The first place she went was her quarters. Annie needed time to herself, just to process it all. It wasn't much larger than her quarters on the Normandy SR-1, though having her own floor and bathroom all to herself would be nice. She sat down on the edge of the bed, giving a small smirk; just as hard as the old one, before her eyes drifted to the mirror by her bed. Annie's fingers moved up to the scars along her cheek and jaw, the synthetics glowing through. It didn't hurt but it definitely unsettled her as she stood from her place.

Slowly Annie undid the top of her uniform, sliding the sports bra from her torso, as she stood there half naked. Taking in a deep breath, she turned so that Annie could see her back in the mirror. Immediately tears rushed to her eyes as she looked at her perfectly unmarked back and the clean skin. Annie stared at herself in the mirror before closing her eyes as an odd combination of laughter and crying shook her body. For fifteen years she had been left with the only reminder of her time as a slave. She had considered getting the markings removed but could never do it, as if the broken child was still there and knew the punishment for such an act.

"Commander," Miranda called as the doors to Annie's quarters opened. She quickly grabbed for her sports bra, her back to Miranda as she immediately apologized. "Sorry, I would have figured EDI would have warned me," she remarked. EDI was the artificial intelligence on the ship, a program completely aware with human-like tendencies, except for the emotional bit.

I would have figured you would knock first, EDI answered coolly through the ship's intercom system, which seemed to annoy Miranda. Annie simply coughed, clearing her throat and wiping at her eyes as she grabbed for her top.

"It's okay…I was just looking at the new me," Annie smiled, finishing the last button on the shirt as Miranda seemed to give a small smile.

"I hope you like. The Illusive Man was strict on making sure you were exactly like you had always been but I took a few liberties in some areas. Mostly the figure and skin, covering all major markings with a fresh new skin graph. I apologize on the facial scars but Dr. Chakwas seems confident that in time those will heal as well."

"I…I noticed and it's okay," Annie said silently, as Miranda tilted her head to the side.

"Was there something you were hoping we had kept?" It was so innocent Annie couldn't help but laugh, waving at the comment.

"No, thank you. I'd been planning on getting rid of the…mistake for years," she gestured to her back as the small smile returned to Miranda's face. With the pleasantries over Miranda sat Annie down for another round of twenty-questions with her past. She passed with flying colors, glad that Miranda either didn't ask or didn't know about certain details that she wasn't comfortable discussing.

After about an hour Miranda stood from the couch and Annie followed her towards the elevator, time would be better spent getting to work than moping around. "Oh, before I forget," Miranda remarked, reaching into her tight uniform to pull a necklace out and over her head. "This is yours," she handed it to Annie as the commander looked at the trinket on the silver chain. Slowly a smile pulled at her face as she realized what it was.

When the Citadel had been saved, Annie was allowed a well-deserved shore leave and chose to take Liara back to Ilos. It certainly wasn't for Annie's benefit, but she loved nothing more than to watch Liara swoon over the Prothean history. And it was there that the couple found a curious device. It had been broken and was probably nothing more than garbage at that point but they didn't care. After shore leave they had the pieces of the device made into necklaces, the semi-flowing and glowing blue gem set on a silver backing. It was meant as something to remind each other that they weren't alone. Annie had never let it leave her sight.

"It was given to us when we collected your body, with specific instructions to return it to you when you woke," Annie nodded, placing it back over her head. She did have to admit she was curious about the missing dog tags that she had added to the necklace but decided they'd removed it for the sake of security or something. The metal was cool against her skin but familiar and oddly enough it gave her the comfort she needed. This little thing had survived just like she had. Maybe there was more about her past that was still around after two years. Annie could only hope.

If there was anything Annie was good at – despite getting out of impossible situations – it was ignoring the bare necessities. Things like sleep and food didn't matter when thousands, or in this case millions of lives were on the line. She had to crack down on finding this team of "experts" that the Illusive Man had so kindly named and take out the Collectors as soon as possible.

And that took the Normandy to Omega.