Shepard's Apartment, The Silversun Strip, Citadel: February to March 2187 CE
Shepard was bored, terminally bored, she was still confined to her apartment and hobbling around painfully as her body continued to recover. She'd exhausted her small library of books, there was nothing new to watch on the news or vids and she'd reached her limit of patience with meditation – she needed a distraction and soon. Every day it was the same monotony of sitting around until her physiotherapy appointment which always left her tired and aching even more than when she began. The weekly psychotherapy sessions weren't much fun either, even if she acknowledged they were helping cope with the traumatic experiences from the last few years and the residual effects of her ordeal on Mindoir.
At least she was able to move around unaided now, the first few weeks after being discharged from hospital had been a nightmare; she couldn't dress herself without help and had to be helped to the bathroom. Even the smallest effort had left her short of breath, nauseous, shaking and exhausted. Ash and Tali had moved into the apartment with her but even they couldn't spend all their time at home; Ash was acting as military liaison between the Council and the Alliance and Tali was overseeing the repair work to the mass effect gates using technicians and engineers from all the races. They tried to juggle nursing Ana and the demands from their work as best as they could but after a few weeks it became apparent that they needed help.
The ground-floor bedroom had been set up for her recovery and her mother, the indomitable Admiral Hannah Shepard had taken a leave of absence to help care for her daughter while Ana's lovers were busy. Hannah had to browbeat Hackett into granting her absence, but he'd relented eventually.
The two women hadn't spent so much time together since Ana's early childhood and they'd barely seen each other or spoken for the last three years since the beginning of the Reaper Wars. It gave them time to talk through recent events including Shepard's death, resurrection, the Cerberus mission and subsequent Alliance incarceration, it also helped them repair their distanced relationship. Eventually duty called Hannah back to the fleet but in the month, she'd spent at the apartment she'd come to know and appreciate her daughter's partners and knew she was in good hands.
Karin Chakwas was a frequent visitor while Ana was housebound which helped as she brought her sense of humour which always raised Shepard's spirits, her aunt had a way of making the most pointed observations in a very disarming way. She could immediately tell if Ana was overexerting herself and scold her gently with a caring smile.
"But I'm going crazy here Aunt Karin, I need to do something constructive until I'm fit enough to return to duty," she complained.
"I know dear but considering your injuries you should be pleased with your progress, Miranda's team carried out some really impressive work on you, again…" the doctor replied.
Shepard sighed loudly, "I know and I'm really grateful to her and you all, but I noticed you didn't mention you were on the surgical team helping her".
"How did you find out Ana? You weren't supposed to know about that," Karin replied sheepishly.
"I'm a Spectre aunty, I have informants everywhere," Ana waggled her eyebrows at her and smiled broadly.
"You, you're incorrigible, you impish child," Karin laughed, "But seriously, if you're that bored is there something you can do that doesn't involve you damaging yourself?"
"Hmm, I could contact the Council and see if there's anything I can help with from home while I can't move around much, thanks Karin," she smiled and kissed the older woman's cheek.
"I'll leave you to it dear, but I'll be back in a couple of days to check on you. Don't overdo it or I'll ask Ash and Tali to restrain you!"
"Ooh, now there's a thought," Shepard grinned mischievously.
"Anastasia Shepard, behave yourself until you're recovered young lady!"
"Spoilsport," Ana poked her tongue out at the retreating woman.
Feeling buoyed up by her aunts visit, Shepard slowly made her way to her desk using her crutches, her legs were getting stronger with the exercises and the healing bones and muscles were aching less. She was still covered with a light sheen of sweat however as she sat down and took a few breaths while repeating one of the mantras Samara had taught her to calm her racing heartbeat. After a minute or so she felt collected enough to log into her terminal and started to read her messages, most were from friends and well-wishers, it seemed that Sam was still filtering through her messages to reduce stress on the commander.
Smiling in silent gratitude to the thoughtfulness of her comms specialist she read through a few of the priority mails and responded as best as she could. She knew she had to submit a more detailed report about the events at the Crucible at some point, but it was still painful, and she was thankful the Alliance wasn't pressuring her about it yet.
Ana composed a mail to the Council and enquired about any tasks she could help with while she was incapacitated and sent it while it still felt like a good idea. Approximately thirty minutes later she received a reply from Councillor Tevos thanking her for the offer and detailing the urgent matter of replacing fellow Spectres lost in the conflict. Attached to the message were sixty-three personnel files of potential candidates, Ana was asked to review the files, contact the relevant governments as necessary if further information was required and create a short-list for evaluation.
