Ok… first revised chapter.

This will begin two months post suicide mission after Arrival. I had to retool pretty much everything but I think it came out pretty good. This is going to be rated mature for sexual themes and language. I am a hopeless romantic at heart so there will be much banter between Shepard and Liara now that they have reunited and their love rekindled. I'm writing this from the stand point that Liara was your LI and you stayed faithful to her. Also that she has no problems with showing her love for Shepard publicly. Don't know if that matters or not in Asari culture. I did take a few liberties with the dialogue when they first reunite on Illium during the Liar of the Shadow Broker mission and will continue to do so throughout the story. I just thought it needed a little something else. These first cut scenes will be structured as Liara remembering them as she stares at Shepard's picture and vice versa.

I probably overdid it a little when it comes to their feelings about each other, too mushy in places probably, but as I have said on the Bioware Boards, this has always had the potential to be a truly epic romance in my opinion, and that is what I want to make it be.

In this Shepard is an Vanguard and a Spacer/Sole Survivor. I changed the background a little because I wanted to include reactions by his mother and father and also who we now know is Liara's 'father'.

Reviews are always welcome. Enjoy.

SPACE STATION ARCTURUS

SYSTEMS ALLIANCE HEADQUARTERS

ARCTURUS SYSTEM

SIX WEEKS POST DESTRUCTION OF ARATOHT

No one really said much as they sat around the massive polished oak conference table. Nearly ten meters long, it had taken crews a full day to bring the three sections from Earth and install it, adding the monitors and computer consoles that dotted the face of the table. There were nine men and women present, all of them senior officers within the Alliance Fleet. Men and women who gave the commands and who were the face of the Systems Alliance Military. Among those men and women was Admiral Steven Hackett. A veritable legend within the Fleet and well known for his tactical genius and loyalty to Earth and humanity. ARCTURUS was his station and all operations within six systems were under his direct supervision and that of the Fifth Fleet.

These nine officers had traveled to ARCTURUS from Earth for this meeting, and Admiral Hackett hated having to entertain them. They were Admin officers for the most part, most of them having never seen a day in combat, yet they were the men and women making the decisions. They were here now to decide what to do about a certain Systems Alliance officer that had become somewhat of an icon within the known galaxy. To humans and aliens alike.

John Michael Shepard.

Hackett's eyes went to the young officer who leaned close to Admiral of the Systems Alliance Fleet William Coryn. Colonel Caleb Antella was a promising officer who had risen through the ranks quickly because of his penchant for getting the job done. Of course… many seemed to overlook the fact that the Colonel obviously did not care whose career or reputation he might ruin to succeed in his goals. He was a member of the newly formed Systems Alliance Intelligence Bureau, a collection of analysts and operatives who were not looked upon too fondly by normal fleet officers or soldiers.

Admiral William Coryn nodded as Antella whispered in his ear and he lifted the small silver gavel and brought it down in the flat granite portion of the table.

"Let's get started shall we?" He began. "I called this meeting to discuss some recent events within the Terminus Systems that may or may not directly affect Alliance operations. Colonel Antella will be giving the briefing for the most part and please hold comments until he is through." Coryn looked at Antella. "Colonel… you may begin."

Caleb Antella nodded his head as if he was bowing to royalty and Hackett almost gagged right there. He was an ass kisser that was for sure. Antella moved to a thin chest high podium that had been brought into the conference room for this purpose and placed in front of the two massive main monitors. One of these massive monitors came to life with the image of one man, the second with a standard military jacket file.

"Good morning Admirals." Caleb began. "This briefing is classified compartmentalized Level Nine and is in regards to the actions conducted by an Alliance officer; one Lieutenant Commander John Michael Shepard."

"That's Commander." Steven Hackett spoke up quickly.

Antella turned to look at him. "Excuse me sir?"

"If you are going to discuss a fellow officer Colonel… I suggest you, at the very least, get his rank correct." Hackett spoke in a harsh voice that bespoke of his distaste for this meeting. "It's Commander John Michael Shepard. Full Commander John Michael Shepard. He was promoted after the Battle of the Citadel."

Caleb nodded his head quickly seemingly unfazed. "My apologies Admiral Hackett… Commander John Michael Shepard." Hackett shifted in his chair and glared at the young officer with aversion. Antella moved to the side of the podium and continued.

"Commander John Michael Shepard… born 4 eleven 2154. Parents listed as… Captain Hannah Marie Shepard; currently assigned as the Commanding Officer of the Systems Alliance Dreadnought ORIZABA; Rear Admiral Thomas Shepard; currently assigned as Commanding Officer of Systems Alliance Military Fleet Training Academy. Parents divorced nine years this month; estranged from his father for reasons unknown at this time. Enlisted 2172 and finished third in his Officer's Training Class of eight hundred and thirteen. Missed receiving top honors for violating Officer Academy regulations regarding off duty activities. Immediately applied for entry into the Alliance's N7 Special Forces Academy and was accepted after his initial first interview. An unusual occurrence to say the least. Entry into the N7 program usually requires a series of interviews and tests which Commander Shepard did not take part in." Antella touched the podium and the second screen behind him changed to the classified portion of Shepard's Alliance record.

"Was found to have an abnormally high Eezo Nodule Count at the age of seven months. This is most likely due to his mother's exposure to Eezo dust on the colony of Dugat early in her pregnancy. Due to his parent's military service he was allowed to undertake Biotic training from a young age outside of the normal channels and did not attend BAaT. By his second year within the N7 program it was determined that he was much further along than most human biotics and he had obtained status as one of the top five human biotics within the Systems Alliance. His biotic abilities are also what many believe allowed him to survived the massacre on Akuze in 2177. His official debriefing after the Akuze incident never went into great detail in regards to this. A shortfall in my opinion."

The beeping sound caused Antella to look up as Hackett reached to his belt and pulled a small COM unit from his belt. He read a message and nodded his head looking up to where Coryn sat. "Admiral… my guest is here. I'd like to admit her."

Coryn nodded from his seat. "Carry on Steven."

Antella watched as Hackett rose from his chair and moved to the large double doors leading into the conference room. He punched in a code and the doors slid open to reveal the middle aged woman with short, jet black hair and blazing emerald green eyes. The facial features were unmistakable and all the Admirals in the room quickly knew who she was. The woman wore an Alliance Uniform with the four gold rank strips of a Captain and four full rows of ribbons. Hackett nodded to her quickly, and motioned her inside before re-sealing the doors and turning to look at Antella.

"Colonel… I'm sure you are aware of who Captain Shepard here is." Hackett spoke as he took the Hannah Shepard's arm and drew her closer to the table. "I asked that she be present for this."

"Admiral… with respect, Captain Shepard is not cleared at this level." Antella protested turning to Fleet Admiral Coryn.

Coryn nodded his head. "She is now." He stated. "I cleared her."

"Sir… with all due… I don't think it is wise for Commander Shepard's mother to be present while…" Antella began.

"While you decide if my son is a traitor or not!" Hannah Shepard spoke harshly as she settled into the chair Hackett had pulled out for her.

Fifty-two year old Hannah Shepard was a well known and well respected officer within the Systems Alliance for her own actions as well as her son's. She was widely recognized as an excellent tactician and the crew of her ship had the highest retention percentage of any ship in the Alliance fleet. She was also known as an officer who would tell you how it was no matter the results. She was exceptionally blunt in her dealings with others.

Coryn leaned forward. "Captain Shepard… Hannah… I agreed to let you participate in these meetings but I ask that you restrain your obvious loyalty to your son as Colonel Antella presents his information."

Hannah Shepard met his eyes and nodded her head. "Thank you for allowing me to be here sir." She stated. "And I will try."

Coryn nodded his head. "Good. Thank you." He said. "Colonel… you may continue. And you can forget about Captain Shepard being here. She's is cleared for everything you have to say."

Antella was clearly not happy with this but he nodded his head. "Very well sir." He spoke. "Would I be able to direct questions to Captain Shepard to clarify information as we go?"

Coryn looked at Hannah. "Hannah?" He asked.

Hannah Shepard nodded her head. "I'll answer whatever I can Admiral. I won't however be tricked into siding against my son." She spoke.

Antella nodded. "Thank you Captain Shepard." He said. "Since you are here… perhaps you could clarify how it is that Commander Shepard received military training in biotics before actually enlisting to serve?"

"John's father and I knew several human biotics within the military that we both had served with. When we discovered that John had these latent abilities we asked them if they could school him. Teach him to control them." Hannah replied.

"A practice that is frowned upon Captain Shepard." Antella spoke. "That is what the Ascension Project is for."

"It is frowned upon by bald men with glasses at the Ascension Project yes. They want complete control of all human biotics Colonel. But it is not something that is in any way against Alliance regulations." Hannah spoke.

Antella nodded smugly and appeared to make a note in his log. "Commander Shepard was ordered to undergo a year of therapy after Akuze, which he subsequently had reduced to four months. How this was managed is unknown at this time. His military career from there is superior in every respect. Seventeen known hostile encounters with mercenary forces within the Terminus Systems while on patrol duties along the Skyllian Verge. All of these encounters had him leading an Alliance N7 Recon Unit in operations that are labeled as victories. In the ongoing six year period he lost six men and women under his command." Antella again tapped on his podium and the images shifted on both monitors now.

"Commander Shepard was assigned to the SSV NORMANDY as Executive Officer prior to the Eden Prime mission and was then selected as the first human Spectre in 2183 which eventually led to the Battle of the Citadel and…" Antella looked at William Coryn at the loud cough that followed.

"Colonel… I think most of us are aware of Commander Shepard's record up until this point." He stated evenly. "If you could move on to the reason we are here it would be much appreciated."

Antella nodded. "As you wish Admiral." He stated. "Approximately one month after the Battle of the Citadel Commander Shepard was lost in what we now know to be a Collector surprise attack. His body was never recovered by Alliance forces and…"

"Colonel Antella… let's be realistic and truthful here!" Hackett spoke just before Hannah Shepard was about to reply to Antella's statement. "Alliance forces were only interested in recovering the life pods that the NORMANDY left. No concentrated effort was made to recover Shepard's body."

"It was deemed too risky Admiral." Antella stated. "There had been raids in that sector of space for the month prior to the destruction of the NORMANDY. That is why the NORMANDY was sent there to begin with under Commander Shepard's authority as a Spectre. Citadel Intelligence stated that it could very well have been the Geth and that was part of his mission. He was acting as a Spectre Admiral… not a member of the Systems Alliance. We were unable to commit an entire squadron to look for one man."

Hackett sat back in his chair then. "And look where that left us Colonel Antella. Over ten million human colonists lost over the ensuing two years." He stated coldly draping his hand over Hannah's wrist to keep her from saying anything.

"Steven…" Coryn spoke once more sitting back in his chair. "Let the Colonel continue please. I certainly do not want to get into a debate of what we did wrong the last two plus years. I've had a hard enough time as it is explaining that to politicians."

Hackett nodded. "Yes sir."

"Colonel… can we move forward to any new information you have please." Coryn said. "I'm sure everyone here has read Commander Shepard's file. Why don't we skip to the parts not everyone knows?"

"Very well sir." Antella spoke almost eagerly. He tapped on his console several times and once more the images on the screen shifted. Another image of Shepard appeared on the split screen, an image that was the same man who looked only slightly different. The second part of the monitor was a short Vid transmission showing him tossing what looked to be several Mark III security mechs and humans off a bridge connecting two buildings.

