Chapter 54

"Nice work, Archangel." Shepard said, grinning at her bondmate as he jumped down from his sniping perch, quickly scanning the area for remaining enemies.

"Back at you, Phoenix." He told her and she shook her head.

"Yeah, as much as I don't want to believe it, my crime fighting nickname has always been, and probably will always be, 'Commander Shepard'." She said, sighing and he laughed a little.

"The sad truth is you never get to pick your own nickname. You chose mine, remember?" She smiled at the memory of their last conversation before she had been spaced, as she inspected the cargo that the mercs were moving through the base. She took a sharp breath as she saw an all too familiar logo.

"Garrus..." She called him over to confirm what she was seeing, when a shot fired out and hit her in the shoulder. Her biotic barriers were down and she was wearing minimal armour. She gasped with pain as Garrus spun around and shot down the sniper that had hit her, revealing it to be a Cerberus nemesis.

"Damn it." He growled as knelt beside her. "I keep telling you that you need to wear more armour, ani. Or at least something with a medi-gel dispenser..." She shook her head at that.

"Too bulky." She said before nodding to the logo on the side of the crates. "I figured there would be remnants but I thought they would at least lay low for a while. I thought they would need time to regroup..." She muttered through gritted teeth and Garrus shook his head at that.

"Bastards are sneakier than I thought. Come on, let's get you back to the ship." He said, trying to help her up, but she brushed him off.

"I got shot in the shoulder, Garrus. Not the leg. I can still walk." She managed and he rolled his eyes at her stubbornness as they made their way back to the shuttle where Liara, Javik and Cortez were waiting for them.

"Cortez, can you run Shepard and I back to the Normandy?" He asked and Shepard shook her head.

"No, we still need to collect the cargo and data." She said but he sighed in response. Liara spoke up.

"Javik and I can handle that while Cortez runs you two back. He can come back for us once you're on board the Normandy. Shepard sighed, still gritting her teeth, before nodding.

"Okay." She said finally and Garrus frowned. The wound looked worse than it should have been. Her cybernetics should have started to close it by now. He watched her carefully as the shuttle took off, noticing her skin turn a little pale.

"Are you okay?" He asked, concerned and she nodded.

"I've been a little under the weather and I think it's effecting my cybernetics." She admitted and he frowned.

"How long have you been sick?" He asked worriedly and she sighed a little.

"Not that long. See, this is why I didn't tell you. You're getting all worried. I'll be fine." She reassured him, although she was still pale and he could feel that she was in pain.

"Uh-huh. Well, we'll see if Doctor Chakwas agrees with your assessment, won't we?" He said and she groaned. She hated having to be treated by doctors...


"So, doc, how am I?" She asked and the doctor frowned at her omni-tool.

"I'm not-" She started but was interrupted by Shepard's face paling again before she ran to the waste bin and promptly spewed up her lunch.

"Jane..." Garrus said as he approached and she shrugged as she wiped her mouth.

"I'm fine, Garrus. I told you, I've been a little under the weather..." He frowned at that.

"'Under the weather' is a headache or the sniffles. Regurgitating your lunch is full blown 'sick'." He told her and she sighed.

"It's not that bad." She reasoned but he raised a brow plate.

"How long have you been throwing up?" He asked her and she looked a little sheepish.

"Just a week or so. It's no big deal, really..." He groaned but she just shook her head. "Look, doc, tell him I'm fi-" She was cut off by EDI.

"Commander, you said you wanted Miranda contacted about the Cerberus activity. She is trying to call through the QEC." Shepard nodded at that.

"Is the channel secure?" She asked.

"Specialist Traynor and I have seen to it." The AI replied and Shepard gave the doctor an apologetic look.

"I'm sorry, doc. I've got to take this. EDI, patch it through." She said, causing Chakwas to narrow her eyes at her.

"Shepard." Miranda's form appeared over EDI's old holographic projector.

