Shepard heard something. He heard something. It was vague and soft. But it slowly grew louder. It was a beeping sound. He felt air flow inside him. He could breathe. He felt the senses of his body return to him. He could feel the features of his face, the shape of his torso and the extent of his limbs. Those senses were accompanied by growing stings of pain all around.

Was he... alive?

He moved his eyes around and opened his lids. His vision was dark and blurred. But as it focused, he could make the first thing he saw, a darkened ceiling. A light bore from above his view. He looked up to see a lamp lit over him. When he felt the sore muscles in his neck, he used them to turn his head. He turned to his left to see a window. Through that window, he could see lights of distant buildings, some fading off then on.

He realized he was in a hospital. He was in a bed with a white blanket over him. He felt a number of bandages covering several parts of his body and his face.

Was this real? Was he really here? Alive? How did he...?

The questions in his head were vague in the fog that took a hold of his mind. He couldn't remember what had happened before. At least not entirely. All he could remember was images of a battle. Seeing soldiers, humans and aliens, fighting against deranged monsters.

Reapers. Terrifying machines that barred down on their helpless pray. But there were none of them out there. No terrifying machines towering over the helpless people below. The only things lingering over the buildings were cranes moving equipment and building materials. Before he could think of everything else, he saw something hovering over him in the corner of his eye. He moved his head back and his eyes moved to see something that made his heart stop for a moment.

It was the face of a women whose skin was paved with the color of deep blue. It was an Asari. An Asari who looked down over him with two eyes that matched the color of her skin and both of them were on the brink of tears. Though Shepard was in total awe from what he saw, he found the strength and will to lift his hand from its resting place at his side. The pain was irritating and his muscles were sore, but he pulled his hand out from under the sheet and reached out. His fingers felt the grooved skin of her face and his palm felt it too. All the features he felt, the texture of her skin and the grooves of her face, it was the same as he remembered it was.

"L..." Shepard's lungs crocked with dryness while he struggled to form the word. But the feeling he had in his heart allowed him to pull through and say it. "Liara?"

Liara smiled as two tears were expelled from her eyes and ran down the side of her checks. One of which touched the side of Shepard's thumb.

"Shepard," Liara spoke with a soft whisper. Her voice. It was the same voice as he remembered it. She leaned over and planted a gentle but deep kiss onto his lips. The warmth of happiness and love filled him as he felt her violet lips glide across his. There was pain, but the comfort drowned it out. When she finished, Liara nestled her head onto his shoulder with her cheek on the side of his own.

Shepard was beside himself. He couldn't believe it. He was alive and the one person that mattered to him was here with him?

"Is-is it really you?" he asked her.

Liara pulled her head back from his shoulder to look down into his eyes yet again. She reached down and gently grabbed his hand and brought it up to the exact same spot on her face.

"You are alive Shepard," she said with another soft whisper. "You survived and I'm here by your side."

Feeling her skin again was all Shepard needed to be convinced she was telling him the truth. He was alive and she was alive. The joy of seeing her again filled him with happiness that helped clear out the pain. Then the fog that clouded his memories was starting to emerge.

Here take her.

Shepard!

You got to get out of here!

I'm alright Shepard.

Don't argue with me Liara!

You are not Leaving me behind.

No matter what happens...

You mean everything to me Liara. You always will.

Shepard, I... I am yours.

He remembered the Normandy departing with Liara onboard. Shepard sprinted to the beam alone. Stumbling out in the open before he saw a red beam coming right at him. After that... He couldn't remember after that.

"What-what happened?" he asked her.

Liara gave another loving grin.

"You did it," she said. "You destroyed the Reapers."

The Reapers were destroyed? They succeeded?

"They're gone?" he asked.

"The Crucible worked," Liara said. "Whatever you did, you activated it. It destroyed all the Reapers around Earth and it sent a surge through the relays and reached all the other Reapers."

Shepard lay his head back down on his pillow and closed his eyes. He did it. He really did it. He destroyed the Reapers. But why couldn't he remember anything about it? He couldn't remember the details of what happened after Harbinger nearly killed him. But somehow, he knew he could remember what happened. He had that feeling that he knew he activated the Crucible. It was like those memories that you knew you did something but couldn't remember what exactly happened. But all of it was in a haze. The only thing that he remembered clearly was...

You did good son. You did good. I'm proud of you.

Anderson.

He was about to ask Liara but the door opened. Shepard looked to see a human female walk into to room. When she stopped to look to see that Shepard was awake, Shepard recognized her.

"Shepard," Miranda said with surprise. She walked over to Shepard's side immediately.

"Did he wake up just now?" Miranda asked Liara.

"Only seconds ago." Liara said still overjoyed to see him awake and alive.

Miranda got to work right away.

"Shepard how are you feeling?"

"Miranda," Shepard said. He was happy to see another failure face and happy to see she was still alive too. "I..." He got around to forming his words. "I feel like crap."

"Do you feel serious pain in any region of your body?"

