The hot shower he took did nothing.

Saren's whole being was cold as Noveria, and he was so awake and aware, he felt he could see through the walls. Taking a drink didn't help either, and now he was pacing in front of the observation window. All he could think of was what happened at the telescope. Without a second thought he was protecting her, shielding her from that monster, and he should not have done that. Yes, Jane needed to be protected since she was the only hope in this war, but she could also take care of herself and it wasn't like he could have done much anyway. If the Normandy wouldn't have come, they would be toast now, that reaper was so close.

No, this was all bullshit, he was lying to himself.

There was a war in his mind, but he eventually processed his thoughts. He protected Jane because that was what he had to do. That was where he belonged. After he almost wrecked the galaxy three years ago, it was thanks to her that he got his sanity back. And now he had a chance to live a second life and right all the wrongs. Without indoctrination, he could now do what he would have done originally. In his own language.

Destroy the reapers and perish them in their own hell, through the war they asked for themselves. With her.

It only occurred to him now how different she was.

She seemed caring towards everyone, and she was fucking crazy as well. Everyone loved her and she was indeed very open and kind. But she fought like a maniac, and she really shone when in combat. She was violent and dangerous, but almost soft at the same time. It was a combination that he had never seen before. He slowly began to admire it.

As his thoughts raced, he found himself calming down a bit, and eventually made his way to the mess hall.

Jane dropped her datapad on her bed and buried her head in her hands. She could not concentrate on work now, all of the resource reports she needed to sign seemed an endless torture to her. They were so boring, and she hated boring. She just stared ahead for a few seconds, letting her mind wonder, and her thoughts eventually ended up at the place that urged her to bury herself in the reports in the first place. She thought of his face, his mandibles. The loneliness in his eyes that haunted her since they came back from the mission.

He protected her, even though there was no need. Like how she helped him three years ago, when it was the least expected. She didn't feel uncomfortable, but rather she wanted to see him. She stood up. She also wanted a drink.

When she exited the elevator and she entered the empty observation room, she grabbed the whiskey from behind the bar, and poured a small amount in a glass. The was no ice. Fuck. She proceeded anyways and contemplated going to the kitchen. She stood next to the window and eyed the couch that was facing the starry view. She shrugged and decided to sit down, putting her feet up on the coffee table and quickly checking behind her back.

There was no one here. She pulled out a cigarette and a little mechanic ashtray from the pockets of her captain's casuals and lit that baby up.

"Shepard. Smoking is prohibite-"

"Not again, EDI" she interrupted the AI, who gave up instantly. She could swear she heard a sigh from EDI. She ignored it and relaxed into the couch. She was blowing out the smoke and sipping her whiskey.

"Are you using your free time to blow up the ship?" A low, rumbling voice came from behind her back. The owner of the voice came closer, and settled next to her on the couch, putting his leg up on the table, like she did. He reached out his left hand, two of his talons held up into the air.

"Isn't this going to kill you? It's human made." Jane asked as she turned her head towards Saren and handed him her cigarette.

"I need more than a tiny cigarette." he said and took a puff, then gave it back to her. They sat there in silence for just a few seconds. Strangely, it wasn't awkward, it was comfortable, even though it should not have been after what happened. But both of their thoughts cleared up. Saren finally moved his jaw and the smoke escaped from his mouth and nose. It followed the curve of his plates on his nose and forehead before disappearing into the air, the grey colour of the fume blending in with his face. He looked at Jane from the corner of his eye.

"Why?" he asked, his voice as deep as darkspace.

"What why?" she chuckled, her eyes fixed on him.

"Why did you help me three years ago?" He was serious. He was thinking about this ever since he woke up, but only now, after their little staring contest on the brink of death did he only feel comfortable asking her this. There was something in her eyes at that time that brought him closer to her. Now his eyes were scanning her, as if expecting a specific answer. She looked down, gathering her thoughts.

"I wanted you on my side against the reapers" she answered honestly, but his eyes dulled in response. It was the answer he exactly expected. "But also-" she continued. His eyes were on her again, now scanning her once more, but this time with surprise in them. "I knew it wasn't the real you."

She took a sip from the whiskey.

"But you didn't even know me before that."

"I have good instincts." She smiled at him. It was the first time he really looked at her features. Her skin was pale, and her eyes shaped like almonds. Her small nose and curvy lips were soft, but there was a fire in her eyes and hair that reminded him that he was sitting next to probably the most dangerous woman in the galaxy. He couldn't help a smirk at the contrast.

