AN: And now, your regularly scheduled upload.

I actually want to punch something... I just lost a whole day's worth of work. I am now giving in and going to play Skyrim...

I will upload the last chapter and epilogue together, probably on Friday. If you want it sooner, let me know. I'm pretty susceptible to peer pressure...

Thanks to everyone who reads, with special thanks to everyone who follows/favs. Extra special thanks and a cookie to Realdeadmeat for the review. ^^

And super special thanks to 2kinds from DA for betaing for me!

Hope you guys enjoy!

Chapter Thirty Six - Little Choice

The Citadel - C-Sec Executor's Apartment

2253 - 57 Years After the End of the Reaper War

"Aha!" the Old Man exclaimed, pointing at his omni-tool. "I found it!"

His smile faded, however, as he looked up to see that Riina was now sitting with her knees up to her chest, curled up into herself. He had never been good with subharmonics, but, even to him, hers sounded strained.

"We can stop here, you know… If this is too difficult for you to hear."

She shook her head, vehemently. "No. I'm fine. I told you, I don't care."

He sighed, moving over to her, though he was hesitant. Riina was as likely to hit him as Sarah had been when she had first arrived at C-Sec. "Kid, I think I'd be more worried if this wasn't affecting you at all."

"Look, let's just get this over with." Her tone was dead and she had managed to silence her subharmonics once more. But the last thing he wanted was for her to become all business again. She was only delaying the inevitable, he knew, and he didn't want her to be more hurt by this than she had to be.

The Old Man paused, regarding her carefully before deciding to push her further. "You know, I'm curious."

"About what?"

"How much do you actually remember of Sarah?"

"Nothing. You know that already."

"She left the Normandy when you were five. That's not that young. I find it difficult to believe that you have absolutely no memory of her."

"I don't care what you believe. It's the truth."

"Yes, but when it comes to your past, you are very good at bending the truth to suit your needs."

She shrugged, not even bothering to look offended or ashamed. "What's your point?"

"My point is that I don't think you can afford to keep doing that. At some point in the next little while, the actual truth and your truth are going to collide. Just how devastating that will be will all come down to you."

"I can handle it," she told him, firmly.

He simply responded by sending her the video that he had finally found.

"I'm not going to watch it," she told him simply, but he could see her defences cracking, just a little, once more.

"Riina, just watch the damn video."

"Why? Will it give me the coordinates of Sarah's hideout?"

"No… But I still think it's important."

She sighed, folding her arms as she glared at him. "You're not going to finish the story until I watch it, are you?"

He smiled a little. "Well, now that you mention it…"

She groaned at that but pulled up the video.

"Are you recording me again?" Tiberius asked the cameraman, folding his arms.

"I thought you agreed with me on the home video thing. Trust me, this shit is very important when you need to embarrass your kids in the future."

Tiberius frowned. "Is this a human thing? Wanting to embarrass your children?"

"Pretty much."

"Well, I'd rather not take part."

"You're no fun… Anyway, I figured you'd be like that. So, I had another idea. Why don't you record a message?"

"Why?"

"You know, so you can show it to your kid when they're all grown up."

"What would I even say?"

"Hell if I know. Come on, if you could only say one thing to your kid, what would it be?"

"Just one thing, huh?" Tiberius asked, before taking a moment to think carefully. "I guess I would say-"

"To the camera!" the cameraman insisted. "And say it like you're saying it to them."

Tiberius sighed. "Alright then," he agreed before focusing on the camera itself, still seeming sheepish. "Hey there… Little One. Sorry, we haven't really thought about names yet. I guess we should really get on that. I just… I just wanted to say that your mum and I can't wait to meet you and… And, I guess, if I could only ever tell you one thing, it would be that you are loved. So very, very much. And I hope that you never have any reason to doubt that."

Riina was more than glad that the video stopped at that point as a single tear escaped her carefully constructed walls.

