Tali had just put her mask back on when she heard the light rapping at the door to the room. Still straddling him, her eyes widened knowing that their current situation was not one that she would want anyone else to see. Shepard simply started laughing, and was thankful that they hadn't yet gone far enough to have…made a mess.

What a jerk.

Tali slapped his chest, just a little harder than "playfully" would have warranted, punctuated with an annoyed "bosh'tet" for good measure. She scooted to the side of the bed, legs dangling off the side.

"Come in, we're decent," the commander announced with more than a touch of evil mirth. Laughter was evident in his voice, and for his efforts, he received a narrow-eyed glare of disdain from Tali.

Slowly and with evident caution, the door opened to reveal the blue face of Liara followed closely by Garrus. Her face betrayed a bit of sheepishness in its own right, like she knew that she was about to be in serious trouble.

She had no idea how right she was. The dressing down was going to be epic.

Shepard immediately sat up, back rigid and his face reflecting a mix of disappointment, anger, and relief.

"Well, if it isn't the prodigal doctor. Oh, and her associate."

Good god, was he pissed.

"Shepard, look -"

He flew out of the bed - bare feet, sweat pants, t-shirt and all - taking quick and powerful strides (despite the limp in his left leg) until he stood directly in front of them.

"Liara, just where the hell have you been?" He shot a withering glance at the accompanying turian. "And Garrus, you're not getting out of this either, you dick." It had taken everything in him to keep from actually yelling at them.

From behind him, Tali called his name trying to draw his attention and to help calm him down. She was fidgeting profusely now, her nerves wreaking havoc. Whatever she had expected him to do when Liara and Garrus did finally turn up, it definitely had not been this. No, she certainly had not seen this reaction coming.

Keelah, he is furious! Why is he reacting this way? She had only a moment to mull it over. Because we're the only consistent friends that he's had. The three of us: me, Garrus, and even Liara. And he is so hurt by what he thinks is…a lack of trust? Because Liara didn't tell him what was going on, he feels betrayed? Especially after everything that he went through to help her take down the Broker, I'm betting he feels like he should have been told. And Garrus? He hadn't had the nerve to tell him either.

For a second, she tried to determine which one was worse before giving up.

They were both bosh'tets. End of conversation.

"You two know better than most how much I care about my crew, about my friends. Liara, you have the nerve to simply leave, not bothering to tell anyone what's going on? And it's been how long?"

He waited impatiently.

"Oh? I wasn't asking rhetorically."

Garrus tried to interrupt. "Shepard, maybe you should -"

He angrily waved him off. "Garrus," he growled, "I should do nothing." He faced the turian, face taut with barely-controlled rage. "And you're next, you fucker. Because I don't recall hearing anything from you, either." He looked at Liara - almost through her - and continued to seethe. "Now, how long has it been?" He had growled every syllable.

Liara looked up into his eyes, tears brimming at the corners of hers. She knew that she'd hurt him - again - that his anger was borne from a place of love. Of betrayal.

Goddess, she was the ass.

He felt a gloved three-fingered hand gently squeeze his arm.

"John…calm down, please. This isn't helping." Her velvet voice had begged him to do so.

He whirled to face Tali and started to open his mouth in an angry retort. But then he saw in her eyes all of the reasons why he loved her so much. She centered him, pulled him back together just like she was doing right now. So instead, his mouth closed and his face reddened with the embarrassment at his anger, which then replaced his fury. His own tears began to well up.

"Liara, I'm so sorry. I was just so…" He was still facing Tali as he said it, still feeling shellshocked at his own reaction.

Tali gave him a slight nod.

He turned to Liara and enveloped her in a tight hug as he let his tears flow.

"Shepard, I know. And I'm sorry I didn't tell you - or Tali - and I only told Garrus because I needed his help." She had managed to say this through her own intermittent sniffles.

They released their embrace, stepping back from each other. He turned to Garrus as a mischievous smile formed across his face. He sniffled lightly.

"And Garrus…'keep calibrating'? Really? That's the best you came up with?"

The turian shook his head, clearly relieved that he had avoided the worst of his anger. "Yeah, yeah, Shepard. I know. It seemed kind of clever at the time."

Shepard sniffed in a quiet chuckle. "Well, I don't know about clever, but it was at least kinda funny."

Liara shot the turian a look, sniffling and wiping a couple of stray tears from her eyes. "See? I told you it was stupid."

Garrus chuckled at her. "Yes, Liara. You did. But, uh, Shepard?"

"Yeah?"

"What's that human saying about throwing things at buildings?"

"Stones? Glass houses?"

The turian nodded his assent. "Yeah, Shepard. Remind her, please?"

He chuckled, shaking his head. "'Those who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones' is kinda how it goes."

"Shepard, what does that even mean?"

"Liara…basically, since you messed up by not telling any of your friends what was going on, you shouldn't give Garrus any crap for using a stupid phrase." He grinned at her. "Especially since yours is the, uh, bigger deal."

She glanced back at Garrus, who was barely stifling a laugh, then met Shepard's gaze again. "Yes…I see your point."

