Things were exploding all around her, alarms blaring.

"Joker's still in the cockpit, he won't abandon ship!" Kaidan yelled over all the noise, but it didn't sound right. He was standing so close by, why did he sound so far away? "I'm not leaving either."

The noises were getting louder, but they weren't right. Were those shots? Had they been boarded? No. No one boarded the ship.

"Shepard! Do you hear me?"

Confused, Lex turned around expecting the owner of the voice to be behind her, but all she saw was her crew running around the Normandy as it burned. She turned back to Kaidan. "I need you to get the crew onto evac shuttles, I'll get Joker."

"Lex…" She could hear the worry in his voice. She understood why he didn't want to leave her, but she wouldn't put him at risk. She had to get Joker and she had to do it without worrying about Kaidan at the same time.

"Kaidan, go now." Lex replied with as much force as she could muster.

"Get out of that bed now! This facility is under attack!"

Lex looked back again, but saw nothing. There was no woman behind her, there was no ship and no crew. She turned back and Kaidan was still standing there, she reached out to him but he turned away and ran off towards the shuttles yelling orders at the remaining crew to follow him until he also disappeared. Suddenly she was standing in complete darkness, the sounds of an attack still booming all around her but not explosions like it should have been. No, all she heard was gun fire.

"Shepard!"

Lazarus Research Station – 2 years, 12 day A.N.D.

Again she heard the woman calling out to her, but this time it was louder and coming from above her. Lex looked up and the darkness turned into a blinding light. She realized she was opening her eyes. Why were they closed? As her eyes adjusted to the light the rest of her senses seemed to be catching up and the first thing she noticed was the pain. She was sore all over. She grimaced and regretted instantly when her face felt like it was being torn apart.

"Shepard. Your scars aren't healed, but I need you to get moving. This facility is under attack."

Lex slowly moved herself into a sitting position as her eyes finally adjusted to the light. She looked around. Hospital? It must be. Who would attack a hospital? As her thoughts began to clear and she became more alert she took another look around, this one a bit frantic as worry started to creep in.

"Kaidan!" She'd meant to shout it, but it came out more of a hoarse whisper as if she hadn't used her voice in a long time. If she was in a hospital, he'd be somewhere nearby, wouldn't he? Unless…

"Shepard, move. There's a pistol in the locker on the other side of the room. Hurry!"

She tossed her legs over the side of the bed and stood up. "Why does my head feel so heavy?" She asked as her hand started to make its way up, before the sound of more gunfire drew her attention away. Pistol, right.

Shuttle to Minuteman Station -

"Before you meet with The Illusive Man, we need to ask a few question to evaluate your condition." Lex looked up at Miranda as she spoke. Now that they were away from the station and immediate danger she could take the time to really look at her and Jacob. As first impressions went, Miranda's was a doozy. Lex had watched as she shot a man at point blank without a hint of remorse. Miranda was ice cold, and Lex couldn't help but make comparisons between herself and the woman seated before her.

"Come on, Miranda. More tests? Shepard took down those mechs without any trouble. That has to be good enough." Lex looked over to Jacob as he spoke. Her initial opinion of him had been that he was your typical military man. He didn't seem to be holding anything back, and she didn't expect any surprises from him. She took comfort in that. He seemed to respect her and she hoped she could use that to her advantage when the time for getting away from Cerberus came.

"It's been two years since the attack." Miranda replied. If she said anything after that, Lex didn't hear it.

Two years? Jacob had said something like that earlier, hadn't he? But there was so much going on and she was getting so much new and surprising information that her brain had somehow glazed over that bit. "Did you say two years? I've been gone that long?"

Jacob was the one who responded. "Two years and twelve days. And you were on an operating table for most of it."

"All those recordings at the station, about the subject…those were about me. But that means…" Lex was playing them all back in her head. The condition they had found her in, the things they had done. How am I here? What am I?

"The sooner we start, the sooner we can be done. Start with personal history." Miranda ordered to Jacob, completely ignoring Lex's question.

