"Ive been thinking about your illness…"

"Understandable, my sweet siha."

Her head hangs low as she takes a deep breath, her eyebrows pulling up in a sad expression as she looks up.

"…I don't think I can do this. Love you now, only to lose you later."

A set of green hands gently pull away from the grip of her soft, peach-colored ones.

"Huh."

"…I'm sorry."

Another long pause.

"Shepard. You know that I have no wish to be a burden to you, if it is your wish, I will turn aside."

"It is my wish."

Thane opened his eyes and let out a shuddering breath. It had been only an hour ago that the scene which he had been reliving in his mind had actually happened. Drell memory in the past had sometimes been a blessing to him, and sometimes a curse. Though now it most certainly felt like a curse…seeing those apologetic eyes meet his, and the turned-down corners of her lips was enough to send a pang through his heart each time the flashback clawed its way up.

What had the Drell felt as those words had poured from the soft lips of Shepard's beauteous mouth?

Resignation, somberness, anger…then of course acceptance. After all, she was right, his siha was eternally right, "I understand. It isn't easy to lose someone you care for. You've already lost a great deal in your life."

Thane clutched both of his hands together as he leaned forward onto the table, reminiscing on the words he had spoken. He knew that something like this would happen eventually between them, but this had all happened too soon…he thought he would have had more time, more time to lose himself in just the small amount of happiness life had offered before his final hours. The sheer suddenness of it had caught him off guard, and it shamed him.

Thane leaned back into the chair, and lifted a hand to his face. He became shocked to find his own cheeks wet—the silent tears were unnerving, but he let them flow anyway.

Of course he didn't deserve Shepard. Who was he to think that Arashu's angels would ever grace him with their presence for long? First it was Irikah…but no, he had to stop thinking like that before the sadness would truly overwhelm him.

Life was unfair. He knew that. The Drell knew that from the day of his first kill, from looking into the dying eyes of each of his victims—they themselves recognized that they still had a long time left to live, and that Thane's hands had unfairly taken all those remaining years and turned them into mere seconds as he killed them. He also knew this when his wife was killed…when he was told about the sickness…

The chair creaked as Thane looked up at the silvery ceiling of the Life Support room.

He didn't have much time left in this world anyway. He would stop thinking. He would stop feeling. He was going to help Shepard in every way that he could. Already he could feel himself relaxing, his body going into that familiar state of numbness—the tears nonexistent on his face.

But Thane knew, as he gave a small forsaken sigh and allowed his eyes to close, that as much as he would try to return to the safety of his battle slumber…as much as he would like to see her live the rest of her days happy, with a man that could she could at least grow old with…

He would never stop loving her.