Hey there everyone! Hope you're excited for a new chapter, and I think I actually rolled this one out in a decent amount of time. Just a small heads up: I have a job this summer that will take me to the interior of Alaska and, sadly, away from the wonders of laptop computers and wifi. So this may be the only chapter until August, though I'm going to try to get one more in.

Thanks to everyone who has followed/favorited this story. The email notifications make my day! As always, thank you again to the best beta ever, Ablated Crayon. :]

Chapter 7

Friends and Monsters

Miranda

I'm lost. I can't believe I got myself lost in the middle of a mission, I thought. It felt like I was walking in circles; the walls and doors of the hallways all looked the same. Naturally, this pisshole wouldn't bother with signs or directories. I hoped I was at least heading in a consistent direction. Eventually, these hallways would drop me somewhere familiar, right? Ugh, I shouldn't have risen to the bait. If I had just kept my mouth shut, this wouldn't be a problem. The commander had just been moving so infuriatingly slow.

XXX

"Shepard, is it necessary for you to stop and hack every terminal we come across? Cerberus provides you with plenty of funding," I huffed. Shepard levelled a cold glare at me, and turned her attention back to the terminal she was working on.

"We can always use more upgrades, Lawson. The Cerberus money isn't unlimited," Shepard finally said.

"Maybe if you spent less of that money on aquatic animals to kill, it would seem a little less limited," I growled. I saw the corners of her mouth twitch up in a hidden smirk, and it made me even angrier. I wasn't even sure exactly what I was angry about, but Shepard had simply been aggravating today. She was strutting about with that stupid N7 stripe and being overly helpful to every civilian we came across. Not to mention wasting an application of medi-gel on that lost cause of a sick batarian. In fact, she was acting exactly as I had expected her to act upon awakening: just like her old self. Her heated anger and barely controlled emotions from the first few days were put back in place behind her cool calm, her demeanor doing a complete turn around in a matter of hours, or so it seemed.

Maybe her adjustment period had simply expired. However, I had a hard time believing that all that anger Shepard had been showing was simply banished by a reunion with an old friend. It was too easy. Or maybe I'd just never had that good of a friend. Whatever.

The terminal gave a beep as Shepard logged off, and she straightened to turn her bright green gaze back on me. Shepard's commander persona was firmly in place for this mission, and her face showed no emotion as she evaluated me. I hated how calming her presence was, and how safe it felt to give over to her control. Commander Shepard made me feel…protected. Which is stupid because she hates you, the rational part of my mind decided to pitch in.

"Am I moving too slow for you, Operative Lawson?" Shepard suggested in a low voice that made me shiver.

"It's not about me," I said through gritted teeth. "The mission would move more efficiently if we forewent these distractions."

"So, you're only worried about the mission, not trying to tell me how to run it?" Shepard clarified sharply. I nodded. "Good, then you won't mind scouting out ahead for us. Mr. Taylor, Zaeed, and I should be fine for now without you, and you can move ahead at your own pace."

"This place is overrun with mercs, Shepard, way too many for me to fight on my own," I protested.

"That's why you're a scout, Lawson. Make sure they don't see you. Then you can double back and find us," Shepard said waving me forward in a dismissal.

XXX

I had clenched my fists and stalked away from her, not relaxing until I had rounded a corner. I had continued forward so angry that I hadn't paid attention to my surroundings until I was thoroughly lost. That's how I came to be wandering the identical halls of the Omega slums. I knew I should radio Shepard and ask for her location; I could at least follow that on my omni-tool. However, my pride was still stinging at being sent away, and I was determined to find her on my own.

I knew I was getting close once I started seeing scattered vorcha and krogan bodies coupled with biotic scorching and shotgun damage, but there was still no sign of Shepard. I heard the sound of gunfire up ahead and started towards it, but stopped when I noticed the absence of biotic explosions, the sure fire way to find Shepard. Well I wasn't stupid enough to run into a fight by myself.

