A girl sat on the porch of a house. Winter had already arrived, and snow fell around and over her, leaving white traces on her long, red hair when the snowflakes fell on it. Her emerald green eyes were focused on the heavens, and on the infinite number of stars that were visible throughout the night sky.

She heard as the door of the house behind her opened, and the sound of a mechanical wheelchair broke the silence of the night. The machine and the man operating it stopped next to her.

"Trying to freeze yourself to death, kid ?" the man said while he covered himself with a jacket, "There are easier ways to get yourself killed if that's what you're looking for"

She grabbed her knees with both hands and spoke "This little winter is what you call cold ? You're getting soft and old, J"

"When your face and fingers start to get blue, we'll see who's soft and old"

"You wouldn't let that happen. The doctor in you would never leave a poor innocent person to freeze" she replied with a smirk look on her face.

"Oh, you know me so well, kid"

After a few minutes in silence, the man started to head towards the door of the house. "Well, it's getting late, kid. See you tomorrow"

As he opened it, the girl spoke.

"J ?"

"Yes ?"

"Is life better up there ?"

" Up there where kid ?"

She lifted her hand and pointed upwards " Up there in the stars"

"You've asked me the same question for the past 6 years"

"I know. What can I say ? I liked the answer you gave me the first time"

The man stood in silence for a few moments before answering. He looked at the stars, the stars that he himself had visited many years ago, until he finally spoke, giving her the same answer that he had given her year after year.

"Up there is almost the same as down here kid. There are good and bad things, good and bad people, saints and sinners, angels and monsters. You are as likely to find a friend as you are to find someone who wants to kill you. In the end, the choices that you make and the actions that you take will determine on which group you will end and what kind of life you'll lead"

A satisfied smile crossed her face "Thanks. I guess I needed to hear that one more time"

Jonathan turned the wheelchair around to face her and asked: "So, I guess this comes because you're really thinking of doing it , aren't you ? You're truly planning on joining the Alliance ?"

"It's the only thing I can do" she replied in a firm and decisive tone. "I have no future down here. With the Alliance I'll have food, a bed and a roof. Plus, I'll be able to visit the Galaxy for free"

"Somehow I knew you would say that. Ever since I've met you that's the only thing that I pictured you doing with your life"

Surprised, she replied "You did ? Seriously ? I've always thought that you expected me to stay down here for the rest of my life, until I got killed or I overdosed on something"

"Kate, you're no deadbeat junkie, you know it and I know it too" Jonathan said in a reassuring tone "You have aspirations, you actually want to do something with your life" He took a drink from the small flask that he had in his pocket before he continued. "I still remember how your eyes lit up when I told you stories about the adventures of heroes like Grissom and others. I remember when we stayed for hours in the spaceport just because you wanted…"

"To see the spaceships coming and going" she interrupted him as she fondly remembered those trips they took when she was younger.

"Exactly. You always had a thing for space, whether you realized it or not. And you're experiences here on Earth haven't been very positive exactly, so..."

"So you figured that I would take the first chance I got to leave this rock"

"Yes. Wasn't really that hard to figure out"

"Hmm. Maybe you're not as dumb as you look, old man" Shepard replied in a sarcastic tone.

"I don't know about that. I've been taking care of you for the past 6 years, haven't I ? I think that's a pretty dumb thing to do"

"I can take care of myself"

"Remember how you were when I met you ? I don't doubt that you can defend yourself, but you still come back here every night, don't you ? Looks like you prefer a roof and warm food to a cardboard box below a highway, or am I wrong ?" Jonathan said in accusatory tone.

"Sometimes you can be a real asshole J"

"We've got that in common, kid" The man replied as he laughed. "So, what's your next move?"

"Well, basically all I'll need is to get an ID. No way I'm showing up to the Alliance Office to register as Jane Doe. So for now, that's what I'll focus on. After I get hold of an ID, well, only time will tell"

"Getting a fake ID through the Alliance will be pretty hard. They make the best scanners on the planet, you know ?"

