Kat drifted in and out of a coma state for nearly two weeks, bleeding from between her legs the whole time. It worried Thane, but Chakwas assured him that she was fine, her body was just expelling what it created to carry the baby.

He sat in front of her private terminal in her cabin, hands intertwined in front of him, meditating. Her terminal beeped and he opened his eyes.

1 New Message

From: Cecilia Gray

To: Commander Katida Shepard

He stared at it for a long time. He didn't recognize the name. Curiosity was urging him to read the letter. Was it someone from her past? Her words from before flashed into his mind; "It's nothing… I just found out someone I used to know is missing." Was this person how she had found out? Was this person from her past? Kat couldn't tell him her past, he understood that, but what if he found out on his own, through legal means?

The door opened, his window closed. Kat limped in and he was quickly to his feet beside her.

"What are you doing out of the med-bay?" he asked and supported her.

"Can't stand the smell of clean death anymore." she said and went to her terminal. She saw the message and let out a long sigh. With Thane's help she sat down in the chair.

"Who is it?" he asked as she opened it.

She shook her head and hit reply. "My mom," she said simply and started typing a response.

"May I read it?" he asked, he hadn't looked at the screen to protect her privacy.

She shrugged, "I guess. She is asking about you anyways." she said and scrolled up a little so he could read the message while she typed.

Katida,

Why haven't you replied to my last message? It had been nearly three weeks. If I said something to offend you I am sorry. We just started getting to know each other again, I don't want to mess it up.

I didn't mean that this Thane was a bad choice, only that you seem to rely on him a lot. I still don't know anything about him. What does he do for a living? You said that he had been married before and has a son, right? How old is he? What's his name? I know there isn't a way for you to make it back here for us to meet him in person, but you must promise that you will stop gallivant across space after those big ships that you will let us meet him. Henry wants to meet him too.

We want to see you too. You haven't stopped by in years. We miss you, all of us.

Love,

Mom

Kat saw he was finished and scrolled back down to finish her reply.

Mom,

They. Are. Not. Ships. They are reapers, they are alive and want to harvest the galaxy and turn us into one of them.

As much as I know it will worry you, I haven't responded because I was badly injured. I landed on a metal pike that went through my stomach, but I'm on the mend now. The nanites in my blood make me heal really fast.

Thane is the most amazing guy I've ever met, he is actually reading this as I type it. His current employment is aboard my ship on the combat crew, he is a sniper so he watches my six. (That means back)

Yes he is a widower, his wife passed away a long time ago. They have a son, Kolyat, who is seventeen. We have really started getting along. He actually doesn't look much like Thane, he is taller and I'm guessing he looks like Irikah. You guys would love both of them, they are sweet and kind and strong. I seriously lucked out. I don't deserve it, but I'm not going to pass up the one good thing I've got.

I promise after the threat I will try to find time to visit. It depends if they let me.

Kat

"Who are they?" he asked again.

She shook her head and sent the message. "I can't tell you that." she said and leaned back in the chair.

"Why is her last name different?"

"She remarried. Shepard was my father's last name. Her husband is Henry Gray." she said and pulled up her webcam. "Damn… I look like hell." she muttered. She had bags under her eyes and she was pale. Her eyes were white and she looked like she needed a long shower and a hot meal.

"What happened to your father?" he asked as he helped her stand and go into the bathroom.

She shrugged, "Last I heard he was in jail."

"Why?"

She shook her head. "Just know he deserves it… Can you help me strip?" she said and he started unbuttoning her shirt and slid it off her shoulders. Her pants and panties soon followed, leaving her only in the bandages across her stomach and shoulder before his eyes.

"Are you sure your bandages can get wet?" he asked and she nodded.

Thane leaned her against the wall and started to strip off his clothes, knowing she would need help standing up, let alone bathing. "I can get Tali to help if you want, so you don't have to get wet." she said but he chuckled.

"Some things are worth a bit of discomfort." he repeated his words from earlier.

She smiled and eeped as he turned the cold water on. "Cold, damn it, turn the hot water on." she shivered under the falling water.

He smirked and pulled her fully under it.

"Ass," she muttered and shivered against him. Goosebumps rose on her flesh and her nipples hardened from the cold.

Thane was thoroughly enjoying it, but did turn the water to a lukewarm.

"You're still an ass," she muttered and leaned most of her weight on him. Things still weren't as stable as she would have liked.

Thane grabbed her shampoo as he moved them out of the direct path of the water.

"I can bathe myself, ya know?" she muttered, ashamed that she needed help.

"Siha, let me take care of you." he said so lovingly that her knees trembled. Hopefully he passed it off as her being weak. He lathered the shampoo into her scalp, working it into her hair and into the roots. Once satisfied he moved them back under the water and rinsed it out, careful to keep her head tilted back so the soap would run down her back and not get in her eyes. He had washed her hair a few times before, having always been fascinated with it, and she would never admit it, but she liked it when he did it. It made her feel cared for and like a princess. Princess Shepard. For some reason that didn't have quiet the scary effect that Commander Shepard did.

