Title: A Mother's Love
Rating: K+
Disclaimer: I don't own Mass Effect or any of its characters, I am making no money, so don't bother suing me, I'm just having a little fun with them.
A/N: This is a short piece written for Mother's Day, not just for my own, who I love dearly, but for all the mothers out there. Set after Mass Effect 3 'destroy' ending.
Memories flitted through Hannah's mind as she looked through the holos sitting on her desk, eyes brimming with tears as she looked through the holos and the memories that go with them. The holo in her hand showed a young girl, no older than four, on a beach, the white sands and blue sea both complementing and highlighting the girls features, round cheeks pale, though not horribly so; eyes as blue as the ocean behind her, and the wind playing with her short deep red hair, blowing the tresses into her eyes and a crooked and cheeky grin on her face. She was waving to the camera when the holo was taken. Lowering the holo to the desk, Hannah looked away from her desk and tried to ignore the pain of what had happened to that young girl over the years, she had seen and done so much, her little girl; Jennifer Shepard. Yes, that Shepard; The Saviour of the Citadel and the Council; got David Anderson as humanity's representative; died at the hands of the Collectors, only to be brought back to life by Cerberus to kill the Collectors after assembling a new crew in a new Normandy; the destruction of the Rho relay in the Batarian home system caused the death of 300,000 Batarians but stopped the Reapers from getting here sooner, that time gave some races time to prepare for what was coming…
Dark emotions crept into Hannah at thoughts of the events of the recent weeks and months, the Reapers… They came a few months after Jennifer turned herself in. The War, the Battle for Earth as it's also called, horrible and brutal, with millions of deaths, and millions more without homes and families and so many species that are now stuck in the Sol system without a way to get home, mothers and daughters, fathers and sons, brothers and sisters, both in family and in arms.
Leaning back in her chair and listening to it creak satisfyingly, Hannah could feel the gentle hum and sway of the SSV Orizaba around her, the battle was over, it had been over for nearly two months, but now the hard part began. The rebuilding. So many people would never celebrate birthdays, Christmas, Easter, Father's day, Mother's day, and all the other holidays that celebrated life. Heaving a sigh, Hannah got up from her chair and went to her ships CIC, the relays were still out after what happened on the Citadel. The Orizaba was on its way back to Earth after a supply run to what was left of the Mars Archives.
Jennifer had not woken up yet after being found, the doctors weren't sure she would even make it, what was left of her charcoal N7 armour had to be cut off her body, her litany of injuries was thankfully mitigated by her cybernetics, but she was in trouble for a long time. For now, Jennifer was in one of the makeshift hospitals in what remained of London, her hair having grown longer while she was under, it now reached her shoulders, still as red as it was in the holo on Hannah's desk, the new scars were faded but Jennifer was still dead to the world so to speak. Hannah was going back to the hospital once her supplies were cleared by the Alliance, to spend the rest of the day with her daughter.
The Genophage was cured at the sacrifice of Mordin Solus, the Salarian councillor was saved by the Drell assassin Thane Krios, Cerberus was destroyed, the Reapers were destroyed in a wave of red light and energy that took out the Mass Relays, old wounds were mended, though not without price, the red light from the Citadel and the Crucible destroyed the Geth, even after how far they had come, and no one except Shepard truly knows what went on there, because the dead can't talk.
The day bled into the afternoon, and all around, Hannah could see that hope still existed after all that had happened, people of all races picking themselves up and dusting themselves off to keep going, helping others along the way. Smiling slightly, Hannah proceeded to her daughters' room and settled into her usual chair to give Jen updates, even though she was still unconscious. Her heartbeat monitors beeped away at a steady pace. Hannah stayed by her daughters side as night settled in, running her fingertips over the back of Jennifers hand, Hannah tried to provide the comfort only a mother can.
A sharp gasp as red eyebrows creased, Jennifers fingers curled to grip the hand in hers. Standing quickly, Hannah leaned over the prone body on the bed.
Blue eyes slowly crept open, staring at the face that gradually came into focus, hovering over her own, cracked lips parted as a single word came out.
"Mum…?"