Chapter 3

Miranda woke up slowly, stretching under the blanket in Shepards bed, her bed now. She imagined she could still smell him on the pillows where they lay together after the party he threw.

She knew it was only wishful thinking but it made her feel better. A sound of cheerful laughter reached her and she made herself get up. As she left her room she herd laughter again, as she approached the kitchen she leaned on the doorframe and watched her sister Oriana laughing uncontrollably. Miranda couldn't stop herself from smiling as well. James Vega was standing behind the counter, cooking something and waving a spatula while regaling her sister with some story. She noticed Liara hiding her mouth behind her hand trying to contain laughter as well. Joker joined Oriana in laughing loudly, while Ashley glared at James with her arms crossed in mock outrage.

It's been a week since Normandy returned to the Citadel and soon every crew member, past and present, knew Miranda was pregnant with Shepards child, and since then there was always someone visiting the apartment and Miranda loved them all for it.

Liara and Joker have actually moved in, ostensibly to try and figure out how to get EDI back online but Miranda suspected they wanted to be able to keep an eye on her as well. Beside them, Oriana and Dr. Chakwas who checked up on her daily Miranda felt well cared for.

It was then that James noticed her standing there. "Morning! You hungry?" Miranda smiled at him and nodded as she made her way to the counter to sit between Oriana and Liara.

After greeting everyone she said "Sorry to interrupt you James, you were in the middle of telling us a story." James was about to continue telling his story that involved a drunk Ashley and a stripper pole when Ashley stepped behind him and smacked him upside the head. "He was finished." Ashley said shooting James another glare as he smirked and winked at her.

Miranda smiled, glad they found each other. She and Ashley were never really close and at times could barely even stand each other, Miranda knew it stemmed from both of them loving the same man, but lately they were slowly warming to each other. With Ashley moving on with someone else and with Miranda being pregnant, they were at least in the courteously polite stage. Miranda gave Ashley a friendly smile and the Alliance officer returned it tensely, well they still had a long way to go.

Liara on the other hand was slowly becoming Mirandas best friend. She always admired the Asaris strength, intelligence and loyalty and after living with her for a week now she began to realize why Shepard always trusted her.

"Eat fast." James said as he placed a plate in front of her. Miranda looked up at him questioningly "Why fast?"

It was Liara who answered her "Remember today we are supposed to go to Presidium where the Council and Admiral Hackett were announcing something, we were all invited.

Miranda nodded remembering now. It was going to be the first public event by the Council in the newly repaired Citadel and it was going to draw a huge crowd.

"I'll get ready quickly and we can go." She said gently pushing her plate away. After taking one bite she barely kept it down. The meal was fit for torture and breaking a persons will more than breaking their fast.

James looked at her untouched meal with a look of sadness and dissapointment. "You don't like eggs?" He asked dejectedly.

"No, no, no it's delicious" Miranda quickly replied not wanting to hurt James' feelings. "It's just pregnancy hormones, I can't keep anything down at the moment." James perked up visibly.

"She's lying" Ashley interjected "Your food isn't fit for pigs let alone a pregnant woman." Joker and Oriana burst out in laughter and even Liara let out a laugh. Miranda smiled at James' stunned expression and shrugged apologetically. She grabbed a banana on her way to her room to get ready.

She herd James behind her "You hurt me deeply Ash. Nothing wrong with my grub." Then a second later "Damn this isn't how my grandma made it." Miranda herd everyone in the kitchen laugh out loud and she let out a small laugh herself.

"Politicians always have to make long speeches, just get to it already." Jack mumbled to herself under her breath as she stood to the back of the crowd, listening to the Asari councilor speaking.

The amount of people that showed up for the Councils speech was immense, yet everyone was relaxed and there was no shoving or grumbling like she expected from the crowd this large.

Soon Asari councilor finished with her introductory bullshit and Admiral Hackett stepped up to the podium. Jack stood up straighter as it was Hackett himself who sent her an invitation to appear here and she was curious why.

"Friends," Hackett began "Not even during the Rachni Wars was the Galaxy in as dire strait as we were during the Reaper invasion. We suffered horribly and lost so many, but for the first time in history we stood united and united we prevailed. Since the war ended I've heard many a story of heroism, altruism and sacrifice and stood amazed how instead of turning on each other and exploiting the dire circumstances we found ourselves in, many did whatever they could to help others.