I noticed a door to my left that was locked: it was likely an apartment. An apartment could have a back door that might lead me around the gunfire I heard ahead, so I pressed my omni-tool against the door to start hacking the lock. It was running for a few seconds when I noticed the sparks around the door latch; the door wasn't fully closed and the lock seemed to be forced open. I shut down my omni-tool and instead slipped my fingers into the crack, leaning back with my weight until I managed to pull the door open enough for me to slip through.

It was a normal looking apartment, neat and orderly until I noticed the bullet holes. I walked further into the dimly lit space and was hit with a familiar smell, the copper tinge of blood invading my mouth. The source was obvious when I rounded the corner, causing me to gasp at the two bodies. I was no stranger to death. I had shot without flinching and tortured where necessary, but rarely had my target been a relatively innocent, normal person. The disturbing sight of these two rang hard within me. The woman sat slumped on the ground, part of her body propped against the bottom half of the kitchen counter. Bright blood and tissue puckered out of the slit on her throat, gruesome above multiple bullet wounds in her torso. I could see from their placement that none of the bullets had hit a critical mark: she would have been in a lot of pain before they got close enough to use a knife. I felt my face pulling down into a disgusted frown; it was clumsy, barbaric. My face twisted wryly as I considered the irony of my reaction: I had willingly tortured several people, making them scream in pain and beg me to stop. But this...if you were killing someone to get them out of the way at least have the decency to make a quick clean shot. Anything else was dishonorable.

Bloody hell, I'm starting to sound like the Alliance poster girl.

The man lay face down not three feet from her, his back a shredded hole from a close contact shotgun. His arm was stretched above him, fingers searching desperately for the woman, but they had fallen short by mere centimeters.

The messy work was most likely from gangs that had moved through. They were ahead of me, and that probably meant Shepard was, too. I needed to move onward, but I was still floored by the sight of the man reaching for his beloved, even in death. Struck by a moment of fancy, I leaned down and tugged on the man, pulling him closer where I could put the woman's hand in his. There, that was better, I thought wiping my hands of the scent of death.

Getting soft, Lawson? A voice in my head mocked me and I kicked myself for being stupid and sentimental over dead people I didn't even know. Quickly pacing to the other side of the apartment, I shoved through the back door of the apartment and stuck my head out. The hallway was empty, so I set out to find Shepard once again.

Finally, I saw a sign on the wall that pointed in the direction of the environmental systems, Shepard's destination to release the plague cure. I moved forward a little happier and hit the button on the door at the end of the hallway.

I was greeted with multiple sounds of thump, plink as rocket launchers locked onto me. I saw three rockets blazing in my direction, but before I could react I felt my body being bowled over to the side. My face was buried in a hot neck and my jaw was bruised by the top of Shepard's breastplate as an armored arm locked around my waist and pulled us both back into cover. I was overwhelmed by the smell of sweat, smoke, and, surprisingly, vanilla almond that rolled off of her skin. I could feel Shepard's rapid pulse against my cheek and my body responded by matching my heartrate to hers, and a sinking warmth crept into my stomach. I hoped she couldn't see the new flush on my cheeks as I pushed away to sit against the wall on my own.

"Pay attention, Lawson. I won't always be close enough to save your ass, and I doubt the Illusive Prick would be happy if I broke one of his toys," Shepard growled. I bristled with indignation at her words, but softened slightly when I saw her eyes examining me for injury; her emerald gaze wasn't nearly as hard as her words. "Where the hell have you been anyway? I asked you to scout ahead, not go get a manicure," Shepard continued roughly.

"I may have taken a few wrong turns," I admitted. Shepard raised a brow at me in a way that clearly meant, 'we'll talk about this later.'

