"They'll do it again, I know it."

Clip-clop, clip-clop…

Pacing, ever pacing. He rubbed his gloved hands together, then pressed into them with force. Closing his eyes, he basked in the sensation - the strength, the pressure. He intertwined his fingers, then gripped them together. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat.

Her eyes were on him, he was certain. They were judging eyes, ready to brand him guilty.

"They did it once - ha! - how many times? It'll happen again. I promise it'll happen again."

A steady string of unintelligible Khelish curses bubbled out of him, unable to be contained.

Han'Gerrel had been given the news - like everyone else had - when Tali had returned from the Array. She had decked them clean across the face with the news that the Geth were, in fact, not gone. And then - in case that wasn't enough - they had left the galaxy completely, heading to the - keelah - the Andromeda Galaxy with the other ships…"arks" as Tali had called them.

They had even given the damn thing a name.

"Bah! 'Children of the Homeworld'! Who did they think…" The thought of it brought up the bile from his stomach. They had had the gall to…to…

He clenched his teeth, ready to lash out at something, anything. He had hoped to have at least seen the end of them, if not commit the act himself.

But now they were completely out of his reach.

"Keelah!"

There had even been a quarian ark.

That was also a hell of a bombshell to have had dropped on their heads. And all of it had only led to more questions with precious few answers ("few", of course being equatable to "zero"). Who the hell was this Jien'Garson? Why had the admiralty (and the Conclave as well) had no idea about any of this? What exactly had the Array been used for? Tali's team had not come back with that bit of information.

She had retorted that all that they had brought back was more than enough, that the Array did not contain any apparent threats, and that they could now conduct their own investigations as they saw fit.

Scoffing at first, he knew that she had been right.

More sobering questions pestered him though. He knew his people had become an insular culture, especially after they were blacklisted by the Council, but to have become so much so that they'd had no idea about any of this? How had it been possible? What else hadn't they known?

"Maybe it was because you bosh'tets were so obsessed with your stupid war?"

Tali had spat her rhetorical question at them with a richly acerbic flavor - it was a flavor that they knew they had very much deserved, which is why they all had taken it. Even Daro'Xen had no response to it; after all, it's not like it wasn't true.

Han's incessant pacing continued…

But she had raised questions about the thing's origin. Of course, no one alive had ever been that close to an undamaged mass relay, and this thing had appeared to be the control center for…whatever the hell the three of them were. Which only raised more questions, of course. Chief of which was the suspicion that the Array was more than what it appeared to be. Tali had reported that there appeared to be some visual "anomalies", but for a system like what she had described, it made little sense to him that it be there in the first place.

Of course, there was also the curious environmental system that the thing appeared to have. It had apparently come on with no outside intervention, and had produced a readily breathable nitrogen/oxygen atmosphere. He had wondered just what would have happened if there had been a volus among their number. Would the thing have tried to produce an appropriate atmosphere for them, too?

Ultimately, Han had left their little meeting in a quiet, simmering rage. It had barely been constrained by decorum. He was well aware of what kind of figure he had cut - while the others had been animated in their questioning, they had remained remarkably calm. They seemed to have been led primarily by curiosity, except for Daro'Xen. He had noted that she seemed to be rather excited at the prospect - excited at more than just the idea that the Array had held secrets at all. And Zaal? That bosh'tet had even implied that he felt relief that the damn machines had "lived". Keelah, "lived"! That implication had nearly broken him, had nearly caused him to lash out at the det kazuat with his own bare hands.

Zaal'Koris had been happy that the murdering bastards had survived. He had been happy that the mass murdering bastards would be able to do so again.

And again.

And again.

Just like always.

The worst part was that now they'd get to murder his people in an entirely new galaxy. They'd get to rip more families apart, more bondmates to shreds, leaving even more survivors torn asunder. Eventually, they'd almost certainly murder them all - not just quarians. After all, it was just their way.

