So, this is my second attempt at starting up this story, and that's because I just didn't feel like it was right to start in Mass Effect 1. I mean, the game is epic, but for some reason I really can't explain, I just knew my story would be better starting from Mass Effect 2. That's why this story is going up now.

The premise of the story is that the Alliance was a bit less stupid about their precautions on their ships (escape-pods have a 3x3 airlock in case the front door blasts open). Seriously, Alliance? Everyone knows the first rule of space: no air means no breathing, which means death. Escape pods should certainly have more precautions in case of hull rupture. What's the weakest part of the hull? That's right, it's the only place that's thinner than the rest and opens, the door. Shepard's oxygen line didn't rupture in the beginning of ME2, leaving him conscious and able to act as he floats through space.

This is an opening chapter, so don't expect much dialogue as I set up the scene and such. There'll be some, but the heavy dialogue will begin when that's all finished.

The loud "ping" that his helmet made against the side of the Normandy as he was spaced still resounded like an ever-ringing church bell. It was the only sound he could hear in his current predicament, being in a vacuum. He was spinning sideways head over feet, but because he was not spinning, he could see the open space ahead of him, twirling as if it were the galaxy spinning head over feet and not himself. Because of the lack of atmosphere, it felt like the galaxy was the thing twirling around him.

Because of the impact against his head, he could hardly think over the confused, jumbled pain that flared on the back of his head. All he knew was that the line on his suit that fed his helmet air was still in-tact, and he could still breathe. In his daze, he stared at the twirling black-space in front of him, stars and planets swirling into an infinite canvas of black, white, and the various pastel arrays of planetary systems that dotted the continuum of the universe.

"It's beautiful," he thought while staring at the almost purple blackness of the final frontier, still unable to clearly think about his situation, his mind defaulting to the first thing that came up into his head, "just like her, but not even close."

The situation he was in slammed into his head like the bulkhead of the Normandy's cockpit. When he realized the danger he was in, it felt as if a bucket of cold water had been poured over his head. He managed to keep himself focused as he struggled and succeeded in turning himself around, away from the infinite expanses of space, and toward the rubble of his ship. There were small pieces littering the practical graveyard of his ship, but the larger pieces were immediately in his focus as he thought of ways to make himself stop spinning. He could still survive this.

He watched in determination as he approached a large piece of the fuselage of the Normandy, a large 'N' painted along the side. It was the part that used to read "Normandy," but all that was left was the 'N' and a piece of black metal that trailed behind the letter. He steeled himself as the fuselage grew ever closer, and attempted to focus despite the fact that he was cartwheeling through the expanses of space over Alchera.

"You're Lieutenant Commander Mathias Shepard. You didn't survive Akuze and Elysium, then hunt down a rogue Spectre and save the galaxy, meeting the most adorable girl around Citadel space, just to be taken out by a surprise attack over a damned ice planet. You haven't even told her you think about her this way, so there's no way in Hell that you're going out here," he determinedly marked to himself in his mind. There was absolutely no way he was dying over Alchera. He would find a way to survive, but he didn't know how. He did know that he had to make himself stop cartwheeling, however.

He was nearing the piece of his home that almost peacefully danced around in the zero-gravity environment outside Alchera's atmosphere. He prayed for the best for a moment before straightening out his legs just a bit and hoping that his cartwheeling put him in the right position at the right time. Fortunately for him, as his luck was never quite out, he felt his feet push into the piece of the fuselage, and he bent his knees into a kneel, putting all of his focus into stopping himself from sliding against the slick metal and starting to cartwheel again. He successfully caught himself on the huge chunk of armor, putting his hands against the surface of the ship. He looked straight "up," in reference to Alchera at least, and was heartened by what he saw.

