"I don't understand how this works, Hayley" Liara sat with Hayley's legs lying across her, watching the tv trying to figure out exactly what was going on.

"Okay, it's kind of like basketball, except they can't touch the ball and have to use their biotics instead to pass it along the court and into one of the three hoops" The human explained. To be fair that was her entire understanding of biotiball, as she had only seen it once before with Cortez and James, but she enjoyed watching it, even if she had no idea what was going on at first.

"Oh I see" Liara grabbed a handful of chips and ate them, wondering why she never tried this particular human food before.

"You have no idea what basketball is, do you?" Hayley smiled at her before gesturing for Liara to pass her some food as well.

"No." The asari admitted, feeling embarrassed at her lack of knowledge when it came to human sports, although biotiball was more of a sport for any race that had biotics.

"Well, just watch and it might make sense" Hayley said around the food in her mouth.

2 hours and a lot of food later, the match was over. The Eezo Warriors suffered a horrific defeat by the Tehron Titans, with the final score being 427-9, which was to be expected, as the former were one of the worst Earth teams, and the latter won the Thessia International Championship 40 years in a row, but it didn't stop Liara from jumping off the sofa and yelling with joy at her species victory.

"I'm glad you understand the game now"

Nothing made Shepard happier than seeing Liara happy. It had been that way since just after she met her, back on Therum. She never believed in all that love at first sight crap, not after the first girl she ever dated lead to her getting massively screwed over, but the very first time she saw the asari, she instantly wanted to get to know her and be her friend, possibly more. She would never have thought in a million years that she would be lying on a sofa, being simply happy to watch the asari jump for joy over a sports teams victory.

"This is a fantastic game, Shepard. Oh I wish we did sports at school, I would love to have played that" Liara's statement confused Hayley, as she was sure every school for every race did sports, except maybe the hanar. What sports would they even play, toss the sea sponge?

"I thought all schools did sport. I know the Earth schools did, even if I never went" Due to living on the streets since she was 5, Hayley never went to school, but she taught herself to read, and she had to learn to write to help out with drug deals back when she still ran with the tenth street reds.

"Oh no. Asari's are naturally agile and fit, and where you would have done sport, we would have done biotic training" Of course, asari were trained in biotics when they were young under the assumption they would use them when they were older. It also taught younger asari with powerful biotics how to control them without an inhibitor. When Liara was young, her biotics required her to have an inhibitor, as her mother frequently reminded her of the time she launched her across the room when she was 3 months old by accident, as baby asari had biotic outbursts.

That will be a fun thing to explain to Hayley when we have a daughter

"This has been fun Shepard, but we should get to bed. I have a surprise for you tomorrow" Liara smiled and Hayley's mind raced through every single possibility. She hated surprises, because they were usually bad and involved someone getting injured, but her girlfriend couldn't possibly have bad surprise for her.

"Oh what is it?"

"Wait and see" The asari went behind Shepard and helped her up to move her into the wheelchair. She began taking her to the bedroom when she stopped her.

"Hey Liara, I just remembered I've got to speak to Alliance Officials. You set up the vid comm stuff, right?"

"Of course...I suppose sleep can wait" Liara made a u-turn and took Shepard to the make-shift comm room, leaving her in there as the human assured her she could wheel herself to the bedroom on her own.

When the link was up, Hayley saw a holographic Admiral Hackett, who still looked a little worse for wear following the war.
She instinctively saluted him, as she always had done, and he did the same.

"Commander Shepard, I read your medical file and have some news regarding your position in the Alliance"

Here it comes

"So I assume you know most my injuries will heal, admiral" Having spent the past week with no one but Liara (she asked how she kept 'interested individuals' away from the property, but the asari was...evasive, on that matter) she had grown accustomed to not using her 'Commander Shepard' voice, and her 'Hayley Shepard' voice came through instead, although the admiral didn't seem to mind, in fact Hayley could have sworn she saw him crack a smile.

"Yes, but the damage to your wrist and ankle could make you a liability in combat, and we have came to the decision to retire you from your post" Hackett stated flatly, "but you may continue to serve with the alliance"

Hayley tossed the thought about it around in her mind; continuing in the alliance would mean that she would be doing as desk job, although she would be doing something more stimulating than clerical duties, given that she was the most famous human in the galaxy, but Hayley was a woman of action. Ever since she was young she had been fighting, whether it be for her next meal, or some gangbanger who believed they could do what they want with her as she was a girl, or even the reapers, and the idea of stopping that to become the Alliance's poster girl (not that she wasn't already), where everyone would hang on to her every word then bitch about her behind her back was one she was not at all in favour of.