He'd half-expected Tali to have come to their defense as well - sympathizer that she had been. But whatever she had felt about it she had kept it a closely guarded secret. Han honestly thought that she might have still been somewhat unbelieving about the whole revelation.

In any case, he'd kept it to himself. It would have done him no good with either the other admirals or the Conclave. Of course, it didn't stop him from focusing on it now - now that he was alone with only his thoughts and the memory of -

"No," he growled. To whom?

His "no" didn't matter, of course. What good was a declaration against a threat that he could not strike? An enemy beyond his reach, and if he could reach them, could he even grasp them? And because he couldn't, because he had acquiesced, he was ultimately a failure.

There was a chime at the door, yanking him from his thoughts.

His throat was dry as sweat ran down his forehead. The suit's moisture compensaters kicked on as he answered.

"Enter," he rasped.

To his surprise, in stepped the diminutive yet intimidating figure of Daro'Xen vas Rannoch. She was dragging a gray hardcase behind her - he recognized it as likely containing her personal belongings.

He straightened his posture. "Daro, what can I do for you?"

Sidestepping his question, she left her case behind and swayed up to him. She pointed a finger at him, like she was going to accuse him of something. Instead, she pressed the finger into his chest, before dragging it down past his ribs before pulling it away.

"Han, you can do very little for me…at the present. But I? Well, I can perhaps do something for you." That silky and almost maniacal edge to her voice had returned in force. She shrugged. "Maybe." Casually, she walked away, completing a loping circle around him. It was a circle that he did not bother to follow.

"Just what are you getting at?"

"You heard Tali's report. There is something else at that Array. I went through the files that she brought back, too." Casually, she sat in one of the two chairs that Han kept in his quarters, relaxing in it like she owned the damn thing herself. "And I do not think the Geth knew what they had, either."

"What the hell does that even mean?"

"It means," she began with her voice dripping in condescension, "that I'm taking the Moreh and a few of my science ships to the Array. It means that I will have quite a lot to do. It means that I have purpose once again."

His envy was palpable, because it simply wasn't fair. She'd gotten what she had wanted.

"And what of the arks, Daro? What of that damned Geth ark?"

She sighed, with her hands on her hips, like she was already bored with him and this stupid question.

"What about it, Han?"

He gritted his teeth. "What do you mean 'what about it'? We've got to do…we've got -"

"And just what would you have us do, Han? Do you have some special technology? A…what was it called? A 'time machine', perhaps? Shall I go berate Tali's bondmate for doing what we could not?" She paused, struck by an idea. Once again, she pointed a finger at him. "That's what you would have done, isn't it?"

"AND SO WHAT IF IT WAS?"

The eruption escaped him - anger like pent-up water as the dam broke - and even Daro took a surprised step back.

Watching his heavy breaths, she smirked and backed off. "Well, that is interesting. But not as interesting as the Array, Han." She arose, snatching her case before looking over her shoulder. "I'll be in touch."

Then she was gone, just as quickly as she had arrived.

After the door closed behind her, he stood where he was, still panting with his hands on hips. He stayed that way, motionless, for a few minutes as his breathing returned to something approaching normal.

Eventually, he eased himself into the same chair that Daro had sat in. He cast a few uncertain glances (eyes only) to the other chair before settling his gaze on the hard floor between his feet.

He whimpered in the space of the silence. It drowned him, and he was struggling for air.

"Yes, I know," he whispered. "I will try. I just don't know if I can."

"Do you know where she went?"

Shepard shook his head forlornly.

God damn it. I was afraid this would happen. In fact, I should have seen it coming. All I wanted was for us all…to just be okay for once, I guess. And now?

"No. She didn't tell us. Just that she 'knew what she had to do', whatever the hell that means." He looked to Garrus hopefully. "Do you know what she might have meant?"

