"Wrex, I'll go get the females." Emma pushed as he was surrounded by un-threatening salarians. She was staring down the krogan just like she had on Virmire years ago. This time she knew he trusted her, though. He finally grumbled and stepped back, holstering his shotgun.
"Fine. But if anything goes wrong, I'm coming in." He barked, looking to Saren and Garrus who would be following her in.
"Turian," He said, getting both their attention. He wasn't entirely which he was speaking to, "make sure they're both safe when you come back or I'll smash your skull in."
Both nodded, turning to each other to try to figure out who he was talking to as Emma went on, talking to the salarian who was going to lead them down into the labs. She requested a minute to get ready, and she was given that minute to talk with Wrex again, to make sure she knew what she was doing.
"So let's say worst comes to worse and everyone down there is dead, and I have no access codes to get the females out..."
"Because that will really happen with me around." Garrus chimed in from his conversation with Saren. She rolled her eyes and looked to Wrex.
"He's right you know. He can crack any codes, no matter who made them. I've seen him do it before, he can do it again."
"And if they aren't willing to come?" She said, quieter.
"Shepard, you honestly think that females wouldn't-"
"I want to know what you want me to do in case that's a situation we face. We don't know what they've been through, they might not want to go back to Tuchanka, even if it meant curing the genophage." Emma kept her voice low, and concerned. She'd managed to strike a deep chord with an already angry krogan, and the influence and power she held was seen as he kept it in check.
"Then these bastards better let me go down there so they can see there is a krogan who wants them back home. And not just for myself." Wrex was growling, lip curled back with anger.
"Alright. I'll let you know what's going on as soon as I get down there."
"Thank you, Shepard."
She led the two turians down into the facility with her, trying not to snicker at their conversation.
"Emma, you have Wrex whipped." Garrus started, knowing that Wrex could hear but couldn't respond to anyone but Emma.
"He's getting pretty soft from what I remember." Saren chime in, smirking. Of course the last time he'd seen Wrex was when he was a mercenary, so she had to let out a small giggle at that comment.
"I don't think I'll ever see him let go of the chance to bash in someone's skull ever again." Garrus then shrugged.
"Alright you two, cut it out." Emma finally had to say, though her voice gave away her smile.
They stepped out of the elevator into a dark room. Emma had been expecting at least a couple of windows, but it was just artificial lights and concrete walls. There were also rooms against the wall that looked exactly like cells. The amount of stations to work at amazed her, especially with the multi-leveled room. There was an elevator at the far side of the room to go straight to the receiving deck. Following the salarian to one of the cells, she was appalled.
"Wrex..."
"What is it?"
"There..." She sighed, making her tone gentler, feeling (she could only guess) half as heartbroken as Wrex would feel in two seconds, "There's only one female left. The others didn't make it because of their health. I'm sorry."
"One is better than no one." Wrex said harshly. "Get her up here as soon as you can-" The alarms sounded suddenly. "Hold on, Shepard. There are inbound ships. I don't think they're friendly either."
"This way, Commander." The salarian said, motioning to the elevator as soon as the cell the female was in was being prepared. She knew something was wrong, and luckily Garrus noticed before she did that there was a bomb. Everyone backed up and unfortunately it was just them.
"Wrex, what's going on up there?" She said, nervous as the female started moving and she headed for the stairs.
"Fucking Cerberus bastards!" He growled, gunfire in the background.
"Let's move!" She barked, running up the stairs with her gun firing rapidly at white armor.
It was a long fight, and she received a couple of scratches on her face from grazed bullets, but she never backed down. Her shields were barely stable at 14% as wave after wave hit, never fully recovering from the last wave. She thought she caught a break on the landing pad, but an Atlas slammed into the metal floor, making a large dent as it unfolded, and began firing at the female. Emma pulled out the rocket launcher, regretting that she only had one shot left.
"Get it's shields down!" She barked again, for once taking cover from a hail of bullets.
"It'd be nice if we had a biotic!" Garrus yelled, forgetting that they had two readily available.
Saren and Wrex both hit the Atlas with so many biotic attacks that not only were the shields taken down, but the armor as well. Garrus took it out with a single concussive shot to the pilot. Emma stood up, ready to fire, and her jaw dropped as she saw the whole machine crumble to the ground, and spark. The containment field around the female finally gave out, but there were no more troops in the area that could be seen. She laughed quietly at both Wrex being gentlemanly, and being denied. And the ride back to the Normandy was calm, until Saren saw she was still bleeding. Everyone else was laughing at her, now, being taken care of by Saren.
