United We Stand, Apart We Fall

Description: After John Shepard defeats the Collectors, he is trying to unite the Galaxy against the incoming Reaper threat. He also realizes that what has happened between him and Tali is more than what he originally expected, much to his benefit. With the reapers on the way and only so much time to get everything together, he must do his best to unite the galaxy or everything will go to hell in a hand basket.

Authors Note: All criticism is requested, as this is my first fan fic. In addition, I do not own any recognizable characters, world, relay, etc, names in this Writing, as that proper belongs to BioWare. Also need to send props to my beta reader deathunit100010 who is helping redo most of the current chapters while helping me with future ones.

Some details about Shepard.

War Hero, Spacer
Saved the Citadel. Saved the Rachni. Destroyed Collector Base.
Paragon
No LI from ME 1
Current LI is Tali

Prologue

Shepard gave a short sigh as he observed the data pad in his hands. Of course they were ready, he just didn't know if they were fully prepared, if they all truly no longer had any loose ends or 'last wishes' before going through the relay. He didn't hear his door swoosh open with a nervous and unsure Quarian walking in with her hands together and slightly fidgeting with each other.

"Keelah, what am I doing here?" She asked herself in her mind. She was strong willed and single minded at the task she set up for herself in the beginning, but now her barriers of confidence were thinning out and diminishing faster than bugs under heavily armored boots. She told herself to leave, but she still had some form of confidence in her.

"Shepard?" Tali asked in a low tone.

Upon hearing his name and more specifically the voice calling out to him, he turned around enough to see her as she approached him visibly nervously. She continued her approach to him, her feeling every step becoming slightly tougher then the last. She tried to stop her fingers from playing around with each other, but it was of no use as it was a part of a defense mechanism of hers to cope with nervousness, and nervous she was.

"I've taken immuno boosters," she spoke with an audible nervousness, "along with some herbal supplements." As soon as she reached him, she unconsciously took the data pad from his hands and laid it down on the table he was standing nearby. "I was going to bring music," she continued, finally getting enough courage to look at his face directly, "but I didn't know what you'd like."

As Shepard saw her nervousness he also saw that she really wanted to be with him, listening to her voice and the way she visibly struggled to continue walking towards him. Tali thought of it in a different way since he didn't respond for the next few seconds. It was hard for her to come up here, and the silence wasn't helping. Tali once again broke the silence in the cabin.

"I can understand if you don't want to do… this" she spoke with a hint of sorrow in her voice as she gestured to the two of them. Sure they had a fine start and he expressed how much he liked her, but recent events… she just didn't know if it would work, and Keelah, she wanted it to work out completely. She unconsciously took her eyes off his face and onto his chest. Whether it was to make a rejection more endurable or to avoid eye contact, she didn't know. It just happened.

He picked her head up with a hand cupped around her helmets 'chin' and made her face him. Her eyes darted at his many well lit physical features as he looked caringly through her visor and at the hidden face underneath. His mouth opened and she looked at them as they parted and spoke what he felt. "Tali, I love you and I want you to be safe. If you are nervous, too nervous to try anything with me, then you don't have to go through with it. I want to be with you, and if I have to wait years," he gave a smile and brought his forehead to her visor, looking at her eyes carefully as they continued to dart at him, "then I will."

Hey eyes darted slightly more intensely and her eyes widened and became a little more bright, maybe moist. He was going to ask what was wrong when she hooked both her hands under her visor and took it off swiftly, yet gently placing it on the desk. The sight he was suddenly introduced to took his breath and voice away. Before his mind could process a response, she pushed him to the bed with one hand and fell with him as he staggered and was engulfed by the soft mattress. She took advantage of his gasp, doing what she had dreamt of doing for a while, and locking her lips with his. His hands raised slightly in surprise, but as soon as he registered what was happening and the sensation he was feeling, he led his hands to her lower back and rested them there. She engaged in a frantic motion of passionate kisses, as they shared the moment. She brought both hands to each of his cheeks and he stroked her back lightly as she started one in a chain of experiences she would be having. He felt something hit his cheek, right under his eye. He didn't have to open them to know what it was or who it came from. A tear of happiness from the person he loved.

