Notes:

FTL - Faster than light

Ionúin álainn - beautiful beloved (Irish/Gaelic)

Siame - "one who is all", a loved one cherished above all others (Thessian)

Down But Not Out

SSV Normandy

Liara felt much improved after a shower and dinner. Giving a quick nod of thanks to Riana, who gave her an encouraging smile in return, Liara placed her dishes in the cleaning bin and headed for the med bay. The door slid open when she arrived and she stepped in; Doctor Chakwas was apparently done with Shepard's evaluation or the door would have remained sealed. Liara's worried gaze traveled quickly over Samantha's inert form on the bed farthest from the doorway before she looked to Karin for an explanation.

Karin was already in motion toward the Asari, knowing Liara would want answers... but, having received advanced notice from Riana that their Shadow Broker was not at the top of her form, she pulled up her omnitool and ran a scan before speaking. "You, my dear, are still extremely out of balance. Your eezo levels remain way below the acceptable range and your blood chemistry is off."

"The last mission on Tuchanka was very taxing but I, at least, am conscious; I am more concerned about Shepard at the moment." Liara's face was pinched with concern; very rarely was Shepard ever so... motionless. "Why is she not awake?"

"She has a severe concussion... she is no longer under the sedative, but still on pain medication and that probably has a lot to do with it. I imagine she'll be drifting in and out of consciousness for a while yet." Karin shook her head, displeased with the results of the commander's evaluation. "Her pupils were slow and uneven in their responses; I'll continue to monitor her for the next twenty-four hours... at which point I may release her for light duty, but she'll be off ground-mission status for at least three days."

Karin's gaze shifted and she refocused on Liara. "And, I need you to eat one eezo cube now and another in six hours. You are also off ground-mission status for at least the next twelve hours; I'll reevaluate your status then."

"What?" Liara's eyes snapped from Shepard to the doctor in surprise. "We'll be at Benning in under an hour!"

Karin typed a quick message and sent it off to Garrus before responding, "And Wrex will be the ground team's biotic support. If they need a second biotic, they can take Riana... because they are not taking you. Your mission-ready status is suspended... until I say otherwise."

Staring at Karin with disbelief, Liara opened her mouth to protest; Karin's eyebrows rose in warning as she pointed at the Asari. "Please don't, Liara. I've already seen you in my med bay twice, this makes three; that is one trait I do not need you picking up from Shepard. Know your limits and know when you need to sit one out to stay healthy for the long-haul. We need to adjust your eezo intake; your deficiency is such that if I didn't know better, I would diagnose you as being in recovery from biotic shock. Therefore, it must be caused by a lack of sufficient eezo in your diet. Without supplements, Humans suffer something similar; it's relatively common with the element iron."

Liara's mouth snapped shut and she closed her eyes for a short moment. When she opened them back up, she replied, "Of course, Karin. And, you are correct; Riana and I already discussed that and we have plans in motion to remedy the situation when we arrive at the Citadel." Liara sighed and continued, "I am not thinking clearly and it demonstrates exactly how tired I am." Liara chuckled, "I have to wonder... I know Shepard does not get sufficient sleep, so I am curious as to whether it is the cause of her stubbornness." Looking at Karin with an impish grin, Liara finished, "I'm sorry. You have enough to worry about with Shepard, without me causing you additional complications.

"Don't worry about it, Liara." Karin couldn't help but step up to her and give her a quick hug. "Besides, look at the bright side. You can pull up a chair and sit right here with me as you work... to be sure you are present when Samantha rejoins us."

A quiet, groggy voice entered the conversation from the back of the room. "It really bugs me when people talk about me like I'm not here."

Both Karin's and Liara's heads snapped around to look at the bed in the corner, and Liara's feet started moving at the same time. "Samantha!"

Karin chuckled and followed slowly in Liara's wake, giving them a moment to say hello. While Liara's expression was one of concern, her lips held a comforting smile as her left hand gripped one of Shepard's and her right reached up to brush an errant auburn lock off the commander's face and tuck it behind her ear. Her voice was low and soothing as she looked into Shepard's face and softly spoke, "Welcome back, Siame."

Samantha blinked a couple of times in an attempt to clear her eyes, but the blurriness wouldn't go away. She gave up and closed them with a sigh of frustration. "World's a bit fuzzy and I have a Hell of a headache. Tarquin dead?"

