"Commander, you can't be serious!"

Miranda stared at Shepard, slack jawed and brows furrowed incredulously. Shepard did his best to ignore the impulse to snap her back into her place. He hated being second-guessed, especially in front of others. Jacob and Mordin stood to one side of the conference room, doing their best to be invisible. His XO stalked around the table towards him, the way it had been a thousand times over the course of this mission. At almost every turn, Miranda had done her best to argue against Shepard's orders: defending Cerberus when he adamantly objected to it, told him not to rush Mordin's research, objecting to his lack of focus on ship upgrades. Usually, though she put up a hell of a fight, she came around to Shepard's way of thinking, and backed him in front of others 100%. Never once had she objected in front of others, yet now she wasn't holding back. Her usual icy scowl seemed to have a little more fire behind it (no pun intended, Shepard smirked to himself). Thinking the look was meant for her, Miranda crunched her heels into the floor, arms crossed tightly.

Shepard squared his shoulders and used his specific 'commander voice' to full effect. "You heard what I said, Lawson. We've been given our next objective. The next stage of our assignment is to make sure we can get through the Omega 4. So we go."

"It's a derelict Reaper." She bit out. "What if the Collectors are waiting for us? We may want to build up our team before we take that kind of risk."

"We have all our specialists. All the dossiers the Illusive Man sent us. The team is full. We're ready."

"No, we're not, Shepard! Some of them are new, we don't know if they follow orders exactly. We're going into a mission that we might not come back from; the only way we'll succeed is to make sure we're the best we can be."

Shepard rolled his eyes. "Thank you for stating the completely obvious, Miranda."

Jacob decided to tentatively wade into the dispute. "Miranda, I agree with the Commander. You gotta admit, sooner or later, we'll need that IFF. I say, why wait?"

"At what cost?" Miranda whirled on her colleague with a withering glare. "We're going into the galactic-CORE, Jacob! You think standard armour's not going to fry against exploding suns? Or that we'd even get through the debris that's no doubt floating around in there. What about when we encounter a Collector ship? We don't have the firepower."

Shepard growled. Again with the upgrades? "You mean to tell me, Cerberus gave me a ship that wasn't already fully upgraded? You spent all that money on the standard?"

"Let's not forget that you woke up early. And back then we didn't know what we'd be dealing with. Now we can plan ahead – instead of rushing in blindly!"

Mordin nodded. "Ah. Agree with Miranda. Better to anticipate, prepare, counter threats before they even become apparent."

"Enough." Shepard barked out loudly. The group silenced themselves immediately, and stared at him expectantly. It was very obvious by the hard set of his eyes that Shepard's patience was almost spent. "We can argue about this all day. But the facts are this: the Collectors are just slaves to our real enemy. The Reapers. And we know what they're capable of, what they're coming here to do. So all the time we waste gives them more time to wipe us out. I'm not gonna let that happen. We go get the IFF."

Miranda ground her teeth. "Sure, and then we'll all end up spaced when the ship can't survive the other side of the relay."

Shepard froze on the spot.

Everyone else took it as a clear dismissal and left. But Shepard was still stood there staring blankly into the wall as he tried as hard as he could to keep his breathing even, to not let the walls close in on him. He tried to shake it off, he was Commander-fucking-Shepard, god-damnit! He did not lose his shit over some snide comment. But the more he fought it, the more he thought about it. The mind is a fickle thing that way, conjuring before his eyes memories of endless cold stars laid out before him, of the hiss constantly in his ear, of the blast of ice and cold that ripped through his body as he struggled to –

Shepard slammed his fist into the table, teeth clenched, and eyes squeezed shut against the onslaught. Sweat beaded down his forehead. With deliberate slowness, he forced his chest to move in and out, to take a huge breath in before releasing it again, to remind him he could still breathe. For fuck sake, he thought, the nightmares were bad enough, now he had to deal with it in his waking hours as well? He heard the table groan under his fist and realised he'd made a dent in it.

