While they headed towards the location Aria had given them, Kaidan fell a little behind Miranda, watching her six but also finding that he was just watching her. Which of course was a bad thing. A very bad thing.

Right?

Kaidan found it strange that he had to actually remind himself why he was here, and why Miranda had come to him in the first place: Jennifer Shepard. Shepard was the reason why Kaidan had found it so hard to move on in the first place. Shepard was the reason why Kaidan found it difficult to go on with the life that he had, because everywhere he looked he was reminded of her. Hell, he lived in her apartment, so there was no way of getting away from the past.

As much as he didn't want to admit to it, Kaidan Alenko was a man who was very much haunted by his past, even more so than others. He was filled with regret. He was filled with 'what ifs' and hope for a second chance that usually ended up a third or fourth chance. He was a man who was way too stubborn but not always in a good way: he couldn't let go. He couldn't let go of Shepard, he couldn't let go of the past, and he couldn't let go of how he used to feel.

To be honest, he hadn't felt like himself in a while, and the most recent time he had? Well that was with Miranda, when they had drank too much, left to just their undergarments, her skin cool against his - something that he was completely fascinated with once he could actually concentrate.

He wasn't on Omega for Miranda though. Sure, she had brought him along because Liara asked her to. And he was here because of who he was – he couldn't get past how his life with Shepard had been before, and he had felt so desperate to get it back that he would have done almost anything to get it.

Until the other night, when he completely forgot everything.

He couldn't even use the 'I was drunk' excuse, because he wasn't. He had built up too much of a tolerance lately, and oddly enough was thankful for that because it helped him to remember everything. Every touch, how her lips felt against his rough ones, the soft moan that he had gotten out of her when his fingers moved to pleasure her.

Joker, the ever loving cockblock. Damn him.

Or maybe, that was a good thing.

Kaidan was thinking too much – and it caused him to forget that he was in the middle of a conversation with Miranda and he cleared his throat, "Uh, yeah, no that works." He muttered, finally bringing himself out of his thoughts, listening enough to hear her talk about the ventilation system.

He had given her a lift up and got up himself, but with his larger frame, got stuck. Yeah, he wasn't James Vega, but hell only Miranda would be able to get through that damn vent. So they kept in contact, and Kaidan monitored her movements the best that he could through his omni-tool while keeping his eyes open to where they were – and he honestly had no idea. He didn't know Omega. Without Miranda around to lead him, he felt blind.

Now that was a weird statement. He was blind without Miranda? Jesus.

He wanted to bring up what had happened, but he stopped himself. He had to stop living in the past; maybe what happened was just that – in the past and needed to stay there. He couldn't know for sure, but now was not the time to ask.

"Miranda, I'm at a wall, I can't go any further…" Kaidan spoke as he looked around to where he was, a dead end, and Miranda's voice came over the omni-tool:

We have a problem, Kaidan. Aria lied -

Then, her voice cut out.

"Miranda?" Kaidan called out, but knew something was wrong, as he started to double back.

Or he tried, but got hit in the back of the head with a rifle and he fell to the ground.

When Kaidan came to, he was dealing with one hell of a headache – almost as worse as what he got from his L2 implant. Groaning, he slowly opened his eyes, holding his hand to his head at the same time as he took in his surroundings. He still had his armor on. He still had all his guns. Actually minus the massive headache, everything seemed to be okay.

Okay. So where the hell was he?

"Here, take this," A familiar voice spoke an Kaidan looked behind him to see Garrus walking towards him with a glass of water. "Sorry about the rifle to the head, by the way." He laughed, his mandibles moving as he did so.

"Okay, what the…what is going on?" Kaidan asked, though took the water and drank it without second thought. Looking at Garrus' uniform though, Kaidan swallowed hard. "Jesus, you're with the blue suns?"

Garrus leaned against the wall with his arms crossed, and shook his head, "No. Undercover." When Kaidan looked at him with a yeah, right look, Garrus nodded, "No really! Come on, none of us are as well known as Commander Shepard, right?"