"Unfortunately, yes." Liara frowned and squeezed Shepard's hand. "And you almost joined him, but Bethany yanked you back from the brink; I am forever in her debt." Liara shook her head, blinked and, with her free hand, wiped away the moisture in her eyes that was trying to turn into tears. "Goddess. I hate this war."

"I'll be fine, Li." Shepard didn't need to see the Asari's face to know Liara was stressed; she could tell by the tone of her voice. She squeezed Liara's hand in return before pressing on, mostly in an attempt to change the subject and give Liara something else to focus on. "So where are we and what's happened while I've been out?" Shepard cleared her throat, but her voice was still rough as she spoke, "Speaking of which, how long have I been down?" Her eyes crept back open and she looked at the somewhat out-of-focus blue face before her, her vision still refusing to cooperate.

Liara blushed slightly, hesitant to tell Shepard what she had done on Tuchanka, so Karin answered the last of the commander's questions. "Your shoulder surgery to extract the armor piercing round was relatively quick, but I kept you sedated for an additional seven hours to ensure you would stay still and heal. I dropped the sedative off gradually and had Riana wake Liara so she could be here when you awoke fully."

Shepard was groggy but still caught the gist of what Karin said. "Wake Liara?" Even though it increased the intensity of her headache, she forced her eyes into slightly better focus and looked questioningly at her lover. "Ionúin álainn. What are you not telling me?"

Liara sighed and told Shepard about getting Hackett's approval to take on the N7 missions, eventually describing her and Wrex obliterating the Cerberus troops who were on Tuchanka trying to establish a foothold at the space-cannon facility. "I was extremely tired when I got back and nearing exhaustion. I didn't really have much choice but to take a nice long nap."

Karin wasn't letting her off so easy and inserted what Liara failed to confess. "And her eezo levels are dangerously low and her blood chemistry is off, so she's staying right here with us while Wrex goes down to the surface with the ground team on Benning. When you are up and moving again, we need to talk about the foodstuffs you bring aboard, Commander. Unique Asari dietary requirements are not being satisfactorily met."

"Got it, Doc." Shepard's eyes drifted closed again. "I thought Riana was handling it, but now that I think about it, I haven't seen any requisition orders... I'll bet she's been paying out of pocket. I'll have to reimburse her..."

"Don't worry about it, Love. Riana and I have already discussed it and I'm going to make Broker funds available to buy both short-term fresh groceries and long-term Asari emergency rations. The Broker ships are already stockpiling... we simply forgot about doing the same on the Normandy for her and me." Liara caressed Samantha's cheek. "That will be remedied during the upcoming visit to the Citadel."

"Sounds like a plan." Shepard's voice was soft as she shifted a little in the bed and mumbled, "Why'm I so tired...?"

Liara cast a worried glance at Karin, who nodded. "That's to be expected, Commander. You took a good knock on the head and your little nanites are working overtime to restore your shoulder." Karin raised her omnitool and completed a new scan. "They're actually making excellent progress and it should quit aching in another couple of hours. We'll be able to stop your pain meds then and you'll feel much more alert soon after."

Karin set a gentle hand on the Asari's shoulder as she looked at Shepard and finished, "Why don't you take a nap, Sam. Liara and I will be right here when you wake again. I promise."

Liara laid her free hand atop Karin's as she squeezed Shepard's with her other. "Yes, we will. I promise as well, Siame." She spared Karin a flash of a smile as she broke away from her touch before leaning forward to place a gentle kiss on Shepard's forehead. "Rest, knowing how much I love you." The only response she got from Shepard was a hum of contentment with a smile as the commander drifted back to sleep.

Benning was a mess; as soon as the Normandy crew hit the ground, gunfire erupted and they saw civilians hitting the ground. "God damn it!" Vega's face turned red from anger as he shouted, "The fuckers aren't trying to recruit the civilians... they're killing them!"

Garrus looked at the group. "Alright people; mission parameters just changed." His glance shifted to Wrex as he spoke his next words. "Just like Tuchanka. If they're wearing Cerberus colors? Kill them all... but protect the civilians where we can so the Alliance actually still has someone to evacuate."

