A/N: Another chapter is ready, so here we go!

Responses to reviews are as follows:

AnarionRising27: Thanks, I'll try! Glad to hear you like the idea of a Male Shepard/Kasumi pairing as well!

Chapter 24: Foresight

Beep.

She slowly opened one eye, hoping she had imagined the noise. She didn't know how long she had been asleep for, but it could only have been a couple of hours or so at most.

Groaning weakly, Matriarch Wessa allowed her eye to close, joining its twin as she felt herself drifting off back to sleep. She had been having a good dream. Perhaps she could return to it if she was lucky. Shifting position slightly on the bed, the mattress beneath her soft and the covers on top of her warm, the asari decided the noise had indeed been imaginary. After all, if whatever she had heard had been real, surely it would have sounded more than just once.

Beep.

Goddess damn it.

Grunting as she forced herself to sit up, fighting against her uncooperative body all the way as it complained she needed to rest, Wessa let out a loud yawn before trying to work out where the noise was coming from. The sound was familiar, but her still mostly asleep brain was struggling to place it. In fact, it wasn't until a third beep sounded that she realised it was coming from her omni-tool. Curious as to who could be messaging her at this hour, seeing as how it was unlikely to be anyone else on Rannoch for obvious reasons, she activated the device, wincing at the bright orange light which burst to life and contrasted strongly with the darkness that filled the rest of her room.

Wessa sat up straighter as her eyes adjusted and she saw the message was from Shaela, frowning as she realised that while it had only just arrived, it was dated to several days ago. Some delay was to be expected given how far apart she and the quarian were of course, but that was far too long a period to be normal. Shaking her head as she opened the message, which she noticed Shaela also seemed to have sent to her parents, she began to read it.

Illuminated by the glow of her omni-tool, Wessa's expression changed from one of satisfaction at how the quarian had managed to find her human boyfriend, to shock as she reached the next part. What the hell did Shaela think she was doing? Commander Shepard, if he was even alive like the quarian seemed convinced he was, had more allies and close friends than anyone else in the galaxy. As much as she tried to in that moment, Wessa just couldn't see the same young woman she had taken under her wing attempting a rescue mission and fighting off a small army of batarians and 'Mandalorians,' whatever they were, especially since the latter had apparently wiped out an entire colony.

The message ended with a plea to send help. Being a matriarch had its benefits, but all of Wessa's resources were currently tied up assisting in the galaxy-wide recovery effort. While she could redirect some of her ships and she certainly had the wealth to scrape together some mercenaries, all of that would take time, something she seriously doubted Shaela had.

However, resources were short in general nowadays, and she doubted anyone else would be willing to send help after a single quarian, even one who claimed they were attempting to rescue Commander Shepard. As far as most of the galaxy was convinced, its greatest hero had died fighting the Reapers at the end of the war. The only people who could help Shaela would be those who would never give up on the commander but also held positions of substantial power.

Wessa's eyes widened as she realised she knew someone who fit that criteria.

Admittedly, knew was a strong word. She had never met him, but they had exchanged a few messages, since he was the individual with what most closely resembled overall authority when it came to the reconstruction effort. Despite Rannoch being the homeworld of another species to his own, he had done his level best to make sure every race had as many supplies allocated to it as possible. If anyone possessed both the resources and drive to help Commander Shepard and thereby help Shaela, it was him.

The matriarch began scrolling through her expansive list of contacts, silently praying she could find the information she was looking for. If she had deleted it by mistake, that was game over. People in his position did not exactly go around publically announcing how to get in contact with them. As the seconds turned into minutes, Wessa began to feel a small amount of panic as well as a considerable amount of frustration. Just where was the name she was looking for?

Then she saw it. Wasting no time, she began forwarding the message to the man whose name was spelled out in glowing orange letters by her omni-tool. The man who might well be Shaela's only chance.

Admiral Steven Hackett.

While she was feeling better than she had yesterday, that didn't stop the sweat from rolling down her face as she forced herself to keep going.

Gasping in deep lungfuls of air, Shaela swung her lightsaber in a diagonal strike, one she had been taught just half an hour ago, only for Rassen to block it easily. Trying to keep up her offensive, she alternated between that attack and the two she had learned the previous day, the man opposite her never struggling as he defended himself without any difficulty whatsoever. Whereas she felt as though she was going to drop at any moment, Rassen was, in contrast, merely breathing faster than normal, barely any sweat on his face.

