A/N: As you read through Reconfiguration, you'll notice a few changes, such as changing Idolo to Idola, as it should've been from the beginning. I had continued on with Idolo after realizing my mistake for consistency in Resurrection.

Jane

Exhausted, Jane sat next to John, knees bent and ankles crossed. Together, they listened to Dawn, her thoughts snarly and filled with far too many emotions to keep track of. But at least she started feeling something again. She finally stopped vacuuming up every Shepard within reach, leaving the darkness a couple hundred voices short, but neither Jane nor John wanted to risk getting any closer to her. It seemed like most of the other Shepards had the same idea, pulling back, leaving Dawn in a sphere of seclusion.

"So, what do we do now?" Jane asked, leaning over until her shoulder just barely brushed against John's, letting her see him.

He took a deep breath and shook his head. "Not a clue."

"I guess we just wait her out." She raised a questioning eyebrow. "Maybe try talking to her again in a little while?"

"I guess," he said with a shrug. "Hopefully drawing her attention back to us won't just be ringing the dinner bell."

Dawn let out a loud, maniacal laugh, and it made Jane jump. John chuckled, so she slapped his arm.

"What the hell is she laughing at?" Jane shifted a little, readying herself to move if Dawn went on another feeding frenzy.

"I don't know." He shrugged. "I don't think she even knows. Why don't you go ask her?"

Jane rolled her eyes and scoffed, making him grin. "Hell no."

She'd never tell John—not out loud at least, though she supposed he knew it all the same—but she guessed he really wasn't all that bad. And, he'd been right before, about protecting Dawn when Jane wasn't altogether sane herself. But watching Dawn crumble like that … they were both more than a little scared.

If Dawn didn't pull herself back together, what would it mean for the war? Hell, what would it mean for them? Dawn was slipping in and out of The Shepards' Private Hell Freakshow like it was nothing. One foot in, one foot out. Jane didn't think she was even trying, it was just happening. During those times Dawn was out there, Jane got glimpses of what was going on around them in the physical world, but when she was inside … the outside world might as well not exist at all. The reapers could touchdown right in front of them, and they'd never know. Jane tried a couple of times to push past the restraints of Miranda's implant, but it was useless. She wasn't getting out unless Dawn wanted her out.

"What was it Anderson called the facility he brought us to?" John asked, pulling Jane away from her thoughts.

"The Pearson Sisters' Sanctuary," Jane said, wondering if John only asked because the silence was too much for him.

She liked it, thought it was nice, the best thing about the whole mess. It wouldn't last much longer, though. With Dawn no longer on the hunt, the other Shepards were growing complacent, restless even. Jane felt them starting to stir.

"How long do you think we've been here?"

Jane shrugged. "Couple of days?"

"How long do you think they'll keep us?"

She turned her head to look at him, taking in his furrowed brow. "Until she either shapes up and starts acting right, or the reapers show up."

He licked his lips, and his own personal brand of crazy started showing through his eyes. "What if she doesn't, though, and they just leave us in here while the reapers destroy everything?"

Jane let out a heavy sigh. Dawn seriously needed to get her shit together. There was no way they were riding out the Harvest sitting on their asses doing nothing. Not after they'd come so far.

"Ídola?" James' voice seeped in around the edges, which could only mean Dawn was headed back out, or at least mostly out.

"Jane!" John grabbed her arm and shook her, earning him a scowl. "What happens if we're still on the Citadel when the reapers move it to Earth? You saw it, you know what happens to anyone alive when they take the Citadel."

"Fuck, John!" She shoved his hands off of her. "I don't know, okay? I don't have all the answers, I'm sorry. I guess it means we die."

"We die," Jaxon echoed.

"Fantastic, see what you did?" Jane sighed again, shaking her head. "You got them all riled up again."

