She'd been confined for nearly six months. And, thanks to the door guard James Vega that time flew by as best it could. She missed Garrus more than anything, but they refused to let her contact him. Not only had he immediately joined her after her resurrection into Cerberus, but he was also a vigilante from multiple different law agencies. At least he was according to the Alliance. Her understanding was that Palaven Command had taken him back in almost immediately, probably due to his father's pull with the Primarch.

She did know that his mother had passed. Her heart wept for him and she managed to drink Vega under the table long enough to steal his data pad and send him a quick message. An apology that she couldn't be there for him, and hoped he was well. But, more than anything, she missed him.

She hoped the message actually got through, and she had no way to know if he replied because Vega never told her anything. She really liked the young marine, but he was good at following orders and refused to bend them even for the 'Great Commander Shepard'… Probably because her title had been revoked pending a hearing with Alliance command. She never told him she sent the message, but she knew he knew based on the look he gave her. He held up the data pad so she could see what he was doing, and deleted her message. That way no one could easily see what she had done. At least in that he'd bent the rules for her and probably saved her another few months of confinement.

The hell is he? She pondered as she sat at her desk reading a book on her data pad. She looked out her window at a little boy playing on the rooftop. Vega usually came by around this time with beers for her, followed by her either kicking his ass at poker or him kicking her ass at video games. She was a sore loser, but then again so was he.

The door whooshed open and she turned to face him.

"Commander." He saluted.

"Not supposed to call me that, remember James?" She teased.

"Whatever, the defense committee needs to see you, now." His normally taunting tone was urgent.

"Whats up?" She immediately set her book down and walked over to him. The hall was full of people in uniform power walking from point A to B. "Why is everyone in such a rush?"

"Dunno, all I know is they want to see you, now."

Anderson met them in the hall. He'd visited her regularly, they'd shared a few beers, going over the time when she lived with him, and how grateful he was he could legally have her under lock and key now. Reminiscing about the good old days, like him punching Udina and her stealing the Normandy. She glowered at him when he mentioned she was soft around the edges.

"Yeah, not diving for my life every day really lets the muscles go soft." She rolled her eyes, "And that hot food and soft bed? Damn, if I don't feel like a puddle."

She asked the same question she'd asked James, but she didn't get a lot more from him except something big was coming and Hackett was mobilizing the fleets. She froze in her steps, her heart sank.

"Reapers."

"We don't know that yet. But we've lost contact with the Council and the other races." He shook his head.

"If it is them we aren't ready, not by a long shot."

"Tell that to the defense committee." He turned to walk away from her, she had to jog to keep up.

"I did that before, remember?" She matched his pace the best he could, "Besides, all they could do is talk the reapers to death. And from what Sovereign and Harbinger have showed me, they'd win the talking thing."

"They are just scared." He scolded, the father tone seeping into his voice. "You are the only one who has seen what they plan to do to us. You know more about this than anyone."

"So that's why they grounded me? Took my ship? Locked me up?" She stopped in her tracks, people sidestepped around them, "Why they basically slapped a giant mute button on me and the whole story?"

"You know that isn't true." He chided. "The kind of shit you've pulled? Anyone else would have been tried, court-martialed and left to rot. It was your antics that kept that from happening."

"That…and your good word." She added quietly. She knew he'd stuck his neck out for her, risked his entire career for her. She was very certain that was the real reason she wasn't in jail for life.

"Yeah, I believe you. The defense committee does too." He motioned her to follow; there was no time to wait. "Just be you and talk to them, and do whatever the hell it takes to stop the reapers."

They entered the foyer to the committees office, James stopped her and wished her luck. She turned to continue and came face to face with Kaiden. She hadn't seen or heard from him since their encounter on Horizon. Her hairs stood on the back of her neck.

"Sheperd." There seemed like there was more he wanted to say.

"Alenko." She stayed cold, and why shouldn't she? He'd abandoned her when she needed him. Yeah she knew he had to 'look out for number one' but it still ate at her.

"Major, how'd it go in there?" Anderson asked, Kaiden quickly answered.

"Major?" She interjected before she could stop herself, he'd been promoted?

"Sorry, I meant to tell you but-"

"Yeah, I get it, payback's a bitch." She brushed past him, heard Anderson apologize behind her as she pushed through the doors to the conference room.

