A/N: Well, hurrah. I return, and with a new story to boot. So, you might ask, what can we expect from this story and how long will it be? Well... the idea is to cover the next 200 or so years in the lives of our heroes after the Reaper War. So, as you can gather, it could be a very long story. :) (unless rocks fall and everyone dies)

There are some changes from Rhapsody In Blue, most notably the change of tense. Present tense served well to present the urgency of war and constant action, but this story will be less driven by conflict, and thus I have reverted to the normal past tense. Also, the posting schedule will be two chapters per week, Mondays and Thursdays.

With the Reapers gone, some of you might wonder who will be the new antagonists in this story. Well... I'm sure I'll be able to think of something. One potential enemy shows up in this first chapter, to remind us of their existence. Also, I can safely promise that the Reapers and Cerberus will not be making a comeback. I find it is more interesting for me to come up with new villains, instead of beating up the same old horse over and over again. Good villains know to stay dead.

Lastly, you might wonder whether it's necessary to read Rhapsody In Blue to understand what's going on in this story. I think that it helps, but should not be necessary. I have kept the involvement of OC's to a minimum, so you will not be confused by a cast of characters you do not recognize.

That said, there are certain changes such as non-canonical pairings like for example Kasumi/Bau, Traynor/Jack, Grunt/Kurin, Aria/Tevos (and their friendship with Liara and Shepard). Among other things that might confuse new readers could be Rila and Falere both being alive in this story, Shepard and Joker not being on speaking terms, or where is this or that character that seems to be missing from the tale. Do not be afraid to send me a PM or ask in a review about anything that you want me to explain. :)

And finally we can be off! The story begins roughly 1.5 years after the Reaper War.

Chapter 1 - No Rest For The Wicked

Year 2188 CE
Armali, Thessia

Several months had passed since Shepard and Liara's arrival on Thessia. Several months, filled with hard work in rebuilding what was to become Spectre Morgan Shepard's new homeworld. In combination with helping Liara look after their newly born daughter Lita, the efforts left them both exhausted yet satisfied as they retired to sleep every evening in the large and partly renovated T'Soni Estate, left to Liara by her mother, Matriarch Benezia.

The reception that they had received upon their arrival to Thessia onboard of the Destiny Ascension had been very touching and emotional, the mere memory of it tugging on Shepard's heartstrings. Despite the planet being in a bad shape and requiring gigantic effort to restore everything to the pristine pre-invasion state, it seemed as if every asari in the vicinity of Armali had arrived to greet them, some even traveling across half the planet to witness the arrival of Thessia's most famous daughter, her chosen mate and their child.

Not having prepared any speeches, Liara had almost succumbed to panic when the crowd had demanded her to address them, and the young maiden's nervousness had spread to her daughter, who had promptly started wailing, inconsolable. Fortunately, Matriarch Lidanya had been with them, accompanying the couple on a shuttle from the Destiny Ascension. Lidanya had addressed the crowd, charismatic and imperious, speaking of Shepard and Liara's toils and sacrifices, and their hard road in saving the galaxy from extinction, stressing the need to put all their bickering aside and focus on rebuilding the homeworld. Lastly, Lidanya had insisted that despite their glorified status, Shepard and Liara's privacy was to be respected at all costs, if not for their sake, then for their daughter's.

All these months later, Morgan still felt gratitude to Lidanya for settling that situation. While still very curious and intrigued about everything concerning Shepard and Liara, the local asari population had managed to reign in their interest and give them the privacy they sometimes craved for. Not that they wanted to act like some kind of creepy recluses, far from it, they worked shoulder to shoulder with the other inhabitants of Armali, together clearing the grand avenues from rubble, restoring communications, supply chains and everything else to make their planet comfortably habitable again.

Of course, they could not escape the attention of the crowds completely, but sometimes the attention was truly touching in ways they hadn't expected it to be. For example, one morning their breakfast had been disturbed by a gathering outside the gates of the T'Soni Estate. Aethyta had stormed outside with violent intentions to break the crowd up, however, she had returned only minutes later and asked Liara and Shepard to accompany her to the balcony, because they simply needed to see what was happening.

