Thank you all for reading!

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She stood outside the door, forced herself to knock. She really had no choice at this point.

"Shepard?" the startled asari yawned. "What brings you here? Is everything alright?"

"Liara...sorry to disturb you. I erm...have a medical question."

"Of course, come in," the doctor delighted.

"I'm...probably just over reacting but..."

"I'm sure that's not true. Here, come sit down," she instructed, directing Shepard onto the bed. "You look terrible Commander."

"Yeah, I've not been feeling too great."

"Hmm. Have you been exposed to anything unusual?" Liara asked, scanning the shivering woman with her omni tool.

"A husk."

"A husk?"

"I was bitten by one on Earth," Shepard explained. "I got up in the night to spew for the hundredth time, my arm was excruciatingly itchy. I took my plate off and noticed the wound had kinda... worsened."

"Oh my!" Liara gasped examining the mark. "It's black and it's...huge."

"Yep, pretty damn ugly. Anything you can do?"

"I...have heard of this. Your body is developing an extremely rapid and extremely severe infection. Few that have survived an unarmoured physical attack with the creatures and been left untreated have been known to experience dangerous symptoms."

"Such as?"

"High Fever, sickness, impaired judgement, hallucinations, death."

"Nice..."

"Indeed. It is not something that can be treated simply with medi-gel. Recovery usually involves injections of temporary antidote until a twenty four hour hospitalised drip is available to the individual for a full body flush."

"And where can I get these injections?"

"I can make you up one now in the med-bay, the formula is simple enough, but you will eventually require the full treatment Shepard."

"When I get twenty four hours of my life free it'll be the first thing I do."

"Shepard," she scorned.

"I'm joking Liara, I'll get it done don't worry."


Watching Kaidan committed to Huerta memorial was a relief. He had made it this far on his own, his chances could only better now. The hospital was overrun of course, Shepard wondered how the doctors must cope, how they must ration out treatment, make those decisions to prioritise knowing someone will suffer, if not die for this. Imperfect people trying to make perfect decisions. She knew the feeling only too well.

The strong decontamination smell tickled her nose. She knew it was time to leave anyway, time to amuse the Council by asking for help. Before going she shook hands with the doctor in charge of Kaidan's medical well being. She left her credit chit, commissioning him to get in whatever supplies may be needed regarding the Major's health. Right or wrong she knew Kaidan would gain preferential treatment for being a member of the SSV Normandy.

She hadn't a second to observe the ever changing Citadel before meeting with the Councillors nor did she particularly have the interest at this moment in time. Physically she felt great, her body had responded excellently to Liara's injection. Only her hunger lay discomfortingly, though this of course could be rectified easily enough. Mentally however she was trying to focus, this was something new regarding her approach with the council. When addressing them before she had simply stated her concerns, let them form their opinion, listened to their conclusion and often if not always argued over the matter. She had never particularly thought about her words before, but now she wanted to. There was just too much at stake to let her request be dismissed over bad blood.

"Ahh, Commander Shepard," the turian Councillor acknowledged, his tongue curling in pronunciation of her name. "No need to state your concerns Commander, Councillor Udina has informed us of Earth's situation."

"I have tried to more like," Udina snorted.

"Then you know I need your help," she expressed, wondering once again why anyone would see Udina fit for representing humankind.

"I'm afraid we may not be able to offer much help," the asari Councillor spoke sympathetically. "As we have told Councillor Udina, we must focus our efforts on our own defences at this time."

"I understand Madame Councillor," Shepard spoke, knowing if she could side anybody it would be her. "But you know as well as I do that the Reapers will not stop at Earth. When your worlds are being harvested do you not want to be able to count on human support?"

"This is a mute point," the salarian Councillor lashed. "If we leave our planets to help yours, they will be destroyed. Of what benefit will your human help be then?"

"The Councilors right, It is pointless to even discuss. We all know how this conversation will end, and I am in no mood for your outbursts Shepard," the turian Councillor remarked.

The spectre's nails dug hard into the recently healed mark of her palm.

"Just please, hear me out," she exhaled, calming herself. "I come to you not as a human but as a being. We are witnessing the end of civilisation, my civilisation, your civilisation. We do not get another shot at this. Do not let your races be wiped out, out of mere ignorance."

