It was towards the middle of the day, and the workers outside were on lunch break. Some of them were enjoying the meals provided to them, and some managed to bring their own. Others had already finished their meals and were enjoying recreation time. A group of twelve workers decided that they would pass the time until they needed to get back to rebuilding by playing soccer. They had divided into teams, and when they began playing a few Alliance soldiers stationed in the town joined in, including Kaidan and James. Both of them were naturally on the same team, with James up on the right forward, and Kaidan on defense. When they joined the opposing team had already scored, and now it was their turn to turn the tide. The central forward teammate received the ball and passed it over to James. He dribbled it down the field until the right defender came close, and James crossed the ball back over to the center, but theirs intercepted it. Their center dribbled it down the opposite way, passing it to his right when Kaidan's centered tried to block, the ball successfully reaching the teammate. Kaidan ran up to the player and managed to kick the ball out of bounds, buying them time to regroup. Their player threw it back in, but Kaidan managed to headbutt it away to his left forward. A series of dizzying passes and dodges between their forwards led to a corner kick. James kicked it back toward his central forward, who, with a little luck, headbutted it into their goal. The team celebrated their accomplishment, and headed back to their positions, the score now one to one.

All the while a confused Garrus was standing there watching these humans kick a ball around, wondering if this really was what humans did for sport, and if this was the case, what other sports do they do, and do they all involve some sort of ball as an objective. A couple of the workers that were spectating tried to encourage him to go play, but he insisted that he didn't know anything about it and didn't want to hinder whatever team he went on. He decided he would ask one of his friends later about this whole thing, and in the mean time he came down here for a reason.

"Kaidan!" he called out, trying to get the major's attention. Kaidan heard his name and turned to see who it was, knowing right away that it was Garrus as soon as he saw his turian friend. As Kaidan moved off field, one of the spectators replaced him, hoping that he wouldn't be coming back. Kaidan ran up to meet Garrus.

"Hey Garrus," he greeted him, showing slight signs of adrenaline. "Anything wrong?"

"Except maybe why humans consider kicking a ball around is a sport, no. I just came down to tell you that it's your turn to see Shepard now."

"Okay. I'll be right up." Garrus nodded, and headed back inside the hospital. Kaidan stretched his back, and proceeded inside as well. The lobby was unsurprisingly empty with the exception of the receptionist nurse and two Alliance guards on either side blocking the entrances to the hallways. As Kaidan passed by the left one, the guard nodded and saluted to the major. Kaidan headed to the elevator and went up to Shepard's floor. He had prepared himself for what Shepard intended to ask, as he guessed that Shepard would be curious as to how he's performed as commanding officer. A nurse passed by him as he came to Shepard's door, and it automatically opened. Shepard had a silver tray placed over his body, with a plate of food over it.

"Hey, Kaidan," welcomed Shepard. "Come on in. I was just about to have lunch."

"Thanks." answered Kaidan. "Hmmm... you know this looks very familiar..."

Shepard briefly wondered what Kaidan man before he realized it. "Yeah, only this time I'm the one in the bed."

"You look worse than I did too."

"You got knocked around a bit by EDI's body; I took a direct hit from a giant laser."

Kaidan shook his head. "It's always gotta be the worst possible for you, doesn't it?" Kaidan sat down next to Shepard; Garrus never having moved the chair back. "So what did it feel like? You had to still walk to the Conduit right?"

"Ugh... my body felt like it was burning even though I wasn't on fire. Every time I put my foot on the ground, it was like daggers shooting up through my legs. It was like I was dying all over again."

"Damn... and now?"

"A lot better. Before you guys showed up, it was hard to breath. I was still in pain, but thankfully I didn't have to move so it wasn't as bad as before."

"Glad to hear it. You know I kinda feel bad for not bringing you a gift like you did for me."

Shepard lightly shrugged. "Don't worry about it. Having everyone here is good enough for me."

"I can imagine. Everyone on the Normandy was working their asses trying to get back in the sky again, just to see you."

"Speaking of which..."

Kaidan sighed. "I knew this was coming."

"Oh come on, Kaidan. It was your duty to take over while I was stuck in the hospital, light years away from... wherever you were. Naturally, I'm gonna want to know how you did."

The major took a deep breath. "The first thing I needed to know after we crashed was a damage report. I assigned the appropriate crew members to positions that best fit them. Adams, Tali and the other engineers naturally went to work on getting the Normandy to run, Dr. Chakwas patched up the few crewman that got rattled by the crash, Garrus, James, and just about the rest of the crew got to work on manual repairs, and Liara and specialist Traynor got busy with getting communications back online."