"Shepard?" came EDI's voice right beside him as her bobble-head popped up. "Your heart right has increased dramatically, and your brain waves show rather unusual signs. Shall I call for Dr Chakwas?"

"No, EDI." Shepard ground out between his teeth and straightened his spine. "I'm fine."

"Perhaps Miss Chambers, then?"

"I said I'm fine!" he snapped.

Without waiting for the AI's reply, he stormed out of the room before it could tell him his blood pressure had somehow spiked as well. He already knew all of that, didn't take a genius to figure it out. All he had to do was get his head stuck in the game again. Eyes on the goal, don't let anything blindside you. This shit would sort itself out. No way was he going to give in to something as pathetic as his own sanity.

Elaine awoke with a dwarf inside her skull smashing at her temples with a brass hammer, dancing on top of her eyes with spiked boots and singing at the top of his overly loud and ridiculous voice. She groaned, muscles in her arms shaking as she tried to push herself up. A shiver contorted her spine, and light seemed to cause a High-Dragon to spit fire into her eyeballs. Thankfully other members of the crew had vacated the quarters. Elaine wasn't quite sure if she could've handled any noise – or any human interaction for that matter.

As frail as a new-born babe, the Warden shuffled her way towards the nearest privy – and promptly ignored EDI's overly loud voice telling her she was in the wrong one again. After doing her business – and trying her best not to dry-heave into the sink – she hastily made her way to Dr Chakwas, eyes covered with a hand to try and protect her aching migraine from the sharp light. Chakwas seemed to be expecting her and readily gave her a few small tablets she said would ease the pain. Elaine swallowed them all greedily. A while later, the pain did begin to lessen, just enough for her to get herself dressed and wonder what on earth happened last night?

She remembered the nightmare, and then going to Kasumi's room with the intension to drink herself unconscious. She winced. Distinctly, she remembered Kasumi talking with her, trying to ease her and then attempting to persuade her to leave. Though her exact methods had begun to go blurry, Elaine knew she must've been a pain to be around. First order of business then was to go to Kasumi and profusely apologise for her behaviour. The thief had seemed to take it all on the chin, smiled and casually dismissed the previous night as rather unusual entertainment. Even the part with Garrus.

Elaine had frozen where she stood. Garrus? He had been there? The Warden tried to wrack her brains frantically for some semblance of memory. Yes, she seemed to remember hearing Garrus's voice – he had such a beautiful, soothing voice. They'd talked, but what about? As the memories began to trickle back into place, Elaine was rocked to realise she'd told Garrus everything! What if he'd already told Shepard? What must he think of her now? She'd pestered Kasumi for answers, but all her friend could say, was that Garrus had stayed with her in the room alone for some time, before finally emerging with her in his arms and put her back to bed. Elaine had been rendered silent, even a blush hinted at her cheeks. For a man to whom she was not married to put her to bed? Her mother would've been mortified at the potential scandal!

Her mind was so turbulent over the pressing thoughts on what must have happened and what might yet still come to pass, that her body began to wander around the ship. She thought on the possibility of if Garrus had spoken with Shepard, and if he hadn't, when might he do so? Was it better for Elaine to speak with Shepard first, reveal the truth herself? But then she was back to square one, of mustering the courage to do such a thing in the first place.

Eventually, there was nothing for it. She had to speak to the Turian in question. In the main battery was where everyone said he resided. When the doors opened, she found herself in a room filled with gleaming metal, red lights coating all that lay within in a haze of deep scarlet. Garrus stood with his back to her, his fingers tapping away at a desk in front of him. Elaine approached quietly, yet somehow, he heard her. He turned and from the blink of his eyes, he seemed a little surprised to see. Elaine gnawed the inside of her cheek as thoughts and questions and fears frazzled her brain. The blue light that shone in front of Garrus's left eye was the only stark contrast the deep red that surrounded him, as his usually vibrant blue armour seemed to be laced with shadows. It made the angle of his cheekbones and mandibles stand out, particularly the pointed curvature of his mouth.

