Author's note: You remember how in the first game, Liara mentions that the reason she figured out about the Reapers, because of a lot of data hinting at their existence? That's kinda how I felt, reading a lot of Mass Effect-related stuff. So awhile ago, I got the random idea of bringing the Doctor into the mix.

I've always had a problem of starting projects and never finishing them, so I figure, a short one, I'll be able to do fine, right? (yes, I know I'm also working on Call of Redemption. Hopefully, that won't fall in the pile of 'not-yet-finished-for twenty-something-years') So this is a one shot story, bringing in the possibility of something more to deal with in the future.

Shepard never gets it easy.

-=)O(=-

"You must choose."

Eden Shepard stood there, trying to force thoughts through what seemed like thick jelly. Finally, forcing herself to move, she croaked out, "I'm not going to destroy all synthetics as a justification for the Reapers."

She drew a deep breath, trying to ignore pain, but only partially succeeding. She completely ignored the Catalyst trying to tell her she was wrong, and rode right over its arguments. "And I'm certainly not going to finish the Illusive Man's work. Not after all he did."

There was silence for a moment. Then, the Catalyst finally spoke. "Then you must choose Synthesis, or let the cycle continue."

"Hell no. I'm not going to let all these people burn. This cycle ends today," Eden spat. Synthesis it is. Even that thought came slowly, like molasses. But one thought rang clear and strong in her mind: the Reaper threat ends today. The Cycle ends today. Too many people sacrificed themselves for me to reach this point. I will not let them down. Their names, faces, every memory of them flashed through her head, jabbing at her heart with pain far fiercer than what she was currently feeling. She would not let them down.

She took a step forward.

The world lurched around her, and only years of training, training that had bred instinct, thousand times over, saved her from falling flat on her face. Or possibly off the side of the platform. Taking another deep breath, she steadied herself.

She took another step.

Her mind was having more and more trouble focusing. The bright, steady light of the Crucible couldn't be far away, no more than a few feet. But if felt…distant. Out of the corner of her eyes, Eden saw flashes of light as ships crumbled away against the Reaper onslaught.

They were there because of her. Because they believed she could do this. Friends. Allies. They're all come for the same reason. They'd come from thousands of different worlds. Asari, turians, salarians, rachni, quarians, geth, krogan…the list went on for so long. Even the last remnants of the batarian fleet was there. All for one purpose.

To stop the Reapers, or die trying.

And they were all counting on her to just take those last few steps.

She took another step forward.

She wasn't sure what happened. One moment, she'd been staring at the bright beam of the Crucible. Now…cold metal pressed her cheek, and she was seeing an odd image of things flying by sideways. The Reapers were coming up to meet the fleets, and the allied fleet was falling downward…attacking them…

There was a strange thumping sound in her ears, like a slow, steady drum. Some distant part of her was telling her to get up, to get moving, for some odd reason, but mostly, she was feeling like she really needed a nap, and this place was more comfortable than the bed she had on Earth…

…There was just some strange sound interrupting her otherwise peaceful afternoon: a wheezing, groaning sound. Like an old man who was struggling to breathe. But with every second, it became stronger, sounding more victorious. Less like he was drawing his last breath, and more like…

Eden didn't know what it reminded her of, but in that moment, she felt like a small child again, tucked into bed, listening to her mother's soft humming.

Then there was silence.

Eden opened her eyes. She was still lying on the platform, but she had the feeling she was not alone. Pushing more effort than she thought possible, she rolled over.

There was a big blue box sitting on the platform, and for the life of her, she couldn't imagine where it came from. The Catalyst seemed no less befuddled at its appearance. Yet at the moment, it did nothing but sit there, the light atop pulsing calmly.

Then, the door opened.

Eden wasn't sure what she expected to see on the other side. A new alien perhaps, or maybe even her dear, now dead parents. Maybe Kaidan, or Mordin, or perhaps everyone she lost in her quest to stop the Reapers. If a skeleton wearing a tattered cloak and wielding a scythe showed up, she'd probably have just taken it in stride.

But one thing that she had not expected was a completely ordinary man.

He was rather tall, some distant part of her noted. Wearing a long, tan duster, and some sort of suit…and was that a flowery tie? He also had a strange contraption on his face…Eden searched her memories…glasses. They were called glasses. They didn't look too bad either.

The strange man stepped out of the box, looking around, as if he landed on shimmering platforms hanging in space all the time. He seemed quite pleased with himself, and turned back towards his box, shouting, "What'd I tell ya? We'd get here in time eventually." Without even breaking stride, he turned to the Catalyst. "And you," he told it pointedly, "have a lot to answer for."

"Who are you?"

"I am the Doctor," the strange man told it. "And you, are an insensitive, manipulative, computer drive."

It was the first time Eden had seen the Catalyst shocked to silence.

The Doctor just turned, facing towards the Crucible and Eden. "And let me guess, you said, the only way to stop the Reapers was to destroy them, control them, or make everything a little less unique, am I right?"

"We-"

"And if anyone refused those choices, you'd tell 'em the only other option was to let the Reapers destroy everything, and make it someone else's problem, eh?" Turning towards Eden, he added, "it did say something like that, right?" Eden nodded, not daring to speak.

"Those are the only options." The Catalyst said. Rather defensively, Eden thought.

The Doctor however, just waved away it's comment. "Oh, baloney. You're just looking for a way to condemn organics to the same fate all over again, so you can justify it happening in the first place." With that, he turned and glared at the Catalyst.

Eden had faced down a Reaper that was standing right over her, weapon primed, ready to incinerate her, and she hadn't even flinched. She'd stood in the center of the Collectors' base, facing a Reaper embryo made up of the dissolved bodies of literally millions of humans, without even a shotgun. She'd run straight for the beam to the Citadel with Harbinger having a clear shot of her the whole time. She'd pushed down fear, and only ran harder.