Pause.

"Okay, well maybe you being a Spectre and all, but for the rest of us, it was easy." Garrus sighed and pushed off the wall, taking a seat in the chair across from the bed that Kaidan had been passed out on, "Easier when the new leader of the blue suns appears to be Shepard herself."

"What?" Kaidan practically screamed, and slammed his fist into the table between them, "You are shitting me. That's not true. Shepard is dead."

"I don't know that for sure, but what I do know is that that isn't Shepard." Garrus paused, "It can't be."

"So what, do you think it's another clone situation?"

"There's no awkward cute girl around to fool us this time but I think so."

"Why did Aria lie?" Kaidan asked, and Garrus laughed.

"That's like asking why Joker is inappropriate."

"Okay. You have a point there." Kaidan sighed and cleared his throat, "Listen. Miranda and I were looking for Shepard and…"

"Wait, Miranda's here too?"

"Yeah, but I lost contact and was about to go get her before you fucking knocked me out." Kaidan growled at Garrus, some fire behind his words, enough to cause Garrus to flinch back.

Garrus laughed awkwardly, "I haven't seen that anger in you in a while, Alenko, sorry I didn't know, but I couldn't just shoot you like the other suns wanted me to do. That wouldn't have done well for either of us."

Kaidan just waved his hand at Garrus and stood up, stretching as he gathered his guns, "Garrus, I don't have time for this. I have to get Miranda. If she's with…another clone of Shepard, then we have to do something. The last clone tried to kill Shepard, who knows what this one will do too."

Kaidan looked over to Garrus, who stood up and gathered his helmet. "I can get you into the camp as a prisoner, but you're going to have to play along. Think you can do that without warping me into the next room?"

"Yeah, as long as you don't fucking try to hit me over the head again, my headaches are bad as is." Kaidan narrowed his eyes, shaking his head un-approvingly.

Of course, this caused Garrus to laugh. "You got it." He pulled on his helmet, officially covering him and turned on his voice modifier on his omni tool, and when he spoke again, his voice seemed completely different.

Oh the wonders of modern technology.

"Let's go," Garrus said, as he shrugged towards the door, "We got a show to put on."

Kaidan groaned, "Can you not say it like that? Fuck, I thought I was bad…"

Their plan worked.

Oddly enough.

It was surprising, but Kaidan trusted Garrus to get him in there, and yeah Kaidan had to take a few beatings to make it believable (and Garrus did too, Kaidan of course had to fight back) but it worked. He was soon taken into the base, and was restrained in an interrogation room.

What Kaidan hadn't expected was that he would be face to face with the blue suns' new leader: a woman that looked exactly like Jennifer Shepard. He didn't want to believe it was really her, and it was easier hearing from Garrus that she could be a clone. Though they didn't have proof of that, not with the real Shepard possibly dead.

Most likely dead.

So instead, Kaidan was beaten and bruised by a woman who looked like his past love.

A woman who ruthlessly tortured him to get the information that he knew on her – which honestly wasn't much, but he wasn't going to let her know that. The more she focused on him, the less she'd focus on Miranda. Miranda was prone to knowing more information, and she would be the one to get to. He had to keep the focus on him.

She paced in front of him, her red hair flowing over her shoulders, not the picture of a solider that Kaidan had been so used to, but even the sight of her caused his heart to ache. Even if it wasn't her. It couldn't be her.

"Pay attention!" She screamed and punched Kaidan straight in the face and he spit out blood once she had moved away. Well, she hit like Shepard.

"To what? You're just a fucking imposter, and we've dealt with your kind before."

The leader laughed, as she crossed her arms over her chest, pacing in front of Kaidan. Shit, she even moved like Shepard. This wasn't good. Kaidan kept his thoughts on why he was here now – he wasn't here for Shepard, because what they had found out was that this wasn't her. It couldn't be her. He was here for Miranda. She needed him, she was real, and he needed her to know that he was here for her. If he could find her.

