Author's note: Apologies again! My new work set up does not allow me to write (slack off) in my spare time, so it's really hard to get time to write. This is almost done though. Some parts might seem rushed, and for that I apologize, but I really would like to complete it. Perhaps I'll go back over it in detail if my job situation changes. Well, anyway, I do hope you enjoy it. If you like it, let me know! Love hearing from you all. Happy reading!

Chapter Sixteen

It felt like forever that Ashlyn stayed in Garrus's embrace. Even with the awkward hard suits of armor, it was still comforting no matter how mad she was at him. He didn't say a word, just held her, which was what she needed. Her mind was able to drift off and detach from reality. She began to forget that she was in the barracks of the Cerberus headquarters. Part of her wanted to forget everything, but it wasn't long before the memory of what she just witnessed crept into her thoughts once more. After a while of silence, she finally spoke.

"I want to hate him," she murmured, her voice ragged from crying, "but how can I? He saved my life, but then turned me into a science project. I don't remember too much from being in the Cerberus labs, but I do remember some things from the ship. I remember him always looking apologetic towards me. I guess now I know why."

"He did love you." Garrus told her, unsure if he was even saying the right things. "He just got too obsessed with the idea of not only saving your life, but making you an extraordinary human. He didn't realize you were already extraordinary."

Garrus's earnest words cracked a feeble smile on her lips. It almost sounded as if he wasn't angry with her anymore. She began to see a glimmer of hope that their relationship could be salvaged. Though, if John knew that she was in Garrus's arms at that moment, he would probably snap. Luckily, Ashlyn's omni-tool pinged, pulling them back to reality.

EDI: Mission complete. Extraction imminent.

"They're finished." Ashlyn said with a forced steady voice as she rose from the floor. "We have to bolt."

Garrus nodded and they both took on a quick pace back towards the hangar. The Kodiak had just arrived when they made it. It landed as Shepard and the others were coming down from the other side of the hangar. Fortunately they didn't see Ashlyn or Garrus. It gave them the chance they needed to don their helmets and cram awkwardly back into the storage. When they sealed the compartment door and Shepard's crew boarded, the Kodiak took off in such a rush that they were both thrown around the inside of the compartment. This time, Garrus threw caution to the wind and wrapped his arms around Ashlyn. She didn't resist. It confused and excited him. Images of their previous unions flashed in his memory like hot, brilliant lights, but he had to remind himself he was only being a gentleman and protecting her. His anger dissipated quickly after seeing her history and everything she went through, but it was too late to make amends. Now he was fighting off the urge to rip off her armor as soon as they landed and have her in the storage compartment.

Ashlyn was unsure how to react when Garrus's arms braced her from the turbulence. Was he no longer angry? Or was he just being nice for the moment? It was too complicated to linger on. She did want to be held, but she was finding it hard to forgive Garrus's accusations and harsh words, even if he was there when she needed him. Her mind was too swept up in her life being displayed as a Cerberus experiment to try and think about confusing turians and sweet commanders.

The silence lasted the entire journey back, so did the embrace. When they landed, Garrus released her and they waited a few moments for the sounds of Shepard and the team to leave the shuttle bay. Then Ashlyn opened the hatch to the storage compartment. Her omni-tool pinged, but she was too surprised to see Shepard on the other side to check it. He looked up from the weapons table and his eyes widened at the sight of them squeezing out of the Kodiak's storage compartment.

It was so silent that it felt like time had stopped. Only the ambience of the Normandy's purring engines was heard. Neither of them had the courage to breathe or move a muscle for what seemed like forever. Ashlyn stared at John in utter shame as his eyes went from shocked to angry.

Garrus finally had the courage to speak. "Look, Shepard," he began to say, but Shepard moved around the table so quickly that Garrus didn't have time to finish.

"Don't you dare tell me to look!" Shepard bellowed as he thundered toward Garrus. "The only thing you need to be telling me is why you were stuffed into that little compartment alone with my girlfriend."

Ashlyn wanted to be happy hearing John call her his girlfriend, but it wasn't in the right circumstance. She honestly just wanted to disappear, not just from that very moment, but from the moment when the Normandy found her box in space. Though John looked intimidating as hell, Garrus wasn't in the slightest. John got in his face, but Garrus kept his spine straight and icy blue met stony grey.

