"Good," she replies firmly. "Then that's something you know you can trust, even if everything else is crap."

Pepper knows that success is only going to happen with a hell of a lot of hard work. She still has hope for it, some of which is even grounded in rationality rather than emotion.

"And yeah, I kinda figured," Pepper continues fondly. "So: we plan. We've got a couple more weeks worth of data, and we've also got new lives to figure out since we need to get jobs again and stuff. There's probably enough to keep us all busy for a while." She pauses, looking at him a little worriedly. "Think you'll be able to take your mind off home enough to be here? I mean, not all the time, this is a huge deal and it sucks, but-- you are here, and you should be able to enjoy that."