A/N: I do apologize once more for the 5 1/2 month break. I'm also ceasing the opening song lyrics. The plain fact is, I'm running out of songs I know will work with the chapter. Plus I don't want to use them all up before I hit the wedding arc. In any case, please, enjoy!

Chapter 28
Late Night Talks

May 20th, 2187

Agent 22 had to report to her superior. Locating a secured line was difficult. With all the construction around, she suspected that someone forgot to lock up. After an hour of wandering she finally found somewhere she could get a signal out. It wasn't exactly secure, but it was public enough that the call would be among dozens made a day, possibly hundreds.

The early morning hours made it easier to find someplace isolated. Combining that with the half-moon in view of the cold sky, it concealed her features from anyone who saw here.

She immediately dialled one of the handful of numbers she could use in the field on an unsecured line. "This is Agent 22. I need to connect to Handler 15."

"Just a moment," the voice on the other end of the line said. As was standard, the video feed was nothing but snow. A safety precaution the organization took. As was the use of voice scramblers. "Connecting you now."

The screen gave a quick blip. It went from snow... to snow. "You're late. You were supposed to have contacted me days ago." It was just like her handler to be a complete stickler for protocol. She wondered if her handler had ever served time in the field.

"Apologizes. But there were complications."

"Explain."

"Kirby came close, but ultimately failed."

"I trust he was terminated before too much information was revealed."

"Yes. One of the Spectres, Sirilia dispatched him before he could say anything to compromising."

"Good. And Shepard? There have been some conflicting rumors."

"You should know as well I, 15, it's bad to trust rumors on your own."

"Don't jerk me around, 22. You know what we can do, can't you?"

"Lot of talk for a voice on a vid-line. Look, I have information about Shepard. Do you want it, or would you prefer I keep quiet and you spend another couple of months just to find him?"

"Very well. Relay the information."

"Shepard was put in critical condition. Kirby made a mistake; he went after Shepard by proxy. The next attempt, it needs to be directly against those around him. It looks like it's his one external weakness."

"Excellent work, 22. We'll start making preparations for another move on him. The Boss wants this done quickly." The 'Boss' was the leader of Agent 22 and Handler 15's organization. No name, no race, no gender. The information on whoever Lord was, it was held even tighter than Cerberus' Illusive Man.

"Did you not just hear what I said? He's going to ground. If we make a move on him now, he'll suspect me. I can't risk it. Besides, I think I have another way to get to Shepard."

Her handler sighed. "Okay, I'll take it up with Command 4."

"Forget going through any command groups and take it straight to our leader."

Fifteen scoffed. "You mean the boss? Why? I don't have a death wish."

It was a bit of a fair point. Anyone who was even a risk of rocking the boat had their employment terminated by a bullet during the next communication they made as proof. "I've got an encryption code that'll keep your tenure." Agent 22 uploaded her secured code. An agent only got a single code they could use. It basically meant, that their neck was on the line should anything go wrong.

"I'll right, I've got it. What about you?"

"I'll be sticking around. I think I can get close enough to get some valuable information."

"Just remember not to get too close. They're all disposable." With that, her handler closed the channel.

She gave an annoyed sigh before hanging up. "Ass," she grumbled.

Sonja was tapping her foot impatiently as the elevator on the Normandy rose from the cargo bay up to the Deck 3. She woke up in the middle of the night and decided to go for a run to get her energy out. On a cruiser or anything larger, she could have just gone down to the gym and pushed some weights around or used the treadmill there. But on a frigate that wasn't an option. If the ship was still in space her options would have been to twiddle her thumbs or watch a vid. One would have driven her insane, the other would just wake her up too much.

The cold air kept her body temperature down so she didn't build up a sweat, though she still planned to take a hot shower before returning to her bunk.

Walking past the mess hall, she caught Garrus out of her peripherals. What was he still doing up? It must have been almost six in the morning. Of course, the constant traveling between systems caused some extreme travel fatigue among the crew. She wasn't above it. And it looked like he wasn't either.

Her hand was hovering over the hologram controls to the women's restroom. "Aw, screw it," she whispered to herself. With a slight shuffle, she joined Garrus at the dining table.

"Hey there big guy. Can't sleep?"

