Cheating Has Consequences

Disclaimer: I do not own Mass Effect 3 or this Jacob travesty would never have happened.

Note: Now, I'm not saying that this is the mature way to handle what happened (especially given the war with the Reapers) but it would sure feel good so let's have a little wish-fulfillment, shall we? So be prepared for some anger directed Jacob's way.

Okay, I'll admit it. I've always been a bit of a coward when it comes to ending a relationship.

With my first girlfriend, way back in high school, I convinced my mom to 'catch' us and order me to end things since I wasn't allowed to date. My second high school girlfriend I 'accidentally' let her dad hear me talking about how much I wanted to sleep with her and my third high school girlfriend was right before I went away to college so I came out to her.

Then in college I was dating this girl Becca who absolutely could not stand people who dressed all in black and stood around hating the world so I got an impromptu makeover for a week until she got sick of it and dumped me. Then Randy was clingy as hell so I took to avoiding her and one day, a few weeks later, I ran into her and her new boyfriend.

It was like an epiphany.

I didn't want to break up with these women because I can't deal with women crying or hitting me or calling me out and making me feel like a jerk and getting them to dump me was getting harder and harder and was by no means a sure thing. Besides, I didn't want to go too far and jeopardize my chances with someone new.

There were other women in between Randy and Miranda and the avoidance method worked wonderfully, especially seeing as how I was travelling so much and they were either also travelling but not with me or staying in one place and thus even easier to avoid.

Miranda I was working with, of course, but one day – before I even really wanted to break up with her, to be honest – she looked over at me, accused me of having commitment issues, and declared that she didn't need that kind of crap before walking off.

Well, I'm sure it would have ended soon enough anyway so whatever.

Shepard was different. I'm not sure what it was that she saw in me that she liked so damn much but we were practically in a relationship before I'd even been consulted. I knew she was lonely and whatnot but I needed to take things slowly so as to avoid serving under a commander who hated me.

She liked me enough to wait, apparently, and we did slowly develop a relationship. Shepard was seriously hot and flirty and interested and so it was a pretty good thing.

I wasn't really looking to settle down, though, and I told her as much. I did promise that after we dealt with the Collectors that we can take some time but…that didn't really work out and that wasn't my fault.

In the course of saving the galaxy from the Reapers – again – Shepard had to blow up a Mass Relay and kill 300,000 Batarians. No one was happy about this. The big shots on Earth summoned her and placed her under house arrest.

What was I supposed to do? Be under house arrest with her? I, for one, still had a job to do and intended to do it.

That's when I met Brynn. Contrary to what Shepard seemed to think, we didn't just jump into bed the minute her back was turned.

We only got together, what, a week before Earth was attacked. I felt bad but, I mean, it is what it is. I hadn't seen Shepard for six months. I've never waited that long for a girl before and I figured she'd have moved on, too.

Except…apparently not. Shepard showed up out of nowhere to save us all from Cerberus and on the one hand I was glad to see that she was still alive and thrilled that we were all going to live to see another day (even Gavin who everyone kind of hates once the story about what happened to his brother leaked) but on the other…well, she didn't seem to realize that we were over. And once she did she turned into the clingy ex from hell. I mean, really? She asked me to leave my wonderful girlfriend and go back to her? Who even does that? I'm happy and settled with Brynn now and if she were a good person she'd be happy for me.

At least she still saved us though for a moment I swear I thought she was just going to leave us to our fate.

Brynn mentioned she spoke with Shepard to try to make her understand but apparently she didn't have much luck either.

And then a few weeks later when I ran into her at Huerta Memorial Hospital right here on the Citadel I told her the good news about Brynn and the baby. It was a little awkward since she started trying to kill me with her eyes so I shared that joke that Brynn had made that cracked me up about naming the baby after her.

Her face just got completely blank for a second and then she smiled, told me she'd remember this, and left.

I'm not sure what I'm expecting, really. Maybe Shepard will go and try to kill Brynn? She seems seriously unstable and stuck in the past. I just don't get it.

I spy my favorite nurse at the hospital, an elderly woman who always flirts with me and tells me I make her feel half a century younger. She's a good sort and even Brynn thinks it's adorable the way we interact. I smile at her. "Hey, Megan. How's it hanging, girl?"

To my great surprise, Megan doesn't light up or laugh like she usually does when I show up. Instead, her lips purse tightly. "I'm ashamed of you, young man," she said, her voice thick with disapproval.