"What about Javik?"
"He went on scouting trips to find food and water. He informed me that the plant was lexo-amino based, so Garrus and Tali had to ration down the food they eat. You know overtime Javik managed to warm up to the rest of the crew. I guess being stranded with us for so long made him realize that he's going to be sticking around in this cycle until he dies."

Shepard nodded. "Makes sense. Tali told me about that too. Did you check in with Admiral Hackett often?"

"Actually he checked in with us. He wanted the Normandy to rejoin the Alliance as quickly as possible, but I think we both know what the real reason was."

Shepard chuckled. "Yeah... Hackett's a good man. Well it sounds like you did alright for yourself Kaidan, though I'm curious as to how you think you did."

Kaidan flinched. He hadn't expected this. "You're asking me to put a grade on my performance?" Shepard nodded. "Well I did what any CO would do, but I also wanted to try to ease everyone you know? Make sure that they were alright, since they were all concerned about you and their families. Tali and Liara took the hardest hits."

"Yeah..." he answered, a little depressed just thinking about what Tali told him. "Tali worked like a madwoman to get the Normandy up and running, how much she missed me..."

"Did she ever tell you what the first week was like?" Shepard shook his head. "We had a plaque made with your name on it because we thought for sure you were dead. When it came time to put it up on the wall, Tali didn't do it... or couldn't do it anyway. For the rest of that week she would spend most of her time up in your cabin just staring at it, unable to accept your death. I know this because I tried to comfort her at one point. Didn't do much good."

Shepard lowered his head, distraught to hear this. He hadn't heard about this, and he didn't realize how hard she was taking the lack of news about his well-being, and wondered why she kept that from him.

"Thank you for trying." he finally said, unsure how to answer Kaidan.

"You're welcome Shepard. I'm sure seeing you alive has done a lot to ease her."

"Yeah..." He wanted to change the subject. "Well it's good to know you did pretty well as CO. After all you are going to have to command your own ship soon since you're a Spectre now."

"Damn I forgot about that! I'm going to need to talk to Admiral Hackett about that."

"There's no need to ask him. You'll be getting the Normandy."

"What?!" said a shocked Kaidan. "The Normandy?! What are you talking about?!"

"I plan on retiring as soon as I can," answered Shepard calmly, "And the Normandy is going to need a new Spectre as its commanding officer, and since you served on the Normandy a lot, its only natural you take over."

"But why are you retiring? You've been with the Alliance all your life practically!"

"That's just it. I've been fighting all my life, and now I want to just settle down, raise a family. So I'm giving the Normandy to you as soon as I retire, almost like how Anderson gave me her three years ago."

Kaidan sighed. "I guess it's no use to argue; you seem pretty set on doing this. Wow... full command of the Normandy... I never thought this would happen." Kaidan raised a confused eyebrow. "Is this gonna be a pattern?"

"What is?"

"The Normandy being a sort of hand-me-down ship?"

Shepard snickered. "It looks that way doesn't it?"

"Thanks Shepard. I swear I won't let you down."

"Nevermind letting me down Kaidan. Don't let yourself down."

"Right... well I should-"

"Major, come in!" they heard over Kaidan's earpiece. The soldier on the other side sounded tense.

"Go ahead, soldier." replied Kaidan, putting his two fingers to his ear. "What is it?"

"We got a situation down at the front lobby! We could really use some help down here!"

"Alright I'm on my way." Kaidan looked back at Shepard. "Problem at the front desk."

"Better get to it then."

Kaidan nodded. "Right. I'll see you later, Shepard. It was good to see you again."

"Likewise." Kaidan got up and headed out to see what all the fuss was about.

The shuttle landed in the docking bay after a few minutes of travel. Hyde, Liara, and Cortez all stepped out, with Cortez almost immediately getting to work on tuning up the shuttle for the ride back to Earth. As Liara and Hyde went toward the elevator, the rest of the crew in the bay smiled and nodded at them as they passed, indicating that they were glad to see Hyde again.

Oh it's so great to be back! he thought, smiling and acknowledging the others. The Normandy, to him, was like a second home, much like how his ship, the Silencer, was his home, albeit the Normandy was much larger, making it almost feel like a neighborhood of sorts. They went inside the elevator and Hyde pressed the button for the CIC.

"Our room is on the third floor, Will." told a puzzled Liara. "Unless..."

"Yeah. I'm going to go see Joker briefly first." answered Hyde.