Arms burning, she overextended slightly while executing a simple stab, another move she had just been taught, realising her mistake too late as the human grabbed her wrist with his free hand, holding onto it firmly before positioning the tip of his lightsaber a few inches from her neck. Letting out a sigh of frustration, she nodded her head as she admitted defeat, Rassen instantly deactivating his blade as she did the same. Her annoyance all but evaporated, however, as the human pulled her closer before kissing the top of her head, well, helmet, the gesture of affection bringing a smile to her lips.

"You may be getting faster," Rassen explained, "but you have a tendency to telegraph your attacks. Try to avoid tensing up when you decide to aim at a specific area, since that tells your opponent exactly where the strike will land."

Shaela nodded. "Okay," she replied, still out of breath. "Give me a moment."

"Of course."

She turned away from him, stretching her arms above her head in order to relieve the pain that had built up in them. Sighing in relief, she let her gaze drop, only to flinch as she suddenly noticed there was a third person in the room.

"Kasumi, don't do that!" she exclaimed.

Shaela felt her alarm give way to confusion as the thief, who much like the previous day had managed to enter the room without either herself or Rassen noticing and was once more sitting on a crate, blinked slowly as though coming out of a deep trance, eyes seeming to look straight through the quarian before they managed to focus on her. Staring at the human woman in surprise, Shaela then glanced at Rassen as he walked over to stand next to her, looking not at all shocked that Kasumi had, for all intents and purposes, materialised out of thin air.

"How long has she been here?" she asked.

Rassen shrugged. "Ten minutes or so."

"You knew and you didn't say?"

"I expected she might turn up again, so I managed to sense her this time, yes."

She scowled at him. "And you didn't tell me because…"

Rassen, to his credit, thought quickly, though he wasn't quite able to hide his smile. "I was testing your awareness," he replied, turning to the thief and addressing her before Shaela could protest. "Are you all right, Kasumi?" he asked, expression giving away he too had picked up on the fact something was wrong.

The thief didn't answer at first, her gaze seeming to stare right through Rassen much like it had Shaela before finally focusing on him. "Sorry," she muttered finally. "I just needed a distraction and thought it would be a good idea to watch you two train again. Too much to think about at the moment."

Shaela felt her worry increase and glanced over at Rassen to see him looking back at her with a concerned expression she knew matched her own. Turning her attention back to Kasumi, she walked over to the other woman and crouched down so they were at the same height. "When you ran off yesterday…" Shaela took a deep breath before trying again. "I'm really sorry if we did something to upset you."

"What?" Kasumi stared back at her in surprise. "No, no. It's not something wrong with you two, it's something wrong with me. I guess… I don't know…" she trailed off, hanging her head slightly.

Shaela looked back at Rassen, now convinced beyond a shadow of a doubt that something was very wrong indeed. "Do you want to talk about it?" she asked gently. "You know Rassen and I are here for you, right?"

A ghost of a smile appeared on the thief's lips. "I know," she replied quietly. "It's just… I'm not sure how to talk about it."

Nodding slowly, Shaela straightened up before beginning to walk towards the nearest stack of crates, intending to pick one up for use as a seat. She paused mid-way as her target suddenly lifted into the air before moving over to her and slowly lowering to the ground. Giving Rassen a small smile as she noticed his outstretched hand, she sat down as he retrieved a crate of his own, joining her a moment later.

"Actually," Kasumi said suddenly, "would it be okay for me just to talk to you, Shaela?" She turned to Rassen. "No offence, big guy, but I'd feel more comfortable just discussing it with her for the moment."

Rassen tilted his head curiously but nodded, rising from his crate before returning it to its former place. As he began walking to the door, Shaela watched him as he turned to face her before mouthing Shepard's name and glancing very deliberately at Kasumi. Staring in surprise for a moment, she waved at him to signal she understood, mind racing. Did Rassen know something she didn't about why Kasumi was upset? Did he think Shepard was involved somehow? Shaking her head to clear it, the quarian returned her attention to the woman opposite her as Rassen left them alone, offering her a smile, not that she could see it.

"Are you really sure you wouldn't prefer to talk to Rassen instead?" she asked. "I mean, you've known him longer than you've known me."

"Not by much," Kasumi replied distractedly. "But I think you might understand more."

"Okay…" Shaela trailed off, now even more confused than she had been already. "Well, I'll do my best. What's wrong?"

The thief gave her a serious look but didn't say anything for a moment. "I almost kissed Shepard," she muttered finally.

"Oh," the quarian frowned. "That, um, doesn't sound that bad, Kasumi. Was he… was he not interested or something?"

"No," Kasumi shook her head. "He was definitely interested."

"So what's the problem?" Shaela asked curiously.

"I… I should probably start at the beginning," the human muttered. "How long do you think I've been a thief, Shaela?"

