What Was Lost

Chapter 35 - Reaction

Tali sneezed. She had a fever, coughs, and her nose was congested with... something. Her body was sore and ached all over. And she itched. She itched a lot.

It's totally worth it!

She had gotten back in her suit a few hours ago, despite her reluctance. She had woken up, feeling a bit ill, and had Shepard help her get her suit back on quickly. Despite the medication, it seemed her immune system could only tolerate so much at once.

Shepard's medication hadn't been completely effective either. The human had a slight redness to her skin, and also looked a bit out of it. Though, that could be the aftereffect of their night together, too...

She smiled to herself. No matter what else, things were finally going her way. Her night had been amazing. It had been better than she had ever imagined. Checking the small bottle in her suit pocket, she saw she'd have plenty more chances, too.

Tali looked over at Shepard. "We should probably go see the doctors, make sure everything is all right."

The human put her arms around Tali, hugging her. She kissed the quarian's neck, sending a shiver of pleasure through her, despite the suit. "There's no rush," she whispered softly.

Tali hugged her back, feeling a warmth inside her. "Let's not press our luck, Shepard. This... this was so much more than I ever expected."

Shepard sighed dramatically and stood up. "If you insist."

Tali helped her dress too. Not that she needed it, but she wanted to. She slipped her hands down Shepard's body as she did so, eliciting a soft moan from the human. She tugged the shirt on, giving Shepard a final hug before drifting back a step and taking her hand. She led the human towards the door.

Shepard giggled a bit as they stepped on the elevator, and Tali found herself laughing a bit too. She didn't know why it was funny, but she was sure they both found it amusing for the same reasons. They were both still quietly laughing when the elevator stopped on the deck with the medbay.

Tali knocked on the door before stepping through. Dr Chakwas was working on some reports at her desk and looked up as they entered. She appraised the redness on Shepard's face and hands, and hid her smile behind a hand.

"Is there... something I can do to help you two?" The doctor fought off a small giggle of her own as they walked over to her desk.

"Doc, do we really have to say it?" Shepard was blushing deeply.

Chakwas made a 'calm-down' motion, shooing them towards the biobeds. "Let me have my fun. Now let's see what the results are." She called up her omnitool, scanning them both briefly.

Tali waited impatiently while the doctor silently read over the results. Eventually she turned to the two women. "Tali, your results are much better that expected. But I'd like Mordin to check them over as well. Your medication didn't last quite as long as we predicted."

The quarian gave Shepard a small wave, walking out the door as the doctor turned to her. "Shepard, your test was a bit more inconclusive..."

"...and unfortunately, it looks like your medication didn't fuction very well at all." Chakwas guided her to the mirror. "Your reaction is only marginally less severe than your previous one."

"I was afraid of that." Shepard grimaced. She had been feeling fairly ill for a couple hours now, and had taken care not to let Tali see. Though, the redness on her face was pretty obvious.

"I have an idea on what might be causing it, but I need to doublecheck it." She frowned a bit. "For the meantime, you're going to need at least a day before trying that medication again. Plus, get some rest to help clear up your... reaction."

"A day?" It was disappointing, but not unexpected.

The doctor sat down at her desk. "I wish I had better news for you. But at least Tali's version of the medicine worked for you two." She quirked a smile. "More or less anyway. She did sound more than a little congested."

"Just a bit," Shepard agreed.

"Well, she does need it more than you." The doctor laughed quietly. "I'm glad things proved, ah, successful for you guys."

Shepard blushed. "...Thanks, doc."

"Now, go get some food and some rest, whatever order works for you." Chakwas got up and walked her to the door. "And remember, at least a day of rest before you try the meds again."

Shepard waved farewell to her and left the medbay, stopping in surprise. Kasumi was leaning against the wall, a broad grin on her face.

"Hey Shep! Got time to talk?" The thief pointed her thumb back towards the elevator. "I saw Tali on her way to Mordin, and you come out of the med bay too. Anything to share?"

