The first thing that Emma could remember was waking up and quickly being sedated again after being in horrendous pain. She hated that she couldn't tell if she was alive or in Hell. Either way, it seemed that it would be some time before she found out. For now, she drifted in a happy weightlessness, Garrus in the back of her mind. She worried for him. What was he doing, now? She'd been in this state for hours, it seemed like, and there wasn't much else for her to think about other than what had happened before. The attack on the Normandy. She pushed that out of her mind and fell asleep, finally.

Awaking once more to screaming alarms, bright lights, flames, and panic, quickly brought her back to her senses. It was almost how she had last seen her world. The woman speaking to her, Miranda was a bit of a pain in her ear. They were going to have some words when Emma found her. As she fought her way through the station, she found herself questioning her own actions. She didn't know if it was right, and she planned to find out. When she found Jacob, she could breathe easier. And when the two of them finally met up with Miranda, the other man dying on the spot, practically, Emma had plenty of questions. What she found the most aggravating was that Miranda seemed to place herself higher than the other two, and that she couldn't have cared less about looking for survivors. As they traveled in the shuttle, she was forced to remember things that she didn't like to remember. She was almost brought to tears, upon remembering that she had left Ashley, who had practically become her sister, alone to die on Virmire. All she wanted to do, right now, was go find the one friend she knew she still had, and hug him however tight she could manage. IT wasn't long until she was allowed to exit the shuttle.

After the Illusive Man was done talking with her, she made her way towards the new ship she was to be given. The small shock of seeing Joker was one that gave her a reason to smile, for the first time. The bigger shock came later. The Normandy SR-2; she looked just as beautiful as Emma could remember the first one being. And on the inside, it was improved to better function, and fit her needs. Once she was settled, they set off for a small settlement that had recently gone dark. When she arrived with her "team" they began looking for survivors immediately. As each defense system activated, more and more pressure was being put on to find a trace of anyone living. Their only hope was to assume someone was controlling the defenses inside, somewhere. So the push was made to find that sealed off area. Jacob was causing Emma to go insane slowly, with each comment.

At her relief, they found someone. And not just anyone was found - Tali was there. She looked as good as ever, and the two talked for a moment. The Quarians seemed to know more about what was going on, so they all agreed to work together to find the missing Quarian, who seemed to be frantic in keeping himself safe. Emma promised no harm would come to him, no matter what happened. Miranda was clearly having issues with the arrangement, but she had kept herself quiet. She seemed like the type to keep quiet until it was safe to talk freely.

As the heavy mech came out, all but one Quarian was slaughtered. As she moved on, she was relieved to see that the missing one was safe, though frantic. As she patiently waited, and listened, she almost felt like her legs would collapse. Collectors? What were these things? The video did nothing to explain to her, though to Miranda and Jacob, it explained everything. She began asking questions of them as Tali came up. Emma promised Tali that he could go back to the fleet, so long as all the information they could gather would be sent to her as soon as possible. Agreeing, and saying goodbye with a sad tone, Tali left, just as the three humans did. No one was spared here to Emma's disappointment.

Now, her new mission was to gain recruits to fight these monsters. She had a feeling that they were with the Reapers, and that was a priority in her mind. Two members were to be found on Omega; Mordin, a Salarian, and Archangel. Nothing showed up for Archangel, except that he was a good shooter, and held a high bounty over his head. Going to Aria under instruction proved to be of some help, despite her attitude. Emma thought she saw that asari from the Citadel. Then again, in this lighting, they all looked rather alike. As she left to the quarantine zone, she was determined to get Mordin out at whatever cost. Fighting mercs along the way was just busy work. The Vorcha and Krogan were all pains to rid of. But when Mordin was found to still be safe, and now willing to part with his work, Emma smiled, and welcomed him to her team. He had an interesting aura to him that she found comforting in a way. And as she went back a second time to find Aria to talk about Archangel, she wasn't pleased to hear that it would be a more difficult challenge.

Archangel was corned, and Aria was glad to hear that they almost had him. She wanted him gone as much as she wanted him working for her. And when Emma went to go 'sign up' as a freelancer, she had to remind herself that there was a time and a place for every bullet in every head. As they neared Archangel, crossing the bridge, Emma gave the signal to fire upon the others. A bullet from a sniper above nicked her shoulder, but she pressed on. She made her way up the staircase as the last merc went down. The door slid open to her relief, and found Archangel sitting there. The look on her face when she finally met the real person was priceless. And the look on his, told her everything she needed to know. She was back where she belonged; now holding him close to her. The slight changes to her plan were there, yes, but after he had collapsed, and the threat was soon gone along with adrenaline, she couldn't help but worry again that he would be alright; more or less his face. She didn't sleep until he was awake again. And when she glanced over as the door opened back on the Normandy, the two alone in the room at last, she fell into his arms again. Garrus was back, and alive as ever. As events unfolded, and more recruits joined her, she found her presence being joined more and more often by his. She couldn't trust many others, and she felt like there was something between them, now.

Her fun with him really began when Miranda and Kelly could be heard talking about showing him a "good time" to their low standards. She nearly lost it. And right then, seeing as they were nearby, she went to grab Garrus, pulling him away from his work, and forcing him to stay in the loft with her that night. The two snuggled all night and shared stories. She was surprised to learn how much more like Saren he had become, which frightened her, and intrigued her at the same time. He ignored some rules to make sure others could still remain. But, he still had a good heart, it was just a little bruised and needed tender loving.

Emma had happily claimed Garrus after that. All while fighting off Collectors and Reapers at the same time. Garrus joked that she was taking on enough work to last her two lifetimes. A friendly reminder from her told him that she was in fact, living a second life, now. She would be damned if the Turian Councilor ever took her side on this. She'd told that to Garrus and the two laughed for a while, mocking the Councilor. They'd just finished their adventure on the abandoned Reaper, and when she began to fall asleep in his arms on the couch after one of the longest fights she'd had for a long time, she felt him hoist her up like a ragdoll, and move her to the bed, right before she lost consciousness, happy for a change.

All night the whispering now persisted once more for the first time since the Normandy went down in flames.

"Come find me."