This is the third part of the story that begun with Something in the Air. It will be longer, with more of an adventure focus, but still lots of romance too. I hope you enjoy it and please consider leaving a review and letting me know what you think.

They were waiting for the world to end. Either that or for it to be saved. There was no middle ground and no way for Ashley Williams to know which way it was going to go. All she could do was sit there in the Normandy's med-bay, helpless, as the Reapers slowly destroyed the combined fleets of the galaxy. For all that that Shepard had achieved in gathering this armada, it wasn't going to be enough. Unless the Crucible was activated, all that remained of their strength would be destroyed.

Lying on the cot next to her chair was the only person feeling even more helpless than Ashley was. Liara T'Soni looked like hell. There were cuts on her head, bruises all along her torso, and one of her legs was broken. Doctor Chakwas had treated the asari as best she could, applying medi-gel to her cuts and putting her leg in a splint, but Ashley knew she must still be in pain.

The Shadow Broker looked over at her, anxiety filling her big blue eyes. "Do you think…" Her voice was weak and hesitant; she was clearly afraid of the answer to the question that she none the less felt compelled to ask. "Do you think that she has a chance? We both heard that last transmission. Goddess, she sounded so weak, Ashley. And it cut out so suddenly…"

Ashley took the asari's hand in her own. She was hurting too, her burned leg still throbbing, but she was in better shape than Liara. "It's Shepard," she offered. "If anyone can make it through, it's her. Remember Tuchanka? Half a dozen Brutes chasing her around, that damn Reaper shooting at us, and she still got the maw hammers activated. She won't give up."

"No, she will not." Liara buried her face in the pillow of the med-bay cot. "But what if it's too much for anyone to endure? Even her."

"Then I guess we're all screwed," Ashley said, without thinking about how it sounded. "She's all we've got right now."

The asari's eyes blinked as she tried to fight back her pain. "I know I am being selfish. It's the fate of the whole galaxy that's at stake tonight, but I can't stop thinking about her. I… I only just got her back. To think that she might die now, alone; it's unbearable."

Ashley winced at the Shadow Broker's words. She'd spent the last few days trying not to think about Sha'ira's fate, but Liara's words cut straight through her defenses. Terrible images flooded her brain and as she looked away, her crewmate realized what she had said. "I'm so sorry, Ashley," she apologized. "I shouldn't have brought that up. I know what you are going through."

Four days earlier:

Once Cerberus' fleet had been wiped out, there was nothing for her to do but wait. Ashley stood in front of the armory bench, tinkering with the scope on her Javelin and fretting. The team's failure against Kai Leng on Thessia had been eating at her, and the marine badly wanted to have gone along with Shepard to recover the Prothean VI from Cronos Station. It had been Liara and EDI who had gotten the nod though, and Ashley could only hope that they'd been successful.

When at last the shuttle docked and the doors opened, she was relieved to see that Shepard and her two companions seemed to be all right, but when the commander's eyes met Ashley's, the marine knew instantly that something was wrong.

Setting down her sniper rifle, she rushed over to meet the landing party. "Is everything okay, skip?", she asked anxiously. "Did you get the VI back?"

Shepard nodded, clearly exhausted from the battle. "We did. We found the Catalyst."

"What is it?" Something was still wrong, but she couldn't figure out what it was.

"It's the Citadel." The marine blinked, unable to believe what she was hearing. The Citadel. How could that be? "The thing is," the Spectre continued, "The Reapers know that we know."

The marine's face fell. She realized that the implications of this were so much bigger than one person's fate, but all she could think about in that instant was Sha'ira. Her asari lover was still on the station and if the Reapers were going to attack it… "We have to get there," she insisted. "Now. Before…"

The commander cut her off, her green eyes sympathetic as she delivered the bad news. "I'm sorry, Ash. It's too late. The Reapers have already taken the station."

Ashley felt as if someone had kicked her in the gut. "Did anyone get out?"

"I don't know. We just found out about all of this."

Liara came over to Ashley, placing a hand on her shoulder. "I will do what I can to find Sha'ira. I had a number of agents on the Citadel. If any of them escaped, they may know what happened to her."

"Thank you, Liara."

"Of course. But I should warn you, there may not be much time."

"For her?"

Shepard shook her head. "For us. We're going to be headed back to Earth pretty soon."

"Earth?" Ashley's head was spinning. Every time she thought she understand what was going on, the commander told her something else she didn't understand.

"That's where the Reapers have moved the Citadel," Liara explained. "Where we will have to bring the Crucible."