"We began receiving unconfirmed reports and rumors that Commander Shepard was not dead several weeks before the attack on our colony world of Horizon. We put out feelers to different areas within the Terminus systems and were able to confirm this information as very much accurate. As you can see from this intercepted security drone vid, Commander Shepard was very much alive. This was taken on Illium just hours before the death of a prominent Asari businesswoman. We also have intercepted security footage from several different locations on Omega and one that was recovered from debris of the prison ship PURGATORY. It has now been confirmed through different sources that Commander Shepard has been working with the known terrorist organization Cerberus for many months or at the very least since it was determined he was still alive. It appears that independent agents or Cerberus operatives are the ones who were able to recover Commander Shepard's body after the original NORMANDY's destruction. They apparently spent the next two years restoring him to health with some rather sophisticated technology, most of it stolen from Alliance and other sources, and he has been one of their agents since. There are rumors of associations with the criminal element on Omega as well as multiple contacts within Asari culture and the underground on Illium. He is known to be now traveling with at least three known wanted criminals, not to mention several highly placed Cerberus agents." He looked at the monitor behind him. "One of the more troubling aspects of all this as you can see from the security footage I have presented, his natural biotic abilities appear to have evolved to a point well past any known human biotic. This is confirmed through confiscated medical records to be the result of Cerberus removing and replacing his normal L5X implants for modified L5X19 implants which remove a majority of the control measures provided in the L5X as registered by the Ascension project. SAIB operatives were able to obtain several secure transmissions from former Alliance physician Chakwas as she was conferring with colleagues here on ARCTURUS station and on Earth."

"We've taken to monitoring our own people now?" Another Admiral asked.

"Once we confirmed that Doctor Chakwas was working for Cerberus, we determined it would be in the best interests of the Alliance to monitor transmissions of her former colleagues yes." Antella answered. "These intercepted transmissions are what allowed us to get a glimpse of Commander's Shepard's current medical records. At least those kept by Cerberus."

"Why?" Coryn asked.

Antella looked at him. "If the reports we have are accurate sir, Cerberus invested nearly seven billion credits in medical procedures just to bring Shepard back from the brink of death. After reviewing the information I provided to them from Cerberus's files, our own doctors have concluded that when his body was recovered, it is very possible that there was still minor brain activity within his cerebral cortex. Cerberus then pumped it full of some sort of cryo solution in order to stop any further breakdown of his cells and to keep that brain activity at a nominal level. The exact details of how they recovered the body are not know at this time; however we do know that the Asari Liara T'soni played some role in it." He answered. "Cerberus then spent the next two years restoring him to full health at an outrageous cost of credits and manpower Admiral. Using procedures and equipment that are not allowed by the Alliance or the Citadel Council."

"You are saying this is not Commander Shepard then?" An admiral asked.

"No sir… this is definitely Commander Shepard." Antella replied quickly. "It is only an improved version of the Commander for lack of a better medical term. His normal regeneration capabilities are off the charts. His strength is now nearly two times that of a normal human and if doctor Chakwas's reports are to be believed, his reaction time and reflexes have increased fourfold."

"What does this have to do with anything?" Hackett asked.

"It goes to the depth of his involvement with Cerberus Admiral as well as his actions." Antella replied. "This is an organization that has gone to extreme measures to hinder our ability to work within the galactic community. Their human first agenda is well known, as is their distaste for aliens of any species. Commander Shepard… for lack of a better term… has aligned himself with them. Cerberus somehow obtained highly classified schematics on the original NORMANDY and then built their own, much larger and improved version of this ship. The NORMANDY now is classified by our own military officers that I have questioned as a Heavy Frigate with the firepower of a full cruiser. The only ship like it in existence. The serious question has come up from SAIB on whether these schematics were given to Cerberus by Commander Shepard or other individuals within the Alliance. If not Commander Shepard… what does he know of how they obtained them? These questions Admiral do not include the cost of building this new NORMANDY, with the stolen schematics and far more advanced systems than the original, or how Cerberus was able to accomplish this feat without the Alliance knowing about it. Some of my staff believe he is either being blackmailed or he has decided to change his allegiances. He has non-human crew members on his ship and at least several highly placed Cerberus operatives. Most notably one Miranda Lawson, who is a known high level Cerberus Field Agent and sometime Director of their unlawful programs. He has a Krogan on his crew… a Drell who is under investigation for several dozen assassinations within Citadel space and three within Alliance space. He has a Geth on his crew Admiral! A working Geth! All of these individuals have full access to this ship and all of its systems!" Antella shook his head. "He has also been seen in the past weeks since the destruction of the Alpha Relay with several known individuals of different species with very questionable ties as I said. He was most recently reported… less than a week ago on Thessia with the Asari Liara T'soni."

"This is the same Asari that helped him to defeat Sovereign and saved his life as you just stated." Hannah hissed angrily. "You find it strange that he has friends who are not human? He was able to forge a crew of non-humans to help him defeat Saren!"

"Liara T'soni resides on the planet Illium now Captain." Antella told her once more with a smug voice and expression. "Alliance Intelligence as well as SAIB reports have her acting as an Information Broker on Illium with some very questionable ties herself if I do say so myself. Among them several known criminal contacts."

"Illium is in the Terminus Systems and is an Asari colony world." Hannah snapped now. "What you consider shady and underhanded the Asari may consider quite normal!"

"The Citadel Council saw fit to reinstate his Spectre status Colonel. Or did you forget that?" Hackett said.

"A purely political move according to my people in SAIB after his actions in saving their lives Admiral." Antella said quickly. "They had originally considered declaring him rogue for his involvement with Cerberus since Cerberus is an avowed enemy of the Council. He and Councilor Anderson apparently met with them in secret and they reinstated his status then… with the very specific agreement that he limit his activities to the Terminus Systems according to Representative Udina."

"Which does not play into your theory that he has gone rogue or changed his allegiances Colonel." Hackett spoke. "If not for John Shepard, there might not be any human colonies left outside Citadel space. The Collectors would have taken them all."

"Since Councilor Anderson… now Admiral Anderson refuses to discuss this meeting with me and newly appointed Councilor Udina was not present, I can only give my best estimation on what occurred with the Citadel Council given known data sir." Antella answered. "They have made it a point to avoid all questions in association with Commander Shepard."

"The reason why is simple enough!" Hackett spoke. "Just ask Admiral Anderson. The Citadel Council does not want to admit the threat posed by the Reapers."

Antella looked at him. "SAIB is leaning towards agreement with the Council Admiral." He spoke. "No one but Commander Shepard and those on his crew have seen any intelligence or information suggesting that the Reapers are indeed real."

"What about Sovereign?" Hackett asked.

"Nothing we have indicates anything other than what the Council has already stated." Antella spoke. "There is no real data to prove Sovereign was not a Geth creation. Commander Shepard is…"

"You are trying to crucify my son!" Hannah barked loudly now coming to her feet. "All of humanity owes my son their lives! The Asari! The Turians! All of them! And here you are wanting to bury him when you wouldn't even search for his body!"

Hackett reached up and took her arm. "Hannah you…"

"No damn it!" She snapped. "I will not let this little man besmirch the name of my son! Not after what he has done! This ass has never seen a day of combat in his entire career and he stands there thinking he can judge my son's actions! There is no more loyal an Alliance soldier than my son! He just happens to believe humans cannot do everything alone!" Hannah looked at him seeing his slightly surprised expression. "And yes Colonel… I did a little checking on you before I came here!"

"Captain Shepard… please." Admiral Coryn spoke calmly. "I asked that you maintain your composure during these proceedings."

Hannah's eyes went to where he sat. "Now they are proceedings sir?" She asked. "Is this a hearing Admiral?"

"We are trying to determine what to do with Commander Shepard yes. I would not call them hearings. Not yet?" Coryn said.

"Why don't you just ask him sir?" Hannah snapped.

"Your son destroyed a Batarian colony world Captain Shepard! Over three hundred thousand Batarians were killed. The Batarian government has demanded answers!" Antella stated.

"The Reaper's were about to use that Relay to transit directly to Earth!" Hackett declared. "Shepard did what he needed to do to save lives!"

"And as I stated before Admiral… aside from Commander Shepard and his crew, no one has seen any solid evidence indicating these Reapers even exist!" Antella hissed. "Commander Shepard has refused all communications put forth by my office Captain Shepard. We have the new NORMANDY's COM codes but he will not respond to anything coming from Alliance channels. You yourself have not spoken to him in almost three years." Antella said meeting her eyes. "He refuses to put into an Alliance port…"

"He's not going to answer your pompous ass! You want to have him arrested and thrown into the brig while you make up charges against him! Interrogate him like he is a criminal and not a fucking hero!" She snarled at the man. "And he is certainly not going to turn his ship over to you! He's out there trying to save us all!"

"It's not his ship Captain." Antella spoke. "And these are serious accusations that need addressing Captain Shepard. I understand the need you feel to protect your son but even you have not seen him for nearly three years now as I said. He could be a very different man than you once knew."

"You don't understand anything!" Hannah snapped. "After everything John has done for the Alliance… for humanity… now we are going to throw him to the wolves because of what some witch hunter says!"

"If Commander Shepard will not come forward to answer these accusations… what other options do we have?" Antella asked her.

"We go to him." Hackett spoke clearly causing everyone to look at him.

"What was that Steven?" Coryn asked perking up at the end of the table. "You said go to him?"

Hackett nodded. "If the good Colonel wants to question Commander Shepard so badly Admiral… then let's go to him."

Antella laughed softly. "A novel idea Admiral… but I'm not sure how you plan on doing this when he will not respond to official requests from my office. We have no indications of where he is at the moment. For the past few weeks since the Collector base was destroyed, he drops off the grid for days on end and when he does reappear it is usually on Illium where he meets with the Asari Liara T'soni as I said. We believe she is his contact with Cerberus and other elements within different criminal organizations and we have been actively seeking an injunction from the Asari government to take her into custody for questioning."

Hackett came to his feet. "How exactly did you get this far in your job Colonel?" He asked sternly.

"Excuse me sir?" The Colonel answered taken aback at having Hackett question his expertise so openly. "I assure you Admiral Hackett… I am very good at my job."

"Then maybe you could explain to us how you missed the fact that Liara T'soni is John Shepard's Asari Bondmate! His wife! Even I know that!" Hackett snarled at the man.

Hannah Shepard's head snapped around to looked at him. "Wife?" She gasped.

"Admiral Coryn… I believe we should put all this bullshit to bed very quickly." Steven Hackett declared. "We have enough problems already without trying to bury one of the few men who is out there fighting for all of us."

"You'll get no arguments from me Steven." Coryn spoke evenly. "What did you have in mind?"

"NORMANDY's Kodiak Shuttle is at this very moment sitting in landing bay thirty-nine sir." Hackett spoke. "She's been here for the last eight hours." Hackett could barely contain the smile he wanted to show as he saw Antella's eyes grow wide. "With your permission Admiral Coryn… all we need to do is pack an overnighter and that shuttle will take us to where the NORMANDY is and we can talk to Commander Shepard ourselves and get the facts!"

"Where is she Steven?" Coryn asked.

"If I'm not mistaken sir… she's orbiting Therum right now." Hackett told him. "The Commander is visiting the Prothean dig site that was destroyed while he was rescuing Dr. T'soni from the Geth several years ago. I don't know why."

"You've spoken to him Steven?" Coryn looked surprised at this information and he glanced at Antella.