"Only one fan left to turn on. It's on our left and down the hallway. Taylor and Zaeed are up a ways from our position, blocking the mercs from coming down the hallway. Move up behind me, and we'll wipe them out. The heavys with the rocket launchers can't see us down there," Shepard explained. I pulled out my gun, ready to fight, and Shepard nodded before becoming a blaze of blue charging away from me.

I ran up behind, easily warping the few vorcha Shepard's charge hadn't thrown clear. The commander was now grappling with a large Blood Pack krogan. She looked tiny next to his bulk, but still managed to match him hit for hit. I wondered why she didn't move out of his swinging range, until I realized she was making sure the krogan never gained enough distance to charge her. Unfortunately, that also meant the distance was too small for Shepard to biotically charge him down as well. Shepard was wrapping her fists in biotics for every hit, however, and was forcing the krogan to back away from her. She took a risk and rolled backwards, flipping back up onto the balls of her feet as biotics wreathed around her form once again. She shot forward, and I timed a warp to match her impact, watching in admiration as the biotics detonated and the krogan buckled and fell at Shepard's feet. Even with her L5 implants, Shepard didn't have enough force to knock a krogan very far, so she whipped the shotgun off her back and pushed it against the krogan's head before blasting him into stillness.

"Nice of you to show up, Miranda," Jacob called over to me.

"Yeah, yeah, laugh it up Jacob. I'm here now, aren't I?" I yelled back. Jacob was shaking his head.

"She showed up just in time for us to do all the heavy lifting, Jacob! It's probably for the best anyway. We wouldn't want that pretty face marked by any real fighting," Shepard quipped. I shot a glare at her, but she just smiled at me, all perfect white teeth in a beautifully flushed face. "C'mon, we better give the good news to Mordin. Then we can finally get off this rock," Shepard said.

XXX

Two hours later I sat at my desk, absently stirring the cold coffee I'd left on my desk from that morning. Mordin was settled in his lab, and I had made sure that Shepard went to Dr. Chakwas for her post-mission exam. The woman squirmed like a child every time she had to get an examination, but seemed pleased at the results of the new medical equipment Chakwas had ordered. Her scars were almost gone, and last I heard before I left the room was her conspiring with the doctor to repurpose the equipment to fix Garrus' scars as well. She was an annoyingly good friend.

Jacob had requested an urgent meeting with me to debrief about the latest mission, and I expected that he would arrive at any moment. I wasn't very worried about it; Jacob always had his panties in a bunch about something or other. My omni dinged as Chakwas dutifully forwarded the updated diagnostics on Shepard's cybernetic implants, and I downloaded it onto a datapad so I could scroll through the results easily. Everything looked good. Shepard was in great health. The mission was running without a hitch. Everything was just...perfect.

I threw the datapad at the wall, taking satisfaction in the crunch it made when it hit.

This was one the the best Cerberus missions I had been a part of, and I had never felt so frustrated and useless.

Being sent away during the mission hadn't stung earlier. I knew Shepard was just being grumpy and stubborn. It was when I got back and realized the mission would have done just fine without me that my pride smarted a bit. On this ship I was second in command; they didn't need me when they had Shepard. I was irritated with myself for giving into such a petty emotion as jealousy.

Plus my office is bloody hot, I thought, irritated. Being next to the ovens in the mess was not always an advantage, and they must have just fired them up to start dinner. I abandoned dignity and sprawled out on the cool metal floor, sighing in relief as I pressed different parts of my face against the metal to cool.

I flipped over and scooched to another section of floor to cool my back, tossing my hair back to splay out above me. I looked at my hair, silky and smooth with not a single split end. My gaze traced down my body with its smooth curves and gracefully defined muscles. I looked young for thirty five, a result of my genetic tailoring. All of my father's work to create his dynasty, all that work to try and create a perfect woman, and the closest I've seen a woman come to perfection was born four years after me-perfect in all the ways that matter anyway.

