I really like Vega. I mean he's no Garrus or Wrex, but he's a good guy.

Four walls. No, three walls and one window that was wall sized. An apartment bigger than what most families call 'home'. Only it wasn't, it was a cell. A glorified, prettied up, prison cell. They could call it whatever they wanted, but everyone knew what it was. Stay in your cell, go nowhere without an escort, get all your correspondence scanned and scrutinized for a good week before you get it - and she was called lucky? Shepard didn't feel all that lucky right now. For five months she'd been grounded, looking at the same walls and out the same window. And she hated the view. Some would have called it pretty, the gleaming civilization. But it wasn't. It was ugly, and hid it's true face well. Being stuck on a rock was unnatural for a spacer, it felt wrong to have so much gravity pulling at you. And as for the sky…

Shepard sat in the dark with her back against the side of her sofa and her bare feet pressed up against the cold glass of the window. The glow from the city was enough to illuminate the outlines of her furniture and herself, the lights twinkling like stars and smothering any chance of her seeing the real thing. That was what she hated most about planet life - especially Earth life - she couldn't see the stars. She felt cut off from the rest of the galaxy. She didn't belong. It felt wrong. Sometimes she wondered if it wouldn't have been better had she been discharged - at least then she'd have been able to get the hell off this damn planet and back out where she wanted to be. No, she wouldn't have had the Normandy, but she wouldn't have been stuck.

With a groan of frustration, she thumped the back of her head against the stiffly padded arm several times before frowning at the ceiling. No correspondence, they said, until it had been checked and scanned. It would take a week. She had so far received only two messages. One from Tali that simply stated she was going back to the flotilla and she hoped to see Shepard again someday. The other was from Joker, who was moaning that the alliance engineers were tearing his ship apart. She understood why Tali's was so short, simply because the quarian knew that it had to go through alliance channels and she simply couldn't say what was happening. Joker had used official channels, being almost in the same boat as she was - only he was simply under guard because of the Cerberus thing. Shepard on the other hand, was a mass murderer with the batarians baying for her blood.

But there was nothing from the person she wanted to hear from the most. And just the thought of it made her feel so very alone. It hurt to dwell on it, but she couldn't help herself. Five months was a long time, and she would be incarcerated longer still. Would he decide that he would never see her again and move on? He did say he was going to head back to Palaven. She wouldn't blame him if he found himself a nice turian woman that he could settle down and have children with. It wasn't as if she could ever give him that. She wrung her hands in her lap as she squeezed her eyes shut, trying to dispel the image of her stuck on earth for the rest of her life - of never getting to see him again, even if it ended up as just friends. Just friends. That thought hurt more than anything. Were they nothing more than a fling, when all was said and done?

She didn't get the chance to think on it further when the door chimed to indicate that her chaperone and guard was requesting to come in. Vega didn't have to ask, but he was polite and far more of a gentleman than he would liked to have made out. She'd been getting to know him over the past few months - not his service history or his military leanings - him the person. All without letting him know hardly anything about her. It was a skill few managed to master, but Shepard had it down to a fine art. He was big and boisterous, a typical jarhead marine with more brains that he let on. He seemed to act on his emotions often and was almost childlike in his curiosity. In a way, he reminded her of Grunt, only with less of an urge to kill things with his bear hands or head butt something that he didn't agree with. Grunt, tempered with some of Garrus' self control.

"Come in, James." Even to her own ears she sounded tired. It wasn't surprising, she hadn't slept properly in at least a week. With a subtle hiss, the door slid back and the hulking man-mountain walked in and blocked most of the light from the corridor. She couldn't see his face in his silhouette, but she could imagine him squinting into the darkness by the way he hunched over slightly and appeared to be scanning the room. She couldn't help but smile to herself. Lifting a hand, she waved it above her head through a beam of light that slipped past his right shoulder.

"Why are you sitting in the dark, commander?" asked James as he zeroed in on her position and the door slid closed behind him. Shepard noticed he was holding something in his hand but couldn't quite make it out in the gloom.

"I like it dark. Stops me getting a headache. And I'm not 'commander' anymore." She sighed and fumbled with the remote control for the lights, fading them up slowly to let her eyes adjust. Heaving herself up as if it was some great effort, she took two steps around the edge of the sofa and then flopped back down, propping her bare feet on the glass table in front of her. With an amiable wave, she motioned for the lieutenant to sit on the chair opposite.

Vega seemed to drift between awkward and uncomfortable to far too relaxed for his own good. It was like he began to let himself feel at ease around her and then he'd catch himself and put himself back on edge. It was damn annoying. Shepard knew the reason too, it was because she was Commander Shepard. First human Spectre, Hero of the Citadel and defeater of Collectors. Not to mention undead, Cerberus traitor and mass murderer - but those weren't shouted around so loudly.

