A/N: As of 9/30/22, I've made some adjustments to correct continuity errors in Piara's convo with Tali about getting together to "meet" Shep. I adjusted a few lines to have this make more sense, because Piara, Hulli, and Aril would have ALREADY met Shep, but they hadn't really gotten a chance to know him better. That should've been (and is now) the primary thrust of the conversation.

This one apologizes.

John Shepard didn't trust the quarians. They were conniving, underhanded, devious…they were planning something. He was sure that they were, judging by the quiet that assaulted him from all angles. He expected an attack that would break the heretofore tingling silence at any time, from any place and angle. Worse still?

He was unarmed.

This would, by almost any other measure, be a very bad thing, since his opponents were not. But "special circumstances" dictated that he not be.

At least, not yet.

Which led him back to the alpha problem: these quarians were gunning for him.

As they should be.

Of course, it wasn't like he was being assailed with live ammo. If anything, this fiasco reminded him of a game he used to play as a kid - "laser tag". Instead of armor, he was decked out in a full body suit, synced to the firearms being wielded by said untrustworthy quarian marines. A hit would light him up, and each area of his body had a designated number of "points" attached to it. Hit him enough to cross that threshold (conveniently for him, it was set at one hundred), and the game was over. All Shepard had were his wits and his biotics. At least for now. On the plus side, if he struck any quarian marine - even once - with a biotic power, that marine was done and out of the "game."

So far, he'd taken out three of the six marines and had been hit just once, but it was for a hefty twenty points. Still a wild success as far as he was concerned.

He pressed his weight into the low wall that acted as cover. He checked the map of the area on his omnitool. Then he retreated into himself.

He listened.

There was a shuffling of feet, at six o'clock directly behind him and the high narrow wall. Another marine muttered "keelah" at eight o'clock. But where was the third? Pulling up a mental picture of their little arena, he recalled that there were a few small crates lying about. He was going to use them.

Hopping up for less than a second, he fired off a biotic push at one of the crates to his right - in his previous position, it would've been near eight o'clock. As expected, the jittery keelah-muttering marine jumped up from behind cover. Before he could even level the rifle, Shepard hit him with a shockwave, hurtling him through the air as the sound of his dropped rifle clattering to the ground filled the air. Shepard was gone before he hit the ground.

Having never really faced a biotic before, the team of six marines had initially sought to overwhelm the former Spectre, thinking that a 6-v-1 scenario was easy pickings. He didn't necessarily blame them, of course. A lifetime of playing defense (then a bit of offense at the end) against the machines had left the majority of quarian marines simply unequipped - or rather, unaccustomed - to fighting an opponent armed with the physics-breaking abilities that a biotic could wield. A singularity and biotic push later, he'd eliminated two of them in less than a minute. The third had gone down by way of a somewhat risky maneuver. Shepard had never been much of an infiltrator, but he was still mightily quiet when he had to be. He'd sent out a light biotic "push" along the ground, trying to mimic a poorly executed sneaking attempt. The movement of soil and rock had been enough to jar the nearest marine out from behind cover to fire, only to find that there was no one there. Which is when Shepard "pushed" him, too. Unfortunately, one of the other two marines had popped up as well and managed to hit Shepard once in the shoulder.

Hence: twenty points.

But now it was just 2-v-1, and Shepard still wasn't sure where the other marine was. This was going to be a much tougher proposition, he figured. The real advantage he had was time: the marines were on a ten-minute clock.

"Surely a squad of six marines can handle one unarmed, gimpy, human biotic?" Han'Gerrel had rhetorically baited the squad, knowing full well that Shepard was far from "gimpy". He wasn't the force-of-nature that he once was, but he didn't have to be.

They had truly believed that they could handle said "gimpy human biotic". Han had not been convinced, and as he and Shepard had thought this could go, the marines were facing an uphill battle for outright victory, even with the man advantage. All Shepard had to do was wait them out, which meant that they would have to be the aggressors.

The timer beeped in his ear. There was one human minute left - John had no idea yet what that was in quarian terms.

Just add it to the list of things I'll be able to take the time for now. Haha, "time".

Despite his quick lapse into thought, he was aware of the sudden sound of movement behind and to his left. He popped his head out for a fraction of a second. They were both converging on his position, one to his left and the other to his right. With an eighty-point cushion, he was going to take a chance.

