Chapter 36 – What Doesn't Kill You, Makes You Stronger
The medbay was a mass of bodies and beds, all crammed into one space. Chakwas had called in all crew with a modicum of medical training, as well as her personal staff, and extra beds had been placed wherever there was space. While those with basic training attended to the lesser injuries of the others, Chakwas and her team were concentrating on Cortez and Gardew. Despite the number of people, there was only the occasional voice from Chakwas and her staff as they conferred. The ground team were markedly quiet as they contemplated the past hours. They were all lucky to be alive.
Laid restlessly on a bed, his head a mere ache now that the meds were in his system, Kaidan was getting antsy to leave. Garrus' entry a short while ago, with Coats but not Terra, hadn't made him happy. "Doc, I'm fine now. I need to go check on Shepard. She has a head injury," he reminded her.
Garrus shifted uncomfortably on the bed beside Kaidan's. "Sorry," he said, not for the first time. "She was being stubborn."
"She's not the only one," chimed in Chakwas from where she stood across from him, not taking her eyes off the work she was doing to seal the wound in Cortez's leg. "Move from that bed at your peril, General," she warned. "You know full well that the migraine isn't the only thing you're suffering from. Don't worry about Shepard." She straightened and nodded at her assistant, pulling the bloody gloves from her hands. "I'm now on my way to give her a very stern lecture, and a personal escort."
"No need, Karin."
They all turned to Shepard, who was standing in the entrance, though not without a slight sway.
"Glad to see you've come to your senses." Chakwas indicated to the bed someone was erecting for her at the far end of the room. "Go lay down and I'll assess your injuries. From what your husband was saying, you've got an impressive concussion."
Kaidan felt the shame rush over him again, knowing he was the cause. Then he frowned as Terra went to his bedside instead of following instructions.
"What damage did I do?" Terra directed at Chakwas, though she was looking at Kaidan.
"Nothing too serious," Chakwas stated, deliberately, moving over to scan her where she stood. "Four broken ribs on his left side, some nasty bruising, and a large dose of guilt that I imagine rivals yours from the look on your face."
"Guilt? What do you have to feel guilty for? Kaidan, I'm so sorry." She looked around the room at her squad. "To all of you."
"Terra, please," Kaidan begged. "That wasn't you. I was there. I can attest to that. You were nowhere to be seen."
"Just made it a whole lot harder to defend ourselves, if you know what I mean," confided James, lightly. "None of us were about to fire on you, Lola." He glanced at Javik, who said nothing.
Shepard's eyes gathered a pool of tears that overfilled and rolled down her face. "Kaidan, why do you feel guilty?"
Kaidan lifted his hand back to her face, wiped the tears from her good cheek, and then did the same on her left, trying to be gentle. She winced nonetheless. "I hit you."
Garrus wasn't about to leave it there. "It was the only way to put you- them down before they caused you more harm. Even pinned down, the Leviathans were forcing your body to push past the physical pain to free yourself."
"You have several fractures to both arms as a result," confirmed Chakwas. "As well as severe ligament tearing. You're going to have to rest them for a while. I would say no battles, but I suspect that isn't an option, so I'll give the healing process a helping hand with some injection therapy to the ligaments, and some medigel and heavy-bandaging for the bones. It won't be without increased pain, though."
Terra simply nodded. Pain didn't scare her, Kaidan knew, and her gaze remained on his. She went to touch him and gasped in a pained breath as her injuries demanded her recognition, causing Chakwas to tut at her. Undeterred, Terra leaned over him, and Kaidan welcomed the kiss.
"Thank you," she whispered.
Kaidan sharply inhaled in surprise, staring back at her beautiful but damaged face. "Thank you?" he murmured in question. "I struck you!"
She rested her forehead against his, and Kaidan hugged her to him, ignoring the pain that flared in his chest, incredibly grateful she was whole.
"You stopped the Leviathans from using me against you. I wouldn't care if you'd used your gun to do it," she added. "I can't imagine how it made you feel."
"You're back and that's all that matters," Kaidan imparted.
