Chapter One: Victory

Citadel:

The first sound that could be heard, was a groan as a man lifted a block of debree off of himself.

"Ugh..." groaned Shepard.

"John! Can you hear me?" he heard a familiar voice say through his com.

"Ugh...Mom?" he said softly.

"Yes, we're coming in to get you, It'll take a little while though, we're limiting FTL usage to the absolute minimum."

"Is it over?" he asked, and heard a few people cheering from the other side of the comm relay.

"Yes. Yes, it's over. You did it. I'm so proud of you," she said, and he could hear the slight sniffling coming through her voice, "Hold on John. The primarch would like to speak with you."

"Commander Shepard," said Primarch Victus and Shepard could hear the respect in the man's tone towards him.

"Primarch," responded Shepard respectfully.

"I would personally like to congratulate you not only on behalf of the turians, but also on behalf of every other species in our galaxy. You have been the physical embodiment of what it means to be a spectre and I would like to thank you for doing the impossible. On behalf of the galaxy, we would be honored if you would allow us to serve as your honor guard."

"Ugh...Sir...I'm not even sure where I am right now, so that might be a bit difficult." he groaned out, as he touched his side and saw that all his wounds seemed to have been healed, leaving him only with large bruises, "Plus...I seem to be black and blue all over."

"Shepard-Commander!" he heard a static voice come from behind him, as a pair of large machine arms pulled another piece of rubble off of him.

"Legion?" asked Shepard, still slightly out of it.

"Negative, Shepard-Commander. Designation of this platform is Prime-One," responded the Geth, Prime One, "We were sent to confirm your status and to update the organics as to your location."

"Thanks," responded Shepard, and the Prime nodded. Helping him sit up against a large piece of rubble, the geth seemed content to wait for the ship the others were arriving on to get there. It had to have been at least two or three hours before he saw the lights of the Orizaba as it approached what was once the Citadel. He was still amazed at the size of the dreadnought and when he saw four turian frigates behind it, he smiled softly. If there was one thing that he was happy about, it was the unity that was created by the Reapers attacking all the races. One of the Orizaba's seven fighter docks opened up, and out came a Medical Shuttle, flying quickly towards Shepard and the Prime. As soon as it came in, Shepard started limping towards it, with the help of the Prime.

"John!" he heard his mother call out as the shuttle opened and she just about sprinted towards him, all military decorum completely forgotten at the sight of her son in such an injured state.

"I'm okay...just bruised," said Shepard, and she seemed to ignore him, as the two medical officers ran up to him and started scanning him. The head medical officer turned to his companion and with a nod, the younger woman ran back to get something from the shuttle.

"Commander Shepard should be fine, ma'am. I would just recommend a week of bed rest, with as limited movement as possible. Preferably only to go to the bathroom and back." said the medic, and Shepard glared at him halfheartedly, as he was softly pushed into a hoverseat.

"Shepard-Admiral," said Prime-One, "Shepard-Commander has expressed a dislike to his current situation. Provoking Shepard-Commander's ire is detrimental to one's health, as evidenced by his defeat of Nazara as well as the other Old Machines...Should we not appease him?"

Hannah looked at the geth before bursting into laughter, causing the geth to look at her oddly, not quite intending to have caused laughter in the woman. When her laughter subsided she smiled at the Prime, and looked sternly at John.

"You are going to follow all of the doctor's recommendations, correct John?" said Hannah, and John seemed to shrink under her glare, which the geth found slightly odd. Here was a man that for all intents and purposes had been the spearhead against an armada of two kilometer long, massive superstructures of pure destructive power, he had stood fast against the very beam which had torn apart an alliance dreadnought as it had targeted solely him, and yet he was cowering beneath the gaze of a woman close to a foot shorter than he.

"Ma but..." Shepard started, but was cut off by his mother.