"Well, I did ask so I can't complain about it," she rolled her eyes, she'd hoping for something slightly less taxing under the circumstances, "At least it'll keep me occupied". She scanned the list while mentally listing the attributes that she felt the Spectres required from their operatives. When it came to the human names she was dismayed to see the bias towards military personnel. She was sure that the men and women were equally laudable but from personal experience she knew that this background wasn't necessarily the most suitable, they needed independent thinkers not a textbook mentality.
"Hmm, I can think of three humans that would fit the bill better than this lot and one of them is dead," she mused thinking of her clone. Rather than anger she felt remorse at not being able to save the woman, her 'sister', that had tried to supplant her, such potential twisted and then wasted. She then thought of the person responsible for that situation; Maya Brooks, or whatever her real name was. Maya was the epitome of a 'Femme Fatale', beautiful and deadly, her humancentric machinations had almost resulted in the deaths of Ana and her entire crew the previous year. Maya had appropriated the unconscious clone and brainwashed her into becoming a parody of Shepard; a violent, ruthless thug – with a more benevolent environment, support and therapy perhaps the other Shepard could have been helped to overcome her conditioning and become her own person.
"Maya, now there's an ideal operative if ever there was one, brilliant and ruthless. She'd be perfect for the role, under supervision of course. If only she could be persuaded to take a more galactic view rather than a human first attitude," she entered a note against the report anyway, no need to discount the woman completely.
Shepard smiled despite herself, Brooks had flirted with her even while trying to disable the restraints after being apprehended, Ana had certainly found the brunette alluring despite the attempted murders. She'd seen the woman in a skin-tight mini dress and she certainly had a killer figure, and lips that just begged to be kissed, Ana shook her head to get those thought out of her mind, "Ah, well, under very different circumstances things could have been much more interesting between us," she grinned, "I wonder if she's been behaving herself in custody? I could always request an update on her status, it wouldn't harm to keep tabs on her and that's for sure".
The other candidate she was going to propose instead was an obvious one to her and that was Miranda. The woman was an accomplished operative, had a razor-sharp intellect and was highly experienced in covert missions. Her combat skills were impressive to say the least and the single-minded focus she could adopt was downright scary, although the ruthlessness she used to apply to her work was now tempered with the facility for compassion. The question wasn't whether she was suitable for the role of Spectre, that wasn't ever in doubt it was more case of would she be interested?
During Ana's psych sessions she'd been able to finally start to open up about her experience on Mindoir, encountering Talitha had unlocked long suppressed memories and had resulted in frequent nightmares related to survivor's guilt.
Ana had received a message from Talitha during the final missions against the Reapers but had only reached back out to her during her rehabilitation. She'd been intending to catch up with her anyway, but the therapist had also suggested it as part of her recovery process. After a number of messages and vid calls they'd eventually arranged to meet up, Shepard still wasn't fully mobile so called a cab to pick her up from the apartment and take her to the sheltered accommodation where Talitha was living during her own ongoing treatment.
Talitha was waiting for her inside the quiet reception area fiddling with her hands nervously, when Ana entered the room she smiled in relief, stood up and went to greet the Spectre. "Shepard, Commander..it's good to see you".
"No need to be so formal please Talitha, I'm Ana to you," Ana smiled back at her appraisingly, the last few months of treatment had obviously been doing some good. She looked so much healthier, her colour although still pale no longer had a grey tinge and regular meals meant she'd lost the half-starved appearance. Her chestnut coloured hair had grown out and been cut into a shoulder length bob and her eyes had an awareness which had been missing before.
In fact, to outward appearances she looked like a normal, healthy, pretty young woman, not someone receiving much needed support and treatment to counter years of abuse as a slave. "Are you ready to go? I may need some help getting around still, if that's OK?" she indicated the crutches.
Talitha nodded and smiled shyly, "Of course I don't mind helping Comm..Ana," she placed an arm around Ana's waist to help her. The girl's wiry strength surprised Shepard momentarily but slaves were worked hard so it shouldn't have been unexpected.
Their initial destination was a small coffee shop situated slightly back from the main concourse, Talitha was still nervous in crowds and they'd selected this café as it was quieter and hopefully less stressful for her. They selected some beverages and food from the menu and sat for a while talking about mostly inconsequential topics interspersed with updates on their treatments, Ana could see Talitha visibly relax as the afternoon went on. The change of pace was a pleasure for Ana and she genuinely appreciated the younger woman's company. They had a shared experience on Mindoir which they didn't have to hide from each other, albeit their outcomes were vastly different.