Hackett nodded. "Yes sir I have. On several occasions in the past week alone to set up a conference with all of you. John Shepard is no traitor to the Alliance sir. When I discovered Colonel Antella was calling this meeting, Commander Shepard and I simply waited until you were all here."

"You did not notify my office of these communications Admiral." Antella spoke. "Even after I gave you a written order signed by Admiral Coryn to inform me of any contact you had with him."

"You've had a bug up your ass for John Shepard for almost a year now Colonel." Hackett said. "I don't know why… and I don't care. I have an idea that this is politically driven but I'm not sure. If it is politically driven then I intend to make sure that Commander Shepard has the full support of the Alliance military behind him when the politicians and their hatchet men come calling. I will not allow you and the politicians to throw away the single largest weapon we have in John Shepard."

"Admiral… he is only one man." Antella spoke smugly even though he saw several of the Admirals present nod their heads in agreement with Hackett.

Hackett shook his head. "No… John Shepard is an ideal! An inspiration to every man and women who has ever served under him or around him. No matter what their species! He is a man who refuses to quit no matter the odds and he will never give up or leave anyone behind! That's the weapon I'm talking about." Hackett took Hannah's arm gently. "Admiral… if you and the others would care to grab your overnighters… Captain Shepard and I will meet you in landing bay thirty-nine and we'll go and find out what Shepard is doing. Right from the horse's mouth."

Coryn came to his feet. "That sounds like a damn fine plan to me." He looked at Antella. "Unless you don't care to look the man you are accusing in the face Colonel."

Antella shook his head. "Not at all sir. I'd be happy to have the opportunity to discuss these issues with Commander Shepard."

Coryn nodded. "Fifteen minutes then. Landing bay thirty-nine."

Hackett nodded and still holding Hannah's arm he began walking out of the conference room. She looked at him but had the presence of mind to keep her mouth shut until they were in the corridor. "Admiral you…"

"John and I have been trying to set up a meeting like this for over two weeks now Hannah. Ever since the destruction of the Alpha Relay." Hackett spoke softly as they walked. "When I realized what Antella was doing it seemed like the perfect opportunity to kill two birds with one stone."

"Why are they doing this Steven?" She asked calling him by his first name now that they were alone.

"As I said in there… it's being driven politically Hannah. Anderson agrees. Someone or a few someone's have taken it upon themselves to go outside the normal channels and try to go after John." Hackett said. "I don't know why. Anderson thinks the Council is also playing a part in it behind closed doors."

"He's… he's a hero Steven." Hannah exclaimed softly. "To millions… billions across the galaxy!"

Admiral Steven Hackett nodded his head and looked at her. "And my gut tells me that is exactly why they are doing this. "And taking Liara, given her ties, as his wife has made things even worse."

"Wife?" Hannah gasped once more. "He… he never told me. He…"

Hackett smiled. "I don't think it is quite official yet… if I understand things correctly there still has to be an Asari ceremony."

Hannah looked at him as they walked. "You have met her?" She asked him. "This Liara T'soni?"

Hackett nodded. "Several times in the last month."

"What… what is she like?" Hannah stammered.

"From an Asari stand point she is probably the most human acting Asari I have ever met to be honest." He replied he replied with a grin. "She's lethally smart… very sharp wit about her. And if all the reports I received from John during his search for the Conduit are true… she is also a devastating force on the battlefield with her biotics."

"She fought beside him?" Hannah asked.

Hackett nodded. "Every step of the way." He looked at her. "And she is head over heels in love with your son Hannah. I have a file on her that you can read during the trip. It will also tell you some things about John that you need to know."

"What things?" She asked with worry in her voice.

Hackett smiled. "Not bad things… just odd things that have come about since Cerberus brought him back. Mostly medically related."

"Why do I get the feeling I'm going to be very surprised or very upset?" Hannah said.

Hackett looked at her. "You will be. I guarantee it. Both probably… but all you need to know is that John is alive and he is no traitor to the Alliance."

"Has this asshole Colonel spoken to Thomas?" Hannah asked.

"Not that I'm aware of… but I imagine once we meet with him Colonel Antella will pull out all the stops." Hackett said. "No matter what we do. Someone very high up has a burr in their ass about John and I don't know why."

"We'd better find out." Hannah said in agreement. "I know my son Steven. He'll only be pushed so far before he begins to push back. It will get very ugly after that."

Hackett looked at her. "Don't I know it."

ILLIUM

SIX WEEKS POST HAGALAZ

She stepped from the steaming shower toweling her azure colored skin dry as his deep voice filled her head within their home through the many internal speakers that were spaced throughout their home. It was a voice that always made her tremble with desire and love. So deep, so soothing, so strong. A voice that not so long ago, Liara T'soni had thought she would never again hear whispering against her cheeks, his warm breath sending jolts of arousal across her skin, the touch of his lips on her flesh. It was a voice that had brought her so much love and peace and focus and clarity with just five simple words.

I love you Liara T'soni.

It had been two full months now since they had defeated the Shadow Broker and Liara T'soni had assumed that mysterious role. Fallen into it was a better word really. It was however, as she had told John that day, a place where she felt she at least partially belonged. A dream job she had called it. Liara had grown so much in the last two years. She was no longer the shy young Asari scientist that had fallen head over heels in love with the human John Shepard five minutes after meeting him. Two years of daily mourning and hunting the man who had taken from her all that she had ever desired had burned away that shyness and left in its place a worldly woman who knew how things worked. Two years of seeking revenge for John, for Feron, for all the Shadow Broker had taken from her. It had hardened her, forced her to grow up far more quickly than she would have normally grown, even for an Asari. Giving the body of the only man that she would ever truly love to their dire enemies on the slim hope that they could bring him back; racing across the galaxy with a Drell that she didn't even like to begin with; having to watch her back constantly and then having to kill her way to those who would take Shepard's body and the possibility he could be brought back to her.

A Drell who would in the end ultimately sacrifice himself so that she could escape with Shepard's body. Then hearing that woman Miranda Lawson tell her that the odds were not in his favor, that the damage done was far more severe than they had thought. After all she had done to reach that point, hearing those words had all but broken her.

Liara T'soni did the only thing she could think of. She turned to revenge to hold onto her sanity.

Revenge against the Shadow Broker for what he had helped to take from her prematurely. John Michael Shepard had swept into her life on Therum like a storm, and fate had done the rest. Until meeting him she had almost never had contact with humans. She had rebelled against her upbringing, or the upbringing that her mother had wanted her to pursue, and she became an archeologist who devoted all she was to the study of the Protheans. Aside from infrequent times when she ran across mercenaries or privateers, she'd never been overmatched thanks to her incredible biotic skills. Until that day when the Geth arrived and John Michael Shepard had blasted his way into her life. He had fought and defeated a Krogan Battlemaster without even hesitating, and Liara got the very first glimpse of who he was that day. As the following weeks and months passed Liara could not deny the draw to him. She saw his compassion for others in his actions, yet she also saw glimpses of how ruthless and deadly he could be. His visions were what had drawn her to him first, but as time passed she found herself looking at him in a much more intimate way. Physically speaking he was exceptional, and without question the most handsome man she had ever seen of any species, yet he was also incredibly intelligent and quick witted. Her attraction had grown stronger and stronger until they both admitted to each other that there was something very powerful between them. Something that had nothing to do with the Protheans. As Liara came to see… that something was a love more potent than anything she had ever felt before.

For almost two years, every night she had cried herself to sleep with his handsome face in her mind and filling her dreams, mourning what she had lost, what they had talked of so often in the month after defeating the Reaper Sovereign. Every day she would work to discover more clues to where she could direct her new vengeance. The way the Citadel Council and so many others had dismissed all he had brought to the forefront fueled her anger at others even more. They did not want to admit that the threat she and John and so many others had fought against for months was real. She turned to the life of an Information Broker on Illium to begin her new quest. She used the wealth left to her by her mother to establish herself quickly and her skills as a scientist and archeologist to catalogue and make good on what she said she could produce. Liara rapidly rose in both respect and influence on the Asari trading world and other planets as well and many people began to come to her. It wasn't long before she found herself as one of the most powerful Information Brokers in the known galaxy. When her contacts off Illium first began to suggest that John Shepard was not dead many months ago, Liara had not known what to think or do. It would not be farfetched to think that Cerberus had lied to her. A human man had been spotted in several different places; a human male matching Shepard's exact physical description and showing all the same combat prowess of the Shepard she remembered.

The Shepard she loved.

First there was Bekenstein and the violent death of Donovan Hock at the hands of what the reports called a possessed human biotic. Then there were the many mysterious rumors of a staggeringly powerful human biotic soldier on Omega. A human biotic that had thoroughly decimated much of the mercenary groups and most of the Vorcha population and ended the strange plaque that had been sweeping the station and killing aliens of every species. Then there were the few odd reports of mercenary groups that had formed a short term alliance to rid Omega of Archangel, who Liara already knew to be Garrus Vakarian. Mysteriously, the three main mercenary groups had been devastated in number after a particularly large battle and Garrus thought to be dead. As it turned out, other reports that she had received weeks later spoke of a Turian matching Garrus's description assisting this human biotic in the escape of another powerful human biotic from the prison ship PURGATORY before it was destroyed. Her contacts told her of a Blue Sun mercenary who had survived a swift and brutal assault on a Blue Suns base on Korlus. Liara knew of the Collector attacks on human colonies in the Terminus Systems and the final piece of information fell into place when her sources told her that a small team of extraordinarily deadly Cerberus Commandos, most of whom matched the description and skills of those they had been reporting to her over the last weeks, had halted the Collector attack on the human colony world of Horizon. And to top it all off, they had deployed from a ship matching the description of the old NORMANDY. Many human casualties were taken, but the colony had been saved from complete destruction. And it marked the last human colony to be struck.

Liara knew than that it was John Shepard.

She knew of only one man with the drive and determination to succeed against all odds. Only one man who could bring together a team with enough courage to confront the Collectors. Liara T'soni didn't know what to think or do then. Cerberus had lied to her… and while that was not surprising to her… what they had done to John was. Was he the same man she had so loved or a simple clone with no emotion? That question was finally answered when he walked into her office on Illium nearly two weeks later and the encounter had shaken her right to her core. It was him. Her Shepard. She knew the first moment she had touched him and they shared that oh so brief kiss. The way those emerald green eyes held her as he sat across from her at her desk. He had asked for her to come with him, help him and her response to him that day still showed Liara T'soni her naivety in some things.

The galaxy doesn't work that way Shepard.

Thinking back now she must have sounded like such a fool to him. Telling him, after all he had accomplished and been through, that the galaxy didn't work that way. And it had been so very cold a response as well. So cold in fact that she had completely missed the resonance in his voice that had said without the actual spoken words that he needed her. The agony of losing him, the two years of mourning, her angry drive to find the Shadow Broker and avenge what he had done to her life. This is what had occupied her mind then, and looking back on it now, this mindset had very nearly cost her John Shepard all over again. She gave him the intelligence that he requested; he was there on Illium seeking two individuals that she had been keeping track of. When he asked if he could help her in her task she had him hacking information terminals that could help her, completely overlooking the fact that his eyes were filled with such pain. He had done what she has asked of him without question however and when he finally pressed her and learned how Cerberus had recovered his body, that she had been the one to give it to them, Liara was utterly stunned that he didn't hate her. His mission was important he had said and she had done the right thing. Relief and joy had flooded through her then, but it was not enough to drive away her anger and hate at the Shadow Broker.

