Looking out over the jungles of Havarl is the first time Jane truly felt like she was in a different galaxy.

Every other so-called 'golden world' they'd visited had analogues to her Milky Way travels. Eos and Elaaden were both hot and dry like every other nondescript desert planet she'd been to, though the blindingly white sands and pink foliage of the latter weren't a combination she could recall seeing before. So that was neat. Voeld, frigid and mountainous, reminded her of a couple of the uncharted worlds she'd investigated during the hunt for Saren, as did the wilds of Kadara. And H-047c, originally a golden world, was reduced to a series of asteroids by the time they arrived in the Heleus Cluster. She hadn't been to Habitat 7 but she'd read Sara's reports and seen some of the field recordings; nobody would be going there any time soon.

In the back of her mind, she always knew that Andromeda wouldn't be anywhere near as exotic as she'd first imagined it to be. The galaxy was made of the same stuff as the Milky Way, bound by the same laws of physics, went through the same cycles of creation and destruction. In other words, the stars, planets, moons, and other objects in Andromeda should fundamentally be the same as those that exist back home. From the most extreme to the most mundane. For the most part they were – Scourge notwithstanding, but that certainly wasn't a natural phenomenon – and much like the galaxy she knew and loved, life here abhorred extremes.

Havarl was different. So were the Angara off in the distance. This was everything her inner child had hoped for when the Initiative had been explained to her.

She was also glad to have the Pathfinder by her side – or more accurately, be at the Pathfinder's side – as they'd explored the jungle. Much of the dangerous-looking flora had receded or died off completely in the weeks following the activation of the Remnant Vault, or so SAM had said, and the environment was far more hospitable as a result. The indigo haze she'd seen in field recordings, smothering the valleys like a blanket, had abated, allowing the local plants to truly show off their vibrancy. Shades of pink, purple, and fluorescent blue filled her vision everywhere she looked. Overhead, the moon's host planet – a ruddy gas giant – filled the sky, soon to eclipse the system's star.

Over her shoulder, she heard leaves softly rustling and crunching underfoot. The gait was distinctly human, so she instantly knew who it was. Seeds of a smile took root along her lips.

"Hell of a place, isn't it?" Sara asked as she moved to sit down next to her.

Havarl's atmosphere was different, too, having a little more oxygen and xenon to go along with a slightly higher pressure. Thankfully it was no less breathable; everything was still within the safe limits for humans, though prolonged exposure was discouraged as xenon acted as an anesthetic in high enough concentrations. The air felt thick but not suffocating. Jane closed her eyes and drew in a breath. The sweet-but-alien scents of the jungle filled her nose and brought a smile to her face.

"Definitely."

She opened her eyes and turned to look at Sara. "Everything okay?"

Sara nodded serenely and replied, "Jaal wanted to visit with his family for a little while longer, so I came looking for mine."

Shepard hummed, took Sara's hand into her own, and said, "We've come a long way, haven't we?"

Sara's thumb traced a circle on the back of Shepard's hand. "In more ways than one."

"In more ways than one," Shepard agreed. She shuffled a little closer to Ryder, so that their arms touched. "I'm proud of you, Sara."

Instead of responding, the younger woman simply laid her head on Shepard's shoulder and hummed.

"I mean it," Shepard continued, "you've done a hell of a thing. If it were up to me, you'd have a Star of Terra on your chest by this time tomorrow."

Hackett had said something similar to her once.

Sara lazily said, "Might be tough to find one of those all the way out here."

"I think I have one to spare."

"Keep it, then, because I couldn't have done this– any of this, without you."

Shepard snorted. "Sure you could. You ran the show the entire way, all I did was shoot stuff and look good doing it."

"If you say so," Sara said with a hint of amusement.

"Hey, you calling me ugly?" Shepard teased, reflexively cocking an eyebrow before she felt Sara's hair tickling the side of her neck, reminding her that the woman couldn't see it.

"Never said that," she replied, "but now that I think about it…"

After a moment of silence, Shepard rolled her shoulder to get Sara's attention. "Go ahead, finish that thought."

"You really want to know what I think?"

Shepard resisted the childish urge to roll her eyes. "Of course I do. Always."

"Hmm… your eyes shine like the auroras of Voeld."

Shepard grinned a cheesy grin. "That's poetic of you," she said.

Now it was Sara's turn to snort. "One of us has to be."

"Alright Romeo, let's hear another one."

Sara hummed, then sighed before saying, "Your hair is as stunning as a sunset on Aya."

Shepard laughed as she felt heat bloom across her cheeks. "Okay, okay, that's enough. Now you're just being silly."

"Hey, you asked."

She had to concede that point. Letting out a sigh of her own, she said, "Yeah, guess I did. Don't remember your tongue being quite so silver, but hey, I'm not complaining."

"It didn't used to be," Sara said, "but I learned from the best. If my tongue is silver, yours is platinum."

