Where Are They Now?

· Despite claiming that their moment in the gun battery was just a fling, Tali'Zorah vas Normandy and Garrus Vakarian stayed together after the war. They married and adopted turian and quarian children that were orphaned as a result of the war. Garrus returned to the Citadel to help Commander Armando-Owen Bailey oversee the reestablishment of Citadel Security and later became a detective. Tali remained on the Citadel with Garrus and serves as an ambassador of the quarian people.

· Urdnot Wrex and Urdnot Bakara aka Eve continue to lead the clans on Tuchanka. Thanks to their efforts, the clans never tried to get revenge on the salarians or turians for the genophage. To help keep the peace on Tuchanka, they use their newly reformed Aralakh Company under the command of Urdont Grunt.

· Officially Dr. Liara T'Soni lives on Thessia and works as a professor of Prothean and Asari history at her alma mater, the University of Serrice. She has received some controversy for her teachings on how the goddess Athane was really a prothean but she has slowly gained approval among the best asari scholars. Unofficially, she continues to serve as the Shadow Broker and she remains one of Shepard's most trusted sources of information when he is on Spectre missions. She and her partner Feron eventually fell in love and were married. They have one daughter together.

· Jeff "Joker" Moreau remained as the Normandy's pilot. He still misses EDI but flying the Normandy helps him cope as he feels there is still a part of her living in the ship. Eventually the Normandy was retired from military service and turned into an Alliance training vessel. Joker was asked to be an instructor. He accepted on the condition that three months a year he could take the Normandy for a joy ride.

· With her father dead and Cerberus in ruins, Miranda Lawson no longer needs to live in hiding. She later joined the Alliance where her biotic and tactical leadership skills earned her the position as the commander of a newly formed biotic special forces unit. When she is on shore leave, she always takes the time to visit her sister Oriana who has found her dream job in colonial development.

· Jacob Taylor married Dr. Brynn Cole and eventually they had a daughter. Despite Brynn still wanting to name it after Shepard, Jacob persuaded her not to. Jacob went back to the Alliance military as a firearms instructor. On the side, he also mentors war orphans.

· Samara went back to help her daughter rebuild the Ardat-Yakshi monastery. After it was finished, she continued to serve as a justicar while still visiting the monastery whenever she can.

· Zaeed Massani has retired from the life of bounty hunting and is currently believed to have retired to a tropical planet. Though he still keeps his trusty rifle "Jessie" by his side should anyone try to disturb his now peaceful lifestyle.

· No one knows what happened to Kasumi Goto after the war. However Shepard said that it's a good thing they don't. If they had heard anything about her it would have meant that one of her heists had gone terribly wrong.

· James Vega completed his N7 training and is now a full N7 marine. He has since made peace with what happened to his previous squad and has taken command of a new squad shortly after reaching the rank of Lieutenant-Commander. To the great surprise of everyone on the Normandy he dated and later married Jack. Jack remained at Grissom Academy and continues to help train young biotics. Though some of the students' parents are a little weary of her wardrobe and teaching style, the academy couldn't argue with results as many students under Jack's training graduated with outstanding grades.

· Javik remained on the Normandy long enough to see Shepard fully recover from his wounds. He then requested some shore leave to revisit some old "friends". Shepard knew which friends he was referring to and what he was planning to do when he got there but he approved the request anyway. A few days later, it was announced that the Last Prothean had passed away.

· Steve Cortez, Samantha Traynor, Dr. Karin Chakwas, Engineer Greg Adams, Kenneth Donnelly and Gabriella Daniels stayed in their respected posts on the Normandy for the remainder of the ships military career.

· Because of his success as the leader of the fleet that retook Earth, Admiral Steven Hackett was asked to be the new human representative on the Citadel Council. He accepted. As for the Council itself, to honor all the species that took part in the final battle, the Council granted a seat for each one. Every intelligent species now has a seat on the Council.

It had been three years since the end of the Reaper War. The majority of the repairs across the galaxy had since been completed. Because of the new mutual trust between all species there is no longer any threat of war. Sadly mercenaries, drug and weapons dealers, slavers and other types of criminals still roam the galaxy but it's nothing that the galaxy's military and security forces can't handle. Also no efforts had been made to recreate AI's due to the fear of the Catalyst's warning that it could create another Reaper type conflict.

In his apartment inside the Tiberius Tower apartment building on the Citadel, Shepard was having a drink while watching a news story on TV discussing the upcoming anniversary of the end of the Reaper War. After it was over, he turned off the news and the TV returned to its default screen. It was the picture of the Normandy crew taken during the party they had while on shore leave.

"You have received a new message."

Shepard's focus on the picture was interrupted when a computerized voice came from the office room. He got up from his chair and entered the room to see that the new message indicator light on his terminal was indeed blinking. When he opened the message and saw that it was from Councilor Hackett, Shepard began to get nervous. Usually Hackett would send messages to him if he was about to give him a Spectre mission and now was not the best time for Shepard to get one.

Then Shepard noticed that the message's subject read "RE: Request". He realized the message was a response to one that he had sent Hackett not too long ago. A smile appeared on his face when he read the message's content which consisted of only two words "Request granted." He sat down in his chair and turned to face the wall behind him. The shelves on the wall contained items that told the story of events that happened during the three years since the Reaper War. The items included pictures, model ships, antique weapons and other unique items Shepard collected on his missions.

