Chapter 2

"Shepard." Miranda said again. Her voice sounded distant and far away as he focused on cleaning Garrus' gunshot wound. A hand grabbed his shoulder softly.

"You've been up for nearly 2 days now. Taking some rest would be a good idea. You've done more than enough for us. Doctor Chakwas can take over from here." Garrus said. Garrus' usual tone had hints of concern in his voice.

"I'm fine, Garrus." was all the commander could muster in protest.

"Shepard, as your friend, I think it would be a good idea to put yourself before us just this one time. The Collectors are gone and the crew isn't going to get kidnapped any time soon."

Commander Shepard looked over his shoulder at the Mess Hall. Nearly everyone was either being treated for their injuries or treating someone else. Doctor Chakwas was applying a small amount of medi-gel to some form of chemical burn on Kelly Chambers' thigh. Thane gave Joker a small shot, probably to ease the pain of any broken limbs. He didn't need to help much more than he had already.

"Shepard, your hands are shaking. You're barely keeping your eyes open. Go get some rest. We can handle it from here." Miranda implored.

"I guess" he yawned. "I could go take a rest for awhile."

Miranda took the bottle and cloth from his hands. "Go lay down in your room for awhile. I'll be up to check on you soon." she whispered softly in his ear. The Commander stood up and slightly hobbled across the room and around the corner. The sound of the elevator doors closing signaled his departure.

"He's pushing himself too hard." Garrus said. "He'll be dead again before he's thirty-three at this rate." Even if he was saying so in his usual slightly joking way, He was correct. Shepard was overworking himself.

"It's been a stressful mission. I would expect he'd be overworked in some way, but I didn't think he'd voluntarily keep going." Miranda said while wrapping some bandages around the turian's torso.

"And I didn't expect you to reject the Illusive Man. What changed your mind about Cerberus?"

What hadn't changed would have been an easier question to answer. Talking with the commander, actually knowing him on a personal and intimate level; it was all very different than reading a generic and vague summary of his life and who he was. She could never have seen herself falling for him, but she had.

"Shepard." Miranda answered.

The sound of the cabin door opening pulled Shepard out of his slumber. The room was illuminated by the alarm clock on his bedside table and the fish tank along the far wall. A scattered trail of his armor lead to him laying on top of his bed in only his boxers He'd passed out only a few moments after landing on the mattress. Shepard sat up and rubbed his eyes to see Miranda walk in.

"I didn't mean to wake you." She whispered. "I only wanted to make sure you were getting some rest."

"Is everyone safe?" he asked in a dreary tone.

"They're all fine, though; one of the crew is having some minor shock issues. Doctor Chakwas said he'll be fine but might need to stay in the med-bay for a week." Miranda explained, stepping over the fallen armor and sitting on the edge of his bed. She put a hand to his face. "What I want to know if you're safe."

He slid over to sit on the edge of the best next to Miranda. "For now, yes." Shepard stood up and leaned against one of the chairs. A heavy silence filled the air. The blue light from the aquarium reflected off his pale skin. "How many people need to die? How many lives need to be ruined? How many backdoor missions are we going to go on before someone recognizes this as a threat?" Was it anger in his voice? Or fear?

"We've won this battle, Shepard. You need to give yourself a break. Working yourself to death isn't going to help us defeat the reapers." She replied with a sigh.

"But they'll just keep coming. We barely stopped them this time. What if we can't stop them next time? We don't have any margin of error. We can't f-" Miranda stopped him.

"Hey." She interrupted. "Come here."

Shepard turned to face her. She sat on the edge of his bed and beckoned him over with a slightly nod of her head. "Come here." She ordered softly.

"Still impatient, Miss Lawson?" he asked playfully, walking slowly toward her.

"Still trying to maintain control, Commander?" Miranda teased back.

"Trying," he leaned in close to her, "But failing."

"Good. I'm almost out of moves." She said with a sexual tone in her voice.

Their lips met. The couple's tongues collided. Miranda put her arms around his bare chest. She could feel his muscles tense, filled with stress, as the two explored each other for a second time. Shepard was reaching for the zipper of her suit before she could even think about doing so.

"Shepard" she whispered with a gasp.

The Commander pulled the jacket top of her suit off and gently tossed it aside. As their mouths touched with passion, He leaned forward into Miranda. She fell back onto the mattress. Her hands slowly made their way down his back, gently grabbing and squeezing a bit. His hands reached behind her to undo the latches of her bra. He glowed a slight blue; His biotics were responding to his emotions and stress.

Shepard pulled away.

"Shepard?" she asked. Something changed.

He sighed. "I" the Commander started. "I want this. I truly do, Miranda. Just…" he gave a moment of pause. "Would you rather stay in here for the night?"