I laughed, the sound echoing around my room. I felt silly just lying on the floor to have a pity party. And why? Because Shepard could walk into my job and do it ten times better? I already knew that; if I could take down the Collectors on my own I would have done it and not bothered with rebuilding Shepard. I looked back over to my desk and the virtual pile of work that needed to be done and I felt a little appeased. Shepard was horrible at mission reports. At least I had something on her.

Damn it, stop being petty and vain. You know your worth, Miranda Lawson, and this changes nothing. You can't always be the best, I thought angrily at myself. Only, I still wanted to be the best.

I sighed, trying to resign myself to getting up and going back to my desk when the doors to my office slid open. I angled my head backwards and was rewarded with an upside down Shepard staring curiously down at me.

"Your timing is uncanny," I drawled, looking back forwards to spare my neck. There was no point to getting off the floor now. I already looked ridiculous so might as well stay where it's cool.

Shepard walked around my body to stand in my line of sight, and I was delighted by the draft of cold air that followed in after her. The commander must have come from the showers, her red hair damp and leaving wet splotches on her clothes where they touched. She arched an eyebrow and fell back into her usual stance with her arms crossed.

"You doin' alright there, Lawson?" Shepard asked. She shuffled her feet, probably uncomfortable with the situation. Her discomfort actually made me feel better, in a twisted kind of way. I needed reminders of her humanity. "Yeah, so, I avoid messy emotional breakdowns when I can, but I'll go get Kelly for you."

I glared up at her, and the stupid smile she was now wearing. "As if I would talk about anything of importance with that woman, Miss I-have-a-psychological-profile-for-everyone. I hardly see how she's fit to judge anyone's emotional capabilities; she looks like she barely escaped high school," I huffed. "There is nothing the matter with me, Shepard. This room is just overly warm and the floor feels nice. You're welcome to join if that will make you spit out whatever you came here to say."

Shepard's eyes narrowed at me but she also tried to hide a smile Why, I had no idea. Nothing I had said had been humorous.

"You can keep your floor, Lawson," Shepard said, plopping into a chair near me. "I was thinking of starting regular training sessions here in the next week or so. I noticed that training simulator on the lower deck, and thought it'd be a good idea to train the team together before throwing them into real combat."

She looked at me expectantly and I cocked an eyebrow. "Let's not pretend that you don't understand how the command chain works here, Shepard. You hardly have to ask my approval for training with your own ground team," I scoffed, annoyed.

Shepard gave that stupid smile again, and it irritated me. Who knew I would miss the hostile Shepard from a week ago?

"Well I was thinking I'd open the invitation to the whole crew and rotate the times so that everyone would have a chance to attend, if they wanted. But I'm not familiar with how the shifts here rotate," she explained, like it was obvious.

Well one thing was obvious. "You just want me to do the scheduling for you, " I stated.

"Er, yeah. Isn't that what XO's are for?" Shepard asked.

"Did you ever schedule anything when you were an XO?" I remarked, rewarded when her face looked sheepish.

"Not really," she admitted.

"Probably because you'd be horrible at it. Just like you're horrible at reading through any of the mission reports I sent you to approve. No doubt they're collecting dust on your desk," I muttered and Shepard frowned at me.

"I would be happy to do that for you, Commander," I amended, whipping out my best sarcastic voice. Shepard just looked smug and stood to leave again. "Just one thing," I said to stop her, thinking of her request. None of my reports indicated Shepard would have an interest in a relationship with her crew members; she never had before. "Why the whole crew?"

"Ah, you know, let everyone blow off some steam together. Besides, I'm planning to include sparring rounds, and it'll be fun to see if any of these Cerberus lackeys want to take me on. Speaking of which," Shepard smirked, "I expect you'll be at all the training sessions with the rest of the ground team. No wandering off like you did this morning."

I scowled. Did she just call me a lackey? I take that challenge.

"I did not wander off! You sent me as a scout!" I called at her retreating back. Shepard just looked over her shoulder and threw a sarcastic little finger wave my direction.