"The issue, Major Alenko, is that before, Jennifer was around to still fight. She's not around now," The imposter grinned, "I am her." She walked towards Kaidan, and put her hands on his shoulders, as she leaned in close to him, her nose almost touching his as her voice lowered, "And don't you want me to be her for you? We could take over Omega, we could rule together, Alenko."

Her voice was like butter to Kaidan, and if he didn't know better, he'd fall for it hook line and sinker. "No." He hissed, and spit in her face, his biotics flaring up as he broke free of the ropes that had been holding him back.

"What the fuck?" The imposter screamed as her mercs came running to her side, including a still hidden Garrus. "Kill him!" Biotics flared around the blue suns leader, but she couldn't control it – sign of someone only recently getting used to the implant, or getting used to a new body as might have better been the case.

So instead, she reached for her gun, and Kaidan threw a warp at her, but she managed to get a shot out before it hit. The bullet slammed into his shoulder and he flew back and charged towards her, but was stopped by a gunshot.

The bullet flew past Kaidan's head and straight into the imposters, through the center of the forehead and the woman fell down hard. The remaining mercs continued to fight – they still and to have a presence on Omega after all – but Garrus took them all down as Kaidan applied a medi-gel to help with his pain.

Kaidan got back to his feet the best that he could, though he stumbled a bit and leaned against the wall for support as he fired his side arm towards anyone who came his way. With Garrus taking his side, the two of them took out the remaining mercs, and once they were sure no one else was coming, Kaidan dropped his gun to the ground.

"Fuck," Kaidan groaned, as Garrus applied more medi-gel to him, and once it took effect, Kaidan stood up stronger. "We have to get Miranda. Where are they holding her?"

Garrus shrugged, "I don't know, but someone has to have information around here." He went towards the dead imposter on the ground, and kneeled down as Kaidan watched. Garrus searched the woman, and Kaidan couldn't help but feel conflicted. He had effectively watched Shepard die too many times now, even if two of those had been clones.

He had seen a lot of fucked up things in his lifetime, and that was up there.

What was more fucked up was that they were lied to. Liara was given false information. Aria led them on…well that wasn't surprising, but to have both of the most powerful Asari both aware of a clone? It was a little messed up. You don't know that Liara knew this, Kaidan reminded himself, but still his own words were hard to swallow.

That didn't matter now. They'd figure it out later, but right now they had to find Miranda, and Garrus was taking too long. Kaidan started to walk towards Garrus before the turian stood up, determined.

"Got something," Garrus said, looking at the datapad, giving off codes to the other interrogation rooms and where Miranda was being held. The two men ran down the hallway and through a few other corridors, finding more mercs on their way and took them down. Garrus covered Kaidan as they reached what was supposed to be Miranda's holding cell and Kaidan hacked the door.

The door opened and Kaidan found Miranda on the floor, beaten and bruised, cuts over her cheek and lips, her clothes torn on the shoulders and cut through the side. "Fuck, fuck, Miranda!" Kaidan rushed over to her, applying medi-gel to her and trying his best to get her to come to, to wake up. "Miranda, please," His voice was practically pleading, and he held onto her tightly as he picked her up in his arms and carried her out of the room.

She was still unresponsive as Kaidan carried her out of the blue suns' base, with Garrus as their personal body guard. It was as they reached the outside of the base that they were greeted by Aria, who was firing off a few shots herself, and had a car waiting.

"Shit, what happened to her?" She asked coldly, as she fired at the mercs coming towards her.

"You're what fucking happened to her, Aria, you knew exactly what was going on." Kaidan shot back, taking cover behind a wall. He looked at Miranda in his arms, as she slightly started to stir. This was not the place for her to wake up. They had to get out of there.

