Th' hast spoken right, 'tis true.
The wheel is come full circle, I am here.

King Lear Act 5, scene 3, 171–175

"Well," I grinned, "She's not the Normandy but she sure is beautiful."
The large frigate in front of me was certainly that. In fact, beautiful almost seemed like an insult. Turian/Human hybrid design, much like the Normandy, all sleek lines and sweeping curves in the right places. She really was a gorgeous thing... I was lost in my thoughts, when Zaeed spoke up.

"A little gift from our friend the Shadow Broker."
He spoke with such smug satisfaction, his arms crossed and leaning back into his hip, that I wanted to swear at him. But, hell if this ship wasn't the most stunning thing I'd ever seen. I figured I could forgive a little smugness for that.

"Has she got a name yet?" I asked, anxious to know everything I could about my new baby.

"Not officially, but I think I like Phoenix for her. Seems fairly apt for a ship of ours." Zaeed put one arm around me, pulling me close and planting a kiss on the top of my head.

I thought about it for a moment. "You're right. I like it too, Phoenix it is. Can we board her now? I want to see inside!"

I squealed with delighted when he nodded his response.

I thought she was beautiful on the outside, but compared to her interior, that was nothing. She was indescribable, truly. And thank the gods, she didn't have that awful Turian design CIC. It was a proper Human CIC, with a nice big round galaxy map in the middle and the crew's posts dotted about.

I loved the Normandy but honestly, steps in front of the galaxy map? Because that wouldn't be a liability in a combat situation at all... I rolled my eyes internally before moving my focus back to the ship I was currently on, and commenced with making the noises most women reserve for babies and small animals.

I turned around to find Zaeed looking at me with great amusement.

"Massani, you beautiful son-of-a-bitch. I think I fucking love you."

He grinned at me then, before pushing me back and kissing me thoroughly, pressing my butt back against the galaxy map. When he pulled away, leaving me breathless and dizzy, he just chuckled at me and said "I know. Not finished yet though." while pulling me away and through the ship to the elevator.

OH MY GOD. My insides nearly imploded when we reached the crew deck in less than a minute. It seems like every elevator I had been cursed to use until now was painfully slow, but this one worked, quickly. I was struck dumb with awe. Stupid thing to be impressed by, right? Well, apologies, but there's only so much elevator banter and bad lobby music one person can stand before they go insane, and I think I've had double my share. This was refreshing, like a single glass of iced water in a desert.

Zaeed looked at me again, and that smug expression wasn't half as infuriating as it had been when I started looking around. "We're not finished yet, but she's nice, isn't she?"

I nodded in agreement, trying not to let how thrilled I was show on my face. If his ego inflated any more we wouldn't be able to get his head out the airlock.

I followed him through to the port observation lounge, and couldn't help the squeak that escaped when the lights flicked on.

"SURPRISE!" My crew, full of old faces and new, exclaimed.

I tried to speak but found my throat was swollen and raw with emotion. I fought it, I really did. Commander-goddamn-Shepard doesn't cry, certainly not in front of other people. I lost. I was so overwhelmed by the events of the last few days that I didn't know what to do.

When Garrus walked over and embraced me, I cried harder.

"Stop leaking, Shepard, you know I hate it when humans do that." He whispered in my ear, his body shaking with a badly suppressed laugh.

"Fuck off you spiky bastard," I retorted, and everything felt like it was back to normal again. "Hang on, what are you doing here? You can't be here! You're the Primarch!" I was getting shrill with surprise. Reason #1 not to get emotional as a female commanding officer, no-one takes a squeaky woman seriously. Not even me. I cleared my throat.

"Yeah, well," He rubbed the back of his neck in that adorably awkward gesture Garrus was so good at. "I'm a pretty shitty diplomat. I might have told Councillor Sparatus to fuck himself."

The room went silent. I was the one to respond, after a moment of awe. "You WHAT?!"

Garrus smirked at me, before looking at the floor a little sheepishly. "You heard. Guess spending so much time around you kind of lowered my bullshit tolerance."

"Yeah, sure, blame it on the human, why don't you?"

"So, anyway, I figured it was time to move on, and when Zaeed mentioned there might be a chance to follow my favourite spectre into hell again... Well, you know I can't resist."

I sighed before laughing. "Garrus you are fucking insane... And that's why I like you. Someone get me a drink?"