"I suppose it's too late to say I don't know what you're talking about?"

"Ooooh yeah..." The thief pointed towards where the lounge she had turned into a bar was. "Let's go have a little chat."

When they entered, Kasumi stepped behind the bar and poured two drinks for them. She handed one over to Shepard and sat on the stool across from her.

"So, Shep, have you given any more thought about the mission we've got coming up?"

"That's what you wanted to talk about?" Shepard blinked. She gathered her thoughts. "Mostly, my main concern is being recognized. Well, that and not having a weapon."

"Shep, you are a weapon." The thief leaned over the bar and tapped her forehead. "With your biotics, do you really need one?"

"Biotics are good." Shepard admitted. Then she added. "But biotics and a gun are better."

"Well, don't worry about it. I have an idea for sneaking in our gear. I'm sure it'll work, because Hock is a greedy son of a bitch."

"Okay, I guess that's fine." She frowned. "I'd also feel better if we had some more backup than none. Just the two of us is going to be a bit dangerous."

"Unavoidable." Kasumi shook her heard. "Hock's too paranoid. Getting you the invitation was hard enough, there's no way we can sneak in more."

"I still don't like it."

"I know. But at least we can have them standing by on the shuttle so they can be there in a few minutes if we call." Kasumi leaned back. "Now that the serious stuff is out of the way, I have to ask - how was it?"

Shepard, despite expecting the question at some point, was still caught off guard. She laughed a bit. "It was... good."

"Just good?" The thief arched her eyebrow.

"Fine, it was much better than good." She glared at the thief, who simply smiled back. Sighing, she continued. "I... uh... It's just..."

"Does this have anything to do with why you look like a tomato?"

"A tomato?"

"You are a bit red. I thought the docs cooked up something for you two." She winked. "Guess it didn't work."

Shepard sank back in her chair. "Yeah, it's really itchy and sore." She smiled faintly. "Like the doc told me, at least Tali's worked, mostly anyway."

"That sucks. Sorry Shep. Still though, were you two at least... compatible?"

"Yeah, close enough at least." She grinned faintly.

"So what are you gonna do? If your meds aren't working, that is?"

"I don't know. I mean, it's not that big a deal, I guess. Just some itching and redness, I can live with that." She shrugged. "I'll have to."

Kasumi set her glass down, looking oddly serious. "Shep, are you sure you're okay with this? You seem a bit down."

"I'm fine, why do you keep going on about this?" She felt a bit upset - what was the thief after?

"Just a feeling I get, sorry." She nodded an apology. "I guess I was expecting you to be happier or something, I don't know."

Shepard sighed. "I don't know either."

Morinth trailed her fingers subtly on Kaiden's arm. The human was proving extremely singleminded. He was so touchingly devoted to his missing fiancee. She could almost admire his determination... almost. If it didn't interfere with her plans.

Still, she had made some progress. She was working with him, doing some research on this weird alien ship. It was a pity though - even if she didn't have a goal in mind for him, the ship would certainly kill him quickly.

The frustration was working in her favor. So far, at least three different merc groups had turned him down, regardless of how much money he offered. She snorted - these mercs weren't stupid, they knew about the Collectors and wanted no part of them. And the delays and rejections were doing a wonderful job of simmering hatred in Kaiden.

Morinth quivered in anticipation. She was enjoying this so much. The hunt was progressing nicely. No matter what he said, she'd have him begging for her eventually. Some targets, she'd simply seduce quickly and move on, but it was always so much better when they asked for it. It made it feel so intense to her.

Kaiden looked up from his datapad. He had been reviewing the information he bought for most of the morning and hadn't noticed her arrival. He flashed a small smile her way and went back to the reports. She waved for a server to come over to them.

She waited for the server to refill Kaidens coffee and bring her one as well, then handed him a datapad. "I caught a break. Found a little datadealer who was in a hurry to get some cash. Apparently his luck at Quasar hasn't been all it could be, lately."

