A/N: I'm finally bringing recognizable characters in! So my little summary on the main page isn't a lie anymore.

And as a side note, I update these chapters as I go. As in I tend not to upload completed chapters.
Which is awful I know...

Thessia.

Failure.

Commander Kate Shepard hunched over the QEC console, the weight of not only a world, but an entire galaxy on her shoulders. And after what happened on Thessia, she was almost ready to break. Her every action, both diplomatically and on the battlefield directly affected the survival of all sentient life.

No pressure or anything, she thought allowing herself the briefest of smiles. Those were becoming more rare as time progressed. One could not avoid becoming darker in this war, and when that change came for the Commander... it was relentless. She longed for the past, the days before the politics and impending doom. She wished she could just be a soldier again and leave it all behind.

When she first started out as a Spectre, she did not like having to report to the council. So she didn't, much to Udina's chagrin.

If only she could do the same today...

She dreaded giving this report to Admiral Hackett, and for good reason. How could she face a man who believed in her, a man who stood by her when others turned away. How could she face this man, and tell him that she had failed. That because of her... humanities extinction was almost inevitable... that Earth was lost. That all the sacrifices up to this point were in vain.

All because I failed.

So how would she do it?

She would do it the only way she knew how, to the point and with honesty.

Opening the communications channel with Alliance command, she steeled herself and awaited the Admiral.

"Hacket here..."

He stood tall throughout her entire report, his face betraying no emotion. Then when she finished he simply looked at her with one eyebrow raised. What came next surprised her. "I'm sure I don't need to tell you this Shepard, but I will any-ways. In any war, victory is not assured. It never is. But as long as we strive for it, that is what counts." Then continuing in a gentler tone, "Get some rest Kate. The galaxy can make do without you for a day. I'll see to it myself. Hackett out."

With his signature sign-off the room went quiet, save the steady hum of the Normandy.

He still trusted her.

Pushing herself away from the counter, she settled up against a nearby wall and slumped to the ground in shock.

He still trusts me.

Even after all that, he was still willing to stand beside her. To place humanities fate in her hands. The galaxies fate in her hands. She was positive, that had she given that report to anyone other than Hackett, she would not have had the willpower to continue. But she had given that report to Hackett, and because of him she was not out of this fight just yet.

But first, one last hurdle.

She had to break a promise she made to herself years ago, a promise she made during one of the most difficult moments in her life. She needed to go back and acknowledge what had happened in this war in order to win it. She needed to get her head clear again, and if she could make it through that.

She would be ready.

She wouldn't fail him again. She wouldn't fail anyone again.

So pulling her knees closer, and her hoody over her head. Commander Kate Shepard curled up and began to cry.

Garrus didn't know what the noise was on the other side of the door. He had never heard anything of its kind before; it was actually sort of frightening. All he knew was that Shepard was in that room, and that she had not come down to visit him after her mission on Thessia. That worried him more than he thought possible.

She always came down to visit him.

Because everyone needs a little Garrus in their life, he thought smugly. He decided to disregard the fact that Shepard visited everyone after a mission, and not just him. Besides, she always came to him first. Or at least that is what he decided to believe.

The 'Shep-a-bout' as the crew called it, was simply what happened after a mission. It reinforced the familial atmosphere which was what being a member of the Normandy was all about.

In Joker's weekly 'Crew Only' emails he had outlined the 5 steps required for a Shep-a-bout to occur.

You arrive at a planet (in style)

You proceed to beat impossible odds

You leave the planet (in style)

You unpack your gear

You take 2 breaths

As humorous as the crippled pilot was, he was also alarmingly accurate.

Maybe one breath though...

So when the Shep-a-bout failed to occur after the mission on Thessia, the entire crew was uneasy.

More uneasy.

Lately Shepard had become increasingly distant to the crew, and more prone to fits of anger. She was losing herself to this mission, and he knew it was due to the stress.

Which makes me a certain kind of brilliant, he thought sarcastically. She had an entire galaxy to worry about, and it didn't help that she took every single loss personally. In order to succeed, she locked away all her emotion, and in doing so she had begun to lose herself.

He wouldn't let that happen, for the sake of the galaxy, and for his own. The others may look to her because they had no other choice. He looked to her, because he knew no better soldier in the entire galaxy for this mission. No better friend. So for purely altruistic reasons, Vakarian would keep her alive; because no one in the galaxy deserved a chance for R&R more than Shepard.

And so the bold and handsomely scarred Garrus Vakarian set off to investigate. He'd be the first to admit that taking a rocket to the face on Omega had done wonders for his magnetic personality. Maybe that is what made Shepard such a good leader, she had dozens more scars then him. He filed the thought away, he would think on it later during calibrations.

He was about to open the door when he noticed Tali coming his way. Always timid, the quarian tip toed her way around the crew trying her best not to disturb them. The girl had a heart of gold... The flotilla didn't realize how lucky they were to have her. When she accidentally bumped into someone using a console, her flurry of apologies brought a smile to Garrus's face.

Seeing him she waved and smiled in turn, at least he thought she smiled... It was hard to tell with Quarians.

