He stared down at the dog tags cradled in the wide palm of his hand, his thoughts on the woman who owned them. He'd wanted to be there after her surgery, to make sure all was still going well, but their mission to Sanctuary had been side tracked by one of Hackett's special request missions throwing everything off his schedule. She'd had the surgery while they'd been cleaning out a communications hub full of Cerberus soldiers.

Shepard needed him to watch her back. She depended on him. And really, Rel was just a friend who was going through a rough time right now and could use whatever support was given to her. There was nothing serious there.

So why couldn't he get her out of his thoughts? Not her recovery from the surgery, either, though part of him was definitely concerned. No, it was her kiss that haunted him. How good her mouth under his had tasted. How touching her and being touched back had felt so good he woke in the night reaching for more.

But he loved Rache.

Didn't he?

That was the question barging around in his thoughts that he'd been trying to figure out, when the memory of Rel's soft, silken skin wasn't playing havoc with him.

"I fucking hate this planet." The dulcet tones of his beloved screeched across the shuttle bay drawing his attention. "Nothing good has ever happened to me on Horizon."

"You've been there once before." Kaidan answered with easy going patience. "That's hardly a good test sample."

Rache made a snorting noise. "I got my ass dumped on Horizon. Something you have good reason to remember, Alenko."

"We were on a break."

"Your idea of a break is to not tell me we're on a break?" She challenged back as she opened the weapons locker and pulled out her favorite assault rifle and back up pistol.

"I tried to tell you we were on a break but apparently the afterlife doesn't take messages." Kaidan's voice turned ironic. "Of course, if you hadn't been so inept as to get killed in the first place, we wouldn't have been on a break, would we?"

"Hah!" Rache made a scoffing noise. "You can address that with that asshole in the pilot's seat."

"Uh, Joker would prefer to be left out of this squabble." The voice of the pilot in question came over the com.

"I don't squabble." Rache snapped back. "And I hate Horizon."

James watched as she expertly broke apart her pistol, turning a critical eye to the chamber and firing mechanisms. She was poetry in motion as she ejected and cleaned and rebuilt the weapon, all with the ease of someone who had repeated the gestures so many times she could do it with her eyes closed.

James looked down at the dog tags in his hands and wondered if Rel's new eyes would cause her any trouble or if the transition would be seamless. Rel definitely deserved the break.

"Yo, Vega, you coming?" Rache demanded, her voice cracking across the bay. "Or do you want an asari strippergram to sing you an invitation?"

Almost without thinking James lifted the tags about his neck, locking the clasp and tucking her tags under his t-shirt. There was something…right about the way his tags lay on hers, separated only by the thin fabric of his t-shirt.

"Everything okay, James?" Kaidan's question was asked as he joined the larger man, helping him slide into his body armor. "Did you hear from Rel?"

James nodded unaware of the grin that curved his lips. "Yeah. Surgery went well, she said. They're monitoring her now to make sure the integration of her new eyes goes smoothly. She doesn't like being blind most of the time, though. They won't let her take off her bandages for anything other than the doctor's follow-up exams to give them time to rest and heal."

Kaidan grinned. "Good. Did she send you a picture of what her new eyes looked like after the surgery?"

"Naw." James shook his head. "She said she doesn't want to show me her brown eyes until she can treat me to lunch on the Citadel. She said you cleared the way for her to access her funds and back pay and now she's determined to buy me dinner."

"Tell her she might need to take a loan out first. I've seen you pack a meal away." Kaidan chuckled.

"Please tell me you ladies are done gossiping and we can get on with the killing of people I don't like on a planet I hate." Rache snapped the last of her assault rifle together, glaring at the men.

"She's in a mood." James muttered making sure his voice was low and his mouth hidden from her line of sight.

"Yes. I call it breathing." Kaidan said and laughed at the thermal clip that bounced off his back from her direction. "James…you need to know something before she—"

"If you aren't in the shuttle in five minutes, I'm leaving you." Rache called out stomping toward the open door of the Kodiak.