Ashley nodded, putting aside her emotions as best she could to deal with this impossible reality. "Do you know when?"

Shepard shook her head. "No, I have to report in to Anderson and Hackett now and then we'll figure out a plan. But it won't be long. This has to end."

The Present:

Ashley reached up and stroked the scaled skin on Liara's forehead, trying provide some small comfort to her friend. "It's okay," she told the archeologist, "I don't need you to remind me of Sha'ira. And yeah, I know it feels like you're being selfish, but I think that's how our brains work. The fate of the galaxy, the end of all organic life: we can't really wrap our heads around that stuff. It's too big. This, focusing on the people, we love, is what we can do right now."

"It is kind of you to say so." Liara did her best to smile.

"Hey, if not for you and Shepard, I probably never would have gotten back together with Sha'ira at all," Ashley told her. In spite of her distress, the memory of that party was still enough to give the marine a warm feeling. There had been so much good in their brief relationship. Why had things had to end the way they did?

"I'm glad to have helped." Liara shook her head sadly. "I only wish I could have done more to find her for you."

Three Days Ago:

Ashley paced back and forth across Liara's small office, not sure how encouraged she should be. "So, there were ships that got away?", she asked hopefully.

"There were." The asari kept scrolling through the reports on her terminal as she talked, trying to find some scrap of concrete information she could offer Ashley. "But I have little more than that for you. It was chaos when the Reapers attacked. There were no passenger registrations and no flight plans for most of the ships that escaped, just people fleeing for their lives."

"How many?", Ashley asked nervously. "How many got out?"

"I am not certain. It's hard to get an accurate count, but the best estimate from the handful of my agents who escaped is that a little over a hundred thousand people made it to the relay."

"A hundred thousand." Ashley felt sick, the mediocre ship beef she had eaten earlier trying to force its way back up her throat. There were over thirteen million people living on the Citadel before the war. When you added in all of the refugees who had fled there over the last few months, the total could easily have been twenty million or more. Were they all dead? Or worse, were they being turned into the horrifying things that she spent her days fighting against. Is that what happened to Sha'ira?

"The Consort is a very resourceful asari," Liara offered. "She may well have found a way onto one of the ships." Ashley took a deep breath and Liara continued, "I will have my agents continue to look for her, but with everything that's going on, I cannot make any promises. The coming battle on Earth has to be my focus."

"Of course." Ashley turned to go. "Thanks for trying Liara. I appreciate it. It's just, the way that I left things with Sha'ira, the stuff I said… I feel terrible. That can't be how it ends between us."

"Do not lose hope," Liara told her. "We have all overcome long odds before."

"There is that," Ashley replied with a weak laugh. "I mean, you didn't give up even when your girlfriend really was dead."

Liara made herself smile. "I was stubborn."

"Well, so am I," the marine insisted. "Still, I can't say its easy. Sha'ira might be in trouble somewhere and I can't even go and look for her." She shook her head. "How do you do it, Liara? How do you stay focused when Shepard is out on a mission?

"It's terrible," Liara admitted. "Every time, there is a lump in my throat that does not go away until she returns. I just try to remember that my work as the Shadow Broker helps to keep her and the rest of us alive and focus on that. If Sha'ira has survived, then she needs you to help us win this battle. If that does not happen, than whether or not she escaped the Citadel will not make any difference."

"You're right, and don't worry," the Alliance marine sighed. "I'll do what I have to. What else is there?"

The Present:

"You did what you could," she reassured Liara.

"It's not enough." Tears started to well up in the asari's eyes. "Not for you. Not for Shepard. Last night, I promised her I would be with her until the end. Now, here I am, safe back on the Normandy, while she is forced to try and save us one more time."

"Hey," Ashley said, "It's not like you chickened out. You got a flaming tank dropped on your head."

"I should have been faster," she insisted. "Tougher. I failed her."

Ashley opened her mouth to object but she never got the chance as EDI's precise voice cut in over the intercoms. "Attention," the AI said, "The Crucible is firing. I repeat, the Crucible is firing. All hands brace for impact."

"She did it," Liara whispered, hope blossoming in her face. "She really did it."

"She did." The asari slumped back down onto her cot, at last giving herself permission to rest, and as she did, Ashley felt her own eyes start to moisten. They were really going to win. It hardly seemed possible, and silently, she thanked God for what must surely be a miracle. Against odds like this, a foe like this, what else could it be? God and Shepard had brought them through. She only hoped that the skipper was all right; she had finished her mission and she deserved some peace. Not her though. Ashley wouldn't be able to rest until, whatever the answer, she knew what had happened to the woman she loved.