Crack

Shepard's fist collided with the punching bag.

Crack

Shepard's other fist collided with the punching bag.

Crack

Once more, Shepard struck the bag just as hard as before.

From the walkway above the hangar, Kelly looked on. It wasn't the fact that Shepard used the punching bag which gave Kelly pause, it was the fact she had been there ever since they left Horizon. Stripped down to a pair of cargo shorts and a tank top, Nora Shepard was covered in a sheet of sweat from repeated punches against the bag for the last two hours. Each blow, marked by a beastly grunt, with the occasional break wherein she collapsed to her knees to catch her breath, only to start the process once again.

"She's got a lot of heavy baggage in there," Kasumi Goto's voice mused beside her, which caused Kelly to squeak and hop aside, startled.

The master thief smiled morosely,"Sorry, didn't know you were preoccupied."

Kelly caught her breath and waved it off. "No worries. But you are right. Ever since Shepard has come on board, she's thrown herself into defeating the Collectors, but I worry about her."

Kasumi's smile turned mischievous, "Nothing unprofessional, one hopes."

The yeoman pouted, "No, nothing like that. I'm supposed to be the ship's counselor. I make sure everyone's mentally sound, because that can make just as much a difference as being physically fit. However, they have to come to me. I don't have the authority to order them into sessions." She paused a moment. "And even if I did, I wouldn't."

The smile the changed to astonished and impressed, "Remarkable. You're the first psychologist I've met that actually understands how people get better."

Kelly's own smile turned sad. "Well, the only person I feel that really needs my help the most won't even give me the time of day, let alone speak with me."

Kasumi put her hand on Kelly's shoulder and gave it an affectionate squeeze. "My mother, bless her heart, told me once that one moment of unbearable patience can mean ten years of peace. But then again, my mother poisoned my father every morning, promising him the antidote on his swift return home after work, to make sure he wasn't philandering, so, what do I know?"

Kelly tried not to chuckle, "Must have made home life quite interesting."

Kasumi's smile grew amused, "Like you wouldn't believe, however, that's neither here nor there."

The laughter died down and both women looked to their commander, still punching the bag.

"Shep ran into a friend from her old squad. It didn't end well." Kasumi murmured.

"How bad was it?" Kelly ventured, not sure if she should have asked.

"I think Shep broke Miss Williams' nose. I could hear the crack from across the yard."

Kelly winced at the unwanted mental image of Commander Shepard punching Ashley Williams square in the face, her visage twisted in anger.

The master thief turned back to Shepard and muttered, "If I had to make a guess, Shep's like a geyser. She has a lot of heat built up and she has to control how, where, and when she lets it out or else people she doesn't want to hurt will get hurt. That's how she seemed when she helped me."

Her tone became more dire as she continued, "Be careful, Kelly. I don't think she wants to hurt you, but if you're not careful, she will."

The asian woman vanished as her cloak activated, which left the yeoman to dwell upon her warning.


"Ms. Chambers?" a computer aided and heavily accented voiced asked Kelly as she made her way to the barracks for her break.

She turned to see both the Quarian, Tali'Zorah and Office Vakarian standing next to each other.

"Oh, Ms. Tali, Officer Vakarian. What can I do for you?" she asked, surprised that both of them had decided to see her at the same time.

The turian inclined his head to the gunnery bay, "We need to talk."

The yeoman had a sneaking suspicion that this had something to do with the commander as they lead her through the door and locked it.

"We know what you're trying to do, Ms. Chambers, but be aware that we won't tolerate Cerberus trying to use anything against her," the mechanic growled and pointed her finger at Kelly once she knew there was no one eavesdropping on them.

Kelly blinked in confusion, "What?"

Garrus placed a hand on the quarian's shoulder and answered, "What she's trying to say is that while we appreciate you wanting to help Shepard, we've known her long enough to know that Cerberus and a lot of other people often try to 'help' her, but secretly leave a lot of strings attached. We almost didn't find Saren in time because of this."

Tali shook Garrus's hand off her shoulder and said, "The Council, the Alliance, and now Cerberus. They all want the same thing; to use up Shepard and toss her aside once she's no longer of any use to them."

Kelly noted the agitation in their voices and nodded, "I know. In fact, I was rooting for Shepard when I got word she became the first human Specter." She turned to Tali, "Remember the article you wrote about the Reapers not long after the battle of the Citadel? I read that. I read the reports that both of you sent out to the various news sites before the first Normandy was attacked. Shepard was the reason why I joined Cerberus in the first place."

She made a note not to mention anything about the benefactor that had more or less guided her into Cerberus' good graces.

Garrus' mandibles flexed slowly before continuing, "Knowing full well what they did to the soldiers on Akuze and Admiral Kouhoku?"

The yeoman winced. Those, when she had learned of them, were a definite sore spot amongst Shepard's squad.

"As opposed to what the Alliance and the Council have done once Shepard learned of the Reapers?" she replied evenly.

She could see the quarian's eyes narrow, but Kelly persisted. "I'm not a soldier, nor have I ever pretended to be one. However, seeing Shepard being tossed aside, like you said, by the very people who gave her this responsibility made me realize that the incidents you mentioned or not, Cerberus is the only one that's actively working to fight and prepare for the Reapers. But make no mistake, it's because of Shepard I'm here, not Cerberus."

Both the Turian and Quarian regarded her quietly for a moment before Garrus said, "If what you say is true, then... I wish you were back on the first Normandy."

Tali turned to her companion in surprise, "Garrus..."

"She has to know," Tali turned away as her friend continued, "we knew Shepard for a long year while we were looking for Saren. And during that time, never once did she mention either her youth or Torfan."

With her arms around her torso as though she were cold, Tali added, "Every time we tried to ask her about it, she would pull away even further. It's a miracle that she still thought of us as friends after all our prying."

"Shepard always thought about others long before herself," Garrus reminisced, "we first assumed she was being thoughtful as she helped Tali with her Pilgrimage and me hunting down a psychopathic Salarian doctor. However, we both began to notice that whenever she became the subject of conversation, she'd either divert it onto someone else or avoid it altogether. She wouldn't even let us do anything for her."

Tali answered sadly, "The only person we think ever was able to see Shepard for who she really was, was Liara. But she's not the same person she was two years ago."

Kelly nodded, downcast. She had heard that Liara T'Soni, once Shepard's only confidant, was no longer the archeologist that Shepard had recruited, but a powerful information broker on Illium, consumed by a need for revenge. The details of their reunion was sparse. She recalled seeing Shepard quite sullen when she returned with Thane Krios and Samara the Justicar. Instead of angry, she seemed emotionally exhausted and went back to her room with not even a glare at the yeoman.

There was something wrong and Kelly Chambers was powerless to do anything to stop it.