This chapter was interesting, to say the least, at least for me anyways. This chapter, like the chapter of my other story is late only because my laptop seems to like to lose things. Regular Friday updates for this story and regular Tuesday updates for When Dawn Comes will start again next week.

Song: Better than I know myself - Adam Lambert

Disclaimer: Bioware owns, I'm just playing with all their toys, like usual.

Chapter 3

That had to be the most awkward thing she'd ever done. Sure, Zeera wasn't usually an awkward turtle when it came to social encounters, but that had been someone she had feelings for and an asari he seemed to be attached to. The Normandy, that's what she needed. She needed her favorite pilot and his crude sense of humor and just to be home. Taking a deep breath, she moved out of the hospital and came to an abrupt halt, wide cerulean blue eyes taking in the destruction around her.

Buildings crumpled and the bodies of humans and reapers alike still littered the ground, crews moving about trying to clean up as much as possible before night fall came. She swallowed harshly, closing her eyes. She'd tried so damn hard to save everyone and still it wasn't enough. She would always be a hero in the eyes of others, but in truth? She wasn't a hero, no matter how many lives she had saved, there were so many that had been cruelly ended.

Swallowing down the over whelming emotions, she took a determined step forward and almost regretted it as she was swarmed by several reports that had been lying in wait for her. Taking a step back, bright eyes widened, unsure of how she felt about this. Her mind was racing and then it came to a sudden halt and setting her bag on the ground, she folded her hands behind her back and stood as tall as her injured leg would allow her to, the mask of the Commander firmly in place as she looked at each reported, all of them speaking at once, trying to get her to talk to them. Lifting a hand, they fell silent and she blew out a slow breath. "I will not be answering any questions today." Her voice was firm and it caused them to start yelling, demanding answer and she just ignored them, instead picking up her bag and pushing past them. She just wanted to go home and see her friends and sleep. Today had been stressful enough without the insanity of reporters.

Moving as quickly as she possibly could, she managed by some miracle to find her way to the dry dock of the Normandy. Trying to remain calm, she walked slowly and with dignity towards the air lock before stepping inside and peeking around the corner to see Joker in his seat. A sly grin curled her lips and she quietly set her bag on the ground, before inching towards him, lower lip between her teeth and fingers reaching idly towards his hat.

Joker seemed to be completely absorbed with whatever he was doing and had no idea that she was here and her smile grew more and more wicked until her fingers gripped the top and she pulled it right off his head and placed it a top her own. Joker spun his chair around, cursing and spewing before coming to a stop and staring at her with surprise written all over his face before a buoyant grin spread across his features and he opened his arms wide. "Zeera!" There was pure joy in that one word and she was quick to move forward and gently hug him.

"I've missed you. Life was so boring. Why didn't you come see me?" A pout formed on her lips, wide eyes looking at him with mock hurt. Truthfully, Zeera knew why he hadn't come to visit. He hadn't really been able to and she could tell from the look on his face that she was full of shit and thus, he just snorted at her, pulled his hat off her head and turned back around. "It's good to be home." She smirked, not saying anything about the absence of EDI having already been informed by Liara of what had happened and knowing full well that it would only upset Joker before she started walking away only to pause when she heard him speaking once more.

"It's good to have you back, Commander. The world would have been worse off if you weren't here to help us get back on our feet." She smiled at his words and chuckled softly before walking away, limping gait taking her towards the elevator.

Home. She was home. Lying on the bed in her cabin she looked up at the skylight, eyes half shut and a dreamy smile on her face. It had been so long since she had been here, in this bed filled with memories of girl talk, card games and shenanigans. She'd missed it so much. Zeera saw this as her baby, like Grunt, only bigger and it couldn't hug her back when it saw her, but that was okay, it was still her place where she could find peace even in the darkest of times, hell, the people she considered her family where here and that was all that mattered.

As she lay there, her mind wondered. What else was going on out in the great wide world? She'd saw those reports hadn't have the usual tech with, all they'd had on hand seemed to be pen and paper, so old school Zeera hadn't even been sure if it was still around, but they must have gotten it from somewhere, not that she had any idea. This was all too much. She'd just gotten out of the hospital and her mind was already running around trying to figure things out that it and really? Those answers were far and few since she wasn't even sure who to ask in the first place. There was no use wasting time dwelling on things that would only serve to give her a headache, thus rose from her bed and began putting thing away, slowly and methodically until there was nothing left.

Zeera stood there, cerulean eyes taking it all in, landing on all the things she treasured most, like her old N7 helmet, the Prothean orb and several other things. Her lips curled in a smile as she walked up the steps and peered in at Sir Squeaks in his cage, happily munching away at the food someone had given him, before wondering into the bathroom, craving a hot shower like her life depended on it.

The water was heaven as it rushed over aching muscles. She'd gotten into this habit of taking two showers a day because if she didn't the pain of over worked and newly healed muscles would make it nearly impossible for her to sleep and thus, she stood under the spray, hands braced for the moment and enjoyed it as the steam billowed around her, but it was not to last and soon, she was shutting off the water and taking deep breaths as she moved around, drying off as quickly and carefully as she could so as not to snag any still healing scars before wondering back out and just standing there, taking it all in for the first time in what felt like ages.