"So guys: what happened?"

Liara started to open her mouth, ready to spill everything, when Garrus interrupted.

"Hey, um…I was there. I'm gonna go and let you three catch up, all right?"

Tali answered him. "Garrus, stay. We've missed you, too," she said earnestly. "Stay put, I'll get some chairs."

"Yeah, Garrus. Don't think you're getting out of this so easily. So sit tight."

"Yeah, okay. Fine," he grumbled in reply.

Liara took the break to ask about the commander. "Shepard…I am sorry about everything." She clasped her hands together in front of her. "So, how are you doing? I see you're on your feet already?"

The human chuckled a little. "Yeah, I get to thank Cerberus for that, too." Liara closed her eyes tightly, remembering what she had done to get Shepard back among the living by delivering him to a group of terrorists. "Liara, don't feel badly about that. I owe a fair number of people quite a bit for the second chance - and you're right there at the front of the line. The short version is that the Illusive Man ordered Miranda to install a 'failsafe' with my implants." He saw the look of subtle confusion on her face. "Yeah, I think I'll be getting that look a lot with this story. So anyway, it was a VI that took over my consciousness, keeping me occupied while the implants tried to patch me up enough to keep me alive."

"It's why he was even alive when we got back to Earth. Keelah, if Cerberus ever did one good thing - I mean aside from resurrecting you in the first place - it was those implants they gave you." Tali's modulated voice signaled her return, and she unfolded the two chairs that she had requisitioned, allowing their friends to sit.

Garrus gave his friend an appraising look at Tali's mention of the terrorist group. "You know Shepard, for the record, I think that maybe we should have a toast to Miranda at some point, for helping to put your sorry ass back together a few years ago. Because," he eyed him up-and-down appraisingly, "I'm betting that those damn implants have a lot to do with why you were able to put on that little rage-filled display in the first place."

He laughed at the idea, before turning a little melancholic at the whole chain of events. "Yeah, I agree. I hate that I agree…but if I just pretend that it was just Miranda - the current Miranda, not the…what does Jack call her? The 'Cerberus Cheerleader Bitch'? If I just pretend it was the current version of her, it's a little easier to take." He sat on the edge of his bed, holding Tali's hand as she plopped down into the chair that Shepard would probably pay the hospital to take with him - sentimental value and all that. He ran his thumb over the back of her hand like always with his other four fingers finding their comfortable positions between her two digits, and he knew that the contentment and pleasure he felt from the touch was partly emanating from his bondmate, his saera. He was reminded then of just how lucky he was to have her.

"Well, I care deeply about the quarian people."

And one quarian in particular.

"Let me know if it's too quiet and I'll find you someplace louder."

Like our cabin.

"Shepard, are you all right?" It was Liara. "It looked like you were…elsewhere for a moment."

Beside her, Garrus laughed. He gestured toward their hands. "That'll happen sometimes with these two. They just kind of…get lost like that." He added after a moment: "Love," he let out an exaggerated sigh, "you get used to it."

"When did that start?" Liara was genuinely confused.

Tali chimed in. "Umm…probably before the Collectors. I think it started before we even finished the mission against Saren…well, it started for me then, but you know nothing happened and…" she trailed off as she realized that there were two very confused people - and one other who was very amused and completely and unreservedly in love with her - looking at her, wondering where she was going with this. The embarrassed quarian cleared her throat. "Right…you meant the 'lost in each other' part, didn't you?"

The asari regarded her friend with a warm smile, taken as she was with how adorable Tali still was, despite everything that had happened to her. "Yes Tali, that is what I meant. When he held your hand, Shepard seemed to 'lose himself' for a moment. Is that a common occurrence amongst quarians?"

Shepard squeezed Tali's hand again before answering for her. "Liara, it's not anything 'supernatural', if that's what you're asking. What happened then was pretty simple: she just reminded me of something - a memory - and I got caught up in it for a moment. Nothing more, nothing less." A smile touched his face. "Christ, it's not 'indoctrination' or anything. Although, I will say this - I can tell when Tali is happy, or annoyed, or angry…you know? Sometimes I can just feel it."

Though he still had some questions from the other night.

Garrus chimed in. "Well, yeah Shepard. When she has a shotgun pointed at you, it's probably safe to say that she's 'annoyed' or 'angry'."

After the light laughter died down, Tali chimed in.

"He's right, Garrus. It's just…John, wasn't there an old Earth show you used to like? 'Star Track' or something like that? The one with the old, bald captain?"

He laughed. "Yeah, I know which show you mean. 'Star Trek' but I won't dock you any points."

She gave him a playful shove. "You knew what I meant." She crossed her legs and began talking animatedly. "So anyway, on 'Star Trek', they had an android - keelah, if it didn't creep me out - and it described what it was like for it to remember someone, or to 'miss' someone'." She watched both Liara and Garrus scoff at the notion. "Remember, this is a 20th century Earth vid series."

Shepard thought he knew where she was going with this, but wanted to hear how she would phrase it.

