Shepard woke up with a start. She had difficulty remembering what had happened before she lost consciousness, but she was quickly reminded when she scoped out her environment. The air was thick with smoke from several fires that were scattered throughout what remained of the coffee shop. The building's sprinkler system had activated, and combined with the smoky haze, visibility was limited. Shepard could hear the screams though. Instantly, she was transported back to what she had dreamed about in the darkness. The boy running through the forest, the transport ship being shot out of the sky, leaving Ashley on Virmire, Mordin staying behind on Tuchanka, Legion's sacrifice on Rannoch, Thane's death, Kaidan nearly dying on Mars, suffocating while drifting though space, Thessia falling, meeting the Leviathan, making the choice. Shepard hadn't been plagued by the nightmares ever since she chose to destroy the Reapers. Now it all came rushing back to the surface, overwhelming her completely. Her chest felt tight and weighed down, and she started to hyperventilate. The smoky air was limiting the oxygen, and her thoughts became fuzzy. She wasn't sure if the water on her face was from the sprinklers or if she was actually crying.

"Calm down. It's going to be okay. We just need to focus on getting out of here," a raspy voice called to her.

Shepard searched for the voice, but found that even when she sat up, she wasn't able to turn around completely. Looking down at her legs, she learned why. A large chuck of concrete was resting on her left leg, pinning her down.

"Dammit," she muttered, trying to push it off. Unfortunately, the concrete didn't budge. It felt like multiple people would be required to get the stupid thing off of her. Grunting with frustration, Shepard laid back down on the ground, knowing it might give her a chance to not die of smoke inhalation. She squeezed her eyes shut and tried to erase the memories from the forefront of her mind, but she kept picturing the stars around her. Her heart was beating out of control.

Something brushed her arm, and her eyes snapped open. The face above her was covered in soot and badly burned on the side and part of the forehead.

"Colby?"

"Yeah, come on," he replied, his voice weak. Colby tested the concrete block on her leg before making a pained noise. That's when Shepard noticed the metal shard sticking out of his back.

"Fuck. Stop that," she demanded. "You know you have a piece of metal stuck in your back?"

"Really, is that what that tingling feeling was?" he joked half-heartedly.

"Come on, I can put some medi-gel on it." Shepard began digging through the debris around her, looking for the bag that had been slung across the back of her wheelchair.

"You carry medi-gel? Why am I not surprised."

"You don't carry it?"

"Not off duty."

"I tend to always find myself on duty somehow."

After finding the bag and rummaging through it, she came up with one pack of medi-gel.

"That's not going to do it," Colby said as he tried to check out his wound.

"Nope," Shepard confirmed. Once they pulled out the piece, there'd be a lot of bleeding, and one medi-gel just wasn't going to cut it. She began coughing, and Colby followed suit, bloody spittle spraying his hand.

"That's not good."

"No, it's not. We need to get out of here," Shepard got out between coughing fits.

"…sure… first responders… soon," Colby wheezed in response.

"Not fast enough." Shepard returned to her bag and whipped out her omnitool. It looked like it had been damaged in the blast. She struggled to get it to turn on. "Oh, come on."

"Dialing 911?"

"As if they aren't already on the way. This place just exploded. There we go!" With that, the omniblade extended from her tool. It was flickering, but it was there. "Take it."

"But… why?

"You know. Do it." She pointed to her leg.

"No," he coughed out, trying to retract the blade.

"Just do it!"

Colby undid his belt and pulled it tight just above where Shepard's leg disappeared under the chunk of concrete.

"Don't worry, I won't feel a…"

The blade came down, and there was a sickening sound. Though it was a clean cut, Shepard noticed that Colby had to saw a little. She wasn't looking, but she could see the tension in Colby's jaw. His face became increasingly pale and his hands shook, but the deed was done. Shepard was still conscious, and though the wound was obviously bleeding, she didn't feel like she was going to die right at that second.

"Do you want me to cauterize the wound? I could get some fire…"

"No, no, no. Don't want to kill tissue that Miranda could work with. And no time. Can you lift me? I don't really feel like asphyxiating… again."

"Okay, I'm going to try picking you up."

With that, Colby lifted her up and almost stumbled, but he carried her out to safety. Emergency personnel were arriving, and gawkers began taking photos and video of an injured Shepard once again emerging from disaster.

"Welcome home," Admiral Hackett greeted Kaidan as soon as the crew exited the jet bridge. Though they had been hesitant about landing on Earth, the Alliance had sent a scout to check them out and lead them back to the newly rebuilt base in the Vancouver area. "Haven't heard from you in over a year. We feared the worst, but a few days ago we got a message that you were slowly making your way home."

"It's good to see you, sir," Kaidan replied with a salute.

"No need for that, son." Hackett extended a hand to him and gave a warm, vigorous handshake. "Good to have you back. Now, we'll let you have a hot meal, get cleaned up, and rest, and then we'll start discussing the trek the Normandy has been on."

"That sounds good to me. Can we hear what's been going on while we were gone? How is Shepard doing?"

"We can talk about everything once you've all settled in."

"I understand, sir, but we've come a really long way, and we'd all like to know how our friends and family are doing."

"Major," Hackett sighed. "I don't know what to tell you. Miranda can probably give you a better breakdown of Shepard's condition. And I know your father was on the list of the missing, and I haven't heard any updates about that recently."

"No word from my dad… well, I'd like to call my mother when you let us have a moment. As for Shepard, I already know she's paralyzed."

"Yes, she was."

"Is she taking it well? Wait, was?"

"Was. Not anymore, from what I hear. You'll need to discuss it with Miranda, so as soon as we're done with everything here, you should stop by the hospital. Might be a little crazy, it's only been a week since the bombing and a lot of people are still there."

"What bombing?"

"Alenko, all answers in due time. I've bent the rules for the two of you plenty of times, but please let us get through this proper procedure first, and everyone can be on their way."

"Yes, sir."