My my, it has been quite a while since the last chapter. I beg your forgiveness. If I told you that I was just promoted (to a big girl job!) and it is my last quarter of university, would that help? No? Shut up and get on with the story?

Your wish is my command, dear readers.

As always, thank you so much to the commenters. It means a lot to know that even a few think my story worthy of feedback. Also, thank you to everyone who has favorited, I will do my best to not lag behind anymore!

"I am warning you Commander," Chakwas addressed Shepard sternly, "if you move one inch out of that chair, I will become exceedingly unpleasant."

Shepard sighed and grumbled under her breath. She did not want her first meeting with Hackett and Anderson to be conducted from a wheelchair, injuries be damned. Her progress had been remarkable thanks to the cybernetic implants Cerberus had given her.

The Commander wheeled herself out of the Normandy's medical bay, where she had been for the last four days, to the elevator and up to the conference room for her debriefing. As she moved through the scanning area, she spotted Ashley exiting the conference area.

"Skipper!" Ashley grasped Shepard's hand happily. "You're looking better and better every day. Hard to believe it's only been a week since your last surgery."

"Eight days, Ash." Shepard flashed a crooked smile in spite of her mood. "Are you headed back out for search and rescue efforts?"

"We are doing final sweeps." Ashley's grin faded. "It's been over a week since the Reapers fell; we aren't expecting many people to have survived this long out there. Most of the turians and krogan have gone back home to rebuild, but most of the quarians and geth have stayed to help find survivors across the globe."

"Really? I would think they would want to get back to Rannoch." Shepard mused.

"Well, Tali said that the quarians and geth both feel that you gave them their home world, so they want to return the favor." Williams said proudly. "The geth have been extremely useful actually, Skipper. They can scan for life signatures for greater distances and at greater depths. One Prime detected a group of nine people trapped down in the Underground yesterday."

Shepard's eyebrows shot up, "Very impressive. Good luck out there today, Ash. Let me know what I can do to help."

"Sure thing ma'am." Ashley squeezed Shepard's shoulder as she departed.

Shepard rolled into the conference room. Admirals Hackett and Anderson, along with Joker and EDI rose happily to meet her.

"It's damn good to see your face, Shepard." Anderson clapped her on the back fondly.

"I'm glad to see you're up and getting around, Commander." Hackett flashed a rare grin, "Unfortunately this isn't a social meeting. We need to debrief. The final events of the Reaper attack are unclear; I'm hoping between the five of us, we can determine exactly what happened that day. Let's start with you commander."

Shepard nodded, she had thought of little else since the invasion, but suddenly she didn't know where to begin. "Well, after the Normandy dropped us off, Liara, Garrus and I battled our way to the beacon."

Before she could continue, Hackett cut her off. "We know all of that already from their reports; we need to pick up at the point where the three of you got separated. Both Liara and Garrus said you took a direct hit from a Reaper, is that correct?"

Shepard nodded. "Yes. I remember there being a pause in ground attacks and looking up at the Reaper guarding the beam to the Citadel. It opened fire and everything went dark. I woke up and couldn't find Garrus or Liara, but I had to keep going. I took out some Marauders and got to the beam and onto the Citadel. It looked… different. Anyway, I fought my way through the wreckage to Anderson and-"

"No Shepard." Anderson interrupted gently. "I did reach the beam. I got to it with a group of four marines, but you were never there."

Shepard felt as if the wind had been knocked out of her. "But… the Catalyst, The Illusive Man…? We were with him, he… he killed himself. I had to leave you there, to continue to the Catalyst."

Anderson shook his head sadly. "I don't know what you experienced out there Shepard, but I never saw you reach the Citadel. I fought through with the marines. We had to tear through wave after wave of Cerberus troops. Eventually we reached The Illusive Man, but something happened Shepard. In the middle of our confrontation, something about him changed. He kept talking about you, like you had done something."

Shepard's eyes widened, she felt as if everything had been turned upside down. Was she crazy? "I…" She blinked fiercely and rubbed her temples, glad for once that she was in the chair, her energy had disappeared. "I don't know."

"Let's get back to what happened with you, Commander." Hackett pressed carefully. "Tell us what you remember."

Shepard looked around the table. Hackett's gaze bore into her. Anderson's face seemed guarded; he smiled slightly in an attempt to reassure the Commander. Joker sat slack-jawed, his mouth hanging open slightly. EDI gently closed his mouth, then returned her gaze to Shepard.

"Well, after I left Anderson, I reached the Catalyst. It was… damn it, I don't know what it was. It appeared to be a boy... made of light. I'm a lunatic aren't I?" Shepard's shoulders sagged, her heart raced in her chest. When no one responded she clenched her jaw and looked up. "Fine. The light-boy told me that the Reapers were created to wipe out species every 50,000 years to save them from being wiped out by their own synthetic creations."

"Uh… what?" Joker laughed in disbelief.

"Moreau." Hackett warned, glaring at him.

"Sorry Admiral, Commander." Joker sat back, biting his lip.

"Anyway," Shepard continued, ignoring Joker's outburst. "The light-boy basically told me I had three options. I could control the Reapers, merge synthetic and organic life, or destroy them. The Crucible would do any one of those three things. When he was describing the choices, I could see The Illusive Man going for the control option. I could see you, Anderson, fighting till the end for destruction of the Reapers. Then there was synthesis. It seemed so peaceful, so perfect, but I remembered Saren. That was all he wanted."