"So this android described it like…as it became accustomed to certain…stimuli from certain individuals, it would become familiar to it, and it would adapt itself accordingly. It would even anticipate this stimuli. When the familiar stimuli was 'removed' either through absence or death, I suppose, then it would in effect 'miss' the stimuli. It would miss the person. I think that Shepard and I have become so familiar, and our bond works in a similar way, just more deeply and on a lot of different levels. We are familiar with each other, we can anticipate one another, and when we are…absent from each other…" Tali trailed off then, and Shepard was quite certain that she was remembering - like he was - those interminable months of separation.

"It hurts like hell, guys," Shepard finished for her.

Shepard knew that Tali hadn't gone quite as deeply as she could have, especially regarding her own more…instinctive tendencies.

"Well, that doesn't sound too different from what other species go through, Tali."

Shepard cut in again. "I know Garrus, but I'll try to explain it…like…you know how you're always boasting about how good your hearing is?"

"I'm sorry, what?"

Shepard shot him a look.

Garrus Vakarian: the First Turian Comedian.

"Anyway, so take your hearing, and ratchet it up to an 11 out of 10, but do that for almost every bit of perception that your brain can muster. And then realize that its sole focus is for the absolute love of your life, and only for her."

Tali squeezed his hand, looking over at her captain once again.

Keelah, is it possible for me to love him even more?

As for the other two? Well, Liara wasn't entirely convinced, but Garrus had seen enough of them firsthand, and Shepard's explanation had actually made some sense to him.

The commander clapped his hands together, signifying a change in topic. "Right, so enough about us. You never answered my question: what happened?"

Liara rubbed her forehead. "Oh Shepard, where do I start?" She looked away for a moment, apparently to gather her thoughts. "I suppose I'll start right after we brought you back here. They…told us that you would be in surgery for…for days. And, well, I thought that I could take the time to…tie up some loose ends. As the Broker, you see."

John's eyes widened slightly. He hadn't really given much thought to what Liara would do after the war in regards to being the Broker. He had assumed that she would just keep going; to him she seemed to be completely in her element.

"What do you mean by 'tie up loose ends', Liara? That sounds like you were done being the Broker?"

She frowned. "Yes, Shepard. I'd had enough. The war was…draining on me. I had once told you that after the war, I would have nine centuries to rest. Well, I'd like to get started on that."

Shepard chuckled.

"Keelah, Liara. You didn't waste any time."

She smiled at her quarian friend. "No, Tali. I did not. The sooner I could shrug off the weight, the better."

"Well, if there's one thing I totally understand, it's wanting to relieve some of that pressure." Shepard gave her a knowing smile. He definitely understood what it was like to try to get relief from shouldering the weight of the world.

Or the galaxy.

Whatever.

"So…are you going to tell us this story or not?"

Liara actually smirked at his impatience. "So Feron - you remember him, right? - and I agreed that he would take up the mantle as the Shadow Broker…"

Illium had fared much better than the place should have, all things considered. Since the Reaper invasion came very late to Asari space, they had the most time to prepare. Unlike the disparate governments found on Thessia that had hampered preparations, the conglomerates and corporations that held sway on the planet agreed on a vested interest to protect the planet through cooperation. Since they weren't beholden to the Citadel and its decisions, the planet's authorities were able to act far more quickly than many other governments. As a result, relatively speaking, Nos Astra was spared the destruction that many of its counterparts on other planets had received.

Which made Garrus Vakarian's job much easier.

After leaving Earth, he had indeed traveled to Palaven to meet with Primarch Victus. While they had discussed various plans and objectives for reconstruction on the planet, they both knew that Garrus' talents also ranged well outside the scope of a post-war galaxy. So they had chatted amicably as Garrus had promised that he would be back to help rebuild in due time, but he had "personal matters" to attend to first.

"You mean with Commander Shepard?"

His eyes had lowered for a moment before meeting Victus' gaze. "No Primarch, but this is just as important. I have a friend and she's asked for help. I need to get to Illium."

Victus had snorted in surprise. "Spirits, Garrus. What's on Illium?"

"My friend, Victus. Let's just leave it at that."

"Hmmm." The primarch did not press him further. "What do you need from me?"

Garrus had needed a ship, and the primarch was more than happy to provide him with one. The small, salarian-designed vessel - the Malinor - was a simple three to four person craft designed for speed and long-range travel. Perfect for his purposes, as it turned out.

As for Nos Astra, while a good portion of the great city had been heavily damaged, there was still much that remained.

Including taverns.

It was in one such tavern called The Winged Spirits that Garrus found himself presently, waiting on Liara T'soni to appear as she had requested. Sipping his turian brandy gingerly, he watched as the other patrons milling about tried to relax. Which, to be fair, was a much easier proposition due to recent events.

The lack of Reapers and impending doom being chief among them.

"Mmmm…you're welcome." He murmured to himself, idly watching the liquor swirl in his glass.

"Well thank you then, Garrus. Though I'm not sure what for."

He raised his gaze to find the source of the voice, and watched her sit down.

"Well, Liara. Hello."