"I don't know," the quarian admitted, trying to ignore the discomfort she felt as she realised she was about to find out more regarding some of the more illegal parts of the other woman's past. She took a deep breath. Kasumi was a friend who needed help, which she would gladly provide. "A long time?" she said finally.

"Right. Long enough for me to find a partner."

Shaela frowned. "What does this have to do with you and Shepard?"

"I'll get to that. Anyway, his name was Keiji, and we met when we were both hired to steal the same painting. Instead of one of us taking it to our employer, though, we kept it for ourselves. From there we found we worked brilliantly together and eventually…"

Shaela swallowed heavily as the sentence hung in the air unfinished. She could feel the spectre of a terrible revelation lurking just beyond the current boundaries of the conversation. For a moment she was tempted not to finish Kasumi's sentence as though that would hold the reveal back. But after a few seconds the look in the other woman's eyes caused her to speak, mouth dry as she did so.

"You fell in love."

"We fell in love." Kasumi laughed mirthlessly and Shaela felt her heart clench. "It was stupid. We both knew it, but it still happened. For a while everything was perfect. And then…"

"And then?" Shaela prompted gently.

Kasumi's expression darkened, though the quarian could tell that thankfully it wasn't because of her. "Like I said, it was stupid. When you're a thief, luck is everything. Skill and planning are important, of course, but anything can go wrong at any moment. Keiji… he was killed by a man called Donovan Hock, who then stole his graybox."

"His what?" Shaela asked, completely unfamiliar with the term.

"Graybox. It's a device that can record someone's memories. Keiji knew something, information that would seriously undermine the Systems Alliance if it were to become widely known, and it was stored in the graybox. Naturally it was very well encrypted, but that didn't stop Hock from trying to find out what it contained."

Kasumi's voice was speeding up now, words flowing from her mouth so quickly Shaela was struggling to understand her. "I needed help to get it away from him. That was why I agreed to join Shepard. In exchange for my help, I was promised a very sizable fee and he agreed to retrieve the graybox with me."

Shaela was both metaphorically and physically on the edge of her seat now, but she reined in her curiosity as best she could. Kasumi looked fragile, almost as though she might break at any moment. She decided to remain silent as she waited for the thief to continue, allowing her to collect her thoughts before resuming her account in her own time.

"To make a long story short, Shep agreed, we got the graybox, and I killed Hock. Afterwards, though, I didn't know what to do with it. Keiji had left a message for me within it where he asked me to destroy the device. I wanted to do as he asked, but that graybox was the closest I would ever get to having him back. Shepard… he told me the choice was mine to make, but that he thought I should destroy it, that Keiji's final wish should be granted. So I did."

Kasumi wiped her eyes. "Anyway, to make an even longer story short, I kept my end of the bargain. I helped Shep and the others with the Collectors. When the Reapers came I worked on the Crucible at his suggestion instead of joining up again, since I told him I wasn't willing to dive headfirst into something of that scale." She shook her head slowly. "But I could have."

Shaela reached out, gently taking one of the other woman's hands in her own. "So why didn't you?" she asked softly.

"Because… You remember what the Reapers were capable of, right? How they levelled entire cities, devastated whole planets? The Collectors might have kept to the shadows more, Shaela, but they were scary enough in their own right."

Tears were freely running down her face now, and Shaela scooted closer before embracing the human. "It's okay," she whispered. "Everybody was terrified of the Reapers, Kasumi. There's nothing wrong with—"

"It wasn't that," the thief interrupted. "I was scared for myself, sure. More than that though, I was scared for Shepard."

She took a deep, shuddering breath before continuing. "It started slowly at first. He was always going around the Normandy talking to everyone, listening to them about their problems and trying to help them. Soon I realised he was coming to see more often than most of the others. Not long after that I realised he was visiting me more often than any of the others. We talked about all kinds of things. The various pieces I'd stolen, certain missions he'd been on, everything. I tried to keep our conversations as short as possible, keep things professional, but every time he left I still ended up looking forward to the next time he would drop by."

"Go on," Shaela whispered.

Kasumi swallowed. "It took a while until we could actually go to Bekenstein and get Keiji's graybox. Once we had dealt with that, he started visiting even more often than he had before. I could tell he was worried about me… And soon after I started worrying about him whenever he was off on a mission and I wasn't part of the ground team. Right before we hit the Collector base, I made myself a promise. I would leave as soon as the Collectors were dealt with. I would still try to help out against the Reapers when I could, but I would never join up with him again."

"Why?"

