A/N: Hooray! First Mass Effect story! Any constructive criticism is welcome.

P.S. A thank you goes out to MartaJones for helping me flesh out some of the later ideas.

Mass Effect: One of "Those" Relationships

1: Broken Paradise.

"I'm activating the bomb."

"What are you doing Chief?"

"I'm making sure this bomb goes off no matter what! It's done Commander, now go get the Lieutenant and get the Hell outta here!"

"Belay that. We can handle ourselves. Go back and get Williams!"

Commander John Shepard exchanged a worried look with his two squadmates, the turian former C-Sec officer Garrus Vakarian and Shepard's twin sister, Alice while Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams and Lieutenant Kaidan Alenko bickered.

"Uh, Commander? We got a problem." The pilot of the SSV Normandy, Jeff "Joker" Monroe said over the com. "We only have enough time to pick up one of them before we have to clear the blast zone."

Shepard's heart stopped. This couldn't be happening, he had a creed: No one gets left behind. Now he was being forced to do just that, leave one of his team, one of his friends to certain death. He steeled himself for what he must say next. "Joker, head to the bomb site, we'll meet you there."

"WHAT?" Ashley managed to say over the com at the exact same time Alice said it to his face.

Over the com, Kaidan breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank you, Commander."

"I'm coming to get you too Kaidan." Shepard would not let his friend die like this.

"I think we both know that's not going to happen, Commander…" Kaidan said solemnly.

"Yes, it is!" Shepard said angrily into the com. "I'm ordering you to retreat, get clear of the blast zone!"

"I can't do that, Commander. Kirrahe and the others will be overrun otherwise."

Shepard snarled "Lieutenant Alenko, as your commanding officer I'm ordering you to-"

"And I'm not following that order, sir." Kaidan cut him off "Feel free to court-martial me once the mission's over."

Alice had heard enough, she turned and ran in the direction of the AA tower, of Kaidan. "Alice, stop!" Shepard called after his sister "Alice, come back here!"

"Alice…" Kaidan's voice was calm, soothing, and reassuring, causing Alice to stop in her tracks. "Alice, please don't throw away your life for me."

Tears started to appear in Alice's eyes. "Kaidan…"

"I wish…" Kaidan's voice finally cracked "I wish we could have had more time together."

"Kaidan please…" Alice whispered.

"Go Alice." Kaidan said "Take care of yourself."

Garrus, who hadn't spoken at all throughout this whole conversation, walked up and put a taloned hand on her shoulder. "Come on." He said, his flanging voice oddly gentle.

Alice nodded and walked back to Shepard with Garrus. "I'm ready Commander." She said, a cold fury in her eyes.

Shepard nodded and activated his com "We're on our way Ash."

Garrus saw that Alice was absent from the briefing room after they returned to the Normandy. Later, Garrus went looking for her and found Alice at Kaidan's old station by the sleeping pods, her shoulders slouched, head bowed, face concealed by her midnight black hair. Taking a deep breath, Garrus walked over to her and gently put a hand on her shoulder.

Alice started at his touch "Garrus!" Alice said as she turned to him, pausing to wipe something wet from her eyes "W-What are you doing here?"

"I'm sorry," Garrus said solemnly "I know Kaidan was important to you."

Alice's eyes grew moist and Garrus started panicking. Shit, is she crying? Way to go Vakarian! Doing the only thing he thought he could, Garrus pulled Alice into a tight hug. He stroked her hair when Alice seemed to finally open up and cried for her dead lover.

Garrus' eyes snapped open. He groaned as he sat upright in his bed. Another dream, wonderful. Garrus sighed and got out of bed; he'd been having dreams about his time on the Normandy since Shepard's death two months ago. He went over two the small kitchen in his apartment on the Citadel, opening up the fridge and taking out a bottle of turian liquor, pouring himself a small glass. He was fed up with the bureaucratic bullshit in C-Sec. With the Council dismissing the existence of the Reapers and claiming that Shepard was unstable, people had grown complacent where they should be getting ready for the Reapers. Garrus shook his head and drained the glass in one gulp, his mind wandering back to the funeral…

…For the most part, the service was a piece of crap, a political show for the press. Garrus and most of the crew of the late Normandy were forced to sit in the back, the exception being Alice who, being family got a front row seat between her parents and Joker, who had refused to come. Surrounded by flowers from countless planets, an Alliance banner was draped over an empty coffin carved from the wood of a tree native to Elysium that seemed to glow white. Off to the right of the coffin was a podium while off to the left was a board covered in holos of Shepard. The only part of the funeral that felt sincere was when newly appointed Councilor Anderson made a speech describing Shepard's many admirable qualities. Tali's had broken down in tears after the first five seconds and found herself being comforted by (much to everyone's surprise) none other than Wrex.