"No." A sigh. Garrus rubbed his neck, suddenly tired. "I asked for this, Shepard. I think I underestimated the, uh…how much it would…"

John shook his head, taking a sip of his morning tea. "Hurt? Yeah, man. Did you ask Liara? They came back to the reception together. Maybe she had a word with her?"

Garrus let out another sigh. "Yeah, Shepard. All Liara told me was that she only said that everything is…a little rough…for everyone." He paused, maybe considering that it might have included himself. "And that everyone missed her." Garrus took his own sip of what Shepard presumed to be a dextro version of tea or perhaps even coffee. "I know I do."

John tried to throw a lifeline. "Garrus, you're a good man. And you're caught between a lot of things."

"Hmm. Yeah." There was a long pause, where both men left the other to his thoughts. "So what are you going to be up to?"

"Me? I've, uh, got a house to get built." He wasn't sure, but John thought he saw a small smirk flash across the turian's face. He continued anyway. "I've got to get myself back into shape, and -"

Garrus quirked an eyebrow. "What kind of shape? 'Fighting' shape?"

Shepard cocked his head, thinking about it. "I don't expect to be doing much of that any longer, but it couldn't hurt. At least as close to it as I can get, considering…"

"Come on, Shepard! Another step! You're almost there."

He was panting heavily. Sweat ran unabated down his forehead, pooling uncomfortably in his eyebrows before dripping down into the eyes themselves. He blinked multiple times, trying to clear his eyes of the burning liquid. He unconsciously loaded his right leg with his weight. He had to rest the left, it was screaming at him.

His right leg wasn't as bad as his left was with its decimated ankle, but it was not strong enough for the task he asked it to perform. It buckled beneath the burden. He crashed painfully to the floor, yelping in surprise, pain, and shame as the hard floor punched his entire body. It felt like the force should have jarred his right shoulder loose. He was lucky; it held firm. But -

He couldn't even walk properly.

The commander desperately wanted to lash out. To scream, to punch, to maim, to hurt someone, anyone other than himself. But he couldn't, his rage was impotent, useless.

Instead, he could only watch in grim anticipation as Michael, the physical therapist, stalked toward him at a perpendicular angle.

Shepard screwed his eyes shut, feeling the stray tear come crawling down his face, crawling in lockstep with the beads of sweat that were already there. He shook his head.

"No," he growled.

The footsteps stopped, still at least a meter away.

Michael huffed a breath, pointing at him. "All right, Shepard. Then get up. You're the toughest son-of-a-bitch I've ever seen. Now show me, goddamn it."

With his eyes still closed tightly, Tali's voice rang in his ears.

'Come back to me.'

That's precisely what he meant to do.

Resolve again pulsed through him. He could deal with this, this indignity. He would do it, if not for himself, then for her. Physical pain was nothing, if he could breathe, if he could move…

Painfully, slowly, and through gritted teeth, he rose to his feet once more.

"Considering what, Shepard?"

He huffed a long exhalation. "Considering the shape that I'm still in, or rather not in." He saw Garrus open his mouth before waving it off. "Yes, I was able to get by for the last mission, but I was a liability. And…clearly I don't just mean physically."

"If you mean finding out about the -"

"Yes, Garrus. That's exactly what I mean. I can't let that happen. I used to be able to do that - compartmentalize - all the time. I mean, you remember the crazy shit we've seen. I can't afford to -"

"Shepard, stop it. Has it occurred to you that maybe you're not supposed to deal with this kind of shit anymore?"

He frowned. "I thought they were dead. I thought that I…" It had escaped him as a whisper.

Garrus grabbed Shepard's arm. "Listen, I don't know what you're going through, I understand that. But…think about this for a minute. When we found Legion, you brought him on board the Normandy."

"What are you getting -"

"Shut up, admiral. Let me finish." Shepard rolled his eyes with a smirk. Garrus sounded quite a lot like Tali. "So you saved Legion. Tali wanted to blow it out an airlock; hell we all wanted to blow it out an airlock. But you refused. And when Tali wanted to blow its head off? Yeah, you solved that problem, too."

