Chapter 7 – Hope part 3

Note – Beloved Readers, please forgive the DreamWeaver for this oversight on leaving this dream undone when there have been so many requests for more. The DreamWeaver will endeavor to continue this dream to its culmination.

The DreamWeaver also desires to impart another gratitude to JoleeKee, your words touch the DreamWeaver's heart to the very core and your kindnesses are boundless. The DreamWeaver is eternally grateful.


"She's starting to improve. The doctors want you all to go talk to her. Watch where you step and be careful, she is so fragile right now. One wrong touch could cripple her for life…" There were many murmured promises of not to touch her at all and to be careful. "And remember… The damage is… catastrophic… Try to look past her injuries, like Kaidan has. Remember her as she was, it will make it easier to deal with seeing her like this…"

Joker took a deep breath and was the first one to brave the crossing across the room. He hobbled carefully over the wire tangle, careful not to trip and break something to wind up in a bed next to her, and came around to view the commander. He sucked wind as his hand came down on Kaidan's shoulder and he found himself closing his eyes, not only to avoid seeing the terrible injuries but also to keep his stomach from rebelling at the thought of the pain she must be in.

"Damn…" he whispered and paused. Then he spoke in a more normal voice, "Damn Commander… Remember when I said you look like shit after coming back from Tuchanka? I take it back. Now, you look like shit."

There was no reaction from the prone woman lying below his view; but the monitors remained steadily increasing, which he took as hopeful signs.

"Guys! You should come see this. Someone finally kicked the commander's ass. Who did I owe five bucks to? Wait, do I still have to pay up if it was a nuke that did it? Garrus, we have to write a joke about this… Like how do you kill a Reaper, throw a marine with a nuke gun at it or something…"

"Lola, are you really napping on the job already? See? That's the problem with marines today, wipe out the Reapers and then they think it's a holiday or something…" Vega decided to join in the light ribbing as he followed Joker's lead and came to the bed alongside Kaidan. However, his first view of her almost took him out at the knees and he found himself stumbling to the side without additional comment. He bowed his head with his brow furrowed, wondering how Kaidan could manage to stay so composed at the sight of the broken Shepard.

Garrus joined the trio standing alongside the hospital bed, the final defector until the rest of the crew crossed the invisible border and began hopping wires in groups of twos and threes. Though Garrus bore the weight of Shepard's destroyed form well, managing a stalwart turian composure as he viewed her injury-wracked form, the rest of the crew's reactions ranged from pained grimaces to sickly shades of green. Each one maintained a cautious focus to not allow their revulsion at the horrific pain their poor commander must be in to color their comments.

Leaning in close to brush a few strands of her red hair with a claw, he murmured just loud enough for Kaidan to hear, "Look, Shepard, it's really flattering that you want to be a lady-killer like me. But seriously, next time let's skip the matching scars. We can try clan markings or something less intrusive."

Kaidan laughed a watery laugh as the turian stepped back to let Traynor close to the bedside as she exclaimed softly, "Oh Shepard, look at your hair! You won't believe what these horrible doctors did to it. Don't you worry, I'll have those knots out in no time and you'll be good as new."

"It's true, Shepard," Daniels' voice came from the back of the crowd, having just regained her composure as she wiped away tears. "Joker may think you look like shit, but we know you just need a brush and some eyeliner and it'll be like the war never happened."

The optimism from the women crashed over Kaidan like a tropical breaker, forcing him to look up at Shepard's still face again. Her brow was still slightly crinkled and there were a few new lines in the corners of her eyes that he had never seen before, but she was still there. She was still their Commander Shepard, their immovable center as he had heard Dr. Chakwas had described her. The girls were right, they were able to look past the damage and see their Shepard, the one whom they all gladly followed into hell. All she needed was a few good reasons to open those beautiful gem-like eyes and she would be as good as new.

"Remember that Bekenstein Hock affair?" Donnelly drawled in his heavy Scottish brogue. "When she was all done up in that black getup?"

"I remember that," Tali's digitized voice sprang up from the foot of the bed. "Kasumi said she spent two hours on Shepard's hair."

"Only for her to have her slap a helmet on like it was a hat. Poor Kasumi, I'd never seen her look so dejected." Donnelly finished, drawing a few chuckles from a couple of the crew who hadn't been a part of that mission. The rest were rubbing away smiles with the backs of their hands or shaking their heads as they recalled the memory. What a day that had been…

"Yeah, that's nothin'…" Joker dropped into the conversation to impart a story that obviously topped that one. "Remember Tuchanka?"

Kaidan looked up in askance as Garrus groaned and put his face in his hands. "Single stupidest thing she's ever done. Killing that thresher maw and the Collector suicide mission notwithstanding."

"And telling the Illusive Man to go to hell." Joker added lightly.

"Or setting herself up as bait for an Ardat-Yakshi." Daniels recalled that one on a dime.

"Racing into that burning factory wasn't very bright; Shepard is too good at thinking with her heart and not her head…" Donnelly chuckled.

"And throwing a thresher maw at a Reaper." James got in on that one.

"Painting that Reaper on the homeworld for the air strike all on her own was pretty stupid." Tali cut in with a decisive snort, shaking her helmeted head.

"So was going toe to toe with that Reaper…" Liara finally managed to murmur from the far back of the crowd. Silence descended for a moment as Kaidan followed the entire crew's gaze as they all turned to look up at Liara in silence. He felt a new lump starting in his throat beyond the one that was just beginning to ease and forced himself to swallow it down. His gaze turned back to the still form of the commander and he could feel the weight of all their stares on the back of his neck. Romi… is there anything stupid in this galaxy you haven't managed to accomplish… Finally, Joker piped up and broke the silence.

"Alright, alright, so the list of phenomenally stupid crap she's done is longer than the Normandy from bow to stern. But seriously? I'm still holding headbutting a krogan at the tiptop of the list."

Kaidan's ears invisibly perked and he glanced toward the green-eyed pilot with curiosity written on his features. As he thought it, his mouth formed the words, "She did what?"

"What? I never told you about that one? Hell yeah, she frickin' headbutted a freakin' KROGAN. It was pure awesome!" Joker was practically bouncing up and down on the chair that had been procured and brought forward for him so he could get the weight off his glass legs. He leaned forward to begin to tell the tale, anticipation shining in his eyes.

Kaidan watched him tell the tale with relish, obviously embellishing some of the fighting words that were said because they were very unlike Shepard to insult a krogan out of the blue. However, he couldn't help but laugh when Joker told the part about how she came back to the ship with a knot the size of his fist forming over her eyebrow, all mottled purple and black. She had slapped an ice pack on it and grunted at them to head to the next destination as if nothing had ever happened. She drove Dr. Chakwas crazy for the next three days by refusing to have it treated with a little medi-gel.

Beyond the sound of his voice, the steady and rhythmic beep of the monitors breathed a new sensation of hope into the hospital room. It was laughed into hysterical giggles at Shepard's antics, wept into tears of joy and thanksgiving, exhaled into the ceiling with grateful sighs. Hope blossomed and sparkled and filtered around the room, born on the wings of those steady breaths and soft beeps. There was a chance, there was a prayer. There was hope, once again.


The DreamWeaver hopes that this part of a dream has pleased you, dear Reader, and, if it has, perhaps you will honor the DreamWeaver with a review.

May your dreams guide you on the pathway to the joys of tomorrow.