Tali thought about all the times Shepard had come to save her. First at the Citadel, when she was running from the Shadow Broker`s assassins. She was so naïve back then. She remembered the woman with the fiery red hair bursting through a door of where she was holding the meeting with the "informants", with a sniper-rifle wielding turian and the biggest Krogan she had ever seen with her. She tossed the salarians that her mine thrown in the air like two ragadolls. She felt afraid of the woman, but she had approached her with weapons holstered and had… talked to her. The first person outside of the fleet to ever have talked to her. Then she was off saving the galaxy, and she felt part of a family.

Then, when she thought that her commander and friend was dead, she came back, and saved her from that quite literal hell in Haestrom. She was so relieved to see her again. She needed to apologize for the last time they had talked. She had regretted leaving Shepard behind to continue her mission. Once she was offered another spot on the new Normandy, she happily obliged.

She wondered if Shepard would come save her this time, with Harbinger`s beam coming straight at her.

00000

She saw the cracks on her visor as her eyes jolted open. She was underneath a rather big pile of rubble. She could see the sky, covered in clouds, through a rock that was on top of her. Her chest heaved up and down, trying to draw breath, but the pressure the rubble was making on her chest made it much harder than it should. She saw something fly by.

Something big.

Was that Harbinger?

It must have been her damaged brain and broken mind playing with her. She was hallucinating. Probably from the lack of air.

Tali slowly closed her eyes, slipping into a deep slumber that she did not expect to wake up from.

"This is it, then. I… I… guess that house on the beach will have to wait… forever."

Her eyes closed. She took one last big intake through her helmet, and felt the world around her deafen.

Then, the weight on her chest eased up a little. And again. Slowly, she felt the rocks on top of her being removed. Her breathing became less ragged. She opened her eyes again. She saw a quarian, holding a red assault rifle, clad in a red enviro-suit. He took turns between firing from his rifle and taking rocks out of Tali. She closed her eyes again. When she opened them again, she was being carried in the quarian`s arms. He had slug his assault rifle in his back, and was now carrying her with one arm on her back and another in behind her knees. She looked up at her running savior. She was still groggy from receiving a reaper blast right in her face…mask… whatever. She could still hear him, though, as he ran back the way she came:

- Come on, Tali, don`t die on me! You can`t die here! – he kept saying, as he ran with all the strength that he could muster in his legs.

She let her arms go limp. She smiled under her helmet. She knew that quarian. She could faintly remember him. From the fleet. That was him. She closed her eyes.

"Kal…"

00000

She woke up in a med bay, lying down in a bunk. She slowly sat up, grateful that there were no restraints on her wrists. She managed to look around. The med-bay she was in clearly wasn`t the Normandy`s. It had too many beds to be so.

And too many bodies lying in such beds.

She could see turians, asari, humans, salarians, even the eventual Krogan in their beds. Some had cuts and bruises, others were missing arms and legs. The bay stretched for what seemed like many meters to her left, and to her left was a door. She was surprised, however, when she saw who was sitting on a chair next to her bed.

Kal was there, his arms crossed over his chest and his head slumped on his chest. She gasped in surprise.

- Kal! – she almost scream. He jumped on his chair.

- Wh…What happened ?– he said, gripping the sides of his chair. – Are we under attack?

Tali was shocked, both by the fact that she was still alive and for the fact that Kal was too. Last she had heard of him, he had given up on a chance of extraction to save a turian comn relay; he and his team had died, but had managed to get the relay up and running, saving countless lives on Palaven. Now, he was here, alive, sitting on a chair, sleeping like nothing had happened. She was relieved… and confused.

- Kal, it`s me! – she said, as his head frantically waved left and right looking for the source of the scream. He stopped and looked at her.

- Oh, you are finally awake, ma`am. – he said, calming down. Tali inwardly sighed at his politeness.

- Yes, I am. Where am I? What happened?

- You were blasted right off your feet by that big Reaper when you and Shepard were charging toward that beam. You were lucky you survived.

- Okay, that answers half of my question.

- Sorry. – he said. – You are on the Destiny`s Ascension medical wing. We brought you here after I found you on the rubble.

"Rubble? What rubble?" she thought. She forced her mind back to her last memories before she fainted. She remembered the pang of anxiety when she, Shepard and Garrus stepped out of the transport vehicle and saw Harbinger land menacingly by the beam. She remembered the adrenaline rush when they were running toward the giant Reaper…

Reaper…

"Keelah!"

Kal! Where is Shepard? What happened? Are she and Garrus alive?

Kal put a reassuring hand on her shoulder. The monitor next to her showed that her heartbeat had increased in frequency, her breathing had become more intensified and that a sudden adrenaline surge had flooded her veins.

- Ma`am… we won. – he said, simply.