"Um…okay," I said, confused. "What-"

But Megan had already walked away from me.

I went to go find another nurse, an asari one named Limda.

"So Megan's kind of mad at me," I admitted, putting on my best sheepish expression. "Do you have any idea why that might be?"

Shockingly, Limda laughed at me. " 'Do I have any idea…' Oh, that's a good one."

Then she walked away too, shaking her head.

"What is going on here?" I demanded to the world at large.

A salarian I didn't recognize answered me. "Shepard told us what you did, Jacob Taylor."

My jaw dropped open. "Shepard…came here and personally told everyone that we broke up? And now you all hate me?" I asked, horrified.

"That's not quite the story we heard," the salarian replied. "Check Battlespace; she gave Diana Allers an interview."

Battlespace…I've heard of that. It's that war update program. I never watch it because I don't need to. Working with the alliance means I'm already pretty caught up on the state of things.

I immediately left the hospital (my business could wait until I found out just what Shepard had said) and I went to go find an available computer terminal. Once I did, I looked up Battlespace and Shepard's most recent interview which had aired approximately four hours ago. Whatever is on it must be pretty bad because every other person I met on my way here gave me a dirty look and one guy even tripped me.

I don't understand why my relationship with Shepard is anybody else's business but my own and I'm curious to see what makes all these people and what makes her think otherwise. Shepard, no matter what else she might be, isn't an idiot so she'd have to know that she couldn't give an interview about it and expect it to stay private. What, did this Diana Allers hide a camera somewhere when Shepard was telling someone about it? That's about the only scenario that I can think of where Shepard comes off looking okay. A bit lax in the way of security but okay.

The beginning of the interview was the usual claptrap about how awesome Shepard found the krogan and how curing the genophage and allowing them to reproduce like mad again was a wonderful idea. I don't agree and so I was only half-listening until one of the questions caught my attention.

"It's so wonderful that you've been able to bring hope to a shattered people," Allers said agreeably. "But you haven't been so lucky in all areas of your life, have you?"

Shepard looked down. "No, I…no, I haven't. I was there when Earth was attacked, you know, and those are memories that I will never be able to wash away. I won't even be able to try until we retake our planet from these Reaper monsters."

Allers nodded sympathetically. "I know the feeling. More specifically, your love life has taken a bit of a blow recently, hasn't it?"

Shepard's smile was painful. "You found out about that, huh?"

"After what some of the crew are threatening to do to this man, it would be hard not to," Allers said wryly. "It was a Jacob Taylor, wasn't it? Former Alliance and former Cerberus who went with you on your mission to stop the Collectors. Feel free to stop me if I make you uncomfortable."

Shepard, who did look absolutely mortified, smiled bravely. "No, it…it's fine. And yes, that was Jacob."

"What happened, exactly?" Allers asked eagerly. "I've heard the rumors, of course, but I'd rather not flood the Battlespace with second-hand speculation if I could get the story straight from the source."

"Jacob and I met after I was severely injured and Cerberus found me and healed my wounds," Shepard explained. "I was asked to find out why human colonies were going missing and I couldn't say no. Jacob was one of my crew but Cerberus isn't the military so there were no rules against fraternization."

"Did you really trust Cerberus?" Allers inquired. "We all know what they've done before and we all know what they're doing now."

Shepard made a face. " 'Trust' is a strong word but I did believe they wanted to stop the Collectors and stop the Collectors we did. Jacob was a good guy and he was ex-Alliance just like I was. He told me that he left the Alliance because he wanted to be able to do more to help people and sometimes I felt like that, too. We just…clicked. Most of the galaxy thought I was dead and my friends were mad at me for not contacting them while I was in a coma – they didn't know how bad it was, of course – and wary about the Cerberus thing so I didn't have much in my life at the time."

"But you did have Jacob," Allers concluded.

A real smile that time. "I did have Jacob, yes, for a little while at least. He told me-" Shepard broke off, took a breath, tried again. "He told me that sex meant something to him. He said that he wanted to take it slow so that we could have a real relationship and not just a one-night stand and I could take it or leave it. And I took it."

"If only all men thought that way," Allers said wistfully. "So where did things go wrong?"

"After the Collector Base was destroyed. Jacob…he told me that he loved me," Shepard whispered.

I winced. I both hoped that Brynn hadn't watched this and also knew that there was no way that she wouldn't see it at some point.

"Did you not take that well?" Allers guessed.