They had walked out to witness a crowd of perhaps sixty or seventy young asari maidens, each bringing with them gifts of gratitude, starting to speak one by one as soon as Liara and Shepard emerged into view. "My name is Norinia Taliri, and I am 73 years of age. Before the war, I was going to try and join the Eclipse sisters," the first maiden spoke. "Now, I'm going to become an engineer so that I can best help our people. Thank you for showing us that there is another way for maidens like us, Dr. T'Soni!"

"My name is Koreen Veneo, and I am 92 years old," another one raised her voice. "I was going to waste my maiden years by dancing in the nightclubs of the Citadel, but you opened my eyes, Dr. T'Soni. Instead, I'm going to study to become a physician."

"My name is Elenea Tarisei, and I am 97 years old," another voice piped up from the crowd of gathered maidens. "I was about to head out with a band of mercs to stir trouble in Terminus Systems when the Reapers arrived. You've shown us that the way we spend our maiden years is wasteful, Dr. T'Soni… so I'm going to study and become a teacher instead."

And so it had continued for good while, Shepard and Liara not daring to interrupt any of those present, giving every maiden a chance to thank Liara and lay down their gifts in a growing pile. In the end, once everyone had been given their turn to speak, Liara stepped forward on the balcony, bursting with emotion and close to tears as she addressed those gathered below. "Words cannot express the pride I feel from hearing your passionate words and I am touched to the bottom of my heart," she had spoken, then turning towards the very surprised Aethyta before continuing. "But it is not just me who you should be thanking. Many years ago, my father preached the same to the matriarchs, but she was left ignored and cast out because of her opinions. I feel as if your mere presence here vindicates all the efforts she made to try and make us understand that just because we have been blessed with our long life spans, it does not mean that we should simply throw precious centuries away wastefully."

Cheers and applauses broke out at Liara's words then, all heads turning to Aethyta who only managed to nod stiffly, then quickly turning around and retreating swiftly back to the estate, not trusting herself being able to keep a straight face and unwilling to appear emotional in public. Of course, as lovely as this gesture had been, they all knew that there would still be plenty of asari maidens who would stick to the old ways of living the first few centuries as wildly as they could, but Liara felt that even if they had managed to change the point of view of at least some, it was still a big success.

A week after their arrival on Thessia, the first geth transports began to pour through the Parnitha System relay. Despite the reassurances of all Tevos, Aethyta, and other prominent figureheads on Thessia, there was still plenty of lingering skepticism about the once hostile synthetics. However, despite some initial misunderstandings, the geth quickly proved their usefulness with their work. The progress on relay repairs was immediate, and within a month and a half, the Parnitha System was once again reconnected to the rest of the galaxy, some of the geth moving on to do their engineering magic on other relays, the majority remaining to help with the repairs and rebuilding groundside. With the comm buoys also in place, Thessia began to receive daily news from the Citadel and Sol System, and as weeks passed by, the geth and the local populations in every corner of the galaxy slowly restored normalcy to the galactic wide exchange of information.

At some point, Liara's remaining family on Benezia's side had paid them a visit at their estate, Liara's aunt Niline together with her two daughters, seeking to curry favor with someone whose word now held great weight amongst their people, especially the younger generation who sometimes went as far as to take every word Liara uttered as spoken law. Neither Shepard nor Liara were naive enough not to see through Niline's true intentions, to simply use Liara for her benefit and gain influence for herself and her daughters. Before the war, the most contact between them was due to Niline seeking to contest Liara's rights to her mother's estate, something that she now apologized for profusely at the end of every sentence, but her transparent manner left Liara cold and unimpressed.

"Politics hold little interest to me, Aunt Niline, I do not seek fame, glory or influence, not for myself nor the T'Soni clan," she had said simply, in a calm, reassured voice that brook no further argument. "I have informed you know once already that there is only one person amongst the asari who I trust enough to allow her to represent me and lend her my voice. That person is my father. In her public addresses, Matriarch Aethyta speaks for me as part of her kin, the N'Ilandi clan."

Niline had lost her calm then, uttering various venomous insults towards Aethyta in particular, claiming that Liara demeaned herself by throwing her lot in with a less influential clan, mentioning that since Benezia had broken up with Aethyta and hidden her existence from Liara, this was obviously not what her mother had wanted. Having heard this and several other candid insults, Aethyta's already short krogan patience quickly ran out and Aunt Niline's exit from the T'Soni Estate became slightly more spectacular than initially intended. While Shepard was a little unhappy about having already made an enemy on Thessia, Aethyta assured them that Niline was too much of a coward to ever try something serious against Liara.