He lifted his head off the table. "Is it that late?"

"I think you mean to say 'is it that early', but yes."

"What time is it?"

"It's around six in the morning."

"On what clock?"

"Council standard. So it's..." she checked her omni-tool date conversion unit. She knew she couldn't do the math in her head. "about three-twenty in the morning local."

Garrus' head went thunk! as it fell back down to the table. "Ooohh... jeez."

"How long have you been up?"

It took him a minute to figure out the answer to her question. "A day and a half, give or take."

"Whoa." Even for humans, staying fully conscious for 36 hours on Earth was impressive. "So, what's going on?"

"I don't know. Just can't sleep."

"When did it start?"

"Around... two weeks ago. Would have been about the same time I was assigned to go after Arjen Kirby. But it was only two or three times."

Sonja's fingers on her left hand started snapping quickly. "Oh-ho-ho... I think I know what's goin' o-on." Her voice had a sing-song beat to it.

"Um, could you tell me what it is?"

"Mmmm... no. Look I'm sorry, but I think you might need to figure this one out on your own. It won't be as big if you're told what it is." She tapped a quick beat out on the table before getting back up.

Garrus was slowly shaking his head, clearly confused. "I am so lost."

Sonja had a smirk on her face as she went into the restroom. Time for a nice shower, she thought to herself. The hot water was exactly what she needed.

When she got out twelve minutes later, Garrus was still sitting in the mess. She shook her head in disappointment. Maybe the guy would figure it out. She kinda hoped that he did. But it was his life, not hers. She could point him in a direction, but that's all she'd do.

Climbing into the top bunk on the second row, humming an old melody to herself. It was a little trick her mother had taught her. Inside of five minutes, she was asleep and dreaming.

Markus was sitting in the ship's cockpit feet up, looking at the early morning sky. It was a myriad of deep purples, blues and black with countless stars shining in the sky. There was something about looking up at a star filled sky that always made him feel a little better whenever he felt off.

"Shepard," EDI's voice broke the silence he had been... for a lack of a better word... stewing in. "Wouldn't you be more comfortable be with Tali on Deck Three?"

"I would, but I can't get comfortable. She keeps rubbing against the scars. They're still sore."

"I thought the pain medications would have counteracted any irritations."

"That's why I only bite my tongue off when they're irritated."

"That clarifies a number of questions I had."

"Oh really? How many?"

"Seventy-nine."

"Wow. That's a lot."

"All of them were on why you would choose to be up here as opposed to with Ms. Zorah. Statistically speaking, what you're doing is atypical behavior for organics."

"Gee, thanks for calling me a twisted cuckoo, EDI."

"With the total number of organics in the galaxy, the number of people who exhibit similar behavioral traits are in the millions. Strictly speaking, it is not too unusual."

"Still not making me feel any better."

"Apologies, Shepard. There is something I wish to ask you."

"What is it?"

"At what point in your relationship did you know you wanted to spend your life Tali?"

Shepard let out a heavy sigh. "That's uh, that's a tough one."

He started thinking back. "I'd say... it was some point after we took Rannoch back. When she said she wanted to stay with me." A grin was creeping up his face as he spoke, remembering the day quite fondly.

Tali walked slowly to the cliff edge as the sun slowly set. Shepard was standing with her. The reality of what they had just done was sinking in for her. She

"Shopping for another house?" He asked.

He could make her smile at the strangest things. "Beachfront property," she coyly responded.

"You had best claim it fast. It's a buyer's market." He was standing beside her now, both only a foot and a half away from the edge.

She shook her head at his bad joke and sat down, feet just off the edge. He followed her suite joining her on the rocky surface.

"Are you okay? I know working with the geth won't be particularly easy for you." She had been wanting to tell him this for a while. Now was as good of a time as any.

"I'm not staying. I want to come with you."

She saw him look down at his feet. "Didn't want to ask. Actually, that's not true. I wanted to more than anything but I... I didn't want to force you to choose."

"I think you've earned a few favors with the fleet."

"Well I'm asking them to go to join the war. Figured that makes us even."

"If they were staying away from Rannoch, sure. But they'll be here sooner or later."

"Maybe sooner. We did just kill one of them after all."