Among the items were his two Star of Terra awards. The first one was the one he earned for his heroics during the Skyllian Blitz on Elysium. The second one he earned for his role in ending the Reaper War. Next to the awards was a picture of him and Ashley when they had their first Spectre mission together. Finally there was a picture of his and Ashley's wedding on the Normandy. Garrus was the best man with Wrex and Joker as groomsmen. Liara was the maid of honor with Tali and Ashley's sister Abby as bridesmaids. The past and present crew of the Normandy, Ashley's family and members of the Citadel Council were also in attendance.

After looking at the items, Shepard then looked over at a calendar sitting on his desk. Tomorrow was indeed the anniversary of the end of the Reaper War. For most people, it was a celebration of the day where all species came together to bring peace throughout the galaxy. While Shepard appreciated the celebrations, it was hard to forget that in order to achieve that peace a lot of good people had to die. He thinks specifically of the people under his command that died during the three years he fought against the Reapers.

· Richard Jenkins on Eden Prime

· Kaiden Alenko on Virmire

· Charles Pressley and 20 other crewmembers who died when the original Normandy was destroyed

· Mordin Solus on Tuchanka

· Thane Krios on the Citadel

· Legion on Rannoch

· EDI when the Crucible was fired.

He also thought of Anderson, his former CO, mentor, friend and the one who had given him the apartment he and Ashley now lived in. It was Anderson's death that haunted him the most. He knew he didn't willingly shoot him but that didn't make it easier to live with. As he continued thinking about his fallen comrades, a tear began to fall down his face.

Suddenly a voice called out from the living room, "Honey I'm home!"

It was Ashley back from her shopping trip. Shepard quickly wiped the tear from his eye and headed into the living room to greet her. He entered the living room in time to see Ashley heading into the kitchen to put her bags on the counter.

Shepard entered the kitchen and gave Ashley a kiss, "hey Ash. How'd your shopping date with your mother and sisters go?"

"Great," Ashley replied as she headed to the refrigerator to put away milk she had bought, "I'm pretty sure we got everything that we needed. At least I hope we did. Oh well. If we didn't, we still have a month to get the rest before the baby comes."

Ashley closed the refrigerator door revealing her eight-month pregnant belly. When she and Shepard found out she was pregnant, they both decided to retire from the military so they could raise the baby together. They both received honorable discharges and the Normandy was turned over to the now promoted Captain James Vega. Even though he was no longer in the military, Shepard wanted a job that would still allow him to do what he always did best: help people. This led to him joining C-SEC. Within a few months he rose to the rank of detective and eventually found himself partnered with Garrus. As for Ashley, she realized shortly after being discharged that she had a passion for writing. She had no doubt it was partially fueled by her love of classic literature. Her writing career quickly took off when she published her first novel "Love Conquers All", a story about two soldiers who meet on the battlefield, fall in love and end up facing many obstacles as they try to make their relationship work. Only Shepard and their family and friends knew that Ashley's "fictional" novel was based off of her and Shepard's relationship. While Shepard and Ashley weren't soldiers anymore, they still had their Spectre statuses and remain on standby in case the Council needs them. Now that Ashley was in the later stages of her pregnancy, Shepard had been taking most of the Spectre missions.

"I got a message from Hackett today," Shepard said, "we're all set. The Council has agreed not to give me anymore assignments until after the baby is born."

"That's great," Ashley replied, "it certainly took them a while to respond."

"Well we expected they would. With all the other matters they have to deal with, answering my request for time off wouldn't be high up on their list."

While Ashley continued sorting the items from her shopping trip, Shepard walked out of the kitchen and sat back down on the armchair in the living room. He angled it so that he could see the Silversun Strip out the window. He noticed that it had been decorated for the upcoming anniversary celebrations. In an instant, he began to think about the people he lost during the war again. A new tear began to form in his eye. He was so deep in thought he didn't hear Ashley talking to him from the kitchen.

"I really like what you did turning the other bedroom into a nursery. I think it came out really well. Also my mom wanted me to tell you she really appreciated us sending her the ultrasound pictures. She said the entire family is having a betting pool to guess the baby's birthday, size and gender."

Silence.

"Did you hear me?"

More silence.

"Honey?"

It was then that Ashley looked into the living room and noticed Shepard looking out the window. She was barely able to make out the tear going down his cheek. She instantly figured out what was wrong. She reached over and grabbed a tissue from a nearby tissue box. She then walked over to him and sat on his lap. Upon seeing her, Shepard managed to muster a small smile.

"You're thinking about them aren't you?" Ashley asked.

"Yeah, it's hard not to this time of year."

Ashley used the tissue to wipe the tears from Shepard's eyes.

"I know. I miss them too. We owe a lot to them. If it hadn't been for them, we probably wouldn't be alive now and our child wouldn't have this peaceful galaxy to be born into. (Gasp)"

"What is it?"

"I felt a kick. (Gasp) There's another one. I think someone wants to talk to their daddy. Feel here."

Ashley took Shepard's hand and placed it on her stomach. Sure enough, Shepard felt the baby give a small kick. The smile on his face grew larger. It was almost as if the baby knew how he was feeling and was trying to cheer him up. It was working. He looked up and saw Ashley had a smile growing on her face as well.

"With all of that in mind, we could never forget them and what they've done for us."

"I know. Thanks Ash. I love you."

"I love you too Mark."