He felt around his body. The pain he felt wasn't anything like that after being shot and having to patch it up with medi-gel. But it was defiantly constant sores around his body. But nothing serious.

"No. I just feel sore."

"That's good," Miranda said. "Your body has made a good recovery while you were out."

"Out?" Shepard said. He'd been unconscious? "For how long?"

Miranda paused and looked over at Liara. He turned his head to her and she answered the question.

"It's been five months since the Crucible was activated and destroyed the Reapers."

Five months. He was in a coma for five months? And Liara had to wait all that time?

"There's a lot that's happened, Shepard," Miranda said. "But for now we need to make sure you're alright for now."

Miranda brought her Omni-tool up from scanning his body to fiddle with it. "Your implants are holding up very firmly and your vitals are showing stable activates. All we need now is to perform a memory test."

"Do you think he needs it?" Liara asked. Obviously implying that he remembered both her and Miranda immediately.

"Long term might be intact but recent memories might be a concern," Miranda said back to Liara. Liara bent her head down for a moment to allow Miranda to proceed. She looked over at Shepard.

"Okay so you remember who Liara is and who I am. So let's start with personal history."

Even though Shepard felt weak and his recent memories was a haze, he still remembered everything that happened before that day on Eden Prime clear as day. He recalled his time on the streets before his recruitment. Then he moved to his service record; his stand-off at Elysium and the N7 program. Next was mostly everything that happened after Eden Prime. The pursuit of Saren, Shepard's death and resurrection, his successful suicide mission against the Collectors, and then leaving earth to rally the galaxy to fight the Reapers. Then there was the battle of Earth which he remembered the first part of but right after that... nothing.

"Are you sure you can't remember what happened after you made it to the Citadel?" Miranda asked.

Shepard tried his best to recall what happened, but nothing came up. "No. Everything after that is just... a haze. The only things I can see are... are..." Shepard winced and tightened his eye brows when his head hurt from thinking too hard.

"It's okay," Miranda said. "Just relax."

Shepard closed his eyes and relaxed the muscles in his face and his neck. The pain in his head subsided when he claimed his mind. After a few seconds, the two things he could remember came to him.

"Anderson," Shepard said. "I was there with him and... the Illusive Man was there too."

Miranda and Liara gave faces of concern. When Shepard saw them make the faces, he knew what it meant before Miranda told him.

"I'm really sorry, Shepard," Miranda said. "But Anderson was found on the Citadel with a fatal bullet wound in his torso."

Shepard closed his eyes. He had a feeling when he remembered Anderson's last words to him. But it still didn't numb the pain that came when the truth was given to him. After holding the line on Earth for all that time Shepard was sent away to get help, at the very end, Anderson had fallen with many of the people he lead.

"The exploration teams recovered his body and brought it down to be buried. His funeral took place several months ago."

Shepard only hoped that Anderson got the recognition he deserved. Without his leadership, more people on Earth would be dead. And it pained Shepard that he couldn't have been there to honor him if he wasn't in a coma this whole time.

"And the Illusive Man?" Shepard asked.

"He was found dead with a shot to the head. From observations, it was most likely that he shot himself."

Shepard's memories shifted when he heard the detail of the Illusive man shooting himself in the head. It was only images of the man taking Anderson's side arm. The images of the man's eyes showed rage but then the rage suddenly turned to fear. Then the barrel of the gun rested on the side of his head and the trigger was pulled. And the last image was the man flopped on the ground lifeless. Everything else was still a haze, but Shepard refocused his mind away from the parts he couldn't remember.

"Then what happened to me?" Shepard asked. "Did you bring me back again?"

"Thankfully I didn't have to," Miranda said with a small grin. "But the odd thing was where they actually found you."

Odd in what way?

"Where did they find me?" Shepard asked.

"After the Crucible activated and destroyed the Reapers around Earth, the Crucible's structure overloaded and broke away from the Citadel when it sent the surge through the relays to destroy the rest of the Reapers in the galaxy. The pieces of the Crucible entered Earth's atmosphere and impacted several spots around Europe and the Mediterranean. At one of the sights in the southern reach of London... they found you there under the rubble."

Thinking about it only made Shepard even more astonished. He couldn't believe it even if he tried. If he was on the Citadel with Anderson when the Crucible was docked and fired, how did he end up on Earth and how was he still alive then?

"And I was still alive?"

"It was hard to believe but yes. I came as quick as I could when I heard they found you."

"How bad was it?"

"Half of your implants were fried and you had third degree burns all over while nearly all your bones were fractured or broken. But somehow you were still alive, but barely. We treated you as best we could until we got an advanced medical facility online. I lead the operation that replaced your implants and fixed the rest of the internal damage."

Sheprad looked down at his body that was covered by the white blanket. "I guess you did a good job then."

"We got the damaged implants replaced and mended the major damage to your organs. But even then, it seemed bleak that you would live. Just over fifty percent. We did everything we could and all we could do was wait."