Shepard shook her head vehemently. "Oh, no! I told him that I needed that and that I loved him, too. I told him that he was the only thing in my life that had made any sense since I woke up from my coma and found out that two years and the galaxy had passed me by. He promised me that we would have our time to just be us, you know? The minute things settled down."

"But then came the batarian colony," Allers supplied.

Shepard nodded. "Then came the batarian colony," she echoed. "I don't know how many batarians you have watching your show but I just want to say…Look, I am so sorry about what happened. If there were any other way…but the Reapers were coming through that Mass Relay in a matter of minutes and then this whole mess would have started six months sooner."

Even now she couldn't just stay on topic and resist the urge to justify herself.

"I had to go to Earth and was placed on house arrest while my claim was investigated and I was to be judged for my actions," Shepard explained. "Jacob went back to Cerberus. He saw the light later, of course, but then he had a job to do."

"You're too understanding," Allers said sagely.

Too understanding? Shepard? Not likely.

"I'm really not," Shepard protested. "I mean, I didn't know what would happen and I knew that there was a very good chance that I would face a heavy penalty for my actions. It wouldn't be fair to keep Jacob at my side and not letting him get back to trying to help people. And in the end, his leaving Cerberus was about helping people so I guess that never really changed."

"Did he offer to stay?" Allers asked shrewdly.

Shepard froze. "He…It was a bad situation. I couldn't-"

"Did he offer to stay?" Allers repeated forcefully.

"No," Shepard admitted, looking down again. "But I don't blame him, really-"

"That's fine," Allers cut her off. "I'll blame him for you. Newsflash: when your significant other is on trial for a crime – whatever crime – either break up or man up and stay with them. Now tell me about when you saw Jacob again. Did he contact you at all during that time?"

"He didn't contact me," Shepard confirmed. "I got a lot of support from a lot of people that I had met in the past. Most of my friends were very supportive of me even if they didn't understand my actions. Jacob, though…"

"And not even an email?" Allers raged. "Talk about how not to treat someone, let alone the hero who is going to save us all!"

Shepard looked embarrassed. "I'm no hero."

"The hell you aren't," Allers argued.

Please. As if Shepard really meant a word of it.

"I'm just doing my job," Shepard insisted.

"Yeah, your job of 'hero'," Allers snarked.

"I saw Jacob again about three months after Earth was attacked," Shepard related. "I was told that some ex-Cerberus scientists were being hunted by the Illusive Man and so needed my head. When I arrived, the base was under attack and Jacob had just been shot. My friends and I got rid of that wave and helped Jacob inside."

"So you met again when you were saving his life," Allers noted. "Interesting. Let's see if he remembers that."

"I don't see how he could not," Shepard replied. "After all, we had that conversation right before we evacuated everyone, while the scientists were packing everything up."

"We'll see," Allers said shortly. "What happened?"

"The first thing Jacob said to me when we were alone was that he never expected to see me again," Shepard said quietly.

"What?" Allers couldn't believe it. "He knew exactly where you were for six months and could have emailed you even after you left Earth. What did he mean he never expected to see you again? And he didn't break up with you or anything?"

It did sound a little bad when put that way but reporters knew how to twist the truth and so did Shepard.

"He did not," Shepard confirmed. "I tried to kiss him because, well, but he wouldn't let me. He told me that he was with the lead scientist now, Dr. Brynn Cole."

"And just how did he try to justify this behavior?" Allers demanded, furious. She was really playing it up for the viewers.

"He asked me if he was supposed to wait forever for me," Shepard said, her voice shaking.

"Maybe not forever but it had only been a few months and he never even tried to make contact!" Allers exploded. 'A few'? Try nine. It was just not reasonable to stay single after nine months of no contact whatsoever and Shepard was partly to blame for that. She could have found me if she'd really wanted to."I can't believe it, I really can't."

"I couldn't either," Shepard confessed.

"Do you have any idea why?" Allers sounded morbidly curious.

Shepard hesitated. "He said that he needed stability and that I had none to offer."

"I can actually understand that," Allers admitted. "Not everyone can take a military life. Still, that doesn't justify no break-up."

"It doesn't," Shepard admitted. "He said that I could be happy, too, if I ever wanted to."

"It sounds to me like you wanted to with Jacob," Allers said pointedly.

Shepard shrugged. "According to him I'm going to die alone because my true love is the Normandy."