"I could use some luck." He rubbed his neck. "So far, nothing has been that great on my end."

She grinned. "Well, your ship has been spotted, hit a small human world a couple days ago. Odd thing is, this time they took more than just the humans. They also grabbed a small salarian technical squal that was doing some extranet work."

"Why would they do that? They've never broken their patterns before."

"No idea." She shrugged. "The good news is, the prisoners should still be on board, as it hasn't gone through the Omega relay yet."

"That is good," He sounded pensive as he replied. "Though, I don't like to think what they might be doing to them on that thing."

"That's why I have to save her." He looked up at her, an odd, small smile softening his features for a moment. "Thank you. I know you didn't have to help with this."

"It's my pleasure." Well, soon it would be, anyway.

Garrus gathered up the scattered clothes from the floor of the cabin, knowing it was a futile effort. No matter how many times he organized the room, it would always be messy the next time he returned. Even if it was only five minutes, Jack would find a way to clutter it up.

Of course, she didn't see the point of even bothering to clean it. As she had said, there was no point since it would only be dirty soon anyway. Besides, she seemed to get a perverse pleasure from annoying him with it.

Though, they did seem to fight about everything. They seemed to have nothing in common. Nothing at all. Practically nothing.

He had to admit she was fun to go drinking with. And she was a solid backup in a fight. Plus, the sex was amazing.

As if his thoughts summoned her, he heard Jack at the entrance to the room. The door hissed open, and she tossed her bag on the patch of floor he had just cleaned. Then, looking over at him, she grinned and pulled her shirt over her head.

Some time later, he lay back on the bed, Jack draped over him, dozing. He stretched his arm, letting some of the soreness out. Her biotics let them try some very enjoyable positions. And she was certainly enthusiastic about it.

He slipped out from under her, and dressed quietly. Leaving the room, he headed up a deck to the mess hall. Joker was there, pouring himself a cup of coffee for himself and Shepard, who was already sitting at the table.

After they had greeted each other and gotten food and drinks, they all sat at the table. Joker, looking oddly anxious, kept glancing towards Shepard. She looked over at Garrus, who shrugged. He didn't know what was bothering the pilot either.

"Shepard, I need your opinion on something." He nodded to Garrus. "You too, Garrus."

"Sure, what's up Joker?" Shepard sounded curious too.

"It's about EDI." The pilot scanned the room nervously. "I think she's been spying on me. On all of us, but mostly me."

"You're being paranoid, Joker. She monitors the ship, it's her job."

"Yeah, but not like this." He dropped his voice to a whisper. "She keeps messing with me! She readjusts the chair, resets all my preferences, and interrupts me when I'm trying to concentrate on things. And she uses what she records to mess with me."

"Okay, that's beyond paranoid." Garrus laughed. "She's a computer, if she's watching you, Shepard's right, it's only because of her programming."

"She's a learning computer, Garrus." The pilot insisted. "She can change her program!"

"If it's really bothering you, I can talk to her about it." Shepard offered. "If you want, that is."

"I don't know, Shepard. What if that just makes it worse? I mean, she wasn't designed to do this in the first place, she might start doing something new."

"So what are you going to do then?" Garrus asked.

"I guess I could just ignore her, hope she finds someone else to torment."

Shepard smiled. "Let me know how that works out."

Liara stepped onto the customs deck of the Citadel. Arranging a first-class ticket at the last minute hadn't been cheap, but it was worth it. She had set up a meeting here, one that she hoped would help her with Shepard.

If she wanted Shepard back, she needed help. It wasn't pleasant to admit it, but she did. Seeing her again, without fighting this time, had been good. Even if Tali had been there with her too...

That left her here. Meeting her... 'contact'... wasn't the right word, but it fit better than anything else she could come up with after a long flight. She had a few hours still before her appointment, so she decided to look around.