As the conversation began to tail off into a series of companionable silences Ana realised the time and commented to Talitha, "Did you still want to go shopping? We could stay here or go somewhere else if you'd prefer that?"
"No, no, it's fine Ana thank you. I would like to spend some more time with you, I was hoping you could help me pick out some clothes if you don't mind?" she asked.
"No problem, although I warn you my dress sense is pretty much limited to jeans, boots and t-shirts these days," she grinned, "formal dresses I can manage at a push" noticing a slight blush appear on Talitha's cheeks, "Is there a special occasion?"
"It's….oh, um," the blush deepening on the her face, she looked down embarrassed and mumbled, "Lieutenant Giraud kept in touch after you helped me that day in the dock area and he's um, asked me out on a date….and I said yes," she smiled shyly.
"That's wonderful news Talitha!" Shepard reached over and squeezed the girl's hand encouragingly. "Do I need to have a Spectre to C-Sec talk with him first about acceptable behaviour on a date?" she teased.
"Oh god, no Ana!" Talitha replied looking shocked, then she started to laugh as she realised Ana was in fact teasing rather than making a serious offer, Shepard took delight in seeing the girl laugh and joined in with the merriment until they were both red in the face and slightly short of breath.
Several hours later they'd braved the shops and Ana had helped Talitha to choose a few outfits including a dress that complimented the younger woman's hair and some jewellery to set off her eyes, Shepard's fame and a few impromptu endorsements resulted in generous instore discounts. "If Giraud doesn't at least try to sweep you off your feet then I will personally have a stern word with him, after kicking his ass around the block, crutches or no crutches," Shepard declared smiling.
Back at Talitha's residential building, as the taxi waited to return Ana to her apartment they hugged goodbye and Shepard spoke quietly into the girl's ear, "If you need me for anything, even if it's just a chat any at time just contact me, OK?"
"I will Ana, thank you for all you've done for me and for being my friend," Talitha smiled back with damp eyes and kissed Shepard's cheek.
"Let me know how you're doing, how the date goes, and I'll see you again soon," Ana promised.
When she got back to her apartment there was no sign of either of her girlfriends, so Ana turned in for an early night, she was exhausted after the day out, sleep came quickly and was thankfully untroubled after such a pleasant day.
Shepard had also been keeping in touch with Leslie Jameson, the doctor from the MSV Hugo Gernsback. Studiously ignoring the topic of Jacob's father, they discussed the progress that she and the rest of the crew were making in regaining their cognitive skills after being rescued. The women were making markedly more progress than the few surviving men which had the medical teams perplexed and resulted in even more tests, scans and other medical evaluations.
The degenerative effects of the indigenous foodstuffs only seemed to permanently affect short-term memory which was a blessing in some ways as the women didn't retain memories of the years of physical and sexual abuse they'd received at the hands of the Gernsback officers. Another side-effect had been the suppression of their reproductive systems, so no children had been conceived during the ten-year period.
With their long-term memories and brain functions slowly returning to normal the crew were looking forward to resuming their lives again after their extended ordeal. Leslie intended to return to medical practice even if that meant some re-training to refresh her skills and to catch up with innovations from the last decade. Ana offered her a place in the Normandy medical crew once she was ready, Leslie thanked her for the opportunity and would think it over.
Unbeknown to Talitha and Leslie their treatments and financial support were receiving additional funds indirectly from Ana. Based on financial advice from Barla Von she had made some shrewd investments with the bulk of the credits they'd 'liberated' from Cerberus, this gave her financial independence above the stipends from both the Council and the Alliance. Part of the profits had been channelled into a charitable trust fund to support causes including the survivors of Mindoir, the Gernsback crew and Zhu's Hope colonists. As a bonus the trust qualified for tax relief which increased the funds available.
A few days and many personnel files later Ana had some visitors that provided another welcome distraction, "Hey Lola," was as formal as it got from Vega, he'd breezed into the apartment with a familiar young woman on his arm, it was the scientist she'd met the year earlier while investigating Leviathan.
"Vega," she nodded clasping his meaty hand, "Hi Ann, nice to see you again," she smiled at the younger woman when they shook hands.
"Commander, it's good to see you recovering so well," Ann Bryson returned the smile and then looked fondly at the tall dark-haired marine holding her other hand.
"James?" Ana raised her eyebrow and smirked at the suddenly bashful soldier.
"Hey, don't look at me like that Lola," he said on the verge of blushing, "Ann and I wanted you to be the first one we told about us getting together" he flashed a smile.