Kaidan tossed a glare her direction. "Yes, mom." He answered before turning back to James. "She said yes, James. To being my wife."

James clipped his utility belt on, taking the time needed to absorb that comment.

"I didn't want you to hear about it anywhere else." Kaidan continued.

"I'm not kiddin…" Came the yell from the depths of the kodiak.

"Button it, Rache! We'll be there in a minute." Kaidan called out to her. "Lieutenant Cortez, do not get on that shuttle until I tell you to." The pilot gave him a pleading look that Kaidan ignored.

"You're sure you want to?" James asked with a bit of humor, shoving his confused thoughts away.

"At the moment, no." Kaidan tossed another glare in Rache's general direction before sighing and running fingers through his hair. "She's feeling the pressure right now. Anderson told her how much every little victory she has means to those fighting back on earth and it kind of blew her mind. She's not sure how to react so she's chosen bitch-mode as a cover until she gets it straightened out in her head how she feels about it."

"Hunh." James grunted the noise looked toward the shuttle. "I just thought she was being her usual self."

"You did not just give my man orders and tell me to shut up." Rache appeared in the shuttle door, glaring.

"I outrank you, Rache." Kaidan called back. "Give us a minute."

"It's because we're in orbit around Horizon, isn't it?" She challenged him. "You turn into an asshole on this planet. I told you this planet sucks."

James laughed. "Don't sweat it, Major. I'm good."

Kaidan gave his face a careful study. "You are, aren't you?" The words were curious.

"I don't think I love her the way she needs to be loved." James said slowly, as if the concept were taking root in his own thoughts. "That ain't a bad thing…just, she needs more and I don't think I know how to give it to her. You do. I think that's why she chose you. Because you're strong enough to love who she is and not want her to be something she isn't."

"Right now I'm sort of wishing she were meek and mild." Kaidan gave a heavy sigh laden with humor.

"But then she wouldn't be Commander Shepard." James said, his eyes on the woman standing in the shuttle doorway, weight to one hip, foot tapping and a pissed look on her face. "You love her through all of her bad times. Me…I don't know." He rubbed the strip of hair on his head, his gaze in the distance. "I just don't know."

"It doesn't have to be figured out right now, James." Kaidan clapped a hand on his shoulder. "And if I keep stalling to show Rache she can't order me around I'm going to be sleeping down here in the shuttle bay instead of the captain's cabin."

James laughed. "You gettin' soft, Major?"

"Hell, no." Kaidan grinned at him. "I've just learned to appreciate the comforts when they're offered and contrary to her current crankiness, Rache is a comfort."

James considered that thought as he grabbed his own weapons and jumped on the shuttle just behind a very relieved Cortez. He'd never thought of Rache as a comfort. He's thought of her as strong and confident. Even now he really couldn't see her as comforting, though when he thought about it, she had tried to comfort him at least once before and failed miserably at the attempt.

He had a feeling she didn't fail with the Major.

"I really hate this planet." Rache muttered rocking where she stood as the shuttle left the Normandy's fields shuddering slightly at the disturbance.

"Rache, shut up." Kaidan said with a sigh before pulling her down on his lap, his mouth silencing the outraged retort she had on the tip of her tongue.

James laughed quietly, as the couple curved toward each other until watching became voyeurism and he turned away. His fingers rose, touching the spot on his armor that lay just above his tags and hers and he wondered if her brown eyes looked anything like his or if they were completely different.

"Wake up, Lieutenant Jamison."

Rel snapped out of sleep, her heart racing as she comprehended the hiss in her ear. She tried to open her eyes, to look around only to recall that she was in the hospital and her head was still bandaged.

"Who's there?" She asked, her tension ratcheting up.

"Doctor Traynit." Came the low answer. "You need to be quiet and trust me. We have to get you out of here."

"Why?" Rel demanded, her fingers already moving to the bandages on her head. She didn't care how well she could see, if something was going on, she needed her eyes to deal with it.

The fact her doctor didn't argue with her told her it was serious indeed.

