Author's Note: Thanks for all the reviews, follows and favorites. I would have ended this long ago if it wasn't for all the support. I really appreciate it.

Chapter Twenty Three: Mom

"Chambers?" Colt called out from his private terminal.

"Yes, sir?" She asked, turning from her console. Shepard honestly didn't know what she did on it, because he never saw any evidence of her work. She probably sent reports to the Illusive Man.

"Can you see what's wrong with my terminal? My inbox has a message from Hannah Shepard," he replied back. His private terminal had never malfunctioned before, but there was always a first for everything.

"Yes, sir. It will only take a minute," Kelly said. Faint clicks danced through the air as she typed away at her console.

Right when Shepard reached the elevator, she called out again, "Sir, there isn't anything wrong with your terminal or messages."

"What?" he said a little louder than intended. Almost everyone in the CIC turned to look at him. Colt didn't care, however, he wanted EDI to run a scan. Kelly couldn't be trusted with her ties to Cerberus and creepy attachments to all living things.

"EDI, can you please check out my terminal? Hannah Shepard died years ago," he said. Time made that sentence comfortable.

"Yes, running scans now," EDI said. She was an incredible piece of the Normandy and could produce information in the blink of an eye, but Shepard hadn't quite realized how fast that really was. "Your terminal, and private messages seem to be in working order. I also checked reports and records regarding a Hannah Shepard in the Alliance. They seem to be at odds with your belief that she is dead."

"What does that mean?"

"Commander, perhaps it is a good idea to contact Captain Hannah Shepard. Find out who she is," EDI said calmly.

"Good idea. Please contact her ship, EDI," he ordered. And with that, Shepard headed off to the comm. room.

…

A young woman appeared over the vid comm. "Commander Shepard?" She asked.

"Yes, are you Admiral Shepard?" he said. Relief washed over him, helping to calm his fried nerves. This woman was way too young to be his mother.

"No, I'm her comm. specialist. She was too busy to pick up this call, but she wants to meet you on the Citadel tomorrow at thirteen hundred," she said.

Colt was thinking that perhaps this was a trap. It seemed oddly convenient that she couldn't take the call. "Alright, where?"

"Near the Citadel Memorial," the young woman said.

"Thank you. Commander Shepard out," he said. He cut the transmission and let the room descend into darkness.

Goddamit. Now he had to worry about something else. If it wasn't Liara's personality change, it was his dead mom. Honestly, he'd be surprised if his dad didn't crawl out of the ground at some point.

…

Liara wondered what was going to happen to the Shepard memorial on Illium now that he was back. It wasn't the only memorial, and certainly wasn't the grandest, but it stood next to her apartment. If it ever seemed like she was going to have a good day, the statue of Colt would remind her of her situation. It was remarkably detailed; anyone could look at it and know who it was. Liara's only problem with it was how serious it looked. Shepard rarely looked serious - he was usually laughing or making a joke that made little sense. Even on missions he was smiling. It reminded her of a dream she kept having. In it she would be sitting at her desk in the SR-1 and then she would look behind her and Shepard would be smiling that smile Liara had only ever seen when she was around. They would stand like that for a few minutes, just standing and smiling until a tremendous shiver went through the Normandy. Shepard's smile turned into fear. He would start running out and then he would just disappear. She wouldn't see his body floating in space, he would just be...gone.

The statue's plaque read 'Commander Shepard-Savior of the Citadel. April 11, 2154 - January 13, 2182.' Liara had tried to stop herself from reading it, but after a particularly bad day she was too curious to stop herself. It was then that she noticed he had died on the thirteenth, an unlucky number in human culture. She avoided the thirteen from then on. She wasn't a superstitious person, but why take a chance?

"Doctor T'Soni?" Nyxeris poked her head in her office. "We have more information on the Shadow Broker, but it'll require someone who's familiar with hacking."