That was not what I said, not at all! And if Shepard really wants stability then she has to settle down and stop chasing danger. Sure, now's not really the best time for her to be doing that but that just further proved that we weren't meant to be since the timing is right for me.

"Oh, that bas-That's terrible," Allers growled, catching herself just in time.

"I'm trying to move past it," Shepard said bravely.

"Good luck with that," Allers said encouragingly.

"Thank you," Shepard said, her eyes shining with sincerity. Oh by all means, turn her into a victim.

"So…this 'Brynn.' What's she like?" Allers asked eagerly.

My blood ran cold. They weren't going to malign Brynn, were they? How dare they.

"She told me that she knew that Jacob was with me but that she went after him anyway. She said that Jacob still loved me," Shepard confided.

This time Allers didn't even try to control her disgust. "That bitch. Why would she do that?"

She has no right to judge what happened. None of them do.

"I asked her that, too," Shepard said thoughtfully. "She said that it was because Jacob was better off with her."

"A match made in heaven," Allers said sourly. "And after all of that, you still saved their lives."

Was she really suggesting that Shepard should have just left us there to die? And we're supposed to be the bad people?

"It was my job," Shepard said awkwardly.

"You're a saint," Allers responded. "Have you heard from Jacob since then?"

"I ran into him on the Citadel two weeks ago," Shepard confirmed.

Allers winced. "Awkward. So what happened?"

Shepard forced a smile. "He told me that Brynn was pregnant and asked me to be happy for them. He was overflowing with cheer about getting to be a father. While I die alone."

"I still can't believe he said that," Allers said disgustedly. "And how can he even say that?"

It's a new life beginning! Aren't good people supposed to be happy about these things? She was happy for Joker and EDI! And that was seriously messed up.

"I don't know," Shepard said, shaking her head.

"And what kind of time is it to have a baby right now?" Allers continued. "Why bring a baby into this nightmare?"

"He said it wasn't planned," Shepard volunteered.

"You'd think a scientist would know how to use some form of birth control," Allers said wryly.

"Jacob joked that Brynn wanted to name the baby after me but that he was trying to talk her out of it," Shepard said suddenly.

It was awkward! What was I supposed to say? I hadn't meant to hurt her.

Allers' eyes burned. "He what? Not only does he lead you on and cheat on you, only dumping you when you happen across him but he is also so tasteless as to joke about something like that."

"I…I don't want to talk about this anymore," Shepard said. She looked on the verge of tears.

"Oh, I'm sorry! Don't cry, Commander Shepard," Allers said soothingly. "I didn't mean to upset you. It's just…you're out there every day risking your life so that we can defeat the Reapers and are performing new feats of incredibly badassery every time I turn around, it seems. You truly are our one bright spot in all of this darkness and I just know that one day you'll be able to stop the Reapers and save us all. It just makes me mad that someone like him could have done that to someone like you."

"I'll get through it," Shepard promised bravely. "I will. It's just that it couldn't have come at a worse time."

"You deserve somebody," Allers said firmly. "And you'll find somebody that truly deserves you. What about that cute major you brought aboard? He seems nice."

Shepard choked. "He is, he is. I'm just not quite ready to put this behind me yet. I mean, I want to but Jacob Taylor broke my heart and it's going to take me awhile to get over that."

"I hope you do," Allers said sincerely.

"And I want him to know, wherever he is, that I wish nothing but the best for him and his family," Shepard said, smiling through her tears.

She sounded sincere but I remember her reaction when he had first told her and, like I said, Shepard wasn't stupid. No, she had planned this and now everyone was judging me. Bitch.

"Well, you heard it here first, folks," Allers said, looking into the camera. "Jacob Taylor shattered Commander Shepard's heart into a million pieces and basically did everything wrong that he could have done when starting a new relationship. Could this thoughtless and cruel behavior impact the war effort? More on this subject during our next update."

I sat there in frozen horror for what must have been half an hour, easy.

How was I supposed to handle this? Everyone watched Battlespace and even more than that loved Shepard now that it was obvious she was right all along. She was being treated like a cross between some sort of messiah and superhero.

And now I'm the man who broke her heart. This isn't fair. How can I get past this? I need to…Oh, I don't know.

Wait, yes, I do. I need to call Brynn. Maybe we can come up with a plan forever.

And even if Shepard did turn out to be the psycho bitch ex from hell, maybe it was time I rethink my break-up strategy. Hopefully I would never need it but just in case…

There's no guarantee I'll survive the fallout over this, let alone anything in the future.

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