And John Shepard had walked out of her life.

He recruited who he wanted on Illium, devastating those who stood in front of him and then he was gone once more. Gone with the impression, as she discovered much later, that Liara had indeed moved on with her own life, that she no longer loved him and that she was chasing the Shadow Broker hell bent on finding the man who had taken his place her in heart. She could have handled that so much better Liara now knew… but she hadn't. Her grief, her anger at the Shadow broker, her shock at seeing him alive once more and being unable to let her feelings shine through. It had come down on her all at once and she had reacted in a way that had almost cost her the one person in the universe that she needed the most. Again.

She cried herself to sleep for days after he left, until there were no more tears left to give. Liara T'soni didn't remain inactive however… she reached out to her sources off Illium in order to follow him. There were rumors that his Spectre status had been restored by the Citadel Council. Other rumors that he was a traitor who was now working for Cerberus. Rumors that he was fighting the Collectors in the Terminus Systems because no one else would. Liara delved into the information, sifted and sorted, and she discovered he had much support, but even more who wanted nothing more to do with Commander John Shepard and wished he had stayed dead. Three and a half months after she had seen him that last day on Illium, one of her most reliable sources on Omega contacted her and excitedly reported that someone had activated the Omega 4 Relay and a ship matching the exact description of the new, and considerably more powerful human frigate NORMANDY had entered the Relay.

The news spread quickly among the different species within the Terminus Systems of this event, with particular attention being paid by the many humans and mercenaries. The humans who wanted and wished their prayers on Shepard for his success and the mercenaries who prayed he would fail and die once more. Days passed. A week. The ache of losing him once more was just beginning to return to her, Liara knowing and realizing that this time it had been her who had pushed him away. Then nine days after the Omega 4 Relay had activated the first time, it did so again and the NORMANDY returned, battered and heavily damaged, but intact. Liara T'soni had cried extra hard that night as she mourned her loss of him and the self inflicted way it had come about this time.

It wasn't until nearly three weeks later when he showed up on Illium in her office that her salvation had begun.

He had come to her with information that would ultimately lead to them finding Feron and destroying the Shadow Broker. It had been a very bumpy ride to say the least as they fought their way across Illium side by side with the Krogan he referred to only as Grunt. A ferocious Krogan who in many ways frightened her more than Urdnot Wrex. Knowing that Feron was alive had finally opened the final door to the hard-edged Asari she had become and her only thoughts were of finding him and killing the Shadow Broker. She had almost lost herself to this terrifying persona, this twin to her mother, and only John's harsh demeanor on how she had run him all over Illium hacking terminals instead of talking to him had halted this long skid into the dark abyss. Even Liara had been surprised at his skill and the level his biotics had achieved and this was no more noticeable than when he fought the Asari Spectre Tela Vasir. John had gone toe to toe with her without even thinking, when most would have turned and ran. Ultimately they had defeated her, yet Liara saw it as him having saved her yet again and this had only angered her to some degree. She did not want to be seen in his eyes as weak and helpless and someone who needed protection. She remembered vividly that conversation on the balcony of the Azure Hotel overlooking Illium. The simple yet complex conversation that had saved her life, and ultimately given her future back to her.

"Liara... we'll be jumping several light years... there's time to talk." He said.

Liara turned to face him. "About what?" She asked him coldly.

"About us Liara." His voice had been so soft and warm.

"Shepard... listen... I'm... glad you're here..." She began.

"But you're worried there might be more terminals for me to hack!" He asked almost harshly.

"That's not fair!" Liara snapped. "You were dead!"

"I came back Liara! I didn't die! I... I didn't die because of you!" He shouted.

"It's not that easy!" She responded too quickly. "You can't just come back! I thought you were dead! You can't just expect two years of mourning to suddenly vanish!"

"I would... I would have thought that you might be... you might be a little happier to see me." He spoke his voice almost a whisper now.

"I'm sorry Shepard... I can't get into this." Liara struggled with her emotions and having him so close to her." Not now. It's too... let's just focus on getting Feron back."

The look in his emerald eyes is what did it to her. The devastation. The rejection. The loss. All the feelings that had tortured her for the last two years and she saw them in his eyes at that very moment for a single fleeting second. And then the mask that she had seen him drop into place so many times in the past returned and the sigh that left his lungs hit her like she had been thrown against the side of a building.

"Fine." He said softly. "Fine. I... I came back to help you... to help you get your friend back. I came back to help you because I love you Liara T'soni. Even if... even if..." He looked at her. "Even if that means letting you go."

Liara opened her mouth to reply but he had already turned and begun walking away and her words died in the soft breeze of the evening.

When they struck the Shadow Broker's ship he left destruction and death in his wake. He was taking out his own anger and mourning and loss on the Shadow Broker's men. Their banter back and forth had stunned his companion Grunt, but even in the playful tone it was exchanged between them, Liara could hear the pain in his voice. The closer they got to Feron, the quieter he became, until there was nothing left but the John Shepard who had obliterated Saren and the Geth on his way to Sovereign. Liara had watched him fight the Yahg without even blinking an eye, trusting in what she told him, resorting to his fists and hand-to-hand combat against an opponent that outweighed him easily by at least three hundred pounds and towered over him by two feet. It was almost as if he wanted to endure physical pain to drown out the emotional pain. She could still hear the sounds of his fists and his kicks as they landed on the Yahg, causing the much larger creature to back up and roar in pain and surprise. And then... as suddenly as it had all began more than two years ago... it was over. She would never forget their exchange then for it showed her how much he truly loved her.

"It's over... it's... it's finally over." She sobbed heavily, the tears streaming down her face. "For two years I..."

His powerful arms drew her to him and as she buried her face in his neck, he spoke the words.

"It's alright Liara. It's alright." He whispered.

She could hear the resignation in his voice. Feel the sadness that wracked his body... but his love for her only made him comfort her. Liara didn't know what possessed her to do it... but she kissed him as they drew apart. She kissed him and all of the walls she had built over the past two years, everything she had built to shelter herself from the pain started to shudder and come apart.

"Shep... Shepard I..." She stammered.

"Do you love him Liara?" He asked her in a voice that tore at her heart.

She looked at him and her azure colored eyes grew wide when she suddenly realized what had been going on. All of this time... from months ago on Illium until right now... all of this time he had thought her desire for revenge for Feron had been something else. All of this time he had thought Feron was something far more than he ever was or ever could be. Her azure eyes were wide as she gazed at him. He had returned to her... he had returned to help her rescue the man who he thought had taken his place in her heart. Liara blinked several times unable to comprehend this. What kind of man would do such a thing? What kind of man would break his own heart to see the woman he loved happy with another man?

"Shepard... I... why..."

"I love you Liara T'soni." He said to her simply. "I love you. And if loving you means I have to let you move on with your life then... then that is what I will do. If this Feron is..."

Liara moved forward quickly and reached up to take his handsome face in her hands. "Oh... Goddess." She gasped. "John... oh Goddess no! There has never been anyone but you John Michael Shepard! Never anyone but you!" She stepped away from him, something still holding her back. Some unseen force that caused her to doubt. "It's... but it's been two years... I don't... we're different people. You... you have your mission and..."

As the arms she had longed to feel wrap around her for more than two years pulled her close, those walls she had built that were shuddering before; they came crashing down as he kissed her. Kissed her with a fervor that stole her breath away. And then her arms were wrapping around his broad shoulders and she was molding her body to his as she returned his kiss with equal fervor and passion.

"Ok… ok…" She gasped softly, happily, as their lips finally drew apart once more.

"Ok." John whispered in her ear.

It was a fervor and passion that only grew a hundred fold that night in his quarters. The night he spoke the words that would reverberate within her for the rest of her life.

"...You're alive again John!" She told him as she moved up closer to him. "I've got everything I want." She moved even closer, looking into his emerald eyes and feeling herself shiver with desire. "Tell... tell me what you want John Shepard." She spoke wistfully. "If this all ends tomorrow... what... what happens to us?"

"I don't know... I was thinking marriage, old age and a lot of little blue children." It was not what Liara had expected, especially with how confidently and comfortably he spoke the words. She stepped back and shoved him gently in the shoulder.

"You... you are just saying these things." She stammered in disbelief, for this is what she so desperately wanted as well. She pushed away from him and turned to walk to the desk along the bulkhead, her mind and body awash in feelings she had never thought she would experience again. She placed her hands on the desk as the tears flooded her eyes. "Oh... Goddess." She gasped. "You... you were dead."

"I got better." He told her.

"This time." She gasped as she turned around and looked at him, keeping herself from throwing her arms around him. "But you're going to leave again?" Liara shook her head and moved to stand beside his bed as she gazed up into the stars through his view window in the ceiling. "When… when the Reapers finally do arrive… you'll dive into the fray." Liara felt him come up behind her and she turned. His hands reached for hers and she met his emerald eyes. "I spent two years mourning you John Shepard… so if we are going to try this… I… I need to know you're always coming back to me."

"Is loving me worth it Liara T'soni?" He asked her staring down into her exquisite azure eyes. "I can say yes without question or doubt that loving you is worth it. But is loving me worth it to you?"

Liara stared at him and for the first time in over two years the answer came to her with no hesitation and no doubt. "Yes." She replied. "Now promise me John." She demanded.

John moved closer to her, looking down into her azure eyes once more. "I don't know…" He quipped almost playfully. "That's a pretty big promise to make."

Liara couldn't help but smile then as she looked at him seductively. "Oh… is it?"

He leaned close to her and Liara felt her skin flush and her heart begin to race as his lips drew close to her exposed neck and she felt his warm breath caress her flesh. She almost whimpered at the exquisite sensations that swept through her. Sensations that only he could bring out in her. Sensations she hadn't felt in over two years. "I have to have something special to come back to." He whispered as his lips lightly grazed her flesh.

Liara could barely contain the desire within her body and mind now. The need to feel him touching her once more. The need to have him filling her as only he could. One of her arms went around his shoulders as she tried to maintain her composure even as the flames within her grew more intense and harder to fight. "I'm… I'm open to suggestions." She gasped into his ear.

"Tell me…" His arms slipped around her waist and drew her close to him as he whispered to her in a voice that sent shivers racing through her every nerve. "Tell me you love me Liara T'soni. Tell me you love me and nothing… living or dead… nothing will keep me from always coming back to you."

"By… by the Goddess yes… John Michael Shepard!" She hissed blissfully. "I love you! More than I have ever loved anything in my entire life!"

"Then how about this?" He asked her. When his hands touched the small of her back and pulled her against his powerful body Liara surrendered all she was to him. As her azure eyes became beautiful black orbs and she initiated their meld, Liara T'soni felt the love pouring from him. A love so powerful it swept her up within its embrace and she surrendered to its divine enchantment.

And their love was reborn.

What Liara did not know, and would not know for many days, was that John Shepard had never considered her anything but an equal and Liara was the sole individual in the universe that held John Shepard's unquestioning trust. And unequivocal love. The one person he would shatter worlds for. The events of the following hours rushed together, the pleasure and joy at once more being within his arms, but Liara would forever remember them as the day her life truly began. It was that night where they had rediscovered each other and their love was reborn, burning more intensely than it ever had before. Even as they melded three separate times, Liara T'soni only had to sift through his mind a little to find that his love for her is what drove him forward, what kept him going in the face of impossible odds and so much death. Their reunion had been perfection, both physically and emotionally. He showed her that he remembered in minute detail every erogenous zone of her body, where to touch, where to kiss, where to lick. And in the fourteen hours of rediscovering one another, there were times when he had simply been content to hold her within his arms and feel her beating heart against his chest. It was something that both of them had found they enjoyed immensely during their short time together after defeating Saren and Sovereign. The feel of their hearts beating against each other, for one another, with one another. To once more experience that had been heaven for Liara T'soni.