Shepard took a deep breath; the next piece of the puzzle was the difficult one. "The Catalyst told me that if I chose to destroy the Reapers, I would be destroying all synthetic life. I would destroy the geth, which would probably harm the quarians. I would be destroying you, EDI. But, I knew that Saren and The Illusive Man were wrong. The Reapers would never be controlled or coexist with organics. The only option was to destroy them. So that's what I did. I chose to destroy the Reapers by eliminating synthetic life."

The table was silent. Joker's face had gone from concern to fury. "Are you fucking kidding?" He whispered. "You chose to kill the geth, EDI?"

"Jeff, we know that's not what happened." Anderson laid a hand on Joker's shoulder.

Joker shrugged Anderson's hand off and smacked the table as hard as he dared. "I'm out of here." He rose, shaking with anger, and hobbled out of the conference room. Shepard began to wheel after him, but EDI spoke up.

"Jeff will most likely regret his reaction shortly." EDI turned to Shepard. "I do not agree with his anger. I am sure the geth would concede that your decision was the most acceptable. The destruction of the Reapers would have been the only viable solution."

"Let him go Shepard. He'll calm down." Hackett turned to Anderson. "Does any of this make sense with what The Illusive man was talking about?"

Anderson nodded, bringing himself back to the topic at hand. "One of the marines had swiped a Cerberus comm device; we could tell from their chatter that The Illusive Man was holed up in the Council Chambers. When I got to him I only had one marine with me, the others gave their lives to make sure I reached the Citadel Tower. We traded shots and he finally fell. He was defiant, raging that we were ruining his plans. But in the middle of ranting, he changed."

Anderson reached for a glass of water, pausing to gather his thoughts. "Suddenly, he was calm. I asked if he knew where he was, if he knew who he was. He told me his name was Jack, and he said there wasn't much time. He said that the Reapers had been working to indoctrinate Shepard since Sovereign came into contact with her." Anderson shifted uncomfortably, avoiding the Commander's panicked gaze.

"Cerberus had been working to help the Reapers perfect their indoctrination. They were displeased with Saren and Matriarch Benezia's relapse, and wanted to be sure Shepard could not break out of it. The Illusive Man, Jack, believed they had succeeded. The Reapers believed she was fully indoctrinated. But something happened and she broke the indoctrination anyway. He told me the Reapers were not planning on it, they had not predicted that a human could resist their best efforts. She disrupted their plans, causde an interruption in their process."

"Of course," Hackett nodded faintly, "perhaps that explains the pause."

"It seems that Shepard showed the Reapers that 1+1 can equal 3." EDI offered. When she was met with blank stares from the humans, she continued. "It is impossible to predict the behavior of organics to 100% certainty. There is a degree of chaotic behavior that, however advanced, a synthetic intelligence could never account for."

"Please explain further." Anderson watched the AI, beginning to understand what had happened.

"The Reapers, with the help of Cerberus, concluded that their indoctrination efforts would prove successful. However, Shepard broke out of the indoctrination, causing an unforeseen anomaly. The Reapers concluded that 1+1=2, but Shepard showed them that 1+1=3. They could not comprehend."

"Yes!" Anderson spoke quickly, excitedly. "The Illusive Man said she had caused a ripple through their ranks, causing their grip on his mind to loosen. That is when he told me how to activate the Catalyst and fire the Crucible."

"This meshes with what we saw during the battle." Hackett stroked his chin thoughtfully. Shepard looked at him warily. "The Reapers paused suddenly. It wasn't very long, but they just stopped moving. So I ordered the fleets to open fire. We did some heavy damage to the bastards. When they began moving again, it was as if they were disjointed. It made taking them out a hell of a lot easier than before. But there were no reports of seeing the Crucible activate."

"There wouldn't be." Anderson replied. "The Crucible is some sort of jamming signal for the Reapers. It destroyed their ability to communicate, turning their ranks from an organized hive-mind, into individuals,"

"Causing their coordinating efforts to crumble." Hackett finished. "Finally, it's all coming together."

"Yes." EDI spoke to the Admirals, but kept her gaze on Shepard. "The combination of Shepard breaking the indoctrination and the interruption of Reaper communication fits with my assessments. After engaging Reaper forces on the ground, Jeff retrieved Lieutenant Vega and Lieutenant Commander Williams and I. We then targeted what Jeff assumed to be Harbinger. Its movements were sporadic and uncalculated. After several hours, and the assistance of geth and turian ships, the Reaper fell."

"Great, so the Crucible worked, and I'm still a lunatic." Shepard spat angrily.

"On the contrary, Shepard." Hackett regarded her fondly. "You crumbled the Reaper's best efforts. You did what no one else could. If you hadn't broken through, we couldn't have taken them down."

"He's right, Shepard." Anderson smiled proudly. "You freed The Illusive Man, allowing for the activation of the Crucible."

Shepard nodded, she was suddenly exhausted. "Are we finished here?"

"I think so." Hackett stood. "Good work Shepard."

Without another word, Shepard wheeled herself out of the conference room. She ignored the greetings of crew members as she made her way to the captain's cabin rather than returning to the medical bay. She needed to be alone.