Shepard shifted a little bit, the compliments having the opposite of their intended effect: she felt more self-conscious and awkward, not less. She doubted Sara could ever say or do anything that would make her truly uncomfortable, though; it was a feeling she got any time someone extolled her virtues to her face, and it still felt weird, even when coming from a person she cared for. She needed to change the subject.

"So, what's next for the indomitable Pathfinder now that the kett are running scared?" Shepard asked, breaking the silence between them.

The other woman slowly let out a breath. "Haven't thought that far ahead yet. Guess we just keep exploring the cluster, help the Initiative however we can, and try to unravel the mysteries of Heleus. Who the Jardaan were, what they knew, what the Scourge is, if it can be fixed, that sort of stuff. Maybe we'll even branch out and explore more of the galaxy – it's so much bigger than the Milky Way – but it'd be tough without relays or something. Getting around the parts we know is already hard enough... and we'll have to be ready for the kett if they ever come back. I feel like they will."

"That's quite the list."

"That's the nature of my job. I'm sure you know what that's like."

She did. The three-and-a-half years of her life prior to joining the Initiative had all been spent keeping dozens of plates spinning, most of which had almost nothing in common. Aside from her being the one balancing them. Serving the Alliance. Helping her crew. Uncovering the Prothean's secrets. Exposing subterfuge. Brokering peace, in all its forms. Charting unexplored worlds. Eliminating terrorist groups. Many times, Shepard felt like she was in way too deep, that she couldn't possibly keep up with everything she needed to do. But she had. And now she would help Sara do the same.

"Right now, though, all I have on my to-do list is spending time with my badass girlfriend," the woman in question said.

"That's all?"

"That's all," Sara affirmed, "so what do you want to do?"

"Whatever my badass girlfriend wants to do."

Sara let out a single bark of laughter. "Anyone ever told you you can be a real kiss-ass?"

Shepard smiled. "You've got the best ass in the galaxy, of course I'll kiss it every chance I get."

The comfortable weight on her shoulder disappeared as Sara sat up, looked over at her, and flashed a wicked grin. "Pervert," she said.

They laughed together.

Being in love was a truly magical feeling, one that Shepard hadn't felt since her early twenties. She'd had her share of one-night stands over the years, sure, but they were just that. Two people using each other to relieve stress or simply get off, hoping to never see each other again afterwards. Managing a long-term relationship while serving in the military could be hard. Very hard. So hard, in fact, that Shepard gave up on trying – not even when it seemed like her time left in this life was best measured in days, or even hours. The closest thing she'd had to a 'normal' relationship went up in flames because of the unending frenzy that followed her after the Blitz. Olivia, her name was; a civilian who couldn't handle the media circus or Shepard being whisked away for weeks at a time. It had hurt, to say the least, but she'd understood.

Shepard released Sara's hand and wrapped her arm around the woman's waist. The girl seemed to melt into her touch, leaning even closer as her head returned to its rest on Shepard's shoulder. Shepard sighed contentedly and rested her head against Sara's. Her eyes drifted shut; finally, after an untold number of months in Andromeda, she'd found somewhere – someone – she could call home.

Neither moved until night fell, when Jaal appeared and said he was ready to leave.

Sara awoke with a start, covered in a sheen of cold sweat, and shot upright. Her breath came hard and fast.

It had been over a month since the Archon died on Meridian and she still had nightmares about him, how close he had come to ending her life and the lives of her friends. About what he did to Scott, and what else he could have done if he'd been given the chance. Scenes of her brother, mother, and other loved ones being tortured or dying at the hands of the kett played out in her mind when she closed her eyes at night. They weren't real, they hadn't happened, they couldn't happen, but they felt real every time.

A hand appeared on her shoulder, its warmth instantly easing some of the tension from her muscles; its weight helping to settle her breathing.

"Hey," its owner breathed, "are you okay?"

"Yeah, yeah," she paused to swallow, "just a nightmare, that's all."

This time, she'd dreamt that SAM had been unable to revive her aboard the Archon's flagship. She'd been forced to watch from above as her lifeless form laid on the deck, as Jane and Vetra's concern morphed into fear, then panic as the kett took her corpse away. How roughly the kett had treated her friends, still held captive by paralysis. Ripping out hair and snapping mandibles before injecting them with exaltation fluid. How they'd screamed, skin bulging and turning black as the tar-like solution roiled beneath–

"Mmm. I won't ask, but if you feel like talking about it, I'm here."

She hastily drew another breath, grateful for Jane's interruption.

"Stupid fucking brain won't stop thinking about shit that's in the past," she said, shaking her head as if she could rattle the thoughts free from her mind, "or torturing me with what-ifs, things that didn't happen but maybe could've."

A humorless laugh sounded from her left. "Tell me about it. Sometimes, back on the Normandy, I wished I could sleep without dreaming. Then I got to experience what that was actually like."