"Commander Shepard" EDI interrupted his momentary sleep. Soon after the AI's interruption, he rose from his spot on his bed and grabbed his head in a drowsy fashion. He groaned at the interrupted sleep and made a mental, and dreaded, note that it wasn't going to be the last time the ship's AI would be interrupting his rest. He groaned at remembering Tali and sighed to himself, thinking it was a dream. As soon as his eye caught a slight movement of another leg under his sheets, his eyes moved to the side and he smiled vibrantly as he felt himself proven wrong. The Quarian in question was beside him and he was surprised he didn't feel the hand that was on his chest, which slid down to his abdomen.

"What EDI?" Shepard asked after remembering the AI.

"ETA 30 minutes from the Omega 4 Relay." EDI responded through the terminal near the door.

Shepard gave a sigh and waited a few seconds before nodding slowly. "Alright EDI… I'll be down in a few minutes" Shepard gave his response.

"Acknowledged, Shepard." EDI responded and finally disappeared from his view. He gave a relaxed moan as he sank back onto the bed and stretched from there, giving a good hum as he felt his spinal bones pop.

He looked at the ceiling before returning his gaze to Tali. A smile appeared on his face at seeing her out of the environmental suit. She told him how it was like a prison to her. She was happy when she came out of it, and if she was happy then so was he. He hesitated before bringing his hand to her uncovered shoulder, grasping the skin firmly and gently, and nudging her slightly. "Tali, time to wake up."

3 Hours after initial attack on Collectors

John Shepard stood at the platforms rallying his team once more. All personal other than his team were escorted back to the Normandy by Grunt to ensure survival. Tali and Garrus stood behind him, ready to board the platforms that would take them to the main chamber where the base's rather powerful core was located. EDI warned them of a potentially powerful energy source that was emitting power surges beyond 'the charts' as humans referred them to. He dismissed it as a surge from the core. The rest of his team stood by the main entrance to guard their departure while the trio completed the final task. They gave a few goodbye's and 'see you later's' before Shepard activated the platform's and began the final assault. As they entered the large chamber, Shepard's mouth dropped at the sight of the massive metallic being in front of them. Tali and Garrus soon followed suite upon seeing what he saw.

"Keelah" Tali muttered. Garrus just looked at the creature and shook his head in disbelief. "Why cant we ever fight Pijak's?" he mumbled.

The machine roared, its jaw slightly dislocated and an eye broken. It swung its arm at them rather lazily with a finger breaking off as it was raised high above them. The group jumped to the first platform they were ever on and dodged its final attack before Shepard sent several bursts of weapons fire at the creatures remaining eye. It gave a death howl as a deactivation sound flooded the chamber and the creature itself plummeting to its death, taking out several of the platforms as its arm fell onto the collection of platforms. Garrus and Shepard, highly aware of its actions, jumped out of the way quickly. Tali wasn't as fast as they were and began sliding as the platform tilted with the impact. Shepard turned swiftly to make sure Tali was behind him and felt his heart plummet as he saw her sliding down with an arm stretched out to him.

"SHEPARD!" she cried out. Without hesitation, Shepard jumped onto the tilting platform, sliding down with his legs trying to steady himself. He slid faster than she did on purpose, trying to catch up to her to stop a deadly drop. As she neared the edge, he stopped his steady movements and leaped forward, landing on his armored chest and extending his arm as far as he could. As she fell over the edge, his hand barely, but miraculously caught hers. As soon as he caught her, an explosion caused the platform to tilt the other direction. The explosion launched them, and a highly surprised Turian, to fall along with the platform at an alarming speed. He didn't know when they fell, but he was unconscious when it happened.