He rolled out from cover, wincing at the pain in his ankle and shoulder as he did so. He immediately exchanged the "roll" for a tight crouch, catching the marine by surprise. In the space of time that the reaction gave him, Shepard sent him flying with a low-level biotic shockwave. He heard the other marine respond to his left, and he came up from behind the barrier that he'd used to cover his left from the marine that he figured was there. As Shepard sent out another biotic throw, he felt the telltale buzzing of a hit against him - right shoulder this time. It didn't matter. There was a yelp of surprise as the last marine was sent tumbling backwards.

Shepard had not missed.

With the game over (with 11 seconds to spare, thank you very much), the biotic limped around the battlefield to help the last two marines to their feet.

"So, they're getting better at handling biotics in the field, I think." He pulled out the visual recording of that morning's first training session, it was one from which he emerged completely unscathed. "Here, look at this." He punched up the time index of 13.17. "So, this is when I threw the shockwave out to group alpha." Han nodded along. "And here," he pushed forward by less than a second, "you can see Tapol and Mari duck back behind cover. So, they did well with that. Their reaction time is definitely improving."

"Yes, I agree. They're getting more accustomed to the 'tells' of a biotic, instead of the rhythm of firearms."

"Yes, and eventually, I'll incorporate those as well."

John was slowly finding the warm, dry air of Rannoch becoming more comfortable. The long days were still something of a mess, and his sleeping patterns were pretty well fucked. To be fair, he didn't mind that so much, since Tali had some odd sleeping patterns of her own. He realized that she'd spent most of the last few months aboard a human ship (predicated on a 24-hour cycle), and then a few weeks on Earth. He figured that a 24-hour day cycle had actually started to settle in for her as well, and now they were on Rannoch with its decidedly longer days. Of the two of them, he thought that she was adapting far more quickly to the longer days to be had on Rannoch, which made sense of course. In any case, he didn't mind the transition so much - it made for plenty of opportunities to ensure that the decon unit was functioning properly.

Which it was. And they had tested it. Repeatedly.

He thought that it was at least helping him to cope while he slowly adapted to the unfamiliar day/night cycle of Rannoch. He liked to think that it was at least part of the reason why he was able to help with this training. Which, in turn was why he was able to work with Han'Gerrel at all.

"Tell me, Shepard: How is the ankle?"

The human grimaced, reaching down to rub at the sore and slightly swollen joint. "Yeah, well maybe I'm going to have to dial back the training a little bit, admiral. I, uh, may have gotten a bit too 'enthusiastic' out there."

Han'Gerrel rested his elbows on the table as he spoke. "Then I expect you to see our doctor before you leave," he said with a finger pointed at him to underline his words. "While I may not be able to 'order' you in the traditional means, do not consider this to be a request." He gestured to the vid display. "At any rate, the marines are improving against biotics, but a bit of vid study and tactical reappraisals - as well as some traditional firearms drills - certainly won't hurt for the next few days, or weeks, as the case may be. And besides," he took a drink of whatever he had in his sealed thermos, "I dare not anger Tali at your expense. Keelah, she will be coming for my head next."

John couldn't help but chuckle at the admiral. "No, I'd definitely like to avoid a raging Tali if I can. But getting back on task, when do you think we should incorporate firearms as well? I was thinking perhaps next month?"

His quarian counterpart chewed on the notion for a moment. "Hmmm, that's good, Shepard. I think a month more of training and study would do them, and your ankle, well." They were sitting at what John would have loosely described as a "picnic table". He and Han'Gerrel were sharing a meal and going over the recent training session. Han took a swallow of his lunch from his food tube. "You know, Shepard, I was not on board with you helping to train our marines when Zaal first brought up the idea."

Swallowing a bite of the nutrition bar that he had stockpiled, Shepard considered this before responding.

Well, I suppose I shouldn't be surprised. He's a proud man, and the quarian marines had held their own against the likes of the Geth and who knows what the fuck else without the benefit of a home, a base, or any other means of support. Why would they need the help of some asshole human?

"I get it, admiral. I do. Your marines have always fought bravely and well against all comers - pirates, Geth, hell, even Cerberus - why the hell would you need me?"

Han actually cracked a smile. "You surprise me. You are…respectful of us. It is not an attitude that I'm accustomed to seeing. Perhaps that is partly why Tali could not help herself."