"I'm fully aware of that, but I'll find a way, no matter what it takes. I'll bust my ass to find one that's real enough to get me through. This is my future we're talking about, and I'm not going to lose it because of small shit like a fucking ID"

Jonathan smiled, and after a few moments he pulled out a small envelope from one of the pockets in his jacket "That's what I wanted to hear. Happy Birthday, kid"

Shepard checked the exterior of the envelope while staring at Jonathan with a raised eyebrow "What the hell is this, J ? A Happy Birthday Card is all that you can afford with the Alliance Veteran Salary ?

"Stop being a smartass for a second and open the goddamn envelope, kid" he said in an annoyed tone.

"Alright, fine. Don't get so salty about it"

She tore apart the side of the envelope to see its content. The disappointment in her face was impossible to conceal as she turned around to face Jonathan. "This is just a paper with a code, J. Is this your idea of a prank, old man ?

"Put the code in your omnitool, dumbass"

She inserted the code into her Kassa manufactured omnitool and waited. Suddenly, an image projected itself out of the device, and she couldn't believe what her eyes, which started to fill with tears of joy, were seeing ahead of her. The picture that came from the omnitool showed a citizenship ID for the United North American States.

Name: Shepard, Kate.

Date of Birth: October 28th, 2153.

Age: 18.

"Holy Shit", Kate said while she continued to stare dumbfounded into the image ahead of her. After a couple minutes, she turned and embraced Jonathan in a tight hug "I can't thank you enough, J"

"Don't mention it kid"

"How the hell did you do this ?" The shock and surprise were evident as the words left her mouth.

"Called some old friends In the Alliance who owed me some favors. They work directly with the Information Registry Department, so for all intents and purposes this ID is just the same as a real one"

"But, you know I'm really not 18, right ?"

"And I know your real name isn't Kate Shepard either. You're 17, that's close enough. And the only ones who know those facts are you and me, so I suggest that we both keep our mouths shut about them"

"Sounds like a plan"

She stood next to him for several minutes, contemplating the opportunities that now lay ahead of her, and trying to imagine what awaited for her in the future. "I'll find out soon enough" she thought.

Before she could speak again, Jonathan did. "The Registration Office opens in a few hours, and if everything goes right, you should be a fully registered Alliance soldier and they'll be taking you to some place around the globe to train. So, take a shower and get some shut eye. It might be the last chance you get to do it for a long time"

Shepard stood in silence for several moments, before speaking again. "How I'm supposed to repay you for this, J?"

He placed his hand in her shoulder, and staring directly at her eyes, he replied in a firm and reassuring tone: "I'll only ask one thing of you. Promise me that you'll do some good out there. The galaxy can be a very dark place, so do what you can to make it a little brighter for everyone"

" I will Jonathan. I promise you I will"

"Don't waste this chance. Make me proud, kid"

Shepard woke up. Her eyes looked at the clouds that roamed the sky above her. She quickly wiped the tears that were rolling down her cheeks and started to pull her legs out of the sleeping bag. "You can only fight sleep for so long before your body gives up. I know that better than anyone", she thought as she stretched and contemplated as the sun started to rise on the horizon, sending the night away to the other side of the world. She cleaned the rocks and dirt from her sleeping bag before rolling it and sealing it inside a plastic bag.

The phrases from her dream, phrases the she had heard and said 16 years ago, still resonated in her mind, as echoes from the past that refused to fade away.

"Is life better up there ?"

"Saints and sinners. Angels and monsters"

"Make some good out there"

"Make me proud, kid"

"I promise you I will"

The last phrase was the one that struck her the most. "I promise you I will".

"You didn't quite kept that promise, did you now? Not the first promise you broke, and it certainly wasn't the last" Shepard said. "How many promises have I made and fail to kept, I wonder ?" "Dozens ? Hundreds ? Thousands "

"All of them, actually". Ain't that the truth"

She remembered some of the promises she had made during her life, as they drifted through her mind over and over.

"I'll get you home safe. I promise"

"I'll pull you out of there. I promise"

"You'll see your family again. I promise"

"I'll get Kaidan, and then I'm coming back for you Ash. I promise"

"I won't let your people die. I promise"

"Marriage, old age and a lot of little blue children" "Everyday after" "I'm always coming back". "I promise"

Liara

Of all the promises that Shepard had made during her life, the ones that she had made to Liara T'Soni hurt the most.