"I can go see Chakwas, leave me alone." She kept smiling, smacking his hands away.
"Fine, but if you don't then I'm carrying you there and you're staying there over night." He threatened.
"You wouldn't do that!"
"You haven't eaten for a while." He sat down next to her as Wrex began talking more with Mordin, and Garrus was tuned out entirely. "You should get something now before Chakwas yells at you."
"Yeah..." She sighed, and then went to the small safe in the wall, pulling out a standard nutrition bar, nibbling at it as she leaned against him the rest of the way back. She smiled when she could feel his face buried in her hair, listening to the soft, nearly inaudible purr that he produced every time this happened. To him, she'd heard him say, her hair smelled good. She couldn't smell a thing, but she thought that must be because it's her hair, and she smells it all the time.
The shuttle landed in the cargo bay, and everyone waited the standard five minutes before the oxygen was returned to the room, and they could walk out on the ship. Emma walked with Mordin and the female to the medbay, while everyone else went to where they normally were stationed. Since the female didn't want to tell them her name, Mordin decided Eve would be an appropriate name to give her for the time being. She seemed to not care one way or the other.
Emma sat in the chair at Chakwas' desk, letting her do what she wouldn't let Saren do: put on medi-gel. She also did a quick check-up on her blood-sugar levels, and sent her off so she could help Mordin with Eve. She would have stayed to watch if she didn't feel like she had to talk to Wrex, first. Though, she wasn't surprised that he was already making his way over to make sure that Eve wasn't harmed.
"'Eve'? What kind of a name is that?"
"It's a religious reference to the first humans. The first human female was named Eve." Emma shrugged. "Mordin can explain in depth if you'd like. He was actually wanting to see you."
"Hmph. We'll talk later, Shepard." He walked off and she was left to the elevator. Or, her eyes wandered, to the lounge. She hadn't been in there much, recently. And of course when she walked in, Liara was sitting pretty on the couch, looking back.
"Shepard, good to see you." She smiled.
"It's been a while since we've just talked. Do you mind if I sit next to you?"
"Please." Emma sat beside Liara and sighed, looking out the window.
"How have you been?"
"Well. I've had plenty to keep me busy. Including making sure you were safe while I was working on Mars."
"You were watching me?" Emma asked with an amused smirk.
"Of course. I couldn't have the savior of the galaxy go missing, could I?"
"No, I don't think that would work out too well. For anyone." They both chuckled at the dark humor there, but it felt good to laugh for Emma. And they were both quiet. Liara knew everything and Emma couldn't think of one thing to say. Eventually they gave in to small talk.
"How is Saren?" Liara asked, knowing she could talk to him whenever she wanted.
"I don't know... He's okay I guess."
"Someone told me you didn't let him help you on the way back."
"Because there was no point in him doing it. It was just a few scratches." She shrugged and then flinched as Liara touched one.
"I see that. An application of medi-gel is accepted by a doctor, and not the man you're sleeping with? I don't think he'll be sitting well on that one."
"What makes you say that?"
"Do you remember when you wouldn't let Garrus help you up after you sprained your ankle? He didn't talk much for the next few days if memory serves me right."
"That's Garrus, though-"
"Saren isn't all that different from Garrus. As much as you'd like to believe that's not true, it is. I talked with both of them while you were locked up."
"Liara-"
"No, you need to hear this." She turned to face Emma more, her arm resting on the back of the couch. "Saren's going to be just as clingy as Garrus was. Yes, he shows it differently, but it's in his nature. You need to let him take care of you if you're both planning on making this long term. That includes letting him put medi-gel on scratches that you don't think need it." She paused to take a breath, "And you also need to make sure that you're taking care of him, too. He can look out for himself just as much as you can, but you never know what could happen. Look at what happened to Garrus when he turned his back - he got a missile flung in his face and he barely made it through that. That could very well happen to you, or Saren at any moment." She finally stopped, waiting for a reaction from her.
"I... I never really thought about that."
"You need to." Liara smiled. "Why don't you go talk to him, maybe have an actual meal with him, instead of just eating up in your cabin alone."
