She was taking way too long to die. If only she were Drell, like Thane; then she could just lose herself in some of her more torrid memories. Now that would be the way to go out. A savage, amused grin cracked her pained expression as she wished for that ability. As it stood, Commander Shepard was bored as she slowly bled to death. Damn her upgraded body, holding on for dear life.

Might as well take the time to do some productive thinking. She began to ponder why she wasn't dead. That Catalyst AI was so sure she'd die. Yeah, she was part synthetic: that was a fact. She wasn't entirely dependent on it, though. They sped her healing, reinforced her bones, and wove defensive materials into her skin…but at her most basic, she was flesh. Cerberus grew back pretty much all her core tissue. It's not like she had a pacemaker or anything. She was filled with real lungs, a real heart, and a real brain. Wonder why that kid thing thought I'd die.

Well, she certainly felt like death. To say she had searing pain constantly throbbing throughout every muscle in her body would be an understatement. At this point, she wished that the battery-powered defenses had failed in the atmosphere and she just burned to a crisp. At least then it would've been instant…and warm. She always hated being cold; came with growing up on the streets. Warm nights were a luxury. What she wouldn't give for a blanket right now. Better yet, she'd like to have Kaidan wrapped around her – he was pretty much her personal space heater. They joked it was because he was Canadian. Greenhouse gases had made Canada a much warmer place in recent generations, but the two of them initially bonded over sharing an appreciation for the humor of old stereotypes.

Time to pretend to be a Drell and pick a good memory to remember. Hmmm. What about one before any of this crap happened? She thought back and plucked a fond one: the night they tried to actually cook dinner together. That did not end well. The right corner of her mouth quirked up sadly as her mind drifted to a simpler time.


Another piece of debris thunked against the side of the Mako, the tank shuddering as it raced out of London. James winced and spared a split second glance back toward Kaidan. "You all right there, Alenko?"

No. He was not all right. A soft groan escaped as his broken toes jammed against the floor again. He definitely had a broken rib or five, he had fractured – maybe crushed – the majority of his left toes, and he had lost his biotic abilities. All his body wanted to do was collapse until doctors woke him up. Kaidan refused to let that happen, though. Not while she was out there. "I'll live. How far away are we?"

"Not much farther. What part should we check first? I need to start angling in that direction."

"Hell if I know. Maybe…argh!" Another shake jarred his ribs. "Maybe where all the arms meet. That's where the Crucible was supposed to attach, right?"

James nodded and frowned. "Yeah. You know, she's gonna be okay. Shepard doesn't know how to quit. Ever."

Kaidan sighed and leaned with a grimace to watch their progression toward the destroyed space station.


"I, um… I just wanted to tell you…" Brown eyes shyly look into my own. I smile softly, silently encouraging him to keep going. A small kiss is pressed against his lips as a final nudge. It works, a calloused and scarred hand reaching to trace my jaw as he chuckles. "Hell, Lia; we've been dancing around this for a while now. I love you."

Happy warmth floods my surprisingly cold body. I grin stupidly in response. "I love you too, Kaidan." We quietly snuggle together on the small couch, darkness slowly bleeding toward us. It's a comforting, calm feeling. We're together and nothing can hurt us here. I burrow a little closer to him; I'm so cold.

"You okay?"

I shake my head. "It's so cold. Tell me that story again."

He chuckles and kisses my hair. "Okay, Shepard."

"Shepard? You promised to never call me that in private."

He stares at me blankly, looking worried – sounding concerned. "…Shepard?" The darkness suddenly erupts into blinding light. I can't see anything!

"…Stop that!" Now I'm worried. Why's he acting like that? Everything gets cold again as the light fades to grey. I want the darkness back! It was warm!

"Kaelia!" Now he's gone. No! Why does my wrist hurt? Where's the calm peace before I die? Or am I dead already? Oh god, am I going to hell? Where did he go?

Suddenly his voice is in my ear…I can barely hear it. Tears stream down my face, the only warmth I feel against my skin. "Lia, if you can hear…don't give in. I meant it when…I can't lose you again. Fight. For me."