Thinking about their life on Thessia so far, Morgan felt very pleased with how things had progressed. Most of the time she felt happy, the presence of Liara and their daughter made certain that the grin on her lips was a permanent feature, and with everyone around them being accepting and genuinely happy to have someone as distinguished as Shepard herself gracing them with their presence, it all helped to keep Morgan's darker thoughts and occasional depression away.

Now and then she did slip back into the old ways, overcome by her memories of Earth, of the people lost, the decisions she regretted having taken... it was all still there, sometimes making her sit in a chair for hours, staring at one point in the distance, stuck in a vicious loop of self-hatred. Whenever Liara caught her paralyzed by her traumatic memories, she liked to employ what they both called 'baby therapy'. Liara would place Lita in Morgan's lap, herself settling to sit at Shepard's feet, pressing her back against Morgan's knees. The toddler would soon enough get Morgan's attention with her cries and kicking, and Shepard would begin to tickle and play with her daughter, eventually slipping out of her gloominess, a trick that had never failed to work so far.

Morgan was relieved that Liara also appeared happy, at least for the most part. Her attentions were mostly on Lita, fussing terribly over their daughter as if trying to make up for all the foolish things she had done during her pregnancy. Whenever she could find the time, Liara always joined Shepard in her work out on the streets, leaving Lita for a few hours with Aethyta, her father always happy to sit with her granddaughter. The books that Liara had started to write back on Earth were for now left abandoned, but as she said herself, some things were just more important right now.

Sometimes, when Morgan and Liara melded their consciousnesses, Shepard was almost overwhelmed by the sheer amount of guilt pouring forth from Liara, mostly concerning the way she had handled her pregnancy, at first not telling Shepard about it, the very timing of the pregnancy itself, way too early before the recommended age at which asari should have children, knowing that her rash and foolish decisions, made out of fear of losing every connection with the love of her life, should Shepard perish in the battle against the Reapers, had led to their daughter being slightly handicapped compared to normal asari children.

For now, thankfully the only deviation that Dr. Lorisia aboard the Destiny Ascension was able to identify was that Lita's biotic potential was about 40% of that of an average, but that was enough to now and then send Liara in bouts of depression. There was also the fear of more symptoms occurring as Lita grew and developed further, and while Morgan did what she could to send through all the love and comfort to Liara during their melds, the asari kept slipping back now and then, both of them requiring more time, patience and understanding to chase these dark moods away.

With the relay of Apien Crest becoming functional once again, messages from Garrus and Tali seemed to come in almost every other day, Liara and Morgan always replying promptly, delighted to hear from their closest friends. Just like Shepard and Liara on Thessia, Tali and Garrus were busy in trying to restore some order to Palaven, from their pictures and descriptions it had suffered much worse than Thessia, and almost as bad as Earth.

For now, the dextro couple had settled to live in a small prefab next to Garrus' family, occupying a prefab of their own. Tali occasionally appeared a little frustrated when speaking of her future in-laws, especially regarding Garrus' father, but she often described their arguments with humor, and spoke with particular fondness of Solana, Garrus' sister, having found in her a friend and an unexpected ally in support of their relationship.

Overall, news coming from Palaven painted a slightly more glum picture compared to the rapid resurrection of Thessia's infrastructure. The planet had been rendered close to inhabitable, and some turians in the upper echelons of power had seriously suggested abandoning Palaven and seeking a new homeworld. Eventually, such talk was dismissed, but work was slow and difficult, and the turian reluctance to allow the geth landing on the surface of Palaven or Menae was hindering their restoration efforts, no matter how much Tali and Garrus campaigned to take the geth up on their freely given offer of aid.

For several months, while waiting for the Apien Crest relay to be restored, Wrex and his krogan clans became stranded on Palaven, unable to return to Tuchanka. It did not take long for the krogan to become a constant source of frustration for the turians. With no Reapers to shoot and not feeling overly motivated to help turians rebuild their homes, Wrex was having a hard time keeping his people under tight reign. Again, it had taken Shepard and her reminder that the actions of the krogan were being watched and evaluated by the entire galaxy, playing into the decision whether to grant them a seat on the Council or not. With the help of Grunt and Kurin, Wrex had then promptly cracked a few heads, making sure that the rest of the krogan toed the line. And with the relay now restored, the krogan had finally boarded the transports and were now heading back home to Tuchanka, while the turians breathed a collective sigh of relief, even if the entire galaxy continued to watch worriedly what would be the next steps taken by the krogan.

