The shuttle was full of noise as it lifted off, away from the Villa towards Galeao International Airport. The newly designated N1s chatting about their plans now they were free, scrolling through the personal omni-tools they had finally been reunited with and catching up on three months of emails and lost contact with the outside world.

Nikki was unusually quiet as she took in her empty inbox. Well, that wasn't entirely accurate, there was plenty of junk mail, and notifications from the Alliance confirming her commission and change of MOS. She tried not to read too much into it, but part of her couldn't help worry if Trish was still upset about her decision.

What if a lack of message now developed into a lack of Trish when she got back?

Trish had said she was ok with it but what if she'd changed her mind?

Or it might have been a test from the start and she'd failed and screwed up her relationship by putting her job first.

No, we talked about it, she might omit a detail and hide something from me but she'd never lie to my face. Then why... What if something's happened to her? She better be alright. Someone would have told me if she wasn't right?

Despite the communications ban at the Villa there were still emergency channels in case of a family death or disaster. In that situation the trainee would be called off somewhere private to be given the news and a choice: stay at the villa and keep with the training, or go home with an open invitation to start the course again at Day 2 with the next intake. It hadn't happened so Trish must be fine, but then why hasn't she...

Mind you the civilian still had a living family, just because the soldier had her girlfriend listed as emergency contact didn't mean the paperwork was mutual. If something had happened it would be up to Trish's mother whether or not to let her know.

Uncertainty swirled through her head as she raised her wrist to access her omni-tool once more, it looked like it was up to her to reinitiate communication but how to go about it? Prepare for the worst and hope for the best.

[Hey babe, really hope you're ok? I've not heard anyth} She stopped, deleting the half written message, hand reaching up to rub an eyebrow as she glared at the empty screen for inspiration.

...

Trish looked at the first message she'd received from Nikki in three, nearly four, months. As far as postings went the training course had actually been quite short. Sure she'd gotten used to her partner coming home on the weekends, but she'd always known it wouldn't last. That style of posting was the exception rather than the rule, and she'd been through much longer separations before.

Ok so they weren't actually going out during that first long ship posting back in '75 but Luna was six months, and after the scrambled response to the Skyllian Blitz it had been nine months before she saw her soldier again. This time had felt harder despite the relatively short duration.

Even during their most busy moments on Luna they'd managed at least one vid call a week and some form of communication each day.

Even during the Blitz, when they were so far apart and Nick was regularly engaged in combat assignments, they had managed to keep in semi regular contact via text based messaging.

So many times in the past 15 weeks she'd wanted to message Nikki, ask her how she was doing or some random insignificant question that popped into her mind. Share some bizarre fact or joke she'd heard that day, but she knew there was no communication allowed at the Villa and she hadn't wanted Nikki to be swamped with old messages when she finally got her 'tool back.

Didn't want the soldier to feel guilty about not replying when she hadn't been able to, or to worry that Trish could no longer handle being alone. She was a strong independent woman, she could cope just fine. Even if she did have an entire folder of unsent draft messages for the other woman.

None of which mattered now, the long wait was over and she had the evidence in her hands.

[Hey Trish, hope you're ok, I made it! So I know you probably want to hear all about it, (or maybe you don't, I don't actually know). Anyway, we can talk (or not) as much as you want when I get back. I learnt all kinds of new stuff while I was away, even did a bit on codes and ciphers, of course you're much cleverer than me so I'm sure you can break any code I use, why don't you take a look?]

There followed a vast array of tiny pictures, it had taken Trish awhile to decipher them to begin with. The first sequence were a picture of an eye, a box with a tick in it and a white building that looked quite fancy with a veranda out front.

Eye, tick, fancy building... I passed villa!

Then there was a new line with another set: Wave, sheep, email sign, aeroplane, question mark.

Sea ewe at plane? See you at the airport?

Next was an old fashioned analogue watch face that Trish really hoped was showing the correct time for when Nikki's plane was due to arrive or else she could be waiting forever. Then another eye, a heart and a sheep. I love you.

The final line took her awhile to work out, but gave her the biggest grin when she did.

At least, she was 80% certain she'd translated correctly, she doubted she'd have worked it out if she hadn't been raised part military. It was a rectangular shaped platter with a block of butter on it followed by a shepherd's crook. She copy and pasted the last two images into a new message before pausing to think about her reply.

...

The nervousness Nikki had felt since leaving the villa had only doubled after sending the message and tripled once more when she finally heard the notification signifying a reply. It all faded the moment she opened it and saw the neat little pictograms inside.

Butter bar, shepherd's crook. Wave, sheep, email sign, watch face. Heart... The last word was the only one in the message to be typed out using traditional letters, presumably her girlfriend couldn't think of a relevant picture.

[Lieutenant Shepard. See you at eight. Love Trish]

While she loved the fact Trish had taken the time to keep her little game going, she suddenly found herself lacking the necessary patience and hurriedly typed out:

[See, told you you were clever. Love you too - Nikki]

[Wow, quick reply. Where are you? You free to call?]

As soon as she'd read it Shepard was hitting the dial button, barely a single ring passing before her girlfriend answered.