"Why are you doing this?" she eventually managed. "Why do you insist on torturing me like this?"

"Because you need to face the truth, Riina," the Old Man told her. "I don't think you realise just how deep you're in right now."

"I am fully aware-"

"No, I don't think you are. Do you honestly think that they don't know the truth about you? That this was just some random assignment?"

She shook her head. "If that were the case, Pol would have-"

"Oh, I have no doubt that, if he knew, he would have done everything in his power to warn you away from the Citadel before you even got here. But I also have no doubt that the rest of Council are more than aware of how… close you two are."

"What is your point?"

"My point, Riina, is that this is a win-win for the Council. Either you fail to follow through and they have a reason to terminate you - especially since, from the outside, this request is not as reprehensible as we know it to be - or you do follow through. And that's far worse."

"I was under the impression that you agreeing to give me the information I wanted meant that you weren't going to lecture me on the ethics of killing her."

The Old Man shook his head, realising that she didn't see it. "Riina, imagine this from the Council's point of view. The only two people you have ever been truly close with are Shepard and your sister. If you kill Sarah, the Council would assume that the two of them would cut off contact with you out of anger at your actions. And who would be left to you but the Council? How long before you would do anything they ask? You would become the perfect tool to use against Shepard."

Riina shook her head as she finally realised just what the Council were planning in the long term. "I would never harm Shepard."

"But you would kill her daughter?"

"I… I have to see this through. Like you said, I'm in too deep already. Just… Just finish the damn story. It's not as if there's much left to go…"

"No. I guess there's not…"

The Normandy

2225 - 29 Years After the End of the Reaper War

Sarah couldn't quite remember the exact number of scans she had had in the last month, though her money was on 'a lot'.

"You're almost done," Tiberius assured her, sensing her impatience.

"I know, I know… I just… What if something's wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong, Blue. Your system has been coping well."

"Yeah, but… what if they've been exposed to too much eezo? My entire system is littered with the stuff."

"All that means is that they'll be a biotic."

"If they can tolerate the eezo."

Her bondmate sighed at that, his subharmonics trilling with reassurance. "Need I remind you that both you and your mother are biotics? Everything will be fine."

"You should listen to your bondmate," Chakwas told her as she finished the scan. "Your little, second heartbeat is doing fine."

Sarah breathed a sigh of relief as she sat up. "I knew that. I just…"

"Are prone to worry?" her bondmate prompted.

Chakwas interjected at that. "She'll be a biotic. She has the genes for it. They both do."

Sarah froze at that. "Both?!"

Chakwas nodded. "Yes. It seems I missed it on my other scans. You're carrying twins."

"I… Okay… Any more surprises for me, Doc?"

Chakwas shook her head. "No. No more surprises. Just two, so far healthy, twin girls."

"Anything else we need to know for now?"

"Are you following the instructions Alice and I gave you?"

Sarah rolled her eyes as she nodded. "Red is making sure of it…"

"Then I have nothing more to say."

"Okay. Well, thanks," Sarah said before heading out of the medbay with Tiberius in tow.

As soon as they made it back to their quarters, Sarah lay down on their bed, looking up at the ceiling, with one hand resting over her abdomen as the other ran through her hair.

Tiberius lay down next to her as he tried to figure out how to approach the topic that he knew they needed to discuss. "So… remember how we talked about possibly stepping back from the fight?"

"Yeah. Do you think it's time?"

"I think that you worry enough about this child - children, even - without being onboard a warship."

"It's not as if I'm going on missions," she reasoned.

He nodded. "I know. I just… If you want to stay here, if being around your family makes you more comfortable, then I am more than happy to do that. I'd just rather know exactly what we're doing."

"I… It's not so much being around my family. Sure, that's nice, but I would rest easier knowing that we were well and truly out of the fray. Just… that last transmission from Uncle Feron. We're on our way to pick him up now and I'd rather hear exactly what he's found before we make this decision."

