Hello everyone! The next few chapters were written well before ME3 came out (which tells you how long I've been working on this, and how bad I am at updating!). I apologize for the infrequent and random updates, in between planning for a baby, working full time, trying to start my own company, and also working on my own original book, something had to give a bit. But I will never forget this, so no worries!

Also, for everyone who follows this story, please see an announcement below.

As always, Bioware owns the characters, but I own their souls... muhahaha!

"Check his vitals!"

"I got a weak pulse!"

"He's not breathing!"

"Get this armor off, now!"

"Someone radio the Normandy, we need to get him to medbay now!"

The team swarmed around Shepard as he lay on the floor. Their motions and words were all becoming a blur as they sought to revive him after the seemingly harmless EMP bomb had sent him crumbling to the floor. As Garrus stripped Shepard's armor off, Ash immediately started CPR, trying to keep his heart going and get air into his lungs. Liara, meanwhile, had powered her comm back up, and was receiving a message from the Normandy.

"… und team, come in ground team! Kodiak inbound to your position, Chakwas is on board with a crash kit, please adivse!" Miranda's voice was in control, but they could all here the panic behind it. Not stopping in trying to bring her fiance' back, Ash yelled to be heard over Liara's comm. "Make sure she gets down her fast! We have a pulse, but he's not breathing!"

The pilot of the Kodiak came over the comm. "ETA two minutes, full burn into your location. Keep transmitting so we can keep a lock on your position."

"Liara, give them a status report." Ash wanted to focus all of her efforts on Shepard to try to keep him alive until the doctor could land. As Liara gave a report of everything that had happened, Ash felt the panic rise in her throat as the seconds ticked by without a response from Shepard. Don't you dare do this to me!

After what felt like an eternity, she heard the Kodiak's engines as is descended to the platform. It landed just a few yards away, and before she knew it, Doctor Chakwas was next to her, gently pushing everyone out of the way so she could get in.

Ash saw that Chakwas had a mobile respirator with her. She couldn't help but shiver as the doctor threaded a tube up Shepard's nostril, pushing it in further and further until she nodded to herself. "I'm in the lungs, starting artificial respiration." She pressed a button on the side of the machine, and Ash saw Shepard's chest start to rise and fall. "I need to get him back to the ship to do a complete check on him." Garrus brought over a stretcher from the shuttle, and he and Grunt gently placed Shepard on it before carrying him over.

"Ash…" She turned to see Jacob and Liara standing near her. "Go with him. The four of us can take things from here. We'll report in to Miranda after we check on the geth."

Ash shook her head. "No, I need to stay. I have a job to do…"

Liara stepped forward "You need to go with him. Yes, you have a duty as a Spectre, but you also have a duty to him. Go. We can handle this."

She felt Garrus put his hand on her shoulder. "They're right. Nothing more you can do down here. He'll need you to wake up to, anyways. Unless you'd rather he wake up to MY beautiful face."

Ash nodded. "Ok… thanks." She ran over to the shuttle. Taking one last look at her team, she sat on the seat, reaching over to hold Shepard's hand. Without looking away from him, she spoke to the doctor. "Any thoughts?"

Doctor Chakwas sighed. "Until I get more data about how he was rebuilt by Cerberus, I won't even know what's been shut down by the EMP. For now, his heart is beating and he's getting oxygen, so let's focus on that."

Ash nodded, choking back any response. She had to admit to herself that it looked grim. No, stop it, we'll figure this out. All she could do for now was wait until they got back to the ship, so Doctor Chakwas could run more tests. Please God, she prayed silently, let him be ok. I don't think I can lose him again.

They soon arrived in the cargo bay of the Normandy. As the doors to the Kodiak opened, Ash noticed that Kelly and Miranda were both there, along with several crew members. "I've already keyed up all of the files regarding Shepard's reconstruction in your computer, Doctor." Ash was thankful that Miranda seemed to have already expected this, and had already taken steps to prepare.

The crew members took the stretcher, and carefully took Shepard from the Kodiak towards the elevator. Ash stayed right by his side, still holding his hand. "Miranda, what do you think happened? What cybernetics are we talking about here?"