Sara gingerly laid back down and nestled into Jane, the other woman's collarbone becoming her new pillow. The bone was a little too hard to be truly comfortable, but that didn't matter; she still felt safe, felt at home. Jane's arm snaked its way around her waist, hand coming to rest on her stomach, fingertips brushing against her exposed navel. She shivered at that, then voiced her pleasure with a small sound.

"What was that like?" She asked a moment later.

"In a word? Horrible. I'd lay down in bed, tired as hell, basically blink and bam! Five hours had gone by. Then I'd get up, still tired as hell, and get ready to face the new day. Every night for about three weeks."

She was so captivated by hearing her partner's voice reverberate through both their chests that she almost forgot to respond.

"That sounds awful. How did you fix it?"

"I grew a spine and told Miranda about the problems I was having. A few hours later, she had me good as new. Even the nightmares didn't scare me as much because… at least I was dreaming again."

"What kind of nightmares?" She voiced before she could stop herself. She certainly wasn't in the mood to discuss hers, so it wasn't fair to ask.

Jane didn't reply right away, instead shifting slightly and running the fingers of her free hand through Sara's hair. When she finally spoke again, her voice wavered, "Reliving my death–" Jane swallowed "–hearing the voices of friends I'd lost along the way, and seeing the ones that I couldn't save."

"Fuck. I–"

"No no, it's okay," Jane cut her off. "It's in the past now. God is it ever in the past."

Sara tilted her head up and kissed Shepard's jaw, speaking into it as she said, "I'm sorry, Jane."

"Thanks. It's okay, I promise. Being here with you makes it okay."

The words made her heart flutter, and her body act. She pressed herself against Jane, molding into the woman's side. One of her legs came to rest on top of Jane's, and she felt the arm around her squeeze a little tighter. Selfishly, she wished they could stay like this for hours. Days, even.

"I'm yours for as long as you'll have me. I promise," Sara said.

Jane took a deep, shuddering breath, then said, "Do you know why I never took on a lover, Sara? It wasn't because of the Alliance regs."

"No."

She felt Shepard swallow again. "Because it was hard enough to have my friends follow me into the jaws of death for three years. Harder still to order them to do what needed to be done, knowing it might be the last time I saw them alive, or they saw me. If I'd let myself fall in love with one of them? I wouldn't have been able to handle it."

Sara swallowed in turn. If the last few months had taught her anything, that could easily be her future. A fresh tendril of fear wormed its way through her gut at the thought of having to make the same call, losing the one she loved because of it. She reached up and placed her hand on Jane's other shoulder, arm wreathed across the woman's chest. And squeezed.

"I understand," she said.

Jane's fingers continued running through her hair, massaging her scalp in a slow and steady rhythm that paused after every other stroke. "Sorry for dumping all this on you," the woman said.

"It's alright, I'm the one who asked," Sara replied.

"Yeah, but you're also the one that got woken up by a nightmare. The last thing you need is me adding my shit to the pile."

"Semantics," she said before propping herself up to look into jade eyes, "what were you doing up, anyway?"

Jane looked away, breaking their shared gaze. "Before you woke up, I was having another… tough night. Probably why I'm talking your ear off."

Sara frowned. "Lexi's a psychologist, you know. Maybe she would have some advice."

"I can't bring myself to open up to her. Not yet."

That was that, then. "Okay. Is there anything I can do?"

Jane sat up and looked back at her, pain plainly visible in her eyes in spite of the smile on her lips. "You're already helping more than I can explain. Just by being here, by listening, by being honest."

Sara reached out and carefully cupped Jane's face, captured a lock of the woman's crimson hair between her fingers, then began gently stroking her cheek with her thumb. "I love you," she said.

Jane's gaze flicked over to her hand before meeting her eyes once more. There was a pregnant pause where the two women did nothing other than savor the touch. Then, the redhead slowly closed her eyes before leaning forward, capturing Sara's lips in the ghost of a kiss. She barely had time to process what was happening before it was over. It wasn't the first time they'd kissed, but it felt so much more intimate than any before it. All she was left with was the cocktail of scents that defined Jane – peppermint and lavender from her soaps, a hint of natural sweetness, and a dash of gun oil.

She needed more.

Sara shifted so she could cup Jane's face with both hands and pulled the woman into another kiss. She felt Jane's hand push its way through her hair until it reached the back of her head, where fingers curled. Tiny bolts of lightning struck wherever the strands were pulled taught. She gasped against Jane's lips. The woman gave her hair another playful tug before deepening the kiss, sending waves of fire across her skin. Heat pooled below her belly. She ran a free hand up and down the other woman's back, feeling her muscles coil through the thin fabric of the sleepshirt. They twisted back down to the mattress and rolled so that Jane was on top of her, their legs tangled together; a moan escaped Sara's throat.

After what felt like an eternity, yet not long enough, Jane drew back, completely out of breath.

"I love you too, Sara."