The asari regarded him and his drink for a moment, without expression. "Hello Garrus. How are you?"

"I should probably be asking you that question." He swallowed the remainder of his brandy in one great gulp. "So what is going on? Why all the secrecy?"

She sighed and pulled up her omnitool. With a few swift and nimble taps, there was a quick electronic hum coinciding with a flash of light that sparked around them. Just as quickly, it passed, leaving in its wake a complete lack of background noise. Garrus looked around and found the tavern itself was shrouded in a subtle opacity.

"That's a neat trick. Soundproof?"

"Yes, it provides some visual protection as well. It is one of my many 'tricks'. It also shorts out any surveillance devices within its range."

"That's some good tech. Where'd you come across it?"

Liara gave him a knowing smirk. "Tali is not the only quarian tech expert I know."

He had forgotten the depth and breadth of connections that Liara would have had.

"Now Garrus, as I'm sure you might have guessed by now, I no longer wish to be the Shadow Broker."

A small chuckle escaped him. He hadn't actually guessed it. He had thought about it but was still undecided. Not anymore.

He got this intel straight from the source.

"Okay, Liara. So, who did you have in mind?"

"Feron."

Garrus simply nodded his head. No surprise there, after all. He knew that she and the drell had known each other for a couple of years, and that he had been instrumental in securing their mutual friend's body to hand over to Cerberus.

"Makes sense." He eyed his empty glass, wishing he had just a bit more. "Is he trustworthy?"

Without missing a beat, she answered him with a simple "yes".

It would have to do.

"Hmm. Okay, so why exactly am I here?"

Liara did not even flinch. "Because he is in danger. Our secrecy has been compromised."

He found that hard to believe. "Come on, Liara. You're the Broker. You don't get 'compromised'."

She looked at him with real anger. "Garrus, do you think that I am infallible? That the 'Shadow Broker' is some mythical creature? Or some spirit, passing undetected? Damn it, we just fought the war. It wasn't just military supply lines and patience that were stretched thin." Her voice had steadily returned to its usual softness. "I lost a lot of good agents, and finding good replacements was difficult. The list of trustworthy people grew shorter by the hour. In short, I had to settle." She folded her hands on the table, piercing his eyes with hers. "I had to make compromises, ergo, being 'compromised' was almost inevitable."

The turian was embarrassed by his naivete. Of course she wasn't infallible. Had the previous Broker not been tracked down himself? Under far less dire circumstances?

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to imply that you were…well, I didn't mean to insult you." To his surprise, she placed her hand over his and gave him a small smile of her own.

"It is all right. But may we return to the task at hand?"

"Yes of course. So what do you know?"

"Despite all of our losses, it would seem that the Blue Suns were not so decimated to not be a problem." Garrus shook his head in disbelief. "And they're being led, at least in this venture, by an old friend of yours."

"Not Sidonis?" He asked this unbelievably.

She shook her head. "No, he actually had…what's that expression? 'Turned over a new leaf'? Regardless, it does not matter. He is dead."

He let out a huff of sadness. Shepard had convinced him to let the bastard turian live; much to his chagrin. Turns out he had been correct – at least on that front.

"So who could it…?" Realization dawned on him. "Not Harkin. Is it?"

"The one and only."

"But how did…? C-Sec had him under arrest. He was sentenced. What the hell happened?"

"It turns out that during a galactic war against extinction, relatively petty crimes like 'forgery' and 'racketeering' are easily forgiven. So they released him on the condition of his assistance. Apparently, he managed to evade the Reapers as well as…permanent justice."

"Well, that's not surprising I suppose. So what's the current situation?"

Liara cast a couple of sidelong glances, primarily out of habit. "Feron is located in a safe house near here, on the outskirts of the city." She began to drum her fingers. It was something that Garrus could not recall her doing before. "It is likely that Harkin is waiting for my move. With the damage from the war, security is not as tight as it once was. There are gaps to exploit, holes in the walls. Places where rats may remain hidden. He will know this, as will the Suns."

"Hmm."

"'Hmm' is right. What weapons did you bring? Is your ship armed? I checked its registry when it arrived, I wouldn't think that it does. But you turians are known for putting weapons on everything."

Her friend was taken aback by a fair number of things. Chief among them was Liara's behavior, specifically her mannerisms. Here, as the Broker, she spoke efficiently, with precision and a quiet confidence. It appeared to him that her mind was light years ahead of the present.

"To answer your questions, first I still have my modified Javelin – I love that damn thing – and the turian-built Phaeston. As for the Malinor? It's actually light in that department. Just a couple of pulse cannons, but she's very fast and maneuverable." He pointed a finger at her. "Remember, it's actually a salarian craft."

"Yes, that's right. Still, I'd hoped for some modifications."

"What about your ship? What did Ashley say it was…? 'The Silent Veil' or something like that."

It looked to Garrus like she'd wanted to roll her eyes, but managed to avoid doing so. "It is reasonably equipped, but it is too dangerous for us to take." She held up a hand to interrupt whatever question he was going to ask. "It has all my equipment on it. It is too dangerous."

