A gasp of air rushed into Shepard's lungs so quickly that it actually hurt.

She was still breathing, alive and the echo of familiar voices roused her back into reality. They all said the same thing. "Not yet."

"Not yet, Skipper."

"Not yet, Siha."

"Not yet, Shepard."

"Not yet."

"Not yet."

"Not yet."

"NOT YET!"

The unknown forces. The Gods. The Goddess. The Spirts. The Maker. The People. None were willing to allow Shepard to slip away unseen, alone and bathed in darkness. She would live as she should, respected, loved and worshipped as if she were a deity herself.

There was never a flame so bright than the flame in Shepard and it would only flicker into smoke when new flames had been lit. Her place in what was left of the galaxy was empty and no one but Shepard would fit that place.

She deserved to live a life according to her own wishes. She would have it.

Shepard hadn't heard anything but the sound of her own heartbeat for what felt like an eternity, so when a new, intrusive sound reached her ears, she cursed it. But then she understood.

With all of what she had left inside of her, her broken, weak voice unleashed a torrent of vocals so strong her throat felt like it would crack. When she stopped, the deep yell of another made her weep with all sorts of emotions. Joy, sadness, anger, and desperation. It was only when she recognised the voice of her beloved husband that she sobbed with relief. "Deci." She cried.

So desperate to get to his love, Sparatus could have lifted the rubble that covered her in one go, but he did as the rescuers advised and let them removal the rubble carefully as they had no idea what kind of injuries Shepard had suffered.

Shepard recoiled when the light hit her eyes, painfully burning into her retinas. Turian hands provided the protection by covering her eyes until they could get to her properly. She calmed at the touch and soothing voice of her husband, telling her that everything would be ok. She wanted to speak but her voice couldn't utter any audible words. All she wanted was to tell her husband that she loved him.

Nothing felt as sweet as it did when cool water hit her lips and she eagerly drunk it. She hadn't felt thirsty, which she knew was a dangerous sign, but when that water hit her lips, her body kicked it's normal functions back into action.

At some point, she slipped back into unconsciousness, for she woke again to the sound of a heart monitor and her husband reading a story to whom she assumed was Cassius.

But then she heard the babbling sound of another child.

Little Cassius stood in his playpen as he watched his father throw things into bags. "Pahda, go?" He asked, almost on the verge of tears.

Sparatus stopped dead at his son's worried questioning. He hadn't even thought about how Cassius would interpret his actions. The last time he saw someone packing a bag, it was the day Shepard had left. He picked his son up out of the play pen and held him close. "No, my boy. We go to find, Mahda." The hopeful spark of joy in his son's eyes nearly killed him. He was too young to understand why his mother had left and to know that his mother was possibly dead.

Sparatus refused to think about her being dead until he had actually had it confirmed. Until then, she was very much alive and waiting for him. They knew that she wasn't on the Citadel as he found out much to his annoyance, then immense relief, Shepard had ordered Miranda to plant a tracking chip in her so should the worst happen, they'd know where she was. Only the tracking malfunctioned, and Miranda could only gather that she was on Earth, most likely London since that was where the beam was. Due to the initial surge of the Crucible, the power output from the beam levelled a large section of London. They had been digging bodies out of the rubble in the last 7 days since the Reapers defeat, but no sign of Shepard.

Sadly, Admiral Anderson had been one of them.

The door chime went, and he expected it to be Hannah as she would be joining them on their trip to Earth. He opened the door, only to find a C-sec officer standing there holding a Turian infant, much younger than Cassius. "Can I help you?"

"Sorry to disturb you, Councillor." He said as he tried to soothe the fussing baby. "A transport from Palaven managed to get through the Mass relay and docked. We were informed that a woman called Nika Manius was on the fatality list. You are still down as kin."

"She was my ex-wife."

"We found some documents that gave you and your new wife custody of her son should she die."

Sparatus looked at the baby, noting the similarities with Nika. He had a dark grey tone with a strange line of white on his crest. He had seen that before, but he couldn't remember when. "Does he have a name?" He asked as he put down Cassius to take the child.

"His name is Lucian." The Officer replied as he handed the baby over.

"Thank you, Officer." Sparatus wondered what the hell he was going to do. He was suddenly now responsible for two young boys. He decided he would try to contact Nika's family to see if they would want Lucian first before he made any further decisions.

Hannah walked into the house, curious as to why a C-sec officer had visited. "Decian?" She called out.