He ran his fingers through the lightly matted hair, rinsing the soap out of it. Next came conditioner. He put some on his hands and ran it into her hair. The knots loosened from the liquid and her hair hung down straight. Kat already had straight hair, but soaking wet it was still a few inches longer than when it was dry.

"I need to cut my hair," she said against his skin. It was already past her shoulders, way too long for her liking, too much work.

Thane let out a low humming noise from his chest that she could only feel. "I like your hair." he said and let the strands fall over his fingers.

"Yes, but it's a pain in the ass, soon I'm going to have to wear it up, I'm shocked the Alliance haven't yelled at me for it yet." she said and felt him shift again, but her eyes were closed. "One I was eighteen my hair was down to my shoulder blades and the Alliance had me put it into a bun… I shaved my head before the next morning. I'll be damned before I put my hair into that gay ass bun, how the fuck am I supposed to wear a helmet with it anyways?" She felt him chuckle as he was probably imagining her doing that. His hands started to roam over her body, slick with her bodywash. "Hey, Thane?"

"Yes, my siha," he said as he continued to lather her body.

"I'm sorry." she said and her eyes cracked open.

"What for?" he asked and his hands slipped down her stomach, down below that little patch of hair, down to her lower lips and slipped inside of them. He rubbed her clit, using the excuse of hygiene to arouse her.

Her eyes drifted closed again as he swirled his index over the bundle of nerves. "For getting hurt… for killing our child." she muttered and he paused and pulled his hand away.

"Siha, it wasn't your fault." he tried to sooth, but she shook her head.

"If I hadn't fallen asleep…"

"The pregnancy made you tired,"

"That is no excuse, I fell asleep on my watch, that means that everything that happened because of it was my fault." she sobbed and clung to him, crying into his chest. She couldn't hold it back anymore, act strong when she had lost her child, their child.

He held her as she cried and finished rinsing off the soap and conditioner. Then he carried her like a child to their bed and set her down on it. She let go of him long enough for him to go get her a pair of sleeping shorts and a baggy shirt. He dressed her in it, wearing a pair of sleeping pants for himself.

"I love you, siha." he said and stroked her cheek, red from crying. "Nothing will ever change that. I am sad that our child never got to live, but we are going to have a long happy life together, we can still have a child and I can only hope that he will be half the person you are."

She smiled and held onto him tight, her face buried in his neck. She was the strongest person he had ever met. Something in her past had broken her, he didn't know what, but he knew she had healed hunched over. From what he could gather someone, this "they," had covered it up, taught her how to act like she was never broken. The people who saw that woman didn't know Katida Shepard, they only knew Commander Shepard, the act they taught her. This woman crying in his arms, guard completely down, shields lowered, this broke woman was Katida Shepard. She was the woman he loved, because despite all the pain, she had managed to keep going, to fight, and had taught him how to do the same.

The door to their cabin opened and a very angry Chakwas stood in it. "Commander, you should not be out of the med-bay!" she snapped, causing Shep to tense and immediately retreat back into her shell. "You are injured and need rest, not to go running off across the ship hiding from me." She motioned James in behind her and he picked Shepard off the bed and hang her over his shoulder.

Thane let her go, if only to see her reaction. "Traitor!" she shouted at him and beat James's back. "This is mutiny!"

"Yes, yes, now hold still." Chakwas said and stuck a needle of morphine deep into her ass, making her cry out and let out a string of curses his translator didn't even recognize. Then she was out, limp against James. Thane got up and left with them, planning on spending the night by her side one way or another.

A/N: History Final Exam tomorrow? What exam? Pshh, no of course I've been studying, what makes you think I wouldn't be studying? Oh the six page chapter that I typed up in the last twenty-four hours? Oh that is nothing. You have no proof!

To Orchidellia: I have no life. I go to school, work, finish homework, then play Mass Effect on harder and harder level difficulties. Sometimes I even switch to the worst weapon choice for the fight to challenge myself. I took out a gunship with a pistol yesterday. Back to your question: I just write as the ideas come to me, which is why a lot of it is unedited, because pausing to fix a grammar mistake completely crashes my train of thought. If you ever RP with me you will notice the same behavior. Rose and I are writing a Mass Effect RP with sister Shepards (which I will be posting once the drafts are done), me being the older and her the younger. She will write like a paragraph and I response with a page. Basically when I get on a rant I don't normally stop very easy.

This chapter was written listening to Raise Your Gun by Deadmau5 and scanning planets for their minerals to upgrade my shit in ME2 while I deny that I have an exam tomorrow and have three quizzes and one test to do before midnight, which it is 9pm right now and I still refuse to face that fact…

Summary: I write fast because I don't edit nearly as much as I should, I rant like a mother fucker, and it gives me a reason to stall on doing my homework.

P.S. I didn't win the TV *cry* Kolyat, how could you betray your own mother? I should have named the duck Fenris, Fenris never let Hawke down… wait no he did run away after you fuck him… *goes to emo corner*