I never knew

I never knew that everything was falling through

That everyone I knew was waiting on a cue

Chapter 15

After Image

April 23rd, 2187 (G-Day)

It was early morning, dawn was just about to break and most of the dew was still on the sleeping plants. But that made it all the better to start working. The heat was just too much to work for anything other than short periods of time as proven by the game the day before.

The sun was just starting to creep over the sky setting it ablaze with color ranging across the entire red and orange spectrum, stretching into the yellows and few pinks and even purple.. It really was a beautiful sight. It was also overlooking the site where Shepard would start building. And Tali wasn't allowed to see it until he and the others finished.

April 22nd (G-Day minus one)

"Wuh duh ma huh tah duh fong kwong duh wai shung" Shepard grumbled in a near cry, his head hung low. Tali had suggested that they not have any sex (much to Shepard's regret) until at least after their new home was built.

"What?" Tali asked confused. She knew he could speak a little bit of several languages and sometimes would randomly speak in one of them, most notably when he swore; a hangover from spending nearly all of his time in a multi-national organization, but the meanings of many of the phrases still eluded her.

"It's just not fair. Doc let me out late last night."

"And she said you should take it easy for a while. You've already taken it upon yourself to build our home. I don't want to put you through any undo stress."

"Tali, I'm a guy. Not being with the woman you love after months while she sleeps right beside you is one of the most tortuous things I can imagine."

"Doctor Chakwas said you needed to take it easy, and with what she said..." She paused, regaining her composure. What the doctor had told them was, disconcerting to say the least. "I just want to make sure you're okay."

"Kore wa tada kooheide wanai." He grumbled again, changing the language yet again. "Fine." He said and began stripping the mud encrusted clothes looking to put some fresh ones on. "But this is gonna come at a cost: you don't get to see the house until the final product is ready."

"That's not fair."

Shepard chuckled to himself. "I literally said the same thing."

The pair then went down for a late lunch.

April 18th (G-Day minus five)

"Hey." Isabella said sitting down next to Garrus in the Normandy's mess hall so she could see her brother and Tali (though barely) from the seat. "How's he been doing?"

"Doctor Chakwas decided to pump him with some more sedatives, so he's still out cold." Garrus replied. She could tell there was some concern in her voice but damned if he ever admitted it. What it was specifically about, she couldn't tell.

"How long has she been there?" She asked regarding Tali who was currently asleep beside him in an extra chair.

His voiced dropped to barely louder than a whisper. "Hasn't left his side yet."

"It's been nearly a week!" Her own voice quieted to almost the same tone as his.

"And she's just as dedicated as he is." That got a little chuckle from Isabella. "Something funny?"

"Only thing stubborn as a Shepard is another Shepard. Theres been studies." Garrus could hold back a laugh. He hadn't really done so for the last several days, months in fact. The last real time he had fun (before the surprise party for Shepard) was the party Shepard threw for the crew of the SR-1 and 2, past and present. "And that my scaly friend, is an immutable law of galactic badassery. I'm serious. There have been studies."

Her tone became serious again. "So how is he doing?"

"Don't know. Doctor Chakwas hasn't said a word to me."

"That's not a good sign." Isabella sighed out.

"Uuuunnnrrrgh..." Shepard groaned as he awoke on the bed in sickbay. "The hell happened?" The lights were ten-fold too bright for his tastes, though they seemed to be dimming quickly. The extreme sensitivity meant he had been out for two to three days; give or take. The question he asked was more out of habit than anything else.

The rounded purple cloth covering Tali's head to his right caught his attention. 'How long have you been there?' He wondered. Her fingers were gently intertwined with his own. She really did look so peaceful when she slept. There was a slight shine off of her faceplate from the lights.

Now the big question, well, the important one as far as he was concerned: how to get something to eat without waking her. His right hand was intertwined with Tali's so he'd need his left to get it free. His left arm though was even less usable than his right. An IV hooked up to a trio of packs, one of which had a neon green liquid that with a slight glow. Whatever it was, Shepard dare not risk a guess what it could be. The second one sat below the other two, but was easily identifiable as blood due to the shimmering red liquid in it. The third which sat next to the green unidentified liquid was a pack with a clear liquid. In all likelihood it was a saline solution.

His stomach felt like he hadn't eaten in a month. It was probable that the saline also had some sort of a nutrient compound for his blood to absorb to travel through his system since the muscles themselves didn't feel weak.

He started looking around for something, anything he could use to eat, or get free so he could eat. It took him a moment before he recognized there was someone, a pair of someones sitting down for a meal in the mess hall. He started waiving his head around to try and draw their attention without pulling on his arms.

As it turned out, it was for naught as Chakwas entered the medical bay. She probably had her omni-tool linked to his bio-signs to alert her soon as he woke up.

"I see she still hasn't left yet." The accented woman said regarding his sleeping fiancée next to him. "How are you feeling Shepard?" The register in her voice was one of actual concern as opposed to the standard doctors' greeting.

"Hungry as hell. There a buffalo I can eat around here?"

She chuckled at his shallow attempt to pass off the numbness that was starting to register in his arms. "I'll see what I can do once I run a few scans. Just need to make sure you won't throw it back up."

"Come on Doc. You've got me under a microscope and we both know it. Now do you mind telling me one, what happened to my arm." He nodded towards the now half-gray colored arm that was a combination of gainsboro and a silver-dark gray. "And two, what the hell is that green crap?"

"Ah, well the former that's a bit of a miracle you can thank EDI for. And that stuff I've been pumping through your arteries is a detox compound."

"Let's start with the detox here."

"Yes, well..." She was never speechless. Whatever it was, this had Shepard's spine tightening in worry.

"Doc, what's going on?"

"Well, when you came in I needed to sedate you. The neural sedative kept your limbs from acting about while you were under. It also put you down as you would say, 'like a log in a high-G atmosphere'." She was dodging the real question by answering another, though he did want to know what happened to half of his forearm.

Though it did look a lot better he didn't want nearly this much taken off of it. The worst part of it was there was an itch developing on his arm well back from where the flesh became metal skin. It was just PLS (Phantom Limb Syndrome) and he knew it, but that didn't stop it from wanting to scratch it.

"When we took the hand off I ran a scan of the neural-link. In all probability it had been developing for weeks but only came to a head now because of the apparent increased usage in the last few days."

"So you chopped off the damaged parts and put a replacement piece on." Shepard finished. "A nice one too. But you still haven't told me, now tell me what the hell is that nuclear moss colored sludge pumping through me?!"

He had pushed her into a corner.

"Looks like sunshine is awake." Isabella said nodding to Shepard's waving head. He looked like a goof but it was all he could get away with and she knew it.

She was just about to get up when Chakwas came out from the far side of the elevator. "Morning Major." Isabella said.

"Good morning dear." She replied back and went into the medical bay.

After the two of them talked for a minute her brother's head fell back to the pillow. What caught her attention was that he just sat there.

"What happened in there?" Garrus was wondering the same thing she was.

"I don't know." Her first instinct was to go and check on him but whatever it was he would need a moment to recover. "But we should give him a minute."

April 23rd, 2187 (G-Day)

The sun's bright rays coming over the horizon brought Shepard out of his memory.

"Time to get started." He said to himself.

Over the last few days he had thought a lot about the things he had done. Things he did wrong, how he could have fixed them in the moment. 'Hindsight is 20/20' he thought to himself as he walked down the ramp. 'All I can do now is try and make the best of it.'