What the fuck is going on? I…it sounds like him. Did he find me? Maybe he's really calling me back. All I want to do is die, but…for him, I'll fight one more time. I ball up my fists and force the dark away.


"What the hell is this?"

Kaidan had to keep looking down to ensure his body wasn't actually on fire; it sure felt like it was. Every step was sheer agony. Brown eyes peered around at the bizarre ruins of what looked like an observation deck as he leaned against a console. "I…have no idea. Let's…let's keep…looking." He was getting woozy on his feet.

A soft female voice cleared its throat. "Major Alenko, with all due respect, your concern for the Commander is admirable, but you need immediate care. We've been searching for over an hour."

He rounded to glare at the young woman. He recognized her as the second tank's driver. "Your medics can do whatever they want to me after we find her." She looked ready to fight him on it – a pretty good sign of how bad he probably looked – when James shouted. His attention immediately drawn, Kaidan turned and limped toward the Lieutenant as fast as he could. The driver's footsteps faded away; he assumed she was going to go get the medics.

"Here!" Vega stood above a pile of rubble, carefully moving a particularly large piece.

Both Kaidan and his heart stopped when he noticed dried blood smeared on the metal. Adrenaline kicked in and he limped as fast as his leg would let him. He knelt next to the pile of rubble and began to uncover her as fast as he dared. Small pieces of debris scratched along the floor as he flung them away. "Shepard? Can you hear me?"

Her chest rose sharply before faltering in an outward sigh, body softly trembling. A thin groan escaped as he lifted the last piece of metal covering her head. Heavy footsteps thudded the other way; probably James going to find the medics…where the hell were they? Kaidan's hand gently brushed some hair away from her face. It was so pale. Too pale, really. She had lost so much blood…was bruised, cut beyond belief. She would probably end up with some crazy scars…but she was breathing. She was alive. The relief was palpable as he reached for her hand. "Shepard?"

She twitched once, shallowly wheezing for air. Dammit, she was fading. He urgently called for her, dirty hand squeezing her bloody wrist. "Kaelia!" No, she couldn't die. Not now. Things were finally over! He thought he heard footsteps, but all he could concentrate on was her face. Lips hovered over lips as his voice fell to a whisper. "Lia, if you can hear me, don't give in. I meant it when I said I can't lose you again. Fight. For me." He managed to plant a soft kiss on her blood-stained mouth before the medics gently pushed him to the side.

She gasped a full breath of air as Kaidan moved away, with Vega's help, to sit nearby. It was out of his hands at this point; all he could do was watch helplessly as field medics murmured and worked frantically to keep the woman he loved alive. When they finally pulled her body from the wreckage, his heart sunk. She looked…broken. Was this how she felt, watching him after Mars? Would she ever be able to walk? It would kill her if not…

"Heh. Donnelly better have my money."

Despite the non sequitur, his eyes never left her form, waiting and watching for a sign. Anything. "…What?"

James chuckled quietly. "Donnelly better have my money. We had a betting pool on if you two were 'fraternizing.' Joker got in on it, too."

"Well, that was a mistake."

"…Whaddya mean by that?"

The driver who was trying to corner him earlier walked over and gave Kaidan a tentative smile. "She's somewhat stable, but we need to fly you both out as soon as the shuttles get here. Now please, let one of us look at you while we wait."

Well, he did tell her they could do whatever they wanted to him once Shepard was safe. He nodded quietly and pushed to sit next to the unconscious Commander. "So, the shuttles are working again?" She nodded. Well, that was something. He lifted his hand to try and summon his biotics again. It was like pulling teeth, but the familiar static charge tingled up his arm and into his hand. A small globule of gravity wavered and quickly dissipated on his palm.

"Your biotics not working right?" One of the older medics sat down with a sigh.

Kaidan shook his head. "No, it's like swimming in mud. Is Shepard going to be okay?"

Gauze and needles were laid out on a clean cloth. "She's stable for the moment. Maybe your amp was affected by that wave – it did shut down the shuttle cores after, all. We need to get this armor off of you before I can inspect the damage, Major."