"Okay then. We'll wait."

Sarah sighed in agreement before laughing softly. "Red… we're having twins."

"I know."

"I'd sort of narrowed it down to one name, if it was a girl."

"Maybe we should revisit 'Purple'."

Sarah laughed a little at that. "I keep telling you, that's not a real name."

"So, what did you narrow it down to?"

She turned onto her side so that she was facing him. "Karina. After your mother. What do you think?"

"I…" He paused, almost long enough to make Sarah worry, before speaking again. "I think that my mother had a funny spelling of her name. If we do name one of our daughters after her, we should spell it properly."

"Okay then. Well, at least we've got plenty of time to think of another first name. And figure out which last name to go with. And sort out our colony marks…"

"All of the fun things, then."

Sarah grinned at that. "Exactly."

Sarah made her way to the CIC, only to find the atmosphere tense when she arrived.

"What's wrong?" she asked her mother as she approached.

"Feron's not at the rendezvous point and we can't get him on the comm," Shepard explained.

"There are still several places to check before we start to worry," Liara figured, interrupting them, through she seemed a little frantic. "There is an old Shadow Broker base on the far side of the third moon. I chose to abandon it after the Reaper War, since I no longer had the resources to maintain it. Feron knows it; chances are, he is there."

"Then let's go and check," Shepard figured, hopping down from where she had been standing at the galaxy map.

"I'll come with," Sarah spoke up.

"Forgetting something?" her mother prompted.

"No. We're unlikely to run into trouble, I'll wear heavy armour, and my biotics are stable."

Her mother nodded. "Just checking. Though, as you said, there's little chance of us running into trouble. There's really no reason for you to come along."

"This is my fight."

"No, this is a recon mission gone awry. Not everything even vaguely related to Cerberus is your responsibility, Sarah."

The hybrid nodded as her mother echoed the very things she had been thinking lately. "Alright… I'll just help out in the medbay…"

"Stupid thing! Why won't it work!"

Shepard moved awkwardly towards Liara as her friend battered her omnitool. "Here, let me see…"

Liara gave a frustrated sigh before shutting her omnitool down and shaking her head. "No, it's okay. I… I'll just restart it…"

"We'll find him," Shepard assured her.

"I know," Liara replied. "I just… it has been a long time since Feron has been on a mission like this on his own. I guess I have just been waiting for bad news to come through for a while now."

"No news isn't necessarily bad news."

"But it is also not good news…"

"No. I guess it's not."

Tia spoke up at that. "I should have been the one to go on that mission."

Liara shook her head. "Tia, we could not afford a delay. We had to act quickly and you were not available."

"But I was. I should have gone. Philip was fine. He didn't need me to stick around."

Liara raised an eyebrow, realising that there was something more behind Tia's words. Focusing on the other asari's problems helped her to forget her own. "Did the two of you have a fight?"

Tia sighed. "I… He was angry that I kept the truth about the attack from him. He thinks that I don't trust him."

"Surely he sees that you were only trying to protect him?"

She shook her head. "Nope. He… Things between us have been… strained, lately. This certainly hasn't helped… Anyway, you shouldn't have to listen to me ramble on like this…"

"It is fine. I need the distraction," Liara told her, just as the shuttle began its descent.

"Sensors are picking up lifesigns," Shepard told them as she examined the incoming data on the cockpit display.

"Lifesigns? Plural?" Liara asked.

Shepard nodded. "They look like Cerberus scouts."

"Oh no… Feron…"

"All this means is that we're on he right track," Shepard told her as the shuttle landed and they prepared to head out. "We should take out the Cerberus scouts before we head to the base. The last thing we need is to give them time to alert anyone."

Liara shook her head. "Jane, Feron might not have the time."

Shepard took a moment to consider that before nodding. "Alright. Tia and I will take care of Cerberus. You get to Feron."

"Agreed."