He nodded in understanding.

"Okay. So what's our move?"

—

After they had parted, Garrus decided to pick up whatever ammunition he could find. Considering that it was just the end of the war, and it would be quite some time before supply chains were fully operational once again, he was not overly choosy.

He had found a room at a not-quite-as-seedy-as-it-looked hotel on the outskirts of the great city. As he had walked through Nos Astra, he did so with an appraising eye. Yes, Illium had not been conquered by the Reapers before Shepard had ended them, but it did not mean that they had escaped without loss. The acrid smell of burning – everything from metal and fuel to Spirits-knew what else – accosted him. Outwardly he could shrug it off, but inside?

It was a different story. Garrus hadn't had nearly as harrowing an experience as Shepard had had, but as far as wing men went? It wasn't a picnic for him either. The turian wondered just how much of watching his friends die – or nearly die – he could take before he finally just gave in. He was not so deluded as to think that he and the merry band of misfits to whom he belonged were the only ones who had suffered during this damn war, but he did know that no one deserved to have suffered as they had. Which brought him back to his current point of contention.

Harkin. Fade.

The fucker.

Garrus was not as big a fan of human curse words and insults as Tali had been. He remembered that she had told him that she wanted to "diversify her portfolio", whatever that meant. He just knew that when she'd said it, both she and Shepard had damn near fallen apart in laughter. He smiled at the thought of his dear friends and hoped that they were making progress. If anyone could help Shepard with whatever it was that he'd been hiding – and Spirits knew that whatever it was, it was painful as hell – it was Tali. Yes, she would bring him back in a way that might be just as important as what Cerberus had done.

As for that fucker Harkin?

Of course, he would be the one guy that managed to survive all of this shit. That he was released only reinforced the turian's idea that C-Sec had been useless – war or not. He would be "dead" if Garrus had anything further to say on the matter. And unlike Shepard, he would ensure that he stayed that way. There would be no questions.

"Should've killed him when I had the chance," he muttered as he watched Liara lower the sky car to meet him. "I won't make the same mistake twice."

"Get in."

It was the only thing Liara said to him, and everything in her tone indicated that something had changed.

—

Goddess, that had fallen apart quickly. Liara had thought that they'd have more time; that Harkin would not have discovered Feron's location so quickly. She had expected that he would have waited for her to direct him right to her friend. Somehow, he had been tipped off.

She'd gotten a message from Feron that there were mercs outside, and that he'd taken precautions but could not hold out for long. He had even said that he thought that there was an Atlas mech.

Damn it.

She and Garrus would have to move quickly. They had gone over the layout of the safehouse the previous evening, and it had been chosen because its layout would likely force a bottleneck at the main point of entry. But there was a problem: she and Feron had not accounted for an Atlas mech.

Damn it. Again.

While her mind could process and analyze information at an incredible pace, she was decidedly not a battlefield tactician – that had always been something that she relied on people like Shepard for. She did not have Shepard, but she had, in her estimation, the next best thing.

She found Garrus at their pick-up point, opening the door for him.

"Get in."

He was certain that things had gone sideways already. "I take it something's changed?"

"Yes," she started as the car took off into the air, "Harkin found the safehouse. Feron is okay for now but won't be for long." She cast a brief glance at him. "They have an Atlas."

"Damn it." Immediately he wished that he could have somehow procured a Cain. "Do you have any heavy weapons?" It was a dumb question, and he wasn't at all surprised when Liara told him no.

"Liara, forgive me if this sounds stupid: what exactly do they need Feron for? I mean aren't you still technically the Broker?"

Turns out it was actually a pretty good question.

"They need him because he already has the access codes. It's randomly generated, so that I don't even have them. That way no one could get everything by having just one of us. I have the information, but he has the key. When I was on the Normandy during the war, it was not a concern. But transitioning this way? With all the information tied down in one area? No, it was safer this way."

Garrus thought on this for a moment. "So they can't kill him."

"No, they cannot. They need him. And if I refuse to play along now, and simply destroy everything, they will kill him." She paused to glance at him. "I will not let that happen."

That made sense, he figured. While Liara could often seem cold and calculating, she was still inherently good.

"Okay, and neither will I if I can help it. But you have to know that this is a trap, right?"

"Oh yes, Garrus. Of that I am well-aware."

—

They had ditched the car almost a kilometer from the safehouse, hoping to disguise their presence by not showing up in an air car. Garrus inspected the terrain as they approached the building, and there was some useful cover from elevation. It wasn't tremendously high up, but this was Archangel – he didn't need it to be. They scoped out the situation from distance, and sure enough: mercs and one bigass mech.

"Garrus, what do you think?"

He grunted. "Well, I prefer to take the easy targets first – leaves the fewest variables on the field."

Liara nodded. "Okay, so what do you want from me?"

"We'll keep our distance for now. Let me drop the mercs to grab their attention."

She nodded.

Garrus pulled out the Javelin and went to work. After a few precision shots – head explosions and all that – the other mercs turned their attention to them.