Messages were also coming in from Discovery, the capital of Horizon, from both Samantha Traynor and Miranda Lawson. After witnessing the circumstances surrounding Shepard's retirement from the Alliance, Samantha had felt that some of her commitment to the cause of humanity had evaporated, she felt burned out and wanted to return to her roots on Horizon. Jack had decided to hitch a ride with her new squeeze, and they both were currently helping out on the Alliance colony world, trying to figure out what to do with their lives once they had finished rebuilding.

Miranda had written only once, but the message was very lengthy and detailed, the ex-Cerberus operative as always very thorough in describing the select parts of her life that she chose to share with others. The tone of the message was overall happy and positive, Miranda appeared extremely proud of her sister Oriana. For now, they both were helping out with volunteer work in a local hospital, their contribution so impressive that they had already received offers regarding permanent employment. While Miranda herself did not appear willing to commit to something long term, she was hopeful that Oriana would choose to accept the proposition, feeling that her sister needed some stability in her life, after everything she had gone through.

The messages coming from the Citadel were the most frequent, however. Councilor Tevos made sure to keep contact with Shepard very often, partly because she undoubtedly wanted their most famous Spectre to stay updated with all the latest issues at the heart of the galactic civilization, but mostly because the friendship they had formed shortly after the Reaper War continued to grow and deepen, and both Tevos and Aria, as well as Rila and Falere wrote often to both Morgan and Liara.

And there was certainly a lot of interesting information to share. A few weeks ago, the scientists had finally begun their work, first to discuss all options on how to best move the Citadel back to its previous location in the Serpent Nebula. Manufacture of the required eezo cores and transportation to shift the station back to Widow System would require several years at the least, and with every species concentrating on rebuilding their homeworlds, save perhaps for the salarians, the Citadel being stuck in the Sol System was not at the top of the list of immediate concerns.

Recent report by the Westerlund News channel had claimed that the quarians were close to receiving their invitation to join the asari, turians, salarians and humans on the Galactic Council. Councilor Tevos neither confirmed nor denied it when speaking with Shepard and Liara, only hinting that they needed to be careful that krogan didn't go berserk over being slighted and not receiving the invitation first, even if they hadn't really contributed much to the galactic community after the end of the war, unlike the industrious quarians. Somewhere in all of this, the volus had also found their voice, starting to complain about being ignored once again, but since the galactic economy was in shambles anyway, their threats to destabilize it only drew confused stares from the councilors.

Shepard and Liara also often heard from Dr. Chakwas and her colleague, Dr. Michel, the two having grown into close friends and now seriously considering opening a private clinic of their own. Steve Cortez wrote often as well, knowing that Shepard would want to be updated on Joker's condition ever so often. Morgan and Jeff had parted on poor terms, Joker blaming her for EDI's death and several other associated things, but according to Cortez, living on the Normandy, even if the ship still remained grounded at the Citadel, had a calming effect on Jeff and he was slowly coming out of his bitter, depressed shell.

The one person who wrote perhaps most often, or at least as often as Tali, was Kasumi Goto, being stuck on the Citadel with her salarian Spectre boyfriend, she appeared to have said goodbyes to her career of a thief, at least for now. Especially when Bau did not have some Spectre mission with which she could help out, Kasumi seemed utterly bored, playfully blaming Shepard for making her too recognizable on the galactic crime scene and ruining her career, though in all honesty she did not appear to harbor too many regrets about that. However, due to the amount of silly messages she forwarded to Liara and Shepard daily, Morgan sincerely hoped that Kasumi would soon find something more worthwhile to do.

Having spent a few months with their lives settling into a by now familiar pattern, Morgan and Liara were both surprised when on one mild winter morning, Aethyta dropped a message on Shepard's omni-tool, informing her that someone wanted to speak with her through the QEC in the Armali City Council building. Knowing that it was most likely a call from one of the councilors on the Citadel, Shepard headed over without much delay, grumbling a little that apparently the councilors had not listened when she had asked to be given a few months off active Spectre duty, to help Liara with their daughter and aid in the rebuilding of Thessia. And speaking of Liara, despite the message apparently being addressed to Shepard alone, she had insisted on coming along, bringing a slightly disgruntled Lita with them.

