Chapter X

There she is. My home. My haven. My family.

The Normandy pulled into position, the docking clamps engaged. This was the first time she had ever seen the Normandy docking in a proper bay. It felt weird, having the ship somewhere else and watching her come back.

It was only a few minutes later that she finally saw her mate. He paused at the airlock door as he caught sight of her. Shepard's muscles ached terribly but she didn't even notice it anymore. She ran to him, as fast as she had ever ran before and leapt as she reached him.

Her muscles screamed as she collided with Garrus' armour but she didn't care. She ran her hand along his scarred face, tears brimming in her eyes.

"I love you Shepard." His voice caught a little as he said her name.

"I love you too."

"And we love you!" Tali's voice carried along the airlock. Garrus lowered her back to the ground. She stepped around him and hugged each one of them in turn. She couldn't hold back the tears anymore. She, Liara, and Joker were all crying; she couldn't see Tali's face but by the way she was sniffing every few seconds, it was pretty safe to say she was tearing up too

"Before we head up to the apartment, I need to speak to the rest of my crew" Shepard said as 3 Turians and 2 Humans in C-Sec armour stood to attention.

"Commander Shepard, Commander Bailey sent us down to guard your ship."

"Excellent. Make sure no-one even gets near her from any direction without my personal approval and that of at least one other member of my team."

"Understood." One of the Turians said.

Shepard stepped onboard the Normandy and the crew cheered. She raised her arms and activated the ship's comm.

"Attention all crew, this is Shepard. I think every one of you has earned a few days shore leave. I want every one of you to take this time to relax, unwind, have fun - but not too much." She smiled. "Assemble back at the Normandy in 3 days time 0900 for your assignments. Shepard out."

She waited until everyone stepped off the Normandy, she shook every hand in turn, spoke to a few until finally they all dispersed into the Citadel crowd.

"Come on guys, let's head back up to the apartment. I've already got everything set up, it's not much, the supplies are running low on the station.

Shepard waited until everyone had taken their seats in the apartment before she told her story. Just like Hackett, she told her crew what happened on the Crucible in detail; the green beam; the biological changes everyone experienced.

She let the story hang in the air for a while but she knew they sensed more to come.

"What else is it?" Garrus asked.

"The council's dead and the galaxy needs leaders. Hackett visited me in hospital; it seems I am to be the new human councillor. The Turians and the Quarians are insisting they be represented and that the rest of the council must only come from my crew or someone hand-picked by me." She let that sink in as well before continuing. "Garrus, Tali, Liara, as far as I'm concerned this is a purely optional choice for you; you've more than earned the right to tell the rest of the galaxy to go to hell if you want to."

"You sound like you've already accepted, did Hackett even give you a choice?" Tali asked.

"It wasn't Hackett's choice to make - I brought this galaxy together; like it or not I'm a symbol for them now and they'll be expecting me to at least, lead my own race. So I don't have a choice."

"I'll do it." Liara's voice oozed authority.

Shepard looked at her surprised. "Liara, are you sure? You don't have to agree to this just because I am."

"I know, Shepard. This isn't exactly my area of expertise but after meeting Javik, I realised that my area of expertise is probably obsolete. But it's not just that, after seeing Thessia fall, the panic and confusion - I need to help my people. There's no-one else to do it."

"Good point, alright..."

"Count me in." Said Garrus, getting to his feet dramatically. He moved over to stand beside Shepard

"And me." Tali stood as well.

"Wait, what? Garrus, I thought you said you hated making the tough decision for your entire people. And Tali, you have a homeworld and an immune system to adapt to it."

"I do hate making the tough decisions but we both know you wouldn't last a week in those podiums without me."

Shepard smiled, that's true. "Shepard, because of you, my people have a homeworld; the Geth are advancing our immune systems and helping us rebuild - who better to keep that peace than the Quarian that helped you do it." Tali said proudly.

"Can't argue with that logic." Shepard laughed.

"So what's our first act as council?" Tali asked.

"You don't want a sanity-check before we start working?"

"I think it best to inform the galaxy that they have a new council and get them focused on a task before we can take a break." Said Liara.

"Spoken like a true leader - you're already growing into your role." Shepard said with a smile. Liara turned a deeper shade of blue. "Alright, well I think the first thing is the Krogan and the Geth, I think they deserve to be council races after everything they've done." Shepard paused and everyone nodded.

"Wrex is still on Earth so I'll ask him if he wants the job, then we need to find a Geth representative. And the Reapers, I'm going to have to talk to them."

"Not easy when most of them are flying around in space." Tali laughed.

"True."

"The next thing we need is the Mass Relays and comm. buoys." Liara said.

"Agreed. I've been thinking about that - the Sol Relay is almost in the middle of the galaxy, if we get every race to split into teams of 3 we can send 2 of them out in opposite directions to fix the buoys and Relays while the third stays here and helps with the repairs to the Citadel. The Reapers can fly out to the furthest rim of the galaxy and start there, they've already fixed the Sol Relay and buoy."

"So why don't we just send the Reapers out to fix everything?" Garrus asked.

"Well, that would be better but I can't know for sure that the beam affected everyone in the same way - we may have all been changed at the genetic level but our beliefs are still the same. If an army of Reapers suddenly show up now, they might freak out and attack, the last thing we need right now is to start another war with the Reapers."

"Good point."

"It's going to take a lot of work to keep this galaxy trusting each other." Shepard sighed solemnly.

"We ended wars between Turian and Krogan; Quarian and Geth and for once got them fighting together. Keeping the peace can't be as difficult as fighting the Saren, the Collectors, and the Reapers." Said Garrus, half jokingly.

"I really hope your right."

The End