"Ash! Can you not give me any emergency to take care of, maybe saving a colony, anything?" Jane Shepard was on the verge of panic. Her stomach knotted, her heart raced and she had been trying for ten minutes to close the buttons of her uniform jacket, without success. Ashley Williams sighed, turned the Commander in front of the mirror and took over that task. "Ash! Please", she pleaded to her friend. "You want me to," she began seriously, "go to Dr. T'Soni and tell her that you had to go somewhere for an emergency? On her wedding day? "Ash snorted a laugh and Shepard grabbed her by the collar. "What? No." Her voice almost toppled. "I thought so. Shepard, you'll be fine." She looked in Shepard's green eyes and patted her on the shoulder reassuringly. "Not that I would have thought that you and Liara…" she stretched her words, "but who could foresee that it would be so soon."

Shepard smiled. She remembered well her first meeting with Liara. To stop Saren they had followed different tracks. One had brought them in the Artemis Tau cluster. On Therum there was supposed to be a young Asari called Liara T'Soni, a Prothean specialist that could perhaps help them with their search. But they were not the only ones looking for her. Saren also had sent his subordinate Geth and a Krogan. To hide herself, Liara had activated a Prothean stasis field from which she wasn´t able to get free on her own.

Hard to believe that this was only four years ago. In the time in between so much had happened. Saren had been stopped, they had flown through the Omega 4 Relay, destroyed the collectors and then their masters the Reapers. "Well, you look good, maybe a little pale, but that's fine. My goodness, I have seen you facing an army without fear!" Shepard tried a smile, but when she heard Tali, it froze.

"Commander Shepard," Tali's cheerful voice came from the entrance of the room, "everybody is ready, shall I announce we're coming." Shepard felt her mouth go dry. Originally planned as a small celebration, it had grown. Now, nearly three hundred people were waiting for them. She wondered briefly if she should instead elope with Liara, but her pilot was among the guests and Liara had made it clear that she would not come if Shepard even thought about driving herself.

"The Commander will come immediately," Ash tried encouragingly. Tali walked into the room, went all the way around and looked at Shepard. "You look good, Shepard." She had opted for her uniform. She hated to wear dresses and felt not only comfortable in her uniform, but also safer.

"Shepard come out already!" Boomed the voice of Wrex. The Krogan looked through the door and their eyes met. "Never thought I would ever see fear in her eyes." He thundered, and then went laughing to the waiting shuttle. Shepard knew she needed to go now, leaving her friends waiting would provide for even more light hearted mocking comments on her.

Ashley nodded to Tali. She took Shepard's left hand, Ashley her right and together they moved Shepard toward the door. "Oh wait, I forgot something." Ash picked up a pocket square and put it in Shepard's left breast pocket. "Well, you have something blue, something old and now something borrowed." Tali giggled and if Shepard hadn't still be trying to communicate with her feet she would also have understood it, but she just looked confusedly at Ash instead. "All right," she coughed.

Shepard took a deep breath and left the hotel room in the direction of the waiting

Shuttle. Since the Citadel was back in its original place in the widow fog, it was the perfect place for their wedding. One could still see the marks of war, but this part of the lower Presidium was almost fully restored. She got out and immediately everybody turned their faces. She just nodded and walked along, welcoming one guest after the other. It was like a big family reunion and Shepard felt how she relaxed with every familiar face.

It had been Liara's idea to invite their friends, and not just to have a quiet wedding. Shepard had originally liked the idea, but as the groom, her task was to welcome the guests. She worked her way through the ranks of the guests and then stood nervously waiting next to a human priest and an Asari who was the equivalent to the priest. Shepard was glad that she had asked Admiral Anderson to be her best man, and he was now standing at her side. Over the years he had become more and more of a father figure to her and because she had no family, it had seemed right. He patted her on the back as Liara's shuttle arrived.

She was accompanied by matriarch Aethyta, her father. She wore a floor-length, white, high-necked dress in the style of the Asari. Their eyes met and Shepard forgot her nervousness and the people around her. It could be thousands of people around them and she still would only see Liara. Shepard took Liara's hand in hers. She could hardly hear what the Asari and human priests were saying. She replied when she had to, and then she was allowed to kiss the bride. She leaned forward and gave Liara a spring-light kiss. Liara came to meet her and they merged and smiled embarrassedly when they heard the cheering of the crowd.

Shepard felt as if she had finally reached her destination. She had never had a family and never thought of ever finding a partner with whom she would want to take this risk. She hugged Liara and whispered softly in her ear how much she loved her before they turned to her friends.