Taking the short flight from the suburbs of Armali to the sprawling city centre where Shepard herself worked together with the asari and the geth every day, Morgan could not help but notice with pride that there were several districts of the city that almost looked restored to their pre-invasion glory. The Armali City Council building lay in one such district, and Matriarch Aethyta awaited them at the entrance, quickly snatching Lita from Liara's arms, giving her daughter some half-hearted tongue-lashing about bringing the baby out all this way. Liara and Shepard were escorted to the communications center at the back of the massive administrative complex, which also housed the QEC.

As soon as she activated the connection, Shepard's suspicions regarding the identity of their contact were confirmed. "Shepard, thank the goddess," a rather nervous looking Councilor Tevos T'Naori exclaimed, her image appearing before Morgan and Liara.

At seeing the councilor's distressed state, Shepard immediately swallowed her readied accusation of breaking the promise not to bother her and Liara for a while after settling on Thessia. But she's more than just my boss, now. We are forging a wonderful friendship... and friends never refuse a friend in need. "Councilor Tevos, always a pleasure," Morgan nodded pleasantly. "You look distraught, what is the matter?"

Tevos hesitated a little, noticing Liara standing next to Morgan. "Liara... I am happy to see you as well," she said eventually. "It is good that Shepard brought you. The matter I must discuss with Shepard might concern you as well, so my initial request to only speak with Shepard was erroneous. I apologize for my poor judgment, and hope that you can forgive me."

"I couldn't really take offence because we still don't know what this is all about," Liara reminded, smiling gently at the councilor.

"Yes. Yes, of course," Tevos managed tiredly, raising a delicate hand to rub her brow, looking unusually distracted and faint. "It's... about Aria."

"Do you have news?" Shepard asked quickly. It had been over a month since they had last heard from the Pirate Queen. Following the repairs of the Charon Relay, she had begun gathering forces with which to return to Omega and reclaim it for herself once again. She had scrounged up several ships filled with mercs of dubious parentage and loyalties, and then said her farewells to Tevos, Rila and Falere before taking the relay jump back to Sahrabarik System.

"I do," Tevos replied, wringing her hands nervously. "Aria's efforts have not met with success, I'm afraid."

"What? Is she alright? Where is she?" Morgan demanded urgently. Despite Aria's abrasive behavior and tendency to mess with her and Liara's heads, the couple felt deeply attached to the Queen of Omega, after everything they had gone through together in what could have been the last days of the galactic civilization as they knew it.

"Her initial plan failed. The mercenaries that she had hired received a better offer from the current leadership of Omega and promptly switched sides, leaving Aria on her own," Tevos spoke angrily, landing a weak blow with her balled fist against one of the comm consoles.

"They... kicked Aria off the station?" Shepard blinked. She had expected only one outcome, Aria arriving on Omega in victorious triumph, being welcomed back by her appreciative subjects. "Who are the leadership of Omega, anyway? The Reaper mutants are all dead, some remains of Cerberus?"

"No, most of the Cerberus also perished, at least those who were deeply indoctrinated," Tevos explained. "I understand that Omega is now controlled by a mostly turian mercenary group called the Talons. They have even offered amnesty to all the ex-Cerberus soldiers who survived the destruction of the Reapers."

"Ugh... someone on Omega displaying mercy, and to those least deserving of it?" Morgan scowled. "What are they, some kind of misunderstood turian saints?"

"I'm afraid I do not have more intel for you, Shepard. They do appear to be acting... surprisingly benevolently, and the station's inhabitants have responded favorably to the changes, at least so far," Tevos said with a shrug of her shoulders. "They clearly view Aria as a threat, however. And knowing that Aria won't admit defeat... I fear for her."

"Understandable," Morgan nodded. "Do you know what she intends to do?"

"She spoke of coming up with another plan to attempt, and I have not heard from her since," Tevos said, now clearly struggling to keep her emotions in check. "I... don't like breaking my promise, Shepard, but... there's nobody else I can turn to, I cannot reveal my involvement with Aria by asking another Spectre to handle this, not yet..."