"John Michael Shepard..." she said threateningly and Shepard slumped even further if possible. Sighing in defeat, he nodded. Let it never be said he was stupid. Massive constructs of pure destruction...those he could handle...his mother's glare...not so much. Under his mother's gaze he allowed the medic to guide his hoverseat into the shuttle and settle it into its place.

Hannah held up her omnitool as she spoke into its speaker, "This is Rear-Admiral Shepard, the precious cargo has been secured and is en-route to the Orizaba. Geth are providing escort. Over."

Shepard looked out the small window in the transport to see a group of geth fighters organize around the shuttle. He gave a small smile as he realized he was referred to as precious cargo. This was probably his mom's way of getting back at him for trying to get out of sitting in the hoverseat. He could just imagine Joker's comments already. The thought of Joker brought the rest of the crew. And of Ashley.

"Ma...is...are all the others safe?" he asked, and Hannah smiled, having caught that slipup at the beginning.

"The Lieutenant Commander suffered a few minor injuries John but she'll be fine, as for the rest of your crew, they're all fine. The only casualty from your friends was an asari by the name of Samara I believe."

Shepard's relief at Ashley being safe was immediately overtaken by news of Samara's death. He looked down and felt tears gathering in his eyes. He was actually surprised when his mother got up and hugged him tightly. She had never been one for open show of affection. He knew she cared for him more than she'd ever let on, but she'd always been a hard woman and it was difficult for her to let go of the military woman that she was inside and out. That made him all the more grateful as he hugged her tightly and cried softly. He had been hoping that Mordin and Thane would be the only deaths amongst his friends...that perhaps the others would make it out safely, but it seemed that it was not to be. Eventually he let go of his mother and brought his face up. She quietly accepted it and stood up, acting as if nothing had happened both for his sake and for her own. She was about to go back to her seat when Shepard took her hand and looked at the empty seat next to her beseechingly, she nodded with a small smile at him and sat down, ignoring the look of her pilot at the helm.

"Were you close to her?" she asked him, and he smiled.

"She was family," he responded calmly, and she looked at him in shock. Shepard never referred to others as family besides her and her late husband. It had infuriated his previous girlfriends, as that always seemed to be the barrier that no one could cross. She knew that Lt. Com. Williams had crossed that threshold even before Ilos, but to know that others had as well was amazing.

"She had this absolute confidence that just made you want to believe in her. The galaxy was always black and white to her, you were either right or wrong, the middle ground did not exist. She seemed to always have the answers to my questions on morality. And she had no doubt... I don't know how she did it...but it was refreshing," said Shepard, and she understood more than anyone what he meant. She knew he'd felt the pressures of command from when he was a child. He'd been what every boy aspired to be. Captain of the soccer team, hockey team and baseball team, he'd had almost perfect grades, and he was someone everyone wanted to be friends with. He had always had an air of leadership about him, and she'd pushed him to nurture it as much as she could. That had often led him to doubt himself the few times he had failed. She also felt partly guilty for that, as she had pushed him more than she probably should have when he was young. The moment he had showed biotic prowess, he'd been put into the L5 program, and he'd started learning from various legends around the galaxy as he followed her along on her tours. She'd pushed him hard in school as well, telling him that he should always work to be the best. It didn't matter if there were others that were smarter, or stronger, or faster. If he had something he wanted to pursue, he had to pursue it with all his heart, body, and mind. When he graduated as valedictorian of his class, she thought she'd never be prouder, but that day was eclipsed when she saw him don the blue and gold of the alliance. And then...came Elysium. She had never been more scared in her life than when she found out that Elysium had been attacked by pirates. John was there she knew...her baby boy was there. He was there on leave and she was away from him. She'd immediately gone to Hackett, her commander at the time, and requested the right to break off from the fleet and go help John, even if it was just with her small frigate. Hackett had done her one better, and immediately ordered the Seventeenth Division of the Fourth Fleet, at that time his command as a rear-admiral, and ordered them to Elysium. When they had arrived, they'd heard stories of the lone soldier, an alliance man that had held off dozens of pirates when they'd breached the wall formed by the militias and Alliance garrison in Elysium. The man had apparently taken down dozens of batarians, and had given the alliance the chance to take back the world. When she'd gone down with a team to help fight the ground forces, she saw John, dirtied and bloodied, a bandage over his right eye, as couriers seemed to run up towards him. She'd immediately thought that he'd been maimed forever.