They parted ways as soon as they left the shuttle, with Shepard remotely using the shuttle's sensors to keep track of the Cerberus scouts. Thankfully, they didn't seem to have found the base yet.

"Do you really think we'll find him here?" Tia asked once Liara was out of earshot.

Shepard shrugged. "I think Cerberus being here is a good sign. I don't see how else they would know of this base. Or want it. As Liara said, it has been abandoned for years now."

Their conversation paused as they snuck up on one of the Cerberus scouts, taking them out quietly and efficiently.

"Hybrids," Shepard observed as her sword slid back out of the armour covered in purple blood. "Looks as if Cerberus is relying on them more heavily."

"So, either they've increased the lifespan to allow for further training, or they're becoming desperate."

"It may be both…" Shepard figured as they made their way over to the next scout. "Tia… you're not blaming yourself for what's happened, are you?"

"Shouldn't I? That was my mission, Shepard. I should have been the one to go, not Feron."

"You can't think like that, Tia."

"You make it sound as if it's so easy to stop."

"Well, maybe not, but Feron was just as good a candidate for this mission. Arguably more so. If we had sent you, you might not have even made it this far."

Tia took a moment to realise that Shepard was simply giving a frank assessment, and meant no offence with her words. "I guess you're right…"

They halted their conversation once more as they approached another scout.

"One more to go," Shepard said before checking her omnitool. "Or… not. Their life sign has disappeared."

"We'd better get to Liara."

"Agreed."

They ran towards the base, only to find Liara halfway back to the shuttle, carrying a half dead Feron in her arms.

"He's barely breathing," Liara told them, her tone a little frantic.

Shepard moved to help her with Feron so that they could move more quickly. "Do you know what happened to the last scout."

"I took care of it. Now let's hurry."

"You're hovering," Sarah told her bondmate as she turned to face him, abandoning her attempt to reorganise her space in the medbay.

"No, I'm not," he countered.

"Yes, you are. You're hanging around and you feel… anxious. What is it, ani?"

He shrugged before sighing, clearly struggling to figure out how to put something into words. "Well, I was performing the usual maintenance on my armour and EDI might have mentioned that you… Well, that you had almost accompanied the others to retrieve Feron."

Sarah nodded. "Yeah. It's a minimal risk mission and I wanted to stretch my legs. Why?"

"What happened to stepping back from the fight?"

"Well, I figured, since the risk was so small, that it wouldn't be an issue."

It was obvious that he wasn't happy with that reasoning. "Blue, I thought that we were on the same page here. You keep on saying that you want to back away from the fight, but then you jump back in at the first opportunity. Which is fine, normally. But not now."

Sarah sighed, knowing that he was right, but also knowing that he was failing to understand. "Red, when I commit to something, I commit. It's very difficult for me right now to live with one foot in each life. If I am on the Normandy, then I am here to fight Cerberus."

"Then let's leave. We've got a house and a life waiting for us elsewhere."

Sarah nodded, sighing once more. "And we will. But… Uncle Feron was close, Red. This could be the end."

"I know, Blue," her bondmate replied as he stepped close to her, placing a comforting hand on her folded arm, "but I fear that we've been this close to the end before. What happens if this doesn't pan out and the fight keeps on going?"

"Then we leave. Just as we planned."

"Promise? Because, Blue… I just want to get through this with the three of you intact."

"I want that too."

"And even after they're born? We'll stay out of the fight?"

Sarah faltered a little at that. "Red… I can't promise that. Obviously that's what I want but circumstances can change and I-"

"No, Blue," he cut her off, shaking his head. "I can't… I don't want our children to grow up as I did. Or, Spirits forbid, as orphans. We agreed, not long after we first met, that life as a Spectre was too dangerous. While the two of us may not technically be 'Spectres', we're damn close."

"Red, that was over ten years ago…"

"Have you changed your mind."

"No," her tone was firm and resolute. She very much still believed that life as a Spectre was too damn dangerous. "I just… circumstance may leave us little choice."