"I was helping her." Garrus hissed back.

"You need to just stay away from her!" And with that Shepard lifted both his arms and shoved Garrus square in the chest.

Garrus looked shocked as he stumbled back, then his brow plates furrowed as he shoved Shepard in return. "You need to let her make her own decisions!"

Ashlyn couldn't bear to see them fighting over her like a couple of immature schoolboys. Everyone's stress levels were high and she was only adding fuel to the fire. Before it could escalate, she pulled out her pistols and aimed one at each of them. "That's enough!" She shouted so loud that it echoed across the shuttle bay. They both turned and their anger simmered somewhat once they faced the barrels of her guns. "I'm sorry… I'm sorry the Normandy ever came upon my metal box. I'm sorry that I became confused, ended up falling for two amazing men and couldn't choose between them. I'm sorry I let it get to this point, but if you want to fight someone, fight me because it's my fault. John, I'm sorry I disobeyed you, but I had to get on Cronos and see for myself. Garrus did help me. I knew you couldn't, but right now both of you need to shut the hell up. Forgive me if I'm being blunt but I just got a history lesson on my fucked up life, so I'm a little on edge. How about we put all this on hold until this damned mission is over? Let's worry about saving the galaxy before we all kill each other."

Shepard glanced back at Garrus, then at Ashlyn and back at Garrus and his body seemed to relax ever so slightly. He sighed heavily. "As pissed off as I am right now, she's right. I need to go contact Admiral Anderson and Admiral Hackett about what I found."

Garrus looked away as he swallowed his pride. "Whatever you need me for, Commander, I'll be here until all the Reapers are dead."

Ashlyn holstered her guns. "As will I."

After their uncomfortable standoff, Garrus, Shepard and Ashlyn all separated from the shuttle bay. Garrus went to the battery, Shepard went to report to the admirals and Ashlyn hid herself in her old quarters. Ashlyn checked her omni-tool, which had pinged earlier when she got out of the Kodiak. It was EDI.

EDI: Careful coming out. Shepard is still in the shuttle bay.

Unfortunately she received the message too late. She typed a reply before shutting down her omni-tool completely.

Ashlyn: Too late. Made things worse yet again. Just going to focus on the mission for now.

She leaned back in her old, but not too old, bed. Her mind was racing and not only with all the Cerberus mess. Soon she and the Normandy would be going to war with the giant Reapers. She might die tomorrow and she can't even be with the man she loves. But who did she love? John was everything any woman would want. Being with him felt so relaxed, but was that such a good thing? Shouldn't love be exciting and exhilarating to the point where you want more and more? Isn't that what she had with Garrus? She cursed her warring heart and was suddenly startled by a knock on the door.

"Come in," she said and sat up.

John walked in with an apologetic look on his face. His grey eyes were soft and almost injured. The door shut behind him.

"Hey," he began softly, "I'm sorry I didn't let you come with us on Cronos. I didn't realize how important it was to you and I didn't mean for you to risk your life for it. I was just scared for you."

Ashlyn looked down. "You shouldn't have to apologize. I should've been upfront with you about it. I just had to know."

"From the sounds of it, it wasn't very pleasing? I imagine it wouldn't be. Maybe that's why I wanted to protect you from it."

She nodded solemnly. "Garrus was right," she paused regretting mentioning Garrus's name, but John showed no reaction to it. "I am just one big Cerberus experiment. I was mutilated by my father, but in retrospect he saved my life."

He half-smiled. "I was an experiment too. I was the Lazarus project."

She returned the weak smile. "I was the ROSE project."

A silence came between them and John cleared his throat. "As much as I want to hold you, I did agree to put all that on pause, so I guess the last thing I want to mention is that I'm putting my team together for our battle on Earth. We found out that the Citadel is the key to the Crucible, the key to destroying the Reapers, but they also found out and have moved the Citadel to Earth and they are defending it. Our only chance is a ground team getting to the Conduit that connects the Citadel and the Earth to get aboard it and activate the Catalyst, which I have no idea what it really is."

With no hesitation Ashlyn replied, "I'd like to be on your team."

His jaw tensed. "You're sure? Uh… Garrus has also volunteered."

She paused then as the thought processed, but continued, "Yes. I can't stand that I have part of those… things inside me, that I'm somehow connected to the creatures responsible for all this. I guess I feel like the only way to redeem myself is to fight them and I want to fight alongside you."

He nodded though she could tell he didn't want her to go. "I'll call you before the mission briefing."

Then he turned and headed out.

Ashlyn lay back down and turned on her omni-tool once more so she could receive Shepard's call. EDI hadn't responded, but there was a message from Garrus and it nearly brought her to tears.

Garrus: I know I'm not supposed to really be discussing what's going on between Shepard, you and I, but you know me, I like to break rules. Well, at least bend them, otherwise I'd be giving you this message in person. Before all this goes down, I just wanted to let you know that the best part about a battle that decides the whole fate of the galaxy is that it's a good excuse to remind the people you care about that… well you care about them. I also wanted to apologize, though it's entirely too late.

Ashlyn took a ragged sigh in attempt to stop the emotions from pouring out. She didn't even know how to respond. All she could type back was: Thank you.

Walking to the mission briefing room was like walking through a dream. It didn't seem real. It felt like every step Ashlyn took was another step towards a terrifying black void. Everyone she passed had somber looks on their faces. Even Tali's posture was sunken into a chair at the dining table as they all became closer to their fates. Though she couldn't see her face, Ashlyn could tell Tali was anxious about the upcoming battle. Liara had passed her next to the elevator, placed a hand on her shoulder and wished her luck.

"Put those extraordinary abilities to good use." She told her.

Ashlyn nodded and continued on.

When she entered the briefing room, Garrus was already there as was Shepard. Garrus's brow furrowed when his eyes fell upon her.

He turned back to Shepard. "You can't allow her to come on this mission!"

Ashlyn could tell Garrus was only worried, but Shepard spoke before she could. "She volunteered and if I'm not mistaken, someone said recently that she should be allowed to make her own decisions."

Garrus stepped back and bit his tongue. Ashlyn glanced at him when she approached the table. He looked sad and nervous. She had to ignore it and focus on the mission.

"All of the fleets are in position," Shepard began as he pointed to a holographic image of the Earth's atmosphere. Ashlyn saw the Citadel, the Crucible and the fleet. "The Crucible is ready to be docked into the Citadel. We just need to clear a path on the ground. The rest of the crew has been briefed on their objectives on Earth. The Normandy is joining with Admiral Hackett's fleet. It's going to get thick down there. If either of you need extraction, let me know as soon as possible."

Shepard focused on Ashlyn and she knew he meant her but didn't want to make her sound weak. She nodded, letting him know he didn't have to worry.

Shepard lifted his omni-tool and flagged someone. Cortez's voice came back.

"Kodiak is ready, Commander."

"On our way," Shepard replied into his wrist.

The three were deathly silent in the elevator trip to the shuttle bay, but the tension could've been cut with a knife. When they reached the shuttle bay, they did last minute armor and weapons modifications, rechecked supplies and then ventured into the Kodiak. Ashlyn sat down as Shepard and Garrus stood holding onto the upper handles. They all jerked slightly as the Kodiak took off, not daring to look each other in the eye.

The closer they got to Earth, the more Ashlyn could feel the energy from the Reapers. It seemed to pull at her, energize her. She hadn't felt this way on Thessia, but maybe it was because her mind was fully unlocked now. She hated the feeling of being connected to something so destructive, but it also gave her the determination to sever that connection.

"Alright," Shepard's voice cut through the silence, "our first objective is to take out the AA Hades Cannon. Right now none of the Hammer ground force can make it in without getting blasted at. Follow me, keep your eyes and ears open and your gun aimed."

The Kodiak's door slid open and Ashlyn jumped down after Shepard with Garrus behind. She felt an excitement inside her as her feet touched the Earth for the first time. This was technically her home planet and she'd never even seen it. She now saw the remains of London around her, the same destruction she saw on Thessia. Ashlyn's HUD lit up like Christmas time, even though she'd only ever seen Christmas in stories. Red dots spattered her view and she had to tell her HUD to only target enemies that were close. It only took a moment for husks to be running wildly at them. Ashlyn took cover and began firing shot after shot after shot. One fell right after another. The corpses of the husks began piling up. There didn't seem to be a stop to them, but just as she began to worry that they'd be stuck there, there was a break and Shepard gestured for them to move forward. Ashlyn moved from her cover as they started to climb a hill. Another wave of husks, marauders and cannibals came upon them and their swiftness nearly caught Ashlyn off guard. A marauder fired at her and she rolled out of the way and into the cover of rubble just in time. The husks were easy enough to take out, but the others were proving to be a pain. They had high ground and better cover. She wished she could find a way to get them out of cover. She remembered Liara's biotic abilities that she used on Thessia and Ashlyn wished she could try and mimic them. Then she wondered if she could use her mimicry on a memory. She closed her eyes and remembered Liara's skills, remembered the nearly invisible force then bent to her will.

Energy emanating, pulsing, firing, lifting… control, power…

Ashlyn shook her head and she raised her hand. She willed energy to seep from her and instead of the purplish energy the biotic implants provided, the red Reaper energy flowed and swirled around her fingertips. She turned back to where the Reaper forces held their ground and held out her hand. She willed the energy to them, forced it to connect with them and when the connection was made, she raised her hand. About five marauders and cannibals that were hidden behind rubble on the hill flew up into the air. Ashlyn slammed her hand down and they all came crashing down, tumbling out from behind their cover.

Though Garrus and Shepard were in shock, they took the opportunity to take them out as Ashlyn crouched back behind her cover, taking in sharp breaths. The energy caused her heart to race and her head to get a little blurry.

"Ashlyn," Shepard called, "are you okay?"

"Yes," she gasped out.

"What was that?" Garrus asked in an astonished tone.

"I… think I mimicked biotics," she said as her heart began to slow, "but it seemed to have taken a lot out of me."

"Well try not to use it again unless you absolutely have to." Shepard commanded. "Let's move out!"

Ashlyn caught her breath as they continued up the hill and when they reached the top, two brutes charged in. Ashlyn began to feel the shudder of the Hades Cannon beneath her feet as it fired.

Cover didn't work all that well for brutes. They were close range and liked to charge at you at full force. One nearly slammed into her, but she jumped and acrobatically flipped over its head. She was able to get some of its armor down by firing a couple good shots into its back. When it turned to attack her, Garrus got three headshots on it and it fell over dead. Shepard had been working on the other, slowly bringing down its armor and dodging its attacks. When Ashlyn and Garrus joined in, the thing was dead within seconds.

They went on to the remains of a building where the prime firing location was set. As they climbed to the second story, Shepard's omni-tool went off. Cortez was on the other end.

"Shepard!" He shouted. "I've been hit! I'm going down!"

There was a crash and Shepard called back. "Cortez! Are you okay? Do you read me?"

The brief moment of silence made them all fear the worst, but luckily Cortez radioed back, "I'm okay. A little banged up, but I'll manage. I won't be able to pick you up."

"It's okay," Shepard told him, "I've flagged Hammer for an evac once the cannon is down. I'll send one your way."

"Yessir!"

Garrus and Ashlyn cleared out the few husks on the second floor of the roofless building while Shepard made his way to the rocket launcher that was waiting for him. He loaded it as Ashlyn looked at the terrifyingly large Hades Cannon in the distance. Its fire caused the earth to tremble and caused her HUD to shudder. She and Garrus watched his back as he fired a rocket into the cannon, causing the thing to erupt in a plume of fire and smoke.

"Hammer is on their way!" Shepard said triumphantly, but his attack caused a large troop of Reaper forces to hone in on their location.

Fighting them off was difficult. The area for cover was small and a troublesome banshee appeared, but they kept fighting. The tight space caused Ashlyn to take a hit in the shoulder from the banshee when she tried to move from one spot to the next, but her adrenaline pumped through her and she hardly even felt the pain. Eventually, the banshee fell and they all spotted the shuttle coming down. Marauders appeared and they held them off while clearing a path to the shuttle.

"Ashlyn," Shepard shouted over the gunfire and noise of the Reaper forces, "you first."

She followed her commander's orders and jumped into the shuttle. He commanded Garrus to get in next and once the enemies were pushed back enough, he followed and the shuttle took off.

To be continued...