797 hours, 54 minutes and 1 second since the red wave of The Crucible washed over the galaxy and killed all synthetic life.

Pain, it felt like she was repeatedly hitting her head against a wall. Where was she? She could not remember. She opened her eyes slowly and thanked her ancestors that lights were not too bright. And at least it seemed what she was sleeping on had a lot of give, so that was better. She briefly looked down to see what looked like leather. She readjusted herself so she was sitting up, but her head felt so heavy and needed support, so she laid her head in her hands. She took a few moments before deciding to look around and decide where she was.

Pain in her head made her feel so slow and unsteady. There was door similar to that of the Normandy's. Then she looked to her left and everything came back to her. This was the Normandy's lounge and last she remembered was having a few drinks of turian brandy and then deciding that couch was a good place to rest.

"Ah, finally awake Sparks. People were getting worried about you, but I was sure you were just fine" spoke James Vega, hunched over the bar on the little stool. His head looking over his left shoulder to try make eye contact with Tali. A glass filled with an amber liquid and ice.

"How long have I been out?" she kept her head in her hands as the pounding did not stop. She decided she really needed some way to prevent herself from taking too much alcohol. Maybe she would make a program in her suit for that.

"uum, if I had to guess, maybe a day. I don't really pay attention to that kind stuff anymore. Well I didn't really pay attention to that sort of stuff to begin with either. Just wait for next fight, the next thing to shoot. It's all I am really good at anyway" told James, but he whispered the last part to himself, only really half pay attention to the hungover quarian behind him.

Tali put her hand to the top of the helmet and leaned back into the couch. James voice was a little too loud and it hurt her head."Wait, did he just say I was out for a day" thought Tali, just realizing what he just said.

"What has happened during the time I was out?" she had so many things to do. She just thought she could take few drinks to take the edge off things and now here she was, horribly behind schedule. Now it's one more accursed day on this stupid planet.

"Don't worry Sparks, nothing really happened. Although Mother Goose finally let Joker out, I think he is back to his cockpit, probably miserable though" James then looked away, as if he no longer held interest in Tali and went back to starring into his glass.

Joker, she had barley seen him. The last time she remembered talking to him was before Earth. A pain of guilt hit her stomach. She had completely forgotten about him in her own grief and took no notice of his pain. And all the times she had gone to him get movies for her and Rioul to watch. She failed at her duty as a friend. She decided it would be best to maybe lay down to help ease the guilt and the throbbing in her head, splitting her brain apart.

She lay back on the L-shaped couch so that she would have a full view of the bar and James. He was in his armor and it seemed it had some blood and dirt on it. "What hell was he doing before this" she asked to herself in a voice to no one else could hear. But before she could ask why his armor was like that, she saw him pour all the amber liquid down his gullet, which with her brief time around men and alcohol told her he was about to do something stupid.

"How did such ad nice girl like you end up with the tough, hard as nail, volcano full of fury like Shepard? I would never believed it if I did not see it for myself" James now turned his whole body around on the stool and was now completely facing Tali.

"Mutual interest I guess, what start as respect turned into something more. But really I don't feel comfortable talking about this. There probably a lot more important things I need to be doing. It was good seeing you James" she uttered hastily and quickly left the lounge. She really did not want talk about that; she did not need to break down again. And least of all talk about it with a drunk, lonely man. She leaned against the wall and thanked the ancestors for getting her out of that awkward situation. Any way she had better things to do, like check Traynor and the quantum communicator. However, a growl from her stomach interrupted that thought and her head still hurt. Maybe some food and check in with Chakwas would be a good idea.

As she strolled on over to kitchen, something caught her eye, a thing that always caught her eye. It was rather ingenious of Shepard to stick the memorial wall there, where no one could avoid it. She stopped to look over it.

Certain names popped right out to her. She recognized the names of the few engineer crew men on the first Normandy that died when Collector attacked. Adams and the couple were nice but it was not the same. She remembered coming in to original Normandy's drive core and how friendly they were about help her learn the drive core. She really did not need the help, but she appreciated none the less. And soon enough they were inviting her to all sort of little recreational activates that the engineering staff did with one another. It felt like she just stepped into this big family. Not to denounce Kenneth and Gabby or anything. It was just when she first got on SR-2 that they did not invite her in from the beginning and mostly did their work separate from her own. Later on that change and they became friends, but she stilled remembered that rocky start.