She had also heard his whispered words to her when the elevator doors closed in front of her the next morning.

Come back soon Liara.

The tears had come for her once more, but before she had even reached the airlock to return to the Shadow Broker's ship he was in front of her in the landing bay, out of breath and wearing only rumpled clothes he had thrown on..

"Not this time!" He had almost shouted. "No! I will not let you walk out of my life and I will not walk out of yours! Whatever we do… whatever we do Liara T'soni… from now on we will do it together!" He ranted as he moved up to her.

It didn't seem to faze him that Garrus and Tali and perhaps half a dozen other crew were present in the landing bay and watching as he lifted her into his arms and kissed her. Kissed her more passionately than he had ever kissed her before. If it didn't bother him, then Liara T'soni was most certainly not going to let it bother her, and she returned his blistering kiss with equal passion and desire and want. Almost three, long terrible years had passed, and Liara T'soni now wondered how she had kept going. It would not be easy she knew… none of it going forward would be easy. Liara T'soni however, she would cling to the one thing that mattered to her now. The one thing that gave her strength and purpose to go on.

That thing was John Shepard.

John had remained for a full week, easily choosing not to leave her so soon after they had discovered each other again no matter who was looking for him. In the week that followed they had discovered so much about each other; so much that they should have been allowed to discover long ago. After defeating Sovereign and the Geth, they had spent much of their time discovering the physical pleasures of their blossoming relationship. They had melded often, but never really delved into the people that they were. They never had the chance before that time had been cruelly taken from them more than two years ago. They were different people now, yes that was true, but the love they had discovered more than two years ago had been reborn and now it burned even more brilliantly than it had before. It burned more brilliantly because of all that had happened and all they had endured to reach this point in their lives. They were not about to let this time escape them. Their melds now were for pleasure yes, but within that divine pleasure they searched and discovered who they were as individuals and as people. And this had forged a bond that would now never be broken.

He had lost two years of his life... had it ripped from him and it had taken a terrible toll on him emotionally she knew. How much a toll she hadn't truly realized until a few days later when she had been laying in his arms and the tears from his beautiful emerald green eyes had splashed on her soft cheeks, mixing with her own tears as they had poured their souls out to each other for hours. Her discussion with Tali'Zorrah the day before they had left the Shadow Broker's ship had been the real indicator of what John had been experiencing through the weeks and months after his resurrection until meeting her on Illium and it only confirmed to her what the window into his mind their melding had told her.

Her thoughts quickly went back to that day on the Shadow Broker's ship, well, her ship now. The day she and Tali had talked.

"…recalibrated the lightening collectors to be used as a backup power source in case the engines fail." Tali spoke as she and Liara shared a moment when it was just the two of them. "It will give you thirty minutes of main power to either find the problem with the main engines or get off the ship."

"It's amazing he did not have such a backup system." Liara said as she watched Tali sit down across from her and hook up the tubing so she could drink the rations brought over from the Normandy.

"I get the feeling neither he nor the idiots he had protecting this place knew much about the power systems." Tali answered. "You are ok with Legion remaining to assist you in finalizing all the remaining repairs?"

Liara nodded. "It will go much quicker. And with the VI following him wherever he goes I'll have an early warning system if he attempts anything. I have changed all of the command codes anyway and added some additional layers of protection that EDI gave to me. He will not be able to do anything that I am not aware of."

Tali nodded her head. "I'm kind of upset that he is staying. It… it has been very strange working beside a Geth Liara… but he saved my life on that Collector ship. The entire four days it took us to return to the Terminus Systems he never left my bedside."

"Perhaps that is the beginning of something Tali." Liara spoke softly. "You did say that you had developed a tie with him after Shepard assisted you with your… how did John put it… your showdown."

Tali nodded and Liara thought she saw a smile behind her amethyst colored face plate. "It is nice to finally have someone who knows what I am talking about when it comes to Quantum Physics."

"It could be the beginnings of something that the Quarian people can build on Tali." Liara said.

"I know… and that is what I am hoping for." Tali answered. She looked at Liara from across the table. The young Asari woman looked so much more mature and confident in her demeanor. The brightness that had been lacking from her azure colored eyes when they had first come to Illium had returned tenfold.

"It's because of you Liara." Tali said softly.

Liara glanced up at her over the rim of her mug of coffee. "What is?"

"Shepard." Tali said. "How he has changed these last days."

Liara felt a momentary sense of loss rush through her but she quickly pushed it aside as she continued to remember their conversation.

"What… what do you mean?"

"He was different. When he came to Haestrom to save me I knew right away it wasn't the Shepard I knew. He was so detached... so cold. He tried to make it seem like nothing was bothering him, always with a supportive word and always staying active to keep his mind from what was going on within him."

"Within him?" Liara had asked.

"You were mourning him Liara... I understand that." Tali spoke. "I can't begin to even imagine the pain you must have felt. But what you have to realize, what I am pretty sure you realize now, is that he had two years of his life taken from him. Like a large section of a wall being removed and left to stand open and bare. I know you have seen it by now. He saw how everyone had moved on with their individual lives; how everyone thought he was dead and gone. No one believed him. No one trusted him. I asked Jacob Taylor one day... do you know the first thing he asked when he woke up on that Cerberus station? He was fighting mechs that had been reprogrammed to kill them as they tried to escape. He asked Taylor where his crew was. And then the Illusive Man lied to him and said you were working for the Shadow Broker and that you could not be trusted." Tali shook her head. "You are his source of strength Liara. You always have been, ever since that first day. It's almost as if everything he has done since meeting you on Therum has been to insure a future for the both of you. When he thought that future was gone, that you no longer felt the same way about him, he was empty and hollow. After every mission we did after leaving Illium and you, every mission leading up to taking on those damn Collectors, he would make sure we were all settled and then he would go to his quarters and sit with those damn fish in his room. After the Collector Mission when he got that message and Intel from Cerberus about the Shadow Broker, he didn't hesitate. It didn't come from the Illusive Man either. I think there was a cross in communications somehow and it was just sent to him by someone accidently."

"Tali... Tali I..." Liara began to speak.

"He's different now Liara." Tali said quickly. "Everyone sees it. And it's because of you. And you can't deny you love him just as intensely back Liara, because everyone sees it in your face too."

Liara shook her head. "No... I do. By the Goddess I do."

"Then live every moment like there is no tomorrow." Tali said. "Don't question... don't hesitate and certainly don't let anything hold you back. He knows you are different, just like he is different now. To be honest... with everything both of you have been through... I think he actually likes that in some ways you are stronger than he is. That you have always been stronger than him in some ways."

Liara had laughed softly at that comment but she had had taken Tali's advice to heart. He had promised her he would always come back to her and Liara now firmly believed that. Held on to that. No matter what took place, no matter how dire things became, no matter who he had to kill or what he had to destroy, John Michael Shepard would keep that promise to her and always return. They had shared a wonderfully tender evening the night he had left, and once more he showed her that he had memorized every erogenous zone that existed on her body. He could and did have her gasping for more and then they had simply held each other close and stared at the stars through the ceiling view window as they laid in his bed.

Liara had wanted to know what he went through during those seven months on the ship and when she discovered he had recorded personal logs every day while talking to her picture on his desk she told him she wanted him to leave them with her. He only shrugged his broad shoulders and agreed.

"They were just me rambling." He dismissed them, though Liara highly doubted that is all they were.

There were hundreds upon hundreds of hours of him talking to her picture in his quarters. Telling her picture how the various missions went and what others on the ship did during the day. Though there were many times when she could detect the anguish in his voice and how he talked of the wounded and what he had done, and often times when he tried to hide his pain with humor, but Liara did not judge him. Just the sound of his voice comforted her beyond any kind of music she could listen to.

John had been the one to convince her to maintain a home on Illium. She would need the time away from the drabness of the Shadow Broker's ship and its mostly sterile environment not to mention keep up a façade on Illium that she was simply an Information Broker. Liara also had a sense it was his way to keep her from becoming completely overcome and overwhelmed as the new Shadow Broker. He had thought he lost her once, he was not about to take that same chance again. She had purchased a much larger home on the outskirts of Nos Astra, set within in the mountains since her apartment in the city had been attacked. For the last month she had remained primarily on the Shadow Broker's ship with Feron pouring over the countless contacts and assets the Shadow Broker had while beginning to shift things across the galaxy in a way that would help her in her main goal of defeating the Reapers. Short, one or two day trips back to Illium allowed her to put the house together as she liked and keep up appearances here. They determined she would stay on the Shadow Broker's ship for three weeks and then return to Illium for three weeks. When she was here, John would be here, and when she was on the Shadow Broker ship he would be off investigating the leads she had dug up previously.

The Asari authorities on Illium, thanks to some carefully placed information tidbits and credits, reported that the incident at her apartment had been a random break in and that because of this Liara had chosen to purchase a home elsewhere on Illium. This new mountain home, their home, provided her a breathtaking view of Nos Astra and a very defensible position, both of which John approved of. It was huge to say the least, fully a three floor mansion with five guest rooms, an extensive library of different literary works, a large pool and garden, a huge main room and several offices and a massive kitchen. John told her it reminded him of the home of Donovan Hock on Bekkenstein when he first saw it and he had immediately gone to work. Liara now had a layered defensive system that John had put in place with intricate care in order to protect her when she was here with him or by herself. They had established a direct link to the Shadow Broker's ship from their home here that she could activate or sever with a simple voice command. It allowed her to communicate freely with Feron who remained on the ship and recovered while using his own skills to continue to delve for information and intelligence that they could use in their quest to discover ways to defeat the Reapers when they arrived. John had turned the storage basement into a command center of sorts for her, with computers and all the equipment she would need to continue her work here. The setup was almost exactly how the systems were laid out on the SB ship as they now called it, and she could reach it from their bedroom through a secret section of wall, or from a more ordinary looking door off the kitchen which led into the normal portion of the basement. The Master bedroom was huge, half of it made up entirely of glass that looked out over the mountains and Nos Astra in the distance. There was an expansive desk area behind the head of their bed where both of them could work, and a small couch area at the foot of their bed where they could sit and enjoy the view.

John did not question how she conducted herself as the Shadow Broker, knowing that whatever she did would ultimately be better for the universe as a whole and their future together personally. This simple bit of trust and faith meant more to her than he would ever really know and finally allowed her to realize that yes… he did regard her as an equal in everything. She could not make many changes right away or the operatives she commanded across the galaxy would suspect something was amiss.

Their biggest task now was discovering who they could trust for aside from those men and women who were part of John's crew, there were precious few who either of them would trust fully.

Liara moved through their large and spacious bedroom, for no matter how Liara T'soni looked at it now, she considered herself John Shepard's Bondmate without doubt or hesitation. An actual ceremony still needed to take place to consummate their union, but it was something that they had both agreed should take place when there wasn't a genocidal war on the horizon. Then she would gladly take the name Liara T'soni Shepard. An Asari could move from one stage of their lives to the next even before it was normally accepted due to any number of reasons. She and John had bonded so deeply and so often during the last few years that it had caused her priorities to shift and Liara felt herself moving into that next stage as a Matron. She wanted children, she wanted to settle down, but she knew they needed to insure their survival first.

