mother was alive and in cryo. Part of him hoped there was more to that. Maybe a lead or a cure or… anything really. Something to give him hope. Sara's face was hard to read, but it felt like a long shot on it being good news.

There they were, the two Ryder siblings sitting in almost complete darkness side by side having defied all odds so far. Pathfinders and adventurers, Sara knew it wasn't over yet. They were the very last line for humanity. They couldn't sit in the dark forever.

"SAM, play the two final decrypted audio logs from dad's personal logs."

"One moment please."