Hearing what Miranda said gave Shepard a chill. If he had a fifty-fifty chance of living... He looked at Liara who gave a look of past worry.

"You waited five months?"

"Yes. But what's important is that you're alive and you have Liara by your side."

Shepard didn't have to be told a second time to believe that. Considering how weak he felt and how much his head hurt, all that mattered was that he was actually alive and Liara was there with him.

"A lot's happened since then. We'll tell you all about it later. For now, you should rest. You don't need to worry about anything."

She entered the last notes into her data pad and turned around to leave. But before she exited the room, Shepard called out to her.

"Miranda."

She turned around to look back at him.

"Thank you, " he said.

"You're welcome, Shepard," Miranda smiled and left him and Liara alone in the room.

He looked up at Liara to see her eyes filled with so many emotions that she couldn't contain them. And it was the sight of her eyes was enough to cause his own emotions to be raised to the level that made his eyes suddenly fill with tears. In all his life, he never broke his composer in the line of duty. He never displayed his true emotions out to his teammates or to his enemies. But right now, after all the fighting and the hard decisions he had to make, there was no war to be fought. He didn't need to stow away his emotions to keep his moral and the moral of his allies high. The Reapers were gone, there was no more fighting for him to do.

He shed a single tear from his eye right in front of her. Shepard would have expected himself to feel shameful for doing this but he was surprised he didn't feel like it at all. All that he cared about was that Liara was safe. And she was more than safe, she was here with him.

Liara grinned lightly. She moved her hand down to him and whipped away the tear with her thumb. She looked into his eyes again. Seeing her like this made Shepard remember.

If we're going to try this... I need to know you're always coming back.

Remembering that moment gave Shepard a sense of relief but also a moment of dread.

"Liara, I'm..." Shepard stumbled on the words. The moment he ordered Liara to leave the battle when she was injured. The look on her face. How she didn't want to leave him again. It was so painful remembering it too.

"I'm sorry," Shepard said. "I'm sorry I sent you..."

"Shepard, please," Liara said before Shepard could say anymore. "I was scared when you sent me away. I was terrified when you were on the Crucible when it activated and no one came for you. For this whole war, that's all we've ever felt. Fear. Pain. Sadness."

Liara maneuvered close to him again. "But now, the war is over and you're going to live. It's not a time to be sorry or sad. It's a time to be happy, Shepard. I want to be happy and I want you to be happy. Right now."

Liara's eyes were still streaming with tears when she finished. Seeing her act like this showed how sincere she was. Sitting beside him for months waiting for him to wake up. Shepard could only imagine the torment she endured knowing that he had a fifty-fifty chance of living through it. And seeing her when Thessia was lost, the torment of seeing everything she knew and loved burning around her which lasted for weeks on end, it really showed in her. But now, Shepard was beside her and he was alive. The war was over and they were together. Nothing else mattered now. It was a time to be happy.

Shepard lifted his hand and wrapped it behind her.

"I am happy," He said to her. "More than any person in the Galaxy."

He pulled Liara close to him and brought her lips to his. The pain couldn't keep him from feeling the overwhelming love that filled him. When it was over, Liara put her head on his shoulder again. He wanted nothing more than to hold her close. He did have so many questions about what happened, but he was exhausted. Right now, it was his moment with her. Everything else could wait. He had kept his promise to come back. It was a time to be happy.

"I love you Liara," He said.

"I love you Shepard," she said in return.

Author's note: And so the official epilogue begins. I didn't put any author's note before because I wanted you to figure out what the transition between chapter 1 and 2 meant. But now that that is over with, I'll say what I need to say.

First off, PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE give me feedback. Tell me if I'm doing good to draw your attention. Tell me if there are areas I need to work on. Tell me if I'm able to get the scenes right like other writers you've read did. Tell me what you want me to covering addition to what I already have planned. Anyway, I want to know as much as possible because quite frankly, this is the fic that I want to get right. I've really stressed myself out with this chapter because I felt I wasn't getting things I wanted out of it but I think I've managed to do a good job and hopefully you like it.

This fic is for Liara fans and fans who want an overall happy ending to the greatest Sci-fi story of all time.

One last thing, I know I pulled my punches in the last chapter when it came to "Intimacy" unlike many other fics that were given the M rating. If you think it's not enough or just enough to be an M rating, let me know. I might have more in the future but that remains to be seen.

I want to know so please review and/or PM me on what you think so far and/or about what you want to see.

Update: Hello again everyone. If you were wondering what I've been doing these past months it was a massive revision of the story. In a few minutes the rest of the chapters will be updated and Chapter 16, as well as the final chapter of "A legion Reborn" will be posted. Afterwards I have a number of things going on and I'll continue this story with the time I have. And I can't say this enough, please give me reviews. The reason the updates are so slow is that I don't know if I'm doing good or need to improve upon something or if what I'm going for is completely out of context. I need to know. So I ask you to please give me reviews to tell me how I'm doing and I promise you'll put up updates faster. Thank you again for all your support. :)