Goddess she missed him. It had been two weeks and two days since she'd last seen him and she wanted to feel his arms around her again. He was on Therum at her old dig site, sifting through the many pads of information she had gathered before the Geth attacked her so long ago. After that, he would remain to stay with her for a few days before finally returning to Earth to answer for what had taken place within Batarian space. She had held him several times when he woke in a cold sweat because of the actions he had been forced to take in destroying the Relay. All those Batarian lives lost. He knew it was for the greater good, but that still did not cause him to forget they had died. John did not seem at all particularly concerned about what would happen when he returned to Earth for he had faith in Admiral Hackett and Admiral Anderson and had been keeping in close touch with them. Liara had taken a liking to both men and found them to be refreshing and honest and without any pretense towards her people as a whole. They trusted her implicitly it seemed and they were among only a handful of John and her close friends and fellow warriors who knew she was the Shadow Broker.

Liara walked smoothly out of the bedroom and to the railing of the staircase that spiraled down into the main room of their home. His voice from one of his more recent reports to her filtered through the house as she moved down the stairs and her azure eyes fell upon the long credenza type table with nothing but frozen holo images of the two of them together. They were mostly of their recent two day trip to Thessia that he had surprised her with for her birthday and a wondrous trip it had been. She gazed at the pictures as she tied her robe around her lithe form and stopped to gaze at her favorite. They had another tourist to Thessia snap a picture of them facing each other with the sunset as the backdrop. She looked so petite compared to John's six foot one frame, but she fit into his embrace like the fingers of a glove and that is all that mattered to her. She fondly recalled that evening after the picture. A wonderful dinner and then a concert and when they returned to their room hours of blissful lovemaking. Liara had been surprised at the reaction John received from Asari on her home world. It was almost as if they could feel the incredible biotic power within him and the willpower to harness and control it. Add to that his respect and admiration for the Asari race as a whole and the vast majority of her people found him to be engaging and intelligent. They didn't look at him as they did other humans. Of course, if they had known who he was, things would have been different she was sure.

John's two hundred and ten pounds was nothing but powerful, sculpted muscle, coiled and ready to spring into action. Liara had explored every aspect of his body with great glee and desire many times in the past and she would do so many more times going into the future. She simply could not get enough of him. His skin was deeply tanned, and his emerald green eyes could make her melt in moments. His short cropped black hair had grown out slightly, but was still cut in a military style; the neatly trimmed goatee was cut to a soft and ticklish length. He was human yes… but the experimental procedures and bio-synthetic fusion process used by Cerberus to bring him back had increased his normal lifespan to three times that of a typical human according to Miranda Lawson. He could conceivably live to be over four hundred years old now and that simply made Liara giddy. His body was missing the scars from battles that she had first seen and explored long ago, but he had several new ones that were still pinkish in color as they healed.

John Shepard, Liara knew, was now perhaps one of the top two or three most powerful human biotics anywhere in the galaxy. He had an abnormally high eezo nodule count within his body when he was born and when combined with the L5X19 implants Cerberus had given him, this gave him incredible command and control over mass effect fields. If she had to guess, only an Asari Matriarch or Asari Commando would be able to defeat him in single combat and that would not come easily or without much pain as Tela Vasir had discovered. While he was what the Alliance called a Biotic Vanguard, he was also a specially trained N7 Commando and lethal in all forms of combat. He was fast and terrifically strong and it was no wonder he had been one of the Alliance's top soldiers and that was before Cerberus had enhanced these abilities within him. He still retained his Citadel Council Spectre status… what else could they really do after he had defeated Sovereign and almost single handedly wiped out the Collectors. They rarely tapped him for missions within Citadel Council space because they did not want others to question him about the Reapers and so many other things that the Council wanted to sweep under the rug to avoid panic. That was fine with him Liara knew, since he didn't trust the Council and with her new role as the Shadow Broker, his intelligence assets had become far more dependable than anything they had. He did not question the Intel Liara gave to him for he knew that it would be solid and accurate because she loved him and would not put him in harm's way without the very best Intel she could provide.

They had decided many things together in the past few weeks, and when Liara reflected on them, she realized that each of them were meant to use her talents and abilities to their fullest extent. Her fear that he would try to protect her, limit her in some way, had been unfounded from the very beginning. Many people on Illium and some other planets knew who Liara T'soni was and what she did for a living. They would use this.

Their first decision together had been to let it slip that yes indeed she and the human John Shepard were now a couple. Bondmates. Instead of trying to hide this fact, they deduced it would serve their purposes better if that information was out in the open. Shepard's name was better known than Liara's in the Terminus Systems, as was his ruthless temper and combat prowess towards his enemies. While there were those who would challenge him, very few really wanted to knock heads with the Spectre known as Shepard. Anyone who chose to cross Liara T'soni would then end up choosing to cross John Shepard, the hero of the Battle of the Citadel and destroyer of the Collector race. It was quickly beginning to get around just how much John Shepard regarded his beautiful Asari wife and Bondmate and this would serve to protect her from all but the very worst criminals and those who might be doing the Reaper's dirty work. While this might limit her ability to gather information on Illium at first, they knew it would become an asset in the future when people began to realize that as long as they were upfront and did not try to cross Liara they had no worries. Liara knew this did not sit well with the members of the Citadel Council or the Asari government, especially the Asari Councilor Tevos, her contacts telling her as much, but there was little they could do. She would be watched most certainly when she entered Council space, but she had become quite adapt at hiding what she was truly doing.

Another decision was to use the Shadow Broker's ship as the new NORMANDY's main redoubt. With a few adjustments by EDI to her shields and Kinetic Barriers she was able to dock alongside the SB ship. It was here that she would be upgraded and refitted with whatever she needed, and having EDI able to plug in sand help catalogue and refine the Shadow Broker's systems was an added bonus. It was also a selfish decision on both their parts because it insured they would see each other as often as they could. Neither of them were willing to go months without seeing each other after all they had been through to rediscover their love and this decision seem appropriate to them. Tali, Miranda, the Salarian Mordin and Joker had removed every bit of Cerberus connection from EDI's databases and all across the ship, not something that pleased the Illusive Man in any way. John was just not willing to allow Cerberus protocols to run the ship he commanded and leaving EDI clean and unshackled as Miranda put it made his life so much easier. The Cerberus crew who remained were loyal to him, of that Liara could vouch for completely. He had risked everything to rescue them as soon as he had discovered they had been taken. He didn't have to do this they knew… but in doing this John had earned their undying loyalty. Many of them had moved their families to Illium since the NORMANDY was technically a civilian ship now and she would now call Illium its public home port. The Illusive Man had no real control over what John did now, and rather than turn Cerberus's assets against Shepard and possibly lose it all, he had reluctantly agreed to work with Shepard using Miranda as his liaison. Cerberus was still a powerful force to be reckoned with they knew, but the Illusive Man was intelligent enough to know that Shepard not only had information in his possession that could hurt Cerberus, he had Liara as the new Shadow Broker with all of her assets as well. No doubt he would try many different things, but they were ready for that and finally when all was said and done, the Illusive Man knew the Reapers were a threat to all sentient life.

At least that is what they had thought.

As she walked into the large kitchen, John's voice was telling her about how they had taken down a Blue Suns base and discovered another Prothean Beacon device. Liara quickly moved to the wall and adjusted the volume on the internal COM system within their home and then began to pour herself a steaming mug of coffee as she listened.

"The vision wasn't as long or as extensive as the others Liara, but I wish you were here to help me make sense of it all. It wasn't a beacon of that I'm sure…but some of the images were the same."

Liara had developed a taste for human coffee in their travels together and now she found herself drinking it all the time. She reached out and touched the panel, making an electronic note to speak with John about this when he returned. He was right… any Prothean beacon or message needed to be examined closely.

The chime from the door drew her attention and with barely a pause she turned and saved the recording of John's log with another reminder to review it soon. She had no worries about who was at her door. Anyone who made it remotely close to their home knew of the security systems and how to properly disengage the measures and then reengage them when they were passed each stage. There were only three individuals that John and Liara trusted with that knowledge and as Liara moved to the door she saw two of them standing just outside. She quickly entered the code and watched as the double doors slid open to reveal Tali'Zorrah Vas Normandy and Garrus Vakarian.

Since accepting the name the Conclave of Quarian Admirals had given her, Tali had devoted all of her time to the NORMANDY and those she now considered her family. With the death of her father and being put on trial for treason, Tali decided she did not care to be around the political in-fighting between Quarian Admirals in regards to how to deal with the Geth as a whole. Her family was now Shepard and the crew of the NORMANDY and that is what she would say to anyone who asked her. Like Liara… Tali had matured much in the past three years and Liara thoroughly enjoyed her company. She would be returning to the Migrant Fleet in a few days to bring closure to her father's past and Garrus would be returning to Palavin to see his family, but now they were still together.

Garrus was Garrus. Liara knew John would find no more loyal a friend than the Turian. He and Garrus had been through so much together and the bond that had formed between them was now unbreakable.

"Tali." Liara spoke. "Garrus. Come in please." She spoke.

"Good morning Liara." Tali spoke as they entered… the soft white light fluctuating within her voice modulator as she talked.

"The perimeter is secure." Garrus spoke as he moved past her into the house, his eyes ever alert for trouble. Liara smiled at this because she knew this was the one place Garrus felt completely comfortable and could let his guard down.

"Good morning to you too Garrus." Liara said playfully.

"Sorry." Garrus spoke as he turned back to look at her. "It's been a boring day and a half and going into Nos Astra will be interesting."

Liara nodded her head as the doors closed and Tali moved up beside her. "You're sure you want to do this?" Tali asked.

"Yes Tali." Liara answered. "I had some things in my apartment that are sentimental to me. I want to recover them. The authorities have kept curious people away, but this cannot go on for much longer. I need to gather my remaining things and bring them here. Going to my old apartment is not as difficult as you might think. It was only a single stop to where I am now. One I had to make yes… but one I now need to forget."

"Shuttle is waiting." Garrus spoke. "And it will help me to grab some new weapon Mods if there are any."

Liara nodded as she sipped her mug of coffee. "Let me change into something different and we can leave immediately."

THERUM

The heat was oppressive to begin with… but after three hours of maneuvering and having to backtrack they were all soaked to the core of their armor. But they had finally discovered it. The camp wasn't large, Liara had always worked alone, which made it even harder to find after the seismic events they had triggered using the elevator deep underground to return to the surface over three years ago. The remains of her domed shelter were tattered, but the frame was still standing. There were several small crates spread out around the shelter, as well as a work table that was still standing and had a computer terminal on it.

"Finally." John Michael Shepard muttered.

John Shepard still remembered vividly the day her met her three hundred meters under the surface of this planet within the Prothean ruin. Her azure colored eyes had caught him from the first moment he looked into them as she was suspended within that containment field. She had triggered some ancient Prothean security measures that kept her safe from the Geth that had been trying to kidnap or kill her, but she had also succeeded in trapping herself. The day he had met her is the day John Michael Shepard had thrown off the dark shadows within himself that had hounded him ever since Akuze. That is the day the spark of life within him had been re-ignited. He had seen and interacted with many Asari before meeting her, but Liara T'soni had been different. There was a naivety about her yes, but there was a strength within her that had reached out for him and then chipped away at the shell he had erected around himself since Akuze. The faces and nightmares that had dogged him for six years slowly began to fade after meeting her. As each day passed those memories drifted into the deepest recesses of his mind to be replaced by images and memories of her. John knew all Asari to be exceptionally beautiful but he didn't know what it was about Liara that set her apart. At least not right away.