"Shepard." Chakwas' hand at Terra's waist encouraged her to step away to be seen to, and Kaidan let her go.
With Terra in his sights, he could rest easier. But with that came the weight of a mission failed. Looking around at his comrades, Kaidan could see it was a feeling they all shared.
oOo
oOo
With various places on his body itching madly from the medigel that had been slathered over his burns, James quickly entered the elevator and immediately began scratching, rubbing his back against the wall of the elevator to get to where he couldn't reach as he pressed the button for Engineering. A hand prevented the doors from closing, and James rolled his eyes as Javik entered, realising he'd just been caught doing a good impression of a bear crossed with a monkey. He could practically read the word flashing through the prothean's disapproving brain: primitive. Good job of dispelling that notion, Vega, James sighed inwardly. Not that he cared one iota what the asshole thought of him.
As expected, Javik gave him a distasteful look, then ignored him.
They rode down in silence, which was fine with James. There was only one person who bothered him right now. Jack. She hadn't reported in to medbay, and he'd convinced Shepard, and Chakwas, to let him go talk to her.
When the doors opened, he and Javik stepped forward to exit at the same time and there was an awkward moment where they knocked into each other. James made a gesture for Javik to go first, immune to the scowl. Following him out with a shake of his head, James nearly walked into Javik's back as the prothean stopped-dead in the corridor.
"She is frightened."
The comment was so quiet, James wasn't sure if it was his imagination, until Javik glanced back at him.
"Of being where Alenko was," Javik clarified.
The contact just now… Javik had been able to catch his thoughts, and James guessed that Javik had 'read' Jack when she'd shoved past him in that tunnel. Frightened, he'd said…. James nodded. He knew that. She'd worked hard to make herself invulnerable. It had taken all Jack had to open herself up to him, because to do so was to risk an unimaginable hurt. Seeing Kaidan facing it, being witness to 'losing' Shepard herself, Jack was doing what Jack did when she felt threatened in a way she couldn't defend herself from: she closed up and pushed them all away. The problem was, he had no idea if he could get through to her again.
He realised Javik was walking off. "Hey. Thanks, man," James said, sincerely. He may not like the prothean but it didn't mean he had to equal him in the asshole stakes.
"De nada," answered Javik, without looking back, surprising James in the process.
When the doors sealed on Javik's space at the end of the corridor, James was still staring. "Okay…. That was weird."
"So is talking to yourself," Grunt said, exiting the elevator which had been to crew deck and back in the interim.
"Hey, Big G. Chilling out?"
"Don't like it cold," rumbled Grunt. "Gonna go throw some daggers. At least I'll be able to finally take down a target."
"Yeah… I'm feeling that," agreed James. There was a uniquely bitter taste to walking away from an unfinished mission. Or to be precise, fleeing with their proverbial tails between their legs.
Scratching his head as the krogan went the other way, James prepared himself for another battle. He hoped like hell he didn't fail at this one too.
oOo
The medbay was a serener environment now. Only Chakwas was left in attendance. Shepard looked around at those who'd been unable to leave as yet.
Cortez was still out, attached to tubes that were replenishing his body with blood and other important things. Chakwas was gradually re-building the lost muscle, bone and ligaments at his shoulder, and it was uncomfortable for Shepard to think of him being attacked with no one to help him. She was so used to him always being there to pull them out of every dodgy situation they got themselves into, yet he nearly hadn't made it this time.
Wrex was huffily occupying another bed. Chakwas had retrieved him from the lounge herself, armed with a huge needle with which to threaten him with if he didn't comply. It hadn't taken more than a few seconds for the mighty krogan leader to enter the medbay, grumbling the whole way. Chakwas was aiming to replace the heart he'd lost, reconstructed from his own cells, just as soon as she'd finished with the machine that was currently re-creating Cortez's lost tissue. The thought of Wrex walking around with a hole from back to chest was disconcerting, so Shepard was all for Chakwas keeping him detained, even if he was healing at a phenomenal rate. A heart… Shepard could only shake her head at Wrex's nonchalance. Thank the stars krogan had two.