Which is exactly what they wanted, because now Liara could get involved as they got closer.

The two well-practiced teammates fell into a rhythm - Liara would ramp up her biotics, stunning or lifting them as they got in range. Otherwise, she was content to pop out from behind cover and spray them with bullets from her submachine gun.

Their smooth rhythm was abruptly interrupted when Garrus yelled out a warning.

"Liara, get down! Rockets!"

Indeed, at least two of the mercs were carrying rocket launchers. Which seemed odd, considering the war that was just fought should have made such armaments rather scarce. Neither of them had time to contemplate this. For now, the Atlas remained trained on the building itself, its operator perhaps thinking that they were running a diversionary tactic to allow Feron an escape route. After the missiles passed overhead, Liara came alive once they got in range. Seeing the blue energy crackle around her fists, Garrus was once again reminded why he never wanted to get in a fight with a biotic; certainly not one as eminently powerful as Liara. He couldn't see the look on her face, but he knew what it would be.

Terrible; that's what.

And the mercs were finding this out firsthand.

While Liara lifted the mercs helplessly into the air, Garrus continued to pick them off from behind their cover, occasionally crouching down to avoid an errant rocket.

With a grunt, Liara swept the men with the rocket launchers up as well, at a range that Garrus did not think possible. But again, this was Liara, and she clearly was not fucking around.

It occurred then to the sniper formerly known as Archangel that it was quite possible that the Blue Suns, or Harkin in particular, had also come across "supply chain issues" of their own. Clearly, these were not the best that they had seen from the Suns.

Not that either of them gave a shit.

As the last merc that they could see fell lifelessly to the ground, a booming voice was heard.

"Well, well, well. Ms. T'Soni I expected, but to have the Garrus Vakarian here as well? My luck couldn't be better." The Atlas mech, now confirmed to contain Harkin, or Fade, or whatever the fuck he called himself these days, turned to face them, guns raised. "Two for the price of one. My lucky day."

"You know Liara," Garrus said, clearly annoyed, "I try not to hate people. Really, I don't. But this guy? Yeah. Totally hate."

"Oh yes, Garrus. I agree." She managed a small smile. "You know, I could go for a Mako right about now. Even with Shepard at the wheel."

"Well, we don't have a Mako. Any ideas?"

She smirked. "I have one, yes."

The Atlas began to open fire, sending a barrage of bullets their way. Both ducked down much lower to the ground this time, as the Atlas's firepower was such that it was chipping away at the tops of the small boulders that they hid behind. Liara let out a yelp as one of the rounds struck her biotic-enhanced shields.

"Damn it. Liara, are you okay?"

"Yes, Garrus. My shields are holding, but that's going to leave a mark."

He ket out a relieved breath. "Okay. So, do I even want to know what this idea of yours is?"

A soft chuckle. "You'll see soon enough." She was tapping a few keys on her omnitool. "Just be ready with the Javelin. And you can aim for his head. But don't miss, because this is probably a one-shot, and our shields will likely drop dangerously low. I haven't tried it from this distance."

For a moment, he couldn't look away from her. Shaking his head to recollect himself, he loaded the armor-piercing rounds (as opposed to the phasic ammo that he had primarily used to bypass the shields of the ground troops), since it sounded like whatever Liara was about to do would take the shields out completely.

"Oh come on, Vakarian! I'm just one guy! What are you gonna do without that bastard Shepard around?"

Even Liara let out a growl. He had insulted the only friend that she had ever allowed in, the only one that she had allowed to know her; truly know her.

"I'm going to do this, you fuck."

Garrus didn't even have time to look at her with the shocked look on his face as she uttered the most vaunted of human curses.

Instead, a humming noise emanated from the safehouse itself, culminating in a high-pitch screech that eventually became a brilliant flash of light. Sure enough, their shields had dropped dangerously low. But the Atlas? And Harkin? His shields were completely gone, and judging by the string of profanity, it sounded like its generator was fried as well. Ignoring his shields, Garrus let him have it. Shot after shot rang out, including the hail of smaller caliber bullets from Liara's M-25 Hornet (the "Cerberus Special" as Shepard had referred to it) pierced the armor at its joints, then began to inflict heavier damage, crippling the mech. Finally, with the third shot from the Javelin, Garrus finally pierced the reinforced glass that protected the cockpit and Harkin.

A scream rang out as the Atlas itself faltered and crumpled to the ground.

The two friends came out of cover and ran toward the disabled mech, Liara with biotics at the ready and Garrus switching to the Phaeston. As they approached, they could hear Harkin babbling some desperate plea for mercy as he sat restrained with a steadily growing pool of blood forming from the hole left in his shattered leg.

Neither listened.

Garrus spoke first when they came upon him. "Harkin. I certainly hope that you didn't have the best of the Blue Suns at your disposal because that was pathe-"

Liara saw what was happening before Garrus did and immediately raised a biotic barrier around them, deflecting the shot. Using biotics again, Liara yanked the pistol from his hand. From the scream he made, it sounded like the force of her pull broke his hand. Liara found it to be a…satisfying sound. He raised his hands in one final plea for mercy, his right hand hanging limply.

