Miranda led Shepard down the corridor to Hope's room. Shepard looked into the little room; it was quite a small room decorated in lilac and white paint with small delicate butterflies stencilled on to the ceiling. Shepard saw in the room there was a small dressing table and wardrobe in pale wood. The last thing his eyes fell on was a small bed with a pink cover on it and in the bed was a young child. Shepard couldn't quite understand what he was looking at and the more and more he started at the face of the child, who was lying on her side, the more he could see the features resemble Miranda. The dark hair, the long elegantly traced nose with the high rise of the check bones but there was also something in the small face he couldn't quite place; the slightly thicker set jaw, the curve of the ears. Miranda was watching Shepard's face as he stared at Hope and without saying a word she held his hand and gently walked him into the room. She stopped in front of the bed and rested her head on Shepard's shoulder.
She looked at her daughter and said quietly, in barely more than a whisper, "Meet Hope Shepard, my daughter…and yours."
Shepard seemed to freeze in place. Letting go of Miranda's hand he walked forward to the bed. He knelt down besides the small bed and put his hands on the covers. Hope moved slightly due to a dream and extended her hand out towards Shepard. Shepard looked at the gently curled fingers on his daughter hand and he reached out to brush the fingers. As he gently touched the soft skin a tear fell down his cheek. How could he have missed so much of his daughter's own life? Her first words? Her first steps? As he thought more and more about how much the war had taken away from him he began to grow angry. He quietly stood up from the bed and backed towards the door. He should have never of come back. He turned to walk out of the room. He wanted to leave but he had forgotten that Miranda was still in the room. Miranda looked at him with a questioning gaze. He didn't dare look at her as he pushed past her out of the bedroom into the corridor.
He made it down to the hall way in front the front door before Miranda managed to stop him. She grabbed his arm and forcefully stopped him from moving, making him turn round with a spark of blue biotics pulsating from her hand.
"Why did you come back?!" Miranda almost shouted. "Why are you trying to leave us just after you managed to find us?"
The word "us" stung Shepard. He knew that he wasn't just hurting Miranda but his own daughter as well.
He turned his head away from Miranda's face and said in icy words, "This war tore us apart Miranda, You managed to build a life without me and you had happiness. I could never give that to you."
Miranda softened her grip on his arm and placed her hand on his chest, right over his heart. "Shepard, it wasn't really living. If I hadn't know that I was pregnant before the news that you were announced missing in action then I would have died. I had nothing to live for apart from the small part of you that lived on in Hope. I don't care how much of our lives you have missed due to that stupid war or how much you feel to blame, we both need you as a lover and a father."
As she finished her sentence Shepard knew in his heart that he couldn't leave. He WANTED to be there for Miranda and more importantly his child. A moment of silence passed and in this moment without Miranda or Shepard noticing the door was quietly opened and within a few seconds the cold, steel circle of a gun barrel was placed against the base of his skull and a cool, chilling voice said, "Alright, take it slow Shepard."