I find myself apologizing for going so long between updates, that it should be rote by now. So, assume I apologized, I'll assume I'm forgiven, and let's get on with it!

Bioware owns everything. In related news, Canada has just been purchased by a video game company that was started by two doctors...

Ash sat at the desk in her and Shepard's cabin, her head in her hands. It was three days since they had picked up Doctor Rosetti from Omega, and in that time, he had been able to clone new, fully functional, lungs for Shepard, and had performed the surgery to implant them. Shepard's body had accepted the implants, and he was now breathing on his own.

After realizing that Wilson had interfered with the project more than she had initially realized, Miranda had decided to go over all of the reports with Carmen and Doctor Chakwas to look for any other signs of sabotage. So far, they hadn't found anything in the reports, but they still had the problem of the damage done to his neural implants. Unfortunately, the head of that department from the project had been confirmed by Miranda as having been killed, so they were scrambling to find anything that could prove useful.

She had never been one to shy away from a fight, but being powerless to help her loved ones was always a feeling she hated. She couldn't stand knowing that her fiancé was lying on a bed in med bay, possibly never wake up again, and there was nothing to do. She kept reading the reports from Project Lazarus, but she couldn't make heads or tails of most of the detailed information.

She was just about to give up for the night and try to get some sleep when her console chirped, indicating she had a call. Wearily, she opened the console, and saw Kelly on the screen.

"Kelly, I thought I said I didn't want to be disturbed." Ash noted her voice sounded tired, almost as tired as she felt.

"I know, but a call came through for you. I think you may want to take it."

Ash sighed. "All right, put it through."

"Yes ma'am."

The screen briefly flickered, and an image of an older woman replaced the yeoman.

"Hello, this is Lieutenant Commander Ashley Williams, to whom am I speaking?"

The woman on the screen smiled. "Hello, Lieutenant Commander Williams, it's good to see you again. My name is Helena Blake."

Again? Ash didn't hide her confusion. The name sounded like it should be familiar, but Ash couldn't place it. "I'm sorry…"

"Of course, I wouldn't expect you to remember me. I used to be a criminal. A few years ago, I had asked Shepard to help me eliminate my business partners. I had fully expected him to try to kill me too, or arrest me. But he gave me a second chance, and I told myself that I would take full advantage of that chance."

Ash remembered. She and Shepard had argued about him letting her go, but he had finally convinced her that everyone deserved a second chance, even a criminal. Obviously, he had been right.

"Of course, I remember now. What can I do for you, Ms Blake?"

"It's actually what I can do for you. When the Patriarch told me what happened to Shepard… well, I remembered the faith he had in me that I could do something good for the galaxy. When I met him on Omega those few months ago, he seemed… proud, that I was able to turn my life around. In all my years, I've never experienced that before."

Ash knew exactly what she meant. She had seen time and time again, that when Shepard had put his faith and trust in someone, it compelled them to never let him down.

"Anyways," Helena continued, "he helped me, once, and it's time I helped him. I'm sending you some reports and data that I was able to dig up through some of my old contacts concerning cybernetic enhancements to human physiology, and the effects of damaging said enhancements. When it comes to effects on the human brain, I wasn't able to find much more than some papers which are far beyond my understanding, but I've included them anyways. I know you'll have people far smarter than I that can make sense of them."

Ash was speechless. She had seen acts of mercy and compassion before, but never before had a near complete stranger done anything like this for her before. "I… I don't know what to say. Thank you, Ms Blake."

The older woman waved her off. "Don't thank me. When he wakes up, you thank him for having faith that an old crook could change her ways. I owe him at least this much."

Ash's terminal chirped, and a message came up that the files had all been transferred. "Please, Lieutenant Commander… if there's anything else I can possibly do, let me know."

Ash nodded. "Thank you, so much, Ms Blake. I'll let you know what happens."

The older woman smiled, and disconnected the call.

For the first time in days, Ash smiled. Maybe we're not too late after all she thought to herself as she loaded the data onto an OSD before making her way down to medbay.

"Liara, I don't know what to do," Ash admitted to the asari. "The information Helena gave us helped, but he's still not waking up."

It was several days after Ash's conversation with Helena Blake, and Ash was pacing the science room in frustration. The information Helena Blake had given them had helped direct them to a salarian neurosurgeon on Illium that specialized in repairing and replacing cybernetic enhancements in various species' neural systems. When the doctor had found out that he would be working on Shepard, he had refused any payment, saying that Shepard had helped his family recover some important information regarding their family history, and it would be his pleasure to repay him.