There was a standard-issue, air-locked escape pod there, its engines still not on. He read the number on the side and saw that it was the same one on which Joker and Tali had seated themselves. They must have been reluctant to take off. Tali had refused to leave in any of the escape-pods taking off until she saw Shepard alive and well, and he had forced Joker into the last escape pod with her, intent on getting into it behind his flight lieutenant. An explosion caused by an unknown cruiser's main gun had rocketed him out of the hole in the ship caused by the blast, bashing his head against the bulkhead of the cockpit.

He chuckled to himself, thankful once again that Tali was such an easily worried girl. She had more than once made things easier for him by being concerned for his health, and the way that she wrung her hands whenever she was nervous was something that he was determined to see again. He hardened himself as soon as that thought hit him, and then he calculated the trajectory of his jump, how hard he would have to kick off to make it to the shuttle without flying off by it and getting caught in Alchera's atmospheric gravity.

There was maybe a one in a billion chance he could make the jump while the metal on which he stood, himself, and the shuttle were all moving at the same time.

"To hell with it."

He pushed off.

"We can't wait here for much longer, Tali! You saw what happened when the ship exploded. The chances that Shepard survived that concussion and the explosion that followed it are extremely slim, and the cruiser could spot us and fire at any time. I know you don't want to think about losing the Commander, I know I don't, but we need to face the fact that he probably... died," Flight Lieutenant Jeff Moreau looked down at his hands as he finished that sentence. He didn't want to think about Commander Shepard dying. No one really did, but he knew it was likely.

"No, Joker! You know the Commander as well as I do. He always makes it! He has to..." Tali had been near the cockpit at the time of the attack, heading back to the elevator toward Engineering after having a small talk with Shepard and Joker about the reason for being over Alchera in the first place. She hadn't been suspicious of the events leading up to her faulty beliefs about meeting the Shadow Broker, and that had nearly cost her dearly. Something felt a bit off about the Alchera mission, especially the fact that multiple ships had gone missing before the mission's start.

As one of the engineers aboard the vessel, it was her job to worry about the ship's integrity.

"I know, Tali. I want him to make it too, like he always does, but I don't think we're that lucky this time. I'm... sorry. Losing him is actually worse than losing the Normandy. Shepard is the Normandy. I hate the thought as much as you do," Joker replied, shaking his head and wincing at the pain of the broken bone in his arm. His hands were in his lap only because that was where they had fallen after he had carefully sat himself down.

"You don't understand, Joker. No one hates that thought more than myself, except for maybe Shepard himself," she thought in reply, refusing to speak it out in fear of hurting Joker's feelings and instead looking out the side viewport of the shuttle, letting a few tears form in her eyes and roll down her face beneath the mask of her suit. She didn't know what she would do if Shepard died over this cold planet. He was practically the only person aside from her aunt and Kal'Reegar that had ever been nice to her, and even she knew in all of her denseness that it was different between herself and Shepard.

She wouldn't be able to carry on without the amount of care and effort he put toward her. Not after she had been living with it for so long.

"Joker, start... start the engines. Let's g-" she began before Joker saw her notably teary (despite the tint of her visor) eyes widen in surprise, her eyes lighting up almost immediately, then heard a sharp tap on the side viewport of their shuttle. He widened his own eyes in response and barely managed to stand to look out of the viewport. There, beyond the heavily reinforced clear plastic-like material of the viewport, was Lieutenant Commander Mathias Shepard, his eyebrows raised behind his visor and a small grin visible in the look in his eyes.

"Shepard!?" he shouted, turning to look towards Tali with extremely wide eyes.

"Open the front airlock door! Open the front airlock door!" Tali shouted, pushing the control console in front of Joker's seat into his uninjured arm, nearly with enough force to break that one as well. She was clearly overjoyed and extremely relieved.

"Ouch! Hey, watch the other arm! I need that to... nevermind. Shep would kill me if he went through Hell to get here and learn that I corrupted your mind," he joked, thumbing the front airlock controls. The outside door of the airlock immediately opened, though it didn't hold any air due to the on-board oxygen system. Tali watched Shepard turn toward the front of the pod and disappear. Less than a few seconds later, the two heard a knock on the second door, and Joker closed the first door so that the second would unlock. With a moment of apprehension abating as the two waited for the first door to close, Joker thumbed the second door's controls.