"Elaine," he greeted, and in the metal environment his soft voice seemed to carry easily to her ears. "I didn't expect to see you up and about."

"Garrus, I… I wanted to speak with you – about last night."

He paused, and turned back to his desk to push a single button. With a soft sigh of breath, the doors closed behind Elaine and a red square appeared to signify it was locked. Elaine glanced from the door to Garrus expectantly.

"I know why you're here," he murmured. "And before you say anything; no, I don't think you're crazy. I might not believe everything you say as fact – it is pretty farfetched. But I believe that you believe it."

"I suppose me coming back from the dead is a little hard to take…"

The turian snorted, "You'd be surprised around here…"

Her eyes narrowed, but she decided to let it go. Some jokes were just lost on her. "And… have you said…?"

"To Shepard? No. I figured if anyone should tell him anything, it should be you."

She was rendered a little speechless. Maybe she was too accustomed to think of others as a potential enemy of the Great Game. She'd lost count of the amount of times she'd had to thwart some plan of a noble or official. Of course, none of her true friends, her dearest companions, those she'd left back home, would have ratted her out to anyone else. Was it so hard to think she had a friend here who might be equal in that regard?

The thought made her smile. "Thank you, Garrus."

"Any time," his mandibles parted, a gesture was beginning to instantly translate as a smile. "No matter what, you're still a hell of a fighter I'd want to have on my six any day."

She reached out to him, and laid her hand on his shoulder firmly. A warrior's hold. Assessing it, Garrus did his best to replicate it, and they stood there, arm in arm, gazing into the other's eyes. Elaine nodded to him. "I feel exactly the same way, Garrus."

Elaine left not long after that, a smile upon her face. Perhaps it was her renewed spirits that sent her down the elevator towards the Engineering deck. She had hardly ever been down here, but knew that this was where Tali resided. As she walked through the doors, she noticed Jack and Zaeed speaking in hushed tones partly up a stairwell. Upon seeing her, the two quickly parted ways. Zaeed marched past her with a barely disguised curled lip and a roll of his eyes. Jack just lifted her chin and grunted a greeting, before disappearing back down the stairs. Elaine wondered whether to follow, but decided against it. She and Jack were on civil enough terms at the moment, but until something indicated that Jack would let her in further, Elaine decided to leave her be for now. Instead, she went further inside to a room of silver, where the floors and walls all hummed to a beat that constantly remained just within earshot. Tali stood with her back to Elaine, fingers fiddling at a desk much like Garrus had done. Though it seemed the Quarian didn't have the senses that Garrus did, as Elaine had to clear her throat loudly to announce her presence.

"Oh, Hello Elaine! I didn't expect to see you down here," the young alien woman greeted warmly as she turned to face her guest. She stopped, and tilted her head. Elaine imagined her expression as somewhat perplexed. "Keelah, what happened to you?"

Elaine winced and scratched the back of her head. She must still look a state. "You might say I had a rough night…"

Tali nodded and quickly ushered her over to a set of consoles on the other side of the room that looked suspiciously vacant. "Over here, I already know where Ken keeps his hangover stash."

"He has a hangover stash?"

"He usually gets a little drunk on poker night." Tali lifted away a panel at the neck of the console, and pulled out a bottle filled with gangling pills. She handed it to Elaine. "Gabby gives him some of these, though, and he's good to go. I think she said it's something like coffee."

"Thanks." Elaine murmured and swallowed two of the things. She handed the bottle back to Tali, who made sure everything was as she found it. The Warden blinked as the felt much-needed energy begin to rush through her veins and infuse with her bones. Damn, this thing worked fast.

"What brings you here then?" Tali asked.

"Thought I might come and see my favourite Quarian friend."

"Elaine, I am your only Quarian friend."

"Which makes you that much higher in my regard!" Elaine grinned. Tali tusked but chuckled good-naturedly, before walking back to her console and letting her fingers fly over it. Elaine's head cocked curiously. "What is it you do on there?"