All Asari were in perfect physical condition it seemed to him, but after so many years of working Prothean dig sites by herself, the elements and hard work had sculpted a figure that very few Asari had in reality. Her five foot five frame was perfectly proportioned, with long legs for her height, a waist that most human females would kill for with hips and buttocks that appeared as if they had been carved by some goddess in ancient Earth mythology. Her medium sized breasts were firm and proud, standing out and perfectly proportionate to her slim figure. The six main individual folds of her sculpted head scalp blended flawlessly and she was the first Asari he had seen with freckles around her eyes, not to mention the thin tattooed eyebrows above her exquisite azure blue eyes. Eyes that had captured his damaged soul from that first moment. John Shepard didn't know when he had fallen in love with her, sometime between the death of her mother on Noveria and their excursions into the Voyager Cluster to stop a Geth incursion, but he had. She had saved his life on more than one occasion with her incredible biotic skills, and when they weren't fighting together they were conversing about other things in every free moment they had. She was so much smarter than him, and he loved to listen to her voice when she answered a question from him. She had also helped him to learn greater control of his own biotic power through the melds they shared to try and find the meaning of the Prothean message burned into his mind.

It was during these melds that he had begun to learn about her and she about him. At least the first fingers of understanding. While they were focused on discovering the meaning of the beacons, they unintentionally formed a bond within both of them. Liara could see all he had gone through on Akuze, she experienced it first hand as if she was there, and he had seen and understood the frustration she lived with every day being a Matriarch's daughter and bucking the normal trend of younger Asari by not being a dancer or mercenary and embracing her life as an archeologist. That and the fact that because she was the daughter of two Asari, a Pureblood if you chose to use the derogatory term, many Asari did not look at her in the same light. They almost seemed to look down upon her and when she explained why, John had kept it to himself that he thought that was the stupidest thing he had ever heard. Their seven month adventure across the stars fighting enemies and learning of each other had culminated with their union the night before they reached Ilos. John Shepard was no stranger to female companionship, yet for weeks he had found himself wanting Liara more and more. That night as Liara initiated their joining meld, something that held special meaning for her since she had never melded with another for pleasure, John let go of all the walls and barriers he had built through the years and he allowed his true self to come out. That night had been nothing short of spectacular. Having her in his arms, her naked skin against his while their minds swirled together and they pleasured each other in whatever way they could think of had been utterly surreal. They both surrendered to each other all that they were that night and then John Shepard knew the true meaning and reality of loving someone more than your own life.

Their month together after defeating Saren and Sovereign, going from place to place to fight the remnants of the Geth, this had brought them closer together. They were like two people who had found something neither of them could get enough of. They explored the limits and reaches of physical pleasure with each other, never really delving into the man and woman they truly were. Their love was unquestioning and both of them thought they would have all the time in the world. The Collectors had taken that away from them in the span of two minutes and with it, they had nearly taken their future together.

John shook his head and shrugged his broad shoulders like a large dog as he pushed those thoughts from his mind. No matter the pain and anguish they had experienced the past two plus years, no matter the feelings of loss and rejection and revenge, they were finally together once more. The path to that had not been easy or without pain and hurt, both of them were different people John knew. Yet the one thing that had not changed within either of them, the one thing that had been slowly burning within the background of their hearts was the love they had for each other. It was that love that had saved them both and it was that love that had finally been too much to resist in the end. Their melds now were for pleasure yes, but within that pleasure they had found each other as they never had before. They knew each other better than they knew themselves in some respects and that love continued to grow day by day.

That is what mattered now.

"John?" The feminine voice spoke from beside him.

"Huh?" He stammered softly and turned to look at Miranda. She had recently returned from insuring her sister was settled and had volunteered to come on this mission with him.

"You went off there for a moment." Miranda Lawson said.

"Sorry. Nothing to worry about. Being here just brought back some memories." He said. "Ok… Liara said it should be near the back of the camp, probably buried under three years of hard dirt by now." He brought up his arm and activated his Omni Tool. "Set the beacon homing frequency to 345.8 and we should find it. Spread out to cover the entire plateau. Miranda go right… Grunt you go left."

They were here after Liara's notes and catalogs of what she had found within these ruins before they were destroyed. Since no one else was working to find a way to defeat the Reapers when they arrived, they were going to have to do it for them. Surprisingly John no longer cared about the masses of people who were without a clue. If they believed as he did then they were helping him in whatever way they were able. If they didn't… John wasn't going to waste his time. He worked now to secure his future with Liara, Miranda worked to secure her sister's future. Everyone had their reasons now… and for those politicians and others who just wanted the Reaper threat to go away… Shepard and his allies had no use for them.

They had spent the better part of the last six weeks doing this exact thing at different locations across the galaxy. When they discovered what Liara sent them for, the data and all relevant materials were sent back to her. Liara's digging within the Shadow Broker files and databases revealed that he was not looking for a way to survive when the Reapers showed up. He had been looking for a way to defeat them. He had been convinced that the makings of some sort of weapon that could be used against them was buried within the Prothean ruins that were scattered throughout the galaxy. From what Liara could tell, the Shadow Broker seemed to think that the Protheans had discovered a weapon built by the race that had come before them and were destroyed by the Reapers before they could use it.

There was no way to tell when the Reapers would arrive after their failed attempt to use the Alpha Relay… but Shepard knew that were not just sitting on their hands. A sense of urgency gripped everyone who, like him, knew the Reapers were coming. Liara T'soni was the foremost expert on the Protheans anywhere in the galaxy as far as John was concerned, and if anyone could discover what they were trying to do… John had faith that Liara would be the one. Even Miranda… the eternal realist… approved of how Liara was handling her position as the new Shadow Broker. Liara was beginning to use her network of contacts and assets to support those who believed as they did in both the Asari and Turian governments, while trying to gain similar assets within the Alliance and Salarian governments as well as the Volus and Elcor. All of them felt the Citadel Council was a lost cause except for David Anderson. They continued to try and bury all the connections and data to the Reapers that the Collectors had left behind. There were times when John wished he had saved the base or the derelict Reaper hadn't been destroyed, just so he could prove to them that he wasn't crazy, but he had no intentions of revealing the Reaper IFF that was still installed on the NORMANDY to anyone unless absolutely necessary. The effects overall were small so far but Liara was pursuing them and many others nonetheless because it needed to be done. He didn't really care for some of the types of people Liara had to deal with, but he would tolerate it as long as it helped them in stopping the Reapers when they finally did arrive.

Shepard had just knelt in the reddish dirt to begin covering his area when Grunt called out to him from a nearby rock shelf.

"Here Shepard!" The gruff voiced Krogan exclaimed.

Shepard looked up quickly and moved to where he was kneeling in the dirt. Grunt was digging underneath a small overhang of rock and Shepard could hear his Omnitool beeping frantically. He quickly began to assist Grunt and as Miranda came up they had cleared away roughly fourteen inches of hard packed red dirt to reveal the top of a metal container. It was easily discernible as a data disc holder for important documents. Fire proof and shatter proof according to the manufacturer. As John and Grunt pulled at the edges, he was glad to see that the boasts were true. The box, roughly eighteen inches long and six inches wide was battered but not crushed or dented in any way. Grunt pulled it up out of the shallow hole they had dug and John adjusted the controls on his own Omnitool. It was Liara's security code to open the box. After so many mind melds with his beautiful Asari Bondmate, there were many things that neither of them needed to write down or remember for the other. Their minds had shared so much information that there were actually times when they could speak with each other with their minds when they were close by. This was something that had frightened both of them in the beginning, for even Liara had never heard of such a thing happening with Bondmates, but it had been the Justicar Samara who had told them to embrace it and to develop this talent to its fullest extent. Samara had told them it showed just how much they were meant to be together by the higher powers of destiny and fate. John smiled as he thought fondly of the Asari Justicar for a brief moment. She had departed a few months ago to return to her duties, vowing that she would rally the whole of the Justicars when the time came that he needed them.

The security locked clicked and John popped the lid to reveal two stacks of data pads and several discs. Liara was exceptionally thorough in everything she did and he smiled upon seeing the neat stacks.

"This is it." He said.

Miranda drew out one of the data discs and scanned it with her Omnitool. "I'll say this for her… she took notes on everything she found."

John nodded. "That she did." He said as Miranda returned the disc to the box.

"We should leave now!" Grunt spoke. "Trouble always follows us and we didn't come all this way to lose this."

John nodded. "You got that right." He lifted his hand and touched his fingers to his ear activating his COM implant. "Shepard to NORMANDY."

Joker's voice responded immediately. "NORMANDY here."

"Joker… give us fifteen minutes to link up with Thane and Chief Donnelly in the Hammerhead and then come in to pick us up." He stated.

"Understood Commander." Joker answered quickly. "Be advised… Admiral Hackett and the others arrived twenty minutes ago on the shuttle. Shepard… your mother is with them. And someone from the SAIB."

John looked up. "My mother is with them?" He asked with a plainly surprised expression. "Alone?"

"Yes." Joker answered.

Shepard nodded to no one in particular. "Very well. On second thought have the shuttle pick up Miranda, Grunt and I. I'll send Engineer Donnelly and Thane back to the LZ with the Hammerhead and you can pick them up. We'll return in the shuttle."

Miranda looked at him as he re-sealed the box. "Trouble?" She asked.

John looked at her. "She's going to be seriously pissed at me." He stated. "I… I haven't talked to her in over three years and I never answered her message to me during the Collector mission."

"Why did you ask if she was alone?" Miranda inquired.

John met her eyes. "My… my father and I haven't spoken in over a decade. He didn't agree with my decision to enter into the N7 Program. He… let's just say he has a large distrust of aliens and the N7 Program would insure I associated with them." He replied. "They are still good friends even though they are divorced. I wanted to make sure she didn't bring him. He would not be happy to know about Liara and me."

"That bothers you now?" Miranda asked.

"No." He answered without hesitation. "If he wants to cling to his old hatreds that's fine by me. It came to blows between us one day and we haven't spoken since. I just don't want Liara turning him into jelly because he says something completely idiotic and pisses her off. Knowing my father as I do, it is something he would do."

"Hah!" Grunt declared. "And she would too!"

John chuckled. "Yes she would." He touched his Omnitool and adjusted the channel of his COM implant. "Thane?"

"Shepard." Came the raspy voice of the Drell.

"Have you and Donnelly finished your sweep?" John asked.

"We recovered two data cores from the base the Geth built here." Thane's spoke. The Drell assassin was ever calm and cool. "Donnelly believes we can pull some data from them depending on how damaged they are. You did a number on this base when you tore through Shepard."

John grinned. "Yeah… I wasn't real choosey about what we shot at with the Mako." He said.

"With EDI's help, Donnelly believes we can restore a significant amount of the data core." Thane spoke once more.

"I'll take that. Pack them up head back to the NORMANDY. The Kodiak will pick us up here." John spoke. "We haven't been home in almost a month and it's time to sift through the data we have recovered from the last two sites and this one."

"We are moving." Thane's voice answered as John heard the Hammerhead's engines come to life in the background.