It slid open, revealing the 6'2", overbearing form of their Commander.

"If I never see a starry night sky again in my lifetime, it'll still be too soo-" he was interrupted by the slamming noise his back made against the door of the shuttle as a purple and black rocket slammed into him.

Tali had immediately stood up and launched herself toward him, wrapping both of the arms of her shorter form around his torso. He looked down at her back for a moment, his eyebrows raised in surprise and his mouth still open in anticipation of finishing what he was saying. Still, he couldn't bring himself to turn down the embrace he was in, and after a moment of hesitation, he put his arms around her, his hands resting on the small of her back. Her head nestled its way into a comfortable spot against his chest, and he felt his heart clench.

"I'm sorry for worrying you so much, Tali, Joker. It'll take more than a high-powered fusion cannon to bring me down. I'm not going out without taking out the bastards that did this to my ship and my crew," Shepard said, the first half coming out sympathetically and quite softly, the second with a harsh and scathing tone. Tali took a step back and they released one another.

"DON'T. YOU. EVER. WORRY ME LIKE THAT. AGAIN," the Quarian in front of him loudly and tearfully said, poking his chest harshly each time she stopped to emphasize what she was saying. Shepard laughed a little internally at the way she worried about him, a trace of her heritage as a Quarian, always worried about her fellow crew, but outwardly put a hand on her shoulder and squeezed comfortingly, making her posture loosen as she settled down, eventually sitting down in the seat on the left side of the pod. Shepard looked at Joker.

"Hey, you don't need to hug me or squeeze my shoulder. You already broke my arm- I want to return to the Citadel still functional, thank you very much," Joker joked flatly, making Shepard grin at his dry humor.

"Don't worry, Jeff. I didn't plan on hugging you, I just wanted to let you know that your dedication to the ship as she went down is... well, I appreciate it. Hit the beacon and let's land on Alchera. We'll wait for someone to grab us," Shepard responded, much to the surprise of Joker, who had never been called by his first name by Shepard before. He slowly smiled and started the pod's engines, watching through the side viewport as Alchera approached.

"Aye-aye, sir."

The Citadel was as lively as ever, Shepard noted. There were people of all races (except Quarian, Shepard had noted along with Tali) shuffling about the massive live-station on every walkway and side-alley. The shops of the Citadel were always full, and the restaurants were always bristling with customers. It was one of those restaurants to which Shepard and Tali were heading, specifically a dextro and levo joint-food restaurant. The rest of the surviving crew had been granted an indefinite shore-leave as there was no ship to return to. They were incredibly lucky that another Alliance scout frigate, the SSV Endra, just happened to be sent by the Alliance after the unknown ship had left. It had managed to pick them up after picking up their beacons' signals.

He had lost more than twenty crew-members to that unknown vessel, and he was determined to eventually figure out who or what they were, then bring them to justice. There was no chance that he was going to let some unknown entity show up, blow up his ship, kill his crew, then get away without so much as a scratch. That he would not stand for. The ship that picked them up was sent to determine their fate, and he had been furious to have to deliver a report to the council the moment he arrived on the Citadel.

The councilors, to his surprise (save Anderson, whose reaction he expected), were sympathetic for the loss of his crew, but nothing could be done about the deceased. Instead, Anderson had stated his intentions in light of the information to negotiate with the Turians to see if they could push forward the plans they had drawn up for a second generation of stealth-frigates, the Normandy II class, keeping the namesake of the old class out of respect for its accomplishments.

The plan would take two years to complete.

In that interim, Shepard would surprisingly be gifted command of a relatively new destroyer-class ship, a step up in size from a frigate. That wouldn't be officially put into place for at least six months as the ship was still docked, on a long list of repairs still backlogged from Sovereign's attack on the citadel. It would be out in six months at the least, a year at the most. He hoped for the six month avenue.