"I realised I liked him as soon as we met," the thief whispered so silently Shaela almost didn't hear her. "That on its own wasn't too bad. I just tried to ignore how I felt, spent some time with the rest of the crew. It was so soon after Keiji, but I… My feelings got stronger after the graybox had been destroyed. And that scared me. After that, I started to think that maybe it wasn't just simple attraction anymore but something else."

She shook her head slowly before continuing. "And Shepard was always right where it was most dangerous. He died once, did you know that? When he started fighting the Collectors after being gone for so long, most of the galaxy assumed either it wasn't him or his death had been faked, but he was dead, Shaela. Cerberus used more credits than anyone has ever used on one person before in terms of medical equipment to bring him back. I didn't know what I felt after Bekenstein exactly, and I still don't. So when I saw him on the Citadel while the Reapers were crushing all opposition, I just… I just couldn't go with him again."

Kasumi laughed the same hollow laugh she had earlier. "And now, months after the Reapers are gone, months after he disappeared again, I found out the batarians had him. And what did I do?" Shaela opened her mouth to reply, only for the human to answer her own question before she could.

"I dragged you and Rassen with me before even thinking about what I'd promised myself. And now here we are again. Shepard could die… and I can't watch that happen."

"So don't let it," Shaela said firmly, tightening her hold on the other woman to make sure she got her point across. "You remember how Rassen wanted me to go back to Rannoch as soon as I arrived?" She waited for Kasumi to nod before continuing. "Then you'll remember I told him there was no way I was going to let him put himself in danger without me. If you're really worried about Shepard that much, then tell him how you feel. Don't let him get himself killed."

"But what if he still—"

"Do you love him?" Shaela interrupted, voice firm but gentle. She waited as Kasumi stared at her, mouth slowly opening and closing before she finally replied.

"I-I don't know," the thief shook her head. "I just…" she trailed off, remaining silent for several seconds before she spoke again, voice nearly inaudible.

"Yes," she whispered, eyes widening slightly. "I think I… I think I do."

Shaela gave her a reassuring smile. "When Rassen and I were separated, at first a part of me wished we'd never told each other how we felt. Like that would make everything easier to bear. The more I thought about it in those first few months, though, the more I realised how wrong that was. I hated the fact he was gone, but I would have hated him being gone and not knowing if he felt the same way even more. If I'd never seen him again, him not knowing would have been something I would have regretted for the rest of my life."

She gently pulled away from the thief. "We could all die in the next few days, Kasumi, that's true. But if that does happen, what would you regret?"

A fire suddenly entered the other woman's eyes, but before she could reply the door to the cargo hold slid open to reveal Rassen, who was slightly out of breath and had a look of worry plastered to his face. His eyes met Shaela's and she could instantly tell she wouldn't like what he was about to say.

As it turned out, she was right.

"I cannot find Shepard anywhere on the ship," the Jedi Knight panted. "And I have looked everywhere."

As sweat rolled down his face in thick rivulets, Shepard was beginning to have second thoughts about what he was doing.

When Kasumi had run yesterday, he hadn't known what to do. So many possible courses of action had run through his mind. Should he go after her? Should he leave her alone? Should he ask Rassen and Shaela to check on her if she didn't want to see him? That moment was one of the handful in his life where he hadn't had any idea how to proceed. Shepard could honestly say he hated those moments.

As far as he could tell, Kasumi had wanted to get away from him, hence why she had run. As a result, after sitting there and going through the same options for almost an hour, he had decided to leave her alone. That being said, staying away from her caused worry to gnaw at him as his mind conjured up the worst theories it could for why she had run. He had lain awake in the storage room for hours—reasoning it would be better to avoid the bunkroom since she would obviously sleep there—barely getting any sleep before deciding he might as well do something productive.

Rassen and Shaela had already been up and training by that point, so he had left the ship as quietly as possible. As well as allowing him to do something useful, being outside its confines would help him think more clearly, he had reasoned. After all, fresh air often did wonders for someone's mental capacity after an extended period indoors.

Yet even something usually as mundane as thinking was proving difficult.

Venture itself was the reason. Being the closest planet to the system's star meant it was quite frankly ridiculously hot outside the ship. Indeed, the only reason it was possible for humans to survive was the planet's atmosphere, which was thicker than Earth's, and also lacked any holes in its ozone layer like those that had caused considerable concern for humanity several centuries ago. Where the oxygen he was breathing was coming from Shepard had no idea, given he hadn't seen any plants yet, but it was certainly there, thankfully.

It was for that reason Shepard chose not to wander too far from the ship. His decision to leave it had been a spur of the moment thing, and he had noticed the ridiculous temperature and nearly blinding sunlight as soon as he had lowered the vessel's ramp. It had been stupid of him not to bring any water, but he had been so desperate to get away for a moment that he had ignored his common sense. He was regretting that now, but at least he was almost done with the job he had assigned himself.

