3 Weeks Later

It was a hellish three weeks since his talk with Leviathan. He couldn't remember much after leaving the abandoned warehouse, but the next weeks were filled with stilted meetings with the Council, painful sessions of rehab, and tons of questions about peace. He was able to see his mom once she got in. He could tell it was hard for her to see him like this, but she was just happy to see he made it out alive. Other than seeing his mom was safe, the best things to come out of all this was answers and a good night's sleep. Liara was intrigued by their meeting with Leviathan and was trying to figure out what Shepard was, but all Shepard was trying to do was get back into fighting shape. The Council kept trying to hedge favors from their favorite Spectre, but Liara was quick to tell them he wasn't ready. He wasn't sure if he was pissed off because it made him look weak or the fact that she was right.

Since orders for Vega's N7 commendation was to train under him, Vega was happy to help with the physical training. The only problem was that it was coming along slower than what Shepard wanted. Where it was true that the fact he was able to walk around with the crutch at three weeks was impressive to some, he didn't want it at all. He was eager to get a prosthetic ASAP, but with supplies being what they were there was no way he was getting one for at least three months. Not to mention the painkillers he was taking was making a significant hit to his sex drive. In the meantime he was supposed to wait it out on the Normandy, which was dry-docked in London. With everyone still working on EDI, the Alliance was hesitant to release the Normandy, plus it gave him the chance to get where he needed to be for active duty, if he ever got a chance at active duty again. All he could really do was workout at this point and hope for the best.

Liara was sitting on the bed in their quarters on the Normandy. She was staring at the consol interface she had installed so she could be closer to Shepard when he needed the help, but the notion seemed a bit comical right now with Shepard doing pull-ups on the bar Vega installed by the fish tanks. For the most part Shepard had followed Miranda's instructions for three days before he ignored her. She had tried to stop him from over doing it, but Liara quit trying. She was happy to see his renewed vigor, but his activity only seemed to be directed to his rehab with Vega. She didn't want to push him into something he wasn't ready for, but it was getting harder especially with the sight of Shepard's impossibly hard body moving behind her screen. He was wearing just his workout pants slung low on his hips. Thanks to workouts with Vega (and his new implants) his chest, shoulders, and arms seemed to grow at an accelerated rate.

He lowered himself and grabbed the crutch resting against the wall at an easy reach. Liara bit her lip waiting for what she had been waiting for since he started.

"I need a shower."

She hid her excitement behind an impassive look. "Ok, just finishing a transmission." She got up and set the glowing keyboard in the nightstand. She was shedding her cloths as she followed him in. He was already sitting on the stool naked with his crutch leaning against wall. The warm water was pouring over him. Liara joined him as she reached for the soap. She lathered up the washcloth and started on his shoulders. She took liberties to knead the thick muscles. She could feel each muscle start to loosen and relax under her hands. She slid her hands to his neck and did the same thing. She had spent twenty minutes just on his back and shoulders, getting lost in the feeling of his skin. His smooth chest always got special attention as well, but one of her favorite places was his hair. Shepard was hard-pressed for the help, but he definitely didn't complain when she washed his hair. It was getting longer with thick wavy tendrils curling around her fingers. He usually trimmed his dark hair short because of his helmet, but since he hadn't been fighting she figured he wasn't really paying attention to it. She stayed clear below his waist. She had tried the first time but he grabbed her hands and said he could handle the rest. He took the washcloth from her hands before she could even try again and brusquely washed the rest.

The water shut off and he stood facing the wall. Her fun time was over so she went back and put on her pajamas. She crawled into bed and brought out the consol interface again. Shepard had lain down next to her on the bed, exhausted. He snaked his arm around her waist and was silent. She was going over some reports she had been getting about progress on the Mass Relays. He gave a grunt in reply. "I hope you didn't over do it today because we have that ceremony tomorrow."

He replied almost incoherently, "Do I have to go?"

Liara smiled, "I know you don't like these ceremonies but it comes with the whole saving the galaxy territory." That elicited groan.

The Next Day

"Did I ever tell you how much I hate wearing this uniform?"

Liara smiled as she smoothed his navy blue parade uniform. She made sure his gold buttons were polished, his ribbons were in the right order, and the red and gold lariat on his right shoulder was properly positioned. He was fidgeting under her ministrations. "I love this uniform. I think you look impossibly handsome in it." He seemed to stand taller after she said that.

