A/N: Sorry for the delay but work's been a bitch lately. However, thanks to the World Cup's group stage ending I have had time to write a full length chapter again, enjoy. As always, reviews are much appreciated.

SOROR

"Yes sir, Tali seems to have gotten through to him. Now I simply have to emphasize their incompatibility and present myself as an alternative…subtly, of course."

"Of course, though based on your reports of Shepard's ignorance of Tali's affections don't be too subtle, Miranda." warned the Illusive Man.

"Thank you for the advice sir, but with the outfit you issued me for the mission I don't think being too subtle will be an issue." said Miranda, motioning at her form hugging suit.

"In any case, while I do trust your ability to read people, talk to Kelly about Shepard's mental state before seducing him." Noticing a brief scowl cross Miranda's face the Illusive Man explained, "Despite her naivety Kelly was the only specialist we had who came close to accurately predicting the extent of Shepard's mental distress caused by his resurrection. Contrary to your stated opinion Kelly is on this mission for a reason. She is a resource you should not ignore."

"Sir." Miranda curtly nodded.

"Hello Kelly," Miranda said briskly as Kelly entered her office continuing quickly to deny Kelly time for her usual irritatingly chipper reply, "I'm interested in your take on Shepard's recent behavior, especially concerning Tali."

"Well, that's certainly an official sounding way to ask for ship gossip!"

Managing to keep her annoyance from expressing itself Miranda decided to play along with the redhead's inane conversation, "You're right…that did come out a bit officious. But anyways, is there something between them? Its obvious Tali's infatuated with Shepard, especially since the trial."

"Obvious to everyone except Shepard, you mean. I even told him that Tali is attracted to him and Shepard was surprised insisting that they were only friends." Kelly laughed.

Pleased with this information Miranda decided to let the babble continue, hoping for more information, "Are you sure he doesn't return her feelings? You saw him at her trial, all the effort he spent on her and that speech that got the admirals to change their minds about Tali's guilt. I know Shepard has helped many of the crew, but that seemed more personal; especially so soon after Tali found him in his cabin after Shepard had shot himself and then she never left his side while he recovered."

"You're right, but I'm convinced Shepard sees nothing more than a friend in Tali." Kelly stated with a tone of finality.

Intrigued by the psychologist's sudden hesitance to chatter Miranda pressed Kelly further, "Really? How can you be so sure?"

Seeing the psychologist shift uncomfortably Miranda guessed Shepard had told Kelly something under doctor-patient confidentiality. Tired of pretending to care about Kelly's gossip Miranda let her amicable façade fall, "Yeoman, this is Cerberus. There is no issue of confidentiality. Tell me what Shepard said, all of it, not the censored reports you've been sending to the Illusive Man."

"I can't. You might be Cerberus through and through but I'm a doctor first and Cerberus second!" protested Kelly, taken aback by Miranda's sudden change in demeanor.

"Damn it Yeoman, the galaxy will be wiped clean of sentient life if Shepard doesn't stop the Reapers and we are all here to provide Shepard with the tools necessary to succeed at that task. Now, after a veritable asylum's worth of mental breakdowns, ending in a suicide attempt, Shepard finally appears to have refocused on the mission. It seems to have something to do with Tali and I need to know what so I can both try and keep it going and plan to minimize damage if whatever it is that's motivating Shepard doesn't continue." Seeing that her speech had shaken Kelly Miranda moved in for the kill, "Do you really think that your pathetic confidentiality outweighs the risk to humanity's survival that an unstable Shepard poses?"

"But I took an oath…" Kelly managed to object before Miranda cut her wavering protest off.

"And your oath matters more than the galaxy's survival? Unbelievably selfish, Yeoman." accused Miranda, knowing what character flaw Kelly would find most abhorrent in herself.

"You…You're right. Give me some time to review my notes and I'll send you a complete evaluation of Shepard's current mental status."