Aria apparently had the same idea. "Now is not the time to argue, Major! Get in the car, we have to get all of you out of here. You just have to trust that I have your best interest at heart right now!"

"Alenko, we have no choice, we have to go with her," Garrus called out, "I'll cover you, get to the shuttle!"

Kaidan groaned in frustration but threw up his shields and ran with Miranda in his arms towards the shuttle and got in, with Garrus and Aria following.

Aria got in the driver's seat and the shuttle flew off towards her personal apartment, the one place they wouldn't be touched. No one fucked with Aria, but that didn't mean she didn't fuck with them now and then.

"Aria, you need to tell me what the fuck you know, and fast." Kaidan growled, as Miranda rested against him, "You led us into a fucking trap!"

Aria laughed, "I did what I had to. I had blue suns trying to pose undercover in my guard and they were listening. I purposely tipped them and you off. Shepard helped me take Omega back, and I owe her. That woman? That was not Shepard, even if she claimed to be."

Garrus scoffed, "Right. We should trust you."

"You should, Archangel, because I didn't give you away to everyone else on the station still looking to take you down. Don't think I don't know who you are."

That shut up Garrus, and caused Kaidan to actually laugh, though it was a short one. "Fine, but this still doesn't explain why you were letting all of this happen under your own roof. This is your turf, Aria."

"Don't you think I fucking know that?" Aria hissed back, as the shuttle pulled into her private docking area, her guard waiting for them, "Get her inside, we can talk more there."

Aria explained everything she knew.

So Kaidan knew a few things now.

One: This was still very fucked up, because not only did Aria know this Shepard was an imposter, but Liara knew it too.

Two: This wasn't the only clone that was running around the galaxy, and each one was getting stronger. It was as if they were forming their own army. The leader of the blue suns was their de-facto leader, so she had to be taken out.

All of this was well and good, but what Kaidan didn't understand was why Liara felt the need to lie to Miranda of all people. Lying to him, well he'd get it. It took a lot to even get him to come to this mission, but Miranda? This didn't make sense.

Liara was hiding something else. She had her reasons, and Kaidan trusted her completely, but this might have been too far.

Aria had given Kaidan her guest room for Miranda, and he had brought Miranda in and lay her on the guest bed, as he took off his armor and set it aside, and unbuckled Miranda's armor as well to see what other wounds she had.

He was careful not to wake her and not to hurt her more, and felt strange undressing her in a way, but he had done this with other soldiers before and if he just viewed her as another soldier, then it would be fine.

Only, Miranda wasn't just another soldier to him.

She had become a small light in what had been a very dark tunnel, and she was starting to bring him back to the person he used to be. Or, more importantly, the person he could be.

Once her armor was to the side of the bed and she was in her tank and shorts underneath, he went into the bathroom to get a damp towel to try to clean out her cuts.

Sure, he was covered in his own cuts and bruises, and he certainly looked worse for the wear, but he was awake. Miranda wasn't, and the more she stayed passed out, the more worried he got.

Kaidan returned to Miranda's side with a towel and a bowl of warm water, sitting at the edge of the bed as he carefully cleaned up Miranda's cuts and washed away the dried blood on her face.

He didn't want to know if that was hers or not.

He was softly washing off a cut on her forehead when he heard her stir and he lifted his hand slightly, as Miranda slowly opened her eyes and focused on Kaidan. "Kaidan?" She asked, confused, but seemed relieved.

"Hey Miranda." He said with a smile, as he finished washing off her forehead, "You're safe. We're in Aria's apartment."

"What? She-"

Kaidan stopped her, "It's a long story. And you're seriously hurt." He hit a few buttons on his omni tool and administered medi-gel to her, "But you're okay."

"You came for me?"

"Yeah. Why wouldn't I?"

Then Miranda did something that Kaidan didn't expect: she sat up with all the energy that she had and tightly wrapped her arms around Kaidan, holding onto him as if her life depended on it.

To his surprise, that was exactly how he hugged her back.