Chapter 2: Recovery

Over the next few weeks Shepard was visited by her crew of both the SR-1 & SR-2 as well as a visit from Hackett. The most memorable of which was with Joker.

Hackett had come to her room for a full debriefing of the final push and of the firing of the Crucible. It took such a long time that they held her lunch for her. When it was over he asked just one question. "Do you think the Intelligence was lying about AI?"

"Yes and no." In response to the look he gave her she elaborated. "The synthetics from the previous cycles all rebelled against their creators. That is what lead to the creation of the Intelligence. But in our cycle the Geth only responded with violence when they were attacked first and EDI grew to care for the whole crew. She altered her programming to make herself good out of her interactions with us. Synthetics can turn out either good or bad depending on their experiences with organics. But I couldn't choose the other two options. Controlling the Reapers seemed like a lie to me; still does. Synthesis seemed impossible to accomplish altogether. So that left destroying all synthetic life. While I regret the loss of life my decision caused, I do not regret the destruction of the Reapers."

They sat in silence for some time while Hackett digested the onslaught of information.

"Well Shepard, you have my thanks as well as that of the entire galactic community. Rebuilding efforts are progressing smoothly so far. Deaths are in the millions for humans alone, but it could have been so much worse. Other casualties are in the hundreds of thousands. All in all things went much better than we feared. You did what you had to do and what no one else could have done. Thank you."

The visit with Joker was the one that she had feared the most, but turned out better than she'd hoped.

"I don't blame you, Shepard. You made the only choice that made any sense and I know it's one you wouldn't have made lightly. If there was anyway to save EDI and the Geth that would also destroy the Reapers you would have made it."

Hannah came into the room as quietly as she could and was shocked to see two people in her daughter's bed. Though she hadn't had the chance to meet him she just knew the man currently holding her daughter to his chest was none other that Major Kaidan Alenko. Not surprisingly his eyes sprang open as he sensed her presence, though her daughter stayed sleeping.

Kaidan quickly assessed their visitor and abruptly came to the conclusion, based on the resemblance, that the woman currently near the door was the mother of the woman he held in his arms. He blushed deeply at being caught in such a compromising position, though in truth they hadn't done anything inappropriate in the hospital. Other than sharing her bed, which was against hospital policy.

When it looked like he was about to vacate the bed he was currently sharing with her daughter, she stopped him with a simple, "Don't get up." Seeing him settle back down, she crossed the room and sat in the armchair next to the bed.

"I feel like I already know you, Kaidan. My daughter's told me so much about you. And I knew how special you were and are to her because my daughter has never talked to me about any of her other boyfriends."

"I feel like I already know you, too. Jane talks about you a lot and about what she remembers of her Dad."

Concerned that her daughter was sleeping so soon after lunch she asked," Why is she sleeping? Is she okay?"

"Physical Therapy was rough today. She threw up a couple of times from it so they held lunch for her. As soon as she finished eating they gave her some Tylenol with codeine for the pain in her legs. She wouldn't lay down until I promised to rest with her. Your daughter is not much for just laying around nor is she one to ask for comfort verbally, but I could tell that everything seemed to be taking a toll on her today. So I agreed as long as she let me hold her."

Affection welled up inside her for this man. She already knew he was a good man from everything her daughter had told her about him, but she now knew that he was her daughter's equal in every way. Stubborn, strong, and kind. Her daughter knew that Kaidan probably wasn't getting much rest in the armchair she currently occupied, nor was her daughter getting much rest from her entire ordeal. They had easily compromised believing that the other was only complying to help the other.

"So when are you going to make an honest woman out of my daughter?" She laughed when she saw how big his eyes had gotten at her question.

"Actually, I was waiting to ask for your blessing."

Her eyes softened at his request. "You have had my blessing for some time, Kaidan. Though if Jason, her father, were still with us you'd also have to ask for his permission. It was the one and only old fashioned thing about that man. He'd asked my father for permission. He said to Jason 'don't know what my permission's even worth. I trust my daughter to choose the right person for her and if you're at least half of the man she's told us you are then that's good enough for me. But by all means if you need my permission you have it.' We were married within a year."

