I do not own Mass Effect or any of the associated contact. Jagher Shepard is my Shepard and Fayelle Shepard is my friend's Shepard. This is a collection of moments set throughout the games. They're rated for language and violence mostly.

Mass Effect 2: Moments.
A Moment Of Being Shut Out.

Anderson's office, the same one Udina had used as councillor, looked exactly the same. There might have bene a new coat of paint, but it was the same office, aside from the fact that Jagher didn't dread approaching the doors.

As Jagher had walked through the hallways towards the office, she'd felt a knot a form in her gut, a knot that was still there, a knot that had grown when the doors wooshed open and revealed the scene waiting for her inside the office.

The current ambassador of humanity to the interspecies council was standing on the balcony, watching the people below. Jagher knew he knew she was there, so she took her time walking across the room, thinking about what she would say. There hadn't been any purpose in coming here other than Anderson had wanted to see her, to know that it was the real Shepard the rumours were about and not some imposter. And she wanted to see her friend. As she was approaching Anderson however, someone else stepped out from around the partition in the room, a deep frown on her face.

"Hello Jagher, nice of you to call."

Jagher Shepard stopped in her tracks and rolled her eyes, more out of habit than of any displeasure at seeing her sister. "Hello Fayelle," she replied. The Commander nodded at Anderson as he turned around and looked at her with wide eyes. "Hi."

"Why the hell didn't you send a message or something? You vanish for two years, let everyone think you were dead and then you just show up?" Fayelle crossed the room and jabbed her finger into her sister's shoulder hard enough to make Jagher take a half-step back. "What the hell were you thinking?"

Jagher batted Fayelle's hand away and glared at her younger sister. "Can this wait until later please?"

Fayelle opened her mouth, but then shut it again, her teeth grinding audibly. "Fine, but don't think I'm going to drop this. I'm going to get something to eat and then I'll be back." She punched Jagher's arm and then marched passed her. "Don't you think of leaving on me. I'll find you."

"Yeah yeah." Jagher turned to Anderson and spread her arms to either side. "Well, as you can see, it's me and not some imposter using my name to get places." She should have been nicer to the man who had helped her out of more than one jam, but seeing her sister again before she was ready had made her mad. Jagher closed her eyes and took another deep breath. "Sorry Captain."

"Not Captain anymore, Shepard," he answered with a smile. "Councillor."

"Yeah, right." Jagher shook her head and tried to focus on the moment. "How is that going?"

Anderson shrugged as Jagher joined him on the balcony. "It's not how I planned on living out the end of my career, but I'd say it's going fine."

"You don't sound happy."

"I'm a soldier Shepard. I wasn't meant for all this." He gestured vaguely around at the Presidium before them in all its bright, shining and rebuilt glory. "I understand why you made the choice you did, Shepard, but this is just…"

"Not you. Do I apologize for putting you in this position? You know as well as I do that Udina could very likely have led us in some bad directions."

"There's no need to apologize." Anderson gave Shepard a small smile. "I need to apologize about your sister. I had no idea she'd act like that. I thought she'd be happy to see you alive and well. I know I am. Humanity has its hero again."

Jagher couldn't stop the blush that crept into her cheeks; she'd never done well with the term hero, but she didn't say anything against it. "Fayelle is happy. She's just mad I didn't call her first thing after I woke up, but I wasn't sure how I was going to tell her that it was Cerberus who fixed me, who brought me back. How do you tell someone that their arch nemesis brought your older sister back from the dead? Hell, I'm having a hard enough time dealing with it myself." She looked at her feet for a moment and then back up at Anderson. "But they did bring me back. Although I'm not one-hundred percent sure why they did. I haven't really learned anything else except for its Collectors who are taking humans from the Terminus Systems and I'm supposed to be gathering a team to fight them."

"You don't want a new team though, do you?"

Jagher gave a weak smile. "Am I that obvious?" Since the topic had come up, Jagher decided to dive right in. Anderson knew about the relationship between herself and Kaidan Alenko, so it wouldn't come as a shock to him. She just had to know. "Where is Kaidan Alenko?" she asked.

"I can't discuss the parameters of his mission with you, Commander. You are working with Cerberus, however tenuous the alliance may be."

There was a surge of anger, but she fought it back. Of course he couldn't tell her; she should have known better than to ask him such a question. She was technically an enemy of the Alliance because of the forced employment under Cerberus and The Illusive Man. Maybe the blue eyed bastard had bugged her armour. There was no way to know. She shook her head and tried to find the focus that was eluding her.

"Of course Cap—Councillor." She looked down again. "Just tell me that he's still alive."

"As far as I know, Jagher, he is in perfect health. I haven't seen Alenko since right after your 'death,' but from everything I've heard, he's doing well."

Jagher took in the friendly smile on Anderson's face and returned one of her own. "Good."

Author's Note.

Andersoooooooooooooon.

These author's notes are the most intelligent things I think I've ever written.

Next Moment: A Moment of Nostalgia.