"Well, I help out in Engineering. My people know a lot about ships – seeing as we live on them – so my expertise helps to weed out anything Ken or Gabby might miss or overlook."

"Like what?"

"Like making sure circuits are running at optimum capacity, making sure none of the systems are drawing too much power away from others, like double checking the drive core is–"

"Forget I asked, that all just went over my head."

From down below the heard a sudden thud and a shout. The two women looked out into the corridor beyond and saw emitting from the bottom of the stairwell an ever so slight blue flare – the sure sign of biotics. It quickly vanished, and they heard a string of muttered curses.

Elaine frowned. "Is that where Jack skulks away to every night?"

"Yes," Tali said quietly. "She's been like that since just after I came on board. According to Chambers, Jack wants Shepard to take her on a personal mission. Something to do with her past, she has 'unfinished business'."

"What does that mean?"

Tali shrugged and looked away, her voice a little despondent. "We're going into a suicide mission. We might not get out alive. From that perspective, I can see why people would turn to things they left unresolved, loose ends they need to tie up before they face death without reservations."

"People? You mean there's more than just Jack with these personal missions?"

Tali balked, perhaps realising that she'd said too much. "I… I don't want to spread gossip, Elaine,"

"This will not leave us, I swear it." The Warden vowed. And as any of companions might have said, her word was law. No matter the cost to herself, she always obeyed an oath to her friends. Just ask her fight with Flemeth… But no one was there to reassure Tali of that, only Elaine's eyes could onvey her sincerity. "I'm only concerned, Tali."

The Quarian's voice came out reluctantly. "Well, Kelly said Miranda and Jacob were among the first to ask for these personal missions. But Shepard's turned them down. I guess we don't have any time."

"Why would you say that?"

"You didn't hear? Orders came this morning. We're heading out to collect a Reaper IFF–" At Elaine's confused look, she quickly clarified. "A 'Identify-Friend-Foe' system. It will be the key that will let us use the Omega 4 Relay to reach the Collector homeworld."

"So, it's like a password we speak that will allow us entry?"

"Sort of. Anyway, once we get that IFF, we'll be getting it checked and then go straight through the Relay… Not much time for personal stuff on that schedule."

Elaine pondered this most troubling development. On one hand, she commended Shepard on finding solutions to this mission and seeing them through as quickly as possible. It made sense, in some sort of way. But the larger part of her knew it wasn't right. Though Shepard now had a full crew, none of them were ready. And if they all sought these missions, these personal quests that they needed to complete to lay their ghosts to rest, then she could understand that. Even amidst the middle of a Blight, Elaine had gone out of her way to see to the needs of her companions. She managed to find a lost sword amidst a warring country, she tracked down bards and family and old flames and slayed dragons and even discovered ancient thaigs, all for the sake of her friends. It had brought her team together, made them committed to the cause and to her. And perhaps it was that mother-hen side of her that now wanted to do the same for this crew as well, even if it technically wasn't hers.

Out of the corner of her, she noticed at the end of the corridor Shepard walking by towards one of the rooms that lay on either side of the ship. Elaine watched the purposeful march in his step, the slight frown on his features. An idea began to worm its way into her head, and she hurriedly turned back to her friend.

"Hey Tali, I've got to go. I just realised I need to talk to Jacob about my old armour runes. We can speak later, yes?"

Tali seemed taken aback at the sudden turn, but Elaine could almost tell by the light of her eyes that she smiled regardless. "Sure, I'll be here if you want to talk."

With one last smile, Elaine excused herself and quickly yet quietly eased her way into the corridor outside the elevator. She was just in time to watch the doors close behind Shepard. From the windows that overlooked the cargo hold, Elaine could see windows of the room Shepard now stood in – Grunt's room. With feet as quiet as a rouge's (she thanked Leliana for those at-the-time-seemingly-useless Bard lessons) Elaine crept up to just within arm's length of the door, and listened.

"Chambers said you're tearing up the place." she heard Shepard's voice, all business as usual. "Something wrong?"

