This is my Actual Reality for what happened to my Jacob Romance Shepard in ME3. I invite it to be yours, as well, if you wish.

I've been meaning to write this for, well, a year and a half now, but it being official Jacob Taylor Appreciation Week (as declared by the Jacob Taylor tag on tumblr) I thought I'd go ahead and get it down on paper

Written to be as non-Shepard specific as possible beyond her being a woman for easy headcanon-acceptance. (No mention of anything that's happened to anyone who is optionally alive or anything, no details about who exactly Shepard is etc.)

"Vega," Shepard says, late one evening after stumbling down into the docking bay of the Normandy. James is there, doing pullups, grunting loudly in time with the effort.

"Whatcha want, Lola?" he says, not pausing in his routine at all.

Shepard takes a moment to look around the bay, to make absolutely sure there are no other crewmen nearby.

"Back on Earth, when I was in that cell, I don't suppose you heard if any communications came in that weren't given to me?"

"I uh…" James starts, and Shepard can tell he's buying time by doing another pullup, then pauses for a second after finishing it. "I wasn't a part of that group, Shepard. All I know is," he grunts as he pulls himself up again "everyone who had anything to do with you there," another grunt, another pullup "had every detail of their records checked for any Cerberus ties," another pullup "so if anything came in, it was reported," another "and probably wouldn't have gotten to you."

Shepard considers this, and watches James do a few more pullups, before thanking him, and leaving.

"I don't know where he is, Shepard, but the last time I talked to him you were still in prison. He said he had something important to take care of, but I didn't want to know what it was. If they caught me, it would put him in danger. But he talked about you. He missed you."

It's good to see Miranda again, if only briefly.

As if the cold of this planet wasn't bad enough, the Cerberus troops trying to attack this base filled with their former comrades was starting to turn this supposedly quick little pickup mission into a very bad day.

For a brief, shining moment it's a lot better when Shepard thinks she recognizes the well-built figure sprinting out of cover to rescue someone whose been injured, even on the tiny screen in the shuttle showing the action below.

And then she sees him get hit, and her heart jumps to her chest. Her face, she hopes, doesn't betray the franticness she feels to get to him.

Vega and EDI hop out of the shuttle two steps behind Shepard, and she fights harder than she may have ever fought before. Vega curses at her to slow down, and EDI reports that life signs of one of the scientists have just cut off.

"MOVE!" she yells, ordering James to deploy his carnage at the last engineer as EDI disables the turret firing at them. As soon as it's clear, Shepard sprints towards the barricade she saw Jacob Taylor dive behind more than two minutes ago.

He's alive.

"Jacob!" she exclaims, immediately kneeling down to assess his wounds. There's blood trickling out of his side, where his well-worn body armor is torn to shreds. "How bad?" she asks, ripping into a pocket on her arm to pull out a medigel pack.

"I'll live," he says, obviously in pain, hissing as Shepard begins to apply the gel "I think."

She looks up at his face for the first time in over six months, and is pleased to see his eyes are solidly on her. They both open their mouths to say… something, when a nearby comm unit buzzes to life and a voice asks for a status.

Shepard smiles at him briefly before getting up to retrieve the comm.

It's nearly ten minutes later before they're alone again. Jacob has met Vega, been thrilled at EDI's appearance, and introduced Shepard to his staff.

"I'm so glad you're here, Shepard," he says, as soon as the station's doctor finishes patching him up the best she can, and leaves the room.

"I'm glad I made it. And," she looks at him with a question in her eyes "glad you were the one here greeting me."

"I am too," he says, and then answers the unspoken question. "I tried to get to you when they had you, Shepard. I tried to get messages to you. But you know I couldn't visit. They'd lock me up, too."

"I know, Jacob. We made that decision together, remember?"

Jacob's forehead wrinkles in frustration. "I tried to just leave a way for you to find out where I went. Miranda wouldn't let me tell her, better that way. So there wasn't a way. I just had to hope you'd understand. Hope we'd find each other again when we could. I wasn't even sure you'd made it off Earth until a week or two ago. I'm sorry."

