With a sigh, Kaidan repositioned himself on the stiff hospital sofa bed facing Shepard. It was early morning, and the rising sun cast a bright orange glow across the room. He squinted and glanced toward the hospital bed. Shepard's eyes remained closed, and her body appeared lifeless, though the chime of machines indicated that she was among the living.
She had been like this for a week. Her brain scans showed activity, thank god, but Shepard wasn't waking up. Kaidan had been perched at her side since he found her, and he wouldn't be leaving. He wasn't going to give up on her. Shepard had proved him wrong on many occasions.
Things had been off between them after his return to Earth. Shepard had pushed him away, then pursued someone else. Then other times, since Kaidan came back from the orchard, he felt like she wanted him. He knew she was confused, and he was, too. But he wasn't backing away. Shepard was dead for 2 years, and he was able to make peace with it. Sort of. Eventually. And she forgave him for Horizon, or so he thought. So he could be patient. Kaidan had hoped to propose to her after the war, assuming they managed to live through it, even though he didn't need to put a label on the love he had for her. All of this was not what he had imagined, but they were alive, and he would wait until she told him to go.
Assuming Shepard would wake up and have the ability to speak. He shuddered recalling finding her at the cemetery. Kaidan had been caught in conversation by several attendees at the funeral, but he tried to brush them off to follow Shepard to Ashley's grave. A few minutes of small talk, and then he broke apart from the group. Scanning the hills, Shepard was nowhere to be found. He knew the general location of the grave from Ashley's service and began walking in that direction. A man stormed past him, moving frantically and gesturing toward a path. "Shepard's in the large mausoleum that way."
"Hey - ." Before Kaidan could finish, the guy was already marching away. Frowning, Kaidan set off toward the area the man had pointed at. Sure enough, he did find a mausoleum with the door closed. It was a strange place for her to be, and the other man had left him a little curious. He pushed the door open and stepped in to find a woman dressed in black leaning over Shepard on the floor. "What's going on?"
Now he could see the crimson pool on the ground. There was no response from Shepard, and the other woman didn't move or speak either. Kaidan drew his omni-blade and had a mnemonic ready.
"I said, what's going on?"
"Lost love, I'm afraid. She'll be dead shortly," the woman murmured, not moving a muscle.
Kaidan grabbed her by the shoulders and pushed her off Shepard. "What did you do to her? Who are you?" he growled.
"It's no matter." The woman closed her eyes and sealed her lips.
"Tell me!" He slammed his omni-blade into the ground near her.
"I'm not afraid to die."
Kaidan used a burst of blue-hued energy to knock her against the wall, where she lay unconscious. He hurried to bend over Shepard's prone form. Shears were cavalierly lodged in her abdomen, and there was significant blood loss judging by the growing stains. He held out his omni-tool over her, assessing the damage. She had the slightest pulse, but the glassy look of her eyes was concerning, along with the saliva foaming from the corner of her mouth. Shepard's body twitched, and her breathing sounded incredibly shallow. Kaidan peeled open an eyelid and noticed her pupil wasn't dilating. Poison. The medic software on his omni-tool chirped. Muscle relaxants. Atropine might save her, but the relaxant had been in her system for some time, and he had no medications on him.
Kaidan scooped Shepard off the floor and held her to his chest."Miranda," he called at his omni-tool. He hated to leave Shepard's attacker unattended, but all that mattered was Shepard. Kaidan exited the mausoleum and began trekking back to the memorial service as his omni-tool rang.
"Kaidan?" Miranda had picked up. Kaidan could hear voices in the background.
"Miranda! Do you have atropine on you or know where to get some now?"
"Why would I have that on me? What's going on?" Kaidan could hear her words more clearly, as if she had just stepped outside.
"Shepard… she's lost a lot of blood, and I think someone gave her something. We don't have time," Kaidan said breathlessly, repositioning Shepard in his arms.
"What? How? Let me call the paramedics. And there should be someone onsite." Miranda snapped into business mode at the drop of a pin.
"I'm headed your way."
All they needed to do was get over one last hill. As Kaidan nudged forward, moving as rapidly as possible, he looked down at Shepard. The sound of her breathing had stopped, and she was eerily still.
"Shep?" He paused. Kaidan knew she wouldn't answer. He had been going through the motions, though he knew full well that she was gone, and in the span of a minute, she had slipped away from him. His fingers grazed her neck and found no pulse beating underneath her skin. Rather than slump on the grass with her body, he readjusted her weight, getting a more secure hold. Shepard had come back from the dead before, so he wasn't going to collapse right then and there. There was hope, however distant it felt at the moment. And he wouldn't look down at her again, to see her lifeless form in the flesh. He would take her to Miranda, and then - and then - they would save her.
And saved her they had, to an extent. Atropine, a ventilator, electric shocks - the medical interventions the onsite medical team had brought her body back to life. Her heart had resumed its rhythm, and her lungs were filling with air - with the assistance of a machine - again. But she had been dead for more than ten minutes, her brain deprived of oxygen all the while.