She totally smiled.

When she finally made it over to him, she pointed towards the door. "Is she in there?" she asked whispering.

"I think so, but there is a strange noise coming from the other side." he replied honestly.

"Strange noise? I don't believe you." and with that she pressed her head against the door. Moments later she brought her head away from the door. "Keelah, that is strange..." then facing Garrus she continued. "We should go in, she might need help."

"Ladies first?"

"You're a coward Vakarian."

"Always."

With that, Garrus and Tali opened the door to the QEC, and what they saw would remain with them forever.

"Kate?" Garrus asked closing the door behind them. The crew didn't need to see this.

Commander Shepard was curled up against the far wall slowing rocking backwards and forwards.

And she was crying.

No, that wasn't quite right, this was not the same woman who had gone to Thessia. This was Kate who was curled up in front of him. This was the girl he had met when he was back at C-Sec. This was the young Alliance marine full of piss and vinegar who had the council in continuous uproar. This was the Shepard who joked, laughed and felt.

This is the woman I'd follow to the end of the world. She's finally back.

But she was in rough shape.

If only I had some swords, or chocolate, he thought. That always works with the ladies...Turian ladies love them some chocolate. Turian... Crap. But that gave him a thought. If turian women -who were cold, hard and scary- loved something that was similar to them... Then it stood to reason that human women -who were warm and soft- would like something mushy, and altogether unbearably cheesy.

Like sincerity! He remembered seeing that in those romantic comedies Traynor and Chakwas always watched. The ones he definitely didn't see on his own volition. Ever.

But then again, Garrus had seen her bloody, battered and bruised. He had seen her head-butt krogan, wrestle with yahg and kill Reapers while still on lunch break. Was she really the 'warm and soft' type?

Yep, going with sincerity.

His train of thought was de-railed when a dazed Tali wandered into his peripheral vision. Seeing Shepard like this must have been hard for her. Shepard had practically adopted Tali the first time they met on the Citadel. The timid quarian had found a mission when she discovered Saren's true loyalties, yet she hadn't found purpose until Shepard walked into her life.

It reminded him a little bit to much of his own first encounter with the Commander.

Damn! That woman is getting me to reminisce.

Suddenly remembering his mission, Garrus mentally prepared himself for the challenge ahead.

Operation: Cheering Up Shepard.

"Kate?" he said in a low voice. He knelt down in front of the weeping woman.

How can she not know I'm right here, he thought with disbelief.

"Kate." he said again this time resting his hand on her shoulder. The crying and trembling stopped immediately.

Garrus felt oddly vulnerable.

Face still obscured by the hoodie, she just looked at his hand. She just stared at it, as if wondering how it had gotten there. Then slowly she raised her head to face him.

Garrus almost started to cry. Almost.

But I'm a man, and it's ok if a man tears up! He thought trying to reassure himself.

She looked so helpless and tired, nothing at all like her usual self. Garrus wished he wouldn't remember this, but he knew he never would forget. He was seeing Shepard at her most vulnerable, and it physically hurt to see her this way.

"Garrus?" Kate asked timidly in-between sniffles.

"Do you know anyone else who looks this good?" he replied striking what he thought was a heroic pose.

But he couldn't put his heart into it.

It still garnered him a half-hearted chuckle from Kate.

But it wasn't enough. She was using her sweater to dry her tears when she started to tremble again. "I'm sorry," she began tears starting to well-up in her eyes. "I tried, but it wasn't enough..."

That is when Tali stepped in, taking the pressure off a completely confounded Garrus. She just sat down right next to Shepard, and held her.

"I-I'm sorry I failed you," Shepard whispered to nobody in particular.

"You Bosh'tet, you haven't failed anyone," Tali replied embracing Shepard harder.

She sounded different there...

"You've always been there for me Shepard. Even before you met me, you were there for me. You allowed me a place among your crew, and you helped me with my pilgrimage." Garrus now knew why she sounded different, Tali was speaking from the heart. She was not about to let Shepard lose this battle with herself; not after the Commander had helped her with so many of her own.

And judging from Kate's reaction, she was doing a good job.

"You saved me from exile by facing off against the admiralty board. You believed in me when my own people didn't. You have given my people back their home Shepard. You saved my entire species. You are the greatest friend I could have ever asked for. A much better friend than I deserve. So don't for one moment think that you failed me!"

She is about to cry, oh my god no.

"You haven't failed anyone, so don't you think it!" she continued barely holding back the tears.

"Don't you ever think it!" Tali cried pulling herself into Shepards already waiting arms. Garrus was astonished. Even with her own life in shambles, Kate had recognized Tali's anguish and put aside her own pain to help another.

"You've been a sister to me Kate..." Tali whimpered as Shepard stroked her head. "You are a sister to me."

And that was it, those final words achieved what Garrus could not. They had brought a genuine smile to Kate's face that lasted.

"I always wanted a sister." Kate whispered quietly, wiping one last tear from her face.

Then holding her close, Shepard gently rocked a crying Tali back and forth.

The very image of a big sister.