"Hey, Ídola," James said again, and Dawn slipped away, the outside world opening back up to them once more. He smiled at her, setting a tray down on the table in front of her. "So, Dr. Chakwas said I have an hour to try to convince you to eat on your own, or she's going to have to force feed you again." He sat down on the couch next to her and uncovered a plate holding a sandwich and a fruit cup. He lifted the corner of the top piece of bread. "I made it myself, it's got all kinds of good stuff on it. We're talking ham, turkey—okay, so maybe it's not real ham or turkey, but it's got cheese, lettuce, tomato, the works." Meeting her gaze again, he lifted his eyebrows, eyes filling with hope. "What do you say? For me?"

"If we die in the war, before we get to use the Crucible, will we stay dead?" Natalie asked, a wave of longing rolling off of her.

Jane turned her attention to James, resolute in her attempt to ignore the rising tide of activity around her. Dawn turned her head, actually, truly, all on her own, turned her head and looked at James. The motion wasn't lost on him, lips parting as his eyes widened. It was the first autonomous movement she'd made since she collapsed against Garrus after seeing the blood in the cockpit.

Closing his mouth, he swallowed, searching her gaze. "Sounds good, right?"

Dawn lifted her hand, bringing her fingers to James' cheek and narrowed her gaze. Dragging her fingers down the stubble on his face, her thoughts were plain as day to Jane, which was saying a lot. Since her breakdown, Dawn's thoughts became incoherent and muddled, mostly just raw emotion, and then, after a few hours, not even that. She stopped speaking entirely, not even using direct thoughts to communicate with Jane. Just then, she was trying to decide if James was real.

Jane laughed when James' face took on a reddish hue. "What do you know, James? It's not so hard to make you blush afterall."

Recovering from his apparent shock, James reached up, tugging her hand away from his face and moved it to the sandwich. "Sorry, Commander, I'm not on the menu."

Dawn turned her head, gaze trailing down the length of her arm before it landed on the plate. Slowly, hesitantly, almost as if she thought the thing might attack her, she wrapped her hands around the bread and picked it up, lifting the sandwich to her mouth. Jane held her breath, tasting the explosion of flavors when Dawn took a bite. Good, that was really, really good. Maybe there was a chance she'd pull it together after all. Chewing and swallowing, she took another bite and then looked at James again.

He grinned from ear to ear before leaning against the side of the couch to watch her eat. "Hey, you eat all of that, I'll get you dessert."

"You think she's going to be okay?" John asked, scooting back closer to Jane, pushing his arm up against hers.

A few months ago, she would've decked him for touching her after the way he grabbed her, but just then, she needed the contact as much as he did, and yeah, maybe she'd grown to like his company. She glanced at John before turning her attention back to James. "I hope so."

James leaned forward, picking up a bottle of blue Tupari and opened the cap, handing it to Dawn. She took the bottle from him and looked at it for a second, confusion around the edges of her thoughts before she took an experimental sip, the berry flavor washing over her taste buds. Jane knew what she experienced was only an echo of what it tasted like for Dawn, but somehow, she seemed to enjoy it far more.

"Is she going to kiss James?" Aurora asked, moving closer to Jane.

"Why would she kiss James?" Jane arched an eyebrow.

"I kissed James." Lusty thoughts rolled off Aurora.

"No," Jane said, dragging the word out, "you intentionally got James shitfaced and took advantage of him, knowing he'd already made it clear he didn't want to cross that boundary. People with a conscious call that rape."

"Maybe if the roles were reversed." John shifted around, extending his legs out in front of him, his elbow brushing against Jane again in the process. "I think James was just using the alcohol as an excuse to do what he really wanted. He wasn't too drunk to get it up, he knew what he was doing."

"Bullshit," Jane said with a scoff, "you saw the look on his face the next morning. He asked her not to talk about it again. It wouldn't have happened if he was sober. Fuck your double standards, it was rape."

"That's not really fair. You know I didn't have any malicious intent towards him. He sent a lot of mixed signals, and when I asked him what it'd take, he's the one who mentioned drinking more." An odd mix of regret and longing washed over Aurora. "What was I supposed to think? Besides, we were cool after, there weren't any issues on the ship or anything."