Garrus had Wrex and Private Campbell on his team and had assigned Edi and Private Westmoreland to Lieutenant Vega; the two teams quickly deployed and attempted to work in tandem to establish a safe zone to initiate evacuations. The city was difficult to work in... it was more urban warfare than special operations and, with all the cargo containers and various shelters seemingly placed rather randomly, it was hard to cover all the angles. To make matters worse, Cerberus was firmly entrenched.

Engineers had been working steadily, so a sea of turret fire greeted the Normandy crew at every corner and initial progress was slow. Garrus took on the personal mission of sniping every engineer that crossed their path and Cerberus eventually ran out of the folks necessary to install and repair the turrets. After that, progress was a bit easier and they soon had the Illusive Man's private army in retreat. As the evacuation shuttles started to arrive, bringing fresh Alliance troops to maintain the secured foothold, Garrus started to call the Normandy but was interrupted by Vega. "Yo, Vakarian. What are you doin', man?"

"Arranging evac for our return to the Normandy." Garrus looked puzzled. "I thought that was fairly obvious, Lieutenant."

James shook his head. "We gotta collect tags... try to find the Ambassador's son, Osoba."

"Damn, you're right. I forgot." Garrus' jaw mandibles twitched and he continued, "Sorry about that... that's not something Turians do. I mean, we do, but not the front line troops. The support guys come in after we've secured the area and they handle all that stuff."

James shrugged, "We probably would too, if it was a normal op; we'd leave it to the folks arriving to handle after they got the civilians out, but we've got a dual mission and we haven't finished the second part of it yet."

Garrus gave a sharp nod. "Alright then, let's get to it. Fan out in pairs and start looking... but we're not here for everyone. Collect what tags you find and we'll turn them over to whoever's in charge of the new arrivals, but keep Osoba's when you find them and call out on the comm. Once we find him, we're out of here."

Liara had no idea how much time had passed. She had started out working Broker messages on her omnitool, but found Karin's hand on her shoulder, gently shaking her awake. The ground team was back from Benning with only minor injuries and Garrus wanted to speak with her. Liara groaned and sat up from her slumped position, shaking her head gently. "How long have I been sleeping?"

Karin smiled softly as she answered, "I'm not really sure. I was busy updating medical records and asked you a question... but obviously got no response. That was an hour ago. Your position couldn't have been very comfortable, so you must still be exhausted; your body is trying to tell you something and you should listen to it."

Liara noted the raised eyebrows with Karin's last statement and smiled in return. "Message received, Doctor. I'm off to wash my face and see Garrus, then I'll be back to talk about it."

As Liara stood and stretched, Karin chuckled. "During your time away from us, you've developed a stubbornness to rival Shepard's, my dear."

"I've developed resolve, Karin, not stubbornness, though that word seems to be a common theme. Shepard said something similar to me."

Karin let out a robust laugh, "Oh! Now that's the pot calling the kettle black!" At Liara's puzzled look, Karin shook her head and smiled. "You're the scholar. Look it up, Doctor T'Soni."

After a quick trip to the washroom, Liara worked her way to the Main Battery. When she entered, Garrus was working away on his terminal. He gave a quick glance over his shoulder and went back to typing as he asked, "How's Shepard doing?"

"Sleeping when I left. The surgery went well but she has a concussion... again. You're keeping the job for at least three days." Liara stepped up next to the big Turian. "Karin said you requested my presence, acting Captain."

"Damn, don't call me that. I want Shepard back on-line." Garrus closed out the mission report and turned to Liara. "I don't want the job; command of the Normandy belongs to Shepard. Now... how are you?"

"Better, but still incredibly tired. I know what you're thinking, and don't. It has nothing to do with the mission on Tuchanka and what you think you let Wrex and I do. Karin diagnosed it as a dietary deficiency, and the timing of the mission on Tuchanka was merely a coincidence." Liara grimaced, "I'm not getting enough eezo in my diet."

Garrus flared his mandibles, "What about Riana?"

"She's fine." Liara smiled at the Turian's questioning look. "She's more disciplined than I and has been eating those disagreeably unsweetened eezo cubes to make up the difference." Liara scrunched up her nose and made a face. "I haven't been... and am now paying the price for my childish act of rebellion. Karin has me eating one every six hours until my levels are back to normal." She shook her head in disgust, "Goddess, those things are awful!"