"Yeah, and slept on the couch for a week…"

The turian laughed at him. "I can't say that I blame her, but anyway. So you saved Legion, then we blew up the heretics. Then you sent it back to the Geth, full of irrefutable knowledge that the Reapers were coming."

Shepard sighed, thinking he knew where this was going.

"And you know what they did? They saved themselves. They saved what they could. So while you had to make the hardest choice I could ever imagine, because you chose to save Legion - multiple times, I'd add - the Geth were able to save themselves." Garrus took another sip. "So you think about that the next time you want to go wallow in self pity, Shepard."

"It's not that…it's not that easy. How many died because I couldn't make Wrex and Victus play nice earlier? Or if I'd been able to save -"

"You know that's bullshit."

A mirthless little laugh escaped him. He cast his eyes down to his tea. "Yeah, I know. God damn it, I know that, but it doesn't stop me from feeling like a…like a hero impostor. All this praise…" Shepard squared his eyes with Garrus's. "And I've done some horrible things."

"We all have."

"Not like -"

"Not like what they made you do? Perhaps not, but you know that you're a victim to all this, too, right?" Garrus turned, facing him. He did not speak until John met his stare once more. "You were the only person who had the strength to stop the Reapers. And yeah, you didn't do it alone, but the choice was yours alone." He took a sobering sip of his drink. "It's not something I'm sure I could have done."

Shepard grimaced, chuckling a little. "So you're saying you're glad that it was me?"

A little smirk and a coy nod was the reply. "Well, all I'm saying is that I wouldn't have bet on anyone else making the right choice."

His brow furrowed. "Did I?"

The turian sighed. "Considering what you told me, I'd have to say that it was. And I'm damn glad you did it. And so is Tali."

"Touché."

"Hmmph. Thought you might see it my way."

Footsteps approached them from behind.

"Hi…um…Garrus. Are you ready to go?" John turned to see Tali's fingers doing their intricate little dance again.

Probably just nervous to be seeing everyone go.

"Hi, yeah, just about. Give me a couple of minutes with your bondmate?"

She gave him a quick nod. "Of course."

"You know, I'm sorry about all this, Shepard. I didn't -"

Dismissing it, John shook his head. "Look, Garrus. I meant what I said before, that you were the best damn man I know. As for the other stuff I said? Well, I got caught up in it, I guess. I saw Kasumi first, and well, I don't think I gave you a fair shake."

"Bullshit, Shepard. You gave me a fair shake…at least as fair a one as I deserved." One final swig of his drink. "Don't give me that look, either. I know you were right, and I was an idiot about a lot of things." He turned to look out to the Rannoch horizon one last time. "Do you think I'll see her again? Do you think I'll see my family again?"

Shepard clapped him gently on the shoulder. "Garrus, I don't know. I hope so, for both, I really do."

The turian replied with a quick nod. "Yeah, that's about all that's left, isn't there?"

"Hope? Yeah, I think it's all we ever had."

He appeared to ponder this for just a moment. "Hmmm."

"Garrus, she sure is a nice ship. Thank you…for letting me, um, borrow it. And for everything else."

He couldn't help but still feel a bit of pride. Any compliment about a ship, especially coming from Tali, was not one to be taken lightly. Her silvery hull reflected the deep orange of Tikkun, sending little beams of light outward. Yes, he'd gotten it from Victus. Yes, it'd been chock full of salarian spyware and devices. But Liara and Tali had seen to that. The ship itself? The meat and bones of the thing? It was a good ship.

And now it was whisking him away.

"Everything else?"

She cast her eyes down. "You know, Garrus." Tali sniffled as she tried for once to not completely let her emotions take control. "You were there for me when I needed someone to talk to the most."

