"One more thing, Mr. Douglas,"

The interior of the Citadel Towers looked more and more intimidating, as we walked up the stairs.

I sighed. "I'm a little light-headed, Officer, I'd prefer going back to bed."

Dr. Michel shot an annoyed glance at the turian C-Sec Officer. "Avilius, can I take my patient back now?" she asked, her accent sounding heavier. "He's recovering from a severe concussion! Why did we need to come all the way up here, to the Towers? This could have been done in the med bay…."

"No, it couldn't, Doctor. The council wants to speak with him."

"The Council?!" I exclaimed, loud enough for the people around us to notice. "But... why?"

Avilius shrugged his shoulders. "No idea. But Ambassador Udina just told the Council about your relationship with the Commander. Maybe this has something to do with that."

My face went white. "Um, how did the ambassador…."

"We went through the tapes of your interactions with the Commander on the Upper Wards," he stated, sounding as professional as humanly possible.

"Oh."

We walked in silence for a few seconds. Avilius stopped himself and the Dr. Michel from going any further as we reached the top of the stairs. "You're not allowed to go up, Doctor. I'm sure he'll be fine by himself for a few minutes." He eyed her suspiciously. "Couldn't you just send a nurse? What's with the personal attention?"

"The commander saved my life a few weeks ago. I think I owe her this much."

I smiled and nodded at the doctor as we left her and went further up, towards the Council's Chambers…

…which was empty.

Avilius' expression, like most turians, was impossible for me to read. But his body language clearly indicated that he was not expecting this.

"They were just here. Where did they g-"

The loud sound of a klaxon interrupted him, and the lights around us turned red. Avilius was talking into his earpiece, but I could barely hear his voice.

"…..silent evacuation? But what about…. He's coming up right now?!"

"Officer, what's wrong?!" I shouted.

Avilius sighed. "We're in deep shit, Douglas."

The Geth troopers accompanying Saren had started firing the second they arrived on our floor. It took them five minutes to knock down Avilius. And five more minutes to kill everybody else in the floor. I had half-dragged Dr. Michel to a quiet, dark corner, and both of us were lying down on the ground, playing dead. I had seen enough gunfire and death in the last few weeks to last me a lifetime. I was getting tired of this.

The doctor was shaking, and her sobbing was getting dangerously loud.

"Dr. Michel!" I whispered. She didn't listen. "Chloe!"

She broke out of her shocked state and looked at me.

"Chloe, we need to be quiet, okay?"

She nodded silently, her eyes still filling up with tears and her body still shaking.

I took a deep breath and began to consider my options. The scanners on their guns might have already detected us. Staying here would be too risky. On the other hand, not staying here would be riskier... or would it?

I slowly lifted my head to look around. The geth were looking away, towards the elevator, and Saren was busy typing something on a newly-appeared console. Wait a second… Saren! If he's here, then Jane wouldn't be too far. Unless…

I shook off the negative thoughts and crawled up to Avilius' body, which was lying out in the open. Despite not knowing how to check a turian's pulse, I could tell that he wasn't going to wake back up. Another good man… gone.

Picking up his pistol, which seemed exceptionally advanced compared to the standard Alliance pea-shooters, I rushed back towards Chloe and lay down on the ground beside her. She looked towards me, fear etched in her eyes.

"What do we do?"

"We wait for Jane. I'm sure she'll…"

Suddenly, I was engulfed in a blue field and lifted up into the air. Chloe screamed loudly, which caused the Geth troopers to turn and face us.

Surprisingly, Saren hadn't thrown me down, or killed me yet. I was still dangling in the air, helpless and terrified. The odd-looking turian slowly made his way towards me, like the villain in a Blasto vid about to deliver a pointless monologue. I noticed a huge scar across his face, that wasn't there back on Virmire.

"I would have killed you…" he said, speaking slower than he was walking. "…that day. But Shepard didn't let me. I've never seen a human react like that." He ran his left hand through the scar on his face. "I didn't know your species were capable of such… anger. Harming you…"

He brought me down to eye level and grabbed my neck.

"…was harming her. So you're definitely not just an engineer on her ship, are you?"

His grip on my neck tightened.

"What…. what are you waiting for?" I asked, in between choking sounds.

"The same thing you're waiting for," Saren replied, pointing towards the elevators. "I know she's coming, and I don't want to start the show without her. Because of you…", his grip tightened further and I could barely breathe, "…I didn't get the chance to convince her, last time."

I looked at him incredulously. 'Convince her'? Is he seriously expecting Jane to join his cause?

"Yeah, keep dreaming," I said, but none of the words came out of my mouth properly.

