-10-

The first thing Shepard noticed when she came to awareness was how heavy her body felt.

It took considerable effort to even open her eyes, her eyelids feeling like they had been glued shut. Even when she managed to, it took a few moments until the ceiling above her didn't appear so blurry. Her head felt murky too, only able to conjure snatches of memory as to what had happened prior to ending up…wherever she was. She remembered…Reapers…in London…and running for the beam, up to the Citadel with…

It was at that moment Shepard glanced to the side, spotting a large figure by her bed, something resting on the blanket by her legs. She slowly realized that it was Garrus, sound asleep, his head on his arm, his other hand clasped over her bandaged one.

The relief she felt at seeing him alive and well, still at her side, was indescribable, a smile spreading on her face before transforming into a grimace from the discomfort in her facial muscles. Shepard tried to reach up and run a hand along her cheek, feeling something plastered on it, but she found herself unable to even do such a simple movement.

She spotted a glass of water over on the bedside table near her head, realizing for the first time how parched her throat felt. Shepard tried her other hand, the one under Garrus's, but found it even more of a struggle to move given the additional weight laying over it. But the attempts, however slight, were enough to startle Garrus out of his slumber. He searched around for the source, his eyes landing on her, widening as he seemed to realize she was staring back at him.

"Hey, there, big guy…" Her voice croaked on the words, the effort to speak as taxing as moving. "Sorry I woke you. Know how important…your beauty sleep is."

Garrus let out what seemed to her a strangled chuckle, as if trying to keep himself from becoming emotional at the sight of her awake and aware. Shepard could only imagine the state she arrived in, how long he must have stayed there, wondering if she'd ever recover. She would've had a hard time keeping it together if in his place.

"Didn't think I still needed it. Thought you were already impressed."

It was her turn to let out a soft laugh. Shepard didn't have the energy to do much more. "Always…room for improvement."

Garrus's mandibles flicked in a smile. He cupped her cheek, his touch as gentle as if she were made of glass. Shepard shuddered to think how much of her had been reconstructed this time. "How are you feeling?"

"Could use some water."

A moment later, she found her head being guided forward with a just as soft touch against her neck and cool glass against her lips. It took her throat a moment to swallow, resulting in some of the water spilling onto her chest. But what managed to go down her throat made her feel much better.

"How long…have I been out?" she asked as Garrus went to retrieve a cloth.

"Over three months. Samara found you, in the rubble. Alliance soldiers took you to one of the only hospitals not completely turned to rubble. From what Samara and Miranda told us, things didn't look good when you first arrived here. You were barely breathing." His voice began to tremble as he finished, eyes darting away and closing. "But you beat the odds again…"

Shepard was relieved to hear Samara and Miranda also made it, but she'd ask about their whereabouts later, not when the turian in front of her clearly needed comforting.

"Hey…" She had enough strength to nuzzle her cheek against his hand. "I'm here, you're here…we're both here, that's what matters."

Instead of replying to that, Garrus leaned forward to press his face into her hair, breathing heavily, a faint keen vibrating against her head. "I thought I lost you."

The despondent note in his voice made her chest ache, threatening to bring tears to her eyes. Rarely had she heard him sound so vulnerable. She wished she could summon the energy to hug him close to her, wrap her arm around his neck, rub circles into the hide at the back of it. That always helped to soothe him.

"A certain turian ordered me…to come back alive. It seemed like…a pretty important order to follow."

Garrus didn't say anything, not that she expected him to. She then felt a tickle in her throat, unable to keep it contained for long, giving into the cough and ruining the quiet moment that had settled in between them. Garrus retrieved more water for her once the coughing calmed down, seeming to be in control of himself again.

Shepard sunk further into the bed, absolutely wrung out just from a simple cough. But she didn't want to rest just yet, not when she still needed one major question answered.

"What happened…to the Reapers…did we…did we finish it?"

Garrus set the glass down, resuming his place in the chair and taking her hand in both his. "You did. Whatever happened up there on the Citadel, with the Catalyst…it armed the Crucible. The Reapers are gone, Jane. Destroyed."

It was her turn to keep her emotions in check, a tsunami hitting her at full force at his confirmation it was finally over. The war was finally over. The Reapers would no longer threaten the galaxy. In their lifetime, or to the civilizations that would come after them 50,000 years from now. The cycle had finally been broken. And she had miraculously survived it.

Garrus let go of her hand to gently wipe a stray tear of hers that had fallen. "Do you remember what happened, when you got to the Citadel?"

Shepard gave a slight shake of her head. "No…" She closed her eyes, mind straining to think back to that day. The memories were slowly coming to her, forming a clearer picture than when she first woke up: crossing the designated no man's land, the run to the beam and the Normandy extracting an injured Garrus and Tali, then…a blinding white flash and the searing pain that followed.

"I…I think I was hit, by Harbinger. I made it to the beam and…" That's where her mind went blank, like she hit a dead end with no way to get around. She sighed, her head beginning to hurt from the strain. "I can't remember what happened after."

"They found Anderson's body, along with the Illusive Man's, near some control panel. Hackett thought they'd find you there, too, but you weren't."

Her throat tightened at the mention of Anderson. She'd hoped he made it. He had promised to show her London when the war was over. For years, he had been a constant, supportive presence in her life, one that had been missing in her life since Mindoir. His loss would leave a void not easily filled, but Shepard took some comfort knowing he went out exactly how he would have wanted to, fighting the good fight.

In the back of her mind, she couldn't help feeling that she'd been there with him when he died, but what images her mind could conjure were unfocused, like ones from a dream. She couldn't be sure they were real.

"Anyone else didn't make it?"

"EDI. She went offline after the Crucible launched. Joker's taken it hard."

Shepard sighed heavily, knowing how much EDI meant to Joker. To all of them. She had become more than a valued member of their crew, but a friend. She knew she should feel fortunate. With the odds they faced, they'd been lucky they hadn't lost more of their people, herself included in that. But that didn't make EDI's loss any easier. Perhaps there was still a way of bringing her back. After all, if Shepard could cheat death twice, anything was possible, right?

What Garrus said then fully hit her. "Were other synthetics affected, too?"

"The geth, all other VIs and AIs. Even the mass relays took a hit. Things are slowly starting to get up and running, but it'll probably take years before it's ever fully normal again."

The huge undertaking of putting the galaxy back together was not one her head was ready to think about. "Please tell me…they've gotten all the pomp and ceremony…over with."

Garrus laughed, a more genuine, full one this time. "Lucky for you, Hackett's delaying the official commemoration until you're feeling well enough to attend."

"Of course he would. Wants to rope me in to…making a speech," she said, not having it in her to be annoyed with Hackett, not when she didn't have to add his name to the list of those she'd lost thanks to the Reapers.

Shepard suddenly found herself struggling to keep her eyes open, whatever energy she had when she'd woken up completely depleted, and she expressed as much to Garrus.

"It's alright. Just close your eyes; go back to sleep, if you want." He gently pressed his brow plates to hers in a familiar turian kiss. "I'll be here if you need me."

Shepard took advantage of his face being so close and gave him a kiss of her own, the faintest press of her lips to his plates. "I know you will."

She still had a lot of questions, memories to sift through, needed time when she could think more clearly to fully come to terms with the costs of this war, including those to her own body.

But for the moment, as Shepard drifted back to sleep, she would be content in the simple knowledge that they'd won and Garrus was right there by her side.