Flashback:

"Corporal Shepard sir!" said a man that was at least a decade Shepard's elder, and a Gunnery Sergeant it seemed, "The fourteenth task force just broke through the enemy's right flank. Should I have them press forward, sir?"

"No, see if they can get themselves covered and then have them bunker down, we've got reinforcements here now, get the boys some rest and have the alliance commander contact me as soon as possible so we can get our command coordinated with them. Also have all teams give me a sitrep."

"Yes sir!" responded the Gunnery Sgt. saluting Shepard and running to complete his orders. That was when Shepard looked over towards where the first of the command shuttles had landed, and saw his mother drop down in her battle armor. He walked up to her and saluted.

"Captain Shepard, ma'am!" he said loudly, and she merely responded with her own salute, even as tears threatened to spill from her eyes. Shepard seemed to notice the tears as she looked at his eye and he smiled.

"I'm alright ma'am, just a little scratch that the doctors didn't get to in time," he said, "My eye's fine, had a bit of a close call with a knife, that was all."

She sighed in relief before looking him over.

"Corporal...was that Gunnery Sergeant taking orders from you?" she asked incredulously and he nodded with a small grin, rubbing the back of his head with his right hand. She motioned for him to lead her to his command site and he started walking towards it, even as she listened to him tell her what happened.

"Most everyone takes orders from me here ma'am. When the batarians hit at first they blasted the garrison's base with an orbital strike, nothing major...but we lost most of the command staff, and most discipline was just shot to hell. There were a few people here on leave so we scattered to try to get as many of the villagers here as possible, make a perimeter and try to hold out for as long as we could. I knew the Alliance wouldn't take this sitting down ma'am so it was just a matter of holding the fort as it were." explained John, "Well that was until they pelted my position with an orbital strike and then tried just about everything to get through the hole. I was up for god knows how long trying to keep them from breaking through. After about a day I got reinforcements from one of the other sectors on the line, and we managed to push them back beyond the choking point. After that, just about everyone here seemed to simply defer to my judgment."

"Wait...you held the line alone?" she asked in shock and with pride leaking into her voice. Her son, her boy was the lone soldier that everyone had been telling them about. She placed a hand on his shoulder and he looked at her.

"Good work John," she said, and he grinned at her, one of the few times she'd ever seen such a pleased expression on his face.

"Of course ma'am, I learned from the best after all," he responded, and Hannah had the grace to blush at his comment. She knew she'd be putting his name forward for the N7 program. He'd demonstrated everything that they were looking for in her opinion.

"Sir! Sir!" called out a young woman, and at second look Hannah realized that it was a girl, who couldn't be a day over fourteen.

"What happened?" asked Shepard, his demeanor becoming completely serious.

"We've got batarians and mechs coming in from the left side... dad says we can't hold them all off," the girl responded, and Shepard nodded.

"Captain, can we use your shuttle for transport?" he asked, and no sooner had he said so that she was already charging towards her shuttle, many of the people in her way jumping out of it, as they saw the heavily armoured woman careening towards them. Shepard on the other hand seemed to move with a quiet calm, in contrast to her powerful strides he seemed to glide through the air. When he reached her, she ordered the pilot to take off. As they flew above the enemy she saw John suddenly get up and open the door, jumping down. Her first instinct was to grab him and stop him, until she saw the girl look out the window and then seal the door as if nothing had happened. When they'd landed, they'd found John looking at his mother smugly.

"What took you so long ma'am?" he asked her, and she'd looked at him even as she frowned deeply and he lost his smug look.

"That was completely reckless soldier!" she'd all but screamed, "You just attacked a well defended area with absolutely no reinforcements and in such a manner that you would be putting the lives of any reinforcements at risk."