Before Saren could react, the sound of the elevator doors opening made everybody in the room take notice. Liara had lifted two of the troopers, and Wrex was blowing them up. Despite being in mortal peril, I couldn't stop myself from smiling as I saw a flash of red hair amongst the chaos.

I looked back at Saren, who was still holding me by the neck, but was briefly distracted by the rapidly advancing squad. I slowly raised my borrowed gun and aimed it at the side of his head. This was the chance of a lifetime, to take out the most dangerous man in the galaxy while he was distracted. But…

Am I ready to take a life?

I looked outside the large windows, where a full scale battle was going on. This man had killed a lot of people, and was hell bent on killing many, many more.

It doesn't matter if I'm ready or not.

Pulling the trigger was easy, but looking at the mess it created was hard. The pistol fired explosive rounds, apparently. Saren (or what was left of him) released me from his clutches, and both of us fell to the ground. My head hurt. It felt like being stabbed by a thousand needles.

I looked around to see Jane running towards me, but my vision started to go blurry.

Not again! Please, no…

I woke up to a medicinal smell that I had almost gotten used to.

"So… passing out every single time you've been in combat. Must feel quite emasculating, huh?"

Jeff was staring back at me, with his typical grin.

"Yeah, nice to see you too." I muttered, rubbing my forehead. "I'm fine by the way, thanks for asking."

Jeff let out a chuckle and patted my shoulder. Then he turned around. "He's awake."

Behind him, I saw Dr. Michel walking towards me. I turned around to look at the bed next to me.

Wait... Is that…?

Jane looked unrecognisable. Her hands were covered in bruises, and her hair was unusually messy, covering half her face. A small scar ran through her left cheek.

She noticed me staring at her and smiled weakly. "Saren came back to life. Then some wreckage fell on me. Long story."

"Are you…?"

"She's fine, Harry." Dr. Michel interrupted. "Lots of bruising on the outside, but internally she's perfect."

"Of course she is," I heard myself say.

What the hell did I mean by that?

Dr. Michel gave an awkward laugh, and Jane blushed.

"I… I mean... that's nice... that she's okay…" I quickly tried to change the subject, "…and what about me, Doctor?"

"You can call me Chloe," she replied, smiling warmly. "We just went through hell together, I'm sure we can at least be on first name basis, right?"

I returned her smile and nodded.

"You're fine, really," she continued, with a grin. "Though your brain really needs a break. Any more concussions and you'll just be a pretty face without a functioning brain. For now, you need to lie down and rest." She awkwardly tapped my right leg. "I have to go to the towers now, a lot of injured people out there. Just let me know if there's any problem, okay?"

"Sure," I said, smiling warmly. "Thanks Chloe, for keeping me alive."

"You're the one who kept me alive. This is the least I can do, Harry." She winked at me and left the room.

I hesitated for a moment, and then looked at Jeff. "Is she just being really nice, or…"

Jeff chuckled. "…yeah. She has a thing for people who save her life. Shepard knows all about it."

"True," Jane replied, smiling weakly. "Looks like she's over Garrus now."

"So Harry, now you have two women to choose from. I'd personally go with Shepard, but then again that accent…"

"Joker, shut up and get out of here!" Jane exclaimed, trying but failing to hide the smile on her face.

"Was just going to," Jeff replied with a playful grin. He got up and headed for the door. "And yeah, Harry. Wrex asked me to tell you… 'You've got some real quads, doing what you did.'"

"….I've got four testicles?"

"I'm pretty sure it was a metaphor. Anyways, see you out there."

The door closed behind Jeff, and almost immediately, Jane had gotten up from her bed and was moving towards me, slightly wincing with every step. My eyes widened in surprise.

"Um.. shouldn't you rest..?"

As I stared at her, mouth wide open, she got into my bed, and laid down over me. Wordlessly she reached in for a kiss and I obliged. Our lips embraced and our hands ran all over each other as we experienced an incredibly intimate moment in an empty med clinic.

I broke off the kiss after what seemed like an eternity, and raised an eyebrow. "Didn't you want dinner first?"

Jane had a look of longing on her face. She looked incredibly tired, but that didn't stop her from smiling. "Dinner can wait. This can't."

I shrugged and nodded my head in an exaggerated manner, which made her giggle. Seeing her smiling face made me want to kiss her even more, and I did…

Jane was right. There was a lot to talk about, but this was not the time for that.

A/N – Sorry for the delay writing this chapter. I moved to a new town, and it takes time to settle down. :)

My output will be slightly slower from here on. I will be putting up a new chapter every week.

Thanks for reading!