His interim ship's name was the SSV Nelson, named after a general in the First American Civil War and a lieutenant commander in the American Navy. He appreciated the attempt to link himself and the seafaring general, but thought that it fell a little flat considering why he was getting a new ship in the first place. Still, he did feel a glimmer of relief after learning that he would be commanding a vessel again by a year in the future at most. Until then, he would stay on the Citadel and try to help C-Sec with whatever he could, perhaps become a bit of a home-defense vigilante Spectre.

The end of the meeting led to a small discussion with Tali about what they were going to do in the meantime. That eventually fell down a slippery slope to talking with the entire squad. The non-specialized crew of the Normandy, the bridge officers and the marines mostly, had been provided with housing and training areas capable of holding Alliance soldiers for two years, and a steady stream of living money that was just enough to get by with food and perhaps extranet access.

A third of his squad, Joker, and Chakwas, however, had nowhere to be but stranded, and so he had rented out an apartment complex (the entire thing) with the massive amount of credits he had saved up. It took less than five minutes to file out that paperwork, and then the apartment block was theirs. Garrus, Tali, himself, Joker, and Chakwas would stay there for the time they required housing.

Tali had refused to go back to the Migrant Fleet until Shepard himself could come with her to ensure that he could fill in the gaps of her report and vouch for the data he had given her on the Geth. She needed someone who was good with diplomacy and speech, and definitely someone who cared about her people. Shepard loved the Quarians almost as much as he loved his own people, specifically because he would visit Tali every day in Engineering to ask questions about her and her people.

Garrus refused to leave Shepard, seeing as they were practically brothers by the time the Normandy was destroyed. His claim was that "wherever Shepard goes to kick ass, I go to take names." Both he and Shepard were determined to find a good set of weapon-cleaning and repair stations to put in his apartment so he wasn't bored senseless for at least six months.

Liara had decided to leave the group temporarily and go off to do some more research, maybe get in contact with someone that she knew. Shepard had wished her well; he'd miss the doe-eyed, innocently naive Asari. She had promised to stay in contact over the two years, saying that she would be happy to rejoin the Normandy once they actually had a Normandy.

Wrex had been able to find a way off the Citadel that would take him back to Tuchanka, something which had at first made Shepard rather sad about losing half of his fighting strength. After Wrex mentioned reuniting the Krogan for whenever the Reapers decided to show up, he lightened up and wished the Krogan luck. He had promised Wrex that he would visit Tuchanka after the Nelson was out of the repair dock.

Kaidan had decided to go his own way for the two years ahead. It wasn't out of a dislike for Shepard or anything similar; he just couldn't stand to wait around for a full six months to a year without doing something. He was a soldier, and an active one at that, and so Shepard had released him from his obligations as a crewmember of the Normandy, but only until the Normandy SR2 was up and running and under his command.

Joker was Joker, and that meant that there was no way he was going to go anywhere else in the galaxy when in a short amount of time he could be piloting another ship for Shepard. The Nelson was no Normandy, but as far as he was concerned, Shepard was the Normandy. Whichever ship Shepard commanded would just as good as the Normandy, even if it did not have on it what the old ship did.

Finally, Chakwas had decided that the remaining crew of the Normandy still required her doctoral services. She had claimed one of the apartments in Shepard's rented out block, and had already started searching for ways to turn at least half of it into a makeshift clinic. As far as she was concerned, the crew of the Normandy was her family, and Shepard was like a son to her, so she could not leave them behind on the Citadel to chase other ventures. Shepard was glad she was staying.

That talk had finished and each of his squad had gone their own way- all except for Tali'Zorah nar Rayya. His favorite (though he would never admit it to Garrus and the rest) crew member had followed him out of the council room, stepping up beside him and going where he went. There was about thirty minutes of contented silence between them before he had suggested that they head to one of the commercial wards for dinner and possibly some shopping. She had accepted without a moment's hesitation, and that led to where Shepard found himself at 6:00 PM on the Citadel.