He'd been sufficiently cowed by her as she continued to inform him of the grievous mistake he'd made by going in alone. She stopped more out of surprise than care when someone had interrupted her.

"Excuse me, ma'am, but Corporal Shepard here has done more for this colony than any of you Alliance types, and none of us are going to sit here while you insult him like he's a rookie. The Corporal's saved more lives today alone than any of you'd probably care to count, so unless you're actually here to help, you can take all your fancy ships and shove em up your ass, we've got actual work needs doing." said one of the men, and she saw that several others had gathered up their weapons and were looking at her disapprovingly.

"It's alright Marcus," said Shepard, placing a calming hand on the man, "Mom's right, I was careless and didn't really think about the possibility of hurting anyone else."

"But sir..." started the other man, when the words he'd said finally registered, "Mom?"

The man looked between the six foot five shepard and his five foot seven mother, in shock. She supposed that it had to be a strange picture. She wasn't a short woman, nor was she particularly tall, but when compared to John's towering size, she might as well be tiny. But then the family resemblance started. He had her eyes, she'd always been happy about that, as they were extremely rare nowadays, and it was a permanent marker that he was her son, something everyone could see, and which had often been commented on. Then there was his skin tone, John's father Michael, had been darker skinned than both her and her son's only lightly tanned skin. His dark ash brown hair was from his father, that there was no doubt about. As was his height.

"Yes, I'm Captain Hannah Shepard," said Hannah, "And considering this is my son, I think I have the right to reprimand him when he does something so outrageously stupid, don't you?"

The man looked torn between laughing at the absurdity of this scene, and coming to John's defence again. Once more she was marvelled by her son's ability to inspire loyalty. She knew that if he asked it of them, any of these men would go charging to their deaths without a second thought.

"Be that as it may, Captain Shepard, Corporal Shepard here's the reason we're all alive. None of us here will hear anyone, mother or otherwise, speak ill of him," said Marcus, and he thumbed his weapon in a way that wasn't lost on Hannah, she'd pushed their buttons the moment she'd said something against John, and it was clear that everyone here was respecting her opinion not because of her rank but rather because of who she was to John.

"That's enough Marcus," ordered John, and Marcus nodded before looking at John again, "Sitrep."

"Not much to tell to be honest sir, 'specially after you blew that group to hell. Always knew you biotics were scary...but seeing six men fly twenty feet in the air because you punched the ground...all I gotta say sir is, if you're angry...try to stay the hell away from me," joked Marcus, and Shepard smiled before patting the man on the shoulder.

"Kimberly, you can come out now," said John, and the girl poked her head from inside the shuttle.

"No offence sir...but next time you leave me there with your mum after you do something crazy...I'm tying you to a post by your underwear," said Kimberly as she walked off the shuttle, and John laughed. Walking up to her and ruffling her hair, much to the teenage girl's annoyance.

"Keep dreaming kiddo," said John as he got back onto the transport.

End Flashback

"Mom?" asked John, as he waved a hand over her eyes. She started slightly, before looking around.

"Sorry, John, I was lost in thought." said Hannah, and Shepard nodded back in response.

"Do you ever think back to Elysium?" she asked, and he smiled.

"hehe...You sure did give me a good yelling after that stunt I pulled," said Shepard, "I still have my Star of Terra in my room on the Normandy. Sometimes I sit down and I just look back at the boy that was on Elysium, when all I cared about was the small little buildings that were behind the makeshift wall."

"Even then, people recognized what you were," she said with a smile, "I've seen you beat the odds more times than anyone I know. When you were made a Spectre...I almost couldn't believe it. You should ask the crew of the Orizaba...I was ecstatic, I held a massive party when they announced it. My baby boy...the first human spectre. And then, we had the Normandy appear in the Arcturus station and send out a rallying cry for us to fight against Sovereign. I'd never been more proud than when I saw the Lieutenant Commander get up and tell Hackett he could shove it where the sun don't shine, she didn't care, all she cared about was that you'd told her to give him a fleet, and she was damn well going to do it."

