James could only stare at Miranda in shock and horror. He shook his head several times before managing to form just a single word. "What?"

Miranda sighed. "It's simple. The neural implant controlled the rest of his implants. When that one was fried, it caused a cascade failure. The rest, of course, were fried as well, but the neural implant was the most important one."

James shook his head again. "But he's getting better."

Miranda leaned up against a console. "James, he's getting worse. Kelly forwarded me a scan she took of him just a few days ago." She tapped the console and two scans were displayed. She pointed to one. "Just after he regained consciousness." She points at the other. "Four days ago." She taps the console again and the two scans overlay each other. "The scan from four days ago is showing neural degradation. He may seem to be getting better, but if the implants are not replaced, he'll be dead in six months."

James tried to make sense of what he was seeing. He didn't know when the trooper had put a chair behind him, but he was glad it was there. He fell back into it while trying to breathe. He looked at Miranda, but couldn't respond.

"James, you have to talk to him. All of this was set up to get the two of you here. We needed to get you to understand this so you could convince him. He's not going to trust me right away. Kelly said he didn't remember me." Miranda crouched in front of the chair. "You, however, he trusts implicitly."

The trooper cleared his throat. "They're about ready to blow the door open."

James just looked at Miranda for a moment before nodding. He placed two fingers next to his ear. "Caleb, it's me. Stop what you're doing. I'm fine. Garrus, Tali, Miranda is here."

Shepard's voice came through, clearly panicked. "Jimmy? Are you sure you're okay?"

Garrus cut Shepard off. "What's Miranda doing here?"

James responded. "I'm fine, Caleb. Trust me. No one is gonna shoot at you. They're gonna unlock the door and bring you in. Garrus, ask her that. Okay? I don't quite understand it all. Too technical for me."

Miranda nodded to the trooper who went off to do as James said. "Thank you, James."

James just nodded, still in a state of shock. He just waited quietly.

The trooper entered the room first, Shepard right behind him with his Wraith pointed at the troopers back. When Shepard saw James, he lowered the Wraith and went to his side, crouching by the chair. "Jimmy?"

Kaidan joined Shepard and James, running a quick scan on James for injuries or drugs. He shook his head at Shepard. "Slight concussion, but otherwise fine."

The trooper shrugged. "He wasn't cooperating. I had to knock him out."

Shepard stood up and rounded on the trooper, shoving him up against the wall. "You son of a bitch." He growled out. "I ought to kill you right now and be done with it."

"Caleb." James shook his head. "Don't. I'm okay." He stood up and walked over, resting a hand on Shepard's shoulder.

Shepard let the trooper go, then turned to James. "What the fuck is going on?"

Liara was studying the images on the console. "I think it's pretty clear by these."

Shepard looked at Liara. "What?" He walked over to look, a wary glance toward Miranda.

Kaidan went to look as well. "Holy..." He looked at Shepard, shock widening his eyes.

"What?" Shepard demanded. He looked at Miranda. "You're familiar and I know that I know you and trust you. What the fuck is going on?"

Miranda pointed at the console. She decided to go for blunt. "According to those scans, you have approximately six months left to live."

If Shepard hadn't been the biggest badass the galaxy had ever seen, he would have fainted. Instead, he opted for a raised eyebrow and a blank stare. "Come again?"

Miranda nodded. "Your cybernetic implants were all fried. You're going through neural degradation. While you seem to be getting better right now, you'll eventually start to experience all kinds of problems. Losing your memory was normal for a neural implant failure. However, that implant controlled all the others." James saw the signs of a memory hitting hard before anyone else and was there to catch Shepard as he did pass out this time.

Miranda just shook her head. "He didn't remember about the implants, did he?" It wasn't a question. No one answered.

Liara, Kaidan, and Garrus helped James get Shepard to another room with a bed. Tali tagged along since she didn't know what else to do. Four people carrying Shepard was more than enough.

When Shepard regained consciousness, he was staring up at five concerned faces. He just groaned and started to sit up. Miranda and James both pushed him back down.

"Stay down, mi corazón." James frowned down at Shepard. "You do not need to get up yet."

Miranda moved away from Shepard, letting Kaidan get in closer instead. "Shepard, your implants have to be replaced. I can do it or I can give the replacement parts to you and someone else can do it." Her tone was clear that she didn't trust anyone else to do it right.

Shepard looked up at James and saw the worry there. He ran his fingertips over the creases in James' forehead. He didn't even look at Kaidan, who was touching his shoulder lightly.

James leaned down and whispered in Shepard's ear. "Please, mi corazón, I can't do this without you." He felt the answering nod.

"Okay." Shepard looked over at Miranda. "You did this before, so you should do it again." This time, he looked up at Kaidan and managed a small smile. He understood Kaidan's silent plea. "I'll be fine."

Kaidan nodded and looked over at James. There was none of the old rivalry between them when their eyes met. They were both worried about Shepard and neither of them wanted to live in a world without him.

Miranda nodded to Shepard, then looked to the others. "If you don't have medical training, get out." She approached Shepard and looked down at him. "Thank you." She smiled at him, then watched the others leave. Kaidan, however, stayed behind. Miranda had expected this.

Liara and Garrus had to threaten to knock James out in order to get him to rest. When they had called up to the Normandy, Dr. Chakwas came down to assist Miranda. Kaidan was giving them regular updates. So far, five implants had been replaced. It wasn't a simple replace and activate. It was far more complicated. The implants had to be calibrated to the neural implant. That one had to be the last one replaced.

It took fifteen hours to complete. When it was over, Miranda came out to find James. "You can see him, but he's still unconscious." She smiled faintly as James tore past her running for Shepard.

Shepard woke an hour later, his hand in James' larger one. He looked down and smiled at the sight of James asleep with his head near Shepard's hip. He slipped his hand out of James' hand and rested it on James' head, running fingers through the short hair. James muttered something, but didn't wake up.

Liara came in to check on Shepard and smiled when she realised he was awake. "We tried to get him to sleep. I think he managed maybe two hours. Sorry."

Shepard shook his head slightly. "It's okay. He can be stubborn when it comes to me."

Liara nodded. "How much do you remember?"

Shepard smiled. "Everything. I remember everything." He looked down at James, then sighed, the smile fading. "Including how much I hurt him when I couldn't remember anything."

Liara shook her head and moved to Shepard's side. "That wasn't your fault." She took his free hand. "If you ever feel like it is, just remember that he loved you so much that he stood by your side even when you didn't remember him."

Shepard nodded and winced. "Yeah, I know." He looked up at Liara. "Thanks." He clasped her hand tightly for a moment, then let go. "I remember falling in love with him all over again too." He looked down at James, then back at Liara. "For the first time, I really feel like things will be okay."

James smiled softly. "Yeah, mi corazón, they will." He opened his eyes. "And yeah, I've been awake since you started petting me."

Shepard rolled his eyes. "I'm not petting you." He said fondly, still running his fingers over James' hair.

James made his best purring sound. "Yeah, well, could have fooled me. Soon as you're better, we're gonna go home. We'll figure out what to do from there."

Shepard smiled at James. "Sounds good. Te amo, Jimmy Vega-Shepard."

James moved then, kissing Shepard lightly, then whispering against his lips. "Te amo, Caleb Shepard."