She wandered down to the Promenade, not intending to shop, but it would let her kill some time. She looked around at the stores. She hadn't been here in a couple years, but things hadn't changed much. A few stores had gone out of business with new ones taking their place, while most were still there.

Some were still the same. There was Sapphire Dream, the restaurant Shepard took her to on their first real date... And Parnithian Paradise, the hotel where...

Liara blinked back tears. This was no good. All this did was remind her of everything she had lost. She was trying to fix it, but...

She composed herself, then headed over towards the cafe she was meeting her contact at. She hoped this would help.

A few minutes later, a shadow alerted her to someone walking over to the table. She waved to the other seat. "Thank you for meeting me. I appreciate you taking the time to help me."

The other figure sat down across from her. "Don't thank me yet, I haven't decided if I'm going to help you at all."

David Andersen composed himself, hiding his annoyance. Nicholas Saracino, senior representative for the Terra Firma party, had called yet another 'investigative committee' about various expenditures. He really seemed to dislike Andersen, but so far, the admiral had proved too popular for him to act against openly. Not to mention, he was the recognized Councillor for Earth, still.

The politician hated him for supporting Shepard, for pushing for closer cooperation with other species. And he really despised Shepard. He blamed her for his brother's death in Saren's attack on the Citadel, but at the time, hadn't been able to do anything to the Hero of the Citadel.

Of course, now that she was back and with Cerberus, he had resumed his vendetta. His first response had been to paint her as a terrorist, but after a session with the Council had ended with her being restored to full Spectre status, that had to be abandoned. So he started trying to erode her support.

His current plan seemed to involve denying resources to Andersen and her other allies. He claimed 'budget' reasons, or 'inopportune timing', or 'inappropriate appearances'. He investigated every last expenditure they made.

If part of his plan was to drive Andersen out of his mind with boredom, the admiral had to admit it was working...

Andersen considered warning Shepard about this latest annoyance, but decided against it. She had enough to deal with, investigating the Collectors and finding a way to put the hurt on Cerberus when she was done. He could handle one irritating politician.

He originally intended to promote Kaiden Alenko, push for him to take her place, but it had quite gone as expected. Not only was Kaiden not really suited for it, but he had found a fiancee while out on the rim, and showed no signs of wanting to give up his new life.

His latest plan was waiting for him in the gym of the physical therapy center. He nodded a greeting to her, waving for her to stay at the weight bench. "How are you feeling today? I heard they finally got you off the radiation sickness treatments."

"Admiral, it's been two years, no pun intended, but im thoroughly sick of this crap. When can I get back out there?"

Shortly after Shepard had been ambushed on the original Normandy, a recovery squad finally reported in from Virmire. Investigating the planet had been a low priority, given everything else that had been going on at the time. So it had been a very pleasant surprise that some of the salarians thought lost on the world had actually survived.

And they had rescued three other members of the Alliance crew as well. The geth had withdrawn when Shepard drove off Saren, giving the surviving marines a chance to pull out. With only minutes to spare, they managed to pull the squad guarding the bomb clear. Though, not without injury.

All the members had suffered severe burns and radiation sickness. One had even been temporarily blinded. Fortunately, modern medicine could treat that. Even, the radiation could be dealt with. But it still took time to fully recover.

"Well, I have some good news for you, then. And an opportunity, if you're interested."

Ashley Williams smiled at him. "Andersen, if it gets me out of here, I'll do anything."

*Next Chapter: Kasumi's plan gets started. Shepard and Tali (of course). Ashley is back! Kaiden and Morinth both make progress... though not on the same things. Who is Liara meeting?*

**A/N - I know one of them should have died on Virmire, but I have plans for Kaiden... plus I hate writing him. Ash is so much more interesting, and it lets me finish the arc I have in mind for Kaiden the way I want to. So Ash survived (but with injuries), and Kaiden... well, someone's gotta die...