"Okay." Jacob sighed, resigning himself to following Miranda's orders. "Records show you grew up on Earth. Tough environment, no parents."

Lex looked down, unsure if she could control her expressions with how unfamiliar she felt with her body. They were working off of her personnel records. Did they know anything about her beyond that? Nowhere in her records was her father mentioned, they had never bothered to change her birth certificate so Jimmy was still listed as her father. Well, if they knew the truth they'd have to tell her, she certainly wasn't about to give them any free information.

Jacob had continued talking and Lex realized he'd asked her a question. "You obviously have my files so read them if you want to know more about me. I'm not playing twenty questions with you."

"Shepard, we need to know…" Miranda started to say.

"I don't give a shit what you need to know. All I care about is getting home."

Minuteman Station -

Well this is new. Lex looked around as the small dark room she had walked into changed to show another room and a man appeared seated before her. She watched him as he took a drag from his cigarette.

"Commander Shepard."

"Illusive Man. I thought we'd be meeting face to face." Lex replied.

A small smirk appeared on his face. "A necessary precaution. Not unusual for people that know what you and I know."

"Oh, and what exactly is it that we know?" She asked.

"That our place in the universe is more fragile than we'd like to think." He took another drag before continuing. "That one woman, one very specific woman, might be all that stands between humanity and the greatest threat of our brief existence. You've seen it yourself. You bested all of them. That's just one reason we chose you."

"I'm flattered, really. But you could have trained an entire army for what you spent to bring me back." Lex countered. "And you should have because I'm not working for you. Ever."

The Illusive Man sighed. "You need to put your personal feelings aside. Humanity is up against the greatest threat of our brief existence."

"The Reapers." She stated.

"Good to see your memory is still intact. How are you feeling?" He asked.

"We aren't friends. My friends tell me their real name. You need to earn the right to ask me those sort of questions." Lex was on edge. She wanted to turn around, walk right out of the room and hop a shuttle to the nearest Alliance station. But would they let her?

"Cerberus isn't as evil as you believe. You and I are on the same side; we just have different methods. But you're right, we aren't friends. We don't need to be." He looked down as he put out his cigarette.

"Just cut to the chase, why'd you bring me back?"

"We're at war. No one wants to admit it, but humanity is under attack." He seemed unfazed by her cutting him off. "While you've been sleeping entire colonies have been disappearing. Human colonies. We believe it's someone working for the Reapers. Just as Saren and the Geth aided Sovereign."

Damn it. It's started. Lex frowned as she realized she had to at least listen to what he was saying. She had to know what she'd missed.

"Shepard."

Lex smiled down at Kaidan. The tortured look on his face was something she loved seeing. I wonder what that says about me. She arched her back causing her hips to press down against him. "Yes, Alenko?"

"Fuck." Kaidan's eyes closed as his body responded instinctively by arching up towards hers. "You're evil."

She chuckled. "Am I?"

He took a deep breath to center himself before replying, but still kept his eyes closed. "It's late. I need to head back to my quarters before someone catches me doing the walk of shame out of my commanding officer's."

"Oh, of course. You should definitely go before that happens." She replied even as she repeated her previous move and pushed herself against him once more smiling when she heard him groan.

Kaidan's eyes snapped open and that's all the warning Lex had before he used his weight to flip them and she found herself looking up at him. Now he was smiling down at her. He leaned down, pressing his lips against her ear as he repeated the same motion she had with her hips. "Is that how you want to play it? How does it feel when you're on the receiving end, huh?"

A small moan escaped her lips before she smiled against his ear. "Pretty damn good."

He laughed. "God Lex, what am I going to do with you?"

"Anything you want, Kaidan."

He groaned in reply as he started placing light kisses just below her ear and along her throat, apparently resigned to the fact he wouldn't be leaving her quarters anytime soon.

Shuttle to Freedom's Progress -

"Shepard."