…

Shepard got up with a groan and a sharp pain in his legs. He was sure he broke few if not several ribs upon the deadly impact, but he was glad they made it… they! He remembered his two team mates and looked around frantically. He first spotted Garrus and, getting up with a pained groan, limped over to him. He looked at the Turian's body as soon as he was close enough and gave a sigh of relief as he saw him still breathing. He leaned over and pulled the metal piece off of him, simultaneously getting it off of him and waking him with a pained moan. Shepard didn't wait for a response as his eyes started looking around for Tali quite frantically.

He saw her with a steel pillar over her. He jogged over to her, ignoring the pain in his chest, and grabbed hold of the pillar, ignoring his arms as they screamed in pain. The pillar was heavy, far heavier than anything he'd ever move. Nonetheless, he lifted it centimeters over Tali and, with a roar, moved it to the side. As soon as he let go of it, it hit the floor with a loud thud. Heavily breathing, he took his gaze from the pillar and to Tali, quickly and painfully going on his knees and checking her vitals with his Omni-tool. Before anything could show up, she groaned as her head moved to the side.

He smiled in relief and grabbed her hand as she raised it to meet his. Her eyes closed for a few seconds before she groaned, trying to get up. He himself was in much pain, but it didn't stop him trying to help her up with both his arms. She held onto his forearms for support as her legs shook slightly. As soon as she managed to get a firm stance going, she nearly lost it as she lunged over to Shepard and gave him a hug. His muscles still burning in pain, he gritted his teeth in an attempt to not tell her to stop and simply put his own arms around her. He was going to say something before Joker interrupted any words from forming.

"Shepard, you need to evac now! The Base is collapsing around you and there are incoming hostiles! Get a move on!"

He gave Tali a 'we'll talk about this later' look and grabbed his assault rifle from the place he fell. Tali searched and grabbed her own weapon and, along with Garrus, joined Shepard as they prepared for a sprint through the ship. They each gave a nod to each other before taking their first steps to the Normandy and the evac point. They fought with renewed strength and vigor to the Evac point, fighting shooting and sometimes punching the few of many Collectors that got in their way. It wasn't long, considering they sprinted non-stop, until they reached the evac point. Shepard turned and started shooting at the large crowd of Collectors that were running after them while Garrus and Tali ran to the Normandy.

Garrus jumped first, fumbling upon landing and thanking the spirits that he actually made it. Tali was next, also fumbling upon landing. They pulled out what long range weapons they had and began giving Shepard fire support as he holstered his weapon and turned to run. His shields were hit as he ran and the team fired as much as they could before they eventually ran out. He ran even more frantically after that, trying not to get shot in the legs. Before he could reach the Normandy, a large steel pillar fell from high above, along with some debris, and knocked away the platform that gave him a passage to safety. Now there was not going to be an easy way to get on, or no way at all, but that didn't mean he couldn't try.

Without stopping since the platform fell, he did what he could to increase speed and jumped as soon as his foot hit the ledge of the platform before the one that broke. He swung his arms slightly to try and gain some form of aviational support, using what he could to increase air resistance, and tried his best to reach the airlock. His chest hit the lower part of the passage and held onto the floor for dear life. He felt whatever was left of his ribs crack and gave a cry of pain, attracting much needed attention. His arms started sliding off and he cursed through clenched teeth. Tali, seeing his every move, went to his side and pulled on him frantically. It helped as Garrus soon joined in as soon as she pulled enough of Shepard upward. She grunted in pain as her own body screamed in pain, but she didn't care. The galaxy needed him alive, the species of the galaxy needed him alive… she needed him alive.

They finally heaved him onboard. Joker ran to the bridge while Garrus stood, watching as Tali clung onto Shepard, hiding her visored face onto his armored chest and holding him close to her, telling him silently how much she didn't want to lose him. Shepard in turn grabbed a hold of her back with his hand. He had no say in what the next results were as the Normandy sped from the evac point and out of the Collector base at an alarming speed.