"Thank you, Kelly." Miranda said in her false friendly voice dismissing Kelly from the office. As the psychologist left Miranda let a quick smirk across her face at the thought of how easy it was to manipulate those with a strong sense of morality. The smile faded as Miranda realized that she now had to manipulate Shepard, who exhibited no morals and, to top it off, sometimes behaved psychotically.

An outstretched finger reached for a doorbell before stopping and curling into the safety provided by the clenched fist formed by its four companion digits. After a long moment of indecision the fist shot forward smashing into the doorbell and past the point of no-return. Ashley smiled grimly at her actions and the weakness they revealed. Hearing the thud of feet as they raced towards the door she stood facing Ashley wondered whether it was too late to run away.

That question was answered when the door jerked open and Ashley barely had time to brace herself as a figure crashed into her wrapping its arms around Ashley crushing the breath out of her. Recovering from the surprise Ashley managed to draw a breath before speaking, "Good to see you too, sis."

"I'm so glad you're home! Fleet has had you out of communication for too long, I haven't seen you since…" Sarah's voice trailed off as she realized what she was saying.

"Since John's funeral, I know." Ashley finished for her, feeling an uncomfortable resentment towards Shepard for intruding even here and ruining what had been a happy homecoming.

Looking over Sarah's head Ashley saw one of her other sisters leaning against a doorframe smiling at Sarah's enthusiastic greeting. "Abby, good to see you too."

"Likewise, Ash. Sarah, let her breath." Abby said with the air of exasperation that comes so naturally to older siblings before continuing talking to Ashley, "Lynn will get here tomorrow so for now it's just the three of us."

Later that night Ashley sat in the living room with Abby after Sarah had gone to bed dut to jetlag resulting from her trip to get home to see Ashley. The two sisters sat in companionable silence simply enjoying a cold beer and each other's presence. After a time Ashley noticed Abby beginning to fidget and was about to break the silence when Abby spoke up.

"So, Ash…What's new?" Abby asked, her voice suspiciously tense for such an innocuous question.

Sighing Ashley realized the time for comfortable silence was over and Abby thought it was time to talk. "Not much, I just finished a mission out in geth space and got a weeklong leave."

"Right…" Abby replied, clearly unconvinced by Ashley's nonchalant answer.

"Yep, that's all." Ashley insisted before realizing how defensive that response sounded. Quickly she tried to change the conversation's topic, "So, how's it going with Brian? I haven't seen him since…"

"Mom's funeral." interrupted Abby, "And none of us have seen you since Shepard's funeral three months later. It's been almost two years now, what's going on?"

Feeling anger welling inside her at the accusatory tone in Abby's voice Ashley responded, "I've been busy, okay?"

"No, it's not 'okay'. After Mom died we all needed each other and you weren't there. I don't think you understand how much we needed you, especially Sarah."

"Look, I'm sorry but I was on deployment and couldn't take more than a few days off for the funeral." protested Ashley.

"As if your boyfriend couldn't have given you some leave." Abby scoffed.

Feeling her throat clench Ashley stood to leave trying to hide the tears forming at the mention of her relationship with Shepard. Before Ashley had managed to escape Abby said in a soft tone,

"Sorry, Ash. This isn't what I came here to do. Look, I'm sure you're wondering at the timing of this family get-together." sighing at Ashley's lack of response Abby continued, "We got a call two days ago from Councilor Anderson, needless to say we were scared you had been killed but he told us that you had been placed on an 'indefinite leave of absence'."

This revelation seemed to shake Ashley out of her anger as she collapsed back into her chair. After a moment Ashley spoke, "How much did Anderson tell you?"

"Not much, he said it was mostly classified, you know how Fleet loves its security bullshit. But the Councilor told us you had been suspended from duty several times lately and that this was your last chance to pull it together. We're all here because we know how hard it is to get through things alone and, despite our recent distancing, we love you and are here for you."