That glare from the Doctor sent shivers down Eden's spine, like cold hands of dread. This is not a man you want to get angry. The Catalyst visibly wilted under that glare.

Finally, the Doctor spoke again, and this time, it was in low tones, speaking to the Catalyst alone.

"And we both know that you could very well just release you own influence, and they'd stop fighting. Considering they're the embodiment of all those races you've harvested since the beginning of the cycle, I'm willing to bet they'd just walk away and stop fighting. Or, if you influence runs deep enough, I bet they'll just stop all together. Are you willing to bet that? Because here's one thing you should know about me: I never lose."

Then his face seemed to soften a bit, and Eden slowly released a breath she didn't know she'd been holding. The Catalyst still seemed wary as the Doctor continued, "but we also both know what would happen if I destroyed you, don't we? It was no coincidence the Reapers lived in Dark Space, rather in some more accessible spot, like say, the Galactic Core, or even just an area no Mass Relay visited. Just like it was no coincidence this very structure is the only thing that connects Dark Space to the Milky Way, isn't it?"

The Doctor folded up his glasses at this point, and took a step away from the Catalyst, staring up at the Crucible. "So the question you're probably asking yourself right now is, 'what is he going to do next?'. And I'll tell you." Turning on his heel to face the Catalyst, the Doctor seemed to have regained some of his earlier…whimsical tone? Was that the right word? Dragging herself away from her thoughts, Eden focused on the Doctor's next words. "I'm going to play your little game, but not in the way you planned."

The Doctor has raised a finger at this, and was now grinning like a kid with a secret. He walked straight past the Catalyst, and opened the doors of his blue box wide with a flourish. And out stepped…

…Eden.

Eden stared at the exact image of herself, before realization dawned. It was her clone!

The last time she'd seen the clone, she'd been plummeting towards the ground below, Eden watching helplessly from the Normandy.

"Take my hand." She'd tried to save her clone. After she'd done her level best to kill her and steal her ship, she'd tried to save her.

"And then what?"

"Then you live."

"For what?" With those words, her clone had let go, and let herself die.

Yet here she was, dressed in a baggy red sweater and jeans. She'd let her hair grow out a bit as well, and now had it pulled back into a short ponytail.

But the face was the same. The same determination that had almost taken the Normandy from her, believing she was working for the betterment of humanity, that determination still remained. But she looked older. Wiser.

And for the life of her, Eden couldn't figure out why she was there.

Her clone answered for her. "You need Shepard to die in the Synthesis wave. The trials she's gone through have made her into the catalyst you need for your 'perfect solution'. I'm an exact duplicate of Shepard, minus some wear and tear. And those implants, but we both know they're not necessary. You've already got the information on how to combine synthetics with organics, so all you're missing is the organic side of things."

"This was Shepard's choice. She made it this far. No other organic has." The Catalyst told her.

The Doctor interjected. "And just because one person can do it, you're saying no one else can? For a machine, you are very stubborn. Don't tell me you haven't made the same calculations I have: Shepard needs to live, because one of these days, your little barrier will fail, and then that," the Doctor pointed to the chaos around them, "will look like child's play. The galaxy must be united, and there is only one person who can do that." Now the Doctor was rather close to the Catalyst's face. Quietly, he asked, "now, are you going to follow your rules, and probably doom us all, or all you going to take the only logical solution, and give everyone a chance?"

"Besides, I'm supposed to be dead anyway. Who am I to argue what the rest of the world?" Eden's clone added. After a moment, the Catalyst slowly nodded its ascent.

As her clone started walking towards the Crucible's light, Eden struggled once more to move, pushing herself up on one arm. "You don't have to do it," she told her clone, forcing the words out.

Her clone stopped, turning towards Eden. She walked over and crouched next to her. "You're right. I don't," she told Eden. "But the thing is: you were right. I can't be Shepard. And I can't just save humanity." She turned to look at the Doctor and the strange blue box they'd come in, as if considering her next words. "They're just one part of a bigger whole. Sleeping all those years…finally coming out to a world on the brink of chaos…it warps a person's sense of view.

"And that day one the Normandy, I thought I'd lost. You had the upper hand. The thing I thought was your weakness turned out to be mine. And I thought it was over. But next thing I knew, I was landing in a box that was bigger on the inside. One that had a madman inside that could make it go through time. I saw things too incredible to describe. And I found a purpose."

The clone turned back to Eden. "So no, I don't have to. But the galaxy needs you. I once thought I could replace you, but I don't have your memories. I don't have what drives you to bring all these races together." Looking at the Crucible, the clone added, "but that doesn't mean I don't have a part in all of this. You thought you were finished with me, but now I'm going to be the one who finishes this."

She stood, and started walking towards the Crucible. Eden's eyes tracked her all the way there. Finally, she stopped right in front of it, pausing and turning back to the three of them watching her. The Doctor's expression was one of sadness, as if he'd wanted a better ending. The Catalyst was as emotionless as ever.

Eden's clone addressed all of them. "Cerberus might not have created me to make a difference, but that's who I am. This is what I want." She gave the Doctor a nod, and a quick smile. Then she stepped into the light, and was gone.

It was like sound had suddenly vanished, and time itself had taken a pause. The world lit up with white light, pulsing. Growing brighter. Eden suddenly felt arms pulling on her, dragging her back.

Then the light stopped, drawing back into itself.

And then it burst forth in waves of green energy, spreading outward in all directions. Eden gasped at the brilliant green light. It filled the entire world, touching everything, changing it, bringing it together.

And then it all faded into darkness and was gone.