"You may have good instincts, but they surely disappear when you drive the mako" he teased suddenly, and the face she reacted with was worth it. He kept his face as cold as possible to hide his amusement.

"That was uncalled for!" her eyes were beaming with offense and fun at the same time.

"Even the telescope got wrecked." he continued, a blank expression on his face, but having the time of his life internally. Jane's face went from half amused to serious in a split second, suddenly turning towards him.

"Oh my god, it did!" she said, like she only realized it now. "I wreck everything. Hackett asked me specifically not to destroy it, but I guess it was water down the drain..."

"You didn't wreck it, the reaper did." he said.

At the thought of the memory, sharp silence settled in and the light moment was gone, another taking its shared a silent glance, then she looked out the window. To put out her cigarette she reached to the ashtray on the coffee table. When she finished and drew her hand back, his hand caught hers in mid air. His now ungloved fingers slowly brushed the back of her hand, revealing a fresh cut on the surface of her skin. His talon lightly moved over it, so gently it almost tickled her. His skin was cold on her hot one, and Saren's hand was coarse and a lot bigger than hers, her small fingers disappeared in it completely. She strangely felt eased at his touch, a similar effect she felt back on the railing just a couple hours ago.

They both lingered for a second, before Saren spoke.

"Is this from today?" he asked, looking at the cut.

"Yes." she then added "It's nothing."

He stroked her hand for a faint moment. A cut like this would not hurt, he thought, and it was the smallest injury that could happen to them. Somehow, suddenly thinking of the worst thing that could happen to both of them at the end of all of this creeped him out. They looked at each other again, and they felt there was no need for words.

They fought against each other three years ago, but suffered the same fate of death and rebirth. They were the reverse of the same, the two sides of the same coin.

He released her hand slowly, then stood up and left the couch. Jane didn't say anything at first, just followed him with her eyes as he walked to the door.

"What should we tell the Council when they realize it's you?" Jane asked, turning around.

"Whatever works." he said, and the door swooshed closed behind him. His back fell to the door as he stopped for a moment to think. They were partners now, not strangers anymore.

A couple of days later Jane regretted taking Hackett's mission with the telescope, when they arrived at the Citadel and it was under attack by Cerberus. If they would have arrived a couple of hours sooner, this whole thing would have probably played out very differently.

But now here they were, roaming through C-Sec Headquarters, searching for Councilor Valern who was most likely trapped in the executor's office. Udina was definitely dirty at this point, since the timing of the attack was too perfect. Valern about to prosecute Udina, and suddenly the Citadel and the Council gets attacked? It was so transparent that Shepard could spit in Udina's face if he was here at the moment.

As they went through rooms and corridors, they finally arrived at the office, from where they noticed Valern hiding under a table. Jane brought Saren and Garrus with her this time, figuring turian strength will come in handy. And boy she was right. When an assassin appeared out of nowhere, Garrus and Saren were there in a second, but as they were trying to get the assassin to give up, someone else also appeared.

A drell came out of nowhere, and with rapid speed he attacked the guy trying to shoot Valern. Saren saw Jane's face light up as she noticed the drell. He did hear her mention some "Thane" to the crew who she was emailing with, and was in a hospital. He looked at the guy and he sure didn't seem like someone who was sick, but rather an assassin who moved quite well. As they escorted Valern - who looked like he's seen a ghost when he noticed Saren - out of the room while the two were fighting, Saren had a chance to look at the battle, and when he looked closer, the drell indeed moved like his body was heavy: he moved and reacted a bit slower than his opponent.

Just as he looked away for a second to push Valern out the door, she heard a loud thud and Jane's scream filled the room. His instincts immediately kicked in and he turned to scan around for her. She was now kneeling in front of the drell, who went down to the floor, and his blood was flooding under Jane's feet, the other assassin already running away. Saren could hear the hoarse in her voice as she fought her tears and before he could move anywhere, she was shouting:

"Saren!" she screamed so loudly and in such despair that it almost knocked the wind out of Saren. "You come with me! Garrus, stay with Thane and Valern, and get some goddamn medics here!" her tone was never as demanding as it was now.

She immediately stood up and started running in the direction the Cerberus assassin left. Saren followed her closely even though she was getting faster with every step, almost dropping her gun in haste. When they exited the building at the shuttle bay, they reached the assassin who jumped into a shuttle. Shepard without thinking ripped open another shuttle and they jumped inside. They ascended into the air and the chase started.

"Who the fuck is this?" she shouted, slamming her fist into the shuttle controls while driving, trying to get her omnitool to work. He had never seen her this upset, that drell must have been another friend, like Mordin was.