John smirked, cocking an eyebrow. "Help herself?"

He raised his hands apologetically, physically conveying his innocence. "I mean no disrespect, of course. Your respect to others, to us, to her is a reason why she could not help but love you, I suppose." He took a deep breath. "I am not ashamed to admit that I was wary of your kind - and you - for a long time. In some ways, I suppose I still am. After all," he produced a rueful smile, "your first interaction with us was to see your friend and crewmate given a sham trial. And then you shouted us down." Han laughed at the thought of Shepard's display. "You were right, of course, but I found you to be pompous, arrogant, and a damn good captain who was worthy of the title."

Shepard replied with a laugh. "Well, for what it's worth, Tali had always spoken highly of you. But, uh, I also did not really like being fired upon."

Han shook his head. "Yes, that. I suppose I deserved that, too. If you had come onto the Neema shouting that way to me, you would have gotten far worse. But, Shepard, you have to understand that we were desperate and I had to make a -"

Shepard raised his hand, stopping his counterpart in his tracks. "Admiral, there's no need, sir. We've been over this. There's a saying we have: 'water under the bridge.' It basically means that we've passed the incident already, and we've moved on. There's no need to bring it up again."

Blushing in embarrassment, Shepard stopped for a moment, adding to his admission after realizing what he'd done. "And, uh, I apologize, because I'm the idiot that brought this up in the first place. If anything, I should be chastising myself." Still, the exchange gave him pause.

Is this really the same man that gave Tali such a hard fucking time when we were on Earth? He seems almost…more melancholy than angry.

"Admiral, if I may, I'd like to ask a question," he prodded.

Tapping his finger, Han tilted his head, apparently considering. "Hmm. Very well."

"I can't help but notice that - if you'll forgive the presumption - you seem much…'calmer', I suppose, than I expected you to be. From what Tali had told me, you had seemed far more on edge after, uh, after Earth, sir. I can only presume that this - this very pleasant conversation that I'm having with you - is much more in-line with your character, and I -"

It was Han'Gerrel's turn to raise a pausing hand. "Shepard, if you're asking why I was such a bosh'tet to you and Tali and…" He sighed ruefully. "And everyone else…well, I'm going to let you in on a secret that might help explain it."

"Admiral, I'm all ears."

"I'm sorry - 'all ears'?"

John chuckled. "Sorry, it's another human expression. It means that you have my undivided attention."

"Ah. Very well." He shifted uncomfortably. "We were at the final battle, Shepard. And I'd just ordered the Neema to ram the Reaper bosh'tet in front of us." He saw Shepard frown. "We were willing to die, of course, to protect Rannoch. We knew that if the battle was lost then we were all doomed, with the time and the manner in which it transpired being the only variables. But your Admiral Hackett intervened, telling us to fall back because the 'Crucible' was armed." He nodded in Shepard's direction. "That was likely your doing. So, we pulled back on his orders…"

Am I ready to hear this again? Am I prepared to shrug it off like destroying the Reapers was just another day at the office? That I had left Tali alone? To die?

Damn it.

I'm not so sure.

But that other voice called on him to brace himself, to muster the strength:

Suck it up, soldier.

"And…when the wave started to hit everything…we saw what it was doing to the Reapers. But then I saw what it was doing to the Geth, as well as the signal that they sent out."

Shepard held out hope that Gerrel was perhaps saddened by the loss of life.

"I felt shame and anger, Shepard. I was ashamed that I had not finished the job myself. I was angry at you - damn it, I loathed you - for having done what I was unable to do. And it turned out that both presumptions were wrong."

Well, there it is. Worst case scenario confirmed.

John swallowed hard with the question that he could not help but ask.

"Gerrel, why?"

Immediately, Shepard got the distinct impression that he had erred in the asking. Han's body language shifted and twisted as it now conveyed a far darker mood.

Han rested his subtly shaking hands on the table, glaring into Shepard's eyes with a flaming, if not a little reluctant, loathing. "Because, John'Shepard…I made a promise. And it was one that you, directly and indirectly, did not allow me to keep." With a shake of his head, Han gathered up what remained of his lunch. "We will not speak of this again. Do inform me when your injuries have sufficiently healed to resume live training, please." And with that, he turned and stalked away with his head hung low.

