Mass Effect: The Iron Curtain

Siberian Heart

-A lone heartbeat is heard-

"Soyuz nyerushimyy respublik svobodnykh. Splotila naveki Velikaya Rus'. Da zdravstvuyet sozdannyy voley narodov. Yedinyy, moguchiy Sovetskiy Soyuz!" Five young soldiers aboard a frigate sing loudly and proudly, led by a young Nikolai Shepard. Six young N7 soldiers praising their homeland by singing its anthem among many American type Alliance Marines.

-A second heartbeat sounds-

"I saw your face as you watched Lt. Alenko die on Virmire. I watched you as you faced everything the galaxy threw at you. I have watched you for so long." Shepard reached to touch Tali'Zorah's face as she spoke. "But I understand if you want to be with…someone else."

"I don't want anyone else. I want you, Tali." Shepard takes Tali's hands in his.

-A third heartbeat-

"Shepard…Nikolai…what's wrong?" Tali rested her head against his shoulder.

"Is this what it's like?" Shepard looked down.

"For interspecies to adapt when they're in love? Yes. To adapt to the Reapers? Not so much." She saw the look on his face. "What are you feeling, Nik?"

"Like all of this is for nothing. That no matter how hard we try…" He was surprised to hear her finish his sentence.

"You feel like you will lose everything. I know how you feel. But when I do feel that way, I reach for you." Tali looked up at him. "I'm here for you, Shepard."

Nikolai touched the side of her mask. "Thank you, Tali."

As he stood up to put and walked into the private bathroom, Tali watched him. "Whenever you need me, I will always be right here."

-A fourth heartbeat-

Tali stood in front of Shepard. Tears forming in her eyes. "This isn't enough time. Dammit." She ran over to Shepard and put her arms around him. She looked up at him. "Do you remember the homeworld? I said 'I love you'. And...and you said…"

Shepard lifted her chin. He didn't have to see her face to know she was crying. "Keelah'selai." He answered. He held her tight. "I'm so sorry we didn't have enough time, Tali. But I love you, so much."

-A final heartbeat-

Shepard looked at the Catalyst being. He then looked at the machine before him, his anger growing. Something was wrong about this whole thing. He fought like hell to gather the largest fleet to fight the Reapers. He glared at the ethereal like being in front of him. "Don't lie to me. This isn't real."

The being looks at him. "It is every bit as real as the breath you breathe, Commander Shepard. You can end the cycle. You can destroy our kind. But if you do, you will destroy all synthetics, even yourself. You can help the other races by joining them with the synthetics. Or you can control the Reapers and send them back to dark space. But you must choose, Shepard."

Nikolai stopped at that. What this thing was saying made little to no sense. After several moments of analyzing the situation, Shepard looked outside to see the Reapers attacking the fleets over Earth. As he turned to look back at the Catalyst being, he noticed something. The numbers on the walls were all wrong. Were the walls glass, it might make sense, but these walls were solid. A small grin crossed his lips. "Oh I will make a choice. But you've failed, Harbinger." He watched as the eyes of the child changed. "Was I to choose to have all organics merging with the synthetics, then I will have given you all the husks necessary to carry on with your harvesting. And if I were to control you, you could in turn have me under your control." He walked towards the machine, holding his side from where he was shot. He moved his hand away and looked at the blood on his hand. "But you forgot one thing, Harbinger. I'm not synthetic. I may have implants, but you will be the only ones dying." He straightened up as best he could and drew his pistol. One final memory passed through Shepard's mind.

-Shepard looked at the terminal after seeing the history of the Lazarus project. "How do I even know I'm really me? For all I know I could be some VI posing as Commander Shepard."

Tali walked over to Shepard and took him in her arms. "You are real. You are the man I love. And you are mine."-

Nikolai leveled his pistol at the machine. "I choose destruction, Harbinger. And if that means I die with you, then at least I'll have the satisfaction of knowing I took you all down with my dying breath." He began to squeeze the trigger. "I love you, Tali." He glared at Harbinger. "Do svidaniya." He pulled the trigger fully. The Predator pistol barked angrily as its bullets tore through the machine. Harbinger roared in rage as the machine exploded, fire consuming the entire area. Shepard smiled as he knew…it was finally over.

Machines beeped softly in the ICU. Heart rate, brain activity, breathing, and many other readouts were being silently read as Commander Nikolai Shepard lay in the hospital bed on the Citadel. A Quarian hand holding his as he lay motionless. Five days had passed since Commander Shepard had been brought here, and Tali'Zorah vas Normandy had stayed with him for nearly the full five days. She had barely slept, barely eaten as the man she loved was barely hanging onto life.

One of the scientists that Shepard had saved with Jacob's help walked into the ICU room. She folded her hands in front of her. "Mrs. Shepard?" She asked not sure if they were even married.

Tali looked up at the scientist. She almost had a smile hearing that name. "We're not married, even though, it feels like we are. And no, I'm not leaving."

The young woman smiled. "Ma'am, I would never ask you to do so. My name is Melissa Warrens. I was one of the scientists who worked on the Lazarus project. I was in the cybernetics division and I created some of the parts that were used to bring Shepard back."

Tali wanted to be angry because she was at one point Cerberus. But she knew this wasn't what Nikolai would want. She looked at Melissa and then back at Shepard. "What is happening to him?"

Melissa sat down. "When the Crucible discharged, we got some very odd readings. The Reapers seemed to just…shut down. And it got me to wondering, if that happened to the Reapers, could that same wave have caused Shepard's cybernetics to shut down?"

Tali had been so tired, she almost didn't catch what the doctor said. But as she realized what Melissa had said, her eyes went wide. "Shepard…his cybernetics would just need to be restarted?" Excitement filling her voice.