"Shepard!" Grunt exclaimed in a voice that sounded almost stressed, the most emotional Elaine had ever heard of the usually stoic Krogan. "I need… something. To talk to you. I don't know."

"What's the issue?"

"I feel wrong. Tense. I just want to kill something. With my hands. More so than usual, like it's not my choice. Like I just want to, I don't know…" with a savage snarl, Elaine heard the distinct sound of glass being smashed. She tensed, had someone been hurt? But then, a moment later, she heard Grunt's voice, pleading. "See? Why do that? What's wrong?"

"Okeer didn't imprint anything to help you figure this out?" asked Shepard.

"I see pictures of old battles, voices of warlords. But this is… a blood haze in my head. I want control. When we're moving, fighting, I focus. But here, my blood screams, my plates itch, and even you are just noise! I'm tank born, what is this?"

Elaine thought about this. What did tank-born mean? Why was Grunt able to see things and hear voices, was it some form of magic? No, Shepard didn't address it as such, he'd said 'imprints'. Did that mean it was some form of knowledge passed down to Grunt from a parent? From the description of his pent-up aggression, Elaine wondered if the poor Krogan was feeling ill.

Apparently, Shepard had the same thought, for she heard him say: "EDI? Anything in your files about Krogan diseases that could cause this?"

"Cerberus has a number of autopsies on file," came the spirit's voice, "but nothing on a living Krogan of this age and situation. Krogan are reluctant to share medical records."

"My people were defeated by doctors and labs." Spat Grunt. "They will never let stuff like that leave the homeworld, Tuchanka."

"Sorry Grunt, but we're not making side-stops. Like EDI said, it doesn't look like there's anything we can do. The ship is headed for the next part of our mission, and I need to know that you'll keep this contained until we can direct it on our enemies. Am I understood?"

There was a tense silence. And then the bass of a low growl made the metal along the walls and even the door rattle slightly. When Grunt finally spoke, his voice curt, sarcastic, almost vindictive. "Fine, Shepard. If you say so…"

Stomping footsteps came closer. Elaine hurriedly ducked into the doorway leading back to the stairwell to avoid being spotted. The whoosh of the doors sounded twice, and Shepard's heavy footfalls rattled the grating on the floor. The Warden waited until the Commander had made it to the elevator, listened out for the sound of the metal box taking its cargo away. Only then did she hesitantly poke her head out to make sure he was gone. Eyes narrowed, it only took her a moment to weigh up the options that suddenly presented themselves before her. From what she understood, Grunt needed help. And whether his loyalty was to her command or another's, as a rule – and absolute law – Elaine did not leave any member of her team alone. If they needed help, she saw to it. No exceptions. With that decided, she turned sharply to Grunt's door and marched right in.

Upon hearing his door open and close again, the Krogan turned his massive hunched body to peer at the intruder. Elaine was confronted by the glare of his brilliant cold-blue eyes. His lips peeled back over his teeth like a feral animal in warning. "Get out of here, human. I am in no mood for you or anyone else right now."

Elaine's shoulders were squared, her spine straight, her feet planted. With tightened fists, she demanded in her cold and authoritative voice. "And what will you do if I don't?"

Now he really did growl at her. "Crush your spine with just a finger. Humans are soft that way."

The Warden met his glare and growl with her own. "Try it."

She saw the moment his slit-pupils thinned and the anger took hold. With a loud roar, the hulking Krogan charged straight for her.

Shepard groaned and rubbed the bridge of his nose to try and ease the headache forming at the back of his eyes. He felt so tired, with the break-neck-pace he and his ship and crew had been on since the start of this mission, and now all the added drama on top of it. Grunt's latest problem was just a string of complaints and requests he'd been getting from a lot of others. It seemed like everyone had simultaneously decided that a High-Urgency-Suicide-Mission was the best time to pick up all the old bones in their closets. God, Shepard thought, for once, he just wished he could have a crew that acted like normal, reasonable adults!