Immediately, Shepard thought back to that terrible mission to rescue Toombs from the biotics. Even after these years and Tali helping him through it then, it still stung. How could it not? He got the sickening feeling of déjà vu here that he'd just done something damningly similar.

The result sure seemed to indicate as much.

He sat there slack jawed for a few eternal moments, unable to process what Han might have implied. With a flash of his own anger, Shepard pounded a fist encased in blue fire on the table.

"Damn it!"

It really was a well-built ship, despite the work that Admiral Tali'Shepard had ordered be done. Because while it was well-built and had some impressive pieces of tech installed, it was not as uniform in its "robustness" as Tali wanted it to be.

"Tali, why are we doing this again?"

"Because, you bosh'tet, I don't intend to be doing this for very long -"

"You mean being an admiral?"

"Yes Piara, that. And when I'm done, I expect this ship to be the finest in the fleet. Keelah, I want it to rival the Normandy."

Her friend and pilot glanced away from her own work, wagging a wrench in Tali's direction. "I understand that that's quite a tall order, even for you."

Tali shot her an angry look - in jest, but not entirely. "Not just me, Pia. There are quite a few of us working on this project, and I think we can get it done."

Piara blushed a little before forming a small smirk. For someone who didn't wish to lead, she sure seemed like she had a knack for it. Even elbow-deep in this ship herself, Admiral Shepard still praised everyone else on the project.

"Now, Piara'Ziem," Tali began forcefully, "do you have the flow threads connected yet?" The lesser known, and sterner "Admiral Shepard" had made her return in short order.

That just transformed Piara's smirk into a full and genuine smile. "Not yet, ma'am. I'm…almost…there." With a few grunts and twists, she let out a sigh. "Ah, there we go!"

The two of them, along with another tech team inside, were presently working on Tali's ship, the Tilgrap, trying to install a few minor (and one major) hardware upgrades. It would have been easy, and perhaps expected, for Tali to have delegated the task - she was an admiral, after all. For her though, there was something so damn satisfying about getting hands-on with the task herself. She felt invigorated, she felt useful.

Garrus might have said that it was just like old times.

It was the strain of muscle, the full mental activation that she had missed the most. Tali had spent so much time as an "admiral", and during the war Adams was the chief engineer and she had spent much of her time interloping as some kind of free-range ambassador, that she hadn't quite realized how much she missed it.

"So Tali, what is he like? Shepard, I mean."

She poked her head out from the section of hull that she'd been working in. "What…what do you mean, Piara? Like…um…"

Her friend's eyes widened to dinner plates. "Oh keelah! Not like that, Tali! Just, you know…he's human. They've gotten a…reputation."

The admiral cocked her head. "What do you mean by 'reputation'? Like…I don't even know."

"Well, they, you know. They just 'came out of nowhere' and seem…" Whatever Piara was trying to say, it seemed that she didn't quite know how without potentially offending her friend and superior officer. "I guess the humans seemed impatient, and stubborn. I mean, they've only been around for thirty years and keelah, one of them already saved the galaxy." Meekly, she added a preemptive apology.

Tali wasted no time in jabbing at her with pointed - if innocent - laughter. "It's okay. I thought the same thing about humans too. But…what we didn't understand is that they're just different, Pia. They are individuals, without the sense of…'community obligation?' that we share." She hoped that she was making some sense. "No two people are alike, usually it's not even close. But when they do pull together, they are remarkable." Remembering how her bondmate had treated her long before they were "together" always brought a smile to her face. "As for Shepard? He was just…Piara, he was always so kind to me. It was like he saw me for who I was, like he never even saw the mask." She straightened up, now looking at the pilot directly. "But when he needed to be a bosh'tet, he would. If it was toward me, it was usually because I'd…I'd said something that he thought was stupid."

Piara's frowned in mild confusion. "That seems a little harsh, Tali."

"No, not like…not like that. It was usually when I'd said something about myself that he didn't agree with. He's the only person I've ever met that had complete faith in me, and he made that crystal clear whenever I didn't. It was almost from the day we met. And well…it's obvious how I feel about him."

The pilot couldn't help but feel a warming sense of gratitude for this apparently remarkable human.

"So when do I meet him?"

"Wait…what? Well, uh…I…I don't know if he'd -"

"What? Want to meet me? Or Hulli and Aril? You know, really meet us? That business with going to the Array doesn't count." Piara was clearly having fun with Tali's discomfort.

