"My God!" the Medi-Evac personnel said, "Get Admiral Hackett now. Tell him we found him. Head straight for Huerta Memorial since its docked where the beam was."

Shepard could feel the turbulence from the shuttle as it raced across the sky to the hospital. He knew time was limited for him but he fought for every second of it. Time stood still for the commander as he watched the monitor, he heard voices but they were muddled in his ear.

Pain shot across his chest as he felt cold steel cut his melted armor off him bit by bit. While the Medi-evac continued to remove his armor the shuttle jolted to a stop as it arrived at its destination. The shuttle doors were thrown open as a mixture of Quarian, Turian, and Human doctors and nurses put Shepard on a stretcher.


"Take him immediately to the Operating Room now!" a tall Quarian Doctor said to the others, "Get the rest of that armor off of him, and treat those burns now."

Shepard heard the wail of sirens as he was wheeled in the ER doors towards the OR. His breathing Irregular He looked around for a familiar face but found none as he saw wounded soldiers and civilians, some with simple cuts and bullet wounds to more sever amputees. He grasped in his pocket for the picture of Tali she had given to him hoping to take some comfort in just seeing her picture but all he found was a hole blown through his armor and leg.

Looking to the side as he was wheeled away, he saw it flutter to the ground partly burned, before he passed out again.

"Damn! We're losing him!" the Quarian Doctor said, "Give him another dose, close the Femoral artery now or he'll bleed out."

The operating room was total chaos with the exception of the Quarian yelling orders to everyone.

"His lung is punctured sir!" one female turain nurse said.

"Well remove whatever punctured it and fix it! You can see I'm busy with this liver transplant!" The Quarian snapped at her. "

Hours passed as the medical team worked tirelessly over Commander Shepard, making sure that the savior of the Galaxy lived.

"He's losing blood again sir!" A human Doctor said this time.

'Damn, don't die on me now Commander, forty-five years as the Quarians best doctor and I've never lost a patient. I don't intend to lose one now, especially one so important to the Galaxy.' The Quarian Doctor said to himself before turning back to the operating table and saying, "Alright, hook up another bag of blood to him, and find
where he's bleeding at!"


Tali had followed the medi-evac all the way back to the hospital. After the shuttle had left she landed the air car and ran in after him, leaving Raan to move the car.

The doctors had wheeled him in so fast that once she got out she lost sight of him. Unsure of where to go she asked the nurse who was at the reception counter if she knew where Shepard had been taken to. The nurse had replied saying that he had been taken to the OR but she couldn't go back there because his burns made infections a priority.

"Thank you." Tali said to the nurse walking to one of the many empty chairs in the waiting room.

As she sat memories of the countless missions her and Shepard had gone on came back. She felt overwhelmed by them. She didn't know what she would do if she lost him. Not after how hard it was the first time, before Cerberus had rebuilt him. Tali was lost so deep in thought that she didn't even notice that the entire crew of the Normandy had taken seats in the waiting room around her.

"Tali," a rough voice she immediately recognized as Garrus, "He'll be okay, he's Commander Shepard. I know he won't let a little battle damage take him."

"But what if it does Garrus... what… what if this time there is no escape from death for him. You yourself saw what happened to the others when we rushed Harbinger, armor melted onto their skin…"

She felt his hand pat her shoulder gently, "You're forgetting, he's Shepard. He killed sovereign, Seren, the Collectors, and the Reapers. He allied a Galaxy that could never be allied. And most of all he promised to build you a house on Rannoch. The Commander doesn't make a promise he can't keep."

Tali took a deep breath and said "I know, but…"

Before Tali could finish a deep human voice resounded throughout the waiting room announcing, "Admiral on deck!"

At that the entire crew of the Normandy stood at attention and saluting, facing the doors as Admiral Hackett walked through towards Tali.

"At ease." Hackett said, "You all can be seated. Admiral Zorah,"

"Please sir, just call me Tali. Admiral Zorah was my Father."

"Of course. The commander is out of surgery now and is asleep. I figured you would want to be first to know because of your twos relationship."

Tali stood dumbstruck. 'How does he know about us? We havn't told anyone, not even Admiral Raan...'

Hackett saw her confusion and said smiling, "I have two eyes Miss Zorah, I'm not blind. And ohh, I belive this is the Commanders. I saw it fall from his grasp as he was wheeled in.

"Now if you'll excuse me, there are many more soldiers I must see to thank for their sacrifices" The admiral said to her and the crew saluting them first as he left to continue his visits.

"Go on Tali, we'll stay here and wait as long as needed." Garrus said to her

Tali just looked at the burnt picture she had recived from Admiral Hackett, it was the same one she had given him after he had brokered a treaty between the Geth and the Quarians on Rannoch. Turning it around on the back she saw between the splotches of blood the words she had wrote on it read 'To the man who's stolen my heart, and given me a homeworld. Stay safe. '

She was all to thankful for the visor that covered her face as she felt tears slide down her cheeks. Opening the door the Commanders room Tali saw just how bad of shape he really was in. His legs were in cast up to his waist, there a metal bar was inserted to keep his pelvis intact so it would heal properly. Gauz and skin graphs covered the entirity of his chest, and bandages were wraped around his stomach while tubes and wires were attached all over his arms. The one thing that caught her attention the most though was his left hand, his pinky and middle fingers were amputated at the knuckle giving his hand a almost Quarian look.

Pulling a chair up to his side, Tali gently held his uninjured right hand between her hands and listened to the soft sound of his breathing and the constant beeping of the heart monitor.


Well, hope this is okay, was a pain in the rump to write, but there it is. Enjoy. BTW, if anyonw knows how to add a line to seperate between POV's and the such, please leave how in the comments, I've tried everything lol.