Apparently, he wasn't going to get his wish, as EDI's voice suddenly rang through the elevator in alarm. "Commander. Grunt and Elaine appear to be in an altercation in his quarters."

Shepard frowned, confused. "What the… oh shit." He trailed off as realisation hit him. He didn't know what could make the woman go into the Krogan's quarters, but he was pretty damn sure, she wasn't going to be walking back out if he didn't hurry. Slamming his hand onto the buttons of the elevator, he tried to demand it switch direction. He heard the box come to a very slow halt, and ever so slow wind its way back into gear in the opposite direction at a snail's pace. Shepard cursed. "Shit! Damn it, EDI! Can't this thing go any faster?!"

The Krogan charged, and easily reached Elaine within three long, ground-shaking strides. She held her ground right up until the last possible moment. When Grunt's arms swept out to grab hold of her to pull her in, Elaine deftly took one long step diagonally across from him and ducked out from his reach. With a resounding crash, Grunt slammed into the wall which she had just stood in front of. Using the opportunity, kicked out with a boot into the larger beast's small waist. She heard the Krogan grunt from her overly-forceful blow and whirled around to face her again.

Elaine stood just out of reach, and deliberately folded her arms across her chest and flicked her hair out of her face. "Sloppy. My grandmother could've gotten through that."

"I'll tear you apart!" Grunt bellowed.

This time he tried to swipe at her, and she had to admit, he was fast and powerful. But still, Elaine just about managed to evade his hold. She grinned maniacally at him. "Good! That's it! Get angry – but don't let this blood-haze win, Grunt."

"Wait," Grunt stopped short, alarmed at her knowledgeable comment. "How do you–"

"It's like you can't stop it, isn't it?" she pressed, pacing back and forth in front of him. "The rage. It makes your blood boil in your veins, it makes your muscles want to lash out, to fight, to scream, to do anything just to let it out."

"Yeah… yeah, it's exactly like that!"

"You want to control that?" she asked, coming to a stop. "I might not have a solution as your own people would do, Grunt. But I have something. Among the races of my home, we had warriors known as Berserkers. Fearless, terrifying warriors who harness their rage and pour it into battle."

It was a potentially risky move. Elaine was well aware. But from what she had seen, Grunt, out of all the other squadmates seemed the most suited for a Berserker fighting style. Yet Grunt's problem was in his inability to get out of touch with his anger, not engage with it. Though Berserkers were known for using their rage in battle, the techniques also helped to keep them calm when out of it. She only hoped this would pay off.

"But when I'm in battle, I'm fine." Grunt said. "It's when I'm not in battle I have the problem!"

"What is the difference? You fly into battle and things die. You push it all out so that when you come back, you're subdued." She told him sternly, like a mother when teaching her child. "The hard part is getting in touch with your rage."

Grunt snorted derisively, all interest in his eyes suddenly gone. "No, it's not. That's all too easy. You understand nothing. You're wasting my time!"

In an instant, Elaine reached deep into the pit of her stomach and pulled up all her rage and hate. She only had to think a single name: Howe. Just the image of his face was enough to summon all the fury she possessed. She pushed it into a single swing as her fist darted out to smash into the side of Grunt's mouth. Bones crunched and broke in her hand, but the pain was ignored while the abilities of the Berserker ran through her. The blow was hard enough that it sent Grunt staggering back a step. He looked up at her, alarmed, and saw the raw rage that darkened her eyes. With a deep and shuddering breath, Elaine forced herself to slowly shut off the anger, to let it sink down into its pit, and regain control of herself once more.

"You see?" her voice was eerily calm as she looked back up to Grunt's eyes. "We all learn to hold that back, it's why we don't kill every prick who looks at us sideways. The trick to being a Berserker is to shut that off. Find your hate, your anger, use it in battle – but to not let it control you. If you are let the fury rule you, as you are doing, you get sloppy, you make mistakes, you die."

Grunt seemed to be more interested than ever before. "You're one of these… Berserkers?"