"I'm at the airport in Rio and no, I definitely can't call right now."

"Idiot. Please tell me that isn't actually how spec ops encrypts their secret messages?"

"I could tell you but then I'd have to quote cliche vid lines at you." The glorious laugh was somehow an even sweeter sound than she remembered. "So uh hey, I've been thinking... if it's alright with you can we go out somewhere when I get back? I mean, not necessarily straight away, the instant I get off the plane get back, but at some point while I'm home? I want to take you on a date. It's been ages since I've done something nice for you."

Trish smiled at the slight undercurrent of hesitancy in Nikki's voice as if she was worried about the civilian saying no. As if.

"Of course we can! Do you have anything in particular in mind or is it supposed to be a surprise?"

"Ah, about that... can you plan it? I did check a few things out but there's no decent concerts this weekend and no biotiball games and I kind of ran out of ideas of things you'd like to do."

"Wouldn't that make it me taking you on a date?"

"No, I want to take you out. I'm paying for everything, you just get to choose where to go, make sure we actually do something you'll enjoy. Bonus points if you manage to look surprised when we turn up."

Trish shook her head with a chuckle. My girlfriend, the last romantic.

"You really can't think of anything I'd enjoy?"

"Well, I don't actually know what San Francisco has to offer. I mean I know some great bars and clubs, but I can't dance and I'm not supposed to drink anymore so that kind of rules them out. And I know about the hills and trams but that's not exactly date material is it? And we did Alcatraz before I went off to Luna..." She shrugged even though Trish couldn't see her. "I don't know... you've lived there a couple of years now, there's got to be something you want to do but never got round to?"

"Alright I'll think of something."

"Great! Crap, that's my boarding call, I got to go. See you in a few hours?"

"You bet."

...

They were lucky it was a civilian plane with only a handful of military personnel onboard, Trish wasn't sure she would have identified her marine as easily if she'd been among the usual swarm of uniforms, and not just because of the new outfit.

When she finally picked Nikki out she noticed she'd lost weight, not enough to be scrawny, just enough to be noticeable. The body mostly balanced it out with slight gain to the already toned muscles but it was most obvious on the gaunt looking cheeks.

Speaking of her face, the yellowy brown of an old bruise was still visible around one eye, although it it didn't stop the eyes lighting up in joy as they caught sight of Trish. An infectious smile spread across her face, one the civilian quickly mirrored as they walked towards each other, meeting in a hug in the middle.

"You look amazing." The soldier confided.

"Thank you. You look..." She trailed off, pulling back slightly for another look and searching for the right word: happy, battered, full of life, exhausted, "...Triumphant."

"Well I did pass."

"And with flying colours. You've finally got your insignia on your shoulders." Insignia that she instantly started playing with, she just couldn't seem to help it whenever she first saw her partner following a promotion.

"Still not Captain." Shepard teased, picking up on the reference to her last promotion.

"Not yet." Trish teased right back.

"Oh please don't. It's bad enough being a butterbar. I had to transfer flights in Vancouver, nearly got a sore arm acknowledging all those salutes."

"Really? You've just got back from the Villa and the first thing you do is moan about how tiring saluting is?"

Nikki chuckled in acknowledgement.

"Alright, alright, point taken. It's just weird is all."

"As weird as officially being an N guy?"

"I think you mean officially being spec ops. I've got a few more courses to go before the old hands will let us be called N guys, to them N1s are classed as N babies... Ooh random subject change, I got you a present." She pulled out a see-through duty free carrier bag. "Sorry it's not wrapped, and it's a little crap and..." She handed it over but Trish didn't have a hope of thanking her as she continued with her excuses. "Only I didn't get a chance to go shopping and I didn't want to miss my plane and-"

"It's ok Nick, you didn't have to get me anything, I knew the Villa wasn't likely to have a gift shop."

"Ha they missed an opportunity there. They could have had postcards and 'I survived the Villa' merchandise or 'I can't answer that question' t-shirts. Oh man, I've totally got to get an 'I can't answer that question' t-shirt."

"In-joke?"

"Yeah, I can tell you about it later if you want. Can we go get something to eat? I honestly don't know what's worse right now MREs or plane food."

"Poor baby, four months of nothing but MREs, it must be horrible."

"Well, that's not entirely true... we did get to spend a week on RDA tablets."

Trish laughed as they headed towards the exit.

"How long have we got this time?"

"Two weeks."

"We best make the most of it then."

"My thoughts exactly."

...

Author's note: For those who haven't read my other fic (or just forgot, it was only a throw away line in there as well) RDA (Recommended Daily Allowance) tablets are small pills scientifically constructed to contain the exact nutritional value recommended for the average human to consume each day in order to be healthy.

Most commonly used in spec ops survival kits and emergency aid relief packages or anywhere the acquisition and storage of food may prove to be problematic. While effective in providing what the body needs, people prefer not to use them unless they have to as their small size means psychologically you still feel hungry, the stomach is still empty so increased risk of acid reflux and it also leaves taste buds feeling unsatisfied.