They stepped into the doorway of the levo/dextro establishment, catching sight of a customer base of mostly Turians and Humans, but there were Asari and even a Krogan or two dotted over the restaurant. Just like practically everywhere else on the Citadel, there were no Quarians to be found. With such a small number of Quarians even alive in the galaxy, and with their need to keep their resources close, it was expected that no Quarians would be on the Citadel. Still, without Shepard being so nice to her, it would have made Tali uncomfortable.

"Hello sir, please follow me to a table," a pretty Asari girl (as if "girl" could be used to describe someone who was most likely over 100) said. When it was clear that they would follow, she picked up two menus, led them to a table, gave them their menus, and gave a rather suggestively flirtatious look at Shepard, before moving back to the front to let their waitress or waiter pick them up.

"So, Tali, you're staying in the apartment block with the squad until I can find a way to take you to the Migrant Fleet. What do you think will happen when we get there?" Shepard asked, flipping through the menu without really reading anything, looking up over it when he heard her take a breath to nervously reply.

"Well... when we get back to the fleet, I will hand the Geth data over to the captain of the ship I want to serve on on the fleet- I'll be coming back with you, don't worry, Shepard. Auntie and I have been in contact and I think she's managed to get me leave once I've finished my pilgrimage. I'll be free to go where I wish so long as I'm with you... so I'm free to go where you want me to be," Tali replied, wringing her hands over the table the entire time. Shepard couldn't help but smile a little at the familiar nervous gesture.

"You don't have to stay with me, Tali. You know everyone on my crew has the choice to leave whenever they want. Now, whether or not I'd like you to stay with me, that's a different story. I can't say I'd like to watch you head back to the Fleet right this minute. I've gotten used to finding you around Engineering and then picking your brain for information about your people," he returned, putting down his menu as he figured out what to order.

"The experience is the same for me, Shepard. I don't see myself leaving you any time soon. Umm... the crew, that is," Tali finished the conversation as their waitress, a Human in her early twenties by her looks, sauntered up to the table and put her hands on the side of it, leaning down just a bit and smiling.

"Hi, my name is Kayla. What can I get you to drink today?" she asked, looking directly at Shepard and ignoring the Quarian on the other side of the table.

"Hello. I'll have some water and a coffee, please. Dark brown, just a tad of sugar," Shepard said, watching the waitress write down the order and then turn back to the front counter of the restaurant, not acknowledging Tali at all. Shepard bristled and furrowed his eyebrows, looking at Tali in concern. "Did you order anything already while I wasn't looking, by chance?"

"No, Shepard, I didn't. Don't worry about it. I didn't want a drink anyway," Tali said, ever the one to avoid verbal conflict. It didn't sit right with Shepard, who crossed his arms over his chest and waited for the waitress to return. When she did, he gestured to Tali with his eyes, though the waitress didn't pick up on it, and she pulled out a notepad again.

"And what can I get you to eat today, sir?" she asked, putting pen to paper.

"I'll have the twelve-ounce steak and fries, please," he said in return, giving the waitress a stern warning with his eyes. She wasn't a member of his crew, unfortunately, so she didn't take the hint, instead turning to walk off toward the counter again. She stopped when Shepard grabbed her arm firmly, tugging her gently back to the table, though it didn't feel gentle for the girl on the receiving end.

"Sir!" she said through her teeth, tugging her arm back toward her.

"Her order," Shepard nodded towards Tali.

"Sir, please, let me finish-" she was interrupted immediately.

"Take her order. Now. Drinks too," Shepard finished dangerously.

"Of... of course, sir. How silly of me," the waitress said, turning towards Tali with obvious contempt. "What will you have, ma'am?"