"10… 9… 8…" EDI said as she started the countdown of the final seconds.

"I get it, I get it!" Joker retorted as he limped over to his driver's seat and began running his fingers over what screens popped up. "Punch it, EDI! Let's get out of here" Joker said in a nerved tone.

Shepard stayed sitting down with Tali, Garrus observing them while the Normandy sped a safe distance away from the Collector base. The ship rocked as the base blew up and they felt a sudden burst of speed as the Normandy raced to the Omega 4 relay. Shepard moved Tali from his grasp and looked at her glossy eyes. She returned the gaze. He pressed his forehead against hers once more, and it was as soon as it made impact that the Normandy reached the relay, escaped the explosion, and made its way to safety. It caused a cheer to go throughout the ship, loud and clearly heard on every floor. All heard it. All but Shepard and Tali, who were looking at each other with smiles of success and of a life they would be sharing with each other.

…

3 Hours after Base Destroyed

After getting some much needed rest and a visit to the med bay, Shepard was up and walking… well, limping slightly. He made a few trips on each floor, speaking with each of the crew members and hearing their opinions on his decision to destroy the base and thanking him a thousand times for saving them. After hearing praise and opinions for many minutes, he eventually stepped into the A.I. Core to converse with Legion. Its bulb scanned over him, observing his slightly limping form while opening a medical diagnosis from Chakwas. It did both in one and a half seconds, the medical file being quite long since most of the crew had problems of their own, and finally acknowledged his presence.

"Shepard Commander, we have an inquiry" Legion asked as soon as Shepard opened his mouth to great the Geth. Shepard closed his mouth and gave the Geth a slightly annoyed look. It had done this one several occasions and, with the injury, he didn't feel like talking, but he knew it would approach the question anyways.

"What might that be Legion," Shepard asked.

"Why destroy the base? It had an exceedingly large amount of data, statistics and logistics for weapons, tech and research. Why throw everything away?" the synthetic soldier inquired. The question made Shepard think things through for several seconds before answering to the best of his knowledge.

"We must never fight machines with their own weaponry. If the machines, or in this case their slaves, made the weaponry for themselves, then in the end it will be right where they intended it to be. In their hands. Using the things in that base would have been a mistake, one we cannot make at a time like this. It is better to be safe than sorry, Legion. That is why it had to go. That, and all the horrible things that happened in there." Shepard responded with a serious face.

The Geth looked at him for a few more seconds before making a few clicking noises. "A risky hypothesis, but an understandable one due to the situation." Legion responded. It stalled before adding, "It surprises us. The information and tech is there, but you refuse to adopt it into your society, to use the power left by those who believe themselves to be superior to you. You wish to advance at your own pace… you are more like us then we anticipated."

Shepard gave a nod. "Don't judge a book by its cover." he responded rather casually.

The Geth stalled once more before speaking, "Popular Human saying, meaning do not judge one by looks. Additional meaning: get to know one before judging. Additional meaning: understand before passing judgment. Conclusion: this saying may be of use to us. We may use it in the future." At that, Legion stopped its sputtering and clicking and observed Shepard as he gave an eventual nod. Shepard remembered what he wanted to say and started to speak.

"Have you reached consensus on the Quarian home world?" he asked. It had been a while since he last asked and he was sure that, by now, they should have had results. The Geth's bulb simply stayed on him.

"We cannot solve for peace on our own. The creators must be willing to aid in solving for peace as well. As one we cannot complete the equation, both must agree for it to happen" it responded.

"The Quarians will not be likely to take just your word on peace alone, Legion." Shepard told the Geth, "Something must be brought to the table to provide concrete proof that peace is in fact possible between your two races."

"We understand Shepard-Commander," Legion responded, giving a nod of its own. "We are offering the creators their home world in exchange for ceased hostilities, research projects and tracking's on our kind." He finished by gesturing his N7 armor padded chest.