She nodded. "You two have a lot in common. It would be good for him to see you again too. For a time, he wasn't doing well."

"I know. Hackett had told us that the Crucible's energy shockwave killed off all AI within its blast radius. So EDI... died."

"Yes, and he took it pretty hard. He wouldn't let anyone near her body for some time before he eventually told us to place it back in the AI core."

Hyde's eyes widened briefly. He knew Joker and EDI had a thing going, but he didn't know Joker felt so strongly about it. "Poor guy. I wish I could say I understand what he was going through, but I didn't lose you."

"I tried to comfort him, but he wanted to be left alone. I had never seen Joker so depressed before." The elevator stopped and opened to the CIC. "I'll wait for you in our room." She bent over and kissed him on the cheek, making him smile from the warmness of her lips. He rolled out and the door closed behind him. The crew on deck were more numerous than before, and he knew the reason for it. It felt more alive with more people here, but it also felt somewhat empty since there wasn't an unshackled AI watching them. Listening to Liara tell him about Joker's reaction to EDI's death sent a pang of guilt into him. Here he was, enjoying being in Liara's company again after two months, and there was Joker who had been overcome with grief about losing his girlfriend. He breathed a sigh of depression.

It's never 100%, is it?

Traynor, who was hard at work coordinating with the rest of the Alliance fleet, managed to hear the sigh behind her, and turned to see Hyde sitting there in his hospital robe.

"Hyde!" she said surprised. "It's good to see you again!"

The words of Traynor snapped Hyde out of his funk. "Hey there Sammy. Nice to see you still at it. Why aren't you down there with the rest of the group?"

"Admiral Hackett's been keeping me busy. He's interested to know about the planet we were stranded on, thinking it might be suitable for colonization."

"That's a shame. Well about you being stuck here I mean."

"Oh, I don't mind it. I'm just as anxious to see the commander as everyone else here is, but I know he'll be back soon enough-"

Hyde grinned. "And I'm sure you can't wait to tell him about his new messages huh?"

Traynor knew he was teasing her, and went along with it. "And he's got a lot." She put emphasis on the lot part, and turned back to work.

"Heh. I'll bet." Hyde rolled over to the steps to the bridge. "Ummm, a little help please?" A couple of the crew that were at their posts took an extra moment to help Hyde up the steps by lifting his chair to the top step. He thanked them for their assistance, and rolled down to the door, it opening as soon as he got to it.

"Now you know what it feels like." welcomed Joker, obviously overhearing Hyde's request for help.

"Well at least you can still walk." answered Hyde. "Stairs are going to be my enemy until I'm off of this damn thing."

Joker turned around to see him, and Hyde rolled up for them to shake hands. "Good to have you back, Hyde."

"Good to be back." answered Hyde. "I missed being on here. Being tied down to a bed just doesn't suit me."

"I thought that'd be a luxury for someone who's gone through as much as everyone on here has."

"Maybe, but ever since I got my ship and by being on here, I'm spoiled by travel. I like going around the galaxy to do whatever pleases me."

"Which usually involves you sneaking around places and getting shot at when found."

Hyde just gave a confident smile. "So there's a little challenge in that pleasure. It just makes it that much more exciting, though it might be different if it wasn't fo-" Hyde stopped himself, as he was about to mention Nora. "Nevermind."

"What?" asked a puzzled Joker.

"I don't want to bring it up. Because... well..." Hyde sighed, then looked sympathetically at Joker. "I know about what happened to EDI."

Joker averted his eyes. "Yeah... I'd rather not talk about it."

"Of course, but you know if you ever want to talk-"

"I'm fine." said a stern Joker.

Clearly not, but if the others couldn't talk to him, I doubt I'll get anywhere. "Well, alright. So why aren't you down there with the others?"

"I will be. I just need to be... alone for a while until..."

"Right, sorry. I should let you be then." Hyde rolled away, getting back down the stairs with the same crew members assistance. He went back to the elevator and ordered it down. As he made his way back, he thought about what he said to Liara about Hackett telling them about the death of most AI's. That was of course a blatant lie and he knew it, but he also knew that he can't admit the truth. Both he and Shepard dreaded to find out what might happened if anyone knew that they had a chance to achieve the epitome of life: a blend of both organic and synthetic. He thought that idea was impossible: how could such a thing be achieved instantaneously? Destroying the Reapers was one thing; rewriting everyone and everything's DNA was entirely another. Still, the possibility was presented, and Shepard turned away from it, and now they both swore not to reveal what happened there: the Catalyst AI, the choices presented. Hyde didn't like having to lie to Liara, but he was determined to die with this secret.

