Year: 2160

"Here you go," Kerry opened a door into a room with couches. "I'm going to find an orderly who will sit with you until … until we find a place for you to spend the night."

"Thank you," John replied. His mother had instilled manners in her son.

"Are you hungry?" Kerry asked, her voice tender.

John shook his head, fighting the exhaustion that plagued him and glared at Jane who was looking longingly at the vid screen. "Janey? You hungry?"

"Can I watch a vid?" Janey whispered. "I wanna watch pictures."

"Of course," Kerry replied, walking over to the vid screen, and loading up a vid for children. Jane sat down on the floor, too close to the screen, easily distracted by the bright colours.

John sat down on the couch closest to where his sister was watching the vid screen. "Kerry?" He asked, his voice small.

"Yes, John?"

"My momma is dead, isn't she?"

Kerry's sharp intake of breath told him everything he needed to know. "Yes, John," she replied, sitting down next to him on the couch. "Your mom and dad died in the car crash."

John was quiet for a moment, brushing angrily at the tears on his face. "That wasn't my dad," John said darkly. "Don't have a dad."

Kerry's mouth opened into a small "O" of surprise. "John," she whispered. "I am so sorry."

John didn't reply, just resumed watching his sister.

The door to the lounge opened, a young man stepped inside. "Kerry, we've got multiple gunshot wounds coming in, Harris wants you in ER 3."

Kerry looked at the children, conflicted. "I'll be right there. John, it's very important that you stay here, OK?" John nodded once. "The orderly will be here soon. Just… don't move."

When John woke up, he was wearing a pair of scratchy pajamas and was tucked into an unfamiliar bed. He didn't know where he was - didn't even remember falling asleep.

John sat up, looking around frantically. The room was a big one, with lots of beds. It was dark outside, but light was spilling in under a door on the far side of the room. Aircar lights illuminated the room, hurting John's eyes.

It all came back in a rush. His mother, a nervous smile on her face, reassuring her children strapped in the backseat of the aircar. The flash of bright lights. The terrifying crunch and squeal of metal, a hot spray of blood… Janey screaming for their mom.

Gasping, John remembered. Janey. They'd been in a room with couches, she was watching a vid, and… He looked in the beds next to him, but didn't see her.

"Janey?" He called out, looking for his sister. "Janey?"

A nurse walked into the room, a stern look on her face, uniform white and pristine. "Is everything ok in here, young man?" She glanced at the chart at the end of his bed. "John? Are you alright, John?"

"Where is my sister?" John yelled, on the brink of tears. The still forms on the beds around him started to shift, some kids sitting up to see what was happening, others rolling over to block out the sound.

The nurse, startled, looked back at the chart, flipping through the pages. "Sister? There's no record of a sister here."

"Janey!" John shrieked, tumbling out of the hospital bed, landing hard on his hands and knees. running to the bed across from his own. The face that stared back at him was unfriendly. A boy.

He turned back to the nurse. "Where's my sister? Where's Janey?"

The nurse reached his side, fastening a strong hand on his arm. "John, I'll ask the nurse who brought you in. I don't know where your sister is, but we'll find her."

"You have to help me find her. My momma said I had to protect her!" He wailed, letting the nurse pull him into her arms.

"We'll find her, John. We'll find her."

Year: 2186

John escaped the conference room and his sister's irritatingly nonjudgmental gaze with feigned nonchalance. Without much thought, he wandered into the Quantum Entanglement Communicator room. After checking to make sure he was alone, John dropped his head into his hands, letting out a long breath.

He had no idea how to act around her. God, he was acting like a stupid, angry teenager. Pushing her away in the elevator like he didn't even know who she was. Then, like a dumbass, trying to act like everything was normal instead of apologizing for being a dick.

Jane, as usual, had looked right through all his bullshit and had figured it out. The truth. He wanted to protect her. It always seemed to come down to that.

He couldn't help but want to protect her.

Damn it.

The fact that Jane was his sister wasn't common knowledge. John didn't know exactly how many people knew, but he was fairly sure the numbers were low. There were only four people that he knew were aware: Hannah Shepard, Anderson, Garrus and Tali.

He'd never bothered asking Jane not to tell anyone. He'd never felt it necessary. She understood. Both of them knew that if anyone ever got their hands on her, he would give them anything they wanted without hesitation.

She was his goddamned Achilles' heel.

"Get it together, Shepard," he muttered to himself, rubbing his hands over his short hair.

Jane had been in the middle of N7 training when John had been named a Spectre. He hadn't lived to see her graduate. Yesterday was the first time he'd seen her in years.

After his … resurrection, John hadn't reached out to his family. The short, tersely worded, but wonderfully Hannah message his mom had sent him had warmed his heart, but he hadn't bothered to reply until a few weeks into his incarceration on earth. Under Cerberus's watchful eye, John hadn't even given into the urge to run an extranet search for Jane, hadn't mentioned her to anyone, hoping to prevent Cerberus from discovering how important she was to him.

The more time that passed, the harder it had gotten for him to reach out. Asking Anderson to assign her to the Normandy had seemed like the only option. And now Jane was ensconced in Life Support, and he was scared. Scared of what it would be like to fight along side her, of how he would react if she went down and he couldn't save her.

Leaning against the comm panel, John considered what he was going to do with her now that she was on his ship. Leaving her to rot in Life Support wasn't an option, as much as he wanted to order EDI to lock her in there.

It was stupid to let this cripple him and he knew it. She was perfectly capable in battle. Hell, she was more than capable. She was a total bitch with a gun and he'd never known her to pull a punch. Hell, Anderson wouldn't have assigned her to the Normandy if she weren't right for the job, regardless of his relationship to her.

"EDI, how much time do I have?"

"Ten minutes, Commander."

John rode up to his cabin, strapping his armor on quickly, with practiced ease, slinging weapons on his back, into his leg holsters. "Time, EDI?"

"Two minutes, Commander," EDI replied. "Commander, I have noticed you are often running behind."

"Yeah, yeah," John replied, stepping into the elevator. "Did you hold the elevator for me?"

"It would be unseemly for the Commander to arrive late," EDI replied smugly as the elevator opened to the shuttle bay.

James was leaning against the weapons bench, arms crossed. "Ready, Vega?"

He nodded, eyes bright, face a bit pale. "Oorah, Commander."

Kaidan was waiting, at ease, next to the Kodiak shuttle. John sent the man an amused glance. The Major definitely needed to get laid. "Ready, Major?"

"We're just waiting on the new infiltrator," Kaidan replied.

"No, we aren't," John replied. "She's probably in the shuttle," he stepped inside, nodding at Jane who was leaning in the corner. Her light, flexible armor was black, recon hood completely obscuring her face. "Seriously, Singer? A sword?"

She shrugged. "It's really satisfying to kill with. You haven't lived until you've sliced off someone's head."

"Great, Shepard. You and Anderson have recruited a psychopath," Kaidan said dryly.

"Ask Joker to tell you about Jack," John replied. "Then talk to me about psychopaths."

James activated the comm. "Joker, you ready to crack her open?"

"You got it, Vega. Don't ruin the Kodiak on her maiden voyage, ok?"

"Screw you, Joker," James replied, firing up the shuttle. "Let's do this."