"Excuse me," Liara interrupted, explaining their findings of the crucible and the great assistance it will bear.

"Sounds like a fairy story," the turian Councillor scoffed.

"You mean like the Reapers, Councillor?" Shepard pointed out.

"Enough of this!" the asari councillor ordered. "We are doing nothing but waste time here. Shepard, I am sorry we cannot help at this moment. We must prepare and secure our own borders. If we are able to accomplish this, we may then consider sending aid for earth."

Shepard sighed watching the Council walk away. It was expected of course but still disappointing. They were condemning their own worlds to destruction as well as hers.

"Believe me Councillors, if we do not fight together, we will die together," she tried.

The turian Councillor held back and observed the human he disliked so intently.

"Commander, meet with me in Udinas office."


"Can I help you Councillor?" Shepard addressed the turian.

"I wanted to inform you we have decided to uphold your spectre status."

"I wasn't aware it was under dispute."

"As always, your attitude is a disappointment. I don't have to remind you of the honour this holds."

"Was their anything else Councillor?" she gritted.

He hesitated. "Yes, I may be able to help you. Primach Fedorian of Palaven called the war summit but...we've lost contact with him. Those meetings won't proceed without him. The Normandy is one of the few ships that could extract him undetected."

"And this helps me how?"

"Don't be naïve Commander. A grateful turian Primarch will do wonders for your home world, I'm sure. I doubt you can afford to turn this opportunity down"

"And I doubt you can afford it either."

"Lets cut the self righteousness shall we Commander? My people need something, your people need something. I believe this is what you humans call a win win situation."

"Ptfth," Shepard exhaled. As usual him and the other two would do nothing to help until it was to their advantage.

"It's up to you what you choose to do." He shrugged.

Shepard thought he would walk away at that but he didn't, he just looked at her. The hard faced turian was hard to read. They seldom gave anything away. Still, there was something familiar in his eyes. Her friendship with Garrus Vakarian had helped the Commander detect subtle tell tale signs of emotion. It was this way when Garrus had come to her for help with his betrayer Sidonis. During the time it had taken to track down the turian, Shepard had seen it in her comrade's eyes many times. Underneath the rage and pride, he'd been desperate, felt trapped. It was the same now with the Councillor. He wanted to plead but nothing in his DNA was going to let him.

"Consider it done," she said.


Chewing on the salty sweet protein bar, the ache of her stomach slowly mellowed.

"So, we leave our people to fend for themselves, but now we're going to help out the turians? Who have the biggest damn military force in the Galaxy!" James complained, trying to steady himself on the turbulent shuttle.

"It's all part of the war effort James," she mumbled, mouth full of carbohydrates.

"Makes no sense to me," he lied.

"You'll learn."

He muttered something and began tinkering with his weapon modifications. Shepard wanted to make sure she chatted with him at some point like she had intended with Kaidan, only left it too late. James was a good soldier and a good man. He just wanted reassurance he was doing the right thing by letting his family and friends alone to fight their way through hell, it was more than deserved. She realised her to do list had become rather full. She had new crew she needed to meet, old crew to greet. She'd been Commander two days, and already her inbox was filled high with requests, mostly surrounding the Citadel. There was a lot to do and a lot of report writing to follow. She'd briefly informed Hackett of the Council's decision before taking straight off to Palaven's moon.

"Palaven, look at it!" Liara remarked, observing the shuttle's monitor. "I hope Garrus is bearing through."

"Is he on it?" Shepard asked the Shadow broker.

"I...I'm not sure. I've been so busy with the Archives. I thought you might know."

"No," she replied, eyes fixed onto the burning screen. "I haven't been in contact with anyone over the last six months."

Shepard had had a lot of time to think whilst being detained, it was a rarity for her to spend time pondering over nothing. She'd missed Garrus, more than she'd expected to. They hadn't always shared a friendship. For a while their relationship had consisted of mere pleasantries and protocol. Shepard had originally recruited the C-sec agent, impressed by his combat skill and determination to bring down Saren. It became quickly apparent that the turian was sceptical about serving on a human ship, but as always with him, the ends justified the means. Shepard lacked experience in turian association as did Garrus with humans. She knew they were a proud people with a strong military background. She had seen others try and joke with Garrus whilst he was making repairs to the Mako. He'd simply nod and tighten his mandibles. She didn't have to know much about turians to see he was irritated. Shepard of course wanted her alien crew mate to feel comfortable, as she did with Tali, Liara and Wrex. She'd approached the C-sec officer as with the others and expressed an interest in his work. His replies one lined and automatic. "Yes Commander." "No Commander." "Good to see you Commander."