They walked out to the CIC when the ship groaned and swayed in the docking clamps. "Joker, what's going on?"

"I'm not sure, our systems are going haywire up here. Tali what's going on with those Geth in the server room?"

"Nothing! They reactivated a minimal data filter program. They haven't touched anything since." The Normandy lurched forward tossing Shepard and Liara into galaxy map's railing. "Wait a minute, the server seems to be rebooting."

Shepard made his way to the cockpit where Joker was sitting in his blue parade uniform furiously filtering through the ship's computer. There was a shimmer to the left and then the blinking white avatar popped up. "Defense systems at optimal run times; safety firewalls still in effect; quantum computing . . . damage to processors. Processing down to 30 percent."

Joker jumped up and looked over at the pawn-shaped hologram, "EDI is that you?"

"Yes Mr. Moreau, I have been waiting for the safety protocols to confirm the presences of no hostile forces. Unfortunately, the combat mech I once inhabited was made inoperable. For now I will be bound to the ship."

Joker was speechless as he sat in his chair. He his eyes were welling up but he tried to hide them. "We need to go leave for the ceremony, but I'll tell them you couldn't make." Shepard squeezed his shoulder as they turned towards the airlock. When Liara looked back she could see a look she had seen many times in the mirror.

They left Joker with EDI as they made their way towards the memorial grounds. Shepard could recognize that they were making their way to where the beam was. As each building went by he could feel his heartbeat faster. He started to breakout in sweat by the time the shuttle landed. As everyone started to depart he couldn't move, his body wouldn't let him. He could see the large group of people milling about getting ready for the ceremony to start, but all he could see was the battlefield with bodies on the ground and the smell of blood on the breeze. A strong hand and gentle push at the back of his mind brought him back. He looked over to see Liara looking him in the eye. Do you want to go back? She knew he was panicking, but having her there was helping him. "No, I got this. Lets get this over with."

The ceremony was longer than he wanted with the Council, Alliance officials, and civilian leaders giving speech after speech, and the sea of faces were staring at him, but Liara held his hand through the whole thing. Finally, Hackett ordered them to stand as he went down the line to award them with medals. Despite Liara and Garrus' lack of military commission they also received their own Medal of Distinction. Hackett then returned to the podium before approaching Shepard. He spoke of Shepard's early military career, his fight against the Geth, and his battles against the reapers on Tuchunka, Rannoch, and Earth. With orders from the Council, Hackett awarded him The Medal of Valor and Superior Merit. That was when Turian Councilor Sparatus stepped forward to speak, "For the unmatched service Commander Jonathan Walker Shepard has done for the galaxy, the Council hereby welcomes him as the inaugural member of the Galactic Society of Shepards. For your tremendous strength of courage and your continued pursuit of peace throughout the galaxy this distinction will be the highest honor any being can hope to achieve." The Council approached him then. Councilor Valern placed a platinum crown made of small leaves on his head, "To signify the knowledge to know what is right I present to you this symbol." As he stepped back Councilor Sparatus walked forward and presented a saber that was inlayed with all the different metals from the Council home worlds. "To signify the strength needed to defend the weak I present to you this symbol." Finally, Councilor Tevos walked up and placed a heavy metal with the Council's crest etched in it, "To signify the compassion needed to do what is right I present to you this symbol." As the asari councilor joined the others they all bowed in respect to Shepard, who wasn't quite sure what was expected of him. Thankfully, the crowd erupted in cheer saving him from having to do anything.

They were escorted off stage and made their way back to the shuttle they all sat in silence with Vega looking at his sword and Javik hovering over his shoulder. One of the first things he did after he sat down was take the crow off his head and handed it to Liara. She was studying the inscriptions Garrus finally spoke up, "Well, savior of the Universe, now that you have the most prestigious societies named after you what are you going to do next?"

Vega was quick to speak up, "We need to celebrate. I'm tell you I got a guy who can get us some grade A beef steaks and I'm sure I can find some chicken wings, I will grill like nobodies business. We need to celebrate: the Reapers are gone, EDI's back online, and Shepard's alive!"

Shepard smiled, "Yeah, just like on the Citadel. Let's do it."