Clears throat. Hi...long time no update, heh heh. So I got stuck getting this chapter out and I just couldn't get anywhere with it. Then I got caught up in a couple contests in the Aria's Afterlife forum which I won 3rd place for one of my stories. It also didn't help that I have a crap load of reading and constant essays to turn in for my classes, and I work full time, and I'm a mom, and I volunteer 10 hours a week. The good news is school ends in a couple weeks, volunteering pauses for the summer a couple weeks after that, and I've learned my lesson not to read prompts, contests, or requests or I'll get side tracked. All that will leave more free time for me to entertain the masses properly.

Moving along, I want to thank you for the reviews and inquiries to keep this story moving. Thank you. And JaliceAZ, thank you for your beta skills once again. Oh and a while ago I asked for some ideas and someone suggested a combat situation. Lets say your wish has been granted, just not yet.

Over Two Years Ago

Press the fucking button, press the fucking button.

Shepard could do nothing but watch the escape pod doors slide closed as her body was spun around in zero gravity. The ship was already gone; all that was left was for the remaining power cells to explode and the entire thing to drift apart in a million and one pieces.

The current high powered beam coming from the other ship continued to cut its way through the remaining mess, triggering another massive explosion, sending Shepard against a protrusion in the wall, then ricocheting into open space. All she could do was watch as the beam continued to easily slice through the Normandy. And it was joined by another and another, causing explosion after explosion to occur. It was gone. Her ship was gone and she was floating in space with no way to control her momentum.

Shepard watched as large pieces of her ship floated past her. Nothing seemed to be heading on a collision course with her which meant at the moment, she would be alright. To the side, she spotted Joker's escape pod jetting off into the distance. Thank the lord he made it out of there with the others. She didn't know what she would do if he didn't make it. He was like a brother of sorts to her. The closest she had to a family.

After an instant of relief she began scanning for the other escape pods when an alarm went off in her helmet. She then spotted what could only be the vapor of life-giving oxygen leaking from her suit.

Shit, shit, shit, shit-shit-shitshitshitshit.

Shepard grabbed for the back of her suit, struggling to find and stanch the leak. She had to. She fucking had to find it and somehow stop it. If she didn't- she couldn't think about that. She needed to find it, god damn it. Where was it, where was it? Was that it? Over here? No, FUCK. Where is it? She had to….she had to. It was becoming harder to breathe; the air rapidly thinning to nothing. She needed to breathe. Her lungs burned, oh they burned. She couldn't breathe. She couldn't b….she cou….she.

No.

Present Day

Juno lifted her second bag into the transport James had flown her in. Who knew that she would arrive with one bag and leave with two? She sure wouldn't have guessed it. Looking at her two bags lying beside James's one, she felt kind of girly needing two for just a few days.

In fact this entire vacation had changed her somehow. She didn't feel as lost as she had before she arrived, She still didn't really exactly know what she was going to do with her life once Anderson got her out of this situation, but at least she no longer struggled with this feeling of isolation. She understood now, what it felt like to be a part of family, to not be alone. Now, she had James.

God, did she really have a boyfriend now? Was she seriously in a relationship? It was all so surreal to her. A week ago, she never would've thought it possible, but now? Now she was with someone who could kick ass right alongside her, kiss her senseless, trade insults like any other marine, and make her smile more in a day than she ever had before.

Producing one of those smiles, she closed the transport and was startled out of her thoughts by Tio Emilio.

"Leaving so soon?" he asked from a few feet away.

She blinked at him, shocked that she had lost her touch and hadn't noticed his approach. This vacation really had changed her. Faster than she would of thought possible.

Offering him a cordial smile, Juno said, "No actually. We're all packed and don't really need anything from them sooo…" She trailed off, letting Emilio come up with his own conclusion.

If he did, she didn't know, because he remained silent. He was studying her with an intent she couldn't place. She could read a person in any combat situation. But in one like this, she was at a loss. Especially since he continued to stare her down.

Feeling awkward, Juno looked around for something to focus on, besides Tio Emilio, hoping he would take the hint and either leave or say something. Unfortunately, he did neither. She cleared her throat, then cleared it again when he still didn't say anything.