The man hovered for a bit before deciding to accept the seat, rather than just stand around behind where Shepard sat. She was grateful, considering how she was not going to twist around from her comfortable position to talk to him. She watched him from the corner of her eye while pretending to stare at her toes in a faraway fashion. Eventually, her gaze rested on what he had in his hand. A datapad and…something wrapped in what looked like blue material. "You bringing me gifts, Vega?"

"I am indeed ma'am. Just got them from the security team. All scanned and checked and debugged and…whatever else they do to your mail." He leaned across the small table and offered them with a smile. Shepard eyed them for a moment, not moving from her reclined position, but after quickly putting aside the want to seeth for another point in time, she accepted them with a quick thanks.

The item wrapped in blue fabric had obviously been opened by the security team, but to their credit they had wrapped it back up as best they could - something she couldn't help but smile at. She weighed it in her hand before placing it on the table and turning her attention to the datapad. She tried not to get her hopes up.

It was from Liara. And despite her best efforts, she couldn't help but be disappointed.

"They arrived a couple of weeks ago, the tech boys kept them a little longer than usual because of the item." James was speaking, but Shepard was only half listening. She was already reading.

'Everyone is fine', it read. It gave a quick rundown of the status of the crew, using only initials to indicate who she meant. Shepard understood perfectly, and she highly doubted the brass would be that interested in 'UG with UW' - which was obviously about Grunt's return to Urdnot territory to learn from Wrex's clan how to be a true krogan. Almost all of it had the same clipped tone, informing her that 'ML and JT have gone off grid' and things she already knew - like Tali going back to the fleet.

And then there was a small section on it's own that made her heart beat faster.

'GV on Palaven. Safe, well. Promoted. Wants to send message but understands he can't. Misses you greatly. Gift from him enclosed. I hope they let you have it, Shepard.'

Shepard swallowed thickly and bit back on her feelings as she felt her eyes burn with the longing to cry blessed relief. He was alive. He was doing well. Misses you greatly. Curse her pessimism for thinking that he'd forget her and move on - that they were a desperate fling for a few months and nothing more.

Quickly swapping the datapad for the small package, she chewed on her bottom lip and hoped that the tech team hadn't done something to whatever it was that Garrus had sent her. With a steady breath, she began to unfold the fabric from around the object. It was hard and it was moderately heavy. Not paperweight heavy, but heavy enough to be felt in her palm as she let it tumble into it. Placing the soft material aside she stared at the curved lump of black with a clip in the middle that sat in her palm, puzzled. Until, of course, she turned it over. What she saw made her heart lurch and what must have been an absurdly happy grin spread over her face. Engraved into the metal and in gold paint that was chipped and scuffed from seeing action, was a stylised bird below two lines. "Archangel." She muttered to herself, completely forgetting that James was watching her.

"Archangel? From Omega? Man, you should have heard the stories of him buzzing around this place. Guy's a legend. Didn't he go out all guns blazing?" James seemed suddenly very animated, like a child telling a parent about their favourite superhero.

Shepard blinked up at him and frowned but never replied. She merely went back to rubbing the pad of her thumb over the emblem with a faint, faraway smile on her face.

Part of his old hard suit. That meant that he had changed his armour, finally. And he had thought to make her a memento. Suddenly she felt very warm and fuzzy inside, a feeling that was utterly foreign and only started happening since the Omega 4 relay. Since when was she such a hopeless romantic?

"Got someone waiting for you out there, huh? No wonder you're always on edge."

Shepard smirked at him, finally pulling her attention from her gift. "Why Vega, since when were you so interested in my private life?" It was about as subtle and gentle as a 'mind your own business' as you would get out of Shepard. James held up both hands in the universal sign of surrender.

"I'm just curious as to what it is that could light up your face like that. I've never seen you smile since you got here."

"There's not been much to smile about, lieutenant, but I get your point. It's…a memento. A keepsake."

"Sentimental, but not actually worth anything." James stood when she did, watching as she hitched up her shirt to clip the strange symbol to her belt before pulling the hem back down to cover it. She responded with a smile and a nod. Then, as she did her best to stifle a yawn, Vega took it as his cue to leave. He stiffened and saluted, even though he wasn't really meant to. "Sleep well ma'am."

"See you in the morning lieutenant," Shepard replied with a soft smile and a nod, watching him go, her hand subconsciously resting on where she had clipped Garrus's gift to her belt. She heaved a heavy sigh as she watched the door lock turn from green to red, turning off the lights once again and plunging the room into the faint glow of the city outside.

That night, Shepard slept more peacefully than she had in months. Her dreams -not nightmares for once - blissful, simple memories of having someone else in her bed and by her side.