"I think I've lost my appetite, actually. Shepard, why don't we go somewhere else?" she leaned in and whispered through her vocal transmitter, "Before someone decides to cause a scene," she concluded. Shepard looked at her for a second or two before coming to a decision and releasing the waitress's arm, standing up and reaching a hand out to Tali to help her up and lead her out the door.

"Sir, you forgot to pay for your drinks!" the waitress called out behind them, following them toward the door but stopping before they got out into the walkways.

"Being around you was taxation enough, lady," Shepard scathingly returned, not turning his head and leading Tali, who was surprised and a bit embarrassed that he was still holding her hand, out the door. When they got halfway down the block, Shepard released her hand and leaned up against one of the guardrails in the middle of the walkway, letting Tali stop beside him and tilt her head at him in confusion.

"What is it, Shepard?" she asked, one of her eyes glowing at half-size, a sign she had raised one of her eyebrows.

"Sorry about that, Tali. I just don't like it when people come to conclusions about an entire race based on stereotypes. That waitress was out of line," he replied, putting his hands on the guardrail and pushing himself up to sit down on it, an arm leaning on his knees.

"Sorry? You? Shepard, you didn't do anything wrong," Tali incredulously replied, "If anything, you did everything right. Thank you for caring. Not many do, not about Quarians at least," she said, leaning on the guardrail beside him and watching the people walk by.

"Yeah, well... I have a bit of an interest in the Quarian people, being that my favorite crew member is one. Don't tell Garrus, by the way. He'd drink the entire bar block out of stock if I didn't admit he was the best," Shepard laughed quietly, starting to watch the people passing by like Tali was.

The girl beside him was a bit stuck on what he had just said. She was the first to admit amongst anyone that her and Shepard had a bit more than a friendship going on, especially since he was the only one she was comfortable about sharing physical contact with. On a Quarian ship, every member of the crew was just as important as the other, and the captains rarely fraternized, but if they did, it was a symbol of great care, expected to be used only on family members and love interests. She knew that he didn't mean it that way, at least she thought that he didn't. Still, he had said that she was his favorite, something that was unheard of on a Quarian ship.

He was part of mankind, though, so she knew the meaning was different. It was almost as though he were saying something else entirely, like a hidden confession of care or something similar. Shepard was outwardly supportive and furiously nice to everyone on his crew, she knew, but she was the only one who knew about his missions on Akuze and Elysium. She felt as if it was his way of saying that he cared more than she thought. It was a heartwarming gesture coming from someone who already cared so much.

She let those thoughts die down before they led to something more unthinkable, at least on the fleet. Shepard was a sweet man, and just as loyal to her as she was to him. The same was true with the rest of the crew. He needed someone who could show him the same level of trust as he could to them. She couldn't even reveal her face to him. There was no way that she would be able to show him how much she trusted him without risking a fatal infection. Every time she started thinking too much about him, her heart broke, so she pushed it down and stayed happy when he was near.

Then again, he was always so happy to see her, and she was the only one he liked to pick on besides Garrus, and if he had picked on Garrus the same way he picked on her, well... that would have been weird.

Unbeknownst to her, Shepard was having similar thoughts. He had just admitted to her that she was his favorite crewmate. Though it was said in a joking tone, he knew that many a truth was said in jest, and it didn't seem as if Tali had picked up on the humor. She was a sweet, naive girl compared to most of the military personnel he had met in the past, but then, Tali was no member of any military. She was just a sweet Quarian girl on her pilgrimage, seeking refuge and help on her mission in the confines of his crew.

Every time he had visited her in Engineering, he had asked more questions about the Quarian people, making sure to file away all of the information into a special place in his mind, wanting to make sure that if they got what they needed to return her to her people, he would know exactly what to do and say. After he had gotten to know her a bit better, he started to ask more about her specifically, then he stopped asking about the fleet altogether and they started sharing stories and information from their pasts.