"We've received orders from the Alliance that you're to be taken under guard to a hospital under control of the Alliance military. They claim you're a security threat. They will allow human doctors to continue working on you after they have determined that you are not a Cerberus spy." The salarian's fingers began making quick work of her bandages. "Both Doctor Verthin and I argued strenuously that you could not be moved but they have armed guards and are insisting."

"Spectre Alenko told them to back off." Rel said and was proud of the fact her voice didn't tremble.

"When Doctor Verthin brought that up the answer was that you are an Alliance soldier and a Spectre has no business dictating where you go. They said we were allowed to complain about it to Humanity's Representative on the Council."

"Who is dead and has yet to be replaced." Rel's voice hardened. "Once Spectre Alenko finds out about this, he's going to raise hell."

"I believe the Alliance thinks that once they have you in their custody they can stonewall Spectre Alenko. I, for one, have little confidence in any military regarding what is best for one of my patients. Particularly a military that believes you somehow voluntarily allowed a rogue terrorist organization to plant explosives in your eye sockets." The salarian had an ironic tone in his voice. "Close your eyes. The lights are already out, leaving the lighting dim so you should be able to adjust quickly. Okay, open them."

The room was dim with a glow from the hallway the main source of light. She blinked and felt one level of tension fade from her shoulders as her eyes focused, not quite as sharp and detailed as her Cerberus eyes had been, but they were her eyes she was seeing out of.

"Will I have to fight my way out?" Rel asked cursing the fact she'd surrendered her sword.

"This is a hospital, Lieutenant Jamison!" Doctor Traynit was outraged. "There will be no fighting. You're going to walk out the front door, by yourself while Doctor Verthin and I distract the Alliance soldiers. I have a turian colleague who is currently stationed in the refugee section who has agreed to hide you while continuing your follow-up exams."

"What about my follow-up surgeries?" Rel demanded. Most of the noise the voices made was gone, muted, but there was still a connection, she could tell. Maybe not active, but even just having it there was more than she wanted.

"We'll reschedule once Spectre Alenko has returned and taken control of your welfare." Traynit told her. "Dress, please. And hurry! Doctor Verthin can only stall them so long. I am certain that once C-Sec arrives we will be forced to turn you over."

The clothing was nondescript, something you would expect to find on any refugee on the docks and Rel slid into them as quickly as possible. The boots were a bit big, but she wasn't going to complain, not when the doctors were taking a huge risk helping her.

"Are you going to get into trouble for this?" Rel frowned at her doctor. She liked the slender salarian and his dry sense of wit.

"For you escaping?" Traynit gave a short laugh. "I guess I will be embarrassed at having so quickly been proven wrong about you being a security threat. There is little they can do to me even if they suspect. After all, the salarian representative of the Council is still alive and well. And a distant cousin."

Rel laughed softly at that as the doctor opened the door and looked out into the hall. He motioned for her to come forward and then pointed to the exit on the far side of the room.

"Go to the refugee docks. Look for a turian doctor name Vidionius. He is expecting you and will make sure you're healing. Once Spectre Alenko has returned and resumed authority, we'll continue your procedures here in Huerta." He gave her a smile and then very deliberately turned his back on her, sedately walking away.

Rel didn't linger. She used a confident walk, not running or seemingly hurried, just a stride that said she was on her way to some place she needed to be after leaving someplace she had a right to be in. No alarms were raised, no shouts and as she approached the door, she began to relax.

The door opened and showed several C-Sec officers following an older human with a lined face full of stoic experience.

"Excuse me." Rel said stepping to the side to let them pass, forcing herself not to duck her head, settling instead for a very annoyed, very distracted expression, as if they were in her way.

The man in front paused, studying her, as a faint smile touched his lips. "Lieutenant Jamison." He said with a nod. "I believe the elevator is still available if you hurry." He nodded his head at her and continued on her way.

"I'm sorry?" She said without thinking, stunned.