Miranda looked at the floor for a moment to collect her thoughts. Had he just refused sex from her? Even after spending a year on the same ship as him, even longer bringing him back from the dead, He never ceased to intrigue her; surprise her. She locked eyes with him.

"Of course, Commander." she smiled.

Shepard gave a weak smile back before laying back with his head on one of the pillows. Miranda slid her pants and boots off before lying next to him. The two looked up to the window in the ceiling and the galaxy far beyond. She slid her arm under his neck and rested the other on his chest.

"Do you ever wonder about how many other worlds are out there?" Miranda inquired. "How many forms of organic life there are? What were their successes and what were their failures?"

"All the time." He answered with a smile. "There's so much out there to see and learn; so many cultures to study and understand."

"I just hope they aren't all as aggressive as a Yahg. Nearly broke your implants." she yawned.

Shepard laughed. "Of course you'd be concerned about the implants more than me."

Miranda couldn't help smiling. "You ass." she teased.

Silence followed. The two lay in each other's arms. Enjoying the warmth and comfort the other brought. Her breath was hot upon his cheek. He turned his head slowly to look at her. She was sleeping soundly, using Shepard's muscular shoulder as a pillow. He sighed before looking back up to the stars above. Things were calm for once.

Miranda woke with a start. She didn't even remember falling asleep. The past week had been long and tiresome. Kasumi and Samara had been the first to show up to the hospital, only a few hours after Miranda had called them. Zaeed arrived a day later, with Jack and Jacob following the next day. Grunt was the very last to arrive, showing up the day before last. Sadly, she hadn't been able to contact Kelly Chambers. All that remained was for the Normandy to show up and everyone would be here for him.

Doctor Michelle had taken any curtained room dividers she could find and separated the back window of Huerta from the rest of the lobby for the group in stay in. Commander Bailey sent some C-Sec Officers to keep watch around the room a few days after Shepard had been found. Miranda herself had only left to shower and change her clothes at the apartment she'd been renting as a safe house for the last few months. The rest of her time had been spent reviewing medical history by Shepard's side.

Miranda looked around a bit. Samara was standing beside her, having just woke her up. "I've been informed the Normandy has arrived in the docking bay. They should be here momentarily." the Justicar said in her elegant tone.

Miranda nodded and stretched her arms. Yawning, She looked out the window onto the Precidium. It was only a week since the war ended and the Keepers were already at work repairing the damage to the Citadel. The lakes were clear of debris from the battle and the 'sky' of the Precidium had been fixed to its normal eighteen hour day cycle and six hour night cycle instead of the dull white light of some warehouse it was giving off a week prior.

"Where did Jack and Grunt go?" she asked when she realized they were gone.

"I believe Jack and Grunt mentioned going to track down some food for us." Samara explained. "It seems they have become friends since our fight with the Collectors."

Miranda smiled slightly. "I'm not really surprised." She stood up and walked to Shepard's body, studying the damage and scarring again.

After what felt like only a few moments later, Joker and the crew of the Normandy arrived at the hospital. Everyone seemed to be relatively free of injury outside a few cuts and bruises besides Joker and Kaidan. Joker's left arm was in a makeshift sling. Kaidan had bandages covering his right arm and some bumps in his shirt suggested even more were covering his chest. He also walked with a bad limp. A bottle of TM88-Peruvian Whiskey sat firmly in his grip.

Joker was the first to speak though everyone else probably had the same question. "What's his condition?"

A sigh escaped before she answered. "I'm not going to lie, it doesn't look good." Miranda gestured to the commander's body on the bed. "There are burns on almost every inch of his body and most of his armor is melted to the suit underneath. The implants we gave him from when Cerberus rebuilt him are completely fried. When they found him, his leg was trapped and we had to remove it to pull him out. When I finally was able to run some tests, I found that his right arm, just above the elbow, is infected; badly. His eyes were also implants from Cerberus which had to be removed. I want to remove it now but we only just got the proper supplies to calm his heart rate and stop the bleeding better. He's lost a lot of blood as it is."

She rubbed the bridge of her nose. "I have no idea how he's still alive after all of this."

Garrus looked over his friend. He hadn't seen him in this bad of condition before, but, then again, Miranda had probably seen worse. She did spend two years bringing him back from the dead. "But you will be able to get him back on his feet again, right?"

"Of course, but it'd take several months in a high tech facility. I don't have the supplies I need for it to be that quick though. I'm pulling every string I can but the Reapers have taken a lot."

"This is Commander goddamn Shepard. He saved the entire galaxy from the Reapers ten times over. Doesn't that name mean anything to them?" the dark skinned marine said, agitated.