The door opened, and he rolled to Liara's room. The door opened to Liara sitting in front of her terminal, doing who knew what.

"Still hard at work, huh?" Hyde jested.

"I've been having to recruit new agents," she replied. "It's not going as fast as I would like."

"Well, don't overdo it."

"I know, but even you have to agree that this is important."

"Yeah. Reapers really thinned our numbers, didn't they?"

"Yes they did, but now that you're here it can wait." Liara got up and turned to him. "Let's get you back in your old outfit."

"Fantastic. Let me just get my stuff..." Hyde rolled over to the closet and got his clothes out. He had a fair number of suits, and plenty of dress pants, and pulled out a spare of everything.

"Now the fun part..." he turned his attention back to Liara. "I'm going to need a little help. Think we can do the first ever biotic wardrobe change?"

Liara smiled. "I'll see what I can do." Liara's outline glowed blue as she activated her biotics, and held her hand out to slowly lift him out of his chair. Hyde had never had biotics used on him in this way. A tingling sensation went over him, but it was probably the coolest thing to happen to him, floating above the floor like this. This wasn't the first time Liara had used her biotics on him however: before they flew to the Cerberus headquarters, they had shared their first intimate night together. It was the first time he ever had sex with an asari, or any alien for that matter. It was quite an experience.

"Alright," said Hyde. "Now let me just undo... this... gown..." He fumbled for the strings behind him, and the gown fell to the floor, leaving him nearly nude save for his socks and boxers. "Now if you could just hand me my clothes one by one." Liara nodded and first started with his pants, which took him an extra few seconds because of the casts on his legs, then the shirt, and finally the suit. When he was done, Liara lowered him gently back onto his chair. Hyde couldn't help but grin.

"That actually went pretty well." he complimented her.

"I hope you aren't planning to ask me to do it again." she said.

"Well, I dunno... I mean now that I've had a taste of it..." she gave him a stern look. "I'm kidding. I'm a grown-up; I know how to dress myself. Anyway, shall we get going?" Placing his hospital gown in his lap, Hyde and Liara headed back to the elevator and down toward the shuttle bay. After entering the Kodiak, the deck was cleared, the bay doors opened, and the three of them headed off to Hyde's given coordinates. As they traveled, Liara analyzed Hyde.

"So I suppose now you have to go back and wear your old outfit?" she asked.

"Yeah," he answered in disappointment. "I'm gonna contact the STG again at some point and see if they'd be willing to make me another one."

"Are you sure they would be willing to do that?"

"No, but it's worth a shot right?"

"Well you did love that suit."

"Yep. It was the single-most greatest creation in the history of the galaxy."

"Not the Crucible?"

"Matter of opinion. So apart from recruiting new operatives, what else is going on in the network?"

"Our few remaining contacts on Omega inform me that Aria invaded Omega to take back control from Cerberus." Hyde squeezed his face. "What?"

"You know I hate Omega."

"Cerberus is dying after we destroyed their headquarters, so their forces on Omega are in a lot of disarray right now. Besides, would you rather see Cerberus in charge of Omega, or Aria?"

Hyde sighed. "The lesser of two evils. Well, I wish her luck then."

"We're getting close to your coordinates, Hyde." called out Cortez.

"Thanks, LT." responded Hyde.

"Are you not going to give me even a little hint about where we're going?" Liara enticed.

"I will tell you that we're headed toward the U.N.A.S, specifically the state of Massachusetts." After about ten minutes, the shuttle finally set down, the engine's quieting down. Hyde opened the door that revealed a field with a few trees here and there, and many small stones on the ground. Hyde placed the gown on the seat, and the both of them went out, and Liara quickly realized where they were.

"This... is a graveyard, isn't it?" she asked rhetorically.

"Yes." Hyde instinctively headed north, as if he already knew where he wanted to go. Liara followed closely behind. This was her first time ever walking through a human burial site, and even she had to admit it was enlightening; the archeologist in her reawakening, but she remembered that there were far more ancient sites on Earth, and this place was young in comparison. Perhaps in the future she would come visit them. They soon stopped at two headstones, Hyde looking straight at them. Liara looked at them as well, and it was then that she truly knew why they had come. The one on the left read "Jennifer Hyde 2124-2169"; the one on the right read "Franklin Hyde 2120-2169."

"Hyde..." she said, repeating the family name. She looked down at Hyde. "This is where your parents are buried."