I wondered at her reputation for always being cold. Was that only from people who were with her on a mission? Of course she would be cold when she's focused. She seemed much more relaxed here on the ship.

Infuriating woman.

XXX

Liara

My hands were shaking so hard that I wasn't sure how I hadn't dropped the datapad that I held. Even when I gingerly turned the datapad display off and placed the object in my bag, the last picture it showed me still burned against my retinas. A contact I had sent to Omega had provided yet another update on Shepard, and this was nothing like seeing the still shot of her on the shuttle. There she had been beautiful and serene, glittering green eyes gazing unknowingly at Miranda's subtle picture taking. Blazing red hair had framed her face, touching lightly against the strong cheekbones, the same cheekbones I had spent hours languidly tracing as we lay in bed together. I had pulled that picture of Shepard up on my omni-tool so many times I had lost count-I had every pixel of it memorized.

This new report showed something entirely different. It was still of Shepard, fully geared once again in her N7 armor and watching dispassionately as several batarians threatened a young man. Shepard was splattered with blood and other gore normal for her profession, and a cut on the cheekbones I so cherished dripped crimson blood that ran down until it disappeared into the top of her breastplate. The still picture looked like a hostage situation, something that Shepard had almost always been able to talk her way out of successfully; I assumed this would be much the same before I pressed the play button for the video attachment. The stream had no audio, stripped straight from outdated security feed, but the tone of the voiceless yelling was clear even without it. Guns were raised and Shepard's mouth moved, seemingly to convince them to give her the...medical officer? The young man was wearing a typic medic's suit, looking so lowly and average that I couldn't see why the batarians were bothering with him at all.

The two groups seemed to reach an agreement, the batarian voicing a question followed by Shepard nodding, her sharp eyes still trained on the batarian's gun. The young medic was pushed forward, and I expected Shepard to take him and retreat peacefully out of the room.

Only that didn't happen.

When the medic was within Shepard's reach, a batarian opened his mouth to speak again, only for it to hang slack in death as a bullet pierced his skull and he dropped to the floor. The rest of the batarian group met the same fate, the nozzle of Shepard's pistol sliding from target to target so quickly that they never fired a shot in return. The dark skinned soldier behind Shepard looked at her in an expression crossed between horror and disgust; I'm sure my initial reaction was much the same. My heart was pounding so hard I could feel it under my ribs as I paused the video, unable to tear my tortured eyes away from Shepard's face.

Her eyes were blank, and the corner of her mouth had turned up in a slight smirk.

Goddess, she had been smiling. How could she... Who is that... Monster, my thoughts tumbled over themselves, unable to form complete strings until the one word jumped out at me and took hold, repeating over and over in my mind: monster.

Was this just something I had never noticed when working with her two years ago? I remember times when Shepard had done far worse, but I had always been next to her, and I understood the justification. Had I been so blind in the past that I hadn't known this part of her?

Am I honestly any better? I had done so many things the past few years, actions that haunted my unconscious hours until I felt like I hadn't had a decent night's sleep in years. It felt like the last time I had slept peacefully had been in Shepard's arms, the arms of a woman I had just called a monster. What did that even say about me?

The next message had somehow been worse, hitting at my heart on a different side. The description given by the contact had been brief, simply: Normandy Commander Shepard and XO Miranda Lawson, Cerberus. Location: Omega slums. I expected little more; my contacts had been told to give information about Shepard priority and all knowledge about her mission and her goal on Omega was old news. All I had received the past few days had been pictures and security video feeds of interest. My interest this did hold.

Shepard had her armored arm around Miranda, pulling her off to the side as a rocket wizzed by. Shepard's face was stoic with concentration as she looked in the direction of her motion, but Miranda's was nestled up beneath Shepard's chin. Her eyes were closed and her face was turned into Shepard's neck, red lips maybe a breath away from the commander's skin. I told myself it could be entirely innocent, but the rage that jumped through me clamored a different story. Miranda looked, for all intents and purposes, like a woman who was exactly where she longed to be. Jealousy poured through me, making me forget my earlier reservations and all the reasons I had sent no other message to Shepard after the first one that had never received a response. For a moment, I didn't care that she could be a monster worse than I.