"Admiral, with all due respect I have never saw eye to eye with people who sit back and watch everyone else do the work, and I could never imagine myself in such a position. Are there no other options?" That was true. The effort it took for Shepard to silence herself when talking to the council was massively under-appreciated, like when Councillor Sparatus grilled her for releasing the rachni queen. All she wanted to do was punch him so hard that when he hit the floor his rear crests would become his eyebrows, but seeing as he was only a hologram and disconnecting the call wouldn't be nearly as satisfying, she grit her teeth and bared it and in the end, her choice turned out to be the right decision. The same could be said about Valern over the Thorian, a dangerous species that deserved destruction for controlling the minds of the colonists on Feros.

"I'm afraid the only other option, given your condition, is full retirement. As you have served for 14 years, you will be entitled to 50,000 credits as well as accommodation on a planet or station of your choosing." Hackett rattled off the retirement plan as though he had said it a thousand times. Hayley wasn't stupid, she knew she wasn't the first person following the reaper war to be put in this position, and she probably won't be the last, so the amount of times the various admirals, including Hackett, must have said this was probably through the roof.

"If that's the case Admiral, is it possible for me to continue with my apartment that was on the Citadel? regarding that it's still standing, of course" The words came out Hayley's mouth without her even fully processing them, the shock of what was happening yet to hit her.

"If I recall your apartment was situated close to the presidium, where the damage was to a lesser extent. As you already own that apartment, your pay will rise to 72,000 credits." There was a flicker of disbelief in the Admiral's eyes, as though he couldn't believe that Commander Shepard, The Commander Shepard was backing down. He had expected her to fight her corner a little more, to try and make him think she would be fit for active duty when the reality was she physically wouldn't be, with the mental effects of the war still having yet to manifest themselves. "Am I to assume you have made your choice?"

"Yes, Admiral"

"If that's the case, once you sign these forms the funds should be in your account within 24 hours," Shepard looked over at the messages terminal that was just within reach and opened the forms that Hackett had sent her. Like she had done with the batarian codes and Donnely's and Daniel's release, she signed them with her electronic signature, trying not to think about how these forms were some of the most significant she has ever had to sign in her life.

"It has been an honour serving in the Alliance, Admiral" She said, after moving away from the terminal.

"It has been an honour working with you, Miss Shepard." Hackett raised his hand and saluted her, and she saluted back.

"Hackett out" and that was it. Admiral Hackett's hologram blinked out of existence, and Hayley was left alone as it began to sink in that, after 14 years, she was no longer Commander Shepard, she was just plain, old Hayley.

The door to the bedroom opened and Hayley wheeled herself to the side of the bed before hoisting herself into it. She pulled the pillow from behind her head and screamed into it, totally ignoring the fact Liara was wearing a very revealing dress that would usually have caused Hayley to throw herself at her and try to put her hands and mouth on all parts of her body at once.

"Are you okay?" The asari turned onto her side and tried to pry the pillow from Hayley's hand, only for the woman to press it down on her face more. "Sweetie?" Liara had never used a name like that for her girlfriend before, but she knew a lot of couples tossed the word around.

"What?" The word was muffled through the pillow.

"What happened?" Hayley finally dragged the pillow off her face and the redness around her eyes told Liara all she needed to know and instead of the night of fun the asari originally had planned, she just held the human and cuddled her until she stopped crying and fell asleep.

"This will all be better tomorrow, I promise" Liara kissed the sleeping ex-commander before wiping a drying tear from her face and going to sleep herself.

-Next Morning-

The next morning, Hayley woke up with the headache that was always present after she cried herself to sleep. There was an empty spot next to her where her girlfriend was supposed to be.

She could hear movement in the living room, and she was certain it was more people than just Liara. Looking at the clock, it was early afternoon already, and while Shepard still felt tired, she had grown used to dragging herself out of bed while she still wanted to sleep and she manouvred herself into wheelchair, looking forward to next week when she could finally start her physiotherapy.

Taking herself through to the living room, she saw no one, not even the asari that seemed to have better marine sleeping habits than her.

"Liara?" Shepard's mind raced back to when she went to the shadow brokers apartment back on Illium, and the state it was left in. While the tourists house did seem quieter and a lot tidier, she couldn't help but think someone broke in and managed to silently take Liara.

"Okay this is not funny now," worry was beginning to become evident in her voice, and it was a foreign feeling to the ex-commander, as she had learned to keep worry as an inside feeling, not a tone of voice.

