…

At first, there was nothing. One could not call it dark, for there was no dark. One may not call it light, for it didn't shine. It was a singularity, infinite, eternal. And then the world was born.

Shepard woke up to his name being pronounced, by whom, he could not ascertain. Confusion crippled his mind as the sudden return of his senses blinded and deafened him. But he was resolute, and sure of one thing. Someone was calling for him.

Slowly, steadily, he opened his eyes and turned them to the source of the voice. It had a feminine tone to it, an unmistakable fairness typical of a maiden. When he finally glimpsed what lay beyond the enclosure of his eyelids, he found himself marveled.

Two bright orbs loomed over him as twin suns, their silvery complexion surrounded by a purple aura, skimming in a sea of grey. The whole beauty of the void rested upon them, for now Shepard was reminded as to why space would always be his home, his final frontier.

Of course, romanticism cannot persist forever. Soon, he noticed that the orbs dwindle, not losing their strength, but taking up a new form, as if when he stared, they stared back. They started twisting in place, and even though they seemed uniformed, he knew that they scanned him with the same prowess, the same eagerness as he looked at them. And then, a call of relief filled the air.

"Keelah… you're alright."-a voice came from the purple of the void, and Shepard felt brought back to earth… so to speak. He now observed the stars differently, his other senses kicking in, his eyes probing beyond the void and resting upon her body, siting over a small chair, in what seemed to be the Normandy med-bay. Then he realized. They were not stars. They were her eyes. Then, he heard a sniff, perhaps of sadness, most likely of happiness. He saw as water, pure, clear, emerged from the silver and ran through her cheek. And in that moment, he knew he loved her.

He opened his mouth to speak, eager to say everything he could, lest he not be taken again by some perilous endeavor, but found that he couldn't. The air was stuck in his throat, his words trapped within his body by mortal constraints, and before he could force it out, she placed a single slick finger from her beautiful, alien hand on top of his lips, in a gentle, yet firm and serious manner.

"Don't speak yet. Your lungs were moderately injured from the ash and toxic fumes, but Doctor Chakwas took good care of you while you were out."-she stared through his eyes and into his soul. Then he knew. They were both scared, striving to live a life they did not fully understand. Or were these but the ramblings of a madman? Even though, only a blind man could avoid seeing her relief in his safety. -"You… keelah, you gave me quite a scare back there, I was… I…"

'I love you. Say it, Tali'Zorah, say it now before he slips away!'-the thought came through from the deepest reaches of her mind. Oh, how so desperately she craved to do so, to let him know her feelings, to be returned in her love, no matter how impossible it was. But she knew it to be unavoidable. She could never bring herself to say it, not now, after she knew the Commander, her faithful, honorable Commander, was so deeply in love with another woman as she was with him. And albeit grief tore her apart, Tali'Zorah stood the proudest and the bravest, for she did what many cannot: she was happy for them.

And that great courage was one of the things Shepard so fervently loved about her.

'What are you doing Shepard? You nearly died not long ago. You might never get another chance to say it. I love you. It's as simple as that.'-yet he was overcome, to his shame, by an all consuming fear. Not of rejection, but that he may die and leave her struck with even more grief than that which he had seen when he had woken up. If Tali knew his feelings, and wasn't driven away by them, and by whatever whim of chance, returned them, he would only be putting her in arms way if he died. And no matter if this was courage or cowardice, Shepard couldn't bring himself to see her suffer.

He gestured to her right arm, and she understood what he meant.

"Oh, right, an omnitool. You'll need it to speak, I'm sorry I… You must be tired. I'll just go outside and call the doctor."-she passed him the small chip and quickly left the room, no explanation, no reason for her to leave evident to him. Truth be told, she felt sick. Sick that she could have lost him. Sick that she couldn't look him in the eye and speak her mind. Sick that she had to be alone. For him.

She left behind a lone Shepard, stranded with his thoughts in a nightmare scenario he could never had foreseen.

'That's it. You blew it. Throwing a chance at happiness away for her. I can't say if hat's the smartest thing I've heard or the stupidest.'-he thought as he picked up the small chip and went to implant it on his clothes when he realized… he had no clothes. –'Oh, crap, did she see me like this? Is that why she left?! Shit. Shitshitshitshitshitshitshit.'

"Commander! I see Tali said the truth, you seem quite awake and recovered!"-Doctor Chakwas suddenly burst into the room, taking his mind off things and returning it to the current situation. He went to speak, but his throat burned his flesh and his words as he tried, and his lungs swelled as he coughed desperately, gasping for air whenever he could. Being a doctor, Karin Chakwas rushed to his side in his aid. –"Easy now, there you go, easy does it… You mustn't attempt to speak, your body is still not ready until I apply the final medication. But I'm guessing you already knew that, didn't you?"