A little way from her, Gardew was also unconscious, Cael sitting by his side, studying his omnitool. The salarian was in a similar state to Cortez, with tubes replacing vital fluids, but also others that were flushing out the acid that had penetrated deep. He was in a bad way, and Chakwas was monitoring him every few minutes.
Like Knox in the bed beside her, Kaidan had nodded off, his chest re-bandaged. With the time to re-assess everything, Shepard's guilt was joined with anger. How dare the Leviathans use her to hurt him? To hurt all of those important to her. She'd hesitated, unable to pull the trigger on a friend, and it had nearly condemned the others. But it was Matt…. She could see him out in the Mess, sitting at the table with a mug between his hands and a troubled look. Wrex had told him what he'd done to his men out on the battlefield. The guilt she was experiencing over attacking her own people would be nothing compared to what he would be feeling over the men and women who'd lost their lives at the end of his gun. Shepard still clearly remembered the moment her gun had fired at Anderson... At least Matt wouldn't have the memory of it. She'd need to speak with him. To tell him he wasn't alone.
With her arms above and below her joints now bandaged, and her body's natural healing process well and truly spurred on by the inflammation injection therapy used on her ligaments, Shepard was rather glad to be on the painkillers that dulled everything to an ache.
Chakwas closed the scan she'd been doing of Shepard's brain. "Apart from the concussion, everything seems fine. Vision?"
"A little fuzzy, but there's only one of everything now."
"Improvement's a positive sign. I would like you to stay put so I can monitor you, though. Just to be safe."
"Not that I'm complaining, but why didn't the Leviathans' intrusion affect me the same as last time? There wasn't even a nose-bleed."
"Truthfully, I have no idea. It's the brain. An amazing thing, to be sure. Four years is a long time for it to heal. Maybe it's simply adapted. All I can say for certain is that there appears to be absolutely no issues this time, and that makes me very happy."
"Amen," agreed Shepard. She turned her attention over to Steve. "How's Cortez doing?"
"The lieutenant's responding well. There's a lot more reconstructive surgery to do on that shoulder, and he's not going to be flying anytime soon because of it, but other than that, there's nothing to worry about."
"And Gardew?"
"There's a lot of trauma," frowned Chakwas. "The acid to his already open wound, did extensive damage. I've done what I can, but only time will tell now."
The salarian duo weren't even part of her team, yet they'd fought their way to help, nevertheless. This was what they'd gotten for it. She thought Cael looked a little lost. The two of them seemed inseparable.
Looking at the salarians made her think of Bau, and she gasped. "Edi. Where's Bau?"
"Spectre Bau is currently asleep on a crate within the shuttle bay. He has been there since his arrival."
"Looks like there's another patient to see to," said Chakwas. "I'll head down to check on him, and as I assume James is having no luck with Jack, I'll visit her on the way back."
In the bed beside Shepard, Knox then woke. His nose had been braced, and he had some nasty bruising under his eyes. His leg had been dealt with. He could have gone earlier, but he'd dozed off as soon as his nose had been seen to, so Chakwas had let him sleep.
"Ah, Corporal Knox," smiled Chakwas, giving him a quick scan like it was her first instinct. "Welcome back. When you're feeling up to it, you can go." With that, she exited medbay.
Knox ran his hands over his face – something he wished he hadn't done judging by the hiss.
"I'm sorry, Knox," Shepard felt the need to say.
Sitting himself up, Knox swung his legs over the edge of the bed. Then he just stared at his feet.
Shepard supposed getting punched and shot by your commanding officer wasn't going to help towards developing a co-operative relationship. He wasn't exactly impressed with her in the first place.
"What was it like? Being…controlled?"
Blinking at the question that Knox had mumbled out to the floor, Shepard had a sense that the answer was important to him. "I wasn't aware of anything. It was like being knocked unconscious, and when you wake up, time's missing."
"Was that how it was when the Reapers controlled you?"