They sat in quiet contemplation over how different things would be if the father of the woman they both love had survived his fight against privateers when Jane was just ten years old. He'd never got to see the incredible woman and soldier she had become.

"How was physical therapy, other then the vomiting?"

"She managed to take twelve steps before the vomiting started. Then they made her go on the bicycle for ten minutes where she vomited again. Finally they made her work with therapy bands, but by then her stomach was empty so no vomiting. Though when we got back here she demanded she be allowed to brush her teeth to get the taste out of her mouth. I think she's frustrated that she's not making more progress than she has so far."

"Well, she's only gone a couple of times since she woke-up. She can't expect to be back at almost one hundred percent after only two therapy sessions."

He chuckled at her assessment. "She once accused me of being stubborn and I couldn't help but think that that was the pot calling the kettle black." They both chuckled at his comment. Then they both grew quiet. It was only after he stayed quiet a lot longer than she thought he was going to that she realized that he had fallen back asleep.

Two more weeks passed where Shepard continued her physical therapy, making improvements on her mobility.

It was on the last day of those two weeks that Kaidan was alerted to a commotion that was happening at the front desk.

"Someone's making a big stink at the front desk looking for you Kaidan," said Liara as she was leaving Shepard's room while he was returning to it after refilling her pitcher of water.

Sighing, Kaidan handed the now full water pitcher to Liara, "Could you bring this to Shepard while I find out what's going on?" When she nodded he said, "Thanks," before turning around and heading out to check things out.

When he got there he was surprised to see a familiar back. "Mom!"

Mrs. Marina Alenko spun around mid pleading at the sound of her son's voice. She had been crying, but he could see the relief in her face when she saw him. She ran into his arms and he held her tight as she cried out her relief.

Once he had her calm enough he brought her to the seating area to let her regroup. "Oh Kaidan, I was so worried! First they come tell me your MIA, then they tell me you returned, but that you were on the base hospital. I got here as quick as I could but the bus shuttles aren't running regularly. I had to reserve a seat and I only just managed to make it on the last one today. I'm so glad you're not hurt, but what are you doing here if you're not hurt?"

Kaidan knew he needed to tell his Mom as much as possible while giving as little away as possible because the news outlets were nearby. Thankfully, his mother had addressed him by his first name only or they might have swarmed him. "Follow me," he said. As soon as they were far enough away he sat her down and squatted to be eye level with her. "I was hurt during the final push and Jane had me evacuated from the battlefield," he felt her clench his hands in distress. "When Jane fired the Crucible, the Normandy had to escape the blast and we crash landed on Sur'Kesh. It took us a month to make repairs and in that time I healed. It took us two more months to return home. But during that time Jane was found injured and they took her here to undergo several surgeries. She had broken both her legs, had trauma to her abdomin, a closed skull fracture, and a collapsed lung. She was in a medically induced coma while her head healed, but even after they reversed the meds she remained unconscious. She only woke-up after we returned. More recently, she's been doing physical therapy to try to get her walking again. I'm sorry you didn't hear from me. I tried to send you several messages, but I couldn't get through."

Marina just sat there processing everything her son had told her and if she had ever doubted the depth with which her son loved the woman she knew him to be seeing; all doubt would be cleared now with the way she could clearly tell he was distressed and relieved with this retelling of his beloveds injuries. "How is she doing?"

"Getting better everyday. I'm going to ask her to marry me," he said smiling.

"Then I can't wait to meet her."

Jane sat reading a book and was just beginning to wonder what was taking Kaidan so long when he walked in with a woman she recognized only by her resemblance to her son. Now she was nervous.

"Jane. This is my mother Marina Alenko. Mom, this is Commander Jane Shepard."

They both greeted each other simultaneously. The conversation started out awkward, but soon became more comfortable before Kaidan was called away to go meet Jane's Mom in the waiting room.

"I always worried about the girls and women that my son dated. He always liked adventurous girls. Sometimes too adventurous for my liking, but I can see that he's finally met his match. It makes me so happy."

"He makes me happy. I've never felt this deeply about anyone before."

"That makes me happy, too."

When Kaidan returned they were both laughing, probably over embarrassing stories of him growing up, like they were old friends. Smiling he entered the room.