She continued to look at the names but many did not stick out to her. Then she saw Mordin's name. She would miss his antics. She first tried to get advice for her relationship from Chakwas, but she only gave her basic advice until recommending her to Mordin. She was so embarrassed to go up to him but was so relieved to see him treat it so seriously, but it did disturb her that he already knew what she was going to ask before she opened her mouth and that he had such a keen interest in her romantic life. However his suggestions proved to be most helpful and she would never thought about the herbal supplements without him. And she had to admit there was something about him that was just likable.

But as she continued to look at the names, she felt sadness come over her. If anything she had learned while spending her time here, at the Normandy, was that one cannot spend too much time looking at the past and instead must look to future, a better future. She thought of a small little prayer from the Scrolls of the Ancestors for this occasion.

Lay your heads weary ones

Who have been beaten time and time again

By an universe's cruelty

Join now with friends and family of past

May we later meet at peace once more

In a solace without worry

Where time will be lost

As well as the burdens of life

Go and don't worry

About those you leave behind

For we are still fighting

And master of our souls

She bowed her head in respect even though it hurt still. A moment or two in silence before she was off to go to the dextro based food area of the kitchen. She opened the fridge were they stored her paste. Why they did that was beyond her as they were environmentally sealed, so they were not going to rot as that involved bacteria and other elements that were not in container of dreary paste.

She then proceeded to then head over to the med bay. The pain had yet to relent and if she was going to get any work done, she would have to get some medication to make hammering in her skull go away. As she entered the med bay, a friendly and warm voiced welcome her.

"Hello Tali, nice to see you. I have a feeling I know what you want, but why don't you tell me yourself" Tali cheeks flushed with blood and warmth. "Had everyone seen her past out on the couch" thought Tali. The thought of rest of the crew and especially Chakwas looking over her with disapproving glares did little for her and she felt her hands begin to wrap themselves with each other.

"I got… I mean I thought… it's just that I thought…it would you know…" Chakwas interrupted the poor quarian before she embarrassed herself anymore.

"Don't worry about it dear. I sure everyone on board have fallen face first into drunken stupors before. And you have been under a bit of stress. Now I have just the thing for you. It's been something I figured I would use on Garrus before you. But it should be perfect for alcohol induce head pains, or what we humans call a hangover" Chakwas went off into one of her cabinets before producing a syringe with some strange blue fluid. The she continued on what she was talking about. "I see you already acquired some nutrient paste" she swiftly took it out of her hands and quickly found the injection port meant for the exact purpose. She then quickly returned it to Tali.

"Um… ah… thank you Karin" She then swiftly exited the med bay, not paying attention to the doctor's response to her gratitude. "That went a lot better than I thought it would" thought Tali. She then pondered what to do next. She opened her omni-tool and was ready to send a message to Traynor for a report, but decide to go up herself. She had been introverted enough and she was good friends with Traynor anyway, it would be fun to just talk. Although she did have to ignore her wondering stare every time she turned around or leaned over, but beside that they were friends. Anyone who could keep up with her in her tech talk and girl talk was good in her book. That's how she became with friends with Kasumi any ways. Actually that's what held their friendship together. Kasumi really became her friend after she would not leave her alone until she talked about her relationship with Shepard. Then things went up from there.

She sat down at the cafeteria tables since they were empty and she figure she should take time to eat, instead of wolfing it down while working, like she done before. She carefully went over the detail in her plan to repair the ship in her head, as she ate her meal. It bothered her a tiny bit to see the crew deck empty, but she did not mind, it just meant she could be at peace and not be disturbed.

She estimated that the Normandy was optimistically a week away from take off. Most of the computers were functional again. The drive core and the propulsion itself were working again. Liara had fixed the galaxy map and they knew where they were now. It would only be a month's trip to get back to earth as their fuel stores were full. They had fixed the hull breaches they could and sanction off the ones they could not fix. Life support would be able to provide them with oxygen. The levo based crew members had enough food to last for a while. She and Garrus might have to starve on the last few days on the trip back. Things were looking good. They just needed to weld the wings back on to the body of the Normandy and hopefully that would be it. She tried to remember that human phrase for these situations that she heard the crew use. "Just Peary" she thought, no that could not be it. She would have to ask Shepard later. She felt so close now that she could almost feel his arms and warmth. She could feel he was still out there, waiting for her.