James hung back with Kaiden, he wasn't invited to the meeting so all he could do was sit back and wait. He tried to be civil with the other man, but Shepard had told him all about her dealings with Cerberus. Both the formal debrief, and all the times she told the illusive man to shove it where the sun didn't shine. He felt like he knew exactly what went down, and she hadn't kept any secrets from him.

That's why he didn't snitch about the message she'd sent to the Turian, though he could've gotten into deep trouble over it. He knew their relationship. And someone that important, you should be there when family goes. He hated that he couldn't show her his reply. Maybe he could show her after the meeting? It'd been a long while, but maybe she'd want to read it none the less.

"So, you and the Commander are close?" Kaiden tried to make small talk as he awaited orders.

"Mhm." James grunted, crossing his arms and staring at the Major.

"Ah, I take it she's told you." He rubbed the back of his neck. "I wish she'd give me the chance to apologize."

"You wanted to apologize?" James raised his eyebrow at him, "You do realize she's been locked up down the hall for five months right? Only Alliance personnel are allowed to talk to her. Pretty sure that includes you."

"You weren't there, you don't know what it was like for me."

"And you don't know what it was like for her." James retorted. Kaiden was about to continue when they heard a large crash and screaming on the other side of the door.

James tried to open it, but the circuits were fried, and something was blocking it.

XXX

She heard a voice in the distance calling her name. She blinked and rolled onto her side, rubbing her eyes to try and see again. The defense committee was finally listening, now that it was too late, when the Reapers were already here. The invasion had begun.

She tried to remember what happened, the world still sparkled a bit from the impact. They'd been hit directly by a reaper, the entire defense committee was scattered dead around her. She heard her name a bit louder and Anderson grabbed her arm, pulling her up. He handed her a pistol and the set out among the ruins, Anderson trying to get in touch with anyone. Kaiden answered first. She barely heard anything he said. She looked out at the reapers landing in downtown. Each step they took destroying buildings, their beams taking out any aircraft with ease. How the hell were they going to stop this?

It was nice to fight alongside Anderson. Old man still had some fight left in him. They worked their way through the battlefield that had once been downtown Vancouver. They met the new monstrosities the Reapers had cooked up and finally got in touch with the Normandy. She swept in like an avenging angel, bringing reinforcements to their desperate plight since their ammo reserves were completely depleted.

She bolted to her real home, that beautiful ship that had been, quite literally, to hell and back with her. She felt a jolt of energy as soon as her boot hit the hangar. She turned on her heel, ready to help Anderson, only to see him stopped short at the edge of the ramp, ordering her to leave.

"Like hell I'm leaving you here!" She shouted from the safety of Normandy's bay door. "Now stop arguing and get your ass in here!"

"We need everyone in this fight with us. You know that." He stood his ground, "Go and talk to the Council, convince them to help us."

"What if they won't listen?" She felt her voice crack. She had to leave the man who had become her father on a planet being overrun by reapers.

"Make them listen. That's an order."

"I don't take orders from you, remember?" She tried to joke but the laugh caught in her throat.

"Consider yourself reinstated… smart ass." He smiled at her and tossed her dog tags up to her. "You know what you have to do."

She paused briefly, this was too hard. "I'll be back for you. And I'm bringing every fleet I can."

"Good." He grinned, "Now get to it."

"Good luck, Anderson."

"You too, Arri."

Leaving Anderson was one of the hardest things she'd ever done. He'd commanded her to leave, he'd refused to join her. Her fingers clasped hard around her dog-tags, the blunt metal digging in to her fingers. And James barking in her ear about going back was grating. She whirled on him.

"Enough! Don't you think I'd rather stay and fight?" She snapped, "We're going to the citadel. If you want out, you can catch a ride back from there."

She hadn't meant to snap so hard at James, he'd always been so kind to her, so amusing during her confinement. She'd kicked his ass at cards more times than she could count and they'd become very close friends; she viewed him almost as a little she was in pain. The man who'd filled in the role of her father forced her to get out of the Sol system, to leave earth and him behind to begin the arduous task of uniting the fleets. His words voiced exactly how she felt, but they had to push on.

She answered the call from Hackett, it was choppy, but EDI was amazing.

She closed the message and ordered her crew to grab their gear, it was time to go save Liara.