"So," she began, "I better…"

She really had nothing to fill the uncomfortable void he had created, so she smiled at him as she stepped around him to go find James. Or Mia. Or anyone else.

"I hope you know what you're doing," Emilio finally said, causing her to stop mid-stride.

She looked over her shoulder at him and asked, "What do you mean?"

Again he didn't reply, but he didn't let the silence drag for long.

"Walk with me," he commanded more than asked and Juno effectively felt like a kid about to be lectured to.

Juno stepped to his side and kept pace with him. It didn't look like he was heading in any particular direction, not that she particularly cared. She thought about attempting to break the silence again, and was about to comment on the weather, fuck if she knew why, when Emilio spoke up again.

"James is a lot like his mother," he began, "His mother loved once and only once. Unfortunately it ended up breaking her heart." He rubbed his short hair in frustration. "Jodido bastardo. Right after James was born it went downhill from there. The lies, money problems, drugs...beatings."

"Beatings?"

He nodded, "Si."

"Does he remember them?"

"No, gracias a Dios. He was too young. He's aware it happened but has no memories...Anyways," he waved his hand around as if to erase a trail of thought. "My point is James is the type to only love one person."

"And you think he's in love with me," she finished for him.

He looked at her. "No, not yet. But if he was to love someone it would be you. I've never seen him act like this before."

There it was again. Love. And again someone was saying James was in love with her. She didn't know if the idea of him loving her disturbed her or not.

Earlier she was pretty convinced after the 'conversation' with Daniela that he was. But after their too brief encounter in the laundry room, she chalked it all up to the situation and purposely forgot about it. But with the man in question's uncle revisiting the matter, she couldn't let it go this time.

James loved her. Or was falling in love with her. But however she looked at the situation, it meant the same.

"I want you to do something for me," tio Emilio said. She focused on him.

He held her gaze for a heartbeat then said, "I need you to let him go before it's too late."

What? She gave a quick shake of her head. "What?"

Emilio sighed. "I love my nephew and I don't want to see him hurt like his mother."

Was he serious? "You think I'm going to treat him like shit?"

"No," he quickly corrected. "I know you're not like that. You care for him. To what extent I don't know, but a relationship between the two of you...what if the worst happens with your trial? What happens if he gets reassigned or you're acquitted and reassigned? It would eventually break his heart."

He had some valid points. She never considered the consequences of a relationship with James. What if the reapers come? What if...what if he didn't want her anymore? There were so many what ifs with this new relationship; it had her second-guessing her choice. But no, she wouldn't think like that. If he was willing, then she would be too. Damn what might come their way.

She had come to learn to take the good wherever she could and right now it was James. No way was she going to let what little happiness she could acquire slip through her fingers, no matter how honorable the request was intended to be.

Taking a stance, Juno said, "No. I can't do that. I understand your reasoning but I can't do that to him or to myself. We just found each other. I mean we're no great love story and I have no idea where this will go." She glanced at the cabin before returning to him. "I can't not explore what this might be between us."

Emilio was silent. He rubbed his mouth while considering Juno's words.

He finally said, "I understand." and she relaxed. "Come, I believe Abuela wanted to get a word in with you before you leave."

Baffled at his willingness to drop the subject, Juno obediently followed when a thought occurred to her.

Pivoting her head towards him she asked, "Was it that easy to figure out who I really was?"

If she hadn't been looking at him, she would have missed the quirk at the corner of his mouth just before he told her, "No, not really. Only if you are aware of James's tendency to talk non-stop about his heroes, then out of nowhere rave about his new girlfriend." Emilio looked at her. "He never talks about girls to me or Mia. It's not like him. He may mention them in passing but…" he trailed off and shrugged. "I had to check out his new hero, this Commander Shepard of the USS Normandy. It wasn't really that hard to find a picture or two of you."

She knew he was referring to the recent news coverage of her exploits.

"It was that easy, huh?" Juno solemnly asked.

He only shrugged in return.

"What's up tio?" James asked Emilio.