Rising from where he had just been kneeling on the ground—which was a requirement for what he was doing—Shepard counted his strides as he walked west for a few seconds, ensuring each step he took was as long as possible. Glancing back to ensure he was sufficiently far away, he knelt down again, unshouldering a heavy bag he had brought with him and gently lowering it to the ground before unzipping it.

Reaching inside, he carefully removed a proximity mine, one of the last ones he had yet to place, and buried it, doing so by first using his omni-tool to form a blade so he could cut through the green rock of the valley floor. Next he removed a large chunk of stone before placing the mine into the hole. That done, he then replaced the piece of rock and used his omni-tool's fabrication module to smooth over the area, carefully ensuring the ground looked exactly as he had found it. Finally, he noted down on his omni-tool exactly where the mine was, something he had done for all of the others so far as well.

It only took another five minutes to place the rest of the mines in a similar fashion, but by then Shepard was beginning to feel seriously unwell. As well as being soaked in sweat all over, he was trembling with exhaustion from the intense heat, and his armour seemed to have quadrupled in weight. Even so, he forced himself to walk at a brisk pace back to the ship despite the valley floor sloping upwards towards the cave that housed it. As soon as he entered the cave, the temperature became much more bearable, since it shielded him from the sunlight, though it was still rather unpleasant.

As he punched in the command for the ramp to lower, a wave of cool air washed over him, a result of the ship's still-active life support functions. Unable to prevent himself from releasing a groan of satisfaction as it struck his face, Shepard began to stagger his way up the ramp, keying in the command for it to close behind him when he reached the top. While he hadn't been able to think through what had happened with Kasumi, he had at least distracted himself for a while. Though that wasn't ideal, he had managed to avoid the churning mass of confused emotions he had been left with for a moment at least, which he supposed was a—

"John."

Too tired to jump despite being caught off-guard, he turned away from the almost closed ramp to find Kasumi standing right behind him. He was about to ask her what the matter was, only for the thief to hold out a canteen of water while remaining silent. Grabbing it from her much more desperately than he normally would have, Shepard brought it to his mouth and drank its contents in a few deep gulps, practically inhaling the flavourless liquid as though it were the most delicious drink in the galaxy. Being as thirsty as he was, it certainly felt like it could be in that moment.

Kasumi watched him as he drank, her expression giving nothing away. That only caused his worry to return with a vengeance. He hadn't meant to upset her yesterday, but he clearly had. He had thought she was leaning in as well. He hadn't imagined that had he? His thoughts were abruptly cut short as Kasumi stepped closer, leaving them only a few inches apart. Despite her much shorter height, the intensity in her eyes made it feel as though she towered over him.

"Promise me you'll survive this."

He stared at her in surprise. "Kasumi, what—"

"Promise. Me."

"I… You know I can't do that," he replied, eyes widening at the flash of anger he saw pass through the thief's own. "Is this about yesterday? I'm sorry about everything, Kasumi. I didn't mean to—"

"Do you love me?"

Kasumi's voice was a whisper now, but if anything its intensity was even greater than before as result. He swallowed, mouth dry despite the water he had just drunk. She knew, of course she did. He had tried to kiss her. There were hardly any more obvious signs than that one.

"Yes," he admitted, feeling as though he were confessing to a great crime. "I'm sorry if that upsets you. You mentioned Keiji and…" he was struggling for words now, his usual talent when it came to diplomacy eluding him just when he felt he needed it most, "I never wanted to make you uncomfortable. I know you don't feel the same way," another flash of anger passed through the amber eyes that stared at him, cutting Shepard off mid-sentence. His heart sank as Kasumi moved even closer, their bodies now touching as she looked up at him, hood doing nothing at this angle to conceal her still mostly unreadable expression.

"Promise," her voice trembled, causing his heart to sink further, "me," she finished, the intensity of her gaze causing him to feel unsteady.

Shepard took a deep breath. "I promise," he relented, feeling a small amount of relief as Kasumi nodded once. "Now about yesterday—"

The thief suddenly reached up with both arms at a blinding speed, her fingers tangling in his hair as she yanked his head down.

And kissed him.

It lasted for less than a second before Kasumi drew back, leaving Shepard staring at her in shock. "I… You…" he managed weakly, head spinning as his lips tingled and his pulse raced. "I don't…"

"I love you too, John," she whispered. "But just this once, no inspiring speeches."

Kasumi kissed him again, and this time Shepard reacted, moving his hands to her waist as he kissed her back.