When Tina woke up, she was lying on a beach towel under the big umbrella Bobby had set up in the sand. "I'm glad he put that up or I'd have a bad sun burn," she thought. She sat up and looked out into the water. David and Hannah were doing their best to pull their father down into the water, but were not having much success. She waited until both kids were pulling on him then threw a gentle biotic push at his chest. Bobby went under with a splash and the kids cheered, "We did it!" Tina laughed.
Bobby came out of the water smiling and said, "Looks like sleepyhead woke up."
"That's mommy sleepyhead to you," Tina replied.
Bobby motioned for her to come out into the water. "Only if you give me your word you're not going to dunk me," she said, but she was already reaching for her big hat and sunglasses.
"That thought never crossed my mind," Bobby said with a devious smile.
"Right," she said as she got up. The sand was warm but not too hot and became wonderfully cool as she entered the water. As she got close to Bobby she smiled and said, "It was for the children."
"Uh-huh. Sure, it was," Bobby replied as he wrapped his arms around her. She was prepared, expecting him to just fall backwards while holding on to her. Instead, he kissed her. "But that makes up for it," he said.
Tina started to reply, but David said, "Gross!"
"Nuh-uh," Hannah said. "Mommy and Daddy kiss cause they're in love."
"It's still gross," David said.
Tina picked him up and kissed. "Yuk mommy," he said and she sat him down. Hannah was right there looking up at her so Tina picked up her up and kissed her. She looked up at the beach house, then woke up. She laid there for a minute, the details of the dream fading but the feeling of happiness still present. She decided to get an early start and rolled out of bed.
Bobby had been lying in bed awake for about fifteen minutes. For the first time, he was contemplating what being stuck here would mean. He liked Shepard, but he supposed nearly everyone who met her did. She had told him about people who didn't like her, but those seemed anomalies to him. He also believed she had come to consider him a friend. But they had only been here six months, what if they were here six years. Every little idiosyncrasy might get annoying. "Of course, it might go the other way," he thought, and the thought made him laugh.
"SAI, any unusual readings this morning?" Bobby asked, as he did every morning.
"No, Lt. Commander. Simulation parameters are within the nominal range," SAI answered.
"What did you just say?"
"Situation parameters are within the normal range."
"SAI, run a self-diagnostic check and let me know the results," Bobby said. This wasn't the first time SAI had chosen the wrong word when responding to Bobby. Bobby might have been more suspicious of the word choice if it had been. As it was, he was concerned that SAI was malfunctioning, even though self-diagnostics had shown no issues ever time SAI had run them. Bobby wished he had a lab where he could perform his own checks on SAI's hardware and code, but the necessary equipment to do so was one of the few things he wanted that the beach house didn't seem to have.
"Self-diagnostic check complete. All systems are functioning normally," SAI reported.
"Thank you, SAI," Bobby said, and went to get dressed.
When Bobby got downstairs, Tina was already eating and was watching an instructional vid for the Tango on her datapad. "I should probably get a copy of that," Bobby said.
"Yes, you should," she said and sent a copy to his omni-tool. The transfer took longer than it should have and Bobby told her, "SAI has been acting up this morning."
After the morning run, Tina suggested that they skip the piano and guitar that day and instead spend the morning reviewing the vid. That way after lunch they could jump right into trying to master the steps of the tango. Watching the vid, and seeing how intricate the leg movements were, Bobby commented, "My ass is going to end up on the floor again, isn't it?"
Tina scowled at him and said, "Maybe before we start dancing," but he saw the laughter in her eyes.
Like most of their activities, they dressed casually when they danced, especially when they were first learning a dance. Bobby would wear a loose shirt with casual pants and a pair of loafers with slick soles. Tina would wear a loose top over tights and a loose skirt. She would wear flat shoes until she was comfortable with the footwork and then would then switch to heels. The tango, in this regard, was no different than the other dances they learned.
What was different about the tango was that Bobby was learning along with her. This meant he was as likely to trip her as she was to trip him. While neither did end up on the floor, there were several times that they stumbled. In each case, one of them had managed to maintain enough balance to keep both up.
They still laughed at their missteps, but Bobby could tell that Tina was taking getting this right more seriously than she had the other dances. The tango, he recognized, if they got it right, would require the most coordinated effort of anything they had done, dancing or playing. They were also working on complicated musical pieces, but Bobby was struggling to keep up with Tina on these pieces. He could play well enough to complement what she played, but there wasn't interaction between the instruments. So, if connection between them was the key to finding or unlocking the channel, then the tango seemed the most likely activity to create that connection.