Shepard actually looked shocked as he told her this, Ashley always seemed to avoid his questions about how the Arcturus fleet was gathered. Eventually he shook his head as a few chuckles escaped his mouth.

"But then...you died, and the next two years all I could think about was that I'd lost the most important thing in my life," she said, and she looked down, afraid that he'd see the tears streaming down from her face.

"When I heard you came back...I...I couldn't believe it...and to not have heard it from you...did you...did you think I'd be ashamed of you...were you ashamed of me...I...I had so many questions, but no answers to any of them," she said, a few sniffles escaping her. Shepard himself was completely shocked. His mother had always been calm and collected.

"Then...we hear you passed the Omega 4 Relay and came back, and when you presented the Normandy and stood trial...I was heartbroken. I knew they were using you, but you were too loyal, too patriotic, to go against the wishes of the Alliance. And it was all my fault..."

That was something Shepard wouldn't stand for, using his hand to pull her chin softly so as to have her look at him, he said, "None of that was your fault. The Alliance was right, I did blow up the relay, and that was on my own decision. I committed genocide Mom, getting house arrest was like a slap on the wrist compared to what I should've gotten. But none of it was because of you. I knew what was coming, and I had to stop it...I did what was necessary."

He wiped a few of her tears and smiled at her softly, "And mom, I could never be ashamed of you, I...I didn't know how you'd react to knowing I was working with Cerberus."

She smiled back at him thankfully and took his hand, gripping it like it was a lifeline.

"I tried to get word to the batarians you know..." he said, and she looked at him shocked. His dislike of the batarians was legendary, she'd even heard about what had happened between him and the current leader of the hegemony. She smiled at his willingness to see justice done properly, just as the pilot announced they'd landed.

"Ready to face the world, John?" she asked, and he smiled.

"I could use your help mom," he responded, and she perked up, grabbing his hand.

As soon as the door opened, he was greeted by Primarch Adrien Victus who saluted him, along with every other soldier in the hangar.

"Admiral, we will be setting down for dry dock in three hours, so I'd recommend getting the Commander to medbay, so he can have a proper checkover." said Primarch Victus, and Hannah nodded. She started pushing Shepard's horverchair towards the Orizaba's medbay, humming a tune as she went along. She knew it had to be an odd sight for her crew, who were used to the consummate professional that she was famous for being, but she didn't care. Her son was safe, and he was with her, that was all that mattered to her right now. John's checkup was fairly routine, and Hannah watched as the doctor was astounded by the results in front of her. According to the doctor, Shepard could probably take a dozen bullets and just shrug off the damage, so long as they didn't hit anywhere immediately vital.

"Your bruises should be healed in two or three days Commander, after that, at least three more days of total bed rest, none of that bullshit you Marines try to pass off as rest," she said sternly, "Am I clear?"

Shepard nodded, knowing his mother could and would force him to follow the instructions of the doctor if needed.

"Admiral Shepard, please make sure that the commander is limited to movement inside his hoverchair for the next week or so, also please limit the time he spends in public...I understand that it's going to be impossible for him to stay hidden for a week, but at least try to limit it as much as absolutely possible."

"Of course," said Hannah, "Besides...I'm sure a certain Lt. Com. wouldn't have any issues with keeping John in line either."

John blushed as he looked away from his mother...this was the part of her he could do without. He'd brought three girls to meet his parents in his younger days, and his mom had teased him about each and every one for weeks on end afterwards. He sighed gratefully as Primarch Victus entered the room himself.

"Commander, Admiral, Doctor," said Victus, "We're about to start re-entry, we should be in dry dock in an a few minutes. Commander, I think perhaps it's best that you exit with your honor guard first. Followed by you, and then the rest of the crew."

Hannah nodded, taking John's hoverseat again and pushing it towards the airlock. When they reached it, John took a deep preparatory breath, as the door opened...