The knot in Shepard's stomach begins to unravel as Jacob talks, her fear that he may have moved on without her beginning to alleviate. "So, what brought you here?" she asks.

"Brynn, you met her, she's an old friend. Just a friend," he emphasizes. "She asked for help. I had the time, and no direction. Needed to make myself useful. You know me, I hate sitting still." He half-smiles, and tentatively reaches for her with his uninjured left arm.

Shepard begins to reach back when Vega knocks on the door.

"Sorry to interrupt, but we got incoming, Shepard," James says, poking his head in.

"We'll talk later," Shepard says, returning Jacob's half-smile, and helps him off the table.

Three hours later, the remaining scientists are on board, Chakwas is patching everyone up, and Shepard is in her quarters, attempting to look relaxed, when her door chimes.

"Look at this, sneaking into the Captain's quarters…" Jacob quipps as he walks in. She wishes she has something nearby to playfully throw at him. Jacob is still walking with a limp, but looking much better. For a moment, her heart pangs at how good he looks in Alliance casual blues, the only thing they have onboard he could fit into since his armor will need drastic repairs before being usable again.

"It's not so much 'sneaking' when she told you to come on up once you were feeling better," she responds, while gesturing that he should join her on the couch. She sees his eyes flicker to her desk area as he walks, and wonders if he notices the picture of him she keeps there.

"The old girl looks, well, upgraded. Thought the Normandy couldn't get any better than she was. Guess I was wrong" he says, his eyes also scanning her remodeled quarters.

"She's had some improvements," Shepard responds, as Jacob settles into the same couch she's sitting on. Close, but not too close, as if still not sure where he stands. "How's everybody doing?"

"Doctor Chakwas is still fixing everybody up, but it looks like everyone will live. Most people are sleeping it off now. Your requisitions officer, Cortez? He's got the lounges set up as bunks. Everyone will be comfortable enough."

"Good," Shepard responds, fixing her gaze on Jacob. "Hackett's orders came though. We're transferring everyone to, well, the place where they're needed most. Including you, if that's what you want, to stay with them."

Jacob steadies his gaze right back on Shepard, and for a moment, he doesn't speak. "I might want to stay with them. Depends on if I have any other options."

"There's still room on the Normandy for you, Jacob. Always will be." Shepard doesn't want to admit how hard her heart is pumping, that she's actually nervous for Jacob's answer.

Instead of speaking, Jacob reaches to her, sliding his uninjured arm around Shepard's waist, pulling her to him. She goes willingly, relieved, and turns her body to tuck around his familiar form.

"I was worried," he says, murmuring into her hair. "Worried that you wouldn't make it out of that cell, worried you wouldn't make it off Earth, worried I wouldn't get to you again, worried that if I did, you'd have moved on."

"I was worried, too," she responds. "I wasn't surprised when I didn't hear from you when I was a prisoner, but when I got out, I asked around. Couldn't find a trace of you. What if you were stupid and tried to get to me and they'd locked you up, too? What if you'd been on Earth and couldn't get off? Or some other colony that's been taken over by the Reapers? Or if Cerberus had gotten to you, killed you? I saw Kelly, they're after her. I tried to help her but she and Miranda are both terrified of them."

"We're okay now, we did it," he whispers. "We're together."

Shepard pulls back a little to look up at him. "So, you're staying?"

"I…" Jacob takes a moment. "I want to help them, to at least get settled in. I know the Alliance. They don't. But…" Jacob sighs "I don't know if I want to be Alliance again, Shepard, I left for a reason. But I want to help out in this fight. I want to be at your side, fighting with you. Supporting you."

Shepard considers for just a few seconds, then smiles. "I get to pick my crew, Jacob. Liara and Garrus are with me, they're not Alliance. I'm sure we can work something out with Hackett." She switches her voice for a moment to something more millitaristic. "You're a damn good soldier, Taylor. One of the best, and I need you on my team."

Shepard smiles, and leans in closer, speaking softly. "And I need you in my quarters. Nightly."

"Yes ma'am," Jacob murmurs, then closes the gap between their lips.