This was about his past, she realised. "It wasn't the Reapers exactly. Cerberus used Reaper-tech to re-create the effects. And no. No it wasn't the same. I was very aware. Perhaps in that way the Reapers weren't quite as effective as their creators. Awareness means you could fight it. I was freed when we got through to Cerberus' Illusive Man, and he took his own life. So too did Saren before him. But they were strong-minded individuals. With the Leviathans…there's no chance to fight. It's absolute." Voicing that fact had Shepard wrapping her aching arms around herself. The Leviathans had gotten past the fields…. How the hell did they fight them now? Was she out of the fight?
"My parents gave themselves up to the Reapers," murmured Knox, eyes still down. "They believed that crap the Reapers were spouting about salvation if they surrendered. I argued it, but…they were so scared. My older brother said he'd go check it out and come back, so he and his wife went with my parents to a 'camp'. After they'd been gone for nearly two weeks, I thought that was it; that I wouldn't see them again. Me and my girlfriend… Mara… stayed in the old bunker we'd found to shelter in. Every so often I'd have to risk going out to search for food. She panicked every time I had to leave. But I had no choice. It was that or starve."
He was silent for a long time as he remembered, but Shepard remained silent, waiting.
"The last time…. The last time, I found my brother wandering the streets. He was disorientated and there was blood all over him. I figured something had happened to them; that they'd been attacked on the way. I got him back to the shelter and then he started rambling all this bullshit about giving ourselves up for harvest." Knox grimaced. "He was indoctrinated. And I'd let him in." His mouth trembled. "When I refused to go he…he attacked me, and…I couldn't…." His hands fisted. "I didn't want to hurt him back. So I…I took the hits. Mara was screaming…." Unclenching his right hand, Knox then lifted it, staring back at his open palm. "I had a piece of railing I'd picked up at some point, right there in my hand, but I just couldn't use it on him." The hand fisted again, dropping back down. "Shit, I didn't know how to fight. Nor defend myself. Not effectively. I left myself open and he got a solid punch. I blacked out. He- it must have thought I was dead or something." He glanced up, questioningly. "Could he have even thought like that?"
Knox's gaze fell back to his feet. It wasn't a question he expected an answer to.
"When I woke… my brother was gone, and…" His face crumpled in pain and grief. "Mara was dead…." he uttered, hoarsely. "She was six months pregnant. We'd already found out it was a girl. We were going to call her Maisie. She'd have been a little older than your daughter by now." He shook his head slowly with regret. "Two days later the war was over. We'd nearly made it. Just two days..." He took a deep breath then, blinking back tears and bringing himself back to the present. "Whoa," he swallowed, forcing out a laugh. "That's the first time I've ever spoken about it."
Shepard's heart ached for him. "Nothing could have prepared you for that. You did what you could."
He looked at her then. "So did you. I guess my point was that…I get why you couldn't pull the trigger on your friend. So… what came after…none of that," he gestured to his own face, "this…is not your fault."
Somehow, the fact that he was saying it, after everything he'd been through, made it impact deeper. "Thank you, Knox."
With a single nod, he slid off the bed to his feet, then hesitated. "Thank you, Shepard. Ever since that day I've hated myself. As far as I was concerned Mara and…Maisie…died because I was too weak to do what had to be done. But seeing someone as strong as you go through the same thing... Now I know that I just loved him too much. There's no shame or weakness in feeling that. Now I can…well," he shrugged, and left it there, because she knew the rest.
Watching Knox walk out, Shepard wasn't the only one now able to let go of the guilt.
oOo
James had only gone as far as the stairs. Taking that extra step felt like intruding until he was invited. He couldn't see Jack from here – he imagined her hugging her knees to her chest - and every time he'd called her name, all he'd gotten was 'go away'. So he'd decided to wait her out, and had sat, feet firmly planted on that bottom stair, and elbows resting on his knees.
It was now fifteen minutes later, and he could finally hear her moving. She peered around the corner.
"Fuck! Can't believe you're still there," she spat, disappearing back into her red haven.
"You know I'm not going anywhere until you talk to me, Bella," he stated, casually. That was met with a stream of cursing. Then he heard her boots stomping angrily on the metal grating as she stormed over to stand deliberately too close to him. With her crotch within an inch of his nose, James knew precisely what she was doing.