"You want me to go to Omega and help her," Shepard stated, watching Tevos nodding slowly. "Damn it, Lita is not even six months old, and already I'm being asked to abandon her and Liara. I... I do want to help Aria, but..."

Tevos bowed her head, covering her face with her palms. "Please..." she whispered.

"Is the Omega Nebula relay operational, Councilor Tevos?" Liara asked suddenly.

"I sent a team of engineers with Aria's forces," Tevos replied in a muffled voice, not removing the palms from her face. "I cannot say whether they have been successful."

"Then it is a risk," Liara said, turning aside to face her bondmate. "But a risk that you should take, Morgan. Aria saved your life on the Citadel, and she saved the life of our child... she is our friend, we cannot abandon her at a time like this."

Shepard nodded slowly, her feelings mirroring Liara's words. "Will you... will you be alright without me?" she asked softly, taking her bondmate's hands in hers.

"We will manage, do not worry about us," Liara replied, smiling as she leaned closer to press a reassuring kiss on Morgan's lips. "My father is so good with Lita, she will be a great help. It will be fine, and you will be back with us soon."

"Thank you both, thank you ever so much," Tevos breathed out, relieved. "I will organize a transport to pick you up shortly, Shepard. How will I ever be able to thank you for coming to my aid again?"

"Well, Councilor..." Morgan smiled, turning back to face the QEC. "Whenever you manage to move the Citadel out of the Sol System... because I sure as hell am not going back there ever again... but whenever I'm back on the Citadel next, I would like to listen to you, Rila and Falere performing something for us. That is all the reward I ask..."

2181 Despoina, Psi Tophet System

'Unacceptable. This rift is of inadequate size for our needs. Xzzwilln'yrtx'schrmpp stepped on my tentacles again.'

'I did not. That was Hlunnvr'ogth'lobstrr. And this rift is of perfectly acceptable size for our needs.'

'I thought our needs were to rule the galaxy as it befits us.'

'Yes, with the Reapers gone, it is time for us to reclaim our rightful place at the head of the galaxy.'

'Twhillnt'lorn'prwnn, do not be foolish. Remember The Shepard. The dangerous organic is still alive and vigilant.'

'She is just one organic.'

'The Reapers defeated us effortlessly, to our great shame. The Shepard defeated the Reapers. Ergo, The Shepard, while a mere organic, is not to be underestimated. If she could defeat the Reapers, think of what she could do to us.'

'It is unbearable to have an insignificant organic standing in our way to domination.'

'Organics do not live long. We need only be patient.'

'We could hasten her demise somehow.'

'That remains an option. But first, we must rebuild our network of thralls, restore our eyesight, order them to spread the control orbs through the galaxy.'

'I have searched the minds of the pitiful organics currently under our influence. They are unimpressive, as expected... save for one, this... Riley-human. She has shared a bond with The Shepard in the past. The memories were hidden deep, and it caused this Riley-human great suffering as I pulled them from her puny mind. These thoughts were filled with conflicting... concepts that we do not recognize. It would appear that The Shepard has been... important to this Riley-human in the past.'

'It could be something we can use. Continue to examine the mind of this Riley-human. Search for more information about The Shepard. Perhaps we can learn of a weakness.'

'Further deep probing of her pathetic mind might destroy the vessel.'

'Irrelevant. The information about The Shepard is more important than survival of this Riley-human.'

'It would be preferable if this Riley-human would survive. Searching through the mind of this organic revealed training that would make her a very capable field agent to serve our needs.'

'Then we leave the decision in this to you, Twhillnt'lorn'prwnn. We trust that you will act in the best interests of the Leviathan.'

'Meanwhile, we will watch and observe, we will bide our time and wait for our opportunity, and when The Shepard will no longer be a threat, we will rise from the bottom of the ocean to reclaim-... you stepped on my tentacles again! Hlunnvr'ogth'lobstrr, watch where you put your claws!'

'That was Twhillnt'lorn'prwnn, not me. And I agree, wise Xzzwilln'yrtx'schrmpp. We will plan our actions carefully... our opportunity will arrive soon, we only need to be patient and wait.'

'We could have been waiting in a rift with more tentacle space.'

'Oh, do be silent.'