Shepard nodded slowly and painfully, then glanced across the room and found his target. Pointing with his head, he directed her to his goal, and she soon understood. She got up, walked over to the other end of the room, picked it up, and threw him his favorite N7 shirt. Quickly, he put it on and slapped the omnitool into the fabric.

"Thanks."-he typed in, and the metallic voice of the omnitool came to life. The orange glow filled the room, and Chakwas was momentarily surprised. She turned to him and asked:

"An omnitool, heh? Clever way of bypassing your problem. Did Tali give it to you?"-she said, a cat-like curiosity filing her. She didn't need to be a doctor to see that the quarian had some sort of interest in the Commander, even though she could not quite point to what this interest amounted.

"Yes, she did. She was here to help me the second I woke up."-the metallic voice conveyed no emotion, but she understood how Shepard felt. He too was attracted by the quarian in a way she had not seen him like until then. But what were their feelings, were they the same, and did they both know? The questions ate away at Chakwas, who was thoroughly bored from filing out medical reports and tending to the unconscious Commander. She had to find solace and fun wherever she could.

"Poor girl. You should be ashamed of yourself, getting beaten up like that and then putting her in such a situation!"-Chakwas scowled at Shepard, who returned a look of confusion and surprise before continuing.

"What do you mean, doc?"

"I mean that, because of you, she's spent the whole week by your bedside waiting for a sign that you were even still alive!"

Shepard was taken back by this. Chakwas words hit him in the face like a truck. He just stood there in silence for a minute, shock and perplexity splattered across his face. He remembered his friend's relief at seeing him well, and an immense burden befell upon him. Eventually, he broke free of this astonished state and asked the good doctor:

"One… one week? I was gone for a week?"

"And you would have been gone for more if she hadn't acted as fast as she did! From the looks of it, you were trapped in that cave only for as long as she didn't take charge of that blasted tank we have in the lower deck. Heck, you might have died if not for her! I detected a high concentration of carbon monoxide and sulfur dioxide in the area around the Normandy. If she hadn't acted as fast, you'd have died… or worse, become brain dead for the rest of your life."

"The blast… the light…"

"All her doing, I presume. She shot the entrance of the cave, and since she was the only one with the pre-equipped suit, she went inside and hauled your marine ass out off there. You manage to inspire some loyalty Shepard, I tell you."

'She… she saved me. After all that… after even I'd given up hope… she came to my rescue… HA! I'm so stupid! Stupid to think that she ever needed my help! She has fire in her, no matter how well hidden it is. And I'm just some dumb fool in love with the wrong woman! She doesn't need you! STUPID!'

"Tali…"-he typed in his omnitool, melancholic, as fragile as the doctor had ever seen him. The girl, her actions and her words, seemed to have a great impact to Shepard, and the person in question must be of a great deal of importance to Shepard. He didn't seem to know what he was doing, lost and seeking guidance, so Chakwas brought up another topic to distract him from the cause of his sudden frailty.

"Well mister… you may also want to know that the rest of your crew made it here relatively unharmed."-she said, trying to break the ice and restart the conversation.

"The rest… ASH! WREX! LIARA! Where are they? Are they safe?"-even without emotion and with the delay from the typing, Shepard conveyed a great concern over his friends and squad mates with his words.

'Good, that's the Shepard I know.'-Chakwas thought, a small grin appearing on her face.

"Yes, yes, they are perfectly fine and ready to go. Wrex wasn't even injured and refused treatment before heading back to his dark corner downstars. Ashley as been worried sick about you, even if she tries not to show it. Girl thinks she's made of iron, but she as a soft core deep inside. She lit a few candles and dropped one or two prayers for you. Not that you or I believe in any of it, but still, I thought it was nice of her and it would be polite of me to mention it. As for Liara, she as been in custody in the adjacent room ever since she arrived on the ship, and she's been waiting for a chance to thank her dauntless hero for the daring rescue."-for a second, Shepard seemed to chuckle a bit, and even regained a bit of his usual, relaxed posture.

"You flatter me doc. You know I'll do anything for a damsel in distress."

"Oh? Is that so Commander? Because if so, you may want to explain to a certain young lady why you said "I love you" when you were dying from lack of oxygen."-intentionally, Chakwas had rubbed salt in the wound to get a reaction out of the Commander. She expected him to give her a sign of love, trust, great friendship for the quarian.

What she did not expect, however, was for Shepard to leap out of bed while screaming "WHAT?!" and start running after a certain quarian female without as much as a look back or a thought to his injuries.

"Yup, love. DEFINITELY love."-she whispered into the cold room, as she went to warn doctor T'soni that her savior had been awoken.