"This probably isn't much of a comfort, but...from what they told me, time has stopped everywhere but here. Your home, my home...everywhere. So...once we've fixed everything, and I know we will, we'll go home to the same family we left with not a breath of time passed." He smiles to himself and grabs one of the dishes to dry.

"I had another family once," he says after a pause, staring at the faint outline of his reflection in the plate he's holding. "Before the Psions, before...well, everything, really. They're gone now. Even after four years, the what-ifs never stop." The bone dry dish starts to squeak under the equally dry cloth, but he doesn't seem to notice.