Shepard is mine, my monster.

I started to run on autopilot as I ran my hands over my outfit, trying to smooth away any lines that had been caused by the taxi ride. All I had to do was make it through this lunch and I could run off to gather my thoughts in the solitude I so craved. I couldn't for the life of me understand why I was so nervous; I was just here to meet an old friend. However, though I had planned for my business on the Citadel to coincide with Ashley's, I hadn't expected an invitation from her only hours after my landing. The Alliance must be keeping tabs on me.

I checked the message again, paranoid of going to the wrong location and being late, but the words hadn't changed, and our lunch date would start in a few minutes. I rounded the corner and my eyes caught the little café nestled into the side of the terrace. There was a balcony further down that looked over the Citadel gardens and water reservoir, and I appreciated the beauty, though I had seen it many times before. I wondered how Ashley had known my favorite place to eat on the Citadel; they had the best little sandwiches.

Chief Williams was already seated at a table. It was one of the few times I'd ever seen her out of armor and uniform, and I almost didn't recognize her. Her dark hair hung loose around her shoulders, and she had tucked part of it behind her ear. It had a softening effect on her face that was flattering compared to her usual severe bun. Her eyes lit up when she saw me, and she hurried to stand and pull out my chair for me to sit down. I smiled softly, my heart turning painfully as I remembered all the times Shepard had performed the same action. I quickly waved the waiter over and requested my usual, then waited for her to bustle away before turning towards Ashley.

"Ashley, I have to say I was surprised to receive your invitation so quickly. I hadn't realized you would know of my presence here on the Citadel," I said coolly. Ashley's lips twitched up in a smile at my distant demeanor.

"Hm, looks like my translator is glitching. What I heard was, 'why is the Alliance watching me, and I wanted to be the one to send the invitation'," Ashley smirked, and I softened. Her slip into an easy conversation comforted me, and it almost felt like we could be sitting around the mess on the Normandy again.

"I suppose it does," I said returning her smile. "While I would love to catch up, I have a feeling that our meeting is meant for more business than pleasure."

Ashley shifted in her seat uncomfortably and dropped her eyes to the table, her drink suddenly interesting. There was a moment of silence before Ashley looked up again.

"It's about Shepard," Ashley started. I stiffened at her words. "The Alliance received a tip that she's actually alive, but working with Cerberus." I said nothing, and Ashley sat back in surprise, crossing her arms across her chest. "You knew about this already, Liara?" Ashley asked, dumbfounded.

"I'm an information broker now, Ashley. It makes sense that this would be a valuable piece of information for me to have," I defended. I didn't want her to know how extensive my knowledge of Shepard's reappearance went. Ashley could easily hate me for giving Shepard's body to an organization that both the soldiers despised.

"Why aren't you…I mean…you guys were…shit, Shepard was in love with you. I would've thought you'd go running into her arms if you knew she was alive," Ashley said. Her brows were drawn down in confusion, wrinkling the skin across the bridge of her nose.

"Shepard was dead, Ashley," I said brusquely. Her eyebrows shot up, and Ashley's face paled slightly at my words. "I haven't even seen her yet. I suppose I'm afraid that it isn't really Shepard they've brought back, as much as it looks like her." I pulled up my picture of Shepard on my omni-tool, and flipped the display for Ashley to see.

"Cerberus assholes couldn't even be bothered to get the hair color right," Ashley seethed. The look in her eyes was enough to tell me the picture upset her, so I quickly minimized it off my omni-tool.

