Author's Note: Allow me to explain… I have gotten comments confused about Sean's condition during surgery. He was in a medical coma, and it has been proven that patients wince or groan during surgery. So basically imagine Sean's surgery was so bad he was screaming from his coma…
On that happy note… Here's chapter 16

Chapter 16

Sean let the cold water of the shower fall over his entire body. He breathed out slowly as he let the rhythmic beats of water against his skin calm him. He looked down at his chest. He chuckled lightly, even after three weeks in a coma and with the loss of his arm he still maintained his well-defined figure. But now, a gruesome looking scar rested on his chest, stretching from his hip to his collarbone. He gingerly ran his left hand over his scar and memories of the mission flooded back to him. They didn't bother him. It actually brought him peace that Tali was alright. He smiled as the memories of the mission dissolved away as Tali filled his mind.

He turned off the water and stepped out of the shower, quickly toweling off. He examined his feature in the mirror. He casually noticed that over the three weeks he was unconscious he had developed thick beard stubble. Being lazy he put off shaving, and now it had slowly formed a short beard. He twisted his head and examined all angles. He gave an approving smile and quickly changed into his Cerberus fatigues and stepped towards the door. His stomach rumbled and he decided it was time to have dinner. He reached his right arm forward to open the door. He paused; shaking his head he brought his left hand forward and punched the holographic sign on the door. It had been a couple of days after he was released off of bed rest and he still hadn't gotten used to using his left hand in place of his right. He sighed as he opened the door with his left hand. As the doors slid open he quickly matted his uncontrolled hair down. Stepping off he filed inline for the Mess Hall. As he received his food, he quickly scanned the room for a friendly face. To his surprise Tali was seated at the far table. She waived him over and he quickly made his way over to her.

"Well here's a different sight." Sean teased, "What brings you up from the depths of the engine room?"

"Glad you got your personality back." Tali said laughing. "I see you're growing a beard." She added.

"Ah, well, I guess I'm getting lazy." Sean said nervously rubbing his beard, "I'll shave it off tomorrow."

"Don't! It gives you that- Oh what do you humans say…" Tali said tapping her finger against the chin of her helmet.

"Grizzled?" Sean responded.

"Yes! It makes you look grizzled." Tali quickly responded.

"So you're saying I'm looking older?" Sean asked, raising an eyebrow.

"It makes you look sophisticated." Tali said, placing her hand on Sean's. "So how are you feeling?"

"Feeling better every day!" Sean said desperately trying to spear his meat with his fork. "This might take time…" Sean said sighing.

"You'll get used to it." Tali said placing a gentle hand on Sean's right arm.

"I don't think I'll ever get used to this." Sean said lifting up his right arm and once again examining the metal socket.

"Hey," Tali began pushing Sean's right arm down, "Things will get better." She said trying to soothe him.

"I know, I know." Sean said, pain sinking into his voice.

"Hey I have something to show you." Tali said.

"What?" Sean said confused.

"Come on!" She said taking him by the hand and leading him out of the Mess Hall.

"But my food!" Sean said as his stomach growled angrily at him.

"It won't take that long." Tali said smiling as she keyed Engineering on the elevator.

"What is this all about?" Sean asked.

"It's a surprise!" Tali teased as she happily bounced. The doors opened and Tali lead Sean into the Core room. Sean looked around expecting to hear Ken and Gabby chatting, but it was strangely silent.

"What's going on?" Sean asked slowly looking around the room.

"Surprise." Tali said.

"What?" Sean began as he turned around. Tali stood there, arms out holding what looked to be a robotic arm. His jaw dropped as his mind quickly grasped what was going on.

"Consider this a 'Welcome Back' gift." Tali said beaming from behind her mask. Sean just stood, mouth agape, at a loss of words. "Here, let me help you." Tali offered as she began to attach it to Sean's socket. It snapped perfectly in place with a small blue spark. Sean turned his arm examining his new limb. He quickly noticed that the robotic hand only had three long fingers, based off the Quarian anatomy. He slowly bent one of the robotic fingers. He still stood dumbfounded. "I'm sorry about the fingers. I'm not a biologist and I didn't know the human anatomy, and…" Tali rambled, twisting her hands, nervously.

Sean lifted his left hand and placed it on her shoulder, pulling her close. "For what? It's perfect." He said cheerily. He gave her a tight, one armed hug, then quickly turned his attention back to his new 'gift'.

"Oh, well. I didn't…" Tali said nervously, but quickly calmed, "Getting used to it may take a while…"

"Actually I think I got it down." Sean said happily twisting the wrist and moving the fingers. He was amazed by the intricacy of the arm. "How did you make this?" He said.

"I'm a Quarian. Give me a hunk of metal and some Ezo and I can have it doing precise jumps in no time!" Tali bragged.

"Thank you so much!" Sean said laughing as he lifted Tali into the air and brought her tightly to his chest. Tali couldn't help but laugh. She felt so happy for him, and she was so glad to have him back. She hugged him tightly too, closing her eyes as she rested her head against his chest.

"Ow, that's a little tight!" She said as Sean's robotic arm began to clamp down on her arm.

"I'm so sorry!" Sean apologized setting her down. "I guess I don't know how strong this thing is!"

"Hey Tali- Oh Sean!" Shepard said jumping as she entered the door. "Am I interrupting anything?" Shepard quickly asked.

"No. It was nothing. " Sean and Tali quickly said, taking a step away from each other, blushing.

Shepard spotted Sean's robotic arm and remarked, "Oh, Sean, I see you got Tali's gift!"

"You knew about it?" Sean said, astonished.

"She was working on that non-stop when you were in the Med Bay." Shepard said smiling. "So how's it working out?" She curiously asked.

"Actually, it works pretty well." Sean said waiving the fingers around.

"You sound surprised." Tali said placing her hands on her hips.

"I didn't mean!-" Sean said stumbling over his words.

"I'm teasing you!" Tali said, once again giving him a hug.

"You two are evil together!" Sean joked.

"Hey shape up! You're talking to a commanding officer!" Shepard said, dropping all emotion from her face. Then both Tali and Shepard doubled over in laughter.

Throwing his hands up in the air, "My God! I give up with you two! I'll be in my room if either of you need me. And Tali, I can't thank you enough for this." Sean added lifting up his new robotic arm. Tali waived to Sean as he left. "I'll talk to you later Tali!"

Sean entered his room and flopped happily onto his cot.

Author's Note: Well now he has a robotic arm. I went out on a limb here. I just thought, "Well if they could completely reanimate Shepard, they can make a simple robotic arm!"

And now you're officially caught up with me! Fun stuff! I'm finding it harder to write the following chapter… Transferring my ideas to paper… I may need to go on a hiatus for a while… but not without a bang! So expect at least 2 more chapters!

I also want to thank the readers and fans reading this. Most of my stories end around the 10,000 word area, but because of all of the follows and reviews I'm getting keep me going. So keep being awesome readers!