"It means everything at the moment; we all owe Shepard our lives, but it's not going to help any if the labs needed to clone limbs aren't operational." Miranda explained. She hated outbursts like that, but he was completely correct.

Kaidan stepped closer to Shepard's bed. He seemed completely ignorant to anyone else in the room. His eyes were focused on his friend; his brother before him.

"Hey Shepard." he spoke with his deep, rough voice. "I-I'm not even sure if you can hear me at the moment, but I suppose I'll have to take my chances as you did with me." He let out a weak chuckle. "You've saved the galaxy more times than anyone of us could ever repay you for. You bought me a bottle back when I was recovering from Mars and, now, I'm doing the same for you." Kaidan put the bottle of whiskey on Shepard's side table.

Suddenly, the bottle floated up into the air lightly. Kasumi lit up her omni-tool and uncloaked herself. She quickly opened the bottle and took a swig of it. "Hey, I promised him I'd be the one to buy drinks if he survived." She pouted, passing the bottle to Zaeed, who chugged a huge amount of the bottle's contents. Kaidan's usually cool expression glared at the self-proclaimed master thief.

"You too?" Garrus asked Kasumi. "Who else promised him drinks, I wonder?"

"I might have suggested a bar down in Rio once the war was over." Jacob spoke up.

"Well, I think Esteban and I would have treated him to a night of drinks and strippe-" James started before Cortez elbowed him, nodding in Miranda's direction. "but he wa-is spoken for so we probably would have kept it to just drinking." He saved himself.

"And I thought Shep and I were drinking buddies." Kasumi murmured out loud.

Kaidan stole his drink back from Jacob before he could take a sip, letting out a sigh when he realized that there was nothing left while Kasumi and James started talking together.

"So, is there anything we can do, Miranda?" Tali asked her. The Quarian was playing with her fingers nervously.

"To be honest, there really isn't. I finally have the supplies to remove his armor and the infection on his arm-"she started.

"No." Tali interrupted. "Is there anything we can do for you? You and Shepard were close. It must be difficult to see him like this."

Miranda was slightly surprised with Tali's question. "I've seen him in much worse but…" she paused.

"And?"

"And, it does hurt to see him like this. I spent two years bringing him back and he's still in better condition now than he was back then, but seeing him injured to this extent is more painful. Now, He isn't just some corpse on a slab. Now I know who he is, and not from some report." Miranda explained. "I'm not used to being attached."

"You've saved him once, I know you can do it again." she encouraged.

"Of course I can do it again, I never doubted myself, but I worry about how long this recovery could take." She sat down on one of the nearby chair's arm rests. "This could take anywhere from a couple months to a year at best."

"And we'll be by Shepard's side the entire way." Liara made her presence known. The young asari information broker carried a black sweatshirt in her arms. "Shepard asked me to give this to you if anything happened." She handed Miranda the sweatshirt. "He said it was important that you got it. I didn't really think anything would happen to him."

Accepting the sweatshirt, Miranda recognized it as an N7 Sweatshirt they give to those who'd served for five years or longer. She remembered it from that day she'd asked Shepard to meet her at the apartment. The weight of the thing seemed a bit off. "Thank you."

"Don't thank me. I'm only the delivery girl." Liara replied with a slight smile.

Miranda started the painstaking process of removing Shepard's armor. All the medi-gel she'd need was nearby for whatever she might find under the armor. She logically figured that the armor would protect the skin underneath, like hardened wax, but any mistake could cost Shepard his life. Now was defiantly not the time to be taking risks.

Very carefully, Miranda dug a small tool underneath the armor and lifted slowly to peal it off. Thankfully, she was correct and the skin tight suit worn underneath the armor was perfectly intact. After several moments of prying, his left boot came apart. His foot was perfectly intact. Underneath, if just a bit oddly colored from lack of oxygen in the melted armor.

Tugging at the armor some more, his leg was finally freed. It was soon followed by his soulder. She chipped away at the plating on his waist and it too fell apart.

Very quickly, all that remained was his chestplate. Miranda slid her tool under the edges of the armor and moved around the shape of the final chunk. It was larger than the rest and seemed to be proving difficult to remove because of that. After several minutes of prodding with the tool, Miranda simply dug her nails under and slowly and carefully pulled the chest plate off.

A small white square dropped from the armor. Miranda bent down and flipped the card over in her hand. On the other side was a photograph. It was frayed around the edges with a slight burned tone and the ink had slightly smeared, but the subject of the photo was clear. It was a photo of Miranda.

All Miranda could do was smile. Even on the battlefield, Shepard was keeping her close to his heart.

"I love you Joseph." She whispered as she kissed him softly.