"Kitty," he wheezed out and Kat looked down at him in shock.

She knelt down by him, "What do you want?" she sneered at him.

"Kitty, it's me…" he wheezed out.

She glared at him and lifted off his mask and let it drop to the floor in shock. Without the mask she recognized him. His eyes were blue with the effects of indoctrination, but it was still his face. "Johnny Lee…" Kat said puzzled. It was one of her old gang members.

"Yes…" he wheezed. "Please… the buzzing is… please just listen… I'm sorry, I didn't mean to… I didn't… the buzzing." he choked out, blood pooling out of his mouth.

"What happened to you? You were a tech-hand back in the Reds." she said and whipped the blood away.

"Yeah," he coughed "but after you left… you were makin' something of yourself… I wanted to too… but…" he let out a painful cough and sucked in a rattling breath. "I wasn't cut out to be a soldier… they had wanted me in N7, but I couldn't do it… I was too" he spat up more blood "weak."

"So you became an assassin?" she asked and brushed the sweat soaked hair out of his face.

He nodded, "Wasn't cut out for it either, let my guard down and got shot in the knee-caps, they said I died, Cerberus did…" he chocked out. "They brought me back, put a chip in my head, put that buzzing in my head… I couldn't… I couldn't deny them… I'm sorry…" he said and started to drift into death.

"It's okay, Johnny..." she said and looked down at her dying old friend.

"You… you're stronger than the rest, than anybody… You fight the buzzing—the indoctrination… Kitty… stop this war… please… stop the reapers." he said before he coughed one last time and died.

Kat closed his eyes and stood up and put a hand to her com. "Hacket, the Citadel is the Catalyst, we need to get the Crucible to earth yesterday. The Reapers know what it is and they are going to be protecting it, heavy."

"Roger that," Hackett said, shocked, but already making plans. When working with Shepard you learned to be surprised a lot.

KsK

This was it, they were going into the final battle. After so many years they were finally going to be done, one way or another.

Their normal restock station was now their destination so Kat picked out a planet that hadn't been hit by the Reapers, Kahje. The Reapers didn't seem to be interested with a waterbased species, lucky for the hanar, and the drell were slowly going into extinction from Keplar Syndrome, so why bother?

They'd spend the night in dock and Thane had asked that Shepard meet the closest thing he had to a family, Irikah's family. She had agreed, but she felt incredibly nervous. Glancing down at the syringe in her hands she gave out a shaking sigh. For multiple reasons. She pocketed it as the door opened and Thane came into their room.

"Siha, we have docked." he informed her.

She got off the bed and nodded. "You sure your late wife's family will want to meet your soon-to-be-wife?" she asked, rubbing the back of her neck.

He smiled and held her too him as they went into the elevator. "They will love you." he assured her.

In the CIC Kolyat was waiting impatiently, nearly jumping for joy. He hadn't seen his relatives since he had run away to try and become and assassin.

He grinned at them and stood on Kat's other side, "You will love them, Shep, they are really nice and have been wanting to meet you since dad told them about you." he said and she gave a weak, awkward smile.

Why were they making her do this? She was bad with new people. She tended to say the wrong thing unless she was speaking to them as Commander Shepard, not as Katida Shepard.

They left the ship and got into a shuttle that would take them to Oshi's home, Irikah's family.

Kat was clearly uncomfortable the whole ride. Thane tried to sooth her, but since he was also part of the reason she was nervous it didn't help. To distract herself she looked out the window at all the different drell. She had only met three drell before, Thane, Kolyat, and Liara's little friend whose name she didn't bother to keep in her brain. The drell walking the streets were all different colors and markings, but basically looked the same. It was also kind of hard to tell the males from the females. The females didn't have chests, or any noticeable differences besides smaller frill on the sides of their heads and tended to be smaller framed. She thought those were the females at least. She had never seen a female drell before. She jumped as the transit stopped, having been lost in thought.

"You know, for a woman who spends her life in combat, you space out a lot." Kolyat commented.

"Only when I know I'm safe." Kat said with a shrug, looking out the window at the house they stopped in front of. It was a simple white house. The typical three stories, taller than it was wide. On a water planet with little land they treasured every bit of it. Unlike most places where a beach front property was sought after on Kahje it was the properties on land that where valued high.

As they got out of the car a drell came out and run up to Kolyat, hugging him tight. "Oh, Kolyat, it's been so long." the… woman? Maybe? said.

"Aunt Atifa, it's good to see you." he said and hugged her back. So yes, it was a woman then.

Thane put his arm around Kat's waist, pulling her out from half behind him. Atifa looked over at them. "Thane," she said with a smile and let Kolyat go. "And this must be Katida." she said and gestured to Kat.

Thane nodded and looked down at her, all of them looking at her. Why were they looking at her? She realized after several seconds of silence that she was supposed to say something. More seconds ticked by as she tried to figure out what to say. The longer she took the more awkward it felt.

"Ah… It's nice to meet you." she said. It was cliché and took her way to long to come up with something so pathetic.

Atifa looked to Thane questionably before looking back at Kat. "Likewise, Commander Shepard." she said with a slight bow.