"Fuck." It was all Harkin managed before Garrus leveled the assault rifle, and filled him with heavy metal.

Afterward, they had secured the area, making sure to add a well-placed round into the two mercs left alive. Under normal circumstances, Liara would have felt badly about this; today was not that day. That done, they entered the safe house, finding Feron standing against the back wall in the basement of the building. He shook his head in disbelief.

"Liara, I knew you had friends, but Archangel?" He looked at Garrus. "Or have you dropped the moniker?"

The turian chuckled lightly, extending his hand. "It's just 'Garrus' these days."

"Feron, our car is nearby, and all of the equipment is stowed securely on The Silent Veil. It is your ship now." Without missing a beat or waiting for an answer, she asked Garrus, "Mind if I tag along back to Earth?"

"Not at all, Liara. After all, what are friends for?"

"And that was that."

Garrus piped up. "At least Harkin is finally done. Permanently."

"As for Feron? Well, he was my top agent, and I…trust his judgment and…ethics. I do not believe that he will betray that trust." She heard Garrus huff behind her. "And I did not just 'hand it over' to him. I have a contingency plan in place should he become compromised."

Shepard raised an eyebrow in curiosity. "Do I even want to know?"

"My guess would be 'no', Shepard," Garrus piped up from behind her.

The asari chuckled. "He is right; but let's just say that I have the matter well in hand."

"Okay, I trust you on this one, Liara. I can't say I'm a fan, but I'll defer to your judgment." His expression softened a little. "But why did Ashley tell me that you were 'rude'?"

Liara bristled at that comment. "Oh, she told you about that? I'll have to remember to apologize to her. Shepard, I was so anxious to get it over with that I was probably very…short with Ashley. It was her ship, and it was her right to ask me questions, and -"

Something didn't sit right with the human admiral. "Liara. She's your friend. You could have told her. As a Spectre, she might have even been able to help."

Tali slapped at his hand. "John, stop it. You weren't there. And let's not forget how you recently reacted to some friends of yours."

He gave her a pouting look as Garrus laughed from his chair.

"No, Tali. He is right. I was rude, and she did not deserve it. I was in a rush to be done with it, and clearly, the longer Feron waited on Illium, the more dangerous the situation would become."

"That's what friends do, Liara. We're there for each other."

"I know Tali, it's just…I too easily forget that."

It struck Shepard then just how vulnerable Liara really had been. Behind her veneer of aloofness and stoicism sat a woman that was bound by a detached loneliness. She was a woman who had repeatedly refused to let most people in, and when she did let others in, it was only in fits and spurts. He remembered when Thessia fell, and both Garrus and Tali had asked him to talk to her. They had each felt like their words would not be sufficient. It dawned on him that he might have been the only person that she truly considered to be her friend.

"Liara, I'm sorry that I wasn't there to help you."

His words hung in the air, with none of the other three really believing that he had uttered them. This man, who had sacrificed so much for all of them, his friends, was apologizing for not being able to help her.

She placed a hand on his knee, eyeing Tali in case she gave a hint that she had overstepped a boundary. Tali had to stop her instinct, but in the end she was able to let it go.

"Shepard, do not ever apologize to me for that. You know how we all feel about you - you are the bravest and kindest person that any of us know. Besides, I know that if you were able, you would have helped. Both of you would have, had I asked."

"That's right, Liara. And we…we're not just friends, are we?" Tali looked around at all of them. First at Garrus, who regarded her with a warmth veiled underneath a slightly mischievous grin, then at Liara, whose soft and wide eyes always seemed to convey curiosity, then she finally found John's eyes. His brilliant blues eyes had captured her so early on, and in which she found so much reassurance and comfort now. She loved him so much. But she realized something else: she loved them all. She loved them in a way that she suspected families would. While John had captured her heart, and she loved him in a truly unique and special way, she found that she loved Garrus in her own way, and Liara in her own way. Tali felt tears beginning to well up in her. She had no quarian family left, but here in this room sat all the family that she would ever need. "No…we're not just friends. I think…I think we're family now. We've been through so much together, and had each other's backs, and listened to each other, and laughed and cried together. I'm just…I am so glad that we all met. I…just…" Tali looked helplessly at all of them - from Garrus, to Liara, to John and back again. Words failed her, yet none would have done her feelings justice anyway.

Garrus got up first, standing beside his quarian friend, whom he considered to be his sister. John wrapped his own arm around her shoulder. Liara joined them, her arms on John's and Garrus' shoulders while she leaned her head against Tali's mask. They stayed that way in comfortable silence for a time, encased as they all were in their love for one another.

It had been quite a day, Tali realized, and it was only mid-afternoon. John had left them for physical therapy, leaving the three of them to their own devices. Tali had suggested that they go outside, take a walk, take in the sights of a city being rebuilt. It was a proposition that both Garrus and Liara had found to be delightful. After their misadventures on Illium, it would be a nice change of pace to just walk and relax. The light snow that remained on the ground crunched beneath their footfalls.