"Hurry along, Lieutenant. Oh, and tell Spectres Alenko and Shepard that Captain Bailey gives his regards." He didn't look back.

Rel closed her mouth and moved decidedly faster.

"What did I tell you? Hunh? What? I hate that fucking planet!"

Kaidan spared Rache an impatient glare as he settled her on the floor of their shuttle and folded back the tear in her armor near her waist, studying the wound. "Looks painful." He said in deliberately droll tones meant to irritate her. "Guess this is what happens when you don't duck away from bad guys quick enough, Rache."

James grinned as Rache's response took a decidedly profane, but descriptive, tone. The Major was acting nonchalant, as if the wound were no more than Rache deserved for being so careless as to be outflanked by two brutes and a banshee in close quarters where moving was hard and a single hit could kill. As if the Major hadn't sent the world spinning with one of the most brilliant biotic displays Vega had ever seen trying to protect her. Kaidan had tossed a brute on top of the banshee all while a secondary barrier had risen over Rache's prone form, protecting her until he could reach her side.

James hadn't even been aware that a biotic could do two complicated moves like that without pausing for a rest and the Major made it look easy. All with his face white with fear at the blood pouring from Rache's side.

That was when comprehension had settled over James, there, right in the middle of chaos and bullets and screaming nightmares, right there the confusion had lifted. Covering them as Rache writhed in pain and Kaidan slapped medgel on her wound healing the worst, James had realized that if the Commander died, he'd survive. It'd hurt, yeah. But he'd survive it. He was pretty sure that the Major couldn't say the same. If Rache were to die something in the Major would break in a permanent way, something important.

That didn't mean what James felt for the Commander wasn't real…it was just different. And not what Rache needed. She needed Kaidan's quiet, steadiness. She needed his temper, too, to match her own just as Kaidan needed her anger, her fierce stubbornness to challenge his tendency to hide behind rules and regulations.

They…fit. Yeah, it was weird and twisted in some ways, but it was there. They balanced each other. When one was down and wounded, by combat, by life, by whatever, the other would be strong and supportive until they were both ready to stand again, side by side.

James would never have that with Rache, that balance. Hell, he hadn't even known it existed and now that he did…he wanted it.

Just not with her.

Without really intending to, James pulled the dog tags that weren't his from beneath the collar of his t-shirt and out over the top of his armor. He wasn't sure what he felt for Rel, but he knew he wanted more. He wanted…no, needed to know just how strong this thing between them was.

"We headed to the Citadel now, ma'am?" James asked and then winced as she waved a bloody and obscene finger in his direction. "Sorry, Lola. You need something for the pain? A boot to chew on?"

"She'll be fine once the medgel seals the last of the damage. It was deep." Kaidan said with satisfaction before picking her up off the floor, then sat down on the nearby bench with her settled on his lap.

"Miranda put a tracer on that emo asshole, Kai Leng." Rache leaned against Kaidan's chest. "It should take us right back to the Illusive Man and I will not let that trail get cold. We'll head back to the Normandy and we will find them both. I will take every bit of intel that bastard stole from me on Thessia, we'll find the catalyst and I will wipe Cerberus from my radar forever."

James frowned, torn. He wanted to see Rel. He wanted to finish this war with the reapers and they needed the catalyst for that. He wanted…

"You tell me what you need, Commander." James stiffened his spine, his eyes narrowing with determination. "We'll finish this."

"Good. Hackett will want to know we're hitting the Illusive Man's headquarters. We'll need backup since I doubt they're going to let us waltz up to the door and sing carols." Rache's pallor was fading and her green eyes were beginning to burn with determination. "We're close. I know it! I can feel it. We can beat the reapers and finish this. We will break them so there are no more cycles. No more mass slaughter."

He believed her. This was the passion, the commitment that had drawn him to her in the first place. The utter determination to fight and to win because no other option was even comprehensible to her.

This was why a galaxy had united under Commander Shepard. Why old grievances had either been set aside or smashed through until there was nothing left but to follow because even those who hated her believed she could save them.