They spent a couple of hours a day dancing and an additional hour or so looking at different training vids. In reviewing the different training vids, they had come to realize the introductory video they started with did not convey the complexity of the dance. It was a month before Tina was confident enough in her movements to wear heels for the tango. Tina's stated goal to Bobby was that they become proficient at an intermediate level. By the estimates she could find that meant close to two hundred hours of dancing the tango.
There were days when they danced the other dances they had learned and occasional days when they took a break and didn't dance at all. Nearing the end of the third month, they had put in over one hundred fifty hours of practice with the tango. Tina felt she was probably being optimistic, but she felt like they had reached proficiency at an intermediate level.
At dinner that night, she told Bobby, "I think we are at the level I was hoping to reach."
"Still not able to find the channel?" He asked?
"No. If it's still there, I can't feel it," Tina said. "I'm beginning to think this isn't going to work either, Bobby. Maybe the channel just closed after we came through and there's nothing to find."
Bobby sensed the resignation in Tina's voice. He had realized during their talks how the Reaper War had weighed on her. She didn't sleep well during the war, she had admitted, and there was always something else to do; a base to secure; a treaty to broker; an artifact to retrieve; or some other task. She was convinced that she had brought them here and that she would have to get them out. With the war over, she should have had some down time to relax and recuperate, but he had pushed. And for what? He had far less reason to return than she did.
"Tina, don't beat yourself up over this. Maybe we've been pushing too hard. We should take a break for a while and recharge and then after a couple of weeks we can think about what our options are. Fresh rested eyes might see something we can't see now because we've been too close to the problem," Bobby said.
"Thanks, Bobby. Maybe you're right. I'm tired and I could use some time to recharge. Let's take a couple of weeks and then regroup."
After dinner, they decided to sit out front and watch the shadow of the house grow long across the grass. The night was a little on the cooler side and they both were drinking hot tea. They sat quietly most of the time and as it grew dark Tina leaned and put her head on Bobby's shoulder. "If you don't mind," she said.
Bobby smiled and instinctively kissed her forehead, not realizing what he was doing until after it was done. "No, I don't mind at all," he replied as he wrapped his arm around her shoulder. They sat like that until the tea was gone and then sat like that a while longer. Finally, Tina gently brushed his cheek with her lips and said, "Thanks, Bobby. I think some time to rest is going to be a good thing. I'm going to go get some sleep."
Both got up and moved into the house. At the foot of the stairs Bobby offered to take her cup. "I'll take these and get them cleaned up. You go on up and get some rest."
She smiled, handed him the cup, and went up the stairs. At the top, she turned around to find he was still standing there looking at her.
"Have a good night, Tina. Sleep well."
"You too, Bobby."
Tina sat up and straightened the beach towel, glad to be under shade of the big umbrella Bobby had set up in the sand. She looked out into the water and saw David and Hannah trying to pull their father down into the water. She waited until both kids were pulling on him then threw a gentle biotic push at his chest. Bobby went under with a splash and the kids cheered, "We did it!" Tina laughed.
Bobby came out of the water smiling and said, "Looks like sleepyhead woke up."
"That's mommy sleepyhead to you," Tina replied.
Bobby motioned for her to come out into the water. "So, you can dunk me? I don't think so, mister."
"You think I only want revenge? I'm hurt," Bobby said. Tina put on her big hat and sunglasses and started out towards them.
The sand was warm but not too hot and became wonderfully cool as she entered the water. As she got close to Bobby she smiled and said, "Remember, it was for the children."
"Sure, you got no enjoyment out of it at all," Bobby replied as he wrapped his arms around her. She knew what was coming and leaned into his kiss. "My revenge has been extracted," he said.
Tina started to reply that he could exact that revenge anytime, but before she could David said, "Gross!"
"Nuh-uh," Hannah said. "Mommy and Daddy kiss cause they're in love."
"It's still gross," David said.
Tina picked him up and kissed. "Yuk mommy," he said and she sat him down. Hannah was right there looking up at her so Tina picked up her up and kissed her too. She didn't want to turn around because she knew when she saw the house she'd wake up. But she turned anyway and woke up lying on the bed.
She'd had the dream several times now; more times than she remembered, and she remembered quite a few. It would vary a little but she always dunked Bobby; he always kissed her; and the kids would comment. She considered getting up and going down to Bobby's room, but she wanted, maybe at this point needed, a more active participant. Even if a little push was required to make him more active. "Maybe," she thought, "one more day of dancing before the break."