"Thanks, Abby," taking a moment to compose herself Ashley began quietly, "You remember Shepard's funeral? Well, it was closed casket for a reason. There was no body even after two months of searching."

Seeing Abby's expression urging her on Ashley continued, fighting to hold back her tears, "For a good reason, he's still alive."

"My God, Ash that's wonderful!" Abby cried.

Numbly Ashley nodded, "Maybe."

"Maybe? That deserves an explanation, Ash. I saw you two together at Mom's funeral; I know how much you meant to each other. Shouldn't you be thrilled he's alive?" seeing Ashley's watering eyes Abby reached out placing an arm around Ashley's shoulder, "Tell me what's going on, Ash. The Councilor wouldn't have told me as much as he did if he didn't want you to tell me everything that could help, classified or not."

Accepting her sister's comfort Ashley began talking, her disjointed thoughts rushing out, "I saw John a couple of months ago while on deployment, except he was different. I told you about Cerberus after the Battle of the Citadel, right? Well, John has joined Cerberus. He claims that they brought him back from the dead to fight the Reapers. But I've seen what Cerberus does, so has John…how could he trust them? I saw him just standing there; I couldn't believe my eyes or understand what was happening and I got angry at him. I mean, he shows up after I had mourned him for two years and acted like nothing had changed. I was furious, everything had changed. It sure as hell had changed for me and it looked like it had for him too. There were these…scars…red, glowing scars across his face. He didn't look human. I was angry, confused…scared, even. I, I called him a traitor and walked away."

"Ash, are you sure? How could he be alive after the Normandy's destruction?"

"I don't know, but it was him, Anderson later told me that the Alliance knew Cerberus had Jhim and that John had been looking for me. Anderson, that bastard, hadn't told me because of 'security reasons'."

"But…"

"I know, Abby. It seems impossible but it was John. I've talked to some Alliance docs and scientists during my earlier 'leaves' and it seems that the technology to revive a body is nearly available. So with Cerberus funding and experiments unrestricted by ethics it is possible they resurrected him."

"Okay, I can accept that as a miracle of modern medicine but what about him, his soul, was it still there?"

"I think so, I've thought about it a lot and I believe it's possible. I've seen soulless people before as geth husks and he wasn't like one of those. Somehow I think God sent Shepard back, and the only reason I can imagine He would do that for would be to save the galaxy from the Reapers." Desperately curling up against her sister Ashley quietly concluded, "And I abandoned him. Just like when I abandoned you after Mom's death because John was my new support system I then abandoned him because I had learned to exist in a world without him. Now I've lost him so soon after having almost lost you."

"But you didn't lose us, Ash. We love you and what happened after Mom died is in the past now. I know that you and Shepard loved each other; if it really is him then maybe you haven't lost Shepard either."

Miranda set Kelly's report aside reassured by its contents. It seemed that Shepard had found a new way to deal with the trauma caused by his resurrection, and for a change it wasn't too destructive. According to Kelly, Shepard was now dealing with his stressors by simply ignoring them. As a mechanism to help him avoid his own problems by distracting himself Shepard had begun to live vicariously through his crew, the events at the Migrant Fleet were presented by Kelly as evidence of this behavior. Tali's trial had provided Shepard the opportunity to solve another's problems and by doing so avoid dealing with his own problems, an opportunity Shepard had made the most of.

Kelly's appraisal of the healthiness of this new coping mechanism was condemning but it suited Miranda's designs perfectly. A Shepard desiring to help others, for whatever reasons, was close enough to the 'Hero of the Citadel' that Cerberus wanted that Miranda's mission looked possible for the first time since Horizon. As long as Shepard continued to help people Miranda couldn't care less about his long-term mental health, after all they were on a suicide mission. A helpful Shepard trying to save humanity and right the galaxy's wrongs, for whatever reasons, was perfect...especially once he was under her control.