"This is what you're here for, isn't it?" challenged Jack, fiercely. "Well, come on, jarhead. Take it."
Ever so slowly, James stood, his eyes on hers. He was already taller than her and being on the lowest step elevated him higher. Not ideal, but he wouldn't encroach and he figured she'd soon correct that imbalance out of sheer determination that she be the one looming. "No," he said softly.
Jack blinked, then sneered as she banged her feet up three steps so she wasn't so small. James found no victory in the fact she'd proved him right. It only meant that he understood her. But did he know enough to keep her from bolting and never coming back? His gut wrenched at the thought.
"What the fuck do you want?"
"You."
"I just offered-"
"No. Not that mask. The real you, Bella."
Her face twisted as she tried to deny the feelings his words evoked. "Don't call me that! Fuck!" Jack grimaced, her hands reaching up to dig into her hair. "I can't do this."
"Do what?"
"This. Us. I can't- I…. I just can't."
She went to push past him, to retreat to her safe place, but James stopped her with a gentle hand on her wrist – just the barest of pressure and she'd stayed, and it told him there was a chance. "I won't force you into anything you're not comfortable with. I just want you to know that I'm here for you, regardless." He caressed his thumb across the thin skin of her wrist before letting go, then started back up the stairs.
"What were you going to tell me?" Jack called out, making him pause. "In that tunnel, you said…." She trailed off.
James turned just enough to look down at her without moving his feet. "Before anything happened between us, it was important for me to tell you something."
He saw the flash of fear that she quickly covered with an indifferent shrug. "So what was it?"
Fully facing her, making sure he held her gaze, James took a breath. "That I love you."
Her mouth falling open, Jack stumbled down the last steps and away from him as she stared back. "You can't."
"I do."
"No." She was shaking her head, resolutely. "Why would you?"
"Why wouldn't I?"
"Because I'm- I'm me."
"I like you. I've fallen for you. It's not so unbelievable. Shepard loves you. Nugget loves you. Eezo, too, in his varren-y way," he added, making Jack chuff involuntarily. "We've been through this, Bella. Nothing's changed since then."
Suddenly her face sank into her hands. "Why are you doing this?" She looked up at him angrily. "Didn't you see what happened down there? Seeing Shepard turn on us…. Fuck!" She started pacing with agitation. "And Kaidan's face…. I can't deal with that shit!" She stopped, her finger pointing, her face and voice, fierce. "I let you in and I'm done. Because you'll leave."
Concerned as her voice broke on the last word, James closed the space between them. She nearly went to retreat further, but then her face hardened and she stood defiantly in place, daring him to touch her. He took the dare, knowing she wouldn't hurt him. His hands went either side of her face, thumbs stroking her temples as he pressed his lips to her forehead. "It's just how I feel, Bella. It's not something I had a say in. And I don't want to live my life holding back because of what might happen. But it's okay if you don't feel the same way about me," he continued. "Or if you don't feel ready to take that final step. No expectations, remember? Just an offer of love with the promise that I'll never stop, and I'll never leave you of my own free will." He gave her one last kiss to her hair-line, then went to depart - to give her time and space to think it through.
"Wait."
Jack's hand had grasped his shirt in a tight fist, and James could see the trails of her tears running down her cheeks.
"Don't go," she rasped.
Then she yanked him to her as she stepped forward, her face against his chest, tears soaking his front. James held her to him like he might lose her if he didn't hold on tight, relief, weariness, love and happiness making him giddy.
"Break that promise and I'll smear the wall with you, Lug-nut," she mumbled.
James just laughed. "Understood, Ma'am."
Then she was up on her toes, pulling his head down to hers, desire in her watery eyes. "Now I'm ready to celebrate. And you'd better be up for that, 'cos I don't want to do it alone, Stud…"
His face wasn't the only place the heat rushed….
oOo
Heading up from the shuttle bay, satisfied that Bau was recuperating well enough for her not to disturb his deep slumber despite the fact he hadn't looked very comfortable slouched on the crate, Chakwas stopped at Engineering deck.
Except the doors to the elevator didn't open.
"You are going to see Jack," stated Edi.
