Chapter 1: Alive

Though the Crucible had fired only hours before, search and rescue crews had already been deployed to London and the Citadel. Rear Admiral Hannah Shepard had volunteered to search the Citadel for survivors. She knew her daughter had fired the Crucible and she believed her daughter was still here. She refused to believe her daughter was dead, but they had been searching for a couple of hours already and all they had found was Admiral Anderson.

Pulling herself together after taking a drink of water, Hannah Shepard continued scanning for signs of life in the rubble. Suddenly her Omni-tool started beeping like crazy.

"I've got something over here!" She shouted to the rest of her team. They came running and immediately began digging through the rubble. The Biotic members of the squad moved the rubble the fastest and the most efficiently, while the others used their bare hands.

"We got dog tags. N7…it's Commander Shepard! She's alive!" Shouted Gabriel. As a medic, Gabriel was astonished that anyone could have survived such an explosion.

Hannah held back her tears of relief as she continued to use her hands to remove the rubble that semi-buried her daughter.

After the last piece was lifted off of Shepard, Gabriel moved in. He used medi-gel to stop the bleeding in her abdomen and on her legs. Scanning her with his omni-tool, he began his in-depth assessment now that he had stopped her bleeding. "She's broken her legs in several places and will require surgery to repair them, as well as trauma to her head, abdomen, and a collapsed lung. She also needs a blood transfusion. Let's move people!"

They secured her neck and carefully, yet quickly moved her to the stretcher. Within minutes they were headed to the shuttle and within a few more they were on their way back to Earth.

Hannah held her daughter's hand the entire ride to Earth. The only thought going through her head was alive.

Half an hour later they rushed her daughter into surgery. Jane Shepard, though alive, had not regained consciousness through the whole ordeal. Though she didn't believe in any G-d or organized religion, Hannah prayed for her daughter to live.

News was coming in rapidly about the fates of many soldiers and ships, but no news had come back on the Normandy. The crew was officially MIA. This worried Hannah greatly, for she knew that the crew of the Normandy had become a family and Jane would be devastated if she lost any of them. But she knew that the fate of one soldier in particular could destroy her daughter if it turned out that he had not survived. She knew about her daughter's relationship with one Major Kaidan Alenko. Her daughter had never told her about any other relationships she'd ever had. Though she knew her daughter had had many relationships, none had ever been anywhere near as serious as this one. This time Hannah prayed for the crew of the Normandy. They just had to be alive.

The Normandy had crash landed on Sur'Kesh a month ago and she was finally ready to fly. The crew was ready to head back to Earth, but none more so than Kaidan. He knew the others were worried about him. As soon as he was physically able they had held a ceremony at the memorial wall. As the highest ranking soldier onboard it was his duty to add the names to the wall, though he had allowed Joker to add EDI's name because of their relationship. The adding of Admiral Anderson's name had seen the group very somber. But when they had handed him Jane's name plate, an overwhelming feeling that this was wrong had filled him. They didn't know for sure that Shepard was dead. In fact he knew she was alive. He could feel it. The others believed him to be in denial, but she had been dead once before. At that time he knew she was dead and he had been right. Just like he knew then, he knew now.

It took them two months to reach the Sol system. "This is Major Alenko of the Normandy. Requesting permission to land."

"Welcome back Normandy! Permission to land at Vancouver HQ granted. Admiral Hackett will be waiting for you for a full debrief when you disembark. Do you need ground transport?" Asked the landing agent.

"Yes we will," replied Kaiden.

The debrief with Admiral Hackett took awhile. When it was done they sat in silence while Hackett digested everything that Kaidan had said about the final push, their escape, their time stranded on Sur'Kesh, and their travel back to Earth. Finally, Hackett spoke. "You all went above and beyond the call of duty, Major and I thank you. Now there is a bit of news that is important to share. Commander Shepard was found alive three months ago. She's undergone several surgeries. However, she remains in a coma. At first it was medically induced because of her head injury, but even when they took her of the meds she wouldn't wake-up. The doctors can't explain it because the swelling around her brain is gone, but her mother insists she's simply waiting. Waiting for you Major Alenko and her crew."

Kaidan listened intently to the news he had been waiting to hear for three months and was startled by Hackett's insight.

"How long have you known, sir?"

"Admiral Anderson and I both suspected for some time, but we were sure at her funeral and memorial service. Everyone was broken up but you looked empty inside. Bringing up fraternization charges on you would have only added insult to injury so we didn't."

"And now?"

"You're both Council Spectres, so that gives you some leeway on the fraternization laws for the Alliance. But we can always discuss this at a later date. Right now you need to inform your crew of this news and you'll want to go see her. She's at the Alliance Hospital on base."

"Thank you, sir."

To say that the crew of the Normandy was shocked and ecstatic by the news of her survival would be an understatement. They all booked it to the Hospital. Despite them all being her crew, only Kaidan was permitted entry to her room by the nurses' station and the Alliance armed guards at her door. Which was understandable considering the mob of reporters that they'd had to fight to get through at the front desk.

Seeing her lying there so still seemed wrong to him. The doctor had said her casts had been off for awhile and they were doing all they could to make sure her muscles didn't atrophy. But still, she looked so small and fragile just laying there.

Sitting in the armchair next to her bed, he took her hand in his and kissed it. Just like he had done in Apollo's what seemed like forever ago.

"I'm here Jane. I'm back. You promised me you'd be waiting for me and that I'd better show up. I kept my promise. Now you need to wake-up."

He waited what felt like hours, but in truth was only a few minutes. Finally, her eyes fluttered open.

"Kaidan…" Shepard rasped through her dry throat. After three months without using her voice it was better than nothing. Kaidan got her a glass of water and helped her sip it slowly. Then they looked deep into each other's eyes and he gave her a chaste kiss.

He pressed the call bell for her nurse so that they could get her doctor all the while thinking she's alive.