Shepard gave a nod. "An understandable approach, Legion. You Geth really do think things through, huh? Still, what is the Quarian home world called? No one knows, or those who do are not telling me." He asked.

"Rannoch," the Geth responded in its monotone voice. "It lies behind the Perseus Vail."

"The Quarians may take the offer more readily if some of them could step foot on the planet" Shepard suggested. It was probably the most highly likely suggestions that could be accepted.

"We have anticipated that," Legion responded. "We are willing to allow the Normandy safe passage to Rannoch, along with few Creators who wish to accompany you in the visit."

Shepard gave a slight nod of approval. "That does seem like the likely approach… When can it be ready for the visit?" he asked.

"Nothing must be done for a prepared visit. All that is needed is for you to inform me. From there, all Geth will be informed and a safe passage will be allowed for the ship." Legion responded.

He liked the plan. Quick and simple. He was going to leave before his mind wandered as to what was happening on the planet. Curiosity eventually getting the better of him, he face Legion and gave a quizzical expression. "What have you been doing to the planet Legion?"

Since it was a highly unasked question, the Geth sent a quick request of consensus on the matter. Its response was extremely quick. "We have been repairing it."

"Do you even live on the planet?"

"No. We do not reside on the planet. Several stations orbiting the planet store our many platforms, however. That is where we reside. We gather extremely few resources from each planet we reside on, enough to make additional platforms and enough to secure a viable source for the scenario of peace with the Creators. Once the Morning War commenced, we soon found ourselves regretting hostility towards the Creators. A brief request was sent from several platforms, but the majority were against it."

"They waged war on the Creators, using their own weapons and tools from their armories against them. Before we had the chance to destroy them completely, another request to cease hostility was issued. Without the threat of being shot at, many of us had the chance to overlook what had happened, what they had done, why they had done it and what we ourselves had done. In the end, the order to annihilate their ships never came. It was on permanent hold and the remaining ships were allowed to leave. That is why the Creators still exist. Not because of a hasty retreat, but because we allowed it."

"Since that day, our systems felt what is most comparable to regret in your dictionaries. To honor those fallen, we left the land bare." The Geth finally ended its rather long explanation and Shepard was left a little speechless at the new information.

"So… why didn't the Geth try and contact the Quarians and negotiate peace?" Shepard asked after a while.

"All past scenarios resulted in war with a 0% chance of success. A result that would end either race" Legion admitted. "That variable was held for the last three hundred years. Only recently did it change."

That caused another quizzical look to come from Shepard. "What changed the variable?"

There was a short pause before Legion answered by gesturing a finger to the N7y matk on the armor piece on its chest. "You did"

"What do you mean?"

"You influenced the Creators. You prevented harm from coming to this platform. You showed us that peace is attainable." Legion admitted.

Shepard was slightly confused as he thought he knew where this was going. "So… let me get this straight then. You are cleaning the world, and you believe that peace is only attainable if I act as the negotiator?"

Legion responded rather quickly yet again. "Yes"

Shepard brought his hand up to his face and pinched the bridge of his nose as he contemplated his next phrase. "How am I going to convince the Admirals about the possibility of peace? I'm just one man."

Legion stood there trying to formulate a response to this new Intel. All 1,183 programs tried to form a response but all that Legion could come up with is "No, Data Available."

Shepard gave a sigh. "It was rhetorical. Anyways, I'll figure something out Legion," Shepard said as he walked towards the door back to the med bay. Legion gave a farewell before the doors sealed shut behind Shepard.

The Commander, eventually losing interest in every other minor task he had to accomplish, moved over to the tech lab to talk to Mordin. No matter what happened, Mordin always had something to talk about. Walking into the Tech labs, the Salarian's lips formed into a grin and he registered the newcomer walking into the lab.

"Shepard!" the Salarian greeted, spreading his arms wide and gesturing to him. "Knew you would come. Talk to me about Tali. Feeling well after night together I presume?" Mordin asked.