"What if there are more changes like that, Ash? I've mourned Shepard for two years, and the thought that she's alive makes me want to cry with happiness. But I'm not sure I could handle the pain of having her walk up to me and not actually be my Shepard," I admitted. It was cowardly of me. I was afraid of the pain, so I was attempting to ignore my problem.

"How could she be the same? Our Shepard would never have worked for Cerberus," Ashley said definitively. I shook my head.

"I don't believe that's necessarily true. My information says Shepard is working to stop the attacks on human colonies. You and I both know she would put aside her grudge for Cerberus in light of something that important," I reasoned.

"That's just it, Liara. Alliance intel believes Cerberus is actually behind the colony attacks, and it looks bad that Shepard is working with them, no matter her reasons," Ashley replied.

"You have to hear how crazy that sounds, Ash. What would Cerberus stand to gain by abducting tens of thousands of humans? They've never shown an interest in attacking their own kind like this before," I said.

"I get it, Liara, but that doesn't change what the Alliance brass thinks. I'm being shipped out to Horizon because they got a tip that it's next to get hit, but Anderson has asked me to try and learn more about Shepard's reappearance. No one imagined she had actually died…still, I called you here because I thought out of everyone, you had to be the one who would know the most about this," Ashley explained. I hesitated, causing Ashley to lean forward against the table expectantly.

"You know, if this is official business, the Alliance could at least pay me for what I know. I'm an information broker, not a charity," I chastised.

Ashley leaned back again and gave a smirk. "Crafty, T'Soni, but you don't have to beat around the bush to get your answers. This isn't official; I'm asking you as a personal favor," she assured. I sighed.

"Shepard is now part of a Cerberus cell named Lazarus," I started. I had done research on the origins of the name; it came from a story in a human religious text about a man that was raised from the dead. Ashley's eyes darkened with understanding. "Shepard seems to be recruiting members for her team to attack the Collectors. My latest information indicated that Shepard has been rejoined by Garrus, who was hiding out on Omega. Cerberus provided her with a new ship, and the outfitted it with a full crew, all Cerberus of course. However, it seems that the only combat members Cerberus has provided are a soldier named Jacob Taylor and the XO Miranda Lawson."

"Shepard agreed to having a Cerberus XO?" Ashley asked in disbelief. I nodded.

"I'm not sure she was exactly given a choice. It seems likely that Cerberus can insist on many concessions in return for providing Shepard with the funding she needs. Miss Lawson was also the head of the Lazarus Project, the program that was dedicated to rebuilding Shepard," I said, pulling up a picture of Miranda for Ashley's reference. "She seems to be a very talented woman. I would imagine she's a great asset to the team."

Ashley was quiet for a moment, staring at the picture. Her expression was odd, and I couldn't really place what it meant.

"Wow," Ashley said, snapping out of her thoughts to give a devious grin. "I'm guessing the commander appreciates the uniform." Ashley laughed, but stopped abruptly when she saw my face. My mind flashed to the picture I had received this morning, and the anger welled up in me again.

"I am aware of Miss Lawson's many…attributes," I managed to say calmly. "Meanwhile, this is all the information I possess on Shepard's activities at this time."

"Do you really believe it, Liara? Why should I believe that Cerberus isn't behind this, and that they didn't create some monster imitation of Shepard?" Ashley asked softly.

"I don't have evidence you want, Ash, but it just doesn't make sense for Cerberus to take thousands of colonists. As for Shepard, I suppose we'll both have to wait until we see her," I replied.

"Right," Ashley said, standing from the table. "Well, I hate to dine and dash, but I've got to ready my gear for the trip to Horizon. It was great to see you, Liara, and I appreciate your help."

Ashley almost darted away from the table, but I reached out and snagged her arm.

"One more thing, Ashley. That tip, you mentioned, do you know where it came from?" I asked. Ashley crossed her arms and leaned back, almost an exact imitation of Shepard's trademark pose. She really does rub off on everyone, I thought.

"Not that they told me. I think it might have been anonymous. Why?" Ashley replied.