Chakwas looked up with a frown. "Yes, Edi. Is there a problem?"
"I would advise you wait. Jack is currently…engaged."
"I'm sure she's always busy doing something, but I have medical duties to perform."
"She is engaged with Commander Vega," clarified Edi. "I would assess that, given her present… voracious activity, Jack is functioning well."
There was a short silence from Chakwas. "Oh. ... I see. Thank you, Edi. I'll return later." By the time Karin was moving up towards her medbay, the grin was firmly in place.
oOo
oOo
Tucked away in a quiet little spot, set amongst beautiful foliage on one side and the Presidium lake on the other, Rorie was chuckling away as her grandfather tickled her, Lena rescuing the coffee cup as the café table shook.
"Enough, you two. I came here to enjoy the serenity, not to break it," smiled Lena.
When Alex righted her, Rorie sighed happily, reaching up to trace the diagonal scar that cut a path across her grandpa's forehead. "Did it hurt lots, ganpa?"
"Don't remember it, honey. I didn't even remember who I was at the time."
"You forgot who you are!? Wouldn't ganma tell you?" frowned Rorie, making Alex laugh.
"Grandpa was lost, darling," Lena said, "and because your grandpa couldn't remember anything about who he was or who his family were, we couldn't find each other."
"Oh no! Lost is bad!" She wrapped her arms around her grandpa's neck, her face fixed with consternation. "Were you scared, ganpa?"
"It was a little scary," he nodded.
Then she peered at him. "You didn't 'member anybody?"
"No. Not your grandma, or your daddy."
"Mommy?"
"I didn't know her then."
She gasped. "Did you forget me, ganpa?"
With a chuckle, he smoothed away the shallow worry-lines. "You weren't born when it happened. Your mommy was still growing you."
"Like a seed," she smiled. "I was a tiny seed. And now I'm big!" She flung her arms out wide, in a complete misrepresentation of her size. Then she frowned again. "Why did hurting your head make you forget? I bump my head lots and I 'member everything."
"Well, I hit my head very hard. All my memories were still there, but and it was like they got locked away behind a thick door, and I didn't know how to open it."
"You needed a key?"
"Huh. More like two magic words."
"Open sesame!" she clapped, excitedly.
"Don't think that would've worked for me," laughed Alex. "Doors in heads are tricky like that. Actually, it was your mommy who unlocked it for me. It was the first time I met her," he smiled.
That made Rorie happy, her eyes lighting up. "Mommy found you? What did she say?"
"My name."
Her face fell back into a frown. "She said 'my name'?" Rorie questioned, dubiously.
Lena laughed. "She said grandpa's name, my darling child. Alex Alenko."
Rorie smiled brightly at her grandpa. "Mommy saved you so you can 'member me."
"She did," grinned Alex. "And thank goodness for that."
Lena grasped his hand in agreement, then inhaled the scented air. "These flowers are exquisite. I wonder where they're from."
"Thessia."
They all looked over to the voice's owner.
"Antie Lara!" squealed Rorie, leaping from her grandpa's lap to throw herself at Liara, who gratefully received the hug.
"I apologise for interrupting. I just could not walk by without saying hello to Aurora. I shall not disturb you any longer."
"Oh my dear, you're welcome to join us," assured Lena.
"That is very kind." Liara looked over her shoulder at Samara a short distance away. "However, I am not alone."
"There's plenty of room," answered Alex.
While Liara moved to sit with them, Samara stood at the balcony which separated them from the lake.
"The flowers are called Thessian Flames," informed Liara. "They grow in sweeping bands at the mountain bases upwards, and from a distance they look like the mountains are on fire. It is beautiful to behold, but the scent," she inhaled, her eyes closing as she breathed it in, "the scent is like none other. It is home."
"Sounds wonderful," Lena said. "You describe it like you haven't been home for a long time."
"I rarely have the time."
"Then you should make time, dear. Everyone needs a break once in a while. A chance to recharge."