[Shepard!] came from the comms suddenly, it was Bailey from C-Sec HQ [What's going on up there?]

"There's a freaking assassin here!" the explanation came with an anger Jane could not hold back.

[He must be going after the Council] Bailey said [You must reach the Council. They are being taken to a shuttle pad on the Presidium. I'll try to raise them on the comm.] And with that, Bailey was out and she could focus on reaching that asshole who stabbed Thane.

She was furious. Saren looked at her from his seat and her face put on an expression so dark, even he was surprised by it. She was flying like a maniac still, like she was driving the mako, but this time it was a lot more controlled and aggressive. Within a couple minutes they were on the assassin's tail, so much so that their shuttle was bumping into the rear end of the enemy's car. As they were hustling in the air, the assassin finally got bored of the chase, and the shuttle doors opened mid-air.

The man moved so swiftly Saren barely had time to react. The guy jumped on their own shuttle towards the back end, and brought his sword out to thrust it into the shuttle.

"Fuck!" Shepard shouted, moving the wheel sideways to get rid of the free rider. Saren in the meanwhile wasted no time and with one move he wrecked the top of the shuttle, making way for him to climb on top of it. He was on all four, like a beast on the back of the shuttle, taking his pistol and firing it right into the asshole's face. The guy had a face he already hated, not to mention he blocked his shot with a mini kinetic barrier. That's when he put his gun away and sent his fist into battle. Jane stopped dancing on the wheel to ensure he doesn't fall down with his opponent, much appreciated that one.

And their battle started, mid-air, flying through the Presidium. Saren was firing his fist into the guys face in every second, but he was fast, dodging his attacks easily. But when they hit, they hit really hard: Saren was a lot bigger and a lot stronger than him, and it was easy to block the small assassin from reaching the engine with his sword. That was when he learned that he should stop trying to pierce the shuttle with this weapon, and try piercing Saren instead. He started wiggling the sword around in a fast pace, trying to confuse the turian with the many fast swings he's been doing. But Saren was no fool, and he got bored with this guy quite fast.

All Saren did, was move his left forearm into the way of his swinging, and the assassin's sword simply crushed into it, cutting Saren's arm with full force, right to the bone. He hissed at the pain, but thanks to his reaper skeleton, the sword got stuck in his metal bones, and the Cerberus guy's face went white. Saren used this momentarily surprise to punch him right in the face with his other hand, almost sending the assassin flying in the air. But the guy wasn't working for Cerberus for nothing: he readied his other hand while Saren was punching him, and right after he also landed a huge blow, right into the turian's chest.

That's when Jane almost stopped in mid air.

The roar she heard was devastating, and one she never heard from Saren before. The howl that escaped his throat was thunderous and husky, and as it died down, he stopped moving. Shepard started moving around on her seat, turning her head to look at what had happened, but she could see nothing. The only thing she realized was that the assassin stabbed his sword into the engine, and now they were going down in the air, right towards a building on the Presidium.

She couldn't do anything and they crashed into the side of a plaza. A fire broke out in the shuttle, and Jane climbed out of it, turning her head in search of Saren. She found him lying next to the vehicle, on his back.

"Saren!" she screamed, falling on her knees next to him. A painful groan escaped from Saren's chest as he lifted his head. "What did he do to you?" she asked in haste. Based on the fear in her voice, he must have scared her a lot.

"That motherfucker punched me with something..." he growled, sitting up. His head was spinning and an unfamiliar, deep pain rose in his chest. He looked down on his armor that had a huge whole in it in the middle. What the hell was that… he thought. He wiped his mouth and noticed drops of blue blood on his hands. What did that assassin do to him? "It's nothing, I'm fine." he eventually said.

Jane didn't say anything, she figured recommending a check with Dr. Chakwas would only anger him at the moment, so she decided to bring it up later instead. It appeared she did not notice the blood. They slowly got up and made their way to the elevator to reach the Council before the assassin does. Despite some hardships with the elevator they succeeded and managed to leave the guy behind, and meet the Councilors.

They exited the elevator and found Kaidan Alenko protecting them. Cerberus shot out the shuttle they wanted to use to escape, so they turned back towards the elevator.

"Shepard?" Kaidan's expression barely covered his surprise as he saw his former commander step out the door, weapons raised. Saren recognized the man's face from her former crew. When Kaidan noticed him, his eyes widened even further and he raised his gun higher, pointing it at Saren. "Saren Arterius?" he exhaled, clearly expecting anything, but their old enemy. He did not know what to think and that was visible on his face. The Council members looked at each other in devastation, and while they were familiar with Jane and her impossible methods, they could not wrap their head around this.