"It's amazing, isn't it?"

Liara was marveling at the activity around her. It was all around them, people of all species - human, turian, asari, krogan, salarians, Liara even thought she saw a few volus about - were all pitching in, working together to rebuild. She knew that the scene was being played out on countless worlds around the galaxy. Buildings were being remade, roads repaved, and lives reclaimed. It gave her a hope that she had spent far too long denying herself.

"Hmm. Yes, it is. It was like this on Palaven, too. And not just that things were being rebuilt, but also who was rebuilding them." Garrus looked around once more, also noting the variety of species pitching in. "I don't think it'll be long before Thessia looks just as hopeful." He cast a sympathetic look at their asari friend. She had been absolutely devastated at the utter destruction of her homeworld at the hands of the Reapers. The fact that it came directly on the heels of revelations that everything that she had been taught that was true about her species, about Asari civilization, had been a lie had only made matters that much worse.

"It makes me wonder why we couldn't have done this sooner." Tali's voice betrayed a hint of melancholy and regret. It reminded her of when John had died and she was left with the nagging, acidic flavor of the words that were left unsaid. "Although, I guess better late than never."

"You're right, as usual Tali." Liara lightly squeezed her shoulder. "At least we're working together for once."

They stood now along the banks of the river Thames, looking west and watching the sun move steadily toward the horizon.

Tali uncomfortably interrupted their contemplative silence.

"So guys, I have a…question. Well, more like a favor. And…I'll understand if you can't, or…um, won't, because keelah, there's enough to do and you two have your own obligations and…" Her voice trailed off as she felt Garrus' hand on her shoulder. She let out a small giggle. "I was doing it again, wasn't I?"

"Yeah, you were. But it's just what makes you so endearing," he teased lightly. If he could have pinched her cheeks, he would have.

And he probably would have needed to hope that his shields could take a point-blank shotgun blast.

"I have to agree with Garrus on this. It is…cute." Liara flashed her own grin.

"Hmmph. Bosh'tets, both of you!" Tali playfully slapped his hand away. "But I do have a favor to ask."

"As long as it doesn't involve Reapers, I'm in."

"Me too, Tali."

"I mean, I would underst- oh. You're in? Okay, um, wow. That's good, yeah…" she stammered, her brain not yet fully catching up to what they had told her. "So…the other admirals want me to get on board one of the Geth ships here."

There was an uneasy silence.

"Um…there are no Reapers involved?" Tali nervously ended the statement as a question, as she began to wring her hands.

"May I ask why, Tali?"

"Sure, Liara. This is my mission, and I give out info as I see fit." Garrus noted that she sounded like she was trying to convince herself. He knew that she hadn't wanted any part of being an admiral, but her father had been who he had been, and Tali was his famous hero of a daughter. He knew she didn't care for the position, but like in everything she did, she tried to do good with it. Like Shepard would have done. "Right when the Crucible…or Citadel…or whatever let out the energy wave that killed the Reapers and the Geth, the Geth in this system sent a signal to Rannoch - to the Geth there. Those Geth then initiated a massive information dump into the computer systems on Rannoch. Well, at least they tried to. And…we can't figure out what that data was, primarily because it also looks like the Pulse crippled Rannoch's networks as well. I'm hoping that the data is still available here, since they can't really examine it there."

Liara, ever inquisitive, asked first. "Do you think it's because the Geth lived there? That the networks were set up by the Geth?"

"That's certainly possible, considering what the Pulse did to them. But without being there, I can't tell for certain."

Garrus chimed in. "There's more to it, isn't there? I met some of the admirals, and I know politicians when I see them. What's their real angle, do you think?"

A sigh escaped her. "I don't know, Garrus. Both Xen and Gerrel were always keen to go to war - Gerrel more so, Xen just liked the tech - but they both have said that they didn't trust the Geth on Rannoch."

"Well, Tali, it was a 300-year war. I can hardly blame them."

"I get that Liara, and maybe I'm biased because of Legion, but I just…it didn't feel right. And the amount of data just hanging out there…and even the timing of it was..." Tali sighed again as she tried and failed to put into words what exactly she thought of the situation. "Keelah, there's just a lot we don't know." She paused, and her hands started to go at their usual pace. "So, um, are you guys still in?"

"I assume that Shepard won't be joining us?"

She shook her head. "No, not in his shape. He probably could if I let him though. I just won't chance it. I mean, there's almost certainly nothing to be afraid of, or dangerous, but I couldn't risk it. Not after…"

Garrus and Liara looked at each other knowingly.

Of course they were in.

"Tali, of course Garrus and I will help you. And you don't need to explain that to us, okay?"

Tali let out a sigh of relief, her shoulders releasing a lot of tension. "Thank you, guys."

Garrus gave her that singular turian grin of his. "No need to thank us, Tali. It'll be fun. And imagine - a mission with us, and no Shepard. He's gonna be so jealous."

This elicited light laughter from the other two, before Tali asked the next embarrassing question.

"Oh, and um…one more thing. Did you guys bring your ship?"