The all so familiar metallic console made a usual beeping sound as to draw the operator's attention. A few buttons were pressed, and minor tunning has been done within the minute of hearing the beep, but the procedure somehow wasn't finished. Pressing the last button that usually completed this minor task yielded the same results.

Tali tried once again but nothing changed.

Oh, come on you bosh'tet! She sharply thought to herself and pressed the button once more. nothing changed.

The declining sounds made from pressing the button several times in this short period of time attracted the attention of Gabby. She was about 10 metres to the side of Tali and had a console of her own to attend to but now she curiously watched her quarian co-mechanic.

Tali squinted her eyes and looked upon the console more carefully. Truly enough, she didn't confirm the changes before pressing the 'all done button'.

She slanted her head and grabbed its side with her right hand, using the other to loosely grip the side of her hip. Tali firmly shook her head and cursed herself for not paying more attention before fixing the problem. The console acknowledged her changes this time and stopped complaining.

Tali was upset with herself for being so careless. After their trip to the Citadel about 2 weeks ago, all she could think about was her future with Shepard. They've talked every day from that point forward and she was most definitely sure he felt the same way about her as she did about him. Tali tried multiple times to get herself to confess but her fear and self-confidence always got the best of her. Her self-doubt and shyness battled the hope and desire to be with Shepard internally every time she laid eyes upon his face. The fight was in favour of her doubts. But this was a war of attrition, and the light was sure to slowly dawn.

This state of mind made her easily irritated and not pay much attention. She knew about it and cursed herself once more.

Tali pulled up the interface of her omni-tool and noticed her shift was halfway done. She stood above her console down in Normandy's engineering and started to contemplate about her attitude towards Shepard and how to tell him what's on her heart and mind.

Maybe I could slightly hint at it… somehow? She paused before continuing with her intriguing thoughts. No, that would repulse him. He probably even hates me for my lack of confidence.

She stared up from her console onto the wall above it as if it was transparent and something interesting was behind it. But then again, why would he call me sweet and tell me he cares a lot about me?

The doubts and hopes once again fought inside Tali's head as she remembered Shepard's kind deeds with words, and all the negative traits or behaviours she thought that would make the commander less interested.

Then, a huge turning point moved Tali. What if he dies again, but this time for real, without knowing about the way I care so deeply about him? What if he leaves this galaxy doubting the relationship we have?

She became nervous and made her decision. I can't allow that; my consciousness can't bare that thought.

She took a deep breath and confidently exhaled. I need to tell him.

Shepard was on Illium conducting business and recruiting the other two operatives that were tracked down by The Illusive Man alongside with Tali's dossier.

When he arrived some days prior, he was told that Liara was working here as an information broker and would like to see him as soon as possible. He was surprised by the news, unexpecting to find her here.

Shepard took Tali alongside him to various shops and bars on Illium, they even met Conrad in one of those bars.

Shepard enjoyed seeing how Tali's eyes lit up every time they went someplace with people, music, dancers and generally sights of culture. Most of the time when they entered a lively bar, she couldn't help but bounce on her feet a bit and look around the room with great anticipation.

He thought it was cute and felt warm every time he saw it. As she did it this time, he thought to himself. I have to take her someplace nice and dance with her one day.

However, dancing wasn't the task he was doing now. Shepard was currently jogging several hundred metres above ground over a bridge. Bullets whizzed by and high wind made his balance significantly weaker. As he slid behind cover a rocket hit the construction supplies that protected him.

Shepard cloaked himself and with a skilful shot took out the drone that dangerously damaged his cover.

Garrus cheered him on and sniped one of the filthy Eclipse mercs that dared to cross their path.

"Not so much further now! Keep it up and watch your step!" Shepard shouted back at Garrus and Samara.

Samara had pledged her allegiance to Shepard the day before and was currently casting a singularity between two unfortunate Eclipse sisters. They stood no chance against the sheer biotic power of an Asari Justicar and got sucked in.

As they floated off the ground Garrus shot one of them, sparing her the cruel fall towards the ground like the second one had to endure still alive.

The path was clear, and the crew reached their destination located behind the bridge.