"Fine, mother." She grinned, standing up to go find out where Saren had gotten off to.
She first looked around the CIC, asking Joker if he'd seen Saren, getting a no. He wasn't in the cabin, and Emma had no clue why he'd go further than the battery.
"EDI, can you tell me which floor Saren was last seen on?"
"Saren is currently discussing something with James Vega in the cargo bay, Commander."
"Why is he there?" She quietly asked aloud as she went to the elevator.
"I am- Oh. That was a rhetorical question." EDI spoke, then leaving Emma be. Since EDI had put herself in the robot, she seemed to be learning much more about everyone's behavior, and how conversations worked. It was entertaining and exciting to see. Joker was absolutely thrilled to have a physical co-pilot for the first time she could remember since meeting him. The elevator opened to the cargo bay and she could see Saren's back sticking out from behind the wall of crates. She decided to poke around a bit, talking with Steve and keeping an eye on Saren and James. When Steve noticed the distraction, he stopped talking. But, Emma crept over finally.
"-music's always a nice touch, I've found." James finished, straightening to salute Emma. Saren turned around quickly. "Hey Commander."
"At ease James." She smiled. "What are you two talking about?"
"Just answering a couple questions about human traditions." James shrugged, looking at Saren carefully.
"What specifically?" She smiled, looking at Saren.
"Just.. things I've seen in vids." HE was very casual.
"I see..." She chuckled, nudging Saren. "Someone was just telling me I should try to have dinner with you sometime."
"Why don't you give me a few more minutes and I'll meet you in the dining hall." Saren smiled, leaning over to nuzzle her. She kissed his mandible and then forced herself to leave before James could whistle at her any more.
"Lola, you'd better have something for me next time!" He called out.
"You can kiss my ass any time you want, Vega!" She smirked, already in the elevator. The doors closed and she began to wonder what specifically Saren was asking about. Given he was telling the truth, at least. He did seem generally curious about humans but he'd never asked her directly. She waited in the dining hall for about a half hour. He walked over to her, and she had just barely kept herself awake, yawning and then smiling up at him.
"Have fun talking?" She asked. He shrugged, looking tired himself. She stood up and walked to where the food was. "Want to take something up to the cabin?"
"I'd rather sit down here and eat. No one's out here, anyway." He was quiet, walking behind her. She nodded, grabbing what she wanted off the counter, and from the refrigerator, watching him do the same. She sat beside him and watched him begin eating before she ate herself.
"Saren... I feel like something's bothering you."
"I'm just thinking."
"About what?"
"Things I was talking about."
"Want to tell me?" She asked, answered with silence. She put her hand on his arm when it rested on the table. "Saren, come on."
"What do you want me to tell you?"
"Just tell me what's on your mind. You hardly tell me what you're thinking." She sat back, and watched him as he stopped eating, staring at his food.
"I'm thinking about everything I did before..." He shook his head, "I can't stop thinking about it, because all these things that I did before are coming back in different forms. Like today, with the female krogan. That's to cure the genophage, something I already did but at the wrong time. It was a little hard for me to... to see her and to think that I had done something right, that I at least made people realize it was possible. But the way I was going about it was just..."
"I know, Saren." She spoke softly and took his hand tightly. "I didn't know it was that hard for you to see her." Emma was silently thanking Liara for the talk, suddenly feeling full and pushing the rest of her food away.
"Do you ever get the feeling that you did something too soon?"
"I haven't thought about it much. But I'm sure there are a few things that I could say that about." She nodded, turning her head as the lights dimmed for the night shift. She stayed with Saren and kept talking until they were both barely awake, dragging themselves up to lay down and sleep. Emma kept talking to Saren well after he was asleep.
"I don't want you to get hurt so long as I can help it. I probably say this to everyone, but I genuinely mean it, because I can't see myself without you now. You're going to be a part of me for the rest of my life not just because you're here now, but because of what you've taught me. You're going to be able to redeem yourself fully when this is all over. There isn't anyone who will ever speak a word against you, and if they do, I'll space them. Even if I'm dead, I'll come up out of my grave and space them, just for you." She leaned over to kiss his forehead, hugging his neck as his face was buried in her chest. She let herself fall asleep, mumbling one more thing to him.
"I love you."