"So I'm coming with you to try and stop them. If... you think I can help."

"Are you sure you want to do this?"

"Yeah. I look at all this... this picture of hope and peace. But all I can see, is everyone I've lost. My team on Haestrom, my father. Even Legion." A brief chuckle escaped her. "I'm mourning a geth. How crazy am I?"

"Not very. He saved your life on the Collector base. And both of ours just now. It's natural."

She sighed as she stood back up. Shepard however, gave a slight groan.

"It's beautiful, though. Isn't it?" She was looking at the landscape in the distance.

Shepard though still hadn't taken his eyes off of her. "Yeah, yeah it is." He inched closer to her, almost within arms' reach.

Tali's head slunk down. "It'll be years before we can live out of our suits completely, but right now..." she took her mask off, taking a deep breath as she did so. "Right now, I have this."

He could only see the edge of her nose, from the angle, but he knew she was smiling. Despite losing a friend he owed his life to several times over, he felt happy. It hurt, yes, but seeing her look over the canyon; being able to properly take in that she was home for the first time...

Don't you ever make her cry, Markus, he thought to himself.

"Why are you asking me?"

"I am trying to calculate the probability that Joker may propose."

"EDI, don't get me wrong, you two are wonderful for each other. Really. But..."

"Do you find the idea of an organic and synthetic in a romantic relationship uncomfortable?"

"I'll admit it, I find it a bit odd. But I also seem to recall being the one to push the two of you together like a pair of negatively charged magnets before you figured it out. By the way, where is Joker? I thought he slept here."

"He's in the AI core."

"The AI co—EDI... are you two going at it right now? Because if you are and you're talking to me, that would just be... wrong. On so many levels."

"You do not need to worry, Shepard. Joker is currently sleeping and my physical body is in standby mode at the moment."

"Okay then, so what's Joker doing down there?"

"I requested that he sleep in a proper bed. Since I primarily exist within the core room, he asked, in layman's terms, if he could move in."

"Damn. Well, remember what I told you on the Citadel; no matter what happens, enjoy it. But as for specifics, I'm not exactly the best person to ask."

"Why is that?"

"Let's just say... I haven't had the best history when it comes to stable relationships. I mean, for a long time, I was against the idea of ever getting married. I just never thought it would happen. Military life, doesn't leave much room for starting a family."

"Doesn't your own family situation counter-indicate what you just said?"

"No, no not really. Sonya raised me almost as much as my own mother did. It's uh, it's something that she, my mother that is, that she always regretted with us. She was a front-line naval soldier, my father was Alliance requisitions which meant even when he came home he was usually working. It wasn't fare for her.

"For as much as I say I didn't get to have a regular childhood, Sonya's was non-existent. She missed out on middle school graduation because I was sick with Sathur Summer Flu. You ever see someone with it?"

"No, however I am aware of the symptoms of those with Sathur Summer Flu."

"As someone who spent two weeks sick with it, trust me, the description doesn't begin to compare to the hell of being sick for two weeks, skull feeling like it's two sizes too big for your skin and two sizes too small for your brain, and a general feeling that if you so much as move an inch in any direction, you'll throw everything up you've eaten in the last year and a half.

"Through it all, as much as she complained, she never once would leave me when she had an opportunity to help. After Akuze, I wanted to die. I really did. I buried myself in work, modifying omni-tools, vehicle maintenance, armor customizations, anything to avoid seeing their faces, glaring at me, accusing me of letting them die. I could barely sleep, rarely ate, and all the while pulled 18 hour days. After a week of it, not only could I barely stand, but Sonnie took me out, got me the special kind of drunk where I spill my guts."

"Funny thing is, it's been almost seven years and she still won't tell me what I said that night. As much as I'm curious, I also don't want to know. Funny isn't it? Well, I hope you don't mind, but I think I'm going to go to sleep now."

With that, Markus drifted into a deep, dreamless sleep in the chair. His feet were still up on the console, chair reclined for extra relaxation. As the sun came up, a faint smile came over Markus' face.

A/N: So there it is, the first chapter. Since the break, I've become fairly self-conscious about my writing. To that end, if you would please leave a review. Lemme know what did work, what didn't and so on.