"Yes, ma'am." James gave a sharp nod, all but saluting.

He would back the commander, here, now and until the end, until the fight was done and the only thing left was peace and celebration.

Peace, celebration and Rel.

Her head hurt.

Rel winced, rubbing her eyes as she blended in with the milling groups of desperate refugees on the docks with nowhere to go and no way to get there. It wasn't her eyes that hurt, the new integration had worked like a charm and Doctor Vidionius was very pleased with the healing to the point of telling her that if she were in Huerta they could schedule the next battery of surgeries to get the rest of the Cerberus tech out of her head.

The tech that was giving her a headache.

It was not as bad as when she'd been on Omega and the Cerberus operatives had been broadcasting, but it was similar. She wasn't hearing voices, hadn't since the operation that had removed the explosive cybernetic eyes from her skull and replaced them with her own DNA set. But she had a headache, an itch at the back of her skull that wouldn't go away telling her something was coming, something bad.

Or maybe it was already here…

Stunned Rel watched Garrett Rankin weave his way through the crowd before her, heading toward the elevators and the security station just outside them. He was surrounded by Cerberus guards, obviously armed and it didn't appear that being caught by C-Sec was a big concern of his.

Or maybe they'd already committed to fighting their way through them, Rel comprehended as she watched the guards begin to reach for their weapons.

"VES!" She screamed the name of the turian on duty as she raced forward, drawing the attention of everyone within the sound of her voice. "Cerberus!"

Garrett Rankin smiled at her.

She didn't have her sword anymore, but she still had the memories, the impression of how to fight hand to hand, how to twist and turn her body to be where the enemy didn't expect her to be, and she used those skills now, reveling for the first time in skills she hadn't properly earned.

The guard circled about Rankin, weapons drawn even as the doctor shouted at them to make sure they didn't kill her…an order that incensed Rel like no other. She picked up the nearest one in a biotic lift, trying to send him crashing into the Physician but the effort failed. No matter how much her diet had increased in the last couple of weeks, between the months of starvation before that and the surgery, she still wasn't anywhere near her peak.

So this would be physical. She could do physical. They'd trained her, after all.

Ves leaped over the security station counter, guns in each hand. He hesitated when a panicked and screaming refugee, trying to get free of the obvious firefight, ran right into his line of sight. A Cerberus guard with no concept of protect and serve raised his own SMG, taking aim at C-Sec officer, just as Rel kicked the back of his knee with her left foot and brought him to his knees. Ves took his shot, killing the man even as Rel moved closer to Rankin.

"You're a fool!" The Physician shouted at her. "We've won! We've secured the dominance of humanity forever!"

Rel smashed her fist into the throat of another guard bending him coughing before she rammed his head against the nearest wall, using his own weight to make bones snap in his neck. "You think this is about Cerberus?" She asked with a laugh, stalking toward him. "This is about taking innocent people and using them as disposable weapons. This is about you murdering thousands of people even though their bodies are still up and moving!" Another guard came from her left only to be shot down by one of Ves' fellow C-sec officers, an asari with a pissed look on her dark indigo face.

"You don't know what's coming!" Rankin spat at her. "You don't know who is already here to greet them! They will bow before Cerberus!"

"In the immortal words of James Vega…you're nuckin' futs." Rel stated with grim satisfaction as she finally reached him, finally had her hands on the man who had inspired some of her worst nightmares. The man who had left her searching for sanity. "I really wish I had my sword, but I'll make do. I'm resourceful that way." She drew back a hand, ready to punch the life from the worm before her…and barely knocked aside the sword slashing toward her neck.

A woman with neon blue cybernetic eyes gazed at Rel with a blank, emotionless face, pulling her sword up to a ready point.

Rel shoved Rankin to the ground as she stripped off her jacket and began wrapping it around her right forearm, a bulky formless buffer. "Hello, sister." She greeted, ignoring the catch in her throat. "Shall we?" The invitation came as the phantom was already moving, quick and silent as death, sword arcing down.