"Miranda, we found what appeared to be a merc base at these coordinates." She brought up her omni-tool to send the coordinates to her. "They've been hijacking shipments meant for refugees but when we arrived we found Cerberus equipment and had a run-in with one of their operatives." Miranda frowned at the coordinates she had been given.

"I had hoped that by stopping the Illusive Man we had bought ourselves more time but apparently not. Cerberus is a huge organisation, Shepard. It's divided into cells and those cells have no contact with each other. They operate completely independently and from what I can tell the death of the Illusive Man and the end of the war hasn't done much to slow down their operations." Shepard sighed, shaking her head.

"We need to stop them. Any ideas about how we'd go about that?" Miranda was silent with thought for a few moments before replying.

"Omega. From what I can tell the station has become the focal point for Cerberus activity in this sector. If we took back control from them it would put a dent in Cerberus operations. At least for the time being." Shepard nodded at that.

"Where are you? We'll come and pick you up." Shepard told her and she nodded.

"I'm on Illium with Oriana. If I come with you, she comes too." She said and Shepard nodded at that.

"Of course. I would be glad to have the both of you aboard." She said, smiling. Doctor Chakwas nodded in agreement.

"Yes, it would be good to have someone with more familiar knowledge of your cybernetics on board." Chakwas said and Miranda frowned.

"Is there something wrong with Shepard's cybernetics?" She asked and Shepard frowned, mirroring Miranda's expression.

"Yeah, I guess you never got round to telling me what was wrong." She said and the doctor sighed.

"Can I assume you don't mind me telling you in front of Garrus and Miranda?" She asked and Shepard shook her head. She wouldn't hide anything from Garrus and if it was a problem with her cybernetics Miranda would have to help, anyway.

"No, it's fine." She said and the doctor sighed.

"We partially figured out what Mordin's last enhancements were designed to do while you were unconscious after the blast from the crucible. You cybernetics have been partially rewriting your DNA so that it's part levo and part dextro, using prothean DNA as a buffer between the two. What we couldn't figure out was why." Shepard frowned at that.

"So why has that affected my regeneration abilities and made me sick? Did the modifications not work?" Chakwas shook her head at that.

"No, I think they are working exactly as intended. Your regenerative abilities have been temporarily shut down to conserve energy which has been directed to other, new functions. Mostly hormone production." Shepard raised her eyebrows.

"Why do I feel as if you're gearing me up for some big revelation? Come on, doc. What does Mordin's modification actually do?" The doctor brought up her omni-tool data to show Shepard.

"Well, Shepard. My scans indicate that you're pregnant." The doctor told her and Garrus's jaw almost hit the floor and Shepard frowned.

"Doc, that's not poss- Wait, you said conserving energy for hormone production?" She asked, her frown lifting to be replaced by raised eyebrows.

"Yes." The doctor replied and Garrus could feel his bondmate trying to repress her emotions as she tried to reconcile the idea that the doctor could be speaking the truth in her mind.

"And you said that Mordin successfully used prothean DNA as a buffer between dextro and levo amino acids?" She asked, a smile creeping up on her lips.

"Yes, it seems to have worked perfectly." Chakwas told her and Shepard broke out into a grin.

"Oh, that clever son of a bitch. I would never have thought- I mean, I did think but- I assumed the preliminary tests wouldn't lead to anything. He must have kept working on that research when he went back to the STG." She spoke at a million miles a minute before turning to Garrus. "You know what this means? I'm actually pregnant, ani. And it's our baby." He stared at her blankly and blinked a few times. She bit her lip. "Are you okay?" She asked and the worry in her sub-harmonics snapped him out of his shock.

"Of course I am, ani." He said, wrapping his arms around her and catching her off guard, sending her into a fit of laughter.

"Have I ever told you, you're cute when you're shocked?" She told him, grinning. At that point Doctor Chakwas interrupted them.

"I must warn you that this child is the first of it's kind. There are all kinds of complications that we can't even begin to predict. I... I can't guarantee that this will work out, Shepard." Jane took a deep breath and nodded at that.

"I know, doc. I know..."