Disclaimer: I do not own Mass Effect or any of the Bioware and Dragon Age names or characters. This is rated M so readers be advised on adult contents that will make appearances in later chapters. This is completely meant for fun and it is the way that I would have loved to see the game be played out.

The ache in my heart was slowly fading as I stood outside the door to her room. It had been months since the destruction of the crucible. The first few weeks were unbearable not knowing if she was alive or dead. The constant questioning of the crew, Kaidian constantly telling me she couldn't have survived the blast, Tali, Joker, and Liara's constant hovering. I truly felt that I was going mad; the ache in my heart where she resided was growing with the unanswered question of where she is. Is she waiting at some bar for me in the afterlife or have the spirits granted her, her life once again? The moment the communications were repaired in the Normandy we heard the news, she was alive. It was another few months before we could get the Normandy up and running. The world we were stranded on was causing us dextro's some strain on the ration reserves, and the day we left that planet was one of the happiest of my life because it meant I was getting closer to her. The relays were not fully functional yet so travel took time but we were able to restock our supplies and I was getting constant updates on her recovery. Miranda was there, she wasn't giving me all the details I could tell but at least she was alive and recovering. We were a week out from earth when she finally woke up and the first thing she asked was "where is he?", not where am I or why am I alive, it was about me and my heart stopped.

Now I am standing here outside of her door and the ache in my heart is almost gone, and I am reminded of the first time I saw her. I am not even sure she remembers that we ever met before that day she barged into my life head first on some crazy quest. It was a few years before that day I was a new C-sec officer, thanks to my father, and a ship was coming in with survivors from a slaver base that some specters destroyed. When I came in to the C-sec offices that day she was there pacing like a caged varren. There was a few marines with her but she was one the strangest sights I have ever seen. The anger and rage seemed to radiate from her, a krogan in a bloodrage probably would have given her a wide berth. The marines with her even seemed to shrink in her presence. She was wearing a standard Alliance uniform which wasn't surprising but the two visible tattoos on her arms were, along with a set of daggers that looked suspiciously like thresher maw daggers that some krogan carry. There was a scar that ran across her face from her hairline through her right eye down her cheek. Her eyes were the strangest coloring I have ever seen on a human blue violet that matched the streaks of blue and violet in her curly raven hair. Her constant pacing seemed to put everyone on edge in the vicinity, it probably did not help that she seemed to be constantly keeping a slight shimmer of biotics that ran the length of her body in check. It wasn't until they brought the survivors off the ship into the offices that she stopped. There was a young man probably still a boy by human standards with the same raven hair, the moment she saw him every thing changed. She ran to him calling out "Braven, Braven". The boy looked up at her and she fell apart holding him they clasped on the floor. The officers moved them in to a interrogation room and that was the last time that I saw of her, but somehow I knew I wasn't going to forget her. That strange human was burnt into my memory and I did not know why.

I start to pace and then turn and pause at the threshold to her room, I am scared and nervous about whom I will find in there. Will she still me the woman I fell in love with or will the survivor of Mindoir and Akuze, the one in the mask be present once again. As I look through the window of her door into her room I can see that she is playing that stupid Dragon Age game on her omnitool yet again. She always liked playing a rouge in that game, it was one of the last things that her father gave her. When I enter she doesn't notice me she is to enthralled in her game, it is not until I start to laugh at the sight of her, the adorable smirk on her face when she is killing imaginary mercenaries, dragons, shades and what not, that she turns.

"You're here." Those two words undo me I run to her side and take in what I see, my Shepard is still there. A few new scars one on her face that almost matches the one her character in Dragon Age has the one that is similar to mine mars her face and to me it just makes her more beautiful and a true smile something that has been lacking for months finally crosses my face. She is here and I am home finally complete no more heart ache. All I feel is relief, love and her tears on my shoulder as I hold her in my arms, never wanting to let her go.