Disclaimer: I do not own Mass Effect or any characters of it. I just came up with the plot of this fanfic.
Prologue
"I thought Alenko's biotic display might have broken Jenkins' back, but Jenkins pops up," Chakwas exclaimed, mimicking the event by jumping out of her chair and raising her arms, "and yells, 'that was awesome!'"
"Oh," she continued, sitting back down, "Jenkins. Soldiers like him make the Alliance great. Cerberus lacks the same…enthusiasm."
"With your service record, you could have gotten a tour of duty on any Alliance ship. Why'd you really leave?" Shepard asked, pulling a dark lock of hair out of her eyes.
"Maybe it's less about leaving and more about staying," she answered, sadness welling up in her eyes. "As a military doctor, I mostly treat people who are in bad shape…like you after all those firefights during our chase after Saren. Either they die or if I can help them, they move on. Either way, they leave. I expected the same with you, but you're like a rock, our immovable center…or maybe I'm just happily drunk. If it can be that simple for once," she finished, grinning at the younger woman, green eyes as happy as the copy facing her.
"Here's to simply being happily drunk," Shepard toasted.
"I'll drink to that," she agreed, raising her own glass, the words becoming fuzzy on her tongue.