Full disclosure, I'm not going to be saying much prior to the writing of the actual chapter, or after. Possibly not even anything at all, unless I have something I really want to say. With that being said, the following details, are of the girl that I knew, not Commander Shepard, even though some details are a bit similar. All flashback sequences will be written in the first person perspective.
Early Years
Months passed since the Battle of Earth. The most brilliant minds, from every race Shepard brought to the fold, were able to repair the relay from the remnant technology of the Reaper corpses. The rebuilding of Earth's cities would take possibly centuries, but the Citadel was also able to be repaired with leftover Reaper technology. Were it not for the genius of the scientists, it would have taken years to rebuild the relays. Today was the day that the Citadel returned to the Serpent Nebula, which for some reason, greatly helped to ease the nerve of one Lieutenant Griffin Walker. The Sol System was crowded enough, as it is.
At the very least, Griffin was glad to see the Geth gone for good. AI was always something that he wondered what good reason anyone would have for even inventing in the first place. A robot life form with its own conscience, to him was always a recipe for disaster, and that's why the council outlawed it. But at least the Quarians had learned from their past mistakes. He also remembered all to well the horrifying image of the Geth placing his fellow soldiers on their machines, only for them to be impaled, and turned into those gruesome husks. How Shepard decided to give them a second chance, after even only Eden Prime was beyond him.
Standing out the observation deck of Lunar Base, gazing at the Citadel as it prepares to move, Griffin is interrupted from his train of thought, by his communicator's ring. "Griffin." Nick says after he answers.
"Hey Nick, how are you feeling?" He responds.
"I'm somewhere between 'getting there', and 'this shit hurts like hell'."
"So baby steps?"
"Pretty much, yeah."
Griffin smiled. "What else did you need?"
"I wanted to tell you that Admiral Hackett come looking for you, earlier. I told him the truth." Nick concluded, sounding somewhat nervous.
"I wouldn't have expected anything less. Don't worry Nick, I'm not hiding, no matter how big my grief is."
"I didn't think that you were, it's just that you've gone for days where no one sees you. At this point, I'm just hoping that Hackett isn't looking for you to tell you that you're being discharged for going AWOL."
"I know. They should be able to figure out for themselves, that I just need some time alone, frequently, for the foreseeable future. I will talk about it eventually, it just has to be the right setting for me to feel comfortable talking about it."
"Lieutenant Walker!" Admiral Hackett calls out, as he enters the room, and everyone turns to salute him.
"Nick, we'll talk later." Griffin cuts the call, and turns to salute him as well. "Ten-hut!"
"At ease Griffin." Hackett turns to everyone else in the room. "A bit of privacy, everyone. Your dismissed." Saluting him an additional time, they all turn, and leave the deck to the Lieutenant, and Admiral, who turns back to Griffin. "Lieutenant, you can relax. I'm not here to court marshal you."
Griffin lets his arms fall to his sides. "Thank you, sir."
Hackett stands next to him. "When I told you of Commander Shepard's passing, I wanted to both see and hear your reaction. Obviously it had an effect on you, but I don't know what exactly your feelings were, because you didn't say a word."
Griffin sighs hard. "We were speaking again, for the first time since before she was assigned to the original Normandy. Sir, up until I saw the body, I didn't entirely believe she was dead, as she had already been dead, for two straight years."
"And it still hasn't entirely sunk in, has it?"
He shakes his head. "No sir."
Hackett turns to stare him down. "Griffin. I know this isn't going to be something you want to hear. But Alliance brass has ordered you to sit down, and be interviewed about your relationship with Shepard."
"What? Why?"
"What you and your squad did during the Battle for Earth ensured that a large number of soldiers, from all allied races, managed to survive to see the end of that battle. With Commander Shepard gone, the major agents in the Crew of the Normandy disbanded, we need for the galaxy to realize that we are ready for anything, even after the invasion, and near destruction of our homeworld, after the loss of our greatest hero. Brass wants you 100% focused, and they feel that the best way for you to be at that level, is for you to get all of your memories, that so few knew about, off of your chest, so that you may grieve."
"And if I refuse?"
"Then I am here to court marshal you, after all."
Griffin shut his eyes, shaking his head, and rubbing his forehead. "Alright. Who is doing the interview?"
"That's up to you. It can be either a citadel reporter of the council's choosing, or it can be me."
"The council's participating?"
"Mainly because of Earth's new councilor."
"Should've been you, if you ask me."
"No it shouldn't have. Whether he wanted to or not, Bailey has learned more about politics in his tenure with C-sec, than most others learn in their lifetime. He'll do just fine."
"Especially with no Cerberus to corrupt him."
"Make your choice Griffin. If you want to be interviewed by a Citadel reporter, we need to get you on a shuttle to the Citadel, right now."
"I don't want to talk about this, with some stranger Admiral."
"Good. I know exactly what to ask you, and this way we can keep your face off of the extranet, in case you need to go undercover in the future. And, we can also just get this over with, since I know exactly what to ask you." He presses the comm on his wrist. "Come on in, ensign."
As the door opens, Hackett takes a moment. "In return for this, I've elected to grant you three weeks of shore leave, after this interview is over."
"Thank you, sir."
"One more thing. In recognition of your service, the brass sees it fit to promote you to Lieutenant-commander. It will be made official after the interview. Congratulations."
Griffin hadn't smiled that big, since the Reaper fell in front of him, on Earth. He shook hands with the Admiral. "Thank you so much, sir."
"You deserve it. Let's have a seat." The ensign stood next to Hackett, his computer at the ready, to type every word of the interview.