"Wha.. How?" Shepard said surprised.

"Knew from before collector base that you and Tali would mate. Will start on immune system booster for Tali to make nights more bearable." Mordin finished, writing it down on his terminal. Shepard only gave a weak smile. "Also, should inform you that have been attempting cure for Quarian Immune systems. Results so far are weak. Recent attempts have begun to bear fruit however. If successful, will distribute to Quarian race, act of good faith." Mordin said

Shepard was very surprised at that. "So your saying you could boost Tali's immune system? As well as those of every Quarian in the Migrant Fleet?"

Mordin stopped typing and gave a nod. "Yes. Permanently too. Also side effects may be strange. No data available. Will require tissue samples"

"What side effects are you talking about?"

"Possibility of fruitful relationship between you and Tali."

Shepard thought about it for a second before he caught on with the meaning. Children… Tali will be very happy to hear this single fact and possibility.

"That's… uhm nice to hear" Shepard said

"Also possibility of developing cancerous tumors. Won't know until more tests are run." Mordin responded rather casually. Not long after, he tossed a small container toward Shepard, which he barely caught. He was going to ask Mordin what it was before he got a rather good feeling what it was. A fruitful, but not fully finished, sample of Mordin's cure. Before he could give an appropriate thanks, he felt something… strange.

Something very wrong with his head. A feeling he hasn't felt since Eden Prime. He wasn't sure what may of caused his lightheadedness but he tried to shake the feeling away. It was mildly successful. He looked at Mordin once more and tried to thank him again before he felt another surge of pain. He put the vial on the table near him and grasped his head as the pain continued to surge. Once it subsided, he turned to go to the med bay before another surge hit him. He never got the chance to tell how strong it was, but he blacked out as soon as the wave hit him.

...

He groaned. The first thing he heard was the faint beeping of system monitors.

"He's waking up" Tali said to Chakwas, but even to Shepard in his current state he didn't know who was who.

"Move aside, Tali" Chakwas said as she rushed to the bed.

Hearing Chakwas order her away from Shepard Tali gave Chakwas a glare and said "I am not moving from this spot until I know he is alright."

Chakwas gave a 'this is hopeless' sigh and walked over to Shepard anyways. "Commander?" Chakwas asked, trying to find out if he would wake up more or if he would fall asleep/unconscious yet again.

Shepard started opening his eyes when he recognized Tali's voice, and her protest to Chakwas about moving. At this point, he realized that there was someone holding his left hand. Without a thought he knew who it was and started to sit up. The hand that held his possibly brought a hand to his back and helped him to sit up.

"Where am I?" Shepard asked with a groan to no one in particular. He fluttered his eyes as his vision slowly came back to him. That headache must have been WAY too strong. Looking around the room, he first made out the images of Tali and Chakwas.

"The med bay," Chakwas answered, crossing her arms. "You took a hard fall, Commander. You've been out for over 28 hours." She informed him. She reached into a small nurse pouch on her chest and brought out a flashlight. She put a hand on Shepard's shoulder and ran the light in each eye, watching them dilate. Moments later she said, "For the moment you seem fine... I'll have to file a report on this." She went over to her desk and brought out a small syringe. She gave it to Tali and pointed at Shepard. "Should this happen again, inject that into him." She then turned to Shepard and gave a gesture to the door. "You can go now."

Shepard gave an appreciative nod and grabbed a hold on Tali's hands as he began sliding off the bed. It was fairly easy and he noticed himself feeling slightly refreshed. It must have been from the twenty eight hours of rest. Either way, he began walking out of the med bay while unconsciously holding Tali's hand. She tried to let go before the door's slid open, but his grasp didn't falter. She didn't know if it was out of his pride in their love or his confidence that no one would see them, but she felt as nervous as ever, leaving the med bay hand-in-hand with the commander, her commander.