Author's Note: I wanted to try a continuous story for my second post on this site, and I think that so far it's going well. Reviews and comments are welcome.

She was back. She was finally back.

Ever since Shepard had been revived by Cerberus after the attack on the original Normandy two years ago, the Commander had been surrounded by people he wasn't sure he could trust. Having Garrus, Joker and Chakwas around helped, sure, but it just wasn't the same. Shepard knew what, or rather who, was missing from his new ship, and today she finally returned to him.

Shepard hit the fourth omni-interfaced elevator button and began his decent into engineering. On the third level, however, the elevator stopped early, and Garrus stepped inside to join him.

"I didn't think you'd be down here so quickly. I was planning to wait above Jack's hidey-hole for you and everything." Said Garrus with what Shepard could only assume was the Turian equivalent of a smirk.

"I don't know what you're talking about." Shepard responded calmly as he kept his eyes glued to the door.

"You seem a bit eager to meet with our old squad mate; got anything you need to say to her? Any, heartfelt confessions you need to get off your chest?"

"Garrus, I lost everything in what seemed like a few hours. Forgive me if I want to hold onto whatever I can get back."

The elevator doors opened, but Garrus blocked Shepard's path before he could leave, "Look, I understand that, in fact, that's what I wanted to tell you."

He stared at Garrus quizzically, "What do you mean?"

"Look Shepard," he began, "you gave me a lot of advice on our hunt for Saren, and now is the time for me to return the favor. Life is short, Shepard. I know you have feelings for Tali, hell, everyone back then did. You were always so protective of her, and not just when we were fighting."

Shepard's mind wandered to the day he berated Ashley after she began questioning his decision to bring aliens on board. Even though he stuck by with what he said, he ended up apologizing to her later. The two of them even became friends and consoled each other after Kaidan died.

Garrus continued, "And I get the feeling that she may feel the same way. What I'm trying to say is that we aren't asari; we don't get 100 years of waiting around before we decide who to settle down with. Our lives are short. Take your shot, Shepard."

Shepard thought on it for a bit before answering, "… Maybe you're right Garrus. It's just hard to imagine it working out. She probably wouldn't want to be with someone who isn't a quarian."

"Maybe, but it'll eat at you if you do nothing. Besides, how embarrassing would it be if word got out that the savior of the Citadel can't handle women? Go get her."

"Fine, fine. You win." Shepard relented, "But it'll be on my terms. Now get out of here."

"I'd rather watch."

"Now."

Garrus chuckled to himself as he rode the elevator back to the crew deck, as Shepard sighed deeply before heading through the door.

"Shepard, what can I do for you?" Tali greeted with thinly veiled enthusiasm. She had hoped his daily rounds hadn't been something that had changed about him over the past two years. So far, nothing seemed different, except for one obvious problem…

"Do you have a minute to talk?"

Tali glanced over at the two Cerberus engineers to her left and nodded to Shepard to follow her to the drive core.

When they got there, she began, "Sorry about that, Shepard. As much I trust you, I can't trust Cerberus, no matter how friendly they may seem."

Shepard smiled, "Believe me, I don't blame you. They'll probably betray us at some point, but we took down enough Cerberus bases that they can't stand a chance against us. You'd probably hack everything they've ever loved."

Tali blushed behind her mask, "You know I couldn't do that, they have some of the best cyber security in the galaxy."

"And we have one of the best engineers in the galaxy. That's one of the reasons I needed you back…" Shepard trailed off. He knew that he shouldn't overstep his bounds like that when she just got back.

"Only one? Why else do you need me?" She said in almost a devious tone. She knew she didn't have a chance with Shepard, but she didn't mind the compliment.

"Well, you were always there for me, and you never questioned me or what I thought about the Reapers. Even when I asked you to follow me around the galaxy to catch a dangerous rouge Spectre, you were there for me. Even when the Council wrote me off as a raving lunatic, you were there for me. Now, two years later after you thought I was dead, you dropped everything to come back because you thought it was the right thing to do. I missed you, Tali. I needed you here with me."

Tali was stunned. She barely began to speak again, "Well… Garrus did all of that too. Did he get this talk?"

"Garrus was there too, but he's not nearly as attractive." Shepard said with a smirk. His confidence in the conversation evaporated about half a second after he realized what he had just said, Shit. Went a little too far with that last one.

"I… thank you Shepard. I uh…" She was completely speechless.

"Engineering stuff?" Shepard asked quickly. He had to get out of there, things were getting awkward.

"Yes! Thanks for coming Shepard."

"No problem Tali, I'll talk to you later…" Replied Shepard as he turned and walked away.

"I missed you too…" Tali said back in almost a whisper. Shepard stopped in his tracks as he heard that.

All he could do was turn half-way around and smile at her. Maybe he hadn't done as poorly as he thought.