Then again the warmth could also be the pain medication and antibiotics taking affect. She finished her meal and proceeded to the elevator, bowing her head to memorial wall on her way there. The elevator doors closed and she thanked her ancestors for the fact this elevator did not have any elevator music or Garrus in it. She had few complaints about the SR-2, but the lack of stairs or ladders in case the elevator malfunction was regrettable. Most ships back at the Flotilla did not have elevators and just used ladders.

As she entered the CIC, she found it was bustling with activities. Crewmen were bouncing around, performing a myriad of chores. Carrying data pads and tools from place to place, barley stopping to notice her before going off to whatever they were meant to go.

She turned around and went down the hall way leading to war room. It seemed the security scanner was still broke as the blue field was down and was even sparking in places. There were no open of panels around or tool boxes, so it seemed no one was trying to repair. "For the better" she thought she hated that thing, always take too long and remind her of C-sec scanners, which brought back bad memories.

The War Room was less busy as fewer things seemed to be needing of repair. She finally got to the communicator and just as she predict, Traynor's upper body was hidden by one of wall panel creaked open behind the circle where holograms appeared. She quickly thought of something to say.

"There you are, busy as usual I see. Came in to see what progress you've made" Traynor froze when she heard Tali's voice. Moments passed away into oblivion before she pulled herself out of the wall. At this point Tali was worrying she did something wrong.

"Tali, is that you, I haven't seen you since… well while. Nice to see you drag yourself away from your work to see me and mine work" Traynor pulled herself away from her work and propped her forearms against the railing and leaned forward. Tali notice the pause and could easily guess why. She meant the memorial wall incident. Tali decide not to show her notice and responded.

"I guess you can say I am taking the time to relax, but you still haven't answered my question. How about the communicator" Tali could not help feel tense. She could tell that Traynor was quiet amazed by her presence and that did not make her feel good. Had she alienated her friends?

"Oh, the communicator took a bad hit during the crash. A large surge of power went through it, causing it to fry its circuits. I can probably find spare parts for it, but I will have to dismantle some equipment to get the parts I need. I can't imagine this thing taking any less then maybe two and half weeks to fix and that's being optimistic about finding the parts and not running into other complication" Traynor pointing her thumb to communicator behind her and did seem like a mess. There were things sparking, wires hanging about and what looked like scorch marks from fires. Things did not look good.

"Is there anything I can do to help?" Tali relax a little. It seemed there were no hard feeling between her and Traynor. She would have hated it if she ruined her friendship with her grief. And it also gave her hope that she had not hurt any other of her friends.

"No, I don't need any help. The communicator can wait. You just need to fix the ship like you always do and get us home. I haven't got a replacement yet for my toothbrush and my teeth feel awful. By the way how the rest ship coming" this confirmed it for Tali. She had not alienated Traynor at all if she was still making jokes. At least she thought it was a joke. She really did not get why humans had to brush their teeth, but it did make their mouths smell good, or at least in her experience with one human.

"Well there are minor things not fixed yet, but those won't affect are flight. Now were taking of armor plate on the back so we can use them to weld the wings together with the body of the ship. It will be risky, but there no way the ships getting off the ground any other way. I am also sure Joker won't run into anything and will take modification into consideration in his flying"

"That's good, sounds a little sketchy, but you would know more than me. And I can't wait to get back. I know exactly what I going to do when I get back… But I really should get back to work. It was nice talking with you. And please remember we always got your back" and with that she went back to what she was doing behind the panel.

Tali had to admit she was a little disappointed. She was hoping it was operational, so she could call the Alliance and hopefully find out about her love. She always hated the waiting. She walked back into CIC and was right about to go into the elevator to do some more work keep her mind busy, when something caught her eye. The crewmen were seemingly avoiding the pilot's area. She had a guess why.

She walked up to pilot's area and took a seat in one co-pilot chair. "No wonder why Joker never gets up. These are rather comfortable" she thought. It just felt so right and gave support on those vital points on her back, although it was a little strange for the leg rests.

She closed her eyes to admire the seat until she felt a pair of eyes watching her. She took a peak at who the owner of the eyes was. Joker still faced his console, but his pupils in corners of his eyes with an eyebrow cocked up with suspicion. Her mind blanked for a moment fot what to say. However words were escaping her lips before she thought it through.

"How are you?" she asked after she straitens herself in the chair, trying to cover her enjoyment of the fine furnishing.

"Just fine" he replaced his gaze on her to that of his console, trying to avoid conversation. That was not response she wanted, maybe something less direct she thought.