She had trusted him with knowledge about her fleet, and eventually about the people she considered family. After she proved how much he could trust her long before she helped him with stopping Saren, he trusted her without question to do what needed to be done on their mission. After she worriedly tore through rubble to find him on the Citadel after Sovereign's attack, rambling to him about how worried she was once she found him, he smiled whenever she was close. Not long after that, he told her all about Akuze and Elysium, down to the most horrifying details.

She had known exactly how to comfort him, despite never having done it before.

He cut those thoughts off right away, furrowing his brow and shunning them, or so he hoped. She cared about him because he was a part of the ship's crew, and especially because he was her acting captain. She was obligated by her people's nature to care. Besides, she probably thought he was too busy or combat-oriented to go that soft. Sure, he cared for all of his crew, her especially, but he was a monster on the battlefield. The fact that they were friends in the first place was probably as lucky as it got.

Then again, she was always so happy to see him, and he was the only one she liked to pick on besides Garrus, and if she had picked on Garrus the same way she picked on him, well... that would have been weird.

"Hey, Tali, we should-"

"Shepard, I think we need to tal-"

They blinked, then Shepard smiled and gestured toward her.

"You should go first, Tali," he said, and she nodded shyly.

"I think we should find somewhere to have a talk, Shepard," she managed to get out, wringing her hands and looking down at her feet.

"I was going to say the same thing. Come on, let's head to the apartments and I'll get you some dextro rations from the cabinets. Then we can talk," he replied. She nodded shortly, twiddling both of her first fingers, and then walking beside him to the apartment.

He sat on the back of the couch beside her as she opened the ration tube, feeding it through the induction port on the front of her mask. He would never quite get used to the unnatural way the suit worked. He was happy that Tali had it there to protect her, but he hated that she had to wear it in the first place. It felt off to him, like it was some form of universal injustice. Then again, he guessed that everyone on the team had some form of unfortunate universal injustice going for them.

Tali had her suit, and her people were teetering between life and death.

Garrus had family issues.

Kaidan had an unclear past.

Ashley had had a family curse.

Liara was a bit too curious for her own good, and naive to boot.

Wrex's people suffered from the genophage.

Joker could hardly move without breaking a bone.

Chakwas had watched more than her share of soldiers die under her care.

And Shepard... he'd lost too many men to count.

They were a disfunctional band of misfits, wreaking havoc across the galaxy in an unending quest to make it a better place. In that way, they were all brothers and sisters in hardship, sharing burdens and stories as they went along. That was why they did so well together. Shepard wouldn't let that get away from him for all of the credits in the galaxy... mainly because that would be terrible for the economy, but also because it was something he cherished greatly.

Still, if he could pick one crew member's problems to fix first, he would choose Tali's problems first. He just felt as if she deserved the right to walk around outside of that smothering suit of hers, and he knew that if he was in her position, he would feel entrapped, especially since she wouldn't let him go into combat without her. It must have played hell on her nerves during the Geth attacks if her suit could really be ruptured at any time.

"Credit chit for your thoughts?" he heard the cute, accented voice of his companion ask. He looked over at her, half of his brain still thinking about her people's issues.

"I'm thinking about how much I'd like to see you out of that suit of yours," he said without thinking.

"Umm..." was all she could say in reply. He heard her concerned and unsure tone. When he realized what he had just indirectly said, he looked up to see her eyes widening behind her visor, her arms coming up to let her hands wring themselves out and the purplish blush actually visible through her mask. He palmed his face and groaned at his own clumsiness.

"Not that way, Tali. I was just thinking about how I hate that you have to wear it, is all. It doesn't seem fair that after all your people have gone through, you all have to spend your lives in fear of what most of us just ignore. I mean, if I get a cold, I just shrug it off for a few days and it goes away. If you get a cold, you could die. I don't like it. Your people don't deserve that. You... You definitely don't deserve that. You're too good for that," he said, ever the caring one he was.