Because she knew she wouldn't keep them from the moment she uttered those words. Not because she didn't want to, because she did. "God, I wanted it more than anything else in the Galaxy" she said in her thoughts. No, it was because she was promising herself and Liara a future.

A future.

A future that she knew she wouldn't be around to be a part of. Because she didn't see herself surviving the Reaper War.

And yet she made the promises. Because she wanted to believe.

"And look at me now. Alive and kicking, and Liara and everyone else are either lost throughout the Galaxy or…"

Dead. She couldn't bring herself to say the word out loud. She couldn't put Liara and Dead in the same sentence.

In an anguished tone, Shepard said: "I shouldn't have promised anything to her, or to anyone else for that matter".

As she began to sob and with a broken voice, the 4 words that she had said to herself countless times left her mouth once more "I miss you, Liara"

Several minutes later, minutes spent with her face buried in her hands, a chilling breeze made her lift her head as the morning cold swept through her body. She opened her tattered backpack to find some more clothing to cover herself with. While she pulled out the remnants of a scarf from one of the pockets, a book came out with it. She rolled her scarf around her neck and picked up the large and big book that had fallen to the ground. She didn't remember when she had picked it up, or from where, but that didn't really matter now. As she opened it and scrolled through it, she was surprised with what she saw.

Empty. Completely empty.

All the pages were completely blank, but the feeling of the paper made her feel strangely relaxed. She remembered the collection of books that she had kept on both the SR-1 and the SR-2. She remembered one of the conversations that she had with Liara about them.

"Wouldn't it be simpler to store this information in digital format, Katerina ? I'm sure that even the simplest of datapads is more than capable of holding the information most of these books carry, and it would allow you to use the physical space here in your cabin more efficiently"

"I know, but I've never been a huge fan of reading stuff virtually. It's weird, I know, especially during these times, but there's something special about them. Feeling a book in my hands and sensing the smell of their pages somehow makes me feel… happy, alive ? I really don't know how to describe it"

"I think I understand. It is more a habit than a necessity, then?"

"Yeah, something like that"

"I probably feel the same way when I'm studying ancient scripts"

As she continued to check the dozens of books that filled Kate's shelves, Liara spoke with a curious tone: "So, what are you planning to do with them once all this is over ?"

Shepard smiled, and in a swift move she grabbed and held Liara tightly from behind, and after giving her a quick kiss on the neck, she said: "I'm planning to take them to wherever you and I go to settle down after this damn war. And I'm planning to read them to you every night, and then…" she spun Liara around and rested her forehead against hers "we're going to read them to our daughters, every night until they decide that we're a pain in the ass and they tell us to stop"

"Every night? That sounds like a big commitment Commander"

"Every night after. I promise"

With a smile on her face, Liara replied "I'd like that, Katerina. I'd like that very much" and then gave Shepard a deep and long kiss.

Kate opened her eyes and felt the smile that had formed on her mouth. "Losing myself in memories, again". Shepard thought as she toyed with the book in her hands. "Who can blame me for losing myself in memories, when these memories are all that I have left of you. There was never enough time for the 2 of us, there was always something keeping us from being fully together"

"And now, I have all the time in the world, but I don't have you"

Looking at the book, Shepard said: "Maybe I'll write something here. At least I'll try"

Hey Liara

You know writing has never really been my thing. First, because I didn't had the time, and second, because as you once said to me "You're a woman of action who sometimes remembers that she can use words as well".

Well, here I am, trying to use words, trying to keep myself sane in an insane world by saving my thoughts in this book.

Everything is not going to be written here. A few months ago I had to make a choice, a choice that affected the lives of every living being in the Galaxy, and the things I've seen since then here on Earth have made me question, more than once, if I made the right one. I promise that when we met I'll tell you the whole story.

I must keep believing that we'll meet again. Otherwise, what was the point in all I did and everything I'm going to do ?

I hope that you'll read this someday.

I love you.

Katerina Shepard.