Rel dodged the slice, going into the splits so quickly it surprised her even as she reacted by reaching out with both hands, grabbing the phantom's ankles and jerking them forward, sending her crashing to the ground. Placing her palms flat on the ground, Rel then pushed up until her legs slid together and were firm under her again, ready to fight.

The pissed off asari slammed a heavy boot into the phantom's head putting an end to further combat in that direction.

"Thank you." Rel said politely even as she took several steps forward and relieved the fallen phantom of her sword. "Watch the eyes. They tend to blow up when a Cerberus agent is captured."

"I know. Took out a couple of my partners with one of them before we learned." The asari C-Sec officer growled.

Warning given, Rel turned her back and moved toward Rankin, who was still sitting on the ground where she'd thrown him.

"They're here." The Physician told her, his eyes looking out past her, up toward the bright, sunshine filled false sky of the Citadel ward arms. "I can feel them in my head."

"We just lost all communications!" Ves called out joining Rel. "Must be another Cerberus coup!"

The dull thud in Rel's head intensified as a shadow began to blot out the fake sky.

"It's not Cerberus." She said quietly staring at the dull armor filling the windows. "It's the reapers."

Epilogue: The Final Battle

James checked his gear a final time making sure everything was where it needed to be and secure. There was a hum in the air, a buzz, not so much of excitement but of resolution.

This was it. The moment. The push toward a final victory that would turn the tide in their favor or seal their defeat.

He looked up from his weapon to the Citadel hanging so large and foreign in the night sky, the massive ward arms closed and sealed preventing anyone who had been on there from getting off and any who would rescue them from getting on. If they were still alive. There had been no communication, no word, no hope of any survival since the Reapers had moved the large station to Earth's orbit.

Motion caught the corner of his eye, distracting him and he turned in time to watch Rache walk into Kaidan's arms, his hands at her waist, his lips speaking too soft to hear. Words that made her smile before raising her fingers and brushing them over his lower lip.

That didn't hurt anymore, James mused. Watching the bond between the Commander and the Major, the love. Before he'd wanted to rip them apart, force Rache to see him not as a brother but as a man, someone worthy of her affection. Now he was glad they had each other. Had this moment.

Because there was a good chance one of them wasn't coming back.

James scowled at the thought and made a vow, one he intended to commit fully to. If it were in his power, his skill, he would keep them both alive even if it meant giving up his own. They had earned that. They deserved a victory and he figured he knew both of them well enough that if one fell, the other would never truly call victory against the reapers a win.

Besides…someone much stronger than he was had taught him not to fear death.

James gaze rose to the Citadel once more as his fingers rested on the thick bulk of his armor where his dog tags and a set that weren't his lay together, warm against his chest, hidden from all eyes, even his, but a comfort nonetheless.

He would have liked to have seen her brown eyes.

A/N: This is where I admit I goofed and lets you know why I usually resist posting story arcs until they're completely finished. I finished my ending of ME3, Rache and Kaidan's ending, within two weeks of the game coming out. At the time I hadn't really intended to write more of their story because the game really soured me. Because I hadn't intended to, I went back and forth over whether or not to post my ending and just call it done. I posted the ending...but I didn't call it done. You can blame chaos715 who sent me a PM and started a friendship. She has loved Rache and Kaidan from the very beginning and wanted to know what happened next. And it turns out Rache and Kaidan wanted more. More time, more story, more fulfilling of a story arc. And then there was James, the underdog. The unexpected character I thought I wouldn't like and the more I wrote him, the more I did because there was so much more to him. The triangle between him and Rache and Kaidan was too interesting not to see through and because I liked his character, because I wanted to see him grow beyond Rache, the character of Jirel Jamison was born.

Jirel Jamison who does not exist in my posted ending of ME3.

This is my ending of A Renegade's Choice, there will be no more chapters. The events at the end of this chapter flow very naturally into A Renegade's Resolve and I am content with that flow. I hope you enjoyed Rache and Kaidan's version of ME3 events, I know I did.