He was about to go look for Juno when Mia had mentioned Emilio wanted a word with him. It took him a bit, but James found his tio down by the lake. Skipping stones of all things.

James waited as the older man expertly threw a flat stone across the water. He lost count after the sixth skip. Knowing Emilio liked to collect his thoughts before speaking, and not wanting to be outdone by him, James bent down to collect a few stones for himself. Palming his first stone and aligning his fingers just as Emilio had taught him when he was younger, he took aim and threw the stone. Yep, age hadn't improved his toss, his stone still sank to the bottom after a pitiful splash and plop.

Emilio chuckled, "You were never good at skipping stones."

James gave a half grin of amusement. "Yeah, well. I'm pretty sure my teacher was lousy."

Emilio again chuckled then threw another stone. Just like the previous stone, it skipped flawlessly across the water.

"Sabes te amo, ¿verdad?"

James stopped mid swing of his next hopeless attempt, to look at tio Emilio.

"Sí. I know tio."

Emilio appeared to gather his thoughts, as usual, before continuing. "I talked with Juno."

Apprehensively, James asked, "About?"

"I asked her to leave you."

"¿Qué?" James asked incredulously which quickly faded to indignation. Oh he was pissed. Mad at the fact that his tio would do this. Sabotage his relationship with the one woman he actually respected and lo-really liked. He needed to find Juno before she decided anything rash.

"She stood up for the two of you," Emilio said, interrupting James's quickly accumulating panic. He threw another stone and continued. "I don't know exactly what she feels for you but she definitely cares for you. Dios sabe por qué. But you….you…" he shook his head. "I don't know."

James watched as the man he viewed more as a father than his own father by blood, reached out and wrapped his arms around him. This was more emotion than James had ever seen with his tio. He never hugged. A clap on the back? Yeah. A firm handshake? Sure. But for him to hug James...something had to be up.

Reaching up to hug Emilio back, because well he wasn't going to let a moment like this go to waste, James asked, "What's wrong?"

Emilio pulled back and laid a hand on James's neck, his thumb running the length of his ear. He studied James for a moment and cleared his throat before saying, "Nada, mí hijo." His hand dropped. "It's just...I'm proud of you and I want you to be happy. You remind me so much of your mother sometimes."

Emilio blinked a few times, keeping back what James could have sworn were tears, but knowing tio, he'd deny it. James would deny it too, especially since he had something in his own eye.

"She's a good one James. Don't lose her," he told James before letting go. "I believe Abuela wanted to talk with her when I left her about an hour ago."

James headed towards the cabin he knew Abuela would be in. He'd only gone two steps when he stopped and looked back at tio Emilio. He was back to tossing another stone into the lake making it skip along the surface. James smiled and shook his head at the rarity of the moment with the other man.

"No, you want the end to sound more like 'may' than 'me'. Try again."

Juno licked her lips and did as Mia asked, "Basame."

"Close. Try again. Bey-sa-may."

"Bey-sa-may."

Mia smiled. "Bueno. Now say it faster."

Juno dutifully replied. "Bésame."

"Now add the rest."

"Bésame el culo," Juno said with confidence.

Mia laughed and covered her mouth. "Perfect. He will be so impressed."

Juno smiled. "You think?"

Mia smiled wider and seemed to be holding back something. "Oh, definitely." She nodded enthusiastically to prove her point.

Tucking a stray strand of hair behind her ear, Juno got up. "I'm going to go show Abuela."

"NO!" Mia shouted then immediately calmed. "No. You...you wanted to impress Jimmy and, and you know Abuela. She'd get too excited and spoil your surprise." Mia tentatively smiled.

Juno thought about it for a moment then nodded, "You've got a point." She smiled at Mia, "Thank you for helping me out with this, Mia."

The other woman returned her smile. "De nada. I'm happy to help out in anyway. Especially if it's for Jimmy."

"If what's for me?"

Mia jumped in surprise and whipped around to see her cousin in the doorway. She quickly donned an innocent smile and held her arms out to give him a hug.

"Primo, I'm going to miss you."

James eyed her suspiciously and gradually opened his arms to hug her in return. He held her close for a moment. He was going to miss her and her devious self.