Hyde slowly nodded. "They died a couple months after I graduated high school."

"I remember you telling me about that. Carbon monoxide poisoning if I recall."

"Yeah... no foul play or anything, just an unfortunate accident."

Liara kneeled down to meet his eyes with hers. "Will, I'm so sorry."

He lightly smiled. "Thank you, but it's alright. I've had plenty of time to mourn, but when I come back here... it's just a reminder about how much I miss them." He sighed. "At least they weren't harvested."

"What did they do for a living?"

Hyde continued to look at his parents headstones. "Mom was a teacher; taught little kids. Dad worked as a cyber security expert."

Liara looked at him in disbelief. "Wait, your dad worked cyber security? Surely you're joking..."

Hyde shook his head. "Hard to imagine I know. Man trained to protect vital information from hackers, and his own son becomes the very thing he fought against." He looked over to her with a matter-of-fact gaze. "He taught me most of what I know too; wanted me to follow in his footsteps. He began teaching me at an early age."

"How early?"

"As soon as I could grasp arithmetic. He began with very simple programs like how to add, subtract, the usual low level math stuff. He first had to teach me about how to generally make one, then he gave me a math problem and told me to make a program that gave the answer within the week."

"By yourself?"

"He was there to help of course, but I only used him if I was really in a rut. After I completed his... homework, he would give me something similar to do, and would continue like this until I completed it within the day, and had the rest of the week to myself. After that, he pushed the difficulty of it, slowly and steadily. It went on like that for several years."

"So what led you to become a hacker?"

"Boredom." he answered plainly. "It was honest work sure, but there wasn't a thrill in it. So one day I let some files of mine get purposely hacked just so I could trace it back to the hacker. Rather than turn him in, I asked him to teach me the tools of the trade, and from him I learned how to do what I do best: learning things that others don't want me to. Eventually the CIA caught wind of what I was doing, but they were impressed with what I could do, and they turned me into a spy, refining my skills as well as teaching me how to shoot a gun and how to blend in."

"With your dad teaching you everything you know, how did you ever manage socializing?"

"I had few friends. We hung out a lot on my more free weeks, but otherwise I just kept my nose in a book. I was one of the smartest kids in school, and that was alright for me. Plus my parents were happy to see that I was doing so well in school."

"What were they like?"

Hyde smiled, happy to reflect on his parents. "Mom was a caring woman like any good mother should be, but never spoiled me. Dad was good-humored guy, but also wise in a lot of things. Both were good people, but were stern when they knew they needed to be."

Liara went closer to the headstones, staring carefully at the names engraved on them. "Do you think they would have liked me?"

Hyde looked up at the blue sky. "My parents were open-minded people. They taught me that you should formulate your own opinions about someone or something only after you've seen them or it for yourself." He looked back down to meet her eyes. "They were born before the First Contact War, and after that happened the general opinion of aliens here on Earth was distrust. When I asked them what they felt about them, they said that just because we fought against them doesn't mean that aliens were out to destroy us, and would wait to meet some before they decided what they thought of them." Hyde looked at his father's headstone. "God you would've been so disappointed about my chosen career path, wouldn't you?"

For a split second Liara thought he was asking her that, but then noticed he was looking at the headstone. She walked behind him and wrapped her arms around him. "I don't think so. In fact I think they would be very proud of you. Just look at what you've accomplished: you were one of the best, if not the best, spies on Earth. You helped Shepard take down Saren, helped him against the Collectors, and now you helped him defeat the Reapers. Who else has done that besides our friends?"

He put a hand on one of hers. "I guess you're right..." They stared at the graves for a moment.

"What do I do to show respect for them?" she asked, breaking the silence.

"Normally we leave a flower or bouquet of flowers at the foot of the stone, but since I didn't bring any..." Hyde rolled over to a nearby tree, and grabbed four palm-sized round stones from the base of it. He then went back to the where Liara was and placed two of the stones in her hands. "This works just as well." He bent over to put the rocks in front of the headstones. Liara followed in suit kneeling down next to him.

"The galaxy lost two wonderful people." she said as she placed the stones down. "May you both rest in peace." Hyde wrapped an arm around her.

"I think they would've liked you." he said. Liara stood up and Hyde returned his arm to its rest.

"I wish I could've met them." she answered regretfully.

"So do I." He paused for a second. "Come on, we should get back to the shuttle." The two of them went back inside the shuttle, and Cortez lifted it off and back to the hospital, letting the departed sleep in peace.