He knew what she meant, of course. Their little chat on their way back to Earth had opened his eyes to what it meant to be a quarian in love. It was made abundantly clear to him then that it was no small thing - love - for Tali. And spirits, he had never been so relieved in his life to have been there when they got Shepard's SOS, and then to have been there when she found him.

Well, perhaps it was second to learning that the Reapers were gone, but the point remained the same.

She kept going. "And I'm…I'm sorry for calling you a bosh'tet and…a det kazuat. I was angry and…disappointed."

"Wait. A what? What is a det ka…whatever?"

Tali cleared her throat as John started to chuckle, trying to mask it as a cough. "It's um…a particularly unsavory insult in my language. Worse than bosh'tet." She still hadn't looked at him.

"Why would you call me a -"

"Kasumi, Garrus. That is why." It was Liara who replied from behind him since John was still trying to keep his laughter under wraps.

"Whew. Okay, then. I probably deserved that one, too." When she still didn't look up, he changed his tone. "Hey, Tali. Seriously, it's fine. As I told your bondmate over there, I deserved whatever it was, and probably more." He blew out another long breath. "But I still love you guys. And we've been through a hell of a lot. It's going to take more than that to get rid of Garrus Vakarian."

Tali simply nodded.

He turned to Shepard. "And now I've got something for you."

Surprise ignited his features. "What? No. Whatever it is, no."

"Well, I'm sorry you feel that way, pal. It's too late."

"Too late for…?"

"Too late for 'no', Shepard." He checked his omnitool, laughing a little. "Yeah, it's definitely too late."

Tali cocked her head in her telltale sign of confusion. "Garrus, what are you talking about?"

He waved off their concern. "Don't worry. You'll see it soon enough. Hell, you can't miss it."

Still chuckling, he turned his attention to Liara, leaving them completely bewildered.

"So, staying put for a while?"

Liara cracked her version of Shepard's half-smirk. It was softer, a little less playful. "Yes, for a while. I'm leading a team to an old quarian city a few hundred kilometers from here. It was abandoned during the war, and I would very much like to see what I can help them recover. There are no quarians with a living memory of their world, of what they once were." Liara had become more animated now as she explained all of this, looking from side to side at all of them, not just Garrus. "They have only stories, some old texts - perhaps almost fables - passed down through generations. So, I am not…" She looked steadfastly to Tali and Shepard as they stood hand-in-hand, watching the proceedings. "I am not ready to leave. I can do good while I'm here. It will do me good to remain here."

He cracked a smile. "I understand, Liara. I do. If things were a little different, I would have probably done the same. I mean, probably not archeology, but I can still shoot things from a distance." They slipped into an easy hug. "Liara," he whispered, "keep an eye on that stubborn ass, please?" She replied with a quiet nod.

After releasing their hug, he turned to his two dearest friends, giving them a mighty squeeze in turn. They said nothing to each other. He looked at his friends once more - hopefully not for the last time. He drew in a long breath. "I'm gonna miss you guys. But, now that the networks are back up to something approaching normal, I expect regular updates."

"That goes both ways, bosh'tet!"

That sounded like the Tali that he knew. That sounded like his friend.

"Don't I know it." Garrus took a few steps up the ramp before turning around. "And don't forget who's the better shot, Shepard."

"Vakarian, I expect a proper challenge soon."

"Oh don't worry, Shepard. I won't miss a chance to embarrass your ass. And on your…what did you call it? From that sport you tried telling me about? Your home ground?"

Shepard could only laugh at the cocky bastard. He was going to miss him. "Yeah, Garrus. My 'home ground' is right."

"Well, consider it done, then."

Garrus gave a quick nod in their direction before giving them all - his friends from the very beginning - a wave goodbye. "See you around, guys."

