A/N: Here it is, chapter 4. The Khalisah part of this chapter was inspired by a story by GoG ToXiC. Enjoy!

What Could Possibly Happen In Mass Effect 3?

There was a shocked silence amongst Tali, Shepard and Garrus. All three stared at Ashley Williams for two reasons; the fact that she had actually come to greet them as they arrived on Earth, and that she looked completely different compared to the last time they had seen her.

Instead of having her hair tied neatly back, it seemed Ashley had let it grow; the new look suited her and, although Shepard would never dare admit it in front of Tali, she looked quite nice.

There was an uncomfortable silence; Shepard broke his gaze and looked around at the crew that had come to meet them; there were four of them total: Admiral David Anderson, who stood in a military pose quietly surveying the tension; taking it in. Then there was Ashley, who had everyone's attention; and finally there were two unknown youngish alliance soldiers, acting sort of like bodyguards.

Anderson was the first to break the tension.

"*ahem* Commander Shepard?" he asked formally.

Shepard gave a somewhat polite nod to Ashley, and then turned to look at Anderson.

"Admiral Anderson," He returned, also formally. Anderson raised a hand.

"Please, Shepard, you of all people don't have to address me as 'Admiral'," he said in his familiar deep voice. He looked over at the Normandy SR-2. "Well, well," he said reminiscently, with a sad smile. "Even after getting my first ship destroyed, you managed to bring me back one that is even better than the original." Anderson raised his right hand in offer of a handshake.

Shepard smiled politely at the half-joke and grasped Anderson's hand firmly.

"It's been too long, Anderson," he replied, breaking the handshake. "The Alliance requested I turn her in; do you have any idea as to what they'll do with her?"

"The Alliance plans to check her over for any information about Cerberus; although they've decreased in size quite significantly over the past year, with the raids on known Cerberus strongholds a while ago. That information you sent us a while back really helped us to start taking down Cerberus; thank you."

Shepard noticed Ashley look at her feet.

"After that, they'll probably refurbish her, then maybe send her out again, repurposed as an Alliance vessel," Anderson continued. "Depending on how your hearing goes, they might consider giving it back to you; nothing's concrete yet."

Shepard nodded, understanding. "When exactly is my trial?" asked Shepard, realizing he didn't know.

"It'll be some time next week," explained Anderson. "Until then, you'll be staying in a hotel near Alliance Headquarters. Accommodations have been made for your whole crew. However, given their history, some of them will need to be questioned about Cerberus's doings." Anderson looked over at Ashley. "I'll let you four get, um, reacquainted since miss Williams specially requested to be on the team that would meet you." He said, turning around and walking back with the two soldiers towards the door at the far end of the walkway. Ashley Williams took a breath, and then stepped forwards to Shepard.

"Look, Commander…" she began awkwardly. "I- I want to apologize for what I said on Horizon-" she explained nervously, but was cut off by Garrus, who took a step towards her.

"Damn right you do," he said angrily. "You turned your back on him, Williams. Right when he needed you the most."

Ashley winced. Shepard turned away, walking to the edge of the walkway, and looked out at the view. They were quite high up, maybe 125 storeys? From here he could see the sun rising on the horizon. It cast on orangey glow over everything. He turned around, and leant against the railing.

"Let her finish, Garrus," Shepard said slowly. Garrus returned to his original position.

"I-I- You don't understand; I had nothing to go on, you'd been gone for two years! Then you came back and said you were working for Cerberus! What was I supposed to think?" she cried defensively. At this, Tali spoke up.

"How about what Garrus and I thought?" she spoke calmly, but there was an undertone of serious anger I her voice; not common for her.

Shepard stood away from the railing. "Tali, calm down," he said understandingly; Tali acted a bit sheepish, then stood down. "Ashley respects and trusts me, just as I respect and trust her. It's completely understandable that she reacted the way she did; she was only trying to look out for my well-being because of how much she respects me." Shepard explained analytically. Ashley nodded in agreement. Tali and Garrus took a second to take it in;

"That… makes sense," Garrus mused. "I'm- sorry for snapping at you like that, Ashley, it… wasn't fair," he said peevishly. There was an awkward silence. Then Tali said unconvincingly "I'm sorry too, Ashley."

Satisfied, Shepard turned slowly and started to walk down the path. Garrus and Tali both followed suit; Ashley considered for a moment, then turned and followed the same path.

As Shepard walked towards the door, he couldn't help but notice an extra person from the ones that had met with him standing by the door. As he approached, he groaned in horror as he realized who this person was.

"Commander Shepard?" came the voice he knew only too well.

"Khalisah Bint Sinan Al Jalani, Westerlund News; do you mind if I ask you a few questions?" Shepard sighed. What choice did he have?

"Fine…" he said slowly. Khalisah smiled mischievously, and then reached for her video drone. "We are now live on this morning's TV," she informed Shepard as she clicked the button.

"First question: is it true that you fought and defeated the mysterious race of aliens known only as Collectors?" she asked. Shepard took a formal stance.

"Yes, Khalisah, that is true." Shepard explained, "I built up a carefully selected team of specialists to take with me to fight them; they were abducting human colonists all over the terminus systems. They would have targeted Earth had my team and I not stopped them."

Khalisah nodded slowly. "alright then, second question: did you really go through the Omega 4 Relay?" she asked.

"Yes," answered Shepard, "that relay goes to the core of the galaxy. My ship was able to make it through by picking up a specially modified IFF that allowed us safe passage through the Omega 4 Relay." Things are going pretty good, thought Shepard. Khalisah nodded, and then turned as though to get ready to switch off the video drone, but stopped, and looked back.

"Commander Shepard, I have one last question."

He looked at her, in a good mood now. "Go."

"I'm sure it's all false, but rumours say that you may be romantically involved with a quarian of all things." As Khalisah finished her sentence, everything went silent. The reporter continued, unfazed by the sudden quiet. "As I said, I'm sure such an outlandish and stupid idea is false, but what do you have to say about them anyway?"

A/N: Oooooooo, whats Shepard gonna say? Find out next time! Same bat-time, same bat-place, same bat-channel! Oh, and review if you have the time; I wanna know what you think of my work!