She looked at him, awestruck. They… had won? Shepard had managed it? No more Reapers?

- We won? – she asked, to receive a nod from Kal. – We won. We won! Oh, Kal, WE WON!

She lunged to hug him. She could feel tears streaming down her covered face. He awkwardly opened his arms, not sure of what to do when she reached him. He slowly settled and hugged her back. They were stuck in a strange position, with Tali`s upper body out of the bed, forming a bridge between her still resting lower half and Kal`s shoulder. She didn't mind the pain in her back from the sudden effort. She was euphoric.

- But… - she said, breaking the hug. – Where is Shepard?

- Commander Shepard is on the Emergency section of this med-bay, ma`am. She took the full hit from the attack, but she somehow managed to climb up to the citadel and destroy all the Reapers. They found her back on Earth, when they sent in teams to recover bodies afterwards. She was breathing, but barely. They rushed her here.

- Why here? Why not the Normandy?

The Normandy didn`t have the equipment necessary to bring her back. From what I have heard, she is better now, but she will still be in bed for several weeks before she is able to walk on her own.

Tali`s released the breath she had been holding. She had been worried about her Commander. No, not her Commander.

Her friend.

- What about Garrus? – she said. One of the last things she remembered was Garrus giving her a nod before they began running. That turian was always calm, and it bugged her sometimes. But his reassurance had been a welcome present, right before they rode unto the still open jaws of death, waiting for them to close and kill them in a moment`s notice

- See for yourself. – Kal said, pointing to the bunk on her left.

She spun her head. Lying next to her, Garrus was still asleep. His monitors showed that his heart was stable. He had bandages all over his body, but his face was largely undamaged.

"Good. Shepard may like scars, but I bet he wouldn't want to push his luck."

She chuckled at her own joke. Then she turned back to Kal. Before she could ask, he raised a finger, anticipating her question.

- Before you ask, the rest of the Normandy`s team is alive and kicking. They had severely less injuries then the three of you, so they are already up on their feet. They came to visit you earlier. They offered to watch over you, but I can handle myself.

She laughed. Then she noted that there was another question on her ind that needed a straight answer from her friend.

- Kal, the last time I read anything about you, it said that you were dead. Dead. How are you still here?

He was visibly shaken by the question. He sunk back in the chair. He sighed.

- They thought I was dead along the rest of my squad. Wrong again. – his voice had lost his usual tone. – Old Kal here still pulls through.

- Why are you sad about it?

- It`s just that… - he began. – Tali, those were my men. We agreed to die so that that relay could be up again. Not being with them seems… dishonorable.

She understood what he meant. He had vowed to give his life so that they could have gained a little edge on their battle against the Reapers. He had survived, though, while the rest of his squad had perished. He felt ashamed of not being with them. She put a hand on his bicep.

- Kal, I…

Right as she was about to say something to try to cheer him up, a doctor came into the room. He looked toward the salarian, and the salarian looked back at Tali.

- Ah, Miss Zorah. – he started, checking a datapad he held in his three fingered hand. – You are already awake. Though you shouldn`t be..

- I have known this girl for a long time, doctor. She never really could lay down and enjoy some rest. – Kal teased, earning him a playful slap.

- Mm-hmm. I see. Well, the head-doctor told me to let you go as soon as you had woken up. Seeing how that seems to be the case,

- Seeing how that seems to be the case, you are both free to go. Admiral Zora, Spectre Reegar. – he said, dismissing them and walking down the aisle to check on other beds.

Tali stretched, right before what the doctor had said hit her. She slowly looked at Kal. He chuckled and got up. She could see that the Spectre emblem was now on his right shoulder. Her jaw dropped. He offered her a hand.

- Since when? How? Why you didn`t…?

- Wait, wait. One question at a time. When? When you were sleeping. It might not seem like it, but it`s been two weeks. How? They simply called me after I brought you in and told me I was to be named the first quarian spectre. Simple as that. Why didn`t I tell you? As much as I hate to admit it, you were in a coma… ma`am.

She slapped his hand playfully out of the way. Kal`Reegar, the fist quarian spectre. Who better for the position? She got up on her feet. Stretching once again, she heard a satisfying pop from her vertebra adjusting. She groaned in approval. It seemed like years since she had last walked. She took her first bumbling step.

Perhaps she had gotten up too fast. She felt her foot trip beneath her. She had to grab Kal`s shoulder to keep her balance. He chuckled. When she finally managed to walk on her own, the two walked out of the bay.

Tali looked at Kal. He was walking right beside her. Her old friend had returned, Shepard and Garrus were alive, all of her friends had survived. She let out a sigh.

After all those painful months.

After all that suffering.

After that chaos.

They had won.

Keelah, did it feel good to say that.