"There is always a choice, Blue."

"Maybe. But will they be choices we can live with? Regardless, this is all speculation on a future that may not even come to pass. We may settle things in the next few days and be home free."

"Or maybe we're pinning our hopes on something that's too good to be true."

They were interrupted by EDI over the comm. "Shepard's team is requesting that the medbay be prepped. They have retrieved Feron but his condition is critical."

"I guess we're about to find out," Sarah said.

Her bondmate nodded. "I'll get out of your way."

Sarah just nodded as he left, moving to help Chakwas and Alice. She knew that the three of them were overkill, and general medicine wasn't even her area of expertise, but she wanted to see first hand what had happened. And, hopefully, get her answers.

It wasn't long before her mother and Liara entered the medbay, carrying the injured drell.

"Will he be alright?" Liara asked, almost immediately, prompting Shepard to place a comforting hand on her shoulder.

Chakwas ignored her for a few moments before answering, taking the time to examine Feron. "It will take time, but he will recover."

Shepard moved away as Liara settled herself by Feron's side, indicating to Sarah to follow her out of the room.

"We retrieved the data your uncle collected," she said, as soon as the medbay doors shut behind them, showing Sarah the datadisk in her hand.

"What does it say?" Sarah asked as they headed into the lift, pressing the button for the CIC.

"It has navigation information along with orders. It seemed to suggest that whoever is giving these orders is styling themselves as 'The Illusive Man' and they're located beyond the Omega-4 relay."

Sarah frowned. "Wait, the Omega-4… How is that even possible? The tech that safely guided ships through shut down when the crucible went off. Any attempt to travel through now would be suicide."

"That's what we always assumed. But… The Illusive Man had the area scoured for the remains of the Collector Base after I blew it up. It's not too surprising that he figured out another way to go through safely," her mother explained as they arrived at the CIC.

"So, how are we going to get through?"

"The information on this chip includes instructions for safe passage. EDI and I can have it set up and ready before we get there."

"We're heading there now?"

Her mother nodded. "There's no reason to delay and, well, we had… company, when we went to pick up Feron. I think we took care of it but we have no idea who actually knows that he has the information. Better to act on it now, while we still might have the element of surprise on our side."

"Agreed. But… Mum, it can't really be The Illusive Man, can it?"

Shepard shook her head. "No. After what Cerberus managed with bringing me back… Let's just say, I didn't give them the same chance with their boss."

"So, what? You removed his head and doused him in holy water?"

Her mother laughed a little at the joke. "Something like that. Anyway, it doesn't really matter who it is. In some ways, the more important factor is that their followers believe they're the Illusive Man."

"Do you think it will work this time? Killing him at the end of the Reaper war didn't exactly stop Cerberus…"

"I don't know. If nothing else, it'll buy time. I mean, this time the majority of their forces are brainwashed slaves. I doubt they'll be well equipped to pick up the pieces. Plus, it seems as if this new boss, whoever it is, took over right away. They never really had the chance to fall apart."

"Then let's hope this one stays dead."

Shepard nodded as she moved up to the galaxy map, her gaze becoming distant as she moved her hand up to toy with her holo-locket.

"Something wrong?" Sarah asked after a few moments.

Her mother shook her head a little as she pulled herself from her thoughts. "No. Just thinking… The first time we went through the relay… That was when I first told your father that I loved him. Have I ever told you that before?"

Sarah shook her head. "No. You haven't." Her parents had always avoided the stories where they couldn't completely cut out the bad.

Her mother laughed softly at the memory. "He had been calling me 'ani' for months by that point. Ever since I had picked him up on Omega. But he'd never told me what it meant. Not until that night." She paused for a few moments before speaking again. "I never thought I'd have to plot this course a second time."

"The last time," Sarah told her, her tone resolute.

"I hope so, Sarah. I really hope so…"