Garrus couldn't resist letting out a low chuckle, earning a glare from the Asari. "Sorry, but you ate those dry rations when you were on digs and you can't stomach a single eezo cube with two meals a day? That's just wrong."

"I suppose you are correct." Liara smiled, "I've certainly been spoiled by the sweetened cubes and the good meals on the Normandy."

Garrus turned back to his terminal and picked up something that Liara instantly recognized. On reflex, her hand went to her chest and she traced the outline of Shepard's old dog tags which she still wore under her shirt. She shivered involuntarily as her mind jumped back to Alchera; her memories of the biting cold and the barren, snow-covered mass of irregular terrain covered in chasms and steep cliffs stole the very breath from her soul.

Garrus turned back to her and placed the tags in her hands. "We found the Ambassador's son; unfortunately he did not survive the Cerberus attack. This is for someone in the Alliance to do. I put it in the mission report, so Admiral Hackett will make the notification through official channels, but when we get to the Citadel, I'm sure Shepard will want to talk to Ambassador Osoba in person and give him his son's tags."

As her fingers wrapped around Balal's tags, Liara flashed back. She remembered every step she had taken on that positively miserable planet... crawling through the remains of the Normandy, staring at the gaping hole in the fuselage through which the explosion had tossed any hope of Shepard surviving the Collector attack. She remembered being on her hands and knees, digging through the snow, looking for anything to bring home as a remembrance of Shepard and finding Samantha's old dog tags. As she clenched Balal's tags in her hand, Liara was suddenly on Alchera and her chest tightened once more; she gasped for breath and her legs betrayed her as the memory of Shepard's death and discovering that her body was missing invaded her consciousness.

As her fingers closed over Balal's dog tags, Garrus watched Liara's face go pale just before her knees buckled. With a soldier's instincts, he lunged forward and grasped her shoulders, keeping her from pitching forward to the deck; he eased her to a squatting position and knelt down in front of her. "Liara!" He immediately activated his comm and spoke quickly, "Doctor Chakwas to the Main Battery, please."

Liara blinked slowly, more of a sluggish closing and opening than anything, and focused on the Turian kneeling with her. "Not necessary, Garrus. I'll be fine." She took a deep breath, once more able to fill her lungs, and shook her head. "The feel of those dog tags in my hand evoked an astonishingly vivid memory response."

"Too late, T'Soni. I already made the call. Do you think you can stand?" With an affirmative nod from the Asari, Garrus stood and helped Liara back to her feet. "We'll let Karin decide if you're fine when she gets here."

On cue, the door slid open and Dr Chakwas walked in, med kit in hand and a technician in tow. "Garrus? What happened?"

"It was me, Karin." Liara sighed and explained what had occurred. "I assume it is related to my chemistry being so out of balance. It is playing with my moods and emotions. I've had nightmares, but not for a very long time... and I've never had anything like that waking flashback. It was extremely... disturbing... and amazingly powerful."

"Better safe than sorry." Karin wrapped her arm around Liara's waist. "Come on. We'll head to the med bay and run a full diagnostic to be sure that's all it was."

Liara didn't even think to protest, nodding meekly. "Certainly. That's not something I care to repeat."

"I am so sorry, Liara. I should have thought about that." Garrus' mandibles twitched in agitation. "I should have waited for Shepard to get back on her feet and handed the dog tags to her directly."

"Don't be silly, Garrus." Liara glanced back over her shoulder. "I had no idea something like that was going to happen. How could you possibly have anticipated it?" Liara stopped and Karin allowed her to turn back to speak with Garrus. "I understand exactly how important those dog tags can be to someone. I will go with Shepard and we'll make sure they get to the ambassador as soon as we get to the Citadel. It will be our first order of business."

Shepard's eyes fluttered open and she smiled, content with a warm presence snuggled up to her back. It was not the first time Liara had stayed in the med bay and slid up onto the bed to be close to her; Shepard's forehead creased as she wondered if Liara still feared for her death. Of course she does, you idiot... you're in the middle of a damn Reaper war. You could die any time, any minute of any ground mission.