He pulled back and met her shining eyes. "I'm going to miss you too prima. Stay out of trouble. Si?"

Mia laughed at him, "Never, Jimmy."

He smiled down at her, then turned to Juno who quickly wiped her eye.

"You ok, Lola?" he asked with concern.

"Yea-" she coughed to clear her throat. "Yeah, just...just some dust."

He didn't believe her for one second but he was going to let her have her excuse.

"You ready?" she asked.

James watched her regain her composure with swift efficiency, not that she had lost much of it and nodded. "Yeah, just let me say goodbye to Abuela one more time."

Juno followed him into the kitchen where they found Abuela prepping another meal for those who were staying one more day. When she saw them her look of concentration turned into happy recognition.

"Jimmy!" Abuela called. "I thought you would be gone by now."

James leaned over to give her a hug before answering. "Not yet Abuela. We wanted to say adios one last time before heading out."

"Oh, I'm going to miss you," she sighed and released James just to envelope Juno in her arms. "And you chica. I expect to see you soon. I have a blanket in mind to give you."

Juno pulled back, arms still clasped with the older woman, looking confused. "For what?"

Abuela smiled, "For the ba-"

"Alright Abuela. Let's not scare her off," interrupted James.

Abuela gave him a sly smile before letting Juno go completely. "Oh! I almost forgot."

James and Juno watched as Abuela hurried to the fridge and pull out a sealed container. She selected a couple forks and brought her findings back.

Handing them to Juno she said, "Here, for the two of you. I figured you could share."

Juno smiled at the kindness the other woman offered and thanked her.

James, on the other hand, was struggling to keep a panic attack at bay. It was one thing when tio Emilio mentioned Abuela's hopes. But to actually hear her talk about babies to Juno? Well, almost, if he hadn't cut her off, but still. He wasn't ready for that. Thinking about being a father gave him the creeps. At least it used to a few days ago. And that's why he needed to not think about it and get Juno out of there before someone asked her what color scheme she was going with for the wedding.

"Ok, Lola. Time to go," he told her and took the container of food from her. Exiting the room, he called back, "I'll have Mia update you when I can."

Abuela called back, "Don't let too much time go by before you see me again."

A distant 'I won't' came back and Abuela chuckled before turning to Juno. "Remember to pronounce your words correctly or Jimmy won't understand a thing you're saying."

Juno brightened, "You heard me practicing with Mia?"

Abuela's eyes sparkled with mischief. "Oh, sí. My Jimmy's going to be speechless."

With a final goodbye to Abuela, Juno followed James out the cabin door and towards the lot where their transport waited. Almost everyone who greeted them when they first arrived had already gone home, so leaving wasn't as hectic. The two had already done their rounds of goodbyes and were just taking their time to leave. They didn't have to be back for check-in until dusk so why rush?

Just thinking about having to go back made Juno sad and apprehensive about the whole situation. She didn't want to leave. She didn't want to go back to those damn four walls or imprisonment, ok twelve if you count the bedroom and bathroom separately. The point was she didn't want to change what she had with James.

Her eyes widened as she realized something that never crossed her mind before.

"Um, James. We need to talk," she told him once they were safely enclosed in their vehicle.

No matter how small the vehicle, James went through a system check like the responsible marine he was.

"What about Lola?"

She breathed out slowly. "What are we going to say when we get back?"

"About what?" he asked, not pausing his movements.

"Us," she answered flatly.

His body tensed and he lowered his arm, refusing to look at her as he asked, "What about us?"

"When we get back…there can't be an us."

Juno watched as his eyes closed tight and his expression pinched as if holding back pain from a fresh wound. After a moment his features adapted a hard edge to them. His jaw locked and his mouth thinned out as he gave a long exhale.

He finally spoke, "What do you mean there can't be an us?"

"You know, if we showed up declaring our relationship as more than prisoner and guard, you would be reassigned and we'd never get to see each other, right? We're going to have to keep 'us' a secret until we can figure something out."

Juno jerked in surprise when his hands shot forward to drag her into a kiss that had her toes curling. Why did her toes curl? She blamed it on that damn book she now had at the top of her to do list to take care of when she got back.