"You ready to fly again, we should have the Normandy ready soon" she hoped to get a better outcome from this.

"I have flown most of my life without an AI, don't need one now" Joker did not move an inch, his regard still firmly on console ahead of him. He is not going to let go of that. It seemed to her that a direct approach of the problem was the only thing going to make anything better.

"Joker, we were forced by the Reapers to use the Crucible without knowing what it will do; we just had to hope it would work. We did not know it would disable EDI. And we have all lost people close to us. We have to make them proud by moving on and continue to be happy. That what she would have wanted, for you to be happy with your friends" she pause before she went on, knowing what she was about to say was dangerous ground. "Also I been rather busy just try to fix the ship, I have not bother to check on EDI, so maybe I could go down and see if we could bring her back online" she wait for a response for a few tension filled moments.

"Wait, you would do that, for me?" His attention was now fully on Tali, as if she just given the answer to life, the universe and everything.

"I will go see what we can do, but first you have to do something for me" she felt a little wave of happiness go through at seeing his face now, so open to hope to come in after a dictatorship of despair.

"Alright, tell me want you want"

"I will go check on EDI if you tell me a joke" Tali smiled at her own request it seemed silly to her, but it did seem to have affect on Joker.

"pfft. A joke, really, oh why of course I can do that. So a krogan, vorcha and a quarian are in car on Citadel, who's driving?" Joker was obviously astonished by the request, blowing out air making a "pfft" sound and waving his hand as if doing a playful smack. Tali wonder why humans did that.

"I don't know" Tali already had an idea where this joke was going to end, she figured to play along. All that matter is that she got him out of the mood he was in.

"C-Sec, you did not tell me it had to be a good joke" Joker gave her that look with his eyes that rub it in her face he was right. It was one of the things that amazed her about humans. All they can convey with just their eyes. You can tell so much about one by look at their eyes. And they are so much more colorful too. She could stare at them all day, but she learned on first Normandy that for humans, staring was impolite.

"Alright Joker, I guess I should go then. I will call you when I have something definite to report" with that she took off from she was seated and moved to elevator. She bounced on her toes on the way down to crew deck. And as the elevator's door opened to the crew deck, a poor ensign was about to get on board the elevator when Tali pushed him out of the way, afterwards turning around and apologizing. Then turn and head to med bay.

"Good to see you again Tali, come in for another dose?" asked Chakwas, still sitting in her chair, as usual.

"No thank, I just came down to look at EDI" Tali rushed by out of desire to help a friend and did not wait for Chakwas reply before entering the AI core.

It was true she had not bother to check on EDI at all. She was technically classified as an accessory by the equipment listing, so she had no idea what to expect when she entered the AI core, but it was not this. It looked like nothing had happen, there was no loose wire, and flying sparks, or dents in mainframe. It looked the same as when she entered to "talk" to Legion. "The damage must be inside computer itself, they are supposed to be sealed from outside world after all. Which meant the crash itself could not have done this, as the damage would have come from outside, not from in. Maybe it was that red wave, but if that was the case I don't know what to expect" Tali concluded.

She entered in the codes to open the circuitry of EDI, but her mouth dropped and he eyes widen when she saw what was inside. Ash, there was ash inside. She looked more closely and saw all the memory and data storage was reduced to ash. She pride herself in being able to fix almost anything, but she could not fix something which was reduce to particles of carbon.

What was she going to tell Joker? He did not need to hear this now, not after having his hope go up. She thought about what were possibilities. If she lied he might work more efficiently for awhile, but that would only delay that inevitable or even make it hurt worse. And in worse case she can think off, he might blame her, loose him as a friend and maybe tear her other friends apart. However if she told the truth it would hurt but he would eventually heal, right? She remembered how she felt when her mom died and knew from that experience that he would heal over time like she had. It became obvious what she had to do now.

She press some buttons on her omni-tool to start the video chat but paused when she tried to find words. "I… I mean... I am so sorry Joker; there is nothing I can do. The place where her programming was held has been reduced to ash. I am sorry" She mumbled. He did not even reply, he just return to his depress state, said thank you unconvincingly and logged out of the chat.

It hurt to see him like that. She figured she should get back to work on something less complicated, like getting the ship back home. She submitted to that thought and slugged off to work in defeat.

Author's Note: This was probably the hardest chapter for me to right so far. Maybe it was I was too worried about the word count or I just trying so hard to do Tali right and with all respect in the world. But at the end of writing this I felt really tired.