Thanks for the kind words. I'm not sure where I'm going with all this, but it's nice to hear some of you out there are enjoying it. Please feel free to offer your own insights or suggestions. I won't promise to incorporate anything, but corrections will be made if there are mistakes, and you might have a headcannon that fits with mine and excites me. I promise I'll credit you if I use your ideas. Liara would never forgive me otherwise.

Dr. Chakwas says I'm progressing nicely. I'm not sure what standard she's using, because I don't feel like I'm progressing nicely, but hopefully that'll change.

Mom got a call in to the hospital yesterday. We talked for long time. Mom's always been one to be strong for me, and yesterday was no exception, but I could hear in her voice that she was about an inch from redirecting an Alliance dreadnought to Earth to come see me. I think I convinced her that I was in good hands, surrounded by good people, and that she needed to stay with the team and get the relays rebuilt. It was good to hear her voice, though. So much has happened in the last three years, and sitting here in a hospital bed leaves one with a great deal of time to let the weight of everything finally become real.

It never really occurred to me before, but I spent 2 of those 3 years dead. Really, everything I experienced could be crammed into a year, 3 months and 28 days. It's all a bit overwhelming when you stop to think about it.

I remember the first time I'd set foot on the citadel. It's hard to really appreciate the enormity of the place until you really start looking around. I remember Kaidan's comment; "big place". Yeah. Understatement of the year there, big guy. You can do so much in such a confined place. I managed to meet and recruit Wrex, Garrus, and Tali without even hitting 4 of the 5 wards.

I've been thinking a lot about Thane. He had stories that were nigh on unbelievable, but then there came Kai Leng. Thane had been a patient in need of daily medical care at Huerta Memorial, in the final stages of Kepral's Syndrome, and he damn near defeated Leng in a manner of minutes. That Drell could hardly breathe, and could still pull off acrobatics that almost took me out of the fight just so I could watch him. It makes me think that, if he'd been healthy, we'd have had a little less trouble getting that Prothean VI from Thessia. I got an extranet message from Kolyat this morning. He's doing well, and expressed his gratitude over the memorial service we held for him in my apartment. Thane would be proud of him. He's made a lot of headway with some Salarian scientists, doing research for a cure to Kepral's Syndrome.

Kolyat has had me thinking that maybe it's not time to sit down. Like it or not, I'm a hero to most of the galaxy. Captain of the most well-known ship in the galaxy, the first human Spectre, hero of the Citadel, savior of the council (twice), the first man to successfully return from the Omega-4 relay, and destroyer of the Reapers, making me the savior of all organic life in the galaxy. For all the pushback I got from the council before, I think they'd be on board with putting me in some sort of diplomatic role. I united the species for a war, and it's important that they stay united. I just hope they don't ask me to replace Udina on the council. I don't think I could stomach that any more than Anderson could.

I don't know what I'll do when I get out of here, but I'm retiring from the Spectres. Maybe the Alliance Navy, too. I'm not sure where I'll end up yet, but neither Ash nor I could handle settling down as farmers or something. There's going to have to be some action somewhere. I'm not even sure she's ready to leave the Alliance. We'll have to talk about that the next time she visits.