Moving slowly, in an attempt to not disturb the Asari at her back, Shepard shifted slightly forward, away from the 'spoon,' and rolled back to her right to lie flat on her back. Liara murmured discontentedly in her sleep at the temporary loss of the warm contact and closed the newly formed gap, slipping her head onto Samantha's injured shoulder and draping an arm across the commander's midriff without waking. She purred as she found her little niche, a position born of their many nights spent together and finding great comfort in the familiar arrangement.

Shepard smiled softly and kissed the top of Liara's forehead, right at her crestline, and stretched her right arm out, happy that Karin had been correct in her assessment that the ache in her shoulder would soon stop. She flexed her hand a couple of times and rotated her arm, pleased with the stretch and mobility she found; as always, Karin had done an excellent job stitching her back together after a firefight. It wasn't until she drew her arm back to wrap it around Liara that she noticed the intravenous drip tubing hanging from Liara's arm. Her heart rate jumped a little and the sudden change set off a quiet alarm on Karin's omnitool, making the doctor look up from her terminal.

Shepard heard it and looked Karin's way as the doctor stood and walked over quickly. Having been unused for several hours, when she attempted to whisper, Shepard's voice came out as a concerned squeak, "Aunt Karin! What's wrong with Liara?"

Understanding as to why Shepard's heart rate jumped blossomed across Karin's face and she breathed a sigh of relief. "Relax, Sam. Her blood chemistry and eezo levels weren't responding as fast as I liked, so I decided to take a more direct route than through the Asari digestive system." Karin shook her head. "It had gotten too far out of balance without me noticing. I'm adding it to my standard list of scans for anytime she comes back from a ground mission from now on."

Shepard visibly relaxed and turned her head to place another gentle kiss on Liara's head before turning back to Karin. "I trust you're not lying to me in an attempt to keep me calm, due to my current condition."

Karin almost snorted with laughter. "You were shot, Shepard; you're not pregnant. Neither your body nor your psyche are that delicate."

Shepard grinned, "Just checking, Doc."

Chakwas placed her hand gently on Shepard's left forearm. "You haven't called me 'Aunt Karin' in a very long time, Samantha. You really are concerned about her, aren't you?"

Shepard's eyes glassed over as she answered in a choked whisper, "When Cerberus rebuilt me and gave me 400 years, they gave us a future. We'll have time to get married, to have kids... to have a real family." Shepard glanced at the Asari snuggled into her side. "Everything I do is for that future." As her eyes came back up she continued, "Don't get me wrong; I love you and mom, but I can't lose her, Aunt Karin. I just can't. I... I don't think I would have the will to go on, because to me... if she's gone, it would have all been for nothing."

Karin's grip tightened. "You don't need to worry about that, Sam... at least not over this. And you do realize she feels the same about you, yes?"

"I know. And I hate the risks I have to take. Liara had it right when she stated 'I hate this war.' We all do." Shepard let out a heavy sigh. "We're going to lose a lot more before it's through."

Liara suddenly murmured, leaving her head resting on Shepard's chest, "But not from your lack of trying to save us all, Love."

"Hey you. Good morning." Shepard smiled and gave her a squeeze. "How do you feel?"

"Much better, thanks to Karin." Liara yawned and pushed herself upright, realizing where she was. "Goddess. I was lying on your injured shoulder. Does it feel alright?"

"Yeah, it does." Shepard smiled, "Thanks to Karin."

Liara gave her a light shove and slid off the bed, looking at the tube hanging from her arm. She glanced up at Karin, the unvoiced question obvious as she stated, "I need to use the facilities..."

Karin chuckled and brought up her omnitool to run a quick scan. She nodded as she spoke, "Yes. We've finally broken through the buffer that was keeping your system from being able to do this on its own. Proper diet should be sufficient to do the rest."

After she disconnected the drip and Liara left the room, she turned back to Shepard, all business. "Your turn now, Commander." Karin did a quick scan over the shoulder and smiled. "Your shoulder is as good as new, Shepard." She then pulled out a penlight and pulled Shepard's chin around. "Look straight at me, please."

Shepard did as she was told but couldn't help but ask, "So what exactly happened? I haven't stayed awake long enough for anyone to tell me."

Karin explained what she knew and mentioned that Garrus had completed the mission reports for both Tuchanka and Benning. "I'm sure he sent file copies to you, but I doubt he included how... interesting... it was to transit the Sol system. We'll be doing no more of that. Earth is, of course, no better than when you left it the first time and Arcturus is also gone, so there is no need for us to return to either of those systems. I hate to admit it, but even for colonial evacuations, the risk is too great."