"Hey, Lola"

"Holy shit!" Hayley screamed in surprise and she heard James talk behind her, hurting her neck when she twisted around to look at him, "James! Why are you here?"

"Just in the neighbourhood, like we were" Hayley looked dead ahead and saw Garrus with Kaiden next to him. It felt good seeing them again and for a second she thought she was dreaming, but then she remembered that you can't feel pain in dreams and the pain in her right wrist was chronic today, so she was clearly awake.

"Surprise" Liara eventually came out from behind the staircase and she smiled awkwardly, hoping she had done the right thing.

"I hate you" Shepard laughed, lightly shoving Liara when she walked over to give her a hug. She had never thought this would be the surprise. In fact, she was expecting the asari to say she was pregnant, although she was fairly certain she wouldn't be able to become pregnant without Shepard noticing she was mapping her DNA. After all, she could tell when she was trying to look at memories that Shepard was actively trying to stop her looking at.

"Is this a good surprise?"

"As if you don't already know the answer" Liara leaned down and her and Hayley kissed, hearing Garrus say something about the couple in the background.

"Miranda called and said she should be here in about 10 minutes. Everyone else is busy at the moment but I thought this was a good start" The prospect of seeing any of her former crew filled Hayley with excitement, so seeing four in one day was more than enough. Remembering EDI was dead though made Shepard slightly anxious over Joker, and she assumed that's why he wasn't coming today.

"Ah the ice queen will grace us with her presence" Garrus chuckled to himself. He had never really liked Miranda, much like most people who met her and took her at face value, even Hayley disliked her at first, but she tried to make an effort with everyone she could and eventually worked her way through the ex-cerberus officer's icy exterior to find that she was actually quite a likeable woman underneath.

When Miranda eventually did arrive, her appearance shocked Shepard, Liara and Garrus. Kaidan and James had only really met her at Hayley's party so seeing the woman with a small scar on her jawline and a large one going from her right eyebrow down to the left side of her upper lip didn't have as much and effect on them as it did the others, especially the asari and turian who had had enough dealings with her to last a lifetime, even longer if it wasn't for Hayley being her friend.

"You look different, Lawson"

"How observant of you, Vakarian" There was a hint of humour in the australian woman's voice.

"What happened to your face?" Shepard didn't fully process the sentence before it left her mouth, and it was too late to take it back when she realised the question could be seen as offensive.

"Turns out perfect genes don't prevent all injuries from forming scars when they heal, especially when it comes to explosions. Thank god I closed my eyes" Miranda pointed at her right eye, which was still its normal blue colour and it matched her left eye, suggesting she could still see out of it.

"Ah, now if only Jack were here to talk to you about your perfect genes" Garrus certainly had a strange sense of humour, one that many people who met him embraced, mainly because it would otherwise be irritating if they didn't.

"Well I can't say it's a shame she died," the raven haired woman said without thinking, until looked at Shepard and saw the never-fuck-with-my-friends-memory look, "I mean, she was unstable and was a liability to the mission. Honestly I don't understand why-"

"So, Miranda, what do you think of Shepard's new scars?" Liara interjected when she felt tension rise between the two. As much as they got on, it was still fairly easy for them to rile each other up.

Miranda walked over to the asari's bondmate and inspected her face. Although Liara was the only woman Hayley would ever consider doing anything with, she was only human and was attracted to Miranda, so having her so close caused her to tense up, something the other woman noticed as she gave Shepard a reassuring smile. She was used to people finding her attractive, her father had her genes engineered for that purpose and while she never cared most of the time, the amount of respect she held for Hayley meant that she found it hard to shrug off every single look and compliment her forming commanding officer gave her.

She prodded a particularly prominent scar on her forehead, albeit lightly, before saying, "well, the cybernetics appear to have taken care of any of your reconstruction scars that may have reappeared, but any other scar is as permanent as mine" Miranda stood back up and shook her head, "you had to go and bloody scuff up my hard work, didn't you?"

"I'm sorry, if I knew you'd be so annoyed, I'd have told harbinger to go easy on the face" Hayley laughed and Miranda smiled in response. She caught a glimpse of Liara and the look on her face at the joke made Shepard realise she really needed to talk to her about everything that happened on Earth sooner rather than later. Although the asari stopped the human delving into her memories from then, and from after the Normandy SR-1 being blown up, the emotions linked to those memories were strong enough that they seeped through the black boxes and into the meld whenever Hayley tried to look at them. Even after 5 months and just over 3 years, respectively, those memories still caused Liara a lot of pain and misery.