As their race against Saren neared its end, Shepard had walked out into the night air whilst docked at the Citadel and found the turian slouched in a bar she herself liked to come to be alone. She debated leaving but sat beside him.

"Commander," he startled. "Need me for something?"

"At ease Garrus," she smiled, and ordered herself a drink.

He stared at her for a moment, never quite being able to figure her. Most of the humans he knew were vocal of seemingly every thought and emotion, but Shepard was different. He couldn't read her, she never gave anything away. He admired the quality in a Commander.

"How are you?" he asked, returning attention to the drink in his hand.

"Better for that," she replied, shaking off her shot of alcohol.

The bar was empty mostly. It was dark and musty. Tobacco stained the walls both visibly and odour wise. There were a few gruff looking turians in one corner, a couple of Krogan occupying a table. The place was well known for being rough. Garrus had been called out here frequently during his time in C-sec, mainly to Break up fights, deal with armed robberies, usual stuff. The management liked Garrus, they certainly felt a lot safer having him present. The free drinks had made this his local, though he wondered what could possibly appeal to Shepard about the place.

"I didn't think this would be your sort of place," he inquired curiously.

"Yeah? Why's that?"

"I've never seen humans in here before."

"Wer'e not all the same you know."

"Oh...I didn't mean, damn it. Sorry Commander I..."

"Relax Garrus," she smiled, gently squeezing his arm, letting the turian know she was joking. "So what brings you here?"

"Hmm...ambiance," he gestured towards the two Krogan now butting heads.

She laughed. "You're a strange one, turian."

He found her like for teasing him amusing, though cautiously wondered if she was trying to arouse a racial defence in him. He didn't know humans well enough to know whether retaliating to this banter would cause offence, so he kept quiet. They were so close to Saren now, Garrus could not risk getting thrown off the ship.

"Something on your mind?" she asked, noticing him staring off.

He looked at her whilst swallowing the last of his drink. His stare rushed a shiver through her body. His eyes were positively piercing.

Garrus went on to explain his encounter with Dr. Saleon and the message updating him on possible coordinates.

"We'll get it done," Shepard informed, admiring his repulsion of the barbaric doctor.

Her reply surprised him. "I know this is not your concern Commander."

"You're my crew, you're my concern Garrus," she explained.

"I understand that. Thank you Commander, but this could delay our mission."

"We'll get it done Garrus," she repeated. "If your feeling guilty I could always cut your next shore leave."

His mandibles flicked into a grin. "I'd miss this place."

"Then take the damn offer turian."

"Okay Commander, you win."

"Damn right," she smiled. "And Garrus?"

"Mmm?"

"Call me Shepard."

Conversation flowed better after that night. It wasn't too long before Saren was confronted and the two went their separate ways, leaving with a better understanding and respect for one anothers race.

Two years later of course, and fate would reunite the pair. Though both different now, both having lost so much. Garrus' respect only grew for the woman seeing her decision to ally with Cerberus. She didn't care about position or reputation, just on saving one more life. For Shepard, Garrus was the last bit of familiarity she had left, a speck of comfort in her screwed up existence. An untouchable trust grew between the two. They rarely proceeded off ship without each other. Although unspoken, their bond was apparent.

"Well, wherever he is I'm sure he will be putting up a good fight," Liara assured.

"That he will," Shepard smiled.

The team landed, and after learning of the Primarchs death and the General they must instead unite, they set off on the impossibly reaper swarmed moon to find him.

"James, that you breathing so hard?"

"Atmospheres a little thinner than I'm use to that's al-"

"Shepard!" Liara yelled suddenly.

A lone marauder appeared from the rock a short meter ahead, targeting its gun at Shepard's head. She swiftly reached for her pistol before hearing the bullet zip past her ear, causing the marauder to fall to its feet.

"Planning on taking back my planet with a pistol, human?"

Shepard turned to meet the sniper's eyes.

"Well, well, well, Garrus Vakarian."