Miranda walked with them, as Kelly stayed back a little. "He has dozens of cybernetic implants throughout his body. The servos in a few of his joints would be low priority. The main concern would be his lungs and…" Miranda caught herself, stealing a glance to Ash, "… his brain."

Ash looked up to Miranda, panic racing across her face. "His brain?"

Miranda looked as if she didn't want to explain, but she did anyway. "Parts of his neural network had to be replaced with micro circuitry. That in itself isn't an issue, but it was done without any brain activity. Once we had restarted his brain…"

Doctor Chakwas finished for her. "… they acted as a microchip, with electricity from his synapses racing across them. The EMP would have damaged them."

Ash looked to Miranda. "What parts are we talking about?"

The doors to the elevator opened, and they rushed into medbay. As the crew members lifted Shepard off of the stretcher onto the bed, Ash finally released Shepard's hand and walked directly up to Miranda. "What parts are we talking about?"

Miranda couldn't look her in the eye. "I'm… not sure. But they were related to… higher functions. All of the reports are there, all of the information from Lazarus, but…" Miranda finally looked Ash in the eye, and Ash could see the frustration, the sense of failure that was coursing through the former Cerberus operative. "I'm an administrator, not a neurosurgeon. The reason I never gave you or Shepard the details is that I don't know all the details. I ran the project, and had an overview of everything that was happening, but I couldn't tell you the minute details. I'm sorry."

Ash took a step back. "I understand. I'm sorry I bit your head off. But we need to do something!"

Doctor Chakwas looked at the two women. "May I make a suggestion?" Both Ash and Miranda looked over to the doctor, who took a moment before she continued. "Right now, I need time to run tests and go over the data from Lazarus. I won't know anything until I know what's wrong, and why it's wrong. Once we know that, we'll know how to fix it. For now, take some time to calm yourselves. There are still people on the surface that need help."

Miranda nodded. "You're right, Doctor. I'll get a message off t some of my contacts to see if anyone can get me more information on this type of situation. In the meantime, I should get back up to the CIC to monitor the situation on the surface."

"Good. You get back to work. Ashley…" before she could finish, Ash interrupted her. "I'm staying right here."

Doctor Chakwas smiled. She would assume nothing less than that from the young Lieutenant Commander."I know. But at least go, get cleaned up, and come back in something more comfortable than your armor. You'll be my assistant for my tests." Chakwas hoped that Ash didn't see through the thin ruse. There wouldn't be much testing going on, as she would have to try to find, in the mountains of data and reports that Miranda had supplied something that could be used to help Shepard. But she knew she would have to keep Ash occupied and active, otherwise she wouldn't be of much use to anyone.

Thankfully, Ash nodded. "Ok, I guess I can't do much right now." As both Miranda and Ash walked out of med bay, Chakwas sighed as she sat in front of her computer terminal. It was times like this that she wished Mordin hadn't left the ship when they stopped at Tuchunka, though she knew he left to try to find a cure for the genophage. He had had a major breakthrough while working aboard the Normandy, and been in a hurry to see if it worked.

Doctor Chakwas settled in for a long night.

It was several hours later. Miranda stood at Shepard and Ash's terminal in the CIC, finishing the report on the day's mission. Fortunately, Legion had been able to get the geth to power down before the EMP went off, and the remaining ground team was able to reactivate them. The true concern had been the quarians on the surface, as their containment suits had failed with the EMP, including their breather units.

It was this potential crisis that had shown the possibility for hope for the future. Without hesitation, every geth had come up to a quarian, and patched themselves into the environment suits, using their power supplies to keep the quarians alive until the damaged suits could be repaired.

Overall, the mission had been a success, save one glaring point: Shepard. The EMP bomb that had gone off had taken out the cybernetic enhancements that Cerberus has used to help bring him back, and they weren't sure how to repair the damage that had been done.

Currently, Doctor Chakwas was going over the reports from Project Lazarus that Miranda had given her, trying to see if she could find anything that she could use to help bring the Commander back. Everyone else, it seemed, was waiting for any news.