Tali was flustered and flushed as she tried to backtrack and explain. "No, that's not what I meant. Keelah. I'll see what he wants to do." She was stammering again, tripping over her words with her composure in utter shambles. The admiral hadn't considered that she should actually properly introduce everyone, she was still so drunk on just having some time when it could just be her and John. "I'm s-sure he'd love to see you and the others! I'll…I can see what their duty shifts are. We don't have a…I mean, it's still under construction, but our apartment should be -"

Piara could no longer keep the lid on her laughter. Keelah, even now Tali was just so damn cute! "Tali! Goodness! I'm not asking to link suits! I just want us to meet the man!"

Now definitely embarrassed, she put her hands on her mask. "Ugh, I'm sorry. Maybe we could all get together and have dinner? Maybe we could play a game. There is one we like to play," Tali giggled remembering what Hulli had said to her, "it's called 'poker' and we can play it together - all of us."

Maybe without the clothing removal this time.

Something about her giggle gave Piara pause, but she wouldn't turn down the opportunity. "Okay, we can do that. Just tell me when."

"Okay, great. I'll see when the others will be available. I'll pull some rings if I have to." Something about that didn't sound quite right to Tali, but she shrugged it off. She probably got it right.

He rolled the video back again, not entirely sure what he was looking for - or at, for that matter. John was sitting at the small desk in their bedroom, wearing nothing but a pair of black athletic shorts with the video of their training session rolling backwards and forwards on the screen. He leaned down, rubbing his sore ankle that was now sheathed in a protective brace once again. Rubbing at his eyes as he shook his head, Shepard grimaced in obvious annoyance. The painkillers and anti-inflammatory meds hadn't quite kicked in yet. He was tired and overexerted with all of the biotic use from the earlier training sessions. He should have probably taken a nap, but his brain wouldn't shut up long enough for that.

Hell of a job, John. Seriously. You've been working with the man for two weeks and when it finally looks like you're making progress with him, you push that button? Clearly it was very personal, and it was fucking obvious that it was. But you had to go and ask that follow-up, didn't you? Couldn't leave well-enough alone, could you?

He ran the video forward by a few frames, seeing exactly when and how he'd hurt his ankle. There had been a loose rock that he'd landed on as he was ducking around to cover in the hopes of gaining a better vantage point. He cursed quietly, knowing that something like that would have never been a problem just a few months ago.

Unbelievable. A pop-up message appeared at the bottom of the screen. What the…

"Miranda?" He opened the message. He sighed as he read the first sentence. It was just as bad as he'd feared it would be.

Shepard -

I hope you're doing well. I heard about your wedding (I would have liked to have been there, but I couldn't get away for it), and I am very truly happy for you and Tali. I know you'll be curious, and me and Oriana are doing well. She decided to stay over in New Zealand - it's not far from where we grew up in Australia and thankfully the Reapers had up until then largely ignored the lesser-populated areas of the Pacific islands.

But that is not why I sent this.

My contact on Rannoch sent me some information, and I'm not pleased, Shepard.

Not at all.

"Ah, God damn it…" He really wasn't surprised to learn that Miranda had a "contact" on Rannoch. After all, she'd kinda warned him about it. He knew what was coming.

Did I hear correctly that you're training quarian marines? And that you're doing so in active, real drills? Now I don't care if you're "instructing", Shepard. I would actually be delighted to hear that.

But that's not what I heard.

I'm sure you'll recall that I know what your doctor told you to do; I know your medicine regimens, and I know that you should be wearing a brace -

"Don't worry, Miranda. I am."

And that you need to take it easy. If I hear that you're doing anything that does not adhere to that guidance, I will visit you personally. And while I'd love to see Tali, I expect that you would find my presence to be far less pleasant.

I hope I've made myself clear, Shepard.

Also, thank you again. For everything.

It's why I intend to be such a pain in your ass about shit like this.

- Miranda

Before he could stew over the not-so-thinly veiled threat, he heard the door slide open.

"Oh, keelah…" Came the defeated moan from the other room. This was followed by the unmistakable sigh of a very tired quarian.

His quarian.

"Hi Tali! I'm in the bedroom."

The sounds of heavy, burdened footsteps soon followed, and after a few moments he heard the exterior door to their room close and the decon unit buzz to life.