The slap echoed loudly in the warm, still air and no one dared move as John Shepard lifted his hand and rubbed his jaw where his mother had connected quite powerfully. He had forgotten how strong she really was as he looked down at her, tears streaking her face.

"Hi mom." He said softly grinning sheepishly like he had just been caught doing something he shouldn't have been doing.

"That… that is for not… for not contacting me and… and…" Hannah was nearly beside herself as she gazed at her only child.

She sobbed openly as John bent over slightly and drew her tightly to him. Hannah Shepard almost cried out as his strong arms hugged her and she wrapped her arms around his waist. "Damn… damn you boy!" She snarled at him. "You have to stop doing this to your mother!"

Shepard buried his face in her black hair and inhaled deeply of her smell. It was a smell he remembered from his childhood. "Sorry… sorry about that." He said.

Hannah pulled back and looked at him but didn't release him. "Sorry!" She barked. "You insufferable ass! You aren't too old for me to turn over my knee you know! Twice now in one decade I have… I have thought you were dead and…" Hannah stopped talking as she gazed into his face. Her hands, which were trembling badly, came up to take his tanned face between them as his emerald eyes gazed at her with happiness and love. His eyes… the same emerald color as her own… they stared back at her now alive and teeming with life. They were no longer the dull orbs she had witnessed the last time she saw him. Then they had been dull and lifeless because of what he had endured on Akuze. He hadn't been the same after that Hannah knew and the easiest way for her to tell was his eyes. They were bright and full of life once more… just as they had been when he was a young officer and he was going to take on the universe and defend the Alliance. "John… John are you…?"

"I'm fine." He told her. "Better than fine actually. A little sweaty and very stinky… but I'm ok mom."

Hannah Shepard stared at him and knew then that something was different about her son. He was not the same man she had seen over five years ago, a young man with a great weight of pain on his shoulders. His eyes had been so listless then, as if nothing mattered to him anymore after losing so many of the men he had lived and fought with day after day. That was no longer the case. His face wasn't drawn and he looked in better physical condition than she had ever seen. She had read the file Admiral Hackett had given her, and while it had not been much information, it was still more than she had had. Looking at her son now these things that were done to him were not noticeable from him in the least.

"Johnny… John what is going on?" She asked him in a whisper.

"Don't worry… you'll understand in a few days." John said. He lifted his eyes as Steven Hackett walked up them with Admiral Coryn. He continued to hold his mother with one arm but straightened his stance and saluted both men. "Admiral Hackett. Admiral Coryn."

"Commander." Steven said nodded his head. "Staying busy I see."

John nodded. "Yes sir."

"Did you get it?" Hackett asked.

John nodded. "Yes sir. Just where she said it would be."

"Get what?" Coryn asked looking between them. He glanced back as Antella was making his way towards where they stood. "I take it you two have been working together for some time now?"

John nodded his head sheepishly. "Yes sir." He spoke.

"I refused to leave him high and dry Robert." Hackett spoke looking at Coryn.

"Damn straight! I would have done the same thing. You have a briefing planned I take it Commander?" Coryn said looking at John. "We need to know what we will be facing son… and we need to kick the politicians in the ass and get them off your case about this Alpha Relay thing."

Shepard nodded. "Yes sir. As soon as we return to Illium. I didn't… I didn't think anyone but Admiral Hackett supported me sir."

Coryn smiled a crooked smile. "Not true. Some of us just have to do it in a way that helps more than hinders." He said.

John saw Antella moving closer and his body stiffened slightly as he recognized the man who had been investigating him for months now according to information Liara had received via her contacts.

"Stand down Commander." Coryn spoke in a whisper detecting the shift in Shepard's body easily. He hadn't spent his entire career behind a desk and he knew when an officer was bracing for a fight. "He's a pompous ass… but if we are going to nip this vendetta against you in the bud, we need to take this fool down with it. Bear with him as much as possible. You have a lot more friends than you think."

Shepard barely nodded his head. "Understood sir."

Coryn nodded just as Antella came up next to them. He looked at him. "Colonel Antella, this is Commander John Shepard." Coryn spoke.

Antella's smile held no mirth in it as he held out his hand. "Commander Shepard… a distinct pleasure to finally meet you face to face."

John looked at the hand, taking an instant dislike to the man, and then he looked back to his eyes without taking the hand. "Colonel." He spoke. He turned back to Coryn. "Admiral… if you'll give us a few minutes to collect our gear we'll join you on the shuttle and return to the NORMANDY. I've already sent my Hammerhead up with the other two crewmembers I had on the surface here."

Coryn nodded. "Works for me. How long have you been here? It's damn hot!"

Shepard nodded with a smile. "Yes sir it is. Three days actually. We found what we were looking for only a short while before you arrived in fact."

"What exactly are you doing here Commander?" Antella asked.

"I'll provide a briefing when we get to Illium Colonel." John said.

"I'm asking you now Commander." Antella pressed. "I'd like to know what it is you have been doing, especially since you are using the NORMANDY Commander."

Shepard grinned at him. "You'll have to wait for the briefing unless you were granted unique status by the Council sometime in the last four months Colonel. I'm still on loan to the Citadel Council as a Spectre and I don't answer to you. I'm acting as a Spectre and what I do as a Spectre is none of your concern. And the SR2 is a civilian frigate that belongs to me Colonel. Not you or the Alliance. The original NORMANDY was destroyed if you recall." He stated plainly.

"A civilian warship built by Cerberus Commander!" Antella snapped at him. "A terrorist organization!"

Shepard looked at his mother, ignoring Antella's outburst. "Mom… care to give me a hand?"

Antella watched as Shepard pulled his mother away and the massive Krogan with him followed looking as if he was going to bust a gut with laughter. The dark haired woman didn't he rate him a second glance as she followed as well.

"He's right Colonel." Coryn spoke. "Pulling rank here is not going to work unless you are a Spectre. Which you are not."

"Admiral we have every right to know what he is doing." Antella snapped.

Hackett nodded his head. "And he'll fill us in on his own schedule. Not yours. We are here because of him Colonel. His willingness to do this outside normal channels ought to tell you that he is no traitor." He spoke seeing that his words didn't really faze Antella. "I strongly suggest you do not try and butt heads with John Shepard Colonel. It hasn't turned out to be a healthy proposition to the people who have attempted it in the past if you get my meaning. Sovereign… the Collectors… they chose to butt heads with John Shepard and look where that got them."

NORMANDY

Hannah Shepard looked around John's spacious quarters on the NORMANDY. They were almost as large as her quarters on her own ship, and that was a Dreadnought. She held the large mug of coffee in her hand and she sipped it as she took in everything. John had always been somewhat unkempt, tossing used shirts and pants over furniture until he got around to washing his clothes. These quarters however, these quarters were spotless. She let her eyes wander over the huge fish tank and the many models of various ships he had displayed near the desk, even an odd looking one that rested on the desk itself. She moved to the closet and touched the panel watching as it slid open to reveal several different styles of men's clothes, but also some rather elegant and obvious female clothes as well. Hannah turned back to face the room quickly and for the first time she realized that there was a woman's touch in these quarters. It was then that she smelled the faint touch of what she thought were Elyisum Orchids. Her eyes went over the room and she saw the holo pictures then, along the far wall on top of the dresser and she moved closer to them. All of them were of the same Asari female, in several different but casual poses, as well as three that had both of them in the image. Those three pictures were the ones she looked at intently, as John and the Asari were posed in very intimate and loving poses. One of the pictures, the largest one, showed them staring at each other, her face lifted towards his, her body pressed close to his and her hands on his chest as they were silhouetted against a striking sunset and this is the one Hannah picked up to gaze at longer. This was the Asari female who had helped him before. A scientist of some sort, but one he had spoken of very fondly Hannah remembered.

"Her name is Liara." John's voice spoke. "Liara T'soni."

Hannah turned quickly and saw him move around the display of ship models running a towel through his black hair while another was draped over his shoulders. He had put his pants and combat boots on before exiting the bathroom and Hannah let her eyes linger on the upper body of her son. The details from the file Steven had given her came rushing back and she tried to imagine these things while she looked at him. He looked leaner than the last time she had seen him, leaner but much more muscularly defined. The scars on his face that he had received from Akuse were no longer present she noticed for the first time, though she did detect several newer scars that were still pink in color on his lower abdomen. Hannah replaced the picture on the dresser quickly and turned to fully face him.

"I apologize." She said.

"For what?" John asked her as he moved down the short flight of stairs. "Looking at the pictures? I look at them all of the time. That's what they are there for."

"Admiral Hackett… Steven… he said… he said she was your wife John." Hannah told him. "Is that true?"

John smiled gently as he moved to the dresser and withdrew a dark gray t-shirt. He pulled it on over his head and then turned to face his mother as he leaned up against the dresser. "I see the Admiral has been keeping track of me in his own way." He said.

"John… she is an Asari." Hannah spoke softly.

"She certainly is." John replied rather coldly.

Hannah moved closer to him. "I am not your father John Shepard." She spoke in a harsh but subdued voice. "Do not treat me like him and take that tone of voice."

John pushed away from the dresser and moved to the small refrigerator near his desk by the model ship display. "I'm sorry." He said softly as he removed a cylindrical tube and poured two glasses of what appeared to be wine of some sort. He lifted them and moved back to stand in front of her, holding one out. Hannah took it without question and just from the aroma she knew it was not alcohol. John saw the look on her face and chuckled. "Liara would kill me if she knew I took up drinking." He said. "It's Asari fruit punch. Pretty good too."

"John you are avoiding the question." Hannah said. "You know I do not adhere to your father's view of aliens."

John nodded as he moved to the couch. "No you don't." He said. "But I also know that you have always wanted me to marry some beautiful girl from Earth or the colonies and have lots of kids. You've never really worked with aliens mom. You don't… you don't know them like I do."

"And you think I would act like your father?" Hannah asked.

John met her eyes. "No." He stated without question. "I know you have questions on whether we have to trust them though. Work with them. The rumors about Asari are not true mom."

Hannah followed him carrying her punch and she settled to the couch to his left side. "I never said they were." She stated.

He looked at her. "You've thought it before. I know you have."

"It's pretty obvious Johnny. Woman's clothes in the closet… pictures all over. Just… just how serious is this John?" Hannah asked.

John took a gulp of his punch. "It's not official yet. There needs to be an Asari ceremony overseen by a Matriarch."

"John… she will live for a thousand years." Hannah said. "She will move on after you are gone. Is that what you want? Your children will be… they will be Asari."

John met her eyes and leaned forward. "Admiral Hackett didn't tell you?" He asked.

"Tell me what?" Hannah asked. "He gave me a file but it did not have much information in it. Why?"

John Shepard took a deep breath. "There are a lot of things I need to tell you mom." He said once more meeting her eyes. "But I want you to make me a promise first."

"Anything John." Hannah told him.

"I want you to have an open mind about Liara." John said. "I want you to talk to her and discover who she is. We love each other and we have been through too much to get where we are. We're going forward with our lives mom, and I'd much rather have you be part of it then not. I don't want to lose both my parents."

It was a no brainer for Hannah Shepard and she nodded. "I give you my word John." She said.

John nodded his head knowing that when his mother made a promise she kept it. "Good."

He shook his head. "I don't really know where to start…"

Hannah reached out and placed her hand on his arm. "The beginning might be good." She said softly.

John looked at her and chuckled softly. "There are a couple of beginnings." He stated. "I guess we'll go with the first one."