"Yes…" Liara glanced at Samara who hadn't moved an inch, her gaze directed over the Presidium, and she wondered if she'd ever get that chance to see Thessia again. Then Rorie was cuddling into her side, lifting her spirits instantly. Liara pointed to another flower. "See that lilac one? It is called Kimi-dalla. When I was very young, my mother told me that you can whisper your secrets to them and they will hold it tight and never tell."
Rorie looked between Liara and the flower. "Can I tell it a secret?"
"Go ahead."
Needing no further urging, Rorie went straight to the plant and put her mouth close to the tubular opening. Then she hesitated and looked at Liara. "I don't have a secret."
"You can say anything you like," smiled Liara.
Thinking about that, Rorie returned her attention to the flower, and whispered, "Can you keep a secret?" The plant's petals immediately twisted around each other, sealing shut, and Rorie clapped and bounced in delight. "It can! It can keep a secret!"
"Well, I never," gushed Lena.
Rorie was so excited that Puppy flew out of her hand and over the balcony, into the lake. "Puppy!"
"Don't worry, I'll get it." Alex had leapt up and was straining over the railing, but the soft toy was sinking.
"Allow me-" began Samara.
"No, no, you're alright. I've got-" With a yelp he over-balanced, splashing into the lake.
Samara raised him up in a biotic bubble, and Rorie and Lena began laughing at the soaking man at the centre of it all.
As he was settled back on his feet, Alex lifted his prize, sheepishly. "Got it."
"Oh, you silly man," admonished Lena, taking the toy and wringing it out.
Alex cleared his throat and nodded at Samara. "Forgot about the biotics. Thank you for the assist."
"You are welcome," Samara said, with just the tiniest trace of amusement.
"Excuse me, Sir." The approaching turian C-Sec officer fixed Alex with a serious stare. "The Presidium lake is strictly off-limits to swimmers."
"Oh, I, uh, I wasn't swim-"
"I don't need to hear your excuses, Sir. You're wet. Stay away from the lake, or I'll be forced to prohibit you from the Presidium for the foreseeable future. Have a good day."
"You got told off, ganpa!" giggled Rorie, when the officer had gone. "Can I call mommy and daddy?" Rorie asked her grandmother, joyfully. "I want to tell them what happened to Ganpa!"
Lena laughed. "Let's get you home, first. Or maybe that should be Grandpa."
"Can't take him anywhere," Rorie said, cheekily repeating what she'd heard her adults say before.
Liara's omnitool signalled a call and, caught up in the light moment and Rorie's delightful enthusiasm, she answered it without thinking.
"Dr T'Soni, Narin Solus. Am ready to begin procedure. Require your presence at Huerta as soon as possible."
Liara was left open-mouthed, until Samara's interest brought her into Liara's eyeline. "I…. Yes. Yes, of course. I will be there shortly, Doctor. Thank you." Her face flushed, she closed the tool with shaking hands.
"It's alright, Antie Lara." Rorie's little hands gripped one of Liara's. "Dr Narin is nice. He'll look after you. I can come hold your hand so you're not scared."
Liara blinked at the little girl's words, surprised that she had read her so well, then crouched and hugged her close. "My Little Star. Thank you, but I can do this. You should take your grandfather home."
Rorie looked at her drenched grandpa and nodded. "He needs looking after." Kissing Liara's cheek, then hugging Samara, Rorie took her grandpa's hand. "Come on, ganpa. Before you catch a cold."
Liara watched them go, a heavy fear replacing the light that was Rorie. What if this didn't work? Would she ever see her Little Star again? Shepard?
"Have faith instead of fear, Dr T'Soni," imparted Samara. "You are potentially embarking on something ground-breaking. If Dr Solus' treatment is successful it will open up a whole new future for you. And for many others."
"Including Falere."
"Yes."
For the first time, Liara saw Samara as something other than the Justicar threatening to remove her from her life. She was a mother, hoping for a way to free her daughter. Suddenly, Samara was far less frightening. Have faith…. Yes. She was being given a chance no other ardat-yakshi had ever been offered.
Straightening, and gathering herself in the process, Liara was ready.
oOo
Hackett stepped aboard the Normandy, choosing to do the de-brief face to face, the airlock sweeping aside to reveal Specialist Traynor waiting for him.
