Councillor David Anderson stared at the closed door and sighed. He wasn't sure what to feel. The woman who was the closest thing he had to a daughter had not long ago left his office. While that wasn't unusual the fact that she had even been there at all was. She died. There was no doubting that. But people didn't come back from the dead.

Yet she had. When the rumours had started he'd thought it was just people grasping at something to scare away the monsters that had invaded their lives, and probably their dreams. It hurt to think that she was being used, tossed around like she belonged to everyone, that they had a right to claim her as their own. There were only a few people who could truly claim her as theirs, either as a friend or as family. He was one of them.

When their intel was confirmed he was relieved and distraught. The thought that it was Cerberus who had brought her back was terrifying. He knew about their hidden agendas, their secret facilities, their sick experiments. His greatest fear was that she had become their puppet, their tool. The woman he knew would not have willingly worked for Cerberus, she had done enough to destroy them on the SR-1. Then she'd come looking for his help and he'd had to turn her down.

The pain in her eyes had broken his heart. His lack of trust had shattered her last remaining hope, her last open door to freedom and it was all the proof he needed. He hated himself for doing it. He wanted to call her back, let her know it was all a lie but he couldn't take the chance. Oh, he had no doubt now it was her, she was exactly the person she had been, her convictions, her drive to save the galaxy and her determination to do it no matter what, there was no way that was forced or fake. He leaned forward and looked at the screen on his desk as his shaking hands absently worked on his omnitool, a beep told him he was in the clear. He opened up a vid call.

'Is it her?' The concern on the face looking back at him was a mirror of his own. Admiral Steven Hackett watched his close friend and knew the truth before the answer came.

'It's her,' Anderson pushed away from his desk and paced slowly, 'she provided a blood sample, medical scans and the Lazarus files.' He closed his eyes as he remembered the images of what Cerberus had found. 'I had to turn her away, Steven,' Anderson swallowed hard, fighting to control his emotions. 'She gave me everything she had on Cerberus and I had to turn her away.'

'You know you had no choice,' Hackett hated putting Anderson in this position but he was the only one he could trust to do it, no matter the cost.

'I know, doesn't mean it was easy,' Anderson sighed and pulled himself under control. He was a battle scarred, N7 soldier, he'd been in tough spots and come through them. This was just another one, wasn't it?

'Have they given her the resources she needs to get the job done?'

'Much more than we ever could,' Anderson scoffed. 'They've rebuilt the Normandy, only better. She gave me the specs on that too.'

'Fuck!' Hackett ran his fingers through his hair and Anderson chuckled at the sight of one of the most powerful men in the Alliance reacting like a grunt.

Anderson continued, 'Joker and Dr Chakwas are on board and she picked up Garrus Vakarian on Omega. '

'Moreau needed to be there and I'm glad he took the opportunity we offered, I wasn't sure he would after the SR-1 went down. He'll keep her safe. Chakwas is a bonus and I was hoping she'd follow Moreau. Vakarian will have her back so I guess there's some comfort in knowing she has people she can trust.' Hackett sounded relieved but the worry lines on his face only seemed to deepen.

'You know Moreau loves her, so much for frat regs,' Anderson smirked and shook his head. 'I didn't think he was going to pull himself together after she died. He told me I was insane when I told him our plans, but he did it anyway, I think it was pure hope rather than belief or trust in us.' He moved to the balcony and stared out over the Presidium but it held no beauty for him today. 'She asked about Alenko. She's building a team but I don't think she trusts any of the Cerberus operatives, although she gave me a file on some ex alliance people and asked me to check them out.'

'I guess that was to be expected,' Hackett chuckled and shook his head. 'Have you spoken to him?'

'No, not since I gave him a squad and sent him to Horizon. He's not going to be happy when he finds out.'

'He's a soldier, he'll understand.' Hackett sucked in a breath, 'have you any further intel on who's passing information to Cerberus?'

'No, it's damn frustrating how they always seem to be one step ahead of us. Although in this case I'm glad they were. We do know it's someone in a position to get their hands on top level information. They're just too damned fast, my techs are more frustrated than I am.'

'We know it has to be someone on the Citadel, once we find them we can use them to our advantage.' Hackett paused and Anderson looked back at his screen to see his closest friend debating with himself.

'You're going to send her to Alchera, aren't you?'

'Probably, yes, but that's as much for her as for us, I think she'll need closure.'

'I hope you're right,' Anderson dropped into his chair, he was tired, so tired. Two years of fighting a war that hadn't really started yet, of struggling to maintain an indifference he hated, of ignoring the hurt and frustration that came from everything Shepard had done being brushed away. 'She might say no.'

'That's the chance we have to take but I'll make sure there's a data packet waiting for her.'

'Let's hope she doesn't hate us enough to ignore it.' Anderson scoffed; afraid the damage was already done. 'You know the Council gave her back her Spectre status, ordered her to stay out in the Traverse but at least she has resources other than Cerberus for some things.'

'You know we'll get her back, David,' Hackett grimaced at the pain in his friend's voice.

'Let's hope so,' Anderson fiddled with his omnitool, 'I'm sending you everything she gave me. You'll need a stiff drink if you look at the Lazarus files.'

'Noted,' Hackett looked down as his omnitool beeped. 'I'll go through them, see if we can find anything that gives us a chance to take Cerberus down, or at least put a dent in their resources.'

'Let me know what you find,' Anderson leaned forward and his eyes focused on his screen before he cut the link entered a second code and put on his Ambassador face.

He hated the fact that his office was bugged and he could do nothing about it, not yet anyway. Someone was passing information to Cerberus, someone within the Alliance or working somewhere in the human embassy. At first it had seemed like coincidence but things didn't add up. Together with Hackett he had worked on a plan to find out and their fears had been realised. Whoever it was they were covering their tracks well, every time they thought they'd found the source it vanished. They couldn't take the chance on feeding too much false information or they ran the risk of giving away their discovery.

He hated whoever it was with a passion. Because of them he'd been forced to lie to someone he cared about, someone he thought he'd lost. He only hoped the damage could be repaired. He glanced at the closed door again, wishing she would walk back through, that he could tell her how glad he was she was back.

He hoped he would have the opportunity, that the mission she was on wouldn't kill her, again. It was with a heavy heart he locked away the data she'd given him and went back to reading the latest round of complaints, requests and everything else that went with being on the Citadel Council. He hated his job, he was a soldier not a politician but he understood why Shepard had put him in that position. It was for her that he was still here. When she died it was out of respect for what she'd done. Now, while she was out there fighting for humanity, hell, for everyone, he would stay right where he was. He would be there if and when she needed help. It was the least he could do.

He made himself a promise though. The minute there was the slightest hint that the Reapers were coming, or if Shepard died again, he would return to Earth and fight for the home he loved. The minute Shepard was able to break free of Cerberus he would be there for her. It was a promise he planned to keep.