After a month, the excursions away from the house slowed. Neither Shepard nor Edwards thought there was much value to be gained from the trips. Most days they would start with a run along the beach completing what Edwards thought of as "the circle" at least once but more for exercise than a search for a way out. The way out did not appear to lie in exploring what now seemed to be their small world.

On the days when they stayed around the house they started out spending most of the day apart. In addition to the runs on the beach they would spend some time in the exercise room together, and Edwards was impressed with just how strong Shepard was. But after the morning workouts they would pursue other activities.

Edwards had the guitar, but rarely touched it until just before going to bed. Playing was something he did to calm himself, just as it had been since he first started playing. For a while in high school he played for the reason most guys pick up the guitar. But after joining the Alliance it went back to being a private activity. He knew he wasn't a great player, but he had learned to play well enough that the instrument didn't usually frustrate him.

His main daytime activity was research. He would read up on mass effect theory; alternate dimensions; worm-holes; black holes; and anything related to quantum physics. He would have killed to have been able to talk to Jill about this as she was so much better at the theoretical stuff. There might be clues in the books as to where they were and how to get out, but Edwards was worried he didn't know enough to recognize them. Anything he thought might be relevant he had SAI catalog and evaluate. Unfortunately, SAI seemed less helpful with this information than he had with data related to Cerberus and the Reapers.

Edwards was also a little disappointed that Shepard wasn't taking a more active interest in solving their problem. He knew she wasn't technically oriented, but thought she could have at least tried. Instead, Shepard had found some vids on learning the piano, and started practicing. Shepard had told him that Liara had taught her to play a song on a piano in Shepard's apartment on the Citadel. With that simple starting point, she had picked up the basics quickly. What Edwards didn't know was that the practice and the music helped Shepard focus. She was trying to feel their environment with her biotics; to see if she might sense something that their normal senses and SAI's sensors had missed.

Sometimes when they were eating dinner Tina would ask Bobby if he'd seen the Loch Ness Monster yet. He frequently read sitting on the deck and sometimes out on the beach. She had caught him a few times just staring out across the water. He would do this when he'd read something that he couldn't quite grasp and needed to think about. "No, not yet," was always his reply to her.

"Too bad," she'd say. "We could use a little excitement." He would give her what she thought of as an "are you crazy" look and she'd smile or wink at him to indicate she wasn't serious.

After dinner, they would frequently sit and talk. Edwards looked forward to these times as Shepard would talk about meeting Ashley Williams, or rescuing Liara, or Garrus taking a rocket to the face, or fighting her clone. She would get lost in the story and it was clear she missed her friends. Her team had forged their bonds in battle and they were deep, strong bonds.

Edwards missed Sun and Juarez as well but not as strongly as she did. He still missed Claudia, but he tried not to think about her. Mainly, though he did not get to see them often, Bobby worried about not seeing his family. He thought that by now they must have assumed he was dead. Sometimes, he still wasn't sure that he wasn't dead.

One-night Shepard got Edwards talking about ICT and which led him into discussing how he had met Claudia. Edwards talked about how Claudia had stood out in their group, "Much, I imagine, like you did in yours. Though she didn't have your leadership gift. She wasn't a bad leader, but I doubt she would have inspired a team to go through the Omega 4 relay." Bobby and Claudia had become friends almost right away because Claudia had been looking for someone with engineering skills to supplement her biotics in battle.

When he finished talking about the meeting Claudia, Edwards asked Shepard how she had met Kaidan. She talked about getting the assignment as the executive officer on the Normandy under then Captain Anderson and that Kaidan was assigned there as well. "Anderson gave the Normandy over to me when I became a Spectre and I spent time trying to get to know the crew, particularly the field team members. Kaidan and I hit it off."

She talked about being confronted by Kaidan and Liara and said, "I had to apologize to Liara for giving her the wrong impression. I love her and Tali like sisters and usually chose the two of them for critical missions. With that, the melding Liara and I did to understand the Prothean beacon, and what I now know were misleading discussions, she took that sisterly affection for something more. Once the air was clear, though, everything was fine, especially between Kaidan and I."

Without any details, she acknowledged that she and Kaidan had been "intimate" before going to Ilos and that after stopping Saren their relationship continued. She felt it was going well and was starting to think that he might be the one she could settle down with until, "the Collectors destroyed the Normandy and I died. Liara retrieved my body and gave it to Cerberus because they told her they could bring me back. Turns out they were right but it took two years and during that time Kaidan thought I was dead. I think I've told you the rest, about Horizon and Mars."

Edwards could see the tears in her eyes. He reached over and laid his hand on the back of her hand and said, "I'm sorry, Commander. I shouldn't have brought it up."

"It's okay, Bobby. I know I need to grieve, for him and for Anderson; for Thane and Legion as well." Shepard paused, turned her hand over and squeezed his and then pulled hers away. "And it's time you dropped the 'ma'am' and the 'Commander.' I'm Shepard to just about everyone." She gave him a little smile, and said, "I'm going to call it a night, Bobby. See you in the morning."

Bobby wouldn't have been surprised to find out that it was a couple of hours before she went to sleep. She sat on the side of the bed, tissues in hand, crying for the friends she had lost. Just when she thought she was done she'd see the look on Kaidan's face as he lay dying on the Citadel, and the tears would come again.

For a couple of weeks following, both avoided bringing up subjects related to their military careers. Instead they talked of parents and childhood friends; times far enough back that any pain associated with the memories had dulled. Shepard commented on one of these nights that Bobby seemed to be drinking less.

"I saw a sign in a bar once," he told her, "that said, 'if you're drinking to forget, please pay in advance.' Well, I realized I was drinking to forget and that it wasn't working. It's not been easy as the Thessia Red goes down like water but I have enough trouble understanding those books when I don't have a hangover."

A couple of days later he came back into the house earlier than normal and heard her playing the piano. He went into the room and when she finished the song he applauded. "I should be upset. I've been playing the guitar for years and I'm not half that good."

"Thanks," she replied. "but since I spend most of the day here I hope I'm getting better. How are things going for you? Have you found anything helpful?"

Bobby frowned slightly, "No, not really. There's too much foundational knowledge that I'm missing. I'd hoped SAI could help with that but it's not really what I built him for and he's not been helpful. If I could figure out what to look for I could probably tweak my omni-tool to do the scan but I don't have a clue on what I should be scanning for and the books aren't helpful. Anything on multiple realities that I can understand is largely conjecture mixed with sensationalism. Anything that talks about the subject seriously gets into theories that I don't really grasp."

"Don't burn yourself out," Shepard said. "Take some time off and maybe it will come easier when you get back into it."

"That's why I'm in early today. I decided to take a break from quantum physics and mass effect theory and just relax with an old novel. I'll get back to the deeper stuff in a couple of days." Bobby paused, then said, "Sorry to interrupt. I'll let you get back to playing."

"It's okay. You really think I'm good, Bobby?" Shepard asked?

"Well, I wouldn't quit your day job," he said, "but I predict Liara will be very impressed when the next time she hears you play." Both wondered if that day would ever come, but they were trying to remain optimistic about their chances of getting home.