"Shepard..." came Tali's breathless reply. She kept toying with her thumbs as she looked down at the ground, the half-empty tube of nutrient paste long forgotten. She knew he cared about her people, but she didn't know he cared that much.

"I'm going to find a way to get you a homeworld where you can take off your suits in peace. The Reapers are on their way, I know, and that's more important in the short term, but in the long term... If I were on my death bed and there was even the slightest chance I could get Rannoch back, I'd fight death himself to retake it. You've got a beautiful personality, and a cunning engineer's mind. You deserve a place where you can let both out unchained," he continued, shaking his head and looking down at the ground, just like Tali was. Silence loomed in the room for a moment before Tali carefully stopped leaning on the couch, stepping toward him and wrapping her arms around his neck.

"Thank you for caring, Shepard. If anyone can do it, it's you. When the time comes, I'm sure the Quarian people will be right behind you, and I'll be there to back you up. Just... thank you," she whispered against his chest, though he could hear it because of her vocal transmitter.

"What did you need to talk about, Tali?" he whispered back, knowing that now that his thoughts were almost completely open, hers would be as well.

"I don't have anything else I can say about what you just told me, but after that, I feel more confident about what I'm about to ask," Tali said, stepping back, obviously more nervous than he thought possible.

"If you have a question for me, Tali, please go ahead. You know I'll talk to you about anything," he said, giving a gentle smile at how she put her hands behind her back and looked up at him, her eyes nervously blinking two or three times.

"Shepard, what are your thoughts..." she corrected herself, "How do you feel about me?"

He rubbed the back of his neck and grinned at he ground, silently contemplating how to best answer the question she had just asked. He thought silently for a moment or two, watching over time as her feet were still, then she started to lightly tap one of them on the ground in quirky, nervous anticipation. When he found the right words to put into a sentence, he could see from her eyes that her confidence was starting to drop, so he cleared his throat and started.

"Tali, I care about you more than I think you know- knew, after I admitted my ambition. The cure for the genophage is right up there, I think, with the Quarians' issues, but I would choose the latter over the former every single time. Since I found you on the Citadel and took you onto the Normandy, I learned everything about your people that I could, then about you, then I let you in and told you everything about me.

"You know how hard it is for me to open up to other people about my issues. I prefer to help other people with their own issues, not the other way around. Tali, I've only ever told you and Anderson about my thoughts on Akuze and Elysium. The only people who know exactly what happened on those missions are yourself, me, Anderson, and whoever files reports to the top brass in the Alliance. What I'm saying, Tali, is that I trust you, sometimes more than I trust myself, and..." he stopped, clearing his throat and looking into her visor, where he could see by her glowing eyes that she was smiling, though he could see a shimmering glow in one of her eyes that looked like a tear.

"And?" she asked in a tone that seemed hopeful to him, putting her hands together in front of her, looking up at him with that beaming look in her eyes, as if he had already gifted her a homeworld.

"And I may not be good at saying how I feel sometimes, but I want you to know that... I want to stop caring about your Quarian duties, and my captain status. What I suppose I'm trying to say is that I would like to... try a relationship with you. Would... would that be okay with you, Tali?" he felt his heartbeat picking up significantly. Shove him into combat without a weapon and on low shields, with no armor or medical supplies, and he would be perfectly calm. He would get the mission done. Shove him in front of Tali and tell him to talk about feelings, and his confidence suddenly disappeared.

For a moment they just looked at one another as Tali's heartbeat stopped. She stared him in the eyes and bounced on her feet twice, blushing behind her visor and staring down at her feet, unsure what she should say in return. When she looked back up and saw Shepard's confidence faltering this time, she came to a decision and didn't hesitate at all. Without a second thought, she jumped forward and squeezed him as hard as she could, putting the side of her head against his chest like she always did after he said something sweet.

"Yes, Mathias, I think... I think I'd like that very much," she whispered.

When they left to meet the team for drinks that evening, they left bearing good news.