I'm so glad I didn't bring Tali along for this one. Shepard worryingly thought to himself as he looked back upon the bridge and still felt the strong wind breaking against his face.

He didn't want Tali getting hurt in any way, he never put her in danger unless he knew for certain that she'd be okay. Unsurprisingly a mission to recruit a drell assassin was one of those cases. He promised her to keep himself safe before leaving the Normandy and setting out.

As the three of them exited the elevator and entered the lounge Shepard recognized the Asari standing before him. It was Nassana. He had been tricked into killing her sister back when he became a Spectre because of politics. She was a pirate anyway, so it was rightfully justified, but Shepard didn't like being lied to. He was an honest man and expected everybody else to act the same way.

Nassana was shocked more than Shepard and thought he was the one hired to kill her; however, she was wrong. After a short conversation the drell silently dropped from the tower's vent and quickly disposed of her guards before killing Nassana herself.

At first, he didn't want to join Shepard's crew, but then he heard that they were going up against The Collectors and willingly accepted without even wanting payment for his services.

Normandy's airlock opened and the four crewmates began decontaminating. Shepard took interest in the decontamination process and did some research of his own for an idea he got a week before.

The process finished and the crew boarded.

Joker turned his chair back and looked at his commander who just got out the airlock.

Shepard noticed the gaze and came his way as Garrus and Samara walked back to their posts. Thane still wasn't accustomed to the ship's crew and didn't have a job to do so he just waited in front of the airtight doors behind Shepard's back.

Shepard expected Joker wanted to talk about something serious but then a half grin appeared on his face.

"Commander!" The witty tone revealed this would be another of his remarks.

"Another dangerous alien aboard! Great. Why can't you just collect coins or commemorative plates or something?" He started fully grinning.

Shepard chuckled at Joker's comment. "Yeah, of course. But then we wouldn't have had so much fun." He paused. "Besides, I'm pretty sure we're done collecting anymore of them."

"Just make sure you don't start collecting something even more dangerous then." Joker replied with genuine worry.

Shepard was about to leave but as he heard Joker his head turned to face him. "I have a few poisonous fish up in my aquarium upstairs already and I'll probably collect more so watch out if the Normandy ever gets flooded."

Before heading up to his cabin, Shepard quickly briefed Thane with Jacob, it was a heated meeting to say nonetheless, they acquainted him with the ship's AI and assigned him a post down in life support because of its more arid environment.

As the doors opened Shepard stepped out into the little hallway between the elevator and his cabin. He stood in front of the sliding door going into his abode, inspecting the space he found himself in. He scratched his chin a few times and made sounds of acknowledgement as he created some mental notes to himself. Then he entered inside.

Shepard glanced over his cabin as he took a few steps deeper. The fish tank caught his eyes. Its residents looked happy and swam about unbothered. He remembered how Kelly happily offered to feed his fish when he was away. She did so after founding out he bought them on the Citadel.

He came closer and observed his happy, fed fish for a solid minute.

Just now had he realised he's still wearing his combat armour and couldn't help but laugh about how easily his focus shifted onto the water creatures. As Shepard started undressing, he remembered his hamster and that he should feed him.

The last piece of his armour came off and he did what he remembered before putting on his casual outfit.

Shepard started walking to his couch and as he sat down, he pulled up his omni-tool and started to scour the extranet. His eyes were until now completely oblivious of the fact that a notification was blinking in the upper right corner of the device's interface.

He clicked on it and saw that Garrus had sent him mail. At first, he thought it was odd, they had just seen each other minutes ago, but then Shepard noticed the mail was laying in his inbox for over 5 days.

Whoops. He felt guilty as he spoke out in his mind and opened the letter.

A picture of him and Tali standing on the balcony in the human embassy on the Citadel appeared across his whole screen. Shepard immediately started blushing as he remembered how he embarrassed himself afterwards, he was shocked that Garrus managed to capture the moment without him knowing about it. As the negative thought washed away, he was glad about the photo. He observed how Tali's head is happily resting on his shoulder, how his arm guards her shoulders, and they joyously look upon the Presidium. Reliving that beautiful moment made him think about Tali and his feelings.

He immensely enjoyed the time he had spent together with her in the past few days and felt like he should make and official move. Uncertainty was an always present factor but if he truly wanted to do something, he'd do it after two or three days of convincing himself and thinking about every possible outcome.