She nodded. "For a long time when I first joined the Grey Wardens, I was angry. I'd suffered through loss and betrayal, through disappointment and abandonment. I had an impossible task ahead of me, and I was furious with the world for doing all of this to me. What had I done to deserve this? Why must I suffer? So, I took it out on my enemies, on those that generally got in my way, on any excuse I had for a fight… until a good friend of mine showed me how to control it. He was a warrior himself, a Berserker, and through it I learned to reserve my hate and fury for my enemies alone, so that I might function normally with my friends and comrades."

The image of Oghren came to mind, smiling drunkenly around the camp fire, mead-sack in hand, head and body tipping backwards as he lost himself to laughter. Elaine smiled wistfully. Poor Oghren, she thought. She couldn't help but wonder what became of him… if he'd survived the battle and gone back to Felsi at the Spoiled Princess, if he'd shown the world the real warrior he was underneath his drink. She remembered everyone almost despising his disgusting habits such as eating, drinking, hygiene, talking, breathing. But no matter what, he always managed to make people laugh, whether intentionally or not. It was something they all came to love him for. Elaine couldn't help her sadness at the thought she would never see her trusty dwarf again…

Grunt slammed his fists against his chest in excitement, drawing her attention back to the present. "That is what I want! To not have this… rage constantly pounding in my skull."

"I can teach you, if you like."

He grinned. "Do it."

"It might take time, depending on how quickly you learn. There are four levels of a Berserker, each one improving on the faults of the last but all working to use what you have."

"I want it. If Shepard won't take me to my people to learn what this is, then this will have to do."

"It shall be done, then."

"Thank you." He nodded, in a way that came across as sincere as he could manage. "I don't like this. Fury is my choice, not a sickness."

"Very well, the first level is the Berserk: to actually find what will drive you into a willing rage. The aim will be to use it to give strikes more power, but it will cost you in stamina in the long run–"

Suddenly, the doors rushed open and Shepard came rushing in. Upon seeing the pair, the Commander pulled up short. Elaine and Grunt looked at him peculiarly. Shepard scowled from one to the other. "What the hell is going on here?! EDI said you two were fighting!"

"Nonsense, Shepard," Elaine snorted, "I'm simply imparting a few useful lessons with Grunt to help him regain his self-control."

"You're… teaching Grunt?" Shepard asked slowly.

"Of course, seeing as you refuse to seek assistance from his own people, I thought I might do what I can to help."

The Commander's brows came down, his lips drawing in a thin and hard line. "Okay, Elaine? Can I speak with you? Now."

"Don't be too long, Shepard." Grunt called out as the two humans vacated his quarters. "I wanna learn the ways of the Berserker!"

They stepped out in to the hallway, where Shepard suddenly stopped and spun on her. Hands on his hips, face utterly fuming, his breath even coming in short ragged puffs like a bull. Elaine's only reaction was to quirk her brow in curiosity.

"What in the hell do you think you're doing?" Shepard growled out in a low voice.

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"No, you know EXACTLY what I'm talking about!" he hissed, and punctuated the words by poking her hard in the chest. "I am the Commander aboard this ship, and for a stupid moment, I thought you actually understood that! You do not go behind my back to undermine my decisions!"

"I am not undermining your decisions as Commander, merely your lack of judgement!" Elaine snapped back and furiously smacked his hand aside with her arm that wasn't throbbing. Taking a moment to rein in her temper, when she next spoke she went to great lengths to make sure it sounded reasonable, calm. "You know that Grunt requires aid from his people to really learn how to focus, which would only be beneficial for you and this team. And yet you won't do it?"

"We don't have time. We–"

"I know. You wish to get this FIF-thing,"

"IFF." He corrected.

"Whatever." She muttered dismissively. Stepping closer, she looked the Commander straight in the eye. "I understand that you want to get to the mission objective as soon as possible. Strike hard and fast so the enemy is caught unawares. Try to stop the threat before it has a chance to hurt people. Believe me, I know exactly how powerful a want that is. But your team is not ready, Shepard."