"Liara," Tali began with a wavering voice, "you'll visit us, right? Because I want…" she fumbled at the words, "I want to learn how to play that…that song…"

Keelah…I didn't think that it would be this hard. Not…with Liara. Besides, she won't be far…

And then the dam broke, and Tali's torrent of emotion was released. If she had taken the time to think about it on the spot, she would have been hard pressed to tell anyone whether she was crying for Liara, Garrus, Kasumi, or perhaps the loss of all three equally that finally forced the tears to come. She wrapped her arms around Liara's shoulders as she felt John rub small circles on her back. Liara first returned the embrace, herself beginning to lose containment.

Between quiet sniffles, she tried to reassure Tali that this wasn't goodbye. "Of course I will, Tali. I'm not going far, and Pomii got the networks back up. I'll be in touch. And I'd love to teach you anything you want."

Tali shook her head, squeezing John's hand as it lay on her shoulder. "I'm sorry about all that. It's just…keelah, my friends are leaving. It's almost like a…like a chapter is ending."

John spoke up from behind her. "Maybe it is, Tali. But, uh, to continue the metaphor, the book isn't."

With a smirk, Liara looked at him quizzically. "Shepard…that was more profound than I expected."

He grinned. "Well, you know sometimes I have my moments."

"Yes, yes you do." She approached him with moist eyes for a hug of her own. "Shepard, I…"

"Yeah, Liara. I know. Thank you, for everything."

She could only muster a soft and quiet nod against his shoulder in response. They broke the embrace, and after she dabbed the stray tears from her eyes, it was time for a more composed goodbye.

"Shepard, I'll be in touch. Like I told Garrus: I'll be at a site a few hundred kilometers from here. Besides, I still need to train you a bit more." She turned to Tali with a coy smirk. "And I need to play some music with Missus Shepard, so I'm told." Abruptly, she turned to walk back into the building that she had stayed in. When she came back out, Liara wore a smirk and held a black hard case that was about a meter in length.

"Liara, what is -"

"This is for Tali." The once-more archaeologist presented the case to her, watching Tali stare at it wide-eyed.

"Keelah, is this your…keyboard?"

"Yes, Tali. I want you to keep it for me. It will remind me that I'll need to come to teach you. Besides," she smirked, "I won't really be able to keep it with me in the field. At least not at first. So, will you take care of it for me?"

"Of course…of course I will."

"Good," Liara smiled softly.

She was not surprised to see the quarian's own smile revealed in the crescents of her eyes.

A few moments later, all three heard the low grumble of the approaching ground car arriving to steal her away. John sighed as he, too, realized that Liara was the last remaining piece to their old lives, the last connection to their adventures on the Normandy. Where he and Tali had fallen in love and saved the galaxy. But now?

With her meager belongings in one sturdy bag, Liara opened the door to the car and set the bag inside. She took one cautious step in, then paused. She said something to the quarian that had come to pick her up, who simply nodded. The asari looked over her shoulder at them, then turned away from the vehicle and walked purposefully back toward them both, tears running steadily and freely down her cheeks.

She exploded into them, and all three - Liara, John, and Tali - were bound together in a quiet embrace.

After a few seconds, they released each other. "Well, it's, um," a smirk bubbled onto Liara's face, "I should go."

She watched them expectantly - and Shepard rolled his eyes as Tali began to giggle.

"Yes, Liara. You should," John managed to tell her in between his own light laughs.

A few moments later, they watched the vehicle pull away with Liara in it, their arms around each other's waists.

They were alone now; it was just them - each other.

"Tali," John began, not looking at anything in particular, "it's going to be okay." He faced her, a quiet confidence expressed in his smile. "We'll get started with this life of ours. So what do ya say? Wanna go explore your - our planet?"

When Tali looked to him again, recovering enough to do so, she answered him. "Yes, Mister John Shepard vas Rannoch. Let's."

She watched him, transfixed, as he entered the ground car that they had used to get back here.

"John, are you sure you don't want me to drive?"

He glared daggers at her, incredulous. "Oh, come on! It's not like this is the Mako!"

"Keelah, you wouldn't even be in that seat if it was!"