"Damn it." Shepard shook her head and blew out a pensive breath. "I love having Liara on the ground with me, but she needs to focus on finding information on the Crucible. She's triple-tasking, with Shadow Broker shifts, the Crucible hunt and ground missions."

Liara returned in time to catch her last statement and she huffed, "And you're not, Samantha? We're all busy and I am no exception. If anyone needs a break, it's you."

"And you may accuse us of ganging up on you if you wish, but I must concur. Thanks to your bone weaves, this last gash on your head was superficial but bled profusely. Combined with your shoulder wound, your blood pressure was crashing by the time they got you in here. It was nothing a few bags of synth didn't fix, but bouncing your head off the concrete, however, has given you another concussion... which is why you're still here; otherwise I would have let you sleep off your injury in the loft. As it was, your initial pupillary reflexes were horrible, so I've been monitoring you over the last 24-hours. You are off ground duty for an additional two days, Commander, and restricted to light duty only."

Samantha surprised both of them by smiling and raising her hands in surrender. "Believe it or not, you won't get any argument from me. Unless something has changed, we're on the Citadel for an overnight while we resupply, and next stop is all the way out in the Ninmah Cluster... a three-relay hop and several hours of FTL travel away from the Citadel, so everyone on the ground team will be getting a break." She brought her hands down and held one out to Liara, who took it willingly. "We're all overdue a breather."

"Commander?" Jeff's voice broke in over the comm. "Sorry to interrupt, but if you're available, Admiral Anderson is on the QEC for you. Garrus is speaking to him at the moment, but he'd like to talk to you."

Shepard looked to Karin, who nodded. "Yes, you can go. Just take it easy, Samantha. Please remember... light duty only. That means no workouts, hand-to-hand training or Armax. Got it?"

Shepard smiled as she slid off the bed. "Yes, Ma'am!"

After getting dressed, Shepard hurried through the War Room to the QEC in the back. Garrus quickly stepped to the side as she arrived, "Ah, here she is Admiral. I'll leave you to it."

Anderson nodded, "Thank you, Garrus. Nice to know the Normandy is in capable hands while Shepard's lazing around." A grin lit his face as Shepard pouted and exclaimed, "Hey!"

Garrus walked out, chuckling as he left, and Shepard turned to the Admiral's image. "Damn good to see you, Anderson."

"Same here, Shepard. Heard Tuchanka was a little rough on you." Anderson's smile faded slightly as he contemplated all Garrus had told him.

"Bah. Rumors of my injuries are most likely overstated, just as the reports of my death were greatly exaggerated." Shepard smiled in return watching Anderson's face light with humor.

He laughed lightly, "Leave it to you to quote Mark Twain in the middle of a damn war with the Reapers. Good to know your brain is working like it's supposed to. Still... I hear you're at the Citadel."

"Yes, Sir. We're tucked in nice and safe. I heard we transited Sol while I was sleeping and things weren't looking so good. You doing ok down there? You staying safe?"

Anderson's smile faded the rest of the way as he responded, "That changes by the hour, but at the moment, yes. The Reapers are concentrating on industrial and population centers, so if we keep our heads down and stay in the countryside we can avoid them easy enough, but hiding certainly doesn't contribute much to the war effort, so we're developing hit and run tactics with diversions and misdirection to keep them from finding the camp. They'll find us again eventually though, so we have to stay on our toes."

"I'm sorry, Sir." Shepard frowned. "We're working as fast as we can to get the pieces of the Crucible put together. I hate being out here playing politics while you're wondering every day if it will be your last."

"You stop that right now, Shepard." Anderson vehemently pointed at her. "Each of us is doing what we need to do to get the job done." His hand dropped as he continued, "And from what I hear, right now you need a bit of a break. Check your messages. I sent you the new access code for the Citadel apartment. I want you and Liara to use it while you're there. Not like Kahlee or I will be using it any time soon, so it's yours for the duration. It will give you someplace private; you know where it is."

"Thanks, Anderson." Shepard smiled, "Mind if I bring some of the crew along with? I imagine Riana will want to stick with Li, and I have a feeling Traynor might like to stick with Riana. And Hell, it's a nice apartment; I imagine everyone would enjoy kicking their feet up on the furniture and taking in a change of scenery."

