Thinking about an AU where the taumoeba never escapes the xenonite tanks. Grace gets to go home, but before he does, he drops the taumoeba off at Venus like he wanted. To do this, he has to pass Earth.
(Now I don’t know much about how space science works so take my concept with a grain of salt)
He could pass the planet right by & go straight to Venus, but he lets the Hail Mary sit in Earths orbit for a once around & a bit of a slingshot boost.
Of course the people on Earth notice this & Stratt is among the first to be alerted about a spacecraft entering orbit. She’d recognize the ship immediately, though probably wouldn’t believe it.
“Is this a joke?” “Have you made contact?” “Is it still piloted?”
Grace sends the beetles down as he passes, but makes no other contact, he’s not ready to face his species *just yet*.
Stratt gets to the landing site faster than she’s ever gotten anywhere, diving into the video logs, taumoeba tank/s (Grace sent some to Earth for study), & papers Grace wrote to keep himself busy during the 4yr journey.
Emotions overwhelm her. Grief for Ilyukhina & Yáo, amazement & confusion over Rocky, pride & sorrow for Grace. And The Guilt. The guilt is suffocating. It was always consuming but now it couldn’t be kept at a distance. She knows (or at least is quite sure) Grace has been living with the fact that he was forced on a suicide mission for years, & he’s had years to resent her for it.
But he’s alive & clearly, he’s still saving Earth, he did what she knew he could do. Grace followed through.
Immediately she makes sure Grace’s old apartment is available & his things are returned. (I REFUSE to believe she would throw them away, Eva Stratt, I know you’re a sentimental softie) She wouldn’t see him until weeks or even months after the astronauts on the ISS retrieved him from the HM & brought him back to Earth. Though she made damn sure he didn’t have to lift a finger for himself until he was home.
Eva makes sure there’s a teaching position open wherever Grace wants to go (thought it takes him years before he’s ready). She makes sure a bill never shows up in his mail box again, she has a car delivered to him, nothing fancy but it beats the bike. After all, he saved Earth, he deserves a life of peace.