As the minutes flew by, he pondered with his eyes looking onto the omni-tool interface in front of him. He wasn't even paying attention to it, it was just there, as a background motive.

Shepard stared off, his throat tightened, and he blinked three times.

He had made his decision and started heading towards the elevator.

Tali's shift had almost come to an end. She started to think about how'd she initiate her confession to Shepard.

Maybe… I could describe the process of bonding to him because he seems to be so interested in our culture? No no no. He should at least have this his way; I've already babbled about our customs too much to him. As the thoughts flew around in her head, one of her hands was carefully pressed against her chest and supported the elbow of her second one which then came up under her helmet with its fingers caressing her chin.

She squinted one of her purple glowing eyes and continued with the thought. But then again, he cares so much about our traditions, I'm sure he'd be happy to learn…

Before Tali could finish the thought, her omni-tool beeped and started blinking. It continued blinking until she opened its interface.

Weird it only does that when…

She had gotten mail from the Admiralty board.

Keelah. What is it now? She worryingly thought to herself.

As she read the letter her stomach clenched, and she couldn't make out a word. Tali broke down after finishing the whole letter. She began sobbing and shaking. She couldn't believe what she had just read, a threat to be exiled from her people. One of her arms started supporting her whole figure against the console, otherwise she'd have most likely fallen from the pure pressure she felt upon herself.

Suddenly the doors into engineering slid open. Shepard came inside. He was smiling as usual before entering, but immediately stopped after he saw the sad scene before him.

Tali was supporting herself with one hand on the console, the other obstructed her visor which housed her beautiful glowing orbs, she had not covered the whole faceplate and Shepard could see her eyes were closed. She hadn't muted herself as she was all alone in engineering now and Shepard could hear her cries.

His heart clenched and he instantly rushed over and wrapped his arms around her.

Tali jumped and her eyes widened, she didn't hear him coming in and thought she was all alone. She immediately recognised it was Shepard and hugged him tightly back whilst continuing to cry.

Shepard started caressing her back and attempted to soothe her. "Don't worry Tali, I'm here. It's alright, take your time." He started firmly rocking them both.

The time between Tali's heart-breaking sobs was lengthening and then they eventually stopped. She picked her head up from Shepard's shoulder and broke the embrace.

"The Admiralty Board has accused me of treason Shepard. I apparently sent back live geth parts and endangered the whole fleet." The sorrow in her voice was evident.

Shepard's eyes widened. "What?! You are being accused of treason? Unbelievable, you already did so much to your people, and this is how they repay you?" He was amazed and angry at the same time.

"Yes." She slanted her head. "I did send back geth parts to my father, but I always made sure they were not operational. I've checked each and one of them multiple times. I'm certain that I haven't done anything wrong."

Shepard caressed the cheek of her helmet and took one of her arms into his. She started looking into his eyes. "Tali, I believe you. You are the most selfless person I ever met, and I know how much you care about your people. You don't deserve any of this." He spoke out softly.

Calmly continuing after a short pause. "How serious is an accusation of treason?"

Tali glanced over at her hand he was holding and back to his face. She already felt better just from being with him. "Very rare, if I get convicted, I would be banished from ever returning back to the fleet."

She spoke out with great earnestness and hints of fear. "This is a heavy accusation, and I don't know what to do Shepard." She grabbed the upper side of her helmet and ran her hand from top to bottom, letting out a sigh as a sign of despair.

Shepard immediately knew what to do. "I'm with you all the way Tali, we're finished on Illium anyways. I'll go talk to Joker immediately after we're done talking, and we'll make sure to clear your name as soon as possible."

Tali's voice was once again calm and warm as Shepard liked it. "Thank you, Shepard. It means a great deal to me. I'll forward you the coordinates to the migrant fleet right away."

Shepard took both of her hands into his and looked lovingly into her eyes which reciprocated the emotions he felt. "I'll do anything in my power to make sure you don't get exiled Tali. I'm always here and you can count on me."

If it wasn't for the recent emotional trauma, Tali would confess right here and right now. She could not make up a single word and instead hung herself around Shepard's neck.