The buckles on his armor were hard to pry open, but they finally succeeded in peeling it off of him. A quiet hiss accompanied the sight of his torso: a couple of ribs, very clearly broken. One was almost poking through the skin. Kaidan couldn't help a dry chuckle. "Well, that would explain the pain."

"Please, please don't laugh. This…is not good. You're not feeling like you're drowning, right? No bloody bubbles in your mouth?" His head shook as he sat back and the medic – name patch said Jonah – looked relieved at the answer. "I'm going to give you a mild sedative. It won't knock you out, but…how have you managed to…"

James walked back over and started clapping. "Looks like you're tougher than I thought there, Major."

"Can't lose my – ow! – edge, Lieutenant." The needle actually hurt more than his ribs; that made no sense. His hand slowly crept through the wreckage, finally finding her equally dirty and bloodied counterpart. A soft moan caught his attention and Kaidan inspected her face. It was twitching uncomfortably…probably all the dried blood causing her to itch. Just as he lightly squeezed her hand, she gurgled and started to cough up dark fluid. "Is that blood?"

Jonah seemed awfully calm as he reached over to dab it up. "Yes, Major." The baleful look shot his way made the medic blanch for a second. "Let me explain! We injected some medi-gel to stop the bleeding. Her left lung had one puncture, but it's patched for the moment. She's just lucky it didn't collapse entirely. We used a tube to pump most of it out, but she's going to be coughing up the residual blood for a while. She's stable and getting air, I promise. We're monitoring her blood oxygen levels."

He wasn't a fully trained medic, but Kaidan knew a thing or two about field repairs. He'd had to perform a few on that same woman several times. This Jonah knew what he was talking about; Kaidan nodded his approval. "Okay, give me the cloth. You keep working on…whatever you're doing here." He held his arm out, receiving the rag in short order.

She gurgled again and he turned her head toward him, blood dribbling down her cheek. "Hey, I showed up. Guess you were right…it wasn't goodbye. You didn't pick a very good spot to wait, though." The rag wasn't very effective; it ended up just wiping the liquid away rather than absorbing it. Another bubbly groan was her reply. "Don't talk. Just…keep coughing this stuff up."

A few minutes later, it seemed she was done for the moment. Her chest slowly rose and fell as the Commander passed into sleep. Keeping half an eye on making sure that her breathing continued, Kaidan gently twisted his hand around her broken one. A soft, barely noticeable squeeze made him blink in surprise.

"Major Alenko, I understand you're…concerned for her, but we're going to need to put you under for surgery as soon as we reach somewhere safe enough to operate. Those ribs need to be set."

He nodded. She'd kill him if she found out that he refused at this point. "That's fine. If you can get a call to the Normandy, tell them we all made it out. They'll come and keep her company."

Jonah smiled awkwardly and spun to leave. A second later, he stopped mid-step and turned with his hands outspread. "Please don't wake her if you can help it…and don't move, either."

"I won't, Doc." Kaidan bit back a pained laugh as he carefully pulled his hand from hers and brushed away a few flakes of dried blood from her cheeks.

"So, uh, what did ya mean, that was a mistake?" James sat amidst the rubble, watching the two with curiosity.

Kaidan could tell the sedative and pain killers were kicking in; he actually felt good enough to allow a lopsided smile as he tucked some red hair behind her ear. "Joker's known for years."


A/N: I may be adding some more later, if I feel inspired after my next ME3 play through! It will likely focus on Kaelia dealing with, ya know, killing all the Geth/EDI/destroying the relays. Nothing too dramatic, but nonetheless something she'll have to deal with. That's a lot of death and destruction to process. Given what these two poor souls have been through, it'll end on a positive if bittersweet note, most likely. I refuse to make them endure too much more. My heart won't be able to take that. If that makes me weak, then so be it!

Anyway, I always beg for reviews and this is no different. If you enjoyed the story (or didn't enjoy it), please let me know what you think! I thrive on constructive feedback.