Jolted out of her plotting by her office door opening Miranda looked up in annoyance at the interruption before her annoyance turned to disdain as she saw Jacob hesitantly enter the room. Choosing to prolong the man's discomfort Miranda simply looked at Jacob remaining quiet waiting for him to speak while watching the growing silence further fray Jacob's nerves.

"Uh, Miranda, do you have a moment?" Jacob finally asked, the silence having broken him.

"…Of course, what can I do for you?" replied Miranda after a brief pause, enjoying how Jacob's expression revealed his growing hope that Miranda wouldn't be able to speak. A hope crushed when Miranda finally spoke forcing him to continue with whatever it was he had come to her to say.

"It's about Shepard." Seeing Miranda remain silent Jacob continued, "It doesn't matter how I know, but there are several actions of the commander's that the rest of the crew doesn't know about and I think it could affect our mission."

Merely raising her perfectly groomed eyebrows Miranda remained silent, still forcing Jacob to carry the conversation, knowing how much he hated that.

"You know the trial? Well, Shepard's involvement went beyond what was seen in the courtroom and I think it jeopardizes our mission."

Finally responding Miranda asked, "What do you mean?"

"Well, you know how that one admiral changed his mind about Tali? It wasn't because of Shepard's speech; here I have a video that will explain." Jacob said forwarding a copy of Shepard's interaction with Zaal'Koris that he and Kasumi had recorded to Miranda's omnitool.

"Who else knows about this?" Miranda asked as the clip ended.

"Just me and Kasumi."

"Of course, you wouldn't be the one sneaking around the ship getting to where you aren't supposed to be. Damn that thief, first clocks go missing from all over the ship and now this." Miranda complained, wondering at why Jacob suddenly appeared embarrassed at her annoyed statement. Pushing aside that question Miranda continued, "Why did you wait to tell me?"

"Because of how Tali's acting. She's fallen for him, and if this comes out that relationship will explode and I don't think the mission could survive another of Shepard's collapses."
"Obviously that's Kasumi's reasoning; you were never perceptive enough to pick that up, Jacob." Miranda mocked, irritated at the reminder of Jacob's seemingly successful relationship with the thief. Shaking off her unwelcome pettiness Miranda went on, "Thank you for bringing this to my attention. I share your concern and will find a way to keep Shepard stable. Just, for god's sake, don't tell anyone else. Now, is there anything else you should tell me?"

"Wha…No, that's all." replied Jacob, wincing at Miranda's clear disbelief of his statement. After a moment Miranda simply nodded to him in dismissal. Jacob quickly left the room thankful that Miranda hadn't chosen to push the matter.

Jacob having left Miranda once again allowed herself a brief smile, this information was perfect. Now, if Tali somehow proved a surprisingly difficult rival for Shepard's attention Miranda held a card which gave her the power to end any relationship the two of them might be able to scrape together. And once that was over there would be a void, one which she could fill all too easily. The pleasure this thought provided her vanished as Miranda's thoughts turned back to the source of the information, Jacob and Kasumi.

"No, I am not jealous. I already had Jacob and it simply didn't work."

"Then why the bitchy attitude towards him? Are you sure it's not because he's found someone to not only replace you but that he sees as an improvement? And to top it off she is a thief. Despite your genetic engineering you come in second to a thief." her treacherous mind argued.

"Damn it, shut up! I am not jealous."

"Really? Perhaps you're just lonely then?"

"No."

"Whatever you say,, Ice Queen."

A/N: As far as I can remember there is nothing mentioned about Ashley's mother's status but if the game canon says that she is still alive I'm sorry for killing her off. Also as far as her relationship with Abby, in game Ashley said the sisters were close-but that doesn't mean they get along well all the time, especially siblings close in age. And in case the timeline is a little confusing here's a summary: very shortly after defeating Saren Ashley's mom died. Then Ashley immediately went with Shepard to fight geth which soon led to the Normandy's destruction and then Shepard's premature funeral.