Jane rolled her eyes. "Whatever. I'm not having this argument again."

"I really liked him, wanted something more with him," Aurora said, a touch of sadness to her tone.

Jane let the statement sit, she knew that was the truth at least. Turning her attention back to Dawn, she tried to focus in on the other woman's thoughts. The more she strained to hear, though, the less any of it made sense.

"I'm going back," she said, pushing to her feet.

"Why?" John stood up too, reaching out to rest his fingers on Jane's elbow, allowing them to see one another. "What's the point in being The Veil when she's just going to come right back in here. It's not like you need to play watchdog, none of us can get out now but her."

"I know, but it's easier to hear her from there." She patted John's arm and smirked. "Don't worry, I'll be back."

He grunted. "Good, you need to spend time in the trenches. Remember you're a part of this mess."

She arched an eyebrow, dropping her weight to one hip and crossing her arms. "You really think I could ever forget?"

"Sometimes, I'm not so sure." Dropping his hand, he disappeared from sight. "Just make sure you come back when she does. I hate to admit it, but if anyone in here can get through to her, it's you."

"Oh, I don't know about that. I think she's got a soft spot for you, too." Jane closed her eyes, it wasn't really necessary, but it kind of helped, and she let herself slip back to that in between place.

Instantly, Dawn's thoughts sounded louder and more clear, but what Jane heard shook her to the core. It wasn't just Dawn, hell, it was barely Dawn at all. It was almost as bad as being in the mix when all the other Shepards had their crazy dials turned to stark-mad-raving-lunatic. Except the familiar flavor of the hundreds of Shepards she heard in Dawn's thoughts just sounded confused and in awe.

Jane didn't understand. Yeah, it became obvious that the others continued to exist on some level inside of Dawn once she did whatever the hell she did, but Jane never heard any of them once Dawn drained them. Why the hell did that change? Because Dawn was dealing with some psychological trauma? Or was it because she'd taken in so many more?

The thing that got under Jane's skin, though, making warning sirens blare in her head, was the lack of separation. Dawn wasn't thinking in terms of 'I' or 'me' but 'we' and 'us'. Sure, she'd been starting to slip into that already, but it was like she just took the concept of being an individual and threw it right out the window. Jane was barely able to feel out the edges defining Dawn, there was so much bleedthrough between all of them.

Dawn took a couple more bites of the sandwich and then drained the Tupari, handing the empty bottle back to James. He took it from her, the grin still on his face, and put the cap back on.

Setting the empty bottle on the table, he chuckled. "Damn, Ídola. You must've been thirsty. But hey, now I know you like them so much, I'll stock up on them for you."

Dawn didn't respond, simply turned her attention back to the sandwich. James leaned in toward the coffee table, reaching past her to pick up a remote. He sat back, and a moment later the vidscreen activated. Dawn's gaze flicked toward the new sights and sounds before trailing back toward her sandwich but stopped midway, her gaze locking on Joker's hat sitting on a shelf. And just like that, Dawn was back inside, the outside world gone in a snap.

Jane let herself slip out of The Veil. Dawn's sobs seemed to echo, coming at her from all sides, the only sound to be heard. The other Shepards held their breath, pushing back away from Dawn's presence, though within a few seconds, some of them started to cry, too.

"Shit," Jane whispered, taking a hesitant step closer. "Dawn? I'm … I'm going to come sit with you, okay? Don't go all vampire on me, alright?" She waited a few seconds, trying to pick out the feel of Dawn's response to her words—if she even really heard Jane—but nothing seemed to change. Taking each step with caution, she felt her consciousness brush up against Dawn's and recoiled, grief flooding her, nearly taking her to her knees. Sucking in a deep breath, she pushed forward, reaching out to get a feel of where Dawn imagined herself to be, and then she imagined herself to be there, too. Sitting down, she lifted a cautious hand and settled it down on Dawn's shoulder. Dawn didn't even seem to notice.