They all headed into the house, Kat and Thane bringing up the rear. "This is awkward, and I'm pretty sure she hates me." she said lowly to Thane.

"She does not hate you," Thane tried to reason.

"I'm shacking up with her dead sister's husband, that's plenty of reason to hate me." Kat protested.

"You also saved her nephew's only parent from a terminal disease." he said and kissed the side of her head.

"Thane, I can't even tell the men and women apart, I am going to screw this up." she protested again.

He chuckled at that, making her glare. "We do look similar I guess." he said. "Look at the frill, women have little to none, also the women have bigger hips." he tried to help.

Atifa looked back at them as they climbed up the stairs into the main level of the house.

Kat met her eyes before she looked away. That woman had every reason and a half to hate her, for being with her late sister's husband, for being human, and for what she was going to do tonight.

The rest of the night was a buzz of meeting members of the drell family, turning down the fish dinner they offered again and again until Thane stepped in and explained that she hated fish. So they offered her shellfish and Thane extended it to all sea food. The young drell children stared at her like she was a freak at dinner, Kat only with a cup of water as those around her ate the fish. She felt so out of place and for anyone else but Thane she wouldn't have put up with it. The sole fact that it was for him was the only reason she hadn't hit all five of the children under ten that were staring at her in the head, punching her hand through the table, and then leaving, wishing someone would try to stop her, just so she could punch them in the face.

She glanced over at Thane as he chatted with one of Kolyat's uncles. Only for him.

When dinner was finally over and they were allowed to be excused to their rooms she let out a sigh of relief. She plopped down on the small twin size bed in the little guest room.

"Thank you, siha. I know that you are not social, but the fact that you are making an effort means a lot." Thane said as he sat down beside her.

She nodded and snuggled into him.

"What time do we leave dock tomorrow?" he asked, rubbing her back.

"Noon," she said against his neck.

He nodded and leaned down to kiss her neck, going up to her ear and then back down to her shoulder.

She shuddered as his fingers started to wander under her shirt. It had been some time since they had been together. And now, on the edge of the final battle, they just wanted to be together. Her shoulders shook and tears fell from her eyes. A sob broke through her lips.

He pulled back, removing his hands. "Siha, what is wrong?" he asked, panicked.

She shook her head and wrapped her arms around his neck, hugging him close. "I love you," she said and more tears fell freely from her eyes. "Remember that, okay? In case I don't make it out of this… remember that I love you…" she sobbed.

He rubbed her back and laid down with her in his arms. "Siha, we are going to do this together. No one is going anywhere without the other." he assured her.

'That's what scares me,' she thought and clung to him.

He kissed her tenderly on the lips, breaking the contact only to pull her shirt over her head and start kissing down her beautiful pale creamy skin. Slowly her sobs stopped and were replaced with little mews of pleasure as his mouth explored her body. When he came to her pants he pulled them up in a swift tug. Next came her panties and finally her bra, leaving her completely bare to him.

"Thane…" she said in want. Wanting of his body and to forget what they faced, if only for a brief moment.

He slid his clothes off and gave her want she wanted.

The first time was rough, both of them just needing to forget. The second time was sweet, each taking the time to love one another.

Kat looked over at the clock from her spot in his arms, her drell dozing slightly. It was nearly four in the morning. She had to do it now, she couldn't put it off any longer.

Slowly, as to not cause alarm, she reached down and into her pants' pocket, pulling out the syringe. She uncapped the needle and moved it to his arm. She marveled how easy it was, how much he trusted her, it also tore her up inside that he did trust her this much, and she was going to betray it. She stuck him and he jumped, wide awake, but it was too late, the syringe was empty in her hands.

"Siha… what did you do?" he asked and squeezed his eyes shut as he started to get dizzy.

She sat up with him and hugged his chest. "I'm sorry, Thane… but you are staying here… I can't… I can't risk losing you…" she sobbed.

"Siha, I want to protect you." he said as he leaned against the wall, the medicine making his head spin.

"Protect my heart and stay here…" she said and pulled back as he started to drift off into the drug induced sleep. "I love you… and I'll do whatever I can to come back to you." she said and kissed him.

"See…ha…" he muttered as he slid down so he was lying on the bed.

"I love you, Thane, more than anything. You are the best thing that has ever happened to me… I love you." she cried, wanting it to be the last thing he heard her say. They both knew she was going to die. "I love you…" she repeated as his eyes slid closed.

Once he was out she moved off the bed and got dressed as she cried. Once dressed she left the house and got into the cab. It took her back to the Normandy where the crew was already preparing to leave.

"Where's Thane and Kolyat?" Joker asked as she came onboard.

"Staying behind." she said and went down the bridge into the CIC and up to the galaxy map. "Pull us out. I'm ready to finish this."

"Roger that," Joker said and pulled them out of dock and into space.

A/N: Gotta love cliffhangers. And don't get mad at me, this had to happen to follow my plan and all you know what will happen if Thane was in the final battle. Kat wouldn't take him in fear of him getting hurt, he would sneak along anyway, and get hurt, and they would both die trying to save the other.

It'll be one more relatively short chapter before the end of the game storyline. I may actually write that up to and put it up within the next few days if you guys review enough to motivate me.