"Upstairs." He replied.

She headed to the bedroom and immediately went to the play pen to see her grandson. She didn't expect what she was saw. "Decian, who is the little one?"

Sparatus sighed. "He is my ex wife's son. I have custody of him for some bizarre reason."

"Oh." She replied, smiling as Cassius was showing the boy something. "Hey Cassius, who's your friend?"

"Nanan." He squeaked excitedly. He pointed to Lucian, "Bub."

"His talking has really picked up." She cooed to Sparatus, but he wasn't paying attention. "Decian, are you ok?"

"Not really. My wife might be dead, and I now have two boys to raise and they won't know their mother." He sobbed.

"My girl won't give up the fight, not when she has a family who need her."

"Do I keep Lucian, or shall I find his family?"

"What would Lexi do?" Hannah asked him, knowing full well what she would do.

"She would be the proud mother of two beautiful boys." He smiled.

"So, lets pack some of Cassius' old things for Lucian. Our transport is waiting."

Sparatus and Hannah had barely been in London when the news came in that a survivor had been found. Sparatus left the boys with their grandmother and headed to the site with Steve Cortez. When he got to the site, he grabbed a rescuer. "Is it my wife?" He demanded to know.

"It is. She is under a lot of rubble and very distressed. I think she may need your presence." The rescuer urged gently.

Once Shepard had been rescued and transported to the nearest hospital, some of the heaviness he felt lifted, but he couldn't rest until he knew what her injuries were. He was led outside by the doctor, expecting to hear the worse. "How is she?"

"She has some superficial bruising and cuts. Minor burns on her back and a slightly more significant one on her chest. A bullet wound on her stomach where it grazed her flesh. Dehydration and her eyes are having issues with adjusting to light after so long in darkness."

"Will she be ok?"

"In time." The doctor assured him. "Injuries were to be expected but considering what Lexi has been through, she has come out of it well."

"Thank you, doctor." Sparatus felt like he could breathe again knowing that she would be alright. He went back into her room where Hannah and the boys were playing. "Hannah, go spend time with Adrien and Tarquin."

"I'll come by in the morning." Hannah gave both boys and Shepard a kiss before she left.

Sparatus sat both boys on his lap and pulled a book from a bag that held toys for the boys. He looked down at Lucian who was looking back at him, his immature subvocals humming happily. It was then that Sparatus knew that his paternal love was growing again, blooming for his youngest son. Lucian had face as cheeky as his older brother and it completely took Sparatus. Maybe one day he would understand Nika's motivation for what she had done, but he wanted to think that she knew Lucian would be as loved as Cassius was.

"Mahda, Mahda." Cassius shrieked suddenly, pointing to the bed.

Sparatus looked to the bed to see Shepard moving, trying to sit up. With the boys in both arms, he moved to her side. "Lexi, easy."

"I can't see." She croaked out.

"Don't worry about that for now." He put Cassius on the bed, watching as he careful moved to snuggle her side, as if he knew she was hurt.

"Is that my Cass?" She rested her hand on his hand, stroking his short fringe.

"Mish, Mahda." He cooed.

Shepard could feel his subvocals purring with happiness. "I missed you too, Cass."

Lucian picked his moment to chime in with his opinion. "And this is, Lucian." Sparatus explained. "It seems that Nika decided to give us custody of her son."

"Oh, I know."

"What?" Sparatus asked, surprised. "How?"

"I met her before I left." She started. "Her own family have no interest in him. Her lover's family deny all knowledge of him. Nika was sick and she knew that her time was coming to an end. She saw how you were with Cassius and she said she wanted that for Lucian."

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"Because I know you, dear." She laughed. "She said that you weren't good together, but you were a good man and a good father. She seemed so sad that Lucian may end up in the system that I couldn't say no."

Sparatus understood Nika's reasoning. She wanted a happy life for her son, just as Lorin and Valenia wanted for Cassius. Nika wasn't a bad person, just selfish at times like him. He wished he parted on better terms with her, but he would do right by Lucian. "You want to hold him?"

"Hand him to, Mahda." Shepard felt Lucian next to her and he seemed to be smelling her. He must have been happy as he fell asleep quickly, his older brother on the otherwise sleeping too. "So the boys are asleep. When did you last sleep?"

"How do you do that?" He asked, shaking his head.

"I'm your wife, love. I just know." She smirked. "Now sleep. I'm going to snuggle my boys."