"Did Miranda put you up to this?" Shepard snarled under his breath. "That back-biting, ice-cold bit–"

"No one tells me what to do but myself." Elaine told him sharply. "Shepard, you are asking your team to brave this mission – a mission you yourself claim we have little chance of coming back from. To me, that is no problem. I have already made my peace with death. But can anyone else here say the same?"

The Commander was silent at that. He knew she was right in that regard. She pressed the advantage while she still had his attention.

"From what I understand, Grunt is still like a child; he has never known what life is, let alone if he is ready to die with so many questions as to what it pertains. What about the other members of your team? Do you really want them going into the final battle, with doubt and distractions running through their minds? What could I have done differently in life? Why didn't I do that before I did this? If they question why they're here, then they and potentially all the rest of us are dead."

Something in Shepard seemed to snap desperately, as if his mind was desperate not to go there. "And they could die anyway! So what's the point?"

"The point is to give them a chance!" she put her hands on Shepard's shoulders and forced him to look her in the eye. "Shepard, even you must wish to come out of this with the utmost success."

"Yes, but unlike you, Elaine, I'm actually realistic." But the words were muttered as if he despised the fact that it was so.

"And sometimes reality is cruel. But any real soldier would know that the best team needs the best equipment and the best resolve in order to win the battle." When he glanced away she shook him gently to regain his focus on her words, and used all the silver-tongued charm she famously possessed in the hope he might see reason. "Shepard, if we lose people, then that is something we might not be able to avoid. But by the Maker, aren't you at least willing to try to let them go out, in one last glorious battle, with no regrets? All I know for certain, is that if you rush into this, you will lose people for certain. Just like before."

His eyes turned sharp. And she could almost see the memories of the time Joker had called "Akuze" playing across his mind. Stiffly, he extracted himself from her grip. "I see you've been doing a little digging."

"You know I speak truth."

There was a long silence. Through it all, Elaine could almost see the thoughts ticking over in Shepard's mind as he tried to rationalise and think through all that had been said. Elaine almost had to give him her respect for thinking at all. Most would simply dismiss the opinions of another in order to see their own as the best option available. And whilst Shepard thought, Elaine stood, resolute and unbending. If he wouldn't listen to her, then so be it, she had made her peace, and could only pray to the Maker that this was something they'd all come back from. And then finally, Shepard let out a heavy sigh, as if letting himself be crushed under some weight, as his shoulders drooped, and his head sank into his chest.

"Fine." He whispered, and then raised his gaze to the ceiling. "EDI? Tell Joker we're switching course. Set off in the general direction of Tuchanka. And tell Jack I want to speak to her in my cabin."

"Of course, Shepard."

Elaine smiled and bowed her head in gratitude. Shepard, apparently weary, nodded almost in embarrassment, and began a hasty retreat back towards the elevator. As she watched him leave, Elaine couldn't stop the words that sprang forth to the tip of her tongue.

"And Shepard?" she called. He stopped and turned to look at her. Suddenly nervous, the Warden swallowed back her pride and reservations, and let the words speak themselves. "Speaking of truth… There's… um, there's something I need to speak with you about, as well. I have a confession to make."

A/N: Hello lovely readers! I am so sorry I took a two week absence there, but I have moved, and switched career paths rather suddenly and had to adjust to a brand new schedule. But don't worry, hopefully I'll be back to updating every MONDAY, so I hope you will all join me!

And can I just say a huge thank you to everyone who has been leaving me such fantastic feedback! You guys really don't know how much your support means to me and this story.

Also, I'd like to say a big thank you/congratulations to edboy4926 for predicting this particular story event of Elaine teaching Grunt how to use the Berserker abilities to properly use and control his rage. Let's just say I love baby-Grunt vibes, so this was particularly fun for me to write. I always think of my Shepard as a mother-figure to him.

Now please feel free to leave a review - pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeease! Or go and see some of the artwork connected with this story, or anything! Just let me know what you think, I crave any and all feedback! Until next Monday my lovely readers!