"Admiral Hackett." She snapped off a salute. "Welcome aboard, Sir."
"At ease." He started walking towards the CIC, Traynor falling into step beside him.
"Admiral Shepard and General Alenko will join you as soon as possible. They're just waiting on their medbay releases from Doctor Chakwas."
"Ah. In that case, it'll probably be quicker for me to go to them."
"Yes, Sir," Traynor smiled. "A wise assumption." Then she handed him the datapad in her hand. "Your ship just forwarded over these reports from the beacons placed over Parnack."
"Thank you." Taking the datapad, Hackett entered the elevator alone, and looked at the report. It was grim reading.
By the time he entered the medbay, he was distracted, his mind lingering on the images he'd just seen. He nearly collided with Urdnot Wrex, who was departing, chest heavily bandaged.
"Hackett."
"Wrex." That was it. A fleeting exchange, the krogan not one for wasting words.
"Dad?" Terra questioned straight away, scooting off the bed and away from Chakwas who was in mid-scan and unimpressed with her errant patient. "You look like you have bad news."
Hackett gave her a hug first, her bruised face a reminder of what had been necessary to protect her from the Leviathans. "How are you doing?"
She made a non-committal sound that he knew was just as much to do with how she was feeling about the mission as it was to her physical well-being.
"Kaidan?" checked Hackett, looking over at his son-in-law who was on his feet and wincing as he got back into a shirt.
"Uh…been better, Sir."
Nodding in understanding, Hackett waved the datapad, getting back to business. "Our probes have picked up large numbers of yahg moving towards the site. It seems our attack has created a rallying cry to the other…tribes, or whatever they call their factions. The Leviathans don't even need to use artifacts to get them there now."
"And once within range of whatever artifacts are in that area, they'll slowly be indoctrinated."
"I can confirm that there is only one artifact remaining at the target zone," offered Edi.
Hackett frowned up at the air. "How do you know this?"
"I have been analysing the data we retrieved. Agent Bau's was most illuminating."
Terra sighed. "I didn't even know he'd managed to get anything. I've allowed myself to get out of the loop. Failed to check in with everyone."
"You're healing, the same as the rest of us," defended Kaidan. "It's barely been ten hours."
"Ten hours I've wasted moping over a defeat instead of looking at what you all brought back."
Hackett noticed she'd left herself out of the retrieval process. "Cut yourself some slack, Terra. We've all been on the losing side at some point. It's a bitter pill, but you just have to swallow it, pick yourself up, and keep going. There's that old adage I'll adapt: they may have won the battle, but they haven't won the war."
"Damn straight," Kaidan agreed, resolutely. "They haven't beaten us yet."
"We have to make sure we win the next," said Terra, decisively.
Hackett watched her pull herself up, that fire inside her burning once more. He loved seeing it.
"For that we need info," she continued. "We need to go over the rest of that data. Now." They all started for the exit, only for it to close and seal.
"When I've finished your scan," Chakwas stated from her desk, where she'd activated the medbay's lock-down, her tone leaving no room for debate. "Now sit back down, Admiral."
They all groaned.
"You're delaying the de-brief, Doc," Terra mumbled as she returned to the bed.
"You delayed it when you moved," countered Chakwas, resuming her scan.
"Can't you do it after? I feel great."
"I doubt that," the doc retorted, without looking up.
"Okay, but it is manageable," Terra half-conceded, half-bargained.
"That's good," was all Chakwas said as she kept going.
"Ugh!" Shepard flung herself back on the bed in frustration. "You're killing me, Doc."
"Only with duty," said Chakwas, a small smile threatening to reveal itself. "You forgot to teach your daughter patience, Steven."
"Never learnt any myself," he responded, feeling every bit of Terra's impatience to be getting on with things.
"Then take a lesson from Kaidan."
Kaidan held his hands up in surrender as father and daughter practically speared him with their looks. "Barely holding on, actually."
"Barely is enough." Then Chakwas was closing her omnitool. "There. Done." She walked over to her desk, releasing the door, then turned. "You can…go," she said to an empty room. Then she laughed.
oOo