"Hell yes. You know you don't even need to ask that. Our home has always been open to your friends. You take the Master and put whoever you want in the other two bedrooms. Your spare armor and equipment is still in the armory station there, if I remember correctly. I don't believe you ever picked it up."

Shepard laughed. "I'm a bit beefier than I was when I dropped that stuff off. I'm sure the armor won't fit anymore, but I'll pick it up and pass it down the line. Someone can get good use out of it, I'm sure. And with the weapons we've got now, the rest is nothing but keepsakes anymore. I'll leave that all there, if you don't mind."

"Not at all; there's plenty of room. I've got to get going, Sam. I... I simply needed to talk to you. Make sure you were alright." Anderson waved his hands futilely in the air. "Not like I could do a damn thing about it if you weren't, but..." His voice trailed off, leaving his sentence unfinished.

"I know, Anderson. And believe me, I understand." Shepard waved at the man she should have been saluting, but knew he preferred it that way. Given everything going on, she figured it didn't hurt to give him what he wanted; she wasn't honestly sure how much longer he'd be able to survive on Earth, so she planned on making every moment count. "Take care, Anderson."

Shepard had returned to the loft to get caught up on all her messages, noting the new code for the apartment and reading the mission reports. When she was done, there was nothing left to distract her and she knew it was time to go speak to Wrex in the War Room. Liara had filled her in on her little 'chat' with him, as well as the follow-on discussion Liara had overheard between Wrex and Garrus, so Shepard knew that while Wrex might be irritated, he wasn't angry... she hoped.

After she had attempted to explain herself, which didn't sound very convincing even to her, Wrex's eyes had burned red. "You're Krantt, Shepard. You're family! You didn't lie to me, but you didn't tell me about it either. You withheld something you knew would be important to me." Wrex growled. "There can only be one reason... you don't trust me, and that's unacceptable."

"That's not true, Wrex. I trust you with my life, and you know it." Shepard glared at the Krogan.

Though it lacked any real humor, Wrex chuckled, "Yeah, sure. You trust me with your life, but you don't trust me with the Primarch's. That's what this is really about." Wrex put a huge finger into Shepard's chest. "You were afraid I'd go off in a blood rage and kill the sneaky bastard."

Shepard's face turned red and Wrex huffed; he had been correct in his assumption. "I knew that's what it was." He dropped his finger off Shepard's chest and she almost fell forward with the release of the pressure. Wrex scrunched up his shoulders and wiggled his shoulder plates. "Thing is, now that I've cooled down and had a chance to think about it, I realize you might have been right. But you might also have been wrong and you didn't even give me a chance. Things could have gone a lot smoother down there if you had given me the opportunity to lend you some Krogan support. The younger Victus might still be alive."

Wrex watched Shepard deflate and her shoulders slump at his blunt pronouncement and he backed off. "His death isn't on you, it's on the Primarch. He's the one who put his progeny in a situation he wasn't ready to handle and then asked you to keep mum about it and clean up the mess; you were put in a bad spot. All I'm saying is you should have trusted me enough to talk to Victus." Wrex grunted in disgust. "And he's supposed to be a damn general; he should know better than to send a unit in blind if it can be helped, even if it is led by the great Commander Shepard. That's blatant bad leadership. If I had been allowed to confront him, he wouldn't have had any reason to keep the damn thing a secret. You would've had more info going in and been able to plan better."

"Damn it. You're right, Wrex." Shepard shook her head and squared her shoulders. "Why didn't I think of that angle?"

Because you've got eighteen different things going on in your head at any given moment?" Wrex laughed. "Besides, you're just a whelp, Shepard. I've been playing this game for nigh on a thousand years. What'd you expect?"

"I'd expect you to kick my ass if I make such a rookie mistake ever again." Shepard balled up her fist and punched Wrex's chest plate. "Victus isn't the only one who should have known better. Sorry, Wrex."

Wrex chuckled at the little flea swat Shepard had given him. He knew she could punch a lot harder than she did, but she wasn't wearing any gloves, much less her gauntlets. "Get out of here, Shepard. Don't you have business on the Citadel to take care of?"

Shepard grinned, knowing things were okay between them. "That I do, Wrex."