At the end of the service, the Alliance banner was folded up and given to Shepard and Alice's mom Hannah. Once most of the politicians had left, leaving only Anderson and Shepard's family, the Normandy crew went up to the coffin to pay their respects to their dead commander. Liara placed a strangely beautiful flower from Thessia on the casket, Wrex merely nodded and rumbled a short "Shepard" before storming off, and Tali just mumbled an incoherent farewell, trying to keep herself from crying again.

Then, it was Garrus' turn. He walked up to the casket and after a minute of trying to figure out what to say, he just put his hand on the coffin and said "Goodbye… Commander."

He turned and walked away from the coffin to allow Ashley to pay her respects to her deceased love. "Skipper…" He glanced back at the sound of Ashley's whisper "I… I just…" She took a deep breath and found her voice. "Flow down, cold rivulet, to the sea,/ Thy tribute wave deliver:/ No more by thee my steps shall be,/For ever and for ever./ Flow, softly flow, by lawn and lea,/ A rivulet then a river:/ Nowhere by thee my steps shall be/ For ever and for ever./ But here will sigh thine alder tree/ And here thine aspen shiver;/ And here by thee will hum the bee,/ For ever and for ever./ A thousand suns will stream on thee,/ A thousand moons will quiver;/ But not by thee my steps shall be,/ For ever and for ever…"

…Back in the present Garrus shook his head. Why did he even bother? What was the point? When his father had convinced him to leave the turian military and spend the remainder of his mandatory 15 years of service to the community at C-Sec, he had jumped at the chance, thinking he would be able to make a difference. After serving under Shepard, Garrus now knew how pointless his work at C-Sec really had been. Shepard's philosophy of getting things done the right way, not the quick way had worked well for him; but he was a Spectre after all. When Garrus had tried to apply this philosophy to C-Sec however, he had been weighed down at every turn by useless red tape. And now with this latest case… he'd had enough.

Garrus poured himself another glass and drained it. His thoughts wandered to Alice; she hadn't been seen since Shepard's funeral. He wondered where she was, what she was doing. Garrus wished she were here, Alice could whip the Council into shape. Garrus felt fury surge through him at the thought of those backstabbing politicians. He angrily threw the glass against the wall, shattering it. He was done with the Citadel and its damned politics.

Garrus decided at that moment to leave and never come back, go to some dark pit on the edge of civilized space and kill all the scum he found there.

Garrus took the bottle of liquor and chugged the rest down, relishing in the pleasant sensation as the alcohol flowed through his system.

Alice rubbed her sore shoulder; that last opponent had been a tough one. She walked away from the ring and ordered a beer at the filthy crowded club's bar.

Suddenly, a cool female voice spoke up next to her. "Well, this isn't the place I expected to find Commander Shepard's sister."

Alice whirled around, crouching low into a combat stance, her biotics flaring. She may not have been nearly as powerful a biotic as her brother but she certainly could pack one hell of a punch. The woman who had spoken was tall and lean, and she wore a skintight black and white catsuit, showing off her hourglass figure and prominent bosom. Her raven hair was perfectly stylized and fell in waves around her head. Her face, while beautiful, was a cold professional mask.

"You can calm down; I'm not your enemy." Her voice was colored with a rich Australian accent.

Alice eyed the yellow Cerberus emblem on her chest. She snorted "Yeah right."

The woman's eyes narrowed "If I wanted to kill you I already would have done it, Operative Shepard."

Alice scoffed but nevertheless deactivated her biotics and shifted from her combat stance. "Not Operative, not anymore, I resigned from Alliance Intelligence Services after my brother died." She turned back to the bar and resumed drinking her beer.

The woman smiled for the first time, and Alice had an uneasy feeling in the pit of her stomach "Yes, about that… how would you like to get him back?"

A/N: The poem Ashley recited is "A Farewell" by Alfred Tennyson.