"Judging by the happy look on both of your faces I guess congratulations are in order," Shepard beamed at them, "Please tell me he hasn't inflicted his 'famous' plate of eggs on you yet Ann?"
"Oh no Shepard, I've already been warned off about them," Ann laughed.
"Idiotas," Vega exclaimed, "You wouldn't know good food if it kicked you in the cojones," he grumbled.
Both women laughed at the sulky expression on Vega's face, "The only cojones in this room that we need to kick are yours James," Ana added grinning.
After a few more weeks of increasing frustration with her general inactivity, Shepard was finally given a date for her fitness evaluation before returning to duty. During the two weeks leading up to the appointment she was pushing herself harder than ever before which received raised eyebrows from both Ash and Tali but no comments were forthcoming, they knew how important it was to her. Every night she practically crawled into bed and immediately fell into an exhausted slumber.
Alliance Assessment Centre, Citadel, 26th March 2187 CE
"Commander Shepard, ma'am?" the young lieutenant stood in front of her and saluted crisply. Ana was sprawled in one of the reception room chairs trying to exude an aura of calm assurance. Underneath she was unusually anxious, but she wasn't going to let anything stop her passing the damned tests. She was making a determined effort to hide the limp that might influence the examiner's decision.
"Lieutenant," she stood smoothly and returned the salute.
"Welcome to the assessment centre ma'am," he checked his omni-tool, "Once you've changed into PT fatigues your first appointment is the medical exam, followed by the weapons range, circuit training and finally the assault course and combat simulation which will then be followed by a further medical check," he paused and smiled briefly, "Please follow me ma'am," and he then led her into the centre.
Shepard was plain dog-tired, the military assessors had ensured they'd tested her to the limits of her endurance and skills at every stage, she'd also been poked prodded, scanned and tested in every way possible by the medical team. Now she was sat ramrod straight in a standard issue military chair, read uncomfortable as hell, in front of the facility's senior physician; on his recommendation she would either be marked as unfit for duty or reinstated to her ship and crew.
The colonel finally looked up from the report, locking eyes with Ana he started, "Well Commander, it's an honour to meet you. Admiral Hackett speaks very highly of you unsurprisingly, we owe you a lot."
Ana smiled and acknowledged the compliment, "Thank you sir".
"I won't keep you in suspense any longer Shepard, the results speak plainly enough for themselves; your weapons and combat skills are as sharp as ever and your psych evaluation came back clean with a recommendation for annual follow up only," he cleared his throat and continued, "Physically you're within acceptable levels, your hearing, eyesight, blood pressure and heart rate are all fine and your eye to hand coordination is exceptional. My recommendation is that you return to full active duty at 0800 hours Monday the second of April, until then you are placed on light duties on the Citadel, congratulations Commander".
Trying hard not to grin, "Thank you sir," she stood and saluted.
"Before you go Shepard, and this is off the record," he smiled sympathetically, "I've reviewed your previous assessments and even though you passed I know you're not up to scratch yet, your leg is giving you trouble isn't it? You managed to conceal it from the instructors, but I can tell you're shifting weight off it".
"Sir," she nodded acknowledged his observation.
"Just try to take it easy for a few more weeks while it heals Shepard, I don't want to see you back here again," he offered his hand, "Good luck out there Commander, just go and do what you do best; saving our sorry asses".
She took the hand and shook it warmly, "Thank you again sir, I promise to try and take your advice," she grinned.
Ash and Tali were both waiting nervously outside the centre when she exited the building but burst into laughter at Shepard's triumphant whoop. Ana strode across to them and took one in each arm, kissed Ash passionately and planted a row of kisses on Tali's faceplate, promising to exchange them for real kisses once they were back home.
"I take it that was good news then skipper?" Ash laughed.
"Returned to light duties on the Citadel with immediate effect and reinstatement to active duty in two weeks' time chief," she grinned, "Time to celebrate; drinks, food and I believe we have a lot of bedroom time to catch up on!"
Tali and Ash looked each other and nodded, "Bedroom first Shepard, you owe me kisses and us both a lot more than that," Tali stated firmly.
"I'll fetch the booze and glasses, don't start without me," Ash added smiling.
Looking far from crestfallen at the prospect Ana grinned at her girlfriends, shrugged and added, "Who am I to argue with the two most beautiful women in the galaxy? I'll order takeout for delivery in a couple of hours although you'll need to take it easy with me, I'm exhausted after the assessment!"
"Not a chance skipper," said Ash grabbing Shepard's ass with one hand and squeezing firmly. Tali let her hand gently brush Ana's breast, "Keelah, we've been waiting months for you to be well enough".