"Something doesn't seem right. The fact that Shepard is working with Cerberus has been heavily guarded until now. I only acquired the information through a high level contact I possessed within Cerberus. I would be careful on Horizon," I mused.

"So you do think Cerberus could be behind the attacks?" Ashley asserted.

"That's not what I said. It just seems Cerberus may want you on Horizon for some reason," I explained. "I don't find that notion entirely comforting, do you?"

"Well, I guess I'll watch my back then," the young woman said as she smiled at me. She surprised me by coming around the table to give me a hug in farewell, before leaving me to finish my half eaten sandwich.

XXX

Ashley

I tried to keep my pace even and slow, careful not to alert Liara to anything wrong. I hoped she hadn't heard the lie in my voice: I had several weeks before shipping out to Horizon. I just couldn't handle the conversation any longer, talking about Shepard. That woman was everything I ever wanted to be as an Alliance marine. She was strong, courageous, and a leader I would've followed to the very last circle of hell, but then she had been taken from me. Never had I felt the loss of another marine so acutely. I carried on, burying myself in my duties, because it was the only thing I knew how to do. A Williams never quits, and I had the family name to not disgrace further. Everything had felt so hollow away from the Normandy, away from Shepard; my loyalties had shifted from serving only the Alliance cause, to simply serving Shepard, and the heart couldn't easily replace that kind of absence.

Now this throbbing in my chest was even worse. Shepard had been literally raised from the dead, a seemingly impossible feat, and the woman I so admired worked for an enemy we had spent countless hours fighting and hating together. I felt disgust towards this new Shepard. Had it been under any other circumstances, I would throw away everything to work with Shepard again. But my joy at hearing she was alive was tainted with the betrayal of her working for Cerberus. I wasn't sure I could forgive it, even if her motivations were pure. We were Alliance soldiers, supposedly until the end. How could she walk away from that? Why wouldn't she go back to the Alliance? Hell, she hadn't even tried to contact me.

I shoved these thoughts away as I tried to plan my next moves. Like I told Liara, my investigation into Shepard was completely unofficial, personally requested by Anderson while I had the downtime before Horizon. I hadn't believed him when he first told me. I had thought of Shepard's return as lies spread by Cerberus, but I couldn't argue with the truth in Liara's words and her pictures. With confirmation of Shepard's existence, my mission became simple: my job was to figure out if it was really Shepard, and determine whether her mission was genuine. Cerberus could have built a copy that was nothing like Shepard, and my heart almost wished it were true, that the Shepard I knew wasn't involved in this kind of betrayal.

The thing was, for all Liara's talk about being unsure about Shepard, her eyes hadn't been speaking the same language. She had known something else. She must have information that told her it was really Shepard, but she didn't want to share it, or wasn't ready to admit it to herself just yet. I cringed as I thought about the touch of fear that those blue eyes had held as well. But whether it was fear that Shepard wasn't truly back, or fear that she was, I wasn't sure.

Anderson had sent Shepard an invitation to meet him on the Citadel, and he had reason to believe she would come. While Anderson would know better than me whether the true Shepard met with him, I was led to believe he wanted evidence, or at the very least a coinciding opinion, about Shepard to present to the Alliance brass. The man was still trying to protect her; I wasn't sure she still deserved it, but I could wait to find out.

Ending Author's Note:

So what did you guys think? I'm having a great time writing Miranda, and for now it seems that she's going to be the major point of view for this story. Don't worry; you'll still have Garrus occasionally and a lot of Liara later on. There's also a sprinkle of Ashley, just because she's awesome.

Ashley's side plot line is where I'll start to go off canon (because, obviously, she didn't have much of a role in the game), but it is on the side and won't make this an AU. How does everyone feel about me bringing her in?

I'd love to hear everyone's opinions, so drop me a review and let me know what you think! We all know reviews provide motivation...maybe enough motivation to get that extra chapter in before I leave?