"That's just…that's just rude." His face conveyed his mock sadness. "I'm hurt, Tali. I really am."

His passenger shook her head. "Oh shut it, bosh'tet. You're fine. Now if you're going to drive," she waved her hand limply toward the front of the vehicle, "then drive."

"Yes, your highness. Your wish is my command."

Tali reached over, squeezing his thigh. John took that as his cue to actually accelerate.

A few kilometers later, John slowed the vehicle, bringing it to a confused stop. He wasn't sure what exactly he was seeing, but if it was what he thought it was, Garrus was going to get a stern and thankful talking-to.

Garrus, you little fucker.

John got out first and had a vague idea that Tali had gripped his other hand after fumbling about for it. She, too, was very confused.

At the exact location where their house was going to be, there were already other quarians milling about with tools in hand.

Hearing the vehicle approach, one of the team - a male wearing a dark green realk - approached them.

"Ah, good. John'Shepard, Admiral Tali'Shepard, keelah it is an honor to meet you both." He extended his hand.

John shook it. "Hi, um, you are…?"

The man facepalmed his visor. "Ancestors! I apologize! My name is Fari'Tirn. I am the team leader here."

"Uh, 'team leader'?"

He cocked his head, confused. "Yes, for the…construction team?"

"Fari'Tirn, what are you doing here?"

"Uh, admiral…did Mister Vakarian not tell you?"

That was the confirmation that John needed. Laughing, he explained to Tali. "Um, Tali? This is Garrus's 'surprise'." She still hadn't looked at him, she was still focused on the other workers. John turned her face toward him. "They're building our house."

As it turned out, Liara had shared their plans for a house (which she had gotten from Tali) with Garrus. Garrus had then spoken with Sila - Admiral Koris's daughter - who had arranged for an entire construction team to do just that.

Sometimes it was about who you knew.

And now they were building the Shepards a home, per their own designs.

"No, Fari, he did not," Tali spat. Then more quietly, "the little bosh'tet…" She laughed, not knowing what else to do.

So they stood there in mildly stunned silence, John with his hands on his hips and Tali with her hand to her vocalizer.

A little confused, but laughing quietly just the same, Fari turned back to the site itself, consulting his omnitool and pointing out instructions to the others.

Tali turned to him, tears occasionally bubbling down her face.

"John, I am really going to miss them."

Her words hit him hard, a true gut punch if there ever was one. "Yeah, Tali. Me too."

Tentatively, they walked a circle around the foundation that was being laid, saying hello to the workers. A shuttle landed nearby, revealing a few more workers and more materiel.

Once again talking with Fari, it sure seemed like their home - keelah, their home - would likely be completed in just a few weeks.

"Okay, Fari, that's good. We're in the city so we're not far. And if there's anything…" John didn't really know what to say anymore.

He laughed. "Of course, John'Shepard. Do not worry. We know what we're doing."

"Right, yes…I'm sure you…"

He never actually finished the thought. Tali nodded to the lead architect then grabbed John's hand, tugging him away and toward the cliff that overlooked the grand vista. The sun was still behind them, casting quite a shadow across much of the scene below. Only the farthest end of the lake and its feeding stream cast back the sunlight.

"John, it's so pretty."

He sighed with a soft smile. "Yeah, Tali. It is."

"So, Mister vas Rannoch, do you want to go see what's down this path?"

"Ha! You beat me to it, Tal." He pulled her to him, wrapping her in his arms. She placed her hands on his shoulders.

John set his forehead to the now familiar position against her visor, looking eye-to-eye.

"Yeah, let's go do that."

They each cast one more glance at the workers that were constructing their home before giving Fari a little wave. After he returned it with a smile that even John picked up on, they started down their little path. Hand-in-hand, they headed down the path that cut its way down to the lake that had so captivated him. It would now captivate them both.

Together, they walked off into a new world that was sure to be nothing like the old one.