The brain scans did show signs of activity, but until she woke up, they could only guess what damage Shepard might have. Or the amount of recovery time that may be required.
Kaidan hadn't been at her side when she recovered after London, and he had wished he was there to hold her hand. At least this time, he was present. But how much suffering would Shepard have to endure? How much more was she going to spiral? Was every past decision going to come back to haunt her?
This woman who had attacked her had come out of nowhere. And the bombing, and the shooting… it was all a puzzle. The authorities had identified the woman, Petrovsky, but she wasn't speaking in custody. They did, however, receive some intel from Lieutenant Colby. He had come forward shortly after Shepard's condition was made public. He was now possibly facing charges, though it was a tough call given the circumstances. He claimed his little sister had been kidnapped by the woman or her associates, and if he didn't help bring Shepard to them, they would kill her. Kaidan's blood began to boil thinking about how Colby had almost - possibly still - gotten Shepard killed. But if what Colby had said was true, then he could see the difficult position he had been in.
Kaidan rested his head in his hands as the gears turned in his mind. The monitors in Shepard's room continued their droll humming, a lullaby that never seemed to put him at ease.
Shepard's legs were there. That was the first thing she noticed. She was in a short white dress, with the skin from her knees down exposed. Her toes were halfway submerged in sand, and she could hear the crashing of waves and jovial steel drum music.
"How are you doing, Shepard?"
She would know that deep voice anywhere. Her head snapped up. "Oh, Garrus."
"Glad to see you haven't forgotten about me," Garrus chucked, raising a glass of a garrulously pink cocktail of some sort. "You crying about me?"
"No," she laughed, wiping away a tear. She threw herself at Garrus, pulling him into a hug. "I've missed you so much."
Over his shoulder, she noticed that they were standing at some sort of ramshackle bar on a beach. A vista of palm trees extended endlessly in the background. The bartender was faceless, and the music was pouring out from a set of musical instruments on stands in the corner, even though no one was playing them.
"I'm dead again, aren't I?" She let go of Garrus.
"We're here," he gestured at the beach.
"Uh huh, I see."
"And you can't be dead, it's your wedding day!" Garrus cheered.
Shepard glanced down at her white dress and then realized a veil was pinned to her hair as it drifted in the wind into her vision. "Alright." She turned to the bartender. "I'll have a pina colada."
As the bartender began mixing her drink, Shepard took in her surroundings. "Low attendance for a wedding. You the groom?" She cocked a brow at Garrus.
"Me? No, no," he guffawed. "For all you flirted with me after Horizon, we both knew that was a dead end." Garrus smiled. "Tali and I are very happy, despite the occasional squabble concerning interior design."
"One day, I hope to see your new digs in Rannoch. If we're both alive."
"I'm not dead. At least as far as you know."
"Okay." She frowned, taking a sip of the drink that had just been placed in front of her. Suddenly, the music switched to a wedding processional song.
"That's our cue, Shepard." Garrus held out his arm to her, and Shepard accepted it.
"The pina colada's coming with me, though."
She sipped as they walked toward the water, pausing at a spot before the sand turned wet. Garrus gently released her arm and turned to face her. "And now for the groom," he intoned.
"Ah, so you're the officiant, got it."
Shepard felt a hand on her shoulder and turned. Colby was there, dressed in a relaxed white suit. Shepard frowned, realizing in that moment that she had expected Kaidan to be there. "Colby."
The drink disappeared into thin air, and Colby took her hands in his own, smiling down at her. Garrus started to speak, but Shepard couldn't follow. Flashes of memory hit her. She remembered the moments leading up to her appearance on the beach. She wanted to rip herself from Colby's grip and run away from him. He leaned in to kiss her, and Shepard slapped him.
"Shepard!" Garrus exclaimed. Colby's hands flew to hold his injured jaw.
"No!" Shepard staggered backward across the uneven terrain, tripping and falling. Colby approached her, reaching to help her up. "It's okay, Shepard. We can be together now."
"Where's Kaidan?" Shepard asked Garrus, ignoring Colby.
"Kaidan? Why would he be here?" Garrus answered, his face blank.
"Because… because… where is he?" she demanded.
"You made your choice, Shepard." Garrus spoke to her as if he was addressing a lost child.
Shepard shook her head. "Nope. Nope. I'm done with this mind game."
She stood up, brushing sand off herself, and stalked back to the bar. Shepard turned around when she got there, expecting Colby and Garrus to be chasing her, but they were gone. The music had stopped, and the bar was empty.
Shepard's surroundings didn't disappear, however. The sun on the horizon never went down. And the minutes alone on the shore stretched on infinitely.
And then one day, it all turned to black. Shepard opened her eyes, and she stared up at blurry white lights, with only the familiar sound of beeping machines to clue her in on her new surroundings. And she knew she was alive.