"Shepard's blocking our escape, she's with Cerberus!" Udina shouted, then added "And she's working with a traitor!"

"Shut your damn mouth Udina!" Jane said, disgust in her voice.

"Hold on!" Kaidan interrupted, taking a step back "Shepard, what's going on here?" he asked, looking at Saren, then back to her.

"You know me better than this, Kaidan.." she started, but he interrupted her:

"Yes? Then how come you have this traitor on your side? And why are you after us? I'm not even sure I know who you are anymore!"

"We don't have time for this!" she started, lowering her weapon. "You were all fooled! Udina is behind this Cerberus attack. He wants to take over, Valern confirmed it. As for Saren on my side, rest assured he's on the right side of this war this time."

"Damn right" Saren hissed, throwing a dangerous look at Kaidan.

"You don't have proof, you never do." said Udina.

"The elevator shaft is filled with Cerberus soldiers, if you open that door, you all die!" she tried to reason with them.

"How can you expect us to believe that with Saren Arterius on your side?" Kaidan added "First you're working for Cerberus, and now this?"

Udina stepped forward, talking to the Council "He's right! She's bringing our mortal enemy in front of us and expects us to believe her? This is a trap!" his voice was agitated, clearly afraid of his cover blowing up. The anger on Shepard's face was now so apparent that everyone could see it. She wanted to shoot him so badly, her hand almost started shaking from the anger.

"Shut your lying mouth!" shouted Saren suddenly. He took a step towards the Council and felt that Kaidan's crosshairs were now fixated on him. "We only have one mortal enemy, and that is the reapers, not me." he winged his pistol in passion as he spoke, his voice thunderous, startling everyone:

"Jane tried to warn you about me, you didn't listen. She tried to warn you about the reapers, you didn't listen. Collectors, I bet she did the same thing, and you still didn't listen. I was able to help Sovereign because she was held back by your disbelief. I wrecked the Citadel and almost the whole galaxy, because you wouldn't see reason! And now you're standing here, in the middle of a war you could have prepared for in time, if you would have listened! Every second you ignore her you're proving you're not only unfit for having power over anyone, but the whole galaxy! She's the only person on this freaking station who is not brain-dead, like you idiots are, and you're still pushing her away! Your stupidity hurt the galaxy more than my actions ever did… " he finished in disgust "I'm surprised she didn't already kill all of you for your ignorance."

It felt like a bomb was dropped. A silence so sharp settled onto everyone that even a heartbeat could be heard. Udina's face was white as a wall, the other Councilors frozen from embarrassment. Saren just stood there, victorious, exhaling a ragged breath. He towered above all of them, winning the diplomatic battle in a second. Jane was caught off guard, so much so that she left her combat stance. How did he catch all of this? Was he reading her mind?

No one ever stood up for her like he did just now. Ever. The words leaving Saren's mouth were everything she wanted to shout into their faces for years, and now they were out there. She felt an incredible weight lifted from her shoulders, even more satisfying than the thought of slaughtering the Council.

"I have no idea how you're alive.." Tevos broke the silence, an unfamiliar shame on her face "But you're right. We mistrusted Shepard before, and it did not serve us."

"Fuck this!" said Udina, and turned around "I'm overwriting the elevator controls!" he stepped to the console and started the process. Kaidan looked at Shepard, his weapon still drawn at both of them. Jane looked at him, a question in her eyes.

The guy was visibly conflicted. Eventually, he lowered his weapon.

"I'm going to regret this." he said, and turned around, now pointing the gun at Udina. "Step away from the console!" he demanded. And with his last decision, Udina refused. He armed himself with a pistol, pointing it at Tevos. Kaidan raised his gun in hesitation, but Jane did not think twice.

She shot Udina without a second thought.

"That is where your stupid human domination gets you." commented Saren to the now dead Udina, with an expression of disgust on his face. He sent a nod of approval towards Jane for shooting Udina, and left the scene.

And with that, the situation was resolved. Bailey arrived soon after and confirmed everything Saren and Shepard said, and informed that Cerberus took off from the station. The Council left Saren unharmed and free as they were in no position to turn help away, even if it was from the turian who almost destroyed them. They also informed them that Saren walking around the Citadel should be no problem as they gave him the same level of full clearance that Jane had. Shepard was pleased that they had come to their senses and decided that they should retire to the Normandy.