We are a Galaxy of heroes, and each of us shines brightly, but there was one amongst us who shone brighter than all. One man who stood as a beacon of unity, one man who showed us all how to be better just by doing what he thought was right. One man without whom we wouldn't be here."

Jack was standing upright at this point listening at Hackett intently.

"I was proud to call Commander Shepard a friend." Hackett continued "And when Council approached me with the idea of doing something to memorialize this great man I agreed instantly."

At that point Hackett turned sideways pointing to the presidium pools where mirrored screens stood over something. At Hacketts gesture screens slowly lowered revealing an enormous statue of Shepard in his N7 armor standing at attention with his hands behind his back. Jack felt tears appear in her eyes. She turned her head sideways so she could wipe them off before someone notices her.

She noticed Miranda moving away from the crowd. Jack herd cheerleader was knocked up and even visited her in Shepards old place. They've come a long way from the time Jack wanted to kill her just for being Cerberus.

She followed Miranda who got out of sight and leaned against the wall. Jack herd her break into heartwrenching sobs and slowly slide along the wall until she was seated on the floor. Without saying anything Jack approached her and sat next to her and then put her arm around Miranda and hugged her. Miranda leaned into her and continued crying.

It was a good minute before Mirandas sobs lessened. Without lifting her head away from Jack she said quietly "Thank you." Jack used her other hand to pat her head like a childs and say "No problem cheerleader." That caused Miranda to let out a small laugh which was Jacks intention.

Jack got up and extended a hand to Miranda to help her up. "C'mon cheerleader let's get you home. Don't think it's good for that bun in your oven to be sitting on the floor." Miranda laughed again as she took Jacks hand and raised herself of the floor.

"Thank you Auntie Jack." Miranda said with a smle. Jack smiled as well "Well someone needs to teach the kid biotics when it pops out of you." They both laughed as they made their way to the elevators.

Miranda was surprised how comfortable and enjoyable spending time with Jack was. She made her laugh and keep her mind occupied. The enormous statue of Shepard shocked her. She was both incredibly proud and sad.

She and Jack slowly got to her apartment. As soon as they walked in an excited Oriana was in front of them.

"Miri where have you been? Come quick." Not giving her a chance to respond Oriana grabbed her hand and dragged her further into the apartment. She saw a group of her friends huddled together. When she got closer she noticed a smiling Joker sitting next to EDI. EDI who was awake and talking.

"Operative Lawson, nice to see you." EDI said.

Miranda smiled at the AI "EDI glad to have you back amongst us." "You're just in time Miranda." Joker said "EDI was just about to explain what the hell was going on. Tali just got a call from Rannoch and seems the Geth are coming awake as well."

"It's simple" EDI said. "Catalyst for the Crucible was actually an ancient AI designed by the Leviathans to find a solution to a specific problem. His solution were the Reapers. I'm not sure what exactly happened between the Catalyst and Shepard but to make sure me and the Geth weren't destroyed along with Reapers, Catalyst used a code and insulated us from the full effect of the Crucible blast. It worked only due to the fact that both me and Geth had Reaper code already. But Catalyst knew the only reason there was peace between Quarians and Geth was because of Shepard and he came to the conclusion that without Shepard war might break out again so he added a catch to the insulation code. We wouldn't reactivate unless Shepard survives."

Miranda was shocked. She looked around and realized she wasn't the only one. She couldn't believe what EDI just said. Garrus was the first to break the silence. "EDI, are you saying Shepard is alive?" EDI managed to look confused "Of course. He's not here?"

Miranda slowly sat down, feeling her legs go numb. "He's alive." she whispered and started crying again. This time they were tears of joy. "He's alive." She said louder and looked up seeing the same ecstatic expression on everyone's face.

"Where is he then?" Joker asked.

Darkness surrounded him for so long. For eternity. First thing he became aware of was pain. He hurt all over. He felt like he was swimming through a sea of pain and eventually he reached the surface. He slowly opened his eyes, everything was blurry he could barely discern details of the room he was in. He noticed a blur approaching him. A woman. Name popped into his head through the pain. The Woman for him. "Miranda?" he managed to slur.

"No sweetling. It's Clara." He felt a hand on his forehead and his confusion grew as he slipped into sleep.

I know this update took TOO LONG! But it's here and I plan to have a new chapter way sooner than this one was. I assume there are some grammatical errors here but I promised myself I'll have a chapter out before the end of August and I was a bit rushed today.

Hope you like it.