A few seconds later, in stepped said quarian as she immediately scanned the room with her omnitool. John watched her with a patented smirk.

After a quick nod, Tali didn't even bother with her mask. Instead the whole helmet came straight off and, dropping it to the floor, she took a few labored steps before she fell forward and plopped herself face first onto the bed.

Still sitting at his desk, John cocked an eyebrow. "Hi. Uh, rough day?"

He watched her roll her head to the side to face him. A few stray locks of her raven hair fell over her face. "John, I loved it. We were working on the ship today, installing the new hardware."

"Oh? Like what?"

"Well, you know the stealth drive I wanted to add?"

He laughed a little. Tali had made it no secret to him that one of the first things she wanted to install was a variant of the Normandy's stealth drive. Her design was at least partially inspired by what the Geth had envisioned. "Of course I do. It was all you could talk about aside from the ceremony and the house designs."

"Well, we got most of it installed and me and Piara were working…and, um, I might have overdone it."

"Overdone it? My Tali might have overdone it?" He chuckled as he approached the bed. "You know I used to find you asleep on the floor in engineering, right? On both ships, I'd add. So, I'm well-aware of your tendency to 'overdo' it." He was about to say some other snarky remark when Tali saw his exaggerated limp, then the brace that he wore around the ankle.

She pointed in the general direction of the braced ankle. "John, what did you do?" Her voice was both annoyed and concerned.

He sat down beside her with the "Get Out of Jail Free" smile, gently rubbing her shoulders. "I, uh, might have also overdone it today. And probably pissed off Han beyond repair, too. So, yeah. I also had a good day."

"Keelah, what happened?"

He huffed a long breath. "Well, I asked him why he had seemed like such an asshole to you and the other admirals, because he and I were getting along pretty well."

Planting her face firmly back into the mattress, he heard her groan. "Oh no."

He sighed. "Yeah. He told me that he was pissed at me for destroying the Geth. I had hoped that he really meant that he was sad that they were gone. But no, that wasn't it at all. He'd wanted to do it himself. But the kicker? I asked fucking why he'd wanted to. I wanted to know why he felt so strongly about it."

"What did he say?"

John sighed again, utterly defeated now. "He said that it was because he'd 'made a promise', Tali. He emphasized it. I think…I think that I touched a very sensitive nerve." He closed his eyes, shaking his head. "Wish I knew what the hell he meant."

"I'm sorry, John. I know you wanted to make it work with him." Groaning loudly, she shook her head, hair flying about in lazy strands.

John wasn't entirely certain if it was borne from fatigue, annoyance, or relief as he tried to rub the soreness from her body. In any case, she didn't bring the matter up again.

"Ancestors, everything hurts. Are we just old, John?"

He gave her one of those smirks of his. "Well, you know what they say. Age is just a number. I guess it goes both ways though." He tugged her boots off, tossing them to the nearest corner as Tali curled her toes instinctively. "I mean, you're what? Twenty-five? But, uh, I think it's safe to say that we've put on a lot of mileage." He watched her scrunch her face up in confusion. "I'll explain it later, okay? Now come on, Tal. Stand up and I'll help get you out of your suit. Then I'll really make you feel better."

"Oh, keelah, I can't -"

He held up his hands, declaring innocence. "Not what I meant. I was just going to rub you down. Then we could have some wine. Relax. Maybe watch -"

Her face brightened like a supernova. "Ooh, can we watch the latest episode of Nuts and Bolts? It's a show that's being made on the Lootha! It's all about -"

John gave her an amused smile; it was full of love. God, he would never ever get tired of seeing her light up over literally anything. "I'm going to guess it's engineering-related?"

Immediately Tali's face grew a touch more uncertain. Maybe he wasn't in the mood? "Um, we don't have to, if you…" She trailed off as he placed a quieting finger on her lips. She smiled around the touch.

"I'd love to." He pulled her up to her feet, beginning to unclasp her suit. "Now come on. We'll get showered and then I will make you feel great while I learn about plasma coolant battery converters or something."

Tali pulled him in for a deep kiss, hands roaming his chest. "John, that doesn't even…that isn't a thing."

Shrugging it off, he gave her one more adventurous smile as she shed the rest of the suit. He pulled her by the hand toward the shower. "Yeah. I know that."