…

Shepard stood in the shadow of the Citadel Memorial. It loomed over him like some poorly veiled threat. Much to his surprise, the plaque didn't read: "You did a lot, but not enough." It really should have.

A day ago he'd been doing simpleton things. Things like planning his trip to Tuchanka, getting biotic training from Samara, and thinking about if he really sent his crew into a suicide mission two and a half times a day. Now he was waiting to see if Admiral Hannah Shepard was his mother. It was an odd turn around. He brought along Rosebud partly out of habit, and partly because he needed moral support.

He'd just recruited the asari Justicar, Samara. She was cold and much too serious, but she helped him with biotics and he couldn't say no to her impressive skills. He didn't really know why he didn't like her, but he suspected it was because she felt like a replacement for Liara. That wasn't okay. She was also way too mature for his likings. One kinda offensive joke, and he had to pray to keep his throat.

"Colt?" A reluctant voice called out behind him. He turned and saw a flash of a familiar face before being pulled into a bear hug. His shirt quickly dampened under the woman's hidden face. When she finally pulled away, her eyes were bloodshot but she looked good. She looked like his mother. She was in her late 60's. Serving until a marine turned eighty wasn't uncommon, with some older exceptions like Hackett.

"Is that really you, Mom?" Shepard sounded uninterested even to himself.

"Well, that depends. Are you are in fact Colt Shepard. Are you scared of bears, needles, and mice? Is your girlfriend named Liara T'Soni?" Hannah asked playfully.

"I am not afraid of mice, I'm just reluctant to see one or touch one or think about them or dream about them," Shepard cleared his throat before continuing, "I'm also not positive where Liara and I stand. She is sorta... different. How do you know about her anyways?"

"Cerberus had to get you somehow, so we teamed up. I like her a lot, Colt. Don't hurt that poor girl," Hannah said, all while effortlessly gliding back into Mom.

"I'm trying not to, but I don't know what to do," he said. He reached down to stroke Rosebud after he felt her shifting in his pocket. "But hey, it looks like I have someone else you might want to meet." Shepard opened his pocket, and Rosebud's little head popped out.

Hannah immediately reached out and started petting her. Rosebud had already gained several pounds in the week Shepard had her. "How cute!" She said.

A thought occurred to Colt as he watched his mom coddle Rosebud. "So...Mom, where have you been for…I don't know...twelve years?" He said. Red was starting to cloud over his vision. Hate he never knew existed started to climb to the top of his consciousness. He had no one to blame but himself for a long time, and now here she was-a root cause of Colt's half-lived life.

Hannah straightened back out, and looked him in the eye before saying, "I was doing a mission in the Terminus, and was captured by Batarians. They held me for years until an Alliance vessel saved me."

"I lived on the streets for two years! Two fucking years! Do you have any idea how difficult it was raising a four-year-old in the streets?" Shepard said, "Horrible things happened! I had to do unspeakable things!" His voice cracked. "We...we were abused in the foster homes we were sent to. It was so cold during winter that I would wake up surprised I was still alive."

"Colt... I'm sorry. If I could've come back, I would have," she said, tears brimming in her eyes.

"Why'd you leave? You could've stayed with Dad and Alex and I. Why'd you have to leave? Everything would be different now if you had just fucking stayed!" He shouted.

"Colt...I...I," She stammered.

He was done with this day. Absolutely done. And like any good coward, he fled back to the Normandy without so much as a goodbye.

…

"Commander, you have a new message at your private terminal," Kelly said.

"Thanks."

He walked over to his console and opened up unread messages. Unsurprisingly, there was a message from his mother.

Dear Colt,

First of all, I hope this is you and not some stranger. My comm. specialist seemed pretty sure this was you.

I heard you were back from the dead. It looks like we have something in common: we both have graves. The only difference is Cerberus. You'll have to explain that one sometime.

I'm sorry that our conversation ended like it did. I understand your anger. I really do. But I think we need to start over again. Let me know when you want to restart.

Hope I see you soon,

Mom