Lex jumped in her seat, startled back to the present by Miranda's voice. She looked over to the two Cerberus agents across from her. Their faces told her she'd probably missed a previous call to attention from them. Shit, I need to get myself together. She nodded in their direction to let them know she was listening.

Miranda eyed her carefully, obviously not pleased by her lack of focus but Lex didn't really give a damn what she thought. "We should be there shortly, Shepard. The Illusive Man put us under your command. Do you have any orders?"

Arcturus Station: Admiral Hackett's Office

Kaidan rushed into Admiral Hackett's office. "Sir, there's been another…" His words coming to a sudden stop as he took in the scene in front of him. Hackett sat at his desk, his head in his hands. Anderson gripping his shoulder beside him a look on his face that Kaidan couldn't describe.

"We know." Anderson gave Hackett's shoulder a short squeeze before turning his attention to Kaidan. "Kaidan, take a seat."

A sense of dread filled Kaidan as he looked at the open comm in front of Hackett. "I'm fine, just tell me."

The look of pity now showing on Anderson's face was almost enough to break him. "Son, I think it's better if you…"

He shook his head as he neared the desk. "What is it?"

It was Hackett that turned the comm towards Kaidan before he stood and walked over to his observation window.

"It just came in." Anderson's voice was shaky, and it made Kaidan cringe.

"Another sighting? So? We've already seen plenty of grainy pictures, why is this any different?" Even as he asked the question he wasn't sure he wanted to hear the answer. Something was different and whatever it was had finally broken the two men in front of him. Kaidan didn't think he would survive it.

Anderson leaned over and pressed a button, the screen of the comm suddenly coming to life. "This morning we received a new image. Someone claimed to have seen Shepard arriving at a Cerberus facility and was conveniently willing to leak the information to us. It doesn't leave much room for doubt."

Kaidan's eyes were glued to the screen as he looked at the face of the woman he loved for the first time in two years. She looked different. Her hair had grown and was up in a bun. She had some light scars all over her face. She looked smaller somehow, as if she'd lost some muscle, but it was difficult to deny it was her. He took a deep breath before speaking. "Where is this?"

"That information was not supplied, of course. Those two people you see with her are known Cerberus agents. And there's no mistaking the insignia on the uniform she's wearing." Anderson sounded tired.

Kaidan reached out, his fingers lightly moving over the face on the screen. "Those scars…" He pulled his hand back, taking another deep breath before looking up at Anderson. "It's possible someone could have had surgery to look like her, though it still makes no sense. Why are they doing this?"

"Show him the video, David." Hackett didn't turn around.

Anderson reached over towards the comm again, hesitating before reaching it. "We received this a few minutes ago. Just after our people arrived at Freedom's Progress. Like the other colonies, everyone is gone. The difference here is that there were signs of combat. This video was found in the communications room. It was badly damaged, but they sent us what they could piece together. This is going to be difficult to watch son, I'm sorry." He pressed the button and the screen once more came to life.

The scenes playing out on the screen were short, frantic clips of three humans facing off against security mechs. One of the humans was unmistakable. Even if he hadn't been able to see her face, Kaidan knew the way she moved almost as well as he knew himself. He looked up at Anderson. "I don't understand, how could she be there?" And then he heard a voice he never thought he'd hear again.

"You don't have to take Veetor and go. We could work together. Just like old times."

Anderson closed the comm. "We've reached out to the Migrant Fleet, we're waiting to hear back from them. As soon as we reach Tali we can get some answers."

"They followed her orders." Kaidan stepped back and fell into the chair behind him.

"Son…"

"No, don't. Don't because there's nothing you could say to me right now that will change the fact that I know that voice. Those mannerisms." Kaidan leaned forward, his elbows on his knees as his head fell to his hands. He took a few deep breaths trying to prepare for the devastation he expected to feel, but it never came. Instead, all he felt was angry. "They were following her fucking orders, Anderson. Her lead. She's not being held against her will. Nothing is stopping her from coming back."