"Current date is October 14th, 2186," The Ensign starts. "Time is 2:00 P.M., Galactic Standard time. Okay. I'm ready when you are, Admiral."
"Thank you, Ensign. May the person I'm interviewing please state his name, for the record."
"My name is Griffin Walker, Lieutenant with the Alliance Navy, and leader of N7's Delta Squadron."
"If you would, please tell me the nature of this interview."
"I'm here with Alliance Admiral Steven Hackett, to discuss my previous relationship, with the deceased Commander Jane Shepard."
"Very good. Lets start from the beginning. How did you meet Commander Shepard?"
"We met on Earth, both of us having been born there. I never asked her where exactly she was from, I just remember meeting her, in Minneapolis, Minnesota, not long after my family and I moved there, from Lynchburg, Tennessee."
"What became of her parents?" Hackett asks, hinting towards Shepard's orphanage.
"Even she never knew. She was adopted at the age of two, and her adoptive parents moved to Minneapolis, around the same time we did. I met her in Kindergarten. The two of us were as close as could be. We sat next to each other in the class rooms, we ate lunch together, chased each other on the playground, the whole nine yards, all the way to fourth grade, I believe. But... something was obviously going on with her, at home, for a while."
"Do you know what it was?"
"No, she wouldn't talk about it, even years later. Whatever it was, when she was ten years old, she ran away from home. For two years, I didn't see her at all. And then... one day, I'm walking by her adoptive parents house... and its one fire. There's fire fighters all around, ambulances, EMTs. Twelve years old at the time, I was. And then suddenly, I look to my left, and she comes running in. She looked terrible. She had lost weight, her face was bruised up a fair bit. And not long after she arrives, we both hear the EMTs saying how the homeowners didn't make it. She just burst out crying, and threw her arms around me, devastated."
"What did she do, after that?"
"I'm not sure. I didn't see her again, until the sixth grade, the next year. I talked to her, always made sure she was alright, and then after the first quarter, she was barely at school. She was skipping it, basically. Finally, I went up to my parents, and did what I should've done when she ran away from home. I had my cop parents find her. And I had them bring her in to our home."
"So your parents adopted her."
"Yes sir. But even after the fact, I still had to drag her butt with me, to school. She may have fallen behind, but not going wasn't going to do her any good."
Griffin then pauses, and flashes back to a memory of one such time, in their high school years.
My parents both had to go out early in the morning, so I was the only one to actually be there, and wake Jane up. Of course she's 15, going on 16 at this point, so she should be able to wake herself up. I know she wants to sleep in, and then go blow off school, and go hang out with those friends of hers. I know enough to know that they are the last people she needs to hang out with. Along with that point, she's coming close to breaking the law with the time she's missed.
"I'll tell you, sir. If she didn't like riding in my vehicle as much as she did, I might've never got her to school as much as I did." Griffin tells the Admiral, before more of his memories flash through his mind.
Quietly creeping her door open, she sleeps peacefully, lightly snoring, but otherwise silent, and still. She looks so much like an angel, that I don't want to wake her up. But I know that her coming with me is the best thing for her. "Jane." I say, as I approach. She didn't respond. "Jane, come on, you don't need to be late." I continue, as I nudge her shoulder.
"Wha- what are you talking about, Griff?" Jane groggily says, having just woken up.
"What do you think? It's Wednesday, and we're still in High School."
"Oh come Griffin. Wouldn't you rather do something else."
"Yes I would, but you said you weren't interested in me," Is what I was thinking, but I would never actually say that. "I know what your idea of 'something else' is, and you should know by now that I don't agree with it. Come on, lets go."
"Five more minutes."
"I'm not your mother Jane, come on." I turn to walk out of her room, and stop at the door way, to make sure she actually gets up.
"Griffin, I'm not wearing clothes." She says as she sits up with her blanket covering her breasts, and her face slightly red. I look her in the eyes, and then look away, and place an open hand against the side of my head, to let her know I won't look. I hear her sigh, and the covers shuffling around, as she gets out of bed, and opens up her drawer, to grab her clothes. A couple seconds later, she's dressed, and tapping me on the arm. "Why are you so insistent on this, Griffin?"
"Because I don't want to watch my parents arrest you, Jane. And they won't have a choice, if you keep on skipping school. That's Minnesota state law."
"I haven't missed that many days."
I stop her right in her steps. "Jane, you've missed fifteen days."
"What?!"
"Jane, I know some people who think nothing of you. But I believe in you. You're going to be held back this year, but listen, get your head in it, and focus from now on, stay away from those 'friends' of yours, and I know you'll be able to bounce back."
"Can I ride with you from now on?"
"I'm gonna be waking your ass up, from now on, if that's what you want."
Sarcastically, she sighs and puts her hands on her hips. "I think I can live with that." She says.I smiled brightly. "Alright, I'd be glad to drive you. Now come on, lets go."
Griffin opened his eyes, sighing at first, and then smiling. "For a long stretch of time, including the time when she lived with me, Shepard and I barely spoke to each other, or even looked at each other. But after one morning, one short talk, and a reality check later, and she was riding with me to, and from school, on a daily basis. When she found out that she might not be able to join the military until after High School graduation, she worked her ass of to catch up to me, and the rest of our graduating class, then enrolled in boot camp a week after graduation, so I give her a- all due respect, sir- shit ton of credit."
"When did you decide to enroll?"
"When I was twenty. I had no idea what I was going to do at that point, so I *chuckles* I decided to play catch up with her, for a change." Griffin then stops, completely dead in his tracks, leans down, and buries his head in his hands, missing her.
"Ensign, take a break." The Admiral says in response. "Griffin, you too."