Melissa raised her hand. "That's the theory. But that's all it is. They could have shorted out. I don't know."

Tali nearly jumped up. "We have to do something!" She was practically in tears again. Her emotions were varying so much right now. "The man I love is dying and you're sitting here telling me the odds?"

Melissa stood up and placed her hands on Tali's shoulders. "Miss Tali'Zorah, I want so much to help right now. But these theories…they could do more harm and could kill him if we're wrong."

Tali slumped back into the chair. She felt herself losing composure again. "I just want him back. I want to take him home."

Melissa watched as Tali took Shepard's hand again. She furrowed her brow in frustration. Dammit, she was not going to see one more casualty in this war. Not when the man that was lying in the bed was the hero that saved so many. She turned and walked out of the room, determined to do her part to save the man that saved this galaxy.

As night fell, the doctors had come in a few times to check on Shepard. There was no change in his vitals. They had stopped asking Tali to go back to the Normandy and try to get some sleep. She wasn't going to budge. Tali did, in fact, doze off for a few hours as midnight rolled around. She was still holding Shepard's hand. One o'clock in the morning came and a beep came from one of the readouts. Tali only stirred for a second at the sound. Then another beep sounded. Shepard slowly started to take deeper breaths; the machines began recording the higher heart rate readings. Tali felt the squeeze on her hand and woke up with a startle. She saw Shepard stirring and starting to move. His implants in his face glowing slightly. Her heart skipped a beat seeing the man she loved waking up.

"T…Tali…" He said softly. He was still very weak.

"Shepard! Shepard I'm right here!" A euphoric joy could be heard in her voice

"W…we…did it. The…the Reapers…" His words were clipped and exhausted sounding.

She tore off her visor, kissing him on the lips and cheeks. "No. No my wonderful Shepard. You did it. You saved us all." She kissed him more. "Keelah…you're alive." Tears fell down her cheeks, her voice shaking from the tears of joy.

"D…don't…cry…Tali. Don't…cry." He tried to reach for her face through barely open eyes.

Tali only pressed her tear streaked face against the side of his.

The doctors came running in seeing the increased readouts. They stopped dead in their tracks to see Commander Shepard finally waking up. One of Asari doctors went over and placed her hands on Tali's arms. "Miss Vas Normandy, the Commander has to rest now. He's through the worst of it."

Tali glared back at the doctor through her tears. "It's Mrs. Shepard, your bosh'tet! I'm not leaving him!"

The doctor pleaded with Tali, but it was Dr. Chakwas who took Tali in her arms and calmed her. "Tali, the doctors are right. Shepard is awake and through the worst of it. But his body needs to rest now. I promise you can see him in the morning." She took Tali's visor and walked Tali out.

As she did, Tali called back to Shepard. "I will just be outside, Shepard! I'll be right here!"

Dr. Chakwas sat with Tali outside of Shepard's room in ICU. The doctors had finished their analysis and walked out to speak with them. "I don't know how this is possible." The doctor started. "But Commander Shepard's vitals are strong. A day ago I would have given him a ten percent chance to live. Now? I expect him to make a full recovery. I don't know how…"

Tali couldn't help but smile. "No one can keep Shepard down. He's fought against impossible odds. He wasn't going to let the Reapers win."

Dr. Chakwas smiled and agreed. "She's right. The Commander's been through so much and yet, here he is. Shepard, our immovable center."

The Asari doctor was so surprised at the confidence of Shepard's friends. He must have had some impact for these people to have such faith in his resilience. "Though he's through the worst of it, we're still going to keep him under heavy watch to make sure he doesn't regress. After that, it's going to take months of therapy. But I'm sure the Commander will do just fine."

Three days later, the crew of the Normandy heard about the good news from Tali. They went to the medical center on the Citadel and when the doctors gave the clearance for visitors, three at time went in. Tali stayed with Shepard and the doctors knew better than to argue with her.

Lt. Vega, Ashley Williams, and the Asari Councilor were the first to go in to see Commander Shepard. "Hey, I knew those bondeho Reapers couldn't keep you down, Loco." Vega grabbed Shepard's hand and shook it with vigor. "Good to see you can still kick their asses, Loco."

Ashley smiled. "So, you got to Ilos, destroyed the Collector Base, and kicked the hell out of those Reapers. So can we say that there isn't anything you can't do, Skipper?" She leaned down and kissed his cheek. "Good to have you back with us, Shepard."

The Asari Councilor stepped forward. "Commander, I don't think there are enough thanks that any of the council races can give you to express how deeply indebted to you we are."

Shepard was actually sitting up in bed and looked a little stronger. "It wasn't a total win, Councilor. There were heavy losses, and a lot of planets lost. I'm so sorry about Thessia."

The look on the Councilor's face told of her sadness at the loss of her home. "I know you did everything you could, Commander. I don't blame you. And the ones that destroyed it are now destroyed themselves."

That didn't make Shepard feel any better. The rebuilding of lives was going to take a long time. And no one was walking away from this without scars. Over the next few hours, the others of the Normandy and the Councilors all met and spoke with Commander Shepard. But as everything died down, it was now just Shepard and Tali.

Nikolai kissed Tali's hand. He smiled as she looked at him. "Thank you, Tali."

"For what, Shepard?" She asked earnestly.

"For not giving up on me." If she looked beautiful before, she was radiant now. For days she was his guardian angel, watching over him.

Tali smiled as she held his hand close to her heart. "You never gave up on any of us. And I'm sure as hell not going to give up on the man that I love."

Shepard laid his head back. He smiled as he decided that he was going to build Tali a house on the homeworld. She would have everything she ever wanted. She deserved nothing less.


A/N: Many of you enjoyed my FemShep/Garrus story, "The Life We Live". So I decided to do one for my MShep and Tali'Zorah. I hope you come to like this story as well.