"Gracias a dios!" he murmured against her lips before kissing her again and releasing her. "I thought you were breaking up with me for a second there."

"Really?"

He nodded.

She sighed, "No, James. I'm not breaking up with you." Then she gave him a smile. "Why would I do that when I haven't been able to sample the goods?"

He chuckled, "Flirting with me Lola?"

"Am I getting better?"

"A bit."

Juno drew back in mock hurt, "A bit?"

He shrugged at her and continued his system check, "Stick with me and you'll get there."

It would be six hours before they reached their destination and the first couple were spent talking with James about anything and everything that happened to come up. He teased her while they talked and amazingly kept her constantly smiling. It was if he was purposely distracting her. Like he knew she would start dwelling on the negatives of her life if he didn't keep her thinking of other things.

His strategy worked. For a little while at least. Eventually though, her thoughts latched on to Mia and Abuela and the fear that she'll never get to see them again. She hid her dread well though, she always had. No one really picked up on the internal struggles she had, except for James. He always seemed to know when she was silently having issues. Which explained why he was trying to convince her, her worries were unfounded. Unfortunately he only succeeded in triggering other fears.

Secretly she was scared shitless with this new relationship with him. Probably more than her fears about the reapers coming. The track record she had with past relationships was not clean and always left her hurt. Not that it was a mile long or anything. Just a very few guys with different expectations of her. The last one was the worst and probably the only one worth considering a past relationship.

Stop thinking about Kaiden, you idiot.

She chided herself on bringing him up. It was never good when she did. So she dragged her trail of thought back to the past few days, determined to think of all the fun and acceptance she had experienced. Something she never thought possible. As those memories filtered through her mind, Juno's eyelids became heavy. Soon she drifted off to sleep.

She was floating. Weightless. Her body cradled by nothing, drifting. She opened her eyes. Nothing. She could see nothing. Drifting in complete darkness. She moved her arms. Nothing. She can't see them or feel them. Panic began to creep up her spine. She couldn't feel or see her legs either. What was going on?

She took in a deep breath but couldn't feel her lungs inflate. She screamed. Knew she was, but no sound came out. Her mouth was open but she couldn't feel it. There was no sensation. Nothing to feel or see, breath, taste, hear. She twisted in hopes of moving around to find anything, but couldn't even tell if she succeeded.

There was nothing. Oh god, she didn't want nothing. Please, please anything but nothing. Anything! ANYTHING!

A distant light appeared in the endless expanse of nothing; halting her panic. She focused on it. It was red. It grew and began to take on a shape. She watched it approach her at a steady pace. It increased in size until she was dwarfed by its presence and still it grew closer and closer. Realization took her as it came apparent what it was.

No...no. Not that.

A unwanted familiar voice broke the silence. "You said anything, Shepard."

Earth! It was right there. She stared at its green and blue colors. Her home. Her beautiful home.

A beam of light erupted into her vision. It raced towards Earth and touched it. She expected sound, but nothing reached her. All she could do was watch as deep red cracks stretched over the surface of her home. They widened and widened until…

It exploded.

"JUNO!"

"JUNO, wake up."

Juno jerked out of her sleep to James's yelling. They're transport was rocking heavily and she could smell something burning.

Shepard kicked into gear and took stock of the situation. They were listing to the right as James tried to steer. A glance out her window told her their right side engine was on fire and definitely not functioning. The left seemed to be having issues which could explain the heavy turbulence.

"Sit-rep," she barked, easing into command.

The lieutenant immediately responded, "Missile out of nowhere. Possibly the ground. No sign of UFO in the area. Took out our right engine. I'm trying to guide us as far away as possible before the left engine gives out under the strain."

"Crash inevitable?"

"Yes, ma'am."

Shepard sat back and made sure her restraints were secured then glanced to make sure James was secured as well. There was nothing for them to do but ride out the rapid descent. She sat calmly as possible in her seat, clutching onto the straps leading down from her shoulders. The ground was approaching faster than she would have preferred.

James reached out and grabbed her hand, taking control of her concentration. She stared at him as he stared back, their hands entwined.