While the surgery had been successful, and the new neural implants were working, Shepard had still remained unconscious. Doctor Chakwas had seen an almost immediate return of normal neural activity, but they couldn't tell why he was still unconscious.

Liara looked up from her console. "The important thing is that he's off all life-support. It may just be that he has to finish healing before he can regain consciousness."

Ash didn't stop her pacing. "But what if he won't wake up? What if the brain damage is too severe? What if…"

"Ash." Liara put such a commanding tone into that one word that Ash stopped her pacing and looked at her, startled. "We've taken everything into account. No one has had as extensive cybernetic implants in their brain as Shepard, but all of the information points us to it being a matter of time until it rewires itself and he wakes up. We should be hopeful."

She came from behind the table to where Ash was standing. "He's alive, and functioning on his own. That in and of itself is a monumental improvement from where we were just a few weeks ago…" She slowly put her arms around the numb-looking woman. "… though I know that does little to ease your concerns."

They stood there for a moment before Ash spoke. "I'm sorry, Liara. I'm really worried. I know it's difficult for you too, considering how you feel about him."

Liara pulled away and held Ash at arm's length, looking at her in the eyes. "He is a dear friend, as are you. Yes, there may have been a point where I thought I loved him… but that is the past. Now, I do everything I can to help my friend."

Ash nodded. "Thanks, Liara. I think I needed to hear that."

The two women smiled at each other, but before either of them could say anything more, Kelly came over the comm. "Ash, Liara, we have a call for the two of you."

Ash's brow furrowed in confusion. "For the two of us, Kelly?"

"Yes ma'am. It's from someone on Illium… she named the two of you, specifically."

This time, it was Liara's turn to show her confusion. "Who would know the two of us are on the ship?"

Ash shrugged slightly. "I don't know. Guess we better go find out, though."

They both walked from the research center out to the CIC, passing behind Kelly to get to Shepard's station. Ash keyed the console, and a familiar, though unexpected, green face appeared.

"Hello, Ms Williams, Dr. T'soni."

"Shiala! I haven't seen you since Feros, after we fought the Thorian." Ash looked over to Liara, who looked similarly surprised.

The green Asari smiled slightly. "Yes, though I wish we had met under better circumstances. I apologize, I do not mean to concern myself in affairs that aren't my business, but I heard about Shepard…"

"How did you hear about what happened to Shepard?"

Shiala smiled. "I was on Omega when a certain human Spectre pulled a gun on Aria T'Loak. Not too many people live through a situation like that, so word spread. The Patriarch told me that you were looking to try to help Shepard, though he declined to tell me more. So I came to Illium to try to reach you, Dr. T'soni. I remembered you were there with Shepard on Feros. I came to offer whatever help I could, though I found out you were no longer keeping your office here. Through some digging, I found out the Normandy was docked, and I, as the humans would say, 'put two and two together.' I would like to offer whatever help I can. Shepard helped me and the colonists of Zhu's Hope twice, it's time I try to return the favor."

Ash smiled. Shepard had told her about meeting Shiala again on Illium. "I appreciate your willingness to help, Shiala… but I'm not sure how you could."

"I don't know much about what happened to me because of the thorian's influence, but it has given me certain … unique, traits. Among them, I can heal from any injury very quickly. Perhaps my unique genetic structure might hide something that could be of some benefit."

Liara spoke up. "I still have my old operation on Illium, and access to the needed labs and equipment to look into this." She looked to Ash. "What do you think, Ash?"

Ash regarded the green skinned asari for a moment. There had been a time, back on Feros, where she would have killed the woman and not thought twice about it. To have her offering her assistance humbled Ash. "Of course, we'd be grateful for any help. Come to dock twelve."

Shiala nodded. "Thank you for the chance to help. I'll see you soon."

The screen went black. From behind her, Ash heard Liara say "It seems that the old saying is true, 'it's good to have friends.'"

Ash nodded. "Yeah… I guess… I never realized how many lives he touched, how many people he helped…" she blinked her eyes a few times to suppress the tears that were forming. Turning, she smiled to Liara, and to Kelly, whom she hadn't even heard come over to them. "Come on, let's get ready to greet our guest."

Sorry it's a short one this time, we'll get something more meaty shortly! I wrote this as a response to the seeming lack of any of the people Shepard helped actually returning the favour, ungrateful bastards.

As always, all reviews welcome!

Also, as to the continuation... yeah, everything will be under this title. So while the main story arc that was planned will end, I'll keep Rules of Engagement going on. Yay! Cookies for everyone!*

*This is just a saying, I will not be providing anyone cookies**

**Unless you're really nice to me... then I'll consider it***

***No I won't.