So lost in her thoughts was she, Miranda had barely heard the elevator doors open. Ash came up behind her and placed a hand on her shoulder, making Miranda jump.

"Oh, Ash, sorry. I wasn't paying attention."

Ash smiled weakly. "Miranda, Kelly, can I see both of you in the briefing room?"

Miranda looked over to Kelly, who clearly had been surprised to be included. Not waiting for an answer, Ash started making her way through the armory to the briefing room, with her XO and yeoman trailing behind.

As the three women entered the briefing room, Ash spoke. "EDI, can you bring up the file?"

The light dimmer slightly as the holoemitters turned on. Over the table in the middle of the room, a dossier appeared. The picture of a tired-looking human male, slightly past middle age, was in the forefront.

"Miranda, do you remember this man?"

Miranda looked from the picture to the name on the dossier. "Yes, Doctor Carmen Rosetti. He was one of the leads on Project Lazarus. His focus was the respiratory system. Not only was he a genius, he was also the biggest proponent of cloning the needed organs and tissue, rather than using synthetics. If it weren't for him, I'd imagine Shepard would be much worse off than he is now."

"Do you know what happened to him?"

Miranda looked over to Ash. "From what I remember, he was still at the facility when we came under assault. My priority was to get Shepard out, so I just assumed he had been killed."

Ash shook her head. "He escaped. While Doctor Chakwas was going through the files, I started searching for the people listed, to see if we could get any contacts. He came up. It looks like he's been publishing some papers loosely based on the work done at Project Lazarus."

Miranda's eyes widened slightly. "I knew he was an idealist, but that's damn near suicidal."

"Why?" Kelly almost felt stupid asking the question.

"Because Cerberus has a fanatic jealously regarding its secrets. And anyone who goes and reveals those secrets would have a target the size of an elkor painted on their backs."

Ash nodded grimly. "I found the kill order. We don't have much time to get to him. We were able to trace him to Omega. He's working with Mordin's former assistant. I've already told Joker to lay in a course. I'm not taking any risks in get Rosetti, and we get out, before anyone tries to collect the bounties on us, or Rosetti. The mercenary population of Omega is still pissed at Shepard and Garrus, so seeing us might get them worked up."

Kelly and Miranda both nodded, knowing that any trip to Omega could be trouble. Both women got ready to leave the briefing room.

Ash, though, clearly had something else she needed to say, though she didn't want to. As the lights came up, she took a step forward. "Look, I… am going to need some help. With John… in his condition, I know I'm going to have a hard time focusing. As much as I trust the others, you two… well, you've become like sisters to me."

Ash saw both the slight flush creep across Kelly's cheeks, and how Miranda's stance relaxed ever so slightly.

"We don't know what can be done for Shepard. I know we'll do what we can, but we are also going to have to continue with our primary mission as well. This is where I need you guys the most."

Ash took a deep breath. "I'm going to try to be as professional as possible, but… I may, at some point, need to be reminded of our job to stop the reapers. I feel that if someone on the strike team confronts me about it, I might not be responsive, but if one of you tells me…"

Miranda and Kelly looked to each other. "Anything you need, Ash. We're here."

Ash let a wan smile though. "Thanks, Kelly."

Ash took another breath. She felt as though she was going to fall to pieces, but she had to keep herself together; if not for her own sake, for her crew's.

Collecting herself, she motioned that they should leave the briefing room. "Come on. Let's get to Omega and get John fixed up."

As they walked back to the CIC, Ash forced herself to think positively. We'll get this doctor, and get John better. I won't let him down.

I just have to say, "I'm an administrator, not a neurosurgeon" is my favourite line in the whole story.

And so, for my announcement. Originally, this would be ending at the end of the Reaper invasion. Well, I've come to realize that the characters still have more that they're telling me they want to do, so... this will keep going indefinitely. As long as the characters telling me what they're doing, I'll keep writing it all out. Ultimately, though, I don't know if I should keep it all